HOTEL REVIEW; THE LINQ HOTEL & CASINO, LAS VEGAS.

If you're planning a vacation to Las Vegas, prepare to be overwhelmed with the choice of hotels the Vegas Strip has to offer. The hotels are all so unique, their designs', themes' and of course the cost to stay there. Vegas is a holiday where I don't see anyone really staying in the hotel room for a lot of the trip, It's more somewhere to just wash and sleep. This is a factor to consider when choosing a hotel. I'd already been to Vegas once before, last year and I stayed at the Venetian. It's an absolutely breathtaking hotel, Italian themed and super classy but does comes at a high price. So today I'm going to share with you my thoughts on a slightly more budget friendly hotel, The Linq.

The Linq is a Caesars Entertainment owned, 2640 room hotel and casino. It's situated in the centre of the strip, between Harrahs and Flamingo and directly opposite Caesars Palace. Its a short 2 minute walk from the Harrahs Monorail Station which can take you directly right down to MGM Grand or the opposite way towards the Stratosphere. If you don't mind walking then its only a short 15 minute stroll to the Bellagio Fountains and Paris Eiffel Tower. We had a 3 day monorail pass so we made good use of that, but when it expired we ended up walking a lot, as far as the Luxor and Tropicana. The monorail and bus is always there if you're not a big fan of walking, especially in the heat, but with plenty of ice cold drinks its 100% doable, the trick is more to walk through the hotels rather than outside on the sidewalk.

The hotel is super modern and clean, there is free Wifi throughout and plenty to offer. The pool is for
21 & overs only so if you're travelling with children, you may want to consider staying somewhere else otherwise the alternative would be paying to use another hotels pool. It's definitely more of a party pool with the music being super loud and can get very crowded at times but overall we both really liked the pool area. We were lucky enough to get upgraded before we'd even checked in, so we were pleased to find a King room with a Strip View had been added to our booking on arrival. The room featured a king size bed, large flat screen tv, modern bathroom with a huge shower and of course a great view. The only downside to our room was the fact that we had several bars on the strip directly below our window who blasted their music until gone 2am every night. Other than that we both loved the room and the hotel in general. Excuse the mess in the room photos, of course I had to take them whilst we were getting ready to check out! (the last photo was the view from our room, try to ignore the dirty window!).

We decided to book our holiday through Thomas Cook, after choosing to fly from Manchester, they turned out to be the least expensive company. We booked it as a package holiday, flights and hotel and then received a discount for booking it in-store rather than online. We booked ours at the branch in Bluewater and they were all really helpful in there. We'd both never flown with Thomas Cook before but overall had a great experience both flying there and on return and are already considering them for our next US trip. Both flights were on time, we actually landed into Vegas half an hour early which was great. We had a lovely representative greet us at the airport, who gave us a pack with all their information in it incase we needed anything. We then decided to give the Lyft app a try rather than paying $30+ for a regular taxi to the hotel. We ended up paying only $12 and were so impressed with the service and how well it worked, we ended up using it again at the end of the trip back to the airport.

Overall we had a great week's stay here and would stay there again without a doubt and would recommend it for sure. I don't think we'll be going back to Vegas for a couple of years now as we've got so many other places on our list to visit next. If you're looking for a more affordable company that still provides great service for a package holiday then have a browse on Thomas Cook's website.
The Linq was a great hotel choice, its modern, clean and in a perfect location for everything. It's right next to The Linq Prominade with the High Roller Observation Wheel and tons of restaurants and bars. Will it be the hotel for your next Vegas trip? I'd love to know if you've stayed there or any other Vegas Strip hotel and your thoughts! x

The Power Of Makeup; Nikkie Tutorials & Too Faced.

I recently picked up the new Power Of Makeup Collection by Nikkie Tutorials and Too Faced whilst shopping in Vegas. I was immediately drawn the purple shade 'Wham Bam' and knew I had to create a look with it. I'm going to show you step by step how I created the eye look I'm wearing above, I love the way that it turned out. I always start off by priming my eyes from lid to brow bone using a light concealer and setting it with translucent powder. 

I started off by blending the shade Painkiller into the crease. This is the perfect warm transition shade for starting off any eye look. Lightly dust this through the crease for definition and blend so there are no harsh lines. I can definitely see myself hitting pan on this shade first.

To deepen the crease even more, lightly add the shade Makeup & Chill. Blend this onto the Outer V to elongate the eyes. Continue to blend this shade into the crease until you reached your desired effect, depending on how light or dark you want the crease to be. Once more blend away any harsh lines to create a softer look. 

Apply a thin layer of a light concealer over the lid, below the crease, once more and set it with translucent powder. Appy the shade Wham Bam with a flat shader brush directly over it, all over the entire lid. Take your blending brush and blend through the crease once more to bring the look together. 

Apply the shade Mystic Hour to the outer corner and blend into the crease. This shade is stunning, a beautiful blue/green with silver reflects through it. This looks gorgeous when blended into the purple,  just for an extra bit of demension to the eye. 

Apply the shade Ivy to the brow bone and inner corners for a highlighted effect. I left mine liner free, but this look would look stunning with a winged liner as well. Apply a generous coat of mascara to your lashes, I used Benefit's Roller Lash. You can add false lashes if you want a more dramatic fuller lash effect. I added a pair of NYX Wicked lashes in the style Vixen, these are stunning! 

Sweep the shade Wham Bam along the lower lash liner from the outer corner to about halfway in. Deepen up the outer corner with Makeup & Chill and blend out to soften the edges.

And that is it! I hope you liked this look, I'll defintely be creating more looks using the palette soon as I love it! I usually stick to my neutral eyes so it was fun to play around with a bit of colour for a change. 

Vegas September 2016.

I recently got back from an amazing 10 days in Las Vegas. I thought I'd share my highlights of the trip and where I stayed. I left on the 5th of September of got back home on the 16th. We flew from Heathrow Terminal 3, with British Airways. Our flight was slightly delayed going out and the food choices weren't amazing on board. 10 hours later we landed, got in a taxi and headed for our hotel. I got to Vegas around 4pm, by this point the time difference had kicked in and I was finding it so hard to stay awake, being 8 hours behind UK time.

I stayed at The Venetian Hotel on the Las Vegas Strip. The Venetian is an all suite, Italian themed hotel and casino. I can honestly say it was the most beautiful hotel I've ever stayed in. I had a Luxury Suite with the most comfortable king size bed I've ever slept in. The room was gorgeous, it was split onto two levels. The bathroom and bed area on one and a living room on the other. I didn't have a gamble in the casino, even though I'm 21 I don't really look it, so even my presence near the machines would attract the security guards. I loved the pool, I went for a swim and sunbathe almost everyday, but in that heat its hard to stay out there very long. There are around 20 restaurants in the Venetian, with a few that are run by Celebrity Chefs. I absoloutly loved Carlo's Bakery, everything that I tried from there was delicious, especially the cookies. We also ate in his restaurant opposite, Buddy V's Ristorante, which I wasn't as impressed with but the food was still nice (my meal is the photo below, Chicken Parm). There are so many gorgeous hotels to choose from but The Venetian was a great pick. I also really loved the Wynn Hotel next door. Such an elegant, beautiful hotel. I loved Ceasars Palace, Mandalay Bay, New York New York (at the top) and also Planet Hollywood.

On my second night there, I went to see Britney Spears' Piece Of Me show at the Axis Theatre in the Planet Hollywood Hotel. Britney is someone I've admired and looked up too since I was really young and I couldn't miss out on the experiene of seeing her perform in Vegas. The show was amazing, she performed classic hits such as Hit Me Baby and Oops I did It again, as well more recent tracks such as Make Me and Do You Wanna Come Over. My favourite had to have been Toxic. I was able to get a program, tshirt and cup before the show as well, so I was happy. The seats were amazing too, I was so close to the stage, with nobody in front to block the view. I bought my tickets off of Stubhub and got an excellent price. She was amazing and I'll definitely see her again whenever shes next in performing in London. My tweet also got onto the screen whilst waiting for her to come on!

I also really enjoyed the trip to the Stratosphere. We chose the wrong day to walk down there as it boiling outside but the views from the top were so worth it. I didn't go on any of the scary rides at the top nor did I do the SkyJump (I wanted too but I was too scared!) but we went to the top, had a drink and enjoyed the views of the strip and the mountains. If you don't like heights maybe give this one a miss as it was over 1000 feet tall, but there are two observation areas, one being outside and one inside. Thankfully we ended up getting the monorail back, which came in really handy in that heat so you're not walking everywhere. Speaking of heights, we also went for a slow ride on the High Roller, this is situated at the end of the Linq Promenade and is bigger than the London Eye. If you don't get a chance to go to the Stratosphere then this is a great alternative for an amazing view of Vegas.

I'm so happy we got to visit the Gold & Silver Pawn Shop, situated in more downtown Vegas. Obviously the famous pawn shop from the show Pawn Stars. My dad was really excited to go here as well. We went in and had a look around everything in there, the jewellery selection was amazing. If you watch the show you'll know of Mark Hall-Patton, who is always on there for the more historical items. He was in the store that day and I was luckily enough to get a photo with him and an autograph. He was honestly such a lovely, down to earth guy who I had such a pleasure talking too. We then bought a selection of merchandise, a couple fridge magnets, postcard and I think my dad got some socks with Chumlee from the show on them. Please excuse my sunburn in the last photo, I got so burnt walking around Vegas!

We heard from someone else about the Titantic Artifact Exhibition in the Luxor Hotel, and it sounded really interesting so we bought some tickets and went to that. The Luxor is right down the other end of the strip so we got the monorail there again. When you enter the Exhibition you're given a 'boarding card', with the name of an actual passenger who was on the Titantic. It tells you their age, where they were from, where they were travelling to and why, who they were with and what class they were staying in onboard. You're not allowed to take any photos or videos inside so I don't have any to share. There was tons of remains from onboard inside, displaying the different items they'd use in each class and examples of their cabins. The personal artifacts displayed were sad to look at, there were displays peoples toiletry bags, shoes, jewellery and much more. The whole place had a really eerie feel to it, I felt really sad walking around, you could even hear the fake engines and the fake sea as you were walking around. When you get to the end of the exhibit, there is a memorial wall displaying the names of everyone on board and which class they were in, divided into who survived and who didn't. The lady I had was travelling to New York with her 2 sons to meet her husband. She was staying in a 3rd class cabin and unfortunatly didn't survive. It was a really sad experience but I'm glad I went too it, definitely check this out if you ever go to Vegas.

Another show we went to, not once but twice, was The Beatles LOVE By Cirque Du Soleil. My dad is a huge Beatles fan and loves this show. It was my first time seeing it and I can tell you now, my eyes were glued to the stage the entire time. It is a beautiful display of dancing and acrobatics to all the classic Beatles tunes. The show is situated in the Mirage Hotel, opposite the Venetian. You unfortunately weren't allowed to take any videos or photography inside the theatre but there some sneaky videos on YouTube of clips from the show. I really enjoyed this show and its something I'd highly recommend and would see again tomorrow.

The highlight of my trip was very unexpected and unplanned. We was on one of those Big Bus tours, driving down the strip when we drove past the new T-Mobile Arena, behind the New York New York Hotel. The tour guide on the bus showed us the arena and said 'Thats where Drake and Future are playing tonight'. I literally froze in my seat, looked at my mum and knew I had to go. The rest of this bus trip felt like forever, everytime we pulled into a hotel, I'd log into their wifi and look for tickets! Finally we got back to our hotel and in the room where I found a ticket and was over the moon that was I was going to see DRAKE! I've loved his music for years now, Future I actually do like too so I was so excited. I had an amazing seat in the middle tier facing the stage, I didn't even care that I was by myself. I walked down to the venue, queued up and bought two Summer Sixteen Tour shirts and then went inside. The show was the best night of my life so far. He was amazing, the atmosphere was incredible, I can't describe it. I was so happy.

Overall it was an amazing trip and I couldn't recommend Vegas enough if you've never been. I can't wait to go back again the future. The Venetian was a lovely hotel to stay in, and I was sad to leave. Our flight home was awful, I can honestly say I'll never fly with British Airways again. Let me know if you've been to Vegas, what you thought of it. I watched tons of Youtubers Vlogs and read so many reviews before we went, I really wanted to see everything. One Youtuber I adore, 'Miss Budget Beauty' has a selection of vlogs on her second channel, from her two trips to Vegas as well as an amazing Podcast! Defintely do your research before you go! Thats it from me, hope you enjoyed x

Las Vegas Beauty Haul!

I recently got back from an amazing 10 days in Las Vegas and of course spent far too much money in Sephora. I picked up quite a few things, some I've had on my wish list for a while and some are just things that caught my eye in the store. There were so many Sephora's, I had one right outside my hotel, it was hard not to shop! I had an amazing time in Vegas, I saw Britney and DRAKE, yes drake, I 'fangirled' so hard. There will be a post all about my trip coming soon. So today lets talk about all of the makeup that I bought!

The first thing that I saw when I walked into Sephora was a beautiful stand displaying the Nikkie Tutorials Power Of Makeup Collection by Too Faced. I didn't think twice, I just picked it up! I've actually had a chance to play around with this set a few times now, and I do love it. For $56 you get the palette itself with 9 shadows, 2 blush colours, a bronzer and highlight. You also get a mini purple Better Than Sex Mascara, a mini Shadow Insurance, a full size Sketch Marker liner in Black and a Glamour Dust Pigment. It's 100% worth the money, and I suggest you get one before they're all gone.

The second product I grabbed was the Anastasia Liquid Lipstick in the shade 'American Doll'. A beautiful true red. I love the formula of these liquid lipsticks and definitely want to collect them all. Also from Anastasia I picked up my first Glow Kit! I was so excited when I saw it, as I thought they were only sold online. I chose the Sun Dipped Glow kit, which has four stunning highlight shades, that are so pigmented.

I then had to grab the Tarte 'Tartelette In Bloom' eyeshadow palette. Beautiful shades with excellent pigmentation, that smell like chocolate, what more could you ask for? As well as that I was also dying to get my hands on Urban Decay's Moondust Palette so I picked that up as well. I'm obsessed with the fun, glittery shades. So happy to have it in my collection finally. I then saw the new Moondust Liquid Shadows and swatched them all on my hand. It was so hard to choose just two to get because I wanted them all! I ended up going with the shades Zap, a deep gold and Solstice, a red/pink/green duochrome.

Ok so my hands were getting quite full by this point, but I also grabbed the Too Faced Born This Way Concealer in the shade Fair. I've used this a couple times since and I love it. Such a lovely texture, easy to blend out and amazing coverage. I even convinced my mum to buy one for herself. I also bought another Better Than Sex Mascara as we all know it's my absolute favourite. Well, It was, I actually finally bought Benefits Roller Lash and now that is my favourite. It gives so much length and curl, I was amazed when I first tried it, like why had I not tried this sooner.

I repurchased the amazing Champagne Pop by Becca. My last one smashed and I was fed up of using it broken so I thought I'd buy it again and be extra careful. I also bought one of their Champagne Splits with the shades Prosecco Pop and Pamplemousse Blush. I'm in love with this duo! Such stunning shades. I also picked up one of the Cover FX Custom Enhancer Drops in the shade Moonlight. This is second lightest shade, after the shade Celestial. These are absolutely stunning and I couldn't believe my eyes when I was swatching them on my hand. They're gorgeous mixed in with foundation or by itself as a bold highlight. Put it this way, I need them all.

I finally caved and bought the  Laura Mercier Translucent loose Power. Everyone raves about how amazing it is and I just had to see what all the fuss was about! From those adorable little minis that they keep by the tills, I got a small Urban Decay All Nighter, A Mini Better Than Sex Mascara and Two mini Dior Lash Enhancers.

So that is everything that I bought whilst in Las Vegas. I really hope you enjoyed this makeup haul, I'm really happy with everything that I got. xx

Whats In My Carry On For A Long Haul Fight.

Hello my lovelies, I hope you're all doing well and having a great week. I'm going away tomorrow and whilst preparing my carry on luggage, I thought I'd also share it with you all on here. Now I tend to take a different variety and amount of items and products depending on if I'm flying short or long haul. This time around I am travelling long haul to Las Vegas, so its around an 11 hour flight from London Heathrow. So keep on reading to find out what I'll be taking on the plane with me! 

The bag I will be using is my everyday handbag from Michael Korrs. Even though I constantly complain about my arm acheing or my bag being too heavy, I'm really not a rucksack girl so I grin and bare it. I love this bag, I bought in their sale at the store in Westfield a few years ago and its still going strong today. Its handy also as I can just empty it out in my hotel room and then use it as my daily hangbag, saves me bringing two bags. 

I'm going to start with beauty and skincare products then move onto entertainment and miscellaneous items. I always bring an average sized makeup bag with me on the plane, I love this one from Victorias Secret. Depending on the length and time of the flight, and how I'm feeling that morning, sometimes I'll wear a tiny amount of makeup and others my usual full face. I like to bring a selection of my everyday products so towards the end of the flight I can apply them or touch up what I'm already wearing. My flight is around midday, so I'll have to be up at around 7 to leave for the airport at 8, so chances are I'll have a 'no makeup makeup' look on that day. I'll also bring the majority of my makeup brushes in this bag, the rest will go in my toiletry bag in my suitcase.

Some of my esscentials include my Tangle Teezer hairbrush, My Johnsons makeup wipes (the purple kind) and my absolute favourite deodorant, which is the Sure Maximum Protection. I always pick up the pink one (The dove version is also amazing). I usually bring one bottle of perfume, I try not to choose one thats too heavy as I sometimes buy one in duty free as well. I've gone with Lady Million this time. I've also got my sunglasses, they're nothing expensive, just a simple rose gold pair I bought in duty free last year. I also always carry a packet of Wet Ones, which are antibacterial wipes, just in case we need them for anything. I've packed my large clip as well just in case I want to put my hair up during the flight if I'm applying makeup or washing my face. 

Of course I'll have my phone, I have the iPhone 6S Plus in Rose Gold, along with my Apple earphones, as I listen to a lot of music on long flights. I also bring along my standard charger and a portable charger incase my battery dies out faster than I'd like it too. This one I bought off of Amazon for less than £10 and it will charge my phone to full battery life 4 times. I've decided not to bring my laptop this time as my Macbook Pro really weighs down my bag. I've got my Michael Korrs wallet (in the monogram style), with all my cards and travel money inside and of course my passport. I'm someone who is always too afraid to put any valuables in my hold luggage in case it gets lost, so I'll be carrying my Canon 700D camera with me as well, I obviously can't include that in the photos as I'm using it to take them!

I always have a bottle of water and a selection of snacks and sweets. I'm someone who gets dehydrated really quickly on long flights, one mistake I always make is not eating or drinking enough on the plane and then feeling really sick. I absolutely despise plane food, I hate the smell of it and always decline it and bring my own snacks. I try and pick out things I know I'm going to eat and then of course have a selection of sweets and gum. I usually have a big breakfast at the airport before boarding and then head to Boots or Whsmith to buy some crisps, fruit or other small snacks. I've already got some Extra gum and my favourite, Werthers Orginals toffees (they'll be gone within the first hour I bet).

For entertainment purposes, of course I'll be listening to music and playing games on my phone. I've been searching the app store like crazy for new games to play! However, I'm also bringing a book with me, as I do actually really enjoy reading. I recently ordered Youtuber Channon Rose's book, The Story Of Channon Rose. It had amazing reviews and she's someone that I love watching so I thought I'd give this a read on the plane or poolside. I'll probably grab a couple of magazines at the airport too!

I hope you enjoy this post. I always feel like I'm missing something after I'm packed so hopefully It's all there! I'm really into packing and holiday related videos and blog posts myself, the neat freak within me loves to pack! Let me know what you're hand luggage essentials are or where you're travelling too this year! xx ♡