My Surprise Trip to Manchester

Something I wasn't expecting on my graduation day was a trip to Manchester. My boyfriend Paddy really did surprise me with this one, he seriously is a keeper. He had everything all booked and the whole weekend planned out for us. It was so nice not having to worry about flights, that was already sorted. We flew over to Manchester with Ryanair, from past experiences I repacked my bag a million times to make sure it wasn't overweight. Thankfully it wasn't, I downsized my makeup bag so much for the trip, I literally brought the necessities and I'm glad I did it freed up so much space.

This was my fourth time going to Manchester and it is one of my favourite cities. There's so much to do over there and the people are extremely friendly. Of course the shopping is amazing too. It wouldn't be a trip to Manchester without visiting the Trafford Centre. Thankfully Paddy is one patient guy and he didn't mind strolling through all the shops with me. We must of spent pretty much the whole day there and himself being the gentleman carried all my shopping. Luckily we also came to Manchester at the right time as their Christmas Fair had just started that weekend. I've been to a couple of Christmas fairs in Dublin but this one was so much better. Walking around town made me feel so Christmassy! I really enjoyed checking out all the different stalls, I could literally do that all day. I was really impressed with this sweet stall, I couldn't leave without a picture. 

On Sunday we went to the Phones4U arena (will always be the MEN to me) to see Vampire Weekend and Noah & the Whale. Paddy and I love both of these bands and it was so amazing to see them live. I've been to this venue twice (Taylor Swift & Morrissey) and it's my favourite. It's really easy to get to and we've always had amazing seats everytime we've gone. The gig lasted for about two and a half hours, for the whole duration we didn't stop singing along to our favourite tunes. Paddy introduced me to Vampire Weekend and Noah & the Whale when we started going out almost five years ago so this gig was really special for us.

I couldn't pick one highlight from this trip as there was so many of them. I had such an unbelivable time, I'm so lucky to have such an amazing boyfriend. It was such a nice break from work, kinda sad to be back now. I definitely came back with a much heavier suitcase than what I went with. I guess somethings never change eh? I'll be putting up a haul post really soon on here as I did pick up some gems whilst I was there. I'm really hoping to take another trip to Manchester in the New Year I always have such an amazing time in that city.

What is your favourite holiday memory?

Laura<3

My lovely break in Spain!

Sorry for the lack of posts on here lately, I've seriously missed blogging but I seem to have so little time recently. I've just come back from a family holiday to Spain and I had such an amazing time. We stayed in Sabinillas which is a gorgeous seaside town and the weather couldn't of been better. I can't say I got a tan or anything but it was so nice to get away from the dull weather in Dublin and relax on the beach with the sun shining. In Ireland we never get the chance to wear shorts in September (unless you wear thick tights under them that is), I'm so glad I picked up a couple pairs of shorts from the Accessorize Sale. I went for a tribal print as I knew I was bringing a lot of plain band t shirts with me and it would make the full outfit a bit more holiday appropriate. I pretty much always wear tights (even with dresses) as I have a scar on my leg from a bad fall from when I was younger so I was a bit nervous about my milk bottle legs being on show. That was short lived and I didn't care too much once I realised how hot it was in Spain at the time. The weather was in the high twenties everyday which is a change to the weather we have in Ireland. It was the first family holiday I've been on since I was a teen, I was unsure if it was going to get the time of work but I was so glad I did in the end.

Casares

 Gibraltar

My week was spent chilling and sightseeing (you probably gathered that already) with my family. My highlight of my trip was going to Gibraltar, I've never seen anything like it. We had to walk across a airport runway to get in which you don't see everyday I guess. Everything was unbelievably cheap, that said I didn't buy much whilst I was there. I found a MAC counter and bought two of their new release paint pots that I was eyeing up online lately. My brother on the other hand did well and picked up Dr Dre Beat headphones for €150 which he was really chuffed with. I even spotted a couple of monkies which were super cute. I'm not going to lie I didn't get too close as I was a little scared of them, thank god for good camera lens.

Puerto de la Duquesa

Tarifa

 I didn't buy too much whilst I was in Spain which I was a pretty surprised with. I'm going to put up a little holiday haul soon to show you guys what I bought but it won't be huge trust me. I took a little break from Slimming World while I was on holiday and treated myself. We went out for family dinners every evening so it was hard to find stuff that I actually liked on the menu. I wouldn't say I scrapped my healthy eating routine completely as there was so many options on the menu, I had the yummiest Tuna salad at a beachside restaurant one of the days, it was so nice to munch away on my dinner while looking at the waves come in. There was a lovely pizzeria beside our apartment and they did the nicest bruschetta I've ever tasted. I don't eat bread anymore since I started Slimming World so getting one of them was a huge treat. I put up a couple of pictures on Instagram during the week, as us bloggers tend to do! You can check them out here, I'm really new to the whole Instagram thing and I didn't know what all the fuss was about but I love it!

I didn't do too much reading on my holiday like I thought I would. I've nearly finished The Devil Wears Prada which I'm loving. It was a great holiday read and I literally only have another 100 pages to go. Paddy actually bought me this and the sequel while we were in London in June so at least I don't have to rush out and buy that once I finish. While we're on that note Paddy and I are hopefully heading away on holidays in November to Paris. It's not set in stone yet but we've wanted to go for a while but we are both super busy with work. He's been interning for the past few months so it will be nice to get away somewhere. I've been to Paris before, it was actually one of the last family holidays I went on. I remember loving it, we stayed in one of the hotels in Disneyland and it couldn't of been better. I actually have a picture of my brother and I from that holiday in my room and it's crazy to see how different we look but I guess it was ten years ago now.

I went back to work on Monday and it's seriously like I never left. What is that about going on holidays? I'm already looking forward to planning my next holiday! I really enjoy doing these sort of posts as they are so nice to look back on and relive all the adventures through pictures. I really hope you guys enjoyed this post too.

Laura<3

IMATS London 2013

 It's hard to believe that this time last week I was in London! Time seriously goes way too fast when your on holidays, I had such an amazing trip whilst I was there which you can read all about here. Three days definitely didn't give me enough time to explore this lively city so I'm hoping to pop back towards the end of the year. The main reason behind my trip to London last week was to attend the much talked about IMATS. Having never been before I didn't know what to expect. I was lucky enough to have a Press Pass for Saturday and Sunday, in the end I decided to go on Saturday as I was going to be visiting Paddy's Sister on Sunday.

As I was staying in the Holiday Inn Express in Stratford, East London, it was nowhere near Kensington where IMATS was taking place. I should really look up Google Maps in the future before I book hotel! The location of our hotel didn't really bother us at all, I found that we saw more of London this way. We had an early start on Saturday morning as I wanted to get to IMATS early before the crowds. I was so glad Paddy was there to keep me company as I didn't realise how packed the tubes get, I have to admit I was a bit overwhelmed. Two long train rides later we were in Kensington, we did get off the wrong stop and ended up walking 40 mins to the venue. I seriously don't know how we got it so wrong but we did find our way in the end.

After collecting my Press Pass at the door, I headed inside to check out all the exhibitors. I had a couple of places e.g Crown Brush & Make Up Forever etc. that I wanted to go to first. Even though I didn't want to splurge on the day I did end up spending more money than I expected. I shouldn't of been too surprised as this seems to always be the case lately. The queues for some exhibitors e.g NYX, MAC Pro, Nars etc. were unreal. Instead of wasting my time queuing up for an age, I decided to have a wander around the venue itself. The special effects makeup on show was amazing! I did get quite a fright when I saw a huge monster on stilts started running towards me and started touching my hair with giant claws. Doubt I'm going to forget that anytime soon! I caught a bit of Bobbie Weiner's demonstration on how to create zombie skin. She was such a great speaker and the two looks she created were super spooky and would be perfect for Halloween. Of course she made it look so easy, I doubt I'd be able to recreate it myself. If you haven't heard of Bobbie Weiner before, her work has appeared in a number of Broadway shows and blockbuster movies such as Titanic, Shooter, Wicked and Behind Enemy Lines to name but a few. I seriously enjoyed her talk, it was so interesting and I took a lot away from it. On the day I met up with two lovely bloggers Jade from The Beauty Butterfly and Joanna from Minty Essence, it was so nice to finally meet them after reading both of their blogs for so long. Jade also helped me pick out the perfect shade of Make Up Forever's HD Foundation which ended up being the perfect match for my skintone. I've been using it a lot since I bought it!

We left just before 2pm as I was shopped out plus I was way too warm. Paddy and I headed for a bite to eat in Pizza Express, lots of IMATS attendees must of had the same idea as it was so busy!! All in all three hours gave me enough time to see all I wanted to see at IMATS. I picked up a good few bargains which you'll see in my London Beauty Haul post which is coming soon! The only thing I'd probably do differently next year is book a Central hotel. Not that I minded too much this time around but it definitely would have made things easier. If your planning on visiting IMATS yourself in the future, I'd recommend going early on Saturday to beat the crowds. It starts getting really busy after the 12 o'clock mark. I'd also write down a list of what exhibitors you want to check out on the day, also don't forget to pick up a floor plan map at the door as you want to know where the booths are that you want to check out. Lastly THINK before you BUY! I know there are fabulous discounts at IMATS and I usually go wild myself in this sort of situation. However I did find myself stepping back and thinking before I bought certain products while I was there. I'm pretty happy with the majority of the purchases I made on the day, one or two things were products that I may not of needed seeing as I have plenty of eyeshadows at home.

I hope you enjoyed this insight into my time at IMATS! I'm pretty sure I took enough pictures so you guys could join in on the experience. I'd love to know if you have been to IMATS before and what you enjoyed.

Laura<3

My London Adventure!

I'm back from London!!

I arrived home yesterday after an amazing weekend in this lovely city. I seriously can't believe it took me so long to visit and I won't leave it too long until I fly back over again. I stayed in a Holiday Inn Express in Stratford which is in East London. It was a bit out of the way but once Paddy and I got our heads around the Tube Map, it wasn't a problem to travel around. I've never been on anything like the London Underground, the Luas over here does not compare in the slightest. It gets so unbelievably busy lets just say I'm glad I'm not claustrophobic! The Olympic Stadium was right beside our hotel plus Westfield Stratford which is huge, we didn't even get to see all the shops in there. I doubt that centre is ever quiet, we went by the place at 11pm on the night we arrived and it was still buzzing with people.

On Saturday we went to IMATS which was a bit of a trek away from Strafford . We did a hell of a lot of walking on this trip! IMATS was really good and I was delighted I took the time to go over to London for the weekend to attend. I'm going to pop up a overview of the day on here soon. Later on in the day we took another train to Green Park to check out Buckingham Palace. After walking through a bit of Hyde Park, I wasn't expecting it to come out of nowhere like it did. The weather wasn't the nicest on the day so we didn't stick around for too long before stopping by Big Ben and Westminster Abbey.

A trip to Hampton Court was on the cards on Sunday where we visited Paddy's Sister. The weather was gorgeous which was a definite plus. We spent the day at Hampton Court Palace which I absolutely loved. There's so much history there and I found the place really interesting. We didn't get to do the whole tour, the place is huge and you'd have to take a full day to do it! The palace gardens are beautiful, seeing as it's June all the flowers were out in full bloom. They even have concerts there, Cliff Richard was playing that evening after we left. If only it was a singer we were remotely interested in. I know my Nanna would of loved him!

Before our flight home on Monday we woke up bright and early. First off we headed to Oxford Street where I stumbled upon Liberty unexpectedly and of course popped in for a bit. I didn't spend too much time on Oxford just because I wanted to fit as much into my last day as possible. Our second port of call was the British Museum, definitely a place that I'd recommend visiting if your ever in London. It's free in and there's so much too see, it's more impressive than some of the museums we have over here. Paddy is big into Ancient Egypt so we spent most of the time looking at that exhibit.

Of course the trip wouldn't have been complete without doing some shopping and I did a lot. I'll put up a haul post in the coming days. All in all I really enjoyed London and I'm already hoping to go back later this year. You definitely need more than three days to see everything. There's so much more I want to see like the Tower of London and Madame Tussauds. We tried to visit the latter on Monday but the queue was enormous and we were a bit pushed for time with our flight leaving that evening. I spotted the Sherlock Holmes statue when we were walking to the Tube though so of course I had to get a picture with that.

Are you guys heading off anywhere nice over the Summer?

Laura<3

London Calling!

Tomorrow I'm heading to London for the weekend for IMATS. The time has seriously flown by, I remember mentioning it on my blog a while back and I can't believe it's here already. I've never been to London before, it will only be my fourth time visiting the UK. I've been to Manchester three times to visit the Paddy's family, for concerts and of course shopping! It's one of my favourite cities, the people are lovely and there is so much to do. I'm definitely going to take a trip back there during the Summer and maybe take in a United game which I know will make the boyfriend happy indeed.

I'm flying over to London tomorrow evening with Paddy. He won't be coming along to IMATS with me but if you see him in Kensington on Saturday definitely say Hi. I was going to fly over on just for the day with the sole purpose of attending IMATS and go home that night. After checking out the flights Paddy and I decided to make a weekend out of it so we're having a little holiday too. I'm just taking a break from packing my bags and its a definite fail so far. I got this lovely Benefit Cosmetics Passport cover in Brown Thomas. The lovely sales assistant gave it to me when I bought one of their amazing Creaseless Cream Eyeshadows. I love the new packaging in their new colour range, it's so pretty! I know I'm only going for a weekend  but I also seem to overpack. This always seems to be the case for every holiday I go on. Does this happen to anyone else?

Being my first time at IMATS I don't know what to expect. I got a Press pass for the weekend so you'll definitely see some coverage on here in the coming weeks as well as posts on what I go up to in London. I'm sure I'll be taking a lot of picture whilst I'm there! Have any of you been to IMATS before? I'd love to hear what you thought of it. I'm really looking forward to checking out all the exhibitor stands, I know I'll definitely pick up some products from NYX and Make Up Forever. I love NYX blushes and lipglosses so I want to pick up a few more shades. I also want to listen to some of the Keynote speakers on the day, I always find these sort of talks really interesting and informative. The talk being given by Ruth Crilly and Caroline Hirons on The Power of Social Media sounds really great so I'll be sticking around for that. I'm looking forward to meeting some of you beauty bloggers too, if you see me on the day come say Hi. I'm meeting up with Jade from Beauty Butterfly on the day. I love her blog so if you haven't checked it out already go do it!

There's so many places I want to visit whilst I'm in London, I've gotten so many great suggestions from you guys already. I'm going to have fun trying to fit everything into four days. Considering that my flight departs Dublin Airport on Friday evening it really only leaves me with three days but I'm not going to think about that. On Sunday I'm going on a boat trip along the River Thames with my boyfriend and his Sister which I'm really exciting. I'm hoping that the weather forecast is good for over the weekend. I better get back to packing or I don't think I'm ever going to get it done. I literally dug out my suitcase yesterday and clearly no one has used it since I went to Manchester last year, it's seriously dusty!

What are your favourite spots to visit in London? I'd love to hear them!

Laura<3

Gifts from Spain & a Little Sidenote

This time last week my parents arrived home from Spain, a whole ten days of sun, good food and the beach. I'm not going to lie I was a bit jealous seeing as the weather hasn't been the best in Ireland lately. I may need to take a little holidays myself soon, I'm missing the sun it feels like it's jumped into Winter so quick.

When my parents go away they always bring us kids back a few gifts, this time was no different. They picked up most of the goodies before they even got on the plane in Dublin, only one product was purchased in Spain and you can probably guess what that was. The present I was most surprised by was Jo Malone's English Pear & Freesia. I already have another Jo Malone perfume in my collection, Nectarine Blossom & Honey, I picked it up on the way to Manchester in July and I love it. I'm so happy my parents bought me this scent as it can be worn on it own or over Nectarine Blossom & Honey to give it's own unique scent. On the airplane my Mom picked me up these two sets, Liz Earle's Beautiful Skin Kit and Bourjois 5x Colour Pop Nail Kit. I can't wait to start using both of these, the latter contains so many pretty bright shades which I'll be rocking on my nails very soon, keep an eye out for some NOTD posts soon. You all know I love Liz Earle so I'll definitely be using this little travel kit alot, all the products included are not full sized but still decent and perfect for holidays. Last but not least the folks actually picked me up two bits from Spain, first is this gorgeous owl necklace, it's quite big so I think it will dress up any outfit. The other gift was the most sought after Bioderma, I haven't ever tried this before and after hearing so many reviews I wanted to see what all the fuss was about. I've used it once or twice already and I do like it but it hasn't completely blown me away. I'll use it a bit more and let you know in a future review how I've been getting on with it.  I was so happy with everything my parents picked me up they are seriously way too good, I don't think there enjoying the weather were having at the moment at all.

Just a bit of sidenote for you all, I start college tomorrow YAY! The time has certainly flown by since I announced I was going back. I'm nervous and excited about the whole experience, I'm hoping this will be third time lucky. I think I have everything sorted for going, I went a bit over board with the stationery shopping, which was to be expected I think. My Nanna got me a lovely bag in Warehouse for college, I adore it and I have a feeling I'll be using it outside of college too. Enough of the rambling I'll get back to why I wrote this sidenote to start with, as I'll be working and going straight to college from there, none of my time will be mine anymore. I want to give a 100% to college this time not like previous years so I may not be able to post as regularly as usual. I will be putting up posts but maybe only once or twice a week so I won't be gone completely, I hope you all understand.

Laura<3

Magic Moments in Manchester

As you all know by now, I arrived back from Manchester last Sunday. I've been to this wonderful city twice already and I'm in love with it. There's so much to do and see over there compared to Dublin which is a serious plus. I went for 10 days in total and I certainly squeezed alot into that period of time. First and foremost I went to Manchester for a PR Internship. It took place over five days so realistically it was more like work experience per se. I wish I had of worked for a longer period of time as I had such a ball. The people were lovely and over the five days I got a great insight into what I want to do in the future. The hours were indeed long (8.30-5.30), but they actually flew by too fast. I may be heading back to college in September now to study PR & Marketing which I'm rather excited about so as they say watch this space.

When I first arrived in Manchester on Friday I was joined by my lovely Mom. Having never traveled to England herself, when I mentioned I was going she jumped at the chance to come for the weekend too. The hotel we stayed in was the MacDonald Manchester Spa Hotel. It was really nice, even though it was a bit of a trek away from the City Centre itself but this didn't bother us in the slightest.The weather was a dream for the full ten days I was there which couldn't of been better. My Mom and I spent most of are time shopping, there will be a post up on what I bought soon. She loved the Arndale and The Trafford Centre. Everyone we met were nothing but nice to us. The three days she came for went by so fast so when Sunday came I was left on my own. This was a completely new experience for me, even though I know Manchester quite well it felt different in a way as I had no one there with me. I really don't know how the rock stars do it at all, I'd miss everyone too much.

When Wednesday came around, my boyfriend Paddy arrived over from Dublin. I couldn't of been happier to see him. We had lots of stuff planned for the remainder of my trip. The first of which was the Olympic football in Old Trafford. To say security there was tight is definitely an understatement but once that was dealt with everything was plain sailing from there. For £35 we got to see two games, UAE vs Uruguay and Team GB vs Senegal. I like my football so I really enjoyed both games alot and it's nice to be able to tell people I seen a Olympic game I suppose. What I didn't like were the horrible crowds after the match it was such a nightmare walking home. We both did alot of shopping between us as everything seems so much cheaper in England. My favourite shopping centre is the Trafford Centre. I've seriously seen nothing like it over here. If you live in Dublin the only thing I could describe it to is Dundrum Town Centre and at that it's about five times the size and much nicer.

The day before we came home, Paddy treated me to my Morrissey ticket. Being honest before Paddy mentioned this concert I'd heard very little about the singer and never listened to his music. On the day of the gig, we went into town early as it was practically are last full day in Manchester. One of our destinations was the Museum of Science and Industry, if your ever in the city you should definitely take a visit as there is so much to do and see. It's very interesting altogether and I'm glad we went. After killing a few hours in town, we headed into the MEN Arena to see Morrissey. I've been to this venue once already to see Taylor Swift almost two years ago, it's one of my favourites. The concert was brilliant, I enjoyed every minute of it. For someone who didn't know Morrissey before the gig I definitely knew who he was when I left. That man has no filter, I think that's why I liked him so much cause he says what he thinks and doesn't care about people reactions. I said to my boyfriend we'd see him again if he played in Manchester as we both loved the gig. 

I'll probably be heading back to Manchester before Christmas so if you know of any places Paddy and I should visit while we're are there let me know in the comments.

Laura<3