Beautiful Christmas Countdown

Couldn't resist a quick post on this one...

Chirstmas is one of my favourite times of year, and I annually count the days down until the first of December when I allow myself to put up my tree, listen to Chirstmas songs, send out cards and start opening my advent calendar!

But this all got a little more exciting when a lady in the office mentioned that her partner had bought her a beauty products advent calendar. Cue over excited squeals from every girl in the office!

After a bit of a quick search - I found exactly what she was referring to. Ladies (and gents - Laurie, please take note of this...) I give you, The Latest in Beauty You Calendar.

Each window reveals a sample size beauty product from some of our favourite beauty brands, along with a discount offer for the full size product. It all comes in a beautifully packaged box, and is only £59.95, with free p&p.
The contents itself are worth over £210, and include brands such as St Tropez, L'Occitane, Benefit and Nicky Clarke.

I think it s a beautiful gift to give someone (many of the men in the office agreed. I've sent out the link three times already to men eager to impress their special ladies!), or to treat yourself with!
Our waistlines are happy as we're not eating chocolate everyday, and what better way to get through the rush and stress of Christmas than to treat yourself to a little you time?

Love and kisses,
Holly

What's Occcurrrrinnngg??

I started working at the BBC coming up to two months ago now, and in honesty, I loved it!

I met eleven other lovely girls who are on the same training scheme as I, and we all got on really rather well. We shared three blissful weeks of Production Coordinator training, which included highlights such as an accidental fire in the kitchen during our health and safety seminar, a huge disappointment when we didn't get to meet George Entwistle (I bought a dress especially) and The Hash Brown Challenge.

But after our three weeks together, we were all sent off to various parts of the country. 6 stayed in London, 2 went to Glasgow, 2 went to Salford, and Karmen and I went to Wales.

We moved to Cardiff (with only two weeks notice) at the end of October, and since then, life has been a whirlwind! I'm now working in News & Current Affairs. When I told Sam this, he burst out laughing, and then gave me his AS Level Politics notes so that I could learn something in advance of my new position.

I live with a lovely lady called Luned, who also works at the Beeb, and likes baking - bonus!
However, nothing will ever be the same as my London life. In 18 months I will undoubtedly return there and hopefully pick up where I left off. But for now, I feel like I'm living in 'Gavin and Satcey'- I live in Cardiff (so, not too far from Barry!) and Laurie lives in Essex.

I'll be blogging again soon with all sorts of Christmas related beauty and fashion posts, and if that doesn't tickle your fancy maybe you should check out the blog I just started with my best friend, Chloe Satch.

www.satchelfullofsalt.blogspot.co.uk

It's all things crafty, bakey and makey!

Until next time,
Love and kisses,
Holly Salt

So long, farewell

Please do let me apologise for the appalling lack of posts in recent times.
In the last few months, my entire world has been turned upside down, and shaken around a bit.
I've moved jobs (three times), moved country, been the poorest I've ever been, and been the wealthiest I've ever been (this didn't last long).

I promise to post this week to fill you in on all the recent changes, and start sharing my favourite beauty products with you again. Who knows, maybe the Welsh have some fabulous tips of their own!

Plus, my best friend Chloe and I are currently working on our own little project, which we'll unveil very shortly, but you should be excited! We have a lot to share with you all.

Love and kisses,

Holly Salt

'50 Shades' Trilogy

I just couldn't resist doing a little cheeky (in all senses of the word!) post on this book series.
A few months ago, I picked up the first book, just as it reached the top of the bestseller list, and started reading it before all the contraversy was really known. You can imagine my surprise when I got to their first intimate encounter!

(On a side note, the contraversy, in my opinion, is unnecessary. Yes, it's an erotic novel, but it's no different or more shocking than any other. And it's definitely not the first time erotic literature has become available to women as has been suggested....)

I definitely have mixed reviews of 'Fifty Shade of Grey'. Having read it before the hype, I had no expectations of how racey it was going to be, and so wasn't expecting more than there was. Plus, it was a nice insight into a world that I've never been a part of. (Not suprisingly, I can't imagine myself as a submissive!) However, what I would say is that it could have gone a lot further. Christian has all of this equipment and aparatus in his Red Room of Pain, and even though it's all described, very little is used. If E L James was really trying to create a saucy S&M-esque novel, she could have pushed it a lot further. Plus, the will-they,-won't-they storyline got quite tedious by the end.

Secondly, the grammar and writing quality was in places horrendous, and felt like it hadn't been read through before publication. Most annoyingly, the main character, Ana, keeps referring to her vagina as her 'sex'. Why? Of all the nicknames there are for lady-parts, why call it sex? I don't get it, and it was almost as off-putting as if she referred to it as her 'sausage wallet'.

But despite all of this, I couldn't put the first book down, and even though I promised myself I wouldn't read the susequent novels, I suddenly have found myself halfway through the third book' 'Fifty Shades Freed'.

Book 2, 'Fifty Shades Darker' was infintely better. The storyline was much more interesting, involving a psycho-ex sub, a sleasy boss, and a bit more jeopardy! But while one thing improved, another worsened, and the sex scenes all got a lot less racey, and very repetitive. There's only so many times I want to read about 'vanilla' sex, as it's commonly referred to.

I'm now halfway through Book 3 'Fifty Shades Freed' and I'm bored. It's really quite a struggle to keep reading it, but I'm not one to give up. The jeopardy of Book 2 has gone, and the exciting insight into the life of a sadist has gone too.

The main characters, Christian Grey and Ana Steele are irritating.
Christian is brooding, and closed with his emotions, which makes having any belief or interest in their relationship near impossible.
Ana, although being a strong, educated woman with a career determination, is whiney and constantly self-doubting when it comes to Christian, and I find it so frustrating that she bends over backwards (sometimes literally) to meet his every whim. Furthermore, I do not need to read a description of his facial features, or the way his trouser hang from his hips every other page. He's an attractive man, we get it.

All in all, it seems like E L James has come up with a narrative that could easily have been condensed into one brilliant book. By stretching it out into three, it's become tedious, and there's been a bit of secondary character development to get you interested (people like Taylor - Christian's security manager, and Kate - Ana's best friend), but so far, this hasn't paid off.

I've got this far, so I'll finish all three, and be sure to let you know if my opinions change. I really hope it does! I've heard accounts of people crying as they've got to the end of the third book, and I cried at a VW advert last night, so I'm a likely candidate!

Have you finished the trilogy?
I'm keen to hear any thoughts you have on it, as I seem to be in the minority with this opinion!

Love and kisses,
Holly Salts

Monthly Presents to Me!

For a good few months now, I've been debating over whether or not to subscribe to a beauty box.
I'd sit for hours and debate whether I could really afford it, whether I'd rather choose my own new products to try, and once I'd got past that, there was the eternal competition of which box to subscribe to.

 The day finally came, and I subscribed to Glossy Box, as it came the most highly recommended. And at just £10 a month, I didn't have a leg to stand on. I was particularly impressed that it asks you lots of questions on registering about your skin tone and type, and what you'd normally look for! Can't wait to see what personalised bits I get!

My first one arrived on my door beautifully packaged (there could have been a spiders nest inside the box and I'd still think it was beautiful - the packaging is just THAT nice!) and my poor housemates had to listen to me squeal in excitement as I opened the box to reveal some brilliant little products, as you can see below (excuse the chipped nail in the picture below - it was the result of a particularly stressful day...)

The box contained the following:

Series Exclusive Pro Beauty Brush

HD Brows Precision Tweezers

BM Beauty Summer Warmth Bronzer

Paul Mitchell Leave In Conditioner

Vichy Dermablend Foundation Creme

I strongly recommend this to anyone who's umm-ing and ahh-ing about whether to sign up. It's like sending yourself a little monthly present, and makes you discover things you'd never normally pick up in Boots (my favourite this month is the HD Brows tweezers. I didn't even realise mine were substandard until I tried these!).

They even do a men's box if your fella happens to be particularly well groomed (or you think he needs to be!)!

As always, I'm more than interested in hearing your thoughts!
Are you a Glossy Box fan? Or are you a fan of another box?

Sorry it's been such a long while!

Love and kisses,
Holly Salts

A Fortnight Through A Camera Lens

This was originally going to be a week's worth of photographs, but unfortunately, I was so busy out taking photos in the uncharacteristically hot weather, that I never got around to posting the evidence!
So here it goes. Apologies to all beauty readers for being a little self-indulgent for a moment, but to all the relatives and friends back home reading this, here is how life in London has been recently:

From left to right...
Top Row:

1. New haircut!
It's been approximately 8 months since I had my hair properly trimmed and treated, and my oh my, was it starting to show! So in celebration of finally being out of my overdraft (with my extortionate rent, it didn't last long!) I treated myself to a good old cut and blow dry. So worth the money. It felt so good to treat myself, and I'm loving the big curly locks!

2. BBQ Fun! 
With the weather being as uncharacteristically amazing as it has been in England recently, my housemates and I decided that it was high time we made use of our garden tiny patio. Many disposable BBQs, glasses of wine and mosquito bites later, we felt we had well and truly christened it.And about time too!

3. Summer Fridays at Disney HQ 
Disney is based on a massive business park in West London, and the park aims to make every employee enjoy going to work! They do this by giving us 'summer hours' that let us leave at 3pm on a Friday, and by putting on events in the square outside Starbucks. This week, it was a Ferris Wheel, which Calvin (pictured above, looking terrified) took full advantage of!

4. Rugby
 Last Sunday, Laurie and I trekked over to Twickenham to see England play Barbarians at rugby. Not being a rugby fan in the slightest, I had no idea what to expect, and fully intended to go and have a few too many glasses of wine in the sunshine. But after an intense tutorial from my work husband, Paul (pictured holding what is obviously an exact demonstration of the rules of the game) I actually found myself really enjoying it. And not just because of the men in tight shorts running around. Bonus.

Bottom Row:

5. The Queen's Diamond Jubilee
The most recent weekend was an extended 4 day affair, and although the weather wasn't great, we sure did make the most of it. The lovely Miss Liz Helberg came to stay, as she moved out of London in September. So to celebrate, we bough novelty Union Jack hats and became tourists for the day posing outside of the London Eye, The Houses of Parliament and The Mall.
Saturday we watched the Queen's flotilla go past. The view was terrible, but it was all about soaking up the atmosphere. Sunday, I sat in Hyde Park watching the concert on the big screens, while drinking Pimms with two of my oldest and dearest friends. Thank you Queeny, for a phenomenal bank holiday!

6. Eurovision
I am a little bit Eurovision obsessed, along with my university housemate Georgy. So when she offered me a trip to Southampton to celebrate with her I couldn't refuse. We put up bunting, drank wine out of Union Jack cups, and had cuddles with the most beautiful dog in the world! When we went to bed that night, we found the beast that is pictured up there. I flapped around like a true girly girl, while Georgy stepped up and trapped the beast in a pint glass and put it in the spare room for her boyfriend to deal with in the morning. We were concerned it was a baby bat that would eat us in the night. Many phone calls, tweets and facebook messages later proved that it was in fact, just a slightly larger-than-usual moth. *facepalm*

7. 'Randy Cunningham' Preview Screening
I won't say too much on this one now, because I'm going to write a post on it at a later date, but 'Randy Cunningham 9th Grade Ninja' is a show we've been working on for a long old time at Disney HQ, and to celebrate having the first two episodes completed, we hosted a big screening with the creators. It was amazing to see how far it had come, and I couldn't be prouder to be a part of it.
I'm so excited for the rest of the world to see this - I'll keep you posted for when you need to tune in!

8. Boxpark Shoreditch
If you live anywhere near London, I recommend a visit to this place. It's a tempoorary shopping mall in Shoreditch, East London which has been put up for five years only. It's got a great range of tiny little shops, including a personal favourite, 'Irregular Choice'. And among all it's eclectic brands (and a few massive mainstream ones) there's some great places to eat, and some very friendly shop assistants. One of which gave me a free watch. Kerchiiing!

Hope you've all made the most of your bank holiday weekends, and the scorching hot weather! Unfortunately, my tan still comes out of a bottle...
What did you get up to? Did you celebrate the Queen's Jubilee? I'd love to hear what it was like to be part of the concert crowd, or to have been waving her by on her way to St Pauls!

Until next time, when I promise to be less self-indulgent.

Love and kisses,
Holly Salts

One for the Night Owls

It's gone 2am, my attic room is like a sauna in uncharacteristically Mediterranean England, and I can't sleep.
The obvious thing to do was blog!

If truth be told, I have rather a lot on my mind tonight.
Primarily, my money (ie. a lack of being able to shop freely for ridiculous dresses and heels I don't need) woes, job hunting woes, and woes about the fact that I know I'm going to have to get up early in the morning to straighten my hair before work, because heat and my hair just don't get on.

And instead of doing anything pro-active with my insomnia, I got distracted in the kitchen by my housemate/best friend Sam, and we had a good old natter in hushed tones for over an hour and a half and put the world to right.
Suddenly, sitting on our kitchen floor (I'm not really sure why...I'm poor, but I do have a living room...) the world was put to right and I'm happy as Larry. Even though he still won't let me have a puppy.
And I figured if I can share my love for Union Jack nail art on the internet, surely I can share my love for a person.
So here we are; Sam and I at the QVC summer party 2010, when I had awful goth-coloured hair and pale vampire-esque skin (not the sparkling in the sun kind).
Horrendous hair, horrendous over-exposure, yummy candyfloss, and a whole lotta love.

Incidentally, if any of you do happen to read this all the way to completion without vomiting over my ridiculous gushing, please do pop a comment below and suggest an insomnia cure? I'd be forever grateful!

Love and kisses,
Holly Salts

Eurovision, and the beginning of a Nail Art obsession

Eurovision is undoubtedly one of my favourite events of the year, which my uni housemate Georgy and I celebrate every year. In fact, I'm on route to her house as I type.

So with Eurovision arriving and my new obsession with nail art, I thought I'd combine the two! And let's face it, 2012 is a year to be patriotic!

I first tried out this Union Jack nail art on Calvin, a fellow Disney intern, who wanted just one nail done for a Eurovision party tonight. For a first attempt, I'm quite chuffed, an from the look of it, so was Calvin!

I used Barry M for the blue base (I like this one, as it has a shimmer to it) and then white and red nail art pens that I bought for a bargain price on eBay.

Really easy to do in three simple steps:
1. Do a couple of coats of the base blue. Allow to dry
2. With the white nail art pen, draw a thick cross along the centre, and then draw the thinner diagonal lines.
3. Once the white has dried, draw the red lines on top of the white cross and diagonals you drew. It's easier to do it this way than to outline the red with white, unless you have a really steady hand!

Et voila! Patriotic nails!
I haven't quite mastered the steady hand necessary for this yet, but practice makes perfect!

What do you think? Have any better methods?
I'm constantly looking for inspiration, so what else would you like to see on your nails?

Love and kisses,
Holly Salts

Umberto Giannini Salon Straight

During a big old rummage through my four boxes of back-up toiletries (the overflow from the crammed bathroom cabinet) I stumbled across this little product. I bought this a while ago as product number three of a Boots 3 for 2 offer and haven't really looked at it since.

My hair is very thick, and very frizzy, and so when I found a successful means of taming it (GHD straighteners and LOTS of serum) I stuck to it.
But one Saturday, when I had a quiet afternoon of no plans I decided to test something new in the next stage of the ongoing 'find a quick and easy way to tame my lion's mane' mission.

This product from Umberto Giannini advertises itself as a 'Blow Dry Cream'. I followed the stylists tip on the back and towel dried all excess water from my hair before spreading this through evenly and blow drying.

 The cream itself is a lot watery than I was expecting, having expected a similar texture to a thicker serum but this was a real bonus as it meant it spread evenly, and didn't leave you with fear of a serum-y, overly-glossy clump. (We've all been there!)

Have to say, I was dead chuffed with the results. As you can see below in the before and after pictures, my hair is very naturally curly and thick, so to get this result without having to subject it to horrendous amounts of heat was very exciting.

BEFORE

AFTER

My poor hair gets put through a lot being straightened every day, and so I will definitely be using this product again to give it a well-earned day off.

The slight waves that it left my hair with meant it looked great styled with some salt spray to give it a tousled, straight off the beach look!

Hopefully this review will help anybody else with the same frizzy hair predicament as myself!
What products do you use to tame your mane, and give your hair a break from heat?

Love and kisses,
Holly Salts

Smile Because It Happened

Since I've finally had my phone and laptop sorted (It's been a very unfortunate and expensive technical month), I've had a lot of catching up to do on my blog reading, and it's come to my attention that many of the entries I've read this week have all shared a theme: Finishing uni.

At first, this made me feel quite old, so after a quick check for grey hairs (I found some a week before my 22nd birthday - it was so distressing I'm sure it encouraged a few more to turn silver) I started thinking back to this time a year ago, and I realized how much my life has changed.

For starters, I got my first full-time job (admittedly an internship, but it has a per annum salary so it counts) as a Production Intern at The Disney Channel. And anyone who knows me at all, will know that this is a dream job for me. I'm a big kid at heart, and so a job that entails making cartoons on a daily basis makes me a very happy  Holly!

For the first six months I commuted and spent five long hours a day on a train. This was so painful, that despite my relatively low income I decided to spend the extra money, and moved up to the big city in February of this year. 

Now my internship has nearly come to an end, I've finally (after nearly thee years) managed to get myself out of my student overdraft and I live in a plush flat in suburban Chiswick. I'm still struggling, and I'm definitely still starting out, but I'm happy with how much I've achieved in a year, and cannot wait to start looking around for the next exciting opportunity!

And the best thing about all this reminiscing is that the friends I made at uni that I hoped I'd stay in contact with are still in my life now. And occasionally, we still act like students!

BATV, One Year On

So congratulations to all of you who have just finished your dissertation and exams!

Speaking as someone who well and truly started at the bottom, I can assure you that you have so much to look forward to!

Love and kisses,

Holly Salts

Leighton Denny 'Sensual Glam' Nail Polish

(Full range available at: http://www.leightondenny.com)

I became a big fan of Leighton Denny nail polish last year when we all tried on the ‘Supermodel’ shade backstage at QVC. It’s easy to apply, and lasts such a long time without chipping that it’s no wonder that most of the female backstage and presenter staff were walking around with matching nails for the following week.

With it’s £11 a bottle price tag, I’ve always opted away from buying it in favor of cheaper brands, so when I saw a range of discontinued colours on offer at £5 at my local beauty clinic, I couldn’t resist.

My favourite colour from my batch of purchases is definitely ‘Sensual Glam’ - it’s nude enough to be subtle, but sparkly enough to add a touch of glam to the everyday. It’s completely rekindled my love affair with Leighton Denny nail varnishes, and no long will I shy away from them because of the price - each bottle is worth every single penny!

Next on my list is ‘Coconutty’ from the new Castaway S/S 2012 collection. Never have I looked forward to a post-payday treat more!

Love and kisses,

Holly Salts

St Valentines

The first thing anyone ever realizes about me is that I’m essentially the definition of a typical girl.

My favourite brand is a toss up between Pandora and Cath Kidston. My favourite film is Love Actually. My favourite colour is purple. I started planning my wedding at age 8. I spend an hour getting ready most mornings, and frequently paint my nails twice, or more, a day.

There’s not doubt about it - I am a girl. And in addition to all of the above you can probably guess I have a (‘ridiculous’) obsession with love. (Note the ‘Moulin Rouge’ reference there…)

I personally think we have a lot to thank St Valentine for, and can’t possibly see why anyone would object to having a day solely designated to showing your nearest and dearest how much you care. Yes, if you love someone you should show them everyday in every way. But what’s so wrong with once a year buying a slightly overpriced card if it’s what’s going to make your loved ones happy?

This year, I sent five cards - not to announce anything huge or drastic that the recipients weren’t already aware of, but just to put a little smile on their faces. My two housemates awoke knowing that I loved living with them, and my best friends got a little reminder that even though they’re miles away from me, and each other, the friendship we have is never going to disappear. The fact that three of my facebook friends announced engagements on February 15th can’t be a coincidence either. I maintain that there is not a single person on the planet that doesn’t like being reminded, in a small or big way, that there is someone, somewhere who cares about them and is thinking of them on a day designated for sharing the love.

Single, or coupled up, Valentine’s Day has always been and will always remain to be one of my favourite times of year. And with that, I bid you all a very happy (albeit belated - blame Richard Branson and Virgin Media) Valentine’s Day.

Consider this my declaration of love to you, for taking five minutes out of your day to read my rambling. It’s greatly appreciated!

Love and Kisses,

Holly Salts

Feather Hair Extensions

This weekend, I finally got around to trying out a new trend that I’ve had my eye on for a while - feather hair extensions.

I told my Mum I was planning on putting these in, and I haven’t heard her laugh so much since she accidentally overdosed on Diazepam before a dentist appointment last summer. But despite her ridicule, I tried them anyway and I have to say, I really do love them.

I bought the ‘Natural Ginger’ collection from Additional Lengths (www.additionallengths.co.uk) which turned out to be great value for money. £20 and I have ten feathers, micro rings, a hair threader and all delivered straight to my front door in less than 30 hours.

Putting them in couldn’t have been simpler, and they’ve taken really well to being washed and styled along with the rest of my hair (which varies on crazy curly, or dead straight - depending entirely on how long I’ve snoozed the alarm for that morning.)

Little worried that the blonder ones are too light for my hair, but I’m going to test wear them out tomorrow and see whether the Pocahontas jokes outweigh the compliments!

Love and Kisses,

Holly Salts

Small Town Girl in a Big Scary City

<a href="http://www.bloglovin.com/blog/4698587/?claim=sfxhq52t6em">Follow my blog with Bloglovin</a>

Two weeks ago now, I took the plunge and finally moved up to the big city to live with my friends and follow my career in television.

We’re living in a lovely little place in Chiswick and on our first night in we celebrated with champagne, thai food and watching the snow fall outside our window.

I'm the resident girly girl of the house and get a near constant ribbing for how many times a week I paint my nails, and the vast amount of beauty products I moved into the bathroom cabinet on our first day here. So as my housemates don't appreciate my love for all things cleanly, smelly, pretty sparkly and just downright helpful, I had no choice but to share these delights on the internet!

So here it is, my blog. The ramblings of a twenty-something, seaside town, incredibly girly girl, just trying to make her way in the big city.

Love and kisses,

Holly Salts