September 2018 Archives

On a recent trip to Bath, England, I stopped off at The Stable to have a late lunch. It has been a few years since I last visited Bath, and the restaurant arrived sometime after my last visit. The Stable is a restaurant that sells pizza and cider; it also has vegan options in some of the restaurants. There are currently a dozen of these restaurants primarily around the southern part of England and Wales.

The owners of The Stable started in 2007 after leaving London. They discovered fresh produce and cider and created pizza and eventually started their first pizza restaurant in Dorset with the help of family and friends. The pizzas were created with some more unique toppings on a sourdough base. All of the restaurants in the chain are a little bit different and inspired by the community.

The Bath restuarant was minimal with large tables and seating and a bar at the front. I had the cheese pizza, which is always my favourite staple pizza and helps with giving a good indication of the quality. The ingredients were fresh, but the pizza was not the best I have had but still of good quality and washed down perfectly with drink. I found the prices average with 8.50 for a margherita pizza. Still, I could see that this is a perfect place to visit after classes at the university or a little bit of weekend shopping.

Street artist Wasp Elder was born in the UK but now lives in Berlin. His subjects are usually figures of people who appear to have been in a disaster or conflict; he uses an impressionistic style with muted colours to represent these feelings and emotions. The last time he painted in London was just over a year ago, but he returned recently to paint on Hanbury Street for a campaign "Education is Not a Crime". This is a subject that I feel very strongly about. Education should be for everyone, and I think that it ties with empathy and peace. I think the world would be a better place if people got/wanted an education and appreciate it. 

For more street art by Wasp Elder, see the below links:

Wasp Elder and Helen Bur - Victims of Circumstance Murals

Blaise Castle and Blaise Castle House Museum is located in Bristol, England. Blaise Castle is built on Blaise Hill and was built as a mock castle in the mid-1700s. It is only open during selected Sundays in the summer months, but it is such a small building and there is not really much inside the mock castle to see. The Castle House was designed and built at the end of the 1700s by William Paty, a Bristol merchant and banker.

Blaise Castle House Museum, located at the front of the Blaise Castle Estate, is a small museum that exhibits several items from life in days past, such as stoves, kitchen equipment, heating, lighting, toys, fashion, washing machines, and toilets. It also has a grand room with a few paintings and a shop and a cabinet of curiosities, which was a Victorian tradition to have a cabinet full of unique and original items to start converations. 

One room was dedicated to kitchen stoves used in the earlier 1900s, and this also included other kitchen equipment including some items that I have used (hand-cranked juicers to create tomato sauce) and that made me feel a little old. 

Also, there were some hand-lanterns in another room that use oil (kerosene) that my parents have had to use a couple different designs of when we lost electricity due to storms when I was a child. It was similar to the pink lamp and the lantern-style lamp on the bottom shelf below.

The room with bath tubs and toilets also contained information about washing clothes, including wash boards and early barrel washing machines.

Toys were featured quite a bit in a couple of the rooms. They included a large selection of dolls' house toys and soldiers.

Another room was designed like a school room with the flip-top desks similar to what I used in school. I have no idea what the desks are like in schools today.

After the visit to the House Museum, I walked on a little forest trail to the castle, which is actually hidden within the forest on a hilltop. It was a steep climb to the top, but the views were nice when you could peek out at them.

That concludes the visit to Blaise Castle. Overall, it does not take long to visit the estate to see the museum and then walk to the castle.

This post is a look back on the beauty, skin-care, and hair-care products that I have used up in the past few months. This is my review of the products to look back on them and decide if I would like to re-purchase any of those items. The products listed below have been used up from the beginning of April. I'm actually not using very many products these days as I have mainly been working from home and not going out of the house much.

Trifle Cosmetics Candied Apple Lip & Cheek Stain: This lip and cheek stain is in a dark pink colour, and I liked the cute tube. I like the packaging of Trifle Cosmetics. Would I buy it again? No, the product was too thick and did not evenly distribute across my lips. It was also too sticky and did not work on cheeks; the stickiness of the product was a problem and caused the product to go on thicker in some places, and it also did not transfer well when drinking cold drinks. I thought this was a good summery lipstick, but it was just too sticky and produced uneven colour.

TRESemme 60 second hair treatment shots: This is one "shot" that comes in a pack. Each shot nourishes hair. Would I buy it again? No. It's a nice product and does nourish hair, but it is similar to other products offered by other brands. The downside is that these create more plastic waste and would be more expensive than other products, so I would stick to my other brand. 

NUXE Huile Prodigieuse® Shimmer: This body and hair shimmer oil is designed to add moisture and protect hair and skin from pollution. It also adds a subtle glow to skin, and I love the scent which reminds me of honeysuckle. Would I buy it again? No; the product makes my hair too greasy and is very thick on my skin.

Lip Gloss - Marks and Spencer and Markwins International: I have hoarded some lip gloss and lipstick that I have had for awhile and have just started to use these up. Would I buy it again? Marks and Spencer - I had a glitter gloss and a berry red one. The berry red one was a good product, but neither had staying power. The Markwins was a bright red lipstick that went on a little unevenly. I wouldn't purchase these brands in the future.

Soap&Glory Hair Supply mask treatment: Soap&Glory create cute packaging that really stands out on the shelf and that is inspired by vintage advertising. This mask treatment nourished my hair and made it soft and smell good. Would I buy it again? Maybe, but there are a lot of similar products on the market.

Lush Glogg shower gel: This is a warm and spicy scent for the Lush 2014 Christmas range, and the scent reminded me of a mulled drink. I finished this product at the beginning of spring to use it up as it was my winter shower gel. Would I buy it again? Maybe.

Clinique Long-Last Lipstick in 'Twilight Nude': This pocket-sized lipstick was perfect for taking in my bag to apply when needed. It is a good berry colour that fits my complexion perfectly and is a perfect colour to wear to work. The lipstick also was long-lasting, so that's a bonus. Would I buy it again? Yes.

Superdrug self-heating mask: This mask heats when applied to skin and helps to exfoliate and keep skin in top order. Would I buy it again? Yes, I have purchased this product a few times.

Wella shaders and toners: These little packets of hair colour just help to add a bit of shine to hair; they are semi-permanent. I had previously used the blond and light-coloured ones, which looked great when I dyed my hair blond, but I have since developed an allergy to PPD and cannot dye my hair with most hair products. This product does not contain PPD, but it did not work on my naturally very dark hair. The colour of this was a plum colour. Would I buy it again? No, my natural hair colour is too dark but these do work for girls who have lighter-coloured hair (dyed or natural).

Clinique compact foundation: I used to buy this foundation many years ago because it was not a liquid form and one that I could take on planes without having to worry about the liquid ban. It has since been discontinued. The product was also very thick and clogged my pores; I did not realise how bad it was for my skin until I stopped using it and used other foundations. Would I buy it again? No, and I've generally gone off Clinique because I find their products too harsh on skin.

Summer is now officially over. I was hoping that we would have some more hot days before the end of summer so that I could enjoy some days off, but it just did not happen. Summer came to a close with a wind storm, rain, and chilly weather. I also got my first cold of the season last week, but I am feeling a bit better now. Summer 2018 had some ups and had some downs; my regret is that I did not get to take time to enjoy it. Anyway, here is my summer in review.

The summer started out busy. I was doing long hours until the beginning of July. After I returned from a milestone long-weekend birthday trip to Milan in mid-June, I continued the long hours. In early July, I hosted my first ever BBQ (Fourth of July BBQ in London) and invited a few friends. It ended up being a small affair, but it was a good day with nice weather. The BBQ was to celebrate a number of special events from milestone birthdays, an engagement, July 4th, citizenship, and a new house. It was really fun and I plan on hosting another one next year.

In early July, I enjoyed some artwork in London. First, Serpentine in Hyde Park became the setting for London Mastaba, a huge tower of floating red barrels. London Elephant Parade 2018 also returned for a short time, and I also saw Frieze Sculpture 2018 in Regent's Park with a friend. A new Sculpture in the City was also launched, but I have not seen this yet and have until next May to do so. So, the London art scene did not disappoint.

In fact, mid July was very busy with a week of cooler weather. One of the calendar's events was to attend MINIs in Poole Quay for Quay For My Car with my MINI before I traded it in. This clashed with friends visiting Manchester from the states, but I'd planned Poole Quay first so attended that with friends. We had a fun time catching up, eating Italian food on the quay, and enjoying ice cream. This is always a fun even in the nice weather, and they host other classic cars each Friday throughout the summer months. This year was the busiest that I have seen it for the past couple of years.

My friends from the states arrived in Manchester mid-week (mid-July) on business. It didn't make sense to go from London to Manchester for a couple of days and then come back for Poole Quay and return for the weekend. So, I took a trip up to Manchester at the weekend. We had a wander around the city and went to the National Football Club and also a tour of the BBC Media City studios, both attractions that I will be covering soon. One of my friends is an instructor in telecommunications and media at a university, and they have some workshops with the University of Salford at Media City. So, he got us in to BBC Media City for a tour. I have yet to post about these events, so keep checking back. We also went to enjoy Brunch at The Alchemist and visited Manchester Cat Cafe.

After visiting with my friends in Manchester and then a little over a day with them in London, I had a long weekend in Norwich to visit GoGoHares! Hop Around Norwich and Norfolk and a few castles. This is a part of the country that I had not been to (with the exception of a couple of days spent in Norwich to visit similar sculpture trails). The weather was perfect, and I stayed at a lovely bed and breakfast/pub. I wish that I had taken more than a day off. I could have easily had a couple of more days to see additional castles and attractions in the area.

I visited Baconsthorpe Castle (Norfolk, England), Caister Castle (Norfolk, England), Norwich Castle, Framlingham Castle in Suffolk, England. One of the most memorable attractions was at Caister Castle where there is also Caister Castle Car Collection. It is filled with fantastic classic cars and motorbikes. I also enjoyed walking the trails to one of the broads and would have loved to have had some time to take a boat tour. I hope to return next year and hope for the same hot weather and full sunshine.

In early August, I had another long weekend and went to Bristol. I was hoping to see the Bristol Balloon Festival, but this was cancelled because the weather was windy and rainy and just downright horrible. It was not a nice weekend at all. August has been a wash-out for the past couple of years. However, I did get to visit Gromit Unleashed 2.0, the latest scupture trail from Aardman. I enjoyed the previous trails and enjoyed visiting Bristol.

August was dreary and turned out to be the month of sculpture trails with my attendance of two more: Robins Hoodwinked! Sculpture Trail and Minerva's Owls Sculpture Trail in Bath. This was my first visit to Nottingham in eighteen years. Because the weather was not nice, I did not bother to take time off but just had a couple weekend trips.

I enjoyed visiting Bath again and was happy to see the flowers in the park. I used to walk by these every day for just over two years, but they were not planted for one of these years. This arrangement is beautiful, and there are some great photo opportunities here with the Royal Crescent.

The beginning of September started off fantastically with the scorching weather returning for one day only. I went to Bournemouth to see the Bournemouth Air Show. Sitting on the beach watching the planes was enjoyable and took me back to several years ago when I went. I only wish that this hot and sunny weather would have continued, but it only lasted one day with most of the remainder of this month being chilly and wet.

At the start of September, I used my birthday gift voucher to see "Everybody's Talking About Jamie" at the theatre with dinner at Prezzo beforehand. I thought that the play was very enjoyable and had some great music.  And, a week before summer ended, it went out with a bang. I attended Agnes' and Andrew's Wedding at The Wokefield Estate (Reading, England). It was a nice day and was great to catch up.

And, that draws summer 2018 to a close. I do appreciate and enjoy autumn, though autumn is much nicer in the states than it is in England. It's normally wet in autumn here, but I do like the fireworks at the start of November and Bonfire Night. The main downside is that winter is fast approaching, and there's several months of grey and cold weather before the warmth returns. Oh, and did I mention that I really dislike being ill? I am feeling better now, but autumn is the start of the season of illness.

Last weekend, I attended a very beautiful wedding held at The Wokefield Easte outside of Reading, England. It was a wedding of one of the friends that I have known the longest in England (14 years), and his partner from the last three and a half years, whom I have come to know during various meet-ups and events. Hopefully I will see more of them again as soon as their life is more settled after wedding preparations and honeymoons.

Andrew and Agnes had a beautiful ceremony at the Lincoln Suite at the Mansion House, part of the Wokefield Estate. The palladian-style Mansion House, built for a local wealthy family, dates from the 1720s and is set in 250 acres of parkland in Berkshire outside Reading. It is now owned by the De Vere group and has professional 18-hole golfing on site. The main reception was held at Lincoln Suite, but we also made use of other rooms at the Mansion House. Everyone had a lovely time, and I met some wonderful people and enjoyed catching up with other acquaintances from Andrew's circle of friends.

I am happy that we had nice weather for their special day. Well done, Andrew and Agnes, and congratulations.

Andrew and I met through a mutual friend in September of 2004 when a group of us went to see "Lord of the Rings" at the Royal Albert Hall, and we kept in touch and became good friends over the years (see Concert at Albert Hall: 'Lord of the Rings'). We had board gaming and "Lord of the Rings" marathons, flat-warming parties, and barbeques. Andrew hosted a Fourth of July BBQ every summer for a few years and invited his friends and family, and these were always great fun. I believe he celebrated the July 4th BBQ for me because I was going through a very tough time (this tough time is something that I will be posting about later this year and is a difficult subject to write about). Of course, I appreciated this and his kindness during these times; he is one of the people that I can chat to and have an interesting conversation with. It can be quite a challenge to find like-minded people in today's world. 

In early 2015, he introduced me to Agnes; we met at the Anglo/Asian-inspired Wagamama restaurant in Basingstoke before heading to a lacklustre concert. I liked Agnes right away as she was interesting, and the conversation flowed naturally. We met up again throughout the next couple of years to attend additional concerts (one where we coincidentally bumped into Andrew's previous neighbours who would attend the annual BBQ), Battle Proms at Highclere Castle, pub lunches with other friends, castle walks, my first BBQ (Fourth of July BBQ in London), and general socialising.

The ceremony and reception took place in the late afternoon, so I booked a room at the Mansion House, where the wedding took place. This meant that I didn't need to worry about getting back to London from the estate and could also enjoy a few drinks to celebrate. The hotel rooms are nicely decorated as they have just been restored following a £20 million investment. The rooms are spacious with a vintage Scottish highland feeling. I loved the different frames and vintage prints on the wall, and each room had an old-fashioned telephone to complete the look. I do wonder if some guests understand how to use those old dial phones. (I may be showing my age a little bit with that comment.)

I loved the design of the bathrooms with a tiled marble effect and grey slate tiles on the floor. It's similar to a design I hope to achieve when I finish my house's renovations. Oh, and sorry about the make-up clutter as we were running a little late and I needed to make sure that I had everything out in order to get ready.

In addition to the facilities, the hotel has a restaurant, coffee shop, swimming pool, gym, and also a whiskey lounge, though they did not serve proper whiskey at the cash bar; they missed a trick there. (When I mean proper, I mean good Scottish and Irish whiskey/whisky and not the type of product that you'd buy if you were watching your money and wanted something a bit cheaper.) 

The colours were varying shades of purple, cream, and white. And because Andrew loves both Lego castles and has transferred his love of the Danish plastic brick to Agnes, both of these ideas featured a lot. In fact, the wedding cake, which you will see below, mimicked a castle, and on top were two mini Lego figurines of Andrew and Agnes at the altar. Awww. 

Without further hesitation, I will allow you to enjoy the photographs of the beautiful wedding day. 

Congratulations again, Andrew and Agnes. 

The past couple of months have been busy, so this one is a little bit late in coming. Several weeks ago, I found myself in Nottingham and went to George's Great British Kitchen restaurant for a late lunch. The restaurant is modelled after a British seaside restaurant with a menu containing food and drinks inspired and found on Britain's seaside towns. Of course, Nottingham is nowhere near the coast, but this restaurant brings the seaside to Nottingham!

Upon entering, guests could even take their photographs standing beside the seaside-inspired characters. These crude illustrations of men and woman can be found printed on postcards and in photograph boards in all British seaside towns and have seem to have become synonomous with the old-fashioned seaside town.

We were given menus printed on newspaper; newspaper is what the seaside fish and chips were wrapped in in the older times at the seaside. Now, bring on the cocktails. I ordered the Fab cocktail, which was on a two-for-one office. The cocktail tasted like a Fab ice lolly (popsicle to my American readers). The Fab is a creamy lolly with fruity flavours in three tier layer, the bottom layer covered with sprinkles. The other cocktail that I had was called "Candy Annie" and was a fruity cocktail with candy floss (cotton candy) on top. Again, both the ice lolly-inspired cocktail and the candy floss are a throw back to the carnival-like sweets and ice cream shops along the seaside.

For the main, my partner had paprika fish and chips served on mashed potato, but he started to eat it before I could get a photograph as my meal came out afterwards. My meal was chicken on mashed potato.

For dessert, I had the deep-fried Cadbury Fudge bars with vanilla ice cream. The chocolate was very rich, but I did like the ice cream. The other options for dessert were ice cream or doughnuts as they are items that can be found on the seaside.

Overall, this was a good meal. The chicken was a little drier than I would have hoped, but I like the theme of this restaurant and its celebration of British food.

Bristol Upfest happened at the end of July this year, this is the tenth year of Upfest. Ten years ago, I remember hearing my ex-colleagues from when I worked in Bristol discussing visiting Upfest that year and for the next couple of years; I had moved out of that area at the end of 2007, so I never got to go to the early festivals but the community took a big interest in them from the first one. This year's Upfest is inspired by "The Simpsons", a cartoon comedy that has been running since the late 1980s. The creator of "The Simpsons", Matt Groening, choose three artists to represent his characters for Upfest 2018.

I have previously covered some of the larger murals from Bristol's Upfest 2018. Bristol-based street artist Jody painted , Nomad Clan painted #BeMoreLisa, Dank (Dan Kitchener) painted 'Ghost Cities - Bristol', and Rosk Loste painted a mural of a young lady. This post features additional street art and grafitti that appeared for Bristol Upfest 2018. This post only features the permanent pieces as I was not able to get to the event during the last weekend in July.

'The Simpsons' by Soker

Soker was one of the three artists picked by "The Simpsons" creator Matt Groening for painting the famous family on Bristol's walls at Upfest 2018. He is a grafitti artist based in Bristol. His work depicts a stylised grafitti-style version of The Simpsons family on their iconic couch in the living room which will be familiar to anyone who has ever seen the show or an image from the show.

Simple Bao 

Simple Bao

Simple Bao is a Hong Kong-based artist and the second artist that Matt Groening choose as one of the artists to paint The Simpsons family at Upfest 2018. She creates freestyle colourful murals. I found two pieces that she created off North Street of various characters from "The Simpsons".

Nomad Clan are a duo of street artists; they are the third artist that Matt Groening picked to represent The Simpsons family. Nomad Clan painted #BeMoreLisa, a realistic-looking large mural on North Street with a young lady shouting from a speakerphone. The image of Lisa Simpson appears in the background, representing a role model. I covered this in more detail here: Nomad Clan painted #BeMoreLisa.

Angus

Angus is a Bristol-based street artist (Angus at Bristol Upfest 2018) who has been creating street art since 2015. His style is to use comedy and humour to send a message, and cartoon and video game characters do feature a lot. Although he was not picked by Matt Groening to showcase "The Simpsons", his work has commonly depicted them and other characters in the past, so it did not feel out of place. The above piece was one of my favourite's of this year's Upfest and depicts another character by Matt Groening - Bender the robot (on the right above) from "Futurama".

The London Police

The London Police are a duo of artists from England who started their street art career in Amsterdam in 1998, painting their smiley characters that they have become known for (known as LAD characters). These happy faces have been painted on a building on North Street.

Jake World and Unknown (possibly Angus?)

On the back of a sign, I captured a paste-up by Losthills Jake (originally covered here from paste-ups in London: Losthills Jake Paste-Ups Appear in East London). He puts the character in films or in the place of celebrities. I saw quite a bit of his work around the area, and I also saw a Bart Simpson made from plastic beads.

L7Matrix

L7Matrix

L7Matrix paints murals using bright colours and expressive lines. Birds feature a lot in his work, so these were painted at Upfest.

Cheo

One of Bristol's most famous street artists is Cheo, who paints bee faces and larger-than-life cartoon-style characters. I've previously covered the artist here: Artist Cheo Paints 'Shaun the Sheep' Mural in Bristol.

Annatomix

Annatomix is a street artist known for her geometry-style illustrations. I saw her at work in London previously and at a previous Upfest. This year for Upfest, she painted in Ebenezer Pocket Park in Bedminster.

Louis Masai

Louis Masai Painted a Mural depicting coral reef and ocean plastic pollution, which I covered more in detail in that post.

INKIE

INKIE

INKIE and Andis

Inkie is a Bristol-based street artist who paints sign or advertising-style murals with large typography and imagery. The street art is always eye-catching.

Boe and Irony

Boe & Irony painted a cat and mouse in a residential road in Bedminster, covered more in detail in the original post: Boe & Irony painted a cat and mouse.

Insane51

Insane51

Insane51 is a street artist from Greece. He is known for creating overlay-based art that can be seen with 3D glasses. You do not need the glasses to see the artwork, but it looks better through them I'm told. This is the completed work for a portrait of a woman, which turns to a skeleton X-ray effect in the background.

Caro Pepe

Caro Pepe

Argentian artist Caro Pepe creates characters with larger heads and faces to show the emotion of her work. Her main mural for Upfest is about women votes, which is a perfect subject for this year marking 100 years since women got the right to vote. This is also the theme that NomadClan used for their #BeMoreLisa art.

Jody

Jody, another artist from Bristol, painted a large-scale mural of a girl wearing a dog mask, covered here: "Little Gold Riding Hood". In addition, he painted a few smaller murals around Bedminster.

Lucas Antics

Lucas Antics is another Bristol-based illustrator who painted this witty rabbits on corded telephones. The mural looks much better seen straight-on instead of at an angle, but parked cars in front of it meant that I could not get a clear shot of the mural.

Ant Carver

Ant Carver is a London-based street artist, and I have covered his work many times, the most recent being Ant Carver Adds More Paste-ups to Sclater Street. His work features portraits that are usually completed in monotone with scribbles of colour over the top.

Stephen Hawking by ARCY Art

American artist ARCY painted a tribute for Stephen Hawking, the famous scientist who was also made famous because of his computer-generated voice. He passed away earlier this year, so it is a fitting tribute and a mural that certainly pops out.

Zabou

Zabou is an artist from France who is now based in London, and I enjoy seeing her work. She painted the above mural for Upfest, but her most recent work covered in this blog can be seen here: Villana and Zabou Collaborate on Amy Winehouse Street Art. 

Nagel

South African artist Nagel creates urban mushrooms, and I saw some of his work installed in Bedminster. My most recent post about his work can be seen here: More Mushrooms by Nagel

Stewy

Stewy creates stencils of icons and animals; Bristol has a lot of his artwork or has seen a lot of his artwork over the years. I love the sheep above.

Roske Lost

I covered the above piece in more detail here: Rosk & Loste Upfest 2018

ChinaGirl Tile

German tile street artist visited Upfest last year and left a lot of her tile art; I think it was her first visit to Upfest. She returned again this year and pasted up several new pieces, including some major work in what is the largest amount of tile art I've seen in one place for her. The above rat is a tribute to Banksy, an artist who is claimed to have made street art mainstream. More of her work can be seen here: ChinaGirl Tile at Upfest 2018

Guy Denning

I've covered Guy Denning's work before, and his work also appeared at Upfest in the past. This new mural (sorry about the quality, but it was one I saw then forgot to walk across the street and take a better photo as I got distracted by the Tobacco Factory and the constant stream of cars to cross the road in this area). I've previously covered Guy Denning's work here: New Street Art from Guy Denning and Alex Face, Mau Mau and Bon 

About Ponny

Ione Dominguez

Broink and Decimart

Michel Velt

Kowseone

Smok

Winged Fox

Piet Rodriguez

Paris MMX

Andis

Yarn bombing

Diff

ENVOL

Loved Up - Tobacco Building

8mail

The Hass

Rob Wass

SAKEOne 

Gage

I last covered Bristol Upfest in 2015, and you can see my post here: Bristol Upfest 2015. That year, I was in Bristol over Upfest so I managed to get a lot of photographs of the temporary artwork, but the larger murals normally do not get completed until earlier the week after.

Glossybox is a monthly subscription box that sends subscribers four or five sample and full-sized beauty or skincare products. September's box contained a range of items. September's box was a "Back to School" theme, so many of the items could be stashed quickly into a handbag or used on the go to help us keep organised and to get back into studies. Read below to see what I received in my September Glossybox.

Beautypro Detoxifying Bubbling Mask with Activated Charcoal: This is a facial mask that uses charcoal and other ingredients to help purify and sooth the skin from everyday dirt that is received from commuting. I have used charcoal in masks and cleansing products before, and I think it really helps keep skin in top shape by removing the excess oil and adding moisture back into the skin.

Wet Ones Be Fresh Antibacterial Wipes: These wet wipes can be used when in a hurry to take off make-up or do not have the use of clean water. I normally use wet wipes for wiping my hands and use them more often for that than removing make-up as I prefer to do that with running water; I'm not often in a situation where I could use these otherwise. 

Daily Concepts Your Facial Mini Scrubber: This facial scrubber cloth is the perfect travel size. It is made of cotton and helps with cleaning the face; the cloth helps to lather up the soap and products to effectively clear pores of dirt.

Bang Beauty Eyebrow Cream in Auburn: This eyebrow cream can be applied thickly to keep brows in place and has a smooth texture. This product came in too light of a shade for me (auburn, which is a medium brown), and I need black. It will not work as eyebrow cream for me. I am not overly keen on eyebrow creams anyway, so I will use either see how it looks as an eyeshadow or gift it to a friend.

Grow Gorgeous Scalp Detox: This scalp detox helps remove impurities that block your hair roots from growing due to build-up of oil. I sometimes suffer with extra oil in my hair and problems that I think arise from that, so I will see if this halts the issues.

Karl Lagerfeld + Model Co Lip Liner in Rosewood: This lip liner promises to be long-lasting and produces the image of fuller lips. The image above isn't quite the right colour; it's a muted pink-red colour, and it glides onto the skin easily.

Framlingham Castle is located in Suffolk, England. A wooden fortress which stood on the site of the current castle was built in the early 1100s, but the stone castle itself was built in the late-1100s in the medieval market town of Framlingham soon after the stone buildings were constructed. In the middle ages, Norfolk and Suffolk were in disagreement so the castle saw conflict then. It was also controlled by the monarch via the Howard family and owned by Queen Mary, who restored the castle back to the Howard family. It would have been a lavish castle with its royal connections, but it is only a shadow of its glory today. In the 17th century, it was sold and housed poor people, becoming a workhouse.

There is not much of the castle left, but visitors can walk the castle's old walls as well as to visit the workhouse, which is now a shop, cafe, interactive museum for children, and a smaller museum that includes some antiquities from more recent times (such as wood-working tools, shoes, old newspapers, and an 1980s Apple computer). Where the walls have collapsed, walkways have been created to join the different parts of the castle.

There is a large lake near the castle, which reflects the castle. The lake would have been five times larger than it is. There also would have been landscaped gardens. 

One of the most noticeable features of the castle are the chimneys. The castle has several brick chimneys designed with different brickwork, but only a few of these were genuine and the rest were for show or decoration.

Framlingham Castle is open in the summer months but has reduced opening hours in the winter months. The castle, wall walk, and museum can be done in about an hour with extra time to walk around the outside of the castle.

My birthday was back in June, and I received a voucher from a gift website for dinner (with wine) and threatre from a selection of about six different shows. (Thank you Ann and Chris!) Because the early part of summer was really busy with work for me, I was not able to use the voucher then, so I booked it for early September. The voucher could only be used from Monday to Thursday, so I arranged it for after work on Thursday last week. Out of the shows listed, I was drawn toward "Everybody's Talking About Jamie", which is based on a true story about a 16-year old boy who strives for acceptance. Read below to learn more!

First up, we had the dinner right after work. I made my way to Glasshouse Street near Piccadilly Circus to the Prezzo just a couple of buildings down from Whole Foods. There was a choice of about five different restaurants that I could have selected, but I have not been to a Prezzo in a long time, so I opted for Prezzo. Prezzo serves Italian-style food. The voucher company's menu was a very slimmed-down version of the regular menu and gave us the option to choose either house red or white wine, a choice of one of four starters, a choice of one of a small selection of pizzas, pastas, or salads, and a choice of one of three desserts. 

I opted for the arrabiatta pasta, and my guest has the spicy pizza. I actually preferred the pizza to the pasta, though, as the pasta was not at all spicy and fairly bland. The starters were better with garlic bread and breaded mozerella, which we shared. For dessert, the sticky toffee pudding was delicious, and it was served with an equally delicious scoop of vanilla ice cream. My guest just had a couple of scoops of ice cream.

After dinner, we walked to the theatre on Shaftesbury Avenue, opposite Chinatown. "Everybody's Talking About Jamie" is currently showing at the Apollo Theatre, and it is the story of a 16-year old school boy who has to overcome bullies at school and a difficult relationship with his father to become accepted for who he is and to fight his own battles. The show has colourful drag queens and wonderful music, and the actors and actresses were all very talented and great singers as well. I loved the title song, and the song by Jamie's school friend Pretti was also very good.

The sad reality is that this is based on a true story and was also a documentary, but it has a happy ending. The music and acting was very good, though there were a few times it was difficult to hear what the actors and actresses were saying and some of the punchlines got missed due to other music or noise or a microphone not working correctly for a few seconds. The story is a little slow-moving, but the music made up for it when it was sung. I would have liked the story to have been a little more fast-paced; I think that due to the nature of it being based on a real story, there's not really a climax of conflict or "the bad guy" resolution. There are the bullies and those who do not understand the title character at play, but they do not pose much of a real threat and and just treated as ignorant one-dimensional characters. The biggest villan is the title character himself, who doubts himself at times and makes his situation worse. I also would have liked a little more drag and colourful outfits. I think the set design could have made the end scene set in the disco-party atmosphere of the prom to add colour and interest instead of taking place outside the school building; I think more could have been done in the nightclub too. I am thinking glitz, glitter, and glamour here.

If you are planning to go to the theatre this autumn, I do recommend this one as it is funny and the songs are really good. The play has also won some awards, which also highlights it as one to see. 

I am not sure what happened to the nice weather that we had in June and July and why it went away in August. I was hoping to make the most of it in August due to the earlier part of the summer being busy, but it turned out to be a cold and fairly wet month in the end. So, what did I get up to in August besides working my day job? Read below to find out.

July was a more interesting month, but August had some big plans. The bloke's birthday is in the first part of August, so I booked a nice hotel in the centre of Bristol at "The Bristol" for his birthday weekend. The hotel is located right on the canal in the middle of the city, and the rooms are fairly spacious for a town centre hotel with large bathrooms. Because it was his birthday, we arrived in the room to find a birthday treat with some fruit, a mini cupcake, and a nice chocolate. We did arrive to Bristol a lot later than I had hoped because we picked up a new car, and it just took awhile to get it all sorted out. The weather also was not kind with rain on the way there. When we arrived at last, it was early evening (we got stuck in Bristol centre with rush hour traffic).

We had dinner at the hotel, which was okay but not the best meal I have had this year. We both had a spicy carrot soup, and I had chicken with a chili glaze, but it was not spicy and the chicken was dry. The crushed potatoes side that I ordered was very good. For dessert, I ordered a chocolate mousse, but it was not chocolate mousse at all. It was some healthy chia seeds and it had no taste and felt heavy. It didn't taste of chocolate or have a mousse consistency at all, so that was a complete let down as this was not marketed correctly at all.

The main reasons of visiting Bristol were the Bristol Balloon Festival and the Gromit Unleashed 2.0 trail. Bristol Balloon Festival is always on during this weekend in August, and despite living in the area for three years, I never went. I wanted to go, but it was something that I never got around to doing. There are two launch times on the Saturday (as we arrived too late on the Friday to do anything), and one was at 6:00am. I set my alarm as I didn't want to force the bloke up early to go to the venue. We woke up to a perfect sunny day with the balloons floating past the hotel room window.

So, I was expecting a lovely day as I watched hundreds of balloons ascend into the skies and head toward the Clifton Suspension Bridge. I'd planned to see the later launch at 5:00 in the afternoon and then to let this be followed by the illuminations and fireworks. The bloke still wanted to sleep in when it came to 9:00, so I went down to get my breakfast and decided to start the day by going to see the street art from the previous weekend's Upfest street art festival. I caught another glimpse of the only sun we would get to see at the weekend, which was a short glimpse as I crossed a bridge on my way to Bedminster where the street art is.

I saw several amazing new street art murals by so many talented artists.

unknown eye oculus mosaic at the bottom of Bristol's Christmas Steps

I got back to the hotel at 11:00 and then we went out to visit the Gromit Unleashed 2.0 in 2018 sculpture trail by walking around the city. By now, it was gloomy, cloudy and dreary. There were a few spots of rain but nothing major. Unfortunately, this meant that the Bristol Balloon Festival was cancelled. The weather actually got much worse with downpours and wind. The take-off and illuminations were cancelled. We tried in vain to go to the festival before the event because there was not any communication and we left an hour beforehand, which gave us plenty of time, but the traffic was awful and we were stuck in traffic for an hour without even making it to the venue. So, I have still not managed to cross the Bristol Balloon Festival off of my bucket list.

On another weekend, I went to Nottingham to see another sculpture trail. I went to see the Robins Take Over Nottingham for Hoodwinked! Sculpture Trail. These robins were located close together in the city centre, so it was easy for me to see them. This was also my second ever visit to Nottingham; my first was in the summer of 2000. The weather was dreary and chilly, but it did not rain hard that day. This was just a day trip.

The following weekend, I went to see yet another sculpture trail for a day. This time, the sculptures were in Bath: Minerva's Owls Sculpture Trail in Bath, England. Again, the weather was the same with dreary dull skies and chilly temperatures and a few drops of rain. The weather was less kind this time, and the sculptures were spread over a further area, so I did not get to see too many of them.

This actually wrapped up the month of August. It had promise and I was hoping that it would be a little more than what it turned out to be. Last year, the month of August also did not deliver as we had the hot scorching weather in June and July, and August became chilly and wet. Perhaps next year I should somehow make sure that my next role is not so busy so I can enjoy hot summer days.

I have seen street art by Angus in London and in Bristol for Upfest. The artist, who is originally from Bristol, created several pieces for Bristol Upfest this year. Angus' artwork is created using pieces of mosaic, which is then put together to create characters and shapes. His work is usually witty and includes some familiar characters and objects. He's also used stencil to create artwork with political and social messages, but most of his work uses humour. 

Angus

This year's Upfest was inspired by the long-running television cartoon "The Simpsons". Creator of the show Matt Groening choose three street artists to represent his characters from the show. Angus was not one of those used, but his work often includes popular characters from television, films, and video games, so this was spot on with the theme. The above artwork was my favourite of his from Upfest and one of the best of this year. It shows famous robots from films such as Star Wars, Wall-E and Futurama. Futurama was another cartoon created by Matt Groening with the characters illustrated in similar styles and set in the future. Probably the most popular character is the robot, Bender, who is known for being a little corrupt and doesn't take life seriously. The quote "Laugh now but one day I'll be in charge!" is one that I think he said in one of the episodes; if he did not, it is something he would say. (One day, robots will take over.)

Angus

There was another mosaic with a video game character fishing for "likes", pixelated video game flowers (Mario Brothers I believe) and baby Maggie Simpson from "The Simpsons".

Angus

Previous street art by Angus on this blog can be seen here:

Happy Leap Year Day, A Quick Update & Thoughts on My Blog
Street Art Round-up: Spring & Summer 2015

German ceramic artist China Girl Tile returned this year to Upfest street art festival in Bristol after putting up some ceramics in the previous year. Several new pieces were installed, and these were installed around the Bedminster area of Bristol with larger-scale pieces being installed at the Tobacco Factory. I also photographed some previous pieces that I discovered. China Girl creates street art using ceramic, which is then installed onto the streets.

The "I stole Banksy" mouse with a paintbrush is one of the pieces by China Girl Tile. The rat is Banksy's symbol as he painted a stencil of it in many places as his calling card. Banksy is, of course, from Bristol.

China Girl Tile

For me, the best piece this year is the china giraffe installed at the gate of Tobacco Factory. The giraffe is just a head on the opposite side (the street side), which looks as though it is peeking from above the brick wall. On the inside of the Tobacco Factory, the giraffe appears to be inside a cage when the gate is open. The giraffe appears to be in a zoo! This piece really makes use of the space and environment around it.

China Girl Tile

Additionally, a wall of bank-note fish has appeared on the Tobacco Factory wall. The giraffe can be seen in the background too. Below are more photographs of the work I discovered by China Girl.

China Girl Tile

China Girl Tile

Previous posts on this blog that feature China Girl Tile's work are below:

ChinaGirl Tile Pastes up Street Art Mosaics in London
Street Art: St8ment, Grafter, Stra, ChinaGirl and others

"The Parlour" was one of the places in London that I enjoyed visiting for afternoon tea and recommended to visitors to London or when asked for options. It's more laid back than enjoying afternoon tea at a hotel, and visitors can get a pretty good idea of actually what afternoon tea is. Also, you do not need to book so far in advance like you do some of the other venues in London, so it was always a go-to place for me to take visitors to, and I've had nice visits here before. The previous visits that I had were quite a few years ago; I took friends from America in 2013. The same friends visited this July, and they asked to go again during a whilrwind trip to London.

You can read about my first visit here (Lunch and Tea at The Parlour, Fortnum & Mason) and my second visit here (Tea in London at 'The Parlour', Fortnum & Mason). As you can see, the afternoon tea at "The Parlour" in Fortnum and Mason has changed quite a bit. The decor has changed, and the theme has changed to an even less formal appeal with cartoonish characters and illustrations on the walls and teapots.

This time, you could pick from a small selection of savoury snacks including a toasted cheese sandwich (that my friend had) or the tomato and pesto sandwich that I had. The ingredients tasted lovely and fresh with plenty of flavour.

A plain and fruit scone were provided with the clotted cream and strawberry jam. 

Lastly, the afternoon tea offering included your choice of two flavours of ice cream from a small list. 

So, here are my thoughts on the new "The Parlour" afternoon tea. I feel that it has lost its appeal in modernisation with more "trendy" and colourful flair. It has become more of a cafe now whereas I felt it was a little more upmarket before. My first visit was in early 2012, which I am aware that they were renovating the tearooms on site, so the only place to have afternoon tea here was in "The Parlour". For that time and the time following, the afternoon tea was more traditional with finger sandwiches, little frozen ice cream treats, scones, loose leaf tea, and a selection of ice creams at the end. It felt special. On the second visit, the visit that I had with my friends, we even received a small box of tea. 

Also, the service was lacking this time as we had to wait a long while to be served, initial orders, and receive refills. In the past, we had wonderful service; the service was more professional.

Let's now discuss the food. The savoury was very nice. I'm not sure if the tea was loose leaf or just bagged tea; I actually forgot to look. It did not taste top end and I cannot remember choosing a tea. Like the previous visits, the scones were nice as well, so I cannot fault the scones or the savoury. However, the ice cream (which is one of the key aspects of "The Parlour") did not taste good. The ice cream tasted as though it had melted a little bit and refroze, but it didn't have much of a flavour nor a creamy consistency. The ice cream had previously been very good.

So, in short, I cannot recommend "The Parlour" as a place to visit for afternoon tea or ice cream. I think it would be a good stop as a cafe, but I feel that the sweet side of it has become an afterthought. It is sad to visit a place that I've once loved and thought highly of and to see that it has changed in an undesireable direction.

Those of you who have never been to the Bournemouth Air Show or attempted to go but it was cancelled due to poor weather are missing out. The last time I successfully visited the Bournemouth Air Show was in 2009, and you can read more about that visit here: Air Show on the Beach. When I say successfully, I mean I did attempt to visit the following year or the year after that, but it poured with rain and they cancelled it. Formerly, the air show was held on the Bank Holiday weekend (the last weekend in August), but they moved it back in the hopes to prevent the rainy Bank Holiday weather after a few wash-out years. This year was a treat with the introduction of the dusk displays with some aircraft performing special flights and displays with light-up LEDs and fireworks launched from the wings. Of course, the standard Bournemouth fireworks on the beach take place a little bit later every Friday and Saturday night in the summer months.

This year the bloke wanted to go, and I felt sick over the past couple of days and had half of one of my tooths break off completely on the Friday morning. On top of that, I woke up with the same migraine that I went to bed early with the night before and missed out on leaving drinks for an ex-colleague, which I am still gutted about. Although I felt horrible, I dragged myself out feeling nearly sick in the car and for half the day. However, sitting in the sun and having a bite to eat made me feel a little better, and by the early afternoon, I was feeling fine. It was honestly too nice of a day to feel sick and stay at home in bed.

Because of bad traffic from London down to Bournemouth, hopes to arrive at bloke's brother's house just before 10:00 were fruitless. In fact, we just decided to all meet in town because of the time, and we arrived at about 11:15 with only moments to spare for the 12:00 Red Arrows. The Red Arrows are not to be missed, and a lot of people visit the air show just to see them. For those who are not familiar with the Red Arrows, the Royal Air Force Aerobatic Team, they are a group of famous planes that create aerial displays and are made up of some of the best air force pilots to promote Britain and have been doing so since 1965. They use red, white, and blue smoke during some of their display to create patterns. They are always a treat to see as the planes are so fast and the pilots use precision to create the display.

The air show can be watched from Bournemouth Beach, where the display centres around between the two piers (Bournemouth Pier and Boscome Pier). Visitors can also watch from the cliffs themselves where they are sometimes in line with the aircraft flying low. The beach is always a pleasant place to watch the planes fly. In 2009, I watched most of the display from the beach but also went up the walkway up the cliff.

This year makes 100 years of the RAF (Royal Air Force), so the Red Arrows team had created their own display especially to mark this. At the end of it, they drew out "100" in the sky.

After the Red Arrows, we got to watch these men wearing jet packs, and they were loud. The jet packs are Gravity Industries Jet Suit Display Team. These jet packs are in the process of being created and tested, so they have quite a lot of testing and learning to do. I've never seen anything like this, so it was fun to watch even though they were loud. The two men started from Bournemouth Pier and hovered in the air and then down the beach very quickly. However, the one stopped short of us as they were having problems with the suit, and the other one fell in the water further up. The team used this as a learning exercise. You may wonder why we need jet packs, but they are not just for films or sport (they are expensive as they run on the same fuel as jets do, and you would need a lot of training to be able to use one). They would have use in professional films of course (possibly hand-held cameras, stunts, and so on), but they also have use for rescue teams.

The weather was perfect, so this attracted a crowd on the beach. 

After the jet packs, The Tigers displayed. These free-fall parachuters jump out of a plane very far above Bournemouth Beach. I saw them in 2009, and they try to land on an 'X'. The group is from the British Army, and they have to complete at least 200 jumps to become experts for this.

This next one is hard to beat as it involves vintage planes. I absolutely loved seeing these vintage planes. The Royal Air Force "Battle of Britain" Memorial Flight and The Bremont Great War Display Team showcased several iconic aircraft from the World Wars. They also flew for quite a while, showing off the planes and pretending to have their own dog fights over Bournemouth Beach. On display for the "Battle of Britain" were the Hawker Hurricane, the Douglas C-47 Dakota, and the Spitfire. The Great War planes were constructed from original plans in Argentina, and they had pretend dog-fights in the sky above the beach. They included a mixture of British and German aircraft and bi-planes.

The Flying Circus by SuperAreoBatics displayed this year at Bournemouth Air Show, and I saw them perform in 2009 with their wing-walking girls. The wingwalkers are strapped to the biplanes and perform various actions while the plane loops, tilts, and climbs. This display is always so photogenic that it was difficult to just choose one photograph of them.

Team Raven performed for the first time at Bournemouth Air Show this year, and these little planes have been built and customised, and they were fun to watch. 

Breitling Jet Team were next to display, and they have never performed on the south coast of Britain before; in fact, the last time they performed in Britain was fifteen years ago. So, these were new to me. These jets had two displays. One display was during the day, and the other one was at dusk. Their final stunt included fireworks and looked especially stunning at dusk. This display lasted awhile where the aircraft demonstrated the different maneouvers.

I did not mention the weather, but it was baking this weekend. The beach was very hot, and I think it caught some people off-guard because it was chilly throughout the month of August. So, I treated myself to a cooling slushie from one of the food kiosks. This year, several food and drink outlets were set up along the beach.

I cannot find this plane in the guide I got from the air show, but it is an American plane and the commentator said that this plane was used during the Korean War.

The Vampire Pair was the next in the line up of the vintage planes; they are from the Norwegian Air Force Historical Squadron. The Vampire Pair include FB.52 and T.55 Cold War fighter jets. This display also included the BAC Strikemasters, but I didn't seem to get decent photographs of them.

The SallyB also visited Bournemouth to show off the plane. This is the last airworthy B-17 bomber plane in Europe. The first appearance of SallyB was in 2009 at the Bournemouth Air Show, and I saw her perform then and remembered her. When she isn't flying, she is available to view at Imperial War Museum Duxford. Only about 47 of these planes remain out of 1,300 built in time for World War II. They would have been slow and would have required fighter planes to cover for them before they could drop their payload. Also, SallyB has appeared in a number of films.

SallyB (top) with Dakota and Spitfire (bottom)

Next up was the "Super Pitts Muscle Biplane G_EWIZ Pitts S2-S". This little nippy plane is very powerful, and the pilot used gravity and the power of the plane to throw it around, causing it to "free-fall" and spin around. It was a pleasure to watch this little powerful plane.

The RAF Chinook displayed again this year with some air maneouvers. I see these a lot, particularly when I lived in Basingstoke as there is a base there, and they were always flying around the town centre and in the evening when it was quieter. In 2009, there was a longer display with these helicopters, which are an icon of Britain's power and can transport supplies and troops. They have a distinctive sound with their blades, and once you hear them, you know what it is in the sky without looking.

The Blades also did a great performance with their aerobatic maneouvers. They are similar to the Red Arrows, and they are a civilian team who have shown off the planes in Europe and the Middle East.

The air show has gotten larger with more attractions held not just on the beaches but in the lower gardens near the beachfront too. Birds of prey and other attractions could be seen this year, and visitors could go inside planes and tanks as in previous years. Music and vintage could be seen and heard, and the event took place over four days. It isn't possible to do everything, so I just watched the planes this time. 

After grabbing some dinner at Wagamamma's above the Lower Gardens, we headed back to the beach for the dusk show. An ice cream was the perfect treat for the beach while waiting for the dusk display, and it had already started to melt by the time I walked a few paces. The beach was not nearly as busy with most people staying for the main air show instead of watching the dusk flights. However, the dusk airshow did happen on the previous nights as well.

Breitling Jet Team were first up with a similar display to their daytime display that I watched earlier. They were still great to see again, and the finale for them was the final stunt with the launching of fireworks from the wings, which just sizzled in the darkening sky.

The Fantastic Fireflies (Twister Aerobatics Team) performed their aerial stunts while lighting the planes up with red or blue LEDs and launching fireworks from the wings. These were amazing; I've never seen anything quite like this before. While performing the loops, turns, and displays, these planes lit up the dusk sky along the beach.

Last, but not least, Otto the Helicopter closed the show set to music from "Star Wars" with fireworks exploding out from the helicopter. This was a wonderful display, and I wish I'd gotten some photographs from a distance instead of close-ups. This display did not last too long.

Have you ever been to the Bournemouth Air Show? I would recommend a visit as long as the weather will be nice. As mentioned before, if the weather is not nice, they do cancel the aircraft, although there are now more attractions to do besides watch the planes probably due to cancellations due to poor weather in the past. I'd suggest going for a weekend (and hope the weather is nice) or set out very early the next day with nice weather, though sometimes the weather can quickly change as I discovered with my plans in August.

One of this year's stunning street art murals from Bristol's Upfest 2018 is a portrait of a young woman by Rosk & Loste, a couple of street artists from Sicily in Italy. They have created this stunning artwork of a young lady with a pink flower in her hair at the climbing centre in Bedminster, Bristol. It is certainly an eye-catching piece. Their work typically consists of very realistic portraits.

This is one of the top pieces from Upfest 2018.

Dan Kitchener (DANK) was one of the artists who painted during this year's Upfest 2018 in Bristol. The mural takes up the side of a house in Bedminster just a couple of blocks from North Street. The work, titled "Ghost Cities - Bristol", features a Tokyo landscape. Tokyo landscapes with bright lights are favourite subjects for London-based Dan Kitchener.

Dank

For more work by Dan Kitchener (DANK) featured in this blog, please read the following links:

Dan Kitchener Paints "Meeting of Styles"
'Future Tokyo and Tokyo Ghosts'
Dank "London Rush"
Dan Kitchener's Street Art on Sclater Street and More
Street Art: Dan Kitchener
"Downtown" Mural by Dan Kitchener
Goswell Road

Glossybox is a monthly beauty and skincare subscription box that sends subscribers four or five sample or full-sized products in a box. August's Glossybox theme is 'PRIDE Edition', and this box includes six full-sized products to help you feel empowered and unique. The box came with a colourful rainbow colour across the lid, rainbow ribbon, and products that would be perfect for a music festival or Notting Hill Festival.

August's Glossybox came with the following products:

Trifle Cosmetics Lip & Cheek jam: Trifle Cosmetics always create cute branding, and this little jar is adorable. Trifle Cosmetics is also a vegan and natural brand. The product is designed to be used in small doses on lips and cheeks for a subtle blush.

3INA The Shadow Paint 703: Blue eyeshadow is back in fashion and this midnight-blue shade is highly-pigmented and waterproof. It is bright but can be used to create a more subtle look. This one is perfect for parties and festivals. 

Kaleido Cosmetics Astrolight Highlighter: This is an illuminating highlighter that creates glam and glow. Kaleido Cosmetics is a vegan and cruelty-free brand. 

Ink Me Heart Stamp Tattoo: This heart tattoo marker has fast-drying matte black ink and comes in a little tube that can be carried around and used on the go. It leaves a little black heart stamp on the skin and it's another product that is perfect for a party or festival. 

Ink Me Sticker Tattoos: These metallic gold and black stickers are temporary tattoos perfect for festivals and parties. I've previously received these in subscription boxes and have used them for various events and received so many nice compliments. I still have several as these are an item that does not get used too often, so I will add these to my collection.

Victoria's Secret Pink "Let's Pre Glam" Perfecting sheet mask: I am a fan of Victoria's Secret and like their Pink range. The branding of this sheet mask definitely screams "summer party" to me. It is a sheet mask that contains foundation base to enhance complexion and to prepare the skin for a night out.