I could walk up & down the canals in Amsterdam all day & night, they’re so pretty. The canal houses that line them are beautiful and historical. They are all different and are frozen in time, I love them. A few of them are open as museums & one of the best ones I have been in it the Museum Van Loon which has the cutest cafe in the garden where you can sit, relax & it feels like you’re in the countryside.
I’m embarrassed to say I have been to Amsterdam 3 times now & I am yet to ride a bike there, I’m terrible at riding a bike & fear that I may cause myself an injury. I always joke to my husband that we should hire a tandem. I think next time we go I will have to bite the bullet and hire one late at night when the streets are quiet and I can practise. It looks so much fun and you can cover a lot of ground which means I could see more of the city whilst feeling more like a local. Have you ever hired a bike in Amsterdam, if so let me know how you found it.
Oh & if you have time you need to stop by the Poezenboot (Cat Boat). It’s quite a site, especially if you are a cat lover & opposite the catboat there is a cafe called Greenwoods that does the nicest breakfast, they even have Vegan options. It does get very busy but I guarantee it’s worth the wait.
If you do visit the city you must go and have a walk around the streets & canals at night. The bridges are all lit with small lights & even the trees have fairy lights. It feels really romantic & magical.
To see part 1 of my Amsterdam photo diary click here
Its taken me almost 6 months to post my photos from our week in Amsterdam, this was our third time in there & we are planning on going back in March. We just love this city so much, its beautiful, cultural, friendly and so vibrant. There is always something to see or do and we never have a dull day there.
We have done most of the touristy things during previous visits so on this visit we just relaxed and explored the city making many pit stops for coffee & cake. Its such a beautiful city to walk around, It feels like you never go up the same street twice.
I would say Anne Franks House is well worth a visit, it is so moving and even worth waiting in the long queue. Canal tours are a nice way to see the city & relax. I recommend using the smaller 6 – 10 seater boats run by Eco Tours, they are very intimate, the guides are amazing & the boats are electric which are environmentally friendly too. The guides are really knowledgable and you learn a lot about the history of Amsterdam and little quirky pieces of information, we had an amazing guy called Nikolai.
We had a really rainy day on this trip & decided to take shelter in one of Amsterdam’s brown cafes. These are really old & traditional bars. It was like stepping back to the 1920’s and the place had great atmosphere. The one we visited was on the corner of Nieuwe Vijzelstraat and Flevoroute.
On the same rainy day we visited the Rijksmuseum to see some of Rembrandt’s paintings including The Nightwatch. The museum was extra busy as it was raining outside & it was in the middle of european summer holidays, but it’s well worth a visit. I would recommend getting there early. The area around the Museum is really pretty & if you manage to visit on a sunny day there is lots of green space to relax on & have a minute or a picnic. Amsterdam has so many beautiful parks that you’re quite spoilt for choice. They’re very well kept & a great way to escape the hussle and bussle of the city streets.
I took so many photos on this trip, I must have a few thousand to sort through & edit so I’ll write a part 2 to this post soon.
Let me know if you have any recommendations for places to visit in Amsterdam or things to do.
I thought I would show you what I took with me on my recent trip to Scotland. I went to visit my family & stayed almost 3 weeks. I tried not to limit what I took but really thought about what I was using daily & tried not to take products I knew I wouldn’t use. So here are the contents of my makeup bag. Oh & I won this cute makeup bag last year in a blog giveaway, it’s so cute don’t you think? It fits a lot in & as you can see I barely filled it (very proud of myself for not overpacking).
For eyes, I took my MUA Palette & Benefit Big Beautiful Eyes Kit & one Mac single shadow in Naked Lunch. I rarely do anything other than a neutral eye & the MUA Undress Me Too Palette is ideal for travel as it is slim & you get 12 wearable shadows to pick from. I like that it’s affordable too so I’m not worried about it getting damaged and I have taken it away with me quite a few times this year & I’m still loving it. The Benefit Big Beautiful Eyes Kit has a small Boiing Concealer & 3 gorgeous quite neutral shadows. I love this for a night time look & the shadows are so creamy and long wearing its a Kit I have had for years & I love rediscovering it.
I took 2 Mascaras both are firm favourites of mine one is the Too Faced Better Than Sex Mascara which is a jet black long-wearing mascara which gives my lashes volume. They look so long & fluttery after a few coats of this. The brush is quite thick but I like that you can coat each individual lash & get right to the root to get that extra volume. Love this Mascara. The other one in my makeup bag is the Seventeen Back Lash, I love this mascara for making my lashes look thick and long without being OTT for daytime and it also holds a curl really well. This is one of if not the best budget mascara I have tried.
I took two concealers with me (well three if you count boiing in the Benefit Kit). The Garnier Caffeine Anti Dark Circles Roll On this has lasted me so long, every time I use it I think it must be due to run out soon but still the product keeps coming out. I like to use this under my eyes as the rollerball is cooling, the product it quite liquid in consistency and I find it is easy to blend and it gives a nice amount of coverage. I like it as a base on which to apply my second concealer. That being the Rimmel Wake Me Up I like to apply this over the Garnier one as it gives a little more coverage which in some places I really need and it also makes my under eye area look a little more radiant.
I knew I wouldn’t need a full coverage foundation whilst in Scotland and so I opted for two lighter bases, the Seventeen CC Cream and the Mavalia Moisturising Tinted Cream. I like that the Seventeen CC Cream has SPF 25 and it gives me a light but even coverage, this lasts quite well on my skin but I do like to wear the Clarins Instant Light Complexion Base under it just as a brightening primer and they make a great duo for healthy looking skin. Not heavy but very good for fresh glowing skin. The Mavalia Moisturising Tinted Cream* gives better coverage but the shade I have is a little dark for me however I blend it out & make it work. This tinted moisturiser gives you a lovely even finish and wears well throughout the day, I do have to apply powder to my t zone with this but that means I get an extra few hours wear. Who knew Mavalia did makeup as well as fab nail polish?
The L’Oreal Nude Magique Blur Cream is a product I’m on the fence about. It does smooth out imperfections and reduces the appearance of pores but after a few hours, it makes my skin look a little greasy. I wish it didn’t do this because if not this would be such a brilliant product, my makeup applies so well on top of it & the initial results are great. So if you don’t have an oily complexion this might just work very well for you. I’m going to continue to use it & see if I can find a way to make it work. Let me know if you use it & how you find it works best for you.
Let’s talk cheek products. As you can see I bought a few options. I will start with my favourite which is the Soap & Glory Solar Powder which is a two-toned bronzer. I like to swirl my brush around both shades, sweep it across my forehead & down on to my cheeks which adds a little colour & glow to my very pale skin. The lighter shade has a little sheen to it & the slightly darker brown is matte. Very handy having 2 shades. I think this bronzer gives me a sun-kissed glow & a touch of natural colour. I think I have used it every day since I bought it back in May.
My Mac MSF in Natural is what I use as a powder most days. It leaves my skin looking smooth and keeps my makeup in place. It’s hit pan & I know any day now it’s going to crumble into nothing so I need to repurchase it ASAP. Mac MSF in Soft & Gentle Its adds so much radiance to my face & when I do wear it I fall in love with it all over again. I find this also wears a really long time on my skin no touch ups necessary. So glad I have this in my collection.
The two smaller baked cheek products are from e.l.f and I had totally forgotten about these, rediscovering them just before I went to Scotland, so I thought I would take them with me to show them a little love. These are both finely milled and give your cheeks a pretty highlight. Maui is the bronzer and this looks gorgeous in the winter to give the skin a little colour & a warm glow. Pinctastic is a highlighting blush with pink and beige marbling, mixed together it brightens up your cheeks and leaves them looking flushed and glowing. The shimmer isn’t too OTT but looks fresh and is a beautiful highlight. These elf baked blushers are great value for money.
Wet n Wild blush in Pearlescent Pink this reminds me of NARS Orgasm its beautiful on & the subtle shimmer gives your cheek a lovely healthy glow. The pigmentation & quality of this wet n wild blush is incredible considering the purse-friendly price tag. The last cheek product I took with me to Scotland was the Sleek blush in Sunrise this is the perfect colour for Autumn / Winter as its a pink toned brown with gold shimmer. It really warms up your complexion and gives you a little colour. I love the quality of Sleek Blushes & need to get a couple more.
So that’s what I took with me. I did take my Clinique Chubby Stick in Roundest Raspberry & a couple of lip balms. Oh & I thought I took my DHC liquid Eyeliner but when I got to Scotland I realised I’d packed the Eyeko Skinny Liner. I hate that liner so was gutted & spent the whole time with no eyeliner.
Products that are marked with a * have either been sent to me for my consideration or I’ve received at events. I’m under no obligation to review them on my blog. However, if I do, the reviews are 100% my own.
Its been over 2 months since I went to San Francisco with my husband and I can’t believe how fast that time has gone. This year is just flying past. It was my second visit to this wonderful Californian City, I went for the first time in 2006 and once again it didn’t disappoint. We went for 1 week and loved every second of it. Even though it has been so long since I went I thought it would still do a little photo post. I took so many photos it was very hard to narrow them down.
We normally fly from Manchester and connect in London but this time we found a great hotel mystery deal which included a nights stay before the flight & parking for 8 days for £60. The mystery hotel turned out to be The Marriot near Heathrow so we drove down, had a relaxing night the night before flying and took the airport shuttle to Heathrow the next morning. This was a much more relaxed way of flying to the states. Normally our flights from Manchester are really early but doing it this way we got up at a normal time and had breakfast in Heathrow.
We were really impressed with the Heathrow departure lounge (much more so than the SFO one which was awful). From designer clothing & makeup to fancy whisky and nice places to eat, it really wasn’t a hard place to spend a few hours before flying. I can never resist a little duty-free shopping, esp when it comes to makeup!
Flight to SFO was straightforward, we flew Virgin Atlantic again. It’s been a few years since we last flew VA as we have mostly been visiting Europe for the last few years. My husband is quite tall so we pay for extra leg room so being 5ft tall I have ALOT of room. The food on Virgin is always so good, I can’t be the only person that enjoys plane food?!
On arrival in SF we went straight to the hotel. Normally we stay at major hotels, it saves any disappointment on arrival and you kind of know the quality to expect. However we have recently started staying at Independent & boutique hotels. this trip was no exception and we stayed at the brilliant Hotel Diva, in a Junior Suite. Trip Advisor highly rates this hotel. The decor is amazing & a little filthy (very sexy hotel). They didn’t have a hotel bar but they did have an on site Starbucks & restaurant. Perfect. Also they left us a little gift inside the safe but I’ll leave that up to your imagination.
The hotel was in an excellent location, just one black from union square & almost opposite Lefty O’Douls. Really easy to wander into town for a bite to eat. That first night we had a wander around. It had been 7 years since we last went to SF so it took a little while to get our bearings. We soon got the hang of it.
We went down to fisherman’s Wharf the next morning. We wanted to book a trip to Alcatraz as we did this in 2006 and loved it. The Alcatraz tour has had a big revamp and has been given its own pier and visitor centre. This has obviously increased the popularity as we couldn’t get tickets for the next 10 days. it was fully booked up. So my advice would be to book these tickets from the UK before you go. Just glad we saw it last time or it would have been a major disappointment.
We tried to do all new things on this visit, things we didn’t get chance to do last time, which I’ll cover in later posts. We visited Haight Street & the painted ladies, we hired bikes & cycled the coast/golden gate, Walked from Union Square through North Beach, Japan Town & we went out to bars in the evening (something we have never been able to do due to Jet Lag kicking our butts). We love just walking around neighbourhoods and off the beaten track exploring and finding small places to eat and drink and relax the day away. San Francisco is perfect for that as the architecture is so pretty and there are lots of cafes and Vegan restaurants, we were worried before hand that we would struggle finding Vegan options but we had no trouble at all.
San Francisco is such a laid back City, there is no stress and you can take it at your own pace. The people were so friendly, we met some characters! I’d go back again for a third time in a heartbeat.
