What's in my bag? London edition

What's in my bag posts are some of my favourite posts to read, purely because I a tad nosey and I realised last week I have never actually written my own 'What's in my bag post', which is crazy seeing as I enjoy reading them so much. 

Last weekend me and Gary treated his Nan to a day trip to London for her 70th birthday. Gary's Nan has never been to the capital before so we spent the day sight seeing and then we went to watch Phantom of the Opera, which was fantastic, I have seen it twice now and it was still briliiant the second time around. We finished the day off with a lovely meal at the Brumus resturant at the Haymarket hotel, birthday cake included. We had a fantastic day, Gary's Nan enjoyed it so much and was so excited, its hands down the best present I have ever bought anyone.

So I thought I would do a 'What's in my bag, London edition' basically what I took to London with me.

The bag itself in the mini office city bag from Zara. Now we all remember the original office city hype last year, yes I was part of the obsession of the Prada inspired over sized handbag. I purchased the office city bag in black and still use it daily for work, its perfect for fitting in all my essentials for a day in the office. The mini version of the city bag, however, is great miniature version for everyday use. I have had a look online this morning and I think its sold out, but they do restock regularly so keep an key out if you want to purchase this little bag. I love Zara's range of high end looking affordable bags, I seriously had to stop myself purchasing more this morning.

Ok so what's inside I hear you ask?

First the essentials my Mulberry tan purse, this was a Christmas present from my dad and I love it. I the Mulberry satchel bag in tan to match but the strap has broken so its off being fixed at the moment. I Can't wait to be reunited with her. Then my keys and back combing hair brush, pretty self explanatory. There was also my iPhone, but I am using my phone to take blog pictures at the moment, until I have purchased a good camera to fulfil my snap happy requirements. 

Next is my travel wallet, I love this bright and vibrant wallet, its the great travel companion if you an over organised girl like me. I like that it has sections for everything. Inside here I had our travel tickets, theatre tickets and restaurant conformation. I bought this little travel wallet from Accessorize last summer, I don't think they still sell this particular wallet anymore but there are other pieces available from the 'Love London' collection here which are really cute and pretty. 

Also I have a little hand sanitizer from bath and body works. My flat is full of these handy pocket sized gel sanitisers. I am a big germ freak so these are an essential in my hand bag, and its pink and sparkly...so what's not to love? There is also a breath freshener spray, I picked this up from boots for a couple of pounds. I find these really handy because I like to drink coffee but hate the after taste and smell so this is great for giving me fresh minty breath.

Then I fished out a cream egg from the bottom of bag, I cant believe this was in here all day and I didn't eat it, especially when I ate a not so appetizing fruit based cereal bar to keep my hunger at bay till lunch. What a waste of calories when there was chocolate available. Ahh well its been eaten and enjoyed now, do not worry.  Then I took a copy of Cosmo to keep me entertained on the journey to and from London. I also found my theatre tickets inside the magazine, I am a bit sad and hang on to keep sacks like tickets from trips.

Then a few little handbag beauty essentials, first a little travel sized Victoria Beckaham perfume, I think this came as part of a set I got for Christmas, its the perfect sized spray to fit in my hand bag. Then there is a hand bag sized Elizabeth Arden 8 hour hand cream. The packaging has seen better days, but it is one of my favourite hand creams its thick and rich consistency leaves my hands feels soft and smooth. Then a milk and honey lip balm to keep my lips in tip top condition, I did a full review of this lovely little balm here.

Then I took along with me a cute little Paris design notebook I use for my blogging ideas and notes, so I like to keep it with me at all times because inspiration can hit at any time, I also have a matching pencil case. I always have a pencil case in my bag, being the over organzised blogger I am, firstly you always need a pen and secondly I hate having pens lying at the bottom of my bag which may possibly ruin the lining of my pretty bag, so having a pencil case is just good sense. I blogged about both these in my stationary haul from Wilkonson here.

Now lets move onto the exciting bit.....my make up bag. I am currently using a small Vivienne Westwood clutch bag to hold my 'on the go' make up at the moment, its a good size and cant fit lots of products inside but still fits snuggly inside my bag. Lets see whats inside?

So for face and base products I just took a few bits and pieces to touch up. For concealer I took Rimmel's wake me up concealer which I love for brightening under the eyes, and then my collection concealer to cover and imperfections and dark spots. Then to keep any oily areas at bay I took my Bourjois healthy balance powder, its a great handbag, compact powder it has a good hand sized mirror for reapplication, but its slim line packaging its great for travelling, I did a full review here. Sticking with Bourjois I have fallen back in love with an old favourite, the chocolate bronzer, its a really good matte every day bronzer and it smells and looks like chocolate, Mmmm. Then I took along Mac soft and gentle mineralise skin finish, for any high lighting needs, I use this on my cheek bones, cupids bow and brow bone. I really love this shimmering highlighter so I might treat you to a full review of this very soon. Then finally my Santa Rose long lasting blush by Rimmel which is my current favourite every day blush, giving me a rosy natural flush, I did a full review of this beautiful blush here.

For eye products I didn't take any shadows, I used some neutral colours from my Mac palette and these last all day and don't need any retouching. So I kept it to a minimum for eye products and brought along my trusty falsies mascara by Maybeline this has been my favourite volumising mascara for well over a year now and it has never let me down. I also brought along my NYX jumbo eye pencil in milk, you can use this as a shadow base, but personally I am enjoying using this on my water line. With a very light hand, i repeat very light hand this is an amazing product for brightening and opening up my eyes.

Then finally lip products...my favourite. I took along with me my most worn  everyday lip colour creme cup from Mac, its a beautiful natural nude pale pink shade, it glides on the lips effortlessly and has a creamy buttery consistency. I also took along my NYX lipgloss in beige which compliments Creme cup perfectly, its a dusty mauve pink toned gloss, which isn't beige at all despite the name and it smells so yummy and sweet. Then just in case I get bored of this combination I brought along a new addition to my lip collect the Revlon colourburst Lacquer balm in demure, which has been a firm favourite since purchasing, again this is an everyday nude pink balm but has a glosdy glittering finish.

So that's it, other than a few reciets thats everything in my bag that I took to London with me. I had a fantastic day sight seeing and cant wait to go bac to London. Like many bloggers I dream of living in the big city, but for now a day or weekend trip every once and a while will keep me happy. 

If your interested in London themeed post, I blogged about the Mad Hatter's Afternoon Tea at the Sanderson Hotel here. It was without a doubt the best afternoon tea I have ever indulged in and cant recommend it enough.

Thanks for reading. I would love to hear about your hand bag essentials in the comment section below.

Thanks for reading lovelies and enjoy the rest of the weekend. 

Mad Hatters Afternoon Tea

Good evening lovely readers, tonight I am taking a side step from my usual beauty and fashion rumblings and going to blog about the mad hatters afternoon tea at Sanderson hotel in London........ 

Me and my sister had planned a weekend to London to do some sightseeing and theatre trips, so I thought it was also a great excuse to go for a really special afternoon tea.  Those who know me well will know I am obsessed with Disney and Alice in Wonderland is one of my favourite fairy tales, I even hosted my very own mad hatter’s afternoon tea for my Birthday this year. So when I heard about a mad hatter’s themed afternoon tea at The Sanderson Hotel, I am sure you can imagine my excitement.  So I went ahead and booked it, I instantly received a confirmation email inviting me to ‘Tumble down the rabbit hole and enjoy the wonderful world of tea in the beautiful garden courtyard’, from that point onwards I was counting down the days.

I was so excited when we  finally did ‘Tumble down the rabbit hole’, our table set with unique crockery,  a charming musical jewellery box filled with lumps of sugar, an old fashioned leather bound book which had the afternoon menu placed inside and napkins with a riddle wrapped around them.

Then our lovely waitress (I can’t remember her name but she was great and very helpful) came over and brought us samples of the tea on offer, we had a good sniff and smell of the tea blends and aromas and decide on a pot of Strawberry and cream tea and mint chocolate chip, they were both very yummy, refreshing, sweet tasting teas.

Then our three tired cake tray was brought out, it was filled with a mixture of sweet and savory treats, which looked delightful and me my sister just sat, gazed and snapped away for a few minutes before we even tried anything. The bottom section was complete with an array of sandwiches, including smoked ham on tomato bread, cucumber and chive cream on spinach bread, smoked salmon and lemon butter on rye bread and finally egg mayonnaise on lemon bread, my favorite was definitely the smoked salmon. Then there was a selection of sweet and savory scones served with herb butter, fruit jam and clotted cream which were very tasty.  

Then we moved on to the drink me bottle, we advised by our waitress to drink this before starting on the cakes.  The drink me potion consisted of three layers, passion fruit jelly, coconut cream and banana puree, and although unlike Alice the little potion did not make me it taller  it was a real treat for the taste buds and great preparation for the sweet indulgence which was yet to come.

So we moved onto the cake tray where the fun really began, this was filled with three cakes, the first I tried was the Melting mango cheese cake with an outer layer of white chocolate, incredibly sweet and fruity but tasted like a dream. Then we tried the matcha green tea white chocolate mousse which was served in a edible chocolate tea cup complete with popping candy on the top, again this was very sweet and sickly but perfect for a chocolate lover like myself. Then finally we delved into the ‘tick tock’ Victoria sponge, which had been decorated to look like a little pocket clock, it almost looked too good to eat, but I still managed to munch my way through this lovely little cake which was definitely my favourite cake of the three.  Finally we hit the top layer and indulged over selves with the carrot meringue and strawberry and cream marshmallow mushrooms.

After all the eating and drinking me and Laura (my sister) left the Sanderson on a slight sugar high, full tummies and chatting all the way back to the hotel about what a fantastic time we had, and our favourite food and specifics from the afternoon tea.

As soon as we arrived at the beautiful outdoor Suka restaurant till the moment we left, I and Laura were wowed by our afternoon tea experience; they stuck to the Alice and wonderland theme perfectly with their enchanting and original touches, the attention to detail was immaculate and really made the day a stand out  part of our trip. So if you’re looking for a unique spin on traditional British afternoon tea I urge you to try the mad hatters afternoon tea, you won’t be disappointed.

Thanks for reading lovelies.