One of my favourite colours to wear on my lips has got to be red! However, after having used M.A.C's Ruby Woo for almost two years, I was finding its drier consistency harder and harder to manage and finally decided that enough was enough. So I recently popped down to M.A.C and bought some new, cute and red lip products. 

I was looking for a red that wasn't too bright and loud, but at the same time wasn't too dark and dull. Luckily for me M.A.C's M.A.C Red seemed to be just what I was looking for!

For those of you who know Ruby Woo, M.A.C Red is a very similar colour to it. It is what I would describe as a strong, classic red colour. It is more on the bright side of red lipsticks but isn't too overpowering in colour.

M.A.C Red is a satin lipstick which is great as it means that the lipstick glides on easily and doesn't leave you feeling as if you have to moisturise your lips after using it.

Strangely enough, I also actually like the name of the lipstick, as it is simple and is exactly what it is described as.

It retails at £15.50, so is at the middle range of the lipstick price spectrum, but perhaps you could put it on your Christmas list and if you're lucky enough you might just get it as a gift!

I also thought that it would be a good idea to buy a lip pencil to accompany the lipstick in order to give a more refined finish. 

I came across M.A.C's Cherry Lip Pencil and found it to be the perfect match to M.A.C Red, as it is very similar in colour to it.

The lip pencil also has an amazing consistency that isn't drying and leaves you with a smooth finish. 

Again it is a pricier product retailing at £12.50. However, I have found that this lip pencil can be used to mimic a lipstick effectively, thus you could opt for purchasing just this and using it to fill in all of your lips. 

Hello everyone. It has been quite some time since I last wrote a beauty blogpost so I thought I'd tell you a bit about my favourite nail varnish at present!

It is called 'Passion' by O.P.I and I personally think that it is an absolutely amazing colour. It is a very sheer, soft baby pink, extremely subtle. The colour gets gradually less sheer with the more coats that you apply (in the pictures above I have on two coats). The finish is shiny, which I love as I am definitely more drawn to shiny nails rather than matte ones. I think that this colour is a perfect one for everyday use as it isn't bold so won't clash with different clothing colours.

This particular nail varnish is at the higher end of the market with regards to its price range, as is most of O.P.I's nail varnishes, but you really do get what you pay for. Passion is an exceptionally good quality nail varnish, which glides on easily and doesn't chip readily. 

I would definitely recommend this to anyone who is looking for a new nail colour that isn't too bright but looks pretty on the hands.

(Also, just a quick side note. If you have been following my blog from the beginning you will notice that my nails are much longer than what they used to be! With consistent use of my Sally Hansen Nail Strengthener I have been able to achieve and maintain long and strong nails! See my previous Sally Hansen blogpost to find out more).

Thanks for reading and don't forget to follow me on bloglovin as I have recently set up a profile. 

We started off our trip in Calais, a town in Northern France.

One thing that really stood out for me in Calais was its scenery! It was truly beautiful there, its rural landscape and vast bodies of water making it a very picturesque place to be. 

The main activity that we did in Calais was visit one of the winery's there. I wasn't really sure what to expect but when I got there I was surprised that the alcohol was sold at an extremely affordable price.  They had rosé for less than 2 Euros which I thought was a really good price, and when I got back to London I regretted not buying more!

Overall I would say that my time in Calais was très bien! I would definitely go back there again. 

Most of our time was spent in the Belgian city of Ostend. 

When we first arrived in Belgium we visited a chocolate factory which was great for a chocolate lover like myself! There was a variety of chocolates there to try and even some novelty chocolate which I thought made great gifts!

We then went on to visit one of the shopping areas. It was organised in a valley type style and was very architecturally outstanding. There was a combination of modern shops and local shops. It was nice that the local shops were incorporated because it gave me an opportunity to purchase some one off items that I knew wouldn't be available to me in London. 

Ostend Beach

The next part of our trip in Belgium involved going to see the famous Ostend Beach which was only a few minutes walk away from the shopping area. 

Unfortunately we had chosen a day that was extremely windy and pouring down with torrential rain so our plans to have lunch on the beach were ruined. The beach itself was absolutely breathtaking! It was such a shame that the weather was so bad because the beach was simply perfect with its flat sandy surface stretching for miles on end. The pictures really don't do it justice, but I could definitely envisage it as being an ideal place to go with family and friends on a hot summers day!

Bistro Beau Site

The weather eventually became so bad that we decided that the best thing to do would be to go and find somewhere to eat, dry off and warm up! As it so happened, there was a charming little cafe on the seafront called Bistro Beau Site. It was a lovely little place with window seating which showcased the scenic views of Ostend Beach and an art-deco theme to it. The food there was extremely tasty and had a nice authentic touch to it.  

Site-seeing

We rounded off our time in Belgium with a little bit of sight-seeing. This included a few places but the one place that caught my attention the most was the main Church in Belgium - Sint Petrus-en-Pauluskerk. It was simply amazing! Very aesthetically pleasing.

I don't want to make this post too long so I think I'll stop there, however I really hope that you enjoyed finding out all about my holiday to France and Belgium and if you're looking for a quick getaway then this might be the place for you!

Au Revoir

Lewisham's Model Market is located in the old shell of what was locally referred to as 'The Black Market' near Lewisham Shopping Centre.

In the indoor, outdoor style market there are a vast selection of different types of street food, including Asian, Caribbean and Italian. The idea is to allow people to try as many different cuisines as possible meaning that prices are low which is always a bonus!

Some of the foods that I tried included...

Out of all of the different foods that I tried, Baz and Fred's Pizza was my personal favourite. I liked the fact that you got the option to have some additional pesto sauce with your pizza, and the added fresh oregano was a nice touch to it. Overall it was simply delicious!

I really enjoyed Mother Clucker's Cajun chips which tasted very similar to the Cajun style chips at Five Guys, however I was dissatisfied with their Chicken Strips which I found a little bland.

The Chicken Tikka on Rola Wala's Kashmiri Chicken was nice but for me the mango sauce on top of it ruined it for me as I felt that it overpowered all of the other flavours. 

The Brownie Bar's honeycomb brownie was nice if not a little bit dry, but at such an affordable price who could resist!

There is also a bar at the back for those who prefer to drink. The whole ambience of the market is fun and relaxed. You almost forget that you're in Lewisham as the place has a Shoreditch-esque vibe to it making this market a fantastic addition to the local area.

When it comes to my lips I can be quite boring at times as I do tend to stick to what I know (mainly pinks and reds) and not experiment! For this reason I decided to try out a new colour and when I saw M.A.C's Spirit Lipstick on a youtuber I instantly fell in love with it and decided I had to have it!

Spirit is a muted pinky brown colour which I think works well with a natural make up look. At £15.50 it is at the higher end of lipstick prices, but as it is a good quality lipstick I definitely think it is worth the price. 

 It is one of M.A.C's satin finishes and is quite matte but to my surprise isn't drying, which is something that I have experienced with other M.A.C lipsticks, in particular Ruby Woo.

Although I do like the colour of this lipstick, for my skin complexion I prefer to tone it down a bit so I tend to apply a light coat of it and then finish it off with a clear or clear pink lipgloss.

Thanks for reading.

Out of all of the things that I tried at Jamie's Italian I would have to say that the Italian Nachos were my favourite. Despite being described as 'nachos', they were completely different to conventional nachos. Instead of being presented with tortilla chips, I was served mini crispy ravioli which were stuffed with cheese and served with a tomato sauce, which increased in spiciness as you continued to eat it. I really enjoyed this antipasti and thought that it was a nice twist on traditional nachos. I also thought that it was beautifully presented.

Crispy Squid is not for me! Despite the fact that it was seasoned with chilli, parsley and garlic, I found that the flavour of the squid itself was overpowering and very strong meaning that I could barely taste any of the other ingredients. However, yet again it was another aesthetically pleasing meal.

I also tried out two of the non-alcoholic cocktails that Jamie's Italian had to offer and loved both of them! 

The Berry Blast was a nice strawberry, passionfruit and cranberry fusion, bursting with flavour and very refreshing,

The Ginger & Mango Mojito tasted exactly like a classic mojito, just minus the alcohol, although the added mango juice was something that went unnoticed. 

The main course was a huge let down for me. I asked for my burger to be cooked well done as I am not a keen fan of rare meat, however it was overcooked meaning that it was very dry, the tomato and pickle adding some moisture to it. As well as this the burger bun itself was also unfortunately overcooked.

The Funky Chips were a lot better than the burger, with a strong flavour of rosemary coming through.

This was again another meal that I was disappointed with. After such appealing presentation from the other meals, I found the pavlova's appearance underwhelming. 

The taste itself didn't do much to lessen my dissatisfaction. I found the pavlova way too sweet and as well as that, the honeycomb didn't have the stereotypical honeycomb flavour. The pears didn't seem to be cooked for long enough as they were a bit hard. The one thing that I did like about this dessert was the cream.

The presentation of this dessert was very pleasing to the eye and the taste was good too. I enjoyed the pineapple with the frozen yoghurt and the added pomegranate seeds were a nice touch. However, I found that the poppy seed crisp added nothing to the meal.

I hope you enjoyed reading my first London life blogpost! Tell me what you think of it.

Since we're on the topic of nails and I've just painted mine I thought I'd quickly share my thoughts on this gorgeous Nails Inc nail varnish in the colour 'It's red babez'. I LOVE LOVE LOVE this colour! It is a beautiful and vibrant bright red and as you may be able to tell from the pictures (although they do not do it justice!) it has the most amazing glossy shine to it. 

The texture of the nail varnish is also really nice as it isn't too thick meaning that it glides onto the nails smoothly. This is perfect because I have quite a few Nails Inc nail varnishes and I do find that some of them tend to be too thick making them hard to spread across the nails. 

I purchased this particular Nails Inc nail varnish at the time when InStyle magazine and Nails Inc were teaming up. The magazine was around £4 but in general Nails Inc nail varnishes retail from around £15 upwards.

Nails Inc are having a sale at the moment so its worth checking out their website to see what deals you can get!

I hope you enjoyed reading my two blogposts today. Maybe I'll do more double blogposts in the future! 

I am a lover of having my nails painted at all times and I like to change my nail colour depending on the outfit that I am wearing (because pink nails just won't go with a red dress!). As well as this, I hate having chipped nails, which meant that for the past year I would remove my nail varnish and reapply it on almost a weekly basis. However, sadly my quest to have perfectly painted nails resulted in them weakening overtime due to the excessive use of nail varnish remover. My nails were softer than usual, were stripping/peeling and would only grow up to a certain length before breaking. So about 2-3 months ago I decided that enough was enough and started looking for solutions to help restore my nails.

I came across the Sally Hansen Advanced Hard As Nails Strengthener whilst shopping at Boots and decided that I would try it out as it was extremely reasonably priced and I am so happy that I did. This nail strengthener has definitely become an essential product for me and I am now onto my second bottle of it! It claims to help "soft, fragile nails" and "prevent chipping, splitting and peeling", and I have to say it does not lie!

Since using this nail strengthener, my nails have definitely become harder and are less liable to breakage. They are growing really well and are a lot healthier than what they were a few months ago. I still experience a little bit of peeling but not half as much as what I used to and I truly believe that with consistent use of this nail strengthener, the issue will soon be completely gone. 

I should also note that this nail strengthener is clear and gives your nails a nice see-through glossy effect, which is great because before I started using Sally Hansen's nail strengthener, I was using a different brand which although was supposed to be clear, ended up staining my nails yellow.

I would definitely recommend this nail strengthener to anyone whose nails are a bit weak at the moment as they are likely to see results fast and I have had so many compliments on my nails recently!