Sephora Haul!

From time to time you just need to indulge in a little self love and treat yourself to some well hyped about products, and what better a place to let you do this than Sephora! 

Since it's very hard to get some popular U.S brands here in the UK, Sephora offers the perfect opportunity to get your hands on these with low cost shipping fees and the duties fee included in the overall cost. This way you won't get slapped with having to pay a fee before the post office gives you your eagerly awaited parcel.  

So what did I buy: 

Kat Von D

Kat Von D is one of the most hyped brands in America right now, and really only possible to get in the UK if shipped from the states.

After seeing everyone rave on Instagram and YouTube about the Shade and Light eye contour palette, and seeing that the colour selection offered a stunning selection of warm, cool and neutral tone eye-shadows within, I knew it would be perfect for everyday use. The shadows themselves are very well pigmented, although be careful as they do let off a lot if 'dust'/'kickback' so make sure to tap the excess off your brush and off the palette itself.  For me this is a must have if you need an everyday eye-shadow palette as it gives you a true range of different cool, neutral and warms tones in a smooth blendable matte formula, with a couple of light coloured satin shadows drawn into the mix so you're able to add a highlight/sheen where needed. 

The tattoo liner in Trooper is another staple you must get if you decide to buy some products from Kat Von D's makeup line. Unlike most felt tip liners that come as a stiff felt nib, this liner is actually made up of individual hairs, much like a paint brush, so you are able to get much more precision in creating either thick or thin lines. It is also very well pigmented with one line creating a deep intense black, and lasts all day on the eye but can come off in the inner and outer corners of your eyes if they tend to get watery easily. One of the best features of this product though is that the lid clicks shut, so you won't open up your make up bag to find black streaks everywhere and a dried out eyeliner.

Becca Cosmetics

When one of the most well known brands for creating stunning highlighters pairs up with one of YouTube's biggest makeup guru's you know the end product is going to be truly amazing. So its no surprise that the Becca X Jaclyn Hill shimmering skin perfector pressed in Champagne Pop became such a success. The mixture of Becca's intensely pigmented and perfectly smooth formula for its powder highlighters, along with the light golden gorgeousness of the Champagne Pop colour creates such a stunning highlight! However you may want to avoid this colour if you are very pale or if you don't like an intense highlight, but I feel that almost any skin tone could pull this colour off, and really who doesn't love a glow nowadays.

Too Faced

When I didn't think Too Faced could get any cuter with their packaging they brought out the Love Flush blushes, and I instantly feel in love! The formula of these blushes are wonderfully smooth and very blendable and are very well pigments so make sure to tap of the excess powder on your brush. They also come in a huge range of colours and different finishes so theirs something for everybody. Also they do live up to their long lasting statement as I didn't need to reapply throughout the day.

If you're in the UK and itching to get your hands on some hard to get American brands then I would definitely head over to http://www.sephora.com/ and start spending! Also you can choose free samples if you spend over a certain amount and who doesn't love that!

Enjoy browsing my dears,

Becky. xx

Hello Kitty's Serect Garden Afternoon Tea - Cutter and Squidge

I first heard about Cutter and Squidge through Instagram, like you do most popular bakery's/restaurants nowadays. Then after visiting them for the first time whilst on a day out in London, and deciding that they definitely lived up to their online reputation, I've wanted to head back ever since. So when my Instagram feed started to be flooded with Cutter and Squidge's pictures of delicious looking food in the shape of Hello Kitty, claiming to be part of the menu for Europe's first official Hello Kitty Afternoon Tea, I called my sister into the room and within the next 5 minutes a reservation had been made.

A few weeks later off we popped to Soho to experience our first themed cafe. For us this was especially exciting as earlier in the year we had visited Japan which has a very high reputation for themed cafes pulling them off immensely well! But unfortunately we weren't able to visit any during our stay :(

When we arrived we were greeted by windows filled with the cutest Hello Kitty X Cutter and Squidge merchandise and immediately we wanted to buy everything, but first came the food!

So cute!!! Don't the cakes also look delicious!

Waiting to receive our wrist bands 

So here's how the process went:

First we entered and told them we were here for the Hello Kitty Afternoon Tea and we were given a wrist band, much like one you would receive at a night club expect much much cuter, with the official Hello Kitty X Cutter and Squidge logo on it. Then we waited up stairs for them to set up our table whilst enjoying a free glass of pink lemonade and boy it was good!

Once everything was set up they called us to the counter where we were then lead down the stairs and oh my what awaited us was beautiful! Along the wall into the room where we would be having our afternoon tea was a map of London's biggest tourist attractions all in the Hello Kitty style of illustration and next to it was a tree made up of Hello Kitty plushies, along with a huge light up Hello Kitty figure! Oh if only my childhood self could have had these in my room, it would have been paradise!

Then we were taken to our table which was towards the back of the room, although there was plenty of room once you were sitting at the table unfortunately getting there was a bit of a tight squeeze, but nothing really that bothersome.

At the table we were presented with the sweetest menus explaining what would be offered in the afternoon tea and a selection of teas and drinks to choose from. The waitress also explained this to us, saying that everything could be refilled for free, definitely making the £40 price mark worth it!

After choosing our drinks came the event we have been excitingly anticipating all day, THE FOOD!!!

Just look at it!!!!!!!

Oh the excitement we felt when she brought over the 5 layer tower was intense! She explained to us what was in each and then left us as we started arranging the food readying it for all the obligatorily Instagram and blog shots. I don't think there was one table that didn't do this!

The Afternoon tea included six courses, 2 savory (the sandwiches and cheese scones) and then 4 sweet (the last course was soft serve ice cream with strawberry or salted caramel sauce but sorry I forgot to take a picture.)

Every course was delicious, perfectly cooked and full of flavour, but i'll warn you not to eat any lunch or breakfast as all this will completely stuff you, we had to take some bits away in a doggy bag there was just so much!

Vanilla cookies, cookie bites, strawberry milkshake Biskie, Matcha and chocolate dips.

Overall the sweets in the picture above were my favourite, everything was the perfect size and went so well with the matcha and chocolate dipping sauces. The strawberry milkshake Biskies were so delicious as well, a must have if you're visiting the store as they also sell them upstairs in the main area.

Mimmy's very berry jelly kiss, Mimmy's pink lemonade marshmallow, cake truffle and chocolate dipped strawberries.

Mama's apple pie mousse and Kitty's Chocolate mud pie.

Kitty's Snacktime Sandwiches - cucumber and cream cheese/hummus and pepper/cheese and red onion/salmon and chives
Behind poking through are the savoury cheese scones and the coronation crackers which were served with a red pepper relish and cream cheese dip.

Overall we had a brilliant time, taking pictures, enjoying the delicious food and the extremely cute scenery. You're aloud to spend up to an hour and half there which gives you enough time for all of this, although they were a little slow bringing out our ice cream so we had to wolf it down, but we didn't mind as the experience had been a magical one.

At the back there is a table for larger parties than just the regular two or three which is perfect for taking pictures in, so if you're lucky and the spot happens to be free make sure to ask one of the staff to take a picture for you, everyone that works there is super lovely and willing to help if you need anything.

Me and my sister :) 

After finishing almost all our food we headed upstairs (which by that point was very crowded) and brought the limited edition goodies we had had our eyes on earlier.

The mugs were £6 each if i'm correct and were just to cute to pass up! 

I can't remember exactly how much the bag was but it wasn't too pricey and is the perfect size for shopping trips and really good quality. Also here's two designs available.

My last comment for the day would be to book earlier than later in terms of book a few weeks ahead, as its very popular at the moment and there were only two spots left on the day we tried to book. Also aim for an earlier or later time if you want to be able to take lots of pictures and look around the shop freely as towards lunch time, when we left, it was extremely busy and was difficult to squeeze past everyone to leave the shop. Our reservation was at 12:30pm and it was pretty quiet when we arrived.

You can click the link below to book your own : http://cutterandsquidge.com/pages/hellokitty , it's £40 per person and such a pleasant experience, definitely perfect for any birthday's or celebrations or any Hello Kitty lovers in your life!

Becky. xx