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Monday, September 28, 2015

Turkey | Butterfly Valley | Kelebekler Vadisi

 Butterfly Valley

 Butterfly Valley

 Butterfly Valley

 Butterfly Valley

 Butterfly Valley

 Butterfly Valley

 Butterfly Valley

 Butterfly Valley

 Butterfly Valley

 Butterfly Valley

 Butterfly Valley

 Butterfly Valley

 Butterfly Valley Beach

 Butterfly Valley


What Butterfly Valley is absolutely stunning. Actual paradise. There is a campsite and a hippy commune and the whole atmosphere is so so chill. There are locals with a traditional tea house with hens running loose and butterflies lazily fluttering everywhere. It is only accessible by boat (unless you hike down a cliff from a remote village) and is the perfect day or overnight trip if you are holidaying in nearby Olu Deniz or Fethiye. We went as early as we could in the morning and immediately went for a hike up the valley to see the waterfall. The long afternoon was spent lounging by the sea with the scent of grilling chicken and fish wafting over from the restaurant built up onto the cliff. The water is very clear and the beach is largely unspoilt by loud, brash tourists. It's the perfect getaway from the hustle and bustle of Turkish tourist resorts. Definite The Beach vibes, sans Leo. 

Getting There There is a taxi boat that goes from Olu Deniz beach several times a day, the last boat back is at about 5:30pm so it might be worth staying overnight in Butterfly Valley if you want to hike, snorkel and relax too. There is stiff competition for the boats, but there is only one real taxi boat. officially the tickets are sold a the hut/stand closest to it on the beach that also sells other trips and tours. Honestly, it's easiest to buy it from them because although you can do it through other tour operators it's a hassle and you might end up with the captain telling you your ticket isn't real. The taxi boat ticket covers entry to the valley path too but if you've taken another boat you will have to pay £2 to enter to a little old man who sits guarding the entrance. 

Cost The boat from Olu Deniz is about £3 each for a return, there's a little bar on the beach and a restaurant with fresh fish so allow about £10 pp for a veritable feast. There are sun loungers for hire but the beach is perfectly good too- although if you're not a fan of gritty pebbles you should wear something sturdier than sandals. 

Tip Take a lot of water with you and some waterproof shoes. The hike involves a bit of wading at points and the waterfall area can be really slippery. Don't forget your camera, the valley is highly instagrammable. 

xo
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Wednesday, September 23, 2015

#BLFW | Bloggers Fashion Week | The Bloggers Hangout | OXO2 London


I was lucky enough to attend Bloggers Fashion Week at the OXO2 venue the other week and was so glad to meet up with Vanisha again. I attended the evening session and arrived just as it started, which  meant there was plenty of opportunity to talk to the brands showcasing their products. 

Walking over Blackfrairs Bridge, I got the most amazing view of the river and the OXO Tower. The event itself was organised by The Bloggers Hangout to fit in line with London Fashion Week.
They organised two catwalk shows and a big selection of brands for the event. 

There were two rooms; the main room, which held the showcasing brands and the catwalk area and a Gifting Lounge, in which brands spoke further in depth about their products and gave you the chance to sample their products.  








Amongst the brands were some amazing gems, including fashion, beauty, home and skincare products. 
Little Ondine nail polishes were one of the highlights for me. I love discovering new products and as a massive collector and hoarder of nail polishes, these little bottles of vegan heaven really sparked my interest. Being completely water based, they are easily removable, simply by peeling them off. With high pigment, one coat is all that's needed to get a thick opaque colour. Their range is vast, with pastels, colour pop and glitters, even a bottle with real flakes of silver and gold.
There was a collection of jewellery brands also, with rose-gold pieces ready for AW15.
I got so easily distracted by the Maison Ves candle stand, that I missed both catwalk shows! If you know me you'll know how full my flat is with candles, of all colours, sizes and scents! These amazing white blocks of beauty really caught my eye, and my nostrils. With a collection of scents, all packaged in a beauty multi-use jar, Maison Ves have used trendy hashtags to help define their scents and make special gifts for loved ones; fiancees, best friends, wives etc. 
Another brand that caught my eye was Magnitone, a brand which I was already familiar with after seeing they products in a number of stores. With four different exfoliating brush heads, the Magnitone is able to deeply cleanse and purify your skin. I've been after one of these devices for so long! 
Valmont was the final brand I went to see, with an array of perfumes and skincare products, I stood talking to their representatives for around an hour! Finding out they were based in Morges, Switzerland was the talking point as Kirsty lived there for a few years and I Au Paired there for a summer 4 years ago, so knew I'd seen the brand somewhere before! Their scents from their sister brand IL PROFVMO had a mix of very floral, flowery, musky and woody scents and Valmont skincare was so smooth and non-oily. I can't wait to try out the samples they gifted us!
There were a huge amount of amazing brands there also, including Kleem Organics, Knomi, Type the Hype, Great Lengths, Cure, Miglio and many others. I promise to do a separate post on all the brands I spoke to!
Did you go to BLFW? What was your favourite brand?
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Monday, September 21, 2015

Paris | Château de Versailles | Palace of Versailles

palace of versailles

palace of versailles hall of mirrors

Versailles marie-antionettes estate

palace of versailles

palace of versailles

What Beautiful palace and gardens not far from Paris, the former home of the infamous Louis VI and Marie Antoinette. Opulent interiors and luxurious gardens, its quintessential pre-revolution France at its finest. Go for the day and sit by the lake with a picnic or rent a boat before exploring the palaces. 

Getting There My closest station for the RER C (overground train) was St Michel-Notre Dame but it completely depends on where you are in Paris. Head to Versailles Rive Gauche, its a walkable distance to the Palace and shouldn't take more than 15minutes max. Prepare to wait that long in the ticket/security queues at least. There is another station in Versailles that will get you back to Paris which is a sort of walkable distance from the Palace (As I learnt the hard way) but i'd avoid it. If you have a Navigo pass it will cover you to the zone you need but if you're using single use T+ tickets you'll have to get a separate one for the train. 

Cost Tickets are about €15 but that will only get you into the main palace, gardens are free but the trianon palace and marie-antionette's estate are extra. plus you'll want more to treat yourself to some macarons from the on-site Laduree. Over the winter, its free admission for everyone on the first Sunday each month. Bear in mind that over the winter a lot of the garden statues will be covered so you won't see it in all its' glory. Free admission for all EU citizens under 26 too. It is worth paying extra for a guided audio tour because you'll get more out of your visit if you learn about the palace's history. Ticket details are here

Tip Allow a little extra in the budget for hiring a golf cart, the parkland is bigger than it looks and it will take hours to walk around. Don't expect to see everything in one day, it will take several visits to see everything properly, and if you rush you won't be able to take it all in! Don't miss the hall of mirrors (Galerie des Glaces) and try and make your visit coincide with a special show with the fountains. 
xo
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Tuesday, September 15, 2015

#DMBloggerParty | Dirty Martini | Hanover Sq.

After the #BloggersFestival last week, we started walking towards Oxford Street with Pao and Angela but decided that it was way too far and with all our heavy bags, so we used our codes uberJasTM and Kirstyt66 to hail an UBER taxi to Hanover Square where Dirty Martini is. @LDNMeetup had organised a party at the bar with around 50 bloggers, we were really keen to meet even more bloggers and well.. we really wanted a drink after our long day! 
We still had about an hour to kill so we went on an adventure to find somewhere to shop, What else would you expect us to do!? We headed to Fenwicks, mainly as it was the first shop we saw, but also because it had MAC and it's very close to Dirty Martini.  Of course, Kirsty couldn't help herself but purchase a MAC lipstick on a whim (she went for Twig). After a failed attempt to get my EE Powerbar swapped for a charged one on Oxford Street, we headed to the venue early in the hopes we can sit and have a rest and recharge before people started to arrive. 



People didn't really start turning up until about 7:30-8:00, so we had the booths to ourselves and were given a complimentary welcome glass of Prosecco. We were just glad to be off our feet! We were very well looked after by the staff,  and the lovely bar staff even charged my phone for me.
We arrived during happy hour which meant most of the martinis on the menu were luckily half price. [Angela went for the Chocolate Martini, Pao for the Passion Fruit, Kirsty for the Chilli and Mango (& Strawberry and pepper), and I went for the French Martini.. Chambord is my fave!] They were all really nice, just the right amount of spirit and we ordered a plate of chips with delicious aioli for some sustenance.
When more people started arriving, the barman came over to offer the chance to make our own martini.. having done two masterclasses at Vodka Revolution in York, I was eager to give it a try. Although when it came to my turn, as he didn't let me use measures, my Sour Cherry Martini ended up being not very nice and overly strong.. I tried one that another blogger had ordered and they couldn't have been more different- I definitely need to start practicing. Someone buy me a Boston Glass please to use with my cocktail shaker!
By the time the event started to pick up, we were ready to call it a night as we all had  quite a distance to travel home and were just so tired as this was our third event that day! But thank you @LDNMeetup for organising it, we had a lot of fun getting to know Pao and Angela more, Love you girls!
Did you go to the #DMBloggersParty? What is your favourite Martini?
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Monday, September 14, 2015

Paris | Place de la Concorde

Place de la Concorde

Place de la Concorde

Place de la Concorde

Place de la Concorde Eiffel Tower

What : It's not very exciting in itself, but the Place de la Concorde is a very busy junction in Paris that is surrounded by interesting things, come here for clear views of the Champs-Élysées through to the Arc de Triomphe. In Winter there is a huge ferris wheel and food stalls and heading up the Champs-Élysées the huge christmas market with vin chaud and warm crepes.  It's right next to the river too if you fancy a stroll along the Seine. Right next to the place is the Jardin des Tuileries with hundreds of chairs scattered around the ponds to while away the time. The height of the ferris wheel will improve an already-decent view of the Eiffel Tower but mind the heavy traffic when trying to get the perfect shot. The myth that the Arc de Triomphe roundabout is the most dangerous is just that, a myth. The majority of accidents happen here at the place de la Concorde. 

Getting There: Concorde metro station line one. 

Cost: Nothing! although there are always ice cream sellers/marrons chaud roasting/rickshaws waiting if money is burning a hole in your pocket. 

Tip: Musée de L'Orangerie is just inside the Jardin des Tuileries and is a must see. Expats who are looking for a taste of home, head to WH Smiths to stock up on polos and Heat magazine. 

xo
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Sunday, September 13, 2015

Homemade Body Scrub with All in Packaging*

All in Packaging body scrub homemade containers frosted glass
There's nothing quite like a good body scrub to prolong a summer tan and keep skin from looking dull and grey. I often rustle up one of my own to change things up a bit from the usual Soap&Glory/&OtherStories etc that I use. It's so straightforward, all you need is a nice oil, a scrubber like sugar or salt and a container to keep it in. Scents and extras are optional so this is an ideal solution if you have very sensitive skin or allergies. These are a couple of my go-to recipes:

Fresh and Minty
olive oil
sea salt
granulated sugar
mint essential oil

Nutty and Floral
dried rose petals
rose essence
coarse sea salt
hazelnut oil
Sweet Vanilla Coconut
coconut oil
brown sugar
vanilla bean paste
It's just a matter of mixing the ingredients all together and decanting them into your chosen receptacle- et voilà, scrub!  Equal parts oil to salt/sugar works best for me but it depends on your ideal consistency. These recipes are completely customisable and the beauty of making something yourself at home is that you can pick and choose exactly what you add. 
We use the jars from all in packaging, they are very affordable and there are so many to choose from. 

 If you try these out at home don't forget to tweet us your final product @soeursdeluxe
xo
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Saturday, September 12, 2015

#BloggersLunch | Pizza Express


Last Saturday we both attended the #BloggersFestival. Having attended these type of events without each other in the past, we know how nerve-racking it can be when you don't know anyone else. We decided to combat this by teaming up with Holly from The Holly Days blog and inviting bloggers to come to lunch at Victoria Street's Pizza Express with us beforehand so that at least they'd know someone before the event. From talking to bloggers on twitter, we found the lunch idea to be quite popular and in the end had about 25 girls all eager to meet up with other bloggers to chat and scoff pizza 2 hours before the festival we were all going to. 
We set up a Twitter DM group too which got the girls chatting before we even met anyone, so we already knew we'd get on with everyone! 
We were so glad so many lovely girls wanted to come for lunch, so we made everyone a pink and gold white chocolate gift (to fit our blog colour scheme obviously!) and made origami boxes to present them in, they were super cute and delicious! 
We had two long tables, each with about 11/12 bloggers seated, this did mean we didn't get to talk to the other tables much, but some people moved around. We continued to chat on the DM whilst we ate and started talking about events we'd been to and what we were expecting from the festival. We were sat talking to Pao Loves Fashion, The Life of Vanisha, Wots Her Name Again and Lynsey Emily. Definitely check out their blogs, they're all lovely ladies. Don't forget to also check out Chocolate and Lipstick, she's a babe! 

Once the drinks were flowing and the pizza arrived everyone went silent as we were all too busy stuffing our faces! 
We managed to get a set menu in place for everyone so 2 courses came to £11.95, pretty good deal really! 
After handing them out as well as white chocolate and glitter dipped strawberries we began to leave Pizza Express and head towards Conrad London where the festival was held not but a 3 minute walk away!


We had so much fun at the lunch and can honestly say we've made some firm friends! We now call our DM group The Sassy Bloggers and continue to chat and share ideas!
Do you want to come to an event like this? We're planning a #BloggersXmas! Let us know if you'd like to come!
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