The City of York

Hello! 

I wanted to make a post about the beautiful city that is York. I went to the University of York and loved it, I have now moved back home with my family down South. Having lived in York for 3 years I thought I'd share some of my pictures over those years!

I'm missing Uni a lot at the moment and going through all the photos and videos I have from York today was hilarious. I won't be posting any pictures with friends in them as I don't know how they would feel about being featured in a public blog post, but I hope you enjoy!

University pictures:

The first of these two was taken on just down the road from the University of York on the way to my old student house and the second was taken on the University of York Campus on my phone.

Walking the City Walls:

I definitely recommend walking the city walls if you do visit York, I didn't end up doing it until after I finished my final year at Uni as I was always so busy with essays etc up until then. We ended up getting such amazing weather that day too so the pictures came out quite well! These pictures were taken using my DSLR camera which is a Nikon D3100.

 York Minster:

 These pictures were also taken on my DSLR camera inside the Minster. It was incredible inside there, I will never forget it. I wasn't too happy with how my pictures came out that day, all at jaunty angles but I don't think a picture can do this place justice anyway. Entry into the Minster is quite expensive (around £10 each) but this money goes towards supporting the future of the building and it is worth doing if you visit York. Luckily we managed to get in for free as we were York residents but equally if you aren't willing to pay this much the outside of the building is pretty incredible too and worth a look.

York Races:

 I went to York Races with some of my housemates and it was such a good day. We all got glammed up, drank Pimms and placed bets. Some of us won and made a bit of money, unfortunately I won nothing and went home worse off. I didn't mind though as it was fun anyway, it was hilarious watching people going crazy watching their horse lose or win.

Bettys Tea Rooms:

If you're ever in York (or Harrogate) and you haven't been before, I hugely recommend that you visit a Bettys Tea Room. They are traditional tea rooms that offer beautiful cakes and drinks presented beautifully on trolleys by waitresses and waiters dressed in traditional clothing. I have a lot of lovely memories of visiting Bettys with my boyfriend, we particularly enjoyed Bettys Afternoon Tea! They're also open until 9pm, we visited once in the evening and they had a pianist playing which made it even more special. This picture was taken one Easter with all their special Easter eggs!

ASK York:

A bit random I know, but the ASK Italian in York used to be the York Assembly Rooms so it is set in a grand building. If you're planning a trip to York and you're looking for places to eat out, this one is worth a visit!

I can't recommend York enough if you have ever considered visiting, or even if you haven't. It has a lot to offer all different types of people, there is still so much of York I didn't get pictures of or didn't manage to visit but I hold very fond memories of the city.

Have you ever visited York? Do you have any recommendations of places to visit in York?

Thanks for reading!

Rosie xx

Urban Decay Naked Palette

Hello!

Today I'm going to say a few things about the Naked 1 Palette I got for Christmas. I would usually at this point as a reader switch off and just look at the pretty pictures rather than reading reviews as I always think this kind of make up is massively overpriced and that I'd never realistically be able to own such a product. I admit for a set of eye shadows I do think the price is slightly ridiculous. I work in a well known Department Store and got a small discount off this palette, so it wasn't AS offensively priced as it was to start with (£37.00) However, as someone who has only ever used Rimmel, Maybelline and other drugstore brands, I did wince a bit (and shed a small tear) when the price came up on the till and the money was handed over. 

As aggressively expensive as this product is, I do suppose that such a price is to be expected from high- end make up. You do get 12 AMAZINGLY pigmented, high- quality eye shadows. This palette has brought me a lot of happiness since Christmas day, experimenting with different colour combinations and generally getting a bit over-excited and ending up putting on EVERY colour which makes me look a bit of a nutter. 

I find that every colour in this palette somehow seems to work on my skin tone. Colours like 'Hustle' I love the look of but in the past I might have avoided as I would have expected colder tones to wash me out. However, there is a lovely warmth to these colours when applied that just seems to work with my skin tone. The shimmers were really nice to use over Christmas and New Years and I had a lot of fun playing around with them.

I have only really ever used drugstore brands of eye shadow such as Sleek palettes and Rimmel sets. I do still love these but you definitely get a few colours in those that you put on, look at and end up taking off as they just don't work with your skin or just don't blend very nicely. Those colours also tend to get neglected and you end up only using one or two colours from the set. I seem to love every single colour in this set and can't stop using it. 

I read a lot of beauty blogs and watch a lot of beauty-related youtube videos and the general consensus is that the brushes that come included with make up sets are fairly useless. However, I quite enjoy this brush! One side is quite thin and good for getting in the crease of the lid with the colours, and the other is nice and fluffy which is good for blending.

This palette also came with a set of the Urban Decay Primers which was a really nice surprise. I have only used the Original Primer Potion so far and I have found it to work really well. I had a work meal the other day and had to go out straight after work, I found the colours on my lids had stayed exactly as I had put them on in the morning and I didn't have to worry about much make up re-applying before we went out. Below are a few more close- up pictures of the palette as well as clearer pictures of the colours and their names. 

I know a lot of other people would have probably taken pictures of the palette as soon as it was opened in pristine condition, but I was so excited just to play around with it. You can see the palette has been well loved!

I asked my parents for this palette in particular for Christmas as I loved the gold and blue shades in the Naked 1 and didn't think I would suit the pink shades that seem to feature highly in the other two palettes. 

Please excuse the unflattering light and terrible quality of the picture below, as it was taken on my phone. It doesn't show the eye shadow colours that well, but this is the only close- up picture I have of myself with the Naked Palette colours on. This was taken just before the work meal mentioned previously to document my surprising skill(z) at applying individual false lashes in the bathroom at work. I had a few funny looks as applying false lashes/ make up isn't my forte at the best of times and a lot of people at work are experts on cosmetics and make up, but in the end I managed to apply around 3 individual lashes to the end of each eye. I wanted to try and alter my make up look a little from day to night, as the shadows had stayed put I needed to add a little somethin' somethin'.

As I mentioned, I had applied the Urban Decay Original Primer Potion before the eye shadows that morning. I can't really remember which colours I had chosen on this day, as it was a bit of a mix- match of a few. I believe I had Virgin on the inside corners of my eyes, a bit of Half Baked or Sidecar in the middle and a mixture of Hustle (I like singing 'DO THE HUSTLE doodoodoo...' when applying this colour), Darkhorse and Creep on the outer corners.

You might be a bit like 'Why so many colours?' but I knew I had to make the make up last and having been a massive Pixiwoo fan for years, I kept thinking about how they always say layering will make the shadow stay on longer. I also liked the way each colour worked together, and that day may or may not have been an 'over-excited with the Naked Palette' day.

 For me, the amount of use and happiness I get out of this palette was worth the price tag (even though I do still think it's a bit extortionate). The palette will last me a long time and I look forward to all the different combinations I will get to try out in the future. I would have liked to have got a few more pictures of the colours being worn, but I'm currently ill, red- nosed and feeling sorry for myself in my Pjs- no one wants to see that.

Thank you for reading if you made it this far! What are your thoughts on these palettes? Do you have any other high- end recommendations for me to consider for next Christmas (yes, it will take me that long to come to terms with the price)?.

Thanks!

Rosie xx