The Cosy Club: Bristol

I recently ate out at The Cosy Club in Bristol on Corn Street. I had such a fun time, so I thought you should all hear about it! I'd heard some great things about this venue (and all its elegance), but I was also informed that the nightclub 'Rehab' used to be located at the property, so I was slightly confused as to what kind of restaurant this might be! Keep reading to see my full review, Enjoy! x

Venue - The building looks amazing from the outside, and from inside, Cosy Club have really made it their own. The place is flooded with natural light. We were seated on a giant tan coloured leather sofa. The menus have been placed in leather cases, there are vintage tassel(ly) lamps, wooden bench tables and (what looks like) marble flooring. Even the napkins provided match the Greece proof paper that your chips are brought out on - the feel of the place is very relaxed, friendly and 'cosy'. 

Service - I needed to change my reservation as an extra person joined me for dinner and this was no problem for the staff. My friends and I were greeted and sat at our table within a minute or arriving; And drinks (very reasonably priced drinks - £2.50 for a glass bottle of coke) were delivered quickly. The two waiters that served us for the evening were polite, easy going and super-efficient! Service was 10/10 and I still genuinely cannot believe that my food was so cheap for the style of venue; Or that I hadn't eaten there before - if anything I was slightly disappointed in myself, I pass this place almost every day so wish I'd visited sooner.

Food - I'm quite a (known) fussy eater so I'm always wary about eating out at a new place! I tend to study the menu for at least 10 minutes, if I haven't already done so online prior to arriving! Nobody likes having 'food envy', especially at a restaurant, but at the same time, I'm not one for venturing out to taste new foods and flavours. I ordered the 'Chicken Caesar Burger' - which was a Herb-marinated chicken breast, streaky bacon, Parmesan, cos lettuce, Caesar dressing and anchovies in a sourdough bun with fries. The waiter was very polite and kindly accepted my request to replace Parmesan cheese, and Caesar dressing (mixed with anchovies) for a free flat giant mushroom. When the burger arrived to the table, it looked huge, the sourdough bread was really fresh and my chips were neatly coned into a china mug. I really didn't expect this amount of effort for £9.50, (certainly
not like something you're brought Harvesters...Don't get me wrong, I love harvesters).

Desserts - Desserts are my most favorited foods! It's one of the things that I really look forward to most when eating out (how exciting do I make myself come across?!). HOWEVER, the dessert menu at The Cosy Club was slightly disappointing; There was no mention of any chocolate, or a fruit crumble/pie - and it was £3.95 for frozen ice (sorbet). This doesn't mean to say that the desserts didn't look nice, but sometimes, I just want a little more variety!

I would definitely recommend food at The Cosy Club again. In comparison to restaurants around that area, you can actually receive a very good service / food for not a lot of money. Have you 'wined & dined' here? If so, please feel free to comment in the section box below! Alternatively, if you have a recommendation for another tasty food place, I'd love to hear about it!

Thanks for reading, 

Yvette Marie xo

 

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Bristol Animal Zoo!

Every couple of months, my partner Jordan & I plan surprise dates for each other. We most recently visited Bristol History Museum & Art Gallery (to which he'd never been) and it was actually really fun. Yesterday I was asked to get dressed and ready for 12 o'clock with absolutely no clues whatsoever! Hopefully, you'll like this post as much as liked the day! Enjoy, x

After catching several buses, we arrived at Bristol Zoo! I genuinely could not believe that 1) Jordan had actually come up with such a cool date idea; 2) How much he paid for the tickets. There is currently a deal on Groupon offering 50% off full price adult tickets, which meant that he paid a total of £14 as oppose to £28, a complete bargain!

The weather played a big part in the day; it wouldn't have been a total flop, but it would have definitely changed the mood if it was rainy. There were plenty of things to do (even for adults) which was why I enjoyed the date so much! I haven't visited the zoo in a while, and a couple of displays / installations had been update so it was nice to see all of the changes from the past 5 years! I would have loved to of seen a bigger range of animals (elephant, giraffes, or zebra) as similar attractions, which aren't the zoo, have these facilities!!

My favourite part of the day was a sea lion / seal talk. Throughout the day, the zoo put on talks & fees for each of the animals. I would definitely recommend to everybody that they attend at least one talk (I would have loved to of seen more, but we missed a couple when walking around). By attending a talk, you actually learn a lot more about the animal's welfare & dietary requirements; Plus, we were also able to watch a sea lion perform some amazing tricks! Whilst the sea lion puts on a show, the zoo keep is actually able to check if there are any problems / medical issues so no harm is caused to the animals!

I'm not 100% sure if any other zoo has an underground facility, but at Bristol you can walk under the giant sea life tanks to see the animals from underneath, which really gives you an insight to their behaviour (if they were in their natural habitat).

I didn't bring any lunch because I wasn't sure where we were going, and purchasing food at the zoo ended up costing RIDICULOUSLY amounts! I paid £4.20 for a sandwich, and it was £6 for a 'meal deal'. If we did buy the tickets full price and 2x meal deals, we would have spent a total of £40!! (Whilst we were on site). I noticed a lot of families had brought packed lunches to eat on the giant lawn area; this seems like a great way to save money, and it's probably easier to bring little snack foods to enjoy throughout the day.

I would recommend Bristol Zoo to everybody (I'm not biased, honest!). I think it's a fun place for anybody who is new to Bristol, a great day out for families, or for us, it made an awesome surprise date day!

If you've been to Bristol Zoo before, please feel free to comment how you found your experience. Alternatively, if you have a suggestion for a fun day out, i'd love to hear it!

Yvette Marie xo

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Review: Glitter Lips by Beauty Boulevard

Glitter lips is a (fairly) new semi-permanent lip glitter which is said to last (up to) 8 hours! It's one of the most sparkly products I've ever seen, and is a must have for any glitter lover. I bought Ruby Slippers because I thought colour would suit a lot of the clothes I wear. It's bright red (as you can probably guess by the name).

The instructions are very easy to follow; I applied the gloss/glue to my lips, paying attention to my lip line to make sure I stayed in-between the lines! (I have tiny tiny lips so this was quite the challenge). Keeping lips parted, I waited for the gloss to turn from white to clear, which took approx. 15 seconds. I carefully patted the glitter over my lips using the small applicator brush provided, and WALA! Fabulous Glitter Lips! 

Whilst I loved wearing this product, I'm not 100% that the colour that the colour really suited me (especially because my lips are SOOO small) which made me very self-aware. At a RRP OF £12.50, I also didn't want to spend that amount purchasing a colour that wouldn't suit me. After showing off my glitter lips during a night out, I began to feel a lot more confident because I was paid so many compliments!! The lips looked great, were fun to use, and actually stayed on for a good 6 hours (I don't think I've had a night out that lasted 8+ hours)... This stuff really doesn't budge, I ate, drank and kissed (as the product promises) an my lips were still intact.

Earlier this week, Beauty Boulevard launched some new products. Including; The unique lip formula bond is now available as an individual item- which is a great idea!! Glitter Lips have also released 'Glitter Eyes' which sounds just as fun! This would not be an everyday product, but for an evening out or a part event it's absolutely perfect.

Glitter Lips is available from www.beautyboulevard.co.uk

Please feel free to comment if you found this review helpful, or if you have any suggestions for future blog posts!

Thanks for reading,

Yvette Marie xo

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Review: Anatomicals - We only want you for your body!

So the lovely people at Anatomicals sent me a couple of samples to trial! The first thing I'd like to shout about is, how much I LOVE this company!!

The products are fun, the packaging is bright, and colourful, and whilst I’ve read their slogans can be a little tongue and cheek I think they’re very witty! The staff are so so friendly, and all of their products are Paraben FREE, the list goes on…

Down to business – I was very excited to try out this face mask, and mostly because I love chocolate!  Some of the main ingredients are shea butter and cocoa which are always favourites of mine. Once I opened this up, I received the strongest waft of cocoa and this smell remained during application and after. Now this face mask is supposed to leave your skin feeling “calm, relaxed and radiant”, which, following a visit to see my friends who are all students felt like a necessity!!

The instructions are easy to follow - open up, apply to face and allow 10-15 minutes to dry, then apply a damp cloth and wipe off. It took a little longer than 15 minutes to dry, but this is probably because I was a little bit excited, and applied a generous amount. Whilst this mask usually retails for £1-£2 (if you shop around), you will get two uses out of one packet! Within 2 minutes my skin began to tingle, which meant I could feel the mask beginning to work, which is always good news! After washing off the mask, I would say that my skin felt softer, but there wasn’t a huge difference (noticeably anyway).

This product looks fun, smells great, doesn’t cost a fortune, but it also doesn’t appear to add much value either, so I probably wouldn’t buy this product (for myself anyway, if you have a friend who loves chocolate then this would make a great present)…6/10.

This is a little bit different to the usual face mask; it' a pre-moistened cloth (which I've not actually used before). It was really easy to use - Open the pouch, press the mask over your face, leave it work it's magic for 20 minutes, and if there is any excess liquid leftover this can be moisturized into your skin. Whilst I'm usually a bit dubious about these kinds of products, I found that it actually helped my skin, and I would be happy to use it again / recommend to a friend! If you're suffering from spots / a small break out, I would say that tea tree oil, in my experience, works best!! This item usually retails at £4 for two cloths, which is a little pricey considering it's only a 20 minute treatment, but it makes a nice treat. 8/10.

I love the concept of this, but the finishing result really does let the product down. 

Unfortunately ‘Puffy The Eye Bag Slayer’ just doesn’t quite work for me I’m afraid.

Like all products from Anatomicals, the packaging is fun, bright and colourful. After I removed all of my make-up, and washed my face I applied these (what can only be described as) under eye gel-like patches. Within 2 minutes my skin felt irritable, so I adjusted the area in which they were applied. After 30 minutes, as instructed, I removed the patches but didn’t notice any difference whatsoever. Whilst this product wasn’t a complete fail, it also wasn’t completely successful! I often have dark circles under my eyes due to lack of sleep, so was quite disappointed as I thought this could be a quick-fix solution. This product usually retails between £6-£7 for a pack of 3, unfortunately, I wouldn’t buy this myself. 4/10.

These were my favourite products!! The packaging looks bright, colourful and fun!

Both products are made from exotic ingredients, smelt great, and were pink! A lot of body scrubs that I’ve used recently have been brown, plain and bland, so it was nice to mix things up a bit. The scrub is very thick and grainy, and the shower gel was always quite thick. I've got sensitive skin, so a lot of products irritate my skin, however these two items done quite the opposite!! - My skin was left feeling very soft after use. These products usually retail between £3-£4 which is a little hefty, but the quality definitely represents the price! 10/10.

Anatomical products are available from http://www.anatomicals.net/aliens/

Please feel free to comment if you found this review helpful or if you have any suggestions for future blog posts!

Thanks for reading,

Yvette Marie xo

 

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Review: Benefit Roller Lash Macara

OK there has been a lot of hype about this product, so I just had to get my hands on the latest edition of ELLE magazine, which comes with an exclusive and FREE 30g sample of Benefit's latest mascara - not currently available anywhere else.

Without further ado, let’s get on to talking about this latest release from Benefit cosmetics, the Roller Lash mascara which you may have guessed from the packaging (and just about every beauty lover mentioning it these last couple of weeks!) 

I would like to start off this review by saying how much I LOVE the packaging. 

      Both the mascara and box itself. The box is a pretty pink, with curly black writing, and the mascara carries a similar theme with a metallic pink lid and black tube.

When I first opened the mascara and saw the shape of the bristles I was instantly looking forward to giving this item a test. The bristles are very curly and not as extreme in comparison to a lot of other mascara's out there, potentially this could be a good thing (the whole 'less is more' rule). So as products go, I was pretty excited about trying it out.

The first coat I applied appeared to have a small effect but as the packaging promises, my eyelashes did have a small curl. I found that after applying a second coat (once the first coat had COMPLETELY dried) my eyelashes looked a lot darker and curled. Whilst this mascara does lift your lashes, I actually found that it's quite a sticky mascara which felt a little heavy, and made my lashes clump together.

If i had to rate this product, I'd give it a 7/10. I love the packaging!! I think this mascara works a lot better if either two coats are applied, or if it was to maybe dry out a little bit and used again in a couple of week’s time. I will still use this mascara, as I do like the effect it gives my eyelashes regardless of the clumping, however I would probably be a little bit disappointed if I was to purchase the full size version at full price. I reckon there are a lot more products out there, which can give better results for a lower cost.

I definitely think it is worth buying mini sized products, especially as this was only £4 (which is pretty good going for a Benefit cosmetic) plus that £4 also buys you a 500 page fashion magazine which is always a easy read. This product has received a lot of hype, and I think that can have an effect on people and make them feel like they have to have something (regardless of the price tag).

More Benefit products are available from https://www.benefitcosmetics.co.uk/

Please feel free to comment if you found this review helpful or if you have any suggestions for future blog posts!

Thanks for reading,

Yvette Marie xo

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