travel

Postcards from Pena Palace | Lisbon

Travel

Some tips for visiting Pena Palace from Lisbon:

  • The train from Lisbon is super cheap, around €5 for a return ticket. Trains run twice an hour, they get pretty busy so get there early to avoid standing for 45 minutes
  • When you arrive in Sintra, there are quite a few options for what to do, if you just want to visit Pena Palace then get a taxi
  • There are two different tour buses which are €20 each and offer a hop on hop off service
  • I recommend just getting a taxi as it works out cheaper because Pena Palace might take you the whole day
  • The palace is €7 to get into the gardens or €15 to get into the palace and gardens
  • The busiest time is the mornings, the queue to go around the inside of the palace is long in the morning
  • If you only want to take pictures of the outside then just buy a ticket for the grounds
  • If you pay to go inside the palace, no photos are allowed, if you go in the morning it is very over crowded
    After lunchtime the crowds ease up
    It is very easy to spend the whole day here wondering around

Skylar Scent Club | gifted

Beauty

Over the past few months I have been receiving an amazing little subscription of perfume! Perfume is something which I wear every day and I especially like to take it when I go on holiday. Skylar Scent Club is an amazing little club which send out a travel sized roller ball each month. Each month is such a unique scent and perfect for the month, I have been loving the summer scents especially!

What I also love about the scents is the packaging, every bottle just looks so cute and perfect making it a wonderful accessory to keep in your handbag. As you can see I took all three of my bottles on holiday with me because, why not?

I also find that because they are roller balls and not sprays they last so much longer which is great.

You can use my discount code VICTORIAS10 for 10% off your order!

You can check out their website here for yourself https://skylar.com/pages/scent-club-20?utm_source=VICTORIAS

A Spa Break with Bannatynes {gifted}

Travel

At the beginning of the week I had pleasure of venturing down to Hastings, East Sussex for an overnight spa break which was very kindly gifted by Bannatynes.
I decided to take one of my best friends as we had not been on holiday together in a really long time.

When we arrived at the hotel, it was pretty much everything I was expecting. A big country style house set in the middle huge green grounds, it truly felt like we were on holiday.

The spa is located a short 2 minute walk down the driveway, which we headed to straight away after we had checked in and seen our room. The room was extremely spacious and clean and had really quirky features. The highlight for me was the big bath room and bath tub!

In the spa we were given a little tour of the facilities and were made to feel really welcome. We headed straight to the Jacuzzi as it was empty as I wanted to get some photos in there before it got busy, so we timed it perfectly.

After being outside for a while we decided to try out the steam room and the indoor Jacuzzi before heading back to the room to get ready for dinner that evening.

Before dinner we headed back down to the gardens out the back of the hotel to take some photos, and ordered a cocktail from the bar for some more photos.

The gifted experience included a two course meal, as a really fussy eater I was a little bit concerned about not liking enough of the food, but I can safely say I liked it all. For started I had the watercress soup, followed by chicken in gravy with potatoes and cabbage.

On the second day we woke up nice and early to the sun streaming into our room making it feel like a sauna. We headed down to breakfast, it was buffet style with everything you could of wanted along with made to order specials.

Before driving to Hastings beach we had our treatments in the spa, we both chose to have facials. This was my first facial so I was a little bit anxious about having it as I was just thinking of all the horrible things the person would say about my skin. However, this was not the case. The lady who did the facial was really nice, and I just laid back and relaxed.

Thank you to Bannatynes for giving us this amazing opportunity and allowing us to come and stay!

If you want to get 20% off your own spa break over £200 then you can use my code VICTORIASMART20

Xx

What’s in my travel makeup bag | ft The Flat Lay Co {gifted}

Beauty

Todays post is all about the make up I am taking with me to Genoa, featuring the beautiful Flat Lay Co makeup bag*. This was sent to me a little while ago and I have been waiting patiently to be able to use it, and I figured this short trip would be perfect. I was a bit sceptical about whether all my make up would fit, but it actually did. This is my second Flat Lay Co bag, they are so handy when it comes to travelling as it’s so easy to lay all your make up out and not worry about getting it on the white hotel bed sheets. 

You can check out their website here or on Asos.

I decided for this trip that I would try and pack light and only take what I am going to use, so I think I have in the main part done so. 

I have picked the Dermalogica Primer* as this is my favourite primer that own right now, it is very similar to Benefit Porefessional, but contains SPF making it perfect for holidays. 

As for foundation I decided to stick with Mac Studio Fix as I know this lasts a long time and also contains SPF making it ideal for sunny weather. A newer concealer I am taking is from Thin Lizzy*, this was sent to me a while back and I was obsessed with thier foudnation, so I’m hoping I will feel the same about the concealer. This concealer is also good for under the eyes and on areas which need more coverage. 

The cream bronzer I am packing is from Primark, it was only £2.50 and I needed a new one as I had run out of my favourite one. Although this one is a little bit too dark for me on a daily basis, I’m hoping that once I’ve tanned it will match my body pretty well. 

To set my face I will be using the MUA Cosmetics loose powder in translucent, I use this on a daily basis and keeps my face looking pretty matte all day long. To bronze I will be using Hoola Bronzer from Benefit as this is my go to holiday bronzer as it’s on the more intense darker side. 

To add some colour to my cheeks I have packed the Zoella x Colourpop brush as this is a really pretty pink shade. And then to finish off my face make up I have chosen Glossier Haloscope in Quartz as my highlighter as this gives a lovely dewy finish. 

For mascara I have chosen to take the Natural Collection waterproof mascara, I chose to go with a waterproof one just so it will last longer in the heat and not sweat off. For my eye shadow I have opted for the Urban Decay Aphrodisiac palette and a Zoella x Colourpop liquid shadow in OG.

To define my brows I have packed my new eye brow hd pencil from Sainsbury’s which I am pretty obsessed with, and Loreal Brow Plumper to set them in place.

Finally, for my lips I have packed YSL 201, MAC Viva Glam 2 and MAC Fashion Legacy as I like to go for a very bold bright lip on holiday.

The cutest shop in Amsterdam

Travel

Before I go on holiday I always like to check out Instagram and find the “most instagramable” places to go to, to get the best photos. I came across Polaberry and thought it looked so cute and knew I had to visit it whilst I was in Amsterdam.

Inside the shop they had a hanging flower backdrop and a lovely wicker chair, the whole shop was set up so lovely!

This is pretty much Amsterdams answer to Peggy Porshens, however I much preferred it here, because it was less busy. There was no huge queue, no crowds of people trying to take photos which meant to battling for the angles.

I ordered a unicorn cakesickle and a hot chocolate. The hot chocolate was (I’m pretty sure) just melted chocolate so it tasted heavenly.

I cant get over how adorable and how perfect these cake pops are! Polaberry definitely lived up to expectations and beyond!

Pricing wise I thought it was fairly reasonable, the cake and the drink were €4 each which I don’t mind paying knowing I’m getting Instagram content.

I carried the cake around all day and still have not ate it because I am still wanting to get more photos with it, so fingers crossed it makes it home!

Starting to scrapbook

Beauty

When I was growing up I always loved to scrapbook and make photo albums of ALL my photos, but along the way I stopped, I stopped being creative and I stopped printing my photos off as I pretty much only needed photos online digitally. This being said I figured towards the end of 2018 I wanted to start scrapbooking and having a place where I could see my photos other than on facebook or instagram.

For Christmas I asked for the HP Sprocket which is a phone printer. It prints out really tiny cute photos which remind me of polaroids. I figured this would be a different way to have my photos displayed, although the paper does work out a little on the expensive side. I also decided to get some photos printed in different sizes from Boots.

I found some really nice scrapbooks from Wilkinsons for only £1.50, so I bought 7 of them! I really love the colours of the front and the size of them are pretty perfect, plenty of room to fit in all my photos.

I then did a bit of Pinterest research and found some other cute scrapbook ideas, I found people using watercolours to make cute colourful backgrounds, so I bought my own from Amazon.



I also liked the idea of using pastel coloured highlighters to add a pop of colour and then write headings over the top.

To add a bit more colour to the pages I found a book full of different patterned paper to create some borders.

Let me know if there are any other cute ways to decorate a scrapbook xx

January Goals

Beauty

I thought I would start a little series on my blog with goals for each month, I figured this would be a good way to give myself things to aim for and try and achieve.

Stop number watching

Number watching on Instagram is my number one thing I seem to have an unhealthy obsession over, I am constantly checking how many likes and followers I have, and I need to stop it! So my aim for January is to decrease it, and not to worry about how many likes photos has, as long as I like the photo I’ve uploaded, who cares?

Plan

As January is a bit of a slow month with regards to getting out and doing stuff, I want to plan blog content and start to plan some trips for their year. That being said I do have a trip to Amsterdam coming up, but I need more!

Scrapbook

I have written a whole blog post about starting to scrapbook and plan on doing a few more whilst I get creative, but I really want to try and stay up to date with my 2019 scrapbook as-well as complete the 2018 one!

Comment more & have captions

Over the past year on Instagram I’ve been so bad at responding to comments and commenting on others peoples posts. So from now on I will respond to all comments on my posts and comment on at least one persons post each day.

I also got into a bad habit of just uploading a photo without saying anything, I’d just use an emoji or a basic title. From January 1st I will actually write something in my caption, be it relevant to the photo or not!

My Year: 2018

Uncategorized

January

In January I visited Bournemouth for one night with my mum as a birthday trip, this is near enough an annual trip for us as we have been going since I was born. I then also decided to have a trip out of the country for my birthday as well and visit Paris with my best friend. We did one day in Disney Land and then one day exploring the city.

February

In February half term my mum and I took a 1 night trip over to Belfast. We explored the city, and it even snowed on the second day.

April

In April my mum and I headed over to Italy, this was pretty much a once in a lifetime trip where I got to tick a lot places of my list including Positano. We visited Pompei, Positano, Capri, Sorrento, Naples. After that trip I went up north to visit my best friend in Manchester for a couple of nights.

May

In May I went to London to visit my favourite cafe, Peggy Porschen where I got super cute photos. I then discover another bakery just down the road where they sold the cutest watermelon ice creams.

July/August

July and August are the busy months, as I work in a school I’m lucky enough to get 6 weeks off during the summer which is great! I went on a luxury holiday to Fuerteventura where I really got into taking outfit photos.

That was then followed by multiple trips to the sunflower and lavender fields and a trip to Friends Fest in Manchester along with a day trip to Cambridge.

I also went on the cutest little picnic with one of my friends and got the cutest photos!

October

In October half term I went to Porto for a little bit of sunshine before winter, I think this is one of my favourite places I have been this years as it was just the perfect balance between city and beach. Once I was home by best friend from Manchester came to visit for 2 nights, this meant heading to the pumpkin patch.

December

On the first of December I went to Arras, France and Bruge, Belgium with some friends from work and my best friend. We had such an amazing time, and got so many photos!

Winter Beauty Holiday Staples

Beauty

Everyone (including myself) always gets so carried away with holiday staples for the summer, but as I am heading to Bruges next weekend I thought I would share some of my beauty staples I will be taking with me to keep my skin in good condition.

Lip Balm

Lip balm is a necessity no matter what the weather, and my go to is Glossier Balm Dot Com, I find this so thick and hydrating and it either apply it before lipstick so it hydrates my lips or add it after lipstick to create a more glossier effect. 

Red Lip

A red lip is an essential, for this 2 day trip I have packed 3 different shade of red lipstick which may seem a little overboard, but i just love a red lip and want to have options. I just love how a red lip can instantly revive a makeup look and you can go from looking tired and ready for bed to ready for dinner and cocktails.

Hydrating Moisturiser

When travelling it is so important to have a realy good hydrating moisturiser to apply before bed to keep your skin in tip top condition. My absolute favourite for travelling is Glossier Moon Mask, I like to apply this as my evening moisturiser instead of a mask. 

An SPF

Even though its winter it is still highly important to apply an SPF to your face as the sun can still do damage. A lot of the time I incorporate this into my routine by using a Primer or Foundation with SPF in. The primer I use is by Dermalogica SPF 30 and the Foundation is Mac Studio Fix SPF 15.

Porto Travel Diary

Travel

Last month I jetted off to Porto, Portugal for a couple of days of sunshine before the winter hits.

Day 1

We arrived late in the afternoon so we headed down to the waterfront and to the bridge to take some quick photos before heading to Hard Rock Cafe for dinner.

Day 2

We purchased a tourist bus 2 day ticket to find our way around the city, we did both loops this morning and spotted my favourite ice cream shop “Amorino” to get the flower ice cream from.

We then headed up to the top of the bridge to take some photos over looking the water and the city.

Day 3

On the final day we headed over to the furthest point on the bus which was to the beaches, we took a long walk back walking along the coastline which was beautiful.

We then found the most “beautiful fast food restaurant in the world”, the McDonald’s Imperial for a pretty classic shot outside it.

And finally before heading back to the hotel to pick up our luggage to go home we found “Porto Chips” which does chips/crisps on a stick which tasted pretty good!

Lastly, I really wanted to recreate this photo I saw on Instagram, surprisingly it wasn’t as hard to do as it looks!

Thanks for reading xx