A little stay in Brighton!

Recently, my boyfriend and I visited Brighton for a short break away. Upon deciding we wanted to visit I began trawling the internet for hotels and found that I was incredibly spoilt for choice. 

One of our requirements was a hotel with a car park, located onsite as we didn't want to pay extortionate amounts for parking and have to walk miles (ok, slight exaggeration) but still! It was also essential at the time that the car was near, should we need to travel home quickly. I was toying between two hotels based on the car park requirement and the availability for our required dates, but, I eventually decided on The Holiday Inn, Brighton Seafront. 

After searching various reviews online, the Holiday Inn really stood out as a central, friendly place to stay with great reviews. The hotel had recently undergone a full refurbishment and it looked great. It may not be the first hotel that pops into your head when you are looking for a hotel but I can highly recommend it. It was the perfect base for a place to stay whilst exploring the city. 

Upon arrival, we were met at reception by a very friendly man named Victor who informed us that our room wasn't ready yet but we were welcome to leave our bags if we wanted to leave the hotel and come back later. We decided to pop into the Starbucks within the hotel and warm up with a hot chocolate, and again we were met by another fantastic member of staff who couldn't do enough for us. I found during my time at the hotel the staff just couldn't do enough to help, they were always on hand for assistance. This is something that I find to be extremely important, I have stayed in 5* hotels before and found the service to be atrocious. 

Room:

We had an executive room with a large balcony and a gorgeous sea view! The room itself was extremely spacious, perfect for a messy girl like me! It was complete with a lounge area, desk space, large bathroom and of course a king-sized bed. I think additional touches really make hotel visits extra special and our room had added extras that we loved. 

Facilities: 

Although there wasn't a swimming pool or a gym, there were other facilities that we made use of. We had a dinner reservation for 6pm at the newly opened, cocktail and burger bar, Stock Burger Co. located within the hotel. We overindulged, as expected, with the biggest portion of nachos to start! Followed by burgers and cocktails, the perfect combination if I'm honest! The prices were reasonable for the food and service provided. My boyfriend and I, thoroughly enjoyed our meal and certainly would return in the future. So if burgers and beer are your thing then you have found the right place! I would also advise booking a table as it was rather busy during our stay! 

Breakfast was buffet style, something that I am not always the biggest fan of! The hotel offered a wide variety though and there was plenty of food to fill us up for the day ahead! The standard full English breakfast was on offer - something my boyfriend took full advantage of! Alongside an array of yogurt, fruit and continental style breakfast items - including pastries and preserves. 

You really do get great value for money based on the price you pay. I do have to say that the Brighton Seafront is definitely one of the best Holiday Inn's I have visited, and I couldn't actually fault anything based on my visit. I hope this has been useful if you are considering visiting Brighton! 

Thanks for reading,

Lauren-Faye x 

* Please note, this is not in any way a sponsored post. 

#GoodShipBenefit

Good morning! 

Last week, I was lucky enough to attend my first Benefit blogger event! It was held onboard the Good Ship Benefit located minutes from Embankment tube station - something you HAVE to check out! I thought I would share an insight into my day with Benefit and explain a little about what happened.  

The event was held to showcase Benefits' new brow products, launching on the 24th June. Being a huge beauty and makeup lover, I was SO excited to see the products and have the chance to try the products out for myself. Upon stepping onto the ship I was greeted by the 'Benebabes' who showed us through to the arrival room. It was a chance to mingle with other bloggers and take snaps of the new products and the ship itself! I have to say, I fell into a girlie paradise as soon as I stepped onboard! As imagined, there was pink everywhere, little pink chocolates, pink chairs and cocktails, it was basically just a girls paradise! 

We began with a presentation of the brow products and received a little bit of information on each product and what they are best used for. Each product presentation followed a 'try it yourself' moment where all of us were able to try out the products and share our opinions. I have decided that I will do a full product review in a few weeks ahead of the launch and share with you my thoughts. 

There are 36 products in total (including the variety of shades) and as you will soon realise, some of the products are the classic ones that we have all been used to using! BUT, there are also some amazing new products that I genuinely think you are going to love. 

After the presentations finished we were taken on a tour around the ship and I loved the fact that virtually every room was themed to a specific product. There is a whole room dedicated to Porefessional, Lashitude and a little Rollerlash hub. It is genuinely a place that any Benefit lover would enjoy.  It was on the tour that I established the wide variety of things on offer to the public onboard the ship! 

If you're like me and love getting up on a Sunday morning for brunch, why not join Good Ship Benefit for yoga and a bottomless brunch? You can find all the information here and yes, book in advance to secure your place! It is something I am planning to do myself over the next few months! As you can also see in the images below, there is a pamper station onboard, complete with a brow boutique! The perfect way to get perfect brows whilst stocking up on your fave Benefit products! 

The Good Ship Benefit is open until August and I would strongly recommend you visit if you fancy experiencing something different! I thoroughly enjoyed the event and I would like to say thank you to the lovely girls at Benefit for inviting me! 

 Stay tuned for my full product review coming very soon! 

Thanks for reading,

Lauren-Faye x 

See you later student life!

University = complete! 

Where did the past four years go?! The past few weeks have been extremely challenging for me, I really had to dedicate my time towards writing my dissertation instead of blogging. I just cannot believe I have finished university forever! I was lucky enough to have a great university experience, meeting some great friends along the way. 

I studied Public Relations (PR) as it was always a field that I wanted to get into, ever since I was around 13. Sounds cliche, but very true! I thoroughly enjoyed it, although it was very different to what I expected! I certainly didn't expect to cover economics and politics during my first year! Can you imagine me doing politics? Didn't think so!! 

In terms of actual uni life, I feel I have changed quite a lot as a person over the years. During first year, I loved the whole uni life; meeting new people, going out, just about making it in for lectures! I remember being incredibly nervous to meet my flatmates and I certainly had no idea how I was going to cope fending for myself! I remember my mum driving down just to help me and my flatmates with our first wash - hilarious looking back! Thanks mum! Next was 'Leggit' the challenge to travel as far away as possible from uni without paying a single penny, all for charity! We made it to France but it was a seriously testing experience, sleeping on the streets was an experience I won't forget! It is fair to say that I adapted to uni life very quickly, something that I am aware doesn't happen to everyone! 

By second year, it became a little more serious. I realised that the work actually counted for something and I found myself struggling to get the grades I had hoped for. I began staying in more and swapping a few nights out for nights in - something I seemed to adapt too, very quickly. However, my experience was spoilt a little when my uni house developed severe damp and I became quite poorly with chest infections. I was at home quite a lot and the more time I spent at home the less I wanted to go back to uni! Admittedly, I became quite anxious, I am not really sure where it stemmed from, maybe the OCD I had as a teenager caused it to develop. (Something I have not yet discussed on my blog). Anyway, by the end of the year I managed to just get a 2:1 (thankfully)! I feel moving forward I became motivated to work harder and improve as a person. Particularly with confidence, I think because I am quite chatty people assume I am really confident but I am actually not! 

As you know, I was lucky enough to carry out a placement with Walt Disney during third year - an opportunity I will be forever grateful for! I have to say, I enjoyed every minute of it. Although it was very busy and sometimes stressful, I got to meet some amazing people and got to work on some fantastic films. It was during that year that I met my boyfriend, something which I didn't realise at the time would change my final year experience! 

Upon returning back to uni for my final year, I became a different person. My friends and I swapped nights out for nights in, something I loved. I am a sucker for a night in with my pjs on, it actually became a joke amongst my friends that I practically lived in my white dressing gown! I feel there is such a stereotype that you have to go out every night but I think it is important to mention, it really isn't the be all and end all.  I found it important to concentrate on my work, after all I hadn't come that far to not get my degree! When I wasn't devoting my time to work, I enjoyed spending time with my friends and my boyfriend. I also became far less concerned with what others thought of me, a big achievement for me, especially in comparison to second year. 

I definitely had a few hurdles along the way and times where I really wanted to drop out and stay home, but I am SO glad I stuck it out. I am looking forward to the next chapter in my life, dedicating all my time to my blog! Something I have wanted to do for ages and now I finally have the time! 

Facts about my uni experience: 

- I avoided uni at all costs if it was raining (drama queen)!

- I survived final year without a single all-nighter..(a big achievement)! 

- I worked as a club promoter in my first year - a job that SO many students do! 

- I had to get my flatmates to help me change my bedding - did I really just admit that?

- I was too afraid to start my blog until my placement year as I was too scared about what people would think! 

- Napping is SERIOUSLY underrated. 

Things I learnt along the way:

- I can actually cook things other than pasta! 

- I am surprisingly good at budgeting! 

- Networking is key. 

- Don't be afraid to ask for help - especially when it comes to assignments. 

- You cannot beat home comforts!

- There is always someone worse off in life (cliche, but very, very true)!

Thanks for reading!

Lauren-Faye x