Wear. Life. Eats.

It's been a while hasn't it...I've been a little AWOL this month on the blog purely because I've been in Birmingham this week, well a little further outside of Birmingham near Kingswinford. Holla if you're from those neck of the woods! I thought I'd share some of the highlights of my week and where I've been so I thought why not do a Wear. Life. Eats. post!

During the four days I was playing tourist, I managed to visit Cadbury's World, West Midlands Safari Park, Akbars Restaurant, Argeela Shisha Lounge, Bullring Shopping Centre and a few other restaurants but I really do not need to highlight my trip to Nandos lol...

It was actually my first time visiting Cadbury's World, I know what you're thinking. For a girl who eats chocolate for breakfast, how on earth have I only visited the world of chocolate at the age of 24?! I was pretty disappointed as I had high expectations, hoping it would be like Charlie & The Chocolate Factory but I guess it's more for kids. They allow you to roam around and explore the history of chocolate, go on a ride and visit a 4d cinema for £15. Not forgetting they give you x3 free bars of chocolate and access to the chocolate shops where you can buy Cadbury branded chocolate slightly cheaper than the supermarket. Would I go again? No, unless I'm taking a really young child, which I was if you're wondering why I went there!

West Midlands Safari Park was fab! It's an open safari which allows you drive around with animals everywhere! From tigers to lions to leopards to elephants and so on! It was a pretty cool experience and you almost feel like you're in South Africa minus the heat. The park also has lots of different experiences, I went into a room full of bats flying over our head and got to see my faves - meerkats! Overall, definitely recommended you visit this place 

Went to a lovely Asian restaurant called Akbar's which does amazing food and literally the decor was so beautiful. They're standard size naan is a giant naan which comes on it's own stand! Everywhere I go, I find a shisha lounge! I mean I even found one in Santorini which is a tiny island! I went to Argeela Shisha Lounge & Grill which is around 10 minutes away from the Bull Ring. Stunning shisha lounge, I don't think there is one in London to match up to Argeela. Service was good, decor amazing, shisha was amazing and mega cheap compared to London prices. Music was spot on, literally I would easily drive up to Argeela on the weekends as it ticked all the right boxes!

Also visited the Bull Ring Shopping Centre for the very first time. In all the times I've been to Bham, I've never actually been to the Bull Ring! I don't normally talk about shopping centres randomly, but they had a Selfridges beauty floor which had every makeup brand I possibly use! A long day shopping requires some much deserved drinks so I also popped down to Marco Pierre White's Rooftop Champagne Bar which was stunning. Drinks were pretty good and it was just perfect as the weather was so good!

I'm heading back to Bham in December, so if you have any recommendations on restaurants/bars/shisha lounges or even shopping centres please let me know in the comments below!

Hope you enjoyed my first Wear. Life. Eats. post!

Sabi x

Maybelline | The Nudes Palette

Everywhere I go, all I hear is nudes. No not those kind of nudes, I'm talking makeup kind of nudes. I went into Superdrug to pick up Maybelline's new eyeshadow palette; The Nudes. I'm not one to buy a high street/drugstore eye shadow product purely because I find they are never as good as my Naked Palettes by Urban Decay, however Maybelline has twisted my arm on this one. I have to say it's quite a new thing brands are starting to pick up as we are seeing an increase in palettes being sold on the high street, so who knows if my love for Urban Decay will stay or go...

So I'm loving this cute little palette which is super small but so ideal for travelling or just keeping it in your makeup bag for last minute nights out. The palette consists of 12 shades which cater to all skin tones (a very important factor when it comes to nudes). So we have 4 base colours, 6 neutral shimmery shades which are my face and a couple of matte block colours e.g. black. The palette comes with a brush applicator but I prefer to use my own. 

Are they pigmented? Yes, which had me like woah because I never thought they would be. Are the shades wearable?  Yes! When you think of nudes, you think they are only suitable for everyday but these are great to build up that day to night eye look. Do you need it? Yes if you don't have the funds to invest in a Naked palette I mean the Naked Basics is around £20 and this is only £9.99.

Sabi x

OOTD | Black on Black

I love Zara shoes and recently picked up these bad boys. I got them to replace my gold ankle Zara pointed shoes which I have adored almost 2 years now but it's time to say goodbye! So I got these which are similar but have no side support and I'm in love. Have to say they're a little hard to walk in, so I'll be popping into Boots to buy some sort of gels but they are adorbs! I got these from the Canary Wharf branch in size 5 for £19.99.

Sabi x

Topshop | Beauty Haul

Lip & Cheek Smudge: Sonic

Left: Rio Rio | Right: Beguiled

Rio Rio

Beguiled

We all know Topshop* for their amazing on-trend clothes and of course their Leigh jeans which I purchase way too many times a month because I am obsessed! However did you know Topshop's beauty range has been around for 5 years?! Nope neither did I, I remember talking about one of their lipsticks in the shade Whimsical over 3 years ago when I started getting into blogging so I was really interested to see how their makeup and lipsticks in particular have developed over the years.

My instant 'add to basket' was their Contour in Swerve which is actually my first ever cream/powder contour product (usually I'll just use a darker foundation/powder) and holy mother of contour, it's pretty obvious why every beauty blogger I follow on Twitter has been talking about this! This is a cream to powder contour it applies and feels like cream however it sets like powder. It's blendable and literally don't let the dark brown colour fool you as it's the perfect colour for most skin tones however it does come in a lighter shade for my pale skin readers. It's currently sold out online but if you pop in-store and manage to find one, I highly recommend you get it especially as it's only around £8.

I also picked up their fairly new Lip and Cheek Smudge in Sonic which is what I was wearing in one of my last Instagram posts. Now I frickin' love this product and wish they had a wider selection of colours. So it's not a lipstick, nor a chubby stick but whatever the technical name is, I LOVE THIS. It's a long lasting lip stain which dries to a matte finish but not a horrible one. One side consists of the colour and the other has a brush which allows you to apply it as a blush. I love the pop of colour on the lips however I'm a little unsure about using this on the cheeks.

I'm a sucker for eye pencils, so I just had to try Topshop's Waterproof Eyeliner in Ebony which is a fairly good eyeliner overall. I'm yet to test the longevity on this one!

Back to the lips! Love a good lipstick, I do. As it's Topshops 5th Birthday this year, I purchased two from the 5 Years of Beauty range which is basically their best-selling hero lip shades; Rio Rio (bright red with orange undertones) & Beguiled (dark red/wine). I've been a huge fan of matte lips this year and these lipsticks are perfect as they are pigmented matte lipsticks but offer a soft matte finish so they're not super drying. I wore these each for a couple of hours and my lips were comfortable and the colour didn't really wear off straight away which is always a plus. I think it's one of those things, there's no lipstick out there that will last forever. I love how vibrant and pigmented the colours are, definitely rocking Rio Rio this summer and keeping Beguiled for the A/W 15.

I also picked up some EyeLure Lashes and a StarGazer sharpener as mine broke the other day wahh. Overall I think Topshop's beauty range is a hidden gem that doesn't get enough attention in the world of beauty. I think the price is pretty affordable as it's similar to drug store brands. I'm off to contour my face now with Swerve...stay tuned for a post on this bad boy.

Sabi x

MAC | Repurchases

It's safe to say, I've gone a little MAC crazy this month. But who doesn't love a good old MAC haul?! I repurchased a few things this month especially my Velvet Teddy lipstick as I've literally been wearing it everyday. It definitely is my holy grail and go-to lip colour! If you want to see more on Velvet Teddy click here. So I repurchased 3 things; Velvet Teddy (obvs), Studio Fix Foundation in NC35 and the Skin Base Visage Primer. I pretty much have talked about all three of these products on my blog, so all MAC posts can be found here!

I've actually not bought the  Fix + Spray for around a year now, and noticed the packaging has slightly changed and the price of course, but I can't stress how much I love this product. A lot of people have asked me is this a primer or a setting spray? Well, it's basically both but I like to use it more as a setting spray as well as something to refresh my makeup if I'm going out after work and I won't have time to re-do my face. A lot of people also use this as a primer but a cream form primer is always needed after as well as it's not strong enough alone.

While I was getting my Velvet Teddy on, I also purchased the Whirl Lip Pencil as it matches so perfectly and let's face it, it's one of those products the whole beauty world has been talking about. I've only used this twice so far, the colour is perfect and the formula is so creamy yet matte and is just so easy to apply. The wear is also great and I feel if you fill all of your lips and apply Velvet Teddy on top, it lasts so much longer without drying your lips out and getting those horrible matte lines. I'm actually going to do a separate post on Whirl as it's just that special!

What are your fave MAC products?

Sabi x