Hestia Aesthetics- Anti Wrinkle Injections

After a lot of heartbreak and trauma this year I really wanted to do something to make myself feel better. Anti wrinkle injections AKA Botox is something I had considered for a while and after the final nail in the coffin with my ex and an extra large dose of worries and frowning, I felt a bit ropey and weathered and it gave me the push I needed to book myself in for 1 area of botox. Now I’m not saying this is for everyone, nor am I telling you to go and do it, I just wanna share my personal experience and my personal thoughts on the results. 

So Botox anti wrinkle injections are a treatment where an injectable solution is administered and this takes up to 14 days to activate and it basically ‘freezes’ the muscle movement, smoothing lines and preventing future lines from forming. Results do vary from person to person and last from 2-6 months. Reactions are highly unlikely but if on the rare occasion this did happen, the skin would likely react then and there so help is on hand and it would likely be a localized reaction. I only mention this as it is something on instagram I was asked multiple times and I know is a concern to many of you.

I didn’t know where to go for my treatment as the cosmetic sector is now such a competitive market with more and more people offering this treatment but after doing a bit of research Hestia Aesthetics just stood out for me. The team of Costas and Lauren have an extensive medical career and full aesthetics training, the language on the website really stood out to me as it seemed less daunting and more approachable than other places- I mean, lets face it, this stuff is a bit daunting, confusing and can be really intimidating too. 

I booked my appointment online for 1 area and paid a £30 deposit, the total treatment price is £180. The area I wanted to go for is the forehead as this is definitely the area for me where life takes its toll! We came to the agreement that I would help get the word out as this is very new business they would do me a package so I had a little more in other areas too! 

I visited the clinic on a Sunday morning. I arrived with no makeup on and a little nervous. I was invited into the room and greeted by the guys, they are a lovely team, so friendly and put me straight at ease. The appointment starts with a consultation when you will be asked about the treatment you have selected and the desired results, you will then be talked through how it works and a little about the anatomy of what you are having done. Once you are both happy with the selection you will move over onto the bed and you will be marked up, this is done with a liner and is to make sure you have your botox applied evenly, then once done, they will inject. I promise, this does not hurt, unless you have an incredibly low pain threshold. Some of the injections I could barely feel!

After the treatment you are left with a little redness but totally manageable and I would really recommend having his done when you have no plans as you don’t wanna be putting makeup on for up to 24 hours ideally. 

The areas which I had done were the forehead and a brow lift. You can also have amongst other areas- crows feet, frown line, bunny lines, hooded eyes, tear trough, dimpled chin, marionette lines, smile lines, underarm. The team also do a range of other treatments too including filler and cannula treatments.

So… the results! Obviously what we all want to know about! So you’re appointment includes a 2-week follow up appointment to check the results and includes a top up if required! Costas on my follow up appointment also gave me a little extra in my frown lines, smile lines and bunny lines to share with you guys.

 

Lifting my brows before and after full activation

For me; I will never look back, after having botox I have gone through such a traumatic event in my life and normally that would take its toll in my face, honestly, I look fresh as a daisy! My skin looks smooth, polished and healthy and I just feel so much more confident in myself even though the changes are subtle. My requested result was the desire to have a ‘freshen up’ that is exactly what I got, I look natural and not over enhanced but I feel the BEST I have felt in years!! 

Lauren and Costas are so friendly and knowledgeable and would be so happy to talk you through anything if you are considering a treatment. 

The clinic is highly professional, sterile and clean but still feels extremely relaxing and it is based at Rowan House in Hethersett. 

I can not rate my experience enough, I’m so pleased, honestly I feel the most confident I’ve ever felt in myself and that feels wonderful. Thanks so much guys for making me feel like me again!

 

If you would like more info or to book, click here

 

Thanks for reading, H x

Cocktail Delivery Services

In lockdown we have seen some great things came out of small businesses. As most of you know I am a seasoned cocktail lover and occasional low key alcoholic (joke) and many cocktail delivery services have become available so I’ve put together a list with some short roundups of what’s available in and around Norfolk and many nationally too!!

With the 10 pm curfew putting people off either going out at all or making it very difficult to carry on the party, organisation is key these days if you want to get your groove on past 10:15pm. You can find out below where you can get your favourite cocktails premixed with fresh and quality ingredients and deliver to your door so you can carry on your party all night long with top quality, bar grade drinks.

Arboretum- The weird and wonderful Norwich bar/ antique shop with dead and living animal menagerie are offering selections of the unique, old world cocktails for collection, local and national delivery! Locally delivery can be the same day if ordered before 6pm- for the spontaneous among us. To collect this will be organised during opening times of the bar, be careful as you may leave with more than anticipated as everything in this crazy place is for sale, so a penchant for antiques and taxidermy might get you shopping!  These guys offer the service Tuesday-Saturday. Your drinks menu comes in select boxes, choose from…. gin box, scotch box, sour box, mixed box, sweet box, Navy rum, English vodka, berry, floral, wine and non-alcoholic. 3 x 200ml bottles of curious drinks to be consumed within 3 days. Prices start at £14 per box! Huzzah- check in our here.

Tipsy Jar- The lovely team of Laura and Ellie have created a lovely business of mixologist designed and premium quality cocktails which deliver locally and national. With a menu which is constantly being updated with fresh ideas and flavors to suit the seasons, the loyal and regular customers will never get bored if you like to mix it up and try new things! The design of the concept is that you receive you jar and your garnishes, including ice, you shake in the jar and serve to perfection in your favourite glass. The national format differs slightly where your liquid will be in a sachet and of course ice would melt in the post but these gals have thought of it all, whether you are drinking locally to Norfolk or further afield. They aim to ship all orders with in 2 working days, expect delivery within 3-4 working days. Any orders placed after 12pm Thursday will be shipped Monday to maintain freshness and delivery nationally in £6.50. If you are local, local being post codes NR1-NR14 then delivery is just £2.50 to your door! Tipsy Jar are operational Tuesday to Saturday and you can even order up to 5pm for same day delivery! As soon as you’re ready to drink follow the instructions and enjoy! Drinks can be stored for up to 7- 14 days! I have sampled many and I love the twists on the classics for a signature style. Fancy this one? Tip use code 3FOR30 Browse and order here

Edmunds- Edmunds are a stunning Suffolk based brand, with a belief that you can enjoy a top quality cocktail from home with minimal effort. These are available nationwide for £3.95 delivery. Pick from 1 litre of your fave cocktail for a party or night in, a mixed box of 6 x 100ml bottles or 6 of the same! These babies are bottled and made with sustainability at the forefront of their ethos and at £23.95 for a box of 6. You get the garnishes in the beautiful little box with the drinks, all you will need is a cocktail shaker and ice! Because of how this brand is packaged I really feel it would be a lovely gift, it’s extremely tasteful with a neoclassical design and looks really artisanal. Click here to take a look!

The Globe Trotter  This team started off with their beautiful horse box bar which is available for event hire and to be honest were probably the first people I came across locally offering fresh, mixologist quality cocktails, made ready for home consumption. They offer a selection of classics and originals in variable sizes from 500ml all the way up to the big daddy 5 LITRE – GIMME GIMME- If orders come in for Uk deliveries they send out the next day after ordering and that usually is a 4-5 working days delivery time, although next day can be an option. Local deliveries can be booked in and often they accept same day deliveries if placed in the morning. Locally there is a £5 delivery fee on anything Nr14 and further. The super strong cocktails over 20% you can keep for up to 30 days unopened and the lower % drinks up to 2 weeks, drink within 4 days once opened, posted Mon-Sat (the following day after you place the order), local delivery is  Thursday – Sunday! I sampled the Vanilla and Passionfruit Martini which is delicious and also the super strong Lychee Martini which was must to my liking at 22%. Thirsty? Order here

Cocktail Canaries-  Another great local business which I’ve not actually had the pleasure of trying personally but I have gifted to a friend, these guys offer a local delivery service of fresh bottled cocktails from 6 classics and 1 Norfolk special with a delivery radius of Norfolk (NR1-NR14, NR24-NR28 Surrey (KT1, KT10, KT12, KT13) which the heritage Norwich canary as their namesake, but this team have now branched out into bottled cocktails for national delivery and postbox cocktail pouches too! I’m loving the sound of the Jaffa Cake Negroni and the Honeycomb Old Fashioned! delivery from £3.50 for standard and more for next day and guaranteed and local delivery is free!!! Boom- get it here!

So who loves cocktails? They make a night right? So whatever tier you’re in, get an order in and plan you next great night in!

Thanks for reading,

H x

*Tipsy Jar, Arboretum, Edmunds and The Globe Trotter previously provided PR Samples to try not connected to this article.

Escape Hunt UK- Norwich

There’s a brand new escape room that has opened up in Norwich!! Escape Hunt UK is the new addition to Norwich’s entertainment scene and has a variety of games to get the mind boggling and ignite all your puzzle busting skills!

Escape Hunt started in 2013 and now has over 40 locations in 17 different countries hosting over 250 games! 

At our site in Norwich we currently have 3 classic physical escape rooms- Alice in Puzzleland, Aladdin and Our Finest Hour and 2 virtual reality games Mission Sigma and Survivor. I was lucky enough to be invited to to try out both formats so I can share with you and hopefully answer any ponders you may have if you’ve been considering an escape room have felt unsure. 

So, the physical escape room I tried was Alice in Puzzleland, I don’t want to give anything away but just some insight about what to expect. So the max group size is 6 people and you have 60 minutes on the clock so solve all of the puzzles to get out of the room. Every escape room has a different plot and all the puzzles will be unique! You can expect to problem solve, code crack, solve cryptic clues and riddles and more! It’s great fun, amazing for team building and is really eye opening between friends. One of my favourite things about it is seeing how differently your brain works to your friends and where your different strengths lie to get to the end result, team work is required and working together is a must! 

In the room, you have no phones, there is a connection to ask the host for clues if you are getting really stuck and of course you are not actually locked in, so if you have any claustrophobic fears you can get out so do not worry! 

The room which I did was so well done, fun, imaginative and fantastical. The BEST thing about escape rooms though (especially this year), is that WHATEVER you have going on, whatever is on your mind, you really can’t do anything other than focus on what you are doing so it really is a very welcome break from reality for 1 hour! I can’t wait to go back and try the other rooms. We did escape in 49 minutes (no thanks to me I don’t think though)! 

Next up, I tried the virtual reality game! Myself and 2 friends played the game Survivor, the format is different to the physical escape room and is literally like being in a video game! So again for up to groups of 6, you enter into a large area where you VR headset and have 2 hand held joypads/controllers which are secured around your wrist. Before the actual game begins you have a tutorial to get to grips with the controls and then you’re off! Again the games are timed for 60 minutes and the game that we played was a task based RPG, it was so fun! We didn’t manage to complete, we managed 60% which wasn’t amazing but we were proud, as non-gamers it did take us a few minutes to warm up but it did not compromise the fun AT ALL! 

As a general activity the team are really committed to the safety of customers with excellent procedures in place for covid with masks mandatory for all guests and staff, an extremely clean setting and lots of cleaning and santiser available. 

Prices start at £20 per person on groups of 4-6 for physical games and £25 per person for physical games of groups 1-3 and all Virtual Reality games. All games also are for ages 8 and up so great fun for all the family!

So what are you waiting for? Go and test you puzzle busting skills with some buddies! 

Have you done an escape room before? Did you get out? 

H x 

The Hippodrome Circus Great Yarmouth

If you are looking for a fun and entertaining day or night out for the kids and adults too, look no further that the Hippodrome circus In Great Yarmouth! Since Hugh Jackman, Zac Efron and the cast of The Greatest Showman melted the hearts of film lovers across the globe, circus is more popular than ever! In 2018 we saw the 250th anniversary of circus and we are incredibly lucky to have one of the ‘last surviving, purpose built, total circus buildings’ in the UK right on our doorstep in East Anglia! The Hippodrome Great Yarmouth was built back in 1903 and has been kept in the the most impeccable condition with its original features preserving the traditional circus charm. The Hippodrome’s shows combine acts across stage, air and water and it has 1 of the only 3 rings in Europe, with the feature of the floor lowering to fill with water and transform into a pool, where audiences can enjoy this range of talents, show after show!

The Hippodrome has been delightfully handed down through the Jay family and with the well-known local hero Peter Jay sharing his 40 years of the hippodrome experience last year and handing the torch over to his son Jack, who is our fantastic ring leader and leading man in the circus come-show ‘Pirates’; the family message is very much alive and present here. 

From the second I walked through the doors of the beautiful building I was hit with a wall of nostalgia that I am always subconsciously craving. I am obsessed with times gone by and being able to step inside a piece of history evokes every sense I have. This is such an incredibly loved building, inside and out and you are literally walking in time in a place of entertainment history. The retro and charming interior has been cared with love and does nothing but compliment the experience. The walls are covered in posters and memorabilia from the shows hosted over the years and gives you a glimpse into how circus was in the days of animals and odd balls, as opposed to the unique and raw talent from over the world which we see today.

 

 

Jack and his team spend each season between shows not only script writing but also attending and researching shows to source the most exciting, original and ground breaking acts. This keeps the Hippodrome fresh and exciting each show for all the new guests but for the die-hard loyal fans that attend every show year after year. With the exception of Christmas day this is a 24/7 job and which the love, passion and dedication of the team we continue to see it thrive and succeed as much as ever!

The Hippodrome hosts 4 house shows per year which fall in line with the school holidays to give as many opportunities as possible for families to attend, they do 2-3 shows per day from afternoon to evening. Kicking off the year with the Pirates Live over Easter, then the longest running summer show ‘Circus and Water Spectacular’, October half term gets creepy with the Halloween Spooktacular and then seeing out the festive period with Christmas Spectacular!

You will get to know and love the dynamic comedy stylings of Jack Jay and Johnny Mack who’s on stage chemistry is perfect and their humour infectious. Great laughs for the kids between acts and fantastic nods to the adult audience with some cryptic ‘in’ jokes. The shows without Johnny feature other well-known names from the UK entertainment scene so the hosts are always a delight. 

The global acts the guys source are phenomenal, I have been attending most shows for the past couple of years and without fail every single time I see something and I can’t quite believe my eyes! I’m squirming and squealing  with adrenaline and I am literally on the edge of my seat! They vary from weird, to unbelievable and super extreme but every single act I cannot fault and excites me enormously. 

I don’t think I can gush mush more about the circus do you? Seriously, book some tickets, take a mate, when you arrive grab some popcorn and a drink from the licensed bar and sit back and enjoy the show! 

After the show keep half an hour spare to visit the on site museum behind the ring where you can look into the rich history of this circus with a huge amount of old outfits, props and memorabilia it is a fascinating insight to the years of rich on site circus history and so much more! 

Thanks for reading and I hope you’ll love it as much as I do.

H x 

Welcome to the #FoodSavvy challenge!!

So as we embark on a new month, I have taken on a brand new challenge! Along side the support of Hubbub and Norfolk and Suffolk County Councils I have been given the opportunity to share with you my experience and journey in becoming more #FoodSavvy!

In Norfolk and Suffolk alone we waste 113,000 tonnes of food waste which costs the average household an extra £810 per year and the tax payer just in these 2 counties an extra £12.6m per year!!! That’s hugely alarming right?? I’m really excited to be given the opportunity to get involved in hopefully learning new ways to reduce this personally in my household and also raise awareness to my surrounding counties and further afield!

So, if you’ve been following me a while, I like to think; and I hope you’ll agree, I’m pretty savvy anyway and from my personal financial situation over the last few years, I’ve taught myself to become more #FoodSavvy and am really excited to see what new ideas I can take on board to drive this even further in my life! I’m a genuine lover of food and it sickens me to see food go to waste, so I always try to keep it creative in the kitchen and let nothing avoidable go in the bin but I know there’s still more to do!

This week, from tomorrow, Monday, I’ll be carrying on as normal and at the end of the week I’ll be doing my baseline measurement to see what waste I’m producing in my household on a normal week, before we put in to place some of the useful provided tools to aid in this months challenge!! I’m actually off for a few days from Monday morning on my holidays to France, so I’ll be getting my folks back at my home to save their avoidable food waste along with logging roughly any food that I waste abroad Monday to Thursday, all of this you can keep track of on my instagram stories! I’ve always been a lunch prepper, I’ve been using food recycling at home for some time and i consciously make the efforts to minimize a single use plastics in my life but even as a conscious person I know the results will alarm me when so many things on offer to us have not undergone the same thoughtful and sustainable journey we would want in an ideal world. After this week is done and we measure what’s ‘normal’ for me and my household, then we’ll start the reduction measurements from week 2! Food waste and the volume of single use plastics used world wide is a huge issue and I invite you this month to join the challenge and become more #FoodSavvy with me, from Norfolk, Suffolk and beyond!