Christmas Day & Seeing Disney on Ice

Hey Sweeties,

It has been a few days now since Blogmas ended and despite enjoying the break, my fingertips have started itching to begin blogging again so until things fully get back in motion, I thought I would provide you all with a little post Christmas update!

So, you’ll all know how much I was looking forward to hosting our first Christmas in our new home and Blogmas day 22 (here) documented our Christmas food shop… well, although the day went well on that front I can’t take full credit for it as of all the days to catch something, on Christmas day I went down with a 24 hour (ish) bug! Fan-bloody-tastic! I won’t go into details but it wasn’t pretty… I was gutted though and so upset. Ian however was my hero and stepped up and took over the cooking and hosting of the day!

On Boxing Day I was feeling better but not totally 100% but ok enough to head into London to The O2 to see Disney on Ice. It’s fair to say Disney on Ice really isn’t/wasn’t Ian’s thing but his Mum and I were looking forward to it and enjoyed ourselves as although the whole thing was a bit cringey, the skating was fantastic.

What was amusing was seeing every other little girl in attendace dressed up as Elsa from Frozen and as you can appreciate there were hundreds of kids. Would I take my children to it though? No. I mean, it was fun and the children that were there enjoyed seeing their favourite characters but the skating aspect you could tell was totally lost on them. I won my tickets at my work Christmas raffle but I can imagine tickets weren’t cheap and I would be unlikely to purchase them in the future…

What I found though totally outrageous was how much The O2 exploited families -absolutely disgraceful! Ticket cost aside, all the souveniors and food were ridiculously priced and if you had treated your young family to a day out there, you would struggle to get away with not buying them a little gift or some snacks during the performance. I just felt in this situation The O2 really let itself down.

Ian and I have now ventured west and are spending a few days relaxing with my family in Devon. Mum and I are hitting the sales tomorrow so stay tuned to a haul post coming your way shortly!

I hope you are all enjoying the Christmas break!

Until next time x

Blogmas Day 12: London, Winter Wonderland & Secret Elle Event

Hey Sweeties,

Happy Christmas jumper day! –did you all wear yours and donate to Save the Children? If you follow me on Instagram you’ll have seen me wearing mine!

A couple of days ago (day 10) I mentioned at the end of the post that yesterday I would be working in the morning and then having the afternoon off work to have a mooch about London but mainly to attend something top secret with Benefit and Elle magazine in the evening… which I still can’t tell you about as I have been sworn to secrecy! But I can tell you a little bit about my afternoon…

As the event was over at Marble Arch, I lingered about Oxford Street for the couple of hours prior so I didn’t stray too far away and then have to mad dash it across to make it in time. However, Oxford Street is a nightmare at the best of times but yesterday was ridiculous, what was I thinking this close to Christmas? The next mad thing I did was visit the Primark store which I always just avoid, but I have been searching all over for the little finger puppets I saw on Primark’s Instagram which I know would be perfect for my Godson. The update is that I failed, the staff didn’t even know what I was talking about which meant I had now got myself stuck in a heaving store, trapped by rails and rails of clothes and the exits difficult to find. To say I almost had a panic attack was an understatement!

When darkness falls London looks beautiful

Well if Selfridges says it…

However, once I made it back onto the street, I decided that I just needed to escape to the confines of a coffee shop and wait it out for a bit. Could I find a coffee shop? … no. The far end of Oxford Street doesn’t really have anything except Primark so I rarely ever venture that far down. On the way back up I got caught by a lady working for Cancer Research and kicked myself for not paying attention and allowing myself to get accosted. However, she was lovely and delighted that I had stopped and to be fair, if you approach me with a kind face (and this applies to Jehovah’s Witnesses at my door), I’ll give you five minutes of my time without complaint. The only reasons why I avoid charity workers is because I am crap at saying no; I really have a hatred for being pressured for money when I’m not  exactly rolling in it at the moment myself; when I’m made to give out my personal details (on the street); being tied into a direct debit I don’t want; and made to feel guilty when I walk away. If I want to donate money, I’ll do it another way. However, this lady that stopped me got to the point quickly rather than bore me with spiel and rather than ask me for details, she gave me the option to simply text and donate £3, 4 or £5 of which I was more than happy to do. The money aside, it made her day that I had stopped for her and that made me feel good too and distracted me from the panic I was feeling.

Fortunately and quite by accident, I discovered St Christopher’s Place which is a little alley way off of Oxford Street which instantly takes you out of the crowds and the noise and at the end of it was a Costa –Yes! I really fancied a hot chocolate and undecided which Christmas drink option to go for, I asked the barista who recommended the Black Forest Hot Chocolate. Done! It was delicious and not too sickly either!

Yummy!

I then remembered that I wanted to visit the Winter Wonderland in Hyde Park and had now left myself only about 20 minutes to do this… but for me, that was more than enough. If Ian was with me I think I would have enjoyed it more but on my own, I found the place very overwelming and was pleased that I had the excuse to turn around and head out quite soon. I love Christmas markets though so I think I will try and find a smaller one somewhere else…

Finally it was time to head to the Elle Insider event with Elle Magazine and Benefit and all I will say is that the new launch is amazing! You’ll find out more in January! Man I am such a tease!

#CurlsBestFriend

Until tomorrow x

 

Blogmas Day 10: Work Social Fun

Hey Sweeties,

Firstly I apologise, the post I had planned for today I ran out of time to write and the post you’ll be reading now is what I had thought I would write tomorrow… But like I said, I ran out of time to write anything before having to be in London all afternoon and evening and so I figured I would just write about my day now while it’s still fresh… Although I am definitely ready for my bed!

So, what have I done today? Well I had a work meeting this afternoon and then straight away afterwards, as it’s the last meeting of its kind before Christmas, we went ice skating at one of the pop up ice rinks in the city before heading to dinner at Giraffe in Spitalfields. As I had organised everything today, I was chief time keeper and one thing my colleagues have now learnt about me is that I become incredibly stressed when timings are needed to be adhered to. I am someone that is punctual at the best of times but of course we all snooze those extra 5 minutes sometimes and all sometimes are a bit tardy at leaving the house on time but when that happens… I get stressed. I hate being late!

Anyway, I won’t bore you with the meeting but all you need to know is that it didn’t start on time which meant we were still talking when we should have been heading across London to Broadgate ice rink (near Liverpool St Station). Fortunately we were only 10-5 minutes late to our session which actually didn’t affect the skating at all. However, I wasn’t that impressed with the rink. It was small & the management behind getting your skates/returning them was incredibly poor, there was just no structure and there was just one or two staff trying to sort skates and shoes for a lot of people. Also, no one checked our ticket (which was for 11 people) so quite frankly I feel we could have easily skated for free. Besides all this, it was quite fun… I just don’t think I would bother with pop up rinks again unless it’s at Somerset House -that I have heard is beautiful!

Because returning skates was timely, we were late for our dinner reservation but at the end of the day I think every restaurant in London needs to just accept that people are late owing to how long it takes to get places. Anyway, we booked Giraffe as its one of those places were I haven’t had a bad meal at and generally caters for everyone. As you can appreciate by this point I just need to get a drink in me and a Mojitos was swiftly ordered! Unfortunately it wasn’t the best Mojitos I had had, it was more Bacardi than it was lime and minty… I then ordered something a colleague had and that was delicious! I can’t remember the name as I merely just pointed at my colleagues when ordering rather than calling it by name. I think it was a mango daiquiri… It was delicious and that’s all you need to know really.

For main I ordered the chilli beef burrito which again was delicious but Luke warm and others had varying problems with their meals, mainly temperature rather than flavour. I know you are probably reading this and thinking the whole night was just a disaster but we did actually all have fun and the staff in Giraffe were incredibly understanding and adjusted our bill to account for the disappointments. We did also leave a good tip so although we might have been seen to be a pain, we were clearly grateful for the service we received.

Dinner!

Righty, my train is about to pull up in Slough so I’ll sign off now. Ian is picking me up so once home I’ll quickly upload this and then go to bed! Tomorrow I am working in the morning and I have the afternoon off so I am heading back into London for a mooch about the Winter Wonderland in Hyde park and then something top secret in the evening which I’ll reveal in time.

Until tomorrow x

 

Blogmas Day 9: Kiko Lip Liner & Lipstick Review

Hey Sweeties,

Despite being Blogmas, it’s also Tuesday which means I cannot not honour Beauty Review Tuesday can I?!

When I was last up in London last month at Elle Magazine HQ to celebrate Estee Lauder’s new Modern Muse Chic fragrance, before heading home I had a quick mooch along Oxford Street. Intending initially to just head to the beauty halls in Selfridges and Debenhams, I actually stumbled upon a Kiko store which I hadn’t noticed before and I’ll be honest, I went a bit lip liner crazy.

This is a totally new brand to me but because I have heard good things about Kiko, I felt I could be confident in buying several products rather than just one or two to try before later returning for more (because you know I would have done!). In all, I came out of the store with 5 lip pencils -2 of these of the Precision kind- and 1 lipstick. At the moment in my beauty collection as well as my look, I feel lips are the area that I want to spend some time on perfecting.

I think the main thing to emphasise here with the Kiko brand is how reasonably priced (dare I say, cheap?) it is! Good quality lip liners for £1.90-2.90? yes please! My total bill at the end of my little splurge was a very purse friendly £19.40!

The lip pencils/liners:

These are great! Great for pigment, great for durability and great at doing what they were designed for… they really are just great! The Precision liners (310 & 300) only differ really in that they have a much pointier nib (for a preciser application) but at this moment I don’t feel they necessarily have a better quality pencil than the other normal liners. Saying that, on the blunter pencils, as you line your lips with the product you really can feel their creaminess and if you prefer to fill in your lips with liner before applying a lipstick over the top, these work fantastically for that also. For me, I love wearing a bold lip when I can and  of course a liner is essential for a defined pout but while I am still getting used to some lipstick formulas and testing their staying power, particularly when out eating and drinking, one of my makeup nightmares is having slightly washed off lipstick but still a heavily lined mouth. So for me, where possible I do fill in some if not all of my lips with liner as well as lipstick… just for that security.

 

The lipstick:

This wasn’t a planned purchase (not that the lip liners were of course when I left home that day), but it was out on display and caught my eye as I was making my way to the till point so of course I stopped to check it out further. I fell in love with the colour which is I guess is quite like a coral shade so it’s both peachy and pink; it’ll be great for the summer months.

The lipstick -Ace of Diamond in no.32- is an incredibly creamy formula, I would almost go as far to say it’s more like a lip butter than it is a lipstick just owing to the texture and feel on the lips once applied. I want to describe it as a buttery matte as it’s matte in appearance but you want to be constantly smoothing the product between your lips as you would with a balm (or a butter) until it settles and dries in place.

Because the product isn’t pointed, you don’t get precision application as you would with a lipstick which is why actually, in this case, it works brilliantly with a lip liner, particularly no. 702 as seen above. I also expected this product to slide off almost as soon as food or drink passes across it but surprisingly, it stays put really well and even if for the most part when it does go, it leaves behind a wonderful stain which for me, is kind of what you want.

I would definitely be encouraged to purchase and try more from this brand in the future.

 

Until tomorrow x

Ideal Home Show & Meeting Stephen Mulhern

Hello Sweeties,

What an amazingly lovely weekend we (the UK) have been blessed with again, it seems like the country has come out of hibernation following a miserable waterlogged winter and who can blame us eh?

So, this weekend quite excitingly I went to the Ideal Home Show at Earls Court, London with Mum for a day of inspiration and ideas gathering. Unfortunately I am still without a house as despite Ian and I submitting an offer on our Plan B house, a week on and the seller is still undecided, Ridiculous! I was obviously hoping that come the show I would have a set space to plan for but hey ho…

Earls Court packed full with ideas and interior design inspiration

How cool is this! Picture frames within a large frame… excellent for not making a wall look too cluttered

Stackable shelf boxes

I really liked this chrome edged table and lamp

My dream bedroom! Grey can be a very boring colour but in the right shades can look beautiful & sophisicated.

Of course the perfect bedroom needs the perfect chair…

Loved this chair, so comfortable & cute!

While walking around look who I bumped into?! Mr Stephen Mulhern and what a thoroughly lovely bloke he is too and didn’t appear bothered at all that I had tapped him on the shoulder and asked very politely for a quick picture, in fact he was incredibly willing and even said it was lovely to have met me too and wished me a good day! I have a confession Sweeties, I have quite a crush on Stephen and love him on Britain’s Got Talent so to meet him and for his to be as lovely as he appears on screen is incredibly refreshing! Love you Stephen Mulhern 😉

Thoroughly lovely bloke

Until next time, Sweeties x