NEW YEARS RESOLUTIONS.

Is it just me or did Christmas just fly by? The lead up to it seemed to of gone on for ever, but that’s what you get for working in retail, but Christmas day went so fast! And now it’s all over. Boo! I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas and not that much of a bad hangover on Boxing day. Now Christmas is done with, we've got the New Year to look forward to.

A few people have asked me already if I have a New Year's Resolution and to be honest I've never really got the New Year’s Resolution thing. I haven’t even given it a go before, I guess I just haven’t seen the point in it - say you’ll stop smoking for the New Year and then by day 4 you’re standing in the rain puffing on a fag. I haven’t heard any stories of success from friends and family to be honest but for some reason I do really want to give it a go this year. I think the idea is not to set the bar too high, make it something actually achievable. So for example if you’re a smoker and you want to stop smoking in 2014, then rather than ban yourself completely as of January 1^st, just say to yourself you’ll only have 4 a day instead of 8 and slowly ease yourself off, every month reduce the number of cigarettes you’ll have a day and then bobs your uncle, by December 2014 you’ll be off them completely! Hopefully.

My New Year’s Resolution was going to be something about going to the gym and getting fit, but I tried that this year, I went to the gym religiously for a few weeks and then didn't go again after that. So I've decided it’ll be to think more positively about myself and make myself feel good. I want to start off with the small stuff like trying to fit in some pamper time once a week, a nice soak in the bath with hair and face masks on and do my nails. And then work my way into exercising and looking at myself in a more positive way instead of thinking right that girl is fit and she has red hair, let’s dye my hair! I should be looking at myself and thinking my smile is pretty, my hair is beautiful, my ass if fucking GREAT!! Not looking at all the flaws therefore making myself feel horrible. 

I do think a lot of it is down to what I eat, I don’t mean as in what I eat is making me fat, I mean I eat so many fatty/stodgy foods that of course I’m going to feel bloated and all the grease in the foods are obviously going to make my skin bad. So my diet is another thing I would like to address, instead of ordering a take away try and make something healthy and quick to eat, change snacking on crisps and biscuits to a nice apple or some pineapple chunks. I'm so positive it'll make me feel a lot better about myself if I just cut out all the crap that's going into my body.

2013 is a year I cannot wait to put behind me. One I want to forget about completely! So to go into the New Year with a fresh start is so refreshing. Knowing I’m working on getting things better is a great feeling and with fingers crossed by this time next year I want to feel 100% confidence in myself and be proud.

With Love,

Sian x

PRETTY IN PINK VS BEAUTIFUL IN BLACK. BOOHOO.COM

1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6

With party season now in full swing I thought I would share two looks that I have fallen in love with from Boohoo. I was originally going to do a wishlist of various things from several of my favourite online retailers but Boohoo stole the show for me! For someone who is constantly on a budget Boohoo is ideal, cheap as chips!! Well maybe not chips. BUT they have some beautiful stuff at the moment at excellent prices! It makes me want to throw a big Christmas party just so I have an excuse to dress up!

Where's your party dress from this year?

With Love,
Sian x

THE MOMENTS OF MADNESS KEEP ON COMING!

After going to the Umberto Giannini event the other day and seeing how easy it is to create so many different hairstyles with the Backcomb in a bottle I've been trying to mix my hair styles up a little instead of sticking to my normal, which is usually curl a little with straighteners or pop it up in a bun.

The image on the left is what I had created for me at the Umberto Giannini event, and the image on the right is my attempt at recreating this look but a little more toned down. It's such an easy look to create and Backcomb in a bottle is just the thing that makes this look so easy to do! I'm trying really hard not to wash my hair so often as it's gone rather dry, so I need to put them natural oils back into my hair. This sort of look is great for hiding that unwashed hair - All you have to do is sleek back your hair into a ponytail, use Backcomb in a bottle to prepare the hair, then using your fingers or a comb, backcomb the ponytail and wrap the hair around into a bun shape like this. Once you're happy with the positioning of your hair, grip it into place and wallah! You have a messy up-do that's perfect for any occasion.

I have to wear my hair up for work and one thing I was really struggling with was coming up with ways to mix it up a little without sticking to one hairstyle. I love wearing my hair on the side, I think it's a really pretty look and I think it suits me quite well (I hope that didn't come across big headed) So the other day I went for a messy fishtail braid on the side and I got so many compliments on how pretty it was. YAY ME!

This is yet another really easy look to achieve. I simply prepped my hair with Backcomb in a bottle, sprayed the roots and the ends and then backcombed my roots with a comb and using my fingers loosely teased my ends. I then swept it all onto the side and braided my hair into a fishtail. It's so easy to do a fishtail braid, there are tonnes of videos on youtube on how to do them. I pulled the braid out a little and rubbed my fingers up it to make it look loose and messy and then I lightly pulled at the front bits as well to make some strands of hair fall forward.

On Friday this shocking thing on the right happened. It was amazing... I sneezed and all my hair where I'd previously shaved a few months ago, fell back out again leaving me with a bold patch again. oops! Obviously not! 

I had been wanting to shave my hair off again for a while now, I absolutely loved it but had been growing it out for a while. Friday I had another moment of madness and just went ahead and did it again. Yes it's bloody cold and oh god does my scalp now feel the breeze and yes my parents both hate it! But I don't regret it and I love it :)

Have you ever been brave and did something drastic to your hair? Whats your favourite hairstyle to do?

With Love,
Sian x

UMBERTO GIANNINI, 7 DAYS 7 WAYS. BLOGGER EVENT.

Back in February (or maybe it was March) I was invited to a hair event at the Umberto Giannini hair salon in Birmingham's iconic Selfridges store. I really enjoyed myself and learnt so much on how to create trends that were in for the summer - plus I absolutely adored the staff, definitely one of the most enjoyable events I'd been to. So as you can imagine when I was invited to their latest blogger event I jumped at the chance to attend.

The event was focused around their latest campaign with model Tali Lennox, 7 Days 7 Ways. The campaign advertises their hero product Backcomb in a bottle and the different ways you can style your hair with just this one product. I had never used Backcomb in a bottle before the other night and to be honest I hadn't heard too much about it but after seeing how easy it was to use and the results it gives I am inlove!

Backcomb in a bottle instantly gives you the texture and volume of backcombed hair. If you’re looking for a subtle lift of volume just a few sprays of this onto the roots followed by massaging it in and you’ll instantly see a difference. If you’re anything like me and end up with a square shaped head from backcombing then this product is your saviour!! It doesn’t just work wonders on your roots either, you literally can create any look with backcomb in a bottle and that’s proved by Tali Lennox’s 7 looks below, all using this award winning creation…

We all sat down with nibbles and Champaign in hand to watch this brief presentation on the 7 looks and a little “how to” on achieving these creations. We heard all about the glam hair range and the looks that are set to be really hot during the party season. My favourite look has got to be the third image down, It’s such a powerful but yet glamorous look! I also loved the last look, it’s so wearable and is easy a look to take from day to night – Perfect for evening drinks after work.

Once the presentation had finished we all got a stylist each and had the chance to have a little make over. I initially said I wanted something really big, I always seem to get a lot of volume towards the ends of my hair but it never seems to look right when the top of my head and roots are flat. So that was the look we started off trying to create…

 

I then decided I'd like something a little different, I have to wear my hair up everyday for work and I'm really struggling to come up with different hairstyles other than a bun and a pony tail. I liked the contrast of the messy up do look on Tali Lennox (the last image in the presentation), where it was neat and sleek on the head and then the pony/bun bit was really messy and textured (I hope that makes sense?) So my stylist created that look for me and shown me how to create it.

 

I absolutely loved my hairstyle, It seemed really easy to create and I couldn't believe I got this look with just one hair product. The other hair styles that were created were absolutely beautiful! All of us looked amazing even if I say so myself ;)

I'm so inlove with Emily's hair colour!!

This is another style I can't wait to try and recreate! It looks absolutely stunning on Sunni!!

Yet again I walked away from that event and felt like I'd learnt some new hair styles. I cannot wait to have a play with Backcomb in a bottle. I'll be doing some blog posts on the looks I've created myself with this product shortly, but so far I'm really impressed! Thank you so much Umberto Giannini for a fantastic evening!

Do you use any Umberto Giannini products yourself? If you do let me know whats your favourite, I have a feeling a slight obsession is brewing.

DAILY SKINCARE ROUTINE: NIGHT TIME | NOVEMBER 2013

When I was a teenager I never particularly used to have bad skin. I used to get one or two pesky spots but I didn't suffer with oily skin or acne at all and my spots would come at a rather hormonal time (sshhh don't say the P word!) So I guess I was pretty lucky. Who would of thought though that now I'm 22 my skin is at it's worst state? I have no idea what is going on with it but for about a year now I've really struggled to keep it under control.

I have problems with redness and swelling around my nose, often becoming really sore and the skin breaking which means the skin bleeds from time to time. I would say it's been like this for around a year now and no matter how much moisturizer I put on in morning and night it still is as dry as anything. I've tried both Avène Redness-Relief Moisturising Protecting Cream and Avène Rich Skin Recovery Cream and they have worked but only temporarily and they never really got rid of it. Then a few months ago my skin came out in a terrible rash all over my face, I went to see a doctor and after a few blood tests they said that this problem with my nose could be Rosacea. The rash went away pretty much the day after I went to the doctors but they gave me a solution to put on my nose and again it didn't really do much. Last week I had this rash come across my face again and personally I think it comes out when I'm stressed. This problem with my nose is still an ongoing thing but it's a lot better than what it has been in past, so it's getting better I guess. Okay now I'm rambling a little...

As I said I've always had sensitive and dry skin and my skin reacts badly to a lot of things I put on it and at as it stands I still haven't found my perfect skincare routine. I'm pretty happy with my night time skincare routine at the moment but there is certainly room for improvements.


The first thing I use is my Clinique cleansing balm, I love this stuff! I brought it when there was a discount day at work and I think I paid just over a tenner for it - BARGAIN!! With a full face of make up I just rub a small amount of this over my face and then rinse it off with a muslin cloth and water. It's a really weird balm I've never used anything like it before, it looks like a wax and when you first 'scoop' some out it is very much like a waxy consistency but then when you work it into the skin it turns into a oil. It feels very greasy on the skin but when you take it off it doesn't leave your skin feeling oily or like there's any residue left over. It leaves your skin feeling VERY clean and refreshed, slightly tight though I will say which I know some people like.

I then use my Botanics cleanser and toner just to make sure I definitely have all traces of make up removed. I've only recently started using the Estee Lauder Advanced Night Repair serum, I was watching some skincare videos on youtube and noticed a lot of people recommended using it. I don't have that sort of money just chilling in my bank account to spend on a skincare item [you'll soon learn I live life on a massive budget] So I went into House of Fraser and asked for a sample bottle and then when I got home my Mom said she has some that she rarely uses. So we've been using her bottle together in the hope of better skin. I must say I haven't noticed a significant difference yet but my skin is getting better so maybe it's because of this?
To finish off I'm also trying out the Clinque redness solutions daily relief cream. I use this once in the morning and once at night before popping on my moisturizer, which is the Botanics Calming night cream. I don't think I would be repurchasing the Botanics moisturizers  I haven't noticed much of a difference since using them and they don't feel like they really sink into the skin, especially this one. It's rather thick in consistency and feels like it sits on top of the skin which is something I don't particularly like. I want something I feel works really well and I just don't think this does to be honest.

For the moment, this routine will do. It's definitely the best one I've had so far but I'll be switching it around when I come across new products that my skin doesn't react badly to.

What are your favourite skin care products and do you have any recommendations?

With Love,
Sian x