BERLIN!

So I went to Berlin, Germany with a few friends in mid August and had an incredible time. We stayed in an apartment run by Berlin Base, very modern and very chic. We had our own little kitchen, two bathrooms, a living room and two bedrooms along with a balcony and access to an upstairs terrace. It was blissful. It was incredible how much we managed to squeeze into just 5 days, and we were lucky enough to be near a good transport link. We took the train or 'Uber' everyday to get where we wanted, and we took ourselves to several hotspots.

Firstly to mention a certain Sir David Attenborough was on our flight, not that we noticed until we got to the other side and unfortunately we weren't able to get any cheeky selfies because we were too shy! Once we arrived at our apartments, myself and a friend went to get some ice cream from a local shop and then we also went to a local supermarket, got some food, and by the end of the evening we were eating watermelon on the terrace watching the sunset.

The following day, we went to the TV Tower and also a cute market where some bandanas were brought, had some nice food and also went to see the Berlin Dome. The views from the TV Tower were panoramic and you were able to see all over Berlin, beautiful. After lots of selfies and drawing in on the grass, we headed back for the day.

Our third day was very chilled, mainly for the hectic night ahead. We saw the Sony Center which to be honest, was a slight let down, mainly filled with restaurant. But the museum we visited was very interesting and saw some modern and old take of art. Then came the hours of preparation for the night ahead. None of us wanted to get too smashed in a foreign country, but we still had a great night. We went to a place called SODA club, which was obviously a hotspot for the locals. It actually played decent music and we had a good night. 

The following day meant we didn't get out of the apartments till 3. However, we did visit the sunday market which made us feel like we visited a real hearty part of Berlin. It was filled out with locals playing music, drinking, stalls and not to forget us getting our hair braids. It was a great atmosphere. Later that day, we also visited The Reichstag, the government building. Again the views were insane but the dome at the top was even more incredible. From inside the dome, you could look down and see the government seats. On the way back to the 'Uber' we saw The Brandenburg Gate, which was without a doubt on of my favourite things I saw. I can't quite explain why, but the way it held itself in the middle of the square and the area around it, including Michael Jacksons famous incident of holding the baby out of the hotel room, meant that it was quite a sight, and a lot bigger than I thought.

On the last day, we visited a famous church that was bombed down in one of the World Wars. A more modern church was opposite it, which had quite an original take. Not to mention another favourite place of mine, The Holocaust War Memorial. It was an absolute site to behold, just down the road from the Brandenburg Gate, which we visited again. It was breathtaking how it was laid out, an absolute maze.

Finally, we saw a part of the Berlin Wall, which shocked me reading how recent this was. Only in the 1980's. If you find the trail of the wall, it can actually be traced around the city, so it's quite fun if you have time to follow it whilst sight seeing. Before we knew it, we were on the plane home to a cold and wet England.

Laura x

THE EMMY'S!

Too many events at once!

I love the Emmy's for two reasons; firstly for the amount of effort everyone puts into their outfits, and also because Jim Parsons has won for the fourth time in a row this year for his role in The Big Bang Theory.

So down to whats what, and who wore what, and who's who?

BEST 3
-Taylor Schilling
-Claire Danes
-Sarah Hyland

WORST 3
-Katherine Heigl
-Mindy Kaling
-Lena Durham
 



Taylor Schilling really dazzled at the Emmy's and got it spot on. A really amazing dress. The thing I noticed most about Claire Danes is her hair. It looks effortlessly chic. Hyland's two piece works extremely well together and her hair is done just right for the outfit.

The first thing that came to my mind seeing Heigl was the dress Sandra Bullock wore in The Proposal. I really thing this is more flab that fab. All over Mindy's outfit looks frumpy and Lena looks like a flamingo gone wrong.

Very happy Modern Family won Comedy Series and Jim Parsons won Comedy Actor.

Laura x

VMAS - The Best and The Worst

So another awards show means I can love and hate more wardrobe choices. Having flicked through some of the outfits earlier, I was beyond unimpressed overall. In no order...
The 6 worst: 
KATY PERRY, ARIANA GRANDE, MARY LAMBERT, SYD WILDER, AMBER ROSE, TAYLOR SWIFT




The 4 Best:
LUCY HALE, INGRID NELSON, BEHATI PRINSLOO, NINA DOBREV, JENNIFER LOPEZ, VICTORIA JUSTICE

SUMMARY:

Was Katy Perry channeling an old Britney? I'm not a fan of double denim on a good day but a full length dress? please no! As expected, half hair up and half down with Ariana, but I feel she's overly compensating for her baby face, stripper boots? Taylor was the least worst, but I had to put her on the list as it looked like she had some seriously tight below issues. Must have been uncomfortable but she does have good legs. Lambert looked like she was wearing her grandmas curtains and Amber Rose was barely wearing enough clothes to call it a dress. Finally Syd is on the list due to the fact at first glance, it looked like a sparkly bin bag wrapped around her.

On a better note, Lucy Hale was my favourite and really caught the vibe of the event with matching fuchsia shoes too. My second favourite was Ingrid Nelson, again really loved this outfit for the event. I wasn't overly wowed by J-Lo's dress, but somehow she pulled it off. Anyone else couldn't dare do the same. Victoria Justice nailed the fun vibe although didn't love the shoes. And Nina just all round got in on the nail. Lastly, bonus points to Behati and Adam as it was their first red carpet appearance since their marriage, awww! Plus she rocked all black and the shoes are amazing. 

Laura x

Top 5 Songs for this Week

I was looking through my playlist and say several songs that I thought were on point this week, and thought I'd share my top 5. Some are new songs, some are old, but they're still pretty damn great.

5. BANG BANG - JESSIE J, ARIANA GRANDE & NICKI MINAJ

4. REAL - YEARS & YEARS

3. BUDAPEST - GEORGE EZRA

2. JAKE BUGG - LIGHTNING BOLT 

1. LOVE RUNS OUT - ONE REPUBLIC

Bang Bang was a song that has grown on me, and It's one that has really stuck in my head. Real I have had on my iTunes for a while, and it's one of my most played songs, It just has that vibe for me. Any music from George Ezra is great but this song is so simple and lovely, how can you not favour it? I saw Jake Bugg at Reading Festival on the weekend and wow is he amazing! definitely converted. Finally, One Republic hit out with a real tune that is on repeat 24/7. Tune.

Laura x

Glossybox August

So I should start by saying I didn't expect to get a glossy box this month. I genuinely thought I had cancelled my subscription. It turns out I'm tied on until September! I guess it's not the worse thing in the world, but when you have already decided in the back of your head that you have lost all interest in this box by its constant let downs, you don't get as excited when it arrives.

……and I was right. There wasn't anything in this box that bowled me over, nothing that made me go 'wow' or 'I will definitely buy this at the shops when it runs out'. I always feel the box is full of little things that really don't suit me, despite the questionnaire that tries to match you to the correct products. Also, when I look at other reviews, I seem to get the worst set of things. The best thing about this box is the box itself. It's no longer shinny, more of a matte feel. It looked more clean cut.

1) YVES ROCHER - PINK NAIL VARNISH
Without a doubt the most pointless of all the products. Genuinely, I thought it was a joke. It isn't a normal sized nail varnish, its 3ml. So the brush is nearly impossible to pick up. Also, it isn't a very flattering pink, extremely dull!

2)FIG & ROUGE - MINI HAND CREAM
If it weren't for this, I probably would have sent the box back. It was a cute little tube of hand cream that smelt like mangos. There wasn't anything particularly great, it was just the best of a bad bunch.

3)KRYOLAN FOR GLOSSYBOX - HIGHLIGHTER CASHMERE
This was a very 'thin' product, in that you would have to layer it on to see any effect. Also, it isn't very subtle due to the shimmery look about it. It felt rather greasy and to be perfectly honest, quite poorly made. It did have a cute little box with the glossy box logo on it though.

4)PHILIP KINGSLEY -ELASTICIZER
I have yet to actually try this, however I wasn't overwhelmed by it on first impressions. It had no smell whatsoever and my first thought was, if you had long hair, and you were to cover all of your head with this, you would use more than half a tube per go, so it's not very cost effective for what it is.

5) L ALIQUE - L'AMOUR
I literally have no idea why these are put in the box. I can't stand them. I could dab a little of the perfume on my wrist and then that's about it. I completely understand that it is supposed to show you new perfumes you may have not considered before but I don't feel you get a real sense of the perfume from this tiny bottle. I would prefer another actual product such as mascara or nail varnish. On the other hand, I can really complain, as one of these is put in nearly every box.

6) ESSENCE - LONGLASTING LIPSTICK
I was excited for this product, full size. Then I saw the colour I had been given. It was as dull as the nail varnish! The only word I can describe it as is dull! It's almost the exact same colour as my lips. So I feel like I may as well just use lip balm.


For me, this box was extremely underwhelming. I am beyond disappointed. Thankfully I'm only tied on for one more box. Do you agree of disagree with my comments? Or did you get different products?

Laura x

6 Lifestyle Changes Until September!

I started to realise a few things about myself that I thought I could improve upon. What changes could I make to make myself feel healthier and happier? So, here I am, with 6 things I plan on doing as a sort of trial until the beginning of september to see I feel any different!

1. SAY NO TO STRAIGHTENERS!
I have never dyed my hair any outrageous colours or made it overly damaged, but I never realised how much I used straighteners, even to curl my hair. That level of heat that I used nearly everyday can't be good at all. I don't get my hair trimmed regularly but my hair isn't in too bad a state. On top of not using straighteners, I'm trying not to use hairbands that strain my hair, so hence using scrunchies. Plus, not brushing my hair when it's wet which is a thing that I do nearly all the time. I'm hoping that not using my hair straighteners for the next few weeks will allow me to see benefits!

2. WATER, WATER, WATER
I have tried this before, and it worked miracles. I am unfortunately proned to bad skin, but I went through a phase of drinking 1.5-2 litres of water a day to flush out my system and it truly worked. But it was quite hard to keep up and keep track of the water I was drinking. I remember how much better my skin was and how much it had improved, so lets start round 2. Side note, no fizzy drinks, none.

3. LIMIT THE JUNK
I will raise my hand and say I love chocolate and there is no doubt I eat way too much of it. I'm not planning on cutting it out completely, (mainly because that would be impossible for me), but making sure I'm not just eating it 'because it's there'.

4. SQUAT & LUNGE
This is more of a personal one, a photo on instagram where I was tagged made me realise how large my thighs are! This isn't really anything new to me, I've always felt my thighs have been out of proportion. So the first step is 50 squats and 50 lunges per day. Maybe Ill soon start to notice a more toned lower half soon?

5. NAIL BITING
I don't really think this is a 'lifestyle' change but I have been driven to paint my nails to cover how horribly bitten they are. They aren't as bad as when I was about 14, I have gradually become better however I really don't want to see horrible nails anymore, I'm done! I remember a gross little fact someone told be about the amount of bacteria under the nails, apparently there's a lot. Ew.

6. POSITIVITY
I wouldn't say I'm a negative person, or a pessimist, but I definitely sometimes find it hard to see the good in things. So, this isn't just a few week thing, I'm going to try and keep this up for a while, maybe see if anyone can notice a change. Not get involved in drama and stay mentally healthy.


Do you have any changes you'd like to make as the summer comes to an end?

Laura x

Where do I want to go?

Having just gotten back from Berlin, I started to ask myself; where next? I am an absolutely keen traveller, its important to keep seeing as much of the world and experience as many cultures as possible.

I have no problem in admitting that I have been very fortunate to have been able to go where I have but I also believe that sometimes you have to put yourself out there to go and get what you want. After I finish my degree, I really want to travel and perhaps even live abroad for a while. A few places I have visited include: New York, Florida, Paris, Cairo, Rome, Venice, Bishkek, Shymkent, Tashkent, Barcelona, Salamanca, Murcia, Dubai, Geneva, Santander, Naples and most recently Berlin. So it's safe to say I'm no stranger to flying. If I could visit 5 places, where would I go?

1) Prague - Czech Republic

I'll be perfectly honest and say I'm not 100% sure why. I know a few people who have been here and say its a place every person should have a chance to see. It's supposedly very pretty and a place that has always been on my mind.





2) Cancun - Mexico

Supposedly a Spring Break hotspot for Americans, this is a place I really have to see for myself. White sand and killer sun, that's my idea of a nice break away. Apparently theres an underwater museum?

3) Rio de Janeiro - Brazil

No, the world cup did not inspire me to go here, and nor will the next Olympic Games, but the flamboyant colours and the carnival life seems like something to celebrate. One of the things that is always brought up is the divide between the wealthy and the poor. Apparently slums lie next to skyscraper city blocks, and this is something I really want to get a sense for myself.




4) Sydney/Gold Coast - Australia

Cheekily combining this into one, this is a place where I am determined to go to, perhaps even live? I guess we will see. The great barrier reef would be a sight in itself, let alone the beaches and the glorious weather. A hot christmas? Yes Please.






5) St Tropez/Cannes - France

 Another cheeky combo, his is definitely and up and coming place. I can't really justify why I want to go here other than it is supposedly 'a great place to be'. I guess because I live in London, and France is very close, why wouldn't I want to hop over here? Would I like to time it with Cannes Film Festival? Of Course. 

Do you have five places you HAVE to visit? Better start saving.

Laura x
(all photos taken from Google)