Travel Diaries: Bath, England

Hey everyone,

I'm continuing my travel diaries series today, which is basically a little blog post every week about a different destination. These recent trips are from May, but I wasn't sure if I'd post them or not, so they are a bit late. Previous posts include Reykjavik, Iceland and Paris, France. Check them out! Today's post is all about arriving in the UK and spending a few days in Wiltshire visiting family. I spent time in Salisbury, Warminster and Bath and here's what happened!

 Our trip began by us taking the Eurostar from Paris to London. From there we took the tube to Hatton Cross station and my Uncle Ray and cousin, Connor, came to pick us up. We arrived in the evening and we were pretty exhausted. We took a shower, ate some delicious Chinese food and then went to bed. 

The next morning we drove in to Salisbury to see the cathedral. We stopped at the pub pictured above called 'The New Inn'. There was definitely nothing new about it, but we had a delicious lunch!

Salisbury Cathedral was spectacular. It was overwhelming how big it was and how it dominated the landscape around it. I'm not a religious person, but I recommend that anyone visits if they are in the area, the architecture and history of the place is mind-blowing! One of my favourite things to see were the incredible stained glass windows and the architecture of the entire cathedral, the foundation bricks were laid in the year 1220. 

 Pictures truly don't do this justice, and this was only one window. There were several surrounding the entire cathedral, some much larger and more detailed than this, and others much smaller, and so high up that you could barely see them.

I thought it was important to add Larry into my post, he is one of my Aunt and Uncles 5 cats, and to be honest Larry was a bit of a princess and very entertaining during our stay. 

The next day we went to Wookey Hole, a cave system in Wiltshire. It was really cheesy, with tours mentioning the Witch of Wookey Hole and various dinosaur figures and creepy old Victorian arcades. It was still very amusing, and despite the cheesy tour, the caves were pretty amazing and the surrounding area was beautiful. 

Later that day my Uncle dropped us off in Bath and we went to The Pump Room for afternoon tea. We ordered the vegetarian platter and had an awesome time eating delicious desserts and drinking two massive pots of tea. There was a pianist playing in the background, and we sat around in the incredible Georgian tea room, probably the first and last time we sat and treated ourself this trip!

After our tea, we wandered over next door to the Roman Baths. The baths are incredible and it's quite overwhelming when you think about how old it all is. The museum was really well done, and we spent a lot of time wandering through other tourists and seeing everything we could. A good tip is to not take one of the little handheld speaker things, unless you really need one, because they basically read you all of the information already listed throughout the exhibition but tend to hold everyone up. We read everything in about half the time and didn't have to stand around waiting to start a new recording while there were people standing in the way. 

After going to the Roman Baths we walked over to Bath Abbey and wandered around, another incredible place to visit. Afterwards, we crossed the river, bought a drink and sat enjoying the view!

I hope you enjoyed another Travel Diaries post. 

Thanks for reading!

Megan

Tattoo #2.

Hey everyone,

So while in London, England I got a new tattoo. I had thought about it for a long time beforehand and had emailed the artist back and forth for a few months before the actual appointment. I had decided on a mandala with a mendhi style rather than a geometric or dotwork design. Here's some pictures and what I thought! 

Here's my arm before the tattoo, a picture taken to show my future children and for my mother who probably likes a small reminder of how it looked before! 

I had my tattoo done at The Family Business tattoo parlour in a really nice area of the city. 

It was a really cool place and everybody there was really nice. Unfortunately I had to go it alone because you weren't allowed to have friends come with you, but the artists made you feel comfortable and at ease. 

  

My artist was Ricky Williams, an incredible guy who obviously has a very steady hand. Definitely follow him on Instagram @ricktattoo

  

Here's a closer picture of the detail in the tattoo. I really love the line work and how perfectly symmetrical it is. 

  

Here's how it looks on my arm and the overall placement. 

I used tattoo goo and dove scentless soap to clean it. It did bleed for a few days and my arm got pretty swollen, but after about a week it was completely fine and healed perfectly. 

I hope you liked this post! 

Thanks for reading. 

Megan 

Cauldalié Moisturzing Toner

Hey everyone,

Today I'm reviewing a purchase I made in a Parisian pharmacie, so before I even tried it out it was extra special. It's the Caudalié Moisturizing Toner which is described to cleanse and revitalize the skin, all while preparing it to benefit even more from the rest of your skincare regime. 

I didn't buy the full size because I was travelling, and also because it was more expensive but this is a very good sized amount. I love that it comes with a pump dispenser, two pumps is usually enough to cover my face and down onto my neck. 

It does have a slight scent but it's not too overwhelming or perfume-y. It's refreshing and light with some citrus and earthy notes so it doesn't interfere with anything else you want to put on your skin. 

I think this is a really nice toner in the summer, and I find it especially refreshing and nice to use in the morning and I think if has helped with retaining moisture and keeping my skin cleaner and clearer. It's very gentle, although I don't use it on my eye area so I can't say how it works on the eyes (it does say it can be used on the eyes though). It leaves my skin feeling clean and fresh and I think it's worth trying out. I'm not sure if I'd rush to repurchase, but I definitely have enjoyed using it so far.  

Thanks for reading,

Megan 

Travel Diaries: Paris, France

Hey everyone,

I'm writing this post to continue with my travel diaries from Reykjavik which seemed to go over really well, and lots of you read it which was really nice to see. I'm not a travel expert by any means, but I do love travelling and I think writing about it all gives me something nice to look back on. In my previous post, which you can read here, I left off by flying out of Keflavik airport at 1am. We arrived in Paris at 6am, feeling like 4am Iceland time.

 We stayed in a very Parisian feeling one room apartment found on Air Bnb. The landlord was fantastic and the place was great. This was our view from the big french windows which I loved! We arrived super early and luckily we could get into the apartment right away. We napped for a few hours and then began exploring the city.

One of our first stops was the Eiffel Tower. We actually the best view from furthest away in a little park directly facing the tower, but we wanted to see it up close. It's quite overwhelming for quite a small landmark, but because there aren't any skyscrapers or buildings taller than the tower in Paris, it has quite an effect.

 The lightbulbs in our apartment were orange, so you'll have to excuse this picture. I later stopped at a pharmacie and had a mega skincare haul. I'll write some reviews soon, usually I like to wait on skincare to really give it a good try. Anyway, the gentleman working there was incredibly professional and lovely to talk to, and he gave me loads of samples- perfect for my next trip!

That night we met with some friends, Andrew and Jess (who was also featured in my Chicago post!). We walked over to Notre Dame, before leaving because there were rats on the street and also because there was a jazz bar/ex-torture chamber calling our name. After a few too many we sat on the patio of a typical French restaurant and ate a plate of crepes. Not a bad day at all.

 The next morning we met with Andrew, Jess and our friend Geoff, who was studying in Paris at the time. He gave us a walking tour of the city and we decided to look at most things from the outside and didn't visit any museums since our trip was so short. We had a picnic featuring baguettes and cheese at Luxembourg gardens and then separated for suppertime before reuniting at our apartment for the evening. 

We all had drinks at our apartment, and it was really nice to be reunited with some of our best friends. We drank Icelandic vodka and played games, the whole time I said "we must see the Eiffel Tower lit up at night!". We had decided to leave for midnight, but lost track of time. Luckily, Jess came running out of the bathroom saying "It's 11:50!" so we ran down the streets and turned the corner to see this. It was breathtaking and beautiful, and we bought two cheap bottles of champagne and sat around having the best time on our last night in Paris. We stayed until the lights turned off at 1am and wandered back and separated for the night, ready to reunite for a hungover breakfast at a cafe by our house. 

The next morning we drank tea and coffee, while Geoff auctioned off his textbooks to us by describing them and hoping we'd bring them back to Canada for him. I didn't eat much, but what I did have was delicious and then we parted ways and headed to the Eurostar headed for London.

I hope you enjoyed another Travel Diaries post. I love having these to look back on and I hope you enjoy reading it!

Thanks,

Megan

Burt's Bees Lipgloss Review

Hey everyone,

Today's blog post is reviewing the Burt's Bees 100% natural lipgloss in the shade Summer Twilight. It's a sparkly deep berry shade that is quite sheer when applied. 

It comes in 10 shades and is packaged in a standard lipgloss tube with a doefoot applicator. 

It didn't have too much of a scent and applies evenly. While it is sheer (as any gloss would be), it still applies a nice amount of colour and shine. 

This particular shade has some gold flecks and a warmer toned shimmer to it. It's very flattering and not as dark as it looks in the packaging. 

I think it makes a nice everyday gloss but has a bit of pigment if you want something a bit darker than usual. It's a perfect transition for a new lip colour wearer, or for someone who prefers a gloss over lipstains or lipsticks. 

I hope you enjoyed this review!

Thanks for reading. 

Megan