the unknown

I've always had the view that I hated the unknown. It scares me. I like to have some idea and some sense of control of the situations I'm getting myself into.

I was just browsing flights to go travelling (I won't be able to depart for another year and a half, but curiosity often gets the better of me) and I was getting carried away, imagining myself landing back in Australia. And the first thought of had, was how exciting it would be having that feeling of not knowing what was on the road ahead.

So now I'm left confused. How can I be so terrified of the unknown, yet crave the thought of it? It doesn't make any sense.

death time limit

5 years ago was a very significant day in my life; I lost someone very close to me. The day of their terminal cancer diagnosis a few months prior, was the start of the downward slope I've been slipping down over the past few years. I can pinpoint that day as the last time I was truly happy.

There have been times I thought I would never get over this particular death. I don't think death and losing someone is something you can particularly 'get over', but it's definitely something that becomes a little bit more bearable. Grieving is cliche central, because it really is a matter of one step at a time and I truly believe the main thing that will help heal the emotional pain, is time.

Something I have found very hard throughout, is the way it has also affected the people around me. I can handle myself struggling, but I struggled to watch the people I love struggling. It's a bit of a head fuck seeing your Dad lying on the living room crying out for someone who will never step foot through our front door again. Or your Mum unable to stand up because her emotional pain is so unbearably excruciating that her only option is to lie in bed sobbing. As time has gone on, I've not witnessed these painful moments as often as I did at the beginning. I kind of just assumed that I never would again.

But today I came home from work unexpectedly early, and walked in on a scene that broke my heart. My Dad just sat in the living room crying. It's a weird weird feeling seeing your Dad cry. My Dad is someone you'd class as a "stereotypical man". The only time I've ever seen him cry is throughout the aftermath of this death. But even now, I find it so hard to get my head around. But I don't think I should find it hard - I've spent hours upon hours crying about it, so why shouldn't my Dad?

Like most of my posts, I'm not sure what the purpose of this one is. Sorry. X

Next phase of life - turning 20

I turned 20 a few weeks ago and I struggled with my birthday more than I usually do. I've never really liked my birthday as the extra attention makes me feel awkward and uncomfortable. But since my Grandad passed away a couple of years ago, its made the whole birthday situation a whole lot harder. My Grandad and I were only a week apart with our birthdays, and we always had a joke about us both being Taurus' (hence the stubbornness!). My birthday had turned into a reminder that he was no longer here. Also, on my 17th birthday was when I was at rock bottom. It was the first time I took to drugs to try and cope, and I was very very close to ending my life that day. 

Anyway, moving on from the doom and gloom - I wasn't crying non-stop needing to be coaxed out of bed this year, like I usually am on my birthday. I got up. I cried. I got dressed and I got on a train to Brighton. I saw my friends and I went out. I made a conscious effort to keep going. But something just did not feel right. 

After reflecting and piecing my thoughts together, I have realised that turning 20 was actually a pretty big deal to me. Turning 20 (in my head) means that I'm in a new phase of life. I'm not a teenager anymore. SO much is going to happen in this decade. And my Grandad won't be here to witness any of it. He was around in the last phase of my life, but wouldn't be in the next. He's already missed out on me moving out, getting a job, going to uni, being discharged from treatment and travelling to the otherside of the world. But that's okay. I might not be able to call him up and tell him about the next steps of my life, but I'm pretty sure he's around somewhere able to take it all in for himself. 

Again, I have no idea what the purpose of this post is. Just something I need to get off my chest. X

Heading towards a cancer diagnosis

Over the course of the past few weeks, I've been on one of the scariest rides life has ever put me on. I've spent a lot of it trying to come to terms with the possibility that my Mum has cancer, and that I could possibly lose her. 

Long story short, when I went home from Uni at Easter, my Dad picked me up from work one evening. This is unheard of for my Dad. On the car journey home he told me that over the past couple of months, my Mum hadn't been very well and it had reached a point where an intervention was needed and she badly needed to seek medical help. This through me off guard and I was a bit worried/concerned/confused, but I wasn't feeling any extreme emotions because me being naive, I hadn't realised the true seriousness of the situation. In brief, my Mum had been losing a lot of blood, and I didn't realise how much or how badly it had affected her as I wasn't around to witness it. 

Fast foward a few weeks and a few tests later; the conclusion was that my Mum had an abnormal cyst on her ovaries but the cause of the bleeding was from her womb. Shadows and linings showed up in an ultrasound which then led to her having a biopsy. That's when it hit me. At first, I totally overreacted and was bracing myself on how to cope with life after my Mum's death. (ridiculous, I know). My Mum of all people, was the one to console me and bring me back down to Earth to deal with the situation logically. We still don't have the biopsy results, but some more scans and blood tests results have come back and it's looking pretty positive that whatever it is making my Mum ill, it's not cancer. I don't want to get my hopes up, but I am so grateful. 

This whole situation has taught me so much and opened up my eyes to what other people are going through. I cannot physically explain how scared I was feeling when for those couple of weeks it looked like a cancer diagnosis was heading my Mum's way. So I can't even begin to imagine how other people and their families are feeling when they hear that news. Even just today, so many people will have been given a cancer diagnosis and will be experiencing all the emotions I felt and more, and on a much larger scale. I care for cancer patients and witness what they themselves and their families are going through and I always thought I had a good idea of the emotional pain they're in. I was wrong. I had no idea. It's one of those things you don't fully understand until you're directly affected by it. And I haven't even been directly affected, I was just one step closer than I used to be. 

When you're different to your family

I've never really got on that well with my family. Partly because they're not always the best people I've come across, but I fully accept that partly it's down to my erratic and horrid behaviour when I was ill.

BUT

I've never really had a good relationship with them - even before I became ill. And after months of therapy, my therapist made me realise that my family were a big factor to the cause and trigger of my illnesses, especially my bulimia and anxiety.

The other day, I was working with a new lady at work. She was telling me about her life and it really inspired me. She's been dealt some pretty shit cards by life, yet she's still very positive and has the most amazing outlook on everything. I was casually talking to someone else about how the majority of my extended family really don't like me and the new lady said she was shocked I didn't get on with them and that I seemed like the type of person to have a great relationship with my family. This sparked a conversation about everything over the past few years and the lady (sorry, I'm trying not to use her name for anonymity!) said that it sounded like it was just because I was different to the rest of my family- I spoke up about the things I didn't agree with and they didn't like that. Quite a few people have said that before and I've always totally dismissed their opinions because I felt like they'd naturally be bias towards me. But to have someone who I'd only known a few hours come to that conclusion after having a pretty deep chat with her, made me pull some pieces together and see that maybe there is some truth in that judgement. Yes, it's definitely not the only factor to it. But I am a lot different to them all, and I did used to be so outspoken about everything which they made me believe was a bad thing and after the abuse that went on- I stopped being the gobby little loud mouth I used to be. Recently though, I've regained those outspoken traits that disappeared when I was ill. Hopefully, I'll never go back to the gobby teenage ways I used to have, but I'm glad I'm speaking up and regaining my voice again.

Something happened this evening that brought all these thoughts and realisations together. I spoke up about something I did not agree with. And my family really did not like it. And for about 10 minutes, I felt like the most worthless person in the world. BUT- I've pulled myself out of that. I don't feel like that anymore. I refuse to let people make me feel worthless and wrong just because I don't agree with what they're saying/doing. Not anymore, never again.

X

Turning Points

I think moving to Brighton was the best thing I've ever done for myself. However, when I came home at Christmas, I was still really unhappy. Whenever people would ask me how things were going I'd tell them how great it was- but it was so draining because I felt like I was lying.

Last week I came home again. And again, people asked me how things were going. And once again, I told them how great things were. But this time, I didn't feel like I was lying. Don't get me wrong, I could still give you a list of negatives as long as my arm, but I'm not as overwhelmed by them and it gives me the chance to appreciate the positives. I'm still missing my job more than I can put into words, and I'm still absolutely desperate to just drop everything and to go and travel the world, but right now- I don't think staying in Brighton will be such a bad thing.

X

Pushing Yourself

Somewhere in Brighton

I've learnt a lot about myself over the past couple of years, and I think one of the most beneficial things I've really learnt is that the best way to overcome something is to just throw yourself in the deep end and do it. It's something everyone always knows is the best thing to do, but more often than not we don't actually push ourselves to go ahead and do it.

So many things fill us fear and we shy away from them because we feel like we're not good enough or that other people can do it better. And yes, there will probably always be someone better than you but that doesn't mean you're incapable. I've been in a lot of anxiety-provoking situations lately and I've had no choice but to push myself and keep going. These situations haven't always turned out successfully but a lot of them have and if I'd have carried on running away from the situations that scared me I would never have achieved things that I'd told myself I couldn't do.

These situations usually arose by chance - situations that were totally out of my control. I didn't deliberately put myself in them, they just kind of happened. But over the past couple of weeks I've subconsciously been creating my own anxiety-provoking situations, situations which scared the hell out of me but I was the person who made them happen in the first place. And as much as it exhausts me and sometimes I wonder what the hell I'm doing, I'm so glad I've ended up doing it to myself because I'm now doing things I never even dreamed I'd be strong enough to do.

I have no idea what the point of this post is, but there you have my 3am ramblings.

New beginnings in Brighton

Long time no blog. (What's new).

I moved to Brighton just over a month ago to study at uni. I spent many months undecided whether or not this was the right step to take - after my gap year my desire to travel has tripled and deep down I know I want to become a nurse. However, I wasn't ready to give up on music just yet hence why I am now down in Brighton.

I've met so many people since I moved here - some absolutely lovely people and some not so lovely. Obviously, my anxiety has become a lot easier to deal with otherwise I wouldn't be here- but this past week or so it's really come back with a bit of a vengeance. I think this is why I'm blogging it - because as lovely as some of the people are here, they don't get it and I can't really talk to them about it without the usual "but you seem so happy", "maybe you should do more in your day","I totally understand what you mean" kind of comments. There's so many confident, attractive, well-dressed people and I think it's knocked my self-esteem. Which is a pain the ass considering how long it took me to build it up- but I am determined to not let it ruin things for me and to build it back up again. The past week or so I've been having similar thought patterns to when I was bulimic- I've not acted on them and I'm doing everything I can to stay on track.

Even just writing this has made me feel so much better because I don't feel like I'm bottling it up, trying to keep the way I'm feeling hidden. So if you've taken the time to read this and listen to me trying to piece together my thoughts, then thank you! & if anyone's been in a similar situation and has any advice then please do get in touch.

Moving On

I've written this post about 56,474 times and each time it ends up being about 100 pages long. SO, I'm going to have to be very blunt, and use the wonderful power of bullet points to get my point across briefly.

• I just nearly deleted my blog because I don't want a beauty dedicated blog anymore.
• I decided not to incase I ever wanted to post something beauty-related.
• Then I realised I don't need to have a label attached to my blog.
• So basically, Sparks of Serenity is not longer a beauty blog (although I'm sure the odd beauty related post will crop up)
• My life has changed a lot over the past 12 months. 
• I finished treatment for my anxiety and depression. 
• I'm actually LOVING my job now - it's probably the best thing in my life.
• I've just travelled Australia. 
• And I've just quit my job (yep, the one I love) so I can go to uni to study a subject that's totally unrelated to where I want to end up. 

So yep, in brief - this is where I'm at right now. I want to carry the blog on so I can document these big changes that are about to happen. 

So please bare with me... 

One Night In Italy by Lucy Diamond

On the 9th of August I tweeted, "Just started reading this... anyone else read it?". Attached was the picture below, of the book One Night In Italy by Lucy Diamond. I've FINALLY got round to finishing it this week.

Whenever I blog about books I always want to reiterate that I'm never writing a book review. I have no idea how to write a book review, I have attempted them many times and to put it bluntly; I am shit. So this isn't a book review. I'm simply summing up the book because I feel it's worth a read, and so anyone who likes the sound of it, can go and read it too.

The book follows the lives of 3 characters: Anna, Catherine and Sophie. They all meet at an evening Italian class Sophie starts teaching, when she comes back home from travelling for a few years because her Dad is ill. Anna is wanting to find her Dad- whom she believes is Italian. And Catherine has just found out her husband has been cheating on her and wants a divorce, and because her 2 children have just left for University, she takes the Italian course to make use of her free time. It's a very uplifting story about friendship and how your friends can make your life so much better. It involves break ups, fraud and travel. I particularly liked Sophie's storyline about her travelling and the people she'd met along the way. There's character in this book which I think most women could relate to in one way or another- and it also shows how age is nothing when it comes to friendship. It's a very charming book and I'd definitely recommend it! A feel-good, easy read.

I'm shit at reading books but once I get into one, there's no putting it down! So if you have any good book suggestions then please do let me know.

Hope you all have a lovely weekend,
Charlotte x

Politics of the working world...

It's been a while since I updated this little blog of mine. A lot has changed, and I've become more aware of many things within this crazy little world. One of them is the grand old world of work.

I started my first proper job (full-time) at the beginning of December. Being the naïve 18 year old that I am, I assumed that now I wasn't in school, everything would be smooth-running and everyone would be nice to one another and there wouldn't be anymore cliques/bitchiness to put up with everyday because everyone I'd be surrounded by would be grown up. Oh, how I was very wrong. 

I absolutely love my job. I'm working as a Nursing Assistant in a Nursing Home and although it's very physically and emotionally demanding, it can be very rewarding. But I've found it hard to adapt to the politics of it all. I don't have any direct issues with any staff, but I've been really really shocked at just how similar it is to the stereotypical social ways of a high school! I'm not sure why the hell I'm writing this, as it doesn't have any purpose whatsoever. But I guess, if anyone reading this has dealt with the same thing in their work then how did you cope with it most? I just want to keep my head down and crack on with my job but without giving people a reason to have an issue with me. I know I'm overthinking it and shouldn't be making such an effort to not give people a reason to talk about me as this kind of thing happens everywhere, but I think hearing about other people's experiences will bring me a bit of comfort.  

Thank you for wasting your time reading this, I appreciate it!

How a quote from Mockingjay (Part 1) gave me some perspective on life

This evening I went to see Mockingjay Part 1 at the cinema. I'm not a film person at all, but I absolutely love The Hunger Games' series (both books and films). But this isn't a review. There was a quote in the movie that brought me so much comfort, and I'm sure many people have heard it before the film was even filmed.

"It takes ten times as long to put yourself back together than it does to fall apart."

For the past few weeks I've been feeling so down about the fact that I've spent the majority of this year getting treated for anxiety and depression, yet I still don't feel in a good place. It made me stop and take a look back at everything I've achieved that I didn't even give myself credit for. With things like anxiety and depression, it's the little steps forward that amount to success and recovery. I think this applies to everyone, even people who don't struggle with their mental health. Too often we don't acknowledge achievements within ourselves, which I think is a little sad. And it just gives people even more reasons to not love themselves as much as they should. 

I have no idea why I'm writing this. I have no idea what the purpose is. I just think it's a quote that needs sharing. I sat in the cinema, with goosebumps all over my body and tears filling my eyes. It was a massive realisation that I never expected to come from that trip to the cinema. So to anyone struggling - remember that time is on your side. Don't expect yourself to be fixed in a day, in a month, or even a year. Because that's not going to happen. It's going to take a while but the outcome is going to be so worth it. 

I'm back!: Battle with anxiety, music blog and education.

Hello!!

I'm back after 5 months without blogging!!

The main reason I stepped away from my blog was because my anxiety had gotten pretty bad, making me pretty miserable. I had a rough few months at Sixth Form, but I have now sought help so hopefully things are on the up. I've completed my A-levels, they didn't go very well but hopefully it's enough to take me to the next stage of my life. I'm now on a gap year and seeking employment to save money to travel next year. As some of you may know, I started to branch out with this blog and wrote a few music posts every now and again. I've now decided to pursue a career in the music industry, so my aim for the next couple of months is to apply to Uni to take a music business degree. I've also started a new blog which is solely music orientated so Sparks of Serenity will go back to being a beauty blog.

So yes, that's pretty much a brief summary of where I went, and where I'm hoping to go now I'm back. If anyone's interested in my music blog then do let me know and I will send you a link. I'm also contemplating blogging about my anxiety (which seems to be mainly social anxiety) so people can gain a better insight on it, but I'm going to wait and see how my treatment goes before I go ahead with that.

Thank you so much for sticking by me whilst I've been away,
Charlotte x

Blackberry Bath Bomb from Lush

Hello! 

I have been absent from my little blog for a wee while now due to my laptop totally dying, acute tonsillitis (& an allergic reaction to my antibiotics for it) and now exams! 

After a long, hard day of lying in bed doing nothing apart from feeling sorry for myself and how ill I felt yesterday, I found an old (out of date but let's pretend it's not) bath bomb from lush and I was so desperate for a pick me up, I used it. It smelt absolutely amazing, the scent was so strong but I have no idea how to describe it to you...it definitely wasn't the scent of blackberries though!

I took a few snaps and thought I would share them with you!

 

For the next 2 months it's most likely my blog is going to have to take a back seat in my priorities but I promise as soon as my exams are over I will be back in full swing! 

Speak to you soon,
Charlotte x

Empties!

Hello!

I am the type of person who usually fails miserably finishing a product, so the fact I've got a collection of empties to share with you is a rare thing. 

Please excuse the spider chilling in the top left hand corner... I was too scared to move it!

Not much to say on the Batiste Dry Shampoo apart from bravo to Batiste! I wasn't very impressed with Superdrugs own dry shampoo, and will be sticking to Batiste from now on. Superdrug's own didn't really give my hair any volume or make it any less greasy, although it did change the smell which was good! I think I would use up another bottle if I had it lying around, just for those moments when your hair doesn't smell it's best such as after cooking. The Schwarzkopf got2b texturizing salt spray is a product I'd recommend to anyone and everyone! I've already got another bottle and I love it. I did a blog post on this in the summer so please go and have a look at it by clicking the link here. 

Moving onto facial skincare and a regular empty of mine is the St Ives apricot facial scrub (blemish fighting). This is definitely my holy grail product (as mentioned in my previous post on my current skincare favourites) which I've always got a tube of. I got the No.7 cleanser and toner as part of a gift set and they worked really well on my skin so I'm definitely going to re-purchase those. Then of course the L'Oreal Paris Skin Perfection 3 in 1 Purifying Micellar Solution has made an appearance, this too is one of my favourite products and I use it most days. I did a blog post specifically on this a few months ago here. 

Then finally, body products! I'd used the impulse loving words spray a lot last summer, it was easy to just throw in my bag and spray myself to feel more fresh in the muggy weather. I've only just gotten round to finishing it; it's not a scent for winter at all so when summer next comes around, I will be wearing it a lot! I didn't really like the body shop cocoa butter exfoliator, I found it rather oily and hard to wash off (I'm quite fussy with exfoliators though!) The brown colouring also seemed to get EVERYWHERE which was a nightmare. The scent was lovely though, and I do like the cocoa butter bath and shower gel. I also finally used up a Philosophy bubble bath (I can't remember the exact one and I've thrown the bottle away now... sorry!) It was a very perfumed product, but it didn't irritate my skin which is unusual as my skin is quite sensitive - so I was very impressed with this one! Now onto the Soap and Glory Clean on Me... I don't really need to say much about this! Amazing. I loved it and it lasted me a really long time, I can't recommend it enough. Finally the Champneys Body Butter: I wouldn't say I loved this but it was okay. It had a nice clean smelling scent (kind of reminded me of talc!) and absorbed quickly. 

That's all for now! I hope you've enjoyed this post and if you've got your own empties posts or recent hauls then please leave the links to them in the comments below as I'd love to have a look. Thank you for reading,
Charlotte x

My 13 Favourite Albums Of 2013.

Happy New Year! 

Another music based post today (sorry to all my beauty readers!) I'm going to share with you my favourite albums of 2013, which if you haven't heard then I would love for you to have a listen to:-) On a side note, this list is in no particular order! 


DEMI - by Demi Lovato.

OLD SOULS - by Deaf Havana.

LONG WAY DOWN - by Tom Odell.

JAMES ARTHUR - by James Arthur.

IN A PERFECT WORLD - by Kodaline.

I LOVE YOU - by The Neighbourhood.

THE 1975 - by The 1975

IF YOU WAIT - by London Grammar

PARADISE VALLEY - by John Mayer

SIGNALS - by Mallory Knox

SHANGRI LA - by Jake Bugg

SAME TRAILER DIFFERENT PARK - by Kacey Musgraves

MECHANICAL BULL - by Kings Of Leon

Thank you for taking the time to read this! Charlotte x

Champney's Spa Treatments: Citrus Blush Body Scrub

This is the first time I have spent a whole blog post purely going on about a product which I'm not liking, so I'm sorry for the negativity!

I've had the Citrus Blush Body Scrub from Champney's Spa Treatments range for a while now and it's probably the worst exfoliant I've ever had. I love the scent, it's gorgeous but the actual product itself seems to be a bit of a disaster. After rinsing thoroughly my skin is always left feeling really oily and my pyjamas (I usually use it at night!) end up clinging to my body which is extremely annoying! It also leaves a bizarre scent afterwards which is nothing like its original. Part of me is thinking that I may have had a faulty tub so I would really like to hear your thoughts if any of you have tried this product before.

 

I hope you're all enjoying the holidays, Merry Christmas!
Charlotte x

New York Colour nail polish in 'Chelsea'

Apologies for the lack of blogging this month! I've been wearing New York Colour's nail polish in the shade 'Chelsea' a lot recently; it's very Christmassy so I thought it would be appropriate to share!

I purchased this in Superdrug a few weeks ago, I can't remember how much it was exactly but it was no more than £2/3. There is only one coat shown in the image above due to my stupid habit of peeling off my nail polish if there is more than one coat!

I hope you're all enjoying getting into the festive spirit!
Charlotte x

MOTM: November

Another month is almost up, so I'm about to share with you my favorite songs of November. I have changed the format of these posts slightly to incorporate videos to make it easier for you guys to listen to the songs/watch the videos. Please let me know in the comments if you prefer this format or my old format! 


Tom Odell released his music video for his new single "I Know" yesterday. "I Know" is one of my favorite songs off his album and I love the video that now goes with it. I am pretty certain that this song is going to go far on the charts when it gets released! I was lucky enough to see Tom Odell live last month and he was featured in a post on my blog a few weeks ago which you can read here.

Since I purchased their debut album 'If You Wait' in September, I have been listening to London Grammar almost every day. I just can't fault them. Their lyrics are honestly like therapy, they are so powerful. London Grammar released their music video for their next single 'Nightcall' only a few days ago too, and I absolutely love it. If you've not listened to London Grammar before then I recommend you do so because they are about to become huge!

My next choice is by someone who has caused a stir in the media a lot lately. I did a huge long post on all the controversy surrounding James Arthur, so please do have a read of it by clicking the link here. His next single 'Recovery' is one of my favorite songs ever. It is such a powerful, relate-able song to me. It is on his debut self-titled album which I personally don't think has been given enough credit. The video for 'Recovery' has not yet been released so instead, I have linked an acoustic version of the song.

McFly have been one of the very few bands that I have loved since I was a kid, and carried on loving as I have been getting older. They are 4 of the most genuine, loving and talented men in the music industry. They are also absolutely hilarious, if I'm ever having a bit of a rubbish day then I will usually always go and youtube videos of them and be laughing within minutes. Their latest single 'Love Is On The Radio' was released last week, and I adore it. It has a bit of a country/folk edge to it which compliments their pop/rock style really well. And the video to go with it is just amazing! See for yourself.

Finally, I have an artist who a lot of people won't have heard of. Carrie Hope Fletcher. Carrie is actually Tom from McFly's sister, but I didn't know that until after I'd spend a few months watching her on youtube. I was catching up on youtube videos the other day and came across this video of Carries where she had invited some of her close friends over to ignite their problems. It was such a sweet video and the music playing to it was a song called The Way We Were sung by Carrie. This song is available on iTunes so download it if you like what you hear. Click the link here to be taken to the iTunes page.

I hope you've enjoyed listening to some of the music I have been loving this month. I'd love to hear some of the music you've all been listening to so please leave me a comment below!
Thank you for reading,
Charlotte x

Umberto Giannini Haircare

If you spend a lot of time browsing in Boots like I seem to always be doing, then you'll probably have heard about the brand Umberto Giannini. 

I used to have such lovely, curly hair when I was younger. I always had the most perfectly formed ringlets, which I totally destroyed through my teenage years by straightening my hair EVERYDAY. Now I'm left with a mass mess of hair that will go curly if I try really hard but it still makes my hair look matted, thick and scruffy and about a million miles off what my hair used to be!

The silky curls intensive mask helps my curls/waves to be less frizzy and more defined if I let my hair dry naturally. If your hair is hard to contain then I'd definitely recommend trying this out. 

This is a gel like substance that I regularly use in the summer if I wash my hair in the morning and go out with my hair soaking wet still! It just helps to keep my curls intact and it smells divine! 

This is one of my favourite hair care products ever! It does the job of a very good salt spray and I use it all year round. It smells amazing and it really does make my hair a lot curlier. (Note; the bottle in this image is a travel sized bottle!) 

I'd love to know your thoughts on these products if you've used them or if you've used any other Umberto Giannini products! Thank you for reading, Charlotte x