Seven years on ...

At the beach .. my happy place

My blog is now seven years old .. who'd have thought it?! Thanks to social media I started putting photos of my travels on to Facebook in little albums. The days of snapping away (carefully), getting the roll of film developed and waiting to see how or even whether the photos came out are long gone! It's just been so easy since advances in digital and phone cameras have become so sophisticated - everyone is a photographer .. of sorts.

From the Facebook albums came the idea that writing a blog would be fun - an online diary of travels, work and beauty tips on the go. A photographer friend suggested it and it sounded like my kind of thing .. but I didn't have a clue where or how to start. 

I like a challenge so I spent some time researching and eventually took the plunge. I published my first small piece on Saturday May 14th 2011. It truly has been a trip in itself - I could never have envisaged such a body of work.

It's been so fun .. adding more visuals to each post as I got used to the whole 'blogging' experience. I've always taken loads of photos - I love photography. It's a great aide-mémoire when I'm ready to write my posts. 

At work on location

My day job as a tv make up artist has taken me to some interesting places so that features intermittently as well as the products I use at work and at play. I've had a few guest bloggers too who have been on slightly more interesting jaunts than mine!

First HQ beach bag shoot

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There must be something about the month of May - a year ago I created my Holiday Queen Beach bags and pouches, again born out of a need and the challenge associated with it. I started out with two colour-ways and gave a few away to friends initially so that they could be tried and tested on their beach holidays. I've had such positive feedback and having trialed the bag myself I can honestly say that it's the best beach/pool bag that I've ever had. Not only is it extremely practical, it's lightweight and user friendly.

Some of the new swimbag colours

HQ make up mats ready to go

This season I have been able to introduce more colour options and an additional Swim Bag to my HQ range. 

For my day job I created the HQ make up mat, as using paper bench roll seemed wasteful. My mats lay flat, don't slip and look slick and professional. They're easy to clean too. There are now quite a few out there with colleagues and the feedback has been better than I could have hoped for.


Who knows where it will go from here? Wherever it does, it's all part of life's rich tapestry and keeping my creative juices flowing. 

I'm so lucky to love all the things I do .. travel, photography, making people look beautiful and creating something with my hands. The icing on the cake has to be spending what's left of my time with my family, friends and my gorgeous dog Scout.

Bags, pouches and swim bags currently available from


Sublime Boutique
225 Victoria Park Road, London E9 7HD
and

128 St.Johns Street, Clerkenwell EC1V 4JS

or to order 

Holiday Queen Facebook page

HolidayQueenUK Instagram

Feels like summer in the City

Wow! A May day bank holiday weekend and the sun is shining and it feels like summer! How lucky are we?!

I've been busy making bags for the new collection and planning my summer vacation. I'm pleased to say I'm now booked up till mid August and hopefully there'll be more to come before the season is over. 

My first trip is in less than five weeks time going with my girlfriends to Minorca, an island in the Balearics and sister to Ibiza, Mallorca and Formentera. They are all beautiful islands and I'm counting on this one being in a similar vein. Lots of sunshine, beautiful beaches and good food. What more can you ask for?

I also have a week of work on location in Scotland during July and a few days after that head off to New York and The Hamptons for 10 days. I'm so excited .. although I have been to the big apple countless times, I never get bored of it and I am specially looking forward to finally getting out to The Hamptons and head right to the end of the island. Another one to tick off the bucket list.

Lots to look forward to ..