Showing posts with label london. Show all posts
Showing posts with label london. Show all posts

Thursday, 3 November 2016

Salon International 2016 Haul

Hey my lovelies, I hope you're all well and are having a good day wherever you are in the world.

Today's post I have for you is a haul of the goodies I got from Salon International 2016, that I went to with my sister-in-law on Sunday 16th October. And we also went to the Westfields Shopping Mall in Stratford for a look around after and I bought a few bits so I thought they can be added in.



My sister-in-law and I have been waiting for Salon International for most of the year, getting to see new releases from brands and products are sold at a cheaper price for the event which a got a couple of good deals of things I've wanted forever!

First up I'm starting with the few freebies I got handed to me as I walked around the exhibit. I got 2 products from Schwarzkopf's Fibreplex range, which I believe the 4 part range is designed to help strengthen and ready the hair before, during and after lightening, high-lifting and the colouring process. I got a 200ml bottle of the shampoo, it's meant to keep strengthening the hair and maintain the colour. The other item I got was a 100ml bottle of the no3 Bond Maintainer, this is a mask/deep conditioner, to be used twice a week from root to ends for a minimum of 5 minutes after shampooing your hair and then rinse. It's meant to maintain your improved quality of hair from using the other 3 products from this range, balance PH levels and protecting any new mechanical damage from hair colouring while locking in colour pigments. They both sound impressive, once I get around to using them and trying them out for a good amount of time, maybe I'd do a review post on them.

The third freebie I got was a 75ml tube of Phyto Elixir, it's meant for dry hair to gently cleanse and nourish hair and scalp. It's said to make your hair more shinier, subtle, softer and easier to untangle and it's says to skip conditioning completely. I have two more freebies left both by the brand Osmo, which I've never heard of before but they seemed very popular. First was a 25ml pot of Clay Wax, which I gave to my boyfriend. And lastly was a 100ml pot of Osmo Colour Radiance Mask, this is an intense nourishing sulphate free mask that smooths hair and reduces colour fade. I also got a ton, a ton of leaflets from brands and catalogs.


Now onto the products I bought, I'm going to start with a brush, the Tangle Tamer Ultra Brush from the brand Denman in black, priced at £12.50 but at Salon International it was £7, a nice bargain! I was long overdue a new brush, I previously had a many Tangle Teasers which I loved while they lasted but I hated the design of the brush, so I was looking for a paddle type brush that's was designed for very unmanageable hair which mine is, as its long and so far I'm loving it, glides right through my knotty hair,

The next 4 products are from the brand Osmo, which I previously mention a couple from a freebie pack and that I've never heard of them before. But as their stand was swamped with customers, I was drawn in and decided to try them out. I got 1000ml bottles of the Extreme Volume Shampoo and Conditioner I got them both for £10 together, once again bargain!!! The third product I got from Osmo was a 250ml tube of the Deep Repair Moisture Mask I got for £2 and the last out of the 4 is what I'm most excited for and that is a 250ml bottle of Effects Wonder 10 Leave-In Treatment priced £4. This is supposed to be a dupe of the It's A 10 Leave-In Treatment, and I've seen everyone and their mother rave about that product so I was super excited and had to get this to try, plus I was really in need of a leave-in treatment as my Aussie one is a couple sprays to empty.


The last 2 products I got from Salon International were also both from the same brand and that is Moroccan Oil. I got a 100ml bottle of the oil treatment, I bought it for £18, bargain!!! I've wanted to get my hands on this oil since forever, again everyone and their mother loves this stuff and I'm so excited to finally have it. The last product is a 50ml bottle of the Blow-Dry Concentrate, this is a new release from the brand and at the exhibit it was being sold for £10. This is meant to seal in shine and tames the most rebellious, unruly hair for a smooth, frizz-free look.It's infused with conditioning argan oil to increase softness and silkiness for easier brush glide and a speedier blow-out. Natural antioxidants work to help protect hair while enhancing texture and quality to leave it soft and lustrous.


All together these products cost me only £51 but if I were to have bought them all at regular retail price including the freebies they would have cost me so so much more!

As I said at the beginning of this post I went to Westfields Shopping Mall after Salon International, so I'm going to add the 3 items I bought in Superdrug onto this post. 2 of the 3 products were Sleek Matte Me Lip Creams priced at £4.99, in the shade Birthday Suit and Velvet Slipper. I had Birthday Suit before but I lost it on a night out which I was gutted about as I enjoyed that shade and the product which is a liquid lipstick. The last product was the Freedom Pro Highlight Palette priced at £6, I'm loving this brand and my highlight collection needed a palette as I was lacking in the highlight departments and I love it so far!


Phew I got to the end eventually, that was a fair amount of products to get through. If you want to see me do a review post on any of the items I bought then please leave me a comment below or contact me on my social media, all linked below. Thank you for reading. MWAH.


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Thursday, 7 May 2015

Spa Afternoon in London!

Hey my lovelies, I hope you're all well and are having a good day wherever you are in the world. Today's post I'm sharing with you my trip to a Spa in London called The Montcalm that I went to with my sister-in-law this passed Tuesday.

My trip to the spa wasn't for massages or treatments like that it was use of the spa leisure facility and one course lunch with a glass of prosecco for 2. It was the Pamper Day and Champagne Lunch For Two offer on Virgin Experience Days. It costs £98 normally but at the moment it's half price at £49. It's for 2 hours in the spa which you have to get undressed and dressed in this time too, towels and slippers are given to you upon arrival so all you need to bring are swimming wear, spare clothes and make-up. The changing rooms has lots lockers, showers, and even hair dryers to dry your hair with which was very handy.

The leisure room includes a steam room, sauna room, monsoon shower, jacuzzi, exercise pool and heated loungers, they're all in one room so it's a very relaxing and a warm atmosphere. As for our 1 course lunch we could choose from either a starter, main or a dessert and each course had 3 choices. The starters were: soup of the day which I didn't find out what it was. Grilled king prawns with baby gem, red onions, cornichons, peppers and salsa verde. Lastly sliced chorizo with crushed new potatoes, parsley and plum tomato ragout. The main courses were: Grilled corn fed chicken supreme with garlic mash, fine beans, roasted cherry tomatoes and wasabi mayonnaise. Pan seared smoked haddock with fondant potato, asparagus and spiced coconut sauce. Lastly pesto polenta with grilled courgette and aubergine in rich tomato sauce. And the desserts were: Caramelized Granny Smith apple and cinnamon crumble with vanilla ice cream. Sticky toffee pudding with caramel sauce and créme fráiche. And lastly fresh fruit platter. We were also told from the waitress if we wanted an extra course or have all 3 they were £7 for each extra course which I find for being in the heart of London and in a 5 star Hotel was a lovely price.

My sister-in-law and I both opted for main courses as it was 2.30pm when we'd sat down for lunch so we were pretty hungry. I had the haddock dish and it was delicious, the haddock crumbled or flaked beautifully as it's supposed to, the potato was just like a roasted potato which was nice as I hate potatoes except from roast potatoes and chips obviously but even then I'm very fussy with how they're cooked (potato is like a phobia of mine) I really went on a whim ordering a dish with potato on but I was pleasantly surprised, I'd never had asparagus and I've been waiting to try them which I thought they were nice and lastly the coconut sauce was the best part, it tasted like chicken korma curry which is the dish I order when I eat at an Indian so that instantly gave the meal a high rating, so overall it was a very yummy dish and I would recommend it.

As for the service from the staff, they were lovely and welcoming. Showed us around and were polite and friendly. The hotel looked absolutely lovely, I felt like it was too nice and posh for me though as I'm used to being at lower quality and less star hotels and restaurants haha.







 PS. Sorry for the low quality pictures I took them on my iPhone, not my camera.

I hope you liked this post as it was a very enjoyable experience and a nice change to do something like this with my bestie/sister-in-law. Also afterwards we went shopping on Oxford Street as it's literally around the corner but it was so busy and windy, like it gave me literal anxiety and I didn't find shopping on the oh-so famous Oxford Street that fabulous, I'm fine with the shopping streets and outlits where I live.. much more less hectic and plus it has all the shops that I have near me.

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Thursday, 8 January 2015

The best of 2014 & hello 2015

I'd like to wish you all a Happy New Year, I hope 2014 treated you well and 2015 is a better year for you all.

For me 2014 started off bad but it got better, lemme tell ya it was a much better year than 2013 as I was depressed and had issues with myself and in the summer my parents had a messy break up, it was a dramatic 6 months to say the least so I'm not getting into detail and plastering all what happened for all to see but a few months into 2014 they got back together and things got back to normal. 

I also started this blog up in 2014 because I love all things beauty and thought a blog would be perfect as I'm not confident enough for YouTube, I was good at blogging for a few months then I got busy with work over summer and stopped, I then tried to come back in November but stopped after a few posts, with no intention it just happened. Which this is where my news years resolution comes in, 2015 is going to be the year of my blogging, I am so determined to make a decent blog and I'd like to maybe reach 100 Bloglovin' followers and 50 Google Friend Connect followers, that would be amazing. I really am going to get at it this year, I do love blogging, reading other blogs and connecting with other bloggers, it's an amazing community.

I went to Warner Bros. Studio Tour London - The Making Of Harry Potter World in London in the summer with my cousin for her 29th birthday, yes 29 she's a massive Harry Potter fan, read all the books and seen all the movies, I'm not a huge fan but I've seen the movies. It was a lovely experience and day out, I would go back but around Halloween or Christmas because it would be decorated for those occasions.

A new family member was also welcomed, my little darling niece was born 25th September, 2014 and she is the most beautiful girl I've laid eyes on. She's so precious to me and she's played a big part in mending my parents relationship and getting the family close together. I'm not going to lie it has made me broody and I can't wait to start a family with my boyfriend.. not just yet as we need to save, save, save for our future together but I definitely want a baby within the next 2 years as I'll be 22-23 and my boyfriend will be 25-26 those ages to us both feel right to start.

And I can't forget I turned 21 on November 18th, woohoo. I didn't do nothing to crazy I went to a local Indian restaurant with my parents, younger brother and sister, my older brother, his girlfriend and my niece, my nan and my boyfriend of course. I sure do love an Indian. Then on the following Saturday I hit the clubs with my mum, my brother's girlfriend and some friends it was a good night but I couldn't get drunk no matter how much I drunk and I also had a little panic attack but my brother's girlfriend who I call my sister and is my best friend got me through it and we danced the night away.

Overall 2014 was a good year for me, it's the first time in a few years that I've actually genuinely felt happy. What I want for 2015 is to get a new job, possibly on a make-up counter it would be perfect for me. I also want to lose major weight, I've never been as big as I am which is a size 14 and before long I will be a size 16 if I keep going. As people have said to me it's because I'm in love and content, and that is true but I'm not happy with the way I look, I can hardly bare to look at myself in the mirror or have my picture taken (excluding selfies of course) If it weren't for my boyfriend then I know for a fact I'd be depressed and even worse than I was in 2013 but his support and love for me keeps me going. All I want is to be a size 10-12 because I'm going to be honest I'll never be a size 8 my body is not made to be that small and besides I like to have some curves and my boyfriend does also. ;)

I think I may track my 'diet' and weight loss journey on this blog also, let me know in the comments or my social media if you want me to do so. Links are at the bottom of my post.

Here are some pictures of my 2014 for you all.



(Top row - Outside Harry Potter Tour Studios, my cousin & I in Ron's car, the model of Hogwarts. Second row - My niece minutes old, me holding my niece for the first time, my little brother and sister meeting our niece she was 2 days old, My nieces first grin for the camera she was grinning at just a couple weeks old. Third row - My niece was smiling at her granddad aka my dad, Auntie and niece time, the last 2 pictures are her on the 4th Jan. Last row - My boyfriend and I at his niece's Christening, my 21st Birthday cake my mum made me and yes that is a baby picture of me, last picture is the only girls I trust and my besties; the blonde girl is my cousin and the one I went Harry Potter with and then the brunette is my brother's girlfriend, my niece's baby mumma, my sister.)


I hope you liked this post, and if you did a post like this then be sure to leave a link in the comments so I can check out your year of 2014.


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