Visiting Harrogate

Last week I travelled up to North Yorkshire to my boyfriend’s hometown of Harrogate for a little getaway, we stayed at his family home, not far from Harrogate’s town centre, which meant all the sights were pretty much walking distance. I pretty much fell in love with the Yorkshire town instantly, despite the miserable weather, it still looked really pretty.

On the first morning, after painfully dragging myself out of bed after a long and late night of driving the night before, we walked into the town centre for a little look around, popping into their SPACE.NK store on the way to their local park, Valley gardens, for a walk.

We then headed off for a bite to eat, passing Harrogate’s sulphur springs on the way.  My boyfriend decided to take to me to Bettys, Harrogate’s famous tearooms for afternoon tea. The food was so delicious and everything looked so pretty and proper, I was completely in my element. Just before leaving we popped into Bettys shop next door to purchase a few treats. I absolutely love macaroons so I couldn’t resist buying a box to take home with me.

We were still pretty tired from the night before and our early-ish start so after taking my boyfriends dog for a walk around a forest, or in her case to chase squirrels and Sunday dinner with his family, we settled down to a movie and then headed to bed.

The next day after a light lunch, I headed off with my boyfriend and his family to a market town called Knaresborough.  We wondered around the town, stopping for an ice cream on our way to the grounds of Knaresborough castle and took in the beautiful scenery below. We then headed back down the hill, through a garden towards the river. My boyfriend and I then went on a little boat ride up and down the river, he rowed and I steered, needless to say my steering didn’t go well, rowing into trees and other boats, which was a lot of fun.  Afterwards we had a coffee at a boathouse café on the waterside of the river and then headed back home.

We spent our last night in Harrogate stuffing our faces in a lovely Thai restaurant in Harrogate town.  And in the morning we reluctantly headed back down south. 

Vitamin E Moisture Serum

About a month ago I decided my skin needed an extra moisture boost, even after using my favourite moisturiser my skin still felt a little dehydrated and I had a few dry patches on my face. I’d been debating on introducing a serum into my skincare routine for a while but there are so many different serums out there, mostly ones that are way out of my budget, at the risk of not suiting my skin. After a little research I stumbled across the bodyshops vitamin E moisture serum.  The Bodyshop claims that the pre-moisturiser claims to “provide intensive, continuous hydration and protection” and “immediately smoothes skin”.  Its no wonder that this budget serum is one of bodyshops best sellers, it does exactly what it claims to do.  

I’ve used it everyday for the last month and it has made a massive difference to my skin. I’m really impressed with this product.  I apply a pea-sized amount; a lot goes along way, every morning and evening on cleansed skin before applying my Origins ‘GinZing’ moisturiser, it does wonders on helping my moisturiser to soak in. It has a thin consistency so feels light on my skin and isn’t sticky. Most importantly though my face is left feeling soft, hydrated and all the dry patches have disappeared.  

Wolfe Academy

A few weeks ago I came across eco friendly apparel brand, Wolfe Academy, while exploring the instagram page of a student led pop up shop in one of my local shopping outlets.

Wolfe Academy was created in the summer of 2012 by a creative couple, Charlotte and Oly, with the intention of combining original designs and an eco friendly ethos. Their designs take inspiration from the outdoors and the environment around them, which is why they have been environmentally conscious producing their products. They state, “Our tees and vests are all hand screen printed with eco-friendly water-based inks on a range of organic and fair-trade cottons.”

I fell in love with their t-shirt graphics and “know your pack” brand image so after visiting their website shop, I couldn’t resist purchasing their ‘LOST’ vest and a handmade circle pendant necklace. I’m really impressed with the quality of both of the products I received from them and loved the attention to detail in the design of their packaging.

Current Beauty Favourites

Despite the miserable weather outside my window at the moment, it wouldn’t be called April showers for nothing, I thought I’d share with you a few of my favourite beauty products I have been using and will be using this spring.

About 2 months ago I subscribed to Elle magazine. The gift with the subscription was an Elizabeth Arden gift set which included some mascara, their red door red lipstick and a tube of their eight-hour cream. I’ve been really curious about using the eight-hour cream, as beauty blogger Tanya burr is a massive fan of the product so I was really excited when I received it in the post about a month ago. It’s more of a thick balm consistency than cream and you only need a pea-sized amount. It can be applied to dry patches of skin,sunburn and peeling but I mostly use it on chapped lips. It leaves my lips feeling hydrated and soft and although the product doesn’t smell and taste particularly great it’s become one of my favourite lip products.

My second beauty favourite is again a lip product. It’s the bubble-gum lip scrub from Lush. I spoke about this product in a recent beauty haul post. I originally purchased it, as it is one of those products everyone raves about and thought I would try it as and my lips get really dry and chapped. I’ve never used a lip scrub before as it never really even crossed my mind but since I purchased it, I have used it everyday and my lips are less chapped and feel really soft. After using it and licking off the sugar, my favourite bit as it tastes really good; I apply a small amount of the Elizabeth Arden eight-hour cream to give my lips moisture. 

Having painted nails is a bit of a rarity for me; I’m not allowed to wear nail varnish in my current job so when I have a few days off I like to pamper myself a little by painting my nails.  I brought 3 bottles of Barry M’s gelly hi-shine nail varnishes a while back; this particular one in the shade Lychee is my current favourite. The colour gives the appearance of almost having a French manicure and goes with every colour so you can wear it with anything. It’s the perfect shade for spring pastels.

I’ve also spoken about this smashbox primer in my recent beauty haul and mentioned how I don’t really like silicone foundation primers as they don’t work well with my combination to oily skin, this oil free foundation primer has a lotion like texture and soaks into my skin unlike silicone primers which sit on the skins surface. I am so impressed with this product. I’ll be honest I wasn’t expecting miracles with this primer but its does everything I want it to. Application just feels like I’m applying another moisturiser and my make up sits perfectly on top of it and stays on my face through out the day. It’s also lasted ages, a lot longer than I thought it would seeing as it’s a small tube.

The last on my list of favourites is Origins' GinZing energy boosting moisturiser. I really wanted to try a moisturiser that would give my skin a boost and the origins moisturises have a really good reputation so I thought I would try it.  I don’t really like moistures, sometimes they can be a bit too oily and greasy which can be really annoying when you are wearing them throughout the day, as you don’t want to have the appearance of greasy skin. But this moisturiser isn’t like that at all; it hydrates my skin and soaks in well. It has a really light texture and smells really nice. I’ve only been using it for a few weeks so and I’m already in love with it.