New Series - The A-Z of Me!

Casually posing with my Chinese Zodiac Sign statue in Hong Kong...

Over the past year or so a couple of my favourite bloggers (including the lovely Kirsty from Indigo Buttons) have done a series of posts along the lines of the ''The A-Z of Me''. I've always really enjoyed these posts and have often thought of doing the series myself... so no more thinking about it, I'm biting the bullet and going for it!

I'm going to aim to put up a new letter every Wednesday, starting next week! I've already got my first post planned, I just need to get a few old photos scanned in, I'm quite excited about it!

Hope you enjoy this new series, and hope you're all well! Is an A-Z series something you have done, or would like to do? Let me know in the comments!

Vita Liberata Event - September 2013

On the third of September I headed along to one of the loveliest events I have attended in quite a while! Luxury tanning brand Vita Liberata invited some of us Scottish bloggers to an evening at the Scotsman Hotel Spa in Edinburgh, to talk a bit about their ever expanding range of products, and even give some of us a spray tan!

Despite having been around for ten years, I only started hearing about Vita Liberata last year, round about the time of the X-Factor. With celebrity fans including Kelly Brook (who has her own kit within the range), Laura Whitmore, Khloe Kardashian and Alexandra Burke, the range has really taken off over the past twelve months. With an organic, odourless formula (no more of that unwanted biscuit smell!), the Vita Liberata range has grown to include some really love skin illumintors as well as the tans themselves. When the brand hit the stands in European Sephora stores, it became their number one tanning product in just a few weeks.

The event itself lasted about three hours, and was a great opportunity to catch up with fellow bloggers and learn more about the brand. We enjoyed some prosecco and lounged around in the comfort of the relaxation room in the spa - the perfect location! Kirstie and Iona even got a tan on the night! Jade and I were tempted, but there wasn't time on the night - we are, however, very tempted to go back and get one some other time!

Photo from the Vita Liberata facebook page!

Also on offer on the night were the Vita Liberata tantoos, which were a huge hit at this year's V Festival. It's a pretty straightforward, but effective concept - a stencil filled in with their tan, with a glitter finish. Jade decided to give it a go!

We were sent home with a lovely goodie bag which included three of the brand's products for us to test out! We took home the pHenomenal 2-3 Week Tan in Medium, the Deep Face Untinted Self Tan Gel in Light and Capture the Light Illuminating Skin Finish (mine in in Gold).

What Vita Liberata say:

''pHenomenal is the World’s first 2-3 week* tan. Using a special combination of natural, nourishing extracts and the unique pHenO2 technology, this tan will last up to 4 times longer than your normal tan.''

''Deep for Face is a superb untinted moisturiser that develops a natural sunkissed tan within 4 – 8 hours. Can be used in place of your normal moisturiser. It is the perfect partner for all of our untinted body tans.''

''The Capture the Light Collection comprises illuminating skin finishers with Opaque or Translucent coverage which can be used as stand-alone skin perfectors, or alongside the Vita Liberata tanning range to accentuate a natural bronze tan.
Capture the Light Opaque illuminating skin finishers are considered by beauty experts to be “better than a BB Cream for the Body”. Translucent illuminating skin finishers offer exceptional iridescence without the coverage.''

I have to say, I can't wait to try out some of these products now! I've always been a bit scared of fake tanning after a disastrous attempt in my teens, but I think this range might manage to get me past that! Thank you so much to everyone at Vita Liberata and the Scotsman Spa for your hospitality - we had such a lovely evening!

If you're intrigued to find out more about this range, check out their website at http://www.vitaliberata.co.uk.

Back to School Wishlist

So, it's that time of year again - the students are all heading back (or have already gone back) to school/college/uni after the summer break. I thought it was an apt time to do a little wishlisting...

Okay, I know I'm 24, but I'm still allowed to love this little fox rucksack, right? I'm fighting the urge to go and look at this in the shop... (£32.00 - Accessorize)

Also from Accessorize, I love this pheasant feather print scarf (£22.00 - Accessorize). I have to admit, I love being able to start wearing my scarves again when the weather starts to turn autumnal (as it has been for the past few days here in Scotland!).

I'm also quite fond of a printed rain jacket, and I particularly like this little number I found in the New Look online sale... (£12.00 - New Look)

I've always wanted one of these Dodo Acad-Pad Diaries (£11.00 - Waterstones). One of my friends in first year had one and I thought it was brilliant. I do love my cute notebooks and diaries.

Who could resist a USB memory stick in the shape of a wee frog? Just look at my blog header and you'll know that I certainly can't! (£9.59 - YooUSB)

And finally, I was forever highlighting passages in my readings and lecture notes at uni, and these little panda highlighters (£3.00 - Paperchase) are too cute. And they're mini too so they won't take up too much room in your bag... yeah. That's my excuse and I'm sticking to it ;)

And, in other university related news *drumroll please*... a certain someone might be heading back to uni in the very near future. As in next week soon. Nothing is set in stone just yet, but I will certainly keep you posted!

Hope you enjoyed that little wishlist! What are some of your back to school/uni must haves?! Let me know in the comments below!

Thanks for reading!

Pinterest Places...

Once again, I found myself caught up browsing Pinterest - this time, looking at ''beautiful places'' (if you fancy searching the same term!). A few images in particular caught my eye, and what better place to share them than here on my blog :)

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There really are some stunning places in the world!! :)

Hope you liked this random little post - leave me links to any of your favourite pinterest boards in the comments below!

Appointedd Launch - Edinburgh, August 2013

On Monday 12th of August I was lucky enough to attend the launch of Appointedd, a new and exciting business venture in the hair and beauty industry. The launch was a breakfast at the lovely Hotel Missoni in Edinburgh, with a mix of bloggers and industry professionals attending and plenty tea, coffee and pastries to keep us going!

The concept of Appointedd is pretty straightforward - it's a hair and beauty treatment booking site which salons can list their business on, and clients (old and new) can book an appointment for whatever treatment they desire with just the click of a button. The company is led by Leah Hutcheon, a former magazine editor who turned losing her job into an opportunity to launch her own business when she approached Entrepreneurial Spark (the Scottish business start up accelarator) with her idea. Two years later, Appointedd is here, and Leah has worked incredibly hard to get her business off the ground.

The event itself was an interesting format. After meeting my lovely blogging pals Iona and Jade for a quick trip to Cafe Nero, we headed off to Hotel Missoni where we met up with Gillian, Lynne and Laura for half an hour of chatting with Leah, enjoying a cup of tea and having a little nosey at the website (which I've included a little screenshot of at the start of this post!). The turn out was excellent, with us bloggers outnumbered by lots of industry professionals, which was great to see - it shows what potential a business like this really has. We were then led into another room where we were greeted with lots of lovely pastries, more tea and coffee and a more professional set up, projector and all. Leah welcomed us to the event and gave us a bit of insight into the background of the business, her own professional background and shared some of her hopes for the future of Appointedd. This was followed by a really interesting presentation by James from the company Social For Salons (via Skype from China - the wonders of technology!). Hearing some of the stats on how social media should be being embraced by the hair and beauty industry was a highlight of the event.

These presentations were followed by a panel discussions, with five industry professionals answering questions posed by Leah, and by the audience. This was a good opportunity for people who are currently working in the hair and beauty industry to give us their thoughts on the site, and on the industry itself. Everyone seemed really positive and encouraging, which was brilliant to see for Leah and the team.

I had a great morning at the Appointedd launch, and would definitely recommend checking out the website (which I've linked below!)! It's so useful to have lots of salon options all in the one place, especially if you are new to the area and feeling a bit lost in terms of finding a good new salon! Thanks so much to Leah and everyone at Appointedd and Social for Salons, we had a great time and wish you all the best with the future of the business!

http://appointedd.com/

Life Update

Hi guys! Hope you're all well! I thought today I would just do a little life update post telling you about a few things I've been up to/enjoying lately :)

No.1. Chocolate Factory Hot Chocolate / Nachos at Edinburgh Festival / TVD Season 4

On my lunch break at work I've recently discovered this amazing hot chocolate in The No.1. Chocolate Factory in the West End. They do lovely soups and paninis too (I've sampled a couple!) but I love how pretty the hot chocolate is, I almost didn't want to drink it!

Next we have the nachos I enjoyed for lunch a couple of weeks ago in Edinburgh with some of my favourite blogger ladies. We had just attended the Appointedd launch in Hotel Missoni (vlog coming soon!)and decided to wander through the bustling streets with all the excitement of the Fringe around us and find somewhere to get some food. We sat outside in the sunshine and had a lovely wee afternoon to ourselves.

My Season 4 boxset of The Vampire Diaries arrived on Friday, much to my excitement. I had pre-ordered it from Amazon and forgot when it was due to arrive. I've watched two episodes so far and have really enjoyed them, but I have heard that this season isn't as good as the previous ones... I'll just need to keep watching and decide for myself!

Kirsty, me and Lynne / Dinner is (finally) served / Blogging pals

On Wednesday night I headed into Edinburgh again after work for what was initially going to be a blogger trip to a show at the festival, but that plan fell through. We ended up going for dinner in Candy Bar, which was lovely but the service was ridiculously slow! We were eventually given our second round of cocktails for free because they had taken so long to serve us throughout the night! However, the food was good (I had a cheeseburger and chips - typical!) and we enjoyed couple of lovely cocktails. Best of all, we just had a good chat and catch up, my favourite thing about nights like this. Apologies for the dark photos, there wasn't much light in there and the second and third photos were taken on my phone (the first I stole from Lynne!).

New Hair (and some of my best expressions from my latest video!

Aaaand finally, I got my hair cut and highlighted! Today it's a bit of a mess because I couldn't be bothered washing it (who needs to wash their hair for a lazy Sunday blogging and drinking tea?!) - so the photos are screen shots from my latest video (which you can watch here - shameless plug!). My hairdresser had been on holiday for three weeks and it was so desperately needing cut I couldn't do anything with it! It had also been looking really dull recently, so I bit the bullet and got some highlights. I haven't coloured my hair in six years (eeeek, where has the time gone!) but I felt it needed something to give it a wee lift. So I went for some very subtle golden highlights to brighten it up!

What have you lot been up to lately? Let me know in the comments below!

Favourites of the Week #16

I'm back with another weekly favourites - there are some really good ones this week, so be sure to check them out!!

Track of the Week
Katy Perry - Roar

I'm addicted to Katy Perry's new single 'Roar'. I've been listening to it all week to give myself a wee boost - it sounds silly but trying to focus on empowering, positive song lyrics sometimes has a real effect on me. It's like reading uplifting quotes - something small and seemingly insignificant but it can totally alter your mood.



Album of the Week
Imagine Dragons - Night Visions

Still devouring the Imagine Dragons album on a daily basis this week, I love love love it. My favourite track at the moment is Demons, but it changes constantly! There is such a mix of sounds on this album, with tracks resembling a whole array of bands I love, from The Killers to Safetysuit and The Naked and Famous.



TV Show of the Week
Person of Interest

I'm about half way through season two of Person of Interest now and I'm still really enjoying it. Michael Emerson is such a good actor, he was incredible in Lost and he's great in this too. I still wonder when we're going to really learn more about our two heroes, there are an awful lot of unanswered questions at this stage, but I'm eager to know more.

Film of the Week
Alan Partridge: Alpha Papa

My friend Emmeline and I went to see the Alan Partirdge film this weekend and it was absolutely brilliant! In all honesty, I haven't watched an awful lot of Alan Patridge in the past. I've seen lots of wee bits and pieces but it isn't something that I've sat down and made an effort to properly watch, but the film was hilarious, there were moments I literally couldn't stop laughing.

Beauty Product of the Week
Rimmel Fix and Perfect Pro Primer

I love this primer, it's so affordable and it makes my makeup last all day - what more could you want?!

Book of the Week
The Secret Island by Enid Blyton

As part of my 101 Things in 1001 Days post, I included ''reread The Secret Island'', and I've started doing just that. As my favourite childhood book of all time this isn't too difficult, and I'm loving revisiting it :)

YouTuber of the Week
Anna from Vivianna Does Makeup

I've always liked Anna's channel, but I've really enjoyed watching some of her videos this week. I watched her second Makeup Menu video last night and there was something really soothing about it - she is so calm and natural in front of the camera and her videos have a real consistency, so you feel like you can really trust her judgement.

Website of the Week
Mollie and Fred

I've spent ages on this website this week looking at all the pretty, quirky little things! It started off as a search for a birthday present for Emma but it has ended up with me spending ages perusing cute things for myself! I discovered Mollie and Fred when I was doing some research for work, and I'm so glad I did - if you are a sucker for a pretty mug or photo frame, or you can't get enough quirky stationary this is a site you will love (and spend money on, so stay away till pay day!!).

Style Icon of the Week
Vanessa White

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I do love an aztec print top and think this one looks great on Vanessa from the Saturdays. I wouldn't be brave enough to wear the teeny tiny shorts (my legs are very, very rarely on display - thick black tights are my best friend ;)) but she looks gorgeous. I also love her makeup here - she always suits a bright lip.

What have some of your favourite things been this week? Let me know in the comments! :)

Thanks for reading!