Wonderful You | Fashion and Style Blog: January 2014

Friday, 31 January 2014

The Beauty in Blogging | A Friend for Life

WARNING: If you aren't one to appreciate ALL the feels, switch off now!

The blogosphere is huge, wonderful and full of opportunity – I love it and all that it is. And nearly two years ago I made a pretty special friend because of it. In the grand scheme of things, two years isn’t really very long is it? But I know that I’ve made a friend for life in Miss Zoe Newlove and if you read my blog frequently, she won't be a stranger! But just in-case you’re unsure, you can find her here.

First and foremost this post is to say thank you to Zoe, but it’s also to share and show the level of positivity and amazing things that blogging can bring. There’s a fair bit of stigma that goes with fashion and beauty blogging; what with the catty lash backs of PR samples and untouchable cliques along with many others (the list goes on), and we’re all very quick (myself included) to focus on the negativity of certain situations. So what, you’ve had one negative comment on a recent post or video, aren’t the other 10 comments completely lovely? Yes they are. So I just wanted to take a moment on my blog, to share my belief, that blogging brings so much positivity to my life and has definitely changed it for the better in many ways. And Zoe is one of those reasons.

So here’s 10 reasons why she is completely, utterly and ridiculously awesome:

1. She accepts that I hate cheese, and doesn’t judge me for it (much).
2.      She is completely selfless, in every situation.
3. She inspires me and gives me confidence.
4.      She is impulsive and not afraid of change or challenges.
5.      She’d rather stay in and have pizza with me than go out and get legless.
6.      She listens, cares and talks just as much as I do.
7.      She understands – everything.
8.      She stops me being negative and provides a positive solution for the shittiest of situations.
9.      She can’t cook. She burns baked beans – this makes me feel better about myself.
10.   She is there. Always. And sometimes, knows me better than I know myself.

My list would go on for a million years, but that would be weird, cringey and probably unnecessary for a blog post – so I’m sure you get the gist!

I’m one of those girls who doesn’t have 100+ close friends because well, if I’m honest, it takes quite a lot for me to actually let someone in and for me to invest my trust in them. I don't know, I just prefer to keep in my safe bubble of friendships, to avoid being hurt :) So Miss Newlove, I hope you feel privileged ;) mwahaha.

That being said, the past few years have seen huge highs and crappy lows for the both of us and through every single one we've had each other there for support. Whether we need to dance crazily because something amazing has happened or need a shoulder for a massive cry, she's been the one I will turn to. And I can't thank her enough for that support. I don’t know anyone that is quite like her – who’s experienced the life experiences she has, supports people in the way she does and genuinely cares more than anyone I’ve ever known.

It's funny really, thinking that our friendship began over the internet, with a simple string of emails talking about how awful my skin was being and Zoe - the master that she is, trying to comfort my woes with her knowledge. From that very first email I kind of just knew that we would get on famously, and I wasn't wrong. It's an odd and wonderful thing when you 'click' with someone and that's exactly what happened with us. It's odd to think of a time before our friendship, because it feels like I've known her forever.

Thank you, blogging, for introducing me to one of the best friends I will ever meet. And thank you Zoe, for being you and making life a happier place.

Of course, I have lovely best friends that I've known my entire life that are wonderful too, but this post is meant to be a reminder that blogging can bring amazing things, so take the chance, step out of your comfort zone and grab those opportunities; don't be scared – because it could result in another Zoe, which would be pretty awesome, no?

If you fancy getting to know here a little better, (you really, really do) take a visit to her blog, or send her a !

LOVE YOU, ZO xxx

Thursday, 30 January 2014

What I Wore | Dressing Down

Hat: Topshop. Jumper: Stone Union via Brit Fash. Dress: Chi Chi*. Belt: Vintage. Bag: Nica Handbags*. Boots: Kurt Geiger via ASOS.

Sometimes, I will find the prettiest dresses that I look at and think to myself ‘when will I ever wear it?’. I’m not one for dressing up too often, heels are a rarity and beautiful dresses are saved for special occasions or the odd night out. But I suddenly came to the realisation that some pretty dresses can be dressed down. Why shouldn’t we make the purchase just because it’s seen as a ‘going out’ dress? Instead, I opted for this dress, something I’d usually pick up and put back down again, teamed it with a baggy jumper, boots and my floppy hat and I think the mix of casual and pretty actually work quite well.

It's also no secret that I love my handbags (obviously, I don’t have a wardrobe full...ahem), but I’ve been on the hunt for the perfect tan bag to add to my collection since, well, probably birth. I’m not one for teeny tiny bags, I like something large that’s sturdy and going to fit all my crap in it but look cute whilst doing so. And then I found this beauty...The floral embossed detail sets it apart from most on the high-street and the detachable strap means I can take it from practical to chic in seconds. The most brilliant part though is that it is extra secure, with the satchel flap fastening and a zip closure under the tab. I’m forever having things fall out of my bag because it seems that no-one wants to put zips on anything anymore! Anyway, I’m waffling, but to be frank I really, really ruddy love it.

Also - hello new Kurt Geiger booties, I love you, with every inch of my feet & more.

Do you ever dress down party dresses? What do you think of this look?

Wednesday, 29 January 2014

Taking Time to Relax

I’m not one for making New Year’s resolutions – I like to think that if I’m going to achieve something, I’ll do it regardless of what time of year it is. That being said, I have promised myself that going forward I’m going to take more time for me, to relax and indulge in some pampering.

Since we moved in to our first home, apart from being completely wonderful and just what I had hoped, it’s been literally exhausting. I know it sounds silly, but I’m quite a lazy person and food shopping, cooking, cleaning, working full time and blogging (pretty much full time) as well as finding time to spend with Daniel and socialise with friends has really taken it out of me.

When I sit down at the end of an evening my body aches and I just feel a bit rubbish really. Obviously, this isn’t something I can change, being an adult is awesome in many ways, but crappy in others and I just need to suck it up and stop being such a baby. I am however, going to make sure I take one evening each week to have some ‘me’ time.

For the past few weeks (usually on a Thursday), I’ve been doing just that. After all of the necessities are taken care of, I run myself a bath, light a candle, pop on Kate Nash and close the bathroom door.

In my bath, along with the usual bubbles, I’ve been using the Sweet Orange and Frangipani Bath Soak from Conscious Skincare and following with their body butter afterwards. There’s something strangely satisfying about using products from the same range in my body care routine and these two are absolutely glorious. The sweet orange scent just makes me feel happy and the frangipani essential oils help to relax, calm and release any stress.

Conscious Skincare are an organic brand, which are totally free of synthetic preservatives and parabens, which is refreshing and wonderful both at the same time. The bath soak is gorgeous, and works as an almost oil consistency to fill the bath with a heavenly scent – there’s no frothing or bubbles with this, which proves the lack of nastiness in it.

The body butter is on a whole other level though. I can’t quite explain how absolutely amazing it is and how much you need to have it in your life. In the pan, I must admit, it doesn’t look hugely appealing – but when I popped a little in to the palm of my hand I couldn’t quite believe it. The soufflé consistency immediately melts away on impact and leaves a beautiful, oily butter that glides on to the skin and provides intense moisturising. It’s definitely a luxurious product, which I would only personally use in the evenings as the oil based consistency doesn’t absorb into the skin immediately. I've also been struggling with getting to sleep recently and the calming effect it has, has been a massive help.

I’ve also been looking in to little spa breaks or treatments at local beauty resorts and have stumbled across The Beauty Manor – which is nearby to my local area. I’m tempted to save a few pennies (that otherwise would be spent on another pair of boots) and have a monthly/quarterly treat. They have incredible packages that include multiple treatments, a complimentary lunch and relaxation rooms starting at just over £80, which actually seems really reasonably priced! I think it’s so important to take time for yourself, be it a treatment or just a simple pamper evening at home – taking a few hours to let yourself relax and unwind is so important to helping us feel happy and good about ourselves.

What are your thoughts? Is pampering something you make the time for?

Tuesday, 28 January 2014

What I Wore | Don't Get Shirty With Me

Shirt Dress: Choies* (similar styles here). Boots: My Dress Room. Lipstick: Topshop Infrared

A shirt turned in to a dress has to be one of the greatest inventions in the fashion world – in my world any way.

Blouses are plentiful in my wardrobe and when you turn them in to a dress it just makes my life complete. It’s the easiest, quickest and chicest way to get dressed. I literally pop this little beauty over my head, whack on some boots and I’m good to go – what more could you want in life? (apart from obvious things like a kick-ass house or super shiny car.) But for now, I’m happy to find contentment in this moment.

Choies is a new discovery for me and it’s definitely love. The prices are ridiculously affordable, for example this dress was $21.99, which works out at just under £15 – that’s a bargain if I ever saw one and personally I think this looks like something you’d pay £45-50 for in the likes of Topshop or Urban Outfitters. With Choies being based in China all of their items are shipped overseas, so if you want to get free delivery you will have to wait a little while, but I think it’s worth it.

What do you think? Yay or nay to shirt dresses?

Sunday, 26 January 2014

INTERIOR: In My Bedroom

When we moved in to our home the first thing I wanted to sink my teeth in to was the bedroom. I have to admit that Daniel's been an absolute angel and let me have free reign in there - and although it's still a work in progress, I thought it would be nice to share where we are with it :) There's still so much I want to do but here we are...

Starting off with my favourite purchase in the whole wide world ever...our bed. It was bloody expensive, but honestly, it was worth it. The French Bedroom Company is one of my favourite shops in the world and it was always a dream of mine to own a bed from there, not actually ever thinking I would. When Daniel asked me what sort of bed I wanted, and I sent him a link to this one I couldn't believe it when he replied saying he loved it too. We went for a Super-king and I know it's such a lot of money, but we looked at it as an investment - it's something we're going to love and cherish for so many years to come and I it's probably the best purchase I've ever made.

Now, although we were lavish in purchasing our bed I kept my vintage loving, second hand Sally head on for the rest of the furniture. When looking for vintage pieces my first point of call is always eBay, searching your local area is an excellent way to find affordable, good quality furniture. My dressing table was a mere £20 from a local lady emigrating to New Zealand (and she threw the stool in for free too!). For a sort of beauty blogger I don't really fit the bill, I can't stand muji storage and simply, things just go where they go. I like a bit of organised chaos and not having too much structure.

Local auctions are also a fantastic way to kit out your first home. This amazing Scottish chest of drawers is one of my favourite additions to the bedroom and we picked it up for £100 which is such a bargain when something like this would retail at £400-500 minimum. We've picked quite a few things up via auctions, so if you'd like to see a separate post on that please let me know!

Our wardrobe, second chest of drawers and bedside tables were old, second hand, pine hand me downs. I really hate pine. So mum and I did a bit of DIY and re-invented them :) I've got a post coming up on how I re-work my furniture, the paint I use and techniques applied, so keep your eyes peeled for that!

My bedside table is kept to a minimum. I'm a messy pup, so if I was to have too much going on it would just become a mound of rubbish. My Jo Malone candle (which I'll be blogging this week) is kept company with a lovely little artificial, flameless candle. I am a huge lover of candles (how many more times can I say candle?) and the atmosphere they create, but I can't always be bothered with lighting them, or having something scented filling the room so having this little beaut by my bed is perfect!

So, that pretty much sums up our bedroom my dears. I hope you found it somewhat interesting, it's one of my favourite places in the house and I can't wait to add some more bits to it. I'm thinking some art on the walls and perhaps a rug :)

What do you think?

Other items, photographed but not mentioned:

Bedding: Dunelm Mill

Long Mirror: The Range

Dressing Table Mirror: Vintage

Bird Ring Trinket: BHS

Bird Cage: Vintage
Floral Crowns/Headbands: Crown and Glory

Handmade Sock Dolls: By Daniel!

Any other storage, trinkets or ornaments: Vintage/Carboot

Friday, 24 January 2014

What I Wore | A Winter Outfit

Crop Jumper: Hedonia*. Leggings: Zara (similar here) Coat: Zara. Boots: Hush Puppies. Bag: TK Maxx. Necklace: Ever Ours*

I filmed my first ‘outfit of the day’ video for a while last weekend. It was just a simple, winter outfit – something comfortable but warm and practical. I thought it might be quite nice to share it on here with you guys too! I’d really love to know what you think of it as it’s the first ‘OOTD’ video I’ve filmed myself, so if you have any constructive criticism it would be warmly welcomed :)

I’ve wanted to get my hands on a white jumper for quite a while, as they really help to break up my very black wardrobe - plus the go well with anything. And this cropped one from Hedonia, with the chunky gold zip detail and loose fit is exactly what I was after. It’s obviously a bit too cold to wear it alone (plus it’s quite see-through), so I just threw on a little strap top underneath from good old Primarni and voila. I love it.

I also feel like I can’t ever take off my Zara coat – I promise I do own other jackets but I intend on absolutely running this one in to the ground before wearing anything else again, ever.

And of course, we all know I have an obsession for both coats and boots. I’ve been naughty and purchased another pair of booties (I’m not sorry, not even one bit), which I’ll be sharing with you guys soon – BUT I do really want to get my hands on a jolly good black coat. Any suggestions of where I can find one? :)

Oh and here's the video...I hope you like it :D

Shop my look here:

Thursday, 23 January 2014

Kicking Acne's Butt with Courthouse Clinics

WARNING: Be prepared to read a pretty hefty post here – and by hefty I mean of epic proportions. Continue...

You may remember a few months ago I wrote about actively making a change with my skin. No more waiting around trying every product on the market, wishfully thinking something would change, when we all knew it wouldn’t. I spoke about the potential of trying out some treatments, like skin peels or microdermabrasion – which, I’m sure you’ll agree is pretty damn scary actually. Do I really want to have my face peeled off? No I don’t. But what I do want is to feel happy and I’ve been learning that I’m the only person who can really change that.

Some sort of skin god must have heard my prayers as an email from a rather magnificent lady – Laura-Jane Williams landed in my inbox a few months later. Being a blogger I’m fortunate enough to be contacted by PR’s and brands alike with the view of striking up a relationship and potentially collaborating. There are so many that get it wrong, haven’t done their research and give the same spiel of how ‘wonderful’ they think you are. Not that you aren’t, but hey, I probably don’t want to review electric cigarettes on my fashion blog, y’know? Laura was certainly the opposite and if you want to find out why, just have a look at her blog here. I’m not shy to say that I’m obviously now in love with her, and I’m sure you will be too.

I digress (sort of), because Laura was contacting me about Courthouse Clinics and their acne guide - yep that’s right, an Acne Guide. Reading up on your health issues is a major thing in this day and age, you know the one, self diagnosis? But what is difficult to come across is something you can truly understand, find relatable and actually want to read more of – and that’s exactly what this guide did, it had me from beginning to end, crying with laughter and nodding my head in appreciation. You must go and read it! Just click here (and make sure you scroll down to about halfway) – when you’ve read it, come back here and we’ll continue.

Done? I know. It’s good right? After reading it I knew that I wanted Courthouse Clinics to be the people that helped me and my skin. It’s probably the best thing I’ve ever read relating to acne issues, why? If not for the relaxed, abrupt and hilarious writing style that instantly puts you at ease; it’s for the insanely informative nature and the reassurance that something can actually be done – and of course, the positive message it sends: we should love ourselves!!Pimples or not, we deserve to feel wonderful and if Beyoncé champions it, then it’s gospel that we should be too.

So, like the guide promises I made my way to Courthouse Clinics for my free consultation. I felt sick on my journey down – having someone look at my naked face and tell me what’s wrong with it was daunting to say the least, but it was something I knew I needed to do. Situated on a quiet street in London I instantly felt calmer and on arrival, so welcomed. My consultant, Buntie, was the friendliest lady who sat me down and asked me how I was feeling and what my skin concerns were. We then went through a very detailed questionnaire so she could determine what my thoughts were on my acne and also to try and help discover what it actually was that was causing it. The word ‘hormones’ reared it’s ugly head and after seeing the panicked look on my face she reassured me that all I needed was a simple hormonal balance test – a what now? I didn’t even know that existed, but it’s something that you can have done at your local GP, taking blood samples basically just to see if there’s an imbalance causing your skin to go crazy. After that, Buntie told me that pretty much all my skincare was rubbish – which we laughed about – and that although there might be an imbalance in my hormone’s, causing my constant breakouts, the products I was using probably weren’t helping much with my oil control.

We removed my make-up to take a look at the damage we’d been talking about and it was clear that scarring was my main issue - apologies for the GROSS photo's but I wanted you to have a clear understanding of my skin and what we're trying to get rid of. (Only 4 of those 'spots' are actually live - the rest is scarring).
Buntie advised that I have the PIRORI Advanced AHA skin peel – a highly effective skin exfoliant that causes dead skin cells to peel and flake off (yummy), making room for healthier, new skin to grow. AHAs also work to stimulate collagen and elastin production helping to counteract signs of ageing beneath the skin. And although this peel isn’t hugely invasive, i.e. no actual skin peeling and minimal irritation – it is penetrating beneath the skin so it still requires some preparation...meaning you can’t just whack it all over your face, you’ve got to get it used to the AHAs first!

That’s when the new skincare came in...Buntie suggested hat I try out four new products, Vitage Revitalising Daily Cleanse and Vitage Skin Defence SPF 30 to help balance my skin and the PRIORI AHA Barrier Repair Complex and PRIORI AHA Perfection Gel to prepare my skin for the peel. I’m going to be doing a full, separate blog post on these because they’ve completely changed my life – I’m not bluffing – and deserve sole recognition! So, I’ll leave you in suspense regarding those babies, because, you know, I’m good like that ;)

Buntie then gave me a little facial, using all the products above and advising me along the way how I should be using them. She finished off with a mini PRIORI CoffeeBerry Natureceutical peel, to give me a taste of what a treatment might be like. This particular peel is less intense than the AHA, and has a high level of antioxidants, including plants enzymes, salicylic and malic acid to help reduce fine lines and wrinkles whilst also improving skin tone. It tingled and stung a teeny amount, but smelt lovely and felt reallllllly good.

My appointment had been early in the morning and by the time I’d got home from London almost 6 hours later, my skin was still completely free of excess oil and smooth as a babies bottom (FYI it’s usually swimming within an hour or two). I couldn’t actually believe it, my skin felt incredible. It was SO free of oil that I even made Daniel stroke my forehead, because obviously it’s something he is going to appreciate fully.

Needless to say, I am completely stoked to go back and have my treatment. I’ve been using my new products every day leading up to it and this weekend, the deed will be done! Keep your eyes peeled for a post coming soon that will cover the peel itself and the results it achieves. Let's hope the 'after' pictures are show an improvement!

Oh, I also went to the doctors about my hormone's, and guess what? There was an imbalance, so I’ve changed up my contraceptive pill which should help to sort it out (potential post on that coming up). It just goes to show, if you don’t ask you don’t find out and it's worth remembering that even when you think all hope is lost, there’s still a light at the end of the tunnel.

I couldn’t recommend Courthouse Clinics anymore if I tried. From amazing customer service to treatments that actually make a difference it’s been such a fantastic experience so far. I’m really so excited to have my peel, and share the outcome with you guys.

If you’re having concerns with your skin like I was, make sure you read the acne guide, take a trip, have a free consultation (in their many practices over the UK) and just see what they have to say. It’s incredible what a difference it can make to your life. It’s been such a confidence boost for me and I’m hopeful that it’s going to help change things for good.

Thank you, Courthouse. My face and I love you, very, very much.

*Although this post was sponsored, all thoughts are my own and I am so grateful for the experience*

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