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#RefreshingStuff with Oasis #FaceSwap

Monday, 5 December 2016

 Most of the time, cold glass of water will do me fine but when I’ve had a particularly stagnant morning in the office, another pint of water just won’t cut it. I usually take that as a good excuse to get out of the office for 10 minutes, stretch my legs and buy myself something a little bit more interesting. I’m not a huge fan of energy drinks or anything fizzy (unless it’s prosecco obvs) so something fruity is usually my shout. Oasis has been a particular favourite of mine since I’ve grown up drinking it, my dad loves the stuff and now, so do I.

This week, my bottle of summer fruits didn’t just quench my thirst but it also kept me entertained at my desk for the rest of afternoon. Oasis have just launched the world’s first face swappable bottle so whilst everyone else was hard at work, I took my afternoon pick me up as an opportunity to try my first ever face swap! Out came my phone and que an afternoon of Juanita and I giggling at ourselves as a giant fruits. Luckily my boss saw the funny side!
If you want one of these hilarious face swap bottles to get Oasis on your face as well as in your face; they are giving people the chance to win one of 500 bottles over on their Facebook page and if you are a fan of face swapping you’re in luck, download any face swap app and post your best swap in the comments underneath the competition post to enter! See competition T&Cs [https://www.facebook.com/pg/oasisdrinks/notes] 
*Sponsored post
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2016 christmas Gift Guide

Sunday, 4 December 2016

December is here, Christmas is finally on its way and I can’t tell you how excited I am. I am so ready for all the Christmas cheer, the food, the family – I can’t wait! To kick of the season’s postings, I’m going to start with a gift guide for her and I’m going to fill it full of the sort of things that I would love to receive.

CHOCOLATE: More specifically, Hotel Chocolat and whilst I eat more than enough throughout the year, posh Christmas chocolate is just that much more exciting. Everyone indulges around this time of year so giving something sweet as a gift is usually a safe bet.

The Merry Little Christmas Hamper: This is one of their smaller ribbon-tied hampers but it’s still packed full of HC goodies making it a very good size and price for gifting! Clementine Baby Bombes, Milk Snowflakes, Rocky Road Slab, Comet Does Caramel Slab, Christmas Pocket Selection, Salted Caramel Nano Slab and Fruit & Nut Nano Slab £25 | Also: Penguin or Reindeer Selfie Slabs £16 | Christmas Sleekster £22.50 | Yule Log £20 | Toasty Toddies £10 | Christmas Hot Chocolate £9 | Festive Wreath £7
PERFUME: Perfume is my go to gift all year around - I think they make such great gifts and at this time of year especially, it’s easy to get all sorts of giftsets where you get another scented product as well as the perfume! It’s pretty easy to find something you know they are going to love!

Sweet like Candy Giftset By Ariana Grande: Whilst it’s pretty bottle and sweet smell is aimed at a younger audience, this is something my nana would LOVE. Ari’s bottles are some of my favourite with the striking geogmetric sphere and a cute pom pom attached to the lid. This time, it’s all matte baby pink making the hard bottle design very soft and girly. The scent is fruity with tones of blackberry and honeydew melon and sweet with marshmallow. The giftset includes 50ml of the scent, a 100ml body lotion and the cutest little cosmetic case. £31
Wonderlust by Michael Kors: I’m pretty sure my mum would love this one – shes a big fan of MK fragrances and with mandarin in its top notes (one of my favourite scents), this is another delicious scent. This time though, it’s in a new bottle – usually they are very square but Wonderlust is in a curved bottle. 100ml costs £84

Beyoncé Heat Seduction: In a signature Heat bottle, Beyoncé’s latest fragrance pulled me in again, with the mention of mandarin in its top notes along with some other exotic ingredients like Island Spice, Gingerlily and African Jungle Trail Orchid. 100ml costs £19

I Love Juicy Couture: Viva La Juicy was the first fragrance that I remember wearing – my best friend had it and I used to spray it all over myself whenever I was at hers. I Love Juicy Couture is the latest fragrance from them and combines fruits and floral flavours with amber and musk. With a gold leopard print across the bottle channels fun glamour. 100ml costs £69

BOSS THE SCENT for her: I first smelt this at a press day a few weeks ago and it became my favourite scent of the year; there and then! With honeyed peach and freesia it smells just like a Peach Bellini and because that’s my favourite drink, it made me smile. 50ml costs £36 

Hollister Wave: Wave comes for him and for her and as with most scents that come out of Hollister, this reminds me of sunny days at the beach. With citrus and floral notes, this fragrance is very refreshing but also quite young. Perfect for the pre-teens in your life! 100ml costs £35
BATH AND BODY: Bath stuff never used to interest me before I got a job. Nowadays, a long, hot bath with some of my favourite products and a little bit of pampering is a luxury that I look forward to!

LUSH Golden Wonder: Recognise this? You might do it you’ve ever used LUSH’s golden wonder bath bomb – it looks like a real life version and of course it’s bath bomb double comes inside. Along with the citrusy golden wonder bath bomb, there is another Christmas favourite – the shimmering star dust bath bomb. £9.95

LUSH Merry & Bright: I love this set because it has a few different types of products in it - Fireside soap, yuzu and cocoa shower cream and red fun! Doesn’t it just made you think of sitting by the fire with a big cup of hot chocolate?!

Soap & Glory KHOL-EYED: I thought this was just a fun kaleidoscope when I first picked it up but in fact there are three Crazy Sexy Khol, long lasting eyeliners hidden inside! Colours are called Smoulder, Foil in love and What a night £10
YANKEE Star Anise & Orange Candle: I think good quality candles are great gifts to give – they make you feel warm and cosy so why wouldn’t you want to give that feeling to someone you love? This candle combines Orange and Star Anise all those Christmas vibes along with a refreshing citrus hit, giving it the scent of liquorice. £21.99

New Shoes: Whether it’s a pair of heels for the party season or fresh pair of vans or Doc Martins to stomp around in, shoes are usually a fail-safe and very practical gift that anyone would be pleased to receive!

Novelties from Hawkins Bazar: There’s always a place in our stockings for cheap novelty gifts - I love opening these fun little extras! Hawkins Bazaar have a whole range of stocking filler gifts ranging from the useful to the hilarious! The nose on this cute Rudolph mug goes red when a hot drink is poured in and I killed my desk plant (and the three before him) so I’m in line for a new one!

Filofax: I love a Filofax for keeping me in check, I fill it with all my plans, my to do lists and my blog notes and enjoy the physicality of it; it’s nice to be away from a screen sometimes. This year they have released a special edition rose gold version. I had to wait a while for it to come back into stock so I can already tell this one is going to be crazy popular. Costs £48

 If you prefer to keep your dates on a screen, then they also have a range of gold tablet cases!
I love each product that I’ve included here so I am very excited to be able hold a giveaway for you guys! There will be 4 winners and they will receive one prize each, first come first served. Prizes include a Gold Filofax, Hotel Chocolat Selfie Slab and Merry Little Christmas Hamper, BOSS THE SCENT for Her and a Sweet Like Candy Giftset By Ariana Grande

Enter in the rafflecoptor to win:


*Sponsored Post
*Some photos taken from google
*The BOSS bottle is actually the fragrance for men. My comments were written from memory and are very real, I do love it but I was sent the wrong one and didnt realise.
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The best brunch in Birmingham

Thursday, 1 December 2016

 After booking up a hotel for our recent trip to Birmingham, we decided to leave London at 8am so that we would arrive in time for brunch! It's my favourite meal of the week so wherever I go, I am always on the lookout for somewhere nice and after a little research and came across Yorks Bakery.
Location: York’s is on the corner of Stephenson Street, Birmingham which is a great location just outside of New Street station. It was a ten minute walk from our Holiday Inn and is located at the end of a tram line so it’s very easy to get to from wherever you start. Beware of Google Maps - it took us to their old address so make sure you just search for Stephenson Street rather than Yorks.

Venue: The building is pretty cool; on the corner of the street and has quite a rustic feel with exposed brickwork and lots of wood. Although there is also a downstairs, this place quite small and when we arrived, I didn’t think we were going to get a table, especially for five of us, but within a few minutes, we had a choice of three different tables so don’t be discouraged. It’s full of people and very busy but I loved the laid back, casual atmosphere. Whilst the staff are helpful, remember, you have to order at the bar!

Menu: I was very impressed with Yorks brunch menu, I don’t think I’ve ever seen such a varied one! As well as all your brunch favourites, it was nice to see some something a little bit different from the norm with dishes I’d never heard of before like Arabian Buttered Eggs or Greek Eggs. I also loved that rather than just avotoast, there were four different dishes that used my favourite ingredient! The big thing for me though was the Australia eggs benedict – it’s my favourite brunch dish but I struggle to find it anywhere so I was very excited when my dad pointed it out – he ordered it too!
Price: Brunch always costs us quite a bit because we look at it as going out for a meal and end up ordering four drinks each and a dessert afterwards. My eggs Australia cost £8.50 and which is pretty average for London prices, although I can imagine that’s quite expensive for Birmingham. Andrews full English costs £12 though which I thought was expensive, even for London.

Food: My parents have never been out for brunch with me and Andrew so I was hoping the food was going to be good since we always talk about how much we love it! Luckily, it was and everyone was very impressed with the food, myself included. All 8 of our eggs had perfectly runny yolks and my avocado was just ripe - the muffins it was served on were delicious too. The hollandaise was just a little runny for my liking but nothing too much of an issue. The boys were both very impressed with their full English although Andrew wasn’t fan of their homemade baked beans.


Next time I want to try the truffled mushrooms because another lady who was sitting by the entrance had ordered them and the smell alone was incredible. Until then, 

Would I recommend Yorks? Definitely!

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This Time Last Year..

Monday, 28 November 2016

This time last year I had a mental breakdown and honestly, it was hellish. Something had been building up for months; I wasn’t totally sure what it was but one day I just snapped. Last October my parents went on holiday leaving me at home with my younger brother and Molly. Whilst Josh is 17, he is pretty capable so I didn’t really have much to worry about in terms of the looking after the house, although I have OCD and checking doors (among other things) is something that I really struggle so it was a pretty big deal for me. The first night was hard but then everything was hard back then, I had to check two ovens and three outside doors before checking every single room in the house to make someone hadn’t already broken in; and then I did it twice again. But it was fine, as I said, that was totally normal.

As well as checking things, something else I also had an issue with was my routine and when that routine was compromised, even by a few minutes I’d have a panic attack. I was constantly worried that I was going to be late for work so I used to get in 45 minutes early just to be sure. Even stranger than that, I used to be worried about my routine for getting home after work as well. My closest station was closed for refurbishments so every day, I had a 15 minute walk to the next one before I could get on. I would be out of the door at 5.30 on the dot and literally running along Oxford Street to get home as soon as possible; otherwise I felt like I was wasting my evening. I’d even walk in the road because the tourists used to hold me up so much. 
A couple of days in, I started feeling a little bit edgy. As usual, at 5.30, I ran to the station except this time, Oxford street station was closed due to overcrowding. It wasn’t exactly a shock as it had happened before but it was a disruption to my routine and obviously I was not in the right state of mind to deal with it at the time. I started to shake and before I knew it, I was curled up on the floor, crying in the rain. On Oxford Street. During rush hour. My mind was all over the place and basically started playing tricks on me. I remember thinking over and over that I had to get home urgently to feed Molly and make dinner for Josh, except neither of those things had anything to do with me. Josh always feeds Molly and always cooks himself dinner, I’ve never made him a meal in my life.

I did manage to move myself off of the main street and spent the next hour crying on the floor outside Debenhams. My parents were on holiday so they werent much help and Andrew was still working so he couldn’t answer the phone. I called him so many times that it was concentrating on the steady dialing tone that calmed me down in the end. He called me back and an hour after that, I attempted to get on a train again. 

I was an absolute state from that point onwards, I got in touch with the NHS who put me on a waiting list but by April this year, I couldn’t take it anymore, I needed help and my parents could see that so they agreed to pay for it. At first, I couldn't see how I was going to get out of this dark hole but guess what? I saw my therapist nine times and that was all I needed. All that suffering and all I needed was six and a half hours with the right person.

 Life in 2016 is hard enough as it is, obviously I still find things hard, but it is so much easier to handle now that I have learnt how to deal with it. And to put it to practice earlier this month, my parents flew to America for three whole weeks and this time I was fine! Of course I was worried when they said they were going again but it was such a great feeling to see how far I've come. I just got on with every day the same way I would have if they were at home and I am so proud of myself. I feel like I've come full circle!

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The Office Party: Silver VS Gold

Monday, 21 November 2016

It's late November already and last week, an invite to the office Christmas party landed in my inbox. Last years was in Holborn and I wore my usual, a crop top - a sparkly one obviously - but this year it’s at a very exclusive club in Mayfair and that means firstly, I may have to dress a little bit smarter and secondly, I need to think about keeping warm because its a longer walk away this time and last year I was freezing! It's happening in the first week of December which didn't leave me much time to find an outfit but luckily for me, Very were on hand with some festive pieces.  

I'm all about the sparkle at Christmas time, usually you'll find me in a lurex co-ord (thats where my sparkly crop top came from) or a sequined playsuit but for this post (and this party), I wanted to try and find a couple of outfits that still embody the sparkle and glamour of dressing for the festive season without being too over the top. I decided to go with a subtle metallics theme and picked out two statement pieces from V by Very.
This first outfit could easily be worn straight from the office to the party and the statement piece I chose for this one is a rose gold, a-line mini skirt. It could be dressed down with a white tee and trainers but obviously we want to dress it up a little bit for the Christmas party! I've worn it here with a long sleeve black top and some sock boots - this is definitely the warmest of the two outfits. I love the shape of this skirt because it accentuates the smallest part of my waist which always makes me feel confident, even if I’m feeling particularly bloated that day and the metallic material is just hit to glamour this festive outfit needed.
 The next is this luxe gunmetal silver dress. I’ve never worn a midi dress to a party before but a few little features on this dress really made it stand out. Apart from the figure hugging shape and subtle shimmer from the slinky material; I loved the short sleeves and the slits up both sides which both gave it a bit of an edge. It also comes with a tie around the waist which I've tired up at the back. The material is super conformable and I think this ticks both boxes of looking smart and keeping warm. Simply paired with some strappy heels and that's one outfit ready to go.

Which outfit do you prefer? 
*Dress, Skirt & Boots gifted by Very.co.uk
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