SHANICES PEACHES

I HOSTED MY FIRST BLOGGERS EVENT – still feels surreal to be typing this down, but I did it YAY!

It had always been a vision in my head to get some lovely bloggers together and just have a brunch type of afternoon and chat all things necessary… I know how super hard it can be trying to meet up as a group, finding a suitable date and time and location…but it was always something I was thinking back to myself “no one would come, you’re only a small influencer, brands/restaurants won’t want to work with you” that’s what kept me put off hosting one. Doubt, doubt and more doubt.

But I’ve done it now! & I’m here to give my recap on it!

This plan came into action early February?! If I remember correctly and I knew I wanted to get stuck in straight away! So I did.

Finding the perfect venue wasn’t hard at all, as I had imagined what style I wanted and the lovely Chelsea Crêperie which you can check out right here – they were more than happy to let me use the lovely venue they had and the owner was the sweetest women ever, putting up with all my random emails asking this and that…I just wanted it to run smoothly!

Next: I found some amazing brands that were happy to collaborate in making the goody bags come to life! Which I was most excited about making for the bloggers who were attending! I was lucky enough to work with, Elle perfumes, Hask hair products, James Read tan, Whitworths, Dr Lipp and I added a home made touch of making my own earrings for the girls.

Finally: invite people – I couldn’t be the only one who was going to show up haha and Chelsea Crêperie kindly let me have a huge audience of 20 – it was a struggle to find 20 individuals who were available and in London on that date! But I knew I wanted it to be a full house, the more the better hey?!

The day came round within a blink and I was all prepared (shockingly) I dragged my suitcase with all the goody bags in (literally felt like 20kg & believe me I was not going on holiday).

I wanted to get a group of girls together, some who have never met or I personally had never met – mostly spoken to via social media! Eating crepes in a cool environment and all things blogging, sounds amazing right?

I was worried about people clashing, which is normal some people don’t vibe off each other and that’s totally fine, it’s just nature…however everyone got along so well and I’m hoping they now have some new gained friends for life!

Most importantly if you want to give something a go and out of your comfort zone, then DO IT!

You’re only human and you can only try, right?!

I hope you enjoyed this style of post & watch this space for my next event I host. (Hopefully soon)

If you’re interested in seeing more from this meet up, you can view it on my Instagram page on my highlight I created here

Until next time.

Shanices Peaches

XOX

What’s the best place to stay over night in the UK?! London right…and in my favourite area which is Shoreditch!

Whenever I travel up to London from Essex in can become a pain when you have rail replacement nearly every weekend and have to go home at the right time to avoid rush hour! Not to mention you’re restricted on how late or early you can come and go as the trains are limited… Shoreditch seemed to be such a great location to stay in, nice and local to all the lovely wall arts I love creating content front of.

I really enjoy hotel stays as it gives you that time to go on a mini vacay unwind and re charge your batteries and of course explore what’s around you!

I love going round the UK sometimes rather than going abroad just because there is so much to see in my home town?!

What really added to the experience for me was Point A offers discount to Ballie Ballerson which is located a 6/7 minutes walk away. I’m sure you’ve heard of it as it’s all I see over Instagram and I get envy every time – but not this time because I managed to go this very weekend.

If you haven’t heard of it check it out here – (ballpit & cocktail venue) for someone who doesn’t drink it was super friendly as thinking about going did seem daunting at first going into a bar/club environment. As soon as I saw that ball pit I was in my element acting like the child I am deep down.

FYI HOLD ON TO YOUR PHONES AND ANYTHING VALUABLE! – we came across two people who had lost their phones in the ballpit, not ideal and nearly impossible to find in a sea filled with plastic balls.

Previously saying the whole travelling to and from Essex it also becomes hard if you want to have an evening out, so I was super excited to be able to go and not have to worry about getting home!

The room I stayed in was the perfect size, it had everything you needed from shampoo to little compartments in the wall to place those “looseable items” which for someone as clumsy as me it came in very handy and my jewellery went straight in there!

It also included mood lighting which I was yet again amazed by…want the room purple then want it green? Go ahead knock yourself out!

MAKE IT RAINBOW

The staff were absolutely lovely and this above picture was taken by one of them – what an angel! I couldn’t miss an opportunity to get a photo in front of the fab decor!

Now let’s talk food of course… food is all I ever think about!

My stay included a breakfast which was super as I woke up ready for food and lots of it.

It was a buffet type service, choosing from fruit, cereals and pastries – which I love this type of style when going to a restaurant as if you have a dietary requirement or you’re picky like myself you’re in good hands and you don’t have to miss out.

So if you are planning to head to London I would honestly recommend the Point A hotels!

So if you’re on the hunt for a hotel to stay, you can go direct to the booking process here & if you sign up to be an A list participant you receive 10% off your stay!

Until next time.

Shanices Peaches

XOX

*stay was complimentary given to me, along with tickets to evening activity*

I feel like I wish I had this survival guide way back months ago when I was a stressed mess.

Giving it away in the title I wanted to create a blog post all about juggling a full time job and blogging!

It honestly feels like having a 24/7 job & I wouldn’t change it for the world!

Don’t get me wrong I love keeping super busy and thankfully with how things are going with my blogging journey it is over hectic at the moment and I cannot get enough of the creative energy it brings!!!!! LOVE LOVE LOVE

But on all seriousness let’s get down to my top 10 survival tips because nobody wants to be over worked:

1. Get yourself a diary/planner – cannot stress this enough, it makes a world of difference getting your shit together.

2. Plan in advance, same as the above really but if you know you’ve got a campaign you need to shoot, plan ahead and be prepared not rushed off your feet last minute like a headless chicken when you’ve got the brand emailing you asking where the post is.

3. Set aside time to do the admin side of things – you don’t want to produce a sloppy looking email, make time in the evening or before work and proof read before sending! (I am guilty of spending my lunch break glued to my inbox filtering emails I must go back to).

4. Give yourself resting time – obvs you sleep during the night…but don’t spend all of your free evening erratically draining yourself. It’s not healthy and everyone needs time to re charge their batteries.

5. Bulk shoot – of course with working full time you ideally only have weekends free, which means at least one day of the two free days you get is possibly spent shooting. I personally will shoot every 2-3 weeks or whenever I’m out and about so I can give myself a free period if you like over two days and not have to think about shooting this and that every weekend!

6. Plan your content in advance – on apps such as UNUM. It’s a grid that shows you what your future feed will look like. It saves time and you can preview and change it around if you need too.

7. Create drafts. The glorious thing about Instagram and creating a blog post is drafts. It’s dragged, ready to go and it doesn’t have to be worried about until the time it’s being posted = more free time.

8. Don’t force things e.g if you’re not feeling that photo you took don’t beat yourself up about it…it’s life we cannot be pleased with everything! Pick yourself up and try again and again if you need to until you are happy! Don’t just settle for it because it’s the first and it’ll do.

9. Be true to yourself, blogging isn’t as glamorous as people assume and I’m sure you that are reading that can agree = honestly is the best policy.

10. Most importantly BE HAPPY!!!

I hope this has helped shed some handy light on your brains!

Until next time.

Shanices Peaches

XOX

Coat gifted by prettylittlething – shop here

Boots gifted by Lasula – shop here

The dreaded blog post on the latest with my medication taking to make me sane….

Last month I did a 5 months on from taking medication for mental health which you can read all about here – so happy 6 month birthday if it’s anything to celebrate?

Quick recap in the last 6 months:

• I’ve become a better version of myself.

• I certainly went through the worse to get to become the best I could be.

• Do I regret it?

• The side affects that made me feel AWFUL

• My anxiety has gone from 100% (not leaving the house alone or even entering Tesco on my own without freaking) to miss independent watch out Shanice is on a mission.

• The downsides outweighing the good?

• The weaning process to get off them freaks me out!

• Have I missed out on the majority of my life feeling like this, when it could have been solved years ago?

• How has it affected my relationships?

I could honestly go on and on with bullet points on the details I’ve dealt with over the period.

I’ve got to that half way point if you like where I’m like should I start to ween myself off these? I cannot rely on these for life? If I don’t do it soon, will I ever do it? Will I be 65 and still dependent on a tablet to keep me from having a break down?

I just don’t even know where to start…being honest I’ve been avoiding calling my doctors to book a review which was meant to be after 3 months! Ooopsssss

I don’t think I’m ready to hear the words: let’s try get you off these and become independent yourself.

It’s not a nice thing to hear and doesn’t exactly sound the same as when you say it to yourself in your head?!

I cannot stress enough for me personally on my journey of taking Sertraline – I have come out the other end a better individual. The confidence has been insane – the confidence has always been there since I was little but that dark depression and anxiety over powered it and that’s what I came across as to most people.

Nothing broke my heart more as well than hearing my nan the other day say to me “Shanice I cannot believe how much of a confident person you are now, in yourself and how you come across” – it’s not the nicest thing to hear and also the nicest?! It’s almost saying you’ve improved yourself as a person but is also a wake up call to the imperfections you had once before and will always have.

EVERYBODY HAS IMPERFECTIONS – let me scream that loud and clear.

We’re not all Barbie and Ken dolls and live in Malibu driving round in a convertible….

Harsh but true, everyone has underlying insecurities and this is why I want to get it out there that it’s OK to talk about these things!

I’m hoping the next post I write regarding this topic, is when I’m in the process of coming off Sertraline- but only time can tell hey?!

It’s my own goal I have set and I’m not saying it’s right for everybody as everyone works differently – it’s my personal preference!

Until next time.

Shanices Peaches

I attending my second LFW (London fashion week) – but I’ll keep it cool and trendy abbreviating it.

First of all I just LOVE the vibe, atmosphere and everything about LFW! Its like all the people you have dreamed about meeting, your fashion sisters all in one place?! It’s just refreshing for everyone to be on the same wave length and not competing against each other you know?

However I didn’t really experience it, but I’ve heard people are noticeably stepping their foot in when trying to be the “best” at fashion week…. it really isn’t a competition just saying!

It’s all about loving one another, supporting that person like yaaaasss queen you go!

It’s just like going into multiple shops and seeing multiple type of styles – that’s what LFW is like and I LOVE IT! All the different vibes are what I am about and I love the inspiration people bring to others.

Oh and of course it’s also meeting babes you speak to over your socials but never have had the chance to meet, which I super enjoyed doing so!

It’s hectic I’m not going to lie, running from one show to another even though you had a huge gap in between but you were dossing about… being my second fashion week I didn’t have that much to compare to. However I will say one thing, they over gave out tickets for sure to the point where my friends weren’t able to get into a particular show because it was that jammed back – which sucked!

I was lucky enough to be invited to certain shows this year and of course I took advantage of that as I adore watching a fashion show and all it’s uniqueness it has to fly down that catwalk.

You network with people you never knew about…I met so many lovely photographers who wanted to take street style photos of myself which felt amazing – like wow they actually want me and like how I look?

Below is a round up of some of the photos I’ve managed to get my hands on!

The particular photo above was featured in the fashion scouts street style round up article which I will link here – am I famous yet? Just kidding haha.

It’s rewarding and makes you feel good! Especially when you are living, breathing and all about FASHUNNNNN.

I for sure want to do the full week this coming September fashion week, as duties called and I had to cut it short and return to work!

Some advice for anyone as silly as me….

Rules to go by:

Bring comfortable shoes = heeled boots left my feet feeling broken and bringing a back up saved my life.

As the saying goes though….pain is beauty

My feet for sure felt like they had been for a night out in stilettos!

I really hope you’ve enjoyed this post as much as I enjoyed creating it!

** suit was gifted by public desire – you can shop it here **

** boots were gifted by public desire – you can shop them here **

** bag purchased from Topshop last year **

Shanices Peaches

Xox