My Updated Life with Psoriasis

Here we are again with another Psoriasis post! It turns out that the last time I wrote a blog post about my Psoriasis was at least two years ago, which is crazy! How has the time gone by so far already?

Anyway, getting into the post..
As some of you may know, I have suffered with Psoriasis since I was around the age of 7 or 8. I first noticed this when I was in school, it was raining outdoors and in class, I realised that my skin was really sore. I went to the bathroom and being a 7 year old child, what do you do? Throw some hand wash over your face, wash your face and hope for the best!
Obviously, I did not know that I had Psoriasis and putting soap on my face was probably the last thing I would ever do now. So, I had a VERY red forehead and hairline when I went home and that’s when I went to the doctors and HOORAH, it’s Psoriasis..

What is Psoriasis some of you might ask?
Well, Psoriasis is a skin condition that you cannot cure. Your skin tends to become really red, inflamed, it can flake, become very itchy, weep and just look pretty gross to other people.

It is not contagious, so do not worry!

My Psoriasis is a lot milder than other peoples. Unfortunately, some people can get this all over their bodies, where it cracks, bleeds and is debilitating them from movement.

What are the causes of Psoriasis?
Nobody knows, but basically your body is producing skin cells much quicker than it usually would. So think of it, you are getting an extra layer of skin, on top of your regular skin (technically it gradually moves up through the layers of skin) and hence why it flakes.

What can cause a flare up of Psoriasis?
It is said that a number of things can trigger Psoriasis such as stress, smoking, drinking excessive amounts of alcohol, throat infections, other immune disorders and even hormonal changes.
Some people even think that certain foods can really trigger their Psoriasis, but that’s another boat to go into, so maybe another time I’ll write up about that!

What do I do to my Psoriasis to keep it at bay?
I am quite lucky with my Psoriasis, it is mainly in my scalp, behind my ears, can flare up around my T-Zone, neck and eyebrows.
Luckily, mine can be quite unnoticeable until it flares up. When this happens, I will usually use a Cortizone cream which is a steroid cream (I believe this is called Hydrocortizone in the UK, you cannot get this over-the-counter). I don’t particularly like using these especially as you shouldn’t use them on your facial skin (there is a reason for it) but I find that this works for my skin when it’s a mini-emergency to really calm it down.

On a day-to-day basis, I will leave my skin alone pretty much. I do not put any ointment on it, I just try to go about my day with a normal moisturiser and in the night, I will cleanse my skin with pure Coconut Oil (comes hard, so needs to be left to melt in your hand into an oil) and then I will apply some more onto the flakier parts of my face. This has been a recent discovery of mine and so far it is going really well, it has left my skin really soft, no flakes and so far, I am not worrying about ‘When am I going to flare up?’.

I do not wear foundation or moisturisers that have a huge amount of chemicals in them. I like to keep my skincare quite simple as I don’t really see the point in putting all stuff that I don’t know about into my skin. Surely it’s not great for the skin, right?

Photos from 2015 – Psoriasis flaring up behind the ears, neck, scalp and T-Zone.

What can help Psoriasis?
Some people believe that the sun can really clear up cases of Psoriasis, but from my personal point of view for me it doesn’t really work. If anything, it aggravates my skin and causes it to flare up. I have known many people that really benefits from the sun though, so it’s just down to the each individual.

Other people resort to Steroid Creams or Ointments to nourish the skin daily.
I also know a few people that go for Phototherapy, this is when your skin is exposed to a special type of UV light and it can really clear up the Psoriasis.

I have also heard that people can take tablets and injected medication for Psoriasis, but I personally don’t have any experience with this at all. It’s all really trial and error for your own personal needs and it can take some time, but when you’ve found a routine that your skin likes stick to it!

I have also heard that some tea’s can help with Psoriasis too such as Rooibos Tea, Ginger Tea.. Here is a link to Beautymunsta’s Blog where I found this article on the Best Tea’s for Psoriassis!

So I won’t bore you all too much with all of the little details as I could talk about this all day! But I will leave some links to helpful websites below:

NHS – Introduction to Psoriasis
Psoriasis Association
National Psoriasis Foundation
National Psoriasis Foundation’s Twitter Page

Ointment Creams
E45
Diprobase

Natural Oils
Superdrug Coconut Oil (125ml) – £2.49

Steroid Creams
Cortisone

*Disclaimer: I am not under any Medical Profession at all. My words are purely from my experience, for further information contact your local GP.

Review: 13 Reasons Why by Jay Asher

That’s right, I’m almost certain you know what 13 Reasons Why is all about now! If not,  Netflix have recently released a TV Series based on the book 13 Reasons Why by Jay Asher and believe me, it does not disappoint! There has also been a lot of hype about it so far which I feel so proud about as I read this book two years ago and it really hit me hard.

Basically, 13 Reasons Why by Jay Asher was released in 2009 and is a story about a teenager girl called Hannah who has committed suicide. People aren’t too sure why she has done this, especially her parents but 13 of her high school friends have received a cassette tape that she’s recorded especially for them.

These tapes include a lot of information on how things happened from her point of view. Some people might not have thought they were responsible or contributed to her death in the slightest, but when they hear her side of the story you can really see how it all builds up.

13 Reasons Why – now on Netflix

She takes them individually to certain locations and tells them the background story of that place and what incidents happen there.

There is a lot of emotions that will run through you in this book and I could not put it down whilst I was travelling. I find that there’s some really, really crucial and important points within this book and I would love teenagers to especially understand them.

People do not realise how much harm they are doing to somebody. They might think it’s just a small remark or joke, but that person could take it differently, could be dealing with several other issues at the time or just really having a tough time itself.

In this book, it brings across the point to the other students that you might have done something ‘small’, but really that all added up and contributed to the death of Hannah.

I highly recommend giving this book a read, it might really open your eyes to the way others think and share the word around about this great book!

You can purchase this book from Amazon or Waterstones and several other book stores.

Goodreads

Do you want to follow me on Goodreads? Here’s a link to my profile.
Don’t know what Goodreads is, but you love reading? It is pretty much the Facebook of Reading Books. You can add yours friends to it, create your own personal profile where you can update your ‘status’ saying what books you are reading, what page you are currently on (it calculates a percentage of your progress through the book) and you can do so much more on there. There’s competitions from authors themselves to win signed books, there’s groups to join, you can create and join lists of your favourite books and specific genres and even join Book Clubs.

Don’t forget that Goodreads have a ‘Reading Challenge’ every year, where you can set yourself a target of how many books you would like to read throughout the year and it will add them all up for you as you go along!

So, I hope you enjoyed the review and let me know if you have or want to read the book and if you’ve seen the TV Series adaptation!
What do you think about the book/series?
Does any of this really hit home to you in some sort of way?

Want more blog posts to read? Check out these:

– My Time at the Netflix Apartment

– What am I looking forward to on Netflix 2017?

– Review: The Sky Is Everywhere by Jandy Nelson

– Review: Ready Player One by Ernest Cline

March Favourites

So, somehow another month has passed by which means it’s time for another monthly favourites!
I was so busy in February that I completely forgot to do a favourites and when I did, it was already March.. so here’s a March Favourites instead!
I am going to save the blabbing this time and just get stuck right into it.

So let’s dive in..
My first favourite of the month of March certainly has to be Netflix. I have finally re-entered the fabulous world of Netflix and wowie, there are so many incredible shows for me to catch up on! There is nothing better than jumping into bed early to catch up on Netflix and munching on way too many Minstrels! I have written a post on What I’m Looking Forward to on Netflix 2017 (This might feature 13 Reasons Why – which is another monthly favourite for me! Hype hype!) for you all to check out, if you need some inspiration!

I was so fortunate to attend a Netflix Event in Cardiff last month, where there was a Netflix-filled apartment and we got shown all of the latest releases coming for 2017. Here is a link to that post, incase you want to give it a read: My Time at the Netflix Apartment.

My first favourite of March has to be the Nyx Brow Gel in the shade ‘Chocolate’ (seen in the photo above). Seriously, it is pretty tough to rub these bad boys off whilst I have this brow gel on my eyebrows! I was looking for a product that doesn’t wipe away easily like pencil or sometimes powder (I also have psoriasis, so I tend to scratch pretty often) and this product works a treat.
I apply this brow gel with an angled eyebrow brush from Real Techniques, I try not to apply too much as they can go a little too bold and dark for my face but if I apply carefully, they go with my hair colour pretty well.

You can purchase this from select Boots stores, so here is a link to the website for you to browse. I will most probably do an eyebrow tutorial on my blog using this product for you all soon! Let me know what you think about that.

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My second favourite of the month has to be ‘Dear Amy’ by Helen Callaghan which I am currently reading. I haven’t finished it yet, but the storyline is so good and I got completely hooked on just the blurb which is just here:

“Would you risk your life to save a stranger? 
Discover what happens next in the Sunday Times bestselling psychological thriller, Dear Amy . . .

A local schoolgirl has been missing for weeks when Margot Lewis, agony aunt of the ‘Dear Amy’ advice column, receives a letter:

Dear Amy,

I’ve been kidnapped by a strange man. 
I don’t know where I am. 

Please help me,
Bethan Avery

This must be a hoax. Because Bethan Avery is another young girl, who went missing twenty years ago.

As more letters arrive, Margot becomes consumed by finding the sender and – unlike the police – convinced that the girls’ disappearances are connected.

Solving this puzzle could save someone’s life – but could it also cost Margot her own?”

You can purchase this book from Amazon now!

My third favourite is Bath and Body Works ‘Twisted Peppermint’ foaming hand wash which is a Christmas Fragrance. I absolutely adore Bath and Body Works and I am so, so, so sad that there isn’t one in the UK (although, if there was, it would probably be expensive..) so when I go to America I go a little crazy on the hand soaps and antibacterials! I cannot get enough of them!

I was super excited as I have heard about the Christmas Fragrances that come out obviously over the Christmas period, but I have never been in America late enough for them to be released, so this Christmas I found them and I was super excited!
Unfortunately, I really wanted the Body Mist of this as it was really gorgeous but it was sold out completely in the store I went to and could not get my hands on it! Damn!

Anyway, this foaming hand wash is incredible. It has such a strong and lost lasting scent that stays on your hands afterwards and the bottle lasts ages too! (I went a little crazy using this, although I knew I’d regret it when it’s all gone..)
I would highly recommend these products and if you haven’t heard of Bath and Body Works then definitely give them a browse – there’s no doubt that you won’t find something that you will fall in love with!

I have also been loving The Library of Fragrance‘s scent in ‘Honeysuckle’. I purchased this from Boots for £10 (usually £15) with my Advantage Card points to treat myself and my, my, my.. this genuinely smells like actual flowers! Although, my boyfriend just comments ‘You smell like a bee’ (whatever a bee smells like.. but y’ano).
This company have so many different fragrances from Cinnamon, Marshmallow, Mint Ice Cream, Fresh Laundry and even Play-Doh.. that’s right, Play-Doh.. yummy?..

You can even mix and match scents, and they have a page that tells you which scents compliment each other whether you want to go warm, musky, bright and refreshing..

I’ll leave a link to their website here and also check out the Boots website as either one of the sites usually have an offer on!

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So, that is all I have for my March Favourites at the moment. I hope you enjoyed and I would love to know what you have been loving this month too! Let me know down below!

Want to browse some more blog posts?

How I do Disney World on a Budget

My January Favourites

Review: Ready Player One by Ernest Cline

Review: The Sky is Everywhere by Jandy Nelson

My Time at the Netflix Apartment

Bootlegger Cardiff Review

How I do Walt Disney World and Universal on a Budget

People tend to ask me how do I go to Walt Disney World twice a year, and I am forever explaining mine and my families methods so I thought I would share some of our tips to you lot!
We are huge Disney fans and we have such a huge passion for the Disney Parks, especially Walt Disney World. When we visit the parks, we always find more hidden facts about the park, we like to hunt down Hidden Mickeys (I’ll leave a link to explain these here) and get up to date on the latest construction of lands and rides within the parks!

1. Annual Passes – that’s right, Walt Disney World have an annual pass option when it comes to tickets which works out as very beneficial to US residents and especially Orlando visitors. It is such great value and you definitely can get your money’s worth out of this ticket. Here is a link to all the information on Annual Passes.

The tickets are $829 this year, I believe and in the past years this has definitely been beneficial for us with the exchange rate of GBP and USD.
When you usually go to Walt Disney World, you will pay at least £299 minimum for a 14 day ticket (and more, if it includes the Water Parks).

As we go at least twice a year, it use to work out as you either break even, save slightly or have saved quite a bit of money from having the Annual Pass.
If you already have a 14 day ticket, you can always upgrade your passes at the parks to an Annual Pass.

2. Cheap Flights and Accommodation – We tend to go through a travel agent in the past on icelolly.com and usually end up travelling with purpletravel. These fly with Virgin and Thomson I believe and they have some incredible packages! So definitely give them a browse on ice lolly.com and purple travel through ice lolly. We tend to get flights and accommodation for £450-500pp for two weeks with luggage included and then we rent a car on top of that which is must easier for us.

3. Non-Disney Accommodation – We think of it as ‘we get up super early in the mornings and don’t come back until midnight each night whilst at Walt Disney World. So does it really matter what hotel you have? As long as it is decent, clean, has the necessities that you need and isn’t too far from the parks then it’s great!
The Disney hotels are really great and are so lovely to go to. We stayed at the All Stars Movie Resort when I was 7 years old, but it does really bump up your holiday price unless you can find an amazing deal!

We tend to stick with one of our favourites now which is Celebration Suites in Old Town, Orlando. It is a 5 minute drive to Walt Disney World or maybe even less! You drive straight out of the hotel, down the road for 60 seconds and you’re straight onto the right entrance for Walt Disney World!

At the Celebration Suites, depending on how many of us are going we usually get one bedroom, a kitchen, bathroom and a living area that has a pull-down bed or if you go for the deluxe rooms, you will get three bedrooms, a kitchen, two bathrooms and a living area.
It is so affordable here and we are always going back, unless we feel like going somewhere different and have found an amazing deal with the Radisson Blu Celebration which is also such an incredible hotel but a bit more pricey again!

4. Food – We don’t go crazy on food at the parks as we know that they can be very expensive, so we usually eat a huge breakfast at iHop or Golden Coral before we head to the parks. We are so full from having a huge buffet breakfast, that we don’t want to eat again until the evening! Some nights, we might still not feel like a huge meal so we will get something small to eat in the parks or a snack. I also completely adore Taco Bell, it is suppose to be Mexican food although Americans tend to say it’s the ‘McDonalds of Mexican’ food but I love it and it’s super cheap and affordable when you order a snack box!
Other days, we will then decide to have food at the parks and keep it as if it’s a special occasion for the bigger restaurants or dessert parties. (Check out my post on the Wishes Dessert Party!)

Every now and then, we really enjoy visiting Tony’s at the Magic Kingdom especially as we usually go to WDW when it’s Father’s Day or somebody birthday!

5. Souvenir Cups – Take advantage of some of the souvenir cups that WDW and Universal sell. In the past, Universal use to sell a red tall cup that was $10 and you could get unlimited refills for just $0.99 each time! But, there was never anything saying that you couldn’t reuse the cup so people would always take them back each day and it was ALWAYS a huge must for us to remember our cup each year to go into the suitcase!
Usually Orlando Informer‘s website always has the ins and outs of everything and provide so many amazing tips and I would recommend going over to TheTimTracker’s YouTube for more tips and videos on updates at the parks!

6. Annual Passholder Discount – If you own an Annual Pass, do not forget about the discounts that you receive at the parks! We use to forget all of the time or just weren’t aware of them and now we’re getting on top of them more and more each year!
You can get discounts at Pandora, all of the merchandise stores, Starbucks, restaurants, at Disney Springs (previously known as Downtown Disney) and on hotels, I believe..
Here is a link to all of the Annual Passholder Discounts for you to browse at!

We didn’t know until Christmas time, that you can get discount on the bottles of Coca Cola that you purchase but only at merchandise stores, not from the little kiosks selling snacks and refreshments around the park!

7. Disney Transportation and Parking – Take advantage of the free Disney Transportation System! There are buses that run from Disney Springs to all of the hotels, then from the Disney hotels they have buses that take you directly to the parks. In the past, we parked at Disney Springs if we were browsing around for a bit or getting something to eat and then we would hop on a bus to another park.
I am assuming that Disney frown upon doing this as it will take up the parking at Disney Springs (which is now improving) but use this at your own risk, incase they put anything in place from now on!

Also, again with your Annual Passes you will gain free parking into all of the theme parks if you show it at the main gate to the parking lot (this goes for Universal Studios, Sea World and Busch Gardens too!). Each year that I have visited Walt Disney World, we have seen the prices of parking shoot up! It use to be $12 when we visited around 2007/2008 and now it’s up to $20 per day for a standard size car. Anything larger is more expensive like a shuttle/limo/camper/trailer/RV..

8. Additional Discounts on Food Outside the Parks – Don’t forget to look through the coupon booklets that you will see everywhere in Orlando. At restaurants they will have stands of them and also at Tourist Offices and Ticket Sellers. 99% of the time, you will find a coupon for the big named restaurants such as Ponderosa, Golden Coral, Red Lobster, Crab Shack, Chick-Fil-A.. Most of these coupons will be 5-10% off your bill or a ‘Kid eats free’ voucher.

I know it’s only small but if you add everything up from each day, you will see what a difference it makes! We like to write down how much we have spent each day and then we will use the extra money to splash out on gifts for ourselves or family and friends, any extra activities or restaurants we want to visit!

I tend to join up to certain restaurants mailing lists too, for example at iHop they give you a free stack of pancakes on your birthday and usually other large events throughout the year like Pancake Day!

9. Snacks – I always highly recommend taking snacks with you wherever you go. As you will find out, the theme parks can be quite pricey for snacks although we do tend to purchase these as it’s easier than taking a bag. The snacks are really good at the parks and this is what we tend to spend on at the parks, but you can always bring your own in.
We really enjoy going to Walmart and purchasing a huge 1KG bag of mini size Nerds, Laffy Taffy, Gobstoppers and Sweetarts. We also purchase things like Capri Sun’s to have at the hotel (they get a bit too warm in the car), cereal (always Lucky Charms to get those sugar levels soaring through the roof!) and fruit to eat in the morning at the hotel, cereal bars to easily take with us wherever we go and always bags of Cheetos as they are my favourite and you never know when you need to munch in the car!
We basically just keep a carrier bag of snacks in the car, so we can eat them there or take them out somewhere with us.

And I feel like that is it for now until some more tips come to my mind! I might end up doing a Part Two to this post if I find enough additional tips for you but if you have any questions then feel free to comment down below and I’ll reply to them!

I really hope you enjoyed this post and I hope that it helped in some way for you all!

Have a magical day!

If you want to check out more Disney related posts:

Wishes Fireworks Spectacular Desert Party Review

Christmas at Walt Disney World

Mickey’s Very Merry Christmas Party Review

My Disney Jewellery Collection

Video: I Surprised My Mother at Disney!

Disney Theme Park Vlogs

An Evening at Lush Spa Cardiff

That’s right, the day has finally come.. Today is the day that the Lush Spa Cardiff is opening and it is going to be wild!
If you aren’t too sure on what this is, then a little brief is that Lush is a skincare and cosmetics brand that love to use natural products that really aid your skin and are tailored to each individual skin type! The scents are just incredible, the longevity of the products and you will be wanting to come back for more and more each time and never become disappointed with what’s next!

Lush sell products from Bath Bombs to Bubble Bars, Bath Melts, Skincare (Cleansers, Toners, Moisturisers..), Make Up, Fragrance, Haircare (Shampoos, Conditioners and Treatments) and just so much more! But now they have expanded the company even further by adding in a full spa with so many incredible treatments, which is so exciting!!

We fortunately received an invite to visit the Lush Spa Cardiff yesterday evening as a pre-opening for today and believe me, it did not disappoint!

Firstly, we got stuck right in and were able to make our very own face masks and bath bombs as two lovely employees from the Lush Factory in Poole, England came down to show us and hold a workshop which was so much fun!

Me and Laura (laura-simone.com) got to make our own Golden Slumbers Bath Bomb which has ‘Balancing and Calming lavender oil and calming and soothing Chamomile Blue Oil’ and believe me, it smells incredible and has gold glitter in it too! Also, they actually use these bath bombs in the spa treatments too so it goes to prove how soothing these are!

Straight after creating our own products, we were able to try out so, so, so many different products around the store which left us smelling and feeling so incredible! We had the lovely Lowri showing us around the new store and giving us demos, she did such an amazing job and her memory is spot on!

I think that one of my favourite products from the night was definitely Plum Rain which is a shower gel which contains Osmanthus Absolute which is full of floral tones,Sicilian Mandarin Oil to brighten the skin and the best part, it is crammed with Fresh Plum Juice which smells so delicious! I cannot wait to use this in the shower and hope that my whole bathroom is filled with the scent for ages!

We were then shown around more of the store (it is massive compared to their other Cardiff store!), getting to see the exclusive products they have and what they use within the spa treatments.
There was so much choice of products in this new store that I genuinely could not think straight when I started purchasing stuff. I was lusting after so many products, it was crazy!

We then moved onto browsing and testing out the massage bars and seeing how they are used within the treatments that they have at the new spa. I have never personally had a spa experience and did not expect much from a simple hand and arm massage with a massage bar but boy, was I surprised! It felt so incredible and when I say incredible, I mean that I immediately purchased these products and decided to try the same out on my boyfriend when I got home! (He even said it was amazing!).

This sample of the treatment was all about putting pressure on certain parts of the arms and then instantly cooling them, to give off an Icelandic Spa feel (when people go into a sauna and then dash off into the snow straight after).

We had a good look through the Spa Treatment Brochure and I spotted two that I would absolutely adore! Firstly, I feel like I need to point out the fact that some treatments don’t even require you getting undressed to an extent. As I have never had a spa treatment, I have always been so nervous about going for one and undressing. It would be completely fine whilst I’m there, but the anxiety beforehand would freak me out! So I thought I would point out that at Lush Spa Cardiff, they actually do treatments where there’s very little undressing, some undressing or down to your underwear but beneath a cosy sheet.

The first treatment I spotted obviously involved chocolate..

‘The Comforter’
’60 Minutes of pure imagination, full of candyfloss, fantasy and bittersweet cacao kisses.’
A sweet experience to love you tender and cloud you in candy floss and the heavenly ministrations of massage. Then a bubbling rose serum, hot, rich and dripping on your skin, deliciously floral for your body to savour. You’re drunk on chocolate, fantasy and music, on the weird and wonderful chords which send you high up to Hushabye Mountain. Fireworks of thought conjure up fantastical, long-lost daydreams which scamper to greet you like childhood pets, layers of warmth and nostalgic rapture to wander in, free from responsibility.
Awake, tickled pink with velveteen skin and a reawakened sense of playfulness.

This sounds outstanding, right?!
This is essentially a hot chocolate body scrub and warm, nourishing rose body serum for 60 minutes.

The second treatment that really intrigued me was A Hard Day’s Night and I know you’re probably thinking ‘Isn’t that a Beatles song?’ Well, yes it is..

‘Hard Days Night’
‘Here’s a recipe for 75 minutes of delicious, undisturbed rest, steeped in sweet dreams and refreshment which lasts.’
Take an album of Beatles classics and sift vigorously. Add one pair of pyjamas, soft, oversized and stir the two into a reverie of massage, music and golden slumbers. Tip out, kneading away the knots of this complex dough with an unwinding massage of gentle, passive stretches which lengthen, strengthen and relax, aligning and fine-tuning from head to toe.
Add a dash of the weird and wonderful, the feeling of soaring skyward in a dream and bake with a splash of home comfort. A liberal sprinkle of Liverpool and leave to rise, starry-eyed, with the sun.

This sounds right up my street and I adore The Beatles, so this is perfect! Also you get to wear pyjamas – what could be better than that?! This treatment is 75 minutes with a 15 minute consultation beforehand.

There are so many more different treatments which are all on their website here, but these are just two that really stood out to me!

Go check out these ladies’ twitter accounts and blogs here: katiedoesbeauty, wdaydreaming, paigehelenblog, ohbexhowells, lb_chelsea, pip_says, laurasimoneowen

I would like to thank Lush Spa Cardiff for having us at another of their events and they just keep getting better and better each time! We had an amazing time as always, as usual coming home covered in glitter (hell yes!) and smelling insane!
Feel free to follow their social media accounts here:
Twitter – @LushCardiff
Instagram – @LushSpaCardiff
Facebook – /LushSpaCardiff

Are you heading to Lush Spa Cardiff to check out the opening?
What is your all-time-favourite Lush product? I’d love to know!
xx

Want more posts to read? Check out:
– Lush Cardiff Christmas Event
– What’s On My Beauty Wishlist
– January Favourites

Prosecco Flow Event

Myself and a few more of my incredible blogger friends were so kindly invited to Prosecco Flow’s Event. This is a one-off event where so many different and incredible brands come together to give us a night to pamper ourselves and have a great time.

The brands that were involved were Yogi Bare, Yume Cardiff, Nando’s, Ten Mill Lane, UFit Fitness, Pixies and Poppets and so many more!

We had such an incredible evening which started off with some RnB Yoga from Yogi Bare which was so refreshing to see and so enjoyable! We then moved onto getting our eyebrows tinted and waxed which was so great – especially as I have never had my eyebrows tinted professionally, so there’s always time for a first!

We then moved onto the Ten Mill Lane booth who made endless cocktails for us all which were so tasty it was unreal! What better to go along with amazing cocktails? Nando’s, of course!
Nando’s Cardiff were so kind to cook us up a whole bunch of amazing food from their stores and let us all loose!

Once we were all refilled and raring to go, we headed straight to Yume Cardiff’s stand where they did these incredible hair braids! I really wish I had the talent to do something like this myself and I apologise again to the ladies for having to battle my super thick hair! It looked so gorgeous in the end though and was well worth it!
They had so many different beauty therapies at Prosecco Flow, but we didn’t manage to get around all of them!

Afterwards, people got swiftly transported to Ten Mill Lane to carry on the night and party away after being pampered all evening. Unfortunately, I had work the next day so sadly I had to give this one a miss but I’m almost certain that everyone had a blast!

A huge thank you to Prosecco Flow for having us and we cannot wait to see if there are any more future events! Such a great idea to give the perfect Friday night and to combine so many different brands all at one time!

Want to see previous event posts? Check them out here:

Lush Cardiff Christmas Blogger Event

Christmas At The Grape and Olive Swansea

NYX Cardiff Blogger Event

Bootlegger Cardiff Event

I am back again with another review! This time I was very kindly invited to Bootlegger in Cardiff which is a new 1940s, Post-Prohibition Jazz and Cocktail Bar which is on Womanby Street, Cardiff.

Firstly, I adore Jazz music and anything to do with the 1940s. I also just completed a university project where I decided to design a 1940s Jazz Club in 3D. But enough rambling about me..

Bootlegger has it’s first bar in Bristol and has had a huge success since it has opened! So, why not open more elsewhere?
I believe that Cardiff has definitely needed this bar, as I personally am fed up of going to the same clubs, with the same genre of music, the same Justin Bieber songs will play..
I need some jazz, blues, soul, motown and right now!

Bootlegger Cardiff has been absolutely transformed and is such a gorgeous building now! It is full of wooden floors, red brick walls, intricate wall decors and the most incredible genre of music floating around in the background.

We were very lucky to taste a few of their cocktails and believe me, there are a lot of cocktails on their menu (107, to be precise..) so you will never get bored of any flavours, although you’ll have a tough time deciding! I went for a Jaffa Cake Espresso Martini which blew my mind! Firstly, it has chocolate in it which is always a winner in my eyes. It has such a rich espresso taste that completely compliments the orange and chocolate – and even comes with a jaffa cake on the rim too!

There was such a great atmosphere here and they even have live musicians and singers come into Bootlegger who were outstanding – such beautiful voices!

I would highly recommend checking it out, especially if you want to escape the generic night clubs that are everywhere. They also have a Gin Bar too and additional rooms so there is always room for all sorts of occasions at Bootlegger, whether it’s a casual drink, an event, a full blown night of alcohol and excitement..

A huge thank you to Lee and Drew for an amazing evening with great entertainment – we cannot wait to visit again! 2 cocktails down, another 105 to go!

Don’t forget to check out their Website, Twitter, Facebook and Instagram!

Want more posts to read?

– My Time at the Netflix Apartment

– Let’s Talk About Respect..

– Review: The Sky is Everywhere by Jandy Nelson

– Review: Ready Player One by Ernest Cline

My Time at the Netflix Apartment

A Netflix event sounds incredible, right? I was so fortunate to attend Netflix’s event at the St David’s Hotel in Cardiff for a great evening of teaser trailers and exclusives for their upcoming shows for 2017.

We walk up to the front door of the apartment which bares a sign with Netflix written on it. We are then greeted and filled with such warm welcomes to the apartment which looks absolutely incredible. The apartment is adorned with Netflix branded cushions, notepads, pillows, photo frames and so much more. There is a huge table filled with all of the beverages you could imagine from Champagne, Prosecco to bottles of Lager and soft drinks.
From the apartment, you get an incredible view from the ceiling to floor windows looking out along Cardiff Bay which is a sight I never can get tired of!

We get to know each other, introduce ourselves and give a brief background of our lives and almost instantly we burst out into conversations of TV Series, films and different platforms that we watch Netflix on.

We are then shown some really exciting teaser trailers from upcoming shows for 2017 that include 13 Reasons Why (this is based on the book by Jay Asher, which a review is coming up shortly!) and Mindhunter which instantly reeled me in just from the teaser trailer!
I have a ‘What shows am I looking forward to in 2017‘ post where I go into more detail about both of these shows and more. I have left links on each title to Netflix’s website so you can go watch the teaser trailers now.

The champagne is still in full flow, we are so kindly served canapés and macarons throughout the evening and I knew it was time that I had a photo opportunity with the Netflix Bed (Hey, I couldn’t resist – those cushions were a must!)

I would like to thank Netflix and the team so much for the incredible event and for inviting us along. We had such an amazing time, so appreciative for getting to see exclusive clips of upcoming shows that I am dying to watch and hope to stay in contact and see some future events to spread the word about even more great shows coming to us!

Now, less of me rambling on and more of me getting my Netflix binge started for the day!
Do you guys love Netflix? Which shows are you currently binging? I would love to know!
xx

For more posts, check out:

Let’s Talk About Respect

Review: Ready Player One by Ernest Cline

Review: The Sky Is Everywhere

What I’m looking forward to in 2017 on Netflix

Review: The Sky Is Everywhere by Jandy Nelson

I received a free copy of The Sky Is Everywhere in exchange for an honest review, all opinions are my own.

Title: The Sky Is Everywhere

Author: Jandy Nelson

Purchase: Available in the UK and preorder for the US.

Overall Rating: 4/5

Great For: Young Adult

Themes: Struggles, Life and Death, Bringing good from unfortunate times

Review: That’s right, there is another Jandy Nelson that has had so much hype over and I can definitely see why people do. I wasn’t completely in love with the book but it is such an intriguing read and you won’t want to put it down!

‘The Sky Is Everywhere’ is about a girl called Lennie who has recently lost her sister, Bailey. Her sister suddenly passed away and Lennie has to learn how to carry on with life without her beloved sister. She is desperately holding onto her sisters memories and possessions and is finding it so hard to believe she isn’t around anymore. The same goes for her sister’s boyfriend, who opens up about a lot of undiscovered things about their relationship (I won’t spoil the storyline for you, don’t worry!)

As life goes on, Lennie doesn’t progress with it.. She is still holding onto her sisters memories and hasn’t been able to go to high school the same since. Everyone stares at her, asks how she is doing every day which is a constant reminder that her sister isn’t there anymore.

She meets a new guy to her class (Joe) who hasn’t been filled in on all of the ‘gossip’ of the school and he is also very cute! He starts to talk to Lennie and finally she feels a sense of trust within somebody that doesn’t know about her sister. With Joe, she feels like she can really be her normal self again without any judgement or sympathy.
Could this be a new friendship or maybe even more?

In this story, there are a lot of family values involved, the ups and downs of relationships, struggles and trying to get through the hard times and try to see a positive at the end of it.
There is so much more to this book than just what I have mentioned, but I don’t want to spoil the whole storyline so I will leave it here.
But if you really want a heartwarming story about loss, friendship and family, then I would highly recommend having a read of this! It was a pretty quick and easy read for me too – so give it a go!

Don’t forget you can purchase it from Amazon UK and Amazon.com here.
If you are looking for more Book Reviews, then pop over to United By Pop where myself and others contribute and share our reviews on Books, TV Series, Fashion, Lifestyle, Film..

Check out my other book reviews:

The Trap by Alan Gibbons

Girl Online: Going Solo by Zoe Sugg (Zoella)

A Quiet Kind Of Thunder by Sara Barnard

The Movie Version by Emma Wunsch

Review: Ready Player One by Ernest Cline

Title: Ready Player One

Author: Ernest Cline

Purchase: Available in the UK and the US.

Overall Rating: 5/5

Great For: Fans of Sci-Fi and Video Games

Themes: Science Fiction, Adventure, Video Games

I know that I have already written a review on this book in the past, but I really think it deserves to be in the limelight again, especially before it is made into a film by Steven Spielberg!

Review: Here comes a review of my all time favourite book that I discovered in 2011. It was so incredible and took me on a complete adventure that I have reread it over and over ever since, then thought ‘Hey, why not give it some love and write a review?!’

Player Begin.
This book is set in a dystopian and corrupt world, so corrupt that the human population live their lives through the world of Virtual Reality headsets. They go to school, go to work, creating a living, hang out with friends, all through a VR headset.

Where did this VR Headset come from? How did it get created?
There was a man who is seen as such an inspiration that created this world to make life worth living, a life that still had opportunity and hope. Although, once the creator died he broadcast a video to the whole VR world publicising that he had created a game, a puzzle within the VR world. The people of this world have to find a clue to start the game, complete each level and defeat several bosses. If they succeed, then the winner will gain the creators life time’s earnings.

I feel like I really should not say any more about this storyline as it immediately drags you in. Not forgetting that Steven Spielberg is currently making a film adaptation of this book. The book is full of classic video game, Star Wars and other Science Fiction quotes throughout too..

There are not enough words that I can say about this book, it is just outstanding and is so fast-paced that you will not want to put it down!

GAME OVER.

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