Festival Essentials Part 2: Non Beauty

If you’ve seen my previous post you’ll know all the beauty products you’ll need to make yourself look at least presentable during your stay, but here is a bunch of other products you’ll need to survive!

Of course the mains ones are a tent and sleeping bag, otherwise you’ll be sleeping out in the cold and although under the stars is a lovely thought, I’d rather be warm.  I’d recommend bringing at least a couple of torches with you with spare batteries if you need them; you can also bring glowsticks, in total I have 2 torches, 2 glowsticks and a hybrid glowstick/torch, very handy.

Essentials, will include a First Aid Kit, incase of any small emergencies you can solve them yourself. Ear plugs and an eye mask are also brilliant, there will probably be a lot of noise going on when you want to sleep and the sun shining through in the morning can ruin your lovely sleep, so these are my recommendations, definitely.

A Water Bottle is also a good item, you can fill it up at the free taps on site and having it on you all day will stop you getting dehydrated. The bottle I have has a clip so it can attach to your jeans or rucksack and a even has a filter. [I’ve just realised I didn’t photograph it]

Anti Bacterial Hand Gel is a must I have the Cuticura branded one, but there are plenty out there. Bringing your own toilet roll would is a good idea, especially if they run out! SPF yes please, if you don’t want that pale skin to burn, Nivea Moisturising Sun Spray SPF 30 is my choice. A good tip for a towel – towels take up tons of room in your rucksack so instead of bringing your favourite Disney beach towel, think again and buy a micro-fibre towel, you can pick them up in your local outdoor store, they come in different sizes and colours, dry very quickly and easily pack away.

Remember your outside and at night the bugs do bite. You can buy small sprays of Insect Repellent and Bite Relief, but also you can buy these bigger bottles of Avon Skin do Soft which is a dry oil spray which keeps the bugs away in the first place, smells good too.

I brought a disposable travel toothbrush, which came with a little toothpaste but as I am there for a week this just won’t do me so you can buy little travel size of these and all other products too. I also have a small eco size deodorant, which you can also use as a body spray if you start to smell.

Hayfever if you suffer from this like me this is a must have to bring, otherwise you will not survive the trip. I’m bringing eye drops, nasal spray and hay fever tablets along with tissues!!! I’m also bringing some Ibuprofen, cause the sun and music may give you headaches, but I’m sure it will be fine.

And along with your clothes, that’s it – I think. So good luck and I hope you enjoy yourself at your festival as much as I do at mine.

 

Love

Laura x

Festival Essentials Part 1: Beauty

So festival season is creeping up, longs nights, plenty of drinking, not showering and living in amongst the mud. I am lucky enough to be going to Glastonbury this year, I am there for work but most of the time I will get to enjoy the pleasures of the festival for myself.

So here are a few of my Festival Essentials that I will be taking with me:

Because I am working while the event is going on I will be there slightly longer than the rest of you festival goers so along with Bastiles Original Dry Shampoo, I will also be bringing a travel size shampoo and a leave-in conditioner, Dove Hair Therapy Leave-in Conditioner (review), for the days when I’ve gone too long without showering.

Another excellent and essential is face cleansing wipes, or baby wipes, not only for taking off the mess and dirt of the day but also a good alternative to cleaning your body when the shower facilities have gone down hill. I’m also bringing the Garnier Micellar Water, to remove my makeup, placing it in a small travel bottle, instead of taking the full size one.

You also need to bring you daily moisturiser I’m bringing a two-in-one product the Ultra Repair Cream from F.A.B, I didn’t like this product when I first tried it, using it in conjunction with other F.A.B products didn’t work for my skin, but alone it is a great hydrating cream and can be used for your face and body.

You’ll also need a lip balm, I’m brining two, The Body Shop Vitamin E SPF Lip Balm and Blistex MedPlus I’m covering all my bases, a easy daily multi using balm and one of the severe, dry, chapped lips.

There a lot of products you could bring with you to look your best but trying to bring it down the the bare essentials, while still looking good, means you have to pick the best products to last all day without smudging or melting off your face. Its summer so the need to bring a heavy foundation isn’t a necessity, plus you won’t have the the comforts of cleansing off all that makeup every night. You could use a tinted moisturised such as the Garnier Miracle Skin Cream or a CC/BB cream a good one is the Bourjois 123 CC cream its light enough to let those freckles shine through but good enough to last all day and night if need be.

Concealer is an obvious bring, if your having a good skin day then concealer may be all you need, Benefit’s Erase Paste (review) is a good all rounder. If your going to bring a blush I would buy a multi-use cream blush like the Stila Convertible Blush (review) or the Revlon Photoready Cream Blush, but I’ve opted just to bring a bronzer with me, my one has no lid as you can see but its has a slight shimmer to it but is quite matte, mine is a Rimmel Bronzer but don’t ask me which one – I have no idea, I think it was Sun Shimmer?

Added to this will be the Rimmel Scandaleyes eyeshadow sticks, long lasting and can be used for eyeshadow or eyeliner, so you can change your look with whatever shades you decided to bring, I’m going for my typical neutral shade Bad Gal Bronze. Finally a must-have is a waterproof mascara two good ones are the L’oreal Telescopic Waterproof Mascara and the No 7 Stay Perfect Mascara.

There will be another post shortly on the non-beauty essentials to bring, so keep and eye out. If there’s anything else you want to know or think I’ve missed off let me know. Remember you don’t need all the products I’ve mentioned, bring one or the other, otherwise your rucksack is gonna be heavy!

I hope you enjoyed this post and have fun if you are going to a festival yourself this summer.

Eczema Update #2 & Catch Up

Hello lovely people!

I know its again been a while since I last posted – back in March – but it’s been a crazy couple of months. My boyfriend got offered a job here in London and within 5 days of him getting the job, we found a new place to live, moved all our belongings, made furniture (a canvas wardrobe) and made our new house a lot cleaner!

As well as learning the area, getting a car – I know for London mental, but he needs it for work – and learning to live together again after being so long apart. But we’re enjoying the transition and its great being closer to London and friends.

Enough about that! Eczema time!

I can happily say I have not had an eczema flare up since we moved – I’ve had a couple itchy moments but nothing thats caused major irritation or skin redness. I am amazed. I don’t know if it is the change in water or environment, but my eczema has never been better and I’m enjoy the normality of my skin while it lasts.

I have however become spotty?! I never really got spots when I was younger but right now especially around my chin and cheek area, spots? So I guess not the greatest addition to my skin but lets hope I only get one thing and not both bouts of irregular skin annoyances for the time being.

Has anyone else experienced this? Or is it just me. I’ve been using Sudocrem to help ease the redness to calm the skin down and while this seems to be working the spots are still there. Here’s hoping the sun comes out again so I can soak up some rays and clear my skin up.

Friday Fav| Primark Shoulder Bag

So I was scouting around Primark for a new bag, I’ve been looking for a sort of businessy type of bag, that I could use for a potential job and job interview since I’ve been applying for loads lately. I was actually looking for the Zara City Bag Dupe but they didn’t have it – but I stubbled across this little beauty.

I think that this bag looks more expensive than it actually is (£10) and I’ve had so many compliments on it already in the week that I’ve had it.

There are so many little touches that make it look just that little bit more special.

The small silver edging on the front and little feet, as well as being a rather softish pleather, it is rather more usable than some of the other bags I found which we so stiff you could hardly open them.

It comes with 2 handles, one on the front and one on the back,The bag also comes with a long, completely adjustable shoulder strap which you can easily unclip from the sides and keep in the bag for easy access.

Inside the bag, is a small zip compartment, where you could keep loose change or receipts and on the other side is a phone pocket. It was a little smaller than I wanted, but only by an inch or so, it can still definitely be used to keep your iPad, books, paperwork etc (A4 size) You couldn’t keep a full sized laptop in there however.

Have you found any amazing products in Primark lately? Do you like this bag? Let me know what you think!

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Amsterdam Trip

Some of you might know that my boyfriend and I went on a long weekend trip to Amsterdam, our first official holiday together.

So here is a small bombardment of photographs to give you a little insight into what we saw.

We stayed in a guest house right on the Amstel canal, it was so quiet and the houses were absolutely gorgeous to look at. We found out on a canal tour that the houses used to be taxed on how wide they were therefore most buildings were very slim, to save on money. (Our hotel is the second house from the left).

I’d really recommend doing a canal cruise it helps you to get your bearings and you learn a little history on the way. We took the last tour of the day 5:15pm, which at this time of year meant we were also able to see the city at night (instead of taking a more expensive evening tour). A bonus too was that there were less people on this trip too, we almost has the whole boat to ourselves.

So many canals and bikes. Bikes beware of, they’ll kill you before they slow down even an inch.

And bring a map with you, the tours and tickets shops that appear all around Amsterdam have tour guides have excellent maps in the back of them. If you have one of those it is hard to get lost there, even if every canal looks the same.

This is me at the Anne Frank House, there was a major cue for it so if you go I would recommend booking online and bringing an e-ticket with you, therefore skipping the long wait – I would have done this but we switched round our schedule while we were there.

Another amazing museum was the Rijksmuseum, this was one museum that wasn’t on our list but the building looked so impressive we decided it was a must see and it was. You could spend a whole day there, so much to see and so much history, it is on the more expensive side at €15 p.p but I would pay that again.

Amsterdam has some of the yummiest looking bakery’s we passed so many on our wanders and when we went inside – finally- we were not disappointed.

A couple places we did go but I didn’t take pictures of was to Gassan Diamonds, we took the free tour and it was so interesting and completely beautiful – GO! you get to look at diamonds for a good hour and learn all about the making process, one of the best things we did here. And finally the Red Light District (no judgement). It was one of those things we want to go and have a look at, we went on a Saturday night just before 11pm, it was so busy and I couldn’t believe it really. I found it a little demeaning seeing these small single beds, with a toilet next to them, loud drunk men trying to get freebies – yeah right- but I have to say the girls were beautiful, almost not quite what I was expecting.

So there we go a short insight into our trip. We were there a massive 5 days, which was way too long, 3 days would be plenty, luckily we had a rest day which was much needed. I had so much fun there and it was a interesting city. We never had a real problem with language everyone there spoke english as well as dutch, there was just one sandwich shop where he spoke very little english but it wasn’t too much of a problem.

I don’t think I would go again just because we saw everything that was to be seen really, but it was an amazing trip, we laughed so much and spent too much money – even if we did budget – I hope the boyfriend goes back though to get me a diamond. YES PLEASE!

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Clean Slate: A New Year Arrives

I’ve been away from the blogging world for a few weeks now so I hope all of you reading had a wonderful christmas and a happy new year.

My christmas was a bit hectic, with crazy family members staying with us with all the normal drama that comes with them, along with family disasters of our own. Which didn’t always leave the greatest impression on my long term boyfriend, who was here for his first christmas with my family, who thought we were all mad. But christmas isn’t always like an episode from Eastenders, it’s usually so calm. It wasn’t all bad, but oh well maybe next time will be better.

However all the decorations have been taken down, leaving a bare empty house; the family have settled back into their old routine and things are slowly going back to normal. The boyfriend has gone back home, probably much to his relief but he’s back in a couple of weeks which is lovely.

But I’m writing today because I felt the urge to write. The sun is shining so beautifully, there’s blue skies, I have a steaming cup of tea next to me and there’s not a single sound but the clicking of my clock in the kitchen. This won’t last long as my brother is still asleep upstairs, but for now the quiet is blissful and my hopes for the new year have me quite as ease with myself.

So many good things happened in 2013, but a lot of bad ones too (I won’t go in to them or you’ll be reading a novel) but my hope for this next year is one of happy things – even if terrible things are bound to happen – I’m staying positive.

A clean slate. A new year has arrived.

Even if we do say this every year a clean slate is what every year brings. If only we act on this fact will anything happen so here goes the start to a promising year.

It’s always good to have goals for yourself and even though mine aren’t big ones I know someone who has had a hard few years has gone so far to make everyday a good one. 100 days of happiness, which I think is a lovely idea, and I hope she does it. She posts a picture everyday of something that has made her happy, going out for tea and cakes, a bike ride or even a lovely view.

I won’t go in to details about my hopes and dreams for this year, mine are all the stereotypical ones anyways – but still good. I’m sure you all have some great ones I’d love to know what they are.

But to help with my clean slate I started this week with a spring clean of my life. I’ve cleaned out my wardrobe, got rid of anything I haven’t worn this year, same with shoes, getting rid of old underwear, bags everything. I even had a clear out of my make-up and skincare stuff, and finally organised my wardrobe and bathroom cupboard.

But nothing is going to waste I’m taking everything that is still in good nick to my local charity shop so some else can get some good out of them.

I no longer feel weighed down, its actually quite refreshing have a spring clean. I found old things I forgot I had, due to a large move last year which got buried away during building work, which are now prominently on my dresser now.

For example a charm bracelet which I’ve had since I was one, which pretty much has a charm for every year that I’ve been born right up until I was 18, so its rather old now, some of the charms have fallen off and it needs a serious clean but its a little memento of my life, with things to remind me of when I was little. So that’s a keeper of life – never throw out one of those. It just need some taking care of.

My dresser is now free of clutter with just my jewellery box and pictures of my family around it. I have one which is empty at the moment, but it will soon be filled with one of myself and the boyfriend much to his dismay, he hates photographs of himself. But I have a couple in mind.

…Ah the silence has been broken – the brother is up – so I’ll just have to try and take solace in my cup of tea which is now nearly empty.

I’ve refreshed my cv, my room, even my car’s had a major clear out and clean which was much needed. My sunroof was broken and leaking a tad, what I didn’t realise was that water was under my drivers seat causing major condensation in my car – luckily good old dad helped me seal the roof and helped get rid of the major water problem. I now just have to keep an eye on it and wait until its completely dried out.

Another thing I’ve done is going through my Facebook and “unfriended”, which sounds so harsh, people I do not talk to on Facebook. I tend to find that after a while becoming Facebook friends with people you use to go to school with – who didn’t talk to you at school – is just odd, and friendships die down and you loose contact with certain people. That doesn’t mean getting rid of everyone though, people who you were really close to at some point I have kept, because sometimes a friendship can last no matter how long you’ve been out of contact for.

I’ve also just got a new phone and new number, which is taking some getting use to but I’ve gone through my old contacts too and if I don’t speak to them at all I deleted them off my phone but put them into my phone book because you never know.

These are a few things I’ve done to start the new year a fresh – what have you done? Let me know your fab new year tips you’ve done to refresh your life.

The sun is still shining, there’s still a blue sky but now the silence has gone and my cup is empty.

I hope you are all well.

Laura x

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Personalised Gift (Friends Look Away)

I saw someone professional do this and I gave it ago. So here’s my run down on how to make your own personalised printed scarf. This DIY gift takes a couple days to make, so set aside enough time to do it. (This is a good gift to christmas or a birthday present)

WHAT YOU’LL NEED:-
– Plain Scarf
– Material Paint
– Card
– Sharp Knife
– Chopping Board
– Masking tape
– Greaseproof Paper
– Paint brush or Sponges

First of all print off your chosen design onto a piece of card, it could be an image/pattern or phrase. Then cut it out with your knife, if your image is a word which has the letters A,O,P etc (letters with holes in) either keep the cut out middle part of the letter or make sure you leave the middle bits attached in some way, which is what I have done here.

Place your material down on a flat surface, placing greaseproof paper between the material, so that the print does not mark your table and does not paint the other side of the scarf. The using masking tape, secure your design into place. Shake your material paint and your ready for the next stage.

(I suggest greaseproof paper because if you use newspaper it can get stuck to your material while the paint is drying, using greaseproof you are less likely to have this happen – this is just through my own experience)

Using a paint brush or sponge, dap the paint gently on top of your stencil until the whole design is covered. Then leave it until the paint has become completely dry.

Then gentle remove the stencil from the material slowly, this may take some time as the card would have hardened with the paint also. Repeat this process until the scarf looks how you desire it to.

Then simple iron over the top of your now printed scarf to make sure the design stays permanent.

This is a great personalised gift, I chose my friends favourite films or books quotes, or just something personal to them for the designs.

Last Minute DIY Xmas Gifts

Haven’t got all your christmas shopping done yet and need a few ideas, here’s a few ideas I’ve seen (& done) that are great gifts.

This ones really easy to do and pretty cheap. You can get all the items to make this at your local haberdashery or craft shop. This year I made a simple black threaded bracelet with the infinity symbol as the charm. Looks great and makes a perfect gift. Remember to make one for you and your friend.
Image: Pinterest click here

This one is a really nice idea too, and so simple, just write what you want on a plain mug in a permanent marker and bake in the oven.
Image: Pinterest click here

I actually made these for myself a couple months ago. They sell big bags of decorated buttons in Hobby Craft for a couple of pounds, and cheap magnets too. Just superglue the magnets to the back of the button (of use a glue gun – this is what I did) and wait for them to dry.
Image: Pinterest click here

I’m really looking forward to doing this one today in fact. I’ve got tons of empty old jam jars so I will be making jams, marmalades and chutneys. There’s a recipe below to Mary Berry’s Christmas Chutney, which I’m going to give as a present to my parents.
Mary Berry Christmas Chutney Recipe here
Chutney Image: Pinterest click here

Hope these were helpful. Let me know if any of you’ve made homemade gifts this year.

Winter: Tips for Fighting a Cold

My five top tips for fighting a cold this season. I’ve had two colds this winter and these finally helped me to get over it for the last time I hope.

Cold Tip #1: Stay warm and rested. Staying warm and resting when you first come down with a cold or the flu helps your body direct its energy toward the immune battle. This battle taxes the body so give it a little help by lying down under a blanket to stay warm.

Cold Tip #2: The remedy that I grew up with for a sore throat was to take a tablespoon of honey and mix it with a tablespoon of lemon juice and then add hot water. Fresh lemon is the best, but you can use bottled. You drink it, you do not gargle with it. Tea is also good for a sore throat too, it really helps.

You can also try throat lozenges, I’ve tried fisherman’s friends which are very good, soothers and these (below). I’ve also heard of people putting them into their tea to help with their throat I tried this but it didn’t really seem to help me. The old classic is always best.

Cold Tip #3: Blocked up nose? The steam from a vaporizer can loosen mucus, especially if the mucus has become thick. (You can get a similar effect by draping a towel over your head and bending over a pot of boiled water; just be careful not to burn yourself.) Or do what I do most often, just have a nice hot bath, warms you up and the steam helps to loosen up your nose blockage.

Menthol Ointment is a simple remedy just dab a menthol-infused ointment under, but not in, the nose or on the chest or throat.  As an added benefit, breathing in the medicated vapors that contain menthol or camphor may help relieve cough or open clogged passages and ease symptoms of congestion. Days of wiping and blowing your nose can leave the skin around your nostrils sore and irritated.

Cold Tip #5: Toasty socks will make you feel better, even if they can’t cure your cold or fight the flu, they will help with Tip #1 keeping warm.

Winter: Go-to-Scarfs

Winter, oh the cold. It is one of those seasons I have a love/hate relationship with, I love wrapping up and staying warm by a fire, and the jumpers and boots you have to wear, but I hate the numb fingers, the dry skin and blow away hair you get in this weather.

But it’s here to stay for a while so we better get use to it, I can already feel I have a cold coming on so what better way to stay warm outside than a lovely scarf. Here I have a few favourites brought over the last few years, they are my go-to scarfs.

I love this Aztec print scarf, it was given to me last year as a christmas present and became a firm favourite. The bold print stands out but isn’t overwhelming and I like the pops of colour. It’s also very wide covering a large portion of your top half. I believe this was from Tesco’s actually and was no more than a fiver.

Another pattern scarf, which I also love, yellow is not my particular colour but its not too over the top, and the pattern almost reminds me of something out of Elizabethan times, like a tapestry or something. I don’t know where this was brought, this was also a present.

I don’t know about you but I am a scarf girl, I like receiving them and giving them, I tend to have more scarfs than shoes or bags, they are a great present.

I like fashion styles too but for the really cold winter months a thick, heavy or bulky scarf is the best. The nice thing about choosing bulky scarfs is that you can really bundle up in it to keep you warm and wear it as a hood when you’ve no umbrella, the number of times I’ve gone into town and found myself in the pouring rain mid shopping….big scarfs come in very handy.

Next up is my can’t live without scarfs, they are a daily essential, I have them in three colours, red, orange and blue, it is just a simple, no fuss material, large and wide enough to do many things with them. I would not last winter without them!

What your winter essential? And how to do you keep warm during the cold months?