Adventures in Liverpool

This is the first of two posts today – my posts are obviously a little like buses, they take a while but often come all at once. Whoops, bad beginning blogger.

This post is about my little visit to Liverpool this week, basically for the Noel Gallagher concert at the Echo Arena on Thursday night, but once we booked our concert tickets months ago myself, my mum and my aunty decided to make a proper little touristy trip out of it and see a few things whilst in the ‘pool.

Firstly, the amazing weather whilst we were there was such a blessing, literally t-shirt weather and it was lovely to be able to stroll along the water front beside the Albert docks and enjoy a few rays. We stayed in a Holiday Inn Express in Albert Docks, purely for convenience as the Echo Arena is literally facing it, so travelling to the concert was a tiny 2 minute stroll from door to door, so yay for laziness convenience!

Mum looking for willy sculptures at the Tate, View from the hotel room, Yummy dinner!

We arrived on the Thursday and had a quick stroll around the docks and wandered into the Tate Modern, which had a few weird and wonderful things in the sculpture gallery for us to have a nosy at, including pieces by Andy Warhol and Salvador Dali. Weirdly, a lot of the pieces had sexual connotations to them – apparently including part of a tree trunk covered in black rubber, I spent a while scratching my head trying to figure that one out. Whilst I’m immature in certain situations, I’d forgotten just how giggly my mum gets around things like this, can’t take her anywhere!

Salvador Dali's Lobster Telephone, Hans Bellmer's 'The Doll'

For dinner we went to a lovely bar/restaurant in the docks which ran a deal specifically for concert goers which was nice of them, and I quickly devoured a starter of garlic mushrooms with goats cheese and lemon, followed by a chicken and chorizo pasta topped with grilled halloumi, yummyyyyy.

Then of course came Noel himself, who was on top form and sounds every bit as impressive live as he does on his records, would definitely recommend seeing him in concert if you get the chance! There were some crazy characters in the crowd that night, including a guy who’d clearly indulged on the alcohol beforehand and insisted on taunting the poor steward by dancing in the aisles despite being told off several times –made amusing viewing I can tell you. 

View of Albert Docks from the Duckmarine, and the view from the big wheel

The hotel itself was lovely, although unfortunately because of where our mine and mum’s room was it was pretty noisy with people hanging around outside bars and loud music. After a hearty (all you can eat) brekkie we ventured out for a look around and travelled around Liverpool in style – on a yellow duckmarine! 

First it whizzed us around the city centre where a rather animated scouser tour guide pointed out notable spots, including the Liver building, the cathedral and even where the Sherlock Holmes (Robbie Downey Jr version!) set for ‘Baker Street’ was. Then it buzzed us back round to the Albert Docks and took us for a quick sail around there where we hopped back off and went for a spin on the big wheel outside the arena for views of the city, then popped into the new Museum of Liverpool, which genuinely has something to suit everyone’s interested, whether it be Liverpool’s most famous TV/music exports to Liverpool  through the ages and how much it’s changed over the years. After grabbing a quick bite to eat at a little French crepe café, it was time to drive home, and to be honest I was exhausted! But I definitely did love me some Liverpool. 

Review: Revlon ColorStay Foundation

My latest purchase is something I’m very pleased with indeed, and, fingers crossed that I’m not speaking too soon, but I think I may have finally found a foundation to suit my somewhat strange skin! My skin can be what you’d call ‘difficult’, red and blotchy with large and noticeable pores, can get very oily around the t-zone/forehead area, very light in skin tone and to top it all off, often prone to quite large, angry looking spots that I’ve previously found very hard to cover.

Having given up on the hunt for my ‘perfect foundation’, for the past six months or so I’ve been using Bourjois’ Healthy Mix Foundation (which, by the way, does have it’s perks and I particularly liked the slight glow it gave my skin). However, I was nearing the end of my second or third bottle of the stuff, and after growing tired of my make up just sliding off and having a seriously oily forehead within a few hours of application, I decided it was time to return to my unfinished mission and find something much more suitable for my skin type!

I started looking online for foundations specifically for oily skin, as especially with some of the (albeit very rare this year!) slightly sweatier days during the summer my skin has been particularly greasy and shiny. I came across a few options, and I whittled it down to either Benefit’s ‘Hello Flawless’ foundation, which boasted an oil free formula for a ‘natural finish’ and cost around £25, No7’s Beautifully Matte foundation which claimed to balance oil production and keep you shine free for 12 hours and costs around £13.50, or finally, Revlon’s ColorStay Foundation for combination/oily skin which apparently lasts for a whole 24 hours, costing around £12.50.

I did my research on each and I found that the most reviewed in the blogosphere was definitely the Revlon ColorStay, which was raved about repeatedly mainly for it’s staying power. Then I saw Becky’s review (from Milkbubbletea) and her comments about how well hid her pores and prevented oily patches, and I went and picked it up from Superdrug the next day.

The foundation does come in two different types, combination/oily and normal/dry, so kudos to Revlon for tailoring ColourStay to everyone. Although Revlon’s website indicates a large range of shades available, in store at Superdrug (and in Boots) there didn’t seem to be a massive range, and I went for the second lightest in the store, shade number 150 (buff). In terms of presentation I think the glass bottle it comes in makes the product look quite classy and semi-expensive, but the most annoying thing about the bottle is the lack of pump, as it does mean its more difficult to get the right amount of foundation for a single application and ultimately means some product will get wasted. 

In terms of the foundation itself, it has quite a creamy consistency and blends quite well, and I feel it dries much quicker than my previous foundations. I’d the say coverage is fairly heavy, judging on how well it covers my redness and even my spots and under-eye dark circles, but by no means ‘cakey’. Once applied this foundation really will not budge, which is something of a revelation for me, although I can’t vouch for the 24 hour stay claim as I never have my make up on for that long at once. On the whole it lasts all day without really needing any touch ups, and definitely stops my oily forehead problem. I love the natural finish the product gives, and given a few minutes to set I do think my pores are a lot less noticeable too.

Overall, I’m VERY happy with this foundation and will definitely be repurchasing, and at £12.50 it’s far from a bank breaker.

Has anyone else tried this? Or the normal/dry skin version? What do you think?