Jamie's Italian, St Paul's | Food

Turns out I don't actually need to go all the way to Florence to get yummy Italian food, I'll come back immediately! I'm joking of course, but I did want to say that this food at Jamie's Italian was delicious. 

My old work pal was invited to check out the new restaurant at St Paul's which is just around the corner from my previous office, he thought it would be a great idea to turn it into a team lunch and well I'll use any excuse to have a glass of prosecco at lunch! I know there are a lot of mixed reviews about Jamie's Italian restaurant, like I get it, if you go to Italy the food will always be better, I get it but you know what I like food and I'm not pretentious, I'll always give it a go. I've never been to and Jamie's restaurants before but I will say that I was pleasantly surprised. I do have to say that the staff was amazing, our waiter was the sweetest little guy always make sure we were OK, offering his opinion on the food we picked out, very accommodating. 

The choice on the menu was vast! Everything from burgers, to steak, to pasta to Italian nachos, which i think is really great.There was 7 of us so obviously people are going to want different things and I must admit as I was looking around what everyone else had I would have been happy to have any of those, apart from risotto, can't stand the stuff. But let's talk about what I chose, which was the Penne Carbonara. I love a carbonara, the creamier the better really and I do prefer penne pasta to tagliatelle or spaghetti just because it's less messy. I would say that portion size was a pretty good size perhaps fractionally too large for my lunch but I wouldn't have it any other way. When it came to the table I did look and think that there wasn't as much sauce as I expected. However, once I stuck my fork into it I realised that all the sauce and chunks of pancetta was underneath the first little layer of penne. The sauce was spiced perfectly, it had a peppery kick to it. The little flakes of bacon on the top was incredibly fine and crispy, very delicate. Overall, I think it was pretty damned tasty. We had a discount on the food but personally, I think even at full price it would have still been well worth it. 

Have you been to a Jamies Italian restaurant?

Kiko Pencil Lip Gloss | Beauty

It's a beauty isn't it? Now, what I'm going to say may shock you but it's ok because I assume you're sitting down when reading this and if you're not then you should because it's dangerous to walk and read at the same time, but I have never tried any Kiko products and never before have I even wanted to. I know, how dare I even call myself a beauty blogger. 

Again, I was aimlessly wandering and stumbled across this massive Kiko store, it was so busy but I thought as I'm out I may as well have a look. It was beautiful, everything was laid out so clearly and considering there were so many people store wasn't a mess at all. As it looked so high end I thought, oh geez how much does this stuff cost...I was stunned to realise that some of these products we be considered budget make up. This Kiko Pencil Lip Gloss cost just €3.90, just €3.90 that is nothing considering the quality. I was a little overwhelmed but I though just focus on what I could do with instead of just purchasing everything within arms reach. So my readers will know that I love a nude (we're talking strictly makeup you pervs) Always nude on the lips, I will sometimes venture down the pinky red road but not very often, I like all the drama on my eyes not my lips. I saw this little gem and gave it a quick swatch, it doesn't have a name but it's number 08. As soon as a swatched it I noticed that it had a very soft buttery texture, but wasn't sticky like lipgloss. Me and lip gloss don't get on, my hair is often down and with even a slight breeze it's just chaos. But a Pencil Lip Gloss is something I can work with. 

I'd say because it is nude you would have to reapply as often as you would with anything else, it's not matte so it wears quite easily but for me that isn't really a problem. I found it didn't leave my lips feeling too sticky and it almost reminded me a little of the NARS lip pencils because they also have the lipstick texture but in pencil form, however Kiko is a fraction of the cost. I have found myself reaching for this pencil literally everyday, it goes with everything and I'd say this particular shade is a perfect nude match for me. I'm definitely going to check out Kiko for foundation to see whether they have a nice pale shade for me. 

What Kiko products do you love? 

The Christmas Post | Lifestyle

And then it was all over. 

As you're reading this you're probably nursing a Christmas hangover, let's face it you've probably eaten too much, drank too much and never want to see tinsel again...that is until next year. This Christmas has been really different for me because I didn't go back home. Which meant that I stayed in the flat in Florence by myself, but you know it what, it was fine I celebrated in a very low key style and spoke with my family for the majority of the day. Of course, I would have loved to go home for Christmas but with a new job and everything I wouldn't have been able to stay for very long, not only that but my mother was actually working on Christmas day. Like so many hospital staff, they were working on Christmas day to make sure your loved ones were ok, we should be more grateful for that. 

I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas and spent it with all the people you love and if you couldn't spend it with them, I hope you at least managed to speak to them on the day as well.

xx

Konnubio, Florence | Food

I'm a bit sorry for the picture quality in this post, sometimes the lighting just isn't my friend and there isn't a massive amount I can do about it. Today I'm going to introduce you to a restaurant which at first glance you wouldn't necessarily associate with Italian cuisine but the second after you taste it, you just know. The restaurant is called Konnubio, it's very interesting because not only do they do a range of meats and fishes they also have a variety of vegan options and do offer even gluten free foods as well which I found incredibly impressive. The thing that melted my heart a little was actually that they had an English version of the menu, sometimes it's just nice to see words that are familiar. 

The restaurant was actually an old converted leather shop, Florence is known very well for it's leather but I thought that was a little interesting fact about the restaurant. I must admit when I was looking at the prices I though that they were a little steep for just a main course but I wasn't even expecting it to arrive as it did. At first I was really torn between having the Lamb or the Calf Cheek but because I've never hard calf cheek before I went with that option. The cornmeal mush was interesting, again it was something I've never hard before and cornmeal is basically like a flour that is made from dried maize, it was a looser texture than standard mashed potatoes but was very appealing anyway. We all ordered a side dishes of just roasted potatoes which you can see in the picture. We didn't order starters but still kinda got one anyway, as with most restaurants they provided us with bread and there was a wide variety of different breads and tiny little buns, I particularly liked these tiny little rolls that had raisin in them, but the bread itself wasn't sweet. Then we each were given these tiny little bread balls which you can see pictured. Well I had no idea what to expect, I mean I didn't even now whether it would be warm or not, but when I cut into it with my knife there was like a meat paste inside, bloody delicious which was also infused with herbs. I still have no idea what it actually was. 

When my main arrived I couldn't wait to tuck in, as you can see it was beautifully presented. The calf cheek was probably the most tender meat I have ever eaten in my life, you barely even needed a knife to cut it because it literally fell apart. The cornmeal mush was a nice accompaniment to the meat but I wouldn't say it tasted amazing, it was nice but the real show stopper was the meat of course. As I mentioned I also got a little side dish of potatoes and they were gorgeous, they were roasted with rosemary and had some olive oil over them, really really tasty I pretty much ate the whole dish. Another thing that arrived which you can just about see in the back of the picture was a little square of fried polenta, which melted cheese on top something I wasn't expecting at all to come with my dish. That was pretty tasty but the cheese was very strong, I couldn't eat it all. 

The evening was then finished off in a very traditionally Italian way by each of us having a little shot of limoncello, delicious. We split the bill 6 ways and it only came to 30.50 EUR each which I think is bloody fantastic considering we had wine etc. I think if you want to try out something a little different than "stereotypical" Italian food then you should check out Konnubio. 

What is your favourite type cuisine?

Pupa Light Active Foundation | Beauty

Today we are talking about foundation and my hunt to find a good one it Italy! If you have read my latest cream eyshadow post you will know that I have just discovered a brand called Pupa but the beauty store I visited only had a very small range. A couple of weeks ago I was casually wandering around, which is something I do very otfen here now because I don't really know where I am going so I just walk. Anyway, I was walking and all of a sudden I heard Last Christmas by Wham and found myself walking straight into this random shop, and I am so glad I did. Inside was massive and filled with all of these beauty brand there was a lot of high end but there was also brands like L'Oreal I was thrilled. Their Pupa stand was bloody huge and I went straight to the foundation. 

As you guys know, I often wear my Sleek Makeup CC Cream and I adore it however, I am going to run out of it at some stage so I need to find a nice replacement. Already a massive fan of the cream eyeshadows I thought I would have a look at what Pupa has to offer. Firstly, I was thrilled to see they did a really light shade, and I swatched the tester and fell in love! It melted into the skin and left a beautifully matte finish. It cost €20 which I must admit is a little pricey but based on the tester it was wonderful. However just as I was about to walk away I noticed they were selling a Duo kit with concealer for the same price, bloody bargain, so I snapped that up and went on my merry way. 

The next day rolls around and here I am so excited to try it all out on my face when I notice that the concealer is a little dark for my complexion but that's no big deal. I pump out the foundation onto the back of my hand and thought because of the texture of this product I'll use my stippling brush, it's very runny so that will buff everything onto my face fine. The moment I dabbed it onto my face I was over come with the scent, envision a little old lady, it was overpowering to say the least but I thought it's fine I'll carry on. Then I started to notice my face grow more and more orange... After I had finished I looked in the mirror and laughed! How was this possible? I picked up the right shade and everything, I had to wipe it all off! It was awful. I was SO gutted, I loved the little tester but the colour of the tester did not match the shade inside the bottle. The next day I tried to use just a tiny amount over my acne scars and pores to blur them out a bit and then used my cc cream over the top and it was ok but not ideal. The day after I didn't bother using it at all! I'll keep it because who knows maybe when I get a bit of a tan it'll blend a little better but right now, it just wasn't a good match. 

What foundations have disappointed you?