August Beauty Favourites

It's no secret to anyone I love my blonde hair. However been blonde comes with a price. I'm often paranoid my hair looks yellow and all the bleaching (shhh don't tell anyone but it's not my natural colour) often leaves my hair dry and damaged. Therefore I'm forever searching for the perfect blonde hair routine and forever trying new products. Therefore this month my beauty favourites has come to you courtesy of my blonde hair. 

MilkShake

Conditioning whipped cream * 

RRP £14.79 200ml

Firstly this product really does have the texture of whipped cream and smells a little like banoffee pie,I wasn't sure weather I should put this on my hair or cheekily squirt some in my mouth when no one was looking. The product can be used on dry or damp hair and acts like a leave in conditioner. The mouse is designed to maintain colour and leave hair feeling soft. I was expecting the rigid 90's hair quality of typical hair mouse but it actually left my hair feeling silky and smelling delicious. 

Fekkai Advanced

Anti-fade top coat

RRP £20.00 50ml

This product is aimed at fighting frizz and also maintaining hair colour and preventing colour fading. This product is a little pricey but its a brand I trust and a brand that is known for quality. Spending £20 on make up most of us don't think twice about if its for good quality yet when it comes to hair care we seem to think more about the purse strings, so using this injects a little luxury into the daily hair care routine. The product itself smells incredible and leaves my hair glossy.

Matrix

Colour care so silver

RRP £10.95 300ml

In comparison to other silver shampoos the Matrix so silver is rather strong and brightens up hair pretty quickly. However be warned it can give a blue tint to hair in places, although that's one of the features I love. That said its probably because I try and leave silver shampoo on my hair for as long possible when I'm in the shower. All in all it is one of the best silver shampoos I've tried. I do still favour Lee Stafford's bleach blondes shampoo immensely but that tends to give hair a lilac tint (what I love) but sometimes I want my hair more white/blonde than pinky/lilac.

Schwarzkopf Gliss

Shine tonic

RRP £1.66 100ml

For a bargain price of £1.66 this is a product I have been buying for years. It's a leave in shimmer, shine and repair spray for dry and damaged hair. It's basically a shine spray. There was a time when I loved Bedhead shine spray and it was pretty much a cult product however after I discovered this for a fraction of the price I was hooked. This never fails to leave my hair glossy and it makes my hair smell like I've just left the salon. Again at £1.66 you need this!

What are your favourite hair products?

Sammie

Breakfast at Cafe Rouge

So last week I headed of to Cafe Rouge for breakfast with one of my best friends. On a daily basis I normally always skip breakfast, tut tut I know, however it is surprisingly one of my favourite meals. I adore eating out for breakfast so it was a real treat to have breakfast out as normally its hard amongst work commitments.

Pain Perdu - £5.25

French toast topped with strawberry's, blueberry's and banana with bonne maman honey to drizzle.

Oeufs Royale - £5.95

Free-range poached eggs on toasted muffins, smoked salmon and hollandaise sauce. 

I surprisingly have never been to cafe rouge before as I try and avoid chain restaurants however I was very impressed. The restaurant has a very cosy traditional French feel to it and I couldn't give enough praise to the staff who were exceptional. I'm not sure if it's because I'm a bit of a fuss pot but it seems harder to come across waiter and waitresses who actually seem to give good service. 

The breakfast menu all looked delicious and It was very hard to pick what I wanted, however I opted for Oeufs Royal and I wasn't disappointed. My only criticism would be the hollandaise sauce was a little cold. Normally I wouldn't think twice about complaining however the staff were so friendly and polite I didn't want to give them a hard time. I have also since returned for lunch purely based on the good service and It was delicious. 

Overall I would recommend Cafe Rouge for a affordable breakfast with a good atmosphere. In addition you can also receive 20% of the total food bill with a social-light card.

Have you been to Cafe Rouge?

What's your favourite place for breakfast?

Sammie

  

How does a festival compare to a night out?

I was recently shocked when I was informed that on a survey of over 2000 women 70% of them preferred a night in over a night out. Not me, I initially thought! I would be partying it up every day of the week if my bank balance and work commitments didn't get in the way.

Having just returned home this week from Leeds Festival it got me thinking how does a festival compare to a night out? With the expenses of festivals rising to the cost of a weeks holiday almost is it even worth it? 

When I read the interesting results it appears almost everything we hate about a night out happens ten times worse at a festival, for example 46% of us hate drinks been spilled on us (at a festival were always thankful that the liquid been thrown is beer not errmmm...) and 55% of us hate toilets that don't lock or don't have toilet paper (have you used a festival port-a-loo!).Plus other put off's on the list include being sick in public(I'll hold my hands up), loosing money or a mobile phone, having to look after a drunk friend (I'm the drunk friend) not to mention sore feet (at one point this year I started to wonder if trench foot would become a possibility). But somehow all of this doesn't stop me spending hundreds of pounds on festivals each year.  

Yes festivals can be muddy, believe me when I say you will never look like the girls in a magazine at a festival with perfect hair it's simply impossible, you will be cold on a night, if your lucky to start a fire you will be the one sat were the wind blows the smoke into your eyes, you will have various liquid thrown at you when you see your favourite band, at one point you will loose your friends, your feet will hurt and don't even get me started on the pain of carrying your stuff from the car to the camp site. Nightmare. But its worth it. 

So what exactly makes a festival better than a night out. No one judges how you dress, the music will be loud, you choose what music you want to listen to, the general chit chat and awesome banter, you will make new friends and meet new people, you can drink your own beer, if you fall over you’re amongst friends and you can stay up as long as you like.

Over all for me a festival for me will always win over a night out or a holiday, as much as I secretly loved coming back to my home comforts, a warm shower and fresh bedding, a festival is an experience I will never miss. 

Do you prefer a night in or a night out?

A holiday or a festival? 

Sammie

“Written in collaboration with Ladbrokes Bingo”

Put on your war paint

Dress - Topshop

Shoes - Newlook

Necklace - Primark (old)

Well long time no speak chickadees. It seems like forever since I have been able to blog. Not that I haven't been having fun at Leeds Festival of course. This year for me was on of my best Leeds fest yet. Amongst the buckets of rain that seemed to fall upon me, the mud that come over the top of my wellies and the hangover from hell I woke up with the first morning, I was surrounded by good friends,good music and best of all top notch banter. I even made it onto the big TV's crowed surfing to my fav band (bring me the horizon if you was wondering) What more could I of asked for...ohh yeah the sun to shine. Who ever predicted that heat wave was a little mistaken. 

Anyways first post back from the festival seems a little strange been a classy dress. This was an outfit I wore a few weeks on a cheeky little date. I love the opportunity to actually dress up a bit more than usual....and buy a new pair of shoes. I'd seen this dress on the topshop website some time back and knew as soon as I had a good enough reason to buy it, it would be mine. Midnight blue is my favourite colour in dresses so I snapped this up pretty quick. P.S. I had also been pre-warned I wasn't aloud to start photographing my food or the night for my blog, so no gossip for you all this time! 

Sammie

#LeedsBloggerMeet

So last Sunday I attended the #LeedsBloggerMeet which was superbly organised by the two blogging beauties Georgia and Nicola. I arrived a little late to to the meet and missed a few of the talks however I arrived in time to have a chit chat with everyone in Friends Of Ham, or as Michelle thinks its called...House Of Pigs! I was really pleased the secret venue turned out to be Friends Of Ham as I had wanted to check it out for a while. Friends Of Ham is a relatively new establishment which serves a selection of beers, cheeses and meats in the cutest hidden away surroundings.

After the meets and greets were over everyone headed over to Benefit to hear about a few new products and to be matched up with some make up samples. It was then time for a spot of retail therapy and of course Topshop was number one on the list. 

The meet ended with a delicious meal in TGI Fridays. I've never really been a fan of TGI's I ordered the Mozzarella sticks for starter and chicken and chips for the main, complete with a few cheeky cocktails. There wasn't really much on the menu what caught my eye and if I'm honest I was far from impressed. However one thing I can say is the service was amazing I'm not sure the girl who served us think she may have been called Vicky but she kept all of us happy and even gave a little TGI Fridays pin badge to the group. 

Sammie

The Old Peacock

So a little while back I was invited to a VIP opening of the Old Peacock pub. It was a pleasant surprise when the email landed in my little inbox as the pub is a stones throw away from my house.....not the fact a few cheeky free drinks were on offer. I decided to take my dad with me since the pub had been his local since he was 18 (and not a moment sooner). 

I have always been a little jealous of friends who have a good local pub however seeing the transformation I'm now proud as a peacock (get it). I finally have a local pub I actually want to go to. The décor felt very sophisticated and cosy, yet the pub still incorporated the Leeds United theme (the pub is opposite Elland road football ground) and I did spy some Leeds United wall paper. 

The pub now prides itself on serving real ales and home-made traditional food. I decided to try a pint of the 1919 what is exclusive to the pub and named after the year Leeds United was formed, my dad on the other hand decided to have a glass of white wine what caused the bar tender a little confusion when I started happily sipping away at the pint. The peacock may be an elegant creature, I on the other hand, am not. 

I have since been back to taste the delicious menu on offer and I'm very impresses. I can see myself making many return trips in the future especially to sample there Sunday dinners.

What do you think?

Sammie