Welcome to Sydney

A lot of people seem shocked when we say we've not been to the East coast of Australia, we fell in love with Perth and loved knowing we could explore the Eastern states during our holidays relatively cheaply. So when we both were able to book a long weekend of work we knew we wanted to fly east, it was a pretty hard decision where exactly to go but decided on Sydney as it's Australia's most iconic and touristy city! After a short four hour flight we landed and hopped on the train to our hotel, Intercontinental Sydney.

 I booked the hotel based on it's location right on circular quay, and we were able to get a good discount on a harbour view room. Being completely honest the room itself was a bit of a let down, but the views were to die for. We dropped our bags and head for a walk through the botanical gardens, which were just across the road.

We walked around to Mrs Macquaries chair and took some photos of the view across, from there we walked back around the edge of the park and into circular quay to see the opera house (I'll do a whole post on the opera house because it is INCREDIBLE) and the harbour bridge.

(hands up who loves a cheesy tourist photo?)

From there we decided to hop on a ferry over to Manly, on the advice of my friend Rach who swears it's the best beach in Sydney. The weather was totally on our side and we had a lovely 30 minute ferry ride across the harbour.

We got off at the other end and made a little stop in Aldi and Coles to stock up on food and drink for the evening, then head straight to the beach. 

Manly beach is absolutely gorgeous although, I am totally biased, not as great as the Perth beaches. We spent the evening napping, eating and planning the rest of our time in Sydney whilst watching the surfers- if only we'd packed our bathers! 

Have you been to Sydney before?

Keep an eye out for my next Sydney post! 

xo

my summer beauty essentials

One of my favourite things about summer is being able to switch up my makeup bag. To me, summer makeup is all about having a natural, sun kissed glow and looking like you've just stepped off the beach. Here's some of my favourite products for summer...

Nude eyeshadow palette ($24.95)

This sweet little palette by Nude cosmetics is the ultimate all rounder, the pigments pack a punch and last all night long. During the day the two lighter colours create a perfect golden tone, and at night the addition of the brown / black shade creates the perfect smokey eye. The palette comes with the mini double end brush too, which is perfect for make up on the go.

St Tropez everyday face ($33.99)

All the benefits of laying in the sun for hours, minus the skin damage! This lotion sits so well on my skin and leaves me glowing, I've also been playing around with 'tan touring' which is using a fake tan to achieve a contour without bronzer- it's absolutely amazing and this is the perfect product for it.

Benefit sun beam highlighter ($45)

This gorgeous golden highlighter has been a makeup staple for me since it's release. It works perfectly to highlight key areas and is the perfect shade to go on top of a tan. I also love mixing a drop with foundation or moisturiser for an all over glow. Quite literally, sunshine in a bottle.

Benefit The porefessional agent zero shine ($44)

Is a new product to me but I already can't go without it, a tiny amount of powder goes a long way to stopping excess shine. Not only does this amazing little powder stop shine, it's a miracle worker with fine lines and wrinkles! 

Fudge salt spray ($19.99)

Need to fake beachy hair? Then you need this in your cupboard, stat! The fudge salt spray is an incredibly texturising spray, perfect for adding some oomph to flat hair or for using to mess up fresh waves.

Nude facial scrub ($17.95)

Every girl knows a tan goes on much better on exfoliated skin right? I swear by this nude facial scrub, which is also super moisturising. I lather it all over myself pre-beach (or fake tan) to make sure I get a beautiful even, fresh glow.

Neek Come into my world lipstick ($38)

Neek are a gorgeous vegan cosmetics company and the masterminds behind this gorgeous lipstick. It's pretty pink shade is perfect for a barely there kind of look and it's wonderfully moisturising too. What I love most about this lipstick (apart from it's totally cruelty free) is how long it lasts, I can easily pop this on at the start of the day and feel safe knowing it'll still be there way past lunch time.

Jurlique Herbal recovery serum ($79)

Another total miracle product, this serum contains Naturadiance PB18+ which reduces the appearance of fine lines, increases elasticity, restore radiance, hydrates and creates a natural defence shield to help protect against environmental aggressors. And what does all that mean? It means healthy, hydrated, glowing and younger looking skin. I treat my skin to this every evening after a day out and about in the sun.

Benefit coralista blush ($51)

The perfect coral blush, it adds a subtle glow on the first sweep and a little colour pop on the second. Gorgeous over a tan and paired with sun beam highlighter! I also love pairing this with Hoola bronzer by benefit (not pictured) for a gorgeous summer contour. 

What are your favourite summer beauty products?

xo

This post has been written in collaboration with some of the above brands, all views are my own.

the light side

I need to let you all in on a little secret, I'm addicted to candles; I can't go an evening without burning one, letting the sweet scents flood the house and watching the flame dance. So when I heard about The light side, an online candle boutique, I couldn't resist having a little nosey about.

The Light Side delivers a stylish selection of deliciously scented candles, sourced from the most coveted Australian and International Candle Designers. I was excited to spot my favourites cinque candle co and Cocolux australia amongst the likes of The Luxuriate, Lumira and Maison Balzac (to name just a few). The lovely Stacey behind The light side was kind enough to offer me a discount on my shopping, so I decided to choose a candle from each price range...

Lumira travel tin in Oriental Jasmine, $20.00

The perfect little gift, this candle packs a great 15 hour burn time. Small but mighty, this candle's notes are of jasmine, wild lavender melded with rose geranium and white cyclamen. I've been burning this candle whilst in the bath, flooding the bathroom with it's gorgeous fragrance. It's clear that Lumira are sticklers for great quality, from the quality of the wick and wax right through to their luxurious, simple designs.

Lumira is the manifestation of a life-long love affair with scent, design and travel. The candles are handcrafted using the purest, all-natural soy wax available and cotton wicks, together with fine essential and aroma fragrance oils composed by a team of internationally renowned perfumers.

Cinque Candle Co, Lychee fruit & peony $30.00

Cinque Candle co, designed and poured in wonderful Perth, are already a firm favourite of mine, mixing brilliant design and quality ingredients for an affordable price. I normally burn their coconut and lime fragrance so was keen to try something new, I went for Lychee fruit & peony and am not disappointed! The fruity, floral fragrance of the candle reminds me of spring time, it's light enough to not be overwhelming but strong enough to fill our living and dining area. Each candle burns for around 60 hours, which is great value for money!

Cinque Candle Co. are a Perth based boutique brand founded by Elisa Langer. Dedicated to delivering high quality luxury candles and inspired by a love of homewares, styling, typography art work and an obsession to soy candles. It started with a desire to create something we could not find locally, a beautifully fragranced, eco-friendly candle, that we could use to relax with and scent our home.

Cocolux Australia, Tropical Gardenia infused in coconut $65.00

Cocolux Australia are a brand I am forever idolising, with an eco-friendly message and divine packaging. The light side offer both 150g and 350g Cocolux candles, which offer 40 and 80 hour burn times. This candle screams luxury home wares to me, and would make such a gorgeous housewarming gift especially housed in it's on trend copper container! The Tropical gardenia scent is light and fresh, but powerful enough to be appreciated throughout the home.

Taking inspiration from the awe-inspiring Australian coastline, Cocolux Australia brings coconut wax and copper to the scented candle scene. Created to be kind to the environment, Cocolux candles are made with natural, earth-friendly coconut wax, hand poured into reusable vessels crafted from pure, solid copper. Designed with purpose, Cocolux candles are a glamorous gift from nature that will last forever.

The Luxuriate, Vanilla & Caramel $99

 Housed in gorgeous marble, with a copper lid, this is the kind of candle you only burn on special occasions (like Fridays...), as I removed the lid for the first time I sunk into it's warm vanilla and caramel hug. Absolutely no expense has been spared in the design and manufacture of this gorgeous candle and it's something I'm going to treasure for years to come. It might be a bit of a splurge but I guarantee you any candle lover (or home ware lover) will fall head over heels with any of the products by The Luxuriate. It's the perfect gift for anything from birthdays to weddings, the ultimate in luxury. I normally find scents like this slightly chemical, but the smell is absolutely divine, as if your nanna has just made some scrumptious dessert and the flavour is floating through the house.

The Luxuriate’s mission is simply to bring the essence of luxury into every home. We strive to perfectly combine our love for natural and unique materials with our large selection of aromatic fragrances. All our candles are individually sourced with a distinct focus on quality and are hand poured to order. We only use premium grade soy wax & cotton wicks.

Ordering through The light side was plain and simple, free delivery is offered Australia wide through Auspost and for customers in Perth you can select same day delivery for $14.95. Order placed before 2pm (mid day for Perth same day delivery) are processed and shipped that day. I was really impressed with the variety of candles available through The light side, clearly hand picked by a fellow candle lover. I also love the gift finder option, which selects brands based on the occasion. I will most definitely be using the light side for years to come! 

What's your favourite candle?

xo

This post has been written in collaboration with the light side, all views are my own.

what you SHOULD do as a blogger

(ims source : zoella) 

1. You should be a brand, brand yourself, you your person and everything that you are should become a brand. You must be on ALL social media as part of brand you, Facebook, twitter, periscope, instagram, snapchat (no dick pics), pinterest and any other. You are no longer a person with a blog you are a blogger.

2. You should go self hosted, you just won't go anywhere on blogger or wordpress and remember that is why we all blog- to go somewhere.

3. You should monetise your blog, through banner ads about tampons that take over your entire blog, key clicky word things and by charging brands top dollar to advertise their products on your blog (because brands keep exploiting us smaller [aka not zoella types] bloggers by only sending us an outfit). 

4. You should focus more on SEO, pinnable images and key words, because how else will you be found and become a big time blogger? 

5. You should buy a really expensive DSLR and shoot mainly in auto (because you just don't have time to adjust the manual settings). It doesn't matter if the photos you take on your iPhone or compact camera are good, you should have a DSLR. And whilst you're buying the DSLR make sure you get a tripod, remote and full studio lighting kit, because you should have them.

Maybe I don't want to?

You know what you should really be doing as a blogger? Whatever the hell you want. 

So....here's to all the girls and guys with blogs who do it for fun, for the love of sharing and making new friends who love the same things. Here's to the people who just bumble on without worrying about SEO, marketing and becoming famous. To the people who don't complain that they get paid way too little and instead are happy that they're getting paid to do their hobby at all. Here's to the people, just like myself, who still get excited with every new follower, comment and tweet and here's to you for reading my post.

Have ever been told you really should be doing something as a blogger?

xo

Modo Mio, Italian at crown perth

As part of our incredible stay at Crown Perth we were treated to a meal at their Italian restaurant, Modo Mio. I have ridiculously high standards when it comes to Italian food, blame it on a mix of Italian blood and coming from a family who really love their food, so was excited to see what they had to offer...

We were greeted at the door and led through the restaurant to our table where we were given our menus. In true girl style I opened the cocktail list first and spent far too long deciding what I wanted, I finally decided on a Cherry blossom cocktail, a mixture of absolut citron, creme de cassis, cherry liquer, maraschino syrip and lime. It was quite honestly one of the best cocktails I've ever tried. Dan on the other hand went for a corona (later washed down with some scotch...cue anchorman jokes).

For our starters we shared some garlic bread (I was saving myself for the sweet) and Dan had Carpaccio with Cipriano sauce, rucola salad and parmesan cheese.

It took a long time to choose what we wanted for our mains, but with some guidance from the wait staff Dan selected the Pancetta wrapped rabbit porchetta with foie gras and herbs, polenta, pork rillettes and cacciatore sauce. The presentation was absolutely incredible and he said the taste was divine. 

I was pleasantly surprised by the number of vegetarian friendly options on the menu, I chose the Mushroom rissoto with asiago cheese, smoked butter and truffle oil and it was incredible, so so rich and full of flavour.

I could quite easily have said 'one of everything' when it came to dessert, but decided to be less gluttonous and ordered Panna cotta with balsamic and basil strawberries, lemon curd and shortcrust crumble and Chocolate mousse, hazelnut meringue, kahlua cream and salted caramel ice cream for the pair of us to share. 

 Both of the dessert were absolutely out of this world, such beautiful textures and combinations of flavours. I need to give a special mention to the salted caramel ice cream, which was hands down the best salted caramel ice cream I've had in Australia. 

The whole experience at Modo Mio was absolutely divine, I thoroughly enjoyed their modern twists on more classic Italian dishes, the service was impeccable and the atmosphere was great also. Modo Mio is the perfect place for a fancy date night, birthday or celebration and we both can't wait to return.

What's your favourite Italian dish? Have you eaten at Crown Perth before?

xo

psst, make sure you read my blog post about the rest of our stay at Crown Perth 

Celebrating with Crown Perth

We couldn't think of a better way to celebrate our one year in Australia anniversary, than a night at Crown Metropol, arguably Perth's most sought after hotel. We were treated like absolute royalty from start to finish and now fully understand just why Crown is known Australia wide for luxury. I'll warn you now I got a little bit snap happy...

After a 5 minute drive down the freeway we arrived at Crown Perth, we were greeted by the staff reception and checked into a King Spa suite on the 8th floor.

 

Impeccable styling, light, bright and open...but the most impressive thing by far was the views of Perth city..

Which I could sit and watch for hours

Dan however thought looking in the other direction was much more interesting, Crown are currently constructing a 6 star resort right next door. 

Every tradies dream view right?!

What I loved most though was the open bathroom (with shutters if you want privacy), more specifically the giant spa bath, I'd packed a Lush bath bomb the second I found out we had a spa bath. 

After a quick outfit change we head to the 9 Lounge, which you're granted complimentary access to if staying in a Spa suite (or you can pay extra to use it). We were welcomed by the most attentive, lovely hostesses that I've ever had the pleasure of being served by.  Between 5:30pm- 7pm we were offered complimentary drinks and canapés..

nothing says celebration quite like bubbles on a rooftop! 

We chose to sit outside so we could watch the gorgeous sunset, it was absolutely perfect, and the temperature was just warm enough now that we're going into a Perth summer!

From there we head down into the main resort to Modo Mio for dinner (more on that in my next post!)...and then may or may not have gone to the casino... (but we may have gone to bed early, you'll never know!)

We had the joy of waking up naturally the next morning, a total luxury for us both, and then head back to 9 lounge for complimentary breakfast. It was a lovely self serve buffet, but as with most buffets not particularly photo-worthy. The food and service was great none the less.

And after breakfast we head straight to the pool, we were warned it might not be warm enough for swimming yet (the indoor pool is however heated), so knew there was only one option...to jump straight in!

The partly submerged sun loungers would be the perfect place for relaxing in the middle of summer! 

We were pretty much the only people there for most of the morning, but that really wasn't a problem, it was the perfect change to relax, play silly games in the pool and check emails and social media! 

Sienna smock dress from cotton on 

Sadly come 11am we had to check out and go home, in hindsight we should have taken the first day off and checked in early. I can hand on heart say that from check in to check out we were treated like absolute royalty. The hotel was faultless and the staff were incredibly attentive. We've both agreed that we're going to celebrate every year in Australia with a stay at Crown Perth.

You can book the Crown Perth 9 Lounge Indulgence on offer from $458 until the end of 2015, it's worth every cent.

Have you stayed at any of Crown's resorts before? 

xo