by Tanya Burr
MY TOP 10
TIPS ON DRESSING FOR A FIRST DATE
1. MAKE A PLAN
Always try to find out what you are going to do so you can plan an outfit and make sure you have tried on what you are planning to wear beforehand. If you can’t decide, get a friend to take photos.
2. BE COMFORTABLE
If you are going on a cinema date, then I would wear leggings and Converse so that I was comfortable and then add something to give my outfit an edge, like a blazer or a statement necklace. If you’re comfortable you will be able to relax and be yourself.
3. DON’T GO TOO HIGH
If you are going for dinner, don’t wear sky-high heels because there is nothing worse than standing up to go to the loo and thinking you might topple over!
4. KEEP THE MYSTERY
Less is always more. I don’t ever wear a short skirt and low-cut top and keeping one or the other areas covered adds to your air of mystery.
5. BE YOURSELF
Don’t dress for what you think your date will like but dress for yourself. For example, if they’re a huge rock fan, don’t turn up in a rock T-shirt and studded belt if you’re a girly girl. If the relationship goes somewhere, then they’re going to get to know you for who you are anyway. Play up your own unique style and be yourself!
6. KEEP YOUR MAKE-UP EASY
Don’t do a make-up look that needs constant touching-up. By all means, give yourself smoky eyes because that’s easy, but make sure you have waterproof mascara on. I would always choose lip gloss over lipstick.
7. DON’T OVERDO YOUR HAIR
For a first date you want to look like you’ve made a big effort but don’t go too OTT with a complicated up-do.
8. FEEL AMAZING
No matter what you are wearing, you should feel amazing. If you do, your date will pick up on it and think you are pretty great, too!
9. DON’T GO NEW
Even if you really want the date to go well, it’s not necessary to go out and buy a whole new wardrobe. Wear an existing favourite outfit.
10. THINK OF THE SMALL DETAILS
For me, things like having my nails painted, wearing a cool necklace and spending a few minutes longer on my make-up, makes me feel great and I think it’s the small things that can give you a pre-date boost.
List your favourite romantic films …
List date-night ideas you want to try …
FRIENDSHIPS
Growing up, I would see my best friends every day after school until I was eighteen. If you’re at school and reading this, make the most of those times because these are often the friends who will be your lifelong allies. After school, we all took different paths and most of my friends went off to university: Maddie went to Manchester, Emma and Kate came down to London, and I was still working and living in Norwich. I still made a big effort to keep in touch with them and I think this is so important; we would speak on the phone and see each other as much as possible. I remember staying in Kate’s single bed with her at her university halls!
I was also lucky enough to have a best friend in my sister. Like most siblings, we had our moments in our teenage years when we didn’t get on and hated the sight of each other, but this always only ever lasted a few hours and we are closer than ever. If you have a sibling, treasure them always because they will be your friends for life.
Aside from my friends from home, I have formed some really good friendships with other YouTubers. When my video work really started taking off, I started to be invited to different conventions all around the world, like VidCon, which is held annually in LA, and Playlist Live, an annual YouTube gathering in Florida. The purpose of these events is to bring together creators, viewers and industry representatives and we would always be put up in the same hotel. It feels a bit like a school trip, where you all spend loads of time together. A lot of YouTubers in the UK are looked after by my management team, so in the early days we would often bump into each other at different meetings or see one another around the Gleam office in Shoreditch.
My friendship with Zoe started back in 2012. Alfie and Jim were chatting on Twitter and they decided that it would be fun to film a video together where Alfie lived with his mum and dad in Brighton. I went along with Jim and we stayed at a hotel called Drake’s because at this point we didn’t know Alfie well enough to stay with him. It felt a bit like we were on holiday because I hadn’t been to Brighton before. We explored The Lanes and I loved it because everywhere was so cutesy and pretty. It also reminded me a bit of Harry Potter’s Knockturn Alley, which made me like it even more!
We found Alfie’s mum’s house and Zoe was there as she was friends with Alfie at the time and she was visiting him, too. Zoe and I had met in London for tea and cake about a month before and we had just really hit it off and after a couple of hours chatting it was as if I’d known her all my life. She’s the kind of girl I knew I would have been best friends with if we had been at school together. So while the boys filmed their videos we went into another room and chatted away. After they had finished filming their video, we all decided to record some more videos all together and ended up spending the whole evening messing around on camera with them and ordering Domino’s. As a foursome, we had loads in common and when Jim and I eventually got back to our hotel late that night, we knew we had made some brilliant friends. Not long afterwards, we invited them to come and stay with us at our home in Norwich and we had such a fun time. We had a barbecue in the garden, showed them around the city centre and filmed a load of videos together. None of our little group of YouTube friends lives near each other, so after our initial meetings, we would always invite each other to come and stay for weekends and so got to know each other really quickly. It was great getting to know Alfie and Zoe because most of my friends at the time were single and it was good to spend time with another couple. From then on, we kept in touch loads through Skype and are always planning the next time we’re going to see each other.
During one trip to Zoe’s parents’ house near Bath, I met her younger brother Joe and we also got on really well. Joe had trained to be a roof thatcher but had started making YouTube videos. Alfie and another American YouTuber Tyler Oakley were also staying. Again, we just had such a great time making videos together and went on walks, ate ice cream and explored the local area. Now, the relationship I have with Joe is a bit of a brother–sister one. He lives in London and I like to look out for him and cook him dinner, even if ‘dinner’ is just peanut butter on toast!
Another couple in our little close group of YouTube friends are Marcus and Niomi. Marcus has been doing videos on YouTube for years and we would always hang out in groups. His girlfriend Niomi then started posting her own videos and spending more time with us. One day Marcus and I wanted to film together so they came to stay with us in Norwich. Niomi and I were domestic goddesses and had some really funny times in the kitchen. She and Marcus love healthy food so we decided to make my healthy chocolate brownies. When all the chocolate had melted in the pot, just as I was checking the recipe on my blog, I told her to put everything else in.
As I turned around, I was saying, ‘apart from the eggs!’ but obviously she had already put the eggs into this boiling mixture and they all scrambled, so we renamed them scrambled egg brownies! Meanwhile, the boys spent the entire time on their PlayStations and in the evening we would all sit around and watch TV together. At the time, one of Jim and my favourite TV shows was The Vampire Diaries and we really got them into it. They are still obsessed with it now. Last year Zoe and Alfie, Marcus and Niomi and Jim and I went on holiday together to Santorini and had such a relaxing time lounging around reading, sunbathing and catching up – there is never any drama and we always just have so much fun.
I also have some other special friendships with YouTubers around the world, such as Connor Franta, Tyler Oakley, Troye Sivan, Joey Graceffa and Ingrid Nilsen, and we all keep in touch via Skype and text. I’ve been to stay with Ingrid in LA and I am planning a trip to see Troy
e in Australia later this year. At any possible opportunity when they are over in the UK or we are planning work trips abroad, we always make time to see one another.
Of course there are other YouTube stars who I work and really get on with but it would be impossible to mention everyone – and I would hate to miss anyone out! The great thing about my friendship with other YouTubers is that we understand each other and our lives, the highs and lows of having videos on the Internet and the craziness of it all.
One of my rules about friendship is never to gossip. When you’re at school, there is so much gossip going around and people trying to be the first to announce news and it’s so easy to get drawn in. I think it’s so important to not talk about people when they’re not there and to speak out against it. It may take guts, but questioning gossip is a really good thing.
I really cherish all my friendships and try to see my best friends as much as I can. Even when it comes to those people who I don’t see as much as I’d like, I always keep in touch via text, and when we do see each other face-to-face, it’s always as if no time has passed at all. I try not to take anyone for granted. I recently read an article that said friends are essential for our lives, contribute to our physical, emotional and mental wellbeing and even help us live longer. I love this concept!
List your best friends and what they mean to you …
TRAVELLING
As a child, we always had family holidays in the UK and I didn’t travel on a plane until I was a teenager. My first big trip abroad was to Thailand and Australia with Jim. We booked our tickets with STA Travel and set ourselves a strict budget, with basic hostels and sleep trains and definitely no luxury food.
I had heard Bangkok was intense, but nothing could have prepared me for what it was really like! It was incredibly humid and the roads were so busy. I just remember Jim and I carrying our massive rucksacks looking for somewhere to stay and weaving our way along the Khao San Road, between all the colourful street food stands, market stalls with people trying to sell us stuff and the sea of people and tourists. The noise was unreal and I must’ve looked like a rabbit caught in the headlights! We saw so many amazing places like Chiang Mai and Koh Phi Phi, which were both stunning. The trip turned out to be such a life-changing experience and I would definitely recommend backpacking as the best way to see a country and discover hidden gems.
One thing I’ve learned then and since about travelling is to not always head to the very touristy places that everyone says you should visit. In Thailand, we went to Koh Phangan, where the famous Full Moon Parties are held. I really didn’t rate it. I’m not a massive party animal and I found the crowds of people drinking loads a bit overwhelming. The other place that I was expecting to enjoy more than I did was Los Angeles. I know it’s the entertainment capital of the world, but I found it so huge. Hollywood also felt a bit strange and not how I imagined.
In the last couple of years, I’ve been so lucky to be able to travel all over the world because of my work and have been abroad at least three times a year. I have seen so many different places and met some really interesting people.
I’m terrible at packing and I used to throw everything into a case but I’ve had to learn to get better at it, especially as I’m filming myself most days and don’t want to wear the same thing loads. My top tip is to plan what you are going to wear each day, rather than think you might have a chance to wear everything and put it in your bag anyway. Niomi gave me this amazing tip recently, which is to lay the outfits out on the bed, complete with shoes and accessories, as you pack and then to photograph them. It means you don’t really have to think about what you are going to wear and can just flick through your phone and choose an outfit. Easy! When we were travelling together recently she sent me all her outfits that way, so I could see what she was wearing, and since then, I have done this for every trip I go on.
MY TOP 10
FAVOURITE PLACES
1. SOUTHWOLD
I know I’ve mentioned this Norfolk town more than once already, but a list of the places I love really wouldn’t be complete without it. It holds loads and loads of family memories, but I have also had many great times with my friends here, where we would hang out at my parents’ caravan late at night and drink wine and chat. Then we would go onto the beach in the middle of the night and try and scare each other by telling ghost stories!
2. NORWICH
When I’m in Norwich, I always feel like I know it like the back of my hand and there’s something very comforting about that familiarity. I know lots of people in the city and Jim’s mum still lives there, so whenever we head back there, we always stay at her house.
3. LONDON
This is my new home and it’s such an exciting place to live. I used to be quite scared of London growing up because it always seemed so big and intimidating. Now I know it better and have found areas that I love like Chelsea, Notting Hill and Primrose Hill. London has such an amazing vibe and feeling of endless possibility about it.
4. NEW YORK
I first went to NewYork back in April 2012 with another YouTuber and friend called Fleur; we met up with Ingrid there and we all stayed at the same hotel. I had wanted to visit the city for ages since my love of Gossip Girl and other TV shows, and together we discovered all the best parts of the city, like Central Park, all the shops and restaurants. Even the yellow taxis got me so excited! Jim and I enjoyed it so much that we booked to go back again that same year, when we got engaged. One of my favourite shops is called Henry Bendel’s, which is this really glamorous and ornate shop selling jewellery, handbags, fashion accessories and gifts. Recently Jim went to stay in New York and was staying in southern Manhattan, quite a long way from Fifth Avenue where the store is located, but he walked for miles and spent ages walking up and down trying to find it. He bought me this amazing mug with the Henry Bendel’s trademark stripes and it makes me so happy when I use it.
5. PARIS
I first went to Paris on a school trip when I was in the sixth form. I was having quite a hard time generally because I was feeling quite anxious but I felt really happy the whole time I was there on that trip and felt like I turned a bit of a corner; I didn’t feel panicky there at all because I was so immersed in the city. I love the art galleries in Paris, like the Rodin Museum, because it is outside, which is pretty cool and, like London and New York, there is so much to see and do. Jim surprised me with a trip there for my twenty-second birthday and we had a magical three days.
6. MYKONOS, GREECE
Jim and I went on holiday here with Zoe and Alfie in 2013. It was an ordinary holiday and we all took a complete break from vlogging and our hectic schedules for a few days, which felt like bliss. The island is so beautiful and everyone there was so friendly and accommodating. We spent a lot of time just chilling out by the pool, and the hotel that we stayed at, called Bill & Coo, was so tranquil and luxurious. Another big plus was that the island is just a few hours’ flight away and is so tiny that our journey to the hotel literally took about five minutes. It was one of our best holidays.
7. NORTH NORFOLK
We often used to take daytrips to North Norfolk when I was growing up but I have better memories of the area from times spent there with my friends when I was slightly older. I particularly like Holkham because of the stunning forests and beach, where you have to walk for about a mile to get to the sea. There are some lovely sites to see like Holkham Hall, a grand eighteenth-century house, which is surrounded by acres of rolling countryside and wild deer. We took Niomi and Marcus there recently for a day of fresh air, sunshine, yummy food, beach walking and tree climbing. The other place we like in the area is this really vibrant and trendy village called Burnham Market. We always go to a luxury boutique hotel called The Hoste Arms; the food there is delicious.
8. BABINGTON HOUSE, SOMERSET
I know that everywhere else on this list is a village or town, but I had to mention Babington House. I love open spaces and it turns out the ‘house’ is a
ctually an incredibly beautiful mansion with eighteen acres of British countryside, tennis courts, a cricket pitch and a walled garden. The rooms are all different and unique and there is a really relaxed and intimate vibe about it. When we stayed there we had this incredible huge room, with massive comfortable sofas, then a winding staircase leading up to a mezzanine bedroom area. The staff were so friendly and the food was delicious and there was free afternoon tea from 3–5 p.m. every day. Jim and I also I did this crazy couples mud treatment thing where we took all our clothes off and covered each other in cleansing mud in our own private steam room! I am planning another trip there and I can’t wait!
9. CANNES
Cannes is super-glamorous and flashy but rather than the plush restaurants and hotels, my favourite thing about it is the sea! The first thing I do after we arrive is jump straight in the sea and swim out as far as I can. I am also a massive fan of fireworks and Jim and I have been for Bastille Day or French National Day, which is on 14th June, for the past couple of years, just for a couple of days. We always go for a lovely dinner and then sit and watch the fireworks from the balcony of our hotel or from the beach. The French really know how to throw a fireworks party! Another top tip: if you visit, there is this ice cream place called Le Quirly that sells the most yummy ice cream – the Ferrero Rocher flavour is so good!
10. MANHATTAN BEACH
Last year, after Vidcon, we stayed on in America with our friend Ingrid to catch up and chill out for a few days. One day we headed to Manhattan Beach and really enjoyed it. As I said before, I wasn’t crazy about LA, but I could live in Manhattan Beach – it was really quirky with gorgeous cafés, lots of adorable New American-style houses and a beautiful beach.