Budapest!

Hi all!

A few weeks ago I went to Budapest on a hen weekend, it was so much fun and I loved visiting somewhere that I hadn't been before. I decided to share some of the photos I took whilst I was there in case anyone is going soon.

We had a whirlwind trip with lots of activities planned, so I'd love to go back and see the rest of the city and do some more exploring particularly of food places!

Our first evening was spent on the River Danube, one of the most infamous rivers in the world. We cruised around for a few hours whilst wine tasting, it was a lovely start to the weekend and a great way for us to be introduced to other members of the hen who we hadn't met before.

The wine tasting was also very generous! There were 7 types in total and definitely 125ml glass of each...which led to a lot of tipsy women!

Unfortunately I can't drink wine so I delegated my glasses to other people but it was a really great idea and we had some lovely views of the city from the water as the sun was setting. Below shows Buda Castle:








There were many selfies taken that evening!

Everything was lit up and the buildings and bridges were beautiful. My favourite building was the one in the image below, absolutely stunning with its Gothic features and I want to go back so I can see it in more detail.

The next day we went to Heroes Square which was a short walk from our apartments, my Fitbit was well used this weekend and we did many steps which was good to combat the food and drink!

Once we'd had a wander around we then went on the 'beer bike' which is a huge contraption whereby multiple people can sit and pedal a vehicle whilst drinking beer at the same time! It was a lot of fun but also hard work so keep this in mind if you are going to be trying it out!






One of my favourite meals (obviously!) was visiting a pancake house. Genuinely the biggest menu of pancakes I have ever seen and we decided as this was our last day we would spend the rest of the kitty and go all out. Most of us paired up and shared a savoury dish and then had our own sweet ones knowing that this was brunch and we wouldn't be eating until much later.

The savoury pancakes were filled with Camembert, seeds and salad with a tomato relish type dip. The melted cheese was just perfect and cooked to perfection!

For the sweet pancakes I decided to go for Nutella and summer berries, both were absolutely amazing and I managed to finish my portions with a little bit of effort!

After fuelling up we wandered over Chain Bridge which we had previously seen lit up at night, and up the hill to wander around a variety of different sights. It was a bit confusing at times as I hadn't had chance to look up the different sights before visiting but we did walk over to Matthias Church which is absolutely beautiful, the roof was stunning in the sun!





We also visited the baths whilst we were there which are another big attraction to the city but we were all very hungover and required food so we didn't stay long and pictures were limited!

I would love to go back and wander around the city, it was beautiful and there is plenty more things to be seen but this was a lovely taster. I'd definitely love to go back to the baths and take advantage of the various temperatures of water without a hangover!

Have you been to Budapest? What did you think?

L xxx

Joe's Chicken Pie

Good morning everyone!

I've been trying to be a bit more adventurous with food recently - by this I mean trying out some more recipes, not suddenly eating locusts etc....

So I have seen many posts about Joe's Chicken Pie from Joe Wick's Lean in 15 recipe book and I couldn't wait any longer to try it out myself.

It really didn't disappoint!

It was pretty simple to make too, leeks, mushrooms and chicken cooked up in a pan before adding a small amount of double cream, cornflour and some chicken stock and simmering for a while.

Lastly the spinach is added and allowed to wilt into the mixture before adding into a big baking dish and adding the filo pastry sheets to the top. I've never made anything with pastry before and scrunching up the sheets was a new experience for me!

Then you simply drizzle a bit of olive oil on top and put it in the oven for 20 minutes.

The first time I ate the pie I had some parsnips and peas to use up so had those, but the ingredients make four portions so I have also had some roast veg (carrots, courgettes and peppers) and also one of the frozen bags of veg that you microwave (peas, carrots and green beans).

I really enjoyed it and I still have one portion left which I am saving for a rainy day when I feel like I need a filling meal that isn't too stodgy. I added this into My Fitness Pal and each portion was around 400 calories before adding veg, so it's easily a 500 calorie meal.

Have you tried Joe's Chicken Pie? Have you tried any other recipes from the Lean in 15 books?

There are so many I want to try but not enough time!!

L xxx

Cruelty Free Skincare, Deodorant and Toothpaste Haul

Hey All

I've mentioned before on the blog that I've gone cruelty free. I've been cruelty free for the past few months across all beauty products and will be switching across our household one's too. I don't know why I haven't done it sooner as I don't agree with testing for cosmetic purposes. I thought I'd share with you a haul and some bits I've been loving. I'll still feature products on the blog from time to time that aren't cruelty free as I'm not getting rid of make up if I already own it I just won't be repurchasing it. 

One shop I've been going to more if Superdrug, I was always a Boots girl but Superdrug do amazing skincare that's all leaping bunny approved so it makes it easy to grab.

New CiD Cosmetics i-Glow Compact Shimmer Powder

Hello there!

A few weeks ago we were lucky enough to attend a wonderful evening at St David's Hotel and Spa and come home with a goodie bag of lovely products from Paul Mitchell and New CiD.

We've been using them over the last few weeks and couldn't wait to share the amazing i-Glow Compact Shimmer Powder.

The i-Glow Compact Shimmer Powder is another of New CiD Cosmetics hand baked powders which uses waxes to stick ingredients together. This helps to make the product glide over your skin smoothly creating a more radiant and youthful look - this all sounds pretty wonderful to me!

The other ingredients in the shimmer powder help to 'bounce' the light off your skin which is why the best way to use the product is by picking up a really large brush, swirling it over the powder and dusting it over your cheekbones, collar bones and just about anywhere you want with a bit of a glow!

i-Glow is available in three different colours; Icy Pink, Sirocco and Coral Crush.
We were given Sirocco which is a lovely gold colour, the shimmer is amazing but the particles are so small it gives an amazing glow.

I've been really impressed with the colour payoff but also how blendable the shimmer powder is, it's easy to blend with any base make up I put on and has been suitable to wear in both the day and night.

Here it is on:

I really like the glowy look it gives, I've had so many people compliment me on it and ask me what it is as they want to buy it too!

You can purchase all of the iGlow products for £26.00 for 9g of product in the compact. The compact itself is also super sturdy with a decent mirror size, I'm overall really impressed with this and I definitely want to try out the Coral Crush and Ice Pop to see how the glow changes.

What do you think of New CiD baked products? Have you tried iGlow?


L xxx

This was one of the products I couldn't wait to try out as I already own ice pop (well my mum did but she wasn't giving it the love it deserved so gave it to me!) which I love. The texture of these are amazing they are so smooth and give an amazing highlight to the skin. Ice pop just adds such a pretty pink flush to the cheeks.

Sirocco is more of a bronzey shade, these are so pigmented as you can see from the swatch below (apologies for the slightly dark photo, I was battling the bad weather spell when I took these!). They have a really soft blendable texture which makes them so easy to work with.

Now I've got these two I really want the i-bronze as the colours in that one look amazing. These are baked products so they're going to last for ages. My ice pop is older than I should admit and doesn't look used still. Another great thing is they sell these in minis for £16, you get a lot of product in the original and I find I rarely use a blush up so it's nice to have the option to grab a smaller size one.

Love M

xxx