How To Do Your Own Eyelash Extensions For Under £15

Hands up, I am a self-confessed lash addict. Nothing makes me feel better or more myself than a little bit of extra flutter power, and over the years I have tried everything to enhance what Mother Nature gave me.

From LVL treatments to lash extensions to daily strip lash application to the latest mascara - and I must have spent a small fortune in the process.

There are pros and cons to each of the approaches above, and I go back and forth between them. Mascara is the easiest of course, and the least hassle, but my lashes are pin straight and I have never found one that keeps a curl in place.

LVL sorts this out beautifully, but doesn’t provide enough volume for me. Daily strip lashes add time I don’t have onto my everyday makeup routine and are quite expensive. Lash extensions in a salon are beautiful but very costly and I struggle to find the time for maintenance appointments.

So, everything is good in its own way but nothing is ideal.

I decided to learn how to do my own lash extensions at home and I’ve been happy with this solution for a while. It’s not perfect, but it’s working for me at the moment - and the total cost is less than £15 to get started, then pennies each time!

3 Easy Hacks For Better Skin, Fast

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Skincare is something that everyone wants to be able to master, but which is enormously hard to do so. Part of the reason for this is that there are not many hard and fast rules about what you should or shouldn’t do with your skin in order to keep it in the best possible condition.

You need to get to know your own skin, your skin type, and what it is that it needs, and that simply takes a lot of time and patience to be able to do. However, there are a few thing that tend to work for most people, and those are the things we are going to focus on today. Here are three easy hacks which you should consider using if you want your own skincare to be vastly improved very quickly.

The Pregnant Pause | Full Term Pregnancy Q&A

So here we are at full term, waiting for my baby to make an appearance any day now. While I'm waiting, I was thinking about the questions people have asked me since I found out we were expecting a sibling for Theo, and I decided to pull them together into a full-term pregnancy question and answer post...

OOTD Maternity | One Final Fuschia Fling

So, we’ve come pretty much to the end of the road when it comes to maternity fashion, because my little one is due any day now!

Despite knowing I was pregnant a lot earlier this time around, time still seems to have flown. I’ve been so busy with work and family life with our son Theodore, that I haven’t had much time to sit daydreaming about this new arrival - one of the many differences with a second baby to a first!

I’m definitely not so patient with this last little bit. I’m now on maternity leave from work, although I haven’t found it as much of a hard adjustment as last time around - having Theo automatically gives each day a natural rhythm and routine that I missed when stopping work before.

Since then, I’ve met up with friends I made at pregnancy pilates, finished off some chores around the nursery (baby grows seem to multiply when they all need washing and pressing…) and now I’m in this weird limbo wondering when our bundle will arrive!

Throughout this pregnancy, I’ve had much more fun with maternity fashion, and have enjoyed exploring the intersection between my personal style and the comfort you need to accommodate a growing bump.

I’ve also learnt that just because you become a mummy, you don’t need to entirely change your style - just make a few practical adjustments from time to time. It’s been lovely to share this on the blog.

What To Pack In Your Hospital Bag | The Ultimate Guide

What should you pack when you go into hospital to have your baby?

It’s a popular topic, and for many first-time mums, it’s the great unknown. There are so many things that you can’t plan about a birth, but making sure you have the right supplies with you to ensure you and your baby are comfortable is one thing you DO get a say in.

In all honesty, I think that both times I’ve been about to give birth, having a well-prepped hospital bag ready to go has been a huge part of my coping mechanism.

I’m currently 38 weeks pregnant with baby number two, so you may think I’d know what to expect this time, but the truth is that each birth is unique, and I’m aware this experience may be completely different to delivering my son Theo. What I do know, however, is what I took with me to the hospital before that proved genuinely useful.

Last time, I found the NHS Choices website a great resource for letting me know what the hospital was expecting me to take. But what I found even more helpful were blog posts and videos from real mums - so here is mine!

Paul Smith Warehouse Sale | Designer Haul

Of all the many joys of being pregnant, the fashion isn’t really one of them! This time around, I’ve definitely been bolder and bought more maternity pieces, but I still find myself gazing at my Insta feed and dreaming of being able to wear normal clothes again and not have to plan my outfits around bumps or breastfeeding!

Paul Smith designs have always been a favourite of mine - I love the smart tailoring and quirky prints - and I’ve had a couple of pieces from there, but it's definitely a special treat.

This month, I managed to secure some coveted tickets to the annual Warehouse Sale, which fell on my birthday. I went along expecting a few tables of things, only to find a huge unit (looking back, the clue was probably in the title!) full of beautiful items at jaw-dropping prices. I was like a kid in a candy shop.

So I may have gone a little over the top and treated myself, but you don’t get many opportunities like this. Here’s what I found: