The Toni Takeover! Introducing Jeffrey Boutique.

Toni Jeffrey, wearing one of her designs.

Jeffrey Boutique hasn’t even been open for business for a year, and has already sold over 500 dresses to fashionable females all over the UK. Owner Toni Jeffrey began making dresses for family and friends early last year after studying marketing management with fashion at UCLAN. After a huge demand for her signature bodycon style she decided to start her own business, and Jeffrey Boutique was born.

The first ever design

With the official Instagram page boasting over 10,000 followers, and the Twitter account slowly catching up with 5,000, it is no wonder the news of Toni's designs are spreading like wildfire.

“I manage all my social networks and emails myself. At one point I was getting up to 100 enquiries a day, so I set up my website, which gives customers the opportunity to make their purchase online, which saves me a lot of time.” 

If that wasn’t enough to handle, superwoman Toni hand makes every single dress herself. She estimates she has sewn a staggering 500 so far, and her hard work is most definitely paying off. After driving an 11 year old Clio for the past few years, 22 year old Toni recently bought herself a £34,000 Mercedes for Christmas. 

Toni's first extravagant purchase

“One of the highlights of my career so far was being invited to a celebrity gifting suite in London. Having celebrities browsing through and complimenting my designs just felt amazing.”

Other celebrity fans include Nicole Morris from MTV’s ‘The Valleys’ and Charlotte Dawson, who regularly wears Jeffrey Boutique to various showbiz events.

Charlotte Dawson, featured in the Daily Mail wearing Jeffrey Boutique

That’s just the tip of the iceberg for Jeffrey Boutique. Next year Toni plans to expand her product range and get her designs made professionally as wholesale.

“I sold my first design about 12 months ago to a friend for £20, and now my dresses range from £50-£100. I can’t believe all this has happened so quickly! It still hasn’t hit me that it is my business.”

Check out Jeffrey Boutique at www.JeffreyBoutique.bigcartel.com
or follow her on Twitter @JeffreyBoutique

My lip injection experience!

If you follow me on Twitter or Instagram, you will have seen my recent tweets and photos featuring these bad boys! I have wanted lip fillers for years, so despite all my friends trying to persuade me otherwise I decided just to take the plunge and just book myself an appointment. I was originally looking for the cheapest place I could find, which in hindsight I now realise was one of the worst ideas I have had. Especially after reading in the news recently about how every Tom, Dick and Harry was carrying out the procedure without any records of an actual medical qualification, I'm glad I saw sense and didn't take the risk.

I ended up getting them done through Fountain Health. They have clinics in Sheffield, Doncaster and Rotherham which was perfect as I didn't have to travel far. The Sheffield clinic is based at Millhouses Dental Centre; this immediately put my mind at rest as I arrived at an actual registered clinic, as opposed to somebody's front room to inject me whilst their children had dinner in the next room. This was recommended to me by my Boyfriend's work colleague, who has had the treatment a few times before.

Prices are available on request and include an initial consultation where you meet the Doctor and discuss the desired shape and fullness of the lips, as well as the actual treatment, finishing with a follow up treatment a week later. Obviously with me being the keen bean that I am had the treatment about five minutes after sitting in the dentist's chair!

The first set of needles absolutely killed me, so painful! But it meant I couldn't feel the second set of needles, which inject the filler, at all.

This was taken straight after the procedure. (After I had wiped away the blood, lovely.) They felt so big, and my face was numb from the nose downwards for the rest of the night. A strange experience to say the least, let's say eating my dinner wasnt an easy task..

 

And this is how I woke up this morning. Thank God my Boyfriend left for work whilst it was still dark or he would have probably thought he had woken up with the Elephant Man.

 

JUST KIDDING. But I did wake up this morning looking alarmingly similar to Jackie Stallone. Check out that trout pout! They looked like absolute monsters but after a slick (shovel-full) of makeup here is the result....

 

Et- voila... I am in love! I think they look so natural (to me, anyway) and I am just kicking myself I waiting until I was almost 22 to get them. The Doc told me they would be quite swollen for a few days (hopefully I have escaped the bruising), and then I will need to get them touched up every six months or so. I think it's going to take me six months to recover from the injections!

I hope this post clears up a lot of questions I have been asked on my Instagram/Twitter/Facebook, I thought it would be easier to write one long post instead of individually answering everyone, but feel free to leave a comment I would love to hear your thoughts

Recipe: Chunky butternut squash soup

The post I did last week featuring some of my favourite healthy meal ideas seemed to go down pretty well, so I thought I would give out the recipe to my all time favourite soup! It's butternut squash, and I like to make it quite thick so it fills me up. The best part is that it only works out around 132 calories per serving! (Based on 4/5 people, depending how much stock you add.)

Another bonus to this recipe is that it is so simple and cheap to make, perfect for students and people looking to eat healthier but not spend a ridiculous amount.

Ingredients:

2 Butternut squash

2 onions (I only had one and a half in the fridge but I would usually use 2.)

1 litre chicken stock (about 3 cubes)

And that my friends is it! I like to add salt/pepper/garlic/a few chillies as well because I like a bit of a kick, but you can alter this to however spicy you want. 

Method:

1. Preheat the oven to 180 degrees.

2. Peel the butternut squash and onions, and chop into chunks. Toss in a tiny but of oil and add salt/pepper/chilli/garlic and transfer to a baking tray.

3. Roast for 34-40 minutes or until the veg has slightly browned, but not burnt.

4. Tip the veg into a large pan and start to blend, adding the stock as you do so. I usually add about 700ml as I like my soup quite chunky, but add it all if you prefer a more soupy consistency.

5. Season again (to taste) and enjoy! I usually serve one portion for me to eat that day and transfer the rest into Tupperware boxes and put in the freezer for me to eat during the week.

As much as I would love nothing more than to wash this down with a huge loaf of warm, crusty bread, this serving suggestion of perfect for those carb-watching like me. I like to enjoy my soup with a couple of dark rye Ryvita's topped with low fat cottage cheese and some more chilli sauce. Absolute heaven.

Bon Appétit!

Oh, and let me know if you attempt this, I would love to know what you think.

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Skinny for Summer! Healthy meal ideas.

Can you believe it's March already!? Winter is officially on it's way out and Summer is just around the corner. And we all know what that means...rise and grind! It's time to start prepping that Summer body. Normally one for leaving it till two weeks before I go on my actual holiday, this year I am determined to start early, so by the time June comes around I'm looking like a Victoria Secret model...For the time being I am going to overlook the fact I haven't actually booked anything yet, but let's just say my Boyfriend has the body of a Greek God and there is no way in hell I am rocking up on a beach next to him looking like Shamu.

*Disclaimer* I am in no way an expert in diet and nutrition so don't take my word as the Gospel! I am just sharing a few meal idea's I enjoy cooking, and they just happen to be really healthy and low-cal too!

I always eat breakfast. With having two jobs, as well as studying I am usually super busy, so skipping breakfast is a huge no go! I always have a bowl of oats made up with half milk/half water, and I add chopped banana before microwaving so it melts into the oats and tastes incredible!

Homemade soup is one of my favourite meals. I make them really chunky and thick so they are more filling. After visiting my Boyfriend's Dad last week, and eating this amazing butternut squash soup he made us, I came home and couldn't wait to try it out for myself. It was delicious and made enough for five servings so I had enough for the week. I calculated the nutritional value on an app called 'Myfitnesspal' and found it was only 132 calories per serving too.

I have no idea why more people don't substitute a normal jacket potato for a sweet potato! They  are so much better for you, in both the way they taste as well as health benefits. If I could eat sweet potato for every meal I probably would never get bored. They taste great with cottage cheese and salad.


I was so proud of myself for making this! Red bell pepper stuffed with Bulgar wheat (another super food), Quorn chicken pieces, peas and sweetcorn. Served on a bed of raw spinach. I cook Quorn quite often purely for the fact I get scared of giving myself food poisoning when I cook with actual chicken.


Salmon is another food I could live off. A market has just opened near in Sheffield city center and sometimes on my way home from work I'll pop in and treat myself to a fresh fillet of salmon for dinner. Here I oven baked it with chilli flakes and served it with couscous, green beans and cauliflower, on a bed of raw spinach.


Sweet potato making another little appearance here. I served it this time with boil in the bag fish (ideal for students as they take about 4 mins in the microwave, and they only contain around 120 calories) with a side of brussels sprouts  and broccoli.


Quickest dinner ever as I was running late for work. Quorn mince with tinned tomatoes, chickpeas, onion, pepper, and frozen vegetables. Another reason for choosing Quorn over actual beef/steak mince, no matter how lean it still has a lot more fat and calories than they meat-free version, and there is hardly a difference in taste.

I also try and carry a bottle of water with me everywhere, so I drink at least 2 liters of water a day, and I also drink galleons of green tea. I admit, it does look like pond water and I used to despise the stuff but I have been converted and now drink about four cups a day. It has become more popular recently with various flavours cropping up - I need to get my hands on salted caramel!

After reading this post you are probably thinking "You are so healthy! Why aren't you a rake?!"
Well, this my friends, is why...


















Exhibit A.


Exhibit B.


Exhibit C.

I'll say no more.

Has anyone else started their summer body prep? Do you have any tips?

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