Hey everyone!

Hope your all well! I thought I would do something a little different today, I don't often do 'tags' but I came across this one the other night and thought since I love a good musical so much I would do this one!

3. Were you ever in a musical??
Again although I haven't actually seen him live, Colm Wilkinson will always be one of the best Jean Valjean although Alfie Boe does come a pretty close second!

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Right ladies, Lets talk primers!

Primers is one of those things which over the past 12 or 18 months have taken off! Before this you didn't really hear of anyone using a primer however now I know most people, including myself, wouldn't be without it.

I want to talk about a primer today from the brand Seventeen. Now Seventeen isn't a brand I tend to lean towards anymore. I don't really know why they never just seem to have anything which draws my fancy. However when I spotted their Poreless Primer in boots just before christmas I thought I would give it a try!



Now the first thing that struck me about this primer is the packaging - not your typical primer which you would usually find in a squeezy tube but hey I will give it a go!
Now I'll be honest, I gave it a go I really did but i genuinely could not get used to applying primer in this way - it is definitely not one for me! I like a primer that I can feel going on, I know where I have applied and feels like you can get a good purchase on it!
i'll admit this did feel nice when I rubbed my fingers over it, but I think here lies the first problem, when you run your fingers over it, I wasn't entirely sure if there was any product on my fingers. I feels a bit silky but when you come to rub it on your face you can't actually feel like there is any product going on to your face and because your not sure, you forget where you have primed and where you haven't.

I don't know, I just found the whole experience all in all very weird. I am sure there are probably people out there that love this primer but I can honestly say I am not one of them!

This primer can be picked up from Seventeen stands for £5.99

Have you tried this primer? What did you think???

Happy Friday everyone!!!


Today I want to talk to you all about a little thing called motivation and more importantly how to stay motivated!

Motivation is one of those things that if you have it, it is great, your on top of the world and you feel like you could do pretty much anything but loose your motivation and it can quickly spiral into a downwards slope!
A lot of people make resolutions at the start of the year and often it is a lack of motivation that stops them from continuing on with things so what I wanted to do is to share with you my top tips for staying motivated!

Set Goals! 

At the weekend, I spotted Look Magazine posting a feature about their favourite loves from Primarks New SS14 collection. You can see the full feature on their website here but I thought I would share with you my favourite picks from this collection of beauties!

For me over the past couple of years, Primark have really upped their game! They have had some brilliant pieces and my wardrobe is sporting quite a bit of it now! We all know that Primark has always been labeled as the store which offers cheap and cheerful and especially since I have been losing weight I have found them a great way to find perfect up to date pieces without spending a fortune for things that in a couple of months will be too big!

Anyway to my favourites of the collection..


Top Row: 

• Yellow Shift Dress - £13
• Pink Tailored Trouser - £12
• Pink Bow Dress - £13
• Baroque Tux Jacket - £23
• Floral Skater Dress - £13

So we had a bit of a chat about skin care - well keeping your skin in tip top condition... Way back in November when me and my bestie went for our girly weekend in Birmingham, I mentioned that I picked up Cliniques 3 Step skincare routine.

This set is made up of (as you would expect) 3 Steps and so you get 3 products -

• 50ml Liquid Soap 
• 100ml Clarifying Lotion
• 30ml dramatically different moisturising lotion + 

Hey Lovelies!

Today is the Second topic as part of the 2014 blogger challenge! If you missed the post about what this is all about then head over to my post here to check it out.

When Gabby first set the topic of skincare topic my first thought was awww man I did a post about skincare not long ago; check it out here so rather than talking about that again, because lets face it, nothing has changed in such a small period of time, so I thought I would take a look at things from a different view; rather than looking at my own skin care I thought I would share with you my top skin care tips!

1. Always take your make up off properly - there is nothing worse for you skin then the dregs of last nights make up when you get up in the morning. No matter how tired you are, always take it off!
2. Eat well! - It is a well known fact that eating better and drinking more water can improve your skin - I try and drink at least 2 litres of water a day and stick away from fizzy drinks full of sugar - water is the ultimate detox for your body. Also getting plenty of fruit and veg! 
3. Sleep and Exercise - Up there with eating well and drinking better! General life can play havoc with your skin so making sure you get plenty of sleep (the recommended 8 hours a night if you can) and exercise is good for you because it releases endorphins in your body and helps increase the flow of blood to the skin
4. Stick to a routine - I notice that my skin is so much better when I get my skin into a routine! I am really in love with the Clinique 3 step system which can be customised for your skin type. I can defiantly see the difference in my skin since I started using this
5. Clean your make up brushes - Ok so we are all guilty of this one but just think about all the dead skin and oils on your face which build up over time. If you don't wash your make up brushes regularly, your just spreading this around your face which is often what causes blemishes. 
6. Never skip moisturiser - We all know how tight your face can feel when your don't moisturise your face properly - over a long period of time imagine what that would do! Make sure you moisturise twice a day to keep your skin nice and hydrated! 

You can pretty much guarantee that when one of the higher end beauty brands brings out a product it won't be long before one of the drug store brands bring out a dupe for it! Nails inc brought out the magnetic nail polishes and Barry M were not too far behind with their offering, Clinique brought out the chubby sticks and Revlon were not far behind with their Just Bitten Lip Pencils.

Now it appears that it has happened again... queue Maybelline and their newest product the Baby Skin Instant Pore Eraser.


Now on first look at the name and the claims of this product, you cant help but notice the similarities to Benefits Porefessional. Heres what Maybelline says about it:

"Maybelline Baby Skin provides a matte finish and leaves the skin fresh and protected. The gel texture in Baby skin instantly helps to vanish pores and makes the feel light"

Now I am an absolutely massive fan of the Benefit Porefessional and have been using it for well over 12 months but at £24.50 its not exactly pocket friendly; although in fairness it lasts well. As soon as I read about Maybelline's latest offering on Lily Pebbles blog I knew I had to try it and when I spotted it on offer in Boots at a price of £7.99 and an offer of buy one get one half price, 2 instantly fell into my basket!

Now I only picket this up on Saturday so I have only used it once but so far so good. The formula is silicone based one and glides on in a very silky fashion you become to expect from such formulas. I love how cute the packaging is, bright and colourful and is nice and compact. You get 22ml of product (the same amount as the Porefessional) which for £7.99 and considering how little you need, I think this is a total beauty bargain!

I cant wait to continue to try this product and can see it becoming one of those products that is going to become a must have in make up bags all over the country!

Have you tried this?? What do you think???

Hello Lovelies! Happy Sunday!

I have finally taken the time to sit down and create a Facebook fan page! To be honest I have been a bit dubious to create one as I know that they are more the kind of things more esteemed bloggers have but I have been thinking of ordering some blogger business cards since I am heading off to a meet up in a few weeks and thought they would be good to share with people and I figure if I am going to get some business cards, I want to have a Facebook page on them as I cant go back and alter them once I have ordered them can i!

Talking of meet up, I dont think I have actually mentioned the meet up that I am going to! The lovely Kelly over at Tobecomemum and Emma (@livepeachy on twitter) are organising a meet up!! I cant tell you how excited I am to be attending! I have never been to a blogger meet up before and this is something I wanted to do for 2014; get out and meet more bloggers; so I jumped at the chance to go!

All the details can be found here on Kellys blog post but basically the Meet up is Saturday 22nd February - 11-3 in Nottingham and is aimed at Parent bloggers and Lifestyle bloggers - They are yet to finalise the details of where they are going to be holding it but if you want to be a part of it head over to Kelly's post and check out what you need to do to be a part of it!

Just after christmas when I was out and about shopping with mum I picked up a copy of a magazine which I hadn't seen before.

To be honest I don't know what made me pick this magazine. I don't normally pick up any magazines like this because I get the slimming world magazine from my class which obviously is more tailored for the eating plan which I am following. To be honest as soon as I picked it up I wasn't overly optimistic about what was going to be envisaged it was going to be all about fad diets and eating really weird stuff to help you drop 14 stone in a day as Peter Kay would say.
Anyway despite all of this I picked it up and I have to say I was pleasantly surprised! This magazine retails for £4.99 so it is higher price than most of your grab and go magazines that are out on the market but I have to say this magazine is worth every penny!

This months magazine as you would expect is all about making the most and making changes for 2014. This magazine is full of really interesting articles including a piece on 2014 fitness trends such as Aqua Spinning, HIIT and Glow Ballet, an interview with Davina about her weight loss and how she stays fit,  Help! Im suffering from Gymtimidation and how to eat to beat stress. It also has different examples of exercises throughout as well as different recipes on the top 10 Super foods - which can easily be adapted for Slimming World.
2 of my favourite articles which I enjoyed reading were one on Intagram #fitspiration which was about people who post pictures on Instagram about fitness (as a self confessed instgram lover I really enjoyed this) and another one which was all about "what no one tells you when your weight changes" which made a very interesting read as someone who is on their own weight loss journey. In particular the one about the girl who says that dropping 4 dress size gave her anxiety.

As well as this, there are all the typical things you would expect in a magazine with clothes and fitness gadgets.

Have you picked up this magazine? I think it is definitely worth a read as it has some really good inspirational pieces in here and some great articles. I really hope this magazine is a regular thing as I will be picking it up!

Hey lovelies.

I've had a Filofax for a couple of years now and it has always sat looking pretty in my bag with occasional dates written in it. However just before christmas I picked up a new Filofax (well actually I picked up 2 a personal one and one for all my girl guide stuff) and decided to customise and start using it in a bid to become more organised.

If your looking for a new Filofax, now is the time to pick one up. Ive had diaries in the past and yes you can get some nice ones but the great thing about a Filofax is it allows you to customise it for your every need.

 This is the inside cover of the Domino! As you can see it contains 4 card pockets and a picture pocket. It also has 2 little pockets and one large pocket on the side.
As you can see I use the card pockets to hold my stamps (because you never know when you will need one) and my P60 from work because you never know when your going to need that! In the other pockets I have my prescription for my glasses and some stickers and post it notes for making the pages with and then in the large one a couple of forms. In the picture pocket you may spy a picture of me, mum and dad at my graduation!
At the front of the filofax I have my stickers. The smaller ones you can see are from Filofax and the large A5 ones are from Paperchase. As you may be able to also see the good thing about this Filofax is it has 2 holders for pens which is great like me if you like to use a normal pen as well as coloured pens. Here I have a Bic 4 coloured pen on the left and sneakly at the edge of the shot you can just see my Cath Kidston Star Pen (You can see it better below)


So what do I use my Filofax for and what sections do I have? I picked up some of the 6 plain dividers from WHSmiths so that I could create my own sections. These can be picked up for around £4 and are great if you want to be able to stipulate what sections you want.

The 6 Sections I have in mine are:

• Info  - In here I keep all details of things like my phone details - when my contract is due etc
• Diary -  Pretty Self explanatory 
• Lists and Notes - In here I have got my 30 before 30 list, my fitness goal list and my bucket list plus my measurements which I am tracking as I loose weight
• Blog - I have customised this section with the help of some page tabs I picked up in Ryman. Here I have another diary - a week on 2 page one from Filofax that I use to make a note of planned blog posts plus areas then I have sections for day to day posts, reviews, features and christmas posts. 
• Addresses - Again self explanatory
• Christmas - In this section I house Christmas recipes, christmas card lists, present ideas etc

While over the year of 2013, despite being one of the mosts I wanted to get done every month, I havent managed to keep you updated over the months as to what my monthly favourites are! In fact I think I have only done a couple of these posts this year! I love reading these posts so I have decided for 2014 I will be sharing my monthly favourites with you!

Anyway today I thought I would do a run down of the products I have been loving over 2013 as a whole! This year I have discovered a lot of beauty loves and tried a lot of new things! Heres a run down of some of my favourites.


 I cant believe that this year was the first year I dabbled into the world of Urban Decay and Naked Palettes! I picked up the original naked palette as a treat to myself for hitting my 2 stone and I jumped at the change to get the Naked 3 when I saw online how beautiful the colours were. I have been loving using the colours in both of these palettes! They are perfect for day time when I am at work but also there are some beautiful colours in there too to create a gorgeous smokey eye!



You may remember I picked up this little beauty on my trip to Birmingham with my bestie in October (and another one in December when I went to Trafford) - I love this palette and seriously wish I had picked one up before now. I can definatly see more of these little beauties in my life. In fact I may even pick up one of the 15 palettes next time I am passing a Mac stand as I already have 8 mac shadows now. When we go away in May I am hoooooping and praying that the Mac stand will be open!

I could go on and on as I have discovered some pretty good beauty finds this year! I think though that these have got to be my top products which I love! What products have you been loving for 2013?? Have you made some discoveries which you are loving and taking into 2014???

Hello my lovelies!

You may remember that last year we had a feature called Foodie Friday rocking itself on my blog. I decided to shake it up a bit for the new year and as of next week I am going to be starting something called Fitness Friday. This is going to include things such as recipes, fitness stuff, reviews of anything I am using fitness wise along the way - January tends to be the time when everyone starts fitness and healthy eating resolutions so I thought I would expand on Foodie Friday a bit to include other stuff as well.

If you would be interested in any recipes/reviews/ideas etc then feel free to tweet, email, instagram me and i will try and facilitate!

Hello my lovelies! I hope you are all well! This week marks the first post on the 2014 blogger challenge! If you have no idea what I am talking about then there is a link to Gaby's blog in the side bar.

The first topic of the blogger challenge was to post a photo which inspires you and think would inspire others.
I love this quote and find it really makes you think. Every year you start with a new year, we can do ANYTHING with it and it is ours to grasp! Every year we start the new year and we can make a new start! If you think of the year as a book and the days as pages you can really think about what you would like to fill your book with! I have some big goals and plans for 2014 and plan on making the most of every moment and every page! I really want to be sitting here at the end of this year thinking Wow I really did good this year which I am sure we all do but this year I want to mean it! I can look back on 2013 which such fond memories as the year I started to make a change - the year I finally got off my butt and did something about my weight and gained some confidence! I want to look back on 2014 in the same way, closer to my overall goals if not there. I want to be fitter and healthier when I sit here at Christmas and know I made a difference this year. That I did things that made me happy, spent time with friends, went to places I want to and places I love!

Life is for living and we really should use each page as a chance to mark each page in the best way we can!!!

I hope that you are all well and are not suffering too much from the ill effects of too much partying!

Its that time again! The time when all over the country we all sit around and make resolutions for the new year ahead. As a person who loves goals and lists I am all for making resolutions so I thought I would, as I have in previous years come and share them with you!

1. Blogging - I want to continue to grow my little space on the internet next year. I have really grown to love my blog more over the past 12 months (not that I didnt before then) but I really feel like I have hit my blogging stride now! I cant wait for this year as I am going on my first blogger meet up and I am hoping to get more involved in the blogging community and engage with other bloggers more! I have so many ideas for my blog this year so stay tuned!!! 
2. Be a Better Me! - Slimming world was good to me in 2013 and I want to continue with my good weight loss and hopefully get as close to my target as I can - if not really work hard to be there by this time next year. Also carry on going to the gym and get fitter! I really missed not going to the gym but I am booked in for a session on Sunday with one of the trainers to alter my program so I can gently get myself back going again. I want to build myself up this year so that come 2015 I could start doing some of my fitness goals like the colour run or the potters half! 
3. Get more organised - Now its not that I am not organised but there is certainly room for improvement! I love my Filofax and it looks all pretty now - time to start using it
4. Expand my faith - I have already signed up for a course called PILGRIM which our vicar is putting on and there are lots of parts to it so I am looking forward to signing up for more and learning more! I have gradually become more active in my church more and more in 2013 (which I think had helped with my increased confidence as I now am more forward to getting involved) and want to continue this in 2014. I love my church and spending time but I have sometimes felt a bit intimidated as a lot of the people who go to my church and who I now consider close friends are a lot older than me! I seem to have got over this last year so now I want to start learning more about my faith. 
5. Be a better guide / leader - I love being a guide leader - well I will be fully fledged if i get my finger out this year! I need to get my qualification finished!!!! Anyway there are lots of ideas online and there are so many ways to get involved in guiding! Guiding can offer so many amazing opportunities - one of the leaders from our unit is as we speak (she went yesterday) to live in Sangam at the guide camp over there to work for 12 months! An awesome opportunity!