Tag Archives: Beauty

Affordable Luxury at Farringdon and Forbes

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Farringdon and ForbesThose of you who follow the blog regularly will know of my penchant for independent businesses, particularly when the products are of a high quality, ethically sourced and made locally.

Farringdon and Forbes is an independent home fragrance and interior gifting store, situated in the Resorts World leisure complex next to the NEC in Birmingham. Founded by Jules Cardozo-Marsh, the brand seeks to provide affordable luxury for the home, as well as catering for corporate events and weddings across the UK, and only opened it’s doors eight months ago.

There are an enormous range of products available, including scented candles of all sizes, tealights and diffusers. The candles are made from 100% soy, with all of the raw materials sourced from around the UK and handmade in Warwickshire. The company prides itself on supporting UK trade and being environmentally conscious, so they have stripped away the packaging from the products and offer a recycling facility, with a 10% discount offered on a future purchase with the return of empty glass jars once the candles have been used. The materials used in the production of the products means also that they last longer – the tealights burn for approximately seven hours, which is double the length of time for a standard tealight, and the diffusers can last up to six months. Continue reading →

An Evening with The Body Shop

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I love the Body Shop – they were the first set of products that I ever used in my teens and over the years I have consistently purchased my favourites as part of of my daily skin-care routine.

Last Saturday I attended the grand re-opening of The Body Shop on New Street in Birmingham, along with a lovely bunch of bloggers from The Bloggers Parlour.

The store on New Street has undergone a revamp this year, and it looked stunning, with a nice layout, clean lines and beautiful displays. There has been some new introductions too, with an interactive section that allows customers to select products based on their skin type, and a new range of products that compliment their most popular fragrances. The Body Shop brand is known for their natural, cruelty-free products and I was particularly excited to get advice on their cruelty-free make-up range and brushes.

I immediately made a beeline for the make-up consultant, Jess, who spent some time going through the best type of products I could use for my skin, which is the ultimate combination of oily and dry. She then gave me some advice on making the best of my eyebrows (never my best feature), and showed me the range of make-up brushes that I could use for different parts of my face. If I could recommend anything in particular, it would be these brushes, particularly the fluffy blending brushes, and I was so impressed that I bought one immediately. I noticed that there are sets of brushes available too, at the extremely reasonable price of £20 and £30. Continue reading →

Monday Musings for May

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It’s the first Bank Holiday Monday of May, so The Bloke and I have a day off work. We had planned to go out, but it’s cold and miserable – cue a set of fluffy blankets, the heating on and our favourite TV shows for the rest of the afternoon.

May has already got off to a great start. I spent a large amount of time revamping several sections of the blog yesterday:

In the left sidebar you’ll find a whole bunch of lovely sponsors, covering every blogging topic you can think of. If you’re looking for new and interesting blogs to follow, hop on over, check out their sites, follow and share the blog love! Are you interested in sponsoring Suzie Speaks, or being featured as Blog of the Day? Check out the Sponsorship section of my menu!

I’ve also added some of my favourite posts in the sidebar below the sponsors – feel free to check them out!

Last week I published a post about why I wasn’t going to write any more blog advice posts. Instead, I have edited the ‘Blogging Tips’ section of my menu, including some of my favourite blogging advice posts, from building traffic, using Twitter and Pinterest Group Boards, avoiding being duped by companies and general blogging thoughts and ideas that may help in the blogosphere. It isn’t completely finished (the coding started to hurt my eyes after a while), but there should be enough to get started with for now. Let me know what you think!

I have a number of posts lined up – my recent adventures at the reopening of The Body Shop, meeting Willard Wigan, a chocolate event at The Chocolate Quarter and fun with The Bloggers Parlour… It’s turning out to be a busy few weeks, and I’m looking forward to sharing it with you!

What about you guys? What are your plans for this month?

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The Ultimate Blogger’s Guide to Twitter Hashtags, Retweet Accounts and Chats

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imageI’ve been on Twitter for a while now, and I find that it is a great source of traffic for my posts. However, I am discovering that there is also an incredible community for bloggers available through the use of hashtags, retweet accounts and chats that cater for every niche.

Hashtags

Hashtags are labels that allow potential readers to find posts and content within a specific theme. On Twitter, there are endless hashtags that can be used, depending on the theme of your post, but there are a number of specific tags that I have found to be particularly useful, and use on a regular basis Continue reading →

Blog Anniversary and Guest Post Competition

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I received my notification from WordPress this morning that it was three years ago that I signed up Suzie Speaks and published my very first post.

I wrote a post a while ago that I planned to publish today, but decided against it – I wouldn’t be saying anything my regular readers haven’t heard before. Instead I’ve decided to make my blogiversary (yes Phil, I’m using that word) an opportunity for someone else, and I’m launching a competition to win a guest post spot here on Suzie Speaks.

It’s been a long time since I had a guest post on the blog, and the winner will be given the chance to have one of their articles published here on a Sunday of their choice, which is my biggest day for traffic. Suzie Speaks has a readership of over 15,000 people, and their post will be also promoted all across my social media pages, including #SundayBlogShare, my blog sharing hashtag that trends every week here in the UK. Suzie Speaks doesn’t have a niche or theme, so the content of the post can be pretty much anything (although, be aware that I will not promote any posts that advocate things like hunting, the wearing of fur, or anything with racist, homophobic, sexist or religious material). It doesn’t matter how established your blog is, what type of blog you have, or what host you use – everyone and anyone is welcome to participate! It does need to be a new post though, and not something that you’ve featured on your own blog before. It’s a fantastic opportunity to promote your blog to a wonderful community of people and boost your traffic in the process! Continue reading →

I Went, I Shopped, I Bought Stuff…

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imageAfter yesterday’s nonsense I decided that the only thing for it was to take myself off into town and have a shop. I’m going to a wedding on Saturday and needed a dress. At least, that’s what I was telling myself.

Now, while I can easily spend hours browsing through make-up and beauty products, I’m not exactly a patient person when it comes to shopping for clothes for a number of reasons:

1. Over the last five years I’ve put on quite a large amount of weight, which means that I now have a big ass to go with the large hips that all the women in my family have inherited from my grandmother, so finding something that a/ is in my size and b/ is flattering to my pear shape is quite difficult.

2. If I do actually find something, it’s inevitable that I can’t afford it.

3. I don’t particularly make an effort to look my best when I’m trudging around, so it’s a frequent occurrence that shop assistants are rude and unhelpful (make-up assistants at a very well known brand are particularly awful in my experience) and it’s not uncommon for me to be followed by some sort of security guard who has clearly made the assumption that I’m going to steal something and is waiting to pounce on me. Continue reading →

Time for a Break…

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It’s been a mixed week. I’ve found work a little tough, to the point where I had to stop myself from bawling on one of my colleagues the other day. Normally, the working day generally goes without a major issue as I am based at a few good schools, but for some reason there seemed to be something in the air, and it seemed to be that within every class I worked with were a small group of students who were determined to have a confrontation, regardless of how calm and pleasant I tried to remain. Nothing I did was right, and even after all these years I still find it difficult not to take it personally, particularly when the agitated student is someone I normally have a great working relationship with. I think that everyone was at the stage where we were all tired and needed a break from each other, but I still can’t help but be taken aback when a student feels that it is acceptable to challenge something I have said or asked them to do – five minutes with my mother and they would adopt basic manners and never be rude to an adult again. Of course, the response I’m expecting from many is ‘they’re only children,’ but while I’m not a parent myself, I expect that 14, 15 and 16 year olds should know how to say please and thank you as an automatic part of their vocabulary. Continue reading →

Review: Love Shea Whipped Shea Butter

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After attempting to take many photographs that would flatter the product, I realised that I wasn’t doing it justice, so I took this image directly from the Love Shea Facebook page…

I’ve always stated that I’m not a beauty blogger, but over recent months I have developed an obsession with skincare, particularly when it is organic and natural. I was delighted when Love Shea asked me if I would try out one of their whipped shea butters.

Love Shea is an artisan beauty company that is based in the north of the UK, and produces natural and organic vegan-friendly products for use on both the skin and hair.

I was even more pleased when I received the ‘Bakewell Tart’ scented butter (being my favourite dessert), and it certainly smells good enough to eat!

I have issues with intense dry patches of skin on my hands and arms, particularly during the cold weather, so I tested it on the worst affected areas for a while. In the first application, I loved the whipped mousse-like texture, but I think that I used too much of it in one go as it took a long time to sink in. Over the next applications, I used a much smaller amount which was much more effective. Continue reading →

Hairstyles By Drew at the Hershesons Blow Dry Bar, Harvey Nichols

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imageWhen it comes to hair care and styling, I’m very much a novice. My usual routine is wash, dry, leave it in a ponytail, or if I’m feeling fancy, wash, dry, battle with my hair straighteners and then watch as it gets fluffier throughout the day.

So, when I was invited to the Hershesons Blow Dry Bar at Harvey Nichols to try out the facilities and get a new style, I was excited! The stylist, Drew, promised that she would show me different ways of being able to curl my hair without looking like I’m sporting a 1980’s Dolly Parton wig.

It’s a beautiful place, situated at the back of Harvey Nichols in The Mailbox in Birmingham. The facilities, as would be expected, are spotless, and the staff were all extremely friendly as I walked in, immediately offering to get me a drink. Continue reading →