Having a Femoral Derotational Osteotomy (or just hip surgery!)

So this is a little different than the usual comparing my favourite red lipsticks or high end mascaras, but I thought it was something I should probably explain in a little more depth - I mention it occasionally on my Instagram and most of you probably have no idea what I'm talking about or why I had it, but let's get into it!

On the 5th August 2014, I underwent one of the most painful and complex orthopaedic procedures going (thank you body for needing that and doctors for letting me know!) called a 'femoral Derotational Osteotomy'. For those of you who don't know what this is, it's pretty much surgery involving cutting the thigh bone (or femur) and repositioning the ball of the femur into the hip socket, sounds lovely right? In my case, the thigh bone was turned in around 10 degrees so that instead of my foot being permanently turned out like it was before, it was facing forward in a more natural position. The healing two parts of bone are held together with a rather large metal plate, and leave you with a lovely 8inch scar down the side of your thigh, not my favourite part I must admit!

Medical drivel aside, around a year before the procedure I started noticing pretty awful pain in my hips and thighs, particularly after dance classes like acro, since it's pretty strenuous on these places. After going to physio after consultant, in summer 2013 I was told that if I wanted to continue dancing past the age of about 20 (because this was one of the main causes of how my femur was getting damaged and slowly grinding down - causing the pain and potentially future arthritis) this would be nesessary. Obviously as a keen dancer I was beyond devastated, I never thought my hip pain was this serious and I just wished it would all go away. However, a year later, I was putting the pointe shoes away for the next few months and heading to hospital.

As you can imagine before the surgery, I was pretty terrified since I'd never had to do anything like this before, and before I actually went into the theatre it all dawned on me - when I woke up from the anaesthetic, my life would be dramatically changed for the next few vey long months. Since my leg was broken and reset, even standing up the day after my operation was one of the biggest struggles I've had to overcome, I felt like Bambi on my new set of legs because that was almost what it was, I wasn't used to my body being in a different position. I remember almost passing out when I first stood up, and breaking down immediatly, thinking how on earth I was going to dance again freely like before when I can't even take a few steps now? However, I am pretty stubborn and was managing to walk with a very fetching granny walking frame and attempting stairs, not without pain or difficulty but hey, it was all baby steps.

The first few weeks after were pretty agonising if I'm honest, it was excruciating to even bend my leg to sit down and I couldn't comfortably get in and out of the car for a long while, keeping positive was pretty difficult and I was not a pleasant lady at the time! 

I had to use crutches for the next 2 and a half months, which got super tiresome because I was told to walk normally but to just use the crutches for support - so it looked like nothing was wrong with me! When I finally was allowed off the crutches, it was the biggest relief and I finally began to feel a bit more like my old self, and a step closer towards dancing again.

In late November, I went back to see the consultant who did the surgery, who discharged me from their visits and said that if I wanted to gradually go back to dancing, it would be okay. You have no idea how happy that made me, and after Christmas on January 5th, I was finally back in the dance studio, exactly 5 months after the surgery.

I'm happy to say that almost 6 months later, I'm close to a full recovery and although I do still have pain and it isn't always easy or the same as it was, I'm proud of staying as strong as humanly possible and fighting for what I wanted back - dance! In February half term, the metal plate that is holding my healing bone together will hopefully be getting taken out and I'll be able to jump, leap and turn to my hearts content - and not having to worry about arthritis at 16!

If you've read this far, thankyou very much for sharing this experience and hopefully you're a little more in the know about it all, and it just proves that you can overcome anything thrown your way - sacrificing 6 months of dance training now will be worth it now that I will be able to comfortably dance into the next 20-30 years of my life!

The Dynamic Brow Duo

First of all, let me welcome you to 2015 and my first post of the new year, how exciting! I'm so excited for the new year for all that's to come, and I'm sure many of you are also excited to make this year the best one so far.

As many of you know, as a pale redhead, my hair is pretty fair and therefore so are my brows and lashes (how irritating, as mascara runs out so quickly for me!). It's rather difficult to find something to use in my brows, that is both light enough for my them so it doesn't look harsh or unnatural, and that actually makes a difference to them and gives them fullness and colour. However, after months of experimenting, from wearing nothing to now discovering a pair that works perfectly, I feel like my brows are finally looking their best, thanks to these two products.

MAC Eyeshadow in 'Cork' - this beauty is my new holy grail brow powder fo' sho'. I find brow powders a million times easier to get right and much more natural looking on the brows for me, so when I found this shade from MAC, I knew it was the right product. The colour is a perfect match for me, I'd say 1-2 shades darker than my natural brow colour which is pretty much blonde, so now with a few light strokes of this through my brows, they match my hair pretty much perfectly and I noticed that my face looks a lot more framed with a stronger brow. I would so recommend MAC shadows for your eyebrows, I know that a lot of beauty bloggers and youtubers use shades like 'Charcoal Brown' (good for darker brunettes) and 'Omega' (one for darker blondes and light brunettes) but if your hair is red like mine, Cork may be the one for you. 

Benefit Gimme Brow in 'Light/Medium' - I finally gave into the hype with this little product and I so don't regret it! This brow gel has been so raved about recently with beauty bloggers, and when my friend used it on me, I knew I had to have it for myself. I've tried brow gels before, like the one from Maybelline but this one is very different, it has a lot more colour and gives a more natural look to the brows by adding little fibres that give the illusion of thicker brows and real hairs. I use this over the powder and then brush through lightly with a spoolie to give an even more natural look, and I couldn't be more pleased with the result! One thing I must say is that the Gimme Brow only comes in two shades and mine is the lightest one, which isn't all that light! If you want a super natural brow or your hair is even lighter than mine, you may want to get this tried on at a Benefit counter to see if it's definitely for you. 

And those are my new brow favourites, finally I may be able to say the phrase 'brows on fleek' (maybe too far!) 

Top 5 Budget Beauty Buys

I'm a big fan of drugstore makeup and now that the festive months are upon us, most of us don't have loads of spare money to splash out on new beauty products from the luxury makeup counters - so any new purchases for me will generally be coming from Boots or SuperDrug. Fear not though - there are loads of hidden gems in the drugstore and here are just a few of my all time favourites.

Revlon Photoready BB Cream - As you probably know from a million other posts featuring this beauty, this BB cream is my saviour for a beautiful natural coverage. It's super moisturising and dewy looking so your skin looks naturally glowing as if you aren't wearing any makeup. I reckon it's practically a dupe of my well-loved Chanel Vitalumiere Aqua Foundation (but with a little less purse damage).

Soap and Glory One Heck of a Blot powder - I'm not really one for a matte finish, so finding a setting powder that takes away the shine but still leaves the skin with a glow is pretty hard, and usually my MAC Mineralise Skinfinish Natural is the ticket for that. However, as that is far from budget beauty, my new love from Soap and Glory is a fabulous dupe - it's so finely milled that you cannot look cakey and takes away any shine without getting rid of your natural sheen! At £12 for a translucent shade to fit all, it's perfect for everyone.

Soap and Glory Solar Powder Bronzer - As a pale girl I know sometimes lacking in the golden and glowy department is slightly rubbish, so finding the perfect Bronzer is essential and can prove tricky. However, my holy grail Bronzer comes again from Soap and Glory (their makeup is really knocking it out of the park right?) and it's perfect for us pale girls as the two shades swirled together make for a perfect natural bronzing. For £11, this is truly worth trying and I'm pretty sure you'll fall in love as I have.

Rimmel Kate Rockin' Curves mascara - Next is mascara, which is definitely my fave part of my makeup routine - it just transforms your look! I am one who loves a good high end mascara as much as the next girl, but one mascara that doesn't really get hyped is this gem from Rimmel. It has a really cool and wavy shaped brush that makes fanning out your lashes, particuarly the outer ones a dream! The formula is also fab for length and plenty of volume, so it's perfect for the party season. Just a pre-warning, the brush is pretty huge and needs a bit of patience to work with (unless you fancy a face full of mascara and a few pokes in the eye).

Revlon Colourburst Matte Balms - Revlon is really nailing it at the moment I see, and boy do they deserve to! These and the Laquer balms were really hyped up earlier on this year so I jumped on the bandwagon, but the Matte balms are where it's truly at. With rich colour and a matte finish that is surprisingly very comfortable and moisturising on the lips, these balms are a definite winner. Not to mention, these babies will stay on throughout your Christmas dinner without a smudge!

Hope you enjoyed my budget favourites, and do let me know what yours are!

Rediscovering the Revlon Lip Butters

Shades from left to right : Berry Smoothie, Red Velvet, Raspberry Pie. 

If there's one thing I love more than new makeup, it's finding something in your collection that was once well loved, and reloving it again. This was the case with the famous Revlon Lip Butters, which were all the rage a year or two ago, so I bought a few and loved them. However, as a self-confessed mac lipstick girl, I'd sort of forgotten about these gems but when I was looking for a glossy berry lip to wear, these three were back and ready be worn again!

The shades I have of these are pretty similar, all my favourite kind of berry red-but not quite shade, and are Berry Smoothie, Red Velvet and Raspberry Pie. 

Berry Smoothie is a sheer berry like the name sort of suggests, and looks subtle but still has a pretty burst of colour for the festive season. Red Velvet is a perfect Christmassy shade, as it's a deep red with a hint of burgundy but is glossy and light so it won't dry out your lips or look too bold if you don't want. Finally, Raspberry Pie is basically a more pigmented version of Berry Smoothie, but a little more on the deep pink side. All gorgeous winter shades!

One thing I'd forgotten about these lippies, and what they were so renounced for being was their comfortable wear, as they feel like a balm and still have a great colour pay off. I guess I'm just missing a nude in my collection!

Have you tried any of these?

The Mascaras To Splurge On

If there's one makeup product that I just couldn't live without, it would have to be mascara. For me, the high end counters really do mascaras well, and although the likes of Maybelline and Rimmel have some of my drugstore favourites, these two slightly pricier gems are certainly worth the extra splurge.

For a natural look that lengthens like a dream and with a little work can be built up to almost falsies, the  Burberry Effortless Mascara is just the ticket. As well as giving you lashes to die for, the packaging is also a big part of what makes this product so special - the chrome wand and transparent tube certainly look luxe. Also, with the fibre wand, you'd expect clumps but this bad boy somehow avoids any clumping, are there any flaws?

If you're looking for something that makes your lashes stand out like no other, look no further than the Diorshow Iconic Overcurl Mascara. It's quite possibly my favourite mascara of all time, and gives extreme volume and length for that doll-like look. The spoon shaped brush makes it super easy to glide on the product - not to mention the gorgeous mirrored tube. It's also a fibre brush like the Burberry, so the volume is just awesome.

What are your favourite mascaras?