Friday 30 September 2016

CHOOSING THE RIGHT PLASTIC SURGEON

You've made the decision to undergo plastic surgery and get your wonky nose/uneven

boobs/wobbly belly fixed ... now what? Your next step is to choose your surgeon and with

thousands out there, that's often a difficult decision to make. Here are some tips to finding your

surgeon.

Sunday 25 September 2016

GUEST POST: MICROBLADING, THE LATEST EYEBROW TREND EXPLAINED!

Hi lovelies! Today's post is a guest post and it's one I'm super excited about as it's written by Clare Weyers, who I actually trained with when I first started out in beauty! I did a lot of my initial beauty training with Clare, so I can tell you first hand that this lady knows her stuff! So, if you're considering getting your eyebrows Microbladed, or fancy training in this treatment, this will absolutely be worth a read beforehand. Enjoy!


Clare Weyers is the owner of Elite Beauty School in Essex. She's recently started a new course at her beauty school: Microblading. What exactly is this new form of eyebrow treatment? What makes it so special? Here she shares everything you need to know about the new eyebrow trend.

With a variety of eyebrow treatments on the market, it’s difficult to know which one is going to be best to get the brows you want. Waxing, plucking, threading, tattooing — the choice is almost endless! Now a new eyebrow style has been thrown into the mix: Microblading.

Marie Claire is keen to try the new method, and it’s highly tipped to be the best new eyebrow treatment. If you haven’t heard of it yet, here’s everything you need to know about the treatment.

What Makes Microblading Treatment Different?

Microblading works with the eyebrows you already have to enhance their shape or style. The treatment is done using a small, manually handled disposable microblade. Each blade is drawn on individually, giving the brow a totally natural look alongside your natural hairs. It’s the delicate nature of the treatment and drawn-on blades which make this option unique and popular. “Why didn’t I try this sooner?!” is one response to the treatment, and will probably be said many more times.

Unlike tattoos, the cosmetic makeup used in microblading is added to the epidermal (outer) layer of the skin, meaning it’s not permanent. Your new brows can last approximately 18 to 36 months. During or after this time, you can have a colour top-up or refresh.

Who can have the treatment?

Unfortunately, if you are pregnant or breastfeeding, you won’t be able to undergo treatment. Prior to treatment, you’ll have a full consultation about the style and colour you want to achieve. You’ll also have a skin test to make sure your skin is suitable for treatment. It’s important to disclose any skin problems you have, as this could affect the end result.

Microblading is a popular choice for those who have very light brows, or who are fed up and frustrated with constantly filling in their eyebrows in the morning. If you’ve suffered hair loss due to chemotherapy or alopecia, microblading offers a new way to get the brow you want.

Does the treatment hurt?

The treatment can take two or three hours, and a numbing agent will be added to the brows beforehand. Those who have had microblading say there is a very small amount of pain at first, but once the initial pain is over, the pain lessens as you know what to expect. Pain aside, people say the treatment is absolutely worth it!

Aftercare is essential to maintaining your new look. If you feel some irritation or redness, vaseline can work well to ease this.

Is the treatment expensive?

The average cost for the initial treatment begins at £200-£300, with follow-up treatments for refreshes or top-ups to come. Be sure to ask how much these additional services will be when you go for your consultation. If you’re on a tight budget for beauty, it may require some saving.

Interested in trying the new treatment? Head down to your local beauty therapist to find out some more information. It might be just what you need to give your brows that glamorous revamp you were looking for. Microblading can be the answer you’re looking for to give you that extra boost of confidence with your look. For more information and beauty tips, check out Clare’s blog for more beauty advice and information.

Tuesday 20 September 2016

LISTEN TO THIS

Hi lovelies! Something I realise I've done very little of on my blog is posts about music, which seems crazy to me as music is such a huge passion of mine. I've been slighty very sporadic with blogging lately and while that's mostly to do with my life just being slightly crazy right now, it's also because I can't always think of things to write about. I've got a pile of products that I do want to get around to reviewing, but where I've been so busy, I've not tried them out yet and I never like to review without giving a product a fair test first! So, I was sat in front of my laptop, staring at the screen today, thinking what can I write about? Then, I remembered why I love blogging so much, it's my little space on the internet to discuss things that I love, with whoever fancies having a read! So, it makes sense to me to share something that's such a huge part of my life!

Today, I thought I'd share with you all a few of my current favourite songs, these are all fairly new, but I'd love to share some of my all time favourite songs at some point if anyone would be interested!

The first song I'm sharing with you all had to be Green Day. If you know me even at all, you'll know that Green Day are my favourite band of all time. I've literally loved them since I was a kid as I grew up listening to this kind of music a lot. They've not had a new album out for four years, so when their new Album 'Revolution Radio' was announced, I lost my shit slightly. The actual album doesn't come out until the 7th of October, but after releasing the first single 'Bang Bang', they more recently released the title track and I am obsessed. The style is slightly more back to their roots and definitely political, but they've kept it current which is so important. I find it so frustrating when fans complain that a band has changed their style, these men are in their 40s now, they're not going to be singing the same stuff they did in 1991. If you ever liked Green Day at all, I think this album is going to be one to look out for, I'm so excited!

Definitely a change of pace from the last song, but this year, another of my favourite bands 'The Rifles' bought out a new 2 Disc Album 'Big Big Life'. I'm still listening to the two to get to know all of the songs, but as with any album, there are a few stand out tracks for me (check out Wall Around Your Heart and the Acoustic 'Victoria' also!). I think this song in particular is beautiful. 'Jonny Was A Friend Of Mine' sounds like such a happy, upbeat song, which in a sense, it is, but when you actually listen to the lyrics, they're so sad and lovely. When I listen to a song, the lyrics over anything else are the most important component for me and in this song they're so simple, but so beautiful.
Deaf Havana are another long time love of mine, yes, even when 'Friends Like These' was everyone's MySpace song. I think recently though, they've really been coming into their own and finding their sound. They have announced that they will be releasing an Album, but in the past year they've released two singles 'Casseopia' and 'Sing'. Again, I just love the lyrics of this song. It's been three years since their last album and to me it just feels as though they put everything into this song, I think it's definitely a good sign of things to come!

Catfish and The Bottlemen are again, another band that I'm absolutely loving lately and 'Soundcheck' from their latest album, 'The Ride' is definitely my favourite song they've ever done. I think they've got a sound that appeals to most people, without being too 'Kiss FM' (sorry). This song in particular seems to go down really well with whoever is listening to it - it'll be a definitely 'do play' song for our Wedding DJ for sure!

So, that's it! A bit of a random post for me, but I just love sharing my favourite music and I'd love to know what you all think of these songs! Let me know what your favourite songs are also!


Photobucket

Monday 19 September 2016

FOODS THAT YOU MAY NOT REALISE ARE VEGAN


Hi lovelies! I'm finally writing another vegan/ food post, it feels like forever since I've sat down to write one of these! With wedding planning pretty much set to take over the next 11 months of my life, it's taken a while to get back into the swing of things and frankly, I've struggled to think of much else!! But, I love writing posts like this so I thought it was about time I did! 

Since going vegan around 6 or 7 months ago, my family and friends have been slowly learning more and more about what vegans do and don't eat, however when you don't know too much about veganism, it is a bit of a minefield and I do find that I get asked 'can you eat...' a lot. So, I thought I'd list a few foods that I regularly get asked about, or just foods that I think many non vegans may not realise are actually vegan. This could be helpful if you're a new or aspiring vegan or if you have someone who eats a plant based diet in your family. 

Bread
I started with this one as funnily enough it's probably the one I get asked about the most. This is for one of two reasons, many people assume all bread has milk or eggs in, or people assume that if you're vegan, you're also gluten free (which I'm not!). Most bread that you can buy in the supermarket is generally totally vegan. Pre packaged sliced bread in particular, but also many bakeries bake bread with no animal ingredients. Sometimes supermarkets package their fresh bread, in which case, allergens (including dairy and eggs) are generally listed, but if not, you can just ask. There are exceptions so do scan the ingredients*.

*Top tip, eggs and dairy are nearly always listed in bold on ingredients lists, as in the UK, allergens must be made clear, so this makes reading packets super easy!

Cereals
You'd be surprised how many of your favourite cereals (including chocolate ones!) are actually vegan. Obviously you'll want to use a plant based milk, but otherwise you've got a huge selection! I do stick to healthier cereals generally, but if I fancy a treat (yes, kids cereals are my idea of a treat), I love Aldi's own brand chocolate hoops or Cinnamon Grahams!

Biscuits 
Many biscuits are vegan but you do have to be careful where you buy. For example, Aldi's Dark Chocolate Digestives are totally vegan, Tescos ones aren't. Aldo's own brand Jammie Dodgers are vegan, the regular brand aren't. In fact, lots of Aldi's biscuits are vegan, so it's definitely worth a look!

Iced Buns and Jam Doughnuts
This is super random and we're clearly not sticking to healthy foods (you don't need me to tell you that fruit and veg are vegan I'm sure!), but a recent discovery of mine is that some - not all - iced buns and jam doughnuts are vegan! The Co-Op do a pack of jam doughnuts that don't contain eggs or dairy. Some bakeries also do iced buns that are vegan but sometimes they are made with milk so it is important to check just in case!

Chocolate
Of course, not all chocolate is vegan, in fact most isn't. However, many dark chocolate bars are vegan, some supermarket own brand chocolate is vegan (I actually really like the 35p Sainsbury's basics kind!), Cadbury bournville is vegan, many Lindt dark chocolate bars are (most importantly, the dark chocolate bunny at Easter!), just check the ingredients for milk. If you like dark chocolate, it's good to know that you don't always have to go for the expensive free from ranges in super markets!

Sorbet
You may think the dessert menu when eating out is pretty off limits as a vegan, but spotting sorbet on the menu is a joyous moment as a plant eater. Sorbet can contain dairy, but it very rarely does, so do check if you're unsure. Side note, for those in the U.K., I massively recommend trying the Sorbet at Zizzis, they have three flavours, all of which are amazing.

'Meat' Flavoured Crisps
This one blows my mind a little too sometimes, but many meaty kinds of crisps like bacon frazzles, BBQ Pringles (not all pringles are vegan though!), skips, even bacon bits (not a crisp, but those little bacon flavoured crispy things that feature at many salad bars for some reason) are vegan. Always check with any kind of crisps, but you would be surprised how many options there are.

Pasta
When I initially went vegan, I assumed pasta at restaurants would be mostly off the menu.  However it surprised me how many restaurants actually don't use egg pasta, so that's fab! Near enough all dried pasta in the shops is vegan too, which was something a lot of my friends and family hadn't realised so that's your quick 'I finished work late and can't be bothered to cook' dinner sorted!

Instant Noodles
Not something I recommend but my fiancé buys these every now and then and I was surprised reading the ingredients of a couple that they were actually generally totally fine for vegans. Once again, there are exceptions and I'm sure many contain meat, eggs, or milk but again, another quick, if a little nutritionally lacking, meal idea.

So, that's all I can think of for now! If you liked this post though or found it at all useful, I'm definitely up for doing more posts like this!

Let me know what your favourite 'accidentally vegan' food is in the comments!

Photobucket

Tuesday 6 September 2016

DO YOU


Hi lovelies! I don't honestly know where to start with this post, it's a very broad topic and something that I have a lot to say on, but instead of thinking it all over, writing notes and figuring out exactly how to word this, I'm sitting here, on my laptop just letting my thoughts guide my fingers!

This year has been a monumental year for me, first, I made a huge lifestyle choice back in February and went vegan, I totally changed my diet and lifestyle to adjust to the knew information I had learned and ethics and morals that I have gained. Later on in the year, Darren and I got engaged and are now in the process of planning our wedding for next year, which is so, so exciting! And also, Green Day (aka my first loves) are releasing a new album and UK tour dates, which is of less serious but very nearly equal importance to everything else mentioned. Just throwing that out there.

So two (three) big life events for me, both of which have totally changed the course of my life and made me a million times happier than I've ever been. That said though, for both of these things, I sometimes feel very judged, which is something I've never really had to deal with before. Sure, I've touched on topics like skinny shaming, which has affected me in some ways, but in a less direct way than what I'm talking about today.

As for getting married, I'm 22, yes, that's young. However, it's very much legal and therefore pretty much nobody's business. While I've not had any kind of judgement whatsoever from Family and Friends who have been nothing but supportive, I have had comments from strangers, be it in the internet, in person (just mention weddings and everyone you talk to has an opinion!) on how young we are. Never necessarily in a malicious way, but more in a backhanded, smug, 'I know better than you' way. The reason that not one of our family members or amazing friends have commented on our age is because they know us. They know that we've been together for five years and love each other completely and better one another. They know that this wasn't a rush decision (despite a totally out of the blue proposal, granted!). With that in mind, I don't see what gives anyone who knows nothing about us to make comments like; 'God, but you're so young!', 'Aren't there things you want to do before getting married??' and my favourite 'If my boyfriend proposed now, I'd throw the ring down the sink!' (a swiftly deleted Instagram comment).

More so than marriage (which the vast majority of people have been amazing about!), is Veganism. For some reason, when mentioning that you are vegan, a lot of people are suddenly hugely concerned about your health and feel the need to tell you how humans 'need' meat to survive (despite literally standing before a vegan who is very much alive). I don't mind one bit when people ask me questions about my lifestyle, I expect that. People are curious and that's fine, I work in the beauty industry and chat to interesting people every day and ask them a million questions about their lives, families, jobs etc. However it's when people who don't know much about me or veganism in general, tell me that I must be deficient in iron or that I must miss chocolate and bacon or that that has just has to be sooo hard when going out to eat, or that it must be such a pain for my family and friends (who, once again are all absolutely perfect and support my choices and even make amazing vegan brownies - shout out to my best friend, Zoe!). To pretty much tell someone they're wrong for believing in something and doing something that benefits their health and the animals and environment is not okay.

I'm not saying what I'm saying for sympathy or validation, I'm self assured enough to know that I'm making the best decisions for myself and my life. However the point that I do want to make is that unless someone asks for your opinion, or you know that someone truly values your opinion, you have no right to judge them based on choices they make that doesn't have an impact on your life. The internet is very easy place to judge people and it's a normal, human thing to do to form an opinion on something you see, however you don't always need to share it.

I'm not just writing this post for me either, I see this sort of thing every single day. Comments on instagram pictures, tweets, blog posts, facebook updates, telling people that what they're doing, wearing, saying, eating or even feeling is wrong.

On the flipside though, I also see a lot of this from the other side too. I've had girls compare themselves, saying that they're jealous that I'm 22 and engaged and living away from home and yet they're older than me, living with parents and don't have a boyfriend yet. This honestly bothers me even more. I don't get a lot of this, but I see it a lot online, girls comparing themselves to those in better jobs, or with bigger blogs or a larger instagram following, girls who they think are prettier than them, I've even seen girls comment on engagement photos (not my own), tagging their boyfriends, literally getting mad that they aren't doing the same.

It is so easy to compare yourself to someone else. It's also unfortunately just as easy to judge someone else and put yourself above them, but in both cases, you shouldn't. Everyone does things differently, everyone's situation is different and there's always someone that would love to be in your position. For example, my (twin!) sister still lives at home with my parents and she's single. However, this is because she's incredibly hard working and has just finished 4 years at University and is now back home to start her very first teaching job, a career that she's worked so hard for and is massively passionate about. Her life is taking an entirely different path to mine and we're both completely happy. I didn't go to University, which, back when we were 18, made me feel like I was somehwhat inferior to my sister. Now though, I'm living alone with my Fiancé and our gorgeous dog, I run a business and I'm getting married next year. Neither or us, nor one of our friends or family members thinks one of us is more or less accomplished than the other, in fact, our huge differences make life a lot more interesting and exciting!

What I'm trying to say is, it's very easy to place yourself above or below somebody in your own mind, but the reality of it is, we're all here once, we've all got one life and if we all lived it in exactly the same way, life would be insanely boring. Imagine meeting your friends for a drink at the weekend to all chat about your identical jobs, only to then chat about your holidays that you've all booked in the same place and the same handbags you all bought out with you - yawn!

In life, you create your own journey and it doesn't always go smoothly, but it's impossible to please everyone all the time, so do you, make choices that make you happy. Whether that's going vegan, changing your career, getting married, getting a tattoo, going to a Green Day gig (pray for me) or whatever, it's easy to be consumed by what others are doing and I think it's about time we just tried to stop caring so much.

I really hope this made at least some sense, please feel free to discuss in the comments - I'd love to know your thoughts on the topic.

Photobucket

Thursday 1 September 2016

BRR, WINTER IS COMING!

Today, I am sorry to say I am going to talk mainly about getting ready for winter.
I love summer, but have to accept the fact that the autumn equinox has just passed, which means that we are now officially in the autumn season. That means fewer dreamy summer afternoons, but more opportunities to snuggle up on the sofa with the dog in front of the fire enjoying a cosy evening.
In a way, the change in the weather is welcome because it gives me an excuse for another shopping spree. The chance to take a look at women’s coats, and buy myself a nice new one to add to the ones I already own.
Beautiful coats
I have already had a look around online, and am pleased to report that there are some amazing women’s coat out there. This year I would say that designers have very much gone their own way rather than following a single style, or colour, trend.
One of my favourites is a metallic bomber jacket. I am not necessarily going to buy and wear one, but it is great to see this classic coat getting a modern makeover.
70s chic
This year, there are many coats that have a late 70s, early 80s look and feel. They range from military style overcoats, to tailored jackets, which are perfect for work or a glamorous night out on the town.
Unusual cuts
It is also great to see gilets making a comeback too. They are the perfect thing to wear for a meal out, or to a party.
Bold is Beautiful
This year the designers have clearly decided to have a bit of fun with their designs. If you like bold patterns, there are plenty to choose from including leopard skin print versions. Again, this style is not for are not for everyone, but wearing something with a bold pattern is a great way to add some zing to an outfit.
Practical duffle coats and parkas
Of course, the main purpose of a coat is to keep you warm and dry, so it is good to see a range of parkas and duffle coats available. They are a great option for taking the dog for a walk or if you have a long commute that includes queuing for public transport.
Again, designers have had a bit of fun with these classic designs, which has given these iconic designs a fresh new look. I am particularly impressed by the bold patterns I have seen incorporated into the duffle coats. Of course, you can buy single colour versions, but the check ones look great too.
Shorter lengths
The other thing I have noticed is that, this year, the lengths of the coats are quite short. Most finish at the waist or mid-thigh point. These are stylish, but if you have to spend time queuing in bad weather you may be better off opting for an overcoat, or trench coat.

Naturally, I will also need at least a couple of women’s jumpers, and I have been looking at those too. So, the chances are I will be sharing a knitwear roundup with you at some point in the near future.