Life Lately - On Turning A Year Older, Being Away From Home and Sensing A Change

It seems as though the older you become the busier life gets. Not a complaint I am making rather just an observation. I'd rather be busy than sit and watch time whittle by, however the last few weeks have been exhausting: hectic for both brilliant reasons and stressful ones too. Suddenly I find myself another year older, 23 sounds so much older than 22? Especially when it feels like turning 18 five years ago was just in the blink of an eye. I feel as though I've hit an age now whereby I need to take the future ahead of me seriously because time is vastly on my tail. When I think about the next five years I realise that a lot could happen.

Guilt Free Cookies

For the last few weeks I have been experimenting around with these ‘guilt free cookies’ a great snack for when you fancy something a little sweet but still want something was some kind of nutritious value. I wont call them healthy as they do contain sugar however the basis of these cookies can contain as little as four natural ingredients: oats, banana, coconut oil and maple syrup. You can also add in optional extras along the way. One A few of these cookies ahead of a workout satisfy my hunger for hours and keep me feeling energized. Plus they taste lovely!

Clinique Take The Day Off Cleansing Balm Review

Take The Day Off Cleansing Balm: its a product that's pretty well heard of within the beauty world  but today I'm going to be giving my two pennies worth on it. There are plenty of rave reviews on this skincare classic from Clinique, but I started using this towards the end of last year so this isn't like a first impressions type of review. I made my mind up about this months ago yet I still wanted to give it a fair trial as I know our opinions can change. Its not very often that I have had to repurchase skincare but six months and a brand new jar later I think you can already tell how this review is going to go. 

Clinique Take The Day Off Cleansing Balm Link

Taylor Swift 1989 World Tour in Hyde Park

Saturday was honestly the best ever. A day involving Taylor Swift perform in concert was always going to be incredible but add in a park and an amazing summers day and we had a recipe for perfection. For months now I had been crossing my fingers that the unpredictable British weather would be kind to us when June 27th came along and it must have worked because it was beautifully warm and sunny all day which made it all the more special. The day started in Soho at Bill's for brunch: I had poached eggs and salmon washed down with a tasty jug of Pimm's. It was delicious! With full stomachs and giddy heads from the Pimm's me and my friend made our way to Hyde Park.

Monsoon Maya Print Maxi Dress

As soon as the warm months roll around I'm definitely one to embrace the maxi dresses. For me its always a sign that summer has arrived. Be it the bright colours, floral prints or the way that they swish around at your ankles but there is just something so summery about a maxi dress. I absolutely love how flattering they can be and when I find the right one they're a complete confidence booster. However as I've mentioned before, not being the tallest of girls I have to find a maxi dress that isn't ridiculously long or else it ends up trailing on the floor like a wedding dress! Speaking of weddings: a few weeks ago I was shopping with my Mum, who was on the lookout for a dress to wear to one and she took us in Monsoon. Not a shop I would ever usually look in myself, however I was surprised at how much caught my eye in there including this beautiful maxi dress.

Maya Print Dress Link
Carvela Peep Toes

Hourglass Hidden Corrective Concealer Review

One of my best beauty discoveries of 2015 so far has hands down been the Hourglass Immaculate Foundation (review here.) In trying to sort out my skin this year I've also been trying not to overload my face with dozens of different products and different brands. Hourglass seems to have been a consistently reliable makeup brand I can turn to without it seeming to upset my skin. Although it is considerably better these days I still have the odd acne scaring and depending on how much sleep I've had the night before - darkness around my eye area. So a few months ago I decided to give the Hourglass Hidden Concealer a whirl. It is definitely a product that goes hand in hand with Immaculate!

Current Crochet Project - Paired Popcorn Cushion Cover

There is a lot of alliteration going on in today's post title! A year into being taught how to crochet and I have yet anything to show for it in my possession- for a while I stuck to the safety of making baby blankets; a couple of friends were having them and it was a good excuse for me to crack out the pink and blue wool to have a practice of my new skills. So I decided my next project would be something for myself and I got the inspiration for this from Kate aka gh0stparties bedroom tour - her style is incredibly tasteful in my opinion and I got a lot of ideas from watching that!

Taking Care In The Sun - Clinique SPF 30 Body Cream

I am guilty to admit that in the past I have neglected taking proper care of myself in the sun. I'm sure we've all been there at some point, whether you caught the sun by accident or deliberately to catch some rays in the hope of getting your pins looking a bit more bronzed. However there is more and more evidence out there to suggest the effects of sun damage and I for one have vowed to avoid another summer of sore lobster coloured flesh.

Clinique SPF 30 Body Cream  - Link

Carers Week & Living With Dementia

If you're not aware this week was Carers Week: a week celebrating the voices of those who care for a loved one. All week on the Jeremy Vine show exceptionally moving stories of carers in all walks of life were shared on the radio. Being a subject so close to home, I found the show very touching to listen to and its also helped put some things in perspective for me. Earlier this year our family moved in to care for my Nan with Dementia (you may remember this post.) In doing so we sacrificed a life that was normal to us. Consequently a lot has changed in the last few months.

Products I've Used Up | Empties #8

I'm back with another empty products post - I have been storming through the empties this year! I'm splitting the empties up into two categories Bath & Body and then Makeup like I did in my last post. Starting with a new empty product for me, a dry shampoo (I know this isn't really classed as a bath or body product but it didn't fit anywhere else today!)

From Bricks To Bungalow: Before & After [Exterior]

I Did Something A Little Crazy...

I signed up to do next years Bupa 10k! To some this may not sound like such a crazy thing but when you add into the mix that I'm not a runner, or have never done any running it suddenly becomes a little bit of a mad thing to do, signing up to say you will run 6.2 miles (in London!)... This is such an exciting albeit scary step and I can't wait to share the journey on my blog. 

The 501 Shorts

Top - Primark
Shorts - Levis
Sandals - Moshulu

50 Facts About Me Tag

As I have decided to transition my blog away from purely beauty topics I thought that the '50 Facts About Me' tag would be the perfect opportunity to share a bit of information about myself. I feel like this is a good starting point to take things back to basics and tell you a bit about who I am if I'm going to be sharing more of myself on this blog.

An Honest Reflection Of The Last Six Months

At the start of this year I promised that my blog was going to be more than just a beauty blog: if you don't know what I'm on about I'll link the post here. Back in January I thought that I was ready to turn my blog into something a bit more personal, I looked forward to sharing pieces of my life through this outlet... but as it turns out just a few weeks after writing that post I was about to have the most emotionally challenging month of my life to date. Even though I had known for so long that it was coming, it was not something that I was prepared for. And I certainly was not prepared to share it on my blog.

Skin Update: Managing Adult Acne

Since starting this blog I've openly mentioned my skin problems, but I've never properly taken the time to talk about it in a dedicated post - until today that is. However I think I have finally reached a stage where my skin seems to be quite happy and I wanted to share how I've got there for anyone who may be in the same boat suffering from adult acne. I'm not going to be mentioning the exact products that I have been using as such because I think that sort of stuff should be saved for another post and I may eventually write up my skincare routine. Today I just want to focus on the changes I made to improve my skin. 

Charlotte Tilbury Matte Revolution Lipstick | Amazing Grace

If you caught my recent Selfridges haul you will already have seen that I made my first ever Charlotte Tilbury purchases a couple of weeks ago, and today I'm talking about the matte revolution lipstick I picked up in the shade Amazing Grace. Ahead of my

Disappointing Products #2

Another installment of disappointing products today on the blog! I'm going to be talking about a handful of products that didn't quite meet my expectations...

Hourglass Ambient Lighting Bronzer

In the last couple of months I have become completely besotted by Hourglass makeup, it is a brand that has been popping up a lot lately on my blog. Their products continue to blow me away and my latest Hourglass love comes in the form of their brand new Ambient Bronzer. I have been waiting patiently for the release of these for what seems like ages now and I finally got my hands on one Friday, which you may have already spotted in yesterday's haul. Today I am going to be doing a first impressions type post and the shade I picked up was Luminous Bronze Light.