Birthday Time!

Hi all!

It was my birthday last weekend so posts the last week have been a little thin on the ground...it was lovely to have a long weekend for it and I had something planned every day which was really nice.

It was overall quite a quiet weekend but to be honest I'm getting to the age where using a long weekend to see friends and catch up on sleep and good food is the best kind of weekend!

First me and M had an afternoon tea session at Celtic Manor which was amazing as you would expect. It was the Chocolate Afternoon Tea which is available until the 19th of June - we will definitely be writing a full post on this as it is beautiful! Here's a few snaps to show you how amazing:

After that we just about made it through the front door, and had a girly evening in with face masks, tan and some prosecco to celebrate! It was a lovely evening, and M even made some Captain America cookies for me, how cute and clever are these??

After this we had a very civilised night out with yummy cocktails and a cheeky McDonalds which was really nice as we haven't been out for a while.

I also had a lovely meal with my family at Wahaca, me and my dad shared the Wahaca Selection which was lush to try so many different things and I washed it down with a Mexican hot chocolate which is dairy free. It was an interesting taste and I'd order it again but it's quite bitter so hard to finish the whole thing.

I had some amazing gifts from friends and family. My brother bought me a sushi making kit which I can't wait to try out and also a selection box from T2 tea who have some crazy loose leaf tea flavours such as Caramel Brownie and Choc Chip Chai.

M got me a lush Origins set with my favourite products in and a pre order of the Harry Potter and the Cursed child - who isn't excited for that!!
I also had another Barnes and Noble classic book to add to my book shelf. I'm getting quite a collection together now and can't wait to get as many as I can!

I also had some vouchers so I went shopping on the weekend and bought the Naked 2 palette which I have wanted for ages and also some stuff from Lush too!

It was a really nice weekend and it was a shock to go back to work last week!

I've been struggling ever since and now I'm away with work so am feeling all over the place, looking forward to getting back to normality and joining my new gym permanently when I get back.

What have you been up to lately? I have so many posts to catch up on and so much to share with you!

L xxx

Life Update

Hi all!

Apologies for the serious lack of posts from myself recently; not only have I been living it up at Glastonbury and hen partying it in Edinburgh I have also had a lot going on at home as my mum is ill and my job isn't working for me so I'm having to look for another .

It's extremely frustrating and heartbreaking to admit defeat and give up on everything you worked so hard for but I cannot continue to work for a company who promised me so much and yet have given me so little. It takes up a lot of my time, energy and finances to even get there and my lack of training combined with minimal financial gain, no chance of this changing in the near future and no real career development I'm absolutely gutted to think I might have to call it a day. 

I'm still trying to make my decision as after telling them I was going to leave a month ago they promised me that things would change if I gave them a few weeks to prove it but unfortunately not enough has changed.

I'm trying to stay positive and tell myself that it's giving me a new start and that everything happens for a reason but it's extremely hard to think like that sometimes. I feel like my job was all I really had going for me and without that I'm not really left with much.

That aside I've been so busy with social events that I've barely had time to breathe! My friend had her hen weekend in Edinburgh and it was amazing, I've always wanted to go there having never been to Scotland and it didn't disappoint. 

We managed to fit in a trip to the dungeons, karaoke, food, dancing and the zoo, though we missed a time slot for the pandas so we couldn't see them! I definitely want to revisit and wander the cobbled streets for hours and hours, its so beautiful.

This weekend I have had another hen party to attend for the same group of friends but for a different bride to be, this one involved GoApe, Ann Summers party and lots of games so was a lot of fun but unfortunately not many photos were taken! Next weekend is her wedding so she's keeping everything really close together which is a nice change from those that are planned so far in advance; though I can't say I wasn't worried when she was swinging in the trees! We had to dress up as animals so a few of us clubbed together to buy face paint to make us into zebras:

Me and M have also been out a few times recently. We went out a few weeks ago for food to catch up after Glastonbury and just have a quiet evening after the madness of the festival. We went to a place in Cardiff called Got Beef which was amazing, mostly selling different types of burgers but they also have beef brisket and loads of other things. My brother is a big fan and told me to go just so that I could have the Heisenburger: any Breaking Bad fan would be crazy NOT to order it, so of course i did!

I mean blue onions?! how amazing. Definitely a fun kind of place and I'll be going back again to try more!

We also went out for drinks for her birthday and managed an impressive 6 cocktails in 3 hours before getting the last bus home, we know how to live...!

Hopefully this week will be a little quieter and I will have some time to catch up with myself and write some posts. A lot are overdue but unfortunately there's only so much that one person can do at one time!
I could do with Hermione's time turner right now...

L xxx

Birthday Fun!

Hi lovelies!

This is a bit of a photo diary post for you. I had my birthday on Wednesday (26 on the 26th ooh er!) so I thought I'd share my day with you.

Here are two of my favourite cards from some family members...they know me well!

I borrowed M's Lauren's Way rollers for the night so that I could give them a go. It was an interesting experience putting rollers in my own hair. I've never done it before as M is definitely a lot faster and its easier to do someone else's hair but wooooo, it took me over an hour to get them in mine! It was a big struggle as I'm blessed with a considerable mop on my head and needed so many rollers, plus it's so long at the back I couldn't actually reach the ends of my own hair! But I got there in the end and managed to put up with sleeping in them too which surprised me.

It wasn't exactly comfortable but the rollers squashed enough that I could sleep if only a bit restlessly.
It didn't curl my hair which was disappointing but I had lovely bounce and volume for the whole day and it was nice to have that 'just blow dried' look all day.

I treated myself to protein pancakes for breakfast, there were two of them so I smothered them together with Nutella and put a banana on the side for good measure and an extra energy boost for a busy day of shopping.

I met a friend who I'm planning to go to Thailand with later on in the year so we could make a few more travel plans, catch up over lunch and a cheeky birthday cocktail and go shopping.

This is a Jamboree Daquiri....lots of rum and berries and it was TASTY. We teamed it with a gorgeous home made fish finger sandwich and super crunchy fries and it was yummmm.

It was a lush day and although I didn't buy much I did have my brows done and wander around Debenhams browsing all the make up (specifically Benefit, Mac and Urban Decay). It wasn't long before we needed a pit stop and a frappuccino was the best idea ever, cold and sugary for a boost of energy!

I was an extremely lucky girl and was spoilt by my family.

I knew I was having the nude Dune handbag and Levi jeans as I'd already chosen them myself but the others I didn't. My mum had sneakily chosen me a Michael Kors black satchel handbag which was an amazing surprise and I can see it becoming a firm fave!

I also got a full size bottle of my perfume, a Ted Baker pencil case, Naked 3 palette (eek!) and some gold Havaianas which I cannot wait to wear.

Every year we get a Colin the Caterpillar cake for our birthdays and this year was no exception so I have been tucking into pieces of that over the last few days.

We went out to a Pan-Asian restaurant for my birthday meal and it had such tasty food, the table set up was lovely too. Are you good at using chopsticks? I'm normally fine but was far too hungry!

Last weekend me and M went out with another friend for my birthday. There was lots of dressing up and getting ready before we went to a bar for cocktails.

M definitely enjoyed herself on the dancefloor! We were pulling some 'shapes' as I'm sure you can imagine!

It's been a great week and I've got so much more planned. I went to Cabot circus with my mum on Monday, had a training session with my personal trainer, and to finish the week off, today me and M checking out a new eaterie in Cardiff and watching the new Captain America film. Cannot wait to see more of these films; I'm such a sucker for a superhero film!

What have you been up to? Do you have similar activities and rituals for your birthdays too?
Do you like my presents?


L xxx

Mac Splurge!

I'm sure the majority of you will have seen mine and M's tweets a few weeks ago when we both went to Mac to have our make up done before we went out for my birthday.

We were super excited to have our make up done for us by a professional and also to spend some hard earned cash on some more amazing Mac products.

I picked up a few things but these lipsticks were top of my list and I have been wearing them both non stop.

I picked up Coral Bliss to wear out on the night and Vegas Volt as I'd heard so much about it.

Coral Bliss is shown below:

I already own Creme Cup which is a dusky pink nude, and Costa Chic which is a frosted orange colour and I was looking for a corally nude for the summer months.

Coral Bliss answers this perfectly, it's a beautiful coral colour that is perfect for day time, evening, work etc and will be great when the weather finally improves!

Here are a few pictures from the night out where you can see my make up and the lipstick!



Here's some close ups of my eye make up.

I absolutely loved what they did with it, a nude smokey eye with green smudged underneath as a flash of colour.





I wish someone could do my make up like this for me all the time!!

I learnt a lot in the makeover and always come away with some new tips to try.


So back to the lipsticks....

Vegas Volt is a gorgeous red orange colour that really suits pale skin tones. I'm sure it looks great with tanned skin also (what doesn't!) but it sort of 'pops' with paler skin and I've seen many other blog posts with gorgeous pictures so I knew I had to have it.

You can see what I mean by the photos below, the colour is so lovely and bright but isn't too over the top.
I've worn it out to the pub, nights out and shopping in the day time and it's a great all rounder for any occasion where a full red lip would be too much.





I'm so happy with these purchases. Both wear really nicely and feel moisturising as they are both creamy.

What are your favourite Mac lipsticks? Would you choose something similar?
What would you buy at Mac if you had the choice?

L xxx

Birthday Shopping and OOTN

So it was my birthday on Tuesday and I was lucky enough to book the week off work to chill out, and get some fun stuff done including some shopping!

I've been really good recently and although I've been buying things they've been better quality items and I've brainwashed myself into buying less....sort of.

Up until last year I'd never owned wedges and it was like an epiphany when i finally purchased a tan pair with cork wedge. They were so comfy and went with everything so I promised myself I'd have to buy some black ones and then I'd have heels and comfort every time I went out.

It's taken me til now though to find a pair I liked so I literally snapped these up from New Look when I saw them. They were only £25 and not only were they a black wedge but they also have ties for your ankles so my weirdly thin feet won't go sliding around all over the place!

I also picked up the nude clutch bag from River Island which should go with absolutely everything I own!
I was surprised that this was only £18 as their bags are normally more.
It's a decent size, has a hand clasp and a strap inside the bag and a zipper closing which means I can rest assured my stuff isn't going to fall out. I've lost far too many lipsticks this way!

These tops are from Zara, the ones on the right and centre are only£9.99 and perfect to wear underneath layers. The neon pink top on the left will be perfect to wear out with the girls and to the pubs in summer.

It's really bright and makes you happy to look at it! It also has a split at the back but this doesn't go up too far, it's more like an overlap of the material which will help keep you cool in warm weather and look chic!

I love showing skin in places other than the obvious cleavage/legs areas. Showing some back cleavage has become the latest in thing to do and it's definitely a more subtle way to show some skin.

I absolutely love blazers and macs, so picking these up was the icing on the cake!
The mac was from New Look and will be replacing one I've had from Zara for a few years which is slowly falling apart.

The orange blazer is from Zara and I cannot wait to wear it out!
As I'm going out tonight for birthday drinks with the girls I needed a dress (shown below) and the blazer will be the perfect layer to cover me up from the wind chill.
Apparently it's supposed to be -1 so it probably won't help too much but at least I'll look good right???

This dress was a bit of a different choice for me as I've previously avoided body con.

However I saw this in Lipsy and couldn't resist, so I tried it on and couldn't believe how comfortable it was and it sucked me in in all the right places!



I've recently got down to a size 10 so it was lovely to find something that fitted really well, as I still have a bit of a pooch at the front but the material on this dress seems to make it flatter!



Here's the dress with shoes and bag, what do you think???

I'm wearing them out tonight so any hair and make up suggestions would be lush!

I've been tanning all week in a bid to make myself lean and bronze so fingers crossed it will all work out!
The dress is VERY short so I am hoping that as long as my legs are brown all will be ok (and that i don't fall!)

What's your favourite part of a Saturday night out?

I AM SO EXCITED IT'S UNREAL!!!

L xxx