Life Lately #4

I finish exams tomorrow. Literally cannot wait. The fact that the beaut sunshine of last week has disappeared is sort of helping right now as every hour of the day is spent in the library but after tomorrow it can definitely come back. Please? The one thing that's quite fun about revising is the breaks; I live for them. Maybe 'fun' isn't quite the right term!! But seeing as pretty much everyone else in my life right now has finished, the breaks to be had are quite fun! Here's a little insight into my week:

The revision snacks getting me through- the M&S that is 2 minutes from my house is getting a ridiculous number of visits right now! And if you haven't tried it their chocolate cheesecake in the food to go section is delish!!

The highlight of my day last week: the sun came out and the roofs of the buses came off! Actually pretty scary though - look at how insubstantial those railings are!!

Bare legs and sunshine.

Summery nails - I know, overexcited about the sunshine but it really did make me happy!

Gorgeous night at Bohemia with the girlies before everyone heads home for summer.

And the incredible bundle of perfumes given to us by Morgan as she packed up her room - I mean, not wanting to use bottles of Boss and Chanel?! They have been firmly added to my perfume collection!

Revision break and catch ups with Robyn. Library break turned into a jug of Pimms but I'm pretty sure it actually helped my revision. Promise!

Views from the boys house party at the weekend. Just reconfirmed how much I cannot wait to move to London this time next year.

And obviously with the amount of time I've been sat in the library over the last few days my eBay addiction has reached whole new levels. I bought this little baby for a wedding I'm off to at the end of the month. Fingers crossed its nice as should be arriving today!

Procrastination and nail painting. Love this shade by Barry M.

'OOFD'. Made in Chelsea chill out time.  I haven't worn a nice outfit in weeks. Serious withdrawal!!

And the best break of all was a trip for macaroons with the boy. So so good! 

My week is summed up with the incredible news that Isabel Marant is producing a collection for H&M. I'm booking my place in the queue for November 14th now!! I love her style and chic designs and just wish that I could stretch the student budget to afford them. The collaboration is the perfect compromise and I will most certainly be setting some of my student budget aside!

Finally, if you're in London on Saturday pop down to Spitalfields as The Designers Makers guild are hosting a market deficated to British designers. Saima Majid will be selling the gorgeous new summer collection there, and there will be over 40 other independent designers selling a range of gorgeous products. Check out the website for more info or search them on Twitter!

Macaroons & Afternoon Tea

My one bit of chill out time over the last couple of weeks was at the end of last week when Sarah, one of my closest friends from school (I can't quite believe I left 4 years ago!!) came down to Brighton for a couple of days. She'd never been before so we spend Friday, in the rain, typically, wandering around the delights of Brighton. This mainly involved eating. And drinking. But mainly lots of eating! The day coincided with my housemates birthday which gave us even more of an excuse for sugary treats if ever we needed one!! Sarah reminded me that it was only a couple of years ago that she ate so many sweets that she made herself physically sick... I don't ever want to have to properly grow up!

After a potter around the vintage shops and a necessary trawl of Primark, we headed to top chef Julien Plumart's newest venture, Boutique et Salon de The in Duke Street. On the ground floor is what can only be described as a macaroon showroom - heaven! The multi-coloured display of macaroons is incredibly inviting and your faced with some difficult choices - salted caramel, vanilla, triple chocolate, raspberry, the list goes on! We decided to head upstairs to make the flavour decisions to a very minimal space, dominated by two huge glass chandeliers and delicate fresh flowers on every table.

The macaroons lived up to their expectations and the vanilla was definitely top of my list. Real vanilla pods and sumptuous ganache. Signs around the room in both French and English suggest that 'savouring a macaroon is like eating a whole cake by yourself whilst sitting on a cloud' and I would be the first to agree!!

Next, we decided that one lot of delicious sugary treats simply wasn't enough and headed out for afternoon tea for Yasmin's birthday. After walking past it on numerous occasions we decided to try the Blackbird Tearoom, also on Duke Street. Described as 'the best tearoom in Brighton' it wasn't hard to see why: quaint, traditional yet with a little twist on modern and great service from the waitresses, the tearoom was perfect for the occasion. 

Sarah and I decided to share a savoury and a sweet scone and both were delicious - onion marmalade, cheese and cress followed by thick clotted cream and raspberry jam. So delicious! 

Camilla went for the asparagus and poached egg, Yasmin the speciality Bluebird cake and Morgan and Helen couldn't resist the cream teas. Everything was gorgeously presented on vintage china and so reasonably priced there is simply no option but to go back soon for seconds!!

We ended our Brighton day of food and drink with some celebratory bubbly and a visit to the Mesmerist for swing night, where the birthday girl danced the night away and we all spend some time chatting and catching up, relishing the much needed break from revision and essays!

Macaroons, slot machines & far too many seagulls!

After a week of being in bed with flu, Saturday was a sunny day and my housemate Helen and I decided that we needed to get out and enjoy it. Brighton really is at its best when the sun shines!

We began by trekking up the hill to Kemp Town, a bohemian part of Brighton, filled with boutique cafes, quaint pubs and more charity shops than you can imagine! Right at the top of the bigbigbig hill is one of my favourite cafes, the Real Patisserie and Bakery. There are three branches of the patisserie, but the Kemp Town one is by far my favourite, tucked away at the top of St George's Road, with a single long wooden table in the middle of the shop; perfect for breakfast. We went for the macaroons. £1 each and incredible. I think I'm quite the macaroon connoisseur (basically I'm a bit obsessed!) and these really are good. 

Macaroons, and other yummy goodies. I'm gonna admit that I couldn't resist the last piece of sundried tomato, pesto, pine nut and roasted red onion pizza - amazing!

Helen had never had a macaroon before so after 21 years I decided it was time to change that and I think that she was convinced!! It was such a gorgeous day that we decided to take out our goodies and wander down to the seafront. We walked past the gorgeous town houses and the best balcony - imagine having breakfast with a view of the sea everyday. I would be out there wrapped in blankets, no matter what the weather I think!

We wandered along the promenade, considering how much nicer the beach is when it's not covered in half naked tourists but contemplated that we really should make more of an effort to somehow end up by the volleyball courts whenever possible to watch the beautiful boys playing. Brown, beautiful boys has to be one of the best bits of summer, and perks of living by the beach no?! 

Somehow, we ended up on the pier, playing with the slot machines. I completely regressed back to being ten years old and on cold English beaches with my parents for winter weekends away and loved every minute of it! Managing to resist the bucking bronco and rides was a challenge but somehow we managed to stay vaguely classy but we just about managed it and headed home to walk up in bed until the heating came on! The perfect way to spend a sunny Saturday.