Thursday, 7 August 2014

Monochrome- Summer Fashion

Monochrome- Summer Fashion

Hey everyone,

I personally think this outfit is perfect for a Summer's night. It is definitely more suited to a night time occasion, and let me tell you these wedges are not the easiest to walk in. I am a big fan of monochrome which pleases me as it is very 'in' this season. This skirt I recently bought from Topshop is absolutely gorgeous, in my eyes anyway, I already love white so when I saw it my heart melted. I call these vest tops 'petal edges' as they just remind me of flowers, these seem to be really popular at the moment. The wedges I am wearing are actually very old now, I got them about 4 years ago now!! But I am sure they do similar style look-a-likes. 








 WHAT I AM WEARING:
- Skirt: Topshop, £38
- Top: Topshop, £12
- Shoes: Topshop, £70
- Hat: Topshop, £29
- Bag: Topshop, £3 (sale)
- Necklace: Newlook, £7.99

                                                             Thanks for reading!

                                                                         Ell x

A Healthy Breakfast- Fruit, Yogurt & Granola

A Healthy Breakfast- Fruit, Yogurt & Granola 

Hey everyone,

I thought I would do something a little bit different today and do a food/recipe style post. Now when it comes to making breakfast I always struggle to go for a healthy option. I don't know whether this is just me but when I wake up I am always craving something either chocolate based or fatty food. It is always best to start off your day on a good note because usually your day tends to stay healthy if that is how you have started it off. I am definitely not someone who can skip breakfast or just have an apple, I always have to have breakfast in the morning. I have always agreed that it is the most important meal of the day as it gives you the energy for the day ahead. I have been loving this berry based breakfast at the moment. What's great is that it is a lot healthier than other options yet still tastes good and has that sweetness. When I say this is a 'healthy' breakfast, I probably more mean 'healthyish'. There is many ways I could improve this meal, for example using 0% fat yogurt, using oats instead of clusters which have more sugar in. I think you need to enjoy what your eating otherwise it becomes a chore to make it. But still, if you want to make this even better there are ways to do it. 


So here are all the ingredients I use to make this breakfast. I have always been a massive fan of the 'berry' type fruits so that's what I go for. But you could go for anything you fancy, even citrus fruits like oranges, mango, melon etc. I like to use greek style yogurt with honey as it goes lovely with the fruit and I hate plain low fat or 0% yogurt. I know that low fat plain yogurt is probably 1000 times healthier but I just really dislike the taste of it. I go for clusters instead of oats because that are tastier and I just love them haha.


I pre-wash all the fruit that I will be using. I tend to take a handful out of each tub. I just leave the raspberry's and blueberry's as they come, but of course I cut the tops of the strawberry's and then slice them in half. 



I then spoon a few dollops of the honey yogurt into the bowl. That is the first thing I put in as I like the yogurt to sit at the bottom of the bowl as a nice base and then all the other ingredients sit nicely on top. The yogurt has quite a thick consistency, almost like double cream.



I then spoon on some oat clusters, these contain crushes blueberry and cranberry. These are so delicious and come in such a big bag so last for ages!


 Now I know that not everyone is a fan of raisins, it's one of those things you either love or hate. But I love them, especially in this breakfast. This breakfast has a bit of everything as there is crunchyness from the clusters then the chewyness from the raisins.


I adore fruit compote it is so yummy and it just gives this a lot more flavour and I also think it just looks pretty. Again, I just put a few dollops of this on top of the fruit. Of course, you can put as little or as much of the ingredients as you want into your breakfast. I personally like quite a bit of fruit. 


Now how colourful does that look! I love food that is yummy and pretty. This is perfect for Summer. You can leave the breakfast like this or mix it all together which is what I like to do.


This is what it looks like all mixed together, I have to say not as pretty but a lot nicer and easy to eat. If you want you could also have some extra spare fruit in a bowl on the side.


This drink is absolutely amazing. I have always loved innocent smoothies but this one is a little bit different. It is called a 'Super Smoothie' which means it contains a variety of vitamins which are all good for your body. This particularly smoothie is aimed at energising and making you feel more awake. This also makes you feel more full up so if you are someone who is on a strict diet you could even have this as a lunch. The flavours of this smoothie (strawberry, cherry & guarana) go so lovely with this berry breakfast. 


I just had to add this picture of my cat Lilly. While I was making the breakfast she was just laying there watching me & sunbathing. So cute! I hope you liked this post, if you did let me know as I am up for doing more recipe style posts.

                                                                 Thanks for reading!

                                                                              Ell x

                                                                      






Wednesday, 6 August 2014

Daisies & Burgundy Boots | Autumn Fashion

Daisies & Burgundy Boots | Autumn Fashion

Hey everyone,

Another fashion style post for you all today. Now some of you may think I'm mad to start putting Autumn style posts up as we are in still in August. But let me tell you, time will fly by so why not be prepared! The shops are now full of the Autumn/Winter clothes which makes me extremely happy as Autumn & Winter are my favourite seasons.. especially when it comes to fashion. The thought of just being able to wrap up in a big oversized jumpy, fury coat and long knee high boots makes me extremely excited. I also love all the textures and colours that come along with September, October, November & December. My favourites being burgundy, browns, navy & dark green. It is never to early to start thinking ahead. The UK gets so cold so I am definitely in need of stocking up on clothes for the upcoming months. This outfit I put together is perfect for Autumn/Winter time but could still be worn in the summer without the tights and a pair of sandals. Also, just because it's cold out and it isn't the Spring & Summer period.. does not mean you have to put away the floral patterns!











For Autumn/Winter you can get away with wearing more makeup as the sun isn't out to create a sweat and it is not all about the "No makeup, makeup" look. I love a good old dark lip in Autumn & Winter and I think a dark winged liner on the eye looks great with a dark, deep lip. Of course in the evening you can vamp it up a bit, add definition by creating a smokey eye.

WHAT I AM WEARING:
- Dress: Urban Outfitters, £25.00 (sale)
- Boots: Topshop, £39.00 (I think)
- Bag: Topshop
- Hat: H&M

                                                              Thanks for reading!

                                                                          Ell x




Monday, 4 August 2014

My Weekend at Alton Towers

My Weekend at Alton Towers

Hey everyone,

So since Saturday I have spent the past three days at Alton Towers.. and it really has been great. My family and I have stayed in the Alton Towers hotel before (there is two hotels, the other being Splash Landings; but never have done that one) and we have always had an amazing time. For those of you who don't know what Alton Towers even is and are just reading this as a load of jibberish... let me explain. Alton Towers is purely just a massive theme park in the UK with lots of thrilling rides. The resort also has two hotels, a big indoor water-park and a beautiful spa. We arrived midday Saturday and unfortunately the weather wasn't too pleasant. Of course, the UK is known for its unpredictable weather so as soon as we arrived it was truly hacking down. A lovely welcome can we say. Luckily though the rain did soon clear up but we just spent the day chilling in the hotel, had a few drinks at the bar and my brother and I was kept very entertained in the games room. Can I just say the amount of key rings we have in our bags from which we won with the good old 2p machines is quite unbelievable. We also went for a lovely meal in the evening in a restaurant in the hotel called the 'Emperors Grill'. The food was delicious and it had such a lovely atmosphere in there. After our meal we all then had some drinks in the garden and sat near the fountain. 


On the way to Alton Towers. The drive from my house is around 4 hours long so my brother and I like to make a comfy little "den" in the back with blankets & cushions. Alongside lots of snacks & sweets. I always like to plug my headphones in on parts of the journey and just listen to my favourite songs. 


In the hotel there is this HUGE chair which we always like to sit on. Lets just say it is not easy to get onto it... you literally have to jump, it is a nice unique feature that makes the hotel different. There sitting on the chair is little baby Oleg from the 'Compare The Meerkat' advert. I won him on one of those very entertaining yet irritating claw machine things (great explaining there). As you can see I was proud to have won him haha.




 My mum and I loved the amount of cocktails to chose from. The one here is a Cranberry Cooler.. which was very refreshing, especially after a day of rides and walking around the park. My mum on the other hand stuck to the Pimm's, which is her favourite Summer drink.


The hotel has a beautiful outside area which is shown in the picture above. On the lake there was a load of stepping stones which my brother and I enjoyed going on. Still a child at heart. 







These pictures are of my meal at the Emperors Grill. The food was lovely. On the second day we had an action packed adventure at the theme park. I went on all the rides and loved every bit of it. The first ride of the day was Alton Towers newest ride 'The Smiler' which is the roller-coaster with 14 loops in... the whole ride lasts 3 minutes long!!! Although it was fun I have to say I was very dizzy when I came off it. My favourite rides at Alton Towers are Oblivion, Air & the water rides. Unfortunately I haven't got any pictures of the actual park as I wanted to travel light so left my phone at the hotel. When we finished at the theme park my mum and I went to the gorgeous spa in the hotel. It was so nice to relax & unwind. It had a pool, whirl pool, hot tub and a variety of saunas. A little touch which I loved was a lemon ice face refreshers. In simple terms a bowl of cold water with ice and cut up lemon, in which you got a mit and patted your face with the water. SO refreshing. Again, didn't get any pictures of the spa :-( Last of all we went for dinner in the other restaurant 'The Secret Garden' which again was very nice. A lot nosier and more 'younger age' suited. 


I absolutely loved this cocktail called 'Strawberry Woo Woo'. Very sweet yet refreshing. I love anything strawberry flavoured so this was one for me. It also had some peach extracts in which was a nice touch.. and of course the rest ;-) 


Now lets all just take a moment to embrace this STARTER. I had to put that in capitals because how blimmin huge is this meal. If you are a cheese lover like myself and like Camembert you would adore this. The camembert came hot so you could dip the chunky bread in. I ended up sharing this with everyone as it was a struggle but so yummy. 


This was my brothers main course.. talk about a feast & a half. His face was in amazement when it came. 


This is the view from an outside seating area. We liked to take our drinks and sit in a little outdoor undercover seating bit facing the hotel. It was really nice as you could also hear the night time entertainment. 


Here are our family of Minions! We didn't get a mother but the family still looks cute. We "won" these in the park. Top tip for everyone... if you are at a theme park and see those stalls with games on  and the prizes are massive teddy bears or stuffed toys, visit them early/start of the day. If you go to them early they tend to give you the prize even if you don't win as they like you to walk around with the toy to make other people (kids) see it so they want to have a go. Fact! 


And this was on the way home! I had such a fab weekend. My family and I really enjoyed it. We have stayed at the Alton Towers hotel before so we knew the ropes but I really would recommend it to anyone. It can be a mixture of fun, relaxing and thrilling. Even if you are not a massive roller-coaster fan you could still have a nice weekend/day as there is so much to do. They even have a big golf course. If you have been here let me know in the comments what you thought!

                                                                 Thanks for reading!

                                                                              Ell x

       


Friday, 1 August 2014

Review: My Thoughts on MAC's Creme D'Nude Lipstick

Review: My Thoughts on MAC's Creme D'Nude Lipstick 

Hey everyone,

When I say I am a massive MAC lipstick fan.. that would be an understatement. I really love MAC lipsticks, they are so reasonably priced compared to other high end brands and the range of colours they have is incredible. I have always had good experiences with how the lipsticks apply, apart from I always find that dark colours struggle to say put on wet lip. Now the MAC Creme D'Nude is very much raved about in the world of Blogs and Youtube, so I thought considering I am a lover of MAC's lipsticks I should definitely try it out myself. If I am being honest I never thought I would have a bad word to say about a MAC lipstick, but unfortunately this time round this review isn't fully positive! 

   When I opened the lipstick I was super happy as the colour was gorgeous.. yet how it looked on my lips was a different story. This may just be with me and my lips are being little buggers, or this could be a case for others of you out there (if so please let me know), but this lipstick makes my lips look chapped, dry and a bit flakey. All my other MAC lipsticks glide on beautifully and leave a smooth finish. This does not live up to the others for me. I have tried putting a clear balm on my lips first to give them more moisture, yet the lipstick struggles to apply with a wetter surface. Also, I am naturally quite fair.. so without my foundation & bronzer on I am not totally sure whether I like this colour for my skin tone. I just feel as if it washes me out a bit. I definitely want to try it once I have a bit more colour to my skin. On the other hand it could be me not used to such light & pale lip shades.. lets just say I am always a lover of the deep, dark & daring shades. Sadly I am just not over struck with this lipstick, but I guess you can't win it all! 






P.S My intentions of this review is not to make this lipstick sound totally hideous and to put you all off it haha! I'm sure lots of you out there love or would really like Creme D'Nude. I purely wanted to share my true opinion of it. I just guess this lipstick isn't for me.

                                                                      Thanks for reading!

                                                                                   Ell x