Doing the do

My hair is currently a long, unruly mane, which needs an abundance of lovely products to get it looking spit spot day-to-day. Over the cold, cold winter months, my long locks been a bit dehydrated, so I've been trying to pump some moisture back into my tresses, and with few finishing touches from these products, it's starting to come up roses just in time for Spring.

The changing face of beauty

L-R some of my beauty essentials: Elemental Herbology Bio-Cellular Super Cleanse, Lush Tea Tree Toner & Origins Make A Difference Plus+ Rejuvenating Treatment (the stuff of DREAMS).

Last week, I headed to London town for the day with my Mum to check out a couple of exhibitions and do a bit of shopping (helloooo Liberty beauty hall).

Whilst on the train, Mum and I were catching up about all things beauty. Well known for being the Barnes beauty obsessive, I pour over skincare blogs and coo over all thing make-up, pretty much on a daily basis; coveting the latest palette release from Nars or pining over foundations with promises of dewy skin and just the right amount of coverage.

As I was extolling the virtues of Caroline Hirons’ blog, singing the praises of Biologique Recherche P50 and how double cleansing has transformed my skin, Mum brought something really interesting up which I think needs a li’l mention. 

When she was younger, her mother (my Granny) had never used a concealer until my Mum and her sister bought some when they first spied it on the high street. Now I know what you’re thinking; she had NEVER used concealer. I know. I can’t imagine a life without concealer. That would be a blotchy, red world I wouldn’t wanna live in. 

I have always heard about Granny’s exceptional skin, using only Wright’s Coal Tar Soap (!), a flannel and moisturiser, then finishing things off with a bit of rouge and a dash of red lipstick. She wouldn’t have even needed the concealer even if it was a fixture in her make up bag, the lucky gal.

This minimal routine obviously treated my Granny well – I always remember she had baby soft skin and a beautifully even complexion, two areas which I definitely lack in. So how was Granny’s skin so amazing even though she used hard soap didn’t deep cleanse and used hardly any other skincare? Now I know everyone’s skin is completely and utterly different, but how amazing is it that 2 generations could get away with literally the bear essentials and still look unreal, and mind-baffling to think how drastically beauty routines have changed over the past few decades. 

It made me think about how many products I use on a daily basis to cleanse, cover and correct. I daily use 2 cleansers, toner, serum, moisturiser and SPF. Primer, foundation, concealer, highlighter and not to mention how much I use on my eyes to make me look some form of awake. I need all of these things to help me look relatively OK.

We obviously now live in a world which is rife with the pollution, high stress levels and an uncountable amount of other day-to-day factors which take themselves out on our lovely faces but I just think it’s such an interesting piece of social commentary as to how much we use now, but back in the day, women barely used a scrap and looked bloody great. 

What kind of skincare routines have women in your family adopted? Are there any old-school routines you advocate over hot cloth cleansers and Clarisonics? 

Paul Smith - Design Museum, London

I always been an admirer of fashion designer Paul Smith; those iconic stripes, bright colours and the fact he still rides a bike to work in his studio everyday. However, after visiting the Paul Smith exhibition at the Design Museum, yesterday I am a bonafide PS fangirl.

What a DUDE. So down to earth, a breath of real fresh air in the often pretentious world of high fashion, who has such self-awareness and knowledge, it's really unparalleled in his field.

January Girl

January has been jam-packed so far. From a night in Hotel du Vin, to trying out some of Newcastle's new food joints to my birthday, it's been a brilliant beginning to 2014. Here's some of the best bits so far.

1. Cotton Post calendar to keep 2014 in check / 2. Chanel Le Vernis Rouge Rubis - a gorgeous Christmas present / 3. Joe representin' at the match / 4. We lost the battle / 5. Obsessed with all things black, white and yellow at the moment / 6. Seeing my pals in action in Vice Canada's Guides to Newcastle / 7 & 8. A night in the unreal Hotel du Vin in Newcastle. Look at that room! Brilliant food, exceptional cocktails and a little bit of a sore head the following day. All signs of a brilliant Friday night. / 9. Favourite blend from OCC / 10. Going button-up in Celia Birtwell for Uniqlo / 11. Hangin' with my two of my favourites; Oliver and Bella / 12.  Happy birthday to me! Treats from Dover Street Market (underneath the wrapping was an unreal CDG wallet which has been on my wishlist for some time / 13. Gifts from my gorgeous team at work - my favourite espresso martini and a delicate gold necklace / 14. New kicks. / 15. Checking out Coop in Newcastle - just one of the many new food joints which seem to have popped up over night / 16. Perfect patisserie from the Pet Lamb girls / 17. An unreal birthday present; personalised hip-flask *inserts heart-eyed emoji* / 18. Unreal bait at North Shields Fish Quay's latest establishment, The Staith House (on the plate is slow cooked pork belly with langoustines, spinach and cauliflower puree). 

The New.

The start of the year for me is the time to reboot and refresh.

I tried to stick to some of my 2014 goals before Christmas to ease me in gently and so that when 1st January hit, everything didn't feel like a real uphill struggle.

For the most part though, I relaxed my exercise and healthy eating over the holiday and indulged in more than my fair share of all of the cheeses and more red wine than I care to remember (it tasted damn good at the time though).

I've made a list of not so much resolutions, but just goals for this year which I can work towards over X amounts of weeks or months depending on what they are.

I think some people fall at the first hurdle with 'resolutions' because they go full pelt in January and then their enthusiasm wanes and motivation goes out the window.  For some of my goals, I'm keeping these to six-weekly targets - this keeps things a little bit more achievable.

Here are some of my targets/goals/stuff I want to do in 2014:

- Money detox
I think this is usually the top of everyone's lists but this month particularly, I'm having a total budget overhaul. I already keep a monthly budgeting spreadsheet (sad I know, but canny interesting to see what all of your dollar goes on - £20 here and there in Space NK all adds up...) and need to try ad keep on track with this.

For January at least, I'm curbing unnecessary spending and focussing on planning my budget and how I can make this work in my favour in 2014.

Another thing is credit cards. If you overindulged a bit in 2013 (for me, our big American bonanza holiday really broke the bank, and I wouldn't change it for a second, but still have a bit of debt to pay off on in!) then January is the ideal time to take advantage of balance transfer offers.

The best thing I ever did was to consolidate all of my spendings on a 0% interest balance transfer credit card, which I'm paying off monthly. I'm also making a cull on credit card purchases in general unless I pay it off straight away. Difficult, but definitely needed to help me feel in control of my money again.


- Buy less, buy smarter
A girl I follow on Instagram put this lovely little resolution on from her resolutions last year, as this really resonated, I want to adopt this gem of a resolution this year.

For me it's buying less of things I don't need and buying things I know will last a long time, even if they are a bit more expensive immediately but will benefit me in the long run. For example, really great skincare (I'm obsessed with all things Origins at the moment), a new designer handbag - things with longevity.


- Keep active and healthy
I'm pretty good at doing the above in any case, what with healthy eating, running and personal training, but this year is all about improving my running (stamina and pace), continuing to eat clean and concentrating on strength and toning. I never really let these up in 2013, but I did have a bit more of a relaxed December (which was MUCH needed) so now's the time to get back on track.


What are your plans for 2014?

*beautiful diary above by Marjolein Delhaas (image from byaprilandmay) / Flip clock image by AMB