Gardens of Versailles

Good morning!

Today's post is to show you my photos from the Gardens of the Palace of Versailles, I have honestly never been anywhere more beautiful and the weather was so out of this world it's not hard to see why so many people go there.

I will be writing a separate post on the Palace itself as I took so many photos I couldn't put them all in one!
The gardens start behind the palace, and begin with a a huge courtyard with fountains, statues and hedgerows as far as the eye can see. It's impressive enough to stand here and take in all of the surroundings and no picture would be able to do it justice.

The first main fountain that you come across is the one below, it's absolutely huge!

Unfortunately I had missed the main season and so none of the fountains were on at the time, I can imagine this one is hugely impressive as there were so many spouts and statues to look at.

The amount of gold in the entire gardens and Palace was almost sickening, it's not hard to see why so many people rebelled against them and dragged Marie Antoinette and the King out and beheaded them when they were so poor!

They often have a number of extra exhibitions on at various times of the year, Anish Kapoor is the current artist with a number on show. Sadly this one has been vandalised with graffiti and whilst I was there it was a very big deal on the news.

I've no idea what it says but the Palace is clearly horrified, I don't know if it can be cleaned up so I guess we'll just have to wait and see.

I wandered for literally hours in the sun to take in the sights and the fountains, gardens and small niches were just so pretty I could have lost days!

I think my favourite area would have to be the gardens inside Marie Antoinette's estate, not only were they generally beautiful but the addition of so many little extra structures and hideaway places were gorgeous. My favourite part was the Queen's Hamlet, and on my way to discovering it I came across so many of these and this one in particular is called the Temple of Love.

The Queen's Hamlet is an area that Marie Antoinette had created to experience the charms of country life. There are many little buildings all surrounding a lake filled to the brim with fish - I can't imagine how they live there as there were so many!

The building below was my absolute favourite, I have no idea what it's purpose is but the spiral staircase up to the tower where you would have some beautiful views would be just like something out of a fairytale.
I could spend days up there reading or painting, in fact I could just move straight in and not ever leave!

Each of the buildings were totally different and unique so I couldn't take my eyes or my camera off them.
Even coming across little hideaways like this one at the end still surprised me, the rocks arranged perfectly over a little river to another tiny building hidden away from view. I could spend such a long time getting lost in these gardens and enjoying the simple pleasures in life.

I can't imagine the amount of work that the gardeners perform on a daily basis, the colours and smells were amazing let alone the overall maintenance of gardens this size.

The absolute best part of the Gardens? They are totally free!

You have to pay to get into any of the buildings, but the gardens themselves are free, Not only can you wander around and enjoy looking at how the Kings and Queens lived back in the day, but you can also enjoy some rowing and other water sports on the lakes as well as cycling, walking your dog....even sunbathing!
I can't imagine how it would be having this on your door step, I would absolutely love it.

Have you ever been to the Palace of Versailles? Have you got lost in the Gardens like I have?

Aren't they beautiful!

L xxx

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