Kat Von D arrives in Cardiff

Hey all!

If you're a fellow Cardiffian and a make up fan you will have been pleased to find out that Kat Von D has FINALLY arrived in our Debenhams store. We are both fans of Kat Von D and although M has the Shade and Light palette (review here) neither of us have tried any of her other well known products because we needed to be colour matched. We've also mentioned over the last few months how both of us are now only purchasing cruelty free make up, and Kat Von D has one of the best ranges of products that aren't tested on animals.

So when we heard about their blogger event we HAD to go!

The Brass Beetle

We were super lucky recently and were invited to the opening of the Brass Beetle, this is a new restaurant on Whitchurch Road in Cardiff and I think it fills a gap in the market.

The Brass Beetle 

Dior Masterclass Splendour Event

Well hello there!

Last week we were lucky enough to be invited to a Dior Masterclass with one of our favourites, the lovely Anthony from Ant Gorgeous

He put on a lovely event where we were able to sit and watch him create a make up look on his gorgeous model and learn a few tips and tricks!

We sat down in the meeting room and were offered champagne and cakes, it had an afternoon tea theme which was lovely.

We sat and went through a number of products and got to try them all out on ourselves, which as we all know is the best thing you can offer make up obsessed people!

The Dior Hydra Life Pro Youth Sorbet Creme felt lovely on your skin and absorbed really well. The lipstick and Lip Maximizer lipgloss were both gorgeous too, I have heard so many good things about the Lip Maximizer and apparently Kylie Jenner uses it so you know it must be good!

A particular favourite was the DiorSkin Forever and Ever Wear, Extreme Perfection and Hold Make Up Base. This was a lovely thin fluid and created a lovely base on your skin, it didn't feel tacky but it did feel like it would hold your foundation for a full day.

The DiorSkin Nude Air Luminizer powder is stunning, such a pretty glow but the pattern is so pretty it would be hard to use!

The Dior Show Brow Styler was a big hit for everyone, it's so thin that creating brows from nothing is so easy. The styler allows you to draw on individual hairs to create a really natural look and it blends easily too.

The collection that everyone couldn't take their eyes off was the Splendour collection, this years festive range was beautiful and the colours are stunning. The eyeshadow palette containing five colours is a highlight and I know will be popular. There are also single eyeshadowsavailable in 8 colours, 2 different types of lipsticks, a lip and cheek tint available in four colours, a blush, nail varnish and illuminating pressed powder.

The colour ranges are typically reds and pinks for the lips and nails, and shimmery metallics for the eye products. Whatever you think of when you see the word Splendour, these are exactly the type of products you would expect.

You can see the swatches on my hand above, the liner, the eyeshadows, the lipstick, lipgloss and blush. Beautiful colours!

It was a lovely evening, I picked up a few things including my favourite DiorSkin Forever  Foundation and also a lipstick. I love the DiorSkin Forever Foundation and the finish it has, but also love that it has SPF35 and no flashback at all. I chose a Dior Addict lipstick in Be Dior, it was my first lipstick from this range so I'm looking forward to using it.

We were also given a gift bag containing a few things I haven't tried before so cannot wait to try them out too!

Have you seen the new Splendour collection? What's your favourite product?

Have you tried the Dior Addict lipsticks and Forever Foundation?

L xxx

Kiehl's Event - Cardiff

Morning!

Have you tried Kiehls? I've not tried a single product, so when we were invited to an event in the new Kiehls store in Cardiff I obviously couldn't say no.

I didn't know much about Kiehls as a brand but we were given an introductory chat which was really interesting, I had no idea how old Kiehls was nor how it started. Being a scientist I appreciate the fact it started as an apothecary waaaaaaaay back in 1851 and some of the developed products are still used to this day.

When they say the products have been 'expedition tested' they really mean it too - some of these products were used in trips to the top of Everest and in Greenland. They also help a range of charities including HIV/AIDs and local schools, plus they have a recycling program where you can return empty products for new ones by collecting stamps.

Miss Patisserie Spring Blogger Event

Good morning!

This weekend we were invited to an event at the Miss Patisserie store to see their new collection and it was so much fun!

The store was as beautiful as always, and there were so many lovely products to have a look at and smell that we got stuck in as soon as possible.

The store is really well laid out and although simple, everything is easy to access and it looks really stylish.
The use of wooden crates on the walls for each type of bath bomb looks really cool, and also extremely difficult to choose what you want as they all look amazing!

The window display is always a favourite, the rows of their bath bakes are so pretty and the flowers cascading all along the window are perfect for spring time. In fact I'd like to have a wall of these flowers in my house!

We browsed the store and basically tried as many products as we could.

Charlotte was in store and lovely as always, she showed us a few different scrubs, body butters and dry oils. I never really thought too much of scrubbing and moisturising my hands but dear lord, my hands were so soft that it was unbelievable - I will certainly be paying them a lot more attention from now on.

M particularly liked the sound of the coffee scrubs, they have three different types and are supposed to be great for cellulite.

During our demonstration Charlotte showed us the Bath Crumble, which is basically a bag full of crushed up bath bombs. The bath art is beautiful, with all of the colours mixed together the patterns and swirls are amazing!

They have a great range of candles too, lots of different scents and the lemon grass one particularly caught my eye. Citrus scents are my favourite!
I bought my mum a candle at Christmas and she loved the scent, the candle didn't last very long as she had it lit all the time.

The facial oils have been something I've had my eye on for a while but as I've got two in my stash at the moment I am trying to wait out and buy it when I've run out. The Goji oil is definitely the one I'd choose, it smells great and a tiny bit goes a long way!

The Bath Shards are a new addition and look really exciting, they are large flat pieces that you can snap off and place into the bath. There are three types altogether and one has a bit of fizz in. I can't find the full info on the website yet but you really need to try these, for £2.80 you can get a packet and you just need to snap off a section and let it melt in the bath water.

There were so many new things and beautiful sets to try out, and with some discount available on the day me and M both spent so much! We have a lot of posts coming up with plenty of beautiful bath bombs and wonderful smelling products, have you got any favourites from Miss Patisserie that you would recommend??


We can't wait to try out everything!


L and M xxx

Burger and Lobster Tank Talks

Hey all!

Have you heard of Tank Talks??

It's a new idea from Burger and Lobster where you can attend their restaurant on a Wednesday in March and hear all about the restaurant, try all of the food and matching cocktail items on the menu and generally have a fun time!

We went last week for the first session and were very excited. We both love food as we have mentioned many times and had never been to Burger and Lobster yet so it was a great experience to go to this event first.

We were shown to our tables and there were 10 of us in total so it was a nice manageable number.

Amelia the restaurant manager was so lovely and easy to listen to, she told us a bit of background about the restaurant itself, where it came from and how many there are now.

I wrongly assumed Burger and Lobster came from the US, it actually came from London which now has 9 restaurants, plus a further three in the UK (Cardiff, Manchester and Bath). They also have a few others around the world in the US, Sweden, Kuwait and Dubai so it is still quite exclusive really.

The tables were decorated so half of us were Team Lobster, and the other half Team Burger. Our table was covered with fishing nets and it was a really nice touch with the aim of the evening to decide which team you were on.

The menu is quite simple - there actually isn't one! Instead your server will explain your options to you - basically you choose burger or lobster! The lobster can either be as a lobster roll or server freshly cooked in the shell, either steamed or grilled.
All options are served with salad and chips - pretty easy to decide what you want!

As part of Tank Talks however you get to sample everything from the menu with respective cocktails all for the standard price of £20 - the burger or the two lobster options also cost this for a normal visit to the restaurant. First up, was lobster!







We had a talk from the Sous Chef who told us lots of interesting facts about lobsters, including that you can age them like trees by counting the rings on their antennae, and also that they urinate from their mouths! Crazy!
Burger and Lobster go through around 11 tonnes of lobster a week which is a crazy amount to think about. They have a few tanks on each site with an absolutely huge one in London, I think they said it was the biggest that exists!

The Lobster roll was the first item we tried, this is cold lobster in a japanese mayo with lemon juice in a brioche roll made using their own recipe. I can't tell you how absolutely amazing these were and i really did savour every mouthful!

The lobster roll was also paired with the Ab Fab cocktail, shown above on the right (pink drink) which was light, floral and refreshing. It contains peach vodka, rose wine, lemon verbena and red currant. Unfortunately i was driving but that didn't stop me trying out the range of non-alcoholic drinks and the Hawaiian Cooler (left in the above photo) was really tasty. It was based on pineapple juice which i haven't had in ages so it was a great change.

Next came the real lobster and the respective bibs!!

What a feast!!

Half of the lobster was grilled and the other half steamed. The grilled side tastes a bit meatier and chargrilled, the steamed side is more tender and also fishier so it depends what kind of meal you are looking for.

We got stuck in with the tools and cracking the shells, we've probably never got so messy with food but when you're given bibs it's kind of expected!

This was served with a Jalisco's Rose cocktails, which contained tequila, vermouth, apple cordial and soda.

Next up it was burger time!

The meat for these burgers comes from Hereford and Aberdeen beef from Nebraska. They are corn fed to produce the marble effect. To make the burger they only use 3 cuts of the beef and add absolutely nothing at all, not even seasoning and they advise that you order it medium rare for the best taste.
The bun used in the burger uses the same recipe as for the brioche buns for the lobster rolls, this is then piled high with salad, bacon, cheese and their own recipe burger sauce.

Take a look at this beauty:







The burger is huge! It's amazing though, the whole meal was really tasty and I'd find it hard to choose which one to have if i went again.
In fact we have already been back and shared the burger and a lobster roll!

This came with a cocktail called '8 Steps to the West' containing whiskey, pear, elderflower, rosemary and ginger ale. We think this was collectively our favourite cocktail, I ordered it on our second trip just so I could savour it after having to drive on our original trip!





As if we weren't already stuffed, out came dessert!

As we were Team Lobster by this point we were given the cheesecake with a 'sand' topping, there was also a 'soil' topping for those who were Team Burger (basically digestives or oreos!) which was a lovely touch for the event.
They were very tasty but after all of the food we struggled to finish them!

The last drink we tried was the Hot Bergamot Toddy which contained Bergamot orange, honey, ginger, bitters and hot water. It was lovely for those of us who currently have a cold and I'd fully recommend it.

The whole experience was absolutely wonderful and although we were invited for reviewing purposes and didn't pay for the food we were so impressed we actually went back to watch the Wales v England match that same weekend. It was a tense day for our friendship but even though England won our friendship survived....!

Have you been to Burger and Lobster? Have you booked in for Tank Talks?

We would fully recommend it for any foodie!

Let us know if you try it, and if you're Team Burger or Team Lobster!

L and M xxx

Celtic Manor Festive Afternoon Tea

Hey all!

Today's post is from a wonderful event that we were lucky enough to attend last weekend. Unfortunately M was still in the process of moving so she couldn't attend but I couldn't turn the opportunity down - afternoon tea with a festive twist at the fabulous Celtic Manor.

So now you know the order of the event, how does the menu size up to the occasion?

Check out the multiple courses below - so droolworthy!



Wooaaaah there, I certainly needed to do a fair few laps around the block to work off these treats!

Don't feel too overwhelmed though, I'll take you through each course and it will feel just like you were there with me. First of all, take a look at this table decoration, so classic and beautiful. The flowers are so perfect:







The first part of the event was a talk through how Celtic Manor make their mulled wine. They normally use a red wine such as Claret and Port and then warm through the wine with some orange and cloves, and spice the wine with cinnamon. We had a demonstration of this and were allowed to taste the first batch for this year.

So for someone who normally doesn't drink wine I tend to not have any issues with mulled wine (for some reason after 1 glass I get quite ill for a few days - and no this isn't because I'm instantly drunk and hungover!). Maybe it's the heating but it doesn't seem to affect me so I gladly tried some of this.

Not only was it lovely and warm, it was like Christmas in a cup! Soothing and spiced to perfection I would highly recommend this if you are going to Celtic Manor for absolutely anything over the festive period.

Before long Carl the Head Pastry chef arrived to tell us all about the treats on the menu.

Above shows the first basket of the day - the savoury treats. The crayfish, mango and chilli blini is probably my favourite of the four, with the Welsh rarebit with Y-Fenni cheese and tomato chutney coming in a close second. The other two were also great but my love of cheese and crayfish wins out this time!

Just as a refresher, here's the full menu. so far we have have the mulled wine and the Festive Savoury Treats. Next arrived the 'Tower of Wonder' as I will now affectionately be calling it. Take a look



So many beautiful treats!!! Where on earth do you start?!





I'm pretty set on my routine, I have to eat the sandwiches first and then proceed to the sweet things. It's just ingrained in me that sweet follows savoury, but I'm getting more open to mixing things up for multiple courses next time as there were so many sweet treats to choose from!

I'd say that the smoked salmon and lemon mayonnaise were my favourite, but the surprise favourite was the egg mayo with shallots and chives - surprisingly good and I'd take a whole plate of them next time.

After I'd polished those off it was time to start on the Hand Made Cakes and Pastries.



They are quite honestly afternoon tea perfection - small and perfectly formed but each one packing a punch. These were hands down the most exciting part of the meal and so I'll briefly talk through each one in a clockwise direction.

The mince pie has a little twist with a shortbread top and dustings of sugar, I've not eaten mince pies for a few years after overdosing on them in 2012. This was a gorgeous start to my plate and has put mince pies back onto my menu - although I'm not sure they will measure up to this one again.

Next is the Florentine slice which has a thick cake base instead of a biscuit. I really liked this as I'm a fan of almonds and the cake base was a lovely twist.

The Carrot Cake cupcake had an apricot jam centre and a huge dollop of cinnamon buttercream. This was very yummy and might have been my favourite of the cakes and pastries. Carrot cake is my favourite type of cake and in cupcake form like this it's almost possible to put it in your mouth in one bite - it's gorgeous!



So from left to right:

The waffle cone with pistachio and marzipan cream was super sweet, this was again gorgeous but for someone who doesn't eat much cream nowadays this was a little too sweet for me personally.

The Christmas pudding is actually a truffle. They make over 3500 Christmas puddings at Celtic Manor each year, containing 56L of Guinness and unknown amounts of rum. They decided this year to create a little more and add it to a white chocolate ganache and then roll it in chocolate to create the exterior seen above. I have to say this was a surprising addition to the afternoon tea, no one really expects a truffle as part of their afternoon tea do they?!
It was hard to break through the chocolate as I didn't want to ruin it but the truffle inside was really nice and tasted sweet but not overly so and tasted just like Christmas pudding. Definitely worth a try.

Last but not least was the Bara Brith with Penderyn Whiskey and marmalade, topped with marzipan and icing and a lovely Christmas tree. I could taste the whiskey and marmalade as soon as I put it into my mouth and I thought it was really good.

Super full? I was totally overwhelmed with goodies by this point - and then the scones arrived!

A basket was delivered with a Cranberry and mixed spice scone and a Vanilla and Chestnut scone, both warm with pots of jam and cream for you to help yourself.

The Vanilla and Chestnut scone was a lovely change and the chestnut was a great festive addition. However the Cranberry and spice scone was by far my favourite and tasted of Christmas as soon as I could get near it! It was so fruity and smelt so amazing.

All of this was also supplied with a wealth of freshly brewed tea, 6 varieties were available including English Breakfast tea and Peppermint which is what I ordered. I think I had 7 cups in total as it was all so refreshing.

The afternoon was absolutely amazing and it was such a privilege to be invited, here we were altogether for a group photo. It was great to meet some bloggers I have met before and heard of from twitter, and also some new faces.





So what do you think of the utterly fabulous Festive Afternoon tea???

How much do you want to tuck into it and try all of the treats?

You can book yourself in for this Festive Afternoon tea from the 1st of December until mid January, midweek will cost you £26, and Saturday and Sunday will cost £36.

L xxx