Wedding: Tips for the newly-engaged bride to be

Hello my loves,

Happy hump day! 

I thought that it might be nice to write a post on my top tips for the newly-engaged brides-to-be out there that are probably feeling a little overwhelmed and excited right now. 

I am in no way an expert in wedding planning, however I've thoroughly enjoyed my time wedding planning and hope to share some of my tips with people that may need it. 

Tip number 1: 
Get yourself a new notebook. I know the first thing that you do is go out and purchase a wedding planner-diary, however I really struggled with those. They include so much stuff and are generally targeted either at Americans, or they are very traditional and expect parents to pay for X, Y and Z etc. My best advice would be to get a plain notebook that you can jot ideas, thoughts, prices, contact details etc down in and not mind scribbling and ruining the pages etc. 

Tip number 2: 
Have a think about when you'd like to have the big day. If you're lusting to be a summer bride, then make sure that you give yourself enough time to plan and save - it doesn't matter if you book the wedding 2 years away as long as you and the groom are happy with it. We went for April because we'd started planning in the September but wanted a year and a half to plan and save, so the timing just felt right for us. Each to their own.

Tip number 3:
How do you imagine your big day? Do you want a church or do you want the whole day at a seperate venue i.e. hotel/marquee etc? 
This will help you think about who you first need to contact. Doing this will lead into everything else, because there's no point in booking any suppliers in case the venue of choice has packages that include different things. For example, the package that Luke & I went with includes so many things - food, drinks, DJ, cake, rooms for the guests, stationary for the tables, table decor etc. (there will be another post about my venues, so I don't want to go into too much detail). 

Tip number 4:
I want to do a full post on this, but a great thing that Luke & I did was to sit down and really think about what we wanted to spend. We worked out what we could comfortably save per month and then added up roughly how much that would amount to and that's how our budget started. 

Tip number 5:
Once you have your date, venue and budget confirmed, put the feelers out early to any suppliers that you're lusting over. There's nothing worse than leaving things too late and then not being able to employ the supplier because they're already booked for your date. 

I hope that these little tips help someone; let me know if they do!

xxx

Wedding: 3 month countdown& ring shopping

Happy New Year!

Oh my god, I can finally say that I get married THIS YEAR. 

I'm absolutely overwhelmed by this and, for the first time since the wedding planning begun, I'm actually starting to get anxious about the wedding. Not anxious to get married (I can't think of anything else I'd rather do), just anxious that I'm forgetting something, or that the payments are getting closer, or that my dress won't fit... Silly things, I know! 

This weekend has marked such a special moment; Luke & I have purchased our wedding rings! I'm so, so happy and excited- it's just so pretty. I must've taken it out of the box, tried it on, put it back in the box, tied it up, unwrapped it, taken it out of the box, tried it on just to tie it all back up about 8 times. It's stunning! I went with a budget in mind, but I didn't want that to be the deciding factor, so I asked to try on all of the ones that I liked & then asked for the price after I'd found the one that I wanted. I was over the moon to find that the ring was half the price of the original one that I had my eye on! 

I got mine from Goldsmiths - Nottingham as this is where Luke purchased my engagement ring from and I wanted something to match. If you're from Nottingham, I would 100% recommend getting your ring from there - the service is second-to-none and they can't do enough for you (you can even have a glass of wine or beer!). 

Luke didn't end up getting his ring from there because, truthfully, he'd seen very similar rings for half the price in another shop and so he decided to go elsewhere which is good and has saved us around £100. 

I don't have a massive amount more to do if I'm completely honest as I've been plan-zilla the past 10 months, so I was thinking that I could maybe do a series of blog posts to talk about some of the big bits of the day and how I've managed the budget, suppliers and planned everything to a T. Let me know if this is something that you'd be interested in! 

Next up, get the suits! Honestly, I gave Luke one job & it's the only thing out of my control. I've given him the deadline of the end of January or I'm going to choose them and just order them in to the shop for him. That's fair, right? 

Enjoy the rest of your weekend!

xxxx

Home: My Christmas Tree

Hey my loves. Happy Saturday! 

A little bit of a different post today - more of a home decor post, I guess. This year, I'm really, really happy with my Christmas tree & I've had a few messages on Instagram of people asking where different bits are from, so figured that it's good timing to pop all the information into a post. 

 So the tree itself was actually from Asda back in November, however they've now stopped stocking it - they may still have them in store but it's definitely disappeared from their website. It's the 6ft Snowy Pine Tree and it was the brilliantly affordable price of £35. Yep, just £35! I had my eye on it for a little while before I purchased it, however it went out of stock as quickly as it came back in.

It was complete fluke that I ended up getting one - I'd nipped in to my local Asda to grab some new jeans & thought I'd take a peek at the Christmas isle & there it was, just the one left on the shelf. Some call it good timing, I'll call it fate haha. 

(above images) 
Warm white lights - Tesco
White iridescent tinsel - Primark
White feather boa - eBay
Rose gold beaded rope - The Range (last year)
Mini silver & clear baubles - B&M
Clip-on flowers (large pink & small white) - The Range (last year)
Beaded hanging heart decoration - Next

(above images)  Mini crackers - B&M
Hanging deer decorations - Tesco
Pink glitter bauble - vintage

(above images) 
Feather bauble - Wilko

Pink reindeer x2 - The Range

Hanging cage decoration - Ikea 

All wrapping paper - Wilko

I hope you all like the way that I decorated my tree this year. Are any of your trees similar to mine?

xox

Hair: How to get lengthy locks

Girls, how annoying is it when your hair literally will not grow? I spent absolutely years looking for miracles that would give me some length and now it’s finally time to share my findings with you.

I can’t believe that it’s been over a year since I initially wanted to share this post with you – as per the previous post, I’ve been busy and haven’t made the time for my blog which I massively regret.

So, just to put some context into my journey, my hair stopped growing around 2012. Like, literally stopped. It's strange, because before this my hair and nails would grow so fast – it was a nightmare getting acrylics because I needed infills every two weeks. There were no lifestyle changes, no environmental changes and I have no idea what happened - all I know is that I was never getting my hair to the length that I've been dreaming about since cutting it to shoulder-length in 2011.

This is me exactly two years ago - note, my hair is not far past shoulder-length:

And this is my hair now - it's past my bra-strap on my back to put it into perspective.

Here are my top tips and products to achieving new lengths with your natural hair.

1.   Chop off those dead ends. This took me a while to grasp, but I absolutely swear that my hair wouldn’t have grown if I’d have left those initial dead ends off. I can’t stress this one enough - you really do need to get your hair cut in order for it to grow.

So, before you start using new products, I'd 100% recommend that you trim off the dead ends. I know that it feels like you're going backwards, but trust me, this will help tonnes. I started by literally just taking half an inch off with scissors that I got from eBay for about a fiver. Don’t be scared to just trim the ends; watch Youtube for guidance.

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2.  Regular trims. Just like the above step, I recommend taking off around half an inch every 6 weeks to keep it in good shape.

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3. Purchase Hair Burst tablets. I recommend getting these from Amazon on a subscribe and save deal where they work out at around £18 per month. This is a little pricey and I was sceptical at first, but seeing the results justifies the price. If you want a cheaper option, Holland and Barrett do a similar product (Biotin) that is around £6 but I can't comment on the results as I've stuck to Hair Burst. 

I take two of the Hairburst tablets every morning with a glass of water before breakfast.

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4. Try shampoos that specifically target hair growth. My top 2 shampoo and conditioner ranges are the FAST range (£39.99 for a litre from here) and the Lee Stafford Hair Growth range (here). I’m convinced that my hair wouldn’t have grown nearly as much if I wasn’t using these.

I also swear by using the Lee Stafford Hair Growth Mask in between washing my hair and conditioning my hair - it claims to stops shedding which is my biggest insecurity.

Tip- to get the most out of these shampoos, I like to use a clarifying shampoo first, to get rid of all dirt and then use the hair growth shampoo afterwards so that it really touches each strand and the scalp.

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5. Try and wash your hair less and use less heat on your hair. So whether it's not straightening/curling your hair for 2 days out of 7 or trying to blowdry less, it'll all help in the long run. Also, by washing it less, you'll have more natural oils protecting your scalp. 

I’m over the moon with the results of my hair growth and can’t rate these products highly enough. I’m going to be using this routine for the next 4 months until the wedding, so fingers crossed I can get the same results again.

This post is definitely not sponsored; it’s just the things that I’ve found have worked for me.

xxxx

How To Fake Microblading using Eyelure Dylash

Hi.

Today's post is more of a product review than anything and as the title suggests, this review is going to be on my holy grail beauty product; Eyelure Dylash.

I have been using this on and off for years & I'm absolutely certain that they never worked like they do now, but girls, my trick is to not only use it once, but apply the product as many times as you need to until you get the desired effect.

Until I retried this product a couple of months ago, I was literally just about to book an appointment to have my brows microbladed for just under £300... I can't believe that I've got similar results for under £8.

Don't believe me, look at this:

In the 'before' photo, the top and arch of my brows are actually leftover dye from previous Eyelure dying, so they look fuller than they naturally are. The 'after' photo is two applications of the Dylash.

It's absolutely changed my life - I know that sounds totally OTT, but honestly, I can't even tell you how conscious I am that I barely have any eyebrows. It used to take me about 10-15 minutes to do my brows every morning; I had to draw the outline, make them even, fill them in and then buff out the inner section for a more 'natural' look. 

After using this dye, I can literally get up, do the rest of my makeup and not even have to touch my brows until the dye starts wearing off (& even then, it's literally a touch up on them).

The best thing that I've found about this dye is that it dyes not only the hairs, but the skin too which is why it works so well for me. Like I mentioned above, I genuinely don't have any hairs on the upper part of my eyebrow and the hairs that I do have are very sparse and spread out, but this dye grips each hair and then creates a natural looking effect on the hair-less parts.

I use the shade 'Black' which sounds extreme, but I promise it comes out the perfect dark brown - I've found that the brown shades come out too 'red' on my skin and look terrible. Using the black is handy too, because you can pop it on the ends of your lashes to give the look of naturally thicker, longer lashes, perfect for holidays.

I would say that my results last about 4-5 days until the dye starts coming off the skin, but the dye stays on the hairs and still leaves a nice guide for me to fill in my brows, halving the time that I usually take to draw them on. I tend to re-dye my brows once a week, sometimes twice dependent on my plans.

I've had the same pack for about 2 months now and I still have at least 4 more applications - the box states 'up to 12 applications' but I swear I've had double that.

I apply mine with an angled brush rather than the spoolie that's supplied with the pack as then you can get the precise shape that you like. If you make a mistake, wipe off with a cotton bud before it has a chance to stain. Once applied, wait the allotted time and then wipe off. If you feel like you need more dramatic results, repeat the application. I tend to do it twice per dying session, sometimes three times. I find that you can get a nice fade to the inner parts of the eyebrow by only applying to that part once and avoiding it on the 2nd application.

This generally retails for around £8 (£7.50 at Boots here).

Honestly, if you're considering microblading but don't really have the cash, please try this first. No, of course it doesn't last anywhere near as long as microblading, but it's 37 times cheaper, so who's the real winner?

Let me know if you've tried this before and if you do try it, please tag me on Instagram - I'd love to see your results too! 

xxxx

The Perfect Autumnal Day

How Instagrammable are these pictures?

I've wanted to go pumpkin picking for as long as I can remember, but I had no idea where on earth you find these places; that was until I saw a couple of people posting on Insta about this gorgeous pumpkin-filled space that is just the epitome of "Autumn". 

Maxey's Farm Shop (website here Instagram here) is home to this beautiful spot and they grow their pumpkins each year and then offer the public free entry to the pumpkin patch where you can scan the field for your perfect pumpkin and then you go and pick it yourself. 

When you first get there, you are directed where to park and then you can grab a wheel barrow and go into the patch through the sign-posted entrance. To the left of the patch is a cute little 'scary walk' through the woods that only takes a couple of minutes and then you finally get to walk into the sea of pumpkins. The view is honestly quite breathtaking - it's somewhat magical seeing hundreds of pumpkins set out in front of you.

At this point, the search begins to find your perfect pumpkins. 

I really wanted to find a couple of cute baby pumpkins that I can put around the house as decorations, whereas my sister wanted to find the biggest one possible. They had every pumpkin that you could possibly imagine and near the end in small crates were 'ghost' pumpkins (the white ones) and very, very ugly pumpkins (very Halloween-y). 

Once you've picked your chosen pumpkins, you go towards the entrance where there's a small sheltered area and that's where you pay. The prices are absolutely fair; ranging from £2 for small pumpkin to £3.50 for the XXL ones.

I have to admit that I definitely wasn't dressed accordingly, but then for anyone that knows me, that won't come as a surprise. Also, make sure that you have cash, otherwise you have to visit the Farm Shop and spend £5 to get some cash back, but the queue was so long and it took around 20 minutes to go down.

Once we had finished there, we went down the road to Newfield Dairy ice cream parlour (website here) which is a small cafe with handmade goodies where we warmed up with a tasty ultimate hot chocolate & then went on to a pub more local to home and ended the day with some proper homemade food. 

A Saturday well spent in my opinion. Have you ever been pumpkin picking?

xxxx

Welcome back

Hello my loves!

This post will be pretty short and sweet, but I wanted to put something out there before I dive straight back in to posting again. 

It's been exactly a year since I last posted on this blog and whilst I've absolutely missed updating, it's given me a chance to focus on other things that I needed to get on with. 

Since my last post in October 2016, I've been a bridesmaid, I've planned a kick-ass hen do and wedding for April (there are plenty of posts coming about this!), I've made new friends, seen old friends, started making my house more modern, concentrated on Slimming World and successfully lost 2 stone (and still going!), worked on getting my career on track and in the past month, I've also got a new job! 

In my coming posts, you'll hear a lot about the things that I've got up to in the past 12 months and also the things that I have coming up in the next 6 months (erhum, wedding).

I just thought I'd take the time to ask that if there's anything in particular that you'd like to see in my posts, please let me know and as always, if you want to keep up to date with my daily ventures, please follow my Instagram; Jessicaemilystarbuck.

Sidenote; you'll notice that my blog URL is now simply Jessicaemilystarbuck which I think sweeps in better with my personal brand - strange that I'll possibly be changing this after the wedding!

Thanks for sticking with me, have a fab weekend!

xxxx