GHD Creative Curve Wand

For the past few weeks, I've had the extreme good fortune of using the ghd creative curl wand* from their curve range, thanks to being kindly sent it in the post.

Everyone knows I'm a fan of curls, they seem to suit me SO much better than having my hair straight. Plus my hair looks and feels much healthier when I quickly add some curls to it, rather than straighten the life out of it.

A 10 Step Detox For Your Home

'A tidy space is a tidy mind'. This is something my Mum used to say to me all the time growing up, it was annoying. I didn't care, my space was crazy and my mind didn't care. I've always been a bit of a messy person, not only in my home habits; but my general style all over. My art is more freestyle, spontaneous, messy layers of work. My outfits are a mish-mash of colour of prints. And my schedule... well, that shit is crazy.

I'm just not a super tidy, well put together person. I'm really not.

I'd love to be though, and I've SO felt the benefits lately of getting my shit together. Especially at home. Over the past few weeks, my other half and I have been having a huge clear out, getting rid of all unessential items, and redoing our home in small, simple ways. But it's made a huge difference already! I honestly feel like my whole life is coming together better now, and I thought I'd share with you guys today my very best tips.


1. Clothes.
You don't need to go totally crazy and end up with a capsule wardrobe (though well done if you do!), you simply need to be honest with yourself. Have you worn this in the last 6 months? If the answer is no, is that because it's not the right season for it? If the answer is still no, bag it up! Donate it all to a local charity shop, sell it all or give to friends and family. It'll leave you more space, and a wardrobe full of only clothes you love, that are useful, and that you WILL WEAR.

2. Sentimental items.
Okay, this one might be hard. But we all tend to accumulate a lot of crap over the years, because of sentimentality. Photos are always good to keep, and special gifts. However you do not need that cheap, tacky, broken bracelet you and your BFF bought 8 years ago while on holiday. You'll be okay without it, I promise.

LoveTheSales Wishlist

Guys, I love a bargain. I'm constantly on the hunt. I'm that girl who will browse a website for two hours, putting everything into my basket and then just logging off without buying anything when I realise I'm too poor to indulge. Booo.

However, lately I've discovered a right little gem for all my beauty, footwear and fashion needs. Yippeee! On LoveTheSales you can find a bunch of proper good brands, for a teeny tiny fraction of their usual price. It's literally a site full of magic IMO.

My fave finds so far have been D&G Light Blue perfume reduced by 48% of the price (because FUN FACT; it's my fave perfume of all time!), and those gorgeous Vans shoes shown above for almost half their usual price! Eeep.

In fact, since I've become so obsessed with browsing the site and finding some good bargains - I decided this is how I'll decide what to run for my next giveaway! So guys, help me out here, take a browse of the site, tell me what gifts you'd like to win in my giveaway, and I'll get on it! I want to make sure the prize/prizes are something you guys really want! :)

So let me know what you're most lusting after, and I'll get my giveaway planned!

In the meantime, feel free to use me as your excuse for going on a huge shopping spree...

*Products via LoveTheSales. See my disclaimer for more info.

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July's Glossybox

I love getting post at the best of times, but when it's pretty, pink, and full of goodies; well you better believe I'm a teeny bit excited! I almost tore the hand off my poor postman in my eagerness.

Yes, that's right. I have this month's Glossybox*, and I'm so excited!

I have to say even though the packaging really shouldn't matter, it just does doesn't it? I think Glossybox have gotten it perfectly, with a sleek and very feminine look - it felt so special arriving in the post.

July's box was definitely focused around a Summery feel, the theme officially called 'On The Beach' - and I was thankful to get five Summer beauty essentials through my door.

Artwork & Life Lately

Hey guys, I thought I'd check in with you today and just share a little of what I've been up to. It's been a strange week or so, with both good things and bad things.

I've been working with a few different people and small businesses creating artwork for custom ranges (soon to come!) and special projects which has been really cool. On the one hand I've felt super inspired and happy with life, and on the other hand it's just MORE things I've had to do and been tearing my hair out about, haha. I get stressed easily anyway, but when work is piling up I become a little bit manic.

It's this strange battle between feeling so grateful for having a lot of work in, but also desperately wishing I had a week off. Or even just a weekend! But I've kind of accepted I'm going to be crazy busy, at least for the next year or so. Hopefully by then I'll be making more money, and have enough awesome opportunities that mean I can slow some things down a little.

Daily Lipsticks For Each Side Of My Personality

Each day I wake and get dressed; I decide who I want to be that day. Sometimes I'm the colourful girl with the loud prints and the bracelets and the POP of purple of my lips. Other times I'm hiding in layers of Tshirts, hoodies, hats and a nude lipstick that makes me feel dressed, but also hidden. Every single day we can make choices about who we are, how we will look, how we will feel, how we decide to present today's version of ourselves to the outside world.

It's kind of magical actually.

Last week I stuck to three versions of myself, using Living Nature lipsticks from Botanical Brands that were sent to me. I tested myself, I set a challenge. I was not only going to review these beauty products as I normally would; I was going to really take note of who I was wearing each one, and how it made me feel.

Because I often find we don't take enough time to stop, assess and appreciate the little things.

Bullet Journal Update

You guys may remember, back in May I posted about starting a bullet journal, and how it's been going for me. Well today I thought I'd post a little update for you guys on how my little book of magic is going!

You may also remember me writing about how I basically ditched the bullet system mostly, so it's more of an 'all in one' journal that I make work for me, and I'm so much happier with that!

Why We Should Support The #BloggersBlogAwards

Unless you've been living under a rock for the past year or so, you'll know that Hayley from Tea Party Beauty organises the #BloggersBlogAwards (or BBA for the rest of this post..) annually now. These awards celebrate the talents of bloggers far and wide within a range of niches, and Hayley personally organises it all, with very little to no help at all.

Let me break it down a little for ya. She puts together a huge event (this year for like 200 people), finding a venue, paying upfront costs herself, takes into consideration accessibility for everyone, thinks about food/drinks (if they'll be available for people to buy, and even funding certain things out of her own pocket), then putting together the voting forms, choosing which categories to include, deciding how they'll be judged fairly, finding brands to get involved to sponsor every category and provide a prize of some sort, trying to put together a raffle, sending out what must seem like bloody millions of emails, connecting with different people to try make the whole idea a reality, printing up certificates for the awards (I even seen she was buying frames the other day for these, again, out of her own pocket) and MUCH, much more. I am literally just scraping the top of the cake here. There is so much more to be thought about, and so much more she is doing behind the scenes I'm sure.

Can I just firstly admit I'd probably have a breakdown if it were me? I'm not exaggerating here.

Feeling Fruity With Funkin

God I just love the alliteration of that title.

Hello and happy Monday guys, woo!
I hope the weekend went awesome for you all, you got to party, catch up with friends, sleep, or binge watch Netflix; basically whatever you wanted. Me? I spent it redoing our flat and I'm so happy with how it's coming along. Even the little changes, like getting rid of old drawers and bringing in nice new little bits of furniture, or moving around the layout of the room a little can feel great. I still have a lot I need to do, but I'm sure I'll show you all the little changes I've made very soon.

Monday's are a happy day for me, so I'm already in a great mood. Gary finishes work for the week (he works weekends), the #TheGirlGang Twitter chat (6pm!) and It just feels like an awesome day all around.
I know not everyone feels that way though, and having a case of 'The Mondays' means you're feeling particularly 'mehh'. So I hope if you are having one of those days, it picks up really soon!

Last week I got an awesome package in the mail, courtesy of the guys over at Funkin Cocktails; they're really lovely little buggers over there. To celebrate Pina Colada day recently, they sent me over one of their Pina Colada mixers (yummm) with some extra goodies in there to really get in the spirit!

Fab Brows

Doing my eyebrows is one of my least favourite makeup chores, but it's SO needed. I have really light, thin eyebrows that look half invisible if I don't use something on them to help define my look a little. Plus having turquoise hair at the moment means doing my brows is extra tricky.

I've had trouble in the past finding a cool/ashy toned brown powder I can use (warmer tones look awful on me), and even if I find one I'm happy with I'm not the best at shaping them to be honest.

Staying Motivated Every Day

Working from home has a ton of benefits, obviously. But I found when I first bit the bullet almost a year ago, I didn't realise at first just how much I was going to have to really motivate myself every day. I mean, I'm generally quite an ambitious and driven person anyway, but having to ensure I'm doing work every single day and making enough money is extremely hard. Even for me!

So through trial and error I have found some things that work for me, and I feel I've only gotten better and better. I thought I'd share some of these tips today, as they could definitely benefit anyway who needs to motivate themselves to do something. This can apply to anything really; studying, blogging, starting a small business.

Go-To Accessories

I have a soft spot for accessories. They can make or break an outfit, and they can add a little magic to anything you're wearing. My weakness is for bags especially; I collect them like I do stickers. I want big, 'hold everything you'll ever need on this trip' sorta bags, I like cute, diddy little clutches, I like colourful ones that scream at you, I love strange textures, styles and I like an assortment of lengths.

I'd say I'm the same with shoes, but it's a little different. I still have a weakness for them and you better believe my collection is taking over the place; however I'm slightly fussy with one thing. COMFORT. I just cannot and will not give up comfort for style. I've done that in the past. For years I bought the beautiful heels that made me bleed and ruined nights out. I've bought the 'one of a kind' wedges that go with every outfit and claim to be a comfier alternative to heels (fucking liars), only to be left with red feet and blisters.

Life Lately and 15 Things To Be Grateful For

Happy Wednesday guys :) Are you wearing pink? No? Me either.

Lately I'm thinking about taking trips. Unfortunately no holidays are on the cards this year, but that doesn't stop me from planning next year. I'd love to finally get to go to Iceland, as I've wanted to go there for the longest time. That's definitely top of my list. I keep thinking about taking a trip across the pond to America too, but we'll see. That one will be way more expensive, so we'll have to see how things pan out.

I'ts officially 6 weeks until the girl gang event I'm organising, and it's like a constant weight on my shoulders. The day will be fun as hell, and I know it'll be worth it; but my god I can't stop thinking about the day after. The 27th August is going to be a day of complete and utter REST in this household. No laptop, no planning, no work at all. I can't wait to just watch movies, take walks, draw for the sake of drawing and just remember who I am without all this stress haha. There are certainly exciting parts to planning an event; each week more boxes of awesome goodies are turning up from brands, yay! But my eyes have definitely been opened to how much work goes into one day.

10 Steps To Self Love

I have hated myself in the past. 
I have loathed looking in the mirror.
I have felt lonely and unwanted in even the biggest group of friends.
I have felt very, very small.

I have avoided trying to make plans with friends, because I have assumed they won't want to see me anyway. I have cancelled plans last minute, because a bad feeling can turn into full on anxiety and resistance to leave the house. I have walked through crowds with my head down, trying to breathe and trying not to panic that everyone is looking at me. I've experienced a time where I really didn't love myself.

It would be easy to assume this post, '10 Steps To Self Love'; is about to make out like self love is an easy journey. I would understand if people seen this title and thought it would be a list of superficial ways to feel a bit better about yourself.

But that is not my intention, because that would be so belittling.

Loving yourself is a constant journey we all experience, and some of us are unfortunate enough to sometimes slip into this dark place where all we see is the bad. The world is tainted when you hate yourself, or disregard your own worth.

Today I hope to share with you ten things that have made me feel like I'm progressing into a healthier state of mind. Ten steps that have felt like I'm a little lighter, a little more open to the world. Ten steps I have had to push myself through to get where I am now. I'm sure there will be more steps along my way. But here is the progress I've made so far.

I'm On Youtube!

Happy Friday!

Hope the week has been good to you all so far :) I've had a pretty good one myself. Some of you might know that I've finally joined Youtube! Yay for trying new things. I'm sketchy, awkward and I have the worst accent EVER, but if you fancy following my channel, you can do so here. This week I've been especially loving Corinne, Lima and Holly in the blogosphere; they've all been putting out AMAZING content. So definitely go give them a visit.

I've also had a few exciting emails in this week, about some awesome projects! Mostly illustrative projects I wish I could go into more, but I'll give out details as soon as I can. But believe me, I'm excited! :)

I'm trying to plan out a whole load of new ideas for sticker packs lately, so that I can find a day somewhere soon to create a new range if I get the chance. I absolutely adore creating new designs and it's my favourite thing to do lately. So if any of you guys have requests for stickers you'd like to see in my Etsy shop; Animals? Planner stickers? Fictional characters? Beauty products? Lemme know! It'd be great to have lots of ideas thrown at me. I'm SO CLOSE to my first 200 sales on Etsy too, EEEP. The excitement is real. As soon as I hit 200 sales, I'm doing a giveaway! Either a Makeup Revolution giveaway or a great, big bundle of cute stationery.

Anyway guys, this is short and sweet, but I just wanted to say hi! I'm extremely busy with design orders and event planning this week, but checking in is nice for chatty posts.


How are you guys doing? :)




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Everyday Makeup Look

As part of my goals for 2016, I have really wanted to branch out into different things on this blog. This has included showing more makeup looks for you guys, and so I thought I'd kick start this with a very simple everyday look I often wear.

On the average day, you'll find me wanting a glowing face and a pop of colour, and that's exactly what I've gone for here. It's a typical, 'Jemma popping out to the shops/meeting a friend' sort of thing.

Tips For Moving Out

It's been a year and half since Gary and I moved into our little 'perfect for us' flat just outside the centre of Liverpool, and we couldn't be happier. It's not the biggest place, but we really do love it here. We have a spare bedroom I use as an office/photography space/dumping ground for blogger mail, we live in a nice quiet area with quiet neighbours, and the whole place is super secure in a courtyard with codes, keys, and whatnot. Perfect for me really so I feel safe, since I'm alone 3 nights a week while Gary works nights.

But it was hard work getting to this point. You know, where you've actually found the perfect place for you, that also doesn't leave you broke at the end of the month. Both Gary and I lived with our parents, then each moved out during University. But when we got our flat together here, it was the first time both of us got a 'proper' place to rent together. Not just halls of residence or a house share with other students; a place we could settle into and make our own. We have just signed another 12 month contract to keep renting here actually, since we are so happy and we don't have any plans to buy a place anytime soon (sob, that's a long way off!).

I Just Love It Personalised Gifts

Hi guys! It's been four days since my last blog post, which is crazy for me! I hope you've all been well. I've been organising The Girl Gang event for next month, it takes up so much time planning, and so I had to slow things a little around here.

Anyway, I had some awesome post last week, and I've been so excited to share it with you guys ever since! The lovely folk over at I Just Love It have launched a brand new Ladybird range of books, including the classics we all know and love (such as Cinderella, The Three Little Pigs, Rapunzel), and a brand new range of 'grown up' versions too!

The grown up range consists of eight tongue in cheek stories with a modern twist. There's 'The Husband', 'The Wife', 'The Hangover', 'Mindfulness', 'The Mid Life Crisis' and 'Football'.

Daily Beauty Essentials

Hi guys! Happy first of July, woo.

Today I thought I'd share with you guys the six beauty related tools and products that I rely on all the time, whether I'm having a lazy day or a fully glammed up sorta' day. These are the things that you can always find hanging around my bag, or things that help me achieve the look I'm after. They're awesome, basically.

A good set of eyelash curlers are a total MUST for me, since I weren't bless with long and fluttery lashes unfortunately. My little stubby ones grow completely straight and they're pretty short too, which is lame. I bought myself these beautiful eyelashes curlers from Primark for just £1! They instantly give my lashes volume, length and lift. And they're so pretty, right?!