Sunday 26 November 2017

The Princess Charlotte, McMullen Brewery | Review

Friday night I was lucky enough to be invited down for a complimentary meal at the brand new Princess Charlotte pub opening in the upcoming Tollgate Village, in Stanway Colchester.

The pub is currently the first and only in the UK to be named after Princess Charlotte, which is a really sweet touch - as McMullens who own the chain of restaurants, also have a Prince George!

We were invited to enjoy a complimentary three-course meal as part of a training evening, a chance for all the staff to get into the swing of things and for the chefs to perfect the menu.

I took along Lewis and my parents - as they're both huge foodies and I just knew they (my Dad in particular!) would be very excited about the prospect of a free meal. We were all really pleasantly surprised when we arrived and were told we could literally choose anything off the menu.


The menu is really vast, they're part of the 'Chicken and Grill' chain owned by McMullens so chicken and steak are their specialities. However, they also have lots of delicious pub classics that you'd expect, such as Hunters Chicken and Pie and Mash. There's also a range of vegetarian and healthier options, perfect for when you're not feeling quite so indulgent! Take a look here.

We had a really lovely waitress, who was very chatty and talked us through the menu, pointing out things she personally recommended. Considering all the staff were brand new, you couldn't fault the service at all.



WHAT I ATE:
 Starters - Breaded mushrooms with garlic mayonnaise
Main - Californian Burger (with cheese, jalapeños and guacamole)
Dessert - Cookie Dough Sundae

The food was delicious! Portion sizes were absolutely huge, even my Dad and Lewis struggled to finish their burgers which is very very unusual. The prices were really fair too, so you definitely get value for your money. We couldn't decide between sundaes, so shared a Cookie Dough Sundae and a Cherry and Chocolate Brownie Sundae. The latter was definitely the best - it tasted just like a Costa Black Forest Hot Chocolate!

If you live in Stanway or Colchester, I'd definitely recommend paying the Princess Charlotte a visit! I live and work nearby, so am VERY happy to have another food option so close by. I can imagine I'm going to be spending a lot of sunny lunchtimes in the beer garden by next Summer.

Let me know in the comments if you're thinking of paying a visit!
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Saturday 11 November 2017

Tanya Burr Cosmetics | Selfie Lash & Selfie Flick Review

I'm really excited to share with you an honest review of two new products I've been trying out recently, which are from the Tanya Burr Cosmetics range.

Despite the fact I love watching YouTube vlogs in my spare time, I'm not usually one to buy into Youtuber products. I think the only "Youtube" product I own is Estée Lalonde's book Bloom - which is incredible if you haven't read it already!

But when I heard Tanya talking passionately about how long she'd spent perfecting the mascara product she was adding to her makeup range, I couldn't help but be a little intrigued. 

There are certain Youtubers whose opinion you just feel inclined to trust, and despite her having every reason to be more than a little bit biased about her own products, after seeing Tanya applying both the mascara and eyeliner from her new collection in a recent vlog, I knew I had to try them.

So, what's the verdict?

Selfie Lash Mascara £7.99, Selfie Flick Eyeliner £4.99 both from Superdrug.

The packaging of the products is really stunning, I love the sleek gold packaging - which looks quite high end - and combined with the black scallop print it looks just the right amount of girly, without looking too young.

I'll start with the eyeliner! 
Now as someone who has worn a solid black flick of eyeliner on their eyes for possibly the past 10 years, I'm pretty picky with my liners.

I've tried everything from pencil, to liquids to gels and then back to liquids again. I used to swear by MAC's Blacktrack gel liner, before switching to Rimmel's Glam Eyes liquid eyeliner.

The Selfie Flick eyeliner is a liquid formula that goes on SO easily. The brush is the perfect size and length to make creating that perfect feline flick seem a breeze. Formula wise, you won't need to layer this up too much, it's a really thick matte black which dries fairly quickly.

At the price point it's cheaper than the Rimmel liner I'd sworn by for so many years, and I'm just as happy with the formula and applicator, so I'm converted!



 Now for the mascara!

I'm quite lucky to naturally have fairly long lashes, but they're incredibly straight and I really struggle to find a product that holds a curl. I've given up trying to find a mascara that makes my lashes curl, so I tend to swear by the Maybelline cat eyes mascara. 

I was a little worried, when picking up the packaging of this mascara, that the wand applicator was going to be really big, as the barrel of the packaging is pretty wide. However, it's the perfect in-between size! Small enough to be able to coat even your littlest bottom lashes, but big enough to achieve thick, black lashes in a few applications.

The finished look of the mascara is really dark, long lashes which still look defined and not clumpy, at all. It also holds a curl pretty well - though I don't think my eyelashes are the best to judge this on!

A huge well done to Tanya for how well these products have turned out, she's honestly created products which I would say are contenders for some of my favourite drug-store and maybe even high end make up products. I'm so glad I've given these a go, and will definitely be re-purchasing.

Have you tried any of the products from the Tanya Burr collection? I'd love to hear what you thought!
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Thursday 9 November 2017

Mini Break to Budapest | Day 4

Finally, I'm writing up the final day of our Budapest trip! I've unintentionally spread these blog posts out, but it's actually been so nice going back through our photographs and reliving our mini break to Budapest.

For our final day we'd saved up the most historical tourist attraction, the Buda Castle. But I feel like I should put a little disclaimer right here. We were both expecting to see a castle - clue's in the title right? - but there's actually no 'Castle' as such to see... 

The most fun way to get up to the Buda "Castle" on the hill is to ride the funicular - it even has fun in the title.

As soon as we stepped off the funicular I honestly felt like we'd stepped into Duloc. 
(If you have no idea where I mean, firstly we can't be friends, secondly take a look here for a quick education.) Everywhere was so clean and tidy!

So although we were expecting an actual Castle awaiting us, Buda Castle actually refers to the old castle grounds. This includes a stunning cathedral and the Fisherman's Bastion - the name given to the terraced walkway along the edge of the castle, looking down over Budapest.

After walking around the stunning castle grounds and taking in the amazing view over the river Danube, it was time to eat! We'd heard a lot about Budapest's delicious street food and were ready to try some for ourselves.

Lewis tried a 'Langos' - a very indulgent dish. Essentially a deep fried pizza base, smothered in sour cream, garlic oil and cheese. I was a bit sceptical, but honestly it is delicious and I'd recommend trying it when you're in Budapest!

I went for a slightly safer option and ordered a hot dog. I had instant food-order regret afterwards, thinking I'd chosen something a bit bland, but it was honestly delicious! Hungary are famous for producing paprika, so they like to include it in a lot of their dishes - including this hot dog. 

We ate at Piknik the main outside eatery up in the Buda Castle grounds, it had such a huge range of fresh food. One of my favourite things about Budapest, is all the restaurants seem to have blankets at the ready - as someone who is ALWAYS cold, I seriously appreciate a blanket.


In the afternoon, we headed back over into 'Pest for a spot of shopping and to go on the Budapest Eye. Now it doesn't exactly give the London Eye a run for it's money, it's probably more like a huge ferris wheel, but it was fun and like everything in Budapest, really cheap!


The very last thing I wanted to check off our Budapest bucket list was to try a chimney cake. Chimney cakes are a Hungarian speciality, and something you have to try when you're there. We had a quick Google to hunt down the perfect place, and it took us longer than we expected!

We had in our mind a delicious nutella filled cake, and there was only one place that served up exactly what we were hoping for. Street Cakes!


This tiny shop had a very Shoreditch feel to it, with polaroids of delicious cakes filling the wall, the whole place was very Instagrammable. You can pretty much customise your chimney cake from the start to the finish - choosing the flavour cake, sugar, filling, ice cream and toppings that you'd like!

Here are our creations...


Now I'm naturally a bit of a sweet tooth, but honestly I've never had a sugar rush quite like this. Once we got back to our apartment, I swear I honestly had the shakes. Definitely a once in a lifetime kind of treat!

And that just about sums up our Budapest experience! I'd love to hear if you're thinking of going or if you've ever been before? Share your Budapest blog links below, I'd love to read them and see what you got up to :)
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