Brunch….and all that Jazz

Friday brunch is a popular past time in Dubai. Now remove all your existing thoughts on a typical British brunch out of your mind. A Dubai brunch experience is very different to your tradition brunch. In Dubai Brunch is from 12-4.00 (typically) and consists of 4 hours of all you can eat and all you can drink, leaving you with a slightly sore head and a very full tummy.

So on my latest Dubai trip my dad suggest Brunch at Prime 68, which is funnily enough located on the 68^th floor of the Jw Marriot Marquis hotel, making it the tallest brunch in Dubai. Prime 68 is not your average buffet all you can eat brunch, instead prime 68 offers an al a carte dining experience bringing a selection of dishes too you.

Prime 68 is a boutique steak house and has a 1920’s prohibition theme, the room is filled with timeless jazz music, elegant 1920s themed decor with a black and white classic yet contemporary finish and even a New York prohibition themed photo booth, it’s all very Jay Gastsby.

However, the star of the show is the spectacular view, from the 68^th floor you some pretty amazing views, so we before we even sat down we spent a good 10 minutes admiring the back drop.

Once we finally made it too our table our very helpful waiter advised us not to fill up too much on the bread (this wasn't easy, seeing as he just told me the bread was accompanied by maple butter) because we would have 36 separate dishes coming our way over the next few hours…….36 I repeat 36 dishes.

The foodie inside me jumped for joy…this was definitely going to be my kind of brunch.

We ordered our drinks and got chit chatting while we waited for food, me and my step mum decided to go with the prohibition themed ‘spiked tea’, a cocktail served in a tea pot and tea cups. I cant remember the exact blend but it was some kind of tea recipe with lots of vodka! Either way it was delicious and went down far too easily. I didn't manage to snap up the little tea pot as the waiter kept taking it away every time the cups were filled….its almost like he didn't trust us with it! Cant image why.

Then the starters arrived........

 Antipasto meats, with potato salad

Dad got far too impatient with my snapping of food

 Then came Caesar salad, beetroot with goats cheese, tomato and mozzarella and hard boiled eggs with a mustard topping and caviar. This was only the second course and already I had forgotten the waiter instructions to take things slow.

 Next up was a delicious shrimp cocktail in a tangy tomato sauce, the sauce really gave it an extra kick.

Then one of my favourite dishes…..it was lobster roll time, I may have done a little squeal when these appeared in front of me.

Fancy a closer look? Oh go on then…..

 The crab cakes were divine and fell apart in your mouth

Meatballs topped with cheese and an Italian tomato sauce

Want to see it all again? Thought so…

 Then came the Oysters,, I had never tried an oyster in my life…..well now was my time.

Nervously I gulped down the slippery slimy oyster….First impressions were good and I went on to eat two more.

 Now if anyone knows anywhere that does a cracking oyster locally let me know…I have started something now.

Then our waiter prepared a beautiful fillet of smoked salmon which was so light and delicate but left the taste buds tingly. I may have eaten a little bit too much of this.

To help settle our stomachs slightly we went and played with the props in the photo booth for some family photograph opportunities. I wont share them all (my dad may kill me) but here is a sneak peak.

We returned to our tables and then out came the main courses (yes all the above was just starters)

 Succulent pieces of prime steak, which were cooked to perfection along with beef brisket (this was my dad’s favourite) which just fell apart, it was beautiful. There was also cuts of roast beef but I didn't get chance to snap this up as everyone tucked into it pretty sharpish.

Accompanying this was thick cut potato wedges, creamy mash potato and a little dish of mac and cheese. At first I was confused by the mac and cheese but once I tasted it all was forgotten.

Then came the sea food mains, clams, salmon fillets and possibly the best scallops I have ever tasted, they were juicy and plump and cooked perfectly. 

I was so tempted to ask for more, but I really think my play suit was ready to burst by now.

After the mains came the cheese, and I just can’t resist cheese so of course I had to try some.

Finally the pudding trays graced the table. I have to admit I was slightly disappointed with pudding, this is normally my favourite part of brunch (possibly because there is normally a chocolate fountain) but these left me a little underwhelmed, possibly because I had been so impressed with the previous courses or I was just so full. I think I nibbled away at the cheese cake but left the rest for everyone else.

We all agreed this was the best brunch we had ever been too the food was exquisite with an array of tastes, textures and flavours which were beautifully presented ,  my dad has already booked to go back with a group of friends. If you’re looking for a so a sophisticated but fun brunch I would highly recommend a trip to Prime 68, especially if the likes of ‘The Great Gatsby’ or ‘Chicago’ is your cup of (spiked) tea.

After we went to the Observatory for happy hour, the drinks flowed, everything got a little bit hazy and the camera was left forgotten in my hand bag….probably for the best really.

*Ps sorry about the lighting, blame the 360 windows and bright sunshine in Dubai

dreaming of....

So I have been a very naughty blogger and I haven't blogged properly for a few weeks, but let me explain why....

1. I went on holiday to see my family in Dubai, I will share some snaps with you very soon, I promise.

2. I went on my hen party to the York races and then a very messy night out in York Which resulted in me spending two days recovering...totally worth it though, I had a fantastic weekend. 

3. I have been studying for my end of year Open University exams. They are over now phewwww...and relax. 

4. Its 7 weeks till my wedding and everything has gone into wedding planning over drive. 

Okay so thats my excuses, am I forgiven yet? Well if not, surely a wish list full of pretty bits and bobs I would love for my little home will do the trick....I thought so.

dreaming of.... by emma-louise1402 featuring scroll wall art

How cute are all these little bits and pieces. 1. I having been meaning to pick up 'It' by Alexa Chung for so long, has anyone read it? 2. A home can never have too many candles. 3. I have fallen in love with this beautiful picnic set from Cath kidstone, come on Summer, hurry up I need some picninc weather. 4. I am in need of an electic blender, and naturally I like this pink one. 5. Love this vintage 'boudior' sign. 6. Finally these pretty pastel storage cases from Oliver Bonas would go just nicely in my hall way.

So that's what I am dreaming about right now. I promise to  get back into the swing of regular blog posts once again, pre warning though a few weeks before my wedding, I may well be an erratic, over the top bridezilla......Gary is a lucky guy.

Spring Fashion Haul

I hope you are all having a lovely weekend, mine has mostly consisted of studying for my open university exams in a few weeks, socialising with friends and family, wedding planning and eating.

So, its been a jammed packed weekend...oh and some how I managed to fit in a spot of shopping, so I am treating you to a little fashion haul.

 I didn't buy everything at once,  although it has been known in the past, but I am 'supposed' to be saving at the moment. Anyway  this is a collective haul of a few bits and bobs I have picked up over the last weeks in preparation for my holiday to Dubai next week.

Be prepared for lots of pastels and floral patterns coming your way.

These adorable floral dungarees were £9 from Primark. I saw them the other day in Primark and literally did a little gasp, ran and grabbed them, I just thought they looked so cute and pretty and I think they would go perfectly with a white shirt. Literally cant wait to wear these.

 Sticking with the floral theme my next purchase from Primark was this lovely colourful floral shirt. Like the play suit above I just couldn't resit this, its a beautiful minty green shade which is my favourite colour to wear in the spring summer, it a collared shirt which I love and it has flowers, what more could a girl want. This cute shirt cost me £12.

 
Then I popped these light weight polka dot shorts in my basket. I love polka dots and again I would team this with a shirt or a peter pan collared top. For £5 I couldnt resist and I had to have them for my holiday.

Finally from Primark is this polka dot denim skater dress which cost £12. I love skater style dress they are really comfortable and easy to wear. Again more polka dots, I have worn this a few times already and really like this dress. I feel very Kate Middy in this. 

Next up is a lovely blue summer dress from Topshop. I purchased this with a voucher I got for my birthday and I was inspired to buy this by Laura over at buy now blog later. This is a beautiful shade for summer. This dress is slightly too big for me so I would add a brown belt to give it some definition. I cant find this online at the moment but it cost £34.

Now I have a few bits from MissGuided which has quickly become my favourite online shop, there are so many pretty clothes I would love to add to my wardrobe, however I managed to resist and just get a few things.  The first thing I bought was this blue and white mini dress you can find it here. It was £19.99 and I love the pretty pattern on this dress.

Then I got this lemon yellow curve hem skirt, this would go really nicely with a white shirt or vest top. I don't own very much yellow clothing so I am really looking forward to brightening up my summer wardrobe. You can find this skirt here for £14.99.

So I have yet another pastel blue dress, can you see a trend going on in this haul. This blue and white contrast dress will be perfect for my holiday, whether is a day of shopping or a spot of lunch in the sunshine. This dress was a bargain at £19.99, I think dress looks much more then small price tag, there is somethung very Zara like about it, you can get yours here.

Finally from Miss guided is this lilac tailored coat, I have been desperate for a pastel coat for so long now and I instantly fell in love with this beautiful coat, and I got even more excited when I saw it was only £34, most of the long pastel coats I had seen were going to cost me upwards of £70 so for under half the price I was instantly sold, and well its just so pretty. Unfortunately the purple shade is currently out of stock but you can get it in pink or brown here, I am so tempted to purchase the pink shade too, but for now I will resist temptation.

Finally is a really sweet pale pink dress with a white collar from BooHoo. Remember what I was saying about collars? I am literally obsessed. This a great dress for a summer day or with black tights and ballerina pumps for a day in the office. I cant find the orginal dress on the boohoo website, but here is a very similar design. 

So there you have it, my spring fashion haul, all ready for my summer holiday. Now I have snapped everything up I off to pack my suit case and hide my bank card somewhere to stop me spending. Wish me Luck.

Thank for reading

Confessions of a Beauty Blogger

 

While reading blogs It would be easy to assume the beauty blogger behind the blog is perfect in regards to their makeup, skin care and hair routine.

Well I thought I would do a little post today to show you that in my case any way (and I am sure I am not the only one) this couldn’t be further from the truth

. I am not perfect, no one is and thought it might be nice for my readers to get to know a little bit more about me and my flaws. 

Hopefully you will all still continue to read my blog, after admitting I don’t religiously stick to every beauty rule out there.

1.       Sometimes (just sometimes) if I have had a long day and I feeling lazy before bed, I am very naughty and use a face wipe to remove all my makeup. Not even a nice high end face wipe, we are talking the £1 wipes from Primark! 

 

2.       I hardly ever get my full 8 hours of beauty sleep a night.

 

3.       I am so impatient when it comes to painting my nails. I cant sit still for very long so normally end up smudging, re applying do the same again, have a paddy and take it off. To stop any possible melt downs I tend to go for Shellac nails at my local beauticians.

 

4.       I quite often forget to use heat defence on my hair before blow drying or straightening.

 

5.       I am a little bit clumsy when it comes to tanning,  I manage to get fake tan everywhere. I have ruined so many towels, desperately scrubbed carpets and walls to remove evidence and permanently stained quite a few parts of both my mum’s and my bathroom.

 

6.       Thankfully I have discovered contouring and highlighting, I am no expert but I have definitely moved on from the days of furiously applying bronzer all over my face. Cringe!

 

7.       I still haven’t mastered winged eye liner, I have tried and tried and tried, but failed. No matter what I do one eye always seems different to the other, maybe it’s because I am perfectionist and that 1mm different really does bug me, but I just can't get it right. 

 

8.       I am not very good at relaxing, when I do decide to have a pamper and a bubble bath I can quite often me found applying a bubble beard 5 minutes in.

 

9.       I very rarely curl my lashes, maybe it’s the lash curler I use but I really cant see a difference when I curl them or don’t, maybe I am doing something wrong, or maybe they just don’t work for me, who knows. 

 

10.   Finally, I am dyslexic, I can’t spell very well at all and I rely heavily on spell check and reading my writing numerous times to correct my many mistakes (sometimes I spell so badly the spell checker can’t even try and figure out what I am attempting to write), but no matter how many times I check my work there still seems to be some errors or even whole words missing. So yes some of my post aren’t perfectly written or spelt correctly, but I just try and write naturally and think about how I would talk to a friend and if there is  mistake here and there I am sure it’s not really going to hurt anyone is it? Being dyslexic does put me at big disadvantage as it takes me twice as long to complete any kind of learning or writing task. However, I don’t let it stop me and when I think about it, it actually makes me really proud for starting and writing my blog and not letting dyslexia stop me from doing something I enjoy. 

 

So there you have it that’s me and my imperfections. I would love to hear your beauty confessions, because well nobody’s perfect are they.

 

Pink Pout Picks

left to right, Showy matte balm, lip butter strawberry shortcake, mac girl about town, mac creme cup, mac girl next door, aurora by tanya burr

Hello everyone, Sorry for the lack of posts this week, blame university work combined with a full time job while trying to my wedding, but I am one of those people who tries to spin about 100 plates at once so I have no one to blame but myself.

When it comes to my pout I am a fan of all things pink, be it bright pink, baby pink, nude pink, shimmery pink, you name it, its probably in my slightly large lip collection.

So today I wanted to share with you my top pink lip products....if you hadn't already guessed.

Revlon lip butter- Strawberry Shortcake
For regular readers of my blog this lip product will come as no surprise, I am a big fan of the Lip Butters from Revlon and rave about them regularly. The lip butters are a great every day lip product, they are a buttery balm with great pigmentation and a glossy finish. There are normally 2 (maybe 3) of these lip butters floating around my handbag. My favourite shade is strawberry shortcake, its a lovely everyday pink shade, which really compliments any skin tone. Strawberry short cake is a creamy soft baby pink shade, with lilac undertones, but I find its not too blue and frosty toned. Its my go to lip products and I wont admit how many of these I have been through it the past year....cough cough three.

Mac Girl About Town
As most beauty bloggers I have a love affair for Mac Lipsticks (and eye shadows but that's a different post). I just love Mac for lipsticks, there is so many pretty shades and collections to browse and pick from, I love the formula's and they aren't too pricey either.Girl About Town was the first bright lipstick from Mac, I was influenced by Tanya Burr and one of her tutorials if I remember rightly. Its a beautiful bright fushia pink shade and is a amplified cream formula, so its unlike some bright shades it leaves my lips creamy and buttery and doesn't dry them out. This lipstick it is very build-able and can worn lightly for the day time but build up for an evening look and this lipstick does not budge at all, which is great for a night out. This is one of my favorite bright lip sticks and I think its a great first bold lip colour if your not too confident with bright lip colours.

Mac Girl next door
Sticking with Mac my next favourite is one of the pieces from the Archie girl collection, its nothing to do with the super cute packaging, promise. Girl Next Door is a luster formula and the shade is a very light pastel opaque toned pink with blue under tones, so this wont be everyone's cup of tea, but I personally love it. It gives my lips a sheer pink finish and I find this works really well with a dramatic smokey eye. Not looking forward to the day this little beauty runs out so if anyone has a dupe please let me know.

Mac Creme Cup
Sorry one more mac lipstick, last one promise. This is my go to Mac lipstick for everyday. Creme cup is a cream sheen which is my favourite mac formula, because as the name suggests it leaves my lips soft and creamy. Creme cup is a soft pink nude shade and gives me lips the perfect pink glow with just one swipe of colour. 

Aurora By Tanya Burr
As soon as I heard Tanya Burr was releasing her lip gloss and nail collection I knew I would be purchasing a few bits and pieces. Tanya's make up tutorials were the first I ever watched on YouTube and I have been addicted to make up and beauty tutorials and blogs ever since, which then led me to write my own little blog, so I have a lot to thank Miss Tanya Burr for, thanks Tanya I am now a make addict, but I wouldn't have it any other way. So anyway enough fan girl rambling, back to the gloss. Aurora is a really great everyday light pink toned gloss with a subtle glittery particles. Worm alone this gloss gives the lips a really pretty pink sheen and is great to give you a pop of pink colour, buts its also great over the top of a nude pink colour to give it a shimmery finish. I also have the gloss in ' Afternoon Tea' but I need to try some more because these glosses are amazing, they are long lasting, really well pigmented and smell so yummy. You can read my full review here.

Revlon Colourbust Matte Balm in Showy
This is a bit of a new lip product to my collection, I did a full review of this balm as well as two of the Lacquer balms here. I am not normally a fan of matte lipsticks or products but I have fallen in love with this balm. I think because its a balm formula with added coconut, mango and shae butter it leaves your lips soft and hydrated but with a matte finish. I love the shade of this balm too its not to dissimilar to 'Girl about town' from Mac, in that its a bold bright pink with purple undertones but it has a more opaque finish. This can be worn more as more of a sheer bright pink in the day and then built up with a few more coats for a more dramatic bold finish.

So that's it my favourite pink pout picks, or simply put my favourite pink lip products. Do you have any favourites I need to try.

Thanks for reading lovlies

Dreaming about......

Hello, 

Hope you are all having a fantastic weekend and it hasn't been to wet where ever you are? Thanks to YouTube, Blogs, Instagram and Pintrest I seem to have a never ending and ever growing wish list, hopefully I am not the only one?

I love reading wish lists, it normally results in my wishlist growing again, so I thought I would share with you some of the top picks on my wishlist at the moment.

Dreaming about...... by emma-louise1402 featuring a zara coat

1. Kate Spade watch, as much as I love my Michael Kors rose gold watch I would love to have a bit of wrist candy with a pop of colour, and Kate Spade is the best designer for a pop of colour.

2. Tarte Amazon 12 hour Clay Blush, in 'Natural beauty'. This was purely added to my wish list thank to Laura from Buy now Blog later, Laura is one of my favourite beauty and fashion bloggers you can see her review here, it instanstly made me think 'I need this blush....right now'.

3. Laura Mercier translucent setting powder, I have heard some many good reviews about this powder and its been on my wish list for so long.

4. How cute is this instax mini camera, one its pink, but I would love a camera that instantly prints phots. Thanks to social media most of photos say online or on my computer but an actually paper copy never surfaces, which is so sad really when I think about it, because I have so many childhood memories of looking through family albums and photo boxes.

5. NYX butter lipglosses, I was sold at the word butter, anything glossy but with a butter like feel and finish it perfect for my makeup collection.

6. The Zara yellow coat, oh my godness even my fiance has noticed my obsession with this coat, although he still hasn't bought it for me, must hint harder. Again I fell in love with this after seeing it at 'Buy now, Blog later'.

7. The Balm Betty Lou Highlighter, I have seen this popping up on my blogger feed quite a lot recently and I am really keen to give this a try. I am always a tad cautious about buying high end highlighters and spending money on them, as I am in love with my Mac mineralize skinfinish in 'soft and gentle', I did a full review here so I am not sure if any other highlighter will compare.

8. Yet another 'Bloggers made me do it' item on my wishlist I have seen some much hype about Nars radiant creamy concealer, I have convinced myself I need it.

9. Oh the Naked 3 palette so long I have lusted after your array of rose gold shades, hopefully the wait will soon be over and you will be mine soon enough.

10. This blush from two faced looks beautiful, I promise its nothing to do with the pink heart shaped packaging, honest!!

11. I really need a new cover for my I pad for travelling and this cover from Ted Baker is just so cute and girly and will look lovely in my hand bag.

So there you have it a sneak peek of my ridiculously long wish list, I may well treat myself to a few bits and pieces this month but will see if my bank balance allows it.

Thanks for reading, have you tried any of the products on my wish list? What's on your wish list?