Sundaze 102

Well hello November! We are on the home stretch to Christmas and I’m not even sorry. Not even a little. It’s been quite the week at Chez Daisybutter: I’m absolutely adamant that I’m going to get through my epic to-do list before I go away this month. The challenge is that I’m away next weekend to celebrate my best friend’s hen weekend, and then the next weekend I’ll be zooming off to Malaysia once again to spend time with my family. Me? Stressed? Bien sûr que non.

Anyway, in between manically writing and editing for my clients, attempting to promote myself in a bid to win some clients for my shiny new 2019, and get my hands on as much penis paraphernalia as possible, here’s what my week has looked like…

A Vapiano date with the siblings

As I had a few PR events that I wanted to go to on Tuesday afternoon, my brother, sister and I decided to meet up for a dinner date in London. We don’t live in London, but my brother and sister both work in the city now so it was nice to all hang out, especially since Jonny moved out. We decided on Vapiano, our joint guilty pleasure. You can’t beat pasta.

I always fondly look back at Vapiano as a throwback to those early blogging days, way back in the Motel Rocks, Glossybox and LOOK Beauty event days, where a group of us would go for a pre- or post-event meal. Simpler days, before Instagram was a thing and before any of us clocked on that this could become a real career.

World Vegan Day

It was World Vegan Day on Thursday! And although I’m not vegan (at the moment), Harvey and I decided to pop into London again for a foodie date. We headed straight for Boxpark to feast on vegan banh mi and loaded fries, before moving on to grab coffee and CBD brownies at eat by CHLOE. SO DAMN TASTY. If you’re ever in the Covent Garden area, totally swing by and grab an oat milk latte.

On that note, I’ve also been considering what goals and lifestyle changes to make for 2019, and after cutting out milk from my diet this year, I’ve decided I’ll switch to a plant-based diet next year. It only makes sense, after getting 90% there this year, and especially after seeing the destruction the human race is currently raging on our planet. I’m loathe to label myself ‘vegan’ particularly as I’ll continue to wear the leather goods I’ve collected over the years. But that’s a story for another day.

New cruelty-free K-beauty

Like I mentioned, I headed to a few PR events on Tuesday evening and one of them was a K-beauty pop-up in Westfield London. I’m not obligated to write about any of the events I go to, particularly as they tend to be about building relationships with brands, but I wanted to draw your attention to Tonic 15, as they really struck a chord with this K-beauty loving girl.

I’ve been a devoted K-beauty girl for years. From integrating Laneige skincare to my routine in my teens to realising that Missha’s BB cream was my dream face base at the age of 18, it completely revolutionised the way this British-born Chinese gal experienced beauty in the UK. Not least because of things like colour range, but understanding how different skin types need different products. So when I decided to gradually cut out any products that’d been tested on animals, it became a real struggle to find a great skincare regime that worked for me.

Tonic 15 stock two cruelty-free K-beauty brands (Dear, Klairs and By Wishtrend) and are currently in the process of confirming if any others are for me. And I’m so excited to trial a few of their products to see if they live up to my expectations.

Daisybutter in November

Before I sign off for the day, I wanted to quickly note a few things about how the blog may look this month. There’ll be a full post coming to outline exactly what’s going down but as my Sundaze series continues to be one of my most popular series, I wanted to share it here too. I’ll be taking my MacBook, camera kit and WiFi dongle along with me in the hopes of producing some of-the-moment travel content. It’ll feel a little more homegrown, as per ye olde blogging days, with regular posts and Stories on Instagram, and my annual Daisybutter Gift Guides will be coming in the final week of November. Like I said, I’ll have a post up with more details nearer the time.