Whole Foods Market - Cheltenham

Waking up to a severely sore throat this morning was not the best way to start off my weekend! I simply CANNOT be ill at all this month! Too many birthday celebrations at stake for tonsillitis to rear its ugly head!

Thanks to the new Whole Foods Market which has opened in Cheltenham, I went over to see what they had to help me beat the bug!

Now I had previously been during the week when it first opened and was super impressed. My boyfriend and I walked around in a food induced daze for well over an hour! It has such a nice atmosphere it actually makes food shopping a joy (not that I could afford to do a proper food shop in there as its kiiiinda expensive, but you definitely get what you pay for). They have so much good wholesome food on offer, which a huge percentage of the produce being locally sourced. The staff are hugely helpful and always offering out samples of food or beverages. We ended up buying some fresh pizza from the deli, a salmon pate and some soup - all of which is delicious!

However on my visit today I went straight to the juice bar. I choose a green juice drink which included spinach, kale, broccoli, apples banana and lemon. The kind lady that was serving me also added an extra shot of ginger to help with my throat. Its so nice having somewhere you can buy fresh and healthy readymade drinks, as I'm not always too keen on buying carton juices. I also headed to the salad bar. I picked up a cardboard container (eco friendly instead of plastic packaging - thumbs up from me) and filled it with pesto pasta, soba noodles and veg, so tasty and really filling. Now although this is no cure for whatever dreaded illness I have, it has hopefully energised me enough to get through birthday meal #1 this evening.

Oh and OMG the beauty section, I can't believe I havn't mentioned this yet! There is a large range of organic and natural skin care and beauty products. They stock brands such as Ren, Pai and NUDE and many others. They also stock Zoya and Butter London nail polishes which I'm incredibly chuffed about!

So basically I love this place and everyone needs to go there NOW.

If you would like a much more in depth review of this place along with some beautiful photos head over to We The Food Snobs blog. It’s a goodun. You can also have a look at the Cheltenham stores face book, they post photos and offers daily, as well as events they have going on in store.

Cheeeeeeese

Spices

Steak

Just a sample of the skin care they have to offer

Nuts galore. You can even make your own nut butter!

Enjoy the rest of your weekend

Ashleigh x

Myleene Klass Nail Wraps

Now I am not the best when it comes to nails. However, you might have noticed that Ashleigh is a bit of a wizz when nail art is involved. Me? Not so much!

I always have to have nail polish on at all times as I personally cannot stand a bare nail. It just doesn't look right on me. Nail wraps have suddenly burst onto the scene this year and I've always been a little curious to try them. So I decided to try out the Myleene Klass designs to see what all the fuss was about!

 



The process was a lot more simple then I thought. You literally just peel, stick down and file off the edges so it fits your nail perfectly. It did take me a little while and I'm not going to lie - up close they weren't the neatest. But I thought for a first attempt I did ok.

 



Best of all they went perfectly with my Halloween costume!

 

Shannon x

Autumn Beauty Wishlist

Bobbi Brown Long-Wear Even Finish Foundation link

Bobbi Brown Rich Caviar Eye Palette link

Bobbi Brown Long-Wear Cream Shadow link

Nars Blusher in Sin link

Illamasqua Lipstick in Magnetism link



So along with a new wardrobe and skin regime I think that it's only fair to add some Autumnal accents to your make-up bag. There is a lot of hype about the Bobbi Brown Long-wear range, and I'm desperate to try the foundation and a few of the cream shadows, especially berry noir. As for the palette, well it's just beautiful.
This Illamasqua lipstick is everything I want in a lipstick right now. Berry tones are very season appropriate (will that ever change?) and as I've never tried anything from Illamasqua before I may just have to make this my first purchase.
Nars blusher in Sin is a lovely berry tone with gold shimmer, perfect for teaming with a berry lipstick.

How many times do I want to say berry?

Hope everyone has enjoyed their weekend. I know Shannon has already posted about our Halloween costumes, so here is a quick look at the nails I did!

 

Ashleigh x

Autumn Wardrobe Wishlist

Pom Pom Beanie - Accessorise link

Leather Biker Coat - Zara link

Karki Jeans - Topshop link

Cardigan - Topshop link

Paisley Dress - Topshop link

Checked Shirt - Monki link

 

So I have officially cracked out my winter coat. Not that I'm complaining, I actually love autumn, and winter too! It's comforting knowing I will be able to hide under chunky knits and tights for the next few months! Above it what I've been eyeing up recently. Luckily I have an upcoming birthday so a few of these items may have to go on the present list which is already preeetty long...awhoopsie.

 

 

Ashleigh x

Spooktacular Halloween Shenanigans

Like many of you, last night myself, Ashleigh and our closest friends decided to dress up in scary (and not so scary) Halloween costumes and descend upon Cheltenham to cause mischief.

I am not really a fan of the old facepaint as it tends to get smeared as the night wears on and I end up looking totally ridiculous. I decided to go for the very unoriginal idea of 'Catwoman'. You can never go wrong with a pair of skintight, wet-look leggings and a lace peplum top!

Myself and fellow Catwoman - Elizabeth Maj

 



Ashleigh however, being the little creative make-up wizz kid that she is, decided to recreate the iconic Lady Gaga 'Zombie Boy' look from the Born This Way video. Original, damn impressive and utterly terrifying at the same time! A couple of the other girls got in on the act as well. How good do they all look?

Ashleigh - Born This Way

 

 

Ridiculously good right?

 

 

 

 

 

 



 

Happy Halloween guys!

 

Autumn Skincare Wishlist

Ren Glycolactic Radiance Renewal Mask link

Hydraluron link
La Roche-Posay Hydraphase Intense Masque link
Emma Hardie Amazing Face Cleansing Balm link
Aesop Parsley Seed Cleansing Mask link

We are now well and truly into autumn. This can only mean one thing...a new wardrobe :) (We will come to that in a later post!) It does also mean that my skincare routine needs to be stepped up a notch...or two. Now I'm no skin care mastermind. In fact I know very little about it. All I know is that I need to put more effort in. 

I've heard amazing things about the Emma Hardie cleansing balm. I went in to Space NK the other day to take a look and it smells and feels divine. Come payday this will be mine.

There are quite a few masks on this wish list. Mainly because I don't own any! Again I have heard good things about all of the above (apparently the La Roche Posay mask is a dupe for the Origins Drink Up Intensive mask, although I haven’t tried either so I could be lying!) 

Finally if your looking for an extra bit of hydration during these colder months, then Hydraluron could be the answer. Free from all the paraben nasties and aims to help moisturise, plump and smooth your skin.

Hope you all have a good weekend lined up. Me and Shannon are going dressed up for Halloween tomorrow evening. I'm sure there will be photos to follow!

Ashleigh x

V Festival!!

Ok so we have been royally useless with this blogging malarkey! We'll admit that once we get in from our jobs in the day, we forget and are probably too busy chatting away with whoever is unfortunate enough to be beside us at the time!

However, we've realised the error of our ways and have TONS to talk about on here, so we have promised each other that we are going to blog a lot more!!

Now this post is a little late seeing as V Festival was over a week ago, but it had to be shared! So last weekend me, Ash and seven other girls excitedly set off to Chelmsford for our second outing to V Festival. Last year was absolutely incredible and even though festivals are extremely pricey, they're oh so worth it!

 

 

The weather was ridiculously hot, but watching The Killers, Miles Kane, David Guetta, Snow Patrol, Noel Gallagher and Tinie Tempah to name but a few was well worth it!

In terms of fashion, the less clothing the better, as did I already mention it was SCORCHING! This year I saw a lot of bum cheeks as denim hotpants are proving to be extremely popular this season!

My festival outfits consisted of my trusty Hunter wellies (which I adore), Topshop star print playsuit, vintage Levi denim shorts from Rokit, Missguided top, Fred Perry daps and a cut out Topshop jersey dress!

Ash far left, me far right

The first night.

 

Ash&Majey loving life at the Silent Disco.

 

Me and Morris stumbled across the Very tent!

 

 



 

Hope you all have a fab bank holiday weekend!

Shannon x

Watch The Throne

If you're not a fan of Jay-Z and Kanye West LOOK AWAY NOW!

On Friday me and Ash took a trip up to Birmingham for the last date of the 'Watch the Throne' Tour and we certainly weren't disappointed! After umming and ahhing for quite some time whether we should purchase some tickets, we decided to bite the bullet and listen to the hundreds of people waxing lyrical about it. For 60+ quid I was definitely hoping they were going to be bloody good.

Turns out they did not disappoint as it was the best gig we have both ever been too. Two and a half hours of non-stop dancing (best workout ever!) whilst they delivered tune after tune. Unreal! Turns out Queen B and Kim Kardashian were in the crowd as well, but unfortunately we did not see them!

If you ever get the chance to see them both perform live you are in for a treat! Unfortunately for our friends we haven't stopped banging on about it and we aren't likely too for the forseeable future (sorry girls).

We're off to Wireless Festival in 2 weeks to see Drizzy and others perform, so no doubt we shall be harping on about how amazing it all was in a blog post ;)

Until then have a fabulous week!

Shannon x

P.s if you appreciate Jigga Man and Yeezy check out the pictures. If not stick on their album. We promise it's good!

Myself&Ash

Jay-Z

Otis

Ash&Majey

Kanye

WTT

Meet Harley

I think it's about time you were introduced to the love of my life (sorry Mark).

This is my dog Harley. He is a 3 and a half year old Border Collie.

He likes: Playing with his ball, going to the beach, cheese, sausages, tea (preferably without sugar), hide and seek and just generally being active!

He dislikes: Bonfire/bbq smoke, being brushed and the dreaded hosepipe.

There are hundreds of photos of him but here are a few of the best.

I'm sure this won't be the only time you will see his beautiful face but thought it would be nice to give you all a little intro!

Ashleigh x

Oh I Do Love To Be Beside The Seaside

Hello everyone

A few weekends ago (really need to learn to post stuff sooner) my boyfriend and I took a very short trip to cornwall with my parents. When the weather is nice there is nothing better than visiting the english coast and enjoying a nice pint of cornish cider!

We always visit Perranporth, which is one of my favourite places to go. The beach is lovely and there is a wonderful pub right on the beach called the Watering Hole. We found some nice rock pools, went paddling and played ball with Harley (not that this only happens at the beach...its ALL THE TIME!), however the sandstorm that persisted the ENTIRE day was very tiring. Especially when you can't take a breath in without inhaling a lung full of sand. Also the good thing about this beach is dogs are allowed (during peak times on leads - although we have yet to spot a dog warden handing out fines if you chose to let your dog roam free!).

We stayed on a wonderful campsite in St Agnes called Trevellas Manor Farm which had the most spectacular view of the sea. It was very peaceful with plenty of shower/toilet facilties and was very reasonably priced. Now I know this may sound trivial, but in order for me to fully enjoy a campsite there HAS to be a decent shower. Especially when you have the entire beach in your underpants! There is nothing worse than have a limp, less than luke warm wash (grr) only to find that you have sodden your fresh clothes (double grr)!! The showers at Trevellas were not the most beautiful, but were spacious and perfectly temperatured. There was plently of hanging space (no sodden clothes hurray!) and a nice hanging shelf for toiletries. They definatly got a thumbs up from me.


On Sunday we visited Healey's Cornish Cider Farm. It boasts a beautiful court yard with a shop, a restaurant and small farm with farm animals (obviously). You can sample all of their cider, jams and chutneys and for a small fee you can go on a guided tour of the farm. The best part of the cider farm is that’s its FREE entry. It’s not a day long activity and may not be the most exhilarating if there are small children involved but it is definitely worth a visit.


Then as usual we headed down to Padstow, and then caught the ferry over to Rock for our standard visit to the Blue Tomato Cafe. This is the best place HANDS DOWN for nachos and hot chocolate. The seating is super cosy and has lovely views. Its making my mouth water just thinking about it!


And then it was back home to the grind. Even if it was a super quick trip it is always worth it, and just taking a break and being near the sea always makes me happy. I can't wait to go again with the girls this summer!


In other news I painted Shannon’s nails, missed the Olympic torch coming through Cheltenham, ate and drank far too much over the jubilee weekend and most importantly...my Easter nails were featured on Company Magazine's website - link!! Sooo exciting.


Hope you had a good weekend

Ashleigh x

Vew from our spot on the campsite

Best apple juice EVER

Mr Crab

Tea & Scone at the cider farm (odd i know)

Unbeleivably good nachos

Soggy doggy

Leopard Skirts & Country Bumpkins

Well this weather has been truly fantastic hasn't it!? I'm guessing you can tell from my sarcasm that along with every other person in the country, I'm a tad fed up with the constant doom and gloom.

Come springtime when the weather heats up (supposedly) it's usually the time when our thick, black tights are binned and we dread getting the pins out! Winter has left us with hideous looking legs that haven't seen the light of day in what feels like years. Nights out have suddenly got us all in a panic at the mere thought of pale legs against our lovely new dress.

However, for the first time in what feels like forever I ventured away from my trusty, classic, skater style dresses I tend to wear on an evening out and opted for a pencil skirt. I had my eye on a particular leopard print number from Miss Selfridge, but had somehow convinced myself not to buy it. BUT when I spotted it for £10 in a flash sale it had to be mine.

I immediately loved how it didn't cling to any unwanted lumps or bumps and sat just above my knees. Even though I was bare legged I didn't feel self-conscious and I paired it with a teeny, Topshop crop top that went perfectly with it.

In other news, Me and Ash have been gatecrashing our best friend Jenny's house up in the countryside, pulling on the wellies and embracing this awful weather. As per usual with us girls, there's always one of us with a camera on hand ready to capture our daily frolics.

Enjoy the Bank Holiday!

Shannon x

Top - Topshop, Skirt - Miss Selfridge and Boots - H&M

Me&Jen

Ash&Harley

Ash&Lorn