January Favourites

Posted on January 28, 2014 by

This is a little early, but I’m all for waving a massive goodbye to January already; in my humble opinion, it can DO ONE.

I like February, it is my new favourite friend. February has way less days than January (at least 3 less), so any diety or dry January plans are far more achievable in our friendly favourite month, February. The reason I am so bitter about January is because I vowed to not eat cheese for the whole month, until it got to the 16th and I was so depressed that me and Tom just had to go to Pizza Provencale (which is excellent, by the way) and order their largest, cheesiest pizza. This is when I discovered my fun fact for the month, cheese is actually addictive.

Anyway, despite crushing disappointment in myself, January has actually been quite a fun month…

I reviewed some Mr Natty products // I bought an awesome Fisherman’s coat // and some shiny new Dr Martens // I went to Bristol Bloggers Meet and got a very generous goody bag // I became slightly obsessed with Twin Peaks // #BLOGCLUB // I attempted ABM maiden braids // saw one of my favourite bands at the Fleece // I knitted some houses at the M Shed, more on that soon!

So, goodbye January, take your broken promises and stinky weather with you. Roll on February, and let’s hope it warms up soon!

Inspiration // CrossBitchez

Posted on January 25, 2014 by

In search of crafty inspiration, a friend of mine pointed me in the direction of a genius embroidery collective named CrossBitchez. Rarely do I get as animated as I did when I trawled their and Cargo Collective pages – you may well know I absolutely love the marriage of the innocent medium of embroidery with another of my favourite things to do, swearing. I had a play with this idea a while back with one of my submissions for the Creative Initiative, but my stitchin’ don’t come close to this.

I think everyone harbours a love for hip hop, and what the CrossBitchez collective aims to do, according to their Facebook is “represent a movement for social justice, campaigning for the universal right to live the Hip Hop lifestyle. Using embroidery, CrossBitchez provide the platform for us all to git bitches and make money” – and hey, if that isn’t a motto to live your life by, I don’t know what is.

I think the tea cosy is my favourite, partly because of my love for Snoop and that song, but also the fact that tea (especially from a teapot) is such a sweet old lady thing to do, and so the addition of the lyrics and the reference to that song subverts it in a way which just can’t help but make you smile. I’ve already got a few ideas bouncing around in my head for what I might stitch up next.

Watch this space, bitchez.

Blog Club

Posted on January 21, 2014 by

Last Saturday marked an adventure down to King Street; a visit to blog club, brainchild of Hayley, blogger at Ceriselle and founder of Bonjour Blogger, and very kindly hosted by VAN.

VAN (Viral Ad Network) is situated directly next door to the Old Vic, but despite having passed it probably hundreds of times I couldn’t predict where it might be, and it seemed to spring out of nowhere on my approach, much like the Leaky Cauldron, or some other magical apparating pub.
Anywho, once safely inside I was introduced to fellow bloggers and host ladies from VAN, including some familiar faces – SJ of Ship Shape, Jo and Victoria from She & Hem and Josephine of Style by Josephine – plus new faces Sophie, Sammy and Chrissy from VAN, and Laura of A Daisy Chain Dream.

Ahh blogging bliss! Of course there was cake – these treats being made by Hayley and Josephine – and much drinking of tea, and a in depth chat of the various ins-and-outs of blogging, and what we would like to see at Blog Club in the future. The emphasis was very much on the network of fabulous bloggers we have in Bristol, and creating a real community where we could all pitch in and help each other out, sharing skills and expertise.
All in all it was a very valuable few hours, and I left Blog Club feeling pretty motivated about the growth of my own corner of the Internet, and very much looking forward to the next one!

#blogclubbristol

All that remains is to thank Hayley for organising it all, VAN for hosting, and Josephine for those amazing macarons!
I feel pretty lucky to have met such awesome people through blogging, and am excited about what the future of Blog Club and the rest of 2014 will bring.

January Birchbox Review

Posted on January 18, 2014 by

January UK Birchbox

It’s always a nice surprise for my Birchbox to arrive every month, but this month’s seemed to arrive quicker than the others and that’s when I realised – we are halfway through January already! I’ve given up on my big resolution – to try and not eat cheese for the whole month – because I realised that it is scientifically possible to be addicted to cheese, and I decided that I’m happy being a slighty chubby, but happy, cheese junkie.

I follow Birchbox on , and was very excited when they tweeted earlier this month hinting that every one would get a little Benefit somethin’ in their January box. I have to admit I may have been slightly more pleased at the mini Porefessional had I not already had a wee little sample in my generous bag from the Bristol meet up! I’ve been using it for about a week now instead of wearing foundation (which tends to go a bit flakey in the cold weather) and I’m amazed at how it seems to just smooth everything out, and the velvety texture is an absolute dream to apply. It has a slight tint, rather than being completely white like most other primers, so can be used by itself without fear of turning ghostly pale. It lasts all day, too, and I’m finding it a very pleasant alternative to foundation.

As well as the Porefessional, in my box this month there was:

Philip Kingsley Hair Elasticizer – full price £27.50, sample price £3.60

Vasanti Detox Nutrient-Rich Purifying Facial Cleanser - full price £18.00, sample price £2.40

Lavera Basis Sensitive Hand Cream – full price £4.45, sample price £1.20

Premae Anatomy Nutrients Instant Renewal Body Oil - full price £9.50, sample price £1.90

Itsu Miso Soup – full price £2.25 (3 sachets), sample price 75p.

If we add the total of these including the price of the Porefessional (full price £24.50, sample price about £8) then we get £17.85, which isn’t to be sniffed at, but not as generous as previous Birchboxes. If this is the first of my reviews you have come across and you are considering taking out a subscription, then don’t let this put you off – in my opinion they are well worth the £10/month, plus it’s just nice to have a few new treats through your door every month.

I have to admit I have been a bad blogger and haven’t used all the products yet. I am very much looking forward to using the Elasticizer, as my locks have been completely ravaged by a whole summer of bleaching, and have little-to-no body or bounce left in them; my hair falls to my shoulders in sad straggly rat-tails, hopefully this will make it resemble actual human hair again. I’ll let you know how I get on. The cleanser I also haven’t used yet – I seem to get a facial cleanser every month and am struggling to use them up. I’ve decided I should probably use up the one in my last box before I get stuck into this one.

Out of the rest of the products I have tried, aside from my love of the Porefessional, my favourite product this month is the hand cream (again!). My hands really suffer in the winter, and the combination of the shea butter and almond in this inject some much-needed moisture. It smells lovely, too. Another delicious smell comes from the body oil, which has a musky almost sweet smell, most likely due to the rosewood. I’ve never much been one for oils, but this seems to sink in to my skin fairly rapidly; we will see how we get on in the long run.

Last but not least is the soup. I don’t really know what else to write other than it tastes like miso – not an easy taste to sum up, a kind of salty, umami, marmite-ish taste to it, and usually has some other gubbins added to it like tofu and veggies. I suppose the benefit of this particular brand is that it is in paste rather than powder-form, which does make it taste slightly fresher than other packet varieties.

So there you go, another month down, more hand creams and facial cleansers, and February’s box to look forward to!

Damn Fine Coffee

Posted on January 15, 2014 by

I’ve had an obsession of late.

There’s always a list as long as my arm of TV shows that myself and Tom have been meaning to watch, and top of it for a long time was Twin Peaks. After the New Year I had the rest of the week off, and so instead of doing anything useful like jobs around the house, we decided to dedicate our free time to watching it.

For the uninitiated, Twin Peaks is a TV series which ran from the year of my birth (or to be more specific, the best year ever, 1990) until the middle of 1991, and centres around a murder which takes place in a small town in the US, and an eccentric FBI agent who comes to investigate the situation. If you haven’t done so already, I urge you to watch at least the first season, and try not to be hooked. There’s something about the characters which make it so interesting – the mix of people in the show make it easy for the tone to shift from menacing to surreal to downright hilarious. Plus it just looks so cool – nothing about the show looks dated at all, and it’s over 20 years old.

The best of these characters is of course Special Agent Dale Cooper. He’s a bit of an oddbod, but is the coolest amongst them for his sharp FBI suit and tie, his trademark thumbs up, and his obsession with pie, donuts and an overwhelming adoration of coffee. (Plus, he’s played by the guy from the Flintstones! That was totally my favourite movie as a kid). He has a dictaphone into which he dictates his life, his theories and his findings, to a mysterious person named Diane.

kate rowland illustration

So GUESS HOW EXCITED I WAS WHEN I SAW THIS.

How awesome is it?! It’s made by the super talented Kate Rowland, whose Etsy store I discovered some months ago, when I bought these little wooden heart earrings. She takes most of her inspiration from cult TV shows such as Twin Peaks amongst others, and her shop contains tons of goodies to make a nerdy fangirls heart skip a beat. Such as these beauties – Enid from Ghost World, The Nights Watch from Game of Thrones, and who doesn’t obsess over Breaking Bad?

kate rowland illustration

1 // 2 // 3

My own little brooch arrived in the cutest little green bundle, with a hand-drawn sticker sealing it shut. I like little details like this, I’m somewhat of a packaging pervert and this cheered up my slow moving Tuesday morning. My studio work-buddy had bought two which arrived at the same time, and both of his were wrapped in Twin Peaks packaging too. I had intended to give this to Tom as a gift, but I couldn’t help but rip it open as soon as it arrived.

twin peaks sticker

kate rowland illustration

Laser cut items fascinate me – I had an induction on a laser cutter once and it’s amazing how much detail it picks up. It’s as if she has taken a hot pen and etched the design into it herself. Although that’s kind of what she has done, in a way! This is of course Agent Coop’s iconic dictaphone. I haven’t worn it out yet but I’m looking forward to talking to whoever notices it and gets the reference. I love it when nerdy conversation is sparked by sharing a reference to something. Despite not wearing it down the pub, I did get a chance to snatch it from the packaging and wear it around the studio all day.

kate-rowland-twin-peaks-4

Here I am enjoying a cup of damn fine coffee. I think the wooden-ness of this cute little brooch suits the hue of my tartan scarf, so maybe I will keep it for myself, after all.

If you are in any doubt as to the greatness of Twin Peaks, it can also teach you valuable life lessons. Here Agent Cooper is schooling the Sheriff on a pretty good day-to-day rule which I could learn to live by:

But remember, kids: the owls are not what they seem.

Bristol Bloggers Meet Up

Posted on January 12, 2014 by

Bristol blog meet lush cosmetics

The Saturday before last I was lucky enough to attend the Bristol Bloggers Meet Up, hosted by the lovely Beky over at Beky Lou! We met up at the steps in Cabot Circus, met lots of lovely other bloggers (including blogging buddies Louisa and SJ), got the lowdown on the plan for the day, and headed over to our first stop – blogger’s favourite, Lush.

Lush cosmetics

Here we crowded into the teeny shop (taking up at least half, we were a big group!) and watched intently as we were given some product demonstrations. Here we are being shown how to make a bath ‘cocktail’ using a bright blue bath bomb and shimmery liquid gold bubble bath; I wish I had a bath on the boat, this combination was fit for a mermaid queen!

We spent at least an hour in the store poring over all the amazing products, being treated to hand and arm massages in the process. I spoke to one lovely lady about my love for Rose Jam and to my horror, it has been discontinued! She reassured me, however, that Ro’s Argan Conditioner has the same scent, and treated me to a demo – it left my skin so, so soft, and it certainly does have the same amazing smell. We were each gifted a lovely goody bag too!

Goody bag from lush cosmetics

Mac cosmetics browsing

After a little break, some food at Wagamama and a browse around H&M, we met up again and popped into Mac for a bit of lipstick lust, before heading off to our next event (I know, busy day, eh?) at Benefit in Boots Broadmead. We all traipsed up to the top floor to a little room decorated from top to toe with Benefit themed bits, and there was cake! No event is complete without cake.

Make up demonstration

Benefit cosmetics

We were given a rundown on Benefit’s most popular products, with a full demo (using Beky as a model) and the chance to test the products on ourselves. There was even a quiz with the chance to win some awesome goodies, although I felt like I was cheating a bit as I used to work for Benefit! We all got little bags of treats at the end, and what’s more, if you visit the Benefit counter in Boots Broadmead and quote the code BB0243, you will get an exclusive sample trio with any purchase you make. If that’s not incentive to spend money, I don’t know what is!

Bristol bloggers meet up goody bag

I did feel very spoiled by the end of the day, as Beky had an uh-mazing goody bag lined up for everyone too. Coupled with my Lush and Benefit bags I’ve got a right little stash – I won’t have to buy any more beauty bits for a very, very long time! All that remains is to thank Beky for organising such a wonderful event, I had an amazing day.

Five Crafty Things

Posted on January 9, 2014 by

1 // 2 // 3 // 4 // 5

So, we are 9 days into the new year and my Twitter feed is already full of people saddened by the fact that they have broken their resolutions early! One of my new year’s resolutions was to do more craft, so for the past week I’ve been trawling Pinterest for some crafty DIY ideas to kickstart me back into the swing of things.
I love pinning things on Pinterest, particularly craft projects, but usually just pin and think nothing of it, as if the very act of pinning it is enough; if I look at it and wish hard enough it will make itself, right? I am fed up of being lazy, though, and most of these have been knocking about on my board for over a year now.

First up is these cat shoes – how simple does this look?! When I was at school I had a pair of canvas shoes which I embroidered, I got so many surprised looks when I said I made them myself. All these cat shoes require is a few store cupboard essentials and voila, a lovely pair of customised shoes, bound to attract compliments. Too cute.
Another simple customisation is this little plant pot with a painted face; I’d love to have some more plants in the house, but have a bit of a death-touch when it comes to anything green. I reckon even a dead plant would look cheery with a painted face. You could probably do this on the cheap with an Ikea pot and a Sharpie (but remember to bake it to ‘seal’ the design!).

Another resolution is to work on more embroidery. I adore freehand embroidery, as I’ve been gushing about on here before, and found this genius embroidery on Etsy, quoting lyrics from my favourite 80s song ever. I love the blocky lettering and shading; I could do a whole series of lyrics! My mind is unravelling so fast!
My knitting and wool-work have been neglected recently, and I reckon this cute little pom-pom town is enough incentive to get anyone working with woolly things again. I didn’t even know these shapes were even possible to be sculpted out of wool, if you can make a whole town, who knows what else you can make?!

Living in Bristol, approximately 70% of my home furniture is from Ikea. I love Ikea, when I was at uni I lived down the road and would regularly go to just walk around, I found it a very soothing experience. A few months ago I discovered Ikea Hackers, and was amazed at what you can achieve with bland furniture and a little imagination. These clever little pinboards on the bottom right are made from heatproof mats and some scraps of fabric – both of which I have knocking around on the boat.

So, I think that’s enough to keep me occupied for a few months! Have you got any craft projects lined up for the new year?

Fisherman’s Friend

Posted on January 6, 2014 by

You guys. I’ve had a brainwave.

I didn’t do it all by myself – I was talking to a friend at work, lamenting the fact that I read all these awesome fashion blogs and how I wished I could do my own outfit posts and how it is so hard because a) Tom is not very comfortable taking photos, b) this makes me a reluctant model and c) the weather is currently horrendous and it gets dark really early. Then he suggested something and I had a lightbulb moment – I have a studio! OK, it isn’t mine, it is at work, which means I only have a half hour lunchtime window to take and edit the photos, but hey, that’s plenty of time, right?!

le petit bateau chiffre coat

le petit bateau le chiffre coat

Coat – Le Petit Bateau @ Atterley Rd [sold out] // Dress – unknown // Necklace – // Shoes – Dr Martens

Firstly, let’s get the apologies out of the way. As you can probably tell, years behind a camera has made me particularly awkward being in front of one. Also, in one of these I think I look a lot like Alan Carr.

I thought that for my second ever outfit post it would be a good opportunity to show off my brand spanking new Fisherman’s coat which arrived on Friday, just in time for the horrible weather over the weekend! I’ve been looking for a coat like this for months with no avail until last week when, browsing the sales, Google finally got an ad right.

It took me to Atterley Road, who I had not shopped with before (but are pretty speedy with delivery) where I found this mother – and on spotting that it had been reduced by about 60%, snapped it up for around £59. What an absolute bargain. It does the job at keeping the rain out and it has a lovely soft cotton stripey lining to keep you snug whilst skipping through the rain.

My shoes are also a staple in this kind of weather. I bought them around a year ago and they are still holding up, which is testament to the lasting power of a proper pair of Docs. They may not be 100% waterproof, but it takes a lot to get them completely soaked, and they do the job walking back from the bus stop. They are also like carpet slippers once you break them in.

Plus I think it adds to my fisherman style, what do you think?

Mr Natty

Posted on January 4, 2014 by

Let’s talk man care.

I was pretty excited at the concept of buying Tom’s Christmas present, as I had a clear idea in mind – a beard grooming kit. Tom has been growing his beard out for a fair few months now, and as splendiferous as it is, recently it has resembled a packet of old baccy someone had glued to his little face. Initially I was going to put one together myself, but seeing as I haven’t the foggiest when it comes to beardcare, I decided to opt for a pre-made kit instead.

Enter Mr Natty.

I’d heard of this brand before – whilst shipping in Olive I picked up some of the Mr Natty lip balm placed next to the till (don’t you just love it when shops do that?) – but what I didn’t realise is that they offer a healthy range of manly skincare products, including beard oils, shave balms and something which they have dubbed FFS (‘Face Forest Shampoo’). I do believe that Mr Natty himself is also a fine gentleman’s barber, working from his barbershop in London. You can have a peek at his wonderful virtual barbershop here.

I was suitably impressed with this little kit I picked up before Christmas, dubbed ‘Hirsute Rogue’. It came in a little rations box, beautifully stamped with the name of the product and tied with a barbershop red and white twine ribbon. In this kit came their heavenly scented Jack Tar’s Bay Rum aftershave, a bottle of their equally sweet-smelling beard oil, and a little pot of moustache twizzle wax. I have to confess when it arrived I opened it early and put some of the aftershave on myself, it smells so good.

Now, Tom is not one for grooming. He is so reluctant to go to the barbers that he makes me cut his hair, even when I offer to pay for him to go. So I was a little unsure whether he would take the hint and actually use the products. I put them in an obvious place in the bathroom and the other day – success! – he used the beard oil for the first time. It did tame down the gingery mess sufficiently; I reckon the moustache wax would be a bit better for a sleeker beard experience, but we’ll take it one step at a time.

Tom’s verdict? “It smells like forests.”

I’ll take that as a good thing!

Realistic Goals for 2014

Posted on January 1, 2014 by

Happy 2014!

Over these past few days I’ve been reading some pretty awe-inspiring 2013 round-ups, and some truly inspirational posts on hopes and goals other bloggers have for 2014. I’m not great at sticking to resolutions, so I only made one last year which I did manage to stick to, which was to cleanse, tone and moisturise my face every morning and evening (I was a face wipe kinda gal before, ew).

Resolutions are fundamentally a bad thing, in my mind, which only set you up for disappointment. With this in mind, inbetween all of the standard things-I-should-probably-be-doing such as going to the gym more often, eating less cheese, drinking more water and generally being a bit healthier, I’ve come up with a short list of goals for 2014 which I think I will almost certainly be able to achieve.

1. Get blonde hair again

About 4 years ago, I had super-duper blonde hair, and I absolutely loved it. Since then, it has gone from white-blonde to brown to dark blonde to red (for quite a while), to an accidental highlighter orange, and back to brown again. I loved having blonde hair, but in a desperate attempt over the summer to get rid of my ginger hair, too many boxes of bleach has left it with the consistency of tiny strands of frazzled polystyrene. It is my first goal, with some more gentle persuasion, to be blonde again before the end of 2014.

2. Go cycling more often

I have to admit, I’m a bit scared of cycling in Bristol. Despite being a pretty damn good city to cycle in, too many years driving a car in this city has taught me that it is a dangerous one too, if anyone else drives like I do. The other day I saw a flyer in No 1 Harbourside for cycling trips around Bristol and it got me thinking – I would absolutely love to take a cycle ride on my beautiful little Raleigh out in the sticks somewhere with a picnic basket and a few bottles of beer. I also think it’s something which I should reserve for a warmer day!

3. Take a trip to Beeses

There seems to be a bit of a recurring adventure theme here. I have been meaning to visit Beeses for what seems like an eternity, but will have to be patient until the spring when they open up for the year again. I had a brief glimpse when me and Tom were driving back from Bath one summery day and decided to take a look, but the gardens were heaving due to the sunshine, and it looked like we couldn’t get a table anywhere. Good things come to those who wait, however. Besides, everyone knows the best way to get there is by boat, and seeing as Bristol Ferry runs Sunday Roast trips there, that might be the answer!

4. Run more rolls of film through my many disused cameras

I feel so sorry for some of my cameras. I have a modest collection of Lomo cameras, vintage cameras, and a little Fuji Instax Mini which are begging to be used more often. When I was at college and throughout uni I adored shooting film, and couldn’t think of anything worse than working solely digitally. Now I work full time as a photographer and my day is spent glued to my DSLR I think now is the time for some creative output in the form of messing around with film again.

5. Do more craft

The main purpose of this blog was to motivate me to be more creative. Whilst I have certainly undertaken far more projects than I normally would have, I know that I am not pushing my creative ability. I want to be able to do the projects which have been hanging around for far too long because I am too lazy to learn new things in order to complete them. I want to see something on Pinterest and actually get round to making it, not just wishing that I had the time or skills to finish it.

Finally, another resolution is to blog more. More often, more topics, and more time spent writing. I’ve come to realise over the last six months that I really enjoy putting posts together; it motivates me to take more pictures on a day to day basis, plus I reckon my writing is I improving too. And that’s never a bad thing!

What are your resolutions?

Lily Doughball

Bristol-based fashion, beauty and lifestyle blog

Monthly Archives: January 2014

January Favourites

Inspiration // CrossBitchez

Blog Club

January Birchbox Review

Damn Fine Coffee

Bristol Bloggers Meet Up

Five Crafty Things

Fisherman’s Friend

Mr Natty

Realistic Goals for 2014