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THE ULTIMATE BEAUTY GIFT GUIDE

Beauty, for her, for him, for anyone. Just make sure you don’t come across as giving a beauty product that symbolises that someone “needs it” or smells ;P . I always find that a beauty gift is quite an easy buy. Everyone washes themselves so body washes, shampoos and conditioners will never be a wasted gift. Then you have the more luxurious beauty gifts like bath salts, body oils and body creams. I personally love being gifted items like this as they aren’t necessary something that I would treat myself to on a tighter budgeting month for example. Even if I already buy myself body creams I may just stick to what I already know and love so I love being surprised with brands I haven’t tried before or that I wouldn’t necessarily splurge on. Here are my favourite picks this Christmas with links of where you can buy them the cheapest right now.

UNDER £20

These brands are household names that you probably grew up with. They are all gift sets under £20 but look like a super special gift that someone would be really happy to receive.

St.Moriz – Get Your Glow On
(currently on sale at Pretty Little Thing)
For those friends that can’t bare to not fake tan, we all know someone…This is an ideal present. The gift set bundle includes the famous St.Moriz body tanning mousse and even comes with a fab tanning mitt. I tried a tanning mitt for the first time this Spring just gone and I can’t believe I was so late to the game! It is literally a life changer, no smelly orange lined hands and you can really buff in the colour into your legs and ankles. To top off the gift set you also get a bronzer and lipgloss.

Yardley – English Rose Bath and Body Collections
When I was younger I thought Yardley was just for grandparents, that was until I was gifted a bottle of this rose body wash back 3 years ago. It smells like a floral rosy pine and I adore it!! This gift set would be perfect for any girl in your life, young and old.

Sanctuary Bath Salts
Sanctuary Rosey Hand Duo
I feel like Sanctuary products are a staple for under any British Christmas Tree. I am pretty sure that someone in my family has received a Sanctuary product each year without fail. They are just so gift-able. They are affordable and an easy gift because every girl likes to smell nice and treat themselves once in a while. These are my two favourite picks from their latest Christmas collection. I am a big salt bath fan and these bath salts smell beautifully girly and I love the tub. The Rosey Hand Duo is another great gift because it is the all-in-one hand present that comes in a lovely reusable display case and can be gifted to any woman in your life whether you know them well or not. Also, under £10 so great for your office Secret Santa.

THE ULTIMATE BEAUTY GIFT GUIDE | Megan Taylor THE ULTIMATE BEAUTY GIFT GUIDE | Megan Taylor

BOYS

Are you like me and find boys ridiculously difficult to buy for then you should check out these mens gift sets. They’re simple and no boy would turn them down because they all have to wash and not to be too cruel but probably don’t often buy themselves nice beauty products. The American Crew gift set even comes with a lovely wash bag with no excess packaging, well done American Crew!!

Hawkins & Brimble – Vintage Rituals
This face kit for men smells fabulous and feels super refreshing. The products are no sample size either, they are chunky monkeys that are going to last a while. Added bonuses to this brand is that they don’t test on animals and are free from any nasties like parabens and colourants.

American Crew – Essential Grooming Kit
This is the go-to kit for any guy. It is filled to the brim with all the products they could possibly need. My husband and my brother have both been using American Crew for a few years now and rave highly about the brand. The wash bag is a great size to travel with and will last the gift recipient years and years (maybe even the rest of their lives!).
THE ULTIMATE BEAUTY GIFT GUIDE | Megan Taylor

LUXE

These beauty products are loved by women and men all over yet as they aren’t necessarily at the end of gondola in your average Boots or Superdrug you may not treat yourself to them regularly. These brands are all fantastic and have created fabulous Christmas gifting options not just including these ones featured.

Ren
I’m such a Ren fanatic as you can probably tell if you’re a reader of my blog or Instagram. This gift set is such a great introduction to the brand for friends that may not have tried it and even better if they travel. My absolute favourite Ren product ever is the Atlantic Kelp body wash and it’s featured in this gift set.

Murad – Vibrant Vibes
Murray has a cult following like no other. I posted a few stories about trying Murad for the first time last year and I was inundated with more messages than normal with a mix of “you’re so lucky” and “what? you’ve never tried Murad before!!!?”. Well I have now and I get the hype 😛

THE ULTIMATE BEAUTY GIFT GUIDE | Megan Taylor

Maria Nila
If you follow me on Instagram you will know I am an obsessed fan of Maria Nila products, well this is an absolute steal of a gift box. I have used this shampoo and conditioner before and when my parents stayed my mum very much got obsessed with it like me. I picked this particular Maria Nila to showcase over the others as I feel after a festive party season filled with blow dries we may all appreciate this structure hair repair kit…although I must admit all of the Maria Nila products I have used leave my hair feeling fabulous.

By Sarah – Festive Body & Hair Care Gift Box
This gift box is made from crushed grapes!! Yep, you read that right. How cool! I have never heard of anything like it. I love the whole ethos of the By Sarah range, everything is organic, and award winning to boot. This feels like a really gorgeous and special gift that anyone would love.

Which of the products above will you be putting on your Christmas list? I personally want it all 😉

THE ULTIMATE BEAUTY GIFT GUIDE | Megan Taylor

FESTIVE MAKE UP GIFTS FOR THEM & YOU

I love love love receiving new make up at Christmas and I find eye shadow palettes are allow going to be a winner. You may not like every single colour in a palette but if there is a wacky colour in there, Christmas is the time to make use of it. I have chosen these festive palettes from some of my favourite make up brands so therefore I know they are good quality, have great pigment and know that you’ll love them too 🙂

FESTIVE MAKE UP GIFTS FOR THEM & YOU

MAKE ME UP

Oh how I adore make up and eye shadow palettes are my absolute favourite. I’m like a magpie to the colours. I love the opportunity to try out colours that I wouldn’t necessarily buy as a single unit. I also love that in the lead up to Christmas I get a bit braver with my make up, my eyeliner gets longer and thicker, my shadows get sparklier and my contouring gets quite frankly epic!

I had always wanted to try Stila because everyone I know raves about it. Until this palette arrived through my door I had never tried the brand. Well, what can I say, the packaging is fabulous! The pigmentation is strong! The colours are gorgeous! Highly recommend these gift sets for a make up fan this Christmas.
Stila Blue Realm Palette
Stila Blue Pink Harmony Lip Duo

Code 8 is relatively new of just a few years and they have taken the make up world by storm. Their ethos is to be pretty simple with your make up application and that you don’t need to spend hours applying, well, I could spend hours simply admiring the products alone 😉 . Everything is so sleek, luxurious and most importantly works incredibly well. This Code 8 Party Essentials Selection is absolutely dreamy and a fabulous introduction to the brand for those who may not have tried them before. If you were to buy one introductory item from Code 8 I would have to advise it be this hydrating lip colour in the colour ‘Off Broadway‘. I have been using this lipstick a minimum of 3 times a week for a year now and it isn’t even half finished. It is the perfect everyday lippie that you can apply without a mirror.

I have been using Mina products for about 2 years now and their eyeliner and pigmented eyeshadows are fabulous! They have this stunning eye shadow palette available this Christmas and it is literally your go to for any cool girl you need to gift a present for. Mina – Glam Rock Eyeshadow Palette. Filled with wearable colours and few brave ones too.

VEGAN BRUSHES

Call me naive but up until 4 years ago I thought ALL make up brushes were synthetic. It wasn’t until one day on a photoshoot I said to the make up artist that I thought one brush was far more scratchier than another and she said it was because it was made from horse hair. I was absolutely shocked, I had just assumed that it would be both gross and expensive to use animal hair in a make up brush that goes on your face but apparently it is pretty common. Ever since that moment I have been actively trying to seek out and only use non-animal hair brushes. Here are three brands creating fabulous animal free brushes and championing the fact there simply is no need to use animal hair to create a decent make up brush!

These So Eco brushes are divine. This is the Face Brush Kit and the Round Foundation Brush is going to be my new everyday foundation application brush. It has the perfect rounded tapered end to get your concealer up under the lower lashes. I also love that this gift set comes with a handy travel pouch.

Look Good Feel Better have a wonderful ethos behind the brand and have been going for 25 years now. LGFB supports and helps boost the physical and emotional wellbeing of patients that are sadly having to endure cancer treatment with an annual donation of at least £20,000. The Makeover Brush Set is filled with all the brushes you need, a powder blush brush, stippling brush (fave!), tapered blending brush and a precision rounded brush to get into those more intricate areas of the face.

The Brush works Complete Face Set has make up brushes suitable for powder, liquid and pressed make up. They look so different from any other brushes out there so make a great stand out present. I had no idea until I read the back of the box that there is even a make up brush pouch hidden in the back!

Which items will you be keeping for yourself?

FESTIVE MAKE UP GIFTS FOR THEM & YOU

EVERYTHING YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT DECORATING YOUR HOME

I am so excited to share this post with you. You asked questions and I got Phil the founder of Paint The Town Green to answer them. I am inspired and I know you will be too so carry on reading to find out some great tips, including how paint your front door without it sticking to the frame, how to renovate your old fireplace and how to make a room look bigger. First of all I must explain to you why I wanted to interview Phil over any other decorating expert and that is because he has created an incredible business called Paint The Town Green which is a one stop shop for everything home decorating. Paint The Town Green are a decorating company that have a team of amazing talented decorators. They also have their own range of eco friendly, water based paints (this means we don’t have to pollute our waters with solvents when we wash our brushes) that don’t make your house smell. On top of all this, they can source furniture and interior decoration for you and advise you on everything to do with interiors. Half way through our house decorating the PTTG team knew we were painting the door in a few days time so brought to our house colour charts and discussed which colours would work (we went with pink because of the Peridot colour we had chosen for the dining room which you see as your open the front door-pictures further down) and then hand delivered the paint we chose in time for the decorator to start the door. The biggest worry I had before decorating my house was making decisions on paint colours. So, I popped into PTTG gorgeous offices in London and had all the help I could ask for and it was great to see the colours in person and a lot of what I chose in the end were painted on walls or furniture of their office. Anyway, here are the questions you asked and the answers by the fabulous Phil.

Just for reference:
Our paint was gifted.
The colours we chose were:
WALLS: Private Universe
CEILINGS: Dream On
DINING ROOM RECESS: Peridot
LIVING ROOM RECESS: Night Swimming
If you want to order a colour card you can over here.

EVERYTHING YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT DECORATING YOUR HOME | Megan Taylor

Is it possible to live in your house and still have someone decorate it? Or is it too smelly and messy?

Yes absolutely. If you engage a considerate decorator, the communication is good and thought goes into the products you use this shouldn’t be a problem. At PTTG we have a pre-start meeting with our clients to go through things like sleeping and eating logistics (for our clients, not our team!) to minimise disruption and maximise peace of mind during the work. As all our paints have no toxic fumes there is no paint smell to worry about.

How do I “cut in” in a professional way?

Use a good brush and go one or two mm short of the line you are cutting to on the first coat. You can then use the second coat to level things up as necessary. Much easier to rectify if you are a tiny bit short that if you have gone over. If you go too far you then find yourself going backwards and forwards with the different colours and get in a bit of a tangle!
Also, don’t try to get into little tight spaces with a big brush thinking this will be quicker. As you make your way around the room, leave any tricky bits, make a mental note of where they are and come back to do them with a smaller brush at the end. This is much more time efficient than making a mess and having to tidy it up afterwards.

What do you think about the copying of colours of premium paints?

How long have I got?! It all depends on whether it’s the colour you love or the paint quality. We like to think that not only do we have great colours but there are also genuine benefits to using our paint. Not just because it’s great to work with, has a lovely finish and covers really well, but also because it’s all water based so there is no need for white spirit and it has no toxic fumes.

I want to paint my front door but will the paint be too thick and it not shut if I don’t sand it down first?

It all depends on how tightly your door currently fits your frame. You should always sand down a door before painting anyway as it gets rid of any existing lumps and bumps and roughens up the surface so the new paint sticks to it.
Top Tip– if you are worried that the door is touching the inside of the frame when closed and that this may make the doors stick, but a little bit of Vaseline around the frame (on dry paint). This will prevent the new paint on the door from sticking to the frame and tearing when the door is next opened.

I have a cast iron fireplace with a wooden mantlepiece. It has been stripped and I want to paint it. What’s the best paint to use so it all looks the same?

I would use a water based eggshell on the mantlepiece and the same on the cast iron fireplace if you would like them to look the same. The key to a successful result will be the use of correct primers before the top coats are applied. You may well need to use a metal primer on the fireplace before applying eggshell. Alternatively if you wanted the cast iron section in black you could use Hammerite railing paint which is self-priming so you can go straight on with it.

I want to paint my radiator but haven’t a clue where to start. What paint do I need that is heat resistant? Do I gloss it? Do I strip it first?

As with the cast iron fireplace it’s all about using the correct primer. If it’s already been painted, as long as the paint is sound you should be ok to use a primer (like the Grepp primer we sell) and then apply eggshell.
Top Tip– Make sure the radiator is off before you paint it. Otherwise the heat will make the paint behave like chewing gum after a few seconds and it will be impossible to apply.

How do I go about putting in a dado rail? Should you paint the dado the same colour as the skirting?

Dado rails should ideally be screwed and glued. Be sure to check for any cables or pipes in the wall before you do any drilling. The screw holes should then be filled and sanded before painting. Yes, I would recommend painting the dado the same colour as the skirting so it is picked out and punctuates the wall but different designers have different views on this.

My living room is small, do you have any tips on making it look bigger with paint? Do I have to paint it completely white?

A couple of little tricks that can be used for this: One is to paint the backs of shelves or the recesses the other side of chimney breasts a darker colour. This gives the impression of depth, suggesting the areas goes back further than it intact does.
Another useful little trick is to utilise a picture rail to create a desired impression. If you continue the ceiling colour down to the picture rail (ie. painting the top section of wall above the picture rail, sometimes referred to as the frieze when these are decorative in larger buildings) this creates the illusion of a larger ceiling and in doing so suggests a larger room. By the same token, if you continue the wall colour up above the picture rail all the way to the ceiling, it make the room feel higher.

When I was painting my wall it starting flaking and looked bubbly, what does this mean and how do I fix it?

It could mean a number of things, unfortunately none of them are particularly good news! Most likely it means that when the walls were bare plaster they weren’t “mist coated” before the paint was applied. Mist coating is when you use watered down paint (approx. 80% paint 20% water) to reduce the absorbency from the plaster. Otherwise the moisture from the undiluted paint is sucked out of it, causing it to dry too quickly and not adhere properly to the wall.
Another possibility is that water is getting into the wall somewhere behind the paint, making it damp and causing the paint the flake. If this is the case you’ll need to work out where it’s coming from (usually either a plumbing or a roofing issue) and fix the problem.
In both situations you need to remove all the loose or flaking paint. If the plaster underneath is one colour (pink) then mist coat the area and paint. If it’s dis-coloured (i.e there was a damp problem) once it’s dried out, apply a stain block product and then paint.

Is there a way I can paint my shiny wooded Ikea furniture to make it look better?

Yes, but the correct primer is essential or the paint won’t stick and will eventually peel. I would recommend our Grepp primer and then two coats of eggshell

I have an old school desk that I want to paint but the wood is buckling. Is it beyond help or is there something I can do?

f you are happy with the shape of the desk but there are just a few cracks that’s fine. You can use a flexible filler (also called painter’s mate or caulk) to fill the gaps before painting. Again, be sure to use the correct primer before applying eggshell.

EVERYTHING YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT DECORATING YOUR HOME | Megan Taylor

What’s the best type of paint or finish for when you have children?

Always use water based to minimise any fumes. I would recommend using PTTG wipeable emulsion in areas of high traffic or that are likely to have sticky hand marks on them. Our wipeable finish means that you can take a damp cloth to the wall and wipe it clean without the paint coming off on the cloth.

Is there a wipe clean paint you can use instead of a splash back?

Yes absolutely. Our wipeable emulsion would be suitable for this. I did this at our previous house, always meaning to get a splash back fitted but in the end spent 10 years with a painted splash back! Every week or two we would just wipe it down the same way you would tiles, glass or metal. It came up good as new every time!

Why has the gloss on my skirting boards gone yellow?

This is because you have an oil (solvent) based paint on there. Over time, the paint reacts with the oxygen in the air making it turn yellow This can be avoided by using a water based product next time you decorate. Much less fumes (none if you use PTTG eggshell) and it won’t turn yellow.

I want some colour in my house but I am too scared to go overboard, how could I just add a little bit?

Try adding some strategically selected feature walls or areas such as the back of shelving units. This can add depth to a room as well as a splash of colour without being over- powering.

I have dark wood, bleached wood and marble in my house. It’s a bit hotchpotch. What colour would you recommend I paint my walls?

If you already have a medley of colour going on I would choose something subtle for the walls. Look for a starting point to set you in the right direction. It’s very hard to match anything to timber but marble you can. See if you identify a hue in the marble that you can match a subtle paint colour too. Maybe it’s a cream, a pale grey or even a very pale pink?

I want to paint my stairs and have a runner. Please help? I have no idea what to do.

Choose your runner carpet, get it priced up and up order. Once you have the delivery date confirmed remove the existing carpet and start preparing the stairs. (otherwise you may find yourself without a stair carpet for 2 months as these are almost always made to order so can take a long time to be delivered and fitted). Check the width of your carpet runner, subtract around 15cm from this and then mark it out on the stairs. (this will endure you paint enough, you want your painted edges to run under the carpet, not stop short! Then prepare the edges, filling and nail holes etc., prime and paint with two or three coats of eggshell. I would recommend matching the colour to the rest of the woodwork in the stairwell but you can match it to the carpet if you prefer. As the edges are unlikely to be walked on you don’t need to use floor paint, eggshell should be fine.

Should I use a paint brush or roller on my walls and ceiling?

Our team use a combination of the two. A brush for the edges (cutting in) and a roller for the big open areas.

How do I get rid of paint brush strokes on my walls?

You need to sand them down before you paint. Using a good brush and working the paint thoroughly (i.e not having big build ups) will help prevent them when you are painting.

I have dented my wall when moving furniture how do I touch up the paint work I had done last year without having to paint the whole wall?

Very tricky. If you still have the original paint it will make it more likely that touch ups will be invisible. However, ultimately it will come down to how well the area is lit. We advise clients that touch ups rarely work and they may well need us to paint from corner to corner to do a blemish- free repair.

I hope you have enjoyed this interview and I am sure you have learnt a lot, I definitely have. For decorating inspiration make sure you follow Paint The Town Green on Instagram (see if you can spy our house over on their feed too) and if you are interested in getting a quote for them to decorate your house do get in touch with them here, I highly recommend it.

EVERYTHING YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT DECORATING YOUR HOME | Megan Taylor

THE HOLIDAY MOVIE TOUR

Have you seen The Holiday? Surely you have. It is one of my favourite Christmas movies, definitely up there with my top 5. If you want Christmas movie inspo check out my top 10 Christmas films over here. Last year Liam and I went and visited the UK locations that The Holiday was filmed. Think about Cameron Diaz scooting down the quaint village lanes in her red Mini, being dropped off outside the church because the taxi can’t get down the skinny lane, Jude Law sitting in the pub with his friends glancing over at Cameron and then Cameron running over the snow covered bridge to tell Jude that she loves him. Well, we found all of those spots and I am here to share them with you. Tell you where to park, where to eat and where to get those all important Insta shots 😉 If you are going soon in the peak season of festivity I would suggest going for your excursion during the weekdays. (Sorry in advance for the low quality imagery. I can’t find any of the photos on my computer so these are screen grabs from my Instagram Story Highlights). If you click on the link below each section it will take you to where the location is on Google Maps.

WHERE TO PARK

 You can park in the open air car park for free (it was free Dec 2018, can’t say for certain right now) and it is the perfect spot to start your Holiday tour.
Shere Car Park, Shere, Guildford GU5 9HF

THE STREET

After parking your car you can walk straight down the high street admiring the quaint shops. We went at the beginning of December during the week and although it wasn’t super busy, it wasn’t quiet and you can definitely spot the difference between the locals as the Holiday tourists like myself. Allow yourself for some time to mooch about the shops because there are so many lovely ones.
Middle St, Shere, Guildford GU5 9HF

THE CHURCH

Do you remember when Cameron Diaz got dropped off outside a church in the snow with all her luggage because the taxi driver said he couldn’t get down the lane to Rose Cottage, well this is the exact spot.
St James’s Church, The Square, Shere, Guildford GU5 9HG

THE PUB

The most popular table is of course the table that Jude Law sits at as he spots Cameron Diaz sitting over at the other side of the pub. We somehow managed to steal the exact table and there were plenty of people that walked in as we were eating that evil eyed us as they wanted the table too whoopsy. As you walk in through the front door it is the table directly on your left up the step (Table 8). If I were to go again though I would sit further into the nook and sit beside the fire as that’s far cosier. It’s a lovely pub, the staff were very friendly and the food was pretty good too…highly recommend their G&T in what looks like a fish bowl in my picture. Oh also, they allow dogs in here, yay…how gorgeous does my baby Coco look below.
White Horse, Shere Lane, Shere, Guildford GU5 9HS

THE BRIDGE

Ok, this one was tricky to find and we sadly got there as it was getting dark so our pictures were sooo bad and grainy. It’s definitely worth popping on down for a lovely walk, especially if you have a dog as you can go for a longer walk when you pass the bridge. It is so pretty in this area so make sure you take lots of photos and go on a day where the weather isn’t too dull.
The Bridge

Let me know if you go and tag me on Instagram @megantaylortaylor . Are there any spots that you know of? I believe there is even more to see in Godalming and Wonersh.

(The table between the two ladies fluffy hats in the background is where Cameron Diaz sat).

AUGUST BEAUTY FAVOURITES

I haven’t done one of these posts in a while but they always seems to be quite popular. I have been trying out a lot of new beauty and skincare products this year. My trusty Clarins face wash and Rimmel foundation were both discontinued this year so it forced me to step out of my comfort zone and try a few news things.

FACE WASH/CLEANSER

After a very long bout of dreadful adult acne I found an amazing and simple skincare routine and stuck to it. Six years later and two of my trusty products have been discontinued. If I tell you I had a melt down that would be an understatement. I bought 4 bottles of Clarins daily energizing cleanser every year and I loved it. Well, when it discontinued I knew I had to find a replacement. My replacement needed to be trustworthy, delicate, not too fragranced, not stupidly expensive, attainable in being able to purchase and most importantly not mess up my now spot-free skin. Horrah, I have found a great alternative in Ren’s Evercalm Gentle Cleansing Gel. It is the same consistency that I was used to with my last. The scent is very neutral and not overpowering in the slightest. It cleans your face free of make up but doesn’t leave you feeling dry.

AUGUST BEAUTY FAVOURITES | Megan Taylor

FOUNDATION

As I was saying in the cleansing section above, I have had two of my favourite products be discontinued. One of these discontinued products is Rimmel’s Wake Me Up Foundation which I quite simply ADORED! It smelt incredible, it was light but had an amazing coverage. Well, after a few weeks of moping about and a smidge of research I worked out that their new foundation ‘Lasting Radience‘ is a carbon copy of ‘Wake Me Up’. I have no idea what happened, why they changed the name and quite frankly just stuck it in a different bottle? Anyway…if like me you loved Wake Me Up then don’t fret and just buy the Lasting Radiance…they even have the same shades.
AUGUST BEAUTY FAVOURITES | Megan Taylor

SLEEP SPRAY

I am a sleep spray addict! Anything scented like essential oils makes me feel an immediate sense of calm (I grew up with an aromatherapist for a mum!). There are many brands that ace the sleep spray products. My latest love is this This Works Sleep + Pillow Spray. I have used their normal sleep spray for many years now but this one was new to me. The difference being that this + Pillow Spray has its fragrances release throughout the night to help you sleep throughout the whole night.

BODY WASH

Ok, I lie this one isn’t a newbie and Ren’s Atlantic Kelp body wash has featured on my blog on numerous occasions. That being said, it is still my favourite body wash! I love that Ren have made the bottle out of recycled ocean plastic, meaning they are cleaning the ocean and making use of the rubbish. The scent is perfection, it feels like a very clean scent and you know it is doing you good at the same time. Filled with magnesium, you know it will help energise your skin and muscles. I actually don’t have any Atlantic Kelp body wash left so couldn’t photograph, sorry. Yet I have featured in this and this blog post if you want a closer look.

Have you tried any of these products? Which excites you the most?

HOW TO HAVE A STRESS FREE HOUSE MOVE

Moving house is up there as one of the most stressful experiences you will ever have in your life. I am a crazed list maker and love organising things so I was excited to label a new notebook from my notebook shelf (yes, I do have one of those) my new house book. I got straight down to action making notes, timelines, chapters as different rooms from the house etc etc etc…

During my whole moving journey I made some errors but also some amazing tricks that I am here to share with you that will definitely make your house move a bit less stressful.

CHECK LIST

Having a checklist for everything is imperative. It can help you know what is going on, what has already happened and what is about to happen during your most stressful moments. Make a list of everyone you need to pay, have a column for the date you need to pay it and tick it when you have. Also have a list of companies that you need to tell you change of address.

GET A DECENT MORTGAGE ADVISOR AND SOLICITOR

Without my mortgage advisor and solicitor I would still be at square one. Both of these guys helped guide me along the way answering my emails at ridiculous times of the day when I was freaking out that I had done something wrong or not done something that I should. You need a nice mortgage advisor and solicitor that you don’t have to talk to a receptionist every time you call and take a day to get back to you. The whole reason moving can take a ridiculous amount of time can often be because of a slow solicitor that takes a day to tackle one simple question and another factor is a tricky mortgage lender. We managed to complete our move in a record six weeks from offer on our property to date of exchange and I credit this down to these two men and also mine and Liam’s speediness at filling out forms.

GET EARLY ACCESS

This was something I didn’t realise was possible but if you are buying an empty property (ours was a previous buy-to-let) you can ask for temporary access between exchange and completion. All you need to do is ask your solicitor to ask your future properties solicitor (ugh, how much easier would the whole process be if we could just send a quick DM on social to the seller haha) if they will grant you access. If they say yes you then sign a document that says things like, “you can only go in to decorate, do works on the property or clean”, “that you will not move in”, “that you can not stay the night” etc. We were allowed to keep the keys until the night before completing.

CLEANERS

(*we were gifted the cleaning by Fantastic Services) By getting early access we were able to send in a cleaner the day before we moved in. This was an absolute God Send!! I am quite particular about the scent of a house. I found that our house had those awful smelling plug in scent sprayers so I immediately threw them out. Fantastic Services kindly sent me a cleaner and carpet cleaners for a few hours and I could not recommend them more. You may have spotted my stories last week where I gave you a little behind the scenes of them working. The female cleaner actually scratched old paint off the light switches!!!!!!! I mean who on earth does this? I thanked her profusely and she replied,”well, of course”. Just standard practice for her…amazing. We even had our carpets cleaned which felt amazing as we knew that we would be having a fresh start smelling only of us not the previous tenants. I have been given a £10 off code for all my readers, click through to here and the offer code is itsmegan . Let me know if you use them…they do everything, they will even buy your Christmas tree if you like.

DECORATING

Not everyone has the same opinion when it comes to paint colours. This was definitely apparent in our house. Our dining room, lime green. Our kitchen, poop brown. Our bedroom, dark purple. I couldn’t hold back but to get in there and white wash the place. It is always easier to paint in an empty, furniture free house so if you can get in early I would strongly recommend you do this too.

Have you got any extra stress free tips for those moving house? I actually think I could write an essay on my moving process but I will leave it at the above for now 😉

WE BOUGHT A HOUSE

Wahhh… fourteen months after putting our gorgeous and rather large maisonette on the market we have finally sold and bought ourselves a HOUSE!! Oh my goodness, what a long process this has been. I personally blame a duff estate agent and Brexit haha. It’s a bit like every influencer and their mum blaming the Instagram algorithm for their failed engagement (yep, I am one of those complainers). Yet, I truly believe Brexit has been a major factor is our lack of sale for so blummin’ long. Anyhow…we have finally sold our property and are on to a new and exciting venture.
Have a little glimpse of our house here.

THE MOST STRESSFUL TIME

Selling, buying and moving is blummin’ stressful, like seriously stressful. I actually personally think I have handled it pretty well. With a whole ton of advice and notebooks filled with To-Do lists I think the whole process has been ok-ish. That being said I have almost given up on the whole selling and buying thing many many times! Liam and I have argued, I have cried on the phone to my mum and I have thought in depth about the amount of money I am spending on in the short run downsizing and moving into a house that needs a fair bit of work!! Yet, then I have these amazing giddy exciting days that I think, wow, my adult life is really about to start and I can finally move on from our gorgeous maisonette that we have been in for eleven years and mentally outgrown.

WHY ARE YOU DOWNSIZING

So, we live in a horribly expensive part of the UK and seriously lucked out on our current home of a super large maisonette with a garage and garden (super small one at that!). Yet, although this flat is absolutely gorgeous and almost immaculate (there is always something you can do to improve though) we live above a shop and amongst other shops (all good ones, no fast food chains or anything) and as we are now both in our 30s we have got grumpier and quite frankly want a bit of a quieter environment and want to be freeholders not leaseholders! When you are moving up to a house in this area but can’t take a humungous leap in price the houses are diddy!!!! Seriously DIDDY!!!! We have managed to find a nice semi-detached house which has a potential to be extended but currently the square footage is smaller than our flats so we are technically downsizing haha. The bathroom is bigger though so I can store all my kindly gifted beauty products. We have such amazing plans which once we earn a bit of money back after the move we will slowly do. Therefore, don’t expect a whole renovation blog/vlog within a month or so, it will be sporadically drip fed to your feed over many years, I am sure.

WHAT YOU CAN EXPECT TO SEE

I am so excited for the home content that is to come. I am getting older (not old but you know what I mean) and my tastes are changing. I am growing up and although I still love writing about beauty and fashion and still will continue to do so I am now going to include a bit more home life inspo and development. I have loved home interiors and improvements my whole life. My mum often talks about how when I went to bed as a child they could hear my upstairs moving all the furniture around in my room and redecorating haha, well, now I can do it a little bit better and I have a big strong hubby to help me drag my dressing table to the other side of the room.
I will be sharing the long form content with a whole load of photos on here, a bit of IGTV behind the scenes on Instagram. The more nitty gritty details of our home life and some before and afters of our interiors will be featured over on mine and Liam’s joint Instagram account @wearehisandhers (we may even bring back our podcast when things settle down a bit). The biggest challenge and hope for me is that I will be creating some vlogging behind the scenes and typical YouTuber stuff like ‘Empty House Tours’ ‘How To Renovate On The Cheap’ etc. Subscribe to my YouTube channel over here.

Have you ever bought or sold? How excited are you to see our house? I can’t wait to share it with you all.

FIVE TOP TIPS TO DECLUTTER SUCCESSFULLY

Spring cleaning is wonderful, in the aftermath anyway. I have a lot of decluttering to do at the moment, all will be revealed very soon as to why. Do you ever find that once you start clearing that you wish you had never started. Well here are my five top tips to declutter successfully.

1. ONE AREA AT A TIME

Don’t expect to declutter the whole of your house in one day, or even in one weekend. Decide on the areas that most need doing and/or you are most excited about doing. If you have too much to do then you are going to get overwhelmed and likely get nothing done.

2. MORE MESS TO GET LESS MESS

The honest realisation that we all need to come to terms with is that you have to create a s**t storm to create bliss. The best way to tackle an area like a drawer or a wardrobe is to tip all of the contents onto the floor and organise in an open space. You can then really see everything that you have been storing away and easily organise items into piles.

3. THE RIGHT FRAME OF MIND

It is incredibly important that you are in the right frame of mind to do a clearcut. Feeling sentimental, don’t do it. Feeling poorly, don’t do it. Feeling sleepy, don’t do it. You need to feel refreshed, excited and ready to clear out your life. As soon as you start feeling a little sentimental or start getting distracted by every item you come across, either stop, take a break or move onto a different area.

FIVE TOP TIPS TO DECLUTTER SUCCESSFULLY | MEGAN TAYLOR

(A little glimpse into the cheesy books I own. The books on the top left actually have me on the spine and cover!)

4. WHERE TO SEND YOUR UNWANTED ITEMS

We are all far more aware of sustainability at the moment which is incredible so rather than just chucking your unwanted goods into the bin, make sure you create different piles for different homes. I like to create a recycling pile for absolute tat that I know couldn’t be used again. A friends and family pile for those items I know someone would like. Then I have a charity pile for goods that could be sold in a charity shop. Another pile that I used to create was an eBay selling pile but this pile lived in my home for 6 years without budging so I just include this in my charity pile instead. I would love to make a little extra cash but realistically I have other things I want to do with my time instead.

Also, you don’t want to have these bags lying around causing you annoyance for evermore, or like me having bags of “charity goods” living in the garage…ugh, so irritating. So, make sure you tell yourself that they are rehired within a week tops to avoid stress and mess.

5. MUSIC IS THE POWER

Music really is the power when it comes to decluttering. Have an epic power list full of music that inspires you, you can sing along to and you feel fab listening to. Pop music, rock music, running playlists and show tunes are always great to declutter to in my opinion.

(When you finish your clearing, make sure you fill your house with fresh flowers and plants.)

How are your skills when it comes to decluttering or Spring cleaning? Have you got anymore tips to share? Below is a little truthful image of what my desk looks like at this very minute as I finish up this post…

 

FIVE TOP TIPS TO DECLUTTER SUCCESSFULLY | MEGAN TAYLOR

TOP 5 EYEBROW PRODUCTS

I just happened to be fancying up my brows and picking between my favourite products when I thought I should really share them with you. I’m not one for HD brows, nor am I someone who totally ignores my brows. I’m somewhere in the middle ground with groomed naturalness taking my favour. I used to pluck my brows almost weekly when I was in my early 20s, although only the stray hairs under my brows arch. I didn’t play too much with the arch. Luckily I was never into brows when I was younger so never plucked them to teensy little lines and pencilling them on…phew. I did however have smaller brows than I do now. I barely pluck my brows at all now, just the absolute randoms that pop up and look silly (to me anyway, no one else can probably see them haha). I now have brows that I am pretty happy with, there is a very small patch which is more sparse than the rest but I just add a bit of colour there to fix it. My eyebrows are rather unruly though! If i don’t brush them or stick on a bit of brow gel they will look a little wild! Well, here are my top 5 eyebrow products which come highly recommended by yours truly.

Try out the handy little dots on the above picture where you can click directly through to the shopable link to buy the products.

THE GELS

Gels weren’t about when I was younger, well not as far as I knew. I was however a big fan of a clear brow mascara and used one all the time of my messy hairs. Tinted gels are an amazing product. They are really quick and easy to use and are pretty fool proof. Just brush it over your eyebrows and you’re done! My two faves are Milk Kush brow gel in ‘Dutch’. I went to the Milk make up launch at the beginning of the year and I am already a huge fan of many of their products, mostly this brow gel. You may be able to see in the picture that you can see a few stray brow hairs in the bristles of the brush, I use this a minimum of 5x a week, I absolutely love it.
Eyeko have long been a favourite make up brand of mine as you can see here I have blogged about them a lot!! This Eyeko Brow Gel is great and award winning so others think so too. It has quite a wet consistency and glides on really well. It’s a bit darker than the others that I have so I often use a dry/clean spoolie brush to take off the excess and style with.
Revitalash are an amazing brand at the top of their game. If you haven’t been let into the secret of this brand then let me welcome you. Firstly their eyelash serum is a serious game changer? Do your lashes fall out too soon? Are they not growing? Then buy their eyelash serum, seriously mine grew within weeks and I adore it! Revitalash‘s Hi-Def Tinted Brow Gel is another amazing product and has all the brushes attached as well so it’s great for styling after you have brushed in the brow gel. The mineral formed gel helps condition your brows to stop brittleness and breakage as well as temporarily tinting them so bonus!

THE PENCILS

I am definitely quite comfortable with an eye brow pencil. A top tip would be to not get too dark of a pencil unless you are an absolute pro at doing your brows. If you go one shade lighter than your own brow you can draw in a few little faux-brows without being too obvious and then painting on a little bit of gel afterwards to smooth it all together. These two brow pencils are my absolute favourites. This Diego Dalla Palma pencil has been living in my make up drawer for about 4 years now and even though it is empty I can’t face to get rid of it. Not only is the creamy consistency of the pencil perfect it also has the perfect skinny styling brush at the end.
This Essence brow pencil is waterproof!!! All brow products should be waterproof right? Can you imagine being caught in the rain with your brows running down your face…ugh, no thank you! This pencil is only £2!!!!!!! I’m afraid I think you can only buy it in Wilkinson’s stores, I can’t find a link online. The pencil is wonderfully thin which makes drawing your faux-lashes on look far more natural.

Have you tried any of these? Are there any I should try next? Oh, also, what do you prefer, a pencil or gel brush?

THIS POEM WILL TEACH YOU SOMETHING

Why on earth am I asking you to read a poem when I’m normally sharing beauty and fashion nuggets of information? Well I have this poem here which I read in an acting class at The Actors Centre recently and after closer inspection realised that it is so relevant to each and every one of us. I remember reading poetry for my English Literature A Levels and finding it so irritating having to guess what the writer really meant by each and every word. Yet when I read this poem I didn’t need to think too hard it just made sense.

WHAT I LEARNT FROM THIS POEM

What I learnt from this poem and wanted to share with you all was that we never really stop do we. The poem says, “We have no time to stand and stare” and this is so true. You know when you wake up early in the morning, have a shower and sit on the end of your bed staring into space, yeah…that’s not the stopping and staring that I mean hehe. I mean that moment of wondering around and really taking in your environment and appreciating what you see. I personally spend most of my time looking down at my phone, somehow not walking into the road and killing myself, I have however walked into a few lamp posts in my time haha. I definitely feel we could all take a little bit more time in our lives to go out for a walk and observe, think and maybe even have a chat with a friend or loved one.

W. H. DAVIES
LEISURE

What is this life if, full of care,
We have no time to stand and stare?

No time to stand beneath the boughs,
And stare as long as sheep and cows:

No time to see, when woods we pass,
Where squirrels hide their nuts in grass:

No time to see, in broad daylight,
Streams full of stars, like skies at night:

No time to turn at Beauty’s glance,
And watch her feet, how they can dance:

No time to wait till her mouth can
Enrich that smile her eyes began?

A poor life this if, full of care,
We have no time to stand and stare.

HEY HO

Anyway, I’m not sure this will be one of my most read posts but it was just a little thought which I wanted to share with you all because it definitely made me stop and think for a moment in time.

What do you think of the poem? Do you take time to stop? Do you give yourself a break or are you always go go go?

MY FAVOURITE LUXE BODY WASHES

We all wash regularly and the scent of the soap we use stays with us for hours afterwards. The body wash washes our whole body and it is important that it not only cleans us but also works well with our skin. I have tried many body washes over the year and although my go-to when I was younger was a much loved foaming body wash I have realised that there is more to offer in a luxury body wash filled with natural essential oils. These three body washes that I am currently in love with are all filled with essential oils. The products you use in the shower will circulate in the steam and if you leave your bathroom door open will fill your house with the gorgeous scent as well. Here are my three favourite luxe body washes.

LIVING SEA THERAPY

I have been using Living Sea Therapy products for about a year now and I love it. The products look gorgeous, smell gorgeous and the whole ethos is also gorgeous. There’s a whole lot of gorgeous-ness there. Living Sea is the sister company of Cornish Sea Salt Co. which has been a staple in mine and my husbands kitchen cupboards for years and years now. This body wash has heady notes of grapefruit and eucalyptus essential oils which are two of my favourite scents so no wonder I love it. I also adore peppermint which I spy in the INCI listing and it is this which I feel real cleans me deeply. I have tried their salt scrub and body wash, next on my shopping list is their hand soap.

REN SKINCARE

You have heard me go on and on about Ren for many years now, I even had a lovely collaboration with them for a giveaway of the Atlantic Kelp collection which you can see here. Since my last post where I talked about the whole collection they have made it so that the bottle is now made with ocean plastic. They are making such incredible waves in the recycling realm and leading the way head and shoulders above many other brands. If you too want to support the planet and help the clearing of ocean plastic then you should actively try and seek out brands like Ren who are cleaning up the ocean by recycling the waste and making use of it. Click through to here to read more about this product and purchase one for yourself.

ANNE SEMONIN

This is the biggest bottle of body wash I have ever owned. I adore the pump function. When you have wet hands in the shower there is nothing more frustrating than trying to open a product but not being able to. I place my sponge underneath and pump directly on to it. My parents came to stay recently and my  bathroom is an apothecary filled with choices but my mum and dad both chose this Anne Semonin over everything else, my dad for the ease of the pump usage, my mum for the romantic essential oil scent. I will definitely get this again because it is huge, luxurious, smells fabs and works out as great value for the luxury and quantity.

Have you tried any of these body washes before? Which one are you most interested in? Oh, also please do let me know of any other lovely body washes that I should try x

MY PARENTS CAME TO STAY AND HERE’S WHAT I LEARNT

I have been brought up in a self employed family environment for the majority of my life. My parents work bloody hard but they also play hard too. I never felt ignored by my parents when I was growing up. Homework was always done before dinner and we then had dinner together before watching TV or playing games. There was a strong distinction between work time and play/leisure time. In the social media environment that most of us live in now it can feel like we never quite focus on the present and what is going on around us. 33% of my work is wholly social media based and the rest is also improved with the help of social media. Liam and I are rarely not holding our phones and that’s pretty sad/pathetic for many reasons. I ADORE my phone, I ADORE social media and the capabilities that it has in both a dreams sense and in a tech sense. This being said there is something so special when you aren’t thinking about it. Also, it is so much more fun to log onto social media when you haven’t been on it for a while, there’s so much more to see from those you want to find out more about, rather than scrolling mindlessly through tosh! Anyway, here are the main things that I learnt and I am going to try and continue doing.

WORK / LIFE BALANCE

As I said above my parents have been self employed for most of my life and worked their arses off. What I hadn’t always noticed was that when they work, they work. When they play they are not thinking of (or at least don’t talk about it) work. Liam and I do not stop thinking, discussing, doing work. We have such an un-structured work schedule that we often feel guilty if we don’t work until late. This in turn means that our evenings aren’t too special. I am actively going to try and work harder and get less distracted during the “normal” working hours of the day and not work in the evenings. …let’s see how that goes hehe.

NO PHONES IN THE BEDROOM

I am embarassed to admit it but I am totally guilty of this. Not every night but 90% of them I am having a late night scroll or Pinning session. I don’t even know why? It has definitely become a habit. My mum was flabaghasted that we even had our phones in our bedroom. Last night I decided to set my alarm and then put it aside and read a book and I do think I fell asleep a lot quicker. We do use our phones as an alarm clock so we couldn’t fully get rid of them from the bedroom but I am not going to scroll through my bed now…well, I am going to try and not ever do this or at least limit it.

I used to read so much more when I was younger and it’s no coincidence that I only had a mobile phone that texted and Instagram didn’t even exist! Now I flick through a book, read the titles or a couple of chapters and never actually finish it. I only complete books when I go on holiday and now with free phone contract abroad I barely read then either. Ugh, I am so disappointed in myself haha.

BUSY OUTINGS

What I really love about being with my family is doing things. Like, going out for breakfast, going for a proper walk, going shopping in town, going to a garden centre, going out to buy the newspaper. Really simple things which make coming home even more special. Liam and I have been saying for ages that we want to do more with our weekends but we literally never stop working. Even when we aren’t working we are procrastinating and talking about the work we need to do. We are actively going to try and do something even small each weekend. In turn it will probably make us more interesting and cultured people. Keep an eye on my Instagram, I am sure I will put it on my stories haha.

WEEKEND CHILLS

One of my most favourite moments this weekend was sitting in the living room with mum, dad and Liam eating delicious croissants,  drinking tea/coffee and reading different sections of The Sunday Times newspaper and magazines and chatting about interesting things we had just read. We had Classic FM playing faintly in the kitchen. The civilised calm vibes were strong!! It felt so leisurely and relaxed. I really want to do this more often. I grew up with mum and dad always buying the Sunday newspaper and reading it in bed. The newspaper would be scrawled across the bed in its many pieces, cups of tea on their bedside tables and plates of toast and croissants in hand. I would grab the Style magazine and sit at the foot of the bed reading about what was going up or down on the hot barometer. I adored those moments and really want to do that more with Liam.

THE RIGHT TV TIME

I love TV, I love film. I love everything about it, working in the industry and watching a gallon of it. I don’t feel guilt for watching it because I find it inspiring for my acting career, I feel I am learning as well. That being said, Liam and I definitely watch WAAAAY too much of it. I think that when we say what can we watch and there’s not something that immediately springs to mind then we should turn it off and not bother. There is so much more we could be doing with our time. Mum and dad couldn’t believe it when we said we often spent our weekend mornings watching TV. They only watch TV in the evenings and mum actually said she feels naughty watching TV in the day and feels like she is missing out on something. I am definitely going to think about this and appreciate evening TV time a little more by reducing my day time consumption.

What do you think about these points? Do you already have a good work life balance?

RAINBOW HAIR SLIDE | HOW TO

Hair slides and hair grips are HOT right now. I have worked out a way to make the most gorgeous rainbow coloured hair slides. I was sent a rather large box of Essence nail varnishes the other day and they are so beautiful. I am the biggest nail varnish hoarder you will find. I had a nail varnish clear out last week and then 50 new gorgeous non-claggy ones have arrived. Out with the old, in with the new, right! Anyway, this box of nail varnishes inspired me to make these hair slides. (F.Y.I. I was never asked to feature these nail varnishes in any posts. These polishes are only £1.60 so are great to use for this project. Here is a link to the nail varnishes in their old form, these ones I will be out later this month in Wilkinsons. You can obviously use any nail varnishes you already own. Here is a link to all my past nail varnish blog posts filled with loads of gorgeous nail varnishes and tips). I chose an array of colours that create a pretty ombre effect.

WHAT YOU NEED

• White (or very pale) nail varnish.
• Nail varnishes in a variety of colours.
• Hair slides.
• Piece of scrap paper.

HOW TO

• Slide your hair grips on to a piece of paper so you can paint freely.
• Swipe a coat of white nail varnish over your hair slides.
This will act as your undercoat and mean that with a light nail varnish colour you won’t have to use loads of coats and allow them to get dented and peel away.
• Allow to dry.
I am quite impatient and just painted all six grips I was painting and moved back to number one with the coloured polish.
• Paint one thick coat on your hair slides.
• Leave to dry and ta da you are ready to look as cute as a button.

RAINBOW HAIR SLIDE | HOW TO | MEGAN TAYLOR

Let me know if you make these? I would love to see how you style them. Tag me on social @itsmegantaylor xx

5 TOP TIPS TO BEING PRODUCTIVE WHEN WORKING FROM HOME

This post includes a paid for advertisement with LIVI.

Working from home can seem like a dream at first. You don’t have to commute, you can eat at home, you can wear your trackies all day. All of these things are incredible but the reality is you have to be focused and have really good self control. When I first started working from home I would be distracted by washing up, washing clothes, tidying, walking the dog and worst of all scrolling mindlessly through my phone whilst lying in bed in my PJs with my laptop pushed aside. I have finally come to create the perfect working day from home. Working from home is all about saving yourself time to work on developing your business and achieving your dreams so here are my 5 top tips to being productive when you are working from home.

1. PLAN YOUR DAY IN ADVANCE

Each evening before I go to bed I fill a piece of paper with everything that is on mind and everything I have to do. This means that I won’t struggle to sleep because of worries running through my mind all night long. Once I have emptied my brain onto a piece of paper, I write down everything that I have to do and have to achieve the next day. Being freelance means that everyday is different, you may have meetings in town, for me I often have to pop into town for an audition and rush back home to write a blog post, then shoot some content for Instagram before the sun goes down. This post is all about those days when I am working from home all day long. Plan your appointments, meetings and conference calls in advance and block in times for different tasks. If you need to book in a parcel pick up, a conference call or even a doctors appointment. Make sure you block out time for this. I actually often skip going to a doctors because I simply don’t have time to leave the house or spend a long time on the phone trying to get an appointment. Livi allows you to book a doctor’s appointment and see an NHS GP by video, all for free. You can get a video call with a doctor within 10-15 minutes enabling you to schedule the time you want, saving you loads of time on the phone trying to book an appointment and sitting in doctor’s waiting rooms.

2. EXERCISE IN THE MORNING

I love to wake up a little bit earlier each working day and do some exercise. After walking and feeding my dog I either go for a run or go to a bootcamp class. If I go for a run I will pop on a podcast about the world of social media. I find this gives me a great sense of motivation and also inspires a lot of new work ideas. If there are no new podcast episodes to catch up on I will put on some up-tempo music. My current fave, over a year after it was released is The Greatest Showman soundtrack. There’s something about that album that really gees me up for my run. Exercising in the morning allows you to get some fresh air and increase your flow of endorphins making you a generally happier morning person. Go on, give it a try. once you have done it I bet you you will feel nothing but happiness.

3. GET DRESSED

This may seem obvious and simple but it really is necessary to get out of your PJs and into real clothes. I am often guilty of coming back from bootcamp in my dirty clothes and sitting at my desk to “quickly” respond to my emails. Come 3pm I am still sat there typing away as a dirty mess. I have found that I am far more productive if I have a wash as soon as I get back from working out. I wear nice but comfy clothes, I do my make up, my hair and I pop in my contact lenses (glasses make me sleepy).

4. CONQUER THE EMAILS

I personally like to spend my first hour of the working day doing my emails. Along with my diary I reply to every email in my inbox. I read and sign contracts. I RSVP to events and schedule in meetings. The reason I like to do my emails in the morning is that you will hopefully get a response on the same day. I also like to make any phone calls or conference calls in the morning. There’s nothing worse than having an amazing phone meeting in the evening to then be hyped up and excited about a project but not be able to work on it right away with a fresh and excited mind.

5. SCHEDULE IN SOCIAL DISTRACTIONS

Whether you work in the world of social media or not you can fall into a rather unproductive worm hole. If you don’t work in social media but love the social networking platforms then you need to schedule these into your day. If you are an influencer then you may want to schedule in more time. I like to say to myself, empty my email inbox then have 15 minutes on social media, or take photos for a blog post and then have a social media moment. Even though using social media is good for my work I do need to schedule it and limit myself a little bit to make sure I am completing other potentially more important work, like this blog post 🙂

I hope these top tips can help you have a more productive day and help you achieve your dreams quicker. Let me know if you try any of them out. Have you got any more productive working tips you can share with us all?

MOTHER’S DAY GIFT GUIDE

Welcome to another Mother’s Day. Welcome to a more Spring like time of the year. Tulips and daffodils everywhere. I love the opportunity to spoil my mum with goodies and have a day doing something she likes. We often go for a dog walk and eat cake after a lovely homemade brunch. Mother’s Day can be hard for those who have lost their grandma or mum but I always like to think that even on a rather commercial day it is worth treating yourself and your loved ones to something special. If you know someone who finds Mother’s Day hard then why not buy them a little prezzie or take them for a walk in the park and a coffee.

COSY VIBES

Even though we are in Spring, it is rainy season and very close to April showers that we all love to complain about. Rather than complaining, make the most of the excuse to have a cosy day in your home. There isn’t much I love more than having a cosy home day hanging out under the duvet or on the sofa. I love to light candles, stay in my PJs, eat biscuits and watch soppy romantic movies. Your clothes need to be comfy and cute at the same time. CYBER JAMMIES have an incredible array of pyjamas. You may even spy me on their website…take a look here. These Amelia PJs I have featured are light weight and perfect for Spring and they even have an eye mask in the same pattern (with a street lamp outside my bedroom window means this is a necessity for me) (Amelia eye mask). JUST SHEEPSKIN have the most divine snuggly slippers to pair with your PJs. My favourite ones are these Kensal Sheepskin Slippers suitable for any age. I love the bobble pom poms and immediately want to boomerang my feet with every step I take. Take a look at their site because they have loads of styles which all come in a wide variety of colours.

THE GIFT FOR EVERYONE

Did you know I adore stationary. I’m pretty sure I talk about it a lot on here and on my Instagram stories. I have loved stationary since I was a child. I have a shelf of notebooks just waiting to be filled with my next great idea. PAPIER have a lust worthy website which will spoil you with choices for notebooks, notecards, cards, invitations and even wedding stationary! Best of all you can even personalise your products!! I also want to note that everything feels like such good quality. Check out their collection of Notebooks here. The different prints are absolutely divine and you are sure to find a print that the recipient will love. I am so excited to own my own personalised Notecards. I feel like royalty sending off thank you’s on cards that have my name on them. What an amazing gift to give someone when they may not buy this for them self. Also check out their affordable and stunning Mother’s Day Cards. The card is such great quality with some dreamy prints that you will want to frame them and keep them forever.

Let me tell you all about this wonderful subscription box called WILDWOMAN. It is the best subscription box I have come across and there are many on the market, yet not quite like this one. The quality and generosity of this box is second to none. They kindly sent me a box for this gift guide and I was over the moon with the contents. You can purchase the Self care package box with a one off month to month, 3 month or 6 month subscription. This particular box has Anna of The Anna Edit‘s book which was an incredible surprise because it has been in my Amazon basket for a month and I kept meaning to purchase it. The amount of goodies in this box made me so happy, it is really thoughtfully put together and the complete self care package with so many parts to it.

THE GIFT OF SCENT

I ADORE candles. Whenever someone asks me what I want for my birthday or for Christmas I tend to say candles. I know that buying candles can be fun for the buyer because they can choose the scent and the design. If you receive a candle that you don’t like the scent of I recommend making it a toilet candle 😉 . I have been a long time fan of ANYA HINDMARCH. I remember back in 2007 I believe my bestie and I woke up at 4am and my husband drove us to our local Sainsbury’s with the hope of buying her ‘I’m Not A Plastic Bag’ canvas bag to find that they had ALREADY sold because the amount of people in the queue. We were devastated. Hey, Anya, why not rerelease them I know they would do well again. Anyway, I digress from candles. If you haven’t already noticed Anya Hindmarch has some incredibly eye catching fun candles and diffusers including this sweet and addictive scented Lip Balm Candle that reminds me of my childhood and even adorned with a bubble cherry sticker!

MOTHER'S DAY GIFT GUIDE | MEGAN TAYLORMOTHER'S DAY GIFT GUIDE | MEGAN TAYLOR | ANYA HINDMARCH
Meet the most luxurious and grown upTunisian Mint Tea scented LUMIRA candle. This is going to be a candle glass that you are going to want to clean up and keep as a pencil pot. This candle should be burning in a grand living room an hour before your guests arrive for a dinner party. I love it and I know everyone else will too both men and women in fact.

This candle byMarshmallow soy candle MOR is going to last you a really long time. It smells beautiful and very feminine. I love the tassel adorned snuffer lid which is incredibly handy. The jar is like no other and would make a really great present for the Old School Hollywood women in your life..

AYURVEDIC SKINCARE

I first got into the world of Ayurvedic philosophy a couple of years ago when I met Jasmine Hemsley and was gifted her book West By West. I have found a test to find out your Dosha here on Pukka Herbs website. Once you have found out what your dosha is you can then tailor your products to your bodies flow, thoughts and behaviour. Whether you are vata, pitta or kapha you can keep this is mind when deciding on the products to buy. Here are two fab brands creating beautiful Ayurvedic beauty products.
FUSHI (meaning eternal life) have lovely beauty products filled with recipes from the founders grandparents. Make sure you check out Fushi’s products here. There are many different beauty products but the ones I have featured here are from their ‘Face Care Range’.
SAMAYA have created these stunning products with divine packaging that you will want to keep. Samaya have created products that deliver great beauty results but are also designed to treat you to a sense of calm and tranquility. Check out the Samaya range here. I have featured a product from each range so you can see thir full beauty.

MOTHER'S DAY GIFT GUIDE | MEGAN TAYLOR | FUSHI

NEW MUM TREATS

A lot of new mums may experience problems with red raw nipples and dry skin in many other places too. DR. LIPP has used 100% medical grade lanolin in their Nipple Balm. I feel like Dr. Lipp’s nipple balm has been around forever. I remember when I was younger and had probably barely hit puberty hearing about Nipple Balm and finding it so sordid and hilarious. I then realised that it is an incredible product that is actually multi-purpose and not solely for your nipples 😉

MOTHER'S DAY GIFT GUIDE | MEGAN TAYLOR | DR LIPP

I have always loved SANCTUARY since I was quite young. I would always go into Boots at Christmas and buy their affordable gift sets. This gift set called the Indulgence Box is £20 but everything normally retails at £41.50. Gift sets like this are a great gift as everyone washes so you know the recipient will love it and to buy a girl a set like this you are essentially buying someone a little break and “me-time”.

You can eat ISLAND CHOCOLATES guilt free because all of their chocolate is sustainable, fair and 100% traceable. They grow the cocoa themselves and turn it into chocolate at origin. The package I have photographed is The Whole Gang and what a beautiful present it would make for chocoholics like myself. I can safely say they taste fabulous, my fave is the cocoa and cocoa nibs.

Flowers are always a lovely present aren’t they. I feel like flowers make a house a home. My top tip would be to buy a lovely vase as well that you know suits the shape, size and colours of the flowers you have chosen. All the flowers in this blog post are from APPLEYARD LONDON who have kindly given everyone 20% off all bouquets at Appleyard London until the 31st December 2019!!!!!  Use the code MEGAN20 for your discount (Excludes delivery charges, add on gifts and subscriptions). Click through to here to see their Mother’s Day collection.

Which items are your favourite? What would you like to gift yourself? 😉

THESE WOMEN WILL INSPIRE YOU

International Women’s Day is upon us. I wasn’t sure how I could celebrate the day but then it dawned on me that I know some incredible women! Some of whom are featured in this post. It is widely known that those that you associate with shape you and your life. I am proud to say that all of these women have influenced me in some way. My mum of course is my biggest female influence in life, she has the answer to everything and can find the positivity in absolutely everything. I remember talking to my aunt Nettie on the phone when I was a teenager and she said, “Phone me if you ever need advice on baking or sex” haha. I do ask her for baking help quite a lot! We all need strong women in our lives and if we don’t have any then you must seek some out online, there are some incredible women out there inspiring generations of women. A lot of television programs pit women against each other, cat fights are a producers dream on reality tv. Yet if women build up other women we can quite literally conquer the world. These women will inspire you and I am proud to know them. I would like to publicly thank the incredible women featured for taking time out to share a snippet of fabulous inspiration and advice. I wish I could have asked more girls and even some guys for some shared knowledge but I simply didn’t have time hehe. Enjoy and be happy from these words of wisdom. I feel like you should listen to either Jess Glynne or Florence whilst reading this post as they both have all the girl power vibes in their music. I have popped a link to their Spotify’s below.

GLENDA TAYLOR

MOTHER • WRITER • COMPANY DIRECTOR • BALLET DANCER

“I’ve never been the sort of girl who particularly hangs out with girls but over the past few very tricky months I have been so grateful for my girls both family and friends. The love and support I’ve had has been truly wonderful. I love my boys too but now I really believe in girl power.”
Glenda is the creator of Angelico Serums. Find her here…
WEB | INSTA

GAYNOR NORTON

MOTHER • LIFE COACH • CREATIVE GURU

“The gift I have tried to give to my daughters is to love yourself. When you can accept yourself the way you are without judgment you don’t have to be perfect and you can then find the beauty in all women, because we are all unique and that is perfect.”
Gaynor is the founder of Life Coach Surrey. Find her here…
WEB | FB

JENNIFER HOWSON

MAKE UP ARTIST • MODEL • ACTRESS • POSITIVE VIBE

“Women are warriors. Everyday should be Women’s Day. Megan and I are always lifting each other up and creating what I think is a catalyst of change for other women – in love, exploration, to be daring in work and new experiences big and small. I call on you today to do the same. Empower a fellow warrior woman to fulfil her potential.
Every choice you make leads to something, so make good, kind and loving choices to support another woman, together we will and ARE creating a stronger generation of warrior women, in turn, creating a better  more beautiful world.

Jennifer is the creator of an incredible make up course coming out soon. Find her here…
EMAIL | INSTA

LAURA HINTON

MOTHER • WIFE • PR • HAPPIEST PERSON EVER

“Owning and growing your own business is honestly the hardest job I have ever done. Over night you go from being employed and being brilliant at your role to becoming instantly the finance director, head of HR and IT dept. Every overhead comes directly from your profit and you can’t have a sick day or really even go on holiday in the first few years. However, building a company founded on your own values and ethos is rewarding. Choosing to work with people who inspire you and giving your team opportunities you weren’t in control of the past and seeing them and your business and flourish is a huge rush.
It can be a lonely experience too and you soon find out who your friends are. It was a great window for me and now I am surrounded by a core of other women who champion and support me as I do them. Which is invaluable. Be inclusive, be kind, be generous with your time and experience, it all comes back to you in the end. Businesses are built on people, I really believe that.”
Laura is the founder of Little Light PR. Find her here…
WEB | INSTA

LAUREN LOVETT

MOTHER • BUSINESS OWNER • ENTREPRENEUR

“Children are the most challenging, frustrating, joyful, funny little creatures in the world. The have the ability to bring you so much happiness and at the same time to take absolutely everything you’ve got in the process (energy wise). It is definitely a juggling act no matter if you have childcare, a nanny or any kind of help. How do I do it? With a fully charged iPhone (and about a million apps that let me access emails, documents, social accounts and track projects) AND clear work boundaries – knowing that I’m going to dedicate Saturday morning to my family becomes a sacred time for me as well as for my to-do list. I am building and working on something for my children’s future.”
Lauren is the owner of the UK Blog Awards. Find her here…
WEB | INSTA | TWITTER

GEMMA SCOPES

WRITER • SPEAKER • PODCASTER • CHEERLEADER

We live in a society where women are encouraged to compare, compete and fight each other for what they want but the truth is there is space for everyone. There is a lot of power in female friendship and we should never underestimate how much we can achieve together. Even if you don’t have a strong tribe around you right now, there are always opportunities to make new friends and make it a priority to do so. Vulnerable conversations, new connections and being part of a community give women the strength to achieve incredible things. Behind every successful woman are herself AND her tribe. Surround yourself with women that cheer you on, that celebrate your successes and fuel you with energy.
One way to empower the women around you right now is to o
ffer friends help without them having to ask for it. Offer support to your friends and be their biggest cheerleaders. Support them in rough times and be there to celebrate the great times. Friends that can celebrate each other’s successes are incredibly special.”
Find her here…
WEB | INSTA | PODCAST | CLUB | FB

Have you got a quote you live by? Who inspires you each and every day?

WHAT TO WATCH THIS VALENTINE’S DAY

Valentine’s week has arrived. Whether you are celebrating or not, whether you are romanced up or spending the evening with friends or family, here are 10 movies to watch for free on Netflix. Most of these movies and old classics but I think there will be a few you haven’t seen before. Some will make you laugh, some cry and some feel joyful. Click on the heading to watch the trailers. Have a wonderful time whatever you are up to. Also, if you want some Valentine’s Day gift ideas check out my blog post full of ideas here.

WHAT TO WATCH THIS VALENTINE'S DAY | Megan Taylor

1. VALENTINE’S DAY

The perfect Valentine’s Day movie.
Happy.
Suitable for everyone.
I watch it every year.
Follows lots of storylines at once (a la Love Actually).

2. FIFTY SHADES DARKER

Hopefully better than the first but I am haven’t seen it yet.
Saucy.
One for the adults.

3. HOW TO BE SINGLE

Hilarious.
Joyful.
Feel good.

4. DEFINITELY MAYBE

Suitable for all.
Cute.
Romantic.
Great casting.

5. BRIDGET JONES’S BABY

Hilarious.
One of the best sequels.
Great music.

6. HOME AGAIN

Cute.
Romantic but not soppy.
Family friendly but 12+ would be interested.
Girly film.

7. CRAZY STUPID LOVE

Hilarious.
Classic.
Best one liners.
One of my faves.

8. ELIZABETHTOWN

Relatively unknown, yet everyone should watch it.
Romantic and sad but not too sad.
Great soundtrack.
Inspiring.
Definitely worth watching, may become a fave.
Will make you want to book a road trip across America.

9. THE NOTEBOOK

Sad.
Happy.
Classic.
Everyone has to watch this film otherwise are you really alive?

10. P.S. I LOVE YOU

Sad.
Devastating.
Huge cry fest.
Only watch once.
Amazing!!

Which movie are you going to watch? Have you already watched them all?

VALENTINE’S DAY GIFT GUIDE

Yay, it is the month of romance, love and happiness. Even if you are single why not treat yourself to a goodie or two. I have compiled a lovely selection of Valentine’s appropriate gifting for him, her and even for you. I find buying for boys so much trickier than for girls. For girls I ten to just buy double of what I am buying and keeping for myself. For boys, well, adult boys, I tend to buy alcohol! In this list there are some treats for men to make them feel like they can pamper themselves whilst you pamper yourself too. Read on to find some amazing inspo.
(This gift guide contains gifted items which I requested for content creation)

LET’S GET LIPPY

Romance is so much about kissing right? Well here are some lovely products to plump up your lips and make them look beautifully rosy. This petite Winky LuxSteal My Heart-Call Me’ lipstick scream Valentine’s and I am so pleased I have finally photographed it so I can use it. How beautiful is its heart shape and pinky colour. If you want to plump up your lips in preparation for kissing season then this product by Bybi is what you are after ‘Plumper & Buffer’. I have shared Rodin products before in my Christmas gift guides and I have been using their lipsticks ever since. These beauties decorated in a red floral design are the perfect present (Lilium and Dianthus).

YOU KNOW THE WAY TO MY HEART

These two goodies are all about the luxury and not quite going to break the bank! Both come beautifully packaged as well which makes a present 1000x better in my opinion. I have loved Lulu Guinness for a really long time and have the classic red lips clutch and red lip print make up travel holder. I am now the proud owner of this divine ‘heart purse’. It is a good sized coin purse lined in the black and white striped fabric. The outside has a red side and a pink size. Oh I love it so! It would make such a wonderful gift for anyone in your life. Buckley London are always creating fabulous classy gifts which come packaged in such cute ways. This beautiful gold heart bracelet comes in the most adorable white and black edged box which looks like a teeny hat box.

SPRITZ YOUR WAY TO MY HEART

Girlies, I am here with some beautiful scents to make hearts flutter and strangers ask you what perfume you are wearing. You know that experience of when you are in a room and someone says, “who smells good?”, well, now that person can be you. I am always trying to think of new inventive ways to tell you about a perfume through words so I have decided to give you a few descriptive words to help you imagine the scents that I can smell here.

GoutalRose Pompon’ : Feminine, sweet but not sickly, a luxury holiday in the Maldives.
Tory BurchLove Relentlessly’: young adult, balmy Spring evenings in the park with friends.
ElleL’edition’: youthful, floral and a little bit sweet.

VALENTINE'S DAY GIFT GUIDE | Megan Taylor

ROMANCE ME

Here are some beauty and romance goodies for the cheeky girls amongst us. Why not make your eyes flutter like they have never fluttered before. Kiss have incredible lashes and these Splendor lashes of their will have boys and girls staring at you from across the bar. I feel so much better when I have nice nails and have always loved Leighton Denny. Here are three divine romance inspired colours you will love (‘Plush Pink’ ‘Paparazzi’ ‘Provocative’).
Real roses, die and leave stains on surfaces and bedding. Why not save the roses for your beautiful vase and buy this bag of fake petals which you can use time after time…and if you are a blogger, they are a great prop for your blog posts. Why not pop this little pleasurable and discrete goodie from Bondara in your shopping cart when you buy your rose petals.

PRESENTS FOR YOUR GUY

As I said earlier, boys are tricky to buy for, right!? Well, here are a selection of lovely male goodies. It would be so lovely and special to get this array of goodies and pop them in a mini hamper, don’t you think? Gillette is such a classic isn’t it. My aunty actually uses this mens razor and said it’s the best razor out there. So maybe get the man in your life this razor but secretly know that it is a joint present ;P . I am the biggest fan of Tweezerman and swear by their tweezers. I have the pink ones and after I spotted Liam using mine a few times I popped a black pair in his stocking a few years ago. Tweezerman have great little gift sets. They come packaged so beautifully with great black leather travel cases. Check out these two here and here. These hillarious Valentine’s Day cards from Moments With Cards are currently only £1.99!! You will have a whole lot of laughs reading the front of each card. Black Leopard have an incredibly luxe range of products which you can buy in gift sets or choose your own products and pop into a gift box.

I hope you have a lovely Valentine’s Day. Have you got any plans?