5 Makeup Tips Every Bride Should Know

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Your big day is finally set in stone. You have the venue and date secured and now you need to take care of the difficult part: everything else! 

However, from silverware to flowers, nothing comes quite close to the importance (and stress) of the look of the bride. It’s at the top of your list, dress, hair, and of course makeup. After all, photos last forever – you need to look perfect! The following tips will ensure that on your wedding day you are completely ready in every way to go down the aisle in style and with grace.

 wedding, weddings, wedding venue, wedding make up artist, London, wedding planning

  1. Early Skin Prep

Having bad skin on one of the most important days of your life is a nightmare. In order to combat this potential dilemma, it is important to be as prepared as you can to eradicate issues before they arise. The key is prevention, not solutions on the day. 

Regular cleansing & repairing facials before the day of is your best bet – aim for at least 3 monthly sessions before you say “I do”. If you follow a proper daily skincare routine months before your wedding, it will drastically improve your skin texture and thus how your makeup will apply to your skin. It’s important to stick to what you know works for your skin, avoid trying risky new skin products (no matter how much they are praised by others) to avoid any rashes, irritation, or scarring!

 

  1. Use Long-Lasting, Waterproof Products

There will be no doubt about it: there will be tears of joy! Make sure your makeup is as waterproof as can be, especially your mascara! Your day will also be filled with stress, and no one wants a nervous sweat ruining their beautiful makeup.

 Wear a long-lasting foundation, a proper primer, and consider matte lipstick – they last much longer than gloss lipsticks. Have a beauty blender nearby for those tears – avoid tissues as they might leave harsh marks, gently dabbing away at tears with a beauty blender will avoid any awkward coverage. Keep your lipstick and powder close by for quick top-ups when needed. Blotting papers are an easy way to quickly eliminate any oiliness from your skin – so keep them close too!

 

  1. Minimize Stress by Giving Yourself, And Your Bridal Party, Enough Prep Time

It’s not uncommon for the bride to walk down the aisle a bit later than expected, but it can be prevented. Make sure you plan well ahead, starting with your makeup artist. Usually, a bridal look will take about 45 minutes and 20 minutes for your bridesmaids and the mother of the bride. 

Ask your bridesmaids to come complexion ready – have them put their base and foundations on beforehand so the artist can add colors on the eyes, cheeks, and lips to speed it up. Have them also bring along their favorite lipstick color this way the makeup artist will know where to begin with your bridesmaids’ looks! 

Lastly, have all the bridesmaids pack out their shoes, jewelry, flowers, and of course, bridesmaid’s dresses ready and packed out as soon as they arrive – no more scurrying around looking for shoes!

  1. Have a Makeup Trial 3-5 Weeks Before the Big Day

If you are planning on having a fake tan on your big day, ensure you have it done before your trial as well, to ensure your makeup is matched accurately! In addition to this, have your hair done and wear your bridal jewelry so your artist can complement your total look. Book your makeup artist 6 months ahead, and try to find someone that matches your style!

  1. Take Your Wedding Season Into Consideration

Ensure you tailor your makeup to the season’s elements you’ll have your wedding in – a moody dark makeup look might look stunning in the winter, but a bit odd in summer. Remember that you don’t want your makeup to be too shiny in summer, save the shimmer for winter weddings. Winter weddings require a more hydrating foundation that won’t look dry and flat on photos and in person. 

Prevent Bridezilla, Plan Ahead

Your wedding is a once-in-a-lifetime moment, invest a lot of time in it, but do so effectively! Planning, making lists, and prioritizing complex tasks will save you a lot of stress down the road. Your make-up will have to endure just as much stress you will – choose wisely, prep well, and keep your skin healthy to avoid any embarrassing or uncomfortable situations. Most importantly, enjoy every moment, including the planning, most of us only get this opportunity once in a lifetime!

Collaborative post with our brand partner.

12 Hours to Say I Love You Book Review

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12 hours to say I love youWritten by married couple Olivia Poulet and Laurence Dobiesz, 12 Hours to Say I Love You is an original, beautiful and completely perfect love story. As you read this story of Pippa and Steve you fall in love with them as they fall in love with each other.

Pippa is lying in a coma as Steve talks to her, willing her to come back to him after a traffic accident. The concept is clever and delivered with aplomb. Stunning stuff. I loved it.

 

TWO PEOPLE. ONE LOVE STORY. TWELVE HOURS TO TELL IT…

Gripping, moving and beautifully observed, this is a love story told from both sides, with warmth, tenderness and heart.

Whir, beep, click, breath. Whir, beep, click, breath.

Pippa Gallagher is rushed in to hospital following a traffic accident.

As Pippa lies unconscious, she is aware of fragments. The day she met Steve Gallagher, her best friend and the man who would become the love of her life. The heartbreak she felt tonight as she got into her car, her eyes blurry from tears.

Meanwhile Steve sits at her bedside, his eyes fixed on her pale, still face. He has no idea where his wife was going when she crashed. No clue as to why she became distracted behind the wheel. All he knows is that she is his world. And that he wasn’t there when she needed him most.

For the next twelve hours, Steve tells Pippa all the reasons he loves her.

But is it too late? Can Pippa find her way back to him?

Here’s what early readers are saying about 12 HOURS TO SAY I LOVE YOU:

12 Hours to Say I Love You is available here.

 

Williams Handbaked certainly get around and are now available at Bents Garden Centre- one of the best in the North West

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Everyone must know what a favourite Williams Homebaked biscuits are with the Frost Magazine team,  but it’s really  interesting to learn about some of their stockists too. To the right of the image of the scrumptious biscuits you will see an ancient olive tree – heavens, even older than our editor, Margaret Graham. This amazing olive tree fronts Bents Marget Garden, where you will now find some Williams Homebaked.

The Bents story begain in 1937, when Alfred and Margaret Bent began to cultivate and sell roses grown in the front of their terraced house in Glazebury, Warrington.

This immediately attracted Margaret Graham, because she is bore of the year when roses are mentioned – yep  she lives and breathes her own Old English babies, using them in mixed beds. So she determined that Frost Magazine must  find out more.

After the war, Alfred bought 16 acres of land and began to grow on a larger scale. There were no such things as garden centres, and planting was  seasonal, with  business pretty much hand to mouth. What you made in the growing season had to last the year.

In the 1970s, Alfred and Margaret’s sons Ron and John expanded the business, with Ron suggesting that food and drinks should also be offered. This was extraordinarily entrepreneurial –  most nurseries were just that back then.

Voila!  No sooner said than done –  Bents Garden Centre  began to evolve into a unique lifestyle destination where customers could and can discover the products, advice and inspiration to make outdoor and indoor living more beautiful.  In addition, they could and can head off to dine in comfort ‘a la Bents’ and imagine  their  purchases transforming their home and garden. Couldn’t be much better, could it?

But yes, actually, it can, because it is heart warming that Bents has  resisted becoming all  ‘corporate’ on the heels of its success and is still very much a family business, with succeeding generations becoming involved.

                      

So let’s look at the details: alongside plants, seeds, outdoor furniture, barbecues and outdoor buildings, you’ll  find  indoor furniture, gifts, fresh food, clothing, shoes, toys, pet supplies and everything you need for your kitchen. And your hips – because Williams Homebaked offerings reside here alongside other excellent top of the range  food products.

So is it any wonder that these days, Bents is regarded as one of the very best garden centres in the North West, and a weekend destination for many families. If you find yourself in the food hall, you can always pick up a Williams Eccles cake or Manchester Tart. Be careful, once tried you will go back for more. Take the car –  you’ll want to bring the whole garden centre back with you.

Do please ask Frost Magazine to tea if you buy LOTS of Williams biscuits. We’ll be there like a shot, nipping into the rose section at Bents first.

Williams Handbaked.co.uk 

https://www.bents.co.uk/

Warrington Rd, Glazebury, Warrington WA3 5NT

Bents images courtesy of Bents.

Williams Handbaked image courtesy of Williams Handbaked

Frost Magazine can heartily recommend a healthy Friday night fakeaway – fish n chips for everyone, using Lizi’s Low Sugar Granola for the coating

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Lizi’s Low Sugar Granola: RRP £3.70 for 500g, available from Waitrose, Sainsbury’s, Tesco, Morrisons and Ocado
 
Using Lizi’s Low Sugar Granola for a crispy fish coating, this recipe is full of healthy, slow release carbohydrates, along with beta-carotene (which converts into Vitamin A) from the sweet potato chips that may support immunity and vision.

So how about a healthy Friday night fakeaway. These fish and chips are full of flavour yet have a healthy makeover by baking rather than frying. The fish is coated in a crispy Lizi low sugar granola and wholegrain breadcrumb topping, which provides a healthy source of slow-release carbohydrates. It’s also much lower in fat than your usual batter coating.

The sweet potato wedges are jam-packed full of beta-carotene which converts to vitamin A, and may support immunity and vision. Lastly the ‘tartare sauce’ comprises of natural yoghurt, with lemon and capers which is a lower-fat alternativ e. This perfectly balanced meal can be enjoyed by the whole family!

INGREDIENTS FOR THE TRAYBAKE

2 cod fillets

2 tbsp plain flour (heaped)

1 egg, whisked

80g Lizi’s Low Sugar Granola

2 sweet potatoes

160g frozen peas

4 tbsp natural yoghurt

1 lemon 

1 tbsp capers, sliced

METHOD TO SERVE 2

  1. Preheat the oven to 200 degrees Celsius. Slice the sweet potatoes into long strips to make wedges. Place them on a baking tray, drizzle with oil and season with salt and pepper. Bake for 18-20 minutes. 
  2. While the potatoes roast, place the flour, salt and pepper into a food processor and blend until mixed.
  3. Put three bowls to the side. Put the plain flour into a bowl with salt and pepper. Place the whisked egg into the second bowl, and the blended granola into the third bowl. 
  4. Cover each fillet of fish in the flour mixture, and then dunk in the egg and then the Lizi’s Low Sugar Granola coating. Press gently to ensure it sticks and fully coat each side of the fish. 
  5. Take the potatoes out of the oven and place the fish onto the same baking tray, ensuring the tray is oiled so they don’t stick. Drizzle over oil onto the fish and season with salt and pepper. 
  6. Bake the fish and potatoes for 10-15 minutes and turn halfway through. 
  7. Cook and blend frozen peas with a little oil, salt and pepper. In a bowl mix yoghurt, capers and a small of lemon zest and lemon juice. Taste to ensure you’re happy with the flavour.  
  8. Serve fish, with sweet potato chips, peas, and healthy yoghurt tartar. Enjoy!

The granola range includes: Digestive Health, Low Sugar, Low Sugar Maple & Pecan, High Protein, Gluten Free, Organic, Original, Belgian Chocolate, Treacle and Pecan, Passionfruit and Pistachio, Mango and Macadamia, Pink Apple and Cinnamon. Lizi’s has also launched Lizi’s Adventurers Granola Crispies for kids, available in Banana and Strawberry flavours.  The Lizi’s Super Muesli range includes: Glow, Focus, Boost and Cleanse.

Frost Magazine can heartily recommend it. It’s scrumptious

Lizi’s Low Sugar Granola: RRP £3.70 for 500g, available from Waitrose, Sainsbury’s, Tesco,  Morrisons and Ocado

My Meno Journey: the backstory part 2 by Alex Bannard, Wellbeing and Wellness Editor

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I first started practicing mindfulness & meditation, (albeit sporadically) over a decade ago, whilst I was being treated for severe agitated depression when we were living in Germany, which , (as I said last week),  was the start of my peri-menopause, or so I came to believe. 

My journey into meditation & mindfulness was self-led. I’d read books & tried to introduce more mindfulness into my kids’ lives. Kids are inherently mindful & present, I figured it made sense to nurture this rather than condition it out of them. So I knew mindfulness would be helpful for me. I started meditating & slowly my mental health started to improve.

We moved to Germany to Bangkok for my husband’s work where I met my dear friend, Violaine, a practicing Buddhist & meditation teacher. Violaine became my meditation mentor: with her I studied & practiced meditation for 2 hours almost every week.

It was a revelation. She guided me through all the pitfalls of my own self-led practice, taught me how to do it (although it’s less about doing & more about being), helped me navigate inevitable obstacles.

I learnt 2 profound lessons during my time with Violaine: you don’t have to believe everything you think. Our thoughts are just thoughts, not necessarily fact & they do not define you.

That was a relief!

We can all fall foul of being sabotaged by our inner critical voice – mine was brutal. Layer on the ugly, insidious thoughts of mental heath (or lack thereof) & that dialogue in my head was not a pleasant space to be.

This insight almost gave me the permission I needed to let go of those unhelpful thoughts. I started to acknowledge the ugly, unhelpful thoughts & I would just stop & remind myself if I wouldn’t say that to a friend I wouldn’t be saying it to myself. Overtime that inner critical voice has quietened.

Violaine also said, “It is a work, Alex, it is always a work.”

And it is but oh my gosh it is so worth it.

We lived in Bangkok for 2 years & I absolutely loved there for many reasons, one of them was to see the monks every morning on their daily alms rounds. They were a beautiful reminder to take a moment to turn inwards & I was grateful for that.

I also discovered that the Buddha ordained temples were not for the sake of worship but instead a reminder of our own Buddha nature: we are all inherently good, loving & kind. It helps to cultivate that all important self-compassion. I just love this concept.

When we moved back to the UK over 4 years ago it was because my marriage was over. Our nomad life (when we arrived in the UK my young son  had lived in 4 other countries) was over & it was time to settle.

Settling into any new country is hard, layer on a divorce & as the autumn night’s started to draw in I began to miss our spontaneous, social, fun life overseas & feel sorry for myself.

Then I had an idea: I thought about Rumi’s quote – it’s all about perception.

If I think things are going to be cr*p, then damn sure it will be because that’s what I’m looking for, so that’s what I’ll find.

But what if I think it’s going to be OK, good, great even?

And so I decided to do just shift my perception… and nothing changed…but everything did.

What a great lesson.

Next time find out how my mindfulness training helped overcome crippling anxiety & suicidal thoughts.

If you would like to find out more about creating your own self-care practices check out Alex’s FB group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/mindfulnessyoga4selfcare

Or on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/alexbannard/

Incorporate short yoga sequences & meditations as part of your self-care toolkit with guided practices on Alex’s YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCQlKZJ7MeyYc6lqkv6seISw

For more info check out www.alexbannard.com

Alex is based on the edge of the stunning Cotswolds & has been sharing her love for all things yoga & mindfulness for almost a decade, not just in the UK but also around the world. Having used her training & knowledge to navigate her own menopausal journey & create a life in which she is thriving, Alex is devoted in supporting other’s in this life changing transition.

Sleepwalk(tm) – Live in the Dream A 9-step Program of Self-Destruction by Stephen Renwick

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Yep, that’s right, Self-Destruction. On the first page I was laughing aloud. Such a great self-help book. No preaching. It’s so refreshing I recommend it.

Here we have a detailed roadmap to multi-faceted personal ruin, presenting  us with clear steps to drive ever onwards on the wrong path with hot tips to make it worse. Sleepwalk ™ leaves  absolutely no stone unturned in signposting the way to foul up one’s life. Even while we’re rolling on the floor screaming with laughter, we are aware that this guy, a psychologist, could be talking to us, about us.  It doesn’t ‘alf make us think.

Stephen Renwick’s mock 9-step program is an histerical,  dark, ironic and irreverent parody of the plethora of self-help genre.  The confessional humour is directed  at the writer, so says the blurb  but  nonetheless  it most certainly  bangs on the door of our lives and hi-lights some of what we do, think, assume.  And most of it alerts us to the fact that these attitudes perhaps ain’t helpiful and need mitigating.

Renwick, the psychologist, knows how to present not just humour, but help. This he makes clear in the closing chapters of the book. We have listened to his increasingly familiar road to disaster and discontent knowing we need adjust our lives and then – as a conclusion – is the punchline, the- hey, think about this now and redirect.

I ate it up.

Sleepwalk is available from all good booksellers.

https://www.sleepwalk-selfhelp.com/

 

SUNDAY SCENE: SUSAN GRIFFIN ON HER FAVOURITE SCENE FROM SCARLETT’S STORY

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Scarlett is a character from my novel The Amethyst Necklace, and was the first person to appear in my head when I was thinking up the plot for the book. However, as that book progressed, Scarlett soon became a larger and more colourful character than I had anticipated, with her own heart-breaking story overshadowing the dual-timeline book.

However, she was a pivotal part of the novel so I kept her in and decided to give her a smaller role to play in the book. That was when realisation dawned. Scarlett had to have her own novel, so that she could spread her wings, and tell the readers of The Amethyst Necklace her own story. And Scarlett’s Story, the book, was born.

After suffering the loss of her mother and siblings to the Spanish Influenza Epidemic, Scarlett’s father returns from the war in 1918 a changed man. The shock of this and her recent losses, gives Scarlett the strange gift of second sight, where she experiences dreams and visions of what might happen in the future. As a child this is frightening and something to be kept hidden, and when her father dies soon after his return from the trenches, Scarlett is left an orphan at only 10 years old.

Scarlett has experienced a difficult life, but with courage and determination she claws her way to a comfortable lifestyle. It’s not one, though, that’s true to her nature, and when she finally falls properly in love, with all the joy and heartache that brings, she comes to realise where her real values lie.

This excerpt from the book is my favourite chapter, where Scarlett realises that the man standing in front of her is the handsome stranger in her dreams.

Then it happened. As we locked our gaze defiantly, each of us it seemed was unable to look away. And as the seconds ticked by, I began drowning in those hazel eyes. With a jolt I realised that this was the man I’d been dreaming of for years, the man who in my dreams had loved me more than life itself.

Breaking the spell, Frankie tore his eyes from me and shook his head vigorously. Then, turning on his heel, he hurried back through the hallway, leaving me gasping for breath and wondering what exactly had just happened.

As Frankie reached the door, he spun around and glared back at me. ‘Women like you don’t know what harm they’re doing!’ he bellowed, before striding angrily down the footpath and banging the back gate shut behind him.

This is the point in the novel where Scarlett understands she may have been mistaken in her search for the comfort of material possessions in her life. And later in the book when she thinks she’s lost Frankie, after his plane is shot down over enemy occupied France, she is heartbroken.

With Scarlett’s Story I wanted to give Scarlett a difficult journey, a mission to become someone of importance, even though she was from lowly beginnings. This was a challenge she rose to and overcame, and once she had accepted love into her life, she went from a child who had nothing, to a woman who had everything.

As is so often the case in life, what we think we want and what we really need, are two different things entirely. And when Scarlett fell in love for the first time, she soon realised it was love that she had been searching for all along.

 

 

https://susangriffinauthor.com/

 

 

 

 

 

The Ancestral Quest by F.G.Kwong is a triumph, exploring as it does F.G. Kwong’s family – and two disparate worlds.

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I know little  of Chinese culture and history, so this exploration of one man’s roots – though in truth it is far more than that – is utterly fascinating.

Not content with exploring the tensions  between a present day son brought up in the British culture and his withdrawn father, Kwong Chun Ji,  who left China in 1921, F.G. Kwong, one feels, is also on a journey to understand his ancestors. So does it work?

Definitely.

The writing is excellent, the meticulous revelations of a culture unknown to him, and a father similarly unknown to a son is recorded with empathy and sympathy.  So let me lead you into this extraordinary autobiography, biography or is it a history? Perhaps it is all three.

Kwong Chun Ji was ordered by his father in 1921 to leave their ancestral home in semi-feudal China and head to the West to save the family from starvation during the civil wars that erupted, following the fall of the Last Emperor of China.

Landing  in Liverpool Kwong Chun Ji found he had not actually escaped the turmoil he had fled. There it still was, in the shape of Triad gangs who were waiting to target disembarking Chinese immigrants. He managed to evade them, settling elsewhere in the area. At the age of 38  he was instructed by his father to marry by proxy a much younger bride from a neighbouring village who joined him in Britain, and together they produced a family. All the while Kwong Chun Ji still continued to support this family back in China – as befits a dutiful son.

So, it was all ‘happy ever after’? No.

It transpires that there  was a huge unexplained gulf  between Kwong Chun Ji and Frank,  his first born; the author of this absorbing book. Why did his father treat Frank  with a diffidence bordering on hostility? What was it that Francis had done? Or was it not his fault? If so…

This is a book to be read carefully, one which will introduce the reader,  not only  to the culture and upheavals of an increasingly powerful China, but take them on  a quest into Frank’s ancestral past, a quest into the secret of his father’s near hostility, and then the  quest for peace and reconciliation

Read The Ancestral Quest, it is a momentous and brave search for truth.

 

Published by Book Guild Publishing, ISBN 9781913208899. The Ancestral Quest is available in paperback (£12.99) and Kindle format (£3.99) on Amazon at https://amzn.to/3oTLrzw and https://amzn.to/3xqqD6v respectively.

It is also available to purchase from The Book Guild, Waterstones, W.H.Smith, Foyles and all major bookshops in UK.

Also available from Amazon in Norway, Denmark, Spain, Portugal and India: Romania from books-express.ro: South Africa from loot.co.za: Australia from dymocks.com.au: USA from barnesandnoble.com

About the author:

After thirty years in osteopathic practice in Notting Hill, F. L.Ying aka F.G.Kwong retired to devote time to his other passion – writing. Living in London, married to a fashion designer with their young granddaughters not too far away who keep him on his toes with so many probing questions about the mysterious circumstances hitherto of his family background and the complicated ways of the world.