What is a microdermabrasion facial, and how does it work?

A couple of weeks ago I ventured over to the neighbouring town Harrogate where I was treated to a microdermabrasion facial by the lovely people at Body Team.

Now, what exactly is a microdermabrasion facial, you may ask?

Microdermabrasion is basically extreme exfoliating, which is a very effective treatment for renewing your skin and getting a fresh and young-looking glow.

It’s a treatment that works in harmony with your body in a way that removes dead skin cells, which then makes your body work faster and harder to replace them with fresher and healthier looking skin. 

It might sound unpleasant, but believe me – it’s not!

The technique works with microcrystals, and Body Team uses only quality products by Crystal Clear Skincare. These microcrystals are hard enough to scrub off the dull and tired skin cell, but won’t make any damage to your other skin layers. The microdermabrasion machine propels microcrystals across the surface of your skin and removes the top layer of skin cells, which reveals new and fresh skin cells and makes your skin rejuvenate quicker as well as produce more collagen.

 The Body Team therapist I went to started off by using two different cleansers on my face. She then began going over my face with the machine, before going back to problem areas such as wrinkles and acne scars. As you can imagine my face was quite red after this treatment, but they are prepared for that. A cooling mask was applied to my face, and whilst that was working its magic I was given a Swedish massage on my arms and hands. Lovely! 

The mask was then peeled off, and moisturising cream was massaged into my face. 

It's crazy how quickly an hour passes when you're getting pampered!

I thought I would come out of the salon looking like a tomato, but the cooling mask had really worked, and I just felt very fresh faced!

It's fine to apply makeup straight after a microdermabration facial, but they strongly suggest that you only use natural mineral makeup. I tried some of the mineral powder foundation they offered at the salon, and I was very impressed with the coverage.

But what is a microdermabration actually good for? 

These are the skin imperfections it can help treat:

Softens fine lines and wrinkles     

Smoothes rough skin     

Reduces the appearance of scarring     

Refines enlarged pores     

Helps diminish age spots     

Evens out skin tone

Reduces blackheads and white spots     

Helps prevent clogged pores

I would definitely recommend a microdermabration facial - I felt extremely fresh afterwards, and even after one treatment I thought my skin appeared smoother. Imagine then after a whole course of 5 or 10! 

Body Team was absolutely amazing, so a big shoutout to the lovely ladies in the salon!

The world is one big bright sunny musical

You can tell that summer is here when I start bringing out the bright coloured clothes! 

I'm not much for bright colours the rest of the year, but tend to stick to dusky or earthy colours which suits my complexion. 

But when the sun comes out you just want to shine along with it, right?!

I get ridiculously happy when the weather gets warmer. I almost feel like the world is one big musical and everyone should just be dancing down the street, singing together ;) 

Like Belle in Beauty and the Beast... why not?!

Well, let me at least strike a dance inspired pose on a bridge!

So, back to my bright summer colours. For this summery outfit I've gone for this fab Forever Unique mint green dipped hem top, which was a real find. It's usually a shocking £80, but I found it at Repertoire Fashion for only £32. Lucky me! What really caught my eye about it was the mosaic decoration around the neckline - it really makes the whole top! The dipped hem and the floaty fabric really compliments the top, and it's the perfect combination. 

I've gone all out mint with my accessories as well, to really make a statement with this fab summery colour. My silver and mint bangle is a Caribbean design, my midi rings are from Accessorize, and my nail polish is Essie.

I don't know what you think, but when wearing such a girly garment I feel like I have to rock it up a bit so that it suits my my personality better...

These jet black skin tight jeans with rips all down the front may have looked a bit extreme with any other outfit, but I think the tough look compliments the romantic and floaty top perfectly. 

It's all about balance. 

I got them from Boohoo's spring collection, and I absolutely love them! They don't go with flat shoes though (believe me, I've tried), but they look fab with heels.

And talking about heels, I'm finishing off this outfit with my trusted black wedge heel sandals. They're from last years Primark range, so they're getting a bit battered now, unfortunately. 

But that's just a perfectly good reason to go shoe shopping, right?! ;)

A Yorkshire wedding

Last month, I was invited to my friends' wedding party in a lovely countryside location in Yorkshire, just north of Leeds. Impressively enough, the happy couple planned their wedding in a mere 3 months, which you can read about on their blog
A Yorkshire Home. 

The wedding party took place in a couple of yurts on a field just outside an old farm building. It was all very picturesque with the Yorkshire stone, the woods, the fields, and the gorgeous sunny evening! 

I wore a dusky pink dipped hem dress with a black lace bodice to the wedding party, which I had bought from Boohoo a couple of months before. I thought it was a perfect dress for a spring wedding. With the wedding party taking place in the countryside, I opted for wedge heels as there's nothing worse than your heels sinking into the mud!

The newly wed couple had been very creative with their wedding, and had crafted the majority of the wedding party decorations themselves - one of them being this wooden frame which they had hung up between the trees just outside the yurts. Such a simple but fun idea! Us girls sure did have a fun time posing!

I went all out wedding makeup for the occasion, as you do. I even remembered to use primer, for once ;)
I'm using the fantastic Younique 3D mascara, which creates a false lash look without false lashes! It's amazing! You simply build the length of your own lashes with the help of your normal mascara, topped with Younique's gel and fibres. And voilà!

I'm also wearing a set of white pearl earrlings and a matching necklace to compliment my outfit.

To top it all off I'm matching the lace bodice on my dress with a bow shaped lace cluthbag from Newlook, and I'm also accessorising with my beloved Thomas Sabo charm bracelet for some extra bling.

It was a wonderful evening, and I was really impressed with the results of this quick wedding planning.
Well done guys, and thanks for inviting me!

Finding the right glasses for my face shape

Well, this is weird, isn't it!? Seeing me in a pair of glasses that aren't sunglasses!

I've got a bit of a love/hate relationship with specs - I love how they look on others, but when it comes to myself all I can think about when it comes to glasses are those awful pink ones I wore when I was 5! So awful, in fact, that my cousin decided to dig out that specific childhood photo of me on my grandpa's funeral to "lighten up the mood". To my horror, it worked... ;)

Yes, I was not a beautiful child, especially not as a speccy 4 eyes - which is why I quickly took my glasses off as soon as my classmates commented on them. Lucky for me my eyesight got a lot better when I grew up, and I didn't have to wear my glasses anymore.

Nowadays, however, (20 years on!) I think a pair of glasses can work great as a fashion accessory, and I've decided to do a trial with some of the glasses from Glasses Direct. The collection I've gone for is Scout, as I really like the shapes and colours of their frames.

I could choose up to 4 pairs to trial, and they were delivered within a few days in a flat box that could easily fit through the post. 

The first pair, and my favourites, were these cat eye shaped specs with a subtle brown lace pattern. The style suits my face shape and the earthy colour works well with my complexion. A nice, soft and natural look!

 

I do like the fact that these pale dusky pink glasses are more quirky looking, and a bit oversized. I believe you call this style Wayfarer. You end up with a bit of a playful look, which could be good in everyday situations, but I would probably not wear them to work. I also think they would look better on someone with a lighter complexion, and blonde hair. However, with my slightly rounder face they are known to be a good match, style-wise.

Another pair of lace patterned glasses, but with a straight and very corporate rectangular shape. It's the same style as the very first photo, but in another colour. These are so wrong for my face for two reasons; 1. My face is too round for these. 2. My ears must be a bit uneven, because these glasses sit really wonky on my face, and you can see it even clearer with the glasses having such a straight shape. Nice glasses though, but they would probably look a lot better on someone else!

When choosing a pair of glasses, think of the 4 basic face shapes (round, oval, square and heart shaped), and basically don't choose a round style for a round face, or a square style for a square face, etc. If you need help determining your face shape you can simply ask your optician. Glasses Direct has also got a whole section on their website which can help you choose the right glasses for your face shape.

What are your thoughts on glasses? Do you love or loathe them?

Would you wear a pair just as a fashion accessory?

A new online shopping experience that will blow your mind!

Imagine this... you've been invited to a wedding, and you've got this image of yourself in your head wearing a stunning blue lace dress, similar to one you recently saw on Pinterest.
But we all know what Pinterest is like... everything obviously looks amazing, which is why people repin images. But these repinned images often turn out to be 2 years old, and the dresses you've spotted are long gone, and nowhere to be found.  

Pinterest is great for inspiration, but not when it comes to shopping!

So you start looking around in what feels like a hundred online shops, including Asos, River Island... you name it! You probably forgot a lot of your favourite shops in the process, as you're panicking so much as to where to find the perfect blue lace dress.

Well, stress no more ladies, cause here comes Lyst!

Lyst is an online platform that works as a personal shopping experience.
Basically, you can browse all of your favourite shops at the same time, follow brands, or just browse randomly for new in items.
When you find an item you like you can add it to a list, or 'lyst' as they would call it, and you can go back and look at it closer later. 

I tried the filtering system to find blue lace dresses, and found lots of nice ones! I added my favourites to a lyst, where I could then compare them all. 
It's so much easier seeing them next to each other, rather than going back and forth between internet tabs and and several online shops! 

Out of the 8 blue lace dresses I compared in one of my lysts, I then took my favourite one and added to another lyst, which I personalised with a photo of myself and my friend wearing wedding guest outfits last year. 

I went back browsing the new in items, and created a little wedding guest outfit with accessories that will go well with the blue lace dress. 

When you've decided if you want to buy any of the items in your outfit lyst you can simply click on the item and Lyst will redirect you to the shop and its specific page. 

This is so clever, and it's such a hassle free way of shopping when looking for specific things. Or you could just use it to get inspiration from all your favourite shops at once!

Well, Lyst has definitely blown my mind, for sure.

You can find my lysts here.