Frump to Fab - A Whole New World.

chanie

sft sorry, I haven’t tried the blow dry sprays.
Maman that’s interesting about that beauty industry, but makes sense.

Today, me and DD (8) got  pedicures and we both enjoyed getting pampered.  DD chose a colour which really complimented her skin tone.  I thought she would have gone for a childish colour like bubblegum pink, so I was pleasantly surprised.  I got a groupon, so it was a cheap date for both of us. 

 I also booked my Mother’s Day facial for this weekend - we went into lockdown just after Mother’s Day, so I never got a chance to use my voucher.  I’m having a dermaplanning facial, which is the treatment where they shave your face.  I had a microdermabrasion facial the last time I went and the therapist said the dermaplaning gave a better result, so I thought I’d try that.  

I’m feeling like beauty treatments are my latest obsession and I’m excited to try new treatments.  I have a decent wardrobe and there isnt anything else I want.  I think I may plan a few extra treatments for my birthday this autumn.

maman

I think having treatements is a lovely gift whether it's from someone else or to yourself. It's a bit like when you've planned a day out to yourself chanie. I know I prefer experiences to 'stuff' and Groupon is brilliant for treatments at good prices. 

I'm off out shortly to have my eyebrows done and I'm really looking forward to it. I'm going to pop into Superdrug to get some hair removing cream too. I've not used it for years but reviews say it's improved over time and doesn't smell horrid any more. The last twice I've shaved my legs I've managed to cut myself so I want to give that a rest. 

It's madly blowy here but still quite warm. I'm going to wear one of my White Stuff patterned skirts and a plain top when I go out but I'll put a cardy in my bag just in case. 😉

FreetodoasIlike

Just stumbled on this - wow what a great thread! Loved the posts about Saturday jobs. I too worked as a Saturday girl in M&S in 1972 (when I was 16). It was very difficult to get a Saturday job there and I only got it because my auntie was a great friend of the Personnel Manager. I remember the Saturday girls were usually put on the tights or jumpers counters (remember them?) where customers would rifle through the tights and jumpers to get their size and would ruin your display. A supervisor always checked your counter at the end of the day and if it wasn’t ship-shape and orderly, and you had swept underneath it,  you couldn’t leave until it was. I remember we used to finish at 6 p.m. but it was always nearer 6.30 p.m. by the time we left and I usually just missed my bus by about 5 minutes and would have to wait another half-hour until the next one. I also remember (as has been said before) the free food to take home and the generous perks of the job. I earned a lot more per hour than my fellow students did working in other shops, so I was very lucky. Surprisingly, I never took the food home though - I don’t know why but it just never occurred to me as my mother would have been delighted. I did notice that the older, married Saturday women used to queue up for it so I suppose it was a really good perk of the job. The supervisors were like tyrants though, inspecting you before you went on the floor and I remember getting seriously told off for wandering around the store in my lunch hour in my uniform (I was told to put a jacket on as it wasn’t allowed). Those were the days! I also worked at the Co-op at Christmas time in the grotto as “Santa’s little helper“ - which was a nightmare as I hated kids (but that’s another story!). When I wasn’t taking the money in the grotto, if I had nothing to do, I was told to “look busy” and was handed a duster to ‘dust the toys’.  My best friend worked in a high end ladies boutique and she hated it. The clothes were over-priced and some of the customers were quite rude to her. I tried to get her a job with me at M&S but alas, it wasn’t what you knew but who you knew: the jobs were never advertised. Are they now? I don’t recall ever seeing any.

I agree with what’s been said that M&S has lost its way. At 64, apart from the odd bit of food, there is nothing clothes wise for me. I want to look stylish and not frumpy (hence I found this thread). Even the underwear isn’t of the quality it used to be. I feel sorry for the staff who are about to lose their jobs though.

maman

Welcome freetodoasyoulike. It's a super thread, very friendly, hope you'll post again. 😊
Funnily enough, when I worked at BHS we still had separate counters. I hated being on men's jumpers for the same reason. People would rifle through and I spent all day folding them back up. My favourite was pick and mix sweets as it was constantly busy and the day passed quickly. Customers served themselves and we just had to weigh them and take the money. Toys at Christmas was good too. 😊
Delighted with my eyebrow wax and tint and they had a sort of 3 for 2 offer on. I paid double today and I have 2 more appointments any time in the next 6 months.
It was my first time back in the city centre since non essential shops opened. I did browse a bit before my appointment but didn't buy anything. It's not a pleasant experience wearing a mask especially as inside the shopping malls you're wearing them all the time so no fresh air. I think I'll stick to my local shopping centre with its separate shops and only go into the city if I really need anything. 😊

thepurplepixie

Hi freetodoasyoulike, I worked on an island with half being stockings and half being slippers, sometimes I would do tights or something else but usually I did my own island, I think the fulltimer on there had just come back from sick leave or maternity leave and wasn't doing Saturdays (too busy maybe) so I ran my island like a fulltimer, doing stock checks and orders, I can't see 15 year olds doing it now.  I think I was asked to do it to make sure it was in order when she came in on a Monday and I loved it, going up to the stockroom with my stock sheets made me feel very important.  I was very proud when the manager, a very grand man, told me hosiery had never been run better and gave me a two shill rise.
It was amazing how many odd slippers we ended upwith, we would always check it was a pair when selling them so I think people must have sneakily swapped them when we weren't looking.  Nothing goes to waste though we would parcel all the odd ones up and they were donated to the local orthopaedic hospital.
I don't know how I managed to get the job really, I just wandered in one day and asked, had an interview and test on the till and I was in. Maybe they were desperate!

thepurplepixie

Two shillings, not sure what two shill would be.

chanie

freetodo welcome to the thread.  I enjoyed reading about your M&S experience.

maman pleases you are happy with your eyebrows.  Your earlier post made me look at mine and I realised I could do with a tidy, so I popped out and got them threaded.

helensbiggestfan

iPad playing up so I’m reading only for the time bring.

Will be back when it’s fixed.  

Keeeeep fabbing 😁

FreetodoasIlike

Thank you all for welcoming me. I enjoyed reading about your experience at M&S as well thepurplepixie. I think I have found like-minded peopled on here. I don’t consider myself a “frump” but could work on being a bit more fab! I retired last year and with being less active and the lockdown I have put on weight. It’s only about 8lbs but it has to go. My new electronic scales arrived last week and I found I was about 3 or 4 pounds heavier than on my old manual ones. That didn’t surprise me as I’ve had them donkey’s years. So my plan for the weekend is to eat sensibly. I know 8lbs may not sound a lot to some people but I’m small boned (5ft 4) and that extra half a stone makes all the difference.

After my shower this morning I took the nail polish off my toe nails and I plan to soak and then cream my feet later today and apply fresh polish. That will be my “fabbing” for today.

Talking about eyebrows maman I had my eyebrows tattooed last week. I went to a different salon than I normally go to and had the micro pigmentation rather than the micro blading. My eyebrows are hardly visible and getting them tattooed really makes a difference. Having defined eyebrows frames my face and makes me look more normal. I found the result was better with the pigmentation as it’s done by a machine rather than a blade and gives a more precise result. I am very pleased with them.

Looking forward to hearing what all the other “fabbers” are planning this weekend. The weather is absolutely chucking it down here though!!

maman

Sorry to hear the iPad is playing up LL. I don't think you're alone. When I was in town yesterday there were queues outside the Apple store and they were taking people's temperatures before they went in! 😉
I think we're going to have to shorten that username freetodoasyoulike. What about FT? 🤔
It's quite a nice day here but we aren't doing much. I'd like to go to the seaside for a walk but I'm put off in case parking is difficult.
 
Having tattooed eyebrows makes sense as, although tinting is excellent it does fade quite quickly. Does it hurt?

If you do your own pedicures, I'd recommend those little socks you can buy with a moisturising lotion in them. I think they're called Foot Mask. I used them during lockdown.

Good idea to focus on the healthy eating. I've been doing a bit of batch cooking this afternoon. Today was just a big pot of braised red cabbage but I like to have plenty of home made ready meals in the freezer. I put weight on some years ago so I did Slimming World and I've kept it off for 9 years! 😁😇