Birmingham is one of the closest cities to where I live and naturally it's where I spend most of my time money. So when Premier Inn got in touch and asked if I'd be up for putting together a Birmingham City Guide for them, my initial thought was 'HELLYES' - what a great idea! So today, I'll be sharing my favourite places with you - and if you ever decide to visit, you'll at least have an idea of what you can expect to find (SPOILER: it's a lot, Birmingham is great). 

Boasting reclaimed and up-cycled furniture, this British cafe feels like it’s been picked up from central London and dropped in the heart of Birmingham's city centre. It’s completely different to anything else you’ll find here and is 100% worth a visit if you’re looking for a traditional, but friendly way to eat breakfast. From strawberry cheesecake milkshakes to Portobello Mushrooms on Sourdough Toast you’d be pretty foolish not to give it a try.

Lunch…:
Okay so guys, this is the best place in the world, not just in Birmingham. Placed precisely in the middle of the food court of Selfridges is Ekachai, an asian fast-food restaurant. Now, I don’t mean fast-food in terms of a service like McDonalds, it’s fast in a whole other aspect. This place is always super busy, but you’ll never be waiting in line for more than 10 minutes. You’ll be seated around an island that looks over the cooking theatre and the idea is, you eat, you leave. The service is top knotch and the food is insane - you’ll never feel rushed but it does what it needs to do, when you’ve got the whole of Selfridges to surf around, you don't want to be spending hours in a restaurant. I always have the crispy duck salad and it’s without doubt the most fabulous way to get in a few greens. I’ve been going since I was 14 (dedication or obsession you decide) and I can’t recommend it enough. I’ve managed to convert every one I’ve taken to visit and I’m sure you’ll love it too!
Shopping…
When I think of Birmingham the first thing that will enter my head is the . A one-stop destination for all things shopping. Hosting (what I believe to be) 140 stores, including one of only 4 Selfridges and the fourth largest Debenhams it’s a beautiful beast in the centre of the city.

When visiting you’ll need to stop by…

(obviously):
There are either 3 or 4 floors, I cant remember. But it doesn't matter. IT’S FILLED WITH GREATNESS. Each floor is wonderful in it’s own way but my favourite place to visit is the beauty hall. Jo Malone’s displays are always beautiful and I’ll spend at least half an hour swooning over all the prettiness at Charlotte Tilbury, because: c’mon, that ladies make-up is the bomb diggity. And of course not forgetting the food-hall where you can get your hands on some Krispy Kremes after visiting Ekachai ;-)
:

Today’s video is a sneak peek in to what my current morning routine looks like. Now that I’m working for myself and essentially, from home, it’s really important to me that I make sure I get ready on a morning. Take time to make myself a good breakfast, plan my day and whack on some makeup. It’s a lonely old place working solo, so taking time to look after myself is a big part of the process of staying sane. You can expect eggs, because: DUH it’s all I eat, an entirely new beauty routine and all the comfy clothes.
This video is also in partnership with Listerine. In August their brand new Listerine Advanced White mouthwash was launched, and they sent it to me to test out.

I don’t use any teeth whitening and never have, but this mouthwash can give you whiter teeth within two weeks - so it’s a simple and non-abrasive way to lift stains and gently introduce some pearlier whites in to my beauty routine with a non-faffy approach.

The idea behind the campaign is to celebrate confidence with your smile, which I absolutely love. #PowerfulSmiles looks at the power behind a smile – how it can simply change and uplift someone’s mood – and just how important that really is.

For me, when I was younger I always had problems with my teeth, it was one of the (many) things I felt self conscious about – so now, as an adult, it’s a no brainer to me that I’ll do anything to look after them. It’s super important to me that I feel comfortable and confident to wear a smile on my face every day. And Listerine understands that. They’ve teamed up with Louise Redknapp, the co-owner of Wild About Beauty (good god the beauty of that woman!), and she’s selected three lippies from her collection that match up with the Advanced White Mouthwash to help make our smiles even whiter. All the lipsticks have cooler undertones, which helps with neutralising yellow tinges to the teeth – but the message behind that is so much stronger than just a beauty staple.

They want you to feel confident when you smile. To be proud of who you are and wear it with pride written all over your lovely face. Everyone’s teeth are important to them and we can’t all afford to spend thousands of pounds on whitening them professionally - or to take the downtime for teeth whitening home kits. So, let’s do the best with what we can, from the comfort of our home, in the simplest and quickest way we can.

After all, a smile is one of the first things you notice about someone’s personality and appearance.

I really hope you enjoy the video, please do let me know your thoughts and don’t forget to subscribe!

Love you lot, loads.

Leave me in the wild. By

 feels like forever ago, now.

The day I woke up and felt prepared to try and move on from a relationship I’d always imagined would last as long as my heart was beating and the air filled my lungs. The day that I realised that if he'd proposed to someone else, within a matter of months of us separating, I just didn’t need to carry the weight of heartbreak so heavy anymore.

It hasn't been plain sailing since then. It’s been a lot of things. Incredibly hard, incredibly liberating, soul-destroying and character building. It’s made me stronger through the emotions its forced me to feel and now here we are, 7 months on.

And he's married.

They tie the knot today.

Gosh, writing that down feels weird. And the significance of what it means feels crazy. Not that he’s found happiness, or a new love or even that he doesn't or didn't want to marry me - just, I mean, he's getting married? I’m not sharing this with you to judge, I find writing it here enables me to process my feelings in a way I can't anywhere else.
Of course, the whole situation feels weird - and the irrational side of my brain lets doubt creep in that I wasn't good enough, but I'll always see sense and know that's ridiculous. I think it's more of an overwhelming desire to know he'll be okay, that he's making good choices, even if that isn't my business anymore.

London Fashion Week isn't really my thing. I love fashion, but my passion for it comes through with personal style, mixing high-street pieces with the odd vintage gem. Fashion Week lends itself more to the high-end Designers - which I don't really wear, and let’s be honest, it’s bloody mental. I don’t know one person that doesn’t leave feeling absolutely exhausted and although I’m sure it’s a blast, it just doesn't tickle my pickle all that much.

That being said, I did pop down to the Apartment whilst London Fashion Week was on, to hang out with my main lady Hayley and get some outfit snaps and enjoy the atmosphere from afar. Shooting street style pictures at this time of year is my favourite and London always has some great locations.

I knew exactly what I wanted to wear, a pair of culottes with a loose fitting blouse, but I had neither in my wardrobe. I walked in to Urban Outfitters hoping they’d have something similar and what do you know? The exact outfit I wanted was just hanging there, looking all pretty - it’s like it was meant to be (which I swear I’ve said in nearly every other fashion post on here - we’ve got to justify spending our money somehow, right?).

These culottes are what comfy pants dreams are made of. They have that sporty edge to them with a polyester fabric so they literally just drape from the waist down. With a tie-string fastening you can hunch them in to accentuate your middle and just let the rest all hang out (or down, in this case).

The blouse is pretty nifty too, it comes down super far at the back - which would look ace with a pair of black skinny jeans or disco pants, but I didn’t think it would look all that flattering flapping around the back of the culottes like some kind of baggy nappy. I’ve simply tucked it all in and pulled roughly around the edges so that it still falls loosely and thrown on a lacy little bra number to show-off underneath.

These lovely loafers are from Boden and are by far the best I’ve seen so far this season. I never think to look to Boden for shoes but my god, how bloody pretty are these?!

Finished off with a snake chain saddle bag from Dune to match my red locks and hey presto. Masculine get-up at your service.

On Wednesday I made my way over to Essex to meet Laura, who writes the lovely blog , for a girly day out at .

I was really looking forward to it, for more reasons than one. Guys, I've had such a stressful start to September and haven't really allowed myself much downtime from work to relax - I really needed a happy day. But also, Laura is one of the loveliest blogger ladies out there so I was really excited to spend some more time with her just having some fun together - especially with someone who understands the levels of stress we can sometimes put on ourselves as bloggers.

I arrived at Lakeside and was taken aback by just how vast it was. Having never visited before I wasn't sure what to expect but the sun was shining and sitting outside waiting for Laura to arrive I felt excited for what felt like the first time in months. It just felt like the best day to start a fresh; turn over a stress-free, new leaf and treat myself to a new A/W wardrobe whilst I was at it. Remind myself that actually, I'm doing okay and taking some time out to have fun is definitely allowed.

With a day of shopping ahead of us, we made our way to the Customer Service lounge - we had an appointment booked in with the and we were both excited to see what that entailed.
On entry we were greeted with a cosy room filled with sofas, lockable phone charger portals, iPads and of course, fortune cookies. Situated in the corner was the personal stylist lounge and sliding the doors across we entered a Tardis - this place was huge. Beautifully and stylishly decorated we perched our bums down on the sofa for our consultation. Carlene was an absolute dream and immediately quelled any concerns or preconceptions I'd had about personal stylists in the past. I mean, it's just not something that's ever appealed to me - I'd always walk straight past services like that before, for fear of being judged, made to feel uncomfortable or having pressure put on me to wear clothes that just didn't feel very me. But intu Lakeside have got it so right. 
It's a completely free service, that you can book yourself in for or even sometimes just turn up on the day and they'll squeeze you in if they have time. You'll have a time-slot allocated to sit down with Carlene, she'll ask you some questions about what your needs are and then she'll take a look at your body shape before hitting the shops with you to help find the new items you're after.
Carlene doesn't work on a commission either, she's just salaried to be there so you know she's not going to apply pressure or favour some shops over others. I filmed a vlog of the day and Laura and I asked her a few questions and even had our body shapes confirmed before we started shopping, so you can take a look at that if you want to know more and get a better feel for what you can expect from that service.
I have to admit I was utterly blown away - the fact that it's completely free, there's no minimum spend and if you go out shopping with Carlene and end up finding nothing you like, it doesn't matter. It's basically like shopping with a friend that knows exactly what they're doing and genuinely wants to help you feel fabulous. I'm always in the mood to shop, but it made me feel so positive and happy I couldn't wait to rummage through all the stores and apply some of Carlene's tips to help me shop a little more sensibly for my shape and felt way more secure in myself and not intimidated by the prospect one little bit.

With all this new knowledge under our belts we both agreed grabbing some lunch before we started was the way to go. Luckily, Lakeside was Laura’s local hotspot, so she knew the place like the back of her hand. We headed upstairs to the Eatery and took our pick from the large selection of restaurants and pop-up cafes filling the entire top floor. We opted for Five Guys - a first time for the both of us and it did not disappoint. Have you tried it? Because basically my mouth was in heaven. Not to mention the ridiculously cool coca cola machine with all of the coke options in the world ever.
intu Lakeside boasts an array of shops, from House of Frasers stunning beauty hall to All Saints and Hamley's, it's got something for everyone. I made purchases from all my favourite shops (which you can see in Laura's !) but the shop I was most impressed with was Topshop. I have to say I'd been put off them in recent years, their style had gone a bit too young and girly for me and I'd found myself setting up camp more often in Zara. However, this was by far the best Topshop I think I've ever visited. It was set out fabulously, it was a breeze to walk through and there was so much space that it didn't feel overwhelming...they've clearly taken a turn for the better because I loved everything in store, and needless to say spent most of my money in there.

Resting areas are dotted across one side of the centre too (if the customer service lounge is a little too far to walk to), so once we were almost finished we perched our bums on these armchairs, checked our phones and rested our feet for a few minutes...
I left feeling like a brand new me. Full to the brim with incredible food, new clothes and happiness. I'd been truly inspired by Carlene's positive attitude and abundance of fashion knowledge, allowing me to pick up some amazing new pieces for AW15 and have the best time with Laura. We'd have had fun together regardless, but I feel like it gave both of us the buzz we needed to hit the shops with confidence.

I know sponsored content on blog posts can be a little off-putting for readers sometimes, but genuinely, I had the best day ever. I couldn't recommend intu Lakeside's services enough and can't wait to take my friends and family back to experience it.

So, if you've ever been dubious of taking some time with a personal stylist before, pop-in to lakeside, not only is that service incredible, but the centre itself makes for the perfect girls day out with all of the things to do.

Thanks Laura for being such a love and to Lakeside for having us for the day! I'd really love to know what you think if any of you stop by - it was such a lovely day for us.

Here we are, another Monday and it's officially starting to feel like Autumn. The ground is wet and the sun is shining and there's a cool enough chill to the air to mean that layering up our clothes will be acceptable once more.

I'm currently living in Urban Outfitters - I moved in a few months ago and so far so good. It's a commitment I'm glad I made and we're getting on like a house on fire.

Basically, they just make it incredibly difficult to not spend all of my money, all of the goddamn time. It's like every time I've come home to them (most weekends since I returned from America) I've walked out with something new, because: THEY JUST KNOW ME SO WELL. And lets be honest, who doesn't want a relationship that results in you having new clothes all the time. I know it suits me just fine.

These dungarees from Cheap Monday are the very latest addition and basically couldn't be more awesome if they tried.
I feel like black dungarees are the less try hard, easier wear version of the regular, lighter denim shade we all long for in our wardrobes. The skinny leg jeans mean they're super flattering and black goes with everything so you can pretty much wear what you like underneath - I'd even go as far to say that you could just rock a really pretty lacy bra without a top and be done with it. Although it's definitely too cold for that right now, so a polo neck will be just as fabulous.

And if we could also just take a moment to bow down and give these boots the praise they deserve. Kurt Geiger have stolen my heart with these bad boys. I love how the different shades running throughout the snakeskin pattern allow for you to match them up with a wide range of colours in your wardrobe.

Basically, I'm just really happy that it's back to boots and jeans weather and long may it continue.

If you’ve been reading this blog for any time at all, you’ll know just how important my skincare routine is. This time last year marked the start of me feeling more comfortable and confident in my skin. I’d gone through an intensive course of treatment with Courthouse Clinics and it appeared my acne spell had been calmed. I could get up in the morning and not cry at the thought of looking in the mirror. Hallelujah (!!!)

Having had acne and having tried every product on the market at an attempt to cure it to no avail, I’d let myself become a beauty recluse. I found it near on impossible to put my trust in a brand for the worry that it would make my skin worse.

But now, it feels like I’ve been given a second chance. I can take risks with my skincare; I can experiment and have fun with my beauty routine! Something I could’ve only dreamed of a few years ago.

Now I don’t know about you but Olay isn’t a brand I’d usually look to for my skincare. My mum swears by their products and I think because of that, I’ve always labelled them as ‘the older woman’s’ beauty product. But when they got in touch with their new Olay Hydration 2 in 1 Range I was intrigued to give it a try because 1.) I COULD and 2.) I totally wanted to put my mum’s statement to the test.

So what is the 2 in 1 range?

It’s main focus is hydrating the skin with a moisturiser whilst adding another key beauty benefit to your daily routine.

First up:

Olay 2 in 1 Hydration + Radiant Glow 75ml
A lightweight moisturiser with light reflecting particles – combined they give the skin a healthy, radiant glow whilst deeply nourishing the skin with moisture, penetrating up to 7 surface layers deep. The light texture of the cream let’s your skin breath so it won’t clog your pores and is easily absorbed, so there’s no greasy film or down time waiting for it to soak in. It has a fresh, sweet smelling scent that isn’t overpowering and at 75ml, it’s the perfect travel essential for an on-the-go moisture boost. I’ll use this after cleansing but before my primer and it gives an instant natural glow to the skin without looking like you’ve just sweated on the beach for hours. Winner.

Olay 2 in 1 Hydration + Flawless Blur 50ml
Boasting the same benefits as the Radiant Glow, this moisturising cream provides a non-greasy and quickly absorbed formula that’s a great base for make-up. The smooth finish is achieved by strengthening the skins moisture barrier with vitamins such as B3, E and Pro-V B5. It feels like silk to apply! My skin is left soft to the touch and completely even. I’ll apply this after the Radiant Glow as a primer for my make-up – it’s a dream to work on top of. Make-up just glides on effortlessly and stays put. I have a lot of love for this one.

Olay 2 in 1 Hydration + BB Cream 50ml (two shades available)
A moisturiser topped up with the Max Factor foundation is the perfect addition to your makeup stash coming out of the summer months. If you’re boasting a post-holiday tan and want to show it off whilst keeping some coverage, this is the product you need. It’s been perfect for me since I’ve arrived home from America, and paired with the Radiant Glow and Flawless blur, it achieves an even tone, a healthy glow and keeps my skin hydrated all day.  Together these three products have given me that ‘no make-up, make-up’ look I’ve been trying to achieve for years and the natural glow they achieve (and that you can hopefully see in the photos) is something else. I’m seriously impressed, albeit surprised at the success we’ve experienced together. I wasn’t expecting to love these products as much as I do. I’ll have to make sure I hide them from mum…no sharing on this one ;-)

Have you tried the Olay Hydration 2 in 1 range yet? What did you think? It’s exclusive to Superdrug, so if you want to get your hands on them, pop in to your nearest store or have a cheeky shop online!