What I have been dealing with the last couple of months - Branchial Cyst

In May of this year i noticed a small lump in the left side of my neck, i went to the doctors and had a series of tests done (ultrasound and an MRI) both were horrible.  After a month of waiting for results i finally was diagnosed with a Branchial Cyst.  Looking things up online (which you should never do because it always seems worse than it actually is!) a Branchial Cyst is a defect from in the womb that usually grows during adolescence mine was obviously a late developer.

After diagnosis the lump seemed to grow rapidly until it was causing me extreme pain, difficulty breathing (as it was pushing on my wind pipe, and my arteries) I went to see a specialist who drained it (ewwwww) and booked me in for surgery to have it removed.  I had to have it drained twice due to the size and how quickly it was growing.  

Last Thursday (3/10/2013) i went in for my operation, this is what my neck looked like the morning of surgery. 

The lump was about 10cm (huuugeee) i was under for about 2 hours but i finally have a normal sized neck again!  There is a small chance the cyst could come back but its really unlikely.  The surgeon has done a really good job and the scar is really neat so fingers crossed in a couple of months it shouldn't even be noticeable.  He has done the but along a natural crease in my neck to help with minimising the appearance of the scar.  This is my neck same day after surgery (look away now if your squeamish!!)

The surgery really took it out of me as it was pretty aggressive, plus with it being on your neck all your muscles ache and because its still swollen and bruised it literally feels like ive been punched directly in the neck :(

But after only a few days the scar and swelling are looking loads better.

 

I'm definitely on the road to recovery but think it will take a while to get back to normal.  The main moral of this is please go to the doctors if you find anything, luckily the lump didn't turn out to be more serious but you should always go and check things out!

Can anybody recommend any good concealers for when its healed? :)

cherrylovesit x 

Makeover @ Illamasqua Manchester

So as you can probably tell i have become obsessed with Illamasqua recently.  I LOVE the makeup, i just love the colours and how pigmented everything is :) so for my friends birthday we went and our makeup done as a treat.

Paddy did my makeup and i was so happy with the end result i ended up spending a fortune!  I always ask for a dramatic eye and a nude lip as that is what works best for me.  Paddy did a stunning purple smokey eye with winged lashes and a nude lip.

Products used were: Hydra Veil Re hydrating Gel (which i have just been given as a pressie and I'm in love with!!) its the most amazing base for your foundation it really gives you a flawless base.  The Skin Base Foundation in SB11 the coverage is amazing and i love how easily you can blend it and build up your coverage.  On the eyes the cream pigment in Mould, precision gel liner blended out and the pure pigment in Furore.  The eyelashes (which i purchased!) are no 21 i love them really feathery and worked perfectly with the winged makeup.  On the lips he used Test a gorgeous soft pink colour.

I love getting my makeup done at Illamasqua, Paddy really talked me through everything he was doing so i can try (try being the operative word here) an recreate this look.  The Makeover costs £30 and is redeemable on products.

If you are looking to get your makeup done for an event or just get some tips on how to apply i would strongly recommend booking yourself an appointment.

(all products i purchased i will review separately in more detail)

cherrylovesit x

Blogging absence :(

Recently I really feel like ive been letting myself and you all down when it comes to my blog posts so I really just wanted o explain whats been going on with me and why ive been a bit absent.

So this year has really been all about change,  I started by finally going to see a doctor about the depression ive been secretly dealing with for over 5 years, its something that affects me every day but when it does its something I find very difficult to deal with.  I know everyone suffers in different ways, my problem is that im always on at the end of tether so when something little happens (that anyone else could ignore) its like the end of the world to me.  So I have now been diagnosed with depression and I am on a waiting list to speak with a counsellor (I have decided not to medicate)

Secondly I have changed jobs I have been working in retail management for over 5 years, this has recently been making me really unhappy and so in March I got a job with an online estate agent.  So far I am really enjoying it, there is loads of pressure but I kind of like it, theres much more of a social scene which I love, plus because I don't work with my friends anymore we all make more of an effort, so I see them more which is amazing!  For the first time in about 3 years I have a really good group of friends and I love them all to pieces <3

Me and my boyfriend have been together for 4 years and this last couple of months have been a bit up and down, I think its really been make or break for us, at the moment we are working through things.  I think weve both just changed so much in the last years and weve never really addressed it, I really hope it works because I cant imagine my life without him.

So yeah that's basically why ive been absent lately, things are on the up though so fingers crossed I can get back to it!! Ive missed you!

cherrylovesit x



PARIS 2013 OUI OUI!

This year my Mum decided that we would do something different for her birthday, so last Thursday me, my Mum and sister boarded a train to go to Gay Pari!!!
All i really wanted from the weekend was to go to Sephora (well i do love makeup!!) and to eat food!!

We started with breakfast and coffees on the train to London and then when we arrived at St Pancras had a glass of Champagne at Searcys Champagne Bar (the longest in Europe).  While on the Eurostar we had Champagne and strawberries :)

We were staying in an apartment rather than a Hotel which gave us more of a feeling for the local Paris, on the Thursday evening we went to a gorgeous bistro and had an amazing 3 course meal with wine (obviously!!) i enjoyed a ravolini starter, confit of duck for the entree and tarte tatin with ice cream for dessert :)

Friday the weather was horrendous but we carried on and did the tourist bits!!

My favourite part of the day was all the amazing cakes we encountered (ate and just perved over!) IN Angelina's (Coco Chanels old hangout) and Laduree i was in heaven, Macarons and pastries as far as the eye could see, if i lived in France i would be twice the size i am at the moment and thats not a good thing!

 Being in love with beauty and makeup my trip would not have been complete without going to lets face it our mecca, Sephora!!  I still have no idea why we dont have them in the UK or that they dont ship here!! Anyway as much as i wanted to buy absolutely everything i limited myself and purchased some Sephoras own daily brush cleaner, a Sephoras blusher and a new Ciate nail set i am in lve with this!! (will do a separate post on it! dont you worry)

While i was there i decided to keep my makeup simple and classic with a winged liner (maybelline gel - reviewed by moi here) MAC mineralize skinfinish in medium dark, Maybelline mascara and the ILAH brow kit from the #northmeetup.

All in all it was a great trip filled with cake, beauty, tourism, wine and family, who else has been and what were your fave parts of the trip?

cherrylovesit x

New brand calling: RE:store

So this is a little bit of a break from the norm but i decided you fbloggers had to know about this new brand ive fallen in love with.  So i found RE:store through a friends Instagram she had purchased one of there amazing pieces and i instantly started lusting!!

RE:store is a new fashion brand based in Manchester they are looking: 'To create high quality, unique urban apparel that inspires and encourages our customer's to join our RE:store RE:volution which never settles for normal, always strives for individuality and aims to provide our customer's with the confidence to define their own idea of original...' I love the idea of taking vintage pieces and adding a new modern edge to the garment is an amzaing idea, plus its right up my street!

These have got to be my faves items of the collection at the moment and at only £18 an absolute steal when payday comes around i will deffo be treating myself, and maybe my boyfriend (if he's lucky!) as theyve recently uploaded pics of some gorgeous tee's with neck embellishment!

I really hope brands like this get supported and turn into something amazing!  Please go check RE:store out on Facebook HERE

What do you guys think??

cherrylovesit x

Glamglow supermud clearing treatment: review

One of my favourite things from the #northmeetup was meeting the lovely ladies from Xentan and GLAMGLOW.  Id always heard amazing things about these products on the bblogger grapevine but had to yet to try any of them myself. 

During the event itself i managed to go down and speak tot hem about what the products had to offer.  I have yet to try the Xentan that we got in the goodie bags, however after a particularly heavy Friday night out (oops!!) i decided my skin warranted some much needed TLC.  I decided to use the GLAMGLOW supermud clearing treatment as this is the one that was raved about the event.

So the detoxifying mudmask contains some of the amazing tea leaves that makes GLAMGLOW something different, designed to not only leave you with instant results but to keep your skin loking amazing for days after this really is something different. 

I apologise for the above photo but i had to show it on!! so after leaving it on for 20 or so mins i washed it off using my Washi Clothes.  I am completely converted my skin felt and looked amazing and it did continue for days after! I didnt feel like i needed to cleanse after or put loads of moisturiser on because it had dried my skin out (which is how i usually feel after a facemask!)

I loved it, it really did make my skin glow and made me feel amazing without any makeup which is no small feat, i will deffo be investing in a bigger tub!!

Have you used any GLAMGLOW products?

cherrylovesit x

#NORTHMEETUP #BBLOGGERS

So i know ive been horrendous the last couple of weeks with keeping up to date on my blogging (im sorry please dont hate me!!) but here it is my roundup of the amazing #NORTHMEETUP

Toward the beginning of the year the amazing Em from www.emtalks.co.uk put out a tweet for northern bloggers seeing who wanted to come to an event, i tweeted back but really didnt expect anything as im so new to the blogging community!  But low and behold i received an email!!

Saturday i spent the entire day making over 60 cupcakes for all you beautiful bloggers, thank you so much Em for letting me supply them and to any of you who have featured them in your blog posts!!

It was such an amazing day cocktails, beauty and girls!  It was my first ever bloggers event so i was super nervous to meet everyone, but i have to say everyone i spoke to was so nice! It was nice knowing i wasnt the only newbie in the room and getting some great tips from the pros who have been blogging for ages.

I got to meet some amazing people who fingers crossed i will see again at other events...Charissa-Rae www.charissarae.com, Laura from www.heroineinheels.blogspot.co.uk Niki from www.beautyshaker-x.blogspot.co.uk and a few girlies who i already knew Victoria from www.inthefrow.com and Ashleigh www.prettygirlrich.blogspot.co.uk the 2 girls who actually inspired me to start blogging, and obviously not forgetting EM!!

I had such an amazing day and want to say thank you to all the amazing sponsors GlamGlow, XenTan, Blanx, Arbonne, Ilah borws, Nikki for Anne Semonin and CapitalFM for the red carpet area!!
The goodie bags were literally the best thing EVER!! i have never been so excited to open anything ever haha!!

I will do a blog post on my fave products from the goodie bags but thank you to Faceb4, Xen Tan goodies, Blanx, Elemis, Dr Hauschka, Lee Stafford, Burts Bees, Arbonne Makeup, Witch, Label M, Neil & Wolf, Batiste, GlamGlow and so many more i cant even remember!

All in all it was such a fantastic day and really made me feel like part of an amazing community! So again Thank you Em and to everyone i met on the day sorry if ive forgotten to mention anyone!!!