Electric Make Up Brush Cleaner | Amazon Best Buy

So, as everyone in lockdown, I'm finding things to do when I am not working or doing housework. I purchased this back before we moved house (blog post to come on that). 

When sorting out my dressing room I came across the package again and decided to give it a go. 

Now I don't know about you, I am horrendous at washing my brushes regularly. Generally choosing to buy new ones instead... bad I know - I am determined to get better at it, especially now I have this little gadget! 

I found this one back in April and there are loads to choose from, so I don't think it necessarily needs to be this one specifically as I'm pretty sure they all do a similar job.

It didn't come with makeup brush cleaner but I generally use Johnson's baby shampoo which works a treat and it super cheap, although if you have any suggestions, I'm all ears. 

                      

The product came with 7 adaptors, one of which with 8 sizes in and as yet I haven't come across a brush that hasn't fit one of them. What I will say is, I have been trying to ensure I use one slightly smaller so it holds it tight and doesn't fly out, covering me in dirty soapy water... which definitely didn't happen... 

Below are some before and after pictures that I remembered to take and I have to say, I didn't think there would be an issue with the cleaning aspect, but the drying I was extremely impressed with. 

The wand has two speeds, the first for cleaning and the second for drying. One thing I have been doing is taking it out of the bowl to use the drying option. (It doesn't say to do this - I just found it helped the drying process) 

                        

I am having to clean my flat brushes manually, but with it only being a couple of my massive stash, I don't mind!

I would love to know how you clean your brushes and what you use.

Much Love as always,

Wedding Series | Engagement Party Planning

Engagement party planning is the fun bit before all the stress comes. Its the perfect excuse to get your nearest and dearest together and celebrate your up coming nuptials.

I also know many people who have decided against having them as they haven't wanted one, or they are getting married quicker. As we had decided to wait two years in order to save for the wedding and a house, we wanted to celebrate!

The venue is the big decider for this, as it will be what costs the money if anything.
We decided to have ours where we first met, given that we got engaged abroad, we couldn't really have it where he popped the question!

Luckily for us, the place we first met is just up the road from where we live, and is one of our local pubs.

They have a lovely function room out the back of the pub that also has access to the garden (of which a section was also reserved for us)

The function room was also free, which was a massive bonus, especially when you are saving for the wedding and in our case a house too. I would definitely recommend trying to find somewhere cheap or free if you can. If you don't have any pubs nearby that offer this, try village halls or even church halls.

We also decided against food, to keep the costs down, which I slightly regret as I was starving as I couldn't eat before hand as was too nervous!
However, the pub serves really nice bar food, (the cajun fries are to die for!) so people had the option to either eat before they came, or to order something once they arrived so I didn't feel bad on them - you have to think of money unfortunately. If you are lucky enough to have budget for food too, then obviously crack on, but we didn't, and no one minded.

If you are local to Tunbridge Wells, you will probably have heard of St John's Yard. If not, and you live close by I would definitely recommend it for functions (I also had my 30th birthday party there) but also if you just want a drink with friends. On Sunday's they also do a burger deal where they have a selection of burgers half price and they are a-m-a-z-i-n-g!
They have also recently opened another restaurant next door to them, The Shuffle House, which serves pizza and tapas, with a bar upstairs that has shuffle boards that you can hire to play on. I believe they can also do functions here.

I love St John's Yard as the atmosphere is always great, the decor is quirky, the staff are friendly, and the garden is lovely especially in the summer, but also has heaters in the colder months.

The room is decorated really well with cute bunting and fairy lights hanging up as well as the quirky pub decor already, so we only added some balloons and a board of pictures with fairy lights that I made up the week before. This meant minimal effort from us, meaning we could enjoy the day without rushing around to decorate and didn't have to worry about clearing the decorations before we left that night or go back the next day.

Everyone commented on how lovely the function room was, even if we were a bit squished in. This was mainly due to the fact we presumed a lot of people wouldn't be able to make it and then were blown away with the turn out!

We were so surprised with the turn out and it gave us an insight of what the wedding day would be like as we spent the whole night saying hello to people and thanking for them for coming before we'd have to move on to the next person.
It was very overwhelming, as well as a lot of fun, but we barely saw each other. So we have made the decision to ensure that on our wedding day, we schedule time out of the day for just us. It's our wedding day, and yes, we want to spend the day celebrating with our family and friends, but we also want to be able to celebrate together.

Much Love as always,

237 days and counting... 🧡💒💜

Winter Ball | OUAW Events

My niece's birthday falls in between Christmas and New Year, so it's nice to spend time with her and actually do something, rather than buy another present for her.

My brother had the same idea and booked us in to a Winter Ball held by a local events company (Once Upon A Wish) that we had previously used for a Princess Knock for my niece's birthday a few years ago.

It was held at David Salomons in Southborough; a Victorian mansion with a vast estate, used for functions, events and weddings and it is a stunning venue.

Parking was easy to find, with plenty of spaces and there were OUAW staff on site to direct us to the event itself. There were also staff at the door greeting us, letting us know which table we were on, as well as giving out pre-paid goodie bags if you had pre-ordered one (which we had)

 

On our table was myself, my brother, our mum and my niece as well as another group of 2 adults and 3 children. The table was laid out beautifully, with our table number in the middle, colouring for the kids as well as water and glasses.

We took time when everyone was settling in to have a look at what the goodie bag included. Inside was a 'glass slipper', a pair of fairy wings, a wand, a tiara and a voucher for a glitter tattoo - well worth the money.

The event started with the owner of the company, Jess Nelson, taking to the stage to welcome everyone to the event and let us adults know that the bar was open!

The stage was then filled with prince and princesses singing and dancing - all the kids were in awe - and most adults were too.

The day continued with songs and dancing from the characters and they made sure to get the kids involved.

There was also photo opportunities, glitter tattoos, even a treasure hunt! As well as some quiet time with arts and crafts when the kids were all given a cupcake.

             

To finish up, there was a disco and every single child was given a book to take away - all individually wrapped up - which must have taken hours.

Every detail was thought of, including the amazing Cinderellas carriage for photo ops (Wasn't able to get a picture as there were too many children around it!) but it was simply stunning.

The costumes were honestly amazing, such good quality.

All characters stayed in character the whole day and were great entertainers.

The day was family friendly and good value. I would highly recommend the company to anyone with children.

They don't just do these big events, so if your child is better one on one - they also offer other options such as Home Visits and Princess Knocks where the character/s of your choosing will come to your house, as well as kids parties and more.

Princess Knocks from 2017 - Belle

I would highly recommend them for kids of all ages and you can find them online here or on Facebook here.

Have you ever used OUAW? Or are you planning to? - Let me know.

The next event is A Royal Tea Party in February - Book now so you don't miss out!

Much Love as Always,

*Please note; I am not affiliated with the company in any way, all opinions and pictures are my own and are from my own experience*

You're engaged! Now What? | Wedding Series

Firstly, Congratulations!

Getting engaged is, for most people, the best day/night of their lives. It is exciting, new and amazing...

Then you realise you have a wedding to plan.

What do you do first? Where do you start?

This is completely normal! I don't think that any bride could honestly say they didn't have any of these thoughts.

I definitely got excited and we sorted out who we wanted for our wedding party before we had even come home from Turkey!

We knew we wanted to give ourselves two years, to save for the wedding as well as to save to buy a house... crazy I know.
We also wanted it to be as close to our engagement date as possible.

Firstly, I would definitely advise to get a notebook to write down all of your ideas to keep them somewhere altogether.
(some lovely ones here)

I also have spreadsheets helping me plan, because I am that way inclined, and I like that I can work on multiple tabs easily.

I also downloaded an app called Hitched early on, which has been great to give me an idea of what needs to be done and when. (This is super useful and something I would definitely recommend!)

A word of advice is to go at your own speed.

Don't rush ahead with planning to please other people. If you don't want to get married for 5 years, then don't!

Plan what you want, when you want, with who you want!

I have a whole series coming up of how I have planned my wedding. All of them will feature my opinions and have no bearing on how exactly any of you should do it yourselves, just to try and help if I can!

Much Love,