For the sake of Auld Lang Syne

Well here we are on the cusp of a brand new year, mistakes made, lessons learned and hopefully a little wiser.

I have a few resolutions for the coming year but they all have a theme.....

~ To live more simply ~

To waste less - Time, money and things.

We as a household waste a lot of food, and this is costing us a lot of money.

I want to shop more at second hand stores and get back to finding something unique before buying new things.

I also waste a lot of time online, either Facebook or games on my phone. I plan to delete all the apps from my phone so that if I want to use them, I'll have to get my laptop out which will put me off! I also find Facebook in particular a very negative place and I don't really want to find myself feeling that way all the time. So out they go!

Plan more - Organising my time, planning nice things to do and organising the house so I spend less time looking for things and getting stressed.

I think this is something Aaron would benefit from too, never too young to start good habits. We have already planned a movie list which we will work our way through but also I want to plan a monthly trip to London to visit a museum or garden or similar.

Read more - As a child I would spend hours reading, and somewhere along the way I now hardly read at all, I think it would be good for my soul. I have a library card so I'll try to get books free there and free on my kindle before buying.

Craft more - Not only do I enjoy it, but it falls in the live simply category as well. Up cycling things I already own to make them new and fresh, seeing if I can make something before buying. Craft more with Aaron as he loves art.

Health and Exercise - Accept my body for what it is and concentrate my efforts on being healthy and strong, if I lose weight as a part of that then so be it, but weight loss won't be my only goal. Get rid of clothes I've been hanging onto " when I lose weight" it's just a reminder of failure.

To stress less - I'm hoping that by living a simpler life, there will be a little less stress but I'd love to find a way to relax be it meditation, yoga or tai chi or something similar.

To work - I've been on the brink of getting my business running fully for about three months now and it's finally time for me to set the wheels in motion. It will be a challenge but also enjoyable. Now that Aaron is settled at school, Marcus is settled and my mum is on the road to recovery I finally feel I can make it a priority.

I hope that having this all written here will keep me going as I try to break old habits and forge new ones.

I am truly thankful for 2012, there has been ups and downs, tears, laughter and love. May your New Years eve be wonderful and your 2013 be everything you want and more xx

Crazy Cat Lady

I've been fighting off this latest cold , can't believe it's the third time I've been sick this month , roll on spring!

Well there's nothing better to do when ill than snuggle up on the sofa in comfy clothes, watching t.v and surfing the internetz.

My furry babies have been keeping me company all day as my proper baby is staying with his dad for the weekend. I absolutely love my cats Otto and Clive, they seem more like dogs to me, they ask for attention, they seek out our company and they greet us when we get home.

I've had them from kittens , and I can't imagine my home without them.

New years eve tomorrow, I shall be back with a resolutions post tomorrow but for now I leave you with some pictures of the Stripey ones xx

And so this is Christmas

Well I hope you had a great Christmas or holiday however you celebrated it! It was a reasonably quiet one here, on Christmas eve I cooked a Swedish style Christmas dinner for my parents, Marcus, Aaron and Aaron's dad. My mum and Dad loved the Swedish food I made, meatballs, beet root salad , salmon, knäckerbröd , cheese.....was very yummy!

Then Christmas day I did a traditional English dinner of roast turkey, roast potatoes, pigs in blankets and veg all with tasty gravy! It was the first time I'd had Christmas dinner with my brother for about 10 years as well so it was nice to all be together.

On boxing day, Aaron went to spend time with his dad, and marcus and I did nothing but eat, sleep and watch movies! We played trivial pursuit as well, I'd gotten this in a charity shop before Christmas, they're £30 new but I paid just £1.50 :) we watched the film Van Helsing, it was ok, I give it 6/10 but it was easy viewing for a relaxing day!

I got some nice presents too, some money which I will put towards a pair of boots I have my eye on, I also got some lush shower gel in twilight, nail polish( Barry M) sweets and a new pair of jeans. I also got some very cute lip balms (cruelty free from Superdrug), an ice cream maker and Star Wars on Blu Ray.

All in all a great time. Unfortunately I now have a cold but it's ok, I'm sure it'll pass!

Happy Christmas to you all and here's to New Year! xx

Animal testing and China

If you're someone who is making an effort to go cruelty free with your products, you will be well aware that if a product is sold in China, it is subject to animal testing by law. From what I can make out through my own research, although not every product will be tested , particularly if the ingredient has been on sale in China for some time, companies must animal test their products if the law requires it.

This unfortunately provides a few milestones to get over in terms of finding out which products are cruelty free.

I recently discovered that Peta's no test list isn't always accurate and it is best to do your own research.

Nubar is a nail company that promotes itself to be vegan and cruelty free, but yet they have a distributor in China. Korres is owned by themselves in Europe but licensed through Johnson and Johnson in the U.S, Sleek makeup and MUA make up say they're cruelty free but their websites ship worldwide, does this mean they are subject to the animal testing laws enforced in the countries they ship too?

It's incredibly frustrating as a consumer, having to go on Internet heresay and forums, who is correct? And where do you draw the line?

So I've decided to make my own list of points that I will want companies to comply to before I buy:

• Must say cruelty free/BUAV approved/ on Petas list

• Must not be owned by a testing parent company (L'oreal and body shop for example)

• If they are on one of those lists above, research where their products are available and if they are sold in China or other countries where testing is required

• Try to move away from mass produced products and seek out alternatives from Etsy etc

It's annoying but I won't give up. I will post reviews and research as I find it xx

Happy Christmas

Hope you all have a lovely Christmas , I'm taking a little break over the next few days to spend time with my family :)

I'll be back soon! xx

MUA mega volume mascara

Just a quick review post today, I've decided to do the skin care posts after silly season as I'd like the time to do them properly and not just give you half arsed information!

Anyway I bought some new make up today from Sleek and MUA or Make Up Academy. More on the Sleek later , but I purchased an MUA mascara called Mega Volume.

It comes in a fat tube with a large plastic brush. I made the mistake of buying it in black/brown instead of my usual black boooo. Ok the good points.... Price, it was only £3. I love the brush and it separated beautifully. No fragrance and didn't irritate my eyes. Wasn't sticky or clumpy. Love the tube colour , and it's cruelty free.

Bad points......for a mascara called mega volume, it gave my lashes no volume at all :( I guess it would be good for those who like a more natural look but I love big, full , long lashes.

Le Sigh....I'll be sticking to my more expensive Gosh catchy eyes for the moment but I will try the other mascaras in the MUA range as they are so cheap.

You can find MUA make up at Superdrug or online at www.muastore.co.uk

Sorry for the rubbish quality pictures, it's very dark and gloomy here today, and raining a LOT!!! Hopefully you can get the idea xx

Skincare

Well, I was wondering what to post about today other than the usual holiday stuff and I'm going to do a series of posts on skincare.

Some will be about my favourites and reviews, and some will be answering questions about skin problems. I get asked quite a bit about various things as a beauty therapist and I think it'd be great revision for me to write about them!

So is there anything you'd like to know? I'm going to write about ageing, dry skin, acne , open pores so far as that's what I get asked about the most.

If you've any skincare issues you'd like me to cover then please leave a comment below and I'll do my best to answer them!

St Lucia Day

Hope all my friends and family are enjoying themselves today celebrating Saint Lucia! I'm going to be baking the traditional saffron buns later , my first attempt so fingers crossed!

OPI James Bond Collection

Today I finally got my hands on some of the OPI shades from the James Bond Collection.

Now I couldn't decide whether to purchase these initially as although OPI is cruelty free and on Petas don't test list, they are owned by Coty who do test.

With regards to my own personal products, I won't buy any product that isn't cruelty free or is made by a company that is owned by a company that tests, for example The Body Shop is leaping bunny approved but is owned by L'oreal.

With my work products, I have had to relax this slightly and aim for brands that are as cruelty free as possible. I email suppliers and try to get as cruelty free as I can. It's hard but I have to supply my business :(

Anyway, back to the goodies! So I got two colours , On Her Majesty's Secret Service which is a blue toned glitter and Live and Let Die which is a dark green with shimmer in. I also found the coveted The Man With The Golden Gun topcoat! It has pieces of 18 carat gold leaf suspended in it. It's divine and as I am a trade customer I got it for £14 instead of the £29.99 retail price.

Here I've put the top coat over Live and Let Die, but I think it would look great over a red or purple xx

Snow!

So this morning I woke up to a very excited little boy and this! Snow!

Hej, Bonjour and Hello

Well I've made a few little changes here on vintage hopes and retro dreams, some new pictures, labels so you can find posts easier and a share it button so you can share to Facebook and Twitter :)

When I was looking at the stats of my blog I was surprised to see where a lot of my readers come from, England and Sweden I expected but there was a lot of traffic from America , France and even China!

Don't be shy, come and say hello and leave me a comment, you can also follow my blog to keep up to date with my ramblings!!! I was thinking of putting a translate button here too to make it easier for my non English speaking readers, I'll investigate that tonight

Hope you're having a good start to the week! xx

Goodbye Urban Decay

We are gathered here today to mourn the loss of Urban Decay to another animal testing giant, L'oreal.

I've been suspicious of just how committed this brand was to keeping cruelty free after the whole selling in China fiasco back in the summer.

Now they've been bought by L'oreal it's clear their only commitment is to making money.

Maybe they will teach L'oreal a thing or two about animal testing. We shall see, but for now, I will no longer be buying or wearing their products.

Superdrug lipgloss

Just a quick piccie of me wearing one of my new Superdrug lip glosses! It's a beautiful red brown colour, almost the same as my natural lip colour, I love it! What do you think?

Superdrug Christmas Gift Sets

The one thing I love about Christmas shopping is all the gift sets you can buy. Of course I buy some as gifts, but it's a great way to get limited editions or save some money on your favourite products.

As Superdrug don't do a dedicated BUAV approved make up range all year round, I eagerly anticipated their Christmas sets of make up, and I wasn't disappointed. All their sets are leaping bunny approved and great value for money!

I got a couple of things to replace stuff I'd gotten rid of and also some things that were just a bargain.

Ok first I got some eyeshadows. They are in a stick form with two colours on each end. I love these and I think they'll make a great base for other colours too.

Next I got some lip glosses. There are three sheer colours and four more opaque colours. Again I love these, nicely pigmented and they smell great. A steal at £1.25 each!

I was very pleased to see some glitter eyeliners. I have a couple of Urban Decay ones but they are so expensive. These were five in a set for £6.99. My only complaint is the brush which is quite thin, but honestly for the price I think they're great.

Lastly I got some shimmer pots. Again I'm really pleased. I will definitely use a primer to make them stay and although not as soft as some other eyeshadow dusts I've tried, the colours were lovely and again for the price they're a winner.

Thank you Superdrug for producing great cruelty free make up sets!! xx

Beard L❤ve

I am lady who loves a beard on a man, so glad Marcus is growing his back .....All hail the winter plumage ^^

L❤VE

I totally have this......and I'm the luckiest girl in the world :)

Beware the Kraken!

Very pleased with my new pretty! A beautiful cushion to go on our new bed. This little guy guards my pillows now!

Winter is coming

So it's still chaos here, my landing ceiling got removed today and there's no carpet in the hall , stairs and landing either. It may get finished by Christmas, it may not but to be honest I'm kinda past stressing about it all now!

Some other annoying news , one of my photo shoots got cancelled :( I was so looking forward to dressing up! Never mind, its being re-arranged for next month now.

Now then, back to business, Shoes! Or rather Boots! I love boots, especially in the winter and right now it's wet and very windy here in the U.K.

I got this pair recently in a shop called Punky Fish, they weren't hugely expensive and I just had to have them! They are a really comfy military style with studded skulls on the side ^^ and they look really nice with skinny jeans or a skirt :)

I also got some gorgeous knee high boots from T.U.K in the sale but more on those tomorrow xx

Le Sigh

So, I am feeling a little stressed right now, so much going on and more just keeps getting added :(

My landing ceiling collapsed back in June, it's finally being fixed on Thursday which is great but at the same time I just can't be arsed with all the faff, the moving of stuff, the men being here, using my loo and expecting tea :/

I haven't managed to get the spare room under control yet so I can't find a lot of my clothes and things, consequently I feel like a right scruff bag everyday.......I need my pretties!!!! And now I'm going to have to put another load of crap into it out of the way of the builders.

I haven't had any time to practise work stuff and I'm falling behind. I really want to get the business going properly. I love my job but doing clients here and there just doesn't work. I guess I'm craving routine right now.

Marcus is getting on well in his job which is great, only downside is the late shifts 1.45 until 10.15.....I kinda feel like a single parent again , I'll get used to it I guess. I'm really glad he's getting on ok though, I just miss him a lot. I think this is the longest we've been apart in a long time, I don't know how I used to go two weeks in between visits!!

Sorry for my moan, I just needed to get it out there. I guess everything will get done eventually!

Superdrug Hits and Misses

This will just be a quick post about the things I recently bought from Superdrug. All of their own brand products are BUAV approved and have the leaping bunny logo on the packaging.

Most of the products were good, so I'm going to list the good and the bad for a reference guide. I'll review each product properly when I get the time!

So first the good......

Toothbrushes
Toothpaste
Kids toothpaste
Mouth wash
Dental floss
Breath freshening spray
Shave gel (men's and women's)
Razors (men's)
Sanitary products
Deodorant (ladies, roll on & spray)
Body spray
Dry shampoo spray
Hair spray
Hair serum
Face wipes
Body lotion and butter
Body scrub
Nail polish remover
Cotton buds and pads
Cuticle cream
Oil blotting tissues
Face care including serums and make up remover
Aftershave balm
Deodorant spray (men's)
Antibacterial hand gel
Antibacterial hand wipes
Baby wipes
Hand cream
Hair wax (men's)
Foot cream
Cracked heel cream
Anti dandruff shampoo

And some of the misses....

Shower gels (men's and women's) we found these very drying on the skin

Kids shower wash , again very drying

Hand wash, again drying

Shampoo and conditioner, smells lovely but again left my hair very dry.

Lip balms, I bought their version of the Vaseline tins and a pearl shimmer lip balm. Both very drying and the shimmer was like 80's frosted lipstick!

Ladies razors, hmmm well I guess I've been spoiled all these years by Gillette! These were ok, I'm not sure they'd cope with a lot of hair growth!!

So as you can see, very few misses! It seemed to be that any of the soap/cleansing products were way too drying, possibly a high concentration of detergent in those ones? The anti dandruff one seems to be fine though.

You can see that most products are easily replaced with cruelty free and cheaper alternatives. I shall continue the hunt for affordable cruelty free shampoos, conditioners and shower gels. Watch this space!

More Pretties!

At the end of this month I have two photo shoots, so excited as I haven't done any modelling in ages! I'll be able to write more about them and the photographers after I have them and I'll hopefully have some pictures to post!

I needed to get some outfits together for both, but I haven't got a huge amount of money right now. So the easiest thing is to work with what I have and buy some cheaper accessories to go with them!

When I went shopping for Christmas presents yesterday I got some pieces of jewellery that will be perfect. I always try and buy things I will wear after as well then it's not wasted money.

I got everything in a shop called Internaçionale. Everything was buy one, get one half price so muchos cheapos!

I got some amazing large black cross earrings, a pair of sparkly stud earrings, two pairs of skeleton earrings with sparkly eyes :) , a skull hairband and three bracelets, a spiked one, a metal skull one and a cute sugar skull style one complete with a little pink flower on its head. I also got two long necklaces, one is a rosary style and the other a more gothic cross. I don't usually wear long necklaces but these were so pretty I couldn't resist. I'm sure they will add some interest to my boring black tops as well.

I got the whole lot for about £20 , great cheap way to update my current wardrobe.

Some other news......Marcus got a job! Yay! So proud of him :) he starts Monday and I know he will be awesome! xx