Life Lately #79

 

Hello lovelies,

 

I went to Specsavers last week to pick up my new glasses. Anyone else get a buzz from getting new specs? I did a full post on them here if you'd like a read.

 

My grandad went into hospital for a knee replacement last Tuesday (week & a half ago) & has had a few ups & downs. Although he's getting on well, the recovery period is taking a while. Honey has been keeping me company more than ever this week, which has been exactly what I've needed.

 

James came back from uni for his mum's birthday last Friday. We hadn't seen each other for nearly a month, so it was exciting to have him back. We were booked in to the Carey's Manor Hotel in the New Forest for the weekend, along with Valerie, Barrie & Alex (his mum, stepdad & brother) The hotel was stunning! Myself & James had chocolates waiting in our room, plus dressing gowns & complimentary slippers to wear to the spa. The spa consisted of a swimming pool, Jacuzzi, steam room & sauna. You can also pay to upgrade to the 'secret spa' which had another large pool plus themed showers. It was stunning.

 

With the amount of food on offer, I tried to be healthy where I could. This platter was delicious & had all my favourite fruits included. Our evening meals were slightly different, where we indulged in three course meals most nights!

 

The Saturday when we arrived, we went golfing. I'd never been before & although I wasn't playing, I managed to become in charge of driving the buggy, which was great fun! As exciting as watching the boys play was, I couldn't help but notice all the wildlife that live on a golf course. We saw a deer, buzzards, squirrels & woodpeckers.

 

Each evening we dressed up for dinner. I absolutely adore this dress from ASOS. I've had it for around 2 years now & find it's perfect for any fancy occasion.

 

Myself & James also went for a walk around the local village, looking for ponies! Unfortunately we didn't see any but found some quaint little tea rooms & pubs along the way.

 

How has your week been lovelies?

 

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One Line A Day

Hello lovelies : )

I wanted to blog today about one of my birthday presents I got back in January. This is something I saw a lot of bloggers get for Christmas & was totally inspired by it. It's a book called One Line A Day.

For those of you who haven't heard of it, it's a five year diary where you write 'one line a day' each day, for five years. (Quite similar to Timehop for you techie folk!) I started writing entries on my birthday (16th Jan) & so far I'm finding something productive to write every day.

I'm hopeless at keeping a diary, it was never something I did when I was younger because I could never find enough to write, or when I did write in it, I'd end up ripping it up the next day because it sounded so pointless. However, with this diary, it only requires a sentence or two to sum up your day & your done!

A lot goes on in my life a lot of people aren't aware of & I'm finding the diary perfect for me to write in my own personal achievements, that probably aren't a big deal to other people, but for me, I can look back & really see my journey unfold.

I can't thank Cathy enough for it, it's so amazing & think it will really help me in the long run : )

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My New Specs

Hello lovelies,

 

Last week I went to Specsavers for my yearly eye test & contact lense check up. Let me start by saying, I wear contact lenses most days, but I do love my glasses for those lazy days & especially as it's hayfever season, my eyes have been quite itchy recently.

I also go to these appointments with the intention of just updating my lenses not the frames (which is the expensive part..) but because I'm on the monthly contact lense program with Specsavers, I realised I get a discount on my frames, so actually it was worth me getting another pair as a backup.

 

 

My eye sight actually hadn't deteriorated that much (which is always nice to hear!) which meant I could still wear my old glasses without doing damage.

 

These frames retail at £69, but being on the contact lense scheme means I got them for £10! So I just had to pay for the anti-glare & scratch resistant coating, which brought the total to just under £50.

 

 

My previous pair are very similar to these, I wanted to have the same shape as the larger frames suit my face as opposed to small frameless glasses. However, I decided to go for a slight change in colour. These frames have a browny tinge to them where my previous pair were black. (you can see that in more detail in the image below)

 

They are very comfy & sit well on my nose. I find with some frames they are quite hard on the bridge of the nose, but these seem to fit me perfectly.

 

 

Specsavers also provide you with a free case & a small pot of lense cleaner & promise to amend any adjustments needed to the glasses at anytime.
 

 

Do you wear contacts or glasses?

Which do you prefer? : )

 

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 *Please note - this post wasn't sponsored by Specsavers*

Life Lately #78

 

Hello lovelies,

 

Last weekend, my friends & I went to support my friend Boop & all the lovely vet nurses she works with to raise money for charity, by doing a mud run. In case you're not sure what that is, it's basically an obstacle course, in the mud. They did fantastically well & managed to complete the course in under an hour which was fantastic!

 

Once Boop had showered thoroughly & managed to get rid of the smell of muddy ponds, we went out for dinner at our local Indian. As it was Sunday, they do an all you can eat buffet for £9.95. So delicious. We all went back to Cathy's for pudding, which consisted of chocolate ice cream & milk chocolate buttons. You can tell we're all health fanatics can't you..

 

I've been feeling a bit under the weather these past few days, but nothing makes me feel better than having cuddles with Honey. Just look at that annoyed face when I stuck the camera in front of her. Just too cute. I haven't seen James for 3 weeks (only 3 days to go!) as he's been studying for exams. I can't wait for our mini break this coming weekend!

 

Last Friday, my group of friends & I went to see Pitch Perfect 2. Oh my goodness, it was hilarious. I haven't laughed as much at a film in ages. If you haven't seen it, it's definitely worth paying to go!

 

We went to Frankie & Benny's for dinner before hand. I had the steak & chips & ended up sharing a cinnamon waffle with ice cream for pudding with Boop. I love eating there, even though the music does tend to be very loud & you end up shouting at each other, the food is always delicious.

 

Finally, Saturday night was girl's night. We watched Burlesque, with a massive chocolate pudding made by Gail & Mils managed to do this brilliant hair style on me. I wanted to get up & head straight out the door to a prom. ; )

 

How has your week been lovelies?  

 

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W7 "In The Nude" Natural Colour Palette

Morning lovelies!

 

You know when you buy a new beauty related item & you're so excited to use it, but being a blogger means you have to photograph it first? Yeaaaaah, I was obviously too lazy to do that straight away as I bought this palette back in January & totally forgot I owned it till recently! So I grabbed my camera & ran outside to catch a few rays of sunshine & decent light to snap these shots before using it.

 

 

I picked up this palette from TK Maxx, but if you guys don't have one in your local area, I also found it on Fragrance Direct or you could just simply search on Amazon.

 

I thought this palette would be perfect for Spring / Summer time. I also tend to stick to nude / light shades in the warmer months & go for darker shades in Autumn / Winter.

Left - Right: Latte / Angel / Venice / Marilyn / Copper Pot / Sun Kissed / Alice / Bad Manners / Coffee Cup / Mud Slide / Tokyo / Fashionista

 I've done a few looks using this palette so far & I absolutely love it! My two favourite shades to use together are Marilyn & Alice. They are both matte shades & give your eyes the perfect nude spring look. The darker shades in the palette are perfect for evening looks. I've been using Sun Kissed with Coffee Cup in the eye crease to give off a summer vibe. Angel I've found is a very shimmery glitter eye shadow & is best used on top of a light base colour. It really sets off your eyes by adding a subtle sparkly effect.

 

What I love about this palette is you can create so many different looks & the shadows are amazing quality & won't crease throughout the day. I do long shifts at work & usually go out either before or after, so I need reliable makeup on at all times! I'd say these shadows stay on without creasing for around 12 hours, which is brilliant!

 

This palette is definitely worth the price tag of £5.99 (& it's even cheaper online than what I bought it in store for!) I've been hunting in TK Maxx for other palettes by W7 & only ever seem to find ones that someone has stuck their fingers in! So annoying..

 

Have you tried any of the W7 range? I would love to hear your thoughts :)

 

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Lush Bubble Bar - Unicorn Horn

Hello lovelies,

 

This post is so long over due, I wasn't sure whether to publish it or not, but I wanted to show you the Lush Unicorn Horn that I got from my girl Gemma for my birthday back in January.

 

 

The Unicorn Horn was released as part of Lush's Valentine's Day range. I was out shopping with Gemma at the beginning of January when we saw this in the Lush display window. It's a glittery, starry, gorgeous smelling, colourful bubble bar, all the things I love put together!

 

Like all Lush bubble bars, you just crumble it under warm running water to create a mass of bubbles in your bath.

 

I have to say, I'm torn with this product. I absolutely love the smell & appearance of it, but it didn't make my skin feel that moisturized after my bath, nor did it change the colour of the water. (which made me rather sad.. I wanted a rainbow bath!)

Did you try any of the Valentine's range from Lush? What did you think? : )

 

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Life Lately #77

 

Evening lovelies!

 

Aren't you just loving the Spring weather? Here in the UK it's been beautiful (minus a few rainy & blustery days) I've been making the most of it by pondering through the woods, taking endless photos of the flowers. You just have to, right?

 

My girl Charlotte came home for a few days last week, so we met up for lunch with our friend Mils. We went to our local pub, which serves the most lovely food & at a totally affordable price. All of us had the same; gammon, chips & peas.

 

It was Gemma's 24th birthday last week, so we hit the town wearing pretty dresses & drank outrageous cocktails. Was a lovely night catching up with everyone.

 

Unfortunately, I didn't get to have a '3 day weekend' like most people. I had work on Saturday & Sunday, but was off Monday. Myself, Cathy & Elisa hit the town for some serious shopping. We made a pit stop at Costa, where I re-discovered the lemon & raspberry sponge cake, along side a iced lemonade. So delicious.

 

After a 3 hour look around the shops, we headed back to Cathy's for dinner, which was garlic bread alongside pasta, with peas, sweetcorn, chicken, bacon & Philadelphia. A meal none of us had had since our holiday to the Isle Of White last year! The rest of our girl group joined us in the evening, for some games & tea drinking.

 

Also, I managed to squeeze in a pamper hour last week, where I ran the hottest bath & used a face mask. I always forget how happy I feel after taking time to myself, I really should try to do it at least once a week!

 

On a side note, I can't do this update post without mentioning voting in the election yesterday. I still hadn't really made up my mind completely but when I was given the paper & scanned down the list of names, I just put what I felt was right. It felt empowering & when I came out of the village hall, I felt a sense of pride that I'd taken part & voted. I did get to vote 5 years ago, but don't ever remember feeling this happy with making my voice heard.

 

How have you been lovelies?

What did you get up to over the bank holiday weekend?

 

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What I've Been Wearing On My Nails #22

 

Fearne Cotton - Cotton Candy

Another gorgeous shade from Fearne's range. I love wearing pastel colours in the Spring / Summer & this one is the perfect shade. I was obsessed with lilac last year & it seems to have carried over into this year!

 

Orly - Harmonious Mess

Ah this colour, what can I say? I always feel like I've had a professional manicure when I wear this. It's such an effortless finish & looks beautiful on the nails.

 

Sinful Colors - Easy Going / Barry M - Nail art pen in pink & white

This was a spur of the moment nail art, but I like it. Can never go wrong with flowers in Spring time!

 

NYC - Mint Macaroon

& finally another favourite of mine. I used to wear this shade constantly & after rediscovering it a few weeks ago, it hasn't left my nails! I always find that the NYC polishes are a complete bargain, they last forever on the nails, even after two coats. Mine only slightly chipped after a week.

 

What have you been wearing on your nails this month?

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