Blogging when we can 💁🏽♀️
We Got This TW - Audience Survey
Please take part in our short audience survey, it will take no longer than 8 minutes - we promise!
As a small thank you, we will enter you into a prize draw for the chance to win a £20 voucher of your choice and two tickets to our next event
Survey will be open from 5th November - 30th November 2018
Every so often, on a Wednesday, we ask a mum how they manage their work and family. This week, Ciara Elliott gives us her approach to feeling like she’s ‘got this’. (Sometimes.)
Please can you tell us a bit about yourself and your business?
Ciara is a magazine editor and journalist, mum and general fashion and interiors fanatic. She has two little girls who are 6 and 8 and has recently given up full time work as Editor in Chief of interiors magazine @ekbbmag (Essential Kitchens and Bathrooms) to work freelance as an editor and journalist and get stuck into her house DIY as well as run @fash_reboot. Previous editorships and fashion editorships include the UK glossy Wedding, The Sunday Tribune and Irish Tatler magazine. 🚗
What is your most embarrassing parenting moment?
I think I’m probably the mum who has experienced them all - from turning up on non pupil days to forgetting tooth fairy money but the worst was when Edie was a baby and I was getting a taxi back with bags of shopping and the buggy and all that. I was beyond tired and managed to take everything from the taxi - other than the baby. The taxi driver knocked - after I’d shut the door and paid him - to hand me back the baby! 🚗
How do you juggle parenting with your work?
The reason I do this business is so I can juggle work around the kids school hours. I also have help from granny.
Find Ciara at @ciaraelliott and @fash_reboot 🙌🏻
Come and celebrate the creative, inspirational, entrepreneurial, hardworking families in Norfolk by shopping thoughtfully this Christmas.
This carefully curated edit has been created from a chance conversation about the incredible toys Natasha at NimmyNook Wood makes around her kids, and maybe we could showcase some of the other brands being built in our community.
Once you’ve had a browse and supported the small businesses of your choice, pop over to www.littlehotdogwatson.com, where you’ll find a Small Business Saturday - The Directory, which reaches further afield across the UK.
There are other ways to support small businesses too…it means the world when you recommend them to your friends and family, and when you follow, like and comment on their social media posts, more people become aware of their brand.
Please send this guide to partners, grandparents, aunts, uncles and friends and pick out things for your own Christmas list!
Every so often, on a Wednesday, we ask a mum how they manage their work and family. This week, Anya Hayes gives us her approach to feeling like she’s ‘got this’. (Sometimes.) Anya Hayes @mothers.wellness.toolkit came to Norwich in January 2018, and inspired us with her empowering take on how we can handle emotions and anxieties as our kids grow, all found in her book #thesupermummyth....
Photo by Emily Gray Photography, at Jarrolds
My friend Carly and I have gathered our scribbled notes from last night at Jarrolds - not everything, so I will happily add anything else you remember…The links are just to the brand websites, no affiliates. Here we go:
Eyes:
YSL Mascara Primer (can’t stop thinking about this)
Charlotte Tilbury Eye Pencils - Audrey on the top, Sophia underneath
How do I stop my mascara smudging? Need to use a tubing mascara which is not oil based, it is plastic so it coats your lashes in water-resistant, tube-like enclosures around each individual lash which can only be removed by warm water. The trick is to use a ‘big slaggy mascara’ underneath, then cover with a tubing mascara. Tubing mascara recommendations were Clinique Lash Power and Lancome Double Wear
Eyeshadows:
Foundation:
For dry skin: Chanel Sublimage, Armani Luminous Silk
For oily skin: Fusion foundation like Armani Maestro, Mac Waterweight
Lumene was also mentioned
Highlighters:
Lips
Reds: Laura Mercier Fire, Nars Audacious in Lana, Mac Lady Danger
Red liner: Estee Lauder Double Wear Coral (can’t find this, but the range is here)
How to stop feathering on an older lip: use a lipliner. If worried about it looking too obvious, use a clear lipliner or try Guerlain Liplift
Nails:
Broken nail issue: Look at Rescue RX
Fragrances
We heard about forgotten heroes like Poison, and timeless fragrances like Chanel No 5
Hair dye
Sali was asked about hair colour (she is allergic to PPD). She is trialling new products at the moment (skin tests). You can go lighter as bleach doesn’t contain PPD but not darker
Primer recommendation
Charlotte Tilbury Flawless Filter. Others have too much silicone which makes it pull
Foundation for spotty skin
Armani Power Fabric. Also SPF 50, is mineral based and blends well
Neck and jawline
Do you need a specific neck cream? No, but make sure you’re using your serum and cream from the bottom of the neck up. Try Vit C in the morning and Retinol at night. Do Face Exercises from Youtube
About diversity
Every single brand is obsessed with diversity and sustainability. Fente, Estee Lauder, Nars, Hourglass, Bobbi Brown and Mac all received shout outs for diversity
Products that Sali would include in Pretty Iconic, if writing it now:
Phew!
When I was tagged into a post about Sali Hughes doing a book tour, I realised I hadn’t even thought properly about beauty products for a year, apart from an emergency lipstick purchase (you can’t meet Mother Pukka and not have a red lip, in my eyes). Two small kids, setting up a business, moving house, freelancing and trying to be an adult took up the time (humble brag alert).
Without sounding like a cliche, I had of course my staple dark-eye-hiding concealer and colour-boosting trusty Bare Minerals foundation but I didn’t know what had changed, what was new, who was Bobbi Brown (joke!).
What if Sali opened my eyes to this world again? (she has). What if other women feel the same (you do!). When was the last time you leisurely browsed a make up brand IN REAL LIFE?! When did you last shake up your make up?! Exactly.
I am not going to say this is how I ‘treated myself’, or ‘pampered myself’ as ALL women should find a few minutes to themselves each day.
SO. 6 ways to edge beauty back into your busy, juggley life:
1 Read the archive of Sali’s articles at The Guardian. Just google her name plus the needed product type and you’ll be faced with a range of very bank account friendly options to luxury products. Here is a handy link to her entire back catalogue.
2 I was going to say, buy a ticket to see Sali Hughes in conversation with Sam Chapman. But it’s sold out now! 140 people are gathering next week at Jarrolds. Pretty Iconic (I have the new paperback version) is a bit like a blast from the past, a chat with a friend and the start of a wish list. Anyone else remember having a tube of Rimmel Hide the Blemish in high school? Or realising that YSL Touche Eclat on under eyes made them appear a bit ‘different’ in photos vs real life? You can buy the new book at Jarrolds (online link coming).
3 Along with over 2m other people, watch video after video of Norwich mothers Sam and Nic at Pixiwoo, their makeup tutorials are utterly mesmerising. Also LOOK…Nic did a ‘Mum on the Run’ tutorial 💁🏽♀️.
4 Watch Sali Hughes in the bathroom with Lily Allen. And Caitlin Moran. And Charlotte Tilbury. And Caroline Hirons. And Bobbi Brown. Here.
5 See Haylie @haylieclarkey__, she is the Senior Lead Artist at Charlotte Tilbury in Jarrold. You can pick up a quick trick in 15 mins, or a transformation makeover. I was in for a transformation makeover for my birthday, and learnt about what products are good for me, why, how much passion Charlotte put into the product development and I could pick ‘a look’.
My bestie Emma and me, footloose and fancy free on my birthday. Best pic I have of my transformation by Haylie.
I walked away with a few products and some samples, and my absolute favourite is the Magic Cream. It’s like using pillows of deep, enriching rose scented heaven. You can book in here.
6 Have you heard of Caroline Hirons? My friend told me all about her. I studiously examined her website to learn all about double cleansing, serums, night creams, day creams. Now THAT is investing in yourself. You might think what a load of faff, but I find I’m living my best life when I actually do this little routine. Often I don’t (very often) - a tip from my friend Gemma is to do it when the kids are in the bath. #everyoneiswinning #notexactlyrelaxing. Here is a link to Carolines cheat sheets.
I know I said 6 tips but what about all the beauty experts we have in Norfolk?! Here is a list of some I know, if you’d like me to add you, send me a quick email, more than happy to expand it!
Louise at U and Your Skin is actually Sam Chapmans’ facialist
Palm and Sole make all their own skincare products
Tracey has an encyclopedic knowledge of products at The Oluca Mummy
Have fun, let me know what you find and do, let me know any tips! Emma x
