I returned home from Latitude with a slightly pink nose, covered in freckles and dust, with a crescent moon of sunburn on my back from slapdash sun cream application and differing necklines, a festival hat, a buzzing feeling, and a hankering to do it all over again.

Tired, achy, happy.


My first experience of a large music festival and here's what I can tell you.

Walking - lots of.

Dust - lots of.

Loos - not as bad as I expected (but this comes from someone who used to go to Scout camps as a child when the toilet facilities consisted of a tin bucket with a loo seat in a small dark, usually hot tent).

Showers - communal *shudders* I'm definitely not an 'all girls together' type.

People - all ages, mostly friendly.

Queues - long but moved swiftly.


Food - varied and pretty good.
Pulled pork sandwiches, cheese and crispy bacon toasties (from the 'Toast Office' *chuckle*), pakora, wild boar burger, freshly made stone baked pepperoni pizza, pork noodles, potato wedges with cheese and sour cream, strawberry milkshakes made with fresh strawberries, and hot doughnuts with scalding coffee.

Tents - as far as the eye could see, close together with a lattice work of guy ropes to navigate / trip over. I've since discovered that you can buy fluorescent guy ropes which I would highly recommend, there's nothing like the sound of someone tripping on your ropes and the immediate fear of someone landing on you to spoil a good nights sleep.


Entertainment - amazing!

We seemed to quickly develop a habit of daytime comedy, followed by music in the evenings.


My favourite comedy acts - John Robins (above), Tiff Stevenson, Andrew Maxwell (I'm a little bit in love with this man's mind), Joe Lycett (who is now on tour and I'm seriously tempted to go and see), Sara Pascoe, Marcus Bridgestocke and Tom Deacon. All funny, and lovely, and in danger of me stalking them on Twitter (it's already begun).



My favourite music acts - Admiral Fallow, Adam French, Seasick Steve, and the last act we saw before making our way home, Years & Years, who were all kinds of awesome.


Other things I enjoyed - Doug Segal - mental illusionist. Guerilla Science presenting the Fire Organ: Seeing Sound (above). Hanif Kureishi: A talk with the audience on creative writing. Edith Bowman in conversation with Sarfraz Manzoor.


What would I do again? 

All. Of. It.


What I didn't expect to do

Be constantly confronted with the butt cheeks of teenage girls in short that where simply too short

See babies so young they were only just able to hold up their own heads, wearing ear defenders (take them home, put them to bed, come back when they're old enough / you can leave them with the grandparents).

Grab the backside of a very drunk teenage boy to stop him falling on me and my friend

Share with the world how much toilet paper I like to use. Outside the toilet stalls was a bank of toilet paper dispensers, so you had to decide how much you might need before going in. I don't know why this amused me, but it did.

Help a child in Rwanda.
I was under strict instructions from the husband to keep my phone charged at all times, which meant I bought a battery pack from Music Angel and in doing so I bought a battery and a LED light for a child in Rwanda. The battery is charged at school (by way of solar panels), at home it is used to power the light (which is powerful enough to light an entire room), so they have light to work by. These batteries can last 5 years. I just thought I'd mention this because I think it is a superb idea. You can read more here.


What would I do differently?

I wouldn't spray Jungle Gel in a small tent.

I'd have fluorescent guy ropes

I'd put suncream on with more care

I'd take a trolley to wheel my gear to the campsite. I couldn't have packed any lighter but my bags were still heavy as hell by the time we reached our campsite

Maybe take a bigger tent, I'm getting too old to be wriggling into my skinny jeans whilst in a horizontal position.

I wouldn't forget a nail file. Or a mallet.

I'd take my favourite Yerba Mate teabags (and steal boiling water from Sophie).

I'd take more photographs.


My husband, my cats, a proper toilet, a shower, and my bed where all very welcome sights to see when I returned home. I was a little disappointed to discover, after my shower, that my tan was little more than several layers of dust, but I can't wait to do it all over again next year.

Did you go to Latitude? What other festivals would you recommend?

With a HUGE Body Shop order coming my way I thought I'd get my empties bag emptied in readiness.

My overall aim is to break the habit of buying products, using them a handful of times, and then leaving them untouched for months in a drawer, and to find great, hard working products, that I can rely on and go back to time and time again.

The first two products to earn their place in my beauty cabinet are Garner Micellar Cleansing Water and The Body Shop Camomile Waterproof Eye & Lip Make-Up Remover.


Both of these featured in my first Empties post so I won't talk about them again here, but I've repurchased these a lot.

Two other favourites are St Ives Apricot Scrub, and Olay Total Effects CC Cream.

I've used Olay for years, I started using it when it was still called Oil of Ulay (back when Starburst where still Opal Fruits and a Snickers was a Marathon).

The CC cream version is a thicker consistency than the normal Total Effects so I like to mix this with a small amount of primer before applying to thin it a little. Once mixed, it goes on well, stays put, and covers minor blemishes and marks, whilst giving a nice hint of colour.

The St Ives Apricot Scrub is a product I returned to after I found out that my Neutrogena scrub contained micro beads (didn't that all go very quiet in the media?). Anyway, I picked this up as an alternative and was quickly reminded of why I used to use it all the time when I was younger. My skin feels so soft and smooth after using this and it's gentle enough for every day use. At £4.19 it's a real bargain too.

New things I've tried recently are Elemis Pro-Radiance Illuminating Flash Balm, Balance Me Cleanse and Smooth Face Polish, Una Brennan Super Facialist Vitamin C Brightening Dark Circles Eye Cream, and Una Brennan Super Facialist Vitamin C Brighten Glow Boost Skin Serum.

All of these were nice but none wowed me enough to make it into my beauty cabinet for good.

The Elemis Flash Balm felt nice but didn't smell very appealing (good job this was a free sample).

The Balance Me Cleanse and Smooth Face Balm left my skin feeling soft but oh-so-slightly greasy, I had to follow this with a quick swipe of micellar water.

The Super Facialist Brighten Glow Boost Skin Serum was nice but, again, nothing special. It did give a nice radiance but I've tried better products (the Laura Mercier Radiance Primer for example).

The Super Facialist Dark Circles Eye Cream melted into my skin but did nothing for my dark circles, I'm currently using the Superdrug B. Vitalised Eye Cream which is slightly cheaper and equally nice to use (currently half price FYI).

I was really disappointed with the Rimmel London BB Cream Radiance.

It just didn't sit well on my skin, I found it hard to apply and after a few goes I binned it. I have the matte version of this which I love, so I'll be sticking with that instead.

Another disappointment was a mascara that I'd read rave reviews about, and had seen used countless times on the channels of several beauty YouTubers - the DHC Mascara Perfect Pro Double Protection.

This did nothing but make my lashes clumpy and spiky. After three uses it was tossed. So, so disappointing for £14.50. However, this isn't the most expensive mascara that I've tried and disliked (I'm looking at you Benefit Roller Lash).

The Max Factor 2000 Calorie Waterproof Mascara remains a firm favourite and it's a bargain at £7.99.

All that remains of my empties are the 'tried, liked, but probably won't bother to re-purchase' products.

For the most part I liked these, the Korres Body Milk had a nice scent and soaked in well. The Sanex Bath Cream was OK, but nothing to rave about.

The Elnett hairspray was fine but smelled strange, a bit like rotten oranges.

The Lumiere d'hiver Super Comb Prep & Protect spray was nice, it made my hair super easy to comb through when wet but I'm currently trying something else that I prefer and that is much easier to get my hands on (cheaper too!). I'm sure this will feature in a future Empties post.

What products would make it into your beauty cabinet hall of fame?

Latitude is calling my name.

I'm setting off shortly for a weekend of festivalisation with my best friend, leaving Andy home alone.

It's been a very long time since I slept under canvas, and the first time I've attended a large music festival. I'm super excited (although dreading the infamous toilet and shower situation), I have my bags packed, and am counting down the minutes until I can hop in the car and go.

I know from numerous camping adventures that you need to be prepared for all seasons. Layering is always the answer.

I've got a few easy-to-wear dresses that I can layer with vest tops and a cardigan, and a jumper that can go over all of them, weather depending.

I've packed skinny jeans to wear under the dresses when the evenings cool, and long socks to pop on with my wellies should things get soggy underfoot.

Shoe wise I have an old pair of Toms, some flip flops for the shower and a pair of flat sandals. All are old and I won't mind if they get trashed. Everything I am taking has a purpose (or dual purpose) and nothing is so precious that I'd be gutted if it got ruined or lost - mildly miffed maybe but certainly not bereft. It's just not worth taking the risk.

I've also packed a good old fashioned pac-a-mac. And a scarf. One that's lightweight but big. Good to use as a cover-up in the midday sun (fingers crossed) but also good for layering when it turns cooler in the evenings.


I have a cross the body bag that zips closed for phone, money etc and a smallish rucksack for suncream, tissues, lip balm, hand sanitiser, rain mac and all that gubbins.

Umbrellas aren't allowed on the site otherwise I'd take one of those too.

I'm praying for good weather (weather reports are currently looking very promising). However, it doesn't have to be hot and sunny, it just has to be dry and warm enough. My friend has never been camping, and camping in the cold and wet is no fun at all.

Naturally I'll be taking wet wipes and dry shampoo but I'm also taking along Pump It Up Dry Shower Body Wash. I read about this on Sarah's blog and immediately ordered it from Boots.


It's basically a foam that cleanses, kills bacteria and body odour, without water. I've given it a bit of a test and it's pretty good, I'm not saying that I'll be using it instead of having a shower, but to tide me over, for a bit of a freshen up, it's perfect.

Also Lucas' Pawpaw Ointment and insect repellant. Nuff said.

Make up will be minimal - BB cream, cream blush, mascara, and brow pencil that can double up as eye liner.

I like to travel light so my tent, sleeping bag, pillow, and mat are all super compact, and my towel is of the folds-up-to-the-size-of-a-postage-stamp variety, so I can carry everything from the car to the campsite with ease.

My tip if you don't want to take a bulky pillow - take a pillow case a fill it with clothes (t-shirts and jumpers are good). It's not exactly goose down comfort but it does save a lot of space.


So, here I am ready and raring to go. Tweet me any recommendations of who to see / what to do and say 'hi' if you're there and you see me.

I had an early birthday celebration this weekend and everyone asked me what I'd like for my birthday.

I'm a list lover, so I sat down to write one.

I found this necklace. I love it's beautiful simplicity - 15" long, 14K gold, faceted rough finished ruby, tiny white pearl at clasp - I think it's very, very pretty.
 But that's it. It's a short list.

I just don't 'want' anything particularly. I've been decluttering and it's made me realise how much stuff I have but never use. I'm finding the process of sorting it all out extremely satisfying.

What I'd really like is time. Time with Andy. Time with my friends and family. Experiences not things - trips to the beach, exhibitions, meals out, afternoon tea, travel, mooching about.

Such memories you keep forever. No storage required.

Whilst packing for our honeymoon I rediscovered a few old favourites that have been languishing in my wardrobe in favour of newer items and it got me thinking - what other long forgotten, once loved, items do I have lurking in my bedroom?

I've found many but here are my Favourite Three for June.

Converse.  I've had these for three years and after my initial 'oh, aren't they lovely' feelings for them, and the subsequent wearing of nothing but for about a fortnight, they were relegated to the bottom of the wardrobe, never to see the light of day again. I can't explain why as I love them and they are super comfortable.

I traveled to Zurich in them, wore them to the zoo and ran various errands too. It's safe to say they're back on my radar.


Rimmel London Pro nail varnish in Beige Style, first appeared on the blog in 2010, again it was a firm favourite for a short while until I was introduced to the likes of Essie and it's Spiced Candy Apple.

Recently I looked at my nail polish box and wondered why anyone would need over 40 different shades? So, I narrowed it down to just a handful and chucked the rest in a box for a car boot.

This shade is the perfect nude for me.


Handmade tassel necklace, I made this in July last year but since the end of last summer this had been completely ignored.

Incidently, I do not recommend trying to take photos of your new favourite necklace using a cat as a prop.


It came on our honeymoon and has, most recently, been worn with a new addition to my wardrobe, a white dress found on a charity shop-a-thon with Sophie and Kezzie, in fact you can see the moment I found it here.

It has encouraged me to seek out more long forgotten items, I'll show you three more favourites next month!

I solved my packing dilemma by writing a list. I find there aren't many problems that can't be solved this way.

By writing down what I'd wear on each day of our trip and adding a not-so-nice-weather option I managed to come up with a capsule wardrobe that I was happy with.

There's a good mix of old, new and pre loved.

I started with my ideal warm weather pieces (I'm not expecting high temperatures, but hoping for warm, pleasant, I-don't-need-a-jacket weather), three pairs of trousers and four tops gave me a good base to work with, especially as two of them are nice enough for the evenings. Add two dresses suitable for day or evening and we're really getting somewhere.

With two evening dresses (one of which I haven't worn since 2012!) and a black scarf to use as a cover up, and my evening wear is sorted.

In case of not-so-good weather I packed three cardigans, two waist length to layer under my denim jacket, one longer if a jacket isn't necessary.

I added a vest top for layering and a lightweight jacket in case of rain, plus two more scarves.

For shoes I'm taking a pair of navy espadrilles, black ballet flats (good for day or evening), and some Converse, and my blue Kurt Geiger Mary Janes (bought in 2012 and, as yet, unworn).

I have a navy bowling bag for daytime, and a black cross-the-body bag for when I don't need a larger bag, this has a removable strap so I can use it as a clutch in the evenings.

I got all this into my case with room to spare so I popped in a small pretty clutch bag for the evenings - to mix it up a bit, and a fabric tote for shopping. Also a black t-shirt, another vest top and a maxi dress, just because I could.

I enjoy travelling light. I don't like to pack too much and bring things home unworn, but I won't care a jot if I don't wear the cardigans or jackets.

How do you tackle packing?