Sunday Pampering

On Sundays the only time I leave my house is to go to a family members house for a traditional Sunday Roast at lunch time.

To stop me from feeling so lazy and disgusting I treat myself to some pampering, it also gets me prepared for the dreaded monday morning! 

I start with the triple threat face mask. This is largely inspired by Vivianna Does Make Up.

I start off with the Aesop Parsley seed mask to cleanse and purify my skin, followed by the REN Glycolatic mask to exfoliate my skin, and finish with the Elemis Exotic Cream Moisturising Mask, I only apply a thin layer of this and leave it on for the rest of the day.

Next up is the hair pampering.

I start with Lush Fair Trade Honey shampoo. This shampoo gives me incredible shine, however it is very light weight and not moisturising enough, so I only use it when I am going out, or on Sundays when I use it with a hair mask, which will give me the moisture I need.

The hair mask I use is Kérastase Nutritive Masquintense Cheveux Epais Treatment for Dry Hair, as the ends of my hair still have a bit of bleaching from being dip dyed. I also have long hair that has been dyed and I use heat styling so this is the perfect hair mask for me. 

And lastly, we have the body products.

In the shower I like to use Philosophy shower gels as they do lots of gorgeous bakery scents and they don't dry out my skin. I am currently using Vanilla Birthday Cake which smells delicious.

I exfoliate my skin using Soap & Glory Sugar Crush. This is actually now discontinued, but my mum loved it so much she bought loads of back ups when she heard it was going. It smells like old school lemon soap and is just a great gritty exfoliater, I hate scrubs where its just tiny beads suspended in liquid!

I finish off by moisturising my skin. I normally prefer the thicker body butter type moisturisers, but I got this Burt's Bees body lotion in a grab bag. It is Milk & Honey so smells gorgeous, a bit like Lush Mange Too if anyone has ever tried that. It's also very light and runny, but actually sinks into my skin quickly without leaving me feeling sticky.

So there you have what I do on a Sunday! I feel like a million bucks, well maybe not that good, but pretty good afterwards. 

Yarn Wishlist - Gynx Yarns

I have been a bit obsessed with sock yarns at the minute, and when I found some gorgeous yarns on Etsy that are named after my favourite anime characters I just had to share. These are by the amazing Gynx Yarns. 

Here are a few of my favourites:

Gaara - if you didn't know Garaa is from the anime Naruto and is essentially leader of the sand nation. I think this yarn does a wonderful job of embodying that.

Yachiru - I love this one, in case you didn't know my favourite colour is pink. It is inspired by Yachiru, a character from Bleach. She has pink hair and a childlike appearance, despite being deadly.

And lastly Sakura. Another absolutely gorgeous yarn. Sakura is another Naruto character, she is actually one of my least favourite characters in the anime yet this is one of my favourite yarns.

Gynx Yarns do an amazing job with naming their yarns because I can really see why each one has been named after the appropriate character.

They also have lots of yarns named after Studio Ghibli films and video games characters! I can't tell you how excited this makes me, two of my favourite things in one.

The yarn is hand dyed and ethically sourced, with a lot of them being organic which is always a bonus. A lot of the yarns are 100% Merino, although there are some blends of 80% Superwash Merino, 10% Cashmere and 10% Nylon, so nice and luxurious and practical as well.

They come in 100g skeins and are £14-£16 depending on if they are organic or not. Postage is £4.50 which isn't bad at all considering they will be shipped from the USA.

The best thing about these yarns is that even my boyfriend was interested because he is an anime fan, which is great because I have asked him to get me some for Christmas so hopefully he will finally be able to remember what I have asked for.

Thank you Gynx Yarns for letting me use your images.

LAB Bar

Last night I went to LAB (London Academy of Bartenders) bar in Soho.

The bar prides itself on being at the forefront of making exceptional cocktails for the past 10 years, and after trying a couple I can tell you that they are definitely doing something right.

The cocktail menu has over 100 cocktails on it, all unique to LAB Bar, you won't find any Mai Tais or piña coladas on the menu.

The selection of cocktails is brilliant, and they are put into sections such as tall, bubbly and martinis. Unfortunately though, having such a big selection can be overwhelming, especially if you are trying to pick something quickly as the bartender is waiting for your choice, it does however force you to try something new.

I went for the Honey Drizzle Swizzle, which contains honey, Drambuie, vodka, lime juice and limoncello.

I loved my cocktail and I think it definitely emphasised what LAB Bar are trying to create.

When you first taste the cocktail it is like a very tart lemonade but then afterwards you get the sweet taste of honey, very unusual in a cocktail but it had me wanting to go back for more, meaning my drink lasted all of two minutes.

Not everyone was as lucky as I was from our panic ordering. 

My boyfriend had a Peardrop, which was very sweet but he liked it and my friend ordered a Cracker Jack which was pretty awful, he did however order it just for the name and when he looked at the ingredients he discovered it contains black pepper and egg whites which may explain why he wasn't so keen...

The cocktails are all around the £8 mark, which is average for a London cocktail place.

The bar does get busy, but the music isn't overbearingly loud and you can ring up to reserve a table which is always welcome.

Something I really did enjoy about this bar is that the bouncer outside wouldn't let it get too crowded, it did mean you may have to wait 5 minutes to get inside, but it means you won't be bum to bum with the other drinkers.

Check out the LAB Bar website, where they have the full drinks menu so you can be a bit better prepared for what drink to order then we was.

Book Review - Coconut Unlimited

This book is one of my 99p Kindle sale success stories (unfortunately it has gone up in price now), which I am very glad of considering how awful the last book I read was.

The story focuses on Amit, as he looks back on his teenage years in the early 90's, trying to make it in a rap band with his two asian friends.

Amit goes to a private school where all the other students are white, so obviously he is instantly considered an outsider and clings to the other two asian children in the school.

In order to try and fit in more, and to get all the girls they decide to form a rap band. They call themselves Coconut Unlimited because coconut is his sisters nickname for him (brown on the outside, white on the inside).

The story follows them from the forming of the band all the way to their first gig, with lots of teenage hormones, underage drinking, a bit of bullying and the occasional bit of weed.

This book is very relatable, and quite cringeworthy, it is a bit like the book equivalent of The Inbetweeners, nerdy guys trying to get all the girls and failing.

I had a huge smile on my face most of the time when reading this, just because there are so many parts of the story that will remind you of experiences you had as a teenager.

It's also very charming and at times a little sad, you just want to shake Amit and tell him what he is doing wrong, despite the fact that you know you would've probably made the same mistake.

This book was a joy to read, and I think anyone could pick it up and relate to it and enjoy it so I give this book 4.5/5. 

I got my copy from amazon.

Knitted Friendship Rings

I knitted these friendship rings! How cute.

They are for myself and my lovely friend Rachel.

These are the first things I have knitted on double pointed needles and I would recommend this as a starter project for using double pointed needles because it is quick, small and produces something cute. They are felted as well which lets you get away with a lot because the felting masks any mistakes you may have made.

A giant duplicate stitch is used to make the hearts, duplicate stitch is also something new to me so I learnt two techniques in the space of 30 minutes.

I got to use my lovely new knit pro double pointed needles and the Jamiesons yarn I got from the knitting and sewing show at Alexandra Palace.

I used the free Heartfelt Rings pattern from the lovely Tiny Owl Knits, and decided to make them into friendship rings by inverting the colours on the second ring.

I'm quite proud of these, they are not perfect, but then again most friendships aren't. 

They are cute and chunky and are keeping my finger warm in this horrible British weather. 

Featured designer - Tiny Owl Knits

I just had to share with you my favourite knitwear designer, because I'm pretty sure my friend Rachel is getting fed up of me constantly these designs to her, it is the lovely Stephanie Dosen from Tiny Owl Knits.

Being a 20 something knitter, I sometimes struggle finding patterns that I like and that I can actually wear, as despite the rise in young knitters, the majority are still a fair bit older then I am, so a lot of what is out there is what I shall call 'classic' (read old), not me at all.

Stephanie's patterns on the other hand are gorgeous. They are cute, kitsch, charming and whimsical, all things I love. Stephanie also has some vlogs on her site which are a joy to watch because Stephanie is as lovely as her designs, I wish she would make them more often though!

Anyway just look at these great pieces of knitwear! 

Deer With Little Antlers Hat

Meow Mitts

The Beekeeper's Quilt

Mr Fox Stole My Heart

I could go on all day, but I won't.

Her patterns are all available to buy on her ravelry page and are $5.50, around £3 each, definitely a bargain.

I have made the gnome home (blog post coming soon) and I can say her patterns are very easy to follow, the instructions are clear and there are plenty of pictures so you can see what your work should be looking like, and if you still struggle there is even a Tiny Owl Knits group on ravelry where there are loads of friendly, knowledgable people who are there to offer help and advice on anything you struggle on.

If you hadn't guessed by my recent purchase of sock yarns, I am going to give the beekeepers quilt a go, which is very daunting because it took Stephanie a year to make, so it will probably take me about 3, but I think it is something that I will be able to pass down to my children (when I have them).

I just want to end this post by saying I asked Stephanie via a ravelry message for permission to use her pictures. I didn't really expect a response back because I can imagine that she is very busy and must get a lot of messages everyday, but she responded very quickly and was so nice it made me fall a little bit in love with her, I am total girl crushing, it's hard not to when she creates such fabulous designs!

Mini Skeins

Is it me or is everything better mini? Mini cosmetics are so cute and great for travelling, it turns out that you can get mini skeins of knitting yarn, and yes, they are even cuter then the full size.

I just had to share this with you. 

These are mini sock yarn skeins from The Knitting Goddess. 

This is the October mixed set, she brings out a new batch every month as they hand dye them, and they have a subscription service where you can get them delivered monthly, they are so pretty!

Sock yarn is one of the main things I was looking for at Alexandra Palace knitting show, but there wasn't that many, and the ones their was where very expensive.

This set is £10, or you can buy them individually for £1.50.

They are 75% super wash merino and 25% nylon and you get roughly 10g a skein, great for if you are working on a sock blanket or want a variety of yarns for cheap.

Here is a close up of the colours.

I just had to share them because I love them so much! Hope you like them too.