An afternoon at Trentham Gardens

Trentham Gardens is one of those places we always go when  family or other visitors are up. I remember going about fifteen years ago when we were showing our dogs. It was a few old buildings next to a big statue and a lake. Now it is a huge estate comprising of the Monkey Forest, massive garden centre, shopping village and the statue and lakes which are now situated in the Italian landscaped gardens. You may have heard of the monkey forest as it is a very popular attraction in this area.

My mum, sister and I went up last week for a little browse and lunch. The garden centre is maaaasive and actually has a lot of lovely 'stuff' and a couple of cafes and restaurants. The little shopping village is cute and has lovely shops like a farm shop, a flavoured liquor shop and toiletry shops. This visit we had fun in one of the shops trying on wedding hats and facinators for my brother's wedding next year!

We ate lunch in this vintage/Cath Kidston-esque cafe. They had such awesome displays on dressers. I took a few sneaky pictures to show you.

Isn't that cafe cute?

I wore this spotted dress from DP, denim jacket and my awesome jelly shoes which my sister despises. Apparently they should remain firmly in ones childhood but I disagree. I think they are useful for the beach, are really comfortable and this clear colour I have goes with anything.

Anyone else own a pair of jelly shoes?

Hope you enjoyed looking at those pictures of our afternoon out, now if I could just ask you an unrelated question? I normally use Picmonkey but it's not working for me at the moment so I have used Image Optimizer to compress these images, however the quality has been compromised. What do you all use to make your picture size smaller?

Playing around with the tuck-in trend

I was browsing the popular posts section on Bloglovin recently and I came across one post all about the different ways to tuck in your shirt.

I didn't even know there were different ways but apparently you can tuck it all in, tuck half in, tuck one side in or this one which is 'on trend' at the moment, just tucking in a little bit in at the front. One of the comments made me laugh by saying they unintentionally achieve this look just by returning from the bathroom and not paying attention to rearranging their clothes lol.

Unfortunately I cannot find this post because I was on my phone otherwise it would be in the history somewhere. But it inspired me to have a mess around attempting the tucks with what I was wearing that day. I have been wearing this outfit a lot recently because it is really cool (temperature wise!) and comfortable in this hot weather.  I have never done any photo's like this before especially not ones of myself. There was a lot of timer setting and running away if the next door neighbour was walking past!

I like the no tuck below.

To show the one side tuck I will have to show you the picture online because I couldn't do it with that top. Reading Corinne's post I don't want to post the picture here so I will just link to it: One side tuck and it is the bottom picture. It  looks really good, though one of them does look like she just got dressed in a hurry!

Thanks for bearing with me on this post, as you can tell I have never done posy photo's before! What do you think . . will you be giving it some thought next time you wear a shirt/blouse?

Wilko’s make-up and toiletry bargains & their Real Technique dupes.

Wilko’s seem to be revamping their toiletry section at the moment meaning they are selling off old stock at a reduced price. I didn’t go too mad buying things I don’t need but I did pick up a Sweet vanilla and honey foam bath  and  a Fruity berry foam bath for 50p each. These both smell amazing and I can’t wait to try them in a bath finishing off my latest book. 

Their Montagne Jeunesse face masks were reduced to just 10p each so I bought four of these. I don’t think I have ever used one or if I have it was when I was about ten! I’m looking forward particularly to using the peel-off cucumber mask – it reminds me of peeling PVA glue off your hands in primary school! ;)

Now what I originally went in for was some Essence make-up. Unlike a certain other brand which was been littering everyone’s blogs with exposure and therefore I refuse to buy it, this brand’s presence has turned me the other way and I couldn’t wait to try some of it. I was really quite shocked at how many mascaras they sell, I reckon there must have been about twenty there which is just ridiculous!

I got I love extreme crazy volume mascara £2.80 which I *think* is the one I had read some reviews on and ‘The last curler’ volume and curl mascara £3.30 which has some weird twirling lid to curl your lashes. I needed an eyeshadow base so I picked one up to try at £2.50, though upon opening it at home it appears to be coloured and does not blend in so I shall have to be careful with application. My last Essence purchase was a Long-lasting eye pencil in dark brown for £1.50.  It looks very much like an Avon glimmerstick.

All make-up is on 3 for 2 and because the other two stands they have are Rimmel and Collection (2000) I could have left spending a lot more but I resisted. I’m sure everyone shops in Wilko’s so if you are in the area then I recommend popping in sooner rather than later to see if you can pick up any bargains.

The second part of this post is a little surprising to me. Now as I said Wilko’s are revamping this section but I really didn’t expect to walk in today and see them selling Real Technique dupe make-up brushes. I say dupe, but having not tried them, I am simply referring to their style. I wanted to take a picture but the lady was stocking the shelves nearby so I didn’t want to get any weird looks. I’ve looked on their website but they don’t look quite the same as in-store behind their fancy perpex display. You can take a look here: Wilko's brushes I wonder what they are like, has anyone tried them yet?

So there is my Sunday love for Wilko’s . . not your typical shop to blog about I’m sure but I love to post a bargain and they are full of them.  If anyone has any Essence recommendations or has tried the brushes let me know!

Staples: Make-up face base

My staples for my face base do not include anything fancy, essentially i’m just happy if I can cover up those red angry spots on my chin. I get spots on my chin, occasionally between my eyebrows but rarely anywhere else.  These products I use daily so that I can brave the outside without hiding my face.

Firstly we have No7 Stay Perfect Superlight Foundation in calico. I saw this on another blog and I quite like it. Because it is so light is doesn’t require much blending (or at least that’s what I hope!) and it lightly covers any scars from old spots and gives my present ones a base to take concealer. It’s a gives a I’m not wearing make-up finish that lets my freckles show.  Secondly is a concealer, either No7 Match Made concealer  in calico or Benefit Boi-ing in 01. Either just on my spots or if I have time under my eyes and at the sides of my nose. I keep changing my mind as to which I think is a little too light, but the moment but I am reaching for the No7 more purely because it is newer and so les germy. I have had the Benefit one for a long time! The No7 concealer is matched to the foundation and my skin,  though I think it a little light even though I’ve been ‘matched’ twice. The packaging is pretty bland as you can see in the photo! I then set it all with Rimmel Stay Matte pressed powder  in 003 peach glow. As you can see the writing has worn off this and it is cracked, but I have had this one for a long time, it takes forever to go down! A tiny bit of fading but with all this this will last over ten hours. I always think it’s come off but then I actually take my make-up off and realise ‘oh no, you definitely had make-up on before Amy!’

So that’s what I like to use on a daily basis for my base. I don’t wear too much make-up anyway but these are a given. Have you tried any of these products or have any recommendations for me?

Saturday's woes

So Saturday started off well. I went to work in the morning and because we got everything done I went home early. I went into town in the afternoon for a mooch and picked up a few things including a ‘Charlotte’ coke bottle for my sister, a Rimmel brow pencil, Rimmel nail varnish, a chocolate cake from the farmers market in the town square and a naughty Australia and NZ magazine. I call it naughty because I used to get this before my year in Oz but I shouldn’t have a need for it now, but I just can’t help myself!

But town wasn’t that enjoyable. My contact lenses started to go all weird and either my make-up got in them or the heat was messing them up because they were clouding over and my sight was getting worse and worse until my vision was worse than if I didn’t have them in at all. Walked home thinking about the relief when I could take them out. But no, I had locked myself out. I had taken a smaller bag out with me and didn’t put my keys in. So I sat in the garden for an hour and a half. Had to take my lenses out and chuck them on the floor. Thankfully I had a little reading material and snacks, although having no utensils eating the cake was a little messy. ;)

Even decided to paint my nails except the nail varnish is RUBBISH. I haven’t used Rimmel varnish's for years but remember them being good. Not this one. Soooo streaky although it does dry in the said 60 seconds. So put a coat on over the top, but I had to use so much varnish and it is really thick. Do not like this at all. I like them where if you want to wear one coat you can do. Maybe I got a dud one?

 So yeah, that afternoon didn't go too well and I also remembered I forgot to go into Wilko’s to get an Essence mascara to try. L

Just one of those unlucky afternoons but hey, could have been worse! Can anyone recommend some other Essence pieces they have tried and liked please?

Learn about me: 10 random facts

I haven't done an 'about me', so here are a few facts to help get to know the face behind the blog.

1.       I used to be a real life ‘Chalet Girl’. Not at all as it makes out in the film, oh I wish!

2.       I prefer reading blog posts rather than vlogs.

3.       I have worked in seven different countries.

4.       I am 26 and I still don’t know what I want to do in life.

5.       I have a history degree.

6.       I don’t like cookie dough ice cream (I can hear your shock from here ;))

7.       I’m always copying my younger sister, who has better make-up and fashion sense than me.

8.       I never miss an episode of Emmerdale

9.       I am in love with One Republic’s Counting Stars.

10.   My favourite chocolate in Dairy Milk.

Night owl or Early bird?

Which one are you? Working in a hotel means I can be working at any time of the day or night meaning my sleeping pattern is usually all over the place. I am a night person though, I hate early mornings. Don't get me wrong when I have to be at work for 7, I can do it but it i'm not that awake or very well-presented.

I do occasionally take my love for the night time to the extreme. I finished at 11pm the other night and came home and set up camp in front of the TV on my laptop. No-one goes to bed as soon as they've finished work do they?! Time seems to fly when I am up at this time of night and by the time I actually went to sleep it was 4am. I looked outside and thought 'oo it's not got dark yet'. Then I realised it had and it was actually getting light again, oops! I took this cool photo below on my phone through my sky-light.

I'm a sucker for a sunrise/sunset photo, I seem to have hundreds upon hundreds of the same but ever so slightly different images of sunsets on my computer! Thankfully I was on the late shift again next day so I didn't start work until 3pm.

What time of day do you prefer? Are you an early bird or a night owl like me?