The next chapter ♥

The night before the day after! I feel actually sick about resigning tomorrow. Can't believe it, I know I've only been there 18 months, but it does feel like a long time. Well, I'm only 21 and I guess it's time for a change. I will actually have weekends between the weekdays of hard graft, which I think will make a massive difference. I'm nervous about learning a new job from scratch again, it's going to take a lot of patience but at least I have basic skills behind me, and some good knowledge of what I'm going into. Pretty life changing I guess! I'm really going to miss my girls, but I hope we keep meeting up and keep it going, because I was never going to be there forever. 

On a lighter note, I found this...

Genius.

Another thing that I actually found on a Belgian hotel website that I liked is:

Recipe for happiness

    1 large ladle of positivity

    1 pair of rose-tinted glasses to see the essential when all

       else seems contrary

    1 good dose of innocence to store every precious moment

    1 sprig of lucidity to recognise what is best for all

    1 spoonful of blossoming smile

    1 barrel of laughs with a pinch of humour

    1 clove of detachment

    Sprinkle generously with tenderness, love, compassion and

         friendship

    Leave to bake in the oven of patience

    The outcome, of course, depends on the chef ...

Sounds pretty gospel to me, and I'm going to take this forward with me.

We went for a sneaky curry last night, and I did feel pretty guilty but god it was nice. I really needed it I'd been doing so well, but I can't live without it. Tonight we have had Sunday dinner at the in laws, which was also lovely, but had chocolate cake after. Definitely going to have to do exercise tomorrow to make it acceptable...but oh well it was yummy.

So I am going to go now, I feel sick as a dog and am definitely getting no sleep tonight! Wish me luck.

Ciao for now x

Day with the girls ♥

I've been out with the girls from work today. It was really nice to spend some time with them. We went swimming and had a right laugh taking the piss pretty much out of all the water aerobics group. We did more gossiping than swimming really, but that's what we do best! We got out and unanimously decided that we should go to the Harvester! Win! It's good because all the calories are on the menu, and we didn't have a pudding! How good are we? Especially when they actually have THE most amazing sundaes and they are so tempting. This malarkey is pretty tough going, but at least I've got my mates to help me!

Me & Bek looking relatively normal, oh and Lucy also looking normal. She is always there to remind me that Banana's are gospel - even though she hates them.

I decided to do a stuffed Butternut Squash for dinner, as it's nice and healthy, with cinnamon baked peaches and 1 scoop of ice cream. The Squash wasn't a great success to be honest.

This picture actually does it no justice, but nevermind. It was stuffed with quorn mince, tomatoes etc, and mozzerella on top. Nice and healthy for me actually, but maybe a bit too much because it wasn't very full of flavour. Ed put salt on his and had it with chips so could eat his. Oh well, the peaches we're nice.

All that aside, I've got a fair bit of a decision on my hands at the moment. I have an opportunity to change jobs and have a couple of weeks to decide. Few sleepless nights I think. Not 100% sure what to do yet, but I think I am swinging for the change. My hours don't suit me at the moment, and I get paid diddly squat for everything we have to do, without a pay rise. This is 9-5 with weekends off as well. Decisions decisions. 

Ciao for now x

Asda & Updates ♥

Today I have been out and about with my Mom, little brother and sister. We just popped to Asda...of course, to see what's there. It's payday today, but may as well not be any more because it's pretty much gone. When will I ever learn. But still, got some good stuff! So I thought I'd do a little outfit of the day, first one! I really hate full length photo's now I'm not the size I used to be. I'm no where near in fact, but I don't let that stop me dressing how I like, and in what I like. Plus as I previously mentioned, I am dieting now so I hope I can keep it up because I don't want to be like this for much longer. Anyway, enough of that! Here's my outfit of the day!

I have my leggings I bought in Primark, with last years tan ankle boots also from Primark. I have lived in them and they have actually lasted me ages, I love them and they were only about £12, they go with everything. So I have one of Ed's shirts he didn't want any more on! I thought it would be good to use for a vintage look with some added jewellery. I cut the sleeves off and over the top I have a long beige cardi. My necklaces - although you can't really see - are a cameo short necklace with the Eiffel Tower on, and then a longer necklace with keys on. I've then got my snakeskin headband, and boxy bag from Primark that I bought the other day! And there you have it.

This is my asda haul. Doesn't look too exciting, and you can't see too much due to rubbishy picture! I got some scales most importantly! My Wii fit isn't 100% accurate, so I got that little badboy, which tells you your BMI, body fat percentage and water percentage. No way am I going into what mine was, but it said I was less than the Wii, which is a good thing. I also got zumba fitness 2 for the Wii, and Rapunzel! <3 I love Rapunzel, I must have watched it a dozen times with my little brother and sister. I've just had a go on that, it's quite cool and tells you what to do which I like, no brain work! Zumba however I am going to leave until tomorrow, a new dawn, a new day and all that! 

I got some mascara and me being a dimwit never checked the colours, I got them both in brown, Grr. I got my usual Loreal 4D one, and hopefully it won't dry up too quickly this time! I also got the George Volume Lash, which was only £3.50 and although I got it in brown, it's a nice big brush and seems pretty good so far. I got the George Mousse foundation, a rip off of the dream matte by Maybelline. I did used to use the maybelline one, but I found it very greasy and came off quite quick. This however, is not so! It's actually AMAZING. For £6, it's a bloody bargain. GO and by it right NOW. So I also got a dress which is lovely knee length for £16, and is black with tan spots, very vintage! And a pink fleece for going on my walks and lounging about it, a bargainous fiver. Last but not least, my favourite shampoo. The new-ish VO5 range, it is non greasy and I can just about go up to 2 days without washing it, although I never do. It was quite pricey today with no offers on, making it just under £8 for the shampoo and conditioner, but at least I know its good, and smells amazing.

This is a little fan brooch I got too, half price wooo! No idea what I will do with it yet but I'm sure I will find a place for it somewhere. I also got a light beige coloured corsage type pin, with pearly detail in the middle, again no idea what I will do with it, probably stick it on a bag or something.

Shocking picture of myself actually, but just to get an idea of what I wore when I went for a carvery with my Mom and siblings on the night. That is my new dress I was talking about and I really like it. Will go well with heels or flats!

So this is Lucy, my 6 year old sister pulling a beautiful face! She's a cheeky one and so funny! She's picking out what she's having for dinner!

And this is my mother, and my 3 year old brother Tom, also cheeky but very cute! They are completely torturing me with Ice cream because I can't have it on the diet. It actually killed me, that Chocolate fudge brownie Ice cream sensation my mom has got is one of my favourite puds! But nope, can't have it and I'm pretty glad I didn't. =)

So I'm going swimming with two of my girls from work tomorrow. Should be a laugh, I'm a bit nervous about getting in a swimming costume when I'm not on holiday. No one knows you there do they I suppose. Oh well, just have to get over it and have a laugh! I'll try and get a picture of us lot if I can!

Ciao for now! x

Everyday Make Up ♥

I haven't blogged for a few days because I have been spending a lot of time on our new Wii. I am trying to be healthy and do some Wii Fit, walking and eating much healthier and less. Two days gone so far which is nothing but usually if I can do one day, it can lead to one week and so on. I really need to do this! I am skydiving in April and I don't want to plummet to the ground leaving an indent of my frame in the grass. I really don't want to get any bigger so I'm hoping my determination will pay off, and the willpower will stay with me. I am enjoying the Wii Fit plus, there are some good games on there that really do get you to work up a sweat. I hope I can keep it up when I go back to work too, because I'm off for almost 2 weeks at the moment so I have the motivation. My hours are so all over the place that it's hard to keep a steady eating pattern, but I have to put in the effort. So that's my New Years resolution! Moving on...

These were the earrings that Ed got me for our anniversary. They are really pretty. Apologies for the photo's, I don't know what's going on with my SLR at the moment, I just think its old now and the lenses have dust actually inside them. Not so good. However, I took the macro of the individual earring using the trusty double lens technique! I had my nifty 50ml on the body (Canon 400d), and just held the kit lens with the aperture wide open, backwards against it. Turn off the auto-focus and find your object. It does take a while because with the lenses back to front, everything does become dark. Ed shone the bright light from his phone onto the earrings and I snapped it. It is a shaky way of doing macro, but saves investing in a lens if you don't do much macro shooting.

So I've been wanting to start the beauty blogs for ages, so here to start is my everyday make up. Above, is the picture of everything I use. I LOVE make up like you wouldn't believe. I have a ridiculous amount in one of those big boxes with the pull-out trays in as well as loads of other make up boxes and bags. I'm a huge fan of Barry M, as previously mentioned so I shall go through a lot of that stuff in another blog. So, my everyday make up! This isn't really all of it, because I am skint at the moment, I haven't re-bought a concealer or pencil eyeliner and a few other bits, but at least you will have an idea. I begin with the Loreal True Match foundation, which is around £10. I have tried many liquid foundations because I am really freckly and I want to cover them up, but this one's for keeps! I use it in shade N2 Vanilla, and use a foundation brush with upward sweeps for a flawless cover. I then use bare minerals powder, which I got in the starter kit with various other powders and 3 brushes. If you are thinking of getting it, the powders are good, but the big brush was rubbish for me, the bristles just fell out all over my face and wasn't a pleasant experience! So I use the mineral foundation in 'Fairly Light'. If you want to keep fairly pale skin too it is SPF 15. I use the medium brush to sweep it over my face keeping it even. Over that, I use the bare minerals warmth powder. This is really great stuff, I sweep it on my cheekbones and up to my forehead. It gives a great contour and bronzing effect without any shimmer.

I'm not one for spending too much money on an individual items. I love make up artistry but I've never used a MAC product in my life. I strongly believe that if you get the right products that suit you, it's all down to the application. One of my PET hates is when I see a foundation line on a jawline, it drives me mad, it doesn't take a minute to blend ladies, BLEND! Rant over...

Time for blusher, so I think a great shimmer base blusher is the George at Asda 'Shimmer Me' striped powder in 'Cherub'. I also like W7 silky blush in 'Diamond Pink'. W7 products are cheap as chips and the odd thing is really good. If you are anywhere near Derby, there is a great shop in Westfield shopping centre called Dazzle and it is a haven for cosmetic junkies. GO!

I also have the Barry M blusher in Blusher 3, which is a hot pink. I just put a small amount on the upper cheeks. If I want a change of colour and fancy the more coral route, I got for the Bourjois blusher in '74 Rose Ambre' which has the Eiffel Tower on! <3 Couldn't get any better. Only bad thing I'd say is you have to press quite hard on the powder to get in on your brush, and the brush in the compact isn't great, but it's a great colour. For eyes, I use the new-ish Loreal Lash Architect 4D mascara. It is great and is an instant extension to your natural lashes. I have had it for about 6 months and unfortunately it is drying up now, so time to buy another on payday. I would recommend it to anyone, and trust me I have a lot of mascaras. So finally the last product on the photo which is a MIRACLE is the maybelline lasting drama gel eyeliner in black. I have always used liquid eyeliner and gel eyeliner but they've either become cracked quickly or transferred onto the upper part of my eyelid. Not this one! It comes with a brush which is perfect for the consistency of the liner, and easy to use, although a steady hand does help. It also dries instantly so no transfer or cracking. It was on promotions everywhere at about £6, it is probably a little more now, but for the money it's a total bargain - seriously.

These are my make up brushes I tend to use on a daily basis. I did have a nice set that I got from the Holistic health and beauty show at the NEC 2 years ago, but they have well and truly become over used so I got this kit from W7. It was a measly £7 from the Dazzle shop in Derby again, but it doesn't come with a foundation brush so I bought that separately for about £1.50. They are a great set of brushes for the money, and do the job perfectly. Towards the right of the photo, there is an eyelash glue tube. This was bout £2 also from Dazzle, and is the best eyelash glue I have used. It dries clear, doesn't hurt when you pull off your lashes, and means you can buy any cheap lashes that come with crappy glue, and this will sort you out. It's got a really thin brush too making it easy to apply the glue to the lash. There is also a Barry M lipgloss in Bubblegum pink that I use very often, over the body shop lipstick shown in the picture above. I like to have a vibrant pout!

So, I think that I have written far to much, if I could vlog it I would but I'm too shy!

Good night, & Ciao for now! x

  

NYE, Anniversary & Primark ♥

Happy New Year! I hope everyone had a good one. We definitely did. The party was a success as far as I'm aware, and everyone seemed to enjoy themselves. I loved getting it all ready and Ed's sister Maria helped through the day so took a bit of the stress off. Everyone arrived, got a drink down their neck and once it hit half nine it was up with the choons. I am seriously aching today after all the dancing which is ridiculous, but at least we enjoyed ourselves, it was a good laugh and great to be with both of our families.

We got a disco ball light especially for the party. Definitely worth it.

A very tipsy me, with my hubby to be. This is Ed. We are celebrating our 3 year anniversary going into the fourth. It's been about eight years since I've known him and his family for though. Just feels like forever and it's all gone so quick! God I sound like an old woman, nevermind a 21 year old...

Nice bit of fake tan on the go in this pic. #Justsayin.

So this is my  Mom, Nan and Me. All lovin' the black and white without even knowing! We all look totally different. I happen to be the spitting image of my Dad. I'll put a picture up in a future blog. He lives in Leeds so I don't have a great deal of pictures with him *Long LONG Story*, but I'm sure I have one somewhere. 

This was the kitchen the morning after the night before. A lot of cleaning up, but certainly the remnants of a good night. As it was also our anniversary, Ed had got me a present for when it went after 12am! It was a gorgeous pair of diamond and gold stud earrings to commemorate this year. I've never had a pair of really nice earrings and I absolutely love them. He is a right old romantic and I love it., and him <3

This is the restaurant we go to every year on New Years Day for our anniversary. It is San Carlo's Italian in Birmingham. We love it here, and we've been going since we were about 16, so if you are ever around Birmingham you have to try it. We'd recommend it to anyone. I also wore my new earrings for the occasion of course. <3

I had a £25.00 gift voucher for Christmas off my Nan and Poppa, so while we were in town I thought I'd see how much I could get with it. With the added help of an extra £1.50 from my lovely boy, this is what I came out with! A full outfit INCLUDING shoes, jewellery and a bag, Bargainous. So I got some black leggings which were £4, I haven't tried them yet but I hope they don't rise low because that annoys me, but they shouldn't, they are the good old faithful control ones *thumbsup*. Then I got the 'camera box' bag for £5, which is a lovely vintage style carpet bag and it's all pink stripy inside! LOVE it. Ed chose that for me so couldn't resist. Then the shoes. OMG the shoes. Vintage looking cream/beige moccasins with a chunky black heel. Label = £18, Till = £6. SIX FRIKKIN POUNDS! Oh my life just a bare bargain. Then I got a snakeskin print skirt for with leggings for £3, and a snakeskin hairband for £1 I think...The jumper is like a burnt terracotta colour, the pic does it no justice but its a great little cropped one with slightly bat-winged arms. I've just worn it over a black cami, and that was only £6. Then if you can just see in the bottom left corner of the skirt, there is a double ring in an antique gold colour with a thorned flower on it. I have wanted a double knuckle duster type ring for ages, but I have annoyingly massive fingers so it'll fit one but not the other - but this has elastic in the rings so I can have one now. Thank you you genius. 

Right, bored you enough now, think I shall do a bit of a beauty blog tomorrow with what my everyday favourite make up products are, and see what you guys like to use and if you can recommend anything to me. I'll also put a pic up of the earrings I got <3

Happy 2012, and Ciao for now! x

New Years Eve Eve ♥

So today is New Years Eve Eve...and it is also getting close to mine and Ed's anniversary. Our 3rd anniversary will be New years day, we were together when we were younger too so collectively it would be about 5 years. Seems way longer but I am excited. We are having a New years eve party at our new place, with all the family round. I have spent the last day or so tidying up for it, and we've got all the grub and stuff for it now so I'm looking forward! I got up late today so I've only had about 3 hours of daylight and haven't really felt like doing anything today because it's too cold and plus I just want it to be tomorrow! So what I did do, was paint my nails ready! 

I  was inspired by blogger Dolly Bow Bow, who had put up a tutorial on how to do newspaper nails. So  I painted them with 2 coats of Barry M 305 Pink Flamingo. I &hearts; Barry M - hence the Dazzled part of the blog name! I must have almost every Dazzle dust going, and plenty of their other products, but I'll go through some of those on a later post. So once dry, I dipped each nail in Vodka and then pressed a strip of newspaper over them. After about 30 seconds I peeled the paper off and it leaves the print on the nail. I then coated them with Sally Hansen Diamond strength top coat which I also LOVE. I would recommend it to anyone, it dries instantly and really does help brittle nails. Apologies for the rubbishy picture, but you get the idea!

I also managed to make the bed today. Our room is all tidy so I have to keep on top of it now. Our covers are Cameo's and necklaces. I love them and they were only about £13.00 from Primark. Another one of my all time love's :) 

Just thought I would show a couple of my jewellery stands. I am pretty obsessed with Jewellery and have billions of necklaces and earrings. (Perhaps slight exaggeration...) This has my Pearl Thomas Sabo on it. I have 6 charms on it I think. I have the Eiffel Tower with a diamond in it (I am also obsessed with the Eiffel) a 'T' for Tilly, and 'E' for Ed, a plane because I love flying, a pink heart and a '21' that my friends at work got me for my birthday. I wear it pretty much everyday along with my Pandora. Also got on there my fakey Tresor Paris. I got it off Ebay and was only about a fiver. I didn't want a real one because no doubt something new will come along sooner or later! I love it all the same.

This is my Eiffel Tower earring holder. One of my bestie's saw it in Claire's while I was with her and it was in the sale for like £4! Bargain! It just had to be bought. So I love big studs and vintage looking earrings. The top earrings I found at a charity shop for about a pound, I couldn't believe it. I never go in charity shops but I have seen a few people on here and youtube that go and find stuff, so I had a look and came out with a few crackers!

I also found this beautifully detailed bag in a charity shop as well. It was 3 pounds and I think if that was in a shop now it'd be pretty expensive because of the detailing. I also found the bow for 50p in a bow tie box. I had a broken pearl necklace at home, so I sewed on the pearls in the corners and sewed on the bow just to customise it a bit. It's great for the vintage look and there won't be another one anywhere! 

So if I get chance I will blog tomorrow on how the preparations for the party are going! If not, have a great new year! 

Ciao for now x

Intro & Christmas ♥

I really don't have a clue how to begin this, because how do you explain who you are and everything you do in the first blog? I really don't want to overwhelm you all with info, so I'll try and do it all gradually! A great way to start would probably be my name...it's Tilly! Nice to meet you :) So I'm really into everything girly I guess - make up, clothes, fashion, photography etc etc. I'm also 21, although I have always aspired to be a photographer - slash - make up artist...I have ended up becoming a hotel Receptionist. I never EVER thought I would end up doing that, and it really isn't my forte but it pays the bills. I worked on Christmas day last year so this year I managed to have it off, and it was THE best Christmas I have ever had.

Our Christmas tree. Me and my fiance moved in together in October 2011, so this is our first Christmas together. It is so nice to be able to have whatever you want on your own tree! So we wanted a pretty, modern tree so we went for black. It was about 20 quid from Asda, and we got all the decs from there too. We went for white, silver and black glittery baubles as well as big diamonds and 2 pink glittery music notes just to shake it up a bit. We both love music so I just couldn't resist picking those up! 

My Christmas cake! I have become fairly domesticated since moving in. I have lived on my own for a bit before but never really had the facilities to do much cooking, I'm sure I'll let you know more in due course. Anyway so I really wanted to do a Christmas cake as they look quite tricky. I only wanted to do a simple one just to see if I could actually do it - and according to my sweet-toothed husband to be, I think it turned out pretty well! I don't even like Christmas cake, but it was full of brandy so it was only right I had a slice...

Here are just a few pressies. The paper is from Asda again, I had quite a few comments on it and it was only cheap, so will deffo get it from there again next year. You can tell we have an Asda close to us can't you! We had a great Christmas day. Ed - my fiance - got me a Nintendo Wii! I love it, we have got Toy Story 3, Mario and Wii fit. Can't wait to get zumba for it, definitely lose weight time in January. I also got some proper pots and pans, not like the rubbish we started out with, and some cook books! I got the usual chocolate and stuff, and Vera Wang Lovestruck perfume but I'll discuss that in a beauty blog later on!

Away from Christmas, I quickly threw this white choc chip rainbow cake together for a little gathering at my Mom's house. Mmm it's so yummy. It was quite simple to make actually. Get your average Victoria Sponge recipe, but add a few drops of vanilla essence and a small bag of white chocolate chips. Then spoon your mixture equally into 5 separate bowls (washing up is a pain - but worth it!). I use Silver Spoon colour creator food colourings which are really cool because the more you put in the mixture, the darker the colour goes, so you could have a pastel coloured cake or a vibrant one! I went for vibrant. So I got these in Green, Pink, Lilac, Yellow and Blue and they were about 79p from Sainsbury's. Put as much colouring as you want in and mix into the mixtures. Then spoon into the greased baking tins evenly. This doesn't have to be accurate as long as the tins have equally as much mixture in. TIP - Use a little more ingredients than your recipe says, because moving the mixture from bowl to bowl will result in a slight loss. Whack the tins in the oven for about 25 mins until springy on top and a skewer comes out clean, and Weheyyy - Rainbow sponge! I cheated and iced mine with vanilla Betty Crocker frosting. YUM!

So this is me. I actually REALLY don't look anything like this. It's a funny angle pic but it'll at least give you a face to the blogger! So If you are still here, I've bored you enough now. If I had the confidence I would do a Youtube Vlog because I just love watching you guys on it. I start filming and just press cancel straight away! I just can't do it! So this will have to do for now. 

Let me know what you guys like to bake, and what you did for Christmas!

Ciao for now!