How I've Changed as a Person Over The Last Eight Weeks

A lot has happened within these eight weeks and I have really changed as a person in that time. Lockdown has seriously done things to me, I've had a lot of thinking time I guess.

Firstly, I've learnt to appreciate things more. I will now cherish every single moment I spend with my family and friends. Sometimes you just need to take a step back, look at your life and see what you've got and who's in it. This has made me look at things from a different perspective, my eyes have opened up even more so now.

 Secondly, I've learnt that it's fine to have down days. It's perfectly okay to have down days anyway, but in a time like this even more so. The unknown of everything and not having much freedom can really hit you hard. I've had multiple days where I've just cried because I'm scared of the unknown, I can't go out and get away or spend time by myself.

I've been working on having a more positive mindset. Even though a lot of negative things are going on in my life right now, I've been trying to turn those negatives into positives instead. Better things will come soon. I've also been working on my jealousy. I've felt so nervous to admit this, but I am a jealous person and I feel like a lot of other people struggle with this too. I get jealous so easily - although not in a bad way that turns me into a horrible person. I keep my thoughts to myself and I've been managing to get over certain things that make me jealous as they come. Maybe it's not even jealousy, I think I just want what other people have in life.

I've got rid of negative people that were in my life. Very recently, I decided that I was sick of the amount of shit I have taken over the last few years by letting people walk all over me, I didn't want to be the girl that was talked down to anymore. Just because I come across as this timid, quiet girl, doesn't mean people can walk over me, make decisions for me and put me down. From now on, I'll be standing up for myself more and any negative people in my life will be cut out. Life is too short and I'm not letting negative people that make me miserable ruin it.

I've spent time looking after myself a lot more too. Beforehand, I wouldn't spend a lot of time looking after myself. I'm looking after my hair and skin so much better and I'm now in a routine. Nothing is a rush either and I have no excuse to not be bothered.

Finally, I've become an even stronger believer of 'everything happens for a reason'.

The Only Makeup Brush Cleanser You Need In Your Life

For years I used to swear by my yellow bottle of Johnsons baby shampoo to clean my makeup brushes. However, when I visited the Olympia Beauty show back in September, I was given a little sample packet of STYLPRO makeup cleansing solution. You know me, I love trying out new products. So, as soon as I got home from London, I decided to try it out straight away and I haven't touched my baby shampoo since.

After using the sample for the first time, I was absolutely amazed, I'd never seen anything like it before. I headed straight to the STYLPRO site and ordered the 500ml bottle of cleansing solution for £20.99. It's a highly effective, deep-cleansing formula which removes oil-based products from your brushes really well. It leaves the brushes conditioned and super soft after every use.

 All you do is simply pour one capful of the cleansing solution to a bowl. It's a very oily solution but they highly advise you to not mix it with water or other cleansers, and not to rinse them with water after cleansing your brushes with the solution. Dip your brush in the bowl and swirl it about as you usually would do, then wipe off the excess solution in circular motions on a paper towel and repeat if you need to. After cleansing your brushes, the colour of the bristles come back instantly, they're super soft and feel almost dry.
My eyeshadow brushes only take one cleanse to get them clean again and my more stubborn foundation and concealer brushes take three or four cleanses each. Even though it's a pricey product, it's a much quicker way than I'm used to. It just makes a boring job super easy.

Two brushes after they've been cleaned and two brushes before being cleaned.

You can use this cleansing solution by itself, like I do. Or, they also sell a bowl that spins when you insert your brush. Even though I had ordered from their website, I didn't actually know they sold this. Liam's younger cousin actually got the set for Christmas just gone and that's when I realised I had that same solution but without the bowl. She showed me how to use it and it just looked insane.
You pour the cleansing solution into the bowl, put on a silicone collar that best fits your brush size and turn the device on, let it spin your brush around in the solution for around 10 seconds, then lift your brush so it's out of the solution but still in the bowl and spin for a further 10 seconds to dry it out. Just like that, the brushes are completely clean, fully dry and fluffy again. It's a lot quicker than just using the standalone solution and doing it yourself. I will definitely be buying this at some point!


Have you tried this brush cleansing solution before? If you haven't, I highly recommend it.

Lounging in Lockdown with Femme Luxe

As you can imagine, I'm forever living in loungewear at the minute, how can I not? With not being able to go anywhere and no reason to get dressed up, I am living for lounging around in my comfies. Femme Luxe Finery got in touch with me and very kindly gifted me a few loungewear pieces which I picked out myself.

The first set I picked is this Cailleigh stone cropped loungewear set*. This set comes in five other colours and I'm not going to lie, I was torn between stone, khaki, and black. The colour of this set actually looks a lot lighter on the Femme Luxe site. In person it's more on the yellowy side but I really don't mind because it still looks amazing and I'd probably say this is my absolute favourite out of the three I've picked. The inside of the hoodie and joggers has a thick, soft lining which is super cosy and comfy. I love that the hoodie is cropped too, you can use the drawstring at the side to keep it loose or bring it in tighter. The cropped look just gives the set that something extra.

The next set that caught my eye was the Zuri black cropped cargo loungewear set*. I was drawn to it because it's different, I'd never seen a set like it before and I just really liked the style of it. The colour choice is slightly more limited with only three other colours to choose from. The style of the layered, cropped hoodie was what attracted me at first and with the zip and the collar, I personally think it's a cool and chic style. Like the first set, it has a drawstring to pull it tighter or keep it loose, you can also tuck the drawstring in or leave it out.

Lastly, is the Blake grey off the shoulder loungewear set*. This set has a really great colour range with six other colours to choose from. I was a little wary when I pulled this out of the packaging because I noticed the material was thinner and tighter than the other two sets. I was worried that my massive thunder thighs wouldn't squeeze into the joggers, honestly I was surprised when I pulled myself into them. Even though the material is thin, they're not see-through at all and as they're more on the fitted side than baggy, they have a really good stretch to them and I actually found them extremely comfy.

All three sets are just perfect and easy for lounging about the house, running errands on your days off, dressing them up or wearing them as a cute, comfy airport outfit. Currently, all of their loungewear collection is on sale, so definitely go and check it out.


*Products marked with (*) have been gifted. As always, my reviews and opinions are completely honest and my own. 

We've Postponed Our September Wedding.

Yes, you read that correct. We've postponed our wedding and here is the reason why...

Well, you can probably guess why we've postponed it. The awful C word? Exactly that.

I don't want to speak too negatively about what's going on in this crazy world right now, but this is life and unfortunately we've had to make a big decision and I feel like I should share what has been going on. It also helps me feel better getting things off my mind.

The past month has been one massive whirlwind, that's for sure. Liam and I have been through so many different emotions, we've received lots of different opinions and advice from friends and family too. There has also been lots of stress and many tears with it.

If you would've told me at the start of 2020 that in a few months time I'd be making a decision to cancel my wedding, I would've laughed, maybe even cried. Even though it feels like September is ages away, it is only 4 months away and things could go one way or another from now. I truly believe everything will have blown over by September but I also believe there will still be some restrictions in place. We had sat down multiple times and seriously thought about what was best for us to do. We were originally going to risk leaving our big day as it was and carry on as normal. But then we went into lockdown and our appointment to give notice of our marriage was cancelled and that's when it all felt a lot more real.

I hadn't even been for my first dress fitting or alteration, along with needing to get the bridesmaid dresses altered. Liam was still suit hunting and hadn't found any he liked for him and the groomsmen. Liam's stag do for the end of April was cancelled and mine at the end of May is still highly likely to also be cancelled. We agreed that everything was going to be one big rush by the time lockdown was going to be lifted.
We wanted to get married and celebrate our marriage as normal as possible. The main reason we made our decision is that Liam and I are very close to our families, so having them all around us and celebrating with us on our special day is so important to us both as well as their health. So we decided, if there's a possibility of large gatherings and/or vulnerable people not being allowed at weddings, we're not going ahead with ours.

When we first looked into moving our wedding with our venue, they were more than happy to help us, but they had limited dates for next year. After collecting around five possible new dates from our venue, we had to contact the suppliers that we already had booked for September to see what they could do. Most of them were very limited on dates and a few of them were already booked up for 2021, so this really made our final decision.
We were going to lose our photographer, cake maker and my hairstylist along with the deposits we had paid. We thought, if we leave it any longer, we're going to lose more suppliers and more money as well as finding it harder to get a new date and re-book new suppliers.

Even though we were extremely upset about the big decision we had made, all the excitement had suddenly come back knowing that we will definitely get our day, even if it is nine months later. So we looked at the positives; we can re-organise and plan our hen and stags again, everyone will be able to attend our wedding, we can definitely go away for our honeymoon and we can save up even more money to buy a house this year. Well, hopefully.

Of course we didn't have to postpone our wedding, but we truly made the decision that we thought was best for us. I haven't written this to scare any other brides/grooms of 2020 away. I wrote this to purely get everything off my mind and of course, to let all of you know because you've been following my wedding planning journey. Also, I think it will be interesting to look back on in years to come. Everyone has their own opinions and every couple is different and I think that needs to be respected.

The lead up to your wedding is meant to be a really exciting time and we just weren't feeling excited about it anymore. Since postponing, it's like a huge weight has been lifted off of our shoulders. I'm so glad to say that we are both really excited again and enjoying even more planning.
We're so lucky to have the most supportive friends and family too.
Here's to the 3rd of June 2021.