Mad Hatters Afternoon Tea @ The Sanderson Hotel

The weekend after my birthday, my mum and I went for an extra birthday treat to The Sanderson Hotel to indulge in their 'Mad hatters tea party' themed afternoon tea! We've only been to one afternoon tea before, last year, which was just a standard hilton one so I was eager to try a themed one! I've wanted to go to this one for about a year so I was very excited to finally go.

(Warning! Quite picture heavy & apologises most are portrait, I didn't realise when I took them!)

I'm going to let the pictures do the talking here! It was a really nice environment and I liked how everything tied in together, looking slightly mismatched, but in a good way! The plates and tea cups had all different pictures on them (mine had a birdcage) and the jewellery box holding the sugar cubes was so cute and very unique! There was plenty of food, we took some home, with a good mixture of savoury and sweet. I did like the majority of the sweet things but the sandwiches weren't to my taste! There was also a 'Jelly Wonderland' which you went and got an assortment of different flavoured jelly's. Unfortunately I can't comment on the different teas available as neither my mum or I drink it, but there was quite a selection!

I would definitely recommend it if you're looking for a themed afternoon tea in London (it is very close to Oxford Street) and you enjoy lots of different foods. It was a good experience but if you're like me and are a bit of a picky eater it would probably be a bit of a waste, especially considering the amount of food you get! However, it was lovely to step into Wonderland for an afternoon :)

I would also really like to try the Pret-a-portea at the Berkeley hotel as it is all fashion inspired! Possibly a birthday treat for next year...

Have you ever had an afternoon tea?

*** I have a one year blogging giveaway on currently where you could win 12 products! Click HERE to enter! ***

Jessica

♥

Top Products | March & Update

Hello everyone!

It seems like ages ago since I lasted blogged and it actually was a really long time ago! The reason being is because for the past two weeks I was working every single day, from when I got home from school up until before bed on my performing arts exam. I was doing costume and let me tell you, it was an extremely stressful and time consuming job! Luckily the final examined show was on Thursday evening and now it's the Easter holidays! I do have a lot of revision to do over these next two weeks but I am planning to schedule posts so I won't be absent on here for too long again!

With that aside, this evening I'm bringing you my (belated!) top products for March! Here is what I've been using and loving for the past month...

♥ Victoria's Secret Sheer Love lotion - The scent of this is 'White cotton and pink lily' and although it wouldn't be a scent I would usually go for, I picked this up in a set during the sales this year and I really like it! It smells really fresh and has a nice light formula too.

♥ Garnier Ultimate blends 'the shine revitaliser' shampoo - I think this is a new shampoo range from Garnier and I got this as I was out of shampoo and this was half price. I'm happy I did though as it leaves my hair feeling really, really clean! It has a citrus scent which lingers, which is always a plus!

♥ Treacle Moon 'Ice cream soda' shower gel - I've had this for a while but this has been the only shower gel I've been using! It has a delicious creamy vanilla scent which is unlike any other vanilla scented products I've smelt/used before. You only need a small amount and it has a creamy lather which isn't drying.

♥ Dermalogica Clear Start Toner - My skin went a bit crazy last month so I made the effort to use this toner everyday. When I first bought this (along with the cleanser) I wasn't overly impressed, it didn't seem special! However with regular use I've noticed a big difference! My skin is still awful (that's acne for you!) but looks a lot clearer, brighter and a lot less red.

♥ Essie 'Cute as a button' - Summer in a bottle! I got this shade for my birthday and worn it a couple of times the past month, in fact I'm currently wearing it now! It's the perfect mix between a bright pink and a coral and I think this will look amazing with a tan. If you're looking for the perfect summer colour, definitely try this!

♥ Seche Vite Topcoat - Ahh, seche vite. This was in my 2013 favourites and I finished my bottle. Other topcoats I have been using have just not compared to this so I re purchased it last month. Makes my nails super shiny and drys extremely quickly, I'm really happy I've got this again!

What did you love throughout March?

*** I have a one year blogging giveaway on currently where you can win 12 products! Click HERE to enter ***

Jessica

xox

Giveaway: 1st Blog Birthday CLOSED

Wow! How time flies. It's a year ago today I published my first post, which you can view HERE! It's great to know I've been blogging for a whole year without giving up because as I've said before, I've had a few blogs before but never stuck at it so I'm happy I finally have. I just want to say a huge thank you to everyone who has taken the time to read, comment and even follow my blog in the last year, it means so much to know you are reading this! I've had the opportunity to meet and talk to so many people over here and on my twitter which I'm so grateful for! I'm just happy you enjoy reading my blog as much as I enjoy writing it! 

To say a big thank you to mark this milestone (and also I am *very* nearly at 400 bloglovin' followers!) I've put together a giveaway for one lucky reader to win. Please read all the rules before you enter, I've made it easy to enter via rafflecopter too. I hope you like what I've chosen to include, everything is from brands I like/products I like or things I want to try!

THE PRIZES:

♥ Soap and Glory 'Clean Girls' body wash mini
♥ Soap and Glory 'Scrub em' and leave 'em' body buff mini
♥ Soap and Glory 'The Daily Smooth' body butter mini
♥ Bath and Body Works Hand Pocketbac 'Pink Vanilla Macaron'
♥ OPI Avojuice jasmine hand lotion mini
♥ Nivea Pure & Natural lip balm
♥ Superdrug Fruit Sorbet Peel Off Mask
♥ Revlon Matte Balm 'Elusive'
♥ Bourjois Color Edition cream eyeshadow 'Petale de glace'
♥ Barry M Gelly 'Rosehip'
♥ Barry M Gelly 'Huckleburry'
♥ Yankee Candle Votive 'Garden Sweet Pea'

T&C's

• Please make sure you have parental permission if you are under 18 as I will need your address if you win
• I will be moderating all entries so please no spam or competition accounts as this is for readers of my blog!
• Follow all the entries on the rafflecopter form! The only mandatory entry is you follow on bloglovin'
• This giveaway will run until midnight on the 25th April
• Unfortunately this giveaway is UK ONLY
a Rafflecopter giveaway

Thank you for all your support in the last year and here's to the next one!

Jessica

xox

* Winner has now been picked *

What I got for my birthday | 2014

Last Tuesday (4th) was my 16th birthday! I wasn't really looking forward to it but I had a brilliant day. I was very lucky as we didn't have school so I got to spend my birthday doing something fun! I went with my dad to Westfield for some shopping (haul to follow) and lunch. I enjoyed the day a lot and since you said you would like to see what I got when I asked in my previous posts I am going to be sharing that today...sorry it's quite late, I wasn't sure how I wanted to set this out so I will mainly let the pictures do the talking.

From my grandparents I got a new pair of Uggs in the Chestnut Bailey Bow style. They are soo comfortable, soft and warm and this bailey bow is, in my opinion, one of the nicer pairs of uggs because some look quite big and bulky so the pretty bows take away from that. Everything else I got from my dad, the headphones are amazing and I've used them everyday since I got them, they are really handy and practical. I got Tiffany & Co earrings which are also very practical as I always forget to change my earrings so once they're in, they're in for a long time haha. At Westfield I was going to buy the Swarovski Silver Tennis Bracelet for myself but he offered to buy it for me as an extra present so that was so lovely!

From my sister I got three Essie nail polishes, from my nan I got the Bath and Body works stuff and some money and then from my mum, my main present was money so the rest is the other things she got me! The phone case is so cute! It arrived late so that's why it's not a great picture and separate to the other stuff! :)

♥ ♥ ♥

I hope you enjoyed reading this. I'm so grateful for everything I received and can't wait to wear/use everything! Of course, there will be many reviews/posts featuring these products coming your way! Thanks for reading and thank you for all the lovely birthday messages, I really appreciate it!

Jessica

xox

Nails: OPI 'Next stop...the bikini zone'

Last weekend, while out shopping, I had a look at the OPI stand and saw the new Spring/Summer Brazil collection was out. The collection is full on creme finishes, with this one being the only one that isn't! I thought I would go for one of the brights, but too be honest, most looked dupable. I did however decide to buy 'Next stop...the bikini zone' which is a really unique shade I have nothing like.

OPI 'NEXT STOP...THE BIKINI ZONE' £11.95

As you can see, it is a heavily purple based/green duo chrome. I have swatched it three times on the nail wheel, firstly over a white, then a purple and finally just on it's own. Over both the white and purple there is barely any difference, so to get a slightly more opaque finish, just layer it over any colour (other colours may look different though) but if you want the duochrome finish to be a lot more visible, two or three coats on it's own works well. Personally, I prefer it on it's own as it looks much more unqiue, as over the the colours it just looks like any old shimmery purple! Despite this being not a typical 'spring/summer' colour I do really like it and can't wait to wear this!

Have you got your eye on anything from the Brazil collection?

Jessica

xox

It's my birthday!

Hello! I'm scheduling this post to go up today as I'm sure I won't have any time to do so on the day (or want to, for that matter!)

Today is my 16th birthday! to be honest, I'm not happy or excited about turning 16, I hate the thought of getting older! Alas, it's got to happen so I may as well enjoy the day as it only comes once a year! Today I have the day off school as we have this thing a couple of times a year where we have the day off and just go in to meet with our tutor for about 10 minutes. I made my appointment for Monday though so I don't have to go in at all :)

I'm going out for the day today with my dad and sister and on the weekend I'm going to a very exciting afternoon tea with my mum! I'm really looking forward to it and will definitely take lots of pictures so I can do a post all about it. I'm so happy it's going to be getting warmer soon (hopefully!) and I just love Spring and Summer and find that I have so much more to blog about and of course when I can take pictures is way more flexible as it gets lighter! For that reason, I'm hoping to start posting around 3 or 4 times a week as, like I said in my last post, I really feel like I've been bitten by the blogging bug! I just want to blog about so many things! The last thing I wanted to say is that my blog turns 1 on 20th March! I definitely want to hold a giveaway some point soon to mark the occasion but also because I recently hit 350 followers, I'm now on 370 and hopefully by the 20th, 400, if I'm lucky! So thank you for all the on going support, I really appreciate it :)

So...I kind of went off on a tangent there and there was not really a point of this post other than to just let you know that and just a few little updates!

To finish, I have two questions for you all:

1) Would you like to see a 'what I got for my birthday' post?

2) What things would you like to see in my upcoming giveaway?

Jessica

xox

Top Products | February

I've done it! Another favourites post! So it may be only my second this year but I don't think I've ever had two or more consecutive months before. I've only got five products to share but I feel like February has just gone so fast! Well, it is the shortest month, but not by a lot!

♥ Soap and Glory 'The Daily Smooth' Body Buttter £9: I use lotion every single night and this one is quite thick so sinks in overnight leaving me super soft in the morning. I've had this ages and have rarely used it and I'm not sure why? It feels lovely and the scent, although I prefer the 'original pink' S&G scent, makes a nice change as it is scented with 'mist you madly'.

♥ The Body Shop Honeymania Shower Gel £4: At the end of January I won some Honeymania products from Angelica's blog giveaway. I have a full review of everything coming soon, but I've used the shower gel a lot the past couple of weeks. The scent is delicious, smelling of yummy honey but not at all sickly and it foams up well and you only need a tiny amount (as you can see from the bottle which looks barely used!)

♥ Dermalogic Clear Start Foaming Wash £13: I needed a new cleanser so decided to try this as I put it on my recent Wishlist in January. So far, I really like this. It has a gel-like consistency and my face feels really clean. I think it has cleared my skin a bit and it definitely looks less oily! I also got another product from the range, a full review once I've used them more will be up soon.

♥ Dior Addict Lip Glow Colour Reviving Balm £22.50: This was quite an impulse purchase but I'm so glad I bought it! It is sort of a lip balm, but it 'revives' your lip colour, leaving them looking really healthy! It adjusts to your natural lip colour, but better. Once again, full review to follow!

♥ OPI 'I Theodora You' £11.95: I used this in January too, but this month I painted my nails with this and when it got chipped and I removed it, I re painted my nails with this, which rarely happens. This is the perfect light pink, which is milky and doesn't have any 'bright' tones which I really don't like in pastel shades. I just love this soo much!

I think I've been bitten by the blogging bug lately as I seem to want to post about so many things. I am going to try and post around three times a week from now on and hopefully that will actually follow through! Also, it's my birthday on Tuesday and I wanted to know if you would like to see a 'birthday haul' style post or not? Let me know!

What have you loved in February?

Jessica

xox