Edinburgh Antics

At the weekend I decided to celebrate my 28th year on the planet by having a jaunt through to Edinburgh and a fun-filled day at the zoo. I've had lots of lovely visits to Edinburgh Zoo before, but what made this trip extra exciting was that it was the first time I had went since the arrival of the two giant pandas, Yang Guang and Tian Tian (also known as Sunshine and Sweetie - adorable!). I love seeing all animals, but I'd never seen pandas before!

Armed with copious amounts of picnic food and a car journey soundtrack to make my heart (and tone deaf voice) sing, we set off for the zoo on a very rainy Saturday morning. It was soaking wet when we left Glasgow and I was starting to wonder if I had made the right decision. After all, no-one likes a soggy picnic and what if the animals were all hiding from the rain? Luckily, the rain totally cleared up and it was dry in Edinburgh by the time we arrived. Apart from a few light showers here and there, the sun was out and it was dry and bright for the most part. Score!
 

I decided to wear my Hello Kitty vans as I knew I had a long day of walking ahead. I also wore my favourite Prince t-shirt from Topshop,  tube skirt from Primark and Levi's denim trucker vest. I was glad that I had sunglasses and a small unbrella with me as it turned out I used both of them in the one day! I also wore a glittery star headband by Crown and Glory - because nothing says "I'm the birthday girl" like sparkly stars in your hair, right?


There was plenty to see at the zoo - and I got to see every animal except for the porcupine (I don't know where that guy was). I couldn't pick a favourite but some of my highlights were the koalas, the monkeys, the penguins (in their newly opened Penguins Rock island enclosure, which looks amazing and gives visitors the freedom to walk around and over the water while the penguins swim), the jaguar (pictured below) and of course, the pandas. I didn't get to see Tian Tian, who is thought to be pregnant at the moment, but I did get to see Yang Guang who was super cute and looked very hug-able! He spends 16 hours a day sleeping and the remainder of the time eating - what a life! Look out for a photo I took of Yang Guang in my next blog post!

I really enjoyed learning about the animals in the zoo, and it was great to hear about all of the conservation projects that the zoo is involved in as well. It's a great day out and although it costs £16 I really feel like it was worth the entry fee. I made sure I booked our slot to see the pandas in advance (slots are free but limited so it's best to book in advance) and we had just enough time in the rest of the day to walk around the whole zoo. As the zoo is situated on a steep slope, I think we were burning off the picnic in no time!

After our day with the animals, we knew it would be a crime not to swing by Krispy Kreme while in Edinburgh. I know, I know -  I think I'm probably the last blogger in Scotland to visit our (one and only) branch of the ever-popular donuts and coffee joint, but when it comes to sugary treats I just can't help myself. Luckily my faithful companions were of the same opinion and we bought some donuts and iced coffee and chilled out in a booth for a little while. We also bought a box of a dozen donuts of our choice (harder than it sounds considering I would happily eat ALL OF THEM) and took them home to enjoy later. The Millionaire's Shortcake flavour has to be my favourite of the moment, although I had a praline one that was also amazing. Obsessed!

I thoroughly enjoyed my day in Edinburgh and will definitely not leave it as long before the next time I go! Have you been to Edinburgh Zoo? What about Krispy Kreme? What is your favourite flavour of donut?

Thanks for reading!

Weekend Wear: Have a Lovely Day

"It's the hottest day of the year tomorrow!" were the excited yelps that I was hearing all day on Thursday. "It's gonna be ROASTIN'!". It was pretty warm on Friday but I'm not sure if it deserved the title of HDOTY 2013! I was happy to have the day off work with The Boy and start our anniversary weekend with some sunshine. We went for a walk in the park which had Glasgow Summer staples everywhere we looked: TAPS AFF* for the boys and "outfits you'd normally only wear to The Dancin' " (AKA hardly any clothes at all) for the girls. Still, it was a beautiful day and everybody looked really happy sitting on the grass half cut/ half naked. It was like the Garden of Eden, sponsored by Oddbins.

The Boy didn't walk around with his top off (not his style) and I chose to keep mine on too (HA!). I wore a black Betsey Johnson dress (which I have, ironically worn out to a club night before. People in glass houses and all that, eh?) and my new Levi's denim vest got another outing (hurrah!). I've decorated my vest with some badges - including my Tatty Devine anchor from the mystery box I got last month.
I also wore my new Hello Kitty x Vans slip-on plimsolls, BUT - in all the photos the sun was shining really brightly and I never noticed until later that the glare of the sun makes them look white in the picture. They are actually pink and very cute, not boring and plain white! Doh! I also got to wear my new sunglasses that I picked up in a Dickies outlet for $5 on holiday. They are a strange mixture between round and cats-eye frames, but I love them for their weirdness!

I am not brave enough to bare my legs at home yet (and especially not with this dress) so I wore some Red Herring turquoise tights. Jewellery-wise I wore my pink Tequila Star 'POW' necklace and some Tarina Tarantino skull earrings (also pink). I topped it off with a Topshop flower crown.
 
While walking through the park I seen this graffiti (below). What it lacks in artistic talent it more than makes up for it in sentiment, don't you think?

After a walk in the park we went to The Sanctuary's secret beer garden, where Smoak were doing a pop-up restaurant, and had a very big (and delicious) lunch. Later that day we met up with our friend that we hadn't seen in a couple of months and had a great time catching up while some of my favourite songs were played in the pub. Happy days!

What did you wear this weekend? Did you go out and enjoy the sunshine? And go TAPS AFF?

Thanks for reading!

* - explanation of 'TAPS AFF' for non-Scottish readers. When the slightest hint of sunshine appears in Glasgow a lot of guys get the inexplicable urge to strut around with no top on ('Tap' = top, 'aff'=off, therefore 'taps aff' = 'tops off'). This is normally accessorised with a bottled beverage being stored in the back pocket of their jeans (because, you know, THE HEAT). It is both hilarious and terrifying in equal measures. Hope this helps!

Beauty Bites: US Sephora Haul

As well as the goodies that I had picked up at the drugstores on my recent trip to Florida, I had also mentioned that I went nuts treated myself at Sephora ("THE MOTHERSHIP") as well. Like with the drugstore brands, I had a list of items that I wanted to check out when I got to Sephora - the closest branch (to where I was staying) of which was located at the Florida Mall. When I got to the mall and had a nosey around I realised that there were actually two Sephoras - a stand alone store and a concession in JC Penney. I assumed that both would have the same stock but it turned out that the stock was quite different in both of them, which was actually quite good as it meant I had a bigger choice of goodies overall.

I am a big fan of the collaborations that Sephora produce - last year I got some lovely Tarina Tarantino x Sephora and Betsey Johnson x Sephora products and this year I was on the lookout for the Hello Kitty x Sephora and Kat Von D x Sephora ranges (as well as a few other bits and pieces). I was in luck at the stand alone store - The Boy (AKA world's best shopping partner - he always sniffs out the good stuff) found me a random Hello Kitty compact for a couple of dollars in a clearance section, and then I found out that the entire range was marked for clearance! I picked up two lipsticks (in bright pink and candy apple red), a dark purple liquid eyeliner and some nail art transfers that were all marked down as clearance. The only downside of course was that the Hello Kitty display case was totally ransacked and I didn't have my pick of the whole collection. Still, I'm delighted with what I got.

I had made a note to check out the Kat Von D collection, but particularly the Everlasting Love liquid lipsticks. I seem to be having a bit of a love affair with liquid lipsticks at the moment and visiting the Kat Von D display just fanned the flames I think! Every colour was beautiful, bright and had amazing staying power (I had swatches on my hand that day that refused to leave, haha). I was torn between getting Underage Red (exactly what you think it would look like) and Backstage Bambi, a shocking pink. In the end I went with Backstage Bambi, which I've worn a few times since and adore it. I also got some of the Kat Von D Autograph liquid liner (not tried it yet) and a bottle of Saint perfume - the reviews I've read are true, it smells amazing!

After the INAA bloggers event, I was impressed by Bumble and Bumble and decided to take advantage of the pounds/ dollars exchange rate and get some of their hairspray. I bought a can of their Classic spray and it does the job really well (and doesn't have that horrible hairspray smell going on).

I also spied some Betsey Johnson nail art transfers and Sephora own-brand eyeliner transfers in the clearance section. The eyeliner transfers, which feel like velvety stickers to be placed along the lashline, are something I hadn't tried before but for $3 I thought I'd give them a go and see how I find them.

Clarisonic cleansing facial brushes seem to be very popular across the pond at the moment (I was bombarded with adverts for them constantly), but I had read an interesting review on XOJane about a $5 cleansing pad that did just about the same job (for a lot less) so wanted to check it out. I ended up buying it (it's called the Sephore Collection Precision Pore cleansing pad) and I've liked using it so far.

Finally, I bought some Urban Decay Naked Skin BB cream (not tried it yet) and OCC Lip Tar which I had heard lots of good things about. The OCC Lip Tar is excellent, probably my favourite (and most-used so far) of all the purchases from Sephora. I wore it every day on holiday (and I'm even wearing it today) and I really like how super pigmented it is and I'm amazed that a tiny bit of product can go such a long way. Well worth the $18 price tag.  I bought it in Nylon which is described as a 'classic bubblegum pink with a neon twist' - I'd say that sums it up nicely! I'm wearing mine in the picture on the right. There were no other OCC products in the stores I visited, just some lip tars in bowls where you would queue to pay.

Sephora is one of those stores that I could easily have bought more in but I was very happy with what I got.  I managed to pick up a selection of make-up, hair, nail, skincare and perfume products which I have enjoyed using so far. Sometimes I wish we had it in the UK, but then I think I would have no money left if we did!

Have you tried any of these products? What are your thoughts on them? Who is your favourite shopping partner?

Thanks for reading!

It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year

Oh, I wish it could be Christmas everyday... It's true. I do love a bit of Christmas (or, as The Boy would argue, a whole lot of Christmas). This year has been no exception, Christmas has been brilliant and spent gleefully in the company of friends and family. Am I the only one that still considers it to be Christmas (or at least 'the festive period') until they go back to work in the New Year? Probably not, I suspect there are more people that like to stretch out the season a bit longer too.

I didn't want to do a blog just about what I got for Christmas - that would be a bit OTT for me, but I still want to give some of my presents a mention as they were really thoughtful and incredibly generous. I love giving people presents, wrapping them up and watching people open them (this is why I am always the last person to open theirs on Christmas day, I'm too busy watching everyone else). I even like giving people cards, and I was quite disappointed at the amount of people this year that simply said "oh, I'm not doing cards this year" with a wave of their hand. Er, OK then Scrooge.

We put the tree up in early December and that action, along with the Coca-cola advert (you know the one, 'holidays are coming') signifies to me that it is officially Christmas and I have the green light to put on VH1's Christmas countdowns (the same 50 songs, just in slightly different orders depending on who is presenting..."you only learn that by having it on constantly", The Boy will testify with a groan) and get in the festive mood. Decorating our lovely new flat for Christmas was great, and the place was soon looking the part with decorations old and new.

I also managed to watch lots of Christmas films over the last few weeks - some well-known and watched several times (Elf, The Nightmare Before Christmas, The Muppet Christmas Carol, Christmas with the Kranks, Fred Claus & Four Christmasses. Still to watch Scrooged), others not so well-known (Santa Baby 2, The Dog Who Saved Christmas and anything else that Christmas 24 were showing) and my all-time favourite, Home Alone 2. You know it's Christmas when Macaulay Culkin is on the loose in The Big Apple.

On Christmas morning*, I was surprised with lots of awesome presents - firstly from The Boy (I mean, Santa) and then our families. Highlights included gorgeous goodies from Disney Couture, Hello Kitty, Vivienne Westwood, ASOS and Skull Candy, chocolate (chocolate, and more chocolate), perfume, the coveted New Look bird dress (thanks, Santa) and more Lush / Soap & Glory delights than you could shake a loofah at:

My Christmas Bath & Beauty haul - I'm well-stocked for toiletries & make-up now. Me: "people know me so well", The Boy: "people must think you reek". I like to think it's the first statement!!

The last thing I opened was in a small parcel, but inside was a beautiful pair of Tarina Tarintino skull earrings (again, thanks Santa!):

I was feeling well and truly spoiled at this point and the following two days spent with our families were spent in a giddy, happy blur. Copious amounts of food were consumed until I felt like I would pop (Pringles, shortbread & After Eights were the main culprits) but it's nothing a few sessions on the Wii won't sort out (I hope). We didn't get a White Christmas this year but we did get it last year and it wouldn't be a magical as it happened all of the time.

New Year came and went as it normally does, I had a lovely time with The Boy and enjoyed having the time together. So here we are, now at 2012. I hope everyone had a wonderful & stylish Christmas and New Year. 2011 was a blast, I really don't know how I will top it, but I'm willing to give it a good go!

 How did you spend the festive season?

*Christmas Morning was technically Christmas Eve, or as I like to think of it, Christmas Day Part 1. We had to start Christmas early in order to see both the families. Start Christmas early? I, of course, was only too happy to oblige.