July Through Instagram

My July Instagram feed has been selfie central and I feel utterly ashamed for my actions- I'm sorry for the excessive amounts of my face this month. No one deserves that sort of treatment. Once again though it's been a speedy month and there's been plenty going on! So I'll kick off my Instagram summary of the blink and you'll miss it month that July was! 

1. First selfie from a Friday night out with my best friend, Holly, to celebrate my cousins birthday. Happy Birthday Leanne! You might also recognise this picture from one of my recent Get Ready With Me posts! 

2. Another selfie...this time a rather tired looking 'morning after' selfie...oh dear

3. And guess what? Another picture of my face, this time however on the beach at San Juan in Tenerife, with a daiquiri at 11am. Living the high life obviously. 

4. Finally a picture that isn't me! I was craving a sweetie fix so picked myself up a good old pick'n'mix one Saturday morning. Literally my favourite thing! 

5. This photo cracks me up every time I see it. It's an action shot of my cousin Scott doing air guitar in Reflex on a night out. I can't remember what song was playing, but he certainly looks like he's enjoying it! 

6. Compulsory holiday leg photo...in the background of my hot dog legs you can see the view from my sunbed at the lido in Los Gigantes. My favourite place in the world. 

7. Oh no, back to my face. Here's myself and my gorgeous friend, Helen-Siân, at the wedding of our good friends JC and Grace. It was a truly beautiful day and we both had a bit of a cry during the ceremony! Congratulations Mr and Mrs Forrester-Cliffe! 

8. Pinterest made me do it...enjoying a nice cold strawberry milkshake in the sun from a Kilner jar with a striped straw. Totally unashamed! 

9. And back to my face, however this time enjoying a big glass of Sangria in CK's Bistro in Los Gigantes. We had a fabulous night, the garlic mushrooms were to die for, and if anyone is ever holidaying in that area of Tenerife then I can not recommend it enough! 

July, you were busy and hectic but went far too fast. Here's to a fabulous August!

Lush Oxford Street: The Experimenter

There are very few things that excite me as much as a new bath bomb (maybe a little bit of hyperbole there), so I just had to show you The Experimenter bath bomb from Lush Oxford Street. 

As a naked product, the appearance of this one is absolutely stunning! Coloured with pink, blue, white and orange side, you can see the glitter in this gorgeous bath tint treat. And it's enormous! I wasn't overly taken by the scent when I had my first sniff, however, by the time I actually used it, I adored the vanilla and tonka scent!

You can see in the photographs, the colours in this bath ballistic are amazing, I was stunned by the look of this one. It's like a real life potion being made in your bath. The camera doesn't pick it up but there is a swirl of glitter throughout the water. As well, you can't see it in the pictures, the water itself looks green and purple at the same time-which I thought was amazing-and not the muddy colour that the images have picked up.

I am so excited to be able to have one of these goodies again!

GRWM: Friday Night Out

It's that time of the week again...thank god! Me and my gorgeous bestie, Holly, were off out on the town, painting it red, for my cousin's birthday- Happy Birthday Leanne! But I thought that while I was making an effort, i might put together a little 'Get Ready With Me' post, so here we are.

We started off, as is always necessary, with bare faces and used Lush's Mask of Magnaminty which is fantastic for getting rid of pesky breakouts (something that I have been plagued with lately). So we popped that on and sat and had a girly chat for 20 minutes- can't ask for more than that. 

After taking the mask off, I popped a generous helping of Lush's Million Dollar Moisturiser over my face, neck and décolletage. I have been loving this recently, as it stops my face from feeling all dry and stiff, gives me a boost of radiance from it's light reflecting pigment and still doesn't make me oily. The perfect dewy moisturiser! 

Holly was in the shower at this point so it was definitely a good time to start doing my hair; something that needs real concentration to look any better than having been dragged through a usb backwards. I started off with the TRESemme Heat Protect Spray through the lengths of my hair, and then sprayed some of the COLAB Paris Dry Shampoo into my roots to give them a bit of a lift. 

As I didn't want to go full out poodle style curly, I used a pair of straighteners just to add a bit of shape to the ends, then gave them a bit of a shake to break up the curls and spritzed with some hairspray. 

My make up wasn't really anything exciting, I just applied a full coverage base, bronzer and highlighter, filled in my eyebrows with the Benefit Browzings and then finished off with cat flick eyeliner and a generous helping of mascara. I wouldn't normally use a dark eyeshadow, however I broke back into my Urban Decay Naked palette and the shade 'Toasted' over my lid, and 'Hustle' in the crease of my eye, to give it some depth. I never normally venture into the darker shades of my Naked Palettes, so it was refreshing to try something new. I then finished off with Bourjois Rouge Edition Velvet in Ole Flamingo for a bold statement lip and co-ordinated my fingernails using a Leighton Denny High Performance Nail Colour in 'Pillow Talk'.

My outfit was pretty standard for me, black pencil skirt, cami and platform shoes. I finished off with a spritz of Thierry Mugler's Angel before I left the house and there we go, ready and raring!

Things I Learned from My Step-Mum

A girl has a lot of important people in her life, lots and lots of people that teach her about life or about herself. Yes, this includes good friends, bad friends, idiot ex-boyfriends, ex-boyfriends that it just didn't work with, work colleagues, family and everyone else we encounter along the way. But for everyone, there is a handful of people who act as an inspiration in our lives and I am very lucky to have 3 special women in my life: my Mum (who I wrote about a few months ago), my late Nana and my Step-Mum, all of whom have been important in shaping who I am today. So here's a few things that I learned from my Step-Mum...

1. Moisturise your neck- You can't start early enough in avoiding, or at least off-putting, the inevitable occurrence of chicken neck and alls it takes is to moisturise your neck and décolletage just as often as you moisturise your face. 

2. Garlic goes nicely in pretty much most things- But not in cornflakes, as she jokes. 'If you can't love me smelling of garlic, then you're not the one for me'. Garlic itself is massively good for you and full of antioxidants, it is also very tasty! This explains my order at any Indian restaurant of garlic naan bread with extra EXTRA garlic. 

3. Haemorrhoid cream is the best eye cream that money can buy- Or if not the best, then certainly the best value for money. A £3.30 tube of cream is fantastic for getting rid of and preventing wrinkles, as well as removing those really annoying tired bags from under your eyes. 

4. You've got to go for your dreams even if it means taking massive risks- My step-mum is an enormous advocate of following your dreams, however she has given me the courage to step outside of my comfort zone and risk losing from time to time on the off-chance that it will enormously pay off and you'll be one step closer to achieving those dreams. She's instilled in me a courage to not worry about being tied down to anything as I always have a choice as to what I want to do with my life and where I want it to take me. 

5. Makeup and Cosmetics- My love, and ultimately passion, for cosmetics and beauty products comes from my step-mum. She has always been a big user of different types of cosmetics and from growing up watching her apply makeup or suggesting different lotions and potions, I have grown a love of my own and now I'm a complete addict. 

Inside the Latest in Beauty Capital FM Box

I always get very excited when Latest in Beauty release a new box. It's a very exciting event! I hadn't bought one of the Capital FM boxes before, so when I saw the contents of this 'Best of Summer' box I put an order in straight away.

There was a whole array of products in this one, and although some aren't your everyday essentials, I know that I'll get use out of pretty much all of them.

Inside you'll find:

-Dr Organic Bio-Plasma Face Mask

-Hawaiian Tropic Sun Lotion

-Fudge Urban Colour Spray In Colour

-Nails Inc Gel Effect Polish

-MUA Mega Volume Mascara

-MUA Poptastic Eyeshadow Palette

-COLAB Dry Shampoo

-Carmex Moisture Plus Lip Balm

-Malin+Goetz Vitamin E Face Moisturiser

-Malin+Goetz Grapefruit Face Cleanser

-Malin+Goetz Lip Moisturiser

I Love...Perfectly Peachy Shower Creme (Sample)

I adore that many of these products are under 100ml as it means that i'll be able to take them on holiday with me, since I'm only taking hand luggage. So it looks like the suncream, cleanser and moisturiser are all coming to Tenerife with me!

I am intrigued by this eyeshadow palette, it's so beautiful, but I'm also unsure as to how I'm ever going to use it. I have never ever ventured into the realms of colourful eye make up (expect for the odd dance show) so I look forward to testing out some new looks- perhaps an 80s inspired eye?

My favourite product in the whole box is the spray in hair colour. The bottle in my box is a bright lilac colour and is so pigmented that you only need a light covering, especially on my very blonde hair. I love experimenting with colourful hair chalk so this is perfect and much less messy!

Have you ordered a Latest in Beauty box recently? What do you think of this one?

Lush in the Sun

Hasn't the weather been lovely? Well...hasn't the weather on some days been lovely? With the appearance of a spot of sun, I whipped out my SPF products and fell back in love with looking after my own skin.

I love the Lush sunscreen products, 1) because they are fresh, handmade and of fabulous quality, and 2) because they are not tested on animals. For sun care especially, this is a rarity. Did you know that there are only 3 chemical sunscreens that are not tested on animals (Octocrylene, Butyl Methoxydibenzoyl-methane and Octyl Methoxy-cinnamate). So I am glad to confirm that these products have never seen a rabbit!

Sesame Sunscreen Lotion

This has to be my most used product of the range, although it only has SPF 10 it was my saviour last year for not getting burned and it smells delicious. The formula also includes Aloe Vera which makes it perfect for using as an aftersun as well as in the day to protect against those pesky rays. In fact, I've just purchased a bottle of this to take away with me to Tenerife!

Million Dollar Moisturiser

I'm not going to lie, when I first used this last year, it did absolutely nothing for me, I broke out, it made me oily and my make up would not sit on top of it. However, having gone back to it, I blooming love this! It's made with Jojoba oil (which is chemically the closest oil to the natural sebum that we produce) and shea butter, so is super nourishing. It also has SPF 30, so is perfect for a daytime summer moisturiser and it also contains some of the 'Feeling Younger' light reflecting pigment o gov your skin a radiant boost. Lovely stuff.

Powdered Sunshine

This is a very very different and interesting concept...a powdered sunscreen?! However, as someone who does not get on very well with hats, this is really useful for applying directly into the parting of your hair to avoid burning your scalp. Of course it can also be used all over the body instead of using a lotion (especially convenient when wanting to avoid getting sand all stuck to you) however I find it very useful for putting through the roots of my hair to prevent burning my head. 

Have you tried any of Lush's sun care range?

The Love-Hate Relationship Of Having Long Hair

It is a struggle known and understood by many: the feeling of simultaneously loving and hating your hair. One day it is looking dreamy and you feel that twinge of pride in those long strands of dead cells that, if only for a few hours, look half decent today, and the next you're just ready to shave it all off and not have the hassle. We feel your pain sisters!


LOVE- Being sat playing with your own hair, running it through your fingers, twisting it round and doing some boredom solving braiding. This also counts for getting an elected person (e.g. your boyfriend or bestie) to mess with your hair for you, because you're a lady of leisure and doing it yourself is just too much exertion.


HATE- Lugs (or knots, because as I recently found out, not everyone use that word). How? Just how? I brushed you this morning and you already look and feel like a bird's nest.


LOVE- Freshly washed hair. Soft, nourished and looking on point. End of story.


HATE- It either dries leaving you look like a poodle or it sits there flat and lifeless- there is no in between. I am a flat and lifeless kind of gal and straighteners are my sworn enemy.

LOVE- Oh the hair products! So dreamy. You make my life a happy one and my barnet semi-respectable.


HATE- Oh the hair products? An addiction that is great for my hair but not so great for my bank balance.

LOVE- When it's right, it's just so right.

HATE- When it's wrong then it's just so wrong and going to insist on being matted mess for the rest of the day and do the exact opposite of what you want.


LOVE- There are so many hairstyling possibilities. Variety is of course the spice of life!


HATE- Going to the hairdressers is one scary appointment, will I leave looking fabulous or will chopping that 1 inch of hair off leave me feeling scalped...hmm?


LOVE- When you totally notice the difference after being at the hairdressers, even though your boyfriend probably won't and will question how you can justify paying upwards of £30 on the exact same hairstyle...trust me, £30 was a bargain for this warm glowing feeling!

5 Tips for Early Starts

No one likes an early start. I'm not just talking waking up at 6:30 or getting up at stupid o'clock to go on holiday- they don't count. I'm talking about those mornings, where, for whatever reason, you have to be up and out of the house really early. For me this was because of work. So here's a few tips on how to rise early and not sleep through your alarm and nearly miss your 5:45am pickup (my bad)...

1. Make your room as dark as possible. As I don't have blackout curtains in my bedroom, I have a real problem with making my room dark! To help with this I draped towels over my curtains to block out the light, and let me get to sleep regardless of how bright it still was outside...damn you summer evenings!

2. Stick to your normal routine. I found that, even though I was not doing something I would routinely do, sticking to my normal routine made settling early feel super natural. Even little things such as putting my lamp on out of habit rather than necessity because it creates the same atmosphere as I would normally have to go to sleep.

3. Treat yourself to a relaxing bath. I love a good bath! But the act of cooling down after having a bath can actually make you feel really sleep and help you to completely drop off. You might even want to drop in a cute little bath bomb or moisturising bath melt or creamer to make your chill session even more so. 

4. Get everything ready for the next day in the evening. A lesson I learned by not doing it...If you pack your bags and layout your clothes ready for the next day before you go to bed, it helps to take some stress off you in having to worry about whether you have gotten everything. This also helps you just rise in the morning and not have to stress or run around like a headless chicken trying to find anything. I missed a trick with this one, 5:45 pickup and staying in London that night, I had planned to get all of my bags together in the morning, however slept through my alarm until 5:47, only to find that my lift was already outside. It's fair to say that I just grabbed anything I could reach, threw some clothes on and got ready in the car...nothing like learning from experience.

5. Get some lavender on the go! I'm not a lavender fan, most of the time it makes me feel a bit sick, however I found that using lavender based sleep products can actually help. I've been using the This Works Deep Sleep Pillow Spray, which has quite a powdery lavender scent (so took me a while to get used to) by just lightily spraying it onto my pillow and cushions. My favourite, however, is the Thisworks Deep Sleep Stress Less temple balm, which is a balm to pop into your pulse points containing lavender and eucalyptus, and I think that this product is single handedly the most relaxing little balm ever. 

I know it's something different, but I hope you enjoy this post, and I wish you the best of luck with your early starts. 

A Few Empties

I love posts like these because I'm super nosey! Here's a few bits and pieces that I've picked up and emptied recently, it's not exactly a big selection but some of these products I've only just finished after months of using, so let's have a look...

Clinique Anti-Blemish Solutions Clarifying Lotion (£18): Where would I be without this little gem? I was introduced to this by my friend Kate because I was looking for a good liquid exfoliant and this one really really does the trick! You just pop it on some cotton wool and wipe it around your face to exfoliate and remove dead skin cells and leftover product. It improved the look of my skin so much and gave me a lovely radiant glow. An instant repurchase! 

The Body Shop Aloe Calming Facial Cleanser (£8.50): I like this cleanser purely because it cleans my face without irritating my skin or making my eyes sting. It smells a little funky but overall is just a really simple, but effective, facial cleanser. Perfect for using with a hot flannel. 

The Body Shop Vitamin E Body Butter (£13): this smells amazing! I love a good body butter and after I had this one for Christmas it didn't take me very long to get through. It was light enough to use before dressing but heavy enough to make a difference to the condition of my skin.

Botanics Radiant Youth Protecting Day Cream (£3.99, was £7.99): I was looking for something very specific the day that I wandered into Boots and bought this one. I wanted a day cream, with an SPF and hyalironic acid or other anti-ageing ingredients (a girl has got to do what a girl has got to do). If I'm being honest, I feel a little indifferent to this cream, I felt that it did work but was nothing special. I'm pretty sure I could find something better. 

Lush Ponche Shower Gel (approx £15- I totally can't remember as it was limited edition...my bad): When something catches your eye on the Lush Kitchen then you've just got to get it. So when this old school Christmas favourite of mine appeared I had to purchase myself a bottle. This formula is slightly different than the original as it is alcohol free and doesn't contain tequila, however it is just as amazing and I hope that I can get my hands on another bottle soon! It was a very sad day when I finished this! 

Moroccan Oil Intense Hydrating Mask (approx £23 for 250ml): Since using this my hair is in the best condition it has ever been in. I love this stuff! Originally it came in a beauty subscription box and now I want it in my bathroom cabinet 24/7. It's a 5 minute argan-oil hair treatment designed to be a real moisture boost for your hair (my ends were calling). My only issue with this is that I wish it didn't come with as large a price tag (hands up drugstore beauty bargain hunters) but you really do pay for what you get with this one! 

Lush Marilyn Hair Treatment (£9.95): Gentlemen prefer blondes! Marilyn is a lemon and chamomile enriched hair mask for blonde hair and a repeat purchase for me. I adore the texture that this mask gives to my hair, it always feels so nourished and volumised afterwards. It is great for my artificially blonde hair (yes, I get it from a box) but I keep going back to this mask because of the way it makes my hair feel. 

What have you been working your way through recently? 

I Can't Stop Drinking Tea: Some Favourites

Until recently I was not a tea drinker. At all. I'd rather have just had a glass of water. But now it's a very very different story! I blame my two gorgeous friends: Rachel, who has always made me a cup of tea whenever I go round to her house whether I drink it or not, and Helen, with whom we developed our 'peppermint tea sunday' friendship quirk. And now I am an enormous tea drinker!

Here's my favourites at the moment...

As you can probably tell, I'm a really big fan of green tea and I have used it as an aid to losing weight for a while. Apparently green tea helps to speed up your metabolism (there's my top tip for the day). I especially love green tea with a bit of something to it, so my favourites are the Twinings Mint Green Tea which has a subtle refreshing minty taste and then the PG Tips Lemon Green Tea, my go to tea first thing in a morning! 

Staying on green tea for a second. When I saw the Twinings Ginger Bread Green Tea and I just had to have it, imagine ginger tea but with a bit of syrup. It's heaven in a cup. If you're looking for something slightly sweet to replace drinking hot chocolate or really sugary tea then I can't recommend this enough!

Teapigs is one of my all-time favourite tea brands. Like, really. Some of my top choices have to be the Apple and Cinnamon tea and the Chocolate and Peppermint tea. But here I have the Spiced Winter Red Tea, which is made with rooibos tea and is filled with cinnamon and orange peel. It's like Christmas in a cup and you can still drink it with milk. Perfect for cuddling down in bed with.

I'll tell you about Peppermint Tea Sundays; while rehearsing for the musical Hairspray, myself and Helen (who played Tracy)  got into the habit of taking time out during rehearsals every week to sit and have a cup of peppermint tea together and having a good chat...cue my love for peppermint tea. I really love the PG Tips Peppermint Tea which is really lovely and perfect if you're feeling a bit bloated (maybe that's a bit TMI). 

Lastly, the king of all teas...well Earl. Twinings Earl Grey tea ticks every single box that there is! I love a good Earl Grey and this satisfies my need for a decent cup of tea!

Are you a tea drinker? What would you like to give a try?

The Week I Ditched Foundation

I'll let you in to a little secret...I'm terrified of going completely barefaced in public. Like, won't even leave the house for a bottle of milk and a newspaper without at least a base, brows and mascara. However, I have officially spent 1 week without foundation (the only exception being one night out in Wilmslow, because, let's face it, no one can be subjected to 'inebriated Sian' and 'terrible skin Sian' at the same time).

As a teenager, I was plagued by acne-ridden skin and severe lack of face definition and it has left me feeling a little sheepish when it comes to toting a bare face. No makeup, no chance! But I managed a week without any foundation! Baby steps.

So for anyone else that is 100% dependant on make up, here's some of the withdrawal symptoms and side effects.

•My skin did look much better as the week went on, it helped keep my oiliness at bay as I wasn't piling on product and I started to enjoy the look of my skin without a base.

•I learned that concealer is enough. I am plagued with large red blemishes (super annoying) and it's because of these that I've always been keen on using a full coverage base but actually a spot of light concealer was enough.

•I would totally save money in the long run...because foundation is expensive! 

•When I decided to use foundation just for one night my skin was vile next morning, it needed a really good exfoliating treatment. Since I've started wearing make up again, my skin is really horrible (hormones do not help with this- damn you hormones) so I feel like I need to wear even more make up to cover it up. It was nice to break out of that vicious cycle, even if it was only for a week. 

•My skin looked better and more glowing, but I found it so much harder to pull together a full makeup look. I don't know if it's because I'm used to seeing my face with a full base and then everything that goes on top, I couldn't help but feel that I looked like I wasn't wearing enough makeup, even when I was going for a heavier makeup look. 

So it was eye opening to ditch my foundation for a week however I have reverted straight back to using it. Although I certainly prefer the look of my skin without any base at all, I think that's the my bare faced insecurity is too deep set to be brave enough to give it up forever. 

June Through Instagram

Again, where are these months going?! Time is literally running away!! Help, I want to get off! But here we are, my month in Instagram pictures.

1. I learned how to create a fabulous alternative to a flower crown using vintage scarves. Head on over to my blog post to learn how to do it for yourself! 

2. I am a sucker for chocolate almond milk, so it was completely necessary to take a picture of my milk with a stripy straw at midnight one night. Obviously. 

3. This little cupcake was from my favourite tea shop in the world, Tsp, and I couldn't help but take a cheeky picture.we've all got to love a good white chocolate cupcake, especially with the cutest little sugar mouse on top! 

4. I am terrible when it comes to instagramming food! I just can't help it, it's a really bad habit. But this chicken and vegetable curry just needed to appear on the Internet. 

5. I love this picture of Me and my gorgeous boyfriend Tom on a night out in Wilmslow. He's such a poser but I completely adore him. 

6. This mug though. My friend knows me far too well.

7. A cheeky study set up picture there. I had a few deadlines to meet and I kept getting distracted by cat videos on YouTube and Facebook. So I uprooted myself to a place with no wifi connection. There's nothing more productive than sitting down to do some work with a cup of Earl Grey and a good cupcake! 

8. I'm loving keeping a vase of flowers in my bedroom and this bunch of coloured roses caught my eye.

9. This is an unusual one for me, a post workout selfie. I would never normally even take this sort of picture, nevermind put it on the Internet, however in the last 12 months I have lost 2 stone in weight, and this is just a reminder of the progress I have made. I've worked hard, so why the hell not?!