Paris - A Whirlwind Trip!

Goooooooood morning!

It's been another crazy few weeks, things just down seem to be slowing down. I've not long got back from a trip to Paris for work - it was the perfect time for me to add on some of my annual leave from work and take advantage of the free flights.

After giving the training course I moved to a different hotel closer to the centre of Paris and made the most of my evening!

I caught the metro to the Louvre and it was a lovely sunny evening so I just decided to wander - I walked all the way from the Louvre through the park and along the Champs Elysees to the Arc de Triomphe which if you have been you will know is a good couple of miles!

It was so nice to not have a schedule to work to and have the time to wander around. I've been to Paris a few times before so didn't actually need to visit any of the obvious tourist attractions. But I had the evening to do what I liked and a walk around one of the most romantic capitals in the world.

The Arc de Triomphe is a great sight in itself, but one of the things I really like about it is the crazy roundabout that surrounds it. 8 lanes or pure chaos and mayhem - no actual road markings for the lanes means that the traffic is pretty hilarious to watch. I have been on a tour bus myself that decided to take a different direct and cut across all 8 lanes of the traffic at once, and it was definitely an experience!

Along the Champs Elysee i did visit a few shops and the obvious choice was the massive Sephora - I accidentally found this of course!

I was really excited to get there and have a good rummage and spend - however I was really disappointed with what they had on offer.

I've always thought that Sephora contained a whole load of magic products that we couldn't get our hands on in the UK, but actually everything was seemingly the same as everything I can purchase in Debenhams etc back in the UK. I did buy a few things but it came to a total of 12 euros so I really didn't spend much!

I was interested in the Make Up Forever range but at 40 euros for the foundation I wasn't convinced.

Needless to say I was disappointed but it's probably for the best as I shouldn't be spending anyway!

I then found my way from the Arc de Triomphe to the Eiffel Tower and it was the perfect end to my evening. It was just getting to sunset so i took some photos and then the whole thing began to light up!

It was beautiful so I sat across the road at the Trocadero and people watched, there were many brides and grooms there having photos taken as newlyweds. It's such a lovely thing to have a memento of!





This was pretty much the end of my evening in Paris itself. I had a whole day to spend there without any agenda so I'd planned to go to the Palace of Versailles on the full day I had there. It was absolutely beautiful so I will be writing a separate post on that - far too many beautiful photos for one post!

I did of course manage to eat a macaroon when I was there, the shop windows of L'Aduree are just so beautiful and the colours are so sweet!

The macaroon I tried was a giant chocolate one - and it was a good thing i was at the airport when I tried it so I couldn't go back and eat anymore!
I'd never tried them before as I absolutely hate meringue and thought they were similar, but actually to my surprise they aren't and now I'm in love. I'd love to try the pistachio and raspberry ones, though I'll wait until my next trip abroad as they can be stupidly expensive!

Have you been to Paris? What are your favourite sights?

The only thing I feel I missed was the Pont des Arts bridge, which used to have the locks attached to it. They were removed in June due to the sheer weight of the locks and have now been replaced by clear panels, so I wanted to see the difference.

I love visiting cities like this just to soak up the atmosphere of being somewhere different!

L xxx

Lush Cupcake Fresh Face Mask

Hey all!

I've been super crazy busy recently so my posts have been non existent - thanks to M for filling in for me! This is exactly why we blog together - not only would we blog similar posts anyway but we can help each other out when the other doesn't have the time.
My parents are both due into hospital again and I've been to Paris for work so things have been a little all over the place but with an upcoming week off I will be catching up on everything!

A few weeks ago we both went to Lush for their latest event (you can see our post here) and I stocked up my product collection with a few new additions.

I picked up the Yoga Bomb bath bomb, Ultrabland facial cleanser, Needles and Pine shower jelly and Cupcake Fresh Face mask as well as the infamous Porridge soap.

I've been using them all ever since and have honestly been loving them all!

This review however is dedicated to the Cupcake Fresh Face mask. This costs £6.50 for the 75g, and the reviews show 4* out of 5.

It contains only 13 ingredients including rhassoul mud, fairtrade organic cocoa butter, fresh mint and spearmint and peppermint oils.

The most important ingredient is rhassoul mud which works with the cocoa powder to draw all of the impurities from your skin and deeply cleanse it to remove all of the dirt.

Fresh mint can be used to stimulate and tone the skin and the linseed infusion and cocoa butter moisturise and hydrate the skin. I don't know about you but this sounds good enough to eat right??!

I was won over as soon as I saw it in store and wanted to to just dive right into a huge vat of it!



Unfortunately it doesn't come in a pot that big so i picked up the standard size and brought it home to try. As you can see I looked a little ridiculous with it all over my face!

I left this on my face for 10/15 minutes as recommended and my skin has been helped so much. The amount of oil has been reduced and so has the redness, breakouts have also pretty much disappeared which is amazing news.

I would really recommend this to anyone who suffers with break outs and redness, and needs that extra bit of oil mopping up.
Plus who doesn't love a face mask that looks like liquid chocolate?!

What masks are your favourite from Lush? 

L xxx

Simply Bare 1 Year Anniversary Deals

Hey All

Last year I wrote about a new salon that had opened in the arcades of Cardiff (you can read about it here!) Simply Bare is now a year old. It's such a great salon and at the moment they are running some great birthday deals. Such as if you get a bikini wax you can get half price massage or facials. What better way to get the essentials done and give yourself a treat too.

Waxing is such a great way to control hair removal. I'm not a fan of shaving as I find it needs doing too often and I just don't get on with it for the bikini area so always opt for waxing or epliating. I do find epilating such a chore though. It's so much nicer to just have someone else do it.

Simply bare is a great professional salon easily located in the city centre and it opens till 6 Mon-Sat with later night opening on a Thurs which is a great for people who work. It's a bug bear on mine when things are only 9-5

The Salon still uses Lycon waxes which is a great waxing system you can read more about in my original post. Plus who doesn't love the novelty of a great smelling product that also works really well!

So if you're looking for a great salon in Cardiff for waxing, massages or facials go check out the ladies at Simply Bare. It's also number 1 on trip adviser at the moment with some really great reviews so don't just take my word for it!

Love M

xxx

Lush Pumice Power

Hey All

First all apologies for the photos of this I was too excited to use it and had to take photos in my bathroom at night! Bad blogger in me. I've mentioned a lot on her the Lush Event we went to. I love going to the store after hours and can never resist buying myself some treat. I'm really bad at neglecting my feet. In all honestly I'm lazy and I have ticklish feet so don't like doing it. Foot maintance for me would usually involve me bribing my mum when I was visiting every few months to ped egg my feet. Something about a pumice stone grosses me out so when I saw pumice power I had to buy it. 

I'd used stepping stone a bit but didn't like how quickly it was used up and how crumbly it was. Pumice power has now replaced it but if you were a fan of stepping stone I think you'll love this even more. This is a lot harder than stepping stone so lasts a lot longer.

It's kind of a mix between a soap and a scrub (and contains pumice powder so you are getting a scrub like using a pumice stone). It really lathers up when wet but has enough grit to smooth out the tough skin on feet. I've been using mine everyday in the shower since I got it a few weeks ago. It's been easy to fit into my shower routine (I know clever me, look after my feet once flip flop season is coming to an end!) It has a lovely orange scent to it too. I am a fan of the minty fragrance of stepping stone but citrus scents can always win me over instead. 

Do you take care of your feet or are yours a little neglected like mine? 

Love M

xxx