Thursday 29 March 2012

The Grand Finale : Disneyland Paris 2012 Day Three

This was the very last day. We once again woke up for 6am and went for breakfast and went to the park for it opening at 8am.

*WARNING* THIS POST CONTAINS MY FACE WITH NO MAKE-UP ON FML

Before we continue I must really congratulate Hotel New York on it's baggage storage. They let us keep it in the room until we had to leave. It made everything so much easier.

We went to the park and rode the Buzz Lightyear ride where I was the best space cadet ever and we then went on Space Mountain 2 twice again.

Afterwards we went to Fantasyland and we rode the Carousel. The horses were really nice!

Joe said this was the most unmanly thing he could be on and refused to let me take a photo of him. He had a really cool horse though.



He was more than happy to take a photo of me and my bare face. No make-up here guys (I was dozing off most of the time that day and I was too tired to put on wear make-up in the morning...)



We then went back to the Studios and rode the Tower of Terror again; they dropped us from the top floor right to the bottom floor in one turn that time! It was terrifying.

We did some more stuff and wandered around and went back to Cafe Mickey for lunch. Goofy came out again but apparently he forgot who we were because he wasn't mean to us this time!

I then went to Fantasyland and bought this big candyfloss because I just wanted candyfloss on a stick. Seriously. That is my reason for buying it.



Afterwards we explored the lands. I took this in Adventureland.



30 seconds after this photo was took I fell down some steps and hurt my ankle. Woops.

We then sat outside of Frontierland for like, an hour because we were so tired. I took this photo of the castle because I couldn't believe the brambles from Sleeping Beauty were on the castle! I've never noticed them before.



We sat for a little bit more and went to Discoveryland to take a walk.



So cute!

We went back to Fantasyland because we were trying to track down the train station and we saw this little castle.



As it was so small it looked far away in the distance and I got really excited thinking that there was a new land or something. I was really freaking out about it too... it turned out to be part of a ride LOL.

After this we left Fantasyland and we saw Frankie Coccozza on the castle drawbridge! I didn't know if it was actually him and I was gonna ask him but my feet were so tired and I just wanted to get my luggage.

We went back to the hotel and picked up our luggage. The guy who never picked us up on the first night showed up and drove us back to the airport.



Overall, Disneyland was so much fun but so tiring! I couldn't wait to get back home and sleep and my poor legs were bruised and sore but I would definitely go back!

Disneyland 2013 anyone?

If you missed them, you can see day one's post here and day two's post here.

Monday 26 March 2012

Cupcake

Don't you wish you could just eat chocolate every day without getting fat? How about putting chocolate on your face and not getting spots?

With Lush's Cupcake face mask, you can do just that!

This blog post is not sponsored. All opinions written here are my own and I am not being paid to say any of these.



If you're unfamiliar with Lush's fresh face masks you should probably check these out. These masks are made so fresh that they actually have an expiry date on them so you know when you need to finish the tub by. Whilst some people may find this inconvenient, I find this to be perfect as it encourages me to use the mask at least twice a week rather than leaving it to go to waste.



Just like Catastrophe Cosmetic, Cupcake uses mainly natural ingredients with the only synthetic ingredient being the perfume. The mask contains Rhassoul Mud, Cocoa Powder, Cocoa Butter, Fresh Mint, Peppermint Oil and other lovely ingredients that you'd want on your face!

The cocoa butter moisturises your skin, the rhassoul mud absorbs grease and cleanses and the fresh mint in the mask tones.

For your money you receive a relatively small sized tub but I find that a little goes a long way with these products. Once opened you're met with a creamy, mud like mixture which you get to spread over your face. As these masks are best kept stored in the fridge, it cools and soothes your skin. It's a relatively smooth formula but I found one or two small... chunks in mine? I'm not sure what they were but I didn't like them.

The mask smells really nice, like mint chocolate! I was expecting a more chocolate-like smell so I was pleasantly surprised. I found this mask to be a little grittier than Catastrophe Cosmetic and relatively easy to apply. It takes around ten minutes for it to work on the skin and whilst it does freeze your face a little, it's not as bad as other masks I've tried.



This mask was a little harder to remove than Catastrophe Cosmetic but compared to some other masks I've used it's been a lot easier to remove.

Results

After a disappointing result with Catastrophe Cosmetic, I wasn't too sure what to expect with Cupcake.

I was really surprised!

The mask didn't make my face glow like Catastrophe Cosmetic did, but it did make my skin look cleaner. I have quite oily skin and I noticed that my skin no longer became oily; the mask sucked up any oil! I did leave a week before masks and towards the end of the week my skin became oily as usual but if I did two masks a week my skin rarely became oily.

Cupcake was also amazing for any breakouts. I had a breakout two days before a very important party and applied this face mask. It did make the worst of the spots sting slightly but the next day they had all reduced in size and faded! It also didn't cause any outbreaks on my skin which I was very pleased with.

The mask also made my face quite soft and I personally have found this to be a wonderful remedy to my skin.



Pros:
❥ I personally find the smell of the mask quite nice and it lingers on your skin for a few hours afterwards.
❥ Easy to apply.
❥ Cleared up any spots I had.
❥ Worked wonders for my oily skin!
❥ Leaves the skin soft.

Cons:
❥ A little difficult to remove.
❥ If you dislike the smell it will linger on your skin which isn't ideal.
❥ The little chunks in it make me feel physically sick (which is a personal preference).

I rate this face mask:

♥♥♥♥ღ

We all have different skin types so if you are going to try one of Lush's face masks I would recommend you either read reviews or ask the shop staff. Cosmetic Catastrophe, which had fabulous reviews, was a flop for me but Cupcake has done absolute wonders for my skin!

Sunday 25 March 2012

Liz Lisa: Summer 2012

Hi guys! Long time no speak!

My internet has been acting up a little bit recently and it's very hard to stay connected, so I have been unable to blog. As a result I have a week's worth of blogging to catch up on so there will be no Blog of the Week this week. The series will resume next week! I've bought a new router which will hopefully be able to keep me connected instead of disconnecting every two minutes.

Today I want to show you my favourite picks from Liz Lisa's Summer 2012 collection!

Roses are a Girl's Best Friend!



...Well, if they are if you're a Liz Lisa type of girl. As I expected, the collection is full of roses, florals and everything else you can expect from Liz Lisa.

This is my favourite showcase of these. The bag, the skirt and even the rose buds in the hair all add to this. I particularly like the rose buds because it's incorporating that signature Liz Lisa style without being too overwhelming although I'm sure some people would find this too cute.

The skirt also stands out due to the hem of it. Statement skirts were big in Tokyo Girl's Collection and this particular style of skirt cropped up a lot.

The wedge shoes the girls are wearing are very prominent in this collection. They add height without half of the pain of heels! One of the pairs reminds me of a pair of shoes from New Look which I blogged about here!

Beautiful in Blue



I love seeing blue in Liz Lisa collections. A lot of people seem to associate the brand with florals, pinks, whites and brown so I always love when blue pops up in a collection!

The dress is really feminine and cute. I especially love the neckline on it as it just seems to give the dress that extra little bit of charm.

Once again, wedge shoes are used for this outfit and they compliment it really well. As the dress is pretty short, the addition of wedges makes her legs look much longer as well as being a very cute addition.

Not so Maxi...



This came as a surprise to me. For the past few years maxi dresses have bee a summer staple, particularly within Liz Lisa. Imagine my surprise when this is the longest dress in the collection; it's not even comparable to the dress in the spring collection!

The check print was also another surprise for me as it almost seems too bold for Liz Lisa. I would expect maybe a checked shirt or checked skirt but not a full maxi-esque dress. It's definitely one of the stand out pieces in the collection jsut for being so different.

The only criticism I have is that it vaguely looks like a pair of pyjamas I used to own; I think you would have to be quite brave to wear this out.

Relaxation is Key



I was quite pleased to see this. Sometimes I think people feel as though they need to dress up every day which you really don't. Or that t-shirts aren't 'gyaru' whereas Liz Lisa seems to think it is.

Both co-ordinates are really cute; the t-shirt is really nice and I am super happy to see dungarees as they were one of my favourite small trends last year!

I like both sets of shoes too but I'm not 100% convinced about those daisies...




To be honest I'm not 100% sure what I feel about this collection. A lot of it is very staple Liz Lisa-ish and they feel like I've seen them before, but others were very pleasant surprises! It's nice to see Liz Lisa trying not to be the same old cookie cutter attempts to remain what made them popular.

Comparing this collection with the spring collection, Love Pasterine I am a little disappointed! I was hoping the mint trend would keep up as it was a nice variety and I was hoping orange would sneak more into the collection as it is quite a summery colour.

If you would like to see the full collection you can see it here.

Tell me what you think of the collection! Yay or nay?

Sunday 18 March 2012

Blog of the Week: Lively & Addicted



Welcome to Week 3's blog of the week. This week I am going to feature Lively & Addicted.



Lively & Addicted is run by a girl named Clara. She's from France and to be honest, I absolutely adore her blog layout! It looks so clean and tidy but still fierce.

Let's not be too focused on her fabulous blog layout though! What I really like about her blog is that her posts are always informative and quite well written. I love hearing what tips and thoughts people have of different things so I really did find her blog to be super useful. What really attracted me to her blog was her post on Blackberrys but I find myself returning because her posts are so useful!

I totally agree with her opinions on Blackberrys, by the way.

As well as being an informative blogger Clara also updates us on her fashion choices, make-up and other really cool tidbits. I really liked her post where she decided to be a Military Girl. It looked like a fun look!



If you're looking for a really informative and rather cool blog to read, please try Lively & Addicted! She really does blog about a lot of things and I'm sure she'll have blogged about something which is appealing to you.

Even if you're just bored today, please try having a look at her blog. It's really worth it, I promise!

To conclude, this week's blog of the week is Lively & Addicted.

All images are screencapped from her blog and do not belong to me; they belong to her.

Saturday 17 March 2012

Getting Back Into Gyaru

Do you find yourself staring into your wardrobe wanting to scream, "I don't have any clothes that will work for for gyaru?"

Maybe it's time to take a break from gyaru and it's super easy to get back into the fashion!

I recently read one of Mitsu's posts at Universal Doll called Getting back to Gal Fashion. It's a really interesting read and it highlights some important points.

For example, you don't need to dress gyaru every day.

Doing gyaru make-up is a lot of effort. Do you really want to be wearing make-up day after day? What if you're an office girl like me? I would love to see my boss' face if I walked in with two sets of false lashes, bottom lashes, circle lenses and decked out head to toe in d.i.a.

I'm sure he would send me home to get changed.

Whilst Mitsu made some excellent points in her blog post, I thought I could expand it with a few of my own that she missed out! As I am not gyaru (although influenced) I find myself loving the style one minute and the next wanting to walk around in hoodies and jeans all day.

Inspiration

Look at other gyaru. What are they wearing? Maybe one of the girls is wearing something you really like and you can think of a million ways to include it into a co-ordinate. I find that finding key items like that really inspires me and it causes me to go on a hunt for something similar.

If I find it I look at if I can co-ordinate it with other items in my wardrobe. Seriously, those shorts that have been lounging in the back of your wardrobe? They could work and maybe even keep you bang on trend.

It's also fun if the item isn't typically gyaru or on trend because you get to consider how to include it in an outfit.

Clear mind, clearer style

Linking back on to your wardrobe, clearing it out can help a lot. Maybe you have old clothes you can sell on or give to charity? Clearing out your wardrobe helps you to clear your mind and focus on what style you want. If you're more agejo, do you really need pink and pastel coloured floral dresses?

Once you've re-thought what style you want to be at it can really help! All that clutter may seem like a chore but it will help. I promise.

Persistance

Maybe you lost some confidence along the way. Maybe you think you're too ugly to pull this style off and you were stupid for every trying. Or maybe it's too much of an effort to wake up at 6am to put on all of your make-up.

Don't worry about it!

Taking a break is sometimes a good idea. Worrying won't help you get back into gyaru style. Take a deep breath, back off and calm down. When everything is okay and you feel well rested you may think, "Well I really can't be bothered."

Be bothered.

Even if you force yourself to do it in the middle of the night put your make-up on, or do your hair or even plan your next outfit. Sometimes we need to motivate ourselves to do things and when everything is all said and done you will feel much better about it and it will encourage you to start easing your way back in.


Whilst some people do consider gyaru as being a lifestyle and you must have ten-foot tall hair and twelve pairs of eyelashes (gross over-exaggeration, I know) it's okay to not feel like participating. Mitsu's post makes so many valid points and explains thing much better but it really, really is easy to ease yourself back into gyaru.

All it takes is motivation, effort and pixie dust.




Okay, maybe not the pixie dust.

Thursday 15 March 2012

Fun, fun, fun! : Disneyland Paris 2012 DayTwo

That's right, it's time for day 2 of Disneyland Paris! This post is really picture intensive. I tried cutting it down but did a bad job of it. You can see the day one post here.

We woke up at 6:00am to get ready. We were so exhausted and tired that we barely looked presentable; I had half of my usual make-up on because my eyes were stinging and sore. We went for breakfast at the hotel which was very nice~ Croissants are delicious. They also had fresh orange juice with all of the gross little bits in it haha, I haven't seen that around in years!

This was the view from just outside of our hotel room. It looks really cold and wet but it was really warm actually and didn't rain at all! This is the Newport Bay Hotel~



The balloon had Tinkerbell on the side! I was really excited to see her.



We got to the park at about 8:05 and went in. I was pulling Joe along a lot because I was really excited to see the castle. This is my favourite of all of the Disneyland castles because it does look as though it has just stepped out of a fairytale!



Silly people in the background ruined my photo. Joe, y u no hold camera portrait?



We made our way over to Discoveryland so we could ride Space Mountain 2. I was very excited about it.



After walking on to Space Mountain 2 TWICE we then decided to see which other rides were open. The Buzz Lightyear Lazer Blast was and it was so much fun. Joe beat me this time but on the last day within 40 seconds I had 30,000 points so I was clearly the best space cadet EVER.



Do you see the golden tower with the balls on it? Did you know those balls are actually snails? No? WELL NOW YOU DO!



We walked around Fantasyland for a bit and went on the teacups and the Peter Pan ride. We then went to Fronierland for 10am because that's when that land opened and we wanted to be the first on Big Thunder Mountain Mesa.

Apparently, we weren't the only ones who had that idea and everyone was super rude and pushed in front of us.

RUDE.

People need to learn manners!

There was one guy who called us a bad name because the ride attendant let us on the ride before him. Stupid man.

We then went to go to the Phantom Manor but it was shut so we went across to Adventureland! We explored a little and went on the Indiana Jones rollercoaster and then we went on Pirates of the Carribean. I got really wet off that ride because the water kept splashing right where I was sitting.

After that we went across to Fantasyland again where we saw Peter Pan, Wendy and Michael being chased by Captain Hook, Mr. Smee and some pirates. We saw the Queen of Hearts and the Mad Hatter afterwards!

Then we went on It's a Small World.





When we came off Joe was saying he had a nightmare that was strangely similar to that ride LOL

We then went back to Discoveryland to go to Pizza Planet for lunch. It was an all you can eat so we stuffed ourselves full and drank loads of lemonade because we are cheap and didn't want to buy more food later. When we went to pay we realised I had left all of my euros in the safe in the hotel and Joe had to pay for me. I paid him back later, don't worry!

After this we went to the Studios.



It was so, so busy! At the studios we rode the Tower of Terror and the Rock n Rollercoaster. The lines were huge but it was so worth it! The fastpass people were causing the lines to move really slow though...

Actually, funny story.



I saw the Hollywood sign and got really excited and I was pointing to Joe about it and talking about how clever it was. When we got closer it was the top sign of the Studio Tram Tour Ride hahaha.

After this we went back to the Magic Kingdom so we could get a space for the parade. I thought it would be really easy to get a space an hour early.

WRONG.

We were super lucky to get the space we had. We sat for the hour and rested out poor legs until the parade started.









This Eeyore stopped right in front of me and started stroking my coat! He's such a cutiepie!



I was trying to take a photo of the Peter Pan float and didn't notice the pirates running straight up the street. I got a really big fright and a good laugh when I realised he had photobombed my photo!







Best float.

What movie is the gargoyle from though?



Best villian being fabulous.









Aurora is my favourite princess and she was walking on my side of the street for ages and she crossed over before she got to me. AURORA Y U NO WANT PHOTO TAKEN?









After the parade we went to see if the Phantom Manor was open. It was and we got on like, the third ride! Lucky us.



We then went to see Malificent as a dragon underneath the castle. She was asleep for ages and then she woke up and moved about and was generally angry.



I bought a Duffy bear after this and then we went back to the hotel. We had our supper at Cafe Mickey and it was so much fun!

Joe was bullied by Goofy though, or a Goofy we nicknamed SCUMBAG GOOFY because we could. Basically he ripped Joe's pizza and then was mean to him all night. It was funny to me but poor Joe!

The same Goofy stole a little girl's lollipop and she hid underneath the table everytime a character came near afterwards. Poor kid.

Afterwards we went back to the hotel and slept and still didn't get enough sleep.