Trend: Sequins

As I missed out on my friend's 30th birthday party, I'm taking her out for a glam night next Friday for some belated celebrations. Plenty of cocktails, a delicious meal, and partying until the sun comes up means one thing: a fabulous dress is needed. Enter this gorgeous little bit of glitz from Zara. It's love...



My outfit posts are looooong overdue so will get some snaps up of this one asap!

Beauty: Topiary, anyone?

Readers, I'm getting personal for a minute. Yep, it's time to talk bikini line. Ever since moving away from Manchester last year and leaving my beloved waxer behind me, I've been in a bit of a limbo. I've epilated (ouch), shaved (ingrown hairs, anyone?), Immac (whiffs) and tried wax strips (I'm hopeless). Was it mad to make a pilgrimage back North every four weeks to get the perfect finish and the gossip? I concluded 'yes' and resolved to find someone in London. Le sigh.

It was then that Ministry of Waxing came into my life. With branches in Covent Garden and on South Molton Street, they were perfectly located for a bit of post-work topiary. The bikini waxes are categorised from 'X' (a bit of a tidy up) to 'XXXX' (Hollywood), and I booked in for a 'XXX' which is a Brazilian in traditional bikini parlance.

The salons are pretty funky, and the girls at the Covent Garden branches all have amazing lashes from their sister salon, Browhaus (totally next on my list!). The waxers all go through rigorous training, so the result will be the same whoever you see, which is reassuring if your usual therapist is away.

The main selling point is the experience. You're taken to your therapist's room and they talk you through what to do, which is great for waxing virgins. It's always the little details that count, and you can't believe how impressed I am by the fact that they provide a little wet wipe for a bit of a freshen up. Regular waxees will I'm sure, like me, always carry one out of courtesy and to feel 'fresh' but the fact that MoW just put it out there is just one less thing you have to think about. The wax itself is perfect: the girls all confess to being perfectionists, so the tweezers come out to pluck any strays! They give great aftercare advice and advise you to monitor regrowth: if you suffer from ingrown hairs after the wax, they'll change the products they use next time. What more could you want?! Maybe a stress toy for those amongst you who need a distraction from the pain? Check! These girls think of everything.

Treatments start from £15, with the Brazilian priced at £39.

Body: White Tea and Toast

It's been a while, non? Life is still very up and down, and I'm hoping that blogging will help restore a bit of normality!

I have stacks of products to review, some of which have effortlessly slipped into my routine as though they've always been there. This White Bergamot body lotion from BSQ Naturals is one such product. The range won Best New Fragrance at the 2009 UK Beauty Awards and the beautiful delicate scent is probably the products biggest selling point: I find it utterly intoxicating and just so beautiful. Of course, we want out body lotions to be moisturising, and this rich formula doesn't disappoint. It's nourishing yet light, and just the perfect balance.

BSQ Naturals body lotion is available from House of Fraser Apothecary and online here for £16.

Reflection: Raise Your Weapon

*Puts down suitcase and switches the lights on...*

Ok, so my blog holiday didn't actually involve any kind of travel (more's the pity) but after a few weeks off, I've been feeling the lure of a bit of self-indulgent rambling. I have a stack of products to review (precariously balanced in the spare room, ready to tumble Jenga-style when I pick one out for use...), and I'll get round to all that, I promise. There have been a few fabulous discoveries while I've been away that I can't wait to share with you.

So, the non-makeup stuff. I've had a really odd few weeks that have seen a massive amount of change in my personal life. One minute things were up, the next spiralling way out of my grasp. For someone who thrives on being in control, it's been difficult to deal with, but not impossible. On the upside, that challenge of wrestling everything back into my hands has been a good one, however hard it's been to motivate myself to do that. I guess what I'm saying is that big changes always prompt a bit of introspection, a reassessment of what's important to you, and where your priorities lie. It's also a time when you really get back to yourself: you remember all those things you used to do and love, that somehow disappeared when you had more than yourself to think about (for me, rediscovering how much I love going out dancing until 4am has been my favourite). That sounds a little selfish, but when your world flips, it's good to know somebody's looking out for you!

There's a scene in Breakfast at Tiffany's where Holly applies her makeup and puts on her pearls before the letter that she knows brings bad news is read to her. Similarly, my beloved late Nana's saying: 'No matter what's going on, put on another coat of lipstick, hold your head up, and get back out there', speaks of a stoicism and a resilience in the face of adversity. Rather than let this blog and other things in my life fade into the darkness, I'm reapplying that lipstick, both literally and metaphorically, and switching the lights back on. The Beauty Hall is back in business...

Style: "When accessorising, always take off the last thing you put on"

Wise words from Coco Chanel. I could do with extending that quote to include, 'and put it away when you do take it off', but I don't think Coco was too concerned about the future plight of a messy jewellery lover.

Walking around the flat this afternoon, I realised that I hardly ever put my accessories away. I have so many, and forget what I do have. I'm the kind of girl who always has a pair of earrings in her handbag, necklaces in washbags, and forgotten bracelets lurking in luggage, waiting for me to fall in love all over again. To help me with my last minute accessorising, my home has become something of a showroom, and I was struck today just how much I leave lying around. The kitchen, the bathroom, on top of my work papers: scattered when I get in, ready to be grabbed when I go out. Here's what I found today:

Exhibit A: Chunky necklaces in the bathroom (black bead necklace is vintage and the orange wooden disc necklace is Miss Selfridge from a few seasons back)

Exibit B: On my desk. The wooden bead necklace is from Topshop and probably about eight years old. The gold swallow bracelet is current season ASOS.

Exhibit C: On my bedside table. The black and white bangle is again, very old Topshop, the wooden bangle is H&M, the gold ladybird ring is from Les Nereides and the earring is Accessorize - who knows where it's other half is...

It's time to look into some display-type storage so I get to enjoy these trinkets whether I'm wearing them or not!

Travel: Palma

Passeig des Borne, Palma

I know, I know: I've been gone for weeks, finally get round to posting and you're feeling a little neglected. Work has been mad, life even more so, and I've averaged about 5hrs sleep a night for the past three weeks. You're reaching for your violins, I just know it...

Skipping my pitiful plea for sympathy, forgiveness, and multiple comments telling me how much you've missed me (a girl can hope...), things are now looking a million times brighter and after a totally inspiring week at work, I'm kind of feeling like this weekend is a bit of a turning point for me. So 'yay' to that.

I mentioned in my last post that I treated myself to an SLR at the airport before we flew out to Palma. My case was already groaning under the weight of an unnecessary number of outfit options, but I have wanted one for so long with literally no time to go and pick one up, so this seemed like the perfect opportunity. Step forward my Canon 1000D. Entry level, baby-DSLR, but it is absolutely FABULOUS. My previous point and shoot was Canon, and although good, I just couldn't get the effects I was looking for with it, so I've been having great fun messing with all the settings, and generally acting like a mini Testino, minus the majority of the talent.

So, back to Palma. It's one of my favourite destinations. This is the fifth time I've been, and it seriously doesn't get old. The weather is great (we had three days of sun and temperatures of about 19 degrees - although of course it's changeable at this time of year), the food is fabulous, the shopping completely amazing, and the mood of the place is just so cool: laid back yet super stylish. It has everything I could want from a city break, and it takes two hours to fly from London, which is less time than it takes me to get back to Manchester. Hmm, where would I rather be?

Architecture fans won't be disappointed either. The city has an eclectic mix of contemporary and classic buildings, all of which sit in the imposing shadow of La Seu, the enormous gothic cathedral, a building of the kind of scale and beauty that you rarely see. I am a bit of an architecture geek, so was delighted to have my camera to record some of the more impressive sights.

Le Seu

I was thinking about getting into recommendations, but it's far too late for that, so instead I'll stick to photos and expect you to fall as deeply in love with the place as I am. If you go, stay at Hotel Tres and drink cocktails to the sound of birdsong in the medieval-meets-Bacchic Abaco. Friday night rose petals from the ceiling at midnight is worth the trip alone...

Catch up: I Haven't Forgotten You...

It's late on Saturday night, and after a fabulous time at my friend's hen night (and trying to put off doing some work which has been taking up all my time), I thought I'd squeeze in a quick post to say that I haven't forgotten about the blog, and I promise that I will be updating very soon. 'With what?' you ask. Well...

- A bit of a guide and my favourite shopping and eating haunts in Palma, where I spent last week spa-ing it up

- A bit of a Kiko makeup haul from aforementioned trip

- The most beautiful lippy *ever* from Topshop

- The purchase of not one, not two, but three pairs of fabulous shoes

- And most exciting of all, photos will be courtesy of my super duper new SLR, which as predicted, I am loving!

Hold tight, kids. I'll be back soon.