Indonesia is a huge country, with so much to see and do, it is hard to decide exactly where to go. When we were planning our trip, we knew we wanted a mixture of cultural sights and relaxation. We had a chat to Trailfinders and decided to book the cultural part through them because they just make it so easy to travel. So take a look at the itinerary we followed and let it inspire your next big trip!
I’ve been pretty lucky to go to a fair few festivals in my time – from local bands in local fields, to mega metropolis Glastonbury. You can even check out my ten festival commandments here. Festivals are so damn popular at the moment, every Tom, Dick and Harry (I’m sure there’s a reason they’re all men…) is putting one on, and thinking they can make a quick buck. But a well-produced, successful festival is difficult to create. I thought I’d share some of my favourites to guide you when you’re deciding which field to rave in next year.
When I got my hair coloured (at the incredible April Egan salon) a few months back, I decided to conduct a little experiment with some new products to see whether I could cut down the amount of times I washed my hair in a week without looking like a greasy mess. So I thought I’d share with you exactly how I’ve switched up my hair care routine, because let’s face it, washing hair is a chore and wouldn’t we all love to do it less?!
This year, I finally got myself onto a beach for five days of blissful relaxation (check out what I got up to in Indonesia). I had forgotten how much I love doing absolutely nothing. Well, I say absolutely nothing, but I spent the five days solidly reading and got through a few great books that I really wanted to share with you. I’ve also rounded up a few that are sitting on my ‘To Read’ pile that I can’t wait to get stuck into.
I just love discovering new places to eat in the North East, so I was chuffed to get an invite to try cocktails and dinner at Sohe asian restaurant in Jesmond, a beautiful leafy suburb of Newcastle upon Tyne.
Indonesia is one of those far-flung places, packed to the brim with beautiful beaches and blessed by sunshine for a large part of the year, that can just seem so out of reach for a two week summer holiday. I chatted to someone who said they had been quoted almost £3,000 per person from a travel agent for two weeks in Bali, but our trip cost HALF that. So I thought I’d share exactly just what two weeks in Indonesia cost us and what we spent our money on.
Today sees my first ever guest post on Hello Jennifer Helen! Thank you so much to Lindsay for pulling together this wonderful post and for helping me out while I’m on holiday. Please go check out her blog here.
I don’t want to jinx anything, but I think it might actually be… Summer – Hurray!! I have to admit, Autumn is my favourite season, but Summer is a definite close second! The colder seasons wreak absolute havoc on my skin, and I suffer so badly with dry, irritable skin from around October to February each year, but with heat and dryness of Summer comes its own set of skincare needs! So, with Mr. Sun firmly out for a while, I thought I would write a little round up of my Summer skincare favourites, and exactly why I can’t do without them.
At the moment, every blogger and their dog is banging on about the Urban Decay Naked Heat palette and I admit, it IS a beauty. But feast your eyes on this. This is the NARS NARSissist Loaded eye shadow palette (£55 from Space NK) and it is completely beautiful. Comparisons aside, what do I think of this? How well has it slotted into my makeup palette collection?
When I was younger, I was really shy. I used to blush pretty much every time someone spoke to me and I hated being the centre of attention. As I’ve got older, I’ve grown in confidence (even though I’ve still got a long way to go) and one of the biggest triggers for this was going travelling on my own after uni. I’d now recommend everyone goes travelling solo at least once in their life – and where’s why! (You can also check out some old school pictures of me in my blonde youth…)
At the start of this month, I was lucky enough to be invited to Ice Lolly’s Blog At The Beach, held in Lambert’s Yard in Leeds city centre. I had never been to a blogging event like this before, but I’ve been feeling in need of a bit of inspiration so RSVPd yes. I know these events can be intimidating so I thought I’d pull together a few tips on how I think you can get the most out of attending, especially if you’re an introvert like me.