The Great Yorkshire Vegan Festival

Morning guys! So last weekend I headed up North and made my way to Leeds City Hall to attend The Great Yorkshire Vegan Festival. My friend Amy and I had planned this little day out for quite some time and I had really been looking forward to it.

We arrived in Leeds just before 10am and navigated our way from the car park to the city hall. There was a huge queue of Vegan food enthusiasts ready to explore the intricate stalls inside. Luckily we didn't have to queue for very long which I was pleased about as the weather was pretty miserable.

Once we got inside we were greeted by several volunteers who stamped us in and gave us some information on where to head next. There were so many wonderful stalls set up that we didn't even know where to start. We got the chance to sample some delicious coffee and try out a variety of baked goods. Although I'm not entirely Vegan my self, I just wished I had brought along some people who were totally against the concept of Veganism just to show them how much variety there is and how tasty Vegan food can be. At the end of the day all it's about is health and kindness and eating what's natural, that's it.

I think perhaps my favourite part of the day was of course choosing out some lovely cookies and tiffins to take home. My favourite stall had to be the bakery called 'That Old Chestnut'. The array of cakes and flavours was amazing. From there I purchased Lavender & Chocolate Cake, Peanut Butter Tiffins and Chocolate Orange Tiffins and a good old fashioned slice of Lemon Cake. I also picked up some Spiced Orange Marmalade which I was very chuffed with. I can only describe the taste of it be like that of Christmas' it was full of notes of Cinnamon and Citrus.

I would totally urge anyone - Vegan or not to have a look around one of these events. It makes for such a fun day out and is something different, it's great!

A Winter Evening - Date Night Make Up

Hey my lovelies, welcome to day 3 of BLOGMAS!

Today I wanted to share with you my currently most favored make up look for a date night. You guys know I like to step things up in the make up department when the weekend arrives, however even more so when it comes to date night. I never like to be overly fussy with my eyeshadows,  lets be honest, I'm not the biggest expert when it comes to the old smokey eye and blending the crease kinda thing. I feel though that a little shimmer and a strong brow is the way to go for a date night - nothing too extravagent but something that looks just that little bit more special.

So let's talk through the look... First things first though, I actually forgot to feature the focal part of the look on the photograph above and that is the Loreal Lumi Magique Foundation. You guys know that when it comes to the base I'm all about the luxury brands - YSL Touche Eclat, Double Wear, Studio Fix etc - you know the drill. Just recently I've been loving the YSL Touche Eclat Foundation more than ever but the other day I actually ran out so instead I opted for the Loreal Foundation. My mum uses it everyday and swears by it so I gave it a try. It is very similiar to the YSL Foundation - the finish is light on the skin, dewy and radiant. However you do need to use more product than you would the YSL one which is a shame but it's definitely a Foundation I would suggest investing in, it's only £10.99 and is pretty much a dupe for the YSL Touche Eclat Foundation apart from the amount of formula required. I actually mixed the Loreal Foundation with a pump of my YSL Rose Gold Primer (which I'm in love with) to add a bit more shimmer to my face and just brighten it up that little bit.

Moving onto the brows - I used the Benefit Gimme Brow in the Dark Shade to tint my eyebrows and add a bit of volume to them. I then went in with the wax part of the Benefit Browzings and filled in the gaps where my eyebrows are a little sparse! After that I then went over again with my Gimme Brow just to make the look a bit more natural and to set my brows in place.

For my lashes, on this occasion I decided to go for the Clarins Be Long Mascara - this is a travel mini that I received as a Gift With Purchase. I love this Mascara, it really lengthens your lashes but still looks very natural.

At the minute I am just obsessed with Golden/Bronze Shimmery Eyeshadow, you've gotta love a bit of Gold! I think this is a really simple but effective look to go for, it doesn't require any faffing but looks super glam. I went for the Kiko Water Eyeshadow in the shade Champagne 200 that I actually bought when I was in Milan. I just popped this all over my lid until the crease and then blended it out a bit to give a subtle effect. I also applied the product near my tear duct as I just think it looks super pretty! I am in love with this Eyeshadow - if you're a fan of the Naked Palettes this will be right up your street. It's also very long lasting and pretty much stays put all evening.

On my cheeks I just popped on my MAC Alluring Aquatic Bronzer  in the shade Refined Golden for a little sun kissed glow. I didn't go too hard on the Bronzer as I didn't want a sculpted contoured look, I just wanted to add a little colour to my face.

Last but not least, on my lips I used the Clarins Lip Perfector in shade - Petal Shimmer. I just love this Gloss as it's not sticky and in your face, it just adds a sheeny pink wash to your lips and works really well with the golden eyeshadow.

I hope you liked this post! Let me know what your favourite Date Night make up products are!

The Milan Travel Diary

Morning my lovelies! So as you probably already know, a couple of weeks ago I got back from my 4 day city break to Milan, which might I add was amazing! Having had time reflect of my trip I thought it would only be right to share my experience with you guys - be prepared for a very photo heavy blog post! Soo, let's get started...

Day 1 - An evening in London

So technically this day doesn't count as I was actually just travelling this day! On the Tuesday evening Kyle & I got the train down to London town. After a belly grumbling train journey, we decided we were just about ready for some food. To make things as easy and fuss free as possible we just went to Giraffe at Kings Cross Station for a pit stop food break - it was a bit of a 'grab it and go' kinda meal. We both had burger, crinkly chips (healthy, not!)  and a drink each. I obviously went for the option of Peanut Butter Milkshake which was incredible! I've been dreaming about it ever since. Mmmm.

So our flight was actually  the next morning but to make everything a lot easier I decided to book a hotel in London near Heathrow for the night. After a 2 hour train journey and an hour long trip on the tube to Heathrow and then a shuttle bus to our Hotel, when we actually arrived at the hotel we literally just flopped onto the bed.  Kyle of course had his eyes glued to the screen watching football whilst I freshened up. After an hour or so of lounging around we decided to go to the hotel restaurant and just grab some Cheesecake to share, which was yummy. After that we pretty much drifted off into a food coma for evening!

Day 2 - Touching down in Milan

The day began at a painful 5am and I was rudely awoken by my alarm. After pressing the snooze button way too many times I dragged my self out of bed, had a shower and made my face up for the day. I actually did a blog post on my 'Airport Look' which you can read all about in more detail here.

After making ourselves look presentable for the day, we headed to the airport. We arrived at Heathrow just as our bag drop opened (we like to be organised okay!) and had hours of time to kill. We trundled our way through check in and security and then reached the hallowing halls of beauty wonders, oh yes I'm talking about duty free aka one of my favourite shopping destinations in the world. We were actually flying from Terminal  5 which is supposed to be up there with the best, shopping wise. They're even in the midst of creating a Louis Vuitton Flagshire store there!

As you guys already know, one of mine and Kyle's favourite past times is going out for breakfast/brunch so that's exactly what we did next. Once again we headed for Giraffe - seriously it's becoming one of our favourite places to dine out. I mean the pictures speak for themselves but Kyle went for the Breakfast Burrito & Frozen Mocha and I went for Blueberry Stacked Pancakes and the Giddy Giraffe Smoothie. Honestly it was amazing! After filling our bellies, I decided to browse duty free and ended up purchasing some brow products from Benefit, ooopss.

Soon after perusing the joys of Duty Free we boarded our flight, as usual we flew with British Airways, they're our favourite! The flight didn't take long at all, I think it was like an hour and a half? It was pretty painless, Kyle snoozed away the whole journey and I just browsed magazines and stuck my headphones in.

Upon arrival in Milan, we were pretty gutted as the weather was really miserable - not cold but just super overcast and rainy, boo. Anyways, we made it to our hotel which was pretty cool actually, very modern and great facilities. We both unpacked our bags, had a little snooze and then freshened ourselves up as we had made reservations at the hotel restaurant. I kept forgetting to photograph our food - probably because Italian is literally my favourite food ever. I think I had enough carbs in the space of 4 days to last me the year, ooops!

Day 3 - A Trip to Lake Como 

On day 3, we both crept out of our beds super early to ensure we got the best of the bunch at the breakfast buffet. My prior expectations were certainly exceeded when I was greeted by a gorgeous array of Croissants, Pain Au Chocolate, Fresh Juices, Desserts and all the usual breakfast goods. Kyle and I were honestly in food heaven, I would say this hotel provided the best buffet style breakfast I've ever had!

After filling our tummies with pastries and custard pots we decided to have a bit of down time until we felt awake enough to get ourselves to the gym. I was so impressed by the facilities in this hotel - they had a fitness and spa suite on the top floor of the hotel. Working out in the gym to a view of the city was up there with one of the best feelings in the world! They also had a pool that Kyle and I took full advantage of, it was just so relaxing and refreshing to work out and have a dip in the pool in the morning and evening to make you feel super revitilised.

After prepping our faces for the day and throwing on some warm and snuggley attire, we headed out the door, straight for Lake Como. This day was honestly a dream for me. The weather was cold and foggy, we were both wrapped up warm ready for the day ahead and we both just couldn't stop smiling! We got the train from Milan Central Station to Como and then walked down to see the Lake. 

The view was breath taking, it was so amazing to see finally see the true beauty of Lake Como in person after gazing at photography on Pinterest of it. This day really made me realise how important travelling is to me and how I want to continue to have rich fulfilling life experiences such as these. Life really isn't just about having nice things - I mean yeah it's great to have luxury brand make up and expensive clothes but what really makes me happy is well, living. Y'know life experiences, times that you feel so taken back by something you know you will remember for a life time. Well that's exactly how Lake Como made me feel. It was a quiet day at the Lake, it almost felt as though it was just Kyle & I and nobody else in the world. We took a gentle stroll and explored the features surrounding the lake. We had a walk down the low-rise pier, which was strange as it was pretty much a path in the middle of the lake, like if the waves got strong, your feet got wet, put it that way. We wandered all the way to the end and just took in the amazing view! 

After a long walk, we had worked ourselves up an appetite and promised ourselves we'd have some real Italian grub, we visited a little restaurant that just over looked the lake, it was quiet but not awkward quiet, more just bliss. We both went for some Pasta, which was incredible! Afterwards we took a stroll into Como and discovered the little streets tucked away and just really explored the area. I of course had to make a whistle stop visit to Kiko and purchase a few items, ooops! 

The evening ended with a few cocktails and Irish coffee's and we both dragged ourselves back to the room and dropped off into the land of nod. 

Day 4 - Visiting San Siro Stadium

So I planned this whole trip to Milan for Kyle's 21st birthday because I wanted him to have a special few days to remember. One place I wanted to make sure he got to snoop about was San Siro Stadium - the home to Inter Milan & AC Milan, two pretty big football clubs. Kyle absolutely loves football so I knew he'd jump at the chance of doing a Stadium tour, so that's exactly what we did! We got the tube to Lotto and then walked for around a mile until we stumbled upon the stadium. We paid for both the stadium & museum tour. Kyle was definitely in his element, we had the opportunity to visit the press room, changing rooms etc. To say I'm not really a huge fan of Football, I did actually really enjoy the tour. I think what was more exciting for me was seeing the look on Kyle's face bless him! 

Day 5 - A Day In San Babila/Duomo 

After a hectic few days of sight seeing, we thought we'd spend our last full day in the city just having a leisurely lunch and browsing around the shops. This area of the city really is where it's at. The atmosphere was bursting with energy, there was so much hustle and bustle but we loved it, I guess that's what a city is all about! We had a wander around the shops (we may or may not have had a peruse around Sephora) and then grabbed some lunch. After having been in Milan for 4 days and not even had neither Pizza or Gelato (Ice Cream) we decided enough was enough...we had both. Oooops. Nothing beats a good old Italiano Pizza! The Gelato is also incredible as you see in the picture below. 

There were loads of street dancers about which was pretty entertaining. We also finally got the opportunity to see Duomo Cathedral - the building that represents Milan. Me and Kyle are absolutely in love with this building, the architecture is just absolutely amazing. If you go to Milan this is a must see! 

There is no point in me doing a 'Day 6' as the majority of the day was spent waiting around the airport, flying and then travelling back from London so I wouldn't want to bore you with the details! In other words 'nothing else to see here'! Milan was definitely the trip of a life time. Kyle and I already planning our next trip!

Have you been to Milan before? If so what do I need to see next time I go?

If you've been on a city break recently and have done a similiar post to this I would love to check it out so please leave your link below! :) 

5 Healthy Breakfast Ideas To Try

1. The 'Rise & Shine' Smoothie - Bursting with nutrition and flavour, this smoothie is one for the books. I've always loved the concept of a 'breakfast smoothie'. Incorporating oats/granola into a smoothie to make it all breakfasty and lovely has been a goal of mine for a while. Add months of testing different ingredients about, I feel this one works the best - the flavours just work well together and create a lovely texture. This smoothie leaves you satisfied and ready to attack the day with a spring in your step. I even sometimes have this in the evening as my dessert because I love it so much!

All you need is a blender/nutribullet, a scoop of Oats, 1 Chopped Frozen Banana, 1 Heaped TBSP Meridian Peanut Butter, 2 TBSP Alpro Vanilla Yogurt Alternative & As much or as little Almond Milk as you like (preferably to the max line). Blend for a minute or so and that's it.

If you're in a rush you can throw this into a Starbucks Frappucino style take-out cup. There's something very satisfying about drinking your homemade smoothie through a straw!

2. Avocado & Tomatoes on Toast - This one is for those who like to enjoy something more savoury for breakfast. I personally love this combo but prefer to chow down to this at lunch time. Loads of people seem to turn into panic mode when they see Avocado and there really is no need to be so afraid of it-  it's such as versatile fruit and you can literally use it so many different ways.  This is a seriously tasty and healthy combination, it's a real winner.

3. Granola Topped with Fruit -  On a week day, this is my personal favourite breakfast choice it's pretty healthy and yummy. I leave the house pretty early in the morning for work and struggle to stomach a smoothie first thing in the morning. Instead,  I take a little Tupperware box of Granola and another with some fruit - my fruit of choice is Raspberries & Blueberries. This little breakfast fills you up for the morning and crams in some of your 5 a day early in the day. Some Granolas have a lot of sugar in them so be sure to opt for a good one. I would recommend Lizi's Granola. Oh and a little side note, Almond Milk & Hazelnut Milk go well with this combo.

4. Banana Pancakes - I just couldn't resist including this recipe! I'm a bit of a pancake lover my self, anything sweet and I'm sold. Bananas are a daily staple in my smoothies or cereal as well, so when I stumbled upon this little breakfast idea I got seriously hyped about it (how sad).

For me this is more of a 'weekend breakfast', I'm all for  good breakfast on a weekends, I'm a big believer in pushing the boat out a bit and eating something just that little more indulgent.

You will need - 1 Banana, 2 TBSP of Coconut Flour,1 Free Range Egg, 1 Mixing Bowl, 1 Frying Pan
1 TSP of Coconut Oil
 Optional extras for added flavour & naughtiness -
A tea spoon of Sugar & 1 Vanilla Pod (mmmmm)

The method is simple. Peel your Banana, add your Flour, Egg and optional extras into a mixing bowl and give a good mix. Your desired batter will look slightly lumpy but this is because of the Bananas. You need to make sure the Bananas are completely mushed! You could also add an extra Banana if you like to make your Pancakes super flavoursome. How you follow the next step is up to you. You can either make one whopping Pancake or you can make 3 diddy ones that stack on top of each other.

Once you've flipped the Pancakes about for a few minutes, they will be ready to eat! There are many ways in which you can serve the Pancakes - some of my suggestions would be: with fresh fruit like I did, a fruit compote, Chocolate Sauce or Maple Syrup.

Warning - although the recipe only seems small the Pancakes are very filling but also very yummy.

5. Bear Face Peanut Butter on Toast - You may have noticed the common trend in the majority of the recipes so far - Banana & Peanut Butter, ooops! This breakfast is a great all round, particularly for all the mummy's out there. It's simple, all you need is a slice of granary or rye bread, some Meridian Peanut Butter, 3 Blueberries & half a Banana. Simply do your usual Peanut Butter on Toast and add the Blueberries & Banana to make into a bear face. Fuss free, fun for all the family and a great way of getting your children to eat fruit!


What are you go-to healthy Breakfast options?

 

A Winter Warmer - Tomato & Kale Soup Recipe

Good morning guys! So this past couple of weeks I've been trying out a few new recipes and batch cooking for the weeks ahead, you all know I love a bit of batch cooking. Nothing beats knowing all your food in taken care of for the week and all that is required on your part is grabbing the container out the freezer/fridge and popping it on the hob or in the microwave. Although a lot of effort is required initially, once the hard work is done - minimal effort is required and you can pretty much chow down in 10 minutes.

So I actually made two soups this weekend. I actually cooked up the Protein Power Soup - a recipe that the lovely Essie Button shared on her Youtube channel. I had been dying to make this since seeing the video a month or so ago but just hadn't got round to making it so this weekend I decided just to go ahead and make it. The verdict? It's amazing! It's full of so much goodness and if perfect for them cold winter evenings when all you want is good wholesome food. The recipe by Estee doesn't actually state to do this but I actually blended mine up just to make it easier to distribute into containers and to consume, this works a treat. Nothing beats a thick soup with a hunk of bread!

Now the second soup is actually the one you're here for, yep that's right - as the title suggests its Tomato & Kale Soup. Now I first tried this soup at Giraffe as a starter and both Kyle & I were honestly blown away, I mean I love a good homemade Tomato & Basil Soup as it is but never once thought of adding Kale to the mix, honestly it was genius. I actually went so far as to say 'this is the nicest soup I've ever had', I know, big statement right? So after my visit to Giraffe this Soup got all forgotten about until the other day when I had a light bulb moment and thought I need to make this Soup! So I of course took to the internet for advice and managed to cook up this recipe for you all. I hope you enjoy it just as much as I do. It's honestly makes such a yummy lunch and it's so healthy, I mean you all must have heard the huge hype surrounding the superfood Kale lately and this recipe contains a whole bag of the stuff!

Read to take notes? Okay let's do this...

Ingredients
1 tablespoon Coconut Oil
1/2 a diced Onion
1/2 Diced Carrot
3 Garlic Cloves - Minced
4 cups of Vegetable Stock
1 Can Crushed/Chopped Tomatoes
18 Cherry Tomatoes (mashed)
1 Bag of Kale (around 12 cups of)
1/2 teaspoon Oegano
1/2 teaspoon Basil
Pink Himalayan Salt & Cracked Pepper to season

The Method
1. Throw your Carrot, Onions & Garlic into a pan with your Coconut oil and Saute on a low heat for about 5-8 minutes
2. Add Vegetable Stock to a large pan and add the Mashed Cherry Tomatoes, the Kale & the Chopped Tomatoes.
3. Add the seasoning and herbs.
4. Throw in your Saute'd Vegetables.
5. Leave the soup to simmer for around 20 minutes.
6. Chuck everything into a blender to smooth it all out.

You can either store the soup in the fridge for the week or freeze portions for when you want to fill your belly with something super healthy and refreshing during these cold winter months!

The Airport Look - Skincare,Outfit & Make Up

Good morning guys! So first things first, it's been 3 weeks since I've posted which is crazy, I just can't believe how quickly time flies so apologies for that. However I have been very busy just lately and really have not had time to post but I can assure you guys there is plenty in the pipeline coming your way very soon :)

Today I thought I would share with you my 'Airport Look' - which is by no means glamorous but it certainly does the job. Airports are a strange place, they run 24 hours a day and everyone is on a different time schedule and either jet lagged or super excited for their holiday. Waiting around in an Airport hours before your flight *can* be tedious - that is of course, unless you get distracted by the wonders that is duty free (I did, ooops!). So basically when it comes to dressing for the airport, the first word that springs to mind is comfort. If I'm waiting around for hours and then flying for god knows how long I want to be comfortable and I think that goes for pretty much everyone when they're travelling.

So first of all lets talk Skincare. On days where I'm travelling a lot I always make a conscious effort to really look after my skin that day, as surely pollution and transport can't do anything good for your skin. So before jetting off to Italy for the week, I decided to go for a kick ass Clarins Skincare Routine that went a little bit like this...

Skincare
1. Cleanse. I had already cleansed the night before but decided to do it again in the morning as sometimes I feel as though Pillows hold bacteria that isn't good for your skin, so I went ahead and cleansed.

2. Exfoliate. On this particular day my skin was ready for some exfoliation, I went for the Clarins Gentle Refiner. I usually Exfoliate around 2-3 times a week to get rid of dead skin cells etc and make my face feel super smooth.

2. Tone - Standard procedure after Cleansing apart from on days where I need to Exfoliate (a bit like today)...

3. A Wake Up Booster. On days where I need my face to feel nourished and super healthy, this is a product I reach for - The Daily Energizer Wake Up Booster. This has a similar consistency to a Toner but maybe a tad thicker. All you need to do is distribute this on your face before the moisturizing step to perk your skin up just that little bit.

4. Moisturize. My go-to product just recently has been the Daily Energizer Cream, this product sits very well underneath make up and definitely does the job. My only issue with it is that it really doesn't last very long and for the price of it that's a tad disappointing. However later in the day at Duty Free I was informed they do a travel version which is in a Tube and you get more product, so maybe that's a future purchase on the cards...

5. The Beauty Flash Balm - So this a serum that you need to apply just before you do your make up, again I don't always use this, only on days where I want my make up to go that extra mile or I want my skin to look just that little bit more radiant. I swear by the product, it really does wake your face up and make it look more glowy.

Make Up
So for the Airport I like to keep things simple and seriously I mean, simple. On this occasion I reached for my YSL Rose Gold Primer & my YSL Touche Eclat Foundation and mixed the two together. For me, when travelling it's all about simple dewy make up that keeps your face looking hydrated and glowing. These two products combined seriously create that 'my skin but better' look and aren't heavy and cakey on the face.

Next up is the brows, I opted for my standard Gimme Brow to tint my eyebrows and set them in place for the day. for the lashes I reach for my Soap & Glory Thick & Fast Mascara. This Mascara really does work wonders for my lashes and the best thing about it is - it's only a tenner and it literally lasts forever! For the lips I went for a nude Benefit gloss, I don't think this gloss is even available anymore, I got it a few years ago in a gift set but it's really pretty on the lips and is very subtle so I like it.

Clothes
You all know that clothes isn't really my fort but hey-ho I thought I'd show you what I wore anyway. I went for a Topshop Checked Shirt with a Berry coloured Zara Sweater over the top and just plain black leggings underneath. Shoes wise I just popped some black pumps on for comfort and then an over sized black Coat over the top. It was very chilly!

What's your favourite Airport Look?