Celebrity Chefs and their last meal

I think this is an uber cute video of Celebrity chefs telling about what they would choose for their last meal.

What would you choose?

My list is far too long!
- Pavlova/Eton Mess
- Gordon Ramsay's white chocolate dipped strawberry sorbet
- Dark chocolate - especially Gerard Mulot's dark chocolate tart from Paris
- Pierre Herme macarons (rose, mogador and salted caramel for sure!)
- Lobster anything (pasta, mornay, you name it!)
- My favourite cocktail from one of my favourite NYC bars

OK maybe I should stop! But can you tell I like dessert?

Christmas Sephora Haul

Around Thanksgiving time Sephora had some great discounts - 10 and 15% off deals for those in the higher level of their Beauty Insider loyalty scheme which I have somehow spent enough to qualify for! Anyway, I made the most of having a US mailing address and got my paws on a huge haul. It meant that I saved myself 15% on items I would've purchased when I visited the US during Christmas anyway. The downside was that I wasn't able to enjoy picking them all out at the Sephora store but that was probably a good way to save myself some money!

Oh and when you order online you get a tonne of samples! That whole bottom row is samples in fact :)

So these were the things I needed: Stila concealer and Sephora brand liquid eyeliner which has become my daily staple and at <$10 is amazing quality for a liquid eyeliner.

And here were the extra things I bought because, well, I felt silly wasting a perfectly good 15% off discount voucher!

Urban Decay Basics Palette - this is awesomely sized, being smaller than my iPhone 5! The colours are a matte which is great for me, but a little too...'dusty' for my liking. The fallout is a little craptastic as well which I knew already from the many reviews I read on MUA but nevermind, it was cheap at under $30.

I love me some good NARS - and when I saw my beloved orgasm/laguna duo comes in a mini travel size I couldn't help myself. I mean, when you travel it is just perfectly sized! Plus I love the travel size items at Sephora purely because I never use a full bottle anyway so the travel size is the perfect volume for me. This is their famous tinted moisturiser I thought I would try out.

Beauty Blenders are all the craze so why not try it for myself? So far I like it, but sponges just waste product in my opinion. They soak up so much that is just unnecessary. So in that sense I prefer my Real Techniques brushes, but I do like the even complexion you get from using this. And the solid cleanser I thought I'd try for all my make up brushes to motivate me to clean them more often!

And finally, I chucked in this Deborah Lippmann nailpolish gift pack because it was cute and I thought it was about time I try her nailpolishes. I've known about her for years but never bit the bullet to buy her polishes. Well can I say I am suitably impressed and wish I had bought her creme polishes earlier! They're so opaque after even just one coat and they're quite impressive pop colours. This is She Bop and glitter Happy Birthday which I've been using this week and they're quite fun and cutesy. If a little Barbie. But there is nothing wrong with that!

The beauty of music

I noticed this video has been doing the rounds of facebook, but its just so awesome I couldn't help but share.

The Tea Cosy, Sydney

I love scones and so I had been meaning to go to The Tea Cosy at The Rocks for ages. Late last year I finally made it there and I'm so glad I did. I love the little place and the scones are amazing!

It is often considered the best scones in Sydney (which is of course a big call) and for the price I was definitely not disappointed. From memory it was $12.50 but that bought you two scones and tea (hot or iced) of your choice, and there are hot water urns to top up your teapot.

Excuse the slightly badly composed photos - I was trying out one of my newer Sigma prime lenses so the photos are amazingly sharp but I got a bit caught up in focusing and didn't compose properly.

The scones were fluffy, warm and flavoursome. You could also choose the type of scones you wanted - traditional, sultana and other options - as well as the jams you wanted to accompany your scones - orange, traditional strawberry and raspberry to name just a few.

Oh and did I mention, the teapots come in the cutest little hand knitted tea cosies. How can you not love it?

I'll definitely be back, and if you're from Sydney but haven't been you should definitely stop by!

Charleston, South Carolina

Over the Christmas break I found myself in Charleston, South Carolina for a wedding. Charleston is a quintessentially cute, Southern little town with such a lovely colonial town vibe. It's recently been appearing on the 'new cool cities to visit' lists regularly, and I've since heard it is the second most popular place to get married in the US behind only Vegas (for obvious reasons).

The wedding I went to was seriously breathtaking. The best wedding I've ever been to, but I knew that would happen because the bride is the uber bride who has been planning this wedding since the day I met her (long before she even was engaged).

Here are some pics I wanted to share with you of the beautiful place that is Charleston!

I ate at the popular and hipster restaurant Husk that has all the Southern specialties such as this - pumpkin pie! We also had pigs ears lettuce wraps which were AMAZING!

 

This is an unfortunately badly shot photo of the building in which Husk is in - I was not my usual self this trip and really didn't take many photos, and didn't make an effort in most cases. I was just all about having a good time and soaking it all in!

Sunday brunch is, as always, a huge thing in the US, but in a religious southern town like Charleston, it is Halls Chophouse for 'Sunday Gospel Brunch'. I wish I had bothered to take a photo of the live, grand piano playing, soul crooner who sat in the corner entertaining us for the day. And for a bit of Southern hospitality, this was my complimentary glass of bubbly, after the restaurant owners started chatting to us!

And now for the wedding - at a beautiful plantation overlooking the river. Despite being in the middle of winter, it was a sunny warm Winters day which was absolutely amazing.

I do slightly regret having such a good time that I didn't stop to properly take photos of the sunset. But this is seriously how amazing it is - the following photo was taken with no filter on an iPhone. Is it not spectacular?

Southern food at the wedding - mac & cheese and chicken & waffles!

Beautiful beautiful florals - all painstakingly done by an amazing florist.

And for a sense of the main street - this was the high end shopping strip where you could literally get any designer item you wanted!

I love me a good holiday, and this was definitely one!