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

Easter Nails...well sort of.

Good Afternoon!

So this is what I came up with for my Easter nails. I originally wanted choccy bars on all of my nails but time was not on my side and I had to settle for 2! The bow was random, but I liked it. I guess you might get a bow on your Easter egg sometimes? No? Ok. So I guess they aren't very Easter themed at all. At least I tried!

Hope you like them

Ashleigh

Come Dine With Me Special

Good afternoon everybody,

Hope you've all been taking advantage of the fine weather over the last week? In typical British fashion it doesn't look set to continue but luckily we made the most of it whilst we could.

Our group of friends have been doing a weekly 'Come Dine with Me' for the past 6 months (Shannon and I can't believe we all stuck at something so long) and we'd gotten to the point where the excitement and competitiveness dwindled a little.

What with the weather being glorious at the moment, we weren't keen on the idea of slaving away over a hot stove, missing out on some much needed vitamin D. So as a compromise we've decided to go out for dinner once a month. Popular restaurant chains have been banned (i.e no Nandos under any circumstances) and we have to branch out and experience some fine, local dining.

So last week six loud, chatty girls ventured to Morans Eating House on Bath Road in Cheltenham. Everything on the menu sounded amazing and I had real trouble choosing, even though the menu was fairly small. I ended up having portobello mushrooms for starter and marinated chicken breast with prosciutto and taleggio, which was a fantastic choice!

Shannon had a wonderful chilli con carne topped with sour cream, which of course she devoured instantly!

Although the food was quite pricey it was absolutely delicious and the service was great. It was worth every penny and we all agreed we would definitely eat there again.


If you're ever around the Cheltenham area check out their website for prices and info http://www.moranseatinghouse.co.uk/.

Enjoy the 4 day week.

Ashleigh and Shannon x

Oriental prawn salad

Portobell mushrooms

Marinated chicken breast

Curried chicken lasagne

LUSH Facemask Workshop

Hello everybody,

Sorry we have been a little quiet these past few days, this week has been crazy hectic due to festival fever hitting Cheltenham. Race week is always manic with thousands of people descending on our idyllic town and we were swept up in all the madness and partying!

The Girls

We decided we deserved a little relaxation and pamper time after a very fun Gold Cup night out and we knew just the place to go to. LUSH had a brilliant offer in conjunction with Clipper Tea for a free, facemask workshop using their Catastrophe Cosmetics range worth £15! So off we went to out nearest supermarket to get a box (it was on offer for £1 - total bargain) and then we registered online link - simple.

We were greeted by the wonderful Tom and Maria who were our LUSH experts. Our face mask was a gorgeous, blueberry infusion mixed with lots of amazing ingredients, most of which edible and all were 100% natural. We got to mix the ingredients ourselves (obviously wearing gloves - duh) and once the mask turned into a sweet smelling clay, Tom and Maria set to work giving us a fabulous facial.

 First they massaged Ultra Bland cleanser into our skin to remove excess dirt and grime (there was a lot!). Full of Grace was then used to massage our face and leave a base for our face mask. It looks like a bar of soap but actually transforms into a face serum once rubbed between your hands. It's full of essential oils, portobello mushrooms (antioxidants) and camomile which is good for calming the skin. Then our homemade facemask was applied. We'll admit, it felt a little weird having blueberries plastered onto our face in the middle of the store (there is no separate room in the Cheltenham Lush so we were quite literally sat in the middle of the store) but it smelt so good and we were far too relaxed to really care.

The experience lasted around 1 and a half hours and we thoroughly enjoyed every minute. The staff were lovely and showed real passion and knowledge for the Lush products. We came out feeling totally relaxed, fresh faced and revived. Clippers Tea still have this offer on so hurry up and buy a box as this offer is a serious steal!

Hope your having a good week so far!!

Ashleigh & Shannon

'Life's tough...Get a helmet'

Now I’m a massive nail art fan. I’ve always loved to paint my nails but only joined the nail art bandwagon about a year ago after watching some YouTube tutorials. A couple of attempts later I was hooked...line and sinker. Pretty much anything inspires me, so when my brother showed me his new motocross helmet I was itching to get painting!

Apologies for the poor picture quality. I promise to get better, however any words of wisdom on taking good quality pics will be kindly appreciated – we are new to this so be nice J.

There were many wonderful snippets of the design I wanted to use, but I decided to go along with some of the tribal patterns and the big swirl as that stood out the most to me. These sorts of patterns can be super easy, yet really effective, especially when using 2 simple colours.

The black is Barry M ‘Black’ and the white in China Glaze‘White on White’. I also used some acrylic paints I got for Christmas (which I think St. Nick got from Hobbycraft) to do some of the smaller details.

Hope you had a good Monday!

Ashleigh

Spring is in the air...

Good evening everybody,

Apologies that we haven't posted anything in a few days, we have been busy taking snaps and enjoying the sunshine to share with everybody.

This past week has been spent working (naturally), our weekly come dine with me and a spontaneous, relaxing weekend in Penarth walking along the beach. Of course with the weather warming up, we did what every typical English person does at the hint of sunshine - flip flops, shades and summer dresses.

Each week we have a come dine with me dinner, which is a great excuse to round up the girls for good food, great company and endless chats and giggle. Molly produced a cracking vegetarian curry with homemade sauces. Mango chutney seemed to be the fave, overall it was divine! 

Come Dine with Me

On Friday, with a completely free weekend ahead of us and accompanied with our friend Jenny, we decided to take a little road trip down the M5 to Cardiff to visit our lovely Lorna Harris who is currently residing in Wales. We talked A LOT, ate numerous toasted hot cross buns and had a fight over a pillow. Riveting stuff you may think for four early twenty-something girls, but sometimes there is nothing better than being lazy all weekend!


Here are a few snaps from Penarth of us loving life in the sunshine. Enjoy the rest of your Sunday x

Lorna walking Bailey.

Ashleigh, Lorna & Jenny.

Shannon & Jenny.

Amazing collage of memories.

Penarth.

Lorna & Shannon larking around with Incredibooth.

Intro...

So this is our first ever blog. Pretty exciting huh?

Ok, just a short intro. My name is Ashleigh. I am a full time receptionist and an aspiring nail technician. I live at home with my parents, brother and boyfriend and have no future plans to move out (I’m 22 years old, is that bad?). I have a border collie called Harley, who I’m sure will be making frequent guest appearances.  Trying to think of something else.....nope that’s pretty much me in a nut shell. How boring. I would give you a list of things I love/hate but I’m hoping they will become apparent throughout this blog.

Reason for this blog? Shannon and I have a lot we like to talk about. And what with Shannon having an abnormally loud voice, a blog gives us the freedom to discuss the things we love together, without her bursting my eardrums.

Shannon (left) & Ashleigh (right)

So I’m Shannon. How would I describe myself? Well that’s easy, I’m tall, I mean proper leggy brunette. I have a heck of a cackle on me. Extremely long hair. Adore my friends who I’ve known since we started running around in bogey green blazers. I have a tendency to come out with very cheesy sayings. LOVE fashion which is a good job seeing as I’m a fashion journo, oh and I have an annoying catchphrase ‘heeeeeyyyy chick’ if you hear it RUN!

Together, I and one of my BFF’s Ashleigh hope to give you an insight into our lives and provide a few laughs along the way.  We will literally be sharing everything – cooking, fashion, beauty, gossip, travel, exercise. You name it. Enjoy J