A cruelty free makeup look for Autumn

I am definitely not an expert when it comes to applying makeup, but I like to think I've improved since my early blogging days in 2010 (this post was my 'daily face' back then, looool) I remember fondly posting makeup 'hauls' and aaaall of the selfies, in particular when we all got excited about new launches such as Mac Venomous Villains! Back then I wasn't scared about posting my makeup face on the internet in comparison to today... where I feel like the standards are super high and I'll probably get laughed at by some young 'uns who have perfected their cut creases and contouring down to a t. In my opinion, teens nowadays miss out the rite of passage which we had after the millennium, of amateur (and very lovingly) applied makeup with the likes of Miss Sporty foundation (on your lips too of course) Barry M Dazzle Dust (the green shimmer was my fave) and absolutely nada on your eyebrows because that just wasn't a thing yet. Actually, having a lot of eyebrow hair wasn't really a thing either - and 10 years on I am still suffering from the over plucking 19 year old Ayden thought was a fabulous idea to do.

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Homegrown - The local brands I love

Well would you look at that, the wanderer returns! August has seen a brand new start for me and my lil' family. We've moved out of Glasgow, back 'home' towards the town I was brought up in, and bought our very own house with a garden, and a garage, and a bedroom for Reuben. So now we have numbers 4 and 10 ticked off the 30 before 30 list, yay! This new home has given us a lot of the factors we have been craving since I fell pregnant last year (mostly, SPACE!) so making this move was a mix of happy and sad tears, as we waved goodbye to city living to start a new chapter further out into the suburbs. With the last box unpacked today, I thought it apt to do a little ode to Glasgow and some of the favourite brands I have discovered, and fallen in love with, from our Dear Green Place.

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Go with the glow

When someone tells you during pregnancy that you're glowing, I know you should really take that compliment gracefully and gratefully. Whenever someone said that to me, I proceeded to tell them I was 'pure roastin' (v.warm in Scottish terms) and that it was probably sweat! Especially when I was staying down in London before Christmas - carting around with a massive belly on the tube was definitely not an easy task. I do agree though that the pregnancy glow is definitely a real thing, mostly thanks to hormones and an increased blood flow to the skin making it appear brighter (oh, and plumper!) Someone on instagram accused me of having lip fillers while pregnant, lols. Maybe this time last year, but nothing since - the sweaty glow and plump features were all thanks to Baby Roo! Eventually I learned to accept these new features, and hell I even embraced it and attempted to accentuate it. I took these pictures a few days before my baby shower and had planned one last blog post, but thanks to Reubens early arrival this is me just getting round to sharing them now. Here's some extra bits and pieces I was using to totally go with the glow.

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23 week pregnancy update

It's been 5 weeks since my last pregnancy update, and in 5 weeks of baby growing there has been a whole tonne of changes. Physical, emotional, and not to mention the size of my ever expanding belly! It still doesn't feel quite real to be honest. But here's how things have been going from weeks 18-23.

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The Daily Face: Cruelty Free Edition

Happy Tuesday darlings! It's been a wee bit longer than I'd hoped since my last blog post, but island life up in Shetland is treating me well and we are halfway through the shoot now. Only 10 more days and I'll be reunited with my furbabies and Pete. The anxiety has been rearing its ugly head a tad more than usual, but I'm lucky to be surrounded by a great team on this job who have been looking out for me and we've been having a really nice time together. Exploring all over Shetland (it is insanely beautiful, with scenery and white beaches to take your breath away) along with eating/drinking our body weight in seafood and Shetland Reel Gin. We've got this weekend off, so I'm hoping to take a wildlife boat trip on Saturday to spy a closer look at Puffins, Seals and Otters, and then Sunday I've got another horse riding trek booked. You can follow my adventures over on Instagram (click here) and I'm thinking of doing a travel post about Shetland once I'm home. It really is an absolutely stunning place! Anyways, it recently dawned on me that although I mention cruelty free makeup all the time on here, I've never done a full 'daily face' type post. So, here's a rundown of my absolute favourite cruelty free brands which I use on my face every single day.

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Cruelty free brands for gifting this Christmas

Since April this year I decided to make the switch to going completely cruelty free with my skincare, makeup and hair care products. It's been a really interesting process and I'm still learning something new every single day about animal testing and the different regulations (and often loopholes) which various companies adhere to. I'll only be doing one gift guide this year,  so I thought it would be apt to do a little round up of some of my favourite cruelty free brands which are all perfect for gifting your loved ones (or hey, yourself!) this Christmas and beyond.

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My eyebrow tattoo experience

Hats off to all my fellow millenials out there who spent most of their teenage years over plucking eyebrows within an inch of their life. It was the done thing, so many of us did it and now live to regret the aftermath 10 years later while feeling bushy in all the wrong places when it comes to the eyebrow department. Hells yeah I can grow little caterpillar brows! They grow down the way, and out the way, and slap bang in the middle... but never enough to merit a good, long shape. Just an interrupted monobrow of sorts. Alas, earlier this year I finally bit the bullet and decided to invest in a tattooed pair of brows. I say invest, because the money I would spend getting them tinted and waxed and buying products to fill them in would probably equate to the same amount of money over the same amount of time. However, I know it's a slightly bigger commitment than your average HD brow appointment, which is why I thought I'd share my experience so far.

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I got that red lip classic thing that you like

It's funny how after 7+ years I still never quite know how to start off a blog post without feeling slightly awkward, so I'll just begin by going HEYYY there! Again, I meant to be back into a posting routine sooner but I'm still feeling in a bit of a funk. My motivation levels are all over the place and often being sooked dry by work, but that's the constant battle I face trying to get the balance just right. I tend to get pangs of motivation at the most unlikely times (like yeah let's totally clear out and rearrange the contents of my makeup drawer at midnight because why not?!) rather than when I know I need to get shit done. So it's Sunday night, I'm feeling pretty rested from lots of sleep this weekend, and have decided to treat myself to a bubble bath once I hit publish on this blog post. BYE THEN, THE END. Just kidding, I have some lovely pictures I'd like to share with you from last weekend at wedding number four of 2016.

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Where you been, boo?

Oh hey you guuuuys. I took a little break from blogging for the last couple of weeks, mainly because I was mad busy and really wanted to focus on getting things wrapped up at work and a few other bits and bobs which have been happening. Thought I'd give you a run down on whats been going on recently, and what my plans are for the next little while now I'm finished up on my latest BBC job 'The Replacement' (which is hands down one of the most exciting scripts I've ever worked on, if you like thrillers then you are gonna love it. Along with Vicky McClure, she is one crazy talented actress)

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The Scottish Blogger Shop - Save The Date!

I'm super excited to announce that at in a couple of weeks time, myself and eight other Scottish Bloggers will be holding the first ever Scottish Blogger Shop! If you love a bargain and fancy shopping some of our wardrobes (or just wanna come hang and say hello) then on Sunday 21st August you can come down to Hillhead Book Club and do just that.

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The long lasting makeup must haves

Another weekend, another wedding! Tis the season and all that though, eh? Pete and I spent last Friday to Sunday at Carberry Tower out in the countryside near Mussleburgh to celebrate his cousin Louise's wedding. This time rather than getting super emotional blog post wise (sorry not sorry for that last one) I thought I'd try to be semi useful and share some tips for long lasting makeup, for a long day such as a wedding. My pores are feeling really clogged at the moment, just with months of working like mad and sort of (to be honest, COMPLETELY) neglecting my usual skincare regime. You can see it pretty badly on my nose in this picture, but I know it's down to my skin at the moment rather than the makeup I'm using. It gave me a kick up the backside after seeing this photo (my new Canon M3 is lovely but rather unforgiving) so I started a new skincare routine last Monday which I shall share on here soon. Pore-y noses aside, here are my long lasting makeup must haves.

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My Best Friend's Wedding

“A soulmate is someone who has locks that fit our keys, and keys to fit our locks. When we feel safe enough to open the locks, our truest selves step out and we can be completely and honestly who we are; we can be loved for who we are and not for who we’re pretending to be. Each unveils the best part of the other. No matter what else goes wrong around us, with that one person we’re safe in our own paradise. Our soulmate is someone who shares our deepest longings, our sense of direction. When we’re two balloons, and together our direction is up, chances are we’ve found the right person. Our soulmate is the one who makes life come to life. ” — Richard Bach

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My Summer Essentials

On the 11th of June I turned 27 (yikes!) and every year it feels like my birthday properly marks the start of summer. Even if the weather doesn't quite match up to it (I'm looking at you, Glasgow) This time of year is always really busy for me work wise, as the longer days are always used to their full advantage by film & tv crews. This current BBC job has been super busy, we started filming on Monday and surprisingly I've had quite a nice spring in my step all week. It's probably a lot down to my medication kicking in right about now (Thanks for all the nice messages after that last post ♥) but also to do with the extended daylight! It gives me such a good buzz and I feel like I get a lot out of my week. I've felt inspired to kick start my self care regime again properly, refresh my routine, and spring clean (in summer!) my clothes, makeup, and pretty much every nook and cranny of my house. Anyways, whether this summer ends up being filled with rain or not, my brain is in a much better place now so I really don't mind. Here are my top summer essentials while the season is upon us.

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Pastel Dreams and Braids 4EVA

I remember the first time when I was little and my Mum styled my hair into what can only be described as a pineapple pony tail (half up, half down, with the pony swinging about like nobody's business) and I made her put my hair like that every day for the whole summer. This is pretty much how I felt at my recent visit to Paddy for a colour refresh. I'm obsessed with anything Opal at the moment, and my new colour definitely fits the bill. Business in the front, braid party in the back!

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Coffee is always a good idea

A few weeks ago I took a little day trip through to Edinburgh with a handful of other Scottish Bloggers, for a coffee themed event with Curry's! My day actually began with a trip to see the fantastic Dale at Pixie Hair and Beauty for some brow tlc and makeup, but more on that later. You all know how much I love coffee (and my lil' death before decaf tattoo tribute) so I was super intrigued to try some Nespresso infused dishes. Coffee flavoured coffee, yes. Coffee flavoured food? Let's see how this goes...

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February Favourites

February already, say whaaaaat?! I can't get over how quickly the weeks are flying in, especially since I've just started a new telly job and each day feels like it's over in the blink of an eye. Which is good, because it's super busy! But it means that the weekends also pass by a little too quickly. At the weekend just there we celebrated mine and Pete's anniversary with cocktails and dinner at a local tapas restaurant which was DELICIOUS. We caught up on lots of sleep, I spent saturday afternoon at Cafe Strange Brew with Lori, Lynsay and her lovely pals for a Galentine's gathering, worked on my new blog layout (what d'ya think?) had pizza for dinner on sunday, and watched a few movies (Oh, and started on the new X-Files, holy smokes it's good!)  This has been a pretty great month so far, even though we're only half way through. So I thought I'd share a selection of my February favourites!

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Make me up! I get by with a little help from the internet...

Jeez guys, I need to be honest. I literally have no idea what I'm doing these days when it comes to makeup! I love all of the products which I use, but I feel like I'm on autopilot when it comes to their actual application. I decided to film a video for the first time in aaaages, chatting about makeup and using some tutorials to see if I could mix up my routine a bit and improve my technique. It's a long one - sorry about that! It should only really last 10 minutes but I spend the last 5 addressing a little something which has made me feel a bit deflated this week. High five in advance if you manage to watch the whole thing! After making this one I definitely know what I would do differently next time, I'm extremely inexperienced when it comes to vlogging - I take my hats off to all of you who do it on a regular basis! You must have the patience of saints. Any suggestions or feedback would be much appreciated ^_^ Thinking of doing this once a month if there's anything in particular you'd like me to chat about?

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Winter Skin - From prep to party!

2015 has been the year of skincare obsession for me. After my skin took a turn for the worst (pretty much out of the blue) back in the spring, it has been a long and frustrating struggle to work out why it happened, and how to maintain the progress I have made so far. I last blogged about my skin back in September, so I thought I'd give you another update a few months on, and share what products I have been using.

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The most wonderful time of the year

I'm sorry about the post title, you're thinking Christmas - right? Not quite yet. But it is gonna be upon us very soon so I hope all the Bah Humbugs out there can stop resisting it angrily and just LET IT GOOO. (See what I did there? Frozen, Christmas... again, sorry!) Anyways, before I fully embrace the festive period into my warm bosom, this time of year has another reason to be wonderful. A week ago today, I got to watch one of my blogging besties get married.

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Put on your war paint - The Selfie Generation

I feel quite baffled at the contradicting advice constantly given to women.

The way we dress evokes "What a plain jane, she's so boring, I'd love to give her a makeover" to "Look at her wild dress sense. You call that fashion? What an attention seeker!"

Our choice to wear makeup goes from "Oh you look very pale today, are you tired? Are you feeling unwell?" to "You wear far too much makeup! Don't slap it on - embrace your natural beauty"

The expectation for us to have children starts with "Oh, you had a baby in your teens? That's very young..." to "SO, when will you two start trying for a baby?! You don't want kids? Why not?"

Talk of marriage is often met with "Oh don't rush into settling down, you've got plenty of time!" to "When will you two finally tie the knot? Hasn't he put a ring on it yet?"

Sex shaming is probably the biggest contradiction of them all "Oh you were still a virgin in your twenties? You're a late bloomer aren't you!" to "She has slept with HOW MANY guys/girls? What a SLUT"

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