September 29, 2016

Things to do Thursday: Top 10 London

Hey guys,

So this list isn't really in a specific order. I didn't really have a favorite thing in London. I just absolutely fell in love with the entire city! It was such a beautiful place to visit and I definitely can not wait to go back. 

Also, I totally ran out of time to edit together a photo like I did for my top 10 things to do in Paris post so that is something that I will have to get back to when we move into our house and my sister is able to get her desktop set up again. 

Things to do Thursday: Top 10 London
1) London Bridge

So even though I am afraid of heights this was such an amazing experience! You get to walk over the bridge (there are a couple of glass/see-through sections) from side to side. You start at one end and end at the other. It was a little scary to walk over the glass but I did it and we got some pretty good pictures! The scary part is that you can’t really tell if you are standing over the water or the actual bridge and if the glass to were break, I’m not sure which would be worse haha.

2) The Eye

So again, yes I am afraid of heights but I totally made myself go on this because not going on it was not an option. To be honest, it wasn’t really that bad. I even looked down a couple of times but not for very long, it did totally freak me out a little. I think being lock inside a giant bubble is what really helped. Plus the thing moves so slowly that you can barely feel it. The worst part for me was when we made it to the top. You can see everything, including how high up you are and you can’t see any of the pods next to you anymore. Also, going down was a lot worse than going up. However, even if you are afraid of heights, I think you should still make yourself go on this because it’s so beautiful being able to see the city! We went in the evening/night, which was gorgeous because it was still daylight when we got on, then the sun set and then it was nighttime and all of the buildings were lit up.

3) Westminster Abbey

Obviously, we had to visit the famous Westminster Abbey where William and Kate got married, along with several other royal families over the years. The building it absolutely gorgeous but to be honest, it does get a little boring walking around looking at a bunch of crypts located throughout the building. However, it is still a must see on my list and I would totally go back if I had the chance.

4) Buckingham Palace

This place absolutely gorgeous and so different compared to visiting the White House in America. You can barely even see the White House from where you have to stand whereas with Buckingham Palace you can go right up to the gate that is in front of the palace. And people hangout there and line up and down the entire gate. It can be very challenging trying to get in there to actually the palace. My recommendation is to go across the street to the monument, go up the steps, and you can take much better pictures with the whole palace in the background. It can be very challenging to get the whole palace in one of your pictures if you are standing right up next to the gate.

I also imagined the palace to be much larger. It was pretty big, way bigger than my house haha. But apart of me felt like Biltmore Estates is way bigger than Buckingham Palace, which is kind of strange because a Queen lives there and not just a really wealthy family haha. Also, if you have never been to Biltmore Estates in Asheville, North Carolina, it is a total must see in the US! It is absolutely beautiful and the property it’s located on is insane. There’s actually a hotel you can stay at on the property.

5)  Big Ben

So this isn’t really something that we did while on our trip but we definitely saw it a couple of times. However, we never actually really came that close to the building. You can see it when standing outside of Westminster Abbey and then you can also see while riding the London Eye. Also, in case you didn’t know Big Ben is actually the clock inside and not the actual tower itself.

6) Tower of London

This was such a fun experience because once you enter; it’s basically like a mini village inside. This is also where the Crown Jewels are kept! So you get to go into one of the buildings and see items such as rings, crowns, scepters, and other royal family items. They also have other mini museums inside other buildings such as items that were used by the military or gifts that have been given to them by other countries. If you are really interested in the history of England and the royal families then this is a definite must see!

7) Kensington Palace

I absolutely loved this palace! It was probably my favorite out of all of the palaces and castles that we saw. It told a love story inside about Victoria and Albert who were two members of the royal family. This palace also featured clothing items that had been worn by female royal members throughout decades and possibly even centuries (I don’t really remember how old all of the items were). One of the other great things about this palace is that it is located inside of the parks in London. Can you imagine having a palace inside of the parks you visited every single day?! I was amazed and I totally wish we had a palace in one our local parks haha.

8) Victoria and Albert Museum

This was my favorite museum and the reason why is because it was the fashion museum! They had a whole section set up just for clothes throughout the ages and it was absolutely wonderful getting to see all of that! One of the items that they had on display was a Juicy Couture tracksuit, which I thought was really funny because I have owned a few Juicy tracksuits in my life and this museum had them on display haha!

9) Notting Hill

I loved walking around Notting Hill! The entire neighborhood was absolutely gorgeous! Almost all of the buildings are insanely expensive and I think it would be fabulous to stay in one of the houses in Notting Hill someday. I loved the colors that people had painted the outside of their houses and how most of them had little gates in the front with a little porch area or front garden section. Each person had decorated a little differently. Some of the houses had balconies and others did not.

10) St. Paul’s Cathedral

So this is where Princess Di got married to Charles. This church was pretty large and all three of us agreed that we preferred this church to Westminster Abbey. The architecture was just beautiful and I also prefer the way the exterior looked. Westminster is very similar to Notre Dame. This church wasn’t even really on our list until we got to London and we were like “okay, we have to see as much as we possibly can!” We definitely don’t regret visiting this church except we did end up having a hard time trying to get back to the other side of London.

Bonus: I highly recommend riding around on one of the cities double-decker buses. And no I don’t mean one of the tourist buses; I mean the red ones that are all over the city. I love how this is the public transportation that they get to use! It’s crazy and adorable and I would ride public transportation everywhere if my city had red double-decker buses (and looked like London haha!).  It’s definitely an experience to try and climb the stairs to the top while the bus is driving and even harder trying to climb them on your way down so you don’t miss your stop.

Thanks for stopping by!
Feel free to leave a comment or share this with your friends!

XO, Steph

September 28, 2016

Top 5 Favorite Drugstore Mascaras

Hey guys,

Here is my top 5 favorite drugstore mascaras! As you can see from the list below, I have the tendency to select Maybelline mascaras. They are my favorite and I don't think that they have really created a bad mascara so far. I have tried other brands such as L'oreal and Revlon and in my opinion none of them really compare. I am really picky about the brush and Maybelline tends to make great brush that is either thick and full with fibers or short and full with rubber bristles. I also really like Covergirl mascaras but Maybelline is definitely my favorite.

None of these are really in a specific order mostly because 

Top 5 Favorite Drugstore Mascaras

1) MAYBELLINE Volum' Express The Mega Plush Mascara

This is probably my favorite mascara that can be purchased at the drugstore. I love the brush and I love the formula of the mascara. It's not too liquidy and it's not too dry. It's just right and you can add multiple coats with it looking too clumpy.
Top 5 Favorite Drugstore Mascaras



2) MAYBELLINE Pumped Up! Colossal Volum'Express

This is very similar to the one above. The brush is really large and the formula is great which is why it made it second on the list. In my opinion, the bigger the lashes, the better. I prefer to make sure that my lashes look like I'm wearing false eyelashes haha. Like I've said before lashes are my favorite part of my makeup routine! 
Top 5 Favorite Drugstore Mascaras



3) COVERGIRL LashBlast Volume Mascara

This is probably my favorite Covergirl. They have multiple variations of this mascara but this one is the original and probably my favorite. However, I do recommend that you try each version because they are each specifically designed to do something different. For example, this one is to give your lashes volume.


Top 5 Favorite Drugstore Mascaras

4) MAYBELLINE Volum' Express The Falsies Mascara

I like this mascara because of the brush. I really enjoy when companies create a brush that is curved but still a little thick. It makes it a lot easier to get each and every single lash because our lashes are curved and not straight across like most of the brushes.


Top 5 Favorite Drugstore Mascaras




So at first I did not like this mascara at all. It was way too wet for me and I personally prefer a mascara that has a little more thick consistency. But after I used it a couple of times, the more it dried up became and it became such a great mascara. I also love the brush on this one because it so big and round. I believe that the bristles are plasticy rather than fibers but the main reason I love them is because they are long. Normally when a mascara wand is made up of plastic or rubber the bristles tend to be short like the Covergirl LashBlast mascara.

Thanks for stopping by!
Feel free to leave a comment or share this with your friends!
XO, Steph