What would a blogger event be without the compulsory outfit and face of the day posts?
To celebrate me abandoning my usual vanilla scruffiness for the day, I thought a little post was in order about my day out at the FABB bloggers event in Birmingham - you can read about what happened on the day here. I saw a lot of Twitter chat about people not knowing what to wear to the event, but everyone looked pretty well turned out to me when I got there.
There were a lot of berry lips, dark leather, fedoras, ankle boots and faux-fur in evidence!
Before the event, I’d decided to do something along the lines of leather myself, so here’s what I came up with..
This weekend saw FABB Events hit Birmingham and I was like a kid the night before Christmas.
I knew it was going to be pretty spectacular, and a lot bigger than blogging events I’d been to before- with about 100 bloggers all converging on Alfie Birds in the Custard Factory
How are you coping with the colder weather and dark evenings?
I’m quite a fan of autumn, there’s a lot of good things about it (hot chocolates, nice coats, wearing boots, falling leaves), but the short days are hard to deal with – its now dark when I get up and dark when I come home!
Welcome to my second ‘Life, Lately’ post, just intended as a little glimpse into my day to day life and an update on various topics.
Not going to lie, life has been hard lately. Our house sale seemed like it was going to fall through AGAIN, and even though its now hopefully proceeding again, the whole thing feels very precarious.
I can’t believe there isn’t better protection for the biggest purchase of your life. You honestly have more rights buying a pack of chewing gum from the corner shop than you do buying a house.
The whole thing has been beyond a nightmare, and I can’t describe how exhausted, emotionally worn out and down both Seb and I are feeling right now. We’re pretty much broken people!
I’m just really hoping at some point we’ll be able to say it was all worth it, but that seems like a long way off at the moment- and I’m not even sure if we’ll get there yet.
Please wish me luck because I really need it!
Here’s what else is going on…
Amen to that. There's something about lipstick that makes us girls feel more pulled together, more capable, and ready to conquer the world.
It can be no coincidence that in times of recession, sales of lipstick go through the roof - after all, there's a reason its called 'warpaint'. It makes you ready for battle.
Like most bloggers, lipstick of all kinds holds a special place in my heart, so thank you to beautiful KerryJustBeauty for tagging me for this post. Here goes...
So I recently tried Topshop Makeup Foundation, which is the first base offering from the high-street behemoth. I've said before how much I love the Topshop make-up range, and their lipstick rank among my favourites, so when I saw they'd recently launched some skin offerings, I was intruiged.
I'll level with you right now and say that I didn't really like this product. I was expecting great things and I was kind of left disappointed. It's not bad enough to bin, but I don't think I'll be repurchasing this. Here's why...
This weekend, I'm off to the amazing #FABBBirmingham event at Alfie Bird's.
It's the biggest event I've been to so far, and I'm super excited. I've heard so many positive things about their previous events.
Some of my favourite ever bloggers are going along so I can't wait to see them, plus a couple of new connections of mine it will be lovely to meet in person!
But with all the excitement comes the eternal query- what do I wear?
I'm keen to stay with my current vibe of layers and leather but I've come up with a new twist on it!
Grey boyfriend tees paired with leather pencil skirts, ladylike bags and striped prom dresses. Toughed up with ankle boots and bold necklaces.
A splash of leopard, some bold red lips and I'll be good to go.
What do you think? Are you going to #FABBBirmingham? What are you going to wear?
Maybe its because life hasn't been that much fun around here, but I'm already looking forward to the release the festivities bring - the parties, the drinking, the eating, the relaxation.
I'd been feeling a little demotivated on the diet and fitness front lately. It didn't seem like I had much to look forward to, so I guess I just felt stuck in a rut with it all. I needed something to reinvigorate me badly, especially with the nights drawing in, when a comfy sofa and a boatload of carbs is always more appealing than diet and exercise.
So now, I've decided that the LBD will be my mission! I've embarked on a new plan as of Tuesday this week, to run from now until early December.
I've made up my own rules according to what has worked well for me in the past. If you're feeling demotivated, in a rut or just looking forward to looking fabulous for party season, I invite you to join me.
Here's how we'll do it...
Its been box city central round here lately with the October Birchbox unexpectedly arriving (see what I thought here) and, hot on its heels, the month’s offering from Glossybox.
But, after a stellar September offering, Birchbox seem to have returned to their usual offering which doesn’t really wow me – on the whole I much prefer Glossybox. Would they keep their crown this month?
I have such a lot of love for Avon. My mum used to do it when I was little, and some of my earliest make-up memories are of playing with all the lipstick samples and the little bottles of perfume. No wonder I’m so obsessed with cosmetics now!
Often it feels like their products are still a well-kept secret though, so I'm here today to lay bare what's really worth checking out from their vast selection.
Avon do some absolutely classic products that are top quality, a few that I re-buy all the time, so I stocked up with the following:
This week, Seb and I have some time off booked. Its just a long weekend at home, but we're both so exhausted by ongoing house dramas that its been a really vital opportunity for us to relax and enjoy some time together.
On Friday, we decided to head into town to grab some lunch at Pilot. Its a fabulous new restaurant and bar, priding itself on 'poultry and Processo' - it has fizz on draught -and it just so happens to be the new place of one of our friends, who is a talented chef. So we thought it was high time we went to try it out, and also we stopped by Home Sense and John Lewis to do some homewares shopping.
It was one of those gorgeous, crisp, sunshiny autumn days that are such a treat. Here's what I wore...
Birchbox was something I used to subscribe to, but I got bored of it and switched to Glossybox a while back, which I've been much happier with. Last month, Birchbox had something amazing in their offer (see my post on the September box here) so I signed back up, but it was only meant to be a one-month thing. Being stupid, I didn't cancel in time, so I've ended up with this as well.
Would the October box be enough to persuade me to keep my sub going? Find out and take a peek at what's inside....
This is another long overdue post I can’t believe I haven’t done before!
For my birthday, waaaay back in June, I got given the Smashbox Full Exposure palette from my lovely husband - see my birthday post here.
It was something I’d wanted for a while, but never been able to justify, so I was really excited by it. I didn’t actually use it for quite a while after I got it, but lately its become my ultimate go to for almost any eye look, so I had to share it with you.
I think this is the ultimate eyeshadow palette for people who don’t like eyeshadow palettes.
Welcome back to the occasional series of posts where I pick one of my many style icons and dissect why their look is just so damn fabulous.
This time, its a lady I've been meaning to profile for ages: Emma Watson. In some ways, it feels odd to have such a style crush on a girl that is so much younger than you are, but hey, inspiration comes from everywhere.
And there's such a lot to admire about Emma. I've enjoyed watching how gracefully she's handled growing up in the spotlight, how she values education in an age when the prevailing fashion seems to be ignorance, and how she combines having a social conscience with a keen interest in fashion and beauty.
I like how she was a little adorably gawky at first, a little unsure. She's no Elle Fanning or Kiernan Shipka - she didn't emerge from the womb wearing couture with a stylist on speed dial. No, rather, the public have seen her style evolve gradually and become all her own, from her earliest, geeky-kid premiere outfits to the self assured fashion maven she is now.
So, let me count down why I love Emma's style so much.
That place is a total candy store for anyone who loves all things make-up. I didn’t go totally wild, because I’m supposed to be watching my spending due to the house move, but I did pick up a couple of things I’m going to share here.
Hello my little teacakes
Once upon a time, I used to do an occaisional series of posts called 'A Week in the Life', which pretty much did what it said on the tin.
These fizzled out, mainly because, I'm sorry to say, an average week in my life is not that exciting, and I didn't think you'd all want to read about the endless pattern of working late, going to the gym and watching repeats of the 'British Bake Off' that is my usual weekly existance.
But I really like reading the 'lifestyle' posts on other blogs, so I've decided instead to do some posts simply called 'Life, Lately'. They will be a bit sporadic, and they don't encompass a standard length of time, but they'll just be little glimpses into my life, usually though the lens of an iPhone!
Ready? Great. Then here's what I've been up to lately...
Confession time again: I gave in. I cracked. I didn't mean to! I'm soooorrrryyyy.....
Talking about Birchbox here. I used to subscribe a while ago, then I got a bit fed up because the samples were usually pretty small and they didn’t send me much make-up, it tended to be more body and skincare.
I cancelled and switched to Glossybox and have been a lot happier with them.
But last month, Birchbox sent something to their subscribers that I had to have…so I signed back up!
I was also given a code for a full-size palette from The Balm, which was totally the cherry on top. Sadly, that hasn’t arrived yet, but the box came today.
Recently become addicted to a very special blog, Yazzy's Corner. She's such a lovely lady, and her posts have really made me laugh, cry, relate, envy...everything.
I loved this tag post she did and her answers were really smart, so I decided to have a go myself.
It occured to me that doing this post might help to crystallise in my own mind certain thoughts about why I'm doing this whole blog thing and what I hope to achieve.
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