Self-care will forever be our favourite hobby but we appreciate that recharging and putting yourself first looks different for everyone. Each week, we'll be asking the celeb lot to share their ideal self-care Sunday routines, the hard-working beauty products they recommend to their friends and which TV show they're currently binging…
This week it's all about Eloise Head, aka Fitwaffle, the social media baking star who has over ten million followers across her social media platforms. (TEN MILLION!) She's praised for her no-fuss, quick and easy dessert recipes which are completely beginner-proof and taste delicious.
Eloise was also crowned as TikTok’s top-viewed UK food creator of 2022, with a cool 919 million views on her recipe videos. Her first book, Baking It Easy was a Sunday Times Bestseller and now her brand-new second book, Baked In One (recipes you can bake in a 20cm square tin) is already a hit.
Fitwaffle chats exclusive to heat about her all-time favourite recipes, glowy make-up and really great advice...
On starting Fitwaffle
"I started Fitwaffle whilst I was a personal trainer and I basically was learning to enjoy all foods in moderation. I was going out into London and was trying all these different street foods and restaurants with my now husband. I was posting photos of these foods on my Instagram page and my page almost became this guide to London foods. That's what I did for probably the first three years of Fitwaffle and that's how it all started.
"Then when the pandemic hit, I always wanted to do recipes, but never really had the time. I actually used to run social media for restaurants and I was so busy with that, the recipes that I wanted to do got pushed aside. When the pandemic hit, everything came to a halt and I lost half my clients. So I started posting recipes, and I created a new page, Fitwaffle Kitchen. It was the right place, the right time to do something that I really enjoyed and it just took off from there. That's pretty much what I've been doing ever since and that's what also led to the first book, as well."
On her new book
So, what can we expect in Fitwaffle's brand-new book?
"It's 100 dessert recipes that can all be baked in one tin and they're all really fun, creative, and obviously really delicious, but they're all really easy to make. So it's aimed at beginner bakers, kids and just everyone that wants to have like a bit of fun in the kitchen. There's nothing too technical in there and the aim is to make people more creative and just have some fun in the kitchen. So yes, 50 of them are brand new recipes and 50 are already on my social media because funnily enough, people want to see recipes from my social media in a book form, as well as having it online. So it's kind of like a mixture in there."
On favourite recipes
"In my first book, I really really like the cinnamon apple traybake and it's kind of a mixture between a juicy apple cake and then cinnamon rolls. I'm a huge fan of cinnamon and apples and just like anything that's really moist. So that's definitely like a highlight for me and then and then in the second book I love the Biscoff cheesecake bars which were also really popular on my Instagram. It's got a Biscoff biscuit base and then the top is a whole layer of Biscoff spread, it's really delicious."
On self-care
What does a typical self-care day look like for the social media star?
"Self-care to me is being able to take time off because I don't allow myself enough of it! It'll be doing something that's active away from work that makes me feel good. That usually involves going for a walk somewhere, especially somewhere that I don't know that well. One of my favourite self-care days was when me and my husband jumped in the car and we headed to Cheddar, which is a place out in the countryside. We just went on this really long walk and got ice cream, then had a really nice lunch. It was a couple of hour's drive, but it was time for us to sit down and not be on our phones, have a chat, listen to music and really enjoy time out in the open doing some exercise with each other. I love doing stuff like this with friends too. Social media can often be quite a lonely job, I shut myself in the kitchen for hours at a time and I'm on my own a lot. So for me, getting outside and being with other people is really important."
On glowy make-up
"I swear by the Charlotte Tilbury Flawless Filter and I've been using that for probably a couple of years now and I love it. Something else that I've been loving recently as a base is the Bobbi Brown Vitamin Enriched Face Base. I was noticing that my foundation was coming off at some points and I mean, I touch my face a lot. But since using the face, my face looks so smooth and has a really nice glow. So those two are my favourites."
On wellness habits
"Going to the gym is really my mental release more than anything, and I don't do it every day. I probably right now do it like four to five times a week and that's not to say that every workout is like a hardcore weight session. Sometimes I just want to leave the house for the evening, I want to get my gym stuff on and just want to feel good. A lot of times I'll put on a YouTube video whilst I'm warming up on the treadmill and then I'll put my music on and I won't speak to anyone! When I'm in the gym, I do my thing. I tend to lift weights and it keeps me happy, healthy and mentally focused as well."
On video content tips
"I would say lighting has to be one because I think that how your video looks is really important because it's got to be appealing from the get-go, especially when you're showing the food, it's got to look really appealing. Otherwise, no one's gonna get past the first couple of seconds. But also make sure that your videos are entertaining, fast and snappy, and where TikTok is so popular everything is so quick, you need to keep someone's attention. You don't want to be showing someone a whole 10 seconds of stirring!"
On really great advice
"My motto is 'everything in moderation' and I say that when it comes to pretty much everything because I've been obsessed with food, I've been obsessed with the gym, and sometimes I'm obsessed with work. And when I tip the balance too far on anything, then I lose the happiness in it. So I think everything in moderation, when it comes to your food, and how much exercise you do, and how much time you spend at work versus how much time you spend resting. Because I know if I don't do enough work, I don't feel great. But then if I don't, if I do too much work, I also don't feel great. So I think for me, it's that general motto of like everything in moderation generally leads to like, the best happiness, obviously, that looks different for everyone as well, so it's quite individualized."
Quickfire round:
What show are you currently watching? I don't tend to watch much TV, but I recently watch Lucifer and I was obsessed!
How do you like your cuppa? I'm a big fan of hot chocolate only because it's really cold outside and hot chocolates are very comforting.
Go-to loungewear brand? I really love NVGTN and I'm pretty obsessed with their gym leggings, I have them in lots of colours.
Favourite face mask? I don't use face masks, the last one I tried made my skin burn!
Go-to takeaway order? A chicken chow mein from the Chinese takeaway.
Favourite candle? Sand + Fog, I go around smelling all the candles in TK Maxx and this one was my favourite.
Hero image photography credit: Holly Pickering