The one with all the questions

In honour of Mother's Day yesterday, I decided to do something very exciting with a very special guest...

My mum has always been my rock, my idol and my hero (as well as my mum, dad, sister, nan, grandad, uncle, auntie and whole family rolled into one - not to mention chauffeur, boss, counsellor, adviser, chef, entertainer...) basically, my mum is my everything and in the short time I've known her she's gone through a fair few fashionable transitions (the patchwork dungarees and leather trousers being a personal favourite phase of mine). But throughout each stage she has always been herself, eminated cool and has always had that magical ability to light up a room (let's hope that's all hereditary and will materialize at some point... *fingers crossed*)

BUT, just in case these qualities aren't hereditary - as I suspect they aren't - I decided it was about time I started asking some questions. It's very rare that people believe how old my mum really is (not that she's a day over 30... of course). So without further ado, I present to you - my mum!

1)    When did you start taking care of your skin?  

Not until I was about 23. After having Jake I really began to think that I should take more care of myself and I especially didn't want to be an 'old, frumpy' mum. 

     2) What's your number one fashion rule? 

Be comfortable!! Not feeling comfortable makes you feel awkward and not yourself. I think feeling comfortable makes you feel confident and therefore look beautiful. 

    3) What single piece of fashion and/or beauty advice have you always remembered and used throughout your life? 

Drink water (although I don't always drink enough by far) and what goes in shows on the outside ie sugar and junk food makes for poor skin, hair and general poor health. Fresh, healthy and colourful is the way forward. 

    4) What item of clothing could you never live without? 

My hat!! After my hat it would have to be a linen shirt. 

    5) Favourite smell of all time (perfume or not) 

The sea/lilies/forests and you, especially when you were a baby!! 

    6) Who is your fashion/beauty inspiration?

Mmm that's a tough one. I had an aunt many years ago who lived in America and when she came to visit I was really struck by how 'alive' she looked. I thought she was in her 20's but in retrospect she must have been in her 40's. The sun tan probably made her look 'alive' to me (I must have been about 10) and her beauty advise to me was to always use baby oil after a shower. I have always meant to follow her advice as it clearly worked for her and have no logical excuse why I haven't as I do love the feeling of how soft my skin feels. Life is odd sometimes! 

    7) Do you prefer whole milk or semi skimmed? 

Semi-skimmed, actually skimmed but nobody else does so I compromise with semi- skimmed!! 

    8) When did you last laugh so hard you cried and why? 

Do you know, I really don't remember. I think its time that I took a long hard look at my life! 

    9) Favourite all time brand? 

Twinnings 

    10) who is your favourite child? (Yea, I said it  :p) 

It depends who buys me the best birthday present LOL by the way its in a couple of weeks :)

So those ladies and gentlemen are my mum's pearls of wisdom for youth, radiance and general awesome-ness! If you liked this post do click the like button and I may well enlist my mother as a special guest again! AND as an added bonus (because I love you) here are some pictures of the woman herself looking a whole spectrum of stylish.. ;) 

'Mummy' meaning: The boss! (Watch out) 

Peace and love man, peace and love! 

Speaking of love! 

Mummy and me looking fresh and pampered after a day at the spa! 

And that's all folks! Have any of you guys asked your parents for fashion and beauty advice? If you have any parental pearls please share them in the comments below - two heads and all that! 

Until next time, 

Amber 

xxx

Let's talk baths

Yesterday marked the first day of spring for us Brits and, with it, comes hopes and dreams of daffodils, butterflies and ice-creams (yay!) BUT it also marks the time of year where we must say goodbye to our winter comforts (boo!) The weather gets warmer from here on out and it'll soon be time to exchange the mega-moisture-booster-for-super-dry-skin with sweat-enhancing-make-up-sliding-sun-cream, yay? (Sorry, I'm a ginger..)

One of the saddest things about summer for me, is the lack of bathing opportunities. There's nothing worse than feeling hot and sweaty all day, just to sit in a tub of hot water, essentially cooking in human-soup (mmm yummy...) SO it's time to savour our last few baths! In honour of the imminent bath extinction, I've compiled a few things that turn any tub of water into a soothing cocoon of warmth and love!

First stop - Lush.

As far as bath bombs/balistics/melts/bubble bars go, Lush is just the absolute tits. It has such a huge range and has something for every kind of bath (hazaar!) I realise that most people find the smell of Lush quite strong and don't like replicating such strong smells at home (for these people I suggest the milder products so as not to offend your nostrils) BUT if you're a scent-whore like me, there is nothing better in the bath than a combination of bars and bombs. I love to pick a top note (check me sounding like a wine connoisseur of bath bombs), and get everything possible with a similar smell (so a rose jam + a rose queen + a rose bubble bar) alternatively you can always mix things up and create your own Lush cocktail (consider maybe a french kiss + a dream time + a twilight = perfect sleepy time recipe). Of course, using 3 different products is pretty extreme, but there's no need to use all of each - crumble up little pieces of each and combine to make the size of a normal bath bomb! Yum!

I love to keep my bath bombs in a dish on my desk to make my whole room smell lush (see what I did there ;) ) They also work super well as wardrobe fresheners or put in with your delicates (cheeky)

Ensure there's a soft, fluffy towel waiting patiently on a radiator, a nice big dressing gown and heaps of blankets and pillows to cocoon yourself in afterwards! Light yourself come candles, load up the Disney and hot chocolate, aaaaandddd.... relaaax. Relish the fleeting moments of warm, comfy goodness and dream of spring time flowers, lovely :)

Until next time,

Amber xx

Come dine with me (well, kind of..)

The next student loan seems to be resembling those nightmares, you know, the ones where when you're running and running but never get anywhere? Well the loan is at the other end of that run, and I am going nooowhere. So, I've been eating some pretty... original, let's say, foods as of late. Everything from old soup with spaghetti and chicken nuggets and calling it spag bol to chewy cereal with dubious 'yogurt' (the one's that can be kept in the cupboard not the fridge and have a strange woody taste), needless to say I've been in need of something comforting to munch on lately (of course, this is difficult with such a varied array of absolute nothingness.) 

In an out-of-character-1920's-woman moment I decided to.. wait for it.. yup, BAKE. I know. Just take a second to catch your breath, calm your heartbeat, I know. Essentially, I was sat with the lovely man in my life, chewing his ear about feeling due-on and emotional and how all I want is Disney films and ice-cream and chocolate and how desperately I need to eat some serious carbohydrates like NOW (he's a brave man), and THEN the little image of a biscuit popped into my obese brain. When this happens, there is no avoiding it, the only thing to do is advise all humans in the proximity to take cover and get myself to a biscuit ASAP before someone gets hurt. However, there was a vital flaw in this contingency plan, no P's! I needed an alternative, something biscuit-like that would cure my insatiable cravings.

Luckily it was quite recently pancake day (one of my favourite holidays - it involves food), so I actually owned flour and sugar in my cupboard (a once-a-year-occurrence), although I had to find a recipe that didn't need butter or eggs or any kind of topping or filling... - tricky. After much-a-google, the unthinkable was decided - to bake this (thank God there was a man there, ready to extinguish fires whenever necessary!) Said recipe is supposed to look like these apparently:

 

Ours looked a little like this:

The end result was a scone-biscuit-sweet-dumpling-cake-type-nutella-raspberry situation. Definitely no biscuit, perhaps not even cake, BUT my need for sweet white carby chocolateness was very much satisfied. As I currently type this I am slouched into my sofa, laptop sitting comfortably a top my 8-month-food-baby, glass of milk drunk and bath running - oh the sweet taste of victory. 

Would any of you guys try this recipe or any other potentially dubious culinary experiments? If so I'd love to know how it goes! (especially if it can inspipre something better than soupghettichickneise (yup, that happened)

Until next time! 

Amber xx

Playlist time!

Oh Hey! Doing something a little differently in this post and putting make-up and skin care aside to discuss something equally as important - MUSIC! This is what i'm listening to currently and is just the playlist I throw on daily, sometimes I feel like a bit of One Direction, other times Pink Floyd, but this is the one I know I can just throw on in any mood and happily whistle and boogie away to :) (It also isn't in any order so shove it on shuffle and bop along!)

CLICK THIS BIT!

Hope you like it! And any recommendations are very gratefully received, I love discovering new things to shriek along to! :P Let me know what you think and what you're all listening to at the moment :)

Cocktail hour: Jo Malone

First of all, I'M SORRY! I've been away for what seems like ages and ages (damn university life taking over real life) BUT I am now back, essays completed and the dissertation can wait in the wings for a little bit while I tell you all the wonderous joys of Jo Malone! Yippee!

The Jo Malone fragrances are absolutely incredible, they all smell so pure and never get that 'super-fake-alcoholic-crap' smell when you first put them on *bonus* They come in two sizes; perfect handbag size, or brave and dedicated size. For someone as cosmetically slutty as I, the smaller sizes are perfect, it means I can throw them in a make-up or hand bag and even carrying two takes up no room at all. (They also never break or spill or leak or any of that horrible stuff that ruins hand bags and lives).

WHICH brings me onto my favourite thing about them! You can mix them together darn it! Now, obviously, you can mix any perfumes you like at any time BUT the magic of these is that they are designed to be mixed, so it's never too many different fragrances confusing your nostrils and isn't too over-powering *win* And because Jo Malone are super lovely, they also give you a huge range of suggestions for which ones to mix together on a little card (if you're ordering online or can't get into a store). My favourite cocktail at the moment is Peony and Blush suede & Red Roses. Om nom, Spring is in the air!

Which cocktails do you like? Do you have a favourite Jo Malone fragrance? I'm currently in the market for a new mixture, let me know your suggestions in the comments below! :)

I've put a link to the Jo Malone website right about>> here<<, on the page that explains everything cocktail-y :)

Until next time,

Amber

xxx

Cats & Abs. Enough said.