Bloggers Love Food and Drink Festival

Hey Everyone! Hope you're all well :) A week ago I attended a Food and Drink Festival which was put on by The Bloggers Hub and I had a lovely time, I managed to speak to loads of brands and they were all so generous! However, the event was held in a bar and so it was sooo dark inside, which to be honest I have no idea why they would think that was a good idea, seeing as bloggers like the take pictures. But nevermind! So I apologise for the extremely dark and grainy pictures but I thought I would share about the products there and ones I was gifted :) The event was near Chancery Lane and on my way there I was thinking, hmm, I hope the lighting is better as the Bloggers Love Fashion Week one was a bit dim, but as soon as I walked in it was pretty much black so I was quite shocked.. such a shame :') 

The first brand I spoke to were Miss Millar's Marvelous Mallows, where she had giant marshmallows which come in 12 flavours. They were really light and soft and fat-free which is always a bonus :)

Sibberi Birch water had water which was harvested from Birch trees. The process sounded quite cool however I have no idea what it tastes like :')

c/o Cereal Lovers

Cereal Lovers* had several simply fruit granolas which I was lucky enough to receive all the flavours: apple, banana and chocolate, blackcurrant and apple and orange. They have no added sugar and I'm interested to try these for breakfast :) I also received some forest crunch granola oats containing oats, seeds and malt :) I like that they're quite soft to eat, so they don't break your teeth like some granolas/mueslis etc :)

c/o OOO company, Equinox Kombucha, Chosan and Rebel Kitchen

OOO Company*, had 100% extra virgin olive oil from Cyprus which they press and sell directly. Mum uses olive oil for cooking and salads so now I will have my own one to take with me in October when I start my PhD :)

Equinox Kombucha* is fermented green tea which is also known as a 'living sparkling tea'. It's meant to have many health benefits and it is popular in Asia. It comes in four flavours: original, wild berry, raspberrry and elderflower and ginger. I was generously gifted raspberry and elderflower and ginger. I was a bit apprehensive to try it but it wasn't too bad, a bit like fruity champagne :)

Chosan* had some exotic soft drinks from Gambia which are based on Hibiscus. I picked up Moroccan Mint and I like it, it tastes a bit like a fruity green tea :)

Rebel Kitchen* had some Dairy Free Mylk which is made from Coconut milk, organic date nectar and spring water. I've heard a lot about coconut milk drinks so I'm interested to try this, and I picked up the Chai flavour. I was also given a few recipes where they can be used for baking cakes which is quite cool :)

c/o various brands mentioned in text

Brownie Brownie* is a little home bakery where they make and sell various brownies which were nice and firm yet had just the right amount of moisture :)

c/o Stag Bakeries

Stag Bakeries* gifted me with some seaweed stornoway water biscuits and smoked butter stornoway cocktail oatcakes, I can't say I was too keen on them but mum and dad liked them :)

c/o Thanks for Frank's

Thanks for Frank's* had various Hand Baked Granola Bars and I was lucky to be sent away with Salted Caramel, Belgian Chocolate, Original, Flame Raisin and Hazelnut and Cashew Nut, Raspberry and Chocolate so I'll be snacking on these during the day :)

c/o Stoats

Stoats* is a brand which I'm pretty sure I see in shops all the time. They have various products and I was generously gifted some porridge oat bars in apple and cinammon, raspberry and honey, white chocolate and hazelnut, apricot and sultana, fig and date, original and blueberry and honey. I was also gifted some rustic scottish oatcakes :) They were all really tasty so I'll probably be buying these again :)

c/o Pearl and Groove, Positivitea and Baked In

Baked In* had various cake mixes for some really nice cakes and pastries and they have everything you need in the box with no dodgy ingredients which looked cool. I was given a little brownie mix in a mug where you add butter and water, pop it in the microwave and tadaa! I used to make these all the time so I'll have to see what this one tastes like :) 

Pearl and Groove Bakery* had some gluten free cakes and granolas.

I was given two teabags from Positivitea* to try, I really like the packaging and it comes in 7 flavours: Connect, Imagine, Inspire, Love, Achieve, Create and Thrive each with different blends, so some are calming, or boost energy and I chose ones for my eyes as they're not the best haha! I guess it's cool say if like you want to acheive something today, you could drink the achieve tea and be like right I'm gonna do this, even if it is the placebo effect XD They smell nice as well which is always a bonus :)

c/o Of the Earth Superfoods

Of the Earth Superfoods* gifted me with a 'Breakfast on the Go' which is an oat based cereal made from superfoods with the flavours strawberry, goji and beetroot. With it came truffles made from spirulina and lemon and some organic yacon syrup. Honestly, I didn't really like them, or it's the sort of thing you need to get used to.. but my parents and friends all liked them, especially the truffles :)

c/o Granny Mary's Luxury Potted Meats

Granny Mary's Luxury Potted Meats* came in cute little pots. They're similar to pate (which I love) but more meatier and healthier and the recipe is from his Grandma Mary. My parents have really been enjoying them especially and I was given two flavours to try: Fresh Duck with Orange and Fresh Beef with Butter :)

c/o Urban Fruit

I've tried the Strawberry Urban Fruit Pure Fruit Snack* before and I really enjoyed it! Basically it's fruit that's gently baked and no sugar is added. Even though there was no sugar they were sweet and I guess a bit like raisins, but strawberries and different haha! I received strawberry, mango and pineapple. I'd probably get strawberry again but I wasn't too keen on the other flavours and they were a bit too chewy :)

So that's the end of this post, finally! I'm sorry that it was extremely long! Thank you to all the brands that provided me with samples to try :) Have you tried any of these before? What did you think? :) 

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*Even though all the products were gifted to me, all opinions are 100% my own :)

Happiness Boutique Statement Necklace*

Hey everyone! Hope you're all well :) Recently I was contacted by Happiness Boutique and asked if I wanted to review one of their necklaces, so of course I said yes! I am a jewellery hoarder and I have so much of it, however I think because of that I'm more selective about what I buy so I only get things I really like. Happiness Boutique is an online retailer from Berlin and they have a huge selection of statement necklaces, earrings, bracelets and some clothes. I trawled through their website and I finally decided on this one and I am extremely happy with it! :)

It took a few days to arrive, which I think is pretty standard for the UK, especially seeing as it came from Germany. I have a few gold statement necklaces so I thought I would go for a silver one, I spent a few days umming and ahhing about which one to pick and eventually I cut it down to two. There was this one or a bigger one which had extra layers of coins etc, I really liked both but where I'm petite I opted for the smaller one :)

The packaging was really cute, It arrives in a little box with Happiness Boutique on it, then inside the necklace came in a little pink pouch which rested on a spongy layer so it didn't get battered. There was a little piece of wrapping paper with their shell logo, some care instructions and a little note addressed to me which I thought was a really sweet touch! There is also a reward program where you can earn points in various ways as a little incentive which is nice :) 

I was actually quite surprised at how heavy the necklace was. It's not really heavy but it's not light, so you know it's from a sturdier material and it won't bend easily which I like in a necklace. This necklace costs $25.90 which is around £18 but I think I picked it when there was a 17% discount. So it isn't too badly priced seeing as I recently picked up a necklace in New Look for £15 :) They also offer free shipping which is always a bonus :)

I decided to keep the rest of my outfit quite simple and wore my grey swing dress from New Look which is actually in the sale now. I don't usually go for this style of dress, I'm more of a skater but I liked it so I brought it anyway haha! I then paired it with some tights and black pumps from Primark as the dress is on the shorter side. Seeing as I went for a statement necklace I decided to keep my earrings really simple, so I wore two studs, the grey pearls are Links of London which I got for my 18th birthday and the pink pair are from Pandora which I received from my best friends for my 21st :) I've realised that you can't see them in the photos but nevermind haha! :)

Dress- New Look

Tights and Shoes- Primark

Necklace- c/o Happiness Boutique

Grey Pearl Earrings- Links of London

Pink Earrings- Pandora

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* Even though this necklace was gifted to me all opinions are my own

Graduation and a PhD!

Hey everyone! Hope you're all well! On Tuesday I finally graduated! These past three years have gone soo quickly! I know everyone says it but the years just fly by! And to add to the good news I've also been offered a PhD! So I'll be starting that in October which is extremely exciting :)

I'm not going to lie, I've been a bit nervous about it :') I think my main worry was falling over on stage as I wanted to wear heels XD #shortgirlproblems but it's okay I didn't, although my brother said that I was the slowest person to walk across the stage as I took baby steps, I think he's exxagerating XD 

The day went by quite quickly, my ceremony was at 10:45 and we had to be seated half an hour before, collect gowns and tickets and find somewhere to park. We initially decided to leave at 7am (sooo early!) but by the time I got ready it was 7:30 XD Although there was no traffic on the motorway as we were heading away from London so we arrived and were parked by around 9am :) This left us plenty of time to take photos and get my gown etc :)

 

The gowns were really weird! They just kept falling backwards but you got used to it, and the hats felt strange on too XD Luckily our ceremony was quite short and I think it roughly took an hour which is really nice as I think 2-3 hours is too long XD We got seated in alphabetic order and then our row would be told to stand up and make our way downstairs to walk on stage. When we walked up we didn't shake hands with the Pro-Chancellor but instead we put our hands together as if in a prayer and she placed her hands over ours and said a few words. She was actually really lovely and had a mini conversation which was really sweet and unexpected! She said like congratulations and asked whether we enjoyed our time at Uni and what we had planned next which was lovely. Afterwards we walked off stage and made our way back to our seats :)

 

After the ceremony there was a drinks reception in a marquee with drinks and finger foods for graduates and their guests which was nice as by then we were all hungry and thirsty XD So we had some nibbles and took some more photos including the classic hat throwing ones :)

 

I wanted to wear a white dress, as I thought it was something simple and that it would go nicely. But when you're looking for something particular you can never find it anywhere! Luckily I came across this textured, white skater dress in the Zara sale for £16 which is a bargain and it was really nice quality :) I then wanted some sandals to go with them, like the strappy heeled sandals that everyone has but I couldn't find hardly any in my size as they were all in the sale and then ones I did find were too big :( My fault for having tiny feet! In the end I wore some dusty pink shoes that I already own from Peacocks even though they're a little bit big but it went nicely :)

So all in all that was my graduation! It was a lovely day and it was really nice to see all my friends that were graduating and even some that are staying on to do a Masters came to say hello :) I'm happy that I've graduated and I'm excited to spend my next three years doing a PhD :)

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