Friday Feel Good

I've just started following a blog which every Monday posts motivating says which they call Monday Mantras.  They're so lovely that I'm going to start my own, called Friday Feel Good.

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French Connection lovelies

I don't tend to shop in French Connection very often, because it's a little bit out of my price range.  But my friend turned up at the pub wearing an amazing FC dress the other week and it's made me start looking at them again.

These are my favs of their collection at the moment...

What do you think?
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Olivia Rubin for Dorothy Perkins

I've just been having a sneak peek at the upcoming Olivia Rubin collection for Dorothy Perkins.  There's some really interesting, different pieces.  Here are some of my favs...

I also really like this in the sale:

What do you think?
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Bridesmaid dresses

Hi all!! I've just got back from a holiday in Italy with lots of sun, pasta and wine and it seems like an age since I last wrote a post. 

Now that we're back from holiday I've got on full wedding planner mode, on Saturday we've got an appointment with the vicar to finally book the date. I'm so excited! I've also got a date in the diary with my bridesmaids to go and try on the dresses.  We're not planning on having the wedding until summer 2013, so it really is too far in advance to be buying the bridesmaid dresses now but I've seen some in Coast that are so perfect that if they look good when they try them on, I think I'm going to have to snap them up whilst they're available.

Since before I got engaged, I've dreamt of having an olive/ thyme green colour theme which I think will go perfectly with my favourite flowers - pink peonies.  I happened to see last years version of these dresses in some photos of a friend-of-a-friend's wedding and have had them in my mind ever since.  When I discovered Coast had a version out this year I kept a keen eye on them to make sure they don't sell out.  

My Sister-in-law who is one of my bridesmaids is planning on trying for a baby later this year and thinks she could potentially be quite heavily pregnant when she wears hers. So we went to try her one on first so we could see if it was floaty enough for a bump.  With buying the size above, we think it will just about be ok - fingers crossed!! 

Pink peonies 

What do you think?

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p.s. I'm painting my kitchen this colour next week :) 

A bit of a book review

After taking an age to finish ‘Started early, took my dog’ by Kate Atkinson (I like the Jackson Brodie series, but it doesn't really grip me) I’ve recently read 3 really good, easy read books. 

Firstly, I borrowed ‘From Notting Hill With Love Actually’ from my friend Lizzie, (I’m not sure if Lizzie knows I have this, if not Lizzie – I have your book! J). I really enjoyed it as a throw away romantic comedy novel and would recommend it as a good holiday read.

It’s a bout a girl called Scarlett who is obsessed with the movies and not quite happy with her own life.  She takes a month out to go and house sit in Notting Hill.  She meets a guy called Sean.  You need to read the rest to see what happened J

Then I read ‘Black Heart Blue’ which is totally different! It isn't actually out on the market yet (although you can pre-order on Amazon), but I was lucky enough to receive a proof copy from a friend-of-a-friend who works in the publishing industry. It’s an incredibly dark story about twins, one described as beautiful and the other disfigured by Treacher Collins syndrome.  They live in a vicarage and are abused by their parents. The book is narrated by both girls, giving both sides of the story.

I found myself feeling incredibly frustrated by their plight and that nobody had noticed how they were suffering.  This is not a holiday read like my first recommendation,  but I highly recommend it all the same.  I was hooked from the first few pages.

I haven’t actually finished ‘Mad Women’ yet, but for anyone who’s a fan of Mad Men, this is a must.  It’s written by Jane Maas, who was a copywriter during the mad men era (late 60s – 70s).  I work in this industry so I’m a bit of a geek when it comes to marketing, but I do recommend it if you like the Mad Men series.

I’ve downloaded the Hunger Games trilogy to my Kindle to read on holiday next week – can’t wait!

Has anyone read any good books recently?

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Druzy Jewellery

Have you heard of Druzy before? Neither had I.

Apparently Druzy is a coating of crystals found on rock surfaces. It occurs when water is forced to fill a porous area of rock. When it dries, minute crystals are formed.

Anyway, Science lesson over, it looks good in statement jewellery pieces like this from Trisori (£119)

... and this super sparkly pendant (£29.99 Satin Silver)

and this from ebay

None of these pieces are really for me (although I wouldn't say no to the first ring) but I'm going to look out for them in the future. 

What do you think?

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Liz Earle Cleanse & Polish Hot Cloth Cleanser

I'd been after purchasing Liz Earle's hot cloth cleanser for a while but I wanted to make sure I'd heard lots of good things about it before investing £14 on, let's face it, something that washes your face.

But after reading lots of good reviews, I purchased it at the weekend and I'm SO glad I did.  After the first use the large pores on my cheeks had reduced in size and my skin felt more plumped.  I almost felt as if i'd had a facial!

The next day after I used it in the morning, every time I looked in the mirror I felt my skin looked a lot more radiant. I purchased the starter kit which came with 2 muslin cloths and I'm glad I did because I reckon they're much better for my skin than the rough flannel I'd been using.

It's only been a few days but I'm very pleased with the results so far.  I just hope it lasts quite a long time.

Have you used any Liz Earle products? I'd really love to hear your experiences.

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I ♥ Holly Willoughby

I purchased this on Friday, on sale from Holly Willoughby's collection on Very.

Strangely it's gone up in price since I purchased on Friday, so not sure what's going on with that! It arrives on Thursday and I so hope it's nice enough to take on holiday to Italy with me at the weekend :)

Holly Willoughby is my ultimate style icon, I love her ladylike but up-to-date look.  This is my first dress purchased from her collection, I've looked many times but often thought it was a bit pricey.

What do you think? Have you got anything from her collection?

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Easter cake decorating ideas

I spotted these cakes whilst out shopping, they'e so cute! The look pretty easy to do so think I'm going to give it a go myself :)

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Wish list - Prada earrings

Just come across these beauties - aren't they gorgeous!

Prada £320.00

I really love anything with roses on, I'm obsessed with Rose scented perfume.

At £320 they ain't cheap, so I'm wondering if anyone has seen any good dupes or anything similar in a more reasonable price range?

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Clinique mini haul

I’m a completely suker for Clinique bonus time… or any bonus time/ 3 for 2/ extra advantage card points/ free gifts/ new products… you name it!

Luckily (or should I say unfortunately!) there is a big Boots just been opened right near my office so I’m in there every few days looking at what’s new, on offer or just catches my eye.  My purse has never been so empty!

This year I’ve promised myself will be the year of using up stuff because I always find that if I buy new products and prefer them to my old products, that the old ones end up sitting in a draw in my bedroom never to see the light of day until I’m foreced to have a clear out.

With this is mind, I DID need a new mascara as my old one didn’t seem to be working as well anymore (although it’s so hard to tell when a mascara has actually run out, isn’t it). But when I found out it was bonus time, I did stock up on eye cream.  I always use the same Clinique eye cream, so I figured this didn’t break my rule.

I bought:

High impact curling mascara.  This is the best mascara I’ve found so far, it doesn’t blow me away (alas I don’t think I’ll ever find the perfect mascara) but I miss it when I try another one and it’s very long lasting (in fact, it’s a pain to get off!)

I also bought:

All about the eyes rich.  I haven’t used the rich one before,  but I get such dry skin around my eyes if I’m not careful that I thought I’d go for it.

In the bonus time I got:

·      Superdefense SPF 25 Age Defense moisturiser

·      Eye shadow compact in French Vanilla, Night Plum and Stone Violet

·      Repairwear Laser Focus Wrinkle and UV Damage Corrector

·      High Impact Mascara

·      Superblam Moisturising Gloss in Grapefruit

·      Liquid Facial Soap

·      Cosmetics bag

I’m not a big fan of gloss, I don’t like the feel of it on my lips, so that will be straight on ebay but I’m excited about the serum because I’ve wanted to try that out for a while and it’s a good travel size.  

I’m not 100% sure about keeping the eye shadow, I have a lot of colours similar, what do you think? Should I try it?

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Blog Hopping!

I'm taking part in the latest blog hop, a few of the ladies I follow have taken part and it seems to me to be a good way to find out about new blogs as well as let other people see what I'm doing.

I thought this might also be a good opportunity to ask what you like about my blog and what could be improved? Don't be shy!  And if you're a new follower, particularly if you found me through blog hop let me know, it's always lovely to hear from people.

If you want to do some blog hopping, here's a link

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All I want this weekend is a dipped hem dress

I desperately want a dipped hem dress to take to Italy with me in 2 weeks.  What do you think of these?

I really love the colour of this Jolie dress, but I'm not sure it will suit my figure.

Jolie £36

I love, love, loved this, until I realised it was backless :) 

Republic £28

This new look version is rather safe, but at £7 could be a good casual weekend look.

New Look was £19.99, now £7

I'm not sure what this will look like on, but it might be good for my Mother-in-law's 60th birthday meal in Italy with some heels to make it look less dowdy

Red Herring was £35, now £17.50

This is probably my favourite, although I'm not 100% convinced of the colour

Very £35

What do you think? 

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The Versatile Blogger Award

I was awarded the versatile blog award by the lovely Rachel and Emily, thank you ladies!

Here are the rules: 

-Thank the person that nominated you with a link back!
-Tell 7 things about you!
-Pass this on to 10 newly discovered blogs and let them know they received the award!

Here are my 7 things:

1.     One of the things I’m most obsessed about at the moment is acquiring a Michael Kors Rose Gold watch.  I’ve just found out my company is giving me a voucher to put towards one as my leaving present – wohoo!

2.     My favourite place in the world is the Lake District.  I’ve had some great holidays there and it's where me and Will got engaged.

3.     I love spring, it’s my favourite season.  My colleague Tom just bought me some daffodils for my desk so I’m really feeing the joy of spring today.

4.     I love sweetcorn and regularly eat it straight from the tin.  I also love couscous and rice, especially if it has chorizo or halloumi with it!

5.     I’ve given up chocolate for lent.  At first it was really difficult, but now I don’t even miss it (probably because I replace it with non-chocolate cake and sweets!)

6.     The one make up item I couldn’t live without is mascara – I have boys eye lashes

7.     I also couldn’t live without having my eyebrows threaded every 3 weeks, it’s the one beauty treatment I always splash out on.

I award the versatile blog award to:

Lizzie

Roz

Rachel

Emily

Lizzie

Lauren

Jessica

Sam

Becky

Annabelle

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