Wednesday 23 April 2014

A Little Visit to - Chirk Castle, North Wales

Hi everyone, I hope you all had a fun chocolate filled Easter!  today I'm posting just a few pics from my last daytrip, where me and my boyfriend went to Chirk Castle in North Wales for the day!  Now when I say a few pics..... lol   Well I just couldn't help myself, these are literally just a few of the 76 photos that I took that day, yes I did say 76!

You can click on the photos to see them bigger if you like :-)



The whole visit was great fun from start to end, there was so much to see and the atmosphere inside the castle was so, well historic I guess, the castle was originally built in 1310 after all.  The main rooms were just beautiful, everything in sight was so elaborately decorated, with intricate paintings, gold details and amazing carvings from the candle sticks, to the furniture even to the walls and the ceilings alone were a work of art, as you can see in some of these photos.



Just look at these ceilings!!


The table in the center of this room was a perfectly carved and along with everything else was beautifully elegant. And you can just see the bottom of the huge chandelier, it really was stunning.


This beautiful long room was a lot bigger than it looks on here, the wallls are lined with portraits and you could just imagine this room being used for ballroom dances back in the ye'old days!


The staircase alone was magnificent, lined with a dark red carpet, gold accents all up the banister and again, another beautifully decorated ceiling above.



My boyfriend's not convinced but I'm pretty sure there's something a little 'other worldly' stood in or by the fireplace in this picture!  What do you think?


Imagine trying to walk in those!!


The old library was just crammed with these wonderful big old books, with worn spines and tatty pages, gorgeous!


 The Magistrates Court frieze (around the top of the walls) dates from the early 17th century and is the oldest surviving interior decoration in the original family's home.
This room was up high in one of the towers and had quite a spooky feel to it!



The other towers had several separate rooms for the guards and were a lot bigger that I'd imagined.


Then we went to the servants quarters, what a difference!  The walls, the floor, even the paintings were practically black with dirt and soot.  To think people had to live in these conditions!



And then there was... the dungeon!!!  Oh boy would I hate to be down there on my own!  It was honestly one of the scariest places.  You could feel this chilling icy cold air envelop you the further down we went and once we were down to the bottom, 9 meters below ground level, it was pitch black too apart from the little electric light they put in for the tourists!  There was a horrible dank smell too and I can easily say, a very horrible unearthly creepy feel about it.
There is a legend about the castle dungeon, apparently "The family arms included a red hand and this was the traditionally 'bloody hand' put there to remind them of past misdeeds.  According to the legend, it could not be removed until a prisoner survived 10 years in the castle dungeons!!  But the harshness of the dungeon took it's toll very rapidly and few prisoners survived for long.  One prisoner did seem about to rid the family of it's gruesome symbol, for he survived almost the full 10 years.  The dungeons must have defeated him in the end however, for the red hand remains on the arms to this day."
I really cannot even imagine spending 5 minutes down there, let alone surviving nearly 10 years, it's unbelievable that someone could go through that!!



In the courtyard the are several different entrances in to the main castle, there's also a very nice little cafe with tables and chairs outside where we ate our lunch.  And on one side of the courtyard there's an extremely deep well, I certainly would not like to drop anything down there!

The castle gardens are equally impressive, I can't wait to go back there in the summer when the flowers are all in full bloom.



There's a lovely big hut hidden away half way through the gardens, it's a wonderful place to just sit, listen to the birds and take in all the beautiful surroundings, it's so peaceful..


There's even a large family of peasants that live in the grounds.


Thank you for letting me post this picture handsome xx



What a gorgeous view!

All in all, it was a lovely visit, very interesting and definitely a place I'd happily visit again and again :-)

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Wednesday 16 April 2014

What's in My Makeup Bag!

Hi everyone, well here we are after another busy week, it's finally the beginning of spring, daffodils are in full bloom everywhere and the sun has finally started to show it's-self!  Our little resident hedgehog Wilf, has been out of hibernation for about 2 and a half weeks now (you can read about him here) and I've been off visiting some very lovely places with my new man, taking tones of photos so I can share it all with you guys.  So look out for some more 'Little Visit' posts again soon :-)

I've also been keeping very busy working on my jewelley collection for my Etsy shop, which I'm hoping to get up and running in the next couple of months and coming up with lots of ideas for future blog posts!
So, that leads me very nicely on to today's topic which is, what's in my makeup bag!  Now I know the more usual ones are 'What's in my Bag' as in handbag but I thought I'd do it a little differently.  I also really enjoy watching videos like these and reading other blog posts about the general makeup that people use on a daily basis, so I thought I'd show you mine! :-)


I love trying out new things - new eyeshadows, lipsticks or brushes, so most of the time, I don't usually stick to a particular set of products.  However, lately I've found myself using these items more and more!

So to start with, my actual makeup bag - 


I got this (believe it or not) from WHSmiths!  I wanted something that I could not only fit my 'everyday' makeup in but also my brushes and if possible, be able to keep the two things separate as well.  I looked at loads and I mean loads of different makeup and cosmetic bags in various shops but nothing seemed right or big enough for the brushes, then I thought what about a large pencil case.  So I went to WHSmiths and low and behold, in the sale as well if you please, I found this little gem reduced to £6.99.  It has one large compartment which as you can see I use for my main makeup and 3 other sections that are ideal for my brushes and even eyeliners!

I don't keep much in the last section apart from these hair bands and hair clips, but it's there if I need a little extra space!

And now on to the makeup! -

I usually use one of two foundations:
the No.7 Stay Perfect Foundation, which I do really like, it stays on great but is a tiny bit too dark for me.  The other is the Max Factor Smooth Effects Foundation. in Cream Ivory (which I don't think is available now, I've had it quite a while), again it's a great one and a better colour for me but it's quite sheer and doesn't do much in the way of covering up redness or even lasting that long, so I always have to make sure I use a primer underneath to really stretch out it's wear-ability!

As you all know I love my Soap & Glory Kick Ass Concealer and it's been amazing in the past (you can read my review of it here) but admittedly I tend to mostly use it now just for the powder section, as I've found a new love, the ever popular Collection Lasting Perfection Concealer
I tried this once before when I was desperately looking for a good concealer but I couldn't get just the right colour to suit me and I was totally put off by the terribly strong & nasty smell.  But with the option of a free item to be had, with the 3 for 2 offer in Boots a month ago, I thought why not give it another try! And to my surprise it's been really great, sadly the colour this time is a bit too pale but I just mix it with my foundation and it covers and lasts really well :-)



I couldn't be without my lovely soft pink MUA Shade 1 blusher, it gives such a delicate glow to the skin and at just £1, you can't really ask for more can you!



Now I do like my eyeliners (which I'll talk about in a minute) and I do use them, especially when I have a little more time to get them right but my absolute full-proof way has to be with black eyeshadow and an angled brush, you can not fault it!
For my whole eye look, I usually go for a mixture of the Rimmel Scandaleyes Shadow Paint in Rich Russet, blended out on the crease, then a slightly thicker layer of it along the eyelid.  It dries pretty quick, so while it's still a little tacky, I use my angled brush with black eyeshadow just along the lashline., that way I find it last all day.
As an alternative, I use my amazing MUA Eyeshadow Primer (which apparently is an older one now), then a random selection of shades (what ever I feel like at the time) from the gorgeous Urban Decay Naked Palette.

In the next selection of my makeup bag, I like to keep my these -

 My favorite Rimmel eyeliners, MUA eyebrow pencil (which really needs sharpening), the amazing Simple corrector pen (life saver) and the best mascara ever, the Seventeen Doll'd Up Mascara.

As you all might know by now, I'm a big Real Techniques fan, so in the next section I keep my most used brushes, cannot manage trying to do my makeup without these babies!  My only annoyance is the blush brush, wonderful as it is, it's just too big to fit in the makeup bag! :-/

Finally, I just cannot fit my lipstick/gloss etc in this bag as well as everything else and since I generally do the majority of my makeup when I'm getting ready at home, I like to have just the bare essentials with me in my handbag.  So, I use this cute little pink bag that came in a set from TJHughes, many years ago.
And in it I keep these lovelies -



These Rimmel Colour Rush Balm Stains are just the best thing since lipsticks were invented, I just love them and since I can never decide between these two lovely shades (Not an Illusion and Keep Moaving), I like to keep them both with me and of course, even the best and longest lasting lipsticks still need re-applying now and again!  I also keep with me my favorite gloss in shade 6 by 2-True, my No.7 lip-liner pencil and the brilliant Lipcote.  Of course a girl always needs a handy little mirror in her bag and I just love this little novelty one that my friend gave me for the birthday a couple of months ago :-)  And finally, a real essential, tissues! Lol

Since I took the photos for this post, I've also added in two other items to my makeup bag and have been using them a lot!
I find the Maybelline Colour Tattoo (mine is in On and On Bronze), is a perfect everyday colour and a brilliantly match with the Rimmel Scadaleyes Shadow Paint, so I use the Color Tattoo as a base underneath.  I'm also really loving this Real Techniques brush that came with my new Core Collection set, I use it to mix and apply my concealer mostly under my eyes and it gives the most wonderful flawless look :-)

So there we have it, that is my makeup bag and all it's contents.  I hope you like it and please leave me any comments below, have you used any of these products, do you like them, can you think of any interesting posts that you'd like to see me do etc!

Oh and Happy Easter :-)

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Friday 4 April 2014

March Mini Haul

Hi everyone, I just wanted to do a quick 'mini haul' for you today with a few of the bits I bought on Friday last week.  There's only a few bits to show you but I'm quite excited about them all and just had to share :-)
First off I picked up this absolutely beautiful dress in Tesco, I tried it on and just couldn't resist (we all know that feeling right?!)  It looked great on but it is a little too big for me under the arms, nothing I can't fix with a sewing machine.  So for that reason only I'm using the product pic from the Tesco website to show it to you.

It has the most beautiful lavender-blue satin fabric underneath a white see-through layer of embroidered flowers, it's synched in at the waist and has a 'v' opening at the back.  I love the higher rounded neckline too, as anything with a low-cut neck looks terrible on me!  So it's just perfect and I can't wait to wear it somewhere nice in the summer :-)

********************
The next place I toddled off to was of course Boots, I mean when do I ever not go to Boots lol :-)  I wanted to take advantage of the 3 for 2 offer that was only on for a couple more days, so I picked up 3 more of the Rimmel Color Rush Balm Stains.  I won't say too much about these as I'm planning a little review for you all in the next week or so!!


I got (from left to right), Not an Illusion, Give Me a Cuddle and The Redder The Better to add to my collection :-)


And now for the big finale, drum roll please.....
I finally spent the Boots advantage card points that I've been saving up, for what seems like forever, and got the amazingly wonderful Real Techniques Core Collection Brush set :-D  I have been wanting this since I first got the Starter Set over a year ago and have used it every time I do my makeup, they are excellent brushes and I've been longing to get them for an absolutely age! :-)



So that's it, just a few little bits that I picked up and decided to show you!  I hope you're all well and have a great weekend :-)

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