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Blogmas Day 3 - Salon Success / Paul Mitchell Jingle & Mingle Event

On the 16th of November myself and a few other Brighton bloggers were invited to the Salon Success Jingle and Mingle event at The Old Ship Hotel. Salon Success are a huge distributor of high end hair products to the hair dressing world, representing a portfolio of professional products and brands from Paul Mitchell^® Luxury Hair Care and Kenra^®. 

The event was held in "The Gallery", which felt like it was straight out of Hogwarts (which I loved obviously) but in real life it was actually smuggler's tunnels in the basement which have been reopened as wine cellars for events & private dining. FANCY AF!!

I went with my number one girl Tania aka Teabee. We were greeted by Amy and Mickaela who promptly handed us a glass of prosecco... which is the way to a millennial's heart, FACT. After chatting and mingling for a little while we then moved into the dining area.

The dining room was beautifully lit with candles to make it feel warm and romantic. The table was laid out with our name tags, Christmas crackers, wine and a ton of products which were ever so kindly gifted to us. The products were tailored to our individual hair needs, which was such a thoughtful touch.

The meal was amazing, to start we had a butternut squash soup with croutons, which actually tasted like magic, I have no idea how or why they tasted so good but I could live of them. For our main we had a traditional turkey Christmas dinner, my first Christmas dinner of the year I may add and for pudding we had popcorn topped sticky toffee pudding and no words can describe how tasty that was, only heart eye emojis will do 😍😍😍. 

After the meal, we had a chance to learn about the product's benefits, purposes and why Amy and Mickaela loved them too. The Marula Oil hair brush is the one I am most pumped about, I love hearing people rave about a product, it's gets me so excited to use it. 

I kindly received the Feeling Chipper gift set from Paul Mitchell, which is full of thickening products, which my fine ass desperately needs. As well as the Kenda revive shampoo and conditioner, which has made my hair feel so silky and look alive, as well as the Kenda Artformation hairspray which I have been using on a daily bases as it's perfect for holding that "I don't give a fuck" work hair style I tend to rock most mornings and Hot spray which is a heat protecting spray.

As the event was a few weeks ago now I have had the chance to use everything as the Marula Oil hair brush is my favorite.The Kenda conditioner is also another personal fave as my hair feels so so soft after using it... BUT THAT BRUSH THOUGH.

Thank you so much Amy & Mickaela for being wonderful hosts and to Salon Success / Paul Mitchell for having me!! Thank for you putting on an awesome evening. MERRY CHRISTMAS <3

Blogmas Day 2 - Christmas Party Outifts

Last night I had my staff Christmas party, HORRAY!! It was amazing!! The venue was just incredible, I am not going to give anything away as that is a blogmas post for another day. I also don't think I am brave enough to post the photos of myself after 18 glasses of prosecco just yet.

Finding an outfit was particularly difficult this year, there were so many lovely things in the shops and I just couldn't choose what to wear. I was looking everywhere for inspiration and found a few pieces which I loved and hopefully you will too, just a heads up ... everything is black. OBVIOUSLY!!

1. ASOS start playsuit - £45

God I am obsessed. The little emo in me is drawn to the star trend that is around right now and I am into it in a BIG way. I'm in love with the mesh sleeves and I think playsuits are perfect for any occasion as you can easily dress them up or down. 

2. Spot Jumpsuit - £42

Jumpsuits are an all time favorite of mine, they're so comfy and they make me feel super chic when I wear them. I'de pair this jumpsuit with a fur jacket to feel all kind of glamorous or a leather jacket to give it some edge. 

3. Black lace skater dress - £40

This is a pretty basic dress, but I think skater dresses suit every body shape and are cute AF. I also love the sleeves, they're such a flattering length. The best thing about this dress is that you can dress it up or down, depending what type of party you're going to.

4. Floral mesh smock dress - £38

This dress is super cute, I don't know if I could pull of anything that feminine but it is beautiful.

5. Black sequin mini dress -£25.19

AKA the sexy mermaid dress of dreams, how cute would this look with a leather jacket and Chelsea boots. Ultimate outfit goals.

I hope that I've given you some inspiration on what to wear at your Christmas party, Christmas events or even on Christmas day. Let me know if you picked up any of these pieces, I would love to see.

Blogmas Day 1 - Brighton Christmas Markets

FA-LA-LA-LA-LA, LA-LA-LA-LA!! 

This is my first ever Blogmas, I thought I would welcome my absence with the insane challenge that is blogmas. I am equally excited as I am intimidated to commit to such a huge task, but I am fully invested and I hope my daily ramblings help you feel festive and get you into the Christmas Spirit. Without further adieu, lets's get cracking ;)

CHRISTMAS MARKETS!! I love them, you love them, your mum loves them, your partner secretly loves getting dragged to them. Let's be real, who doesn't enjoy walking around drinking mulled wine while looking at all the Christmasy things.

Image source - http://www.brightonchristmasmarket.com/index.html

Jubilee Square
17.11.2017 - 23.12.2017


Jubilee Square authentic, traditional Christmas market has lots of fun things going on. Food & drink stalls, confectionery, jewellery, clothing and so much more. They even have Santa's Grotto where you can tell the big man in person what you'd like for Christmas, or if you're worried he'll forget you can post your letter to Santa, which I honestly think is the cutest thing ever. I work just around the corner from here so I will definitely visiting here on my lunch break.

Palace Pier
02.12.2012 - 03.12.2017 
10am - 5pm

I had no idea that Palace Pier had there own Christmas Market. What more could you want if you're visiting Brighton for a little bit of Christmas shopping? They have locally sourced produce and retailers from the Sussex area as well as A SNOW MACHINE!! 

Brighton Marina
03.12.2012
11am - 4pm

A Christmas Market with local products and produce from Sussex, as well a music and a free Santa's grotto. So if you're going out for lunch, afternoon tea, to ASDA to do your Christmas food shop, you have no excuse not to join in on the festivities. 

Image source - https://www.facebook.com/events/1446980438728273

The Etsy Christmas Market
The Brighton Dome
02.12.2017 
10am - 4pm

I love Etsy and I especially love the Etsy Christmas market. There are so many talented retailers selling their amazing products. They have homewares, jewellery, skincare, art and loads of contemporary gifts. So if you have that one relative *ahem my mum* that you never know what to get them, I am sure you will find loads of inspiration here.

Paper Daisy Events - Christmas Street Food and Makers Market
Brighthelm Centre
09.12.2017
11am - 5pm

Street food ... probably one of my favorite combination of words, add in a Christmas theme and you've got yourself an unmissable event. The facebook event is completely selling this to me. Street food, a choir, a live band, face painting, a treasure hunt, as well as loads of makers selling some awesome merchandise. You can also expect a visit from Santa and his Elves. 

Image source - https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/the-big-brighton-christmas-gift-fair-tickets-39509652434

Wild Strawberry events - The Big Christmas Gift Fair

Brighton Race Course
02.12.2017 - 03.12.2017 
10:30am - 5pm

There is a huge craft and gift fair at Brighton Race course with over 100 stalls, which sounds insane!! Story time of Santa (another adorable idea but it does cost £1), as well as face painting and a crafts table. You do have to pay to get in, but it looks like there's a lot to look at and take in so treat yourself, parking is also free.

So blogmas day 1, how did I do? Will you be checking out any Christmas markets this year? I know I will, now pass me the mulled wine.

Feeding the red pandas - aka the best birthday surprise ever

I know what you're thinking, you already posted a "what I did for my birthday post".  Well my friends here is part two.  RED PANDA DAY!!

It all started at the end of January when Michelle text me this -

 

Her, Sean and Ryan had booked this big secret birthday surprise. I know, I am truly spoilt and have the most amazing people in my life. But ... I absolutely hate surprises. Me being me, I thought I would 100% be able to find out what it was before we went, apparently I was very wrong. I sent constant annoying messages trying to find out what on earth it this surprise was and bugged Sean on a weekly bases.

The surprise day started by Michelle and Ryan picking me and Sean up at 7am from our house. We had coffee, sausage rolls and a banging sing along playlist ... the Pitch Perfect soundtrack. At about 10am we rocked up at Longleat Safari and they'd booked for us to feed the red pandas!! I LOVE RED PANDAS, I have one tattooed on my arm. They're my all time favorite animal, so cute, so dumb, so fluffy and just the perfect cat / dog / bear / panda hybrid. ADORBS!!!

The experience itself was about 30 - 40 minutes. We met our zoo keeper at 11:15 who took us to the enclosure, she then let us in around the back and into the red panda's house, inside there was a little red floofer named AJ. As soon as he clocked the food, he came straight off his little perch and sat as close to us (the food) as he could. We then took it in turns to feed him chopped up apple and panda cake which is smooshed up bamboo and something else, it looks like poop. AJ was so so sweet, he took the fruit so gently and even let us pet and stroke him. I showed him my tattoo, which I think he approved off.

We then went outside to see if we could see the lady panda, she was hiding as she's recently had 2 little cubs and is looking after them. The zoo keeper told us that she probably wouldn't come out to say hi. AJ followed us outside where we fed him some more and got to see him in all his glory. We went around to where the lady panda was hanging out in her house and she came out to see us, she was absolutely lovely. I didn't pet her too much as I didn't want her to think I was coming for her babies, but she was a little stunner. We had gathered a lot of crowd attention by this point as well. 

After our experience we spent the rest of our day walking around the Zoo, looking at the animals and going on the safari, which I will get too later. Longleat is the most interactive zoo I've ever been to. You could touch the sting rays, walk with a penguin, feed the deer, hold snakes and insects, walk with the birds, feed the giraffes and walk with the Lemurs. Obviously I did everything apart from hold any insects because they're grim. HARD PASS!!

The Safari was so so so so so good. We were given an CD to listen to while we drove around which was super cute. We started with the monkeys who climbed all over the car, one even hitched a ride and just sat on the roof for like 5 minutes. Thankfully they didn't break anything and were pretty well behaved, which is why most people skip them but they were so worth it. We also saw lions, tigers, giraffes, flamingos and so much more. I would 100% recommend doing the safari, it was a such fun experience.

The only thing we didn't get time for is the boat to the gorilla, so if you plan do visit Longleat then I recommend doing that as early in the day as possible. The queue was insane and we would have been waiting for over an hour. 

I had such a good day and I fully intend to book the experience again. For anyone interested it's £60 a person and Longleat is one of the only places near Brighton that let 4 people enter the enclosure.

My birthday adventure - Disney Land Paris edition

Soooooooooo, no big deal but I went to Disney Land for my 26th birthday and it was the most MAGICAL thing ever. I went with Sean, Tania and Jack. I thought I would share 10 most useful tips of the trip, just in case you were thinking of visiting some time soon - which I highly recommend. 

SIDE NOTE - Before you start reading, Tania has also posted about our trip and you can read it on her blog, it cracked me up so much.

Top tips for Disney Land

1. Accommodation

We decided not to stay at a Disney Land resort / hotel and I am really pleased about our decision. We stayed at the Relais Spa in Chessy and honestly it was a 3 minute drive from Disney, the hotel provided a free shuttle bus to Disney upon request, which was an unexpected surprise as we had planned to get the train or walk. The hotel was absolutely beautiful, so fancy pants and our rooms were huge, they were like mini apartments with a bedroom, separate kitted out kitchen and bathroom. It was the same price as staying at a Disney hotel, but we were only a 5 minute walk from a huge shopping mall, where we found Sephora and NYX.

(We did have to pay 9 euro tax and a 100 euro deposit on arrival which was fine as it gets refunded as soon as you check out. So if you do stay here then come prepared.)

2. Fast Pass - If you can splash out and get a fast pass then do. We were kindly given one at City Hall because if you haven't already seen already on IG, I fell down some steps when I went to see Dream Boys and tore the ligaments / tendons in my foot in 3 places (I have a doctors note and everything). I don't think that we would have been able to get around the whole of Magic Kingdom if we didn't have the glorious golden ticket aka fast pass. It just meant that we could go all the things you'd usually skip if you were only there for a day and could do other things rather than queue for 90 minutes for a ride.

3. Food DUH!! The food as Disney Land isn't as expensive as you think, particularly if you eat at counter service resturants, on average you spend about 15 euros for a meal, this includes a hot dish, a side, a pudding and a drink. We ate at Pizzeria Bella Notte and Blockbuster cafe.

Also, I was a little let down that there was hardly any Micky Mouse themed food. How was I meant to get that perfect pintrest food photo with regular shaped food? Maybe it's just in the US that has the fancy food?

4. Cocktails - Have you seen those glow-tinis on pintrest? Of course you have, they're famous!! We found a bar and decided to drink at least 8000 of them, unfortunately they tasted like butthole, but the glowy ice cube you got was an amazing souvenir.

5. Rides rides rides rides rides - Rated out of 10, so you know what to queue for and what to skip if you're pushed for time.

Magic Kingdom

• 10/10 - Big Thunder Mountain
• 6/10 - Indiana Jones and the Temple of Peril
• 4/10 - It's a small world 
• 5/10 - Carousel
• 2/10 - The Aladdin thing
• 2/10 -Pinocio voyage
• 0/10 Starwars Hyperspace Mountain - I would have been a 9/10 but we had a scary experience. Would not ride again. 
• 4/10 - Peter Pan's Flight 
• 8/10 -Phantom Manor 

Hollywood Studios

• Crush's Coaster - 10/10
• Rock and Roller - 9/10
• Tower of Terror - 10/10
• Studio tram tour - behind the magic - 8/10 
• Toy soldiers parachute drop - 5/10
• Cars 3/10

6. THE DRAGON - I loved the Dragon hanging out under the castle. HE WAS BADASS!! Not to be missed. I REPEAT NOT TO BE MISSED. I am not posting a photo of it because I don't want to ruin it for you.

7. Take tissues to the fireworks, I cried ... like, I cried hard. The only thing that made me stop crying was that the singing for The Little Mermaid and Frozen was in French, it confused me so much, so be prepared. I just expected it to be in English like it was in Orlando

8. DO NOT miss the parade. I missed it due to being stuck on an evil evil ride, I was so upset. I've seen it before, but it would have been nice to wave at a princess.

9. ONE FOR THE BOYS. Apparently Tower of Terror makes your balls tingle. Enough said.

10. Photo ops!! Me and Tania made a Pintrest board in advance so we didn't miss any chances to take photos. I know, that's probably a bit over the top butttttt, no fucks given. I had weeks worth of photos to upload.

If you are going soon or are thinking about booking, just stop what you're doing and do it. You will not regret it.

P.S. I bet you're thinking, who the fuck is Jack, why isn't he in any of your photos. Basically he hates me and didn't want to have his photo taken with me, I did ask .... soooooo that's awkward hahaha. 

P.P.S Talking off Jack. Jaffar shat him up so badly when he had his photo taken with him. We all thought it was a stature until it moved. I have never seen someone so shook, he thought it knocked it over. You know when you make someone jump and they are scared for a few seconds, then they figure out that there is nothing to be scared off and laugh it off. Imagine that, but for a whole 40 seconds, I've never regretted not filming anything more.

What it's like having IBS in your 20's

This one is a kind of personal post, something I don't discuss with many people because personally I find it extremely embarrassing. I have IBS (Irritable Bowl Syndrome), it's an extremely common problem, 40% of people have mild cases, but for some reason I feel like I can't talk about it? Realistically it's something I need to get over because everyone poops, like it's not a big deal, but why does it feel like one?

I know there are worse things out there and it's really not a big deal, but it really does effect your life. You are restricted in what you can do, where you can go and your whole life revolves around the toilet. It's difficult to be able to go out and have a normal 20 something life without it playing on the back of your mind. I have managed to control it 97.5% of the time. I don't know if it's just me but I'll wake up and I'll just know if I am going to have a good day or bad day. If I am having a bad day, it's bad. As IBS isn't something you talk about (unless you're speaking with someone else who has it) I thought I would share some of my symptoms and side effects. 

The Standard Annyoing Side effects 

- You can't eat specific food. You learn what you can and can't eat over time but if you slip up, your body knows and it gets really pissed at you. For me it's things like beef, quorn beef weirdly, processed sauces and take away pizza (which is a issue).

- Tea, coffee, caffeine? Nope nope nope. Am I even allowed to be on Instagram if I cant post a basic bitch photo of my skinny iced frappe latte with an extra espresso shot. Caffeine is just a hands down no from me and my insides. I am not being rude when I decline your offer of a tea or coffee and it's the main reason I drink squash 90% of the time. It's not me I swear ... it's my guts. 

- Constant nausea and feeling sick.

The Annoying 

- Eating out in a restaurant is hard... well impossible and people don't tend to understand that. No matter where I go, what I eat, the food will go straight through me and I will be preying that the restaurant's toilets are private.

- The same with being invited over to people's houses for dinner. I love cooking, I love eating and I love it when people feed me but I have to politely decline people's tasty dinner invites unless I know exactly how they've made it and what's gone in it. "Yes gurl I know you're a good cook, but I can either destroy your bathroom or stay home and lie on the sofa eating safe food"

- Dressing yourself is hard because you're bloated 24/7. People ask why I live in baggy jumpers and cami tops, I look pregnant ALL OF THE TIME. 

- If you get to hot ... urgh this one is one of the worst. Luckily I am a cold person but you know that feeling you get when you're really embarrassed and you can feel yourself getting red, hot and clammy? That's just a standard thing that happens when you get too hot with IBS, then you get that feeling makes your insides go crazy and feel awful.

- The same thing with stress. Even when you don't feel stressed mentally, your body knows it and makes your bowels twist up into a pretzel and leaves you in agony.

- Sex ... who thought it would ruin sex? But it does, your whole downstairs area gets so uncomfortable, painful and irritates you so much. It's just a massive no, this is probably my least favorite side effect.. I honestly couldn't deal with being single and having this issue, how awkward is that conversation? "Sorry we can't have sex tonight because your penis is irritating". URGH!!

- Alcohol ... oh my sweet babboo <3 this is one thing I do not give any fucks about, even though I usually pay for it the next day, I love having a casual drink with my babes and IBS will not stop me.

- You're gassy and you get pain in your gut when you need to poop.. it's annoying.

- When you do poop, sometimes you're literally there for days. So settle down, take your phone with you and try not to cry because trust me, you will want to.

The Embarrassing

- If you're a girl who goes to clubs / bars / pubs or whatever. When you pee, your whole squad comes along for the ride and you make an activity out of it. You always socialise the most in the toilet on a night out, everyone just gathers by the mirrors, chats, re applies make up, takes selfies of whatever but this is literally my idea of hell on a bad day. Sharing a stall makes me feel uncomfortable, who knows what's gunna happen.

- Not knowing the protocol about using the disabled toilet. Like I know it's not a disability but are you allowed to use them to save embarrassment? Or will you get severely judged by others. I just want some privacy!!