My holiday in Prague- where to visit, where to go out, what to see, what to eat and drink!

So this is a bit of a late post, but I wanted to share some of my memories from my birthday trip to birthday trip to Prague!

Originally I hadn't planned on visiting Prague any time soon, however two of my friends had members of their holiday drop out, so wanting to do something different for my 21st, I took one of the places on the trip- and I'm so glad I did!

We flew from London Stansted and the flight was so quick- it actually took me longer to get to the airport than to the Czech Republic! Nightmareeeeeee

Once we arrived, we checked into The Royal Post Apartments, selected by my friend Sinead. These apartments were AMAZING, as we arrived the cute little receptionist guy was so friendly, even giving me a free bottle of champagne for my birthday. The rooms had unique designs and the comfiest bed ever, not to mention the best lighting ever in the bathroom...

Loving life a bit too much

That lighting tho

The decor in the bedroom was my favourite!

Not long before we opened the free champagne, and obviously not long before I broke a glass because I'm an idiot!

For our first night, we headed out for some dinner at a restaurant near our apartments and the King Charles bridge, they took about 900 hours to bring the food, so by the time it arrived taking photos was the last thing on my mind and I ate in about 2 seconds! After our food we headed to an Irish bar and met a massive gaggle of Scottish men on a stag do, one tried to chat us up by saying he was Harry Styles' best mate..owkkkkaaay then def not though are ya. We went to a few places, unimpressed with most of them, but then stumbled across a 241 cocktail bar, so after a few frozen strawberry daiqiuris we were dancing away and watching strippers dance on a bar!

Ash and her boobs got a lot of attention as per

2-4-1 cocktails + me being the biggest lightweight = good night

When we woke up the next day, we decided to try and be a little more cultured and experience some sights that didn't involve strippers. We explored the Prague castle, which was really interesting and highly reccomended! You can purchase tickets from the tourist office, or in the office outside the castle itself. There are loads of different parts, cathedrals, beautiful outside grounds, and museums of old items- they have a room of instruments of torture and a hallway filled with very old clothes!

For our second night, we decided to go on a bar crawl, tickets were sold pretty much everywhere in the centre at the ticket offices. As we arrived there were about 50 other people there, pretty sure we were the only English ones there apart from one other group, which was a strange experience as usually when I go somewhere touristy everyone is bloody English! Ash gravitated towards the group of English lads, and we branched off from the bar crawl (which was o.k) and headed to a bar called James Dean. I loved it here! https://www.jamesdean.cz/

The next day it was safe to say we were hanginggggg, so we headed out for some food. At Pit Stop Cafe me and Sinead shared a pizza and some pasta, and it was really decent comfort food, exactly what you need when you're hungover. Highly recomended!

For dinner we headed to the El Centro Spanish restaurant near our apartments, this is the day i became an ALIOLI ADDICT, I am in love with it!!!!

My meal here was lovely! Recommend to anyone- obviously get the alioli!

 Prague is one of the most beautiful places I've been to, it really surprised me how lovely it is, as often its image gets tarnished with associations of stag do's and prostitutes! Def worth a visit :)

Also, guy from Germany, we are really sorry that we kept making you do Arnold Schwarznegger impressions over and over and over again #Iamthegovenorofcalafornia #i'llbeback

NYX NUDE LIP HAUL AND REVIEW- Lip Lingerie, Soft Matte Lip Creme, Slide on Lip Pencil, High Voltage Lipstick!

NYX Nude Lip Haul

I am obsessed with a good nude lip! It is pretty much my favourite colour for lips and I am always trying new lipsticks to find that holy grail nude.

I decided (as all the products are pretty reasonably priced) to try out a range of different NYX nudes in search of THE PERFECT nude lip combination for me! Usually I like to use MAC Spice lipliner, with Yash lipstick, however I get bored easily and I have been rocking this combo for a little too long now. The products I went for are:

Soft Matte Lip Creme- in Abu Dhabi and Cannes £5.50
High Voltage Lipstick- in Tan Gerine £5.50
Lip Lingerie- in Lace Detail £6.50
Slide on Lip Pencil- in Sugar Glass (I am an IDIOT and accidentally ordered two of these haha) £5.50

Soft Matte Lip Cremes

I really love the texture of this product- it feels like you have nothing on your lips! I ordered the colours Cannes and Abu Dhabi, my only complaint with Abu Dhabi is that it is so similar to the colour of my lips already. This is really good for when I feel like having a no-make-up-make-up day, but I don't think I would wear this on a night out or anything. Cannes is amazing and slightly lighter, so it does play up my lips a little more. A little of this product goes a long way and it is truly matte, so I would absolutely recommend this to anyone who likes a matte lip, however put a little lip balm underneath if you find it drying.

High Voltage Lipstick

The colour of this is amazing- I would really compare it to MAC's Myth! I could never wear a colour like this without a lipliner but with a lipliner on its amazing- I used it with the lipliner and Cannes Soft Matte Lip Creme and fell in love- a lot of effort wearing three products but I really think I've found my perf. nude lip combination! It's so creamy and comfortable on the lips, I think I'll be buying a few more colours, seeing as I can't wear this alone!

Lip Lingerie

I absolutely love the formula of this- however I'm not 100% sure about the colour that I got! It is growing on me, but it looks a little grey in some lights :( I bought it in Lace Detail, and sometimes it does wash me out a bit. BUT- the actual formula is lovely, long lasting and feels amazing on the lips. I would not recommend using a lipgloss on top of this as when I did, it turned two different types of lipgloss into a weird, gloopy consistency! It looks amazing alone, and even better with a liner, I can't wait to get some more colours in.

Slide on Lip Pencil

The colour of this product is absolutely spot on- its an amazing browny nude colour and makes every lipstick I've tried it with pop! It lasts for ages and has great staying power, I've looked in the mirror hours later and it's still there chillin' on my lips. The only complaint I would have is that I feel like I'm having to sharpen it loads and it's going down pretty quickly- but seeing as I was an idiot and bought two- I don't think this is too much of a problem to be honest!

So to summarise- my nude favourite combination was the Slide on Lip Pencil in Sugar Glass, Soft Matte Lip Creme in Cannes, and then the High Voltage Lipstick just in the centre! A M A Z I N G!

<3

Life as a NYX Insider and my first EVENT as a NYX Insider- The Campus Giveaway!

As promised here is a very special dedicated post all about my role as a NYX Insider!

What is a NYX Insider?!

A NYX Insider is essentially a brand ambassador for NYX- but with the ability to give everyone some inside information about all the exciting things going on with the brand. In my role I help to organise and orchestrate events, as well as letting other students know exciting NYX news. I will post some photos later in this post that show what I did at my first event!

How and why did you apply for this?!

I applied to be a brand ambassador for NYX as I love the brand and all the products, and admire the extent that NYX goes to to get involved with make up artistry and members of the industry no matter how big or small they are. I saw the vacancy advertised online for a NYX brand ambassador and thought that I would apply as it sounded rightttttt up my street! After successfully getting the job, I was invited along with nine other ladies (all from different unis in the country) to L'Oreal HQ to learn all about the products and brand.

The NYX head office was AMAZING, it was make-up heaven, every wall was covered in shelves and shelves of NYX cosmetics, every type, every colour, all free for us to play with. We explored the new range of products that are due to come out ASAP (absolutely amazing!!!!). Some of my favourites include the Ombre blush (in a peach colour because I'm obsessed with peach), the Lip Lingerie, and the Intense Butter Gloss. We got to touch and feel all of the products which was really inspiring and literally made me want to buy everything...

What was the highlight of the training day?

A highlight of the training day for me was learning all about the NYX Face Awards, which has now launched in the UK. NYX offer a life changing prize of £10,000, as well as a trip to L.A to attend the U.S Face Awards, and a crazy supply of NYX cosmetics. There are no limitations on entry to this competition, you don't have to be a professional make-up artist or currently work in industry- just have a passion for make-up! This shows how the brand is willing to invest in talent, and doesn't just go after entrants with the most followers on social media. I'm really excited to see some of this years entries!

What will you be doing as a NYX Insider?

My role is to generate excitement and a buzz amongst the students, and others! My first event was a massive success and has made me REALLY excited for whats to come. The event was a free make-up giveaway on campus! I made a Facebook event before the giveaway (which was on Thursday) and we seemed to get a really great response- although I had no idea the amount of people that would actually turn up on the day-looooads of people! We set up and already had people in a line, some of the products included lipstick, foundation, eyeliner, tinted moisturiser and chunky lipsticks. Due to the huge volume of people that attended- we were out of make-up in twelve minutes! This was annoying as I really wanted everyone to get something, but hopefully if we do this again we will have more products. Everyone who came was so lovely and I hope they enjoyed their make-up!

<- Me and Suchitra, the other Manchester NYXInsider

<- When we were cleared completely out of make-up!

                         <- A lovely comment from a lovely girl who attended the event :)

<- Our cute #NYXINSIDER hoodies!

Here are a few photos of what make-up I wore on the day, and some of the product details for this look:

<- Foundation- Estee Lauder Double Wear- Honey Bronze
Contouring- Anastasia Beverly Hills Contour Palette- Medium
Bronzer- MAC Limited Edition Bronzer- Earthshine
Brows- Anastasia Beverly Hills Dipbrow- Chocolate
Highlight- MAC Mineralize Skinfinish- Gold Deposit
Eyeliner- NYX Matte Liner- Black
Lipstick- NYX Lip Lingere- Lace Detail
Lipliner- NYX Slide on Lip Pencil-Sugar Glass
Lipgloss- NYX Butter Gloss- Eclair

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Fitness Post! How I'm Trying to Get Back Into it + Recent Food Prep Recipes!

Being healthy is difficult!

Sometimes I'm really good and feel like I'm smashing it...but recently I keep slipping up and having to say "Okay this is a cheat day now" :(! This week hasn't been that bad, I think I just get really hungry sometimes and end up eating a load of random stuff while I'm waiting for my food to cook and that's my downfall!

I've been quite good at going to the gym recently, I try for 5 times a week (don't always do this!) and at the moment my focus is legs, so I train legs 2/3 times a week! I will do a dedicated post to my leg workout soon :)

In terms of nutrition, I have started to try and prep food before hand, and I've found this really helpful. The photo of me above shows some of my recent progress, but I really do have a long way to go! Hopefully I can get my nutrition 100% back on track and stop having all these sneaky little cheat days.

Here is a photo of some of my recent food prep:

On the left is grilled chicken breast wrapped in prosciutto with a mix of quinoa, red rice, and wholegrains with broccoli. On the right is grilled turkey breast with spicy seasoning with the same mix of quinoa, red rice and wholegrains, this time with peas. The mix of grains I have been using is the Merchant Gourmet sachets, they are amazing because all you have to do is put them in the microwave for one minute- which literally saves so much time! I pre heated the grill and just put the two pieces of meat seasoned on a piece of foil- so the whole thing was really simple and easy to make. This really saved me from eating crap when I got in! This is a photo of the grains I recommended in case you want to look for it during your next food shop:

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Space Party + Space Alien Costume Make Up Tutorial!

Last weekend I went to visit a friend of mine in Leeds who was having a space themed party. I knew from the moment I clicked on the Facebook event that this was going to be a good party- mostly by the fact that there were about 500 people invited on the event! I love fancy dress and any excuse to be able to dress up and do some interesting make-up that I wouldn't usually be able to do. Me and my friend Sinead decided to dress up as aliens to go with the space theme, and Sinead came up with our make-up concept which was to create a blue alien look with face paints, making sure that we didn't look too O.T.T or stupid! Here are some photos of the finished look, I will explain step by step how we created it:

Step 1- Before we started doing our alien face paint, I applied my make-up as normal, as if i was going on a night out. I wanted us to still look quite normal, so did a smokey eye and contouring as usual! I started with Smashbox Luminizing primer all over my face, and Benefit Porefessional to fill in my pores. I then used Estee Lauder Double Wear foundation in Honey Bronze. To highlight I used Anastasia Beverly Hills Contour Kit in Medium, using the lightest colour to highlight under my eyes, down my nose, across the middle of my forehead, and underneath my cheekbones. I spot highlighted under my eyes and down my nose with Kevin Aucoin's Sensual Skin Enhancer in Sx06, using a damp beauty blender to blend it out, before setting with Ben Nye Banana Powder. For my cream contour I used the Tom Ford Shade and Illuminate in Inensity two, blending across my cheekbones and the sides of my forehead. I set my face with MAC Mineralize Skinfinish in Medium Dark and used Dark Deep for contouring. To highlight I used MAC Mineralize Skinfinish in Soft and Gentle, and for blusher I applied MAC Peaches in between my highlight and contour shades. For brows I used Anastasia Beverley Hills Dipbrow in Chocolate. To create a gold smokey eye, I used MAC Paint Pot in Rubenesque as a base, then blended Texture, Swiss Chocolate, and Embark into my crease to form a gradient effect, before patting MAC Goldmine on top of the Rubenesque. I finished with Rodial mascara, NYX Matte effect liquid eyeliner, and Eyelure lashes. For lips we used NYX Abu Dhabi Soft Matte Lip Creme.

Step 2- To create the Alien look, we started with a dark blue metallic face paint, applied it slightly damp with a paint brush (you could use a foundation brush- we just didn't want to make ours blue!). We applied this in all the areas that you would usually contour, so across the forehead near the hairline and down one of the cheekbones.

Step 3- We used a lighter, more green coloured face paint to draw another line directly under the blue line, following the shape round and slightly blending.

Step 4- We used a silver colour to do another line underneath the green line, then wet the brush slightly and blended it all together to form a gradient effect.

Step 5- Using NYX's Jumbo Eye Pencil in Milk, we  drew a final line underneath the other face paints, and then drew some small X shapes to look like sparkly stars across the whole design.

Step 6- In the centre of the X's drawn with the Jumbo Pencil, we added little gem/dimantes to make them stand out. I started off alternating the colours but this got a bit annoying- so I just ended up putting mostly silver!

So that's how we made our alien look! Hope you like it
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