A wedding you say? ♥

Hello Strangers! I hope everybody is spiffingly well. Putting the title of this blog to one side for a minute, I shall firstly persevere with our little weekend trip to the lake district! Please be aware this post is going to be picture heavy!

We had a great weekend and couldn't have been luckier with the weather! We went to the same lovely hotel we went to before, and it was gorgeous. On Ed's birthday, we did some shopping around Kendal, and had plenty of grub (diet oh-so-slightly out of the window this weekend). I did manage to kind of be good, but we were celebrating so I had the first alcoholic drink, and chocolate in a month. Must admit my date with the scales didn't go too well after that.

We got looking around a few charity shops, because you never know what you might find, and being thrifty can save you money, and land you some unique items! Ed wanted some whiskey glasses for his office, and I just wanted to see what bits and bobs were about. Here is what we came out with!

Just a view from a side street pub we sat at! So cute!

I had seen glasses very similar to these at an arts and crafts village near to us, and they retailed at around £17.00 each. I really liked them because they are so different and hand blown and painted, but for that price I would be frightened to use them! So in one charity shop, I was having a good root around, and these little beauties caught my eye! They were in a locked cabinet under the sales desk and they were just like what I had looked at previously, but ALL FOUR for  £12.00! They still had a sticker on that said hand blown, so I doubt they had ever been used! SOLD to me! I just soak them in a bowl of hot water and fairy liquid, and they will be just as new!

Then we were on the hunt for Eds whiskey glasses and decanter. In two separate shops, we firstly found the decanter. It has a slight crack in the top but nothing you would notice, and that was £4.99. It has a lovely crystal detail and perfect for what he needs. Who knows what he might have paid from a shop. We then went into another, and saw the set of glasses.

The glasses were in the same shop as these lovely vintage scent bottles, but the glasses were £5.00 for all six, and the bottles were £12.00 for four. So we asked if we could have the lot for £15.00 and kindly the shop assistant agreed! Bargain! It pays to barter a little, but not too cheekily! The vintage scent bottles are so different and unique! I have never seen anything like it, and they will look great on my dressing table after a soak!

Then I found these beauties. I love looking for vintage earrings in charity shops, you can get some really interesting pieces. These pair of earrings are so different, I have never seen anything like it and the detail on them is so unique! Great catch for me, especially at £1.50!!

I also popped into Superdrug and managed to get two of the new Maybelline colour tattoos. They are really great, the staying power of the cream eyeshadows are brilliant. I had a gold swatch on my hand, I went swimming, and in the shower and it was still there! So you have to scrub if you want it off, or some really good make up remover. Great staying power!

Onto the exciting bit then....As you may or may not know, Ed and I have been engaged 8 months now, and haven't really discussed much of the wedding. HOWEVER after having going to the lake district twice and loving it so much we have decided to get the ball rolling! We are actually booking the date! We are going to go for the Friday 25th of April 2014. We would have had the 18th, but that date is that years good Friday, so it is bound to be more expensive then. We have two years to do it all, so that gives me time to lose weight, save up, and tailor it to how we want. We are pretty much keeping it to family, as you do have to draw the line somewhere, and with it being two and a half hours away, not many people will come just for the night do.

I am beyond excited! Even though it's ages away, I am sure it will come round pretty quick!

 This is the lovely hotel!!

This is the little pagoda that we want to get married in, fingers crossed for the weather!

Here we are at the hotel, love it!

So stay tuned to see my gradual wedding plans, and if you want to see some of my wedding ideas, add me on Pinterest. CLICK ME

Woooohooo!

Ciao for now! xXx

Make up, nails n stuff! ♥

Hey everyone! So I thought I would just do a little update again with what has been crackalacking! Ed & I are off to the lake district tonight which is a lovely picturesque part of the UK, and covered in lakes! (If you hadn't already guessed...) So we have been before to this particular hotel, but it was only on business last time. We liked it so much we thought it would be nice to spend the weekend there for Eds birthday tomorrow, so we can have a little relax and an explore. Then we go to Cyprus 2 weeks today! Woohoo I'm excited, so much going on! 

So firstly, I have FINALLY bought a 120 palette. Something I am sure you have all seen before, but it has taken me years to get on the bandwagon! I don't know why really just haven't bothered, but I am glad I did now! It did take the mickey to come as it is from China, almost 3 weeks! But it was worth the wait. If you just type into Ebay '120 palette' they all come up. Usually they set you back about £10 - £15, but I quickly jumped in on a bid only one and got it for £7 with postage, so keep your eye open for a bargain! 

Sorry about the shocking picture, it was just a quick one to send to my Mom! The colours are wickedly pigmented, and I think it is going to last me rather a long time!

We went for a curry with Eds Mom and Dad for Eds birthday as we won't be here, so I thought I would try the palette out. Here I am wearing a very light lemony nude shade, applied firstly all over the lid. (After applying primer), then if you can see the blue patches on my top, I matched that to the nearest blue on the palette, and put that on the outer corners and crease. To define it a little more, I went in with a darker turquoise shade (a little like my hair colour), and further defined the crease, and super blended it all. I quite like these colours together, nice and springy! Earrings £2, Necklace £4, Shrug top £8 all from Primark. On the lips, George ASDA nude lip liner £4, and MAC Hue over the top £13.50.

Again sorry for the poor quality of the picture, but we were zooming really quick out to the cinema to see the Hunger Games!! I thought I would do a really quick 5 minute Katniss Everdeen inspired look - not exact, but how I liked it! I did a messy side plait as she has it, thick black winged liner (Blacktrack fluidline from MAC £16.00), mascara (MUA curved mascara £3.00) and Hue from MAC on the lips (£13.50). I thought the film was absolutely amazing and the second one can't come quickly enough!

So for tonights Lake District adventure, I have done my nails ready for the weekend. I decided to do a graduated glitter nail, because they always look pretty cool, especially when I have my fakies on. Fake nails are 200 pack from Boots (£8.00), my holy grail fake nails! Polishes are both from Primark and come in sets of four (not these colours together though), and the sets are £2.00 each. They are great quality varnishes and the blue is a one coat wonder! To graduate glitter, start about a quarter way up from the cuticle to the tip, then let it dry. When dry start a little bit further up, let dry etc etc you get the drift! If its a holographic glitter like this, try and get most of the larger glitter pieces towards the nail tips, it may be fiddly but gets a much better graduated look! Finish up with some Sally Hansen Diamond Shine nail hardener (£10.00) - not really a top coat but works wonders for me! 

So there you have it! Do you have any good nail designs to try? I would love to see!

Thanks for reading and I'll post some piccies when we return! 

Ciao for Now xXx

Skydive and general updates! ♥

Hey Everyone! Long time no type. I haven't blogged for a little while, as there hasn't been much to really blog about I suppose. But now I have a few things to tell you about, which may be boring but oh well, I'm putting it out there!

FIRST and certainly foremost, I am STILL SKYDIVING! Wehey!!! I am so excited. A few posts back there was a long, dreary, moany one where I had put that I couldn't be accepted to do it due to my weight. I was hugely disappointed and massively upset that being so careless about what's passing my gob, that it had stopped me doing the thing that is at the top of my bucket list. HOWEVER, firstly they were 'uhming' and 'aahing' whether to accept me, and then they said on the day, if I can prove I can lift up my legs when landing, then I'm all set and ready to go. I really was going to save myself the embarrassment and not bother anyway, but since the 27th of Feb, I have been watching what I am eating. 

With the help of My Fitness Pal Iphone App, a little bit of Mrs Willpower, and a bit less of Mr Cake, I'm getting there. I am sticking to 1200 calories a day, and I began at the horrendous weight of 15st 1.6lbs. Now, after just two weeks, I weigh in at 14st 5.6lbs, so a total loss of around 10lbs! I can't believe it really, I had to double check my scales by checking on the Wii and that also agreed. So it really does work, however I don't know how long for. I am finding it pretty easy, and I would really love to get down to a flat 14 stone for the dive, which on the whole, doesn't seem too much of a hard goal really.

SO on to the IMPORTANT STUFF!

I have a charity web page set up that any donations can be made over the web, and can be forwarded straight to the charity. It is for the British Heart Foundation, in memory of my cousin Paul who sadly passed away in his twenties. To give to this great cause, and to make jumping out of a plane at 13000 feet worth while, please CLICK BELOW!

http://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/Tillyskydive 

Thank you so much, it is appreciated more than you know!

Just to keep you updated with the blue crew, here are some recent random piccies!

This is me, my sister-in-law to be on her 17th Birthday, and her cousin Lucy <3

Here is Maria and I, with (GUILT FREE) Chocolate Shape puddings! We are a bit special.

Some make up looks I have been sporting lately! Grey/Navy Smokey Eye!

Natural look with black gel liner. (Maybe not so natural with turquoise hair...)

Light pink/Nude eyeshadow from the Naked pallette.

There's a Chinchilla!

Once again thanks so much for reading my rabble and it really would be great if you could donate, any amount helps and is going to a really great cause!

Thank You XxXxXx Ciao for now! XxXxXx

Vivo at Tesco ♥

Calling all fellow bargain beauty hunters! A little treat for you! I had been hearing along the ever-growing grapevine about the new Vivo make up range in Tesco, and thought I would give it a go myself. I have 2 Tesco stores near me, and this was only available in the one so I think it is available in selected larger Tesco stores. SO here it is. I got 5 different things across the range to try out just to see if I like it first. I cannot remember the exact prices, but everything is under a tenner, which I think is great value. At the back of the picture is the baked bronzer which I think is around £4, the baked blusher is around £3, the eyeshadow palette is around £6 and the smaller concealer, and eyebrow palettes are around £3. Don't quite me on those but they are AROUND those prices, not much more!

Sorry again for the dodgy pictures, I am too lazy to use my SLR and upload them, it is far quicker on my Iphone. I shall use my SLR very soon for better quality! First up is the marbled eyeshadow and blush palette. I love love LOVE it. They are like little baked galaxies in a box and they are sooo pretty! Shimmery, pigmented and a range of wearable colours. There are a few other palettes, but I thought this would be the most wearable. The palettes don't seem to be named, but I think the packaging is very sleek and sophisticated, and look more expensive than they actually are. 

The colours don't show up very amazingly here but I'll just explain briefly. The blusher is to the left, and is a high pigment baby pink shimmer blush, use sparingly! A light dust on the cheekbone will be plenty, and its shimmery enough to act as a highlight too. The first shadow comes out like a very light sea green, and reminds me of mermaids! How simple am I sounding...Anyway...the second is a taupe to light brown colour and would be more suited to the eyelid than a highlight as it comes out quite dark. The third shade is a light khaki green which is also best for the lid, along with the final shade which is a taupe to mushroom colour - suitable for the inner corners. The palette actually does show on the back where to apply each colour, handy for beginners or young make up artists in the making! 

This is the baked shimmer blusher, in shade 4 'Rouge Shimmer'. It is a warm pink colour which is great, again dusted over the cheekbones. It isn't quite as bright as the blusher that comes with the eyeshadow palette, but it is a lovely more muted version. It doesn't have glittery flecks in or anything, its more of a sheer shimmer. I have used it for the last two days since I had it, and it gets the thumbs up from me!

This is the eye brow palette, with 3 colours to suit every little brow hair out there! These also double up as eyeshadows, come with a brow setting gel, an applicator AND a mirror! What more could you ask for in the bargain world? I actually really like this little compact, great for on the go and you don't have to find everything separate at the bottom of your handbag. For the price, it's a great buy, and one I recommend! There is a light colour for more blonde brows, a light brown that on the skin comes out quite a reddish tone, so more for red hair, and the darker brown for brunettes like moi! Although I have turquoise and black hair...they don't do a kit for that funnily enough.

This is the baked bronzer, which is really lovely! You only need a little bit again, and I would say this is more of a highlight bronze for the cheekbones, rather than a temple/contour/jawline bronzer. It is very bright and shimmery indeed, but nothing that a good blend wouldn't sort. This is shade 2, which is very gold toned. A great bargain, which I think will look great over a tan!

This is the concealer palette, my last product from Vivo. Again, a great little portable compact with 2 concealers and a setting powder, an illuminator pen, an applicator and mirror! Another bargain! This however, I don't think is something I would re-purchase at the moment. I haven't really given it that much of a good go, but that is because I cannot find anything to beat the Collection 2000 lasting perfection! Well, they are called Collection now aren't they? But anyhow, the creamy consistency of the concealers allow them to be used as eyeshadow primers too, but I have yet to try it. I personally think these concealers just sit on top of my skin rather than sinking in, but you can't have it all can you? 

Overall a great new brand, I shall definitely be purchasing some more of their cosmetics in the near future! Hope this helps and if anyone has any questions on these items, be sure to leave a comment and I shall get back to you!

Ciao for now XxX

Recent Make up ♥

Hello lovlies. Today is a little bit of a haul post I guess. I have gone a bit mad over the last week or so on getting some cheapalicious bargains, and then having a naughty treat or two! As you know, I am not one for splurging a lot of money on one product because I was a born bargain hunter, but I have finally purchased a couple of higher end products because well...I have given in.

Ed and I went into Birmingham on Sunday, for a bit of retail therapy. Well, me dragging him round really. It was nice though because we haven't done anything like that in a long time. When you have a business like he does, it really does become your life and quality time away from it doesn't come up very often. I am very proud of him and everything he does, but sometimes you just need an hour or two together in a different scenery. So anyway, we headed to the Bullring, and I dragged him to Selfridges, somewhere I very rarely go considering it is on our doorstep.

Sorry about the picture quality it was taken at night, but at least you can make out what there is. So I have my first EVER MAC products! I am so excited! Ed was very kind enough to treat me to them, because I think he knows how much it means to me (cheesy as it sounds). I am so grateful to have them, and hopefully it is the start of my collection. So I thought I would buy a couple of staple items, the queue for a foundation test was 20 minutes long so you can see why I haven't began with that. I got the lipstick in 'Hue', that many 'Youtubers' and beauty bloggers say is a great all round nude lipstick to have. I have to agree, it is a lovely creamy formula and a nice neutral colour that will go with any make up look. Then I got the Fluidline gel liner in Blacktrack, which is another staple for me as I wear gel liner most days. I did want the 263 brush to go with it but they were sold out. The next items were part of their new collection which is Chenman Love and Water, which is an oriental inspired collection. The lipstick and Lipglass shades are called Force of Love, and they are a bright coral-pink. I absolutely love the colour and couldn't just walk past it! As for foundation, I went over to NARS and managed to get a consultation immediately. The lady on the counter was so helpful and friendly, whereas the MAC staff seemed pretty narky and stressed out, but they are really busy I guess.

This is the Sheer Glow foundation and it looks awfully yellow in this picture! I actually don't have the skin of a simpson, but I do have dodgy lighting! So this is in the shade Deauville light 4, and is the perfect match. I am saving it for the weekends though, don't want to waste it for work!

We then went to Superdrug, where I was really after the MUA love hearts collection but they didn't have it?! It's one of the largest Superdrug stores I have been in, and they hadn't got the Love hearts stuff in. I was a bit gutted, but maybe they are having it in later...So anyway, I got some dry shampoo because I had ran out, and I have used this brunette coloured one now, but it did still make my hair grey! I'm not fussed about it because I give it a good rub in, but I know a lot of people hate that so it might not be for you. I thought I would try out one of their new brushes too, this was £5.99 and is the 'slanted eye liner brush'. As I was let down with the MAC 263, I thought for the price I'll give it a bash. Then I got the Poptastic Palette from MUA as it had been reduced to £3.00 and I could do with some brighter shadows! Then I got two of the bronzers which were a pound each, and one is shimmery and the other matte. The Matte shade is very similar to the Laguna bronzer the NARS make up artist put on my face, but about £25.00 cheaper...Bargain!

So enough rambling, I thought I would just share a vile picture of myself with you just to demonstrate what the new Number 17 miracle matte foundation did to my face throughout the day! Blotchy Blotchville. I can't even see that I have any foundation on and this is about 8 hours after I first applied it, which I know is pretty hardcore but I would like to think it would look as if I had even the tiniest of layers on. I am not a big fan of the freckles I was unfortunately blessed with so I like to at least cover those. This foundation isn't really great for me. I do have combination skin, so I thought it would be OK as my T-zone gets incredibly oily through the day, but it kind of just clung to the little hairs on my face rather than sinking in to my skin - Cakey! I personally would not re-purchase this, but I have seen some people that very much like it, so if you have super oily skin, it may be one for you. 

Ciao for now! XxX

Deflated ♥

I guess this is going to kind of be a moan and groan post I'm afraid. Sometimes I just find it therapeutic to write my thoughts down than talk about it. Getting it out, and feeling like I'm not troubling anybody feels a bit better than having to bore someone to tears with my jibber jabber. There isn't a need to continue reading if you don't want, I utterly understand, but sometimes in life, a girls just gotta get it out.

I'm feeling pretty down at the moment as it is, missing my friends and my weight is really getting to me. It's easy for people to say 'just walk then' or 'quit the cake', but when food rules you rather than you ruling it, it just isn't that simple. I know it's my own fault, and I don't really have a right to moan about it. I did this to myself and now I have to reap the consequences. It his me smack in the face today, like a huge wet fish.

I have actually been eating far better with healthier food, and doing little bits of exercise which probably aren't doing too much. I feel so tired though and I've been strictly doing it since Monday so not even a week and I'm feeling knackered. So this is how it hit me. If you have been reading my previous blogs, I have mentioned that I am skydiving in April. Not anymore. I gave my height and weight in, and there you have it, it's all over. When something that you have wanted to achieve your entire life, is being restricted by your weight, reality hits you very quickly. I can hardly stomach the embarrassment. 

I feel more determined than ever, I am using the Iphone app 'My Fitness Pal'. It is great because I can record everything I eat on that, and it calculates the calories used. If you exercise you 'gain' calories so you still have them to use up. I have been using it each day, and it really helps to reflect on what you are consuming. When I am in this mind frame, I am horrified at what I have previously been consuming. Ed & I ate out every night for about 9 days running last week. I have put on weight already from the severity of that. It's more than some people eat out in a year. It is purely shameful. 

I now have a huge build up of anger, and I feel like that is backing me to say no. It is very hard, but maybe if I document my feelings like this it might help. I really started feeling like this watching a Youtube video, which I found truly inspirational. 'MissChievous' is the channel name, and it seems she felt just like I do. Everything she says is exactly how I feel, and she has shed so much weight. If i was to carry on, I would just keep creeping up and up and up. It has to end. Now. I can't take the jokes about it or comments anymore, and I want to skydive more than anything, and one day, I WILL.