Vintage University Days!

Hello My Lovelies,

With students off to university in the next month or so I thought I would write a post about my vintage uni days and the differences between then and now-but also some of my tips for getting through your first few weeks away from home!

My Story:

I went to Canterbury Christ Church University in 2002 (yup 12 years ago!) to study Media and Cultural Studies with American Studies. I was super excited about going, I had visited the university and city and knew it was a place that I was going to feel really relaxed and at home so I wasn't too nervous about leaving home for the first time- I think my mum was more upset!

            Outside my halls in 2003.

In my first year at uni I lived with 6 other girls in halls about a five minute walk to my lectures and we had a fab year (with up's and down's!) and enjoyed many many nights out with lots of stories that I still discuss with friends today.

 

                                   Christmas dinner 2002.

Luckily there wasn't too many distractions for me and not getting my work completed; there was no Facebook, Mark Zuckerberg was at uni in America creating FB at the same time I was at uni, no Twitter, Instagram, Skype or FaceTime- I didn't actually even have a laptop back then, and used the university computers to type up essays and send a couple of emails a week to my family. This was the age of writing letters to friends at home and watching 5 T.V channels in the evening!! We did however have the best time stealing each others phones and prank calling/texting which always ended hysterically. On nights out we would take photos on film cameras and then stick them on our bedroom walls.
 

        Long time friend Craig in my room.

I loved every minute of my university experience and wouldn't change it for the world-I've made life long friends from all the crazy and wild times we've shared including going to see a Big Brother live final and standing with Dermot O'Leary, theme park visits and laughing and crying till the sun was rising.

                               Summer Ball 2003.
 

              12 years on and still friends, 2014.

So here are my top tips!!

• Don't over pack (you will spend your student loan on lovely new things!)

• Speak to everyone (they might become a lifelong friend!)

• Do ring your parents at least once a week so they know you're alive.

• Join a club.

• Make your room feel comfortable (take photo's, your favourite blanket...)

• Try not to go home in the first month it will only make it harder to get back to uni.

But most of all enjoy your time, you'll be shocked at how quickly three care free years can go!!


Are you off to uni this year? Were you at uni in the 00's? Let me know in the comments!

Till next time,
                  Tori.
                       x

Product of the Month...August!

Hello My Lovelies,

I'm really enjoying writing a product of the month post each month and this month is no exception! My chosen product is from a company that I've loved for a really long time and so it won't be a surprise when I say product of the month is from Liz Earle, their Daily Eye Repair!

I've been using this product for a few months now, after not using an eye cream for a good couple of years I decided it was about time I got back into using one in my daily routine especially where I'm now in my 30's (sobs out loud!!). I knew that I loved all my other products from Liz Earle so it seemed like a no brainier not to try this one out. 

The first great thing about this product is that you literally need a little amount and it goes a long way, that means your 10ml (small I know) will last a life time! Second great thing I love about the Daily Eye Repair is that's it's not greasy or thick on the skin; so it melts in uber quick, which is great when you're in a rush in the morning! Finally there's no fragrance, which is something Liz Earle do with a lot of their products, that's brilliant news for me as I'm not a great fan of scents. I tend to use the cream with my Liz Earle Eyebright Soothing Eye Lotion as they make such a great combo!

I'm loving this product so much I can't wait to get my hands on the smoothing line serum.

Have you got or tried Liz Earle's Daily Eye Repair? Let me know in the comments!

Till next time,

                    Tori.

                         X

Curvy Girl Outfit of the Day 4! (Malta Edition)

Hello My Lovelies,

Last month I visited Malta for the second time for a lovely relaxing holiday with my mum and sister, we had a fab time and whilst I was out for dinner I took some photo's and thought you might like to see what I wore. A special thanks to my sister whom picked the back drop and took the photographs for me! Don't forget to also check out my other outfit of the day from Malta which I uploaded when I got back!

My dress is from Tu at Sainsburys and is very much a 60's inspired dress, such a basic outfit but it has a lovely material, nice and cool for the hot climate! I also wore my favourite Marks and Spencer brown sandals and my Aztec beaded clutch from New Look.

           Yummy cocktails and bruschetta!

                                      Mum and I.

                                 Malta 2014.


Have you been away this summer or do you have any holidays booked? Let me know in the comments.

Till next time,
                   Tori.
                        x

Disney's Frozen at Carisbrooke Castle Experience!

Hello My Lovelies,

At the beginning of the summer I went and saw Top Gun at a drive in cinema and loved the whole experience (you can read my review here: http://wonderfulworld04.blogspot.co.uk/2014/07/drive-in-cinema-experience.html ) and with the summer sadly coming to an end I decided to finish it the way I started by going to an outdoor cinema experience being shown at a Castle! 

 

The film I chose to see was Disney's Frozen, the screen was set up right inside of the castle walls and had pretty fairy lights and lamps. The atmosphere was a friendly, family environment with children running around playing and eating candy floss and popcorn and the adults relaxing with a beer or tube of pringles!

At 8:45pm the film began and we all settled down in the atmospheric, historic setting of Carisbrooke Castle. Frozen is such a great musical that it was difficult not to sing along to 'Do you wanna build a snowman' or 'Let it Go!' I was super glad that we decided to layer up on the clothing and take a couple of blankets because as the evening turned to night it was really cold- and I had to do some seat dancing to keep warm.

 

 

The company that set up and ran the evening was The Travelling Film Show and they put on a really great event-The Travelling Film Show also had other outside cinema events this summer; the other one I particularly wanted to see but missed as I was on holiday was Jaws on one of the Island's beaches- which I can only imagine was fab! I hope the company decides to come back to the Isle next year with other great film choices and wonderful venues!

Have you ever been to an outdoor cinema? Let me know in the comments!

Till next time,
                  Tori.          
                       x

Makeup of the Day-Henley Regatta!

Hello My Lovelies,

At the beginning of July I got the opportunity to go to Henley Regatta with my sister and her friend (make sure you read my blog post all about the day!) and I decided to wear some of my high end makeup as it was going to be a long day and I wanted to make sure my makeup looked as flawless as possible at such an amazing event. So here's what I wore on the day...

 

On the day I chose to wear Nars Sheer Glow Foundation which covers a multitude of sins and again on this occasion lasted all day. I then added one of my favourite concealers the Eraser Eye Concealer from Maybelline. Powder for the day was my holy grail high end powder the Hourglass Ambient Lighting Powder.

Bronzer was a harder choice it was between the Body Shop honey and Nars Laguna-Nars Laguna won this time! I then added Hourglass Ambient Lighting Blush which was my product of the month for June (so make sure you read that post!)

I finished up my makeup look with Kevyn Aucoin Cesletial Powder in Candlelight which is a new high end product in my makeup bag, and one that I'm loving. For my eyebrows I used the only brow pencil that looks natural and is the Rimmel Professional Eyebrow Pencil. Mascara I chose Clinique High Impact Mascara and lips Chanel Rouge Allure in the colour Etonnante.

 

So that's the makeup that I chose to wear to Henley On Thames! Have you been to Henley or own any of these products? Let me know in the comments below!!

 

Till next time,

                   Tori.

                        x

 

My Most Used Makeup Brushes!

Hello My Lovelies,



I've seen a few of these posts in the past 6 months and thought they were really interesting to see what each beauty bloggers most used brushes were, it also usually tempts me to go and buy a few new ones. So here are my most used and favoured brushes!

First up is the Sigma Powder/Blush F10 brush that I bought last November in the Black Friday sales-I use this brush for my Hourglass Ambient Lighting powder and I love it.

Next up is a new one to the collection but one I haven't been able to stop using with my Ambient Lighting blush it's the Eco Tools Tapered Blush brush-what's great about this brush is the angle which means I don't over use my most expensive blush.

Another Eco Tools brush, this one is marketed for BB/CC creams but I use it with all foundations and it's great for getting under my eyes and around my nose! The Eco Tools brushes are so affordable especially if you pick one up from fragrance direct or on offer in Boots.

It wouldn't be right to not include a Real Techniques brush in my favourites collection-when I first bought the duo-fiber set I wasn't very impressed not compared to my other RT brushes but this has become a firm favourite of mine. I use it for some blushes and most recently my Kevyn Aucoin Celestial Powder. It's such a soft brush and is effortless to use!

The last two brushes are eye shadow brushes...The first is a Sigma Large Shader E60 which I also bought when I ordered the powder brush. Applying eye shadow with this brush is so quick and easy and you don't have to be a makeup artist pro to use it, which is great for me!! The final brush is the Eco Tools Large Eye Shadow brush not as simple to use as the Sigma Shader but it's a close second and had to be included.

So there you have it my most used brushes! I do have lots of others but I don't use them half as much as these, I also have my eye on some new brands so look out for them on my blog in the future.

Do you own any of these brushes? Do you have any recommendations for me? Let me know in the comments!

Till next time,

                    Tori.

                         X

The Spitfire Pub, Southampton Review

Hello My Lovelies,

Today's post is all about a pub I visited this week called the Spitfire in Southampton. I was invited along (with a guest) to have a 3 course meal and drink I couldn't wait to pop along as who doesn't love a good pub meal?!

The pub opened this summer and is situated in a really vibrant area of Southampton (Above Bar Street), a five minute walk to all the shops-so perfect to drop in for food after a long day! 

The Spitfire is part of the Sizzling pub chain and is a family friendly pub that serves a wide range of food all reasonably priced! Not only that but it also includes Sky Sports and BT Sports so a great venue to come and watch the new football season with a pint or even a cocktail!

The menu is huge and consists of favourites fish & chips, ham & egg, sandwiches and wraps, jacket potatoes or fajitas and chilli chicken skewers- there's something for all the family here.

Now for the food! We chose for starters prawn cocktail and the tomato and basil soup-both came with bread. They were both absolutely delicious and huge to the point I had to stop or I wouldn't be able to eat my main meal!

We then tucked into our mains...

I had the gammontastic-14oz of gammon, chips, mushroom, tomato, peas and onion rings-I could of had eggs but as I'm not a fan I decided against them and a nice cold pepsi.

My Mum decided to have the simply chicken meal with coleslaw and chips with an apple and raspberry J20. 

Again both meals were huge (mine in particular) so when you visit make sure you arrive super hungry!!

I loved my gammon, I still can't quite believe how much there was of it, though I didn't enjoy the peas all that much. My Mum loved her chicken (again lots of it!) but the coleslaw wasn't much to be desired.

Both were excellent value for money!!

Finally after a good 15 minute breather to let all the food go down we chose our desserts. I went for the Belgian Chocolate Brownie as this is my favourite dessert and my Mum had the Honeycomb Explosion Sundae. My Belgian Chocolate Brownie was served beautifully, the combination of the brownie and ice-cream was a delight.

I visited the pub at lunch with my mum there was plenty of staff, really clean and the condiment units were well stocked.

When I visit the toilets I always hope they're going to be clean with plenty of toilet paper and the Spitfire didn't let me down-they smelt great and for such a busy time of the day they looked good too!

This was my first visit to the Spitfire but it certainly won't be my last! To find your nearest sizzling pub or to view the menu then visit www.sizzlingpubs.co.uk

Have you visited the Spitfire or are you going to soon-let me know in the comments!

Till next time,

                      Tori.

                            x

*I was kindly invited to the Spitfire for a complimentary meal, how ever as always all views and thoughts are entirely my own.

Curvy Girl Outfit of the Day 3! (Malta)

Hello My Lovelies,


I've been enjoying the sun in Malta this past week and I had a fabulous time! The week consisted of sun (obviously), cold drinks, yummy meals, swimming in the roof top pool and lots of quality time with my mum and sister!


Here's a little outfit of the day from whilst I was away...

This is a new dress that I bought from Tesco- I love all of their dresses as they fit my curvy body so well!

I also wore my trusty Marks & Spencer brown sandals that I buy every summer and then live in till September.

Finally I have my super pretty Aztec beaded clutch from New Look and my Citizen watch (the best watch ever!!)

Do you have any holidays planned for this year? Let me know in the comments...

Till next time,

                    Tori.

                          X