Good Morning

Working from home can mean many things - freedom, flexibility, distraction, low motivation, pyjamas… I’m trying to take a structured approach to my morning routine to make sure I get up and get things done, without rushing around or panicking about the work I have to do that day.

All photos were taken by the amazing Anna Harding from Hello Ding.

Since I’ve been on the Gut Dysbiosis diet due to ongoing health issues, my breakfasts have been more of a focused part of my day. I’m terrible at waking up and up until recently very lazy when it comes to making breakfast (all meals actually), but now I make sure I eat properly. Normally it’s porridge, eggs or pancakes. These banana and blueberry pancakes are delicious and sweet, and only have five ingredients: blueberries, bananas, wholewheat flour, eggs and pumpkin pie spice mix from Trader Joe’s. No added sugar but super delicious.

I used to work for a coffee roaster in London and can’t begin a day without coffee. Although I drink decaff, for me it’s much more about the taste - as well as the habit and routine of making it - than the caffeine buzz. We use a metal filter as it’s reusable and I swear by Oatly, it’s unbelievably good. The spoon pot was made by Pip Hartle and it’s perfect.

I like to start my day by reading. I try and read before I look at my phone, but let’s be honest - this hardly ever happens. Margaret Atwood is one of my favourite authors and I’ve just preordered her new novel The Testaments which is due out in September. I’m counting down the days. The jumper is from Monki (thank you ASOS) and the playsuit is from Topshop via One Scoop Store, my favourite second hand shop that has amazing pieces at ridiculously good prices.

A happy unintentional matching of vinyl to furniture - this Band of Skulls record is consistently playing in my house.

After breakfast, I like to get ready as if I was going to work, I find it puts me more in the ‘office mood’. I wash my face with warm water and a Coco Shine pad (Louisa Revolta’s recommendation), before applying Rodial’s Dragon’s Blood moisturiser and eye cream. Then I use Boy Brow, Balm Dotcom and Lash Slick from Glossier, and when I’m feeling super fancy I use Fenty Beauty’s liquid liner, which stays on forever.

It's A Hell Of A Town

After a manic December of gigs, I needed a break - I started my year off with a weekend away in New York. My brother surprised me with the trip for my birthday last May, which was amazing for so many reasons, but mostly because it meant i got to hang out with him for four days straight. We did nothing but eat, walk and talk. Here are some highlights of our adventures across the pond.

Food

Momofuku Noodle Bar

Momofuku served us one of the best meal’s I have ever had, full stop. This was a dish of roasted carrots with scallions and pumpkin seeds; the flavours were unbelievable. I wish we had time to go back and order everything else we didn’t get a chance to try.

Arturo’s Pizza & Jazz

We wanted to listen to some live jazz while we were in New York, which is why Joe suggested heading to Arturo’s. There was a pianist playing some classic tunes, but the music wasn’t as much as a feature as we thought it would be. However, the pizza was magnificent. This pizza of dreams was half cheese with olives & garlic (Joe’s), and half no cheese with anchovies, peppers & onions (mine). We were going to order one each but the waiter kindly stepped in and told us that would be ridiculous. He was right; this was the biggest pizza I’ve ever seen.

My food highlight of the trip was Johny’s Luncheonette, a classic diner with counter service. Joe went for pancakes, and I ordered eggs with turkey bacon and home fries. We sat at the counter and drank a lot of coffee. The food was amazing, but it was the all round experience that made this my highlight.

Bagels, bagels, bagels.

We stopped by Brooklyn Bagel & Coffee Co and Joe’s favourite Ess-a-bagel. I ate four wholewheat everything bagels in three days, which may seem excessive, but I could have eaten more.

One of the highlights of the trip was Milk Bar - I’ve wanted to visit for ages. I have bored everyone I know with telling them about the diet I’m on to help heal my chronic immune problems; the diet is strictly no sugar but you better believe I broke it to eat a lot of the Birthday Cake. (We also sampled the Crack Pie, Cereal Latte, Confetti Cookie and the B’Day Truffles - don’t judge us.)

Sights

Staten Island Ferry

On Joe’s to do list was the Staten Island Ferry - it’s free and a great way of getting a bit closer to the Statue of Liberty.

The Subway

I took the subway for the first time…baby steps.

We went to The Whitney Museum of American Art to see the Andy Warhol exhibition. It was absolutely amazing, I can’t recommend it enough.

The High Line

It was -6 degrees, so prettttty cold, but what a way to see the city.

Shopping

I did a small bit of shopping in New York; I’m trying not to buy new clothes as I’m committed to the sustainable & recycled fashion route that I started last year. However, I do believe in buying good quality basics that will last, so a trip to Uniqlo was a must. A trip to New York is also not complete without stopping by The Strand Book Store - I spent about an hour looking at books and managed to restrain myself and only get one. Apart from that, plus a quick stint in Sephora & Uniqlo, Joe and I focused on walking and food, which was exactly what New York is about for us.

My outfit from Uniqlo, plus boots from Jones that I snagged off eBay a few months ago. This wall was in the Chelsea Cambria Hotel where we were staying.

Glossier

I wax lyrical about Glossier on a daily basis, and their flagship store was well worth the 50 minute walk from the hotel.

Sustainable Fashion: Part Four

Wearing Ray-Ban Wayfarers from eBay, silk trousers from The Vintage Room, and a black t-shirt and sandals, both from ASOS.

These trousers were such a score. They are so comfortable, and the print is really eye-catching. They originally had bright blue buttons running up both sides but I took them off. 

While on the shoot with Anna, we popped into The Hambledon, one of my favourite shops in Winchester. It's really hard to resist purchasing anything! I came away with some blank notecards from Paper Poetry. 

Super casual posing here. 

All photographs: Anna Harding from Hello Ding 

Make Up: Mac and Glossier

Sustainable Fashion: Part Three

Hotter than the sun, and I'm still WEARING KNITWEAR. 

I got this LL Bean sweater from Beyond Retro in Brighton while I was studying at Sussex Uni. It's probably my favourite item of clothing I own. It is beginning to look very dishevelled (or loved, as I like to call it). I bought a pair of Lee jeans the same day, and I didn't take them off until the jeans literally began to wear away. I still have them, even though they are unwearable. 

The Kurt Geiger boots were a purchase from eBay. I really like to prepare for the autumn months in advance, so they are ready and waiting in my wardrobe the moment the first leaves begin to fall off the trees. 

All photographs - Anna Harding from Hello Ding. 

Make Up - Mac and Glossier. 

Earrings - ASOS. 

Sustainable Fashion: Part Two

What is it with me and knitwear in the summer? 

Wearing a knitted vest my mum wore in the late 1970s from the men's department of Marks and Spencer, second-hand LL Bean jeans from ASOS Marketplace, a vintage handbag that was a Christmas present from one of my best friends a few years ago, Kurt Geiger booties, and New Look ear cuffs.

These jeans are so comfortable. I almost always buy jeans from the 80s or 90s; they tend to have a higher waist and wider leg which I love. 

These shoes were love at first sight; I saw them in an airport and had to use every ounce of will power to resist them. I was still thinking about them four months later, so I went to the Kurt Geiger store in Covent Garden. I have worn them so much that they really need repairing, but I'm too afraid that someone will say they can't be fixed...

One of the nicest places to sit in Winchester! Flat Whites' does amazing coffee and really good breakfasts. 

Photographer: Anna Harding from Hello Ding. 

Make Up: MAC and Glossier. 

Sustainable Fashion: Part One

I'm really enjoying the sustainable fashion movement at the moment; I've been reading a lot about reusing and recycling, and I'm trying hard to buy clothes from charity shops, vintage stores and websites like eBay, One Scoop Store and ASOS Marketplace. 

I decided that I wanted to explore what I already had in my wardrobe that is secondhand or vintage; turns out, there are a few pieces that I own that have previous lives elsewhere.  I wanted to explore all the clothing options that I had that to prove to myself how easy secondhand and sustainable fashion is. 

Anna from Hello Ding (who is also a fellow Spitfire Sister of course!) agreed to be the photographer for the project (her instagram is amazing, you can check it out here). 

Checking out the second hand book store in Winchester Cathedral grounds.

This red knit dress was designed and made by Annie Durkan in the early 1980s. My mum modelled the dress for her and was allowed to keep it at the end of the shoot. I had it in my dressing up box from the age of 8, and I used to pretend it was an evening gown and I was off to some fancy party. This was the first time I've ever worn it outside! I'm so glad I kept it in my wardrobe all of these years. 

I bought this book.

The denim jacket also belonged to my mum many years ago. It's very old George by ASDA, darling. This is a wardrobe essential, I take it everywhere, all weathers, all temperatures. 

We stopped by The Square by Coffee Lab for sustenance, which I would thoroughly recommend. I understand the irony of drinking out of a takeaway cup when writing about sustainable fashion - normally I'm really good at remembering my tumbler, but I forgot it. Classic. My tumbler is from Corkcicle and they are amazing. You can check them out here. There are so many benefits to using your own mug - apart from the whole saving the planet thing, you also save money at loads of places. Good vibes all round.  

Jacket - George by ASDA, Dress - Annie Durkan, Shoes - ASOS, Makeup - Glossier & Bourjois

Here's my mum in the same dress 35 years ago...you can't get more 80s than that. 

Tour Essentials

I had my last tour date of the 2017/2018 season with The Spitfire Sisters on January 10th, and I'm missing it already. 

There are so many aspects of touring I love. Meeting people in venues and cities we haven't played before, long car journeys to theatres listening to the past (ahem, music from the 90s), and hanging out with the band in amazing places. The house we stayed in for our tour date in Cornwall had a hot tub. Living the dream. 

One of my favourite things, however, is the 20 minutes we have between soundcheck and curtain up to do our makeup and get changed. 

Getting ready at Hall for Cornwall at the beginning of January. Please note the difficulty with my false eyelashes - I have to apply them twice. Still learning! 

I used to hate this part of the evening. I used to panic. I could never get my false eyelashes on. One eyeliner wing would be oversized and dramatic and the other would be practically non-existent; the more I would try to even it up, the more abstract they would become. My lipstick couldn't be contained by any amount of lipliner or cotton bud tidying up. Essentially, it always looked like I had broken into my mother's make up bag and gone wild. 

Everything changed after I gave up my full time job at a coffee roastery and started temping between gigs. I only did this for about a year - I've been performing and teaching full time for just over a year now - but I had a lot of time where I'd finish one task and be waiting for the next one to appear. I decided that I would seize these moments to do my research on how to take a more organised approach to skincare and makeup. 

One essential resource that I go back to again and again is the website Into The Gloss. I've been a fan of Into The Gloss for years, all because of founder Emily Weiss's appearance on The Hills - I am a sucker for those 'Whatever Happened To Those Teenagers From Those Shows You Watched When You Were A Teenager' kind of tv show. Reading Into The Gloss was a big part of my temping life. Before I began religiously reading their Top Shelf articles and product reviews, the idea of wearing makeup everyday was crazy to me. I had to desire to do any kind of skin care, and I really wasn't prepared to spend money on products that I had no idea if they would work on my skin. Every so often I would go crazy and spend £14 on some false eyelashes - £14!!! - and immediately regret it because we all know Eylure make the best false eyelashes and they are a third of the price. 

At the Glossier showroom in London last November.

So when Into The Gloss sent out an email that said Glossier were launching in the UK, they already had my trust. They're more expensive than drugstore products, but not by much, and they work. As soon as I could, I invested in their Phase 1 Skin Set, which includes Milky Jelly Cleanser (the only face wash I have ever used that doesn't dry my skin out), Priming Moisturiser, and Balm Dotcom in Birthday. I purchased Boy Brow at the Glossier Showroom in London in November, and over Christmas my Glossier collection expanded with Glossier You and Super Pure Serum. Seriously, I'm a woman who uses serum now. 

Phase 1 Skin Set. Look at that packaging! I'm all about branding.

Aside from my clear Glossier addiction, I have really started to expand my make up bag in other ways. After a bizarre bout of Impetigo a couple of years ago I purchased bareMinerals Blemish Remedy Foundation. For me this was a pricey purchase, but I keep going back to it because it lasts a good amount of time and it is the only foundation I've ever used that doesn't dry out my skin. I get on a lot better with powders than I do creams, and this gets rid of any shine which is especially important for when I'm on stage sweating it out under the lights. 

I'm a sucker for free samples and I've just worked my way through quite a few from REN, including the Revitalising Night Cream which is amazing, and has made my face so ridiculously soft that I can't stop touching it, which I know is against Skin Care rule 101. I'm thinking of investing but it is a little bit more than I want/can afford to spend right now so I'm looking for recommendations. I normally swear by E45 in the winter but it's a bit heavy for the warmer months, but you can't argue with the price. 

I'm always looking for ideas about what to try next, so send me any suggestions. 

By the way, if you fancy 10% off Glossier send me a message and I'll send you a code. (This is not an advert and I am not affiliated with Glossier in any way, I just genuinely love their products.)

Ready for the stage!

Sometimes there's a wig involved in getting ready.