Beauty, Bargains and Beyond

*I received this product for free but the opinions are my own. Continuing  on with my aim to be more environmentally friendly I was given the chance to try out The Squeeky Cleaners Multi-Purpose Cleaner from their organic cleaning products range*.    This is a small but great way to reduce my plastic waste by using a reusable Aluminium Squeeky Life Bottle instead of continually purchasing new bottles of cleaning product.  I just wash the Squeeky Life Bottle and repurchase the concentrated cleaner when I need it. The Aluminium Squeeky Life Bottle comes with the cleaning product of your choice.  They have Multi-Purpose, Glass, Bathroom & Floor Cleaners as well as Surface Polish and Limescale Remover.  You need to use half of the concentrated cleaner, fill up with water, give it a quick shake and you are good to go.  It's that simple.  I wish cleaning my kitchen was that quick and easy.     You use this product as you would mo...

I like charity shopping, because it allows me to find quality pieces at an affordable price and it also allows me to pick up clothes that are out of my comfort zone, but are worth a try when you can pick them up for a couple of quid (maybe a bit more at some charity shops as they are not always cheap). It does take a bit of time and patience going through all the rails trying to find something that takes your fancy which comes in your size.  I think that if you are a smaller size, then charity shops can be amazing because you can sometimes find high end and even top designer pieces at really great prices.  If you are more of a bigger standard size, then you are in the majority and the pickings are not quite as easy to come by, but keep looking because those gems are out there waiting to be found.   First of all I wanted to give you a few quick tips for successful charity shopping (I apologise in advance for numbers 8-10 but they are critical. I saved them till last b...

First of all let me start off by saying I am one of the fortunate ones who was able to work from home when the lockdown started.  I have never worked from home before, but I found it easy to adapt and being able to avoid rush hour traffic on a daily basis has been just one of the upsides of the lockdown for me.  Saving money on petrol and parking are a few more (my food bills have gone up though, which is definitely one of the downsides).  That being said being forced to stay at home has meant that I have had to find ways to amuse myself outside of working hours and here are some of the things that I have been doing. Catching up on new and old TV shows & Films More time at home has given me the chance to work through my stash of TV shows that I have recorded.  Some of these episodes were recorded as far back as 2018 and have just been sitting there waiting for me to have time to watch them ( Xfiles Season 11, Blindspot and The Blacklist are just a few examples...

These are some strange times that we are living in. One of the things I have tried to do during the enforced lockdown we had due to Covid-19 was to try and support local business.  A lot of businesses have been struggling due to the pandemic and supporting local businesses (even though they may be more expensive), feels like the right thing to do.   I must admit my online orders have reached a record high as I have been avoiding going to the supermarkets as much as possible as it is so hard to socially distance there.  Some of the small things I have been doing is getting weekly orders from my local farm shop. Yes it's dearer but the quality of the food is so much better then the supermarkets so it's worth the money.  My local farm shop now does a click and collect service where you can order online and arrange a date and time to pick up.  Then I just park up my car and open the boot and they pop the order in.  Initially while they did offer the click ...

Wow when I took a break from my blog last year I didn't think it would be for this long, but life happened and a month long break stretched out and before you know it, it was 2020 and Covid-19 happened.  Very weird times and getting back into blogging just got put on the back burner while trying to adjust to the new world we are all living in.   Anyway with all the restrictions in place the time off has given me time to reflect and maybe reset things a bit.  I realised that over the last few years I have been spending without really needing to buy a lot of these things. I ended up with so many things that I don't need and will never use, that end up getting sold on eBay or donated to charity (or even worse thrown away because they have expired).   I have always wanted to pare back on things, but always get my head turned by new shiny things that catch my eye.  Now don't get me wrong, I am not on a no-spend, but I want to buy less and really think about the thing...

I have a confession to make, I am rubbish at applying makeup even though I have tons of it.  WTF.  I nearly always go for a natural look when I wear makeup but that is because if I did anything more obvious I would probably end up looking like a clown.  That does not stop me buying more make up as it is just an addiction, I love all the pretty packaging and lovely colours. Anyway recently I have been attending beauty events in the likes of Debenhams, Harvey Nichols etc some of which are to watch demos of make up being applied such as a beauty event at Debenhams where brands such as  Urban Decay did a make over and more recently at a Harvey Nichols Fenty Beauty  masterclass event where one of the Fenty Beauty UK Ambassadors did a demo which showcased Fenty Beauty products and showed how easy they were to apply.  Yes it is a way to encourage sales and yes I did buy some items, but what I took from each event is that you don't have to go overboard with y...

Guys, I just wanted to let you know that TK Maxx are selling some Real Techniques brushes at bargain prices. Here's what I picked up: PowderBleu Collection Soft Complexion Brush & Soft Finishing Brush - £5.99. I was so pleased to get my hands on these as I really wanted to try out some brushes from this collection. I think these brushes originally retailed at over £24.99. I also picked up the Bold Metals Collection Tapered Shadow brush for £4.99 and the MultiTech Collection Point XL brush for full face application and blending for £5.99 both originally retailed at £14.99 . Finally, I also bought the Brush Crush Diamond Sponge for £3.99 (originally retailed at £12.99). Really happy with my purchases and these additions to my brush and sponge collection. It's always worth popping into TK Maxx to see what bargains they have in store (I managed to pick up some Chanel nail polishes for £7.99 not long ago (check out my post here ). If you can't find the brush...