Caramel Coiffure

Hello chickadees
♥
I hope you are all well and enjoying your weekend!

I have been extremely jammy and am basking in a 4 day weekend this week, and have been a very busy bee so far...
There will be a few posts about my travels and meanderings over the last couple of days, as I felt that would be a bit more digestible than one mammoth post.
It started on Thursday morning with a cheeky teeth cleaning session, and then onwards to my hair appointment, as my quest for lighter locks continue!

I had some more blonde and caramel highlights added and I think I have finally been satiated on my mission for the perfect hair colour, and am pleased as punch with the result.
I thought I would share with you my hair journey, the tears and the tantrums, over the last couple of months.


♥ April ♥
Exhibit A: This represents months of home colouring kits, and it was a gorgeous shiny dark chocolate brown. It was perfect for the winter but as the months were getting soaked in sunshine, I was desperate to go lighter and embrace some warmer tones. 

♥ May/June ♥

Exhibit B: Removing this thickly ladened dye was not going to be any easy feat! But my hairdresser was a trooper and I went in for a cleansing treatment, to try and lift the colour. For the next few weeks, I pretty much lived in the hairdressers chair, as she fluffed, coloured, treated, dyed, stripped, cut and conditioned my hair back to some pretty state!

♥ July ♥

Exhibit C: I went back on Thursday to the hairdressers for another lot of caramel/blondey highlights, and my hairdresser exclaimed in a jubilant fashion that all the dark had now been eradicated from my barnet! It was a joyous moment for us both. 

And voila...this is my current colour and I am just peachy about the result! :)

I really do like what is going on with my hair at the moment, but I know what I'm like...and will get over-excited and slowly seep back to my blonde ways! 

Therefore my hairdresser is under strict instruction not to allow me to get dabble with anymore peroxide!

Been there...done that!! 

So there will go, a little barnet babble for you!

What are your thoughts on lighter hair for the Summer and are you as fickle as me when it comes to changing your colour?!

xxx

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Sweet Sundae Storage

♥ hi gals ♥

When I first started blogging, I did a little post on my makeup storage/vanity space. You can cheekily click here if you want to have a peek..

Well consequently, 4 months later, thanks to many a blog sale and umpteen mac collections...I am spilling out of my current storage, bronzers and blushers unashamedly strewed everywhere!

I needed something temporary to house my new makeup until I could reassess the situation and purchase some more mirrored storage.

I trawled through my cupboards, and I spied these retro ice cream sundae glasses.

Probably more akin to being placed on a dining table next to a prawn cocktail in the 70's... I thought they were quite sweet and ideal for holding some of my shadows and blushers.

I think these are really pretty, and although not entirely practical, will suffice until I can overhaul my vanity space and buy some new storage!


Do you ladies have any cunning storage solutions that you utilise for times when your makeup is overflowing...?!
xxx

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Dare to Double Denim

On Saturday,  my diary was blissfully vacant so I indulged in a morning of sunbathing and pampering after an earlier morning jog around my village.

In the afternoon I decided to put this little double denim ensemble together and go out with the boy to frolic in the sunshine and enjoy a summertime tipple!

♥ Pink denim jacket - Topshop (they also have it in baby blue and plain denim)

♥ White vest - H&M

♥ Denim shorts - H&M

♥ Plimsols - H&M (as seen in my previous post)

I added the little yellow corsage of my denim jacket.

I think this outfit demonstrates that anyone can embrace double denim, and it is too scary really, if you team it with the right pieces!

So the hour struck Pimm's o'clock, so the boy and I headed pub-wards for a perfectly splendid afternoon of banter and beverages in a sunny pub garden.  

And half an hour later...

So my lovelies, what are your thoughts and feelings on double denim? 

Have any of you been embracing it recently?

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Spotty Sunnies & Pretty Plimsols

♥ Bonjourno ♥

I hope you are all having a gorgeously sun-kissed weekend.

On Friday, and I thought I would take to the shops on my luncheon break for a little perusal!

I hadn't intended on purchasing anything, but there is something about Friday lunchtimes, with the weekend being teasingly close, the sunshine in the sky and H&M that causes this unknown force within me to make whimsical purchases.

So firstly I picked up these pretty pastelly plimsols, for a steal at £7.99!

I have wanted to get a pair of plain white plimsols for yonks now, as they are such a staple item to wear with skirts, shorts and frilly dresses in the summer. I am not really a flip-flops fan, and I think pumps are a bit old hat now, so wanted some plimsols to revive my wardrobe.

But when I saw these not-so-plain-white plimsols...I thought they were just so sweet I just had to snaffle them! And they are surprisingly very comfy!

Next I spied these cute dotty spotty sunnies for £4.99. I like to get some cheapo plastic sunglasses in the summer, as I have a tendency to just sling them in my bag and jiggle them about and squish them to high heaven.

I love the colour of these sunnies, but they also did them in gorgeous peachy pink....so I may have to revisit H&M next week to acquire the other pair! :)

*Cue some obligatory posy pouty pics of me in my new sunglasses!!*

So there we go petals. 

Those were my frivolous Friday purchases.

I also bought some items of clothing but they will be featuring in some weekend OOTDs very soon...so keep your peepers peeled for that! 

Let me know what you think of my pretty purchases?

xxx

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The Body Shop: Beauty Bloggers Bonanza

♥ Hey flowers ♥

On Friday 25th June, a gaggle of beauty bloggers, were summoned to a swanky Mayfair-based hotel, for some roof top schmoozing, cupcake prettifying and general beauty banter.

That's right, it was The Body Shop event which I was pleased as punch to be invited to...

Upon arrival, we were faced with quite a feast of scrumptious morsels, swished down with lots of fizzy stuff! All the ladies from The Body Shop and Headstream were extremely lovely and made us all feel very welcome, were enthusiastic and answered any queries we had throughout the day.

The prelude whilst we waited for everyone to arrive gave us all an ample chance to mingle with scone in hand, and it was a joy to meet many truly precious fellow bloggers. It is so nice to finally unearth the face behind the blog and it was lovely having a chinwag with them all before we were ushered to our seats.

♥ 

The first presentation was regarding their new haircare range, which endeavours to be as eco-friendly as possible, meaning their products do not contain any parabens, silicones or colourants, thus protecting our aquatic life. 

I love Finding Nemo, and the thought of those gorgeous fishies chocking and shrivelling up because of my shampoo is not a nice thought so following this eye opener, I am going to make a more concerted effort to choose this eco-conscious range. 

They are also introducing hair butters (clever spin on the ever-so popular body butters!). They are deep conditioning, intensive hair masks and smell divine! I am particularly excited about these!

Following this, it was time for random fact of the day...!

"Did you know that the average lady consumes 4 lbs worth of lipstick. That is 281 lovely lippies in our lifetime!" ...a little bit icky right?!

This was marvellously demonstrated by this bowlful of gooey jelly!

Jen and myself looked bizarrely delighted about this revelation!!

So the good news is that The Body Shop's Delipscious range of lip products are made from 100% food-grade ingredients, so we can now all pucker up and slap on the lippie until our heart's content, without the fear of ingesting something grotesque!

Next up was a show and tell of their new products that have been added to The Body Shop's  Vitamin C range.

The new additions include:

♥  Facial Radiance Powder Mix

♥  Eye Reviver Duo

♥ Microdermabrasion 

All the products seemed really intriguing, especially the radiance powder mix, which promises an intensified natural radiant look and feel to the skin in just 10 days!

I'll keep you posted...

Finally, Chase Aston, international makeup artist introduced us to the Body Shop's new makeup range entitled Baked to Last. The range consists of 2 bronzers, 2 blushers and 8 individual eyeshadows. Each product is baked on a terracotta disc in Italy, for 48 hours, to intensify the pigmentation and make the product more refined.

The infectiously vivacious Chase Aston demonstrated a few makeup tutorials for us using these new products, from simple easy day looks, to a more striking evening face, with dark blue eyes and berry lips!

The eyeshadows can be used wet or dry, to vary the intensity and finish.  

  

In between the presentations, we were invited to prettify and adorn our very own cupcake!

It was spatulas at dawn as we all marvelled at the colourful icing and squished smarties onto our cakes, in the attempt to make ours the most amazing cupcake ever!

Needless to say...mine and Ling's cupcakes failed aesthetically...!

A handful of the lovely girlies I met proffering their delightful cupcakes!

Michelle, moi, Jen, Sabrina, Ling, Shirley

♥

Finally, we were informed on The Body Shop's latest charity partnership with Ecpat which strives to protect children from sexual exploitation and abuse. It is such a worthy cause and next month I will be posting all the details on how you can help get behind this campaign. But for the mean time, you can purchase The Body Shop's Soft Hands Kind Heart Hand Cream for £5, where £3.45 of this goes straight to Ecpat to help with their charity efforts.

Celebrities are literally "putting their hands up" in support of this project, and us mere mortals got the chance to place our hands next to the likes of R-Patz and Naomi Campbell!

This was my humble effort...

Cupcakes, makeup and glitter galore!

I was clearly in my element, ludicrously illustrated by the cheesiest of grins here!

After the posse had dissipated, Ling and I took to the streets of London, for a spot of mooching and meandering, and like moths to a flame, we were drawn to Carnaby Street to pay homage to the MAC Pro store!

Our adoration paid, Ling proposed we had a SNOG!

"Pardon moi Miss Ling?!" 

....A SNOG!

I am now a snog convert! How had I never heard of this heavenly infusion of frozen yogurt and fruity delights! :)

A perfect finale to a grand day out!

Thank you to all involved - it was highly enjoyable and insightful and I really appreciate being invited to attend.

Thanks for reading lovelies...what are your thoughts of the new products hitting The Body Shop?

...and have you ever had a snog??

xxx

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Shorts in the City

I have just returned from a fan-dabby day in London Town, where I was fortunate enough to be attending The Body Shop event at the Westbury Hotel in Mayfair. A gaggle of beauty bloggers convene to hear about some of the Body Shop's new products and ventures, whilst swooning over some makeup tutorials from makeup artist Chase Aston and prettifying some cute cupcakes whilst slurping on champers.

I know...I know...but someone's got to do it! :) 

Fully detailed post on the event will be up this weekend, but just wanted to give y'all a sneak peek of my outfit.

Heart leotard - Topshop

High-waisted shorts - River Island

I really enjoy these shorts and adore the military gold detailing at the front!

Gladiator sandals - River Island

Pearls - Topshop

Tan - Xen Tan Dark Lotion!

Models Own - Nude Beige

I thought I would go for quite a sophisticated nail for the day's festivities (puts down the neon pink...!) but I really love this murky colour!

As I was trotting down New Bond Street, I got accosted my this woman bearing an intimidatingly huge camera, and wanted to know if she could feature me on her fashion blog. 

Flattered and feeling slightly awkward, I merrily posed whilst she frenziedly snapped me and made me work the camera - "look left, turn right, chin down....SMILE!" ARGH!

Now running rather late for our Body Shop event engagement, we walked and talked whilst she conducted a mini interview with me! I felt totally out of my comfort zone but she was lovely, and it was a fun, unexpected experience prior to the day's event.

Her blog is here if you want to have a nosey and I will holler when my feature is up!

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A Tee for Tapas

♥ Hi di hi ♥

I hope you are all have super duper weekend, despite the lack of sunshine! Mid June? Seriously?? Brrr...I have actual goosebumps as I type this!

Anyhooos...

I trotted out last night for some tapas and sangria-fuelled giggling and merriment, and I thought I would share, with you all, my outfit of the night.

It was just casual drinkies and scoffing, so I didn't get too dolled up, and went for a simple look, with a hint of sparkle!

♥ FOTN ♥ 

* MAC Studio Fix Fluid NC30

* Benefit Boing no.2

* MAC MSF Natural Medium +

* Benefit Dallas

* Benefit Coralista

* MAC Eyebrow pencil - Spiked

* Urban Decay eyeliner in Zero

* Covergirl Lashblast

* I used the grey shadow in the Sleek Bohemian i divine palette in the crease

* YSL Rouge Volupte No.7 Lingerie Pink (this is a beautiful lippie!)

♥ OOTN ♥

* Grey gold chain detail oversized tee - H&M £12.99

All credit for this find goes to my bestie chum Claire. I spied this tee in her recent YT vid and I fell in love with it! So off I merrily skipped to purchase one myself.

I think it looks a lot more special than an H&M piece.

* Black leggings - Topshop £20

* Black leather biker boots with gold detailing - Topshop £95

* Faux Snakeskin Clutch - Accessorize

♥ BOTN ♥ (bling of the night)

* I decided to keep all my bling gold and tarnished, to work well with the gold detailing on the tee. 

Bangles and rings all from Accessorize.

Tweet Twoo!! 

My adorable owl earrings from Topshop!

♥

And voila!

So crumpets, that was my look from last night's escapades!

I would love to hear your musings on my outfit.

 I am really enjoying wearing simple, casual yet key pieces like oversized tees, and then adding interest and accent colours with my jewellery and accessories. Claire talks a lot about this evolving style in her recent video so be sure to go and spy her pretty face, after you've left me some precious comments! :)

Ciao ciao!

xxx 

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