Monday, 20 March 2023
A pub crawl around Chester, UK
Friday, 17 March 2023
Ringana Skincare | travel set review
Products in this blog post have been sent to me as PR samples; all thoughts are my own.
It's been a good old while since I blogged about skincare, but when I can combine it with my love of travel then I just *have* to share it with you. Today I'm talking all about Ringana and their FRESH travel set in 'rich', which is for people with dry skin like me...
About Ringana
From the brand's website: Ringana products are the result of the optimum interaction of precision, high-tech and nature which we strive every day to perfect. The products are developed at our laboratory in Hartberg by our in-house research team, and are manufactured using state-of-the-art technology on the basis of the latest scientific findings. This allows us to process our high-quality active ingredients naturally and gently, thus producing positive synergy effects. The result: highly complex formulations using plant substances whose effects mutually reinforce each other.
They are a sustainable and science-based skincare company based in Austria, who create small-batch skincare products that are kind to the skin and the environment. And that's what we like to see!
The FRESH travel set
The travel sets contain 12 products, and retail for €71.70 - there are also four different options, which are light, medium, rich, and men. I opted for 'rich' because it's targeted towards people with dry skin, which is an ailment I know all too well... These travel sets come in a handy clear travel bag, which I will absolutely definitely be taking with me on my next trip (to Albania, if you're interested) as we're hand-luggage only.
So what's in the bag? You get the following products in the Ringana FRESH travel set:
✨ cleanser
✨ tonic calm
✨ cream rich
✨ anti wrinkle serum
✨ body milk
✨ foot balm
✨ hand balm
✨ body wash
✨ shampoo
✨ stay fresh
✨ deodorant
✨ tooth oil
The products range between 5ml and 50ml, and basically cover face, body and hair care. Essentially, the Ringana FRESH travel set has pretty much everything you would need to take with you on a trip, in handy sample size perfect for airport security AND for not taking up too much room in your precious luggage.
Ringana Skincare products
So what do I think of the products themselves? It's a mixed bag for me. Everything smells very natural; the products are perfume-free, which is really good for sensitive skin, and they're all pH friendly too! Some stand outs for me include the cleanser, which is so gentle but definitely does a good job of removing make up, and the shampoo which cleans really nicely. The deodorant is also really interesting; rather than being a roll-on or spray, it's an emulsion which you rub into the skin. This again makes it SO good for sensitive skin, and I actually do suffer with eczema under my arms (TMI?) so I really like this.
For me, the hand and foot balms were a bit 'meh' - I found that they were pilling when I used them, turning into tiny balls which just rested on the skin instead of sinking in, and they also felt quite greasy. So these two, I wouldn't recommend. The tooth oil is also pretty strange, but that's probably because I've never used a tooth oil before - but it's certified organic, so if this is something you're looking to replace in your hygeine regime then it could be worth looking into.
You can get sample sizes of some individual products on the site, as well as some combinations of product samples like a box specifically aimed at facial skincare. So for a lot of the products, you can try before you buy!
My overall thoughts
So what do I think of the Ringana Skincare FRESH travel set? It might seem pricey, but the quality of the ingredients and the ethos of the brand are really impressive. Plus you get a fancy travel skincare bag! If you're looking to add products to your beauty stash which are little better for your skin and the environment, then you could do far worse than trying Ringana!
Thursday, 9 March 2023
Hotel Indigo, Chester | Review
Hotel Indigo, Chester - the location
Hotel Indigo, Chester - the room
Hotel Indigo, Chester - food and drink
Dinner at The Forge
Breakfast at the Hotel Indigo, Chester
Saturday, 4 March 2023
8 Recent Reads | March 2023
The Nursery by Sue Watson
The Daughter in Law by Shalini Roland
Better Than The Movies by Lynn Painter
The Girls Are All So Nice Here by Laurie Elizabeth Flynn
If there's one book trope I'm really into it's the "reunion of friends who haven't spoken in X amount of years because of some trauma that happened and now they're getting together to figure out the truth" - and that's exactly what this is. Flicking between then & now, the book follows Ambrosia, a theatre student at an American college who has grown up to work in PR; it's their class' 10 year reunion, and she's been getting some creepy notes and emails in the run up to it. She did something pretty bad to her roommate all those years ago, and as the book goes on we figure out what that is ...with some pretty dark revenge-led consequences! Very big trigger warning for self-harm/suicide in this book.
No Friends of Mine by Vanessa Garbin
This is another reunion story, with bonus points because they're all trapped there - it's set at a beach house in Australia during a storm, 10 years on from a high school leavers' week where two people tragically lost their lives. Our protagonist is Maz, who attends with her on-off boyfriend Lance; when they arrive, everyone is being weird and nobody knows who to trust. What happened that night has never been solved, and there are some people in the group who will do anything to discover the truth... The twists in this one were genuinely really good; my suspicions were on the right track but I could never quite work it out! I'd definitely recommend this one.
Run Away with Me by Daniel Hurst
I've read a lot of Daniel Hurst's books through my Kindle Unlimited subscription, and this wasn't my favourite but it was still genuinely great; it follows a couple who are due to have their first baby any day now, when he gets home confessing to a crime and begging her to run away with him to avoid going to prison. The book flits between both of their POVs, and we soon learn that he actually has an entirely different plan. She does become suspicious, and we get to see how it all pans out. This is a creepy tale of revenge and drama, and I enjoyed it.
A Game of Two Hearts by Iona Kane
Last month I read a fair few sapphic romances, and this was another one; it follows Tess and Rowan, ex team mates at the local rugby club, who always had a weird thing going on and are now, years later, revisiting whatever that was. Tess is recently divorced with two teenage kids, no job, an abusive ex - Rowan is busy looking after her dad, running the family business and trying to keep the rugby club going. They're maybe an unlikely pair, but the love is very real... For a fun, British, wholesome sapphic romance, definitely read this.
The Ideal Man by T J Emerson
I've read a couple of T J Emerson's books before, which is why I gravitated towards this one - I didn't love it, but it was alright. Split between the POV of three different women, all tied to the same man, it's about Sandy who is in prison for raping a bar maid. The three points of view are from his daughter, another of his victims, and also the woman he has been writing to whilst in prison. It's a question of is he guilty, who's going to stand by him, and what really happened that night. I think it was the subject matter that meant I didn't really enjoy it, but the writing/plot was okay!
So, a real mixed bag in terms of genres and whether or not they were actually good - have you read any of these? Let me know!
Tuesday, 28 February 2023
Krakow to Zakopane & Kasprowy Wierch day trip!
On our trip to Krakow last month, we *knew* we wanted to do a day trip to Zakopane - from the photos it looked absolutely beautiful, and we'd read about getting a cable car up a mountain and all that fun stuff. We decided we definitely didn't want to do it on the Saturday, because it would be so busy, so we opted to go on the Thursday.
Getting from Krakow to Zakopane
I booked our coach Krakow to Zakopane day trip tickets through Flixbus, one of my favourite budget-friendly companies to use while travelling. I paid £17 per person for the round-trip tickets, and we travelled from Borek Fałęcki - it took us around 15 minutes to get here from our hotel by tram, although we did stop off for Maccies breakfast en route so more like 45 minutes...
Upon arriving at Borek Fałęcki tram stop, we absolutely could NOT find the bus stop we needed to get to. There was a bus station, but it wasn't there, and we ended up walking round in circles sooooo many times. We were definitely getting a bit stressed, but by a stroke of luck we found it. I have included photos below of what you can see while you're at the bus stop - so you want to be on the 'main' road (Zakopianska) facing the big yellow building, and the bus stop itself has '03' on it. I've also shared what you can see side on, so I hope that makes sense but please drop me a message if you need any advice if you are planning a day trip from Krakow to Zakopane!
The bus arrived and we boarded just before 9am; we arrived in Zakopane just before 11am, so it was pretty much a 2 hour journey. The coach wasn't too busy, and it was really comfortable too. Getting from Krakow to Zakopane was, in the end, pretty easy...
Zakopane: things to do
When we got off the bus we walked through a lovely snowy park, just wandering really. Our main reason for being there was the mountain, but it was nice to see the town too. From the park we walked onto the high street, where we just mooched and took photos and ate potatoes. There were men shovelling snow off high buildings, little kids on school trips, people just shopping and hanging out; it definitely doesn't feel touristy! There was a lovely little bridge at the top of the high street which we wandered over - it wasn't big or anything, but it was cute.
Some things you can do on your day trip from Krakow to Zakopane are:
- The Be Happy Museum (we did this in Krakow and it was fab)
- Muzeum Oscypka (cheese-making museum)
- Aqua Park Zakopane (an indoor water park)
There's a few churches and nice buildings too! It's mostly a ski resort, so there isn't loads, but it's a nice place to spend some time if you want to then explore the mountains. We popped into Subway and bought some sandwiches to take with us, and then made our way to the taxi rank...
Kasprowy Wierch
We asked a driver to take us to Kuznice, and he told us the price before we set off - I'd always recommend this, as it stops you from getting ripped off as a tourist. He drove us as far as cars can get, and it's signposted where you need to go to to board the cable car - it was a 500m walk, which wasn't the easiest in the snow! It doesn't snow year-round here, and the mountain is definitely at its prettiest in the winter in my opinion, but it still looks like it would be nice in the summer. Anyway, we set off and walked through the grounds of Kuznice Manor and Park Complex; this was nice in itself.
We'd booked our cable car tickets online (the morning of) for a specific time and we were there early, but they told us to just join the queue and we could take the next available car - so we did just that. After queuing for around 10-15 minutes we got into a cable car which fits around 60 people; ours was pretty full, including a couple of prams. It might be a bit claustrophobic if you're that way inclined, but it was so worth it! The price for a return cable car ride is 129PLN per person, so roughly £25 each.
The journey isn't particularly long, though you have to swap halfway - it takes around 15 minutes in total and then you're pretty much at the peak of the mountain. Here you'll find a shop, toilets, a cafe/bar and some general information. The views are quite literally breathtaking; you're above the clouds, and it's just snowy mountains as far as the eye can see. It was honestly one of the most magical experiences I've ever had!
You can just walk along the level you're at, or walk an extra ~30ft up to the very very top; we decided we might as well, while we were there, and off we went. There are walking poles you can borrow, and I wish we had done, because it is STEEP and in the snow it's not easy to manouvre yourself up at all; also do not wear Dr Martens for this... It took a while but we made it to the top, and again the views were stunning. Our hair literally froze while we were up here, which we weren't expecting - probably why most people wear hats, to be fair.
After we'd seen the peak and got some photos, avoided some crazy skiiers and took in the view, we headed back down again. I absolutely hated this bit personally; it felt like my legs weren't working whatsoever, and I had visions of them sending a rescue helicopter because I simply couldn't make my way back down to the level where the cable car drops you off. Eventually, after some panicking and tears and a pep talk from my girlfriend, we made it back down - then we settled down on some deckchairs to eat Subway sandwiches with a view. Amazing! It's well worth doing on your trip from Krakow to Zakopane.
Getting back to Zakopane
After we'd had our food and our fill of stunning snowy scenery, we got back in the cable car down to Kuznice. There's a little igloo bar here if you fancy stopping for a drink, but we knew we had a coach to catch so we decided to head straight back to Zakopane. At this point we were a bit concerned because where our taxi had dropped us off wasn't a rank, and we didn't know any local taxi numers, and cars can't get all the way up to the Kuznice grounds anyway. There were men with horses & carts who were charging around £120 to head back down, which we weren't prepared to pay, so we walked back to where our taxi had dropped us in the hope of catching one before they left.
We waited around 10 minutes and nobody was coming, so I downloaded the iTaxi app and wasn't about to book one to come and get us when Kate spotted a little car park around 100 yards down on the left - this was in fact a taxi rank, and there were plenty parked up and ready to take us back to Zakopane to catch our coach back to Krakow!
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The best view on a day trip from Krakow to Zakopane. |
All in all we had an incredible day trip from Krakow to Zakopane; it was one of the best things we did during our trip and one of my favourite travel memories EVER - my girlfriend still cracks up thinking of me trying to get back down the top of the mountain...