Friday Wishlist

I was watching “This Old Thing” last night, the vintage clothing programme with Dawn O’Porter who I have a bit of a girl crush on.  She was having a conversation with a lady who was a complete vintagephobe and in it summed my ethos to clothes perfectly.

Vintagephobe (she has a name, but I forgot it, and it’s 10pm and I don’t care that much) “But that dress, where would I wear something like that?”.

Dawn “Just put it on and wear it wherever you like!”.

I don’t believe in saving clothes for a special occasion.  The days of wearing your “Sunday best” are long since behind us.  I want to wear my best every single day.  It makes me happy.

Every night before I go to bed I have a rummage through my wardrobe and find something to wear for work the next day.  Shoes are pulled out, jewellery is selected; it takes less than ten minutes out of the day and is time that I willingly sacrifice to be able to look good the next day.  Another ten minutes (ok fifteen) with my makeup bag in the morning and I am good to go, happy and ready to face the world.

I still remember going to work every day from head to toe in black.  I felt invisible.  I made an active choice not to blend into the surroundings any more and now I celebrate the fact that I don’t.  As is well documented in this blog I love bright colours and bold prints so with that in mind, here are my current things on my lusting after list!

1   Multi Floral Print Prom Skirt

2   Sydney Loose Pants

3   Oriental pleated maxi dress

4   Tapestry Floral Dress

5   Jeffrey & Paula Print Dress

A Little Update

I want to do a little update post today.

 

I haven’t been myself for the past four months or so.  It has shown in my daily life, my work; my blog and in my general temperament.  I felt like I was on a downward spiral of sadness that I couldn’t seem to break.  Tears would come from nowhere, all the time and the blues were firmly in residence.

 

I have always used this blog as a means of sorting through my feelings and it has always helped in the past; but my love for blogging disappeared and the writing just didn’t help.  I decided that I wanted to look into counselling, something that I have wanted to do for years but not plucked up the courage to try.

 

The thing is, the very last thing I wanted to do was go to my GP.  Having been told once before “lose weight and you’ll be happier” I knew that I would either get the same response again or alternatively offered anti-depressants which I didn’t want.

 

What I was happy to find out however is that you don’t need to be referred by your GP for counselling.  You don’t need to involve them at all.  I went along to my local Women’s Centre and am now in the middle of my NHS funded eight sessions (I think that this can be extended to twelve if needed).


If you are looking for a non judgemental environment that can offer the services that you need, I highly recommend that you check out your local alternatives.

 

My session last week was a real break through moment for me but it isn’t until today that I have noticed any change in how I have been feeling.  Today though, the happiness has returned.  I feel invigorated and excited to see what is ahead of me.  The smile that has been missing so much lately is back and I don’t need to put up a happy façade.

 

I had forgotten just how happy that I was prior to my downward period and to feel like that again makes me want to dance around the room to Pharell Williams' "Happy".

 

So top tips of the day:

 

• You don’t need to go to your GP for help, there are other ways.
• Skeletons in your closet take up too much room and need letting out.
• There is always light at the end of the tunnel, even if some days it is just a tiny dot, it is always there.

Shop Your Stash 3

Welcome to the Shop Your Stash Challenge. This is all about finding a gem in what you already own and creating a blog post on it. This is to let go a little of the stress that comes with being a blogger - even if it is just once a month. Rummage through your beauty products and climb through those clothes draws. You might surprise yourself!

For today's challenge we are looking at what you use to cope with the heat of the summer months.  For this particular post I decided to go down the makeup/skincare route and show you what I tend to use during the summer.

Hot weather is always rough on my hair because the sun rays usually turn my hair lighter and I am always throwing my hair up and out of the way giving myself endless split ends. To combat this (as well as using my usual John Frieda Brunette Shampoo and Condition) I tend to use the Tresemme Split Remedy which you put on after washing your hair but you can also use on the ends when they are feeling a bit dry.

For body moisturising I love the Body Shop Sweet Lemon Body Butter but at £13.00 it is a bit pricey and a bit heavy to lug around in your bag during the day so I carry the Vaseline Spray & Go which is both a lot lighter and also only £5.00 and it lasts for ages.

For my face I am a follower of the god that is Clinique but again, you can't always afford over £20.00 for a moisturiser so sometimes I turn to the pound shop to see what they have.  Typically their beauty products only have six months or less to go (hence the cheapness) but hey, when are you ever going to make a tube of moisturiser last so long?  I am using the Johnson & Johnson Morning Energy Moisturiser in my morning routine which works a treat and only cost me a pound.

The last in my arsenal is the NYC setting spray which I put on after I have finished with my makeup.  I think I paid £8.00 for it but you can probably get it for less if you hunt on Ebay.

A couple of things I use for my summer makeup routine:

If at all possible I try to avoid foundation when I can in the summer, during the day at the very least as my skin really disagrees with it on a hot day.  Instead, once my skin is properly moisturised I just use the Barry M Natural Dazzle at £5.99 which lasts forever and also the Rimmel Stay Matte Pressed Powder which you can pick up for around £4.00.

Finally, the favourite thing is my makeup bag is probably also the cheapest which is my Natural Collection Crushed Walnut Eyeshadow which cost me £1.79.  I use this all year round in order to fill in my eyebrows with a slanted brush which I have found more effective, and has more staying powder, than any pencil, wax or liner that I have used.

So that's it!  Some of my skincare and makeup routines for the summer!  What do you use?

Please check out the other ladies in the challenge and also my blog competition to win some Pamela Mann Tights, linked here