Life At Thirty

It probably goes without saying that I haven't been the best blogger over the past couple of years but I'm finally back with a vengeance. Even though I was constantly taking & editing photos of products and coming up with new ideas, the posts just never seemed to materialise. I sometimes struggled to put up one blog post a month! There's currently over 140 draft posts on here with fully edited pictures waiting for me to write some interesting copy. Blogging is still one of my main passions in life but I could never find the time or energy to invest in it & that's mainly because so many awful things were going on behind the scenes at home.

I took these photos last August on my 30th birthday because if you don't take some photos with gold number balloons, did you even really have a birthday? The original plan was to put up an outfit post of me in this fab dress from Joanie Clothing & write about what a great time I had in Manchester, eating at Home Sweet Home & going on a shopping spree in Affleck's Palace. Yet again, I couldn't get the words out & my efforts were going to waste. This time it was more than just 'blogger's block', I was completely broken as a person. How could I possibly have written about frivolous stuff like makeup & clothes when my world had fallen apart?



You might remember when I wrote about my 29th birthday back in 2017. A few weeks before, our holiday to Spain had to be cancelled because Chloe had caught chicken pox at school & wasn't able to fly. The holiday was probably a last ditch attempt to save our relationship so things really went south between us when it got cancelled. But when you've been together for so long it's hard to admit that you need to split up, especially when there are children involved. My relationship with Andy has never been healthy or stable. Even when we first met, he would dump me because I took too long to text back & then beg me to get back with him. I, being a young idiot in love, always did. Things got even worse in 2018 when he decided to break up with me for good.

I thought that 2019 would be a fresh new start. Despite everything, we were still on friendly terms & all three of us stayed up to watch the fireworks together on New Year's Eve. I had planned to get my hair done for the first time since Summer 2017, get my passport & driving licence renewed, start blogging again properly, look for a new job & then get a new flat. But on January 5th, I got told that I had to move out immediately. I was completely shell shocked & my anxiety went into overdrive. I couldn't eat or sleep or stop shaking. I would give anything to be able to move back to London or Leeds as there's literally nothing for me here apart from Chloe's school. But she obviously comes first so I found a flat just around the corner from our old house, paid the extortionate agency fees & we've now moved in. I'm poorer than I've ever been in my life so please understand the sudden influx of sponsored posts. It's not great but I'm beginning to like it more with each passing day. I can hear cars driving past 24/7, some of the walls are a bit mouldy & I have no furniture but at least we're free.



2019 is the year that I start putting myself first. Due to my slave status I never got to go on any nights out as I always had to put Chloe to bed but last year I started going to drag shows. When Andy & I had our first major breakup back in 2012, RuPaul's Drag Race (& lots of therapy!) basically got me through it. I've wanted to see some of my favourite queens live ever since but I just never got the opportunity. Jinkx Monsoon has been my absolute favourite drag artist since season five first began & I finally got to see them at The Comedy Store in Manchester! It was such a fantastic night & I hope I get to see them again soon. Jinkx is even more lovely & charismatic in person. I also got the chance to go to the Dragula UK tour & it was one of the best nights out I've ever had. I loved seeing Biqtch Puddin & Vander Von Odd perform but Abhora, Meatball & James Majesty were all brilliant too. I even got to meet the Boulet Brothers at the end which was a dream come true even though my iPhone completely messed the photos. Thanks to Strongbow Dark Fruits for giving me the confidence to line up for the meet & greet! This year I plan on attending more drag shows & music gigs & video game/anime conventions because those are the things that bring me the most amount of joy in life. I'm a massive nerd & now I feel like I can finally embrace this without being judged. These things also help me to be more creative in my own work & heaven knows I've been lacking on that front! I don't really care about getting into a new relationship right now but if I do find someone on Tinder, he would have to love all of those things too because I don't have time for any negativity about the things that I truly enjoy.

My life at thirty years old is nothing like I expected it to be. I thought Andy & I would've gotten married in Vegas, I'd have an amazing graphic design career & we'd own a cute apartment together but instead I'm starting from scratch as a single mum. Thankfully I think I'm finally starting to get over all the pain & stress that the last few years have caused me. At long last I'm ready to focus on myself & I plan on making my thirties a whole lot better than my terrible twenties. After all, life begins at thirty!

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Hello 2018!

Happy New Year everyone! As always I'm fashionably late with this post but better late than never eh? I completely skipped blogging for several months last year & only started back up again in May. Even then I only posted sporadically but I finally got back into the groove towards the end of the year. 2017 was yet another crappy year in my life. I knew it was gonna be a bad year when the dishwasher started causing power cuts a couple of days into 2017. The boiler was also making horrendous drilling noises & after years of complaining we finally got a new boiler fitted. Then things got a little more promising. Andy earned tons of commission working at Mercedes so we decided to splash the cash & book our first family holiday in February. I started hitting the gym hard as I was determined to look good in a bikini & it definitely paid off. I felt more confident & comfortable in my own skin than I had done in years.

Then a week before we were due to fly to Spain at the end of July, Chloe caught chickenpox from another child in her class. We had to cancel the holiday which was completely devastating. I haven't been on holiday since 2008 & I'd spent the whole first half of the year looking forward to this week away. Claiming the money back using our travel insurance was incredibly stressful & we had to pay £300 excess. We had also spent loads of money on new clothes, new suitcases & getting Euros for our trip. Basically we ended up losing a lot of money & could no longer afford to book another trip as it took so long for the insurance company to pay out.

This holiday was the only thing that I had to look forward to & when it got taken away from me I sunk into a deep depression. I stopped caring about my appearance entirely. I couldn't be bothered to look after my skin, put on makeup, get my roots bleached, eat healthily or go to the gym. I sometimes struggled to even do basic things like getting dressed or having a shower. It was such a difficult time & no one we knew really gave a shit. I've had to cut a lot of toxic people out of my life because it's quite clear that they only care about themselves. After that disastrous start to the Summer surely things couldn't get any worse right? Wrong.

I never expect to do anything particularly exciting for my birthday. I normally just spend it with Andy & Chloe so we tend to do fun things as a family such as going to York Maze. This year I wanted to go to Little Owl Farm in Oldham because I love owls & wanted to feed some baby animals haha! Andy went out that morning & when he came back he was completely stressed out as one of his cars had been clamped. Once he'd sorted out all that palaver it was too late to go anywhere so I just accepted it & figured we could go later that week. Andy then informed me that we should pack a suitcase because he'd booked a hotel in Liverpool & we were going to spend the weekend there. We didn't quite make it to Liverpool. About five minutes away from our house Andy got into a collision with a guy on a moped. It was one of the worst days of my life.

It's taken quite a while for me to get over the events of last Summer. I'm thankful for the new year as this time I really do see it as a new start. I saw some tweets saying that it doesn't matter if you didn't achieve anything in 2017, it's okay if all you did was survive. I can definitely relate to that as I've felt a bit down about my achievements. It's important to remember that your value is not measured by your productivity & comparing yourself to others is a fruitless exercise. I've not set any resolutions or specific goals this year. I mainly want to get my life back on track. I've started going to the gym again & I had forgotten how exhilarating a good Body Pump session could be. I've spent most of this week struggling with DOMS but I can't wait to do it all again next week! I've sacked off Slimming World because I wasn't getting anywhere with it. I've joined Team RH Fitness & I'm loving being able to eat what I want as long as it fits my macros. I also can't wait to get my hair done, six months of regrowth is not a pretty sight!

One of the main things I want to do this year is become a full time blogger. I started this blog back in February 2010, whilst heavily pregnant with Chloe! A lot of things have changed since then but despite the occasional lack of posts, my love of blogging is still going strong. I've always been too scared to take this step but I really want to make a go of it. If so many other people can do it, why can't I? I'm turning 30 this year & it's about damn time I took control of my life. So here's to 2018! Let's hope this year treats all of us well!

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Hello 2016!

A rather belated Happy New Year to you all! As January draws to a close I figured it was about time I made an appearance on here. I had intended on blogging weeks ago but sometimes life just gets in the way. Talking about makeup & clothes as per usual didn't feel right without doing this post first. So for me 2015 was a pretty crappy year overall. At the beginning of the year there was a lot of drama which resulted in me spending several months on self-help courses to deal with my anxiety & anger issues. I also spent some time in hospital to better diagnose my stomach problems. I felt very depressed & my weight ballooned which made it harder for me to carry on with blogging when I felt so low in myself. I'm trying my best to put self-loathing behind me so that I can get on with doing what I love. Obviously the lack of posts this month isn't great but I finally feel like I'm ready to go. Just like last year I've set myself five realistic goals instead of full on resolutions. Goals are more achievable than resolutions & I won't feel like a failure if there are any slight setbacks. Wish me luck!

Reach my target weight
Back in September I came to the realisation that I had put on quite a bit of weight. This was further cemented to me when a little shitbag at my nephew's birthday party called me 'fat lady'. I'd only gained about a stone & a half but that was enough to make me feel uncomfortable in my clothes. Every year I say I want to lose weight but this time I actually did something about it. I decided to join Slimming World & since September I have already lost one stone as well as earning my Club 10 award. I'm only 10lbs from target now & feel confident that I can get there in the next few months. I might even try to go that little bit further just so I can get my two stone award before returning to target. I've also been going to various exercise classes at the gym so hopefully I'll be getting a few body magic awards too!

Take better care of myself
My eating & exercise habits have certainly improved already but there are definitely other aspects of self-care where I don't put in as much effort. I've become quite lazy with my skincare routine lately. Terrible, I know! I haven't been wearing makeup very much so I often can't be bothered to wash my face at night. My skin has improved loads but it's important that I don't become complacent & carry on with my current skincare regime twice a day. I also stopped bothering with all my vitamins & supplements which definitely had a negative impact upon my hair, skin & nails. My immune system is completely shot at the minute & it seems like I get another cold every week. I've started taking all the pills & I already feel more like myself again. Some other things I plan on doing are more hair masks, more face masks, more manicures & more teeth whitening strips. It's those little things that make you feel so much better & we should all strive to do them more often.

Do a full KonMari-style home makeover
I love Marie Kondo's book The Life-Changing Magic Of Tidying Up & have also bought her latest guide to de-cluttering, Spark Joy. I've always been a bit of a hoarder so her books have been really helpful to me. I've already sorted through my wardrobe, cosmetics & toiletries but I want to carry on with tidying the rest of the house. When you're a parent you tend to accumulate so much extra clutter. There are toys everywhere in the living room & I've kept hold of all the artwork Chloe does at school. It's hard not to be sentimental about those kind of things but you have to draw a line somewhere. This year I plan to fully de-clutter my home using the KonMari method. Having a tidy home is really important to me but it's something I don't think I've ever managed to achieve! There's always a mess somewhere. With Marie Kondo's books by my side I'm positive that I can clear out all of the extra rubbish over the next few months. After all, a tidy house makes for a tidy mind.

Get a new job
The whole childcare situation didn't really get resolved last year so I didn't get a new job like I had hoped. At this point I'd be happy to just get a part-time retail job. It might not be related to graphic design but without proper childcare I don't think I'll ever get a full-time design position. Sad but true. Becoming a full-time blogger who accepts sponsored content is always very tempting but it's also quite lonely if you can't get to events in London & I miss being able to socialise with new people. I think it would also do wonders for my confidence & self-esteem. It's all too easy to sit in your pyjamas every day, bare-faced with your hair scraped back in a ponytail if you work from home but it's making me depressed & I need to do something about it.

Make a proper start with YouTube
I made some YouTube videos a few years ago but it was never something that I fully transitioned into. To be completely honest I hardly read blogs these days as I much prefer watching YouTube videos. It gets on my wick when bloggers don't show how products look on their faces so it can be hard to find informative reviews. It's much simpler to watch someone applying a product to their face in real time & hearing what they think about it. Although I do always make an effort to fully swatch makeup on both my arm & my face in blog photos I feel that videos often showcase products more accurately. They're a much better format for makeup tutorials so I plan on making a real go of it this year & will get a few videos filmed very soon. Of course I plan to carry on with blogging & aim to write at least 100 posts this year. It's coming up to my blog's 6th anniversary soon so I really appreciate all of you who still read my posts & continue to enjoy the content I put out. I plan on doing a giveaway to celebrate as I'm also nearing 5000 followers & want to properly say thank you. So here's to 2016! Let's hope it's a good'un!

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Hello 2015!

Happy new year everyone! Overall I think 2014 was a pretty good year. Things were a lot happier for me & my little family. The worst part was definitely those three months when my house was plagued with wasps. At least I know a good pest control man now if the little buggers decide to come back again this year! Anyway rather than dwelling on past I think it's more important to look towards the future & think about the things I want to achieve in 2015. I've come to realise that I'm quite stuck in my ways & some things about myself will never change. Instead of fooling myself into thinking that I can stop my bad habits I've simply set myself five goals for 2015:

Get fit
Yeah yeah yeah, I know I say this every year but this time I really do want to lose weight & keep it off. I've already started off well by doing a mixture of Tone It Up, Jillian Michaels & Blogilates routines but I want to get back to the gym and do some classes. The only class I can get to is spinning so I'm gonna give that a go soon. In terms of diet I'm just gonna try eating a bit cleaner and make sure I use my NutriBullet every day. I've always failed when it comes to following a strict diet because I just love food too much! I do some terrible diet sabotaging things like eating whole bags of giant chocolate buttons so even just a few small adjustments should help make a difference.

Take driving refresher lessons
I passed my driving test way back in 2006 (first time!) but I haven't driven at all since then. Mainly because I couldn't afford a car & thought it was pointless to get one while I was at uni. After I graduated I still didn't bother to buy one and have struggled along on public transport for the past few years. Having my own car & being confident enough to drive on the motorway would be brilliant. Then I could go shopping without my bags cutting off the circulation in my arms & could apply for jobs that are further afield. I could also take Chloe out on more day trips without having to wait for Andy to have a rare day off. She's pretty good with getting buses & trains with me but there's so many places that you can't reach without a car. I'd love to get something small like a Fiat 500 but I guess it all depends on how well I do with these refresher lessons!

Get a new job
After four years of being a stay at home mum, Chloe finally started infant school in September and I gained a bit more freedom. I've been looking for a new job for the past couple of months and so many companies seem to be impressed with my portfolio. However finding something that can fit within school hours is a lot trickier than it seems. As soon as I say I want to work part-time, they say they're no longer interested. I have no help with childcare - there's no room at the local after school care club, Andy works ridiculous hours because he's a store manager & both sets of grandparents live too far away to help out at all. Being at home all the time is boring, depressing & lonely. I just want a job where I actually get to leave the house & work amongst other people.

Learn modern copperplate calligraphy
Typography is one of my biggest passions in life & I've missed doing something creative as a hobby. Creating web graphics all the time gets a bit soulless and I've always preferred design for print. Currently hand drawn lettering is far more appealing to me than using pre-made fonts so I've decided to teach myself modern copperplate calligraphy. This style of lettering is hugely popular right now & there's a large market for calligraphic prints, greetings cards, wedding stationery etc. I've only just started out so I'm no expert yet but depending on how good I get at it I might open up my own print shop on Etsy. If not I'm happy to keep it as a hobby. Drawing out letter sets over and over again is strangely relaxing!

Learn Japanese
Not to toot my own horn but I've always excelled at learning languages. Spanish was my favourite subject at school & I was really good at German too. I worked in a shop in Spain and did a German exchange so I feel like I know enough to survive in those countries. However Japanese is something that has kinda eluded me. I love Japanese culture & my biggest dream would be to visit there someday so I really want to learn how to read & write it properly. I've picked up vocab from watching tons of anime & we even had a Japanese club at school. For the first term we had actual Japanese people teaching us but after that we got taught by one of the language teachers at school who was basically useless and killed all my passion for learning the grammar & characters. I came across this video by Kelsey Ellison about how she learns Japanese & she inspired me to try again. I bought one of the Japanese From Zero books that she recommended & I'm gonna attempt learning the language by myself. I think the thing I struggle with most is remembering the hiragana, katakana & kanji. I can understand a lot of romanised text so now I need to make a real effort with the Japanese alphabets!

Of course I do have to mention blogging & my intentions for Sparkly Vodka this year. I've had a huge influx of followers recently so hello to all of you & thanks for reading my blog! My sole aim for 2014 was to write 150 posts. I missed the mark by 10 so I'm gonna try my hardest to get to 150 this year. My posts have always been quite text heavy because I like to write really thorough reviews so they do take me a few hours to do. If I'm gonna achieve my other goals for this year I doubt I'll have time to write many more. But who knows what the future holds?! I'm gonna make a conscious effort to focus more on makeup than skincare this year & hopefully get on with doing some YouTube makeup tutorials. Anyway I just want to say a huge thank you to everyone who reads my blog & enjoys the content I put out. So here's to 2015! I hope you all have a fantastic year filled with plenty of success & happiness!

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Chloe's First Day At School

Last Wednesday Chloe had her first ever day at infant school! The last four and a half years have been such a blur. I originally started this blog as something enjoyable to do whilst adjusting to the drastic life changes that came with having a newborn. Now here I am writing blog posts when she's busy learning & playing at school. I never noticed how fast time flies until I had Chloe. It seems like only yesterday that she was unable to crawl, walk, talk, go to the toilet or feed herself but now she's such a big girl & I'm glad that I chose to stay at home so that I didn't miss a single thing. She was only in for the afternoon session on her first day so we had some time to do a quick photoshoot in the morning. I know everyone complains about parents clogging up their Facebook feed with pictures of their child but starting school is such an important milestone & it's been so lovely seeing all the kiddies we know dressed up in their uniforms. I think she looks beautiful & ever so smart in her school uniform. I had to hunt down bits & pieces of it whenever they were in stock over the Summer. The back to school rush is a total nightmare! The worst part was trying to buy school shoes as her feet are very small & narrow. Eventually we got this pair from Clarks although she was a bit broken hearted that all the Lelli Kelly shoes were too big for her feet!

Chloe has been ridiculously excited about starting school for ages now. Ever since she had her last day at preschool back in July she's been constantly asking if it was time to go to her new school yet. This was a day that we've all been looking forward to. She couldn't wait to make some new friends and really wants to learn to read & write properly. She had a little wobble the night before starting saying she was a bit scared & nervous but I knew she'd be alright. I've also been counting down the days as I'd developed a bit of cabin fever. I couldn't go to the gym or do anything I wanted to by myself all Summer long. Once your kids start preschool you get used to having a few hours of freedom each week so the Summer holidays were very tiring. As a parent you definitely have mixed emotions about your child starting school. I've always been overprotective of her & I'm uncomfortable with other people looking after her as I feel like they won't do as good a job as I do or won't care if she gets injured. You can't help but wonder... will they make any friends? Will they grasp what they're being taught quickly? Will they eat their school dinner? Will they manage to go to the toilet on their own? Will they be able to get changed into their PE uniform? There's so many things to think about & it's been quite overwhelming for both of us. I knew in my heart that Chloe would be able to do all of those things though as she's grown up to be such a such clever, friendly and well behaved little girl.

I did feel sad leaving my beautiful girl but I didn't cry & neither did she. Her face was beaming from the second we dropped her off to the second we picked her up. Her school doesn't have an attached preschool so she only knew about five other children in her class. I did worry about her settling in with so many new names & faces to learn. But she quite happily hung up her coat on her own peg & put her book bag in her drawer before quickly joining in with all the other boys & girls. Her teachers seem really lovely too so I'm sure they'll be fab with her. It felt strange going home to an empty house again. I tidied & cleaned the house but once I was done it was only about 2pm and I had no idea what to do with myself for another hour! I ended up sitting down and watching daytime TV for a bit, I can't even remember the last time that happened. I couldn't wait to go and pick her up from school. I gave her the biggest kiss & cuddle when she came out of her classroom door. I felt so happy to see her again & relieved that she had enjoyed herself as much as we had all hoped she would. She's been going for almost a whole week now & she's been happy at school every single day. She was a little bit disappointed when she found out that she couldn't go to school at the weekend! I always look forward to getting my little girl back at the end of the day & finding out what she's been up to. She's been coming home with loads of brilliant drawings & creations so I think her skills have improved already. I hope she continues to love the educational experience & makes lots of new friends there. I'm just so incredibly proud of her & will miss being with her all the time. I love my little Chloe girl so much!






On the Monday of the week she started we decided to have one final treat day together. We love our days out shopping & I'm sure we'll both miss being able to travel to different places on the train whenever we feel like it. We went off to Leeds for a meal at Yo! Sushi which is Chloe's favourite restaurant. We've been there so many times together now that she can even use the adult chopsticks properly! Then we popped into The Entertainer & I bought her a cuddly Fluttershy from My Little Pony. House Of Fraser kindly sent over a voucher so that I could treat Chloe to some new clothes. I let her have free reign in their Leeds store and she chose this adorable pink kitten jumper by Billieblush. I love the cute little bow on the tail! She's a fashion blogger in the making haha!

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Twenty Six

Last Saturday I turned the grand old age of twenty six. It's quite weird entering the latter half of your twenties. Now I'm only four years away from turning 30! It doesn't mean I'm any closer to growing up though. I awoke to a room filled with balloons and a Disney Princess cake for breakfast. Chloe picked it all out herself haha. For my birthday celebrations Andy took me & Chloe on a day trip to Blackpool. Obviously as I hail from Kent there's many places up north that I still haven't explored yet - Blackpool being one of them so off we went. It was probably the worst day to go as it was so incredibly windy & I decided to wear one of the shortest thinnest dresses I own. I'm pretty sure I flashed everyone around me until I could get to H&M for some emergency leggings!

Despite the awful weather I had still had an amazing time. We walked all the way up the promenade & took part in all the usual seaside tourist attractions. I really wanted to go up the tower but it was closed due to the wind so we went on the big ferris wheel instead. When we had finally worn ourselves out we went for a delicious meal at Mandarin which is apparently the 3rd best Chinese restaurant in the UK. We had chicken satay & crispy chilli beef with egg fried rice. It was so good, best meal I've had in ages! We used to go out for dim sum all the time when I lived at home but we only have crappy takeaways round where I live now so it was really nice to get some proper Chinese food for once. I wish we could've stayed longer in Blackpool as Chloe really wanted to go to Nickelodeon Land so hopefully we'll go back sometime soon. Then on Monday my family came up to Manchester for a day out with us. We had lunch at I Am Pho and then went shopping & I got lots of treats! Before it was time for them to go back to London we went to Home Sweet Home for some cake. I ordered a Dead Elvis milkshake but what I didn't realise is that it comes with a whole doughnut on top! So I gobbled up a huge peanut butter milkshake, a doughnut & a slice of one of their crazy cakes. It wouldn't have been so bad if I hadn't followed it up with a deep fried mac 'n' cheese burger when I went out with my friends the next day... Oh well if you can't pig out on your birthday, when can you?!








I got some truly lovely presents this year & I'm so grateful for everything I received! I've had my eye on the Roses de Chloe perfume for ages. The original Chloe is my signature scent but I fancied something a little softer & this was perfect. I didn't get along with the GlamGlow Youthmud mask but the Supermud is right up my street. I tried a little sample sachet & my skin has been craving it ever since. It's a clay mask that basically contains all the acids and is absolutely amazing for blemished skin. It came with a cute GlamGlow brush to apply it with too. I also got a fresh tube of HealGel Eye and the new Bumble & Bumble Hairdresser's Invisible Oil Primer. The original Hairdresser's Oil is one of the best hair products ever so this new addition to the line looked rather exciting. My favourite present has to be this gorgeous Whistles Rivington chain croc clutch bag that Andy got for me. I've wanted a Whistles clutch for so long! They're such a chic & luxurious addition to any outfit. It took me forever to decide which colour I wanted but the black crocodile one won out in the end. I'm totally in love with it! I can feel a clutch bag addiction coming on...

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My 1st Years

Oh hey, long time no see! One of the many reasons I've not blogged this month is that on the 4th of April it was Chloe's 4th birthday. I still find it really weird that I'm only 25 and I already have a four year old child. Seems like only yesterday I was waddling up to Leeds General Infirmary at 2am in the snow! Anyway I had a bit of a crisis and started worrying that I was spending all my time on my laptop or doing housework instead of playing with her. I've come to realise that it's important to establish a balance that will keep both of us happy. It sure is hard work being a mum! The Easter holidays are here now so I feel like I've finally gotten on top of everything and am ready to start blogging again. I'll go into the other reasons I got bored of blogging another time but for now let's get back to the point of this post. Like I said it was Chloe's fourth birthday recently and she received so many amazing presents. My house is now completely filled with Disney Princess, Hello Kitty & My Little Pony junk haha!

Just before her birthday I was contacted by My 1st Years, an online boutique specialising in gorgeous personalised baby gifts. I love buying personalised presents as you know that the recipient won't already own anything else like it. I'm still a sucker for anything with my name on it too. Most of their products are aimed at newborns but they have some lovely gifts for toddler boys & girls too. If Chloe were any younger I would've gotten her some personalised baby shoes or something from the adorable baby clothes range from My 1st Years. As Chloe is a bit of a fussy eater I always try to buy cute crockery to encourage her to eat more. That's why I thought that this personalised bunny ears egg cup would be the perfect gift for her. She loves egg & soldiers and now that it's Easter the egg cup also works great for her chocolate eggs. We're both so pleased with it & I'll definitely be browsing My 1st Years for presents when my niece's 1st birthday rolls around in July.






I didn't really take many pictures on Chloe's birthday this year as she was at pre-school for most of the day. When she got back we just opened presents and ate party food & cake with family. I got a couple of shots but it was dark outside by the time I remembered to put my battery back in my Canon so they're a bit rubbish & blurry. I'd thought I'd pop up a couple of other pictures too. Chloe dressed up as Little Red Riding Hood for World Book Day. Her costume came with wolf & grandma finger puppets so she had lots of fun doing some role playing. I also liked this picture of us together. I'm always the one behind the camera so sometimes when I'm doing blog makeup photos I grab her & get her to take a few pictures with me. We got her infant school application results on Wednesday and thankfully we got into our first choice school! I'm so relieved. It's kinda scary that my little baby is now four years old & will be starting proper school in September. I'd better make the most of the time we have left together!

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Hello 2014!

Happy new year everyone! I for one am rather glad that 2013 has finally come to an end. I didn't think my year could possibly be any worse than 2012 was but the past few months have been quite difficult for me. My parents have had lots of relationship issues, my laptop broke, we've all been ill (& we still are), I had an abnormal smear result and my anxiety & stomach issues have spiraled lately. Worst of all there was a death in the family. My family aren't close but it was so upsetting to hear that my cousin had died, he was only 46. As silly as it might sound to some people I consider a new year to be a new start. I want to put all my past troubles behind me and focus on all the positive things in my life. I've always been a fairly pessimistic person but being negative doesn't get you anywhere, it just makes you feel worse. I need to appreciate the things I do have & stop being jealous of others. Chloe is the best thing in my life & I don't want any negativity to rub off on her. After the heartache I suffered in 2012, Andy & I got back together last year. I think it's generally considered a bad idea to get back with an ex but it's a different ballgame when there's a child involved. We're happy together & Chloe is happy that we're together so I guess that's all that matters right now. I don't think my resolutions are too different from last years but I always think it's good to have some kind of reminder of the person you want to be. So here are my new year's resolutions:

Be healthier
I managed to lose some weight at the beginning of 2013 by following the Tone It Up diet but I couldn't keep it up. I ended up gaining everything back & more. I really need to make an effort with my diet and exercise this year. Any day that I have to take Chloe to preschool I will get on with either going to the gym or doing an exercise DVD right away. I need to remember to drink more water & stop eatings Greggs doughnuts all the time. Food prep seems like an important thing to try because if there's a chocolate bar in the cupboard I'll go straight for that. But if there was a nice chicken salad readily prepared in the fridge I'd eat that instead. I might try doing the 5:2 diet because I could easily live off crumpets & miso soup for two days a week. I really would like to get back to 9st this year.

Take care of myself
I did pretty well with this last year. I kept up a consistent skincare routine, took my supplements and looked after my hair & teeth. My skin was horrendous for a while but I think I finally have it under control (touch wood!). I got a bit lazy with my skincare towards the end of the year & just kept taking my makeup off with Bioderma. This needs to stop because my skin only behaves if I look after it properly. So I'm going to try to take my makeup off just before I put Chloe to bed. That way I won't suddenly think to do it at midnight & whack out the Bioderma again. I need to learn to switch off my laptop & go to bed earlier too. I totally failed at washing my makeup brushes. I know I need to do it more often but once a week is just unrealistic for me. I'm gonna aim for once a month because even that rate will be better than before!

Stop procrastinating
I am so lazy & I really need to stop it. I put off everything & it's just such a silly thing to do. I think I might've been a bit depressed lately & obviously that's affected my motivation. This resolution links in with some of the other ones. I think this one is something many people can relate to. I need to be more organised & stop wasting my time. If there's some washing up to do, go & do it. If you need to hoover, get on with it. If there's clean clothes to put away, put them away. If there's an email in your inbox, reply to it. If you have documents to shred, shred them. If you buy or receive a new product, take photos of it right away. If you need to remove your makeup, get in the bathroom. I could go on but the point is just get on with things basically.

Save more money
I think I did okay with this last year. I didn't waste too much money on makeup & clothes (in my opinion anyway!) but I didn't manage to save that much either. This year I want to put a set amount into my savings account & Chloe's savings account every month. I waste a lot of money on food. Feeding Andy is an expensive job. I want to try shopping in Aldi & Lidl more often. I also plan to batch cook food & freeze it for later. As I mentioned last year the Spending Tracker iPhone app has helped me immensely with my finances. I think I need to stick to a stricter budget now though if I plan on upping my savings & not just my current account.

Put more effort into blogging
Blogging is so important to me but I still only managed about 10 posts per month last year. I want to add so much more content to this website so this year I'm aiming for 15 posts per month. I'm going to try to reply to every comment I get, not just questions. I've tried to improve my blog photography but it's difficult when you live in a rented house with awful lighting & yellow walls. I think I've finally found a good spot & setup that allows me to have products upright (which some of you commented on in my yearly favourites post yay!). The lighting is still a bit dodgy sometimes but I've just bought some studio lighting so hopefully that will make things a bit better. I really struggle with emails & have often ignored them for months! I'm aiming to reply to everything I receive on the same day. I also plan on joining in on twitter a bit more. I normally use it for moaning & promoting new posts so I want to get back to talking with everyone & joining in with #bbloggers chats. I want to get back into YouTube too & do some makeup tutorials on there.

I also just want to take a moment to thank every single one of you who reads my blog. It means the world to me that people are interested in the things I have to say. I truly appreciate every comment I receive so another thing I will try to do is comment more on other blogs. I love the blogging community & although blogging itself might be becoming more editorial (as many people have said in their yearly summaries), the people are still the heart of it all. So here's to 2014! I hope you all have a fantastic year filled with happiness & of course, I hope I do too.

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Birthday Haul

Canon 40mm f/2.8 STM Lens

Wacom Bamboo Fun Medium Pen & Touch Tablet

Pink Roses & British Antirrhinums

NEOM Real Luxury Organic Reed Diffuser / Orla Kiely Fig Tree Reed Diffuser

Necklaces from Kukee

Rings from River Island & Topshop

Illamasqua Cream Pigment in Emerge / Illamasqua Hydra Veil

I thought I'd show you some of the things I got for my birthday because I absolutely love everything I received & bought for myself. I've been lusting after the Canon 40mm lens ever since I got my 650D last year. It features the STM technology which means it doesn't make a noise when focusing during video recording. It takes some gorgeous pictures & I love how diddy it is. It's known as the 'pancake' lens and the size is a lot more manageable than my 18-135mm STM lens. I think I even prefer it to the 50mm one. I also got a new Wacom graphics tablet. I actually got a Wacom Graphire 2 for my 14th birthday but after 11 years it was definitely time for an upgrade! The medium one is a great size as the active area is bigger and it's the same width as my MacbookPro. It's great for editing in Photoshop and drawing in Illustrator. Graphics tablets are so useful for annotating photos too. My mum sent me a lovely bouquet of flowers from Waitrose and some new reed diffusers. The Orla Kiely one smells amazingly sweet.

I'd been wanting some new jewellery bits so I ordered some necklaces from Kukee and got some rings from River Island & Topshop. I'm still obsessed with midi rings and I'd been looking for those crossover River Island rings for months. For some reason it feels really rewarding when you finally track things down haha. I picked up the Emerge Cream Pigment from the Illamasqua counter in Selfridges when I went to Manchester. Bright orange isn't really a shade you'd think would work on the face but it makes for a wonderful under eye corrector. It's kinda like the Bobbi Brown Corrector, not sure which I prefer yet but it works really well. I was so happy to finally get my hands on a pot of Hydra Veil too! This was used on my skin before the Skin Base Foundation when I had my makeover and it's pretty amazing. Foundation sits so nicely on top of it as it just makes everything look smooth & fresh.

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