Frank Body Coffee Body Scrub & Balm

Taking cheesy selfies in the shower...perfectly acceptable behaviour..?!

A good body scrub is hard to find.  I have had high hopes for many a product only to be disappointed when, after scooping some product out of the tub, the grains immediately dissolve/rinse away before I can even start scrubbing.

When I first came across an article for Frank Body, I had pretty much given up hope of finding a good body scrub and instead had been using exfoliating mitts.  Don't get me wrong, they do a great job of smoothing my skin, but they can feel a bit harsh and were leaving my skin red and tender.  

This particular article I found touted Frank Body coffee scrub as a miracle product for those with various skin concerns, ranging from acne to stretch marks.  I had to try it!  I ordered up the An Original Introduction bundle which contains the original body scrub and body balm.  As a side note, the website is super cute and stylish, it's well worth a nosey.  I think the branding is spot on, it's a bit cheeky and a bit naughty, but without being seedy or sexist.  

Anyway, I digress...a couple of weeks later the package arrived and inside the blush pink box were my goodies.  I literally ran to the shower, and for someone who doesn't run often, this is a big deal folks.  There's a bit of a knack with using this product; switch on the shower and get the skin wet, then switch the shower off and rub the scrub into damp skin for 5-10 minutes.  This seems like such a long time when you are loitering around in the shower, gradually freezing your tush off, but it's really important to leave it on to get the most benefit from it.  The first time I rinsed this off I was amazed by just how soft it made my skin, leaving a thin veil of sweet almond oil behind afterwards.  This thought was closely followed by pure shock at the state of the shower cubicle - it is a messy job and the coffee grounds were everywhere but, it rinses away easily and it entirely worth it.  I blotted my skin dry and then followed up with the body balm which is an unusual squeezable oily balm.  This is also a pretty special product and left me stroking my skin in a very unnecessary way for the rest of the evening.

I have used this product once or twice per week for the last couple of months (the website suggests continuous use for maximum benefits on conditions such as cellulite and stretch marks - this ain't no quick fix) and can't recommend it highly enough.  It has noticeably improved the texture and elasticity of my skin and I can imagine that the results will only get better the longer I use the scrub.

An Original Introduction - £29.95 from frank body

OOTD | Checks in a Corn Field

Today marks a momentous occasion indeed - my first ever outfit post!  I have umm'd and ahh'd for a long time about sharing some of my outfits on my blog, but finally decided that life really is too short to be giving it so much thought, so I put on my big girl pants and just did it!  You can imagine the look I got when I asked Darren if he would come into the field with me and take some pictures...but once I explained he reluctantly agreed, mumbling "remember I aint no David Bailey" as we walked though the corn field next to our house.

While in Glasgow yesterday I popped into Forever 21 to have a look at their plus size offerings.  I always used to get so confused with the sizing in Forever 21 when they first opened in the UK as they used US sizing which I think is 2 sizes less than ours...I think!  Thankfully, however they now have the UK sizing on the labels which makes things much more straight forward.  I spotted this checked shirt right away and fell a little bit in love with it before I even tried it on.  Annoyingly, I can't find it on the Forever21 website, although there are a couple of similar styles on there.  It's a longer length and comes with a skinny belt which makes it a bit quirky and interesting.  Today I styled it with some plain black leggings and ankle boots and also popped a vest underneath for a bit of a different look.  

I feel a bit of an OOTD fraudster as this isn't very high fashion and I don't have the perfect matching accessories but do you know what, this is real life and this is what I actually wear.  Speaking of real life, do you know how hard it is to get up onto one of those ruddy hay bales?  Nigh on impossible!  The method I used was to take a run at it (whilst trying not to break my ankle in my heels), jump up and then Darren literally manhandled me up onto the blimmin' thing while I shouted "keep pushing!" and flailed my legs around trying to get traction to push myself up...it's all about the glamour over here!  Getting down was interesting too...

I hope you enjoyed this kind of post, and while I don't think my invite to LFW will be dropping on the doormat any time soon, I sure did enjoy my little photoshoot!

Bed Head Joyride

I'm really not very exciting when it comes to styling my hair.  I have very fine hair which seems to be shedding even further (eep!...but that's another post entirely) so creating some loose curls is about as fancy as it gets with me!  Styling products tends to either weigh down my fine hair or make it dry and crispy - do you feel my pain yet?  So when Bed Head got in touch to say they were launching a new product and sent me a sample, I was pretty sceptical...

Called Joyride, they describe this product as the World's first Powder Primer Balm.  It creates the perfect base layer for any style and keeps it that way. JOYRIDE primes the hair with a fine, invisible powder that adds texture and grip making styling and hold easy. So, get a grip and hold on, for the JOYRIDE of your life!

I was fairly convinced that this product would be a powder, something along the lines of the ultra-fine texturising powders so I was a little surprised when I cut open the sachet this morning to find a clear gel inside...that'll teach me to read things properly!

As instructed I applied this to clean, damp hair and concentrated on mid-lengths and ends.  Initially I was quite unimpressed as my hair didn't feel any different after applying.  I expected to feel some kind of tackiness or grit but my hair felt the same.  I went ahead and dried off my hair as I would normally - using my heat styler to smooth out my natural curls and add a bit of volume.  It was at that point that I could see that my hair had a subtle texture to it, almost like second day hair but without any oiliness.  I ran the straightener through to create a loose wave and found that I didn't need to use any of my other normal styling products to get the subtly defined waves that I tend to go for.  This product seems to have some level of hold in it, but feels like it's just your hair.  

I snapped a couple of quick selfies in the car before work, which accounts for my sleepy face!  Concentrate on the hair, people!

Hopefully this gives you an idea of the texture and lightweight-ness (yup..reckon I just made up that there word!) of the product in relation to fine haired types like myself!

I'm pleasantly surprised that I like this product, I was sure it would be too much for my hair texture.  However instead it seems to work with the texture of my hair really well.  

Bead Head Joyride is £16.95 = buy here

First Wedding Anniversary

Darren and I celebrated our 1st Wedding Anniversary on Saturday and after much stressing about not being able to find a lodge with a hot tub (got to be done!), we ended up booking a glamping pod in Aberfeldy.  The word 'glamping' is far too similar to 'camping' for my liking, so I was a bit apprehensive...a girl needs her straighteners and I wasn't keen on traipsing off to a communal toilet block in the middle of the night for a wee!

Alas, I needn't have worried, because our super little pod had plug sockets aplenty and it's own real, full-size, actual flushing toilet and shower inside!  

We set off after work on Friday, and after the most beautiful scenic drive through the hills, we made our way up the dirt track towards our home for the weekend perched up on the hillside.  Our first task was to get the fire pit lit and get our burgers cooking - we were both starving!  We sat and ate outside with the sky gradually growing dark and the only sounds being the crackling of the logs on the fire and the odd sheep making it's presence known.  The rest of the evening was spent sipping on Prosecco before retiring to the pod where we cranked up the stereo system and sang and danced at the top of our voices until the wee small hours!

The next morning we woke up and got the fire going again for breakfast of buttermilk pancakes and lovely crispy bacon.  I was sure the pancakes cooked on the fire would be disastrous but they were actually really lovely!  We opened all of our anniversary cards and teared up over all the kind words and sat reminiscing about our wedding day last year.  Then we leisurely got ourselves ready and headed out towards Loch Tay for the day.  I was keen to rent a little motor boat and explore the Loch but Darren chose that particular moment to tell me he was afraid of deep water and, seeing the fear in his eyes, that idea was quickly scrapped.  Instead we just walked around the pretty little village of Kenmore which sits right on the banks of Loch Tay.  

We had our anniversary meal at The Three Lemons in Aberfeldy and would highly recommend it - especially for their wood-fired pizzas..to die for!  Then it was back to our pod for s'mores on the fire and yet more Prosecco.  It was such a peaceful, chilled out night round the fire.

The next day rolled around and it was time for us to get packed up and head home.  We were pretty sad to be leaving behind this idyllic little place, but I guess only experiencing nice things like this once in a while makes them all the sweeter?  

LUSH Sauchiehall 20th Birthday Celebration

Oh to be 20 again...

Earlier this week I was invited to head along to the Lush store at Sauchiehall Street in Glasgow to help them celebrate their 20th Birthday.  It was lovely to be able to have a proper look at the products - the store is usually pretty busy and it's quite tricky to have a good old mooch around.  

We were introduced to some of the Oxford Street store exclusives and boy oh boy do they have some amazing stuff.  I am hoping that they will consider rolling some of these out over the rest of the country, otherwise a trip to London may be on the cards.  My favourite was the Experimenter Bath Bomb, which was dropped into a small bowl of water.  I can only imagine how pretty it would be in a full size bath - like bathing in liquid rainbow!

I was also treated to a delightful arm exfoliation using the Life's A Beach Body Scrub Powder, which is an unusual product in that it's mainly a blend of sea salt and sand.  I was stroking my arm like some kind of weirdo for quite a while afterwards - I couldn't believe how soft it had made my skin feel.

Lush also have a Spa.  Who knew?  Not me!  And by the sounds of it not just your run-of-the-mill soothing music and soft lighting kinda spa.  Lush seems to have considered the whole sensory experience with specially choreographed music, unusual techniques and spa-exclusive Lush products.  I must admit it sounds amazing, completely indulgent and I fully intend to treat myself at some point at their Spa in Edinburgh.

We got to try our hand at creating our very own Big Blue Bath Bomb, which is one of their hero products.  It contains arame seaweed, which not only softens your bath water, but the iodine helps to regulate your metabolism plus the lavender oil helps to calm and is an antiseptic - there's a lot of good stuff packed into that little blue ball!   If I wore a hat, I would take it off to the people in the Lush factory who make these all day (up to 200 per hour I'm told!), you need some serious arm muscle to smoosh it together to form a ball. 

Look at my wee face. 

The evening was rounded off by a game of 'Who Wore It Best?', getting creative using their range of knot scarves.  I panicked, folded the scarf up and tied it round my head.  Not my finest look let me tell you.  Needless to say I didn't win that particular game...

Lush kindly gave me a selection of products to try so keep an eye out for my thoughts on those in an upcoming post.  It was a lovely, fun evening and it was great to meet some rather awesome fellow bloggers too.

Do you have any Lush recommendations?  What are your favourite Lush products?

Loreal Infallible Matte 24 Hours

I first learned about this foundation when Sam Schuerman raved about it recently and I pretty much dismissed it as being one of the many products which never make it across to the UK.  So imagine my delight when I found myself (read: made a beeline) for the beauty aisle in Tesco and saw it sitting on the stand!  Day -made.  No seriously, it was a slow Saturday.  It was only £5.99, which I assume was an introductory price, so if you're curious about this product, I suggest you hot foot it down to Tesco soon.  

It claims to wear for 24 hours.  That's nice an' all, but where will it end with these ridiculous claims? 72 hour wear?! We will have to have the damn thing surgically removed from our faces next!

I really like the packaging; it's easy to control how much you use by squeezing out the products and it also has a narrow nozzle so there's no mess or overspill.  I picked up shade 20 - Sand, which would be suitable for those around a MAC NC25.  The foundation has a fairly firm consistency and I assumed that when I applied it, it would be full coverage.  But, it actually applies to a medium coverage which can be built up where needed.  I noticed that it doesn't become matte until it had dried down, which happens after about 5 minutes.  True to the claims, when it did dry down the finish was perfectly matte but I did find that I needed to add a bit of 'life' back into my skin with some strategically placed highlighter.  

Let's have look at some pictures.  The first is bare-faced (eek!), the second with all make up applied and the third is after about 8 hours, just to show how it wears after a significant amount of time.

Sorry for the extreme close-up in the last photo, but I wanted to get close in so you could see if the foundation had slipped or faded.  It does seem to have rubbed off slightly round my nose if I'm being uber critical, but apart from that it held up well and still looked good.  The finish changed from matte to more natural and skin-like, but without any oiliness.  If you're looking for a fairly affordable, long-wearing foundation you just might like this!

My Favourite Memories of 2014

I thought if start the new year by taking a look back at 2014 and some of my favourite memories.  These were captured on my trusty old iphone camera which is never far from my side.

In March Darren and I were lucky enough to spend a weekend in Stranraer at the amazing Corswall Lighthouse.  It was in this totally remote setting with no phone signal or wifi (eeek!).  It was so lovely just to spend some couple time together and enjoy exploring the beautiful surroundings.  We even hopped on the ferry across to Belfast for the day where it poured down with rain the whole day!  I even tried my hand at vlogging - check it out here 

In April we moved out of our little one-bedroom apartment.  This picture makes me laugh - we were trying to carry as much stuff as we could because we had 5 flights of stairs to walk up and down!  We moved into a slightly bigger place with a spare bedroom...and only one flight of stairs!

Not long after we moved, Darren's parents came up from Gloustershire for a visit.  We took them to see The Kelpies, two massive sculptures of horses built beside the Forth and Clyde Canal.  It was such a beautiful evening and they looked stunning in the fading light.

In May I picked up my wedding dress and this was me trying it on for the first time!  I fell in love with the dress when I initially tried it on in a size 12, but wasn't quite expecting the extra amount of fabric on the skirt once it was sized up to my correct size.  Regardless of this, I still loved it and it really started to feel like I was getting married!

In June, I volunteered as a Steward for the Commonwealth Games Baton Relay as it made it's way towards Glasgow.  It was such a great day - everyone was buzzing!  

In July it was time for my Hen Do!  My bridesmaids excelled themselves organising it.  We stayed in a beautiful apartment in the Duchally Estate in Gleneagles with it's own balcony.  As you may be able to tell from the picture, one evening we had a Country theme and everyone got right in the spirit!  It was a brilliant night which ended with a show and tell where everyone brought something and shared a story about me and them, it was amazing!  During the day we chilled out at the spa, played rounders, ate brilliant food and at night we all got glammed up and headed to Gleneagles Hotel for a meal - perfect weekend which I will treasure.

In August I got married!  I struggle to put into words exactly what the day meant to me.  Our ceremony was outside in my aunts garden and the sun shone as we said our vows.  Darren looked so handsome in his kilt, even though he isn't Scottish is was a lovely guesture for him to wear it for my benefit.  Later on everyone filled the dance floor and I literally danced the night away.  It was our perfect day.

In October, we jetted off on our honeymoon!  Our was a bit non-traditional as instead of two weeks by the beach we headed off for a road trip of Southern USA!  We started in Atlanta, Georgia before heading to Talladega in Alabama to watch the NASCAR.  Then we went to Memphis, where we explored Graceland, Sun Studios and drank way too many cocktails on Beale Street!  We then headed to Nashville.  Now if you ever have the opportunity to visit, do it! It is an amazing place.  We even took in an NFL game at LP Field which, although I don't understand the game, was a great experience.  We stayed at an Airbnb in East Nashville which was an annex to a bigger house.  It was super cosy and our hosts baked us fresh cookies every morning.  Our next stop on the road trip was Pigeon Forge which is famous for being the birthplace of Dolly Parton!  She has her theme park there, appropriately named Dollywood.  It was such a pretty setting, up in the mountains with all the autumn leaves.  On our way back, we had 24 hours to spend in New York City. We had agreed on the places we wanted to fit in - The 9/11 Memorial, Times Square and Empire State Building.  We also saw Taylor Swift perform at Times Square!  We were both completely knackered when we got back home, but we have so many happy memories and experiences to look back on it was totally worth it!

So there we have it.  2014.  I'm kinda sad to see the back of this year so it was bittersweet wishing my husband a Happy New Year as the clock struck midnight.  I can't wait to see what adventures 2015 will bring!