If you hadn’t seen all over my Instagram at the time, I went to Budapest a few weeks ago with the lovely sisters known online as @itscherrysue and @stonetravel Corrina is the absolute QUEEN of travel and had gotten this awesome weekend in Budapest for €200 including flights, accommodation and transfers. Not bad at all, right? So, you bet your ass, I jumped in on their little getaway and sure I even managed to fit a little travel vlog in while we were there 🙂
I’ve done a couple of travel vlogs now. There’s one of Brussels here and Malta here. I still find it weird to pull out the camera on people and myself so just be aware of that. There is a lot of musical montage going on 🙂
We stayed in the Burg Hotel. It was pretty old fashioned, but it was clean and super cheap. It was easily accessible too and the view was lovely! As bad hotels go, I would recommend it for sure. We did a city tour bus and got to see a lot of the amazing architecture that way. It also meant we got a free trip on the Danube too, which was absolutely gorgeous and well worth doing.
We ate some super tasty Japanese food the first day we were there. And then we sampled some of the local cuisine before we went home. You can see that in full in the travel vlog. I have to be honest, I wouldn’t say I’m a huge fan of Hungarian cuisine.
We had a pretty chilled weekend to be fair. Had a drink or two, soaked in the views.
And finished things off with a trip to the House Of Terror Museum. If you want to know the history of Budapest, it’s a must! The Baths were on the agenda, but as I explain in the vlog, it just wasn’t meant to be. Next time for sure!
Thanks to the girls for letting me tag along on their trip, I appreciate it no end! Let me know what you think of the travel vlog. I’m a beauty blogger at heart, but it’s nice to mix it up every now and again.
https://i1.wp.com/beautynook.ie/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/Travel-Vlog-Budapest-2019-04-04-at-22.23.47.jpeg?fit=1360%2C762&ssl=17621360Gemhttps://beautynook.ie/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/Logo.pngGem2019-04-05 13:30:462019-04-05 13:30:46Travel Vlog Budapest
This is my very first Black Friday Deals blog post, so I am really hoping it ends up being helpful to people 🙂 I did my pick of Advent Calendars here for this year and it went down really well.I always declare, but just to be extra transparent, I do use affiliate links. This doesn’t mean you pay anymore as a consumer. It just means if you buy anything through the links I share I make a really small commission. And it all goes back into buying makeup so I can keep writing (and filming) for Beautynook.
So, now that’s out of the way, let us get onto the Black Friday Deals for this year. I’ll list what I can, as early as I can. And then, if I spot anything else worth sharing, I will update this post throughout as things change. Some codes may only work on Friday.
These are places that I have bought from before myself and are tried, tested and generally sell awesome products. In my humble opinion of course 🙂
ASOS have 20% off their website with the code WIN20 here.
Look Fantastic have 15% off with UNLOCK (exclusions apply) on their website here.
In case you don’t follow me on social media, here is a recap. Essence Cosmetics turned 15 this year. To celebrate, they had a big party in Berlin, Germany. And I was one of the lucky people who got to go. Four of us in total got to go from Ireland. May I add the other three ladies who were on the trip were absolute legends.
I decided to bring my camera to try and vlog my’ Weekend In Berlin With Essence Cosmetics’.
Like it was a no brainer that I had to at least try! It’s not everyday that a girl (ahem, woman) like me gets to have a weekend in Berlin with a makeup brand!
I am still new to this vlogging game. I’ve only ever done it once before with John here. On my own I can talk to the camera, but I am still pretty shy about pulling it out in front of other people…that’s what she said 🙂
So the vlog consists of everything we got up to with a smattering of me keeping you updated generally in the comforts of my hotel room 🙂
We stayed in the nhow hotel on the East side of Berlin, which is a really cool music themed hotel. The party itself was held in the Tempdrom Berlin, which is a pretty epic venue! We weren’t allowed bring cameras, but I did have my phone and managed to get a couple of clips of the joint. I’m sure if you follow me on Snapchat or Instagram, you got the feel of it though.
The next day we got some site seeing in which was awesome. I really wanted to visit Kiko while I was there, but all the shops close on Sunday. That was probably a good thing though in hindsight, because it meant I had more time to explore the city a little.
I honestly had the loveliest time and I hope you coming on my weekend in Berlin through video form 🙂 As always you can click on the video above to watch, or head directly to my YouTube channel here.
Thank you so so much to the Essence PR here in Ireland for inviting me and of course to all of you for tuning in!!
https://i0.wp.com/beautynook.ie/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/Berlin-Weekend-WIth-Essence-Cosmetics.png?fit=1439%2C796&ssl=17961439Gemhttps://beautynook.ie/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/Logo.pngGem2017-07-21 12:43:482017-07-21 12:43:48Weekend In Berlin With Essence Cosmetics
Myself and John have only gone and vlogged! In the outside world! Well kind of. We went for a spa weekend in Mount Wolseley hotel in Carlow for my birthday.
Since we bought a fancy vlogging camera a while ago (you can see it in my previous favourites post here). We thought we should put it to good use and film our spa weekend. Now this is a very new medium for me and especially for John although he seems to be more comfortable in front of the camera ha! I am used to just sitting on a chair in a room on my own babbling away about makeup with no one there. This is definitely out of my comfort zone. But, I wanted to challenge myself and I love watching vlogs so wanted to give it a go.
Have a click on the video above or click here to directly watch on my YouTube channel. Obviously, it’s just a chilled weekend in a hotel, so it’s nothing groundbreaking. You can see John’s impressive craft beer selection, that he brought because he couldn’t decide what he wanted 🙂 This picture was amongst the footage, so I thought I would add it in as a tribute to him ha!
My makeup stash:
And of course the hotel, what we ate and the spa:
We also did a bit of exploring on the way back to Dublin, so that’s in there too.
I wanted a spa weekend for my birthday, but didn’t want to go all out. If money was no object I would have been in Galgorm 🙂 We got a really good deal on Deal Rush for Mount Wolseley. We had a lovely weekend and the staff were super nice, but I can’t say I would recommend it if you were paying full price. Also, the spa is a separate entity within the hotel so you have to pay extra to use the facilities, I thought that was a bit unusual.
We are very new to this so be kind. I would love to hear what you think though and if you like this sort of thing. The beauty talk isn’t going anywhere, this is just hopefully something new to add in to keep things fresh.
I was very kindly invited to the very beautiful Galgorm Resort & Spa a few weeks ago. If you follow me on social media, you would have seen myself and John being treated like royalty to celebrate their Wellness Day and their new extended facilities.
We were blown away the minute we stepped out of the car in all honesty. The grounds of Galgorm Resort & Spa are so beautiful, our candid snaps do not do it much justice.
Galgorm cater for weddings and big occasions too, so they have two Rolls Royce casually parked on the grounds for when they are needed. There was actually a wedding on that day so one was away on duty 🙂
The foyer.
There was a small group of us including press and bloggers, so we partook in the Wellness Party Package. Here’s a link to it on the website. It includes: • Celtic Sauna Ritual • Body & Mind Class • 1 course lunch in Gillies • Private use of the group treatment suite for 3 hours • Smoothie & fruit on arrival • Thermal Village Experience • 25 minute treatment each £90 per person Mon – Thurs/ £100 per person Fri – Sun Based on a minimum of 10 people
I’m just going to include all the pics I took to give you a bit of an insight. We did spend alot of the day in the water so I couldn’t bring the camera too close, but it might give you an idea of what to expect.
The spa uses products from both Aromatherapy Associates and Voya.
The Galgorm Resort & Spa Thermal Village contains an Orangery, the Celtic Sauna, a snow cabin, a Sanarium, snail showers, waterbeds, and an indoor pool. Then, the River House is situated in the middle of it all where the private treatments take place.
We did some exercise to begin with and then went and experienced the Celtic sauna Ritual, which was like nothing I have ever done before. I’ll quote Galgorm here if that’s ok to describe 🙂 ‘Originating in Finland and now practised world-wide this is Galgorm’s unique presentation on the Aufguss sauna ritual. Your Sauna Master will guide through this meditative experience where a ritual with towels is used to agitate the air, lessening the intensity of the heat and allowing you to breathe in the essential oils infused into the air. You will complete the ritual with a meditation session in the River House followed by rejuvenation and refreshment in the Orangery where you can float away into a state of utter relaxation.’
After lunch, it was time for our spa treatments. I opted for a back and shoulder massage, that made me feel like bubble wrap. All my knots and tension was taken care of. John opted for a eye treatment and was so relaxed he actually fell asleep on the bed 🙂
And then, we just spent the rest of the day in the sauna, pool and hot tub hopping. Not a bad way to spend a Sunday afternoon, right?
Our room for the night was one of the newly built deluxe room that overlook the Thermal Village. This was our view for the evening.
Because we were so darn relaxed, we forgot to take some pictures of the room before we messed it all up. Here’s some from the next day, but you get the gist 🙂 All the formal info of their deluxe rooms is here.
The bed felt like a king size marshmallow and I wanted to bring the light up mirror in the bathroom home, not going to lie 🙂
The room comes with a complimentary mini bar which is a really nice added extra. It has some snacks and drinks, and includes Galgorm’s very own craft beer. This can only be gotten in the resort. John being the beer connoisseur that he is, really enjoyed it.
In the evening we were treated to a really tasty meal in the on site Italian restaurant Fratelli’s.
After undoing all the wellness of the day with lots of delicious grub, we ended the night in the Gin Bar. A gin lovers paradise.
The next morning, we had breakfast before we left, which was a sit down affair with a buffet full of fruit and pastries and then whatever you want from the menu. It was the perfect way to end a beautiful and relaxing break at Galgorm.
We ended our stay in Northern Ireland with a trip to the Giant’s Causeway. The weather was pretty miserable, but it’s such a beautiful part of the country, so it was worth it 🙂
Overall, our experience in Galgorm Spa & Resort was an amazing one. Neither myself or John had ever been on a spa break and after this, we’re already planning our next one.
If you are looking for somewhere to go as a treat to unwind and relax, I would hand on hear recommend it.
Keep an eye on the offers in Boots, they change all of the time 🙂
I picked up the Cocoa Brown Instant Tan Matte Bronzing Gel in Penneys, but chemists and Boots around the country stock it too as does Cloud10Beauty. I have a blogpost about this too here if you’re curious.
Baptiste Dry Shampoo is available nationwide aswell. Boots stock it online here.
The denim skirt is a new arrival to Penneys I think. It comes in black and two shades of blue denim too and costs €14.
The Urban Decay Alice In Wonderland Palette costs €49 and you can buy instore in Debenhams as well as online here. It’s currently out of stock at the minute, perhaps I was wrong about the amount of stock they had in store :(.
There you have it my first video makeup haul! It made me realise I have to eliminate the word ‘so’ out of my vocabulary pronto…why do I keep saying it? ha!
As always thanks for watching (and reading). Let me know what you think, and if you liked it you could always subscribe to my channel and then any new videos go into your subscription box, just saying 🙂
I always declare, but just to be extra transparent, I do use affiliate links. This doesn’t mean you pay anymore as a consumer. It just means if you buy anything through the links I share I make a really small commission. And it all goes back into buying makeup so I can keep writing (and filming) for Beautynook.
Let me live vicariously through you and let me know what you pick up 🙂
