WHAT I WORE IN NEW YORK

Hello everyone,

This post doesn't need much of an introduction as the title pretty much speaks for itself. I was lucky enough to visit New York in July which has been a dream of mine for such a long time and it definitely lived up to the expectations. The weather was very hot & humid so my aim with my outfits was to try to be as cool & comfortable as possible.

Dungaree Dress - Primark

Off the Shoulder White Top - Primark

Shoes - Vans

Black Bodysuit - Zara

Leopard Print Shorts - Stradivarious 

Shoes - Vans

Hat - Adidas

Sunglasses - Ray Ban

Dress - Zara

Sunglasses - Ray Ban

Black Top - Primark

Shorts - Stradivarius

Bag - H&M

Shoes - Vans

I absolutely love the shorts from Stradivarius, they're so light, comfortable and flattering. I don't often feel comfortable wearing shorts but these were absolutely perfect. I also can't praise Primark enough for all the basic tops they've provided me with this summer.

Follow me on 21buttons to keep up to date with all my outfits > anastasiyavarvel

Anastasiya X 

OUTFIT OF THE NIGHT - Evening Florals

Hello everybody,

I recently headed out to my works summer party. I was scrolling endlessly trying to find an outfit and finally placed an order on ASOS. I ordered three outfits, all of them I actually loved but unfortunately, the bank balance only allowed me to keep the one. I think this dress is perfect for literally any occasion - party, wedding, the races & I dare say you could probably dress it down with some trainers. I love the material, it doesn't crease at all & also doesn't cling to the body which I very much appreciate. I think the detail around the shoulders is also really nice and makes it stand out. 

ASOS DESIGN high neck skater mini dress in floral print

I paired the dress with a pair of white heels and a white clutch bag to keep it simple. If this pattern isn't for you, it also comes in a peachy tone. 

I've recently really got into 21buttons so if you want to keep up to date with my outfits, you can follow me on there - my username is anastasiyavarvel.

Anastasiya X

Travel With Me: Dubai

Welcome back to another Travel With Me post!

This time I will be talking through our recent trip to Dubai and as usual, I will be discussing our travel arrangements, the hotel and the places we visited. Me and my boyfriend flew to Dubai for a week from 17th March - 24th March 2018. I was a little bit nervous about going as I wasn't sure what to expect with the culture especially after reading a few things online about a dress code. However, I was pleasantly surprised and the only time I had to cover my knees/shoulders was at the Dubai Mall. We had the best time and Dubai is definitely a place that I would like to return to.

Travel Arrangements 

We found that the most cost efficient way was to book our flights and hotel separately. We booked our flights through Sky Scanner and hotel through Expedia - both websites we have used before and haven't had any issues with. Our flights were with Emirates and we flew from Heathrow, our flight was at around 9am so we travelled down the night before and stayed in an Airbnb which was only about a 10/15 minute drive from the terminal in the morning. We were really pleased with the place that we stayed and we were able to leave our car on the side of the road for free which was a bonus.

It was our first time flying with Emirates but we both had high expectations and we weren't disappointed. There was a lot of choice of entertainment so there was no chance of getting bored. We were fed twice - breakfast and lunch on the way there and lunch and afternoon tea on the way back. All of the food was absolutely delicious and the cabin crew came round a lot to make sure that we always had a drink in hand. I would definitely recommend Emirates for a flight to Dubai.

Five Places to Eat in Norwich

Welcome back

Everyone that knows me knows that I am a masssiiiive foodie so really, I think this post is a little overdue. Over the last few years, I have tried to steer away from chain restaurants and started eating in local restaurants. I generally feel like the food is better and so is the experience, there's nothing like a personal touch on food. In this post, I will be talking about five food places that you should definitely try if you're in the Norwich area.

Benedicts 

We went to Benedicts last year for a Valentines day meal and I'm not going to lie, this is a bit of a pricey one but I think it's worth it if you've got an occasion such as an anniversary or a birthday. Our coats were taken on arrival and we had a really nice seat by the window, perfect if you love people watching as much as me. It's quite a small restaurant so I would recommend booking if you're interested. We went for three courses, as far as I remember there was a set price for the 3 courses although I believe you can have up to 8! In between our courses we were also brought small appetizer such as crisps and canapés. I always think this is such a nice extra. Sometimes in high end restaurants, you can get quite small portions especially for the price but I felt like the portions were the perfect size. Overall, I really enjoyed the atmosphere and the food was delicious. I definitely think you get what you pay for with Benedicts.
I would recommend: Gressingham Duck and Nanny Bush's Trifle.

Outfit Of The Day - Slogan Sweater

Hello

Just sharing one of my favourite outfits at the moment. I feel like slogan jumpers have been very popular and this one is one of the cutest I've come across. These type of jumpers can often be quite unflattering on me but this one fits perfectly. It's the right type of baggy and so damn warm. What else would you look for in your winter sweater? This goes so well with jeans and trainers for those days where you just wanna be cosy.

Honey Sweater - Nasty Gal

Jacket - Primark

Jeans - Topshop Joni

Trainers - Nike Huarache

Anastasiya

X

Going Dairy Free

Hello,

This is a bit of a different post but this has been a big change in my life and I wanted to share my honest account of going dairy free. I have complete cut out dairy products from my diet since September. I know what you're thinking, what possible possessed me to cut out cheese? I thought the same at first. However, it's definitely been a positive change in my many ways and I'm writing this to be share my experience.

Why did you decide to go dairy free?
There are several reasons, the main one being the uncomfortable feeling I felt after eating. My stomach never felt settled after any type of meal, even if I had what I felt was a healthy meal my stomach would still hurt and I was always bloated. I also wanted to lose weight but no diets seemed to be working despite the fact I was eating healthy and going to the gym regularly. Because of those reasons, I did an intolerance test and found out that I was intolerant to milk, this was when I decided that I need to cut dairy out of my diet.

Jumper Season is here!

HELLO!

It's finally getting to one of my favourite times of year, I can't believe how excited I am to be able to wear cosy jumpers again. I have picked up some new jumpers recently in preparation for the colder weather and the aim of this post is to share my these with you. This A/W I'm all about the baggy jumpers, the chunky knits and the side slits.

Long Sleeve Sweater - Bershka

Black Denim Jacket - Bershka

Jeans - Topshop Jamie 

Trainers - Adidas Superstars

Travel With Me: Pisa, Florence & Rome

Welcome to another travel post! 

I have recently returned from a two week trip in Europe which consisted of a week in Italy and a second week relaxing by the beach in Greece. I wanted to talk about the first week in Italy where we visited Pisa, Florence and Rome in the space of 8 days. I wanted to share this part of the trip in particular as I felt that we spent the right amount of time in each city. I will include information about our travelling arrangements between the cities, favourite landmarks & of course, food and drink places.

Pisa - 1.5 days

When we did our research on Pisa, we read that the average time needed to explore the area is 0.5 days so we knew that there may not be much to do there. We travelled to Pisa on a Saturday and as we had an afternoon flight, we travelled from Norwich to Stansted on the train which I always find quite easy and also pretty cheap as we all know, airport parking isn't exactly a bargain. We arrived in Pisa at around 5pm and were at our Airbnb by around 6pm. We went for dinner at a restaurant very local to apartment but didn't do much exploring until the next day. 

OUTFIT FAVES: JUNE & JULY

Hello everyone

I want this to be about the pictures so I will keep this introduction short and sweet. Here is a post about the outfits I have been loving recently. All of these outfits have been purchased within the last month and all the details will be included below. It's a mixture of evening and day time outfits, 3 out of 4 can be styled for both times of the day. PS. you might see a theme, I have clearly spent a lot of time in Topshop.

OUTFIT 1-  RED, WHITE AND BLACK

Top - Nobody's Child @ Topshop

Joni Jeans - Topshop (because what other black jeans even exist?)

Clutch Bag - Topshop

Shoes - Birkenstock Madrid 1 Bar Mule (from Office)

I actually wore this outfit for my birthday dinner - casual but cute!

Travel With Me: Nice & Monaco

Happy Sunday everybody,

This time last week I was exploring the beautiful streets of Nice and today I'm writing a blog post all about it for you all to enjoy.

We went on a short break to Nice last week (4 days, 3 nights) and had such an amazing time, it's definitely a place that I would recommend to everybody to visit. I know you're probably thinking, South of France? that's got to be pretty expensive BUT quite surprisingly, we managed to do it for a really good price and I'll be spilling all of the details so you can also bag yourself a bargain!

OTTD: Red Stripes & Drawstring Trousers

Good afternoon,

I hope you have all been enjoying the sunshine. I have decided to do an Outfit of The Day post today as I have been on a bit of a shopping spree recently and have gained some real statement pieces to my wardrobe. I'll be telling you where my outfit is from and why I love it so much.

REVIEW: Giorgio Armani Luminous Silk Foundation

Good evening everybody, this post (as I'm sure you guessed by the title) is a review of the Giorgio Armani Luminous Silk Foundation. I have been lusting after this foundation for a long, long time and finally took the plunge and decided to buy it. As much as I would like to be telling you about how much I love this foundation, especially when I spent £40 on it, I am just really not all that impressed.
Below I will outline my main points of disappointment with this product.

FACE OF THE DAY: Modern Renaissance Palette

Good afternoon,

I hope you are all having a lovely Sunday.

I have created yet another look using the Modern Renaissance Palette which I will be sharing on this post. It was very easy, quick and simple and as the shadows are so lovely to blend it was very painless. I think that this look that I created today can be worn during the day and you could add a little bit of eyeliner and some fake eyelashes for the night time version.

FIRST IMPRESSIONS: Anastasia Beverly Hills Modern Renaissance Palette

Hello guys,

Much like everybody else I have been lusting after the Anastasia Beverly Hills Modern Renaissance Palette. A couple of weeks back I decided to give into temptation and buy the product. I bought it from Cult Beauty and after a very speedy delivery I was desperate to try out the palette. In this post I will be sharing my first impressions of the product and also letting you know how you can recreate my really easy yet very effective look.

The palette is full of gorgeous pinks and oranges and also some stunning glittery shades which are all unbelievably pigmented. The colours are also really easy to blend together to create that perfect finished look. For my first try of the palette I opted for an orangey look which will be detailed below.

TV SHOWS THAT YOU NEED IN YOUR LIFE

Hello and Happy New Year! I hope that you're all having a fabulous start to 2017.

I am a massive binger on TV shows and I have literally watched so many that I am finding it hard to find things that I haven't watched. I am writing this post today in the hopes that I can recommend some new things for you to watch especially if you're one of those people like me who thinks they have watched everything. So here's a list of my favourite TV shows that I could not stop watching.

Berlin - Where to Eat?

Good afternoon,

I believe that food is one very important part of the trip after all, a happy tummy is a happy me. If you’re anything like me, I like to pre-plan where we’re going to eat before leaving the hotel otherwise we could be looking for hours. This is exactly what we did in Berlin and every meal was utterly delicious. I discovered most of these places by doing a little bit of research on Instagram as we all know it is full of great food pics.

SPREEGOLD

This is the first place we went on our stay for a lunch and it was right near the Alexanderplatz area. The place was very busy so it did take a while to get our food but it was totally worth it. Me and my boyfriend both ordered an omelette. This was made of five eggs, chicken, bacon and avocado. All these ingredients sat on top of the omelette base to form a delicious dish. Although I was very full very quickly I really did enjoy this dish. They do a lot of different egg dishes and burgers etc. and it all seems relatively healthy so I would definitely recommend this.

COCONUT LANE - SASS & MARBLE HEAVEN!

Good Evening,

Christmas is just round the corner (37 DAYS) and I've got the perfect place for you to get some cute Christmas gifts and it's COCONUT LANE. I have recently bought a couple of things from there and I'm so in love with them so thought I would share them with you. There are so many more things that I want to purchase both for myself and as gifts and I will also be sharing these bits. PSSSST... there may be a discount code if you read all the way to the end.

                   Luxe Marble Blush Case               Rose Gold Marble Macbook Skin

First Impressions: NYX Matte Soft Lip Cream

Hello and welcome back to my blog,

In this post I am going to be discussing a product that I only came across recently and one that I have absolutely grown to love and that is the NYX Matte Soft Matte Lip Cream in the shade Abu Dhabi. This is the first but definitely not the last NYX product that I have tried and for the price of £5.50 it is an absolute bargain.

REVIEW: Estée Lauder Double Wear Foundation - is it worth the switch?

I know the obsession surrounding this Estée Lauder foundation is nothing new but for me, it has taken a long time and consideration to make the switch mainly because it is quite pricey (£30). I wanted a new foundation because quite frankly I was falling out of love with my go-to foundation (MAC Studio Fix Fluid), I found that it was quite thick and matte and I wanted a lighter foundation for summer. The lady who sold me the foundation actually told me that they get a lot of customers coming over from MAC.

Firstly, I absolutely loved the process of being tested for the foundation. You simply walk over to the counter and instead of the sales assistant guessing your shade, they use a machine which immediately identifies your skin colour and matches it to the colour of the foundation. So since purchasing the foundation around three weeks ago, I have worn it every day and been very happy with the results. Here are my three favourite things about it. 

1. Smooth and Natural Glow That Lasts All Day

My previous foundation gave me a matte look and I didn't feel like this was natural at all. I was really looking for a foundation that did not make the fact I was wearing foundation obvious and I believe that this foundation really achieves this. It really does give a smooth and natural glow to the skin. Whats more, the foundation is long lasting and last the whole day and I am sure it will last the full 15 hours like advertised.

2. Easy to Apply 

The foundation itself is really easy to apply and you really don't need a lot. It's got a really nice texture which just sinks into the skin and is very easy to blend. The lady in the shop told me specifically to use a foundation brush with this bristles instead of stippling brush and I have found that this is a good way to blend the foundation in efficiently. The only bad thing is that it doesn't come with pump (and they don't sell one either) which means that sometimes I end up pouring out too much product. However, I do think you can get hold of a pump off eBay for a few pounds.

3. The Perfect Match with Good Coverage

Because you are colour matched in store, the foundation just blends with your skin perfectly. I have no more worries about looking too orange! The foundation is also full coverage but like I said previously, it does not look thick on the skin but looks natural. Therefore, you get the full coverage without looking like you're wearing lots of product!

I hope you enjoyed reading this review and let me know your experiences with this foundation and other Estée Lauder products because I really want to try some more.

PS. I realised I haven't posted in quite some time, I have no excuses for this aside from the usual final year university work stress. The good news is that I finish in 22 days and from then on, I plan to dedicate a lot more time to my blog and improving its content.

Anastasiya X

What I Got For Christmas 2015

HELLO AND HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!

I hope you have all enjoyed your festive period and ate lots of lovely things and received lots of amazing gifts and most importantly, spent lots of quality time with your loved ones. In this post, I'm going to be showing you some of the things I got for Christmas this year. I have absolutely loved seeing what everybody has got and I really wanted to do a post about my own gifts because I know it will be a nice thing to look back on. PS. I'm sorry it's a little late but at least that means I have used some of the products and I'm able to give you a small review!