indulge in...

What better way to spend a dreary damp Thursday night than visiting the ‘Best British Beauty Salon’ along with a blogging/gym/work buddy. Throw in some good food, a glass of bubbly and meeting royalty and you have the perfect girlie evening.

Last night The Potting Shed Spa, Redbrick Mill, Batley played host to ‘The Eyebrow Queen’ herself Nilam Patel, brow beater to the stars and founder of the HD Brows brand!

We started the evening off in one of our favourite little eateries at Redbrick Mill, The Casbah, deciding in the end not to let our ‘I want a big fat cream cake’ side take over. We both plumped for a sandwich, Tracey the BLT and Liz the egg mayo.

Both were delicious.

Both were devoured.

Suitably stuffed, we waddled over to The Potting Shed (Yes...you may recognise the name, we've blogged about it before!!)to be greeted by the owner Sam, her gorgeous girls and a glass of sparkly. Nilam was already in action trimming and pruning her first client of the night. We stood and watched transfixed as one by one, she transformed arches and worked her regal magic. For those not familiar with HD Brows, it is a 7 step procedure of tinting, waxing, threading and plucking to achieve high definition eyebrow shaping.

Nilam entertained her audience, demonstrating her skills as well as explaining each step of the procedure.

   I have been lucky enough to have been sent a bottle of the relatively newly launched MitoQ by the lovely Tracey McAlpine at Fighting Fifty. I have been using it now for about two months and boy is my skin pleased.

With all the stress, poor nutrition and crap weather, my skin had really fallen out with me and was looking rather dull, sallow, lacklustre and grey. When Tracey asked for volunteers to try this stuff out, I Googled to see what it was and then jumped at the chance to try it out.

'Your Ghost will walk, you lover of trees in an English lane by a cornfield -side a-flutter with poppies' - Robert Burns

My grandma died on Wednesday night. Dad was there. Grandma opened her eyes and held his hand .She smiled at him closed her eyes and passed away. Its quite fitting it was dad, hes been there for her, along with Granddad, everyday since her fall on Dec 23rd.Some would say it was a blessing after 13 weeks spent bed-ridden between the hospital and the nursing home... and the truth be known we had lost Grandma months ago.She wasn't living she was simply existing and it was hard to witness.

I can only tell you what mum told me as she kept it from me for weeks; I found out be accident. Amazing how one seemingly innocent remark can stop you in your tracks and change your life. ‘its not as bad as they thought , your mums going to be ok - looks like its treatable?’ I looked at them blankly and rang dad puzzled, slowly getting into a state of panic. He confirmed like men do quite matter of fact, that yes my mum was ill; she had in fact got cancer. I couldn’t speak, I stood for what seemed forever and cried. Cancer. Shit. Tears for mum but also selfish tears for myself. The thought of not having her around too much to bear. Dad was still speaking but I wasn’t listening...

Above: In Blackpool on Kelly's Hen Weekend , oblivious to the fact that mum had cancer....

When Veil emailed us to say they liked our blog (yeah) and asked whether we would like to try and review their products we nearly tore their arm off, always keen to try and review new products we said yes without hesitation. A couple of days later we received a parcel...

Liz is unfortunately off work at the moment she has had her gall-bladder removed, so I took it home to try (The kit not her gall-bladder!) I will of course pass it on for her to have a play with when I've finished and more importantly when she's well again and feels up to it.

We have been asked to take part in the Veil Tattoo Challenge. I do have a small tattoo on my left arm - it looks like the Sunblest Man, cool at the time slightly naff now but I love HIM and have no intentions of covering him up any time soon BUT I do love a challenge and should I ever get asked anywhere where its strictly no tattoos (I'm always open to offers) this little kit could come in rather handy!

I’m back. Just temporary but back nonetheless. For those that don’t know, I’ve had a stint in hospital and been off work with an infected gallbladder. It doesn’t sound nice and I can assure you it isn’t. A big thank you to Tracey for holding the fort both on Indulge In and at work.

This weekend I rose from my sick bed, not literally as I have been back at work a week and a half now but I am still suffering in silence (most of the time). The rest of the time is spent moaning and groaning and I will probably continue doing so while I wait for my operation (which I’m hoping will happen before Christmas – but not till after the works Christmas party....priorities!)

Guaranteed to cheer me up is a visit to our beautiful capital especially one accompanied by my equally beautiful daughter. Last week saw baby Indulge In turn 23 so my birthday treat to her was a theatre trip to London. When I heard about the Spice Girls collaborating with Jennifer Saunders to launch a musical based on all their hits, I couldn’t wait for the Viva Forever tickets to go on sale. Luckily the opening night was on Naomi’s birthday so I managed to bag a couple of tickets for Saturday evening’s performance...much to her delight.

Hello, Its been a long time. Too Long. For that I slap my wrists and apologise.

So what's new?

Autumn from my favourite spot.........

Autumn arrived in a blaze of glory. I love this season - my favourite. Bright tights and furry hat  weather. Bath times last longer, having a soak with bubbles up to my neck, the bathroom lit only by candle-light. Its so much more romantic, cosy, just me and my rubber duck (yes I have one) Its thinking time, me time, a time to sit back and relax  preferably with a face mask on.  If I'm feeling ever so -slightly that way inclined I'll add a glass of wine. Its time to de-gunk in preparation for the party season. The mask of choice ... well that would be Dr Jart+ Re-Tighten Mask, which I was sent a few weeks ago by Dr Jart / Beauty Seen PR  to try and review. I’ve been very impressed with Dr Jart after I discovered their BB cream several months ago; I have used it daily ever since; It's my skincare hero!!