I’m back: babies, beauty work & the plan for 2017

If you had asked me at the back end of 2015 what I would have been doing the first quarter of 2017 I can guarantee you the answer would not be: on maternity leave! My blog posting went AWOL when the morning sickness kicked in. I had 14 weeks of non stop yakking into the loo. I would smile at my lovely clients, make some excuse of going to get them a drink, wash my hands or some other small task so I could run and heave. I couldn’t even keep water down. To make matters worse you don’t share the news in the first trimester, so the tiredness and sickness had to be disguised with concealer & a smile. It was awful. Work was really busy, so when I announced my pregnancy news I was at the height of the busy period and had no time to try and get back into ‘baby mode’. I started to wind down in December. I had to admit that physically I was struggling this time. Over the course of the pregnancy I had several colds & sickness bugs possibly caused by being run down at the start with so much vomiting. Even the medication prescribed didn’t stop me hurling every ten minutes. It was all worth it in the end though when smack bang on her due date little Miss arrived weighing 8lbs4oz. We have all been in love ever since. I continue to lash on the concealer to disguise the dark circles brought on by sleep deprivation.

So here we are; 4 children ages 12,6, 2 & 11  weeks. I know what you are thinking: time to hang up your gel brushes and lash tweezers is it not Jo??? Childcare will be a killer Jo. You will be tired Jo. All of the above do apply. I am tired, child care will be tricky, but 12 years in this is not the time to pack away the glitter. Right now I am taking a step back to enjoy my family, but this is not the end. 12 years in and the year of the big 3-0 I have plans. Things are going to get very exciting over the next few years and I promise you there won’t be a dull minute.

2016 did not end well. The flood brought about a lot of changes in my life. I still drive past the salon feeling mixed emotions, it represented the loss of a business, the loss of equipment, the loss of money and even the loss of a friendship. At the same time it also represented a dream fulfilled, the birth of a new home based and mobile business which was more flexible & suited to family life, the birth of this blog, & even better the birth of my beautiful baby girl. Yes the flood was horrible and stressful at the time, and for the months after, but it inadvertently brought about big changes, new ideas and a new path.

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flood damage in the nail room in the salon

So whats in store for the rest of 2017?? In between nappy changing, potty training, teenage tantruming & adding to my ever growing gel colour & nail glitter collection (we all know I just can’t help myself) I plan to continue writing this blog. Family and friends are still willing to be pampered and beautified so I can keep my skills current & I am also researching which training course I hope to partake in before returning to work properly in September.

Expect to see make up reviews, industry news, nail trends & share in my mummy moments over the coming months. Watch out glitter fairies as I am back and raring to go,

stay fabulous,

Jo x

mummy moments

yes that is a brussell sprout on my fireplace. The worst of it was we weren’t even having sprouts that day , the 2 year old had managed to dig out an old sprout from his toy box and leave it as a present. Thanks little man. Note to self

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I go into Arya’s nappy box (where frustratingly there was no nappies) to find daughter no.2’s brand new £60 toy shoved in there the same day she got it. Apparently she didn’t want it to’ keep her awake when she was trying to sleep at night’. It was only 2 o’clock in the afternoon. She had been wanting one of these things since Christmas, however seeing as they were like gold dust at the time we never got our hands on one. Now she has it, its safe to say the novelty is quickly wearing off. #notworththemoney

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Sleep deprivation causes me to forget many things: including the £10 note left in my back pocket. I now own the cleanest tenner in town.

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and finally….

I got the chop. My once almost down to the butt hair got cut off. I now enjoy half the blow dry time and save a fortune in conditioner. However the new hair style still didn’t hide the dark circles or make me magically lose 3 stone, but it did make me feel good (as long as I looked at the hair and nothing else lol). I’m still working on the rest.

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CND Creative Play: Review and news from this past week.

 

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A ‘Jo-moment’ in the form of a pink rinse kick started my week.

Last weekend,  the hubby and I joined friends for an overnight in Glasgow. My friend was turning 30 and we decided we were in need of some pre-birthday debauchery in the form of drinking, eating & laughing. We had a fab time, I was still recovering 3 days later. When I returned home to my mountains of washing I realised that if I had stayed just one more day I would have made it to the official launch of CND Creative Play at The Centre in Glasgow, with live demos from the ever fabulous Fee Wallace.

Creative Play is the brand new polish line by CND. The polishes come in over 80 different colours, and consists of different finishes including- glitter,pearl,shimmer,cream,satin,pearl and transformer. I didn’t have too worry too much as Fee used the new feature on Facebook called ‘Facebook Live’ and went global with her 45 minute live video demonstrating different looks that can be achieved using the new lacquer line. For those of you who missed it, it can be viewed here.

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I thought the live broadcast was an amazing idea. Stuck for childcare that day I wouldn’t have made it to the launch, but I didn’t have to. I could watch live from my mobile device which I could move from room to room while I watched my toddler go on a one man whirlwind of toy destruction. I could even interact by adding comments at the bottom, which Fee worked through over the following days answering every single one. Amazing!!! I am completely in favour of more broadcasts like this. So well done to Fee and the girls at the Centre for pulling it off.

So let’s get down to business. Me being me I had to order some of these polishes right away to see what it is all about. I placed an order for the pack of 40 minis which are super cute and ideal for retail, and a few glitters, top, base & a few colours to stamp with.

 

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This picture was taken in my messy kitchen, but I was waaaay to impatient to wait before opening it.

My order arrived promptly the next day. Due to being super busy at work I never got a chance to ‘play’ for a few days so I ended up borrowing my eldest to give me a hand-quite literally. I applied Creative Play base coat, colour coat, glitter coat, and did some stamping on her ring finger followed by a top coat. The polish applied well in 2 coats. Dry time wasn’t too bad, and the polish had a strong pigment ideal for stamping with. My guinea pig was pleased anyway as you can see.

 

 

So what do I think? Well the colours are bright, bold & fun, but will I use them on clients? No, not as a polish. I currently use CND Vinylux as my polish for manicures & pedicures, the super quick dry time & hard wearing qualities of it wins out every time. That and the fact I have 2 racks full of it which hardly get used. Most of my clients have Shellac, only a handful prefer a polish. I use Vinylux mainly on toes. I find normal polish a dying trend in the salon. However, Creative Play does have a place. I have purchased some of the lovely glitter polishes to use on top of Vinylux. I have kept a few for stamping with, and the minis make the perfect retail item. Just because I won’t use it much professionally doesn’t mean my clients won’t enjoy it as an at home product for themselves. The price is reasonable, the colours are cool & it is still a decent polish. I think using Shellac & Vinylux has spoiled me, I just don’t have the patience for sitting watching paint to dry. My daughter loved them though, she managed to wangle a few of the minis for herself.

An idea shared via one of the CND groups was to offer a Creative Play pedicure. Where clients get to choose a complimentary mini polish with their pedi. I plan to incorporate this into a CND Citrus Spa Pedicure for the Summer. This is a great idea as it lets the client maintain their pedicure at home. Did I mention how cute the minis were???

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Other purchases this week include two new Lecente glitters: Mortar and Waterfall. Don’t be fooled by Waterfall’s gold appearance in the tub, it is an amazing ultra fine multi tonal pink. It looks like it will be versatile and could go over most colours. It is supposed to be similar to CND’s limited edition additive ‘Dream Lily’. Mortar is a super sparkly holographic purple blue colour which I have been waiting to get my hands on for a while. I have also spotted pictures on Facebook of the new summer collection from Lecente which includes glitter strands. Now these I can’t wait to play with.

 

 

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For my Glasgow trip I changed my own nail colour to another new glitter purchase (I know I have a problem) from the Magpie Glitter range: Angel and Amelia. Amelia came recommended as I was hunting for the perfect nude glitter. It is beautiful. Angel is a mix of white iridescent and silver holographic and reminds me of Winter and weddings.It is extremely hard to photograph this colour. Both these colours are stunning. This was my first purchase from Magpie and I definitely will be ordering again. If you have any recommendations please do let me know.

Have any of you tried the new Creative Play polishes yet? What did you think? Let me know by commenting below, until next time

sparkle on,

Jo x

In other exciting news I have been asked to be a bridesmaid at my brother’s wedding in February 2018. I am so excited. Of course I accepted. I cried when I got this lovely card through the door.The only thing is I may have to give up my (un)healthy afternoon snacks before the wedding in order to lose some weight. No more Squashies for me (who am I kidding lol).

mummy moments: note to self don’t leave unprepared fruit lying around. The toddler WILL eat it, skin and all.

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The toddler loves bananas a bit too much- he won’t even wait for me to peel them!

Note to self no.2: remember to check under your bed for used baby cups.

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I’m ashamed to admit I found this cup under my bed 🙈

Note to self no.3: don’t laugh too hard as your pelvic floor isn’t quite up to it just yet. This did literally make my pee myself laughing-mainly because it’s true.

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I can relate to this

Note to self no.4: appreciate every minute as they aren’t small for long.

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Enjoying a lovely walk to the beach with my youngest  in his trike.