My time in London (DAY 1 & 2)

Hello everyone - I'm back from London! It was one of the best weekends of my life and if I could do it all again then I would; it was absolutely amazing!

Today I'm going to be sharing what I did while I was in London - if anyone's looking for places to visit while you're there then there's a few great attractions that I'll be mentioning in this post. 

Day 1

On the first day we travelled down to London and arrived at around 2:30pm. After spending an hour in the hotel (unpacking etc.) we got changed and headed out back onto the bus to go for our evening meal. Before we got there though, we stopped off at Buckingham Palace to take some pictures and have a closer look at it - wow, what a gorgeous building!

After admiring the Palace, we then travelled to the Hard Rock Cafe where we had our evening meal. I had burger and chips, with vanilla ice cream afterwards. The cafe itself was fantastic and had lots of memorabilia on the walls that were brilliant to look at.

Once we were stuffed from the lovely meal we'd had, we had a quick look around the Hard Rock Cafe Shop but I didn't purchase anything from there. We climbed back onto the bus and drove to the Drury Lane Theatre, where we went to see Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. It was absolutely amazing and I'd highly recommend it to anyone visiting London. 

The show finished at around 10:30pm so after that we headed back to the hotel where I quickly fell asleep after my first fab day in the capital.

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Day 2

On the second day of the trip, we had breakfast before boarding the bus to go to Wembley Stadium. We arrived there a lot sooner than we'd anticipated so we went to the nearby outdoor shopping centre to fill some spare time before the tour started. In the shopping centre, there was a Lindt chocolate shop where me and my friends spend most of our time (and money!).

After an hour, we headed over to Wembley for our guided tour. Personally I didn't find it very interesting - but I think that's because I'm not interested in football/football stadiums, however many other people on the trip thoroughly enjoyed it.

After our tour, we went back on the bus to go shopping and on the way we passed some beautiful sights - including Big Ben.

The shop we most wanted to go to was Victoria's Secret so we got off the bus at Drury Lane Theatre and walked there. It took a while but was definitely worth it; Victoria's Secret must be one of the most gorgeous shops in the world!

I purchased 3 body mists: Mango Tempation, Such a Flirt and Love Spell.

After shopping, we went on a guided tour of the Drury Lane Theatre. This was a brilliant tour and was one of my highlights from the trip. Hilarious tour guides who dressed as famous historical figures from the theatre, stunning interior and creepy ghost stories backstage made the whole tour extremely enjoyable.

We then went for our evening meal at Planet Hollywood (no pictures of that one, sorry) where I had cheeseburger and chips. Our next visit was to M&M World where I bought...you guessed it: M&M's!

Ripley's Believe It Or Not was our final place to visit for the day; I didn't enjoy it very much if I'm completely honest but this is probably just because I was tired after a long day!

I'm going to end the post here because it is extremely long but I hope you've enjoyed reading about the first 2 days of my trip to London! 

DISCLAIMER: All photos used in this post were taken by me, all opinions expressed are my own.

Days 3 & 4 will probably be up tomorrow - if you have any questions, please feel free to ask on here or you can ask me over Instagram: @xdaisiechain and remember to follow me on bloglovin'! Thankyou for reading, a new blogpost will be up soon!

Rachel x

Mothers Day ♡

A few Sundays ago, it was Mother's Day; a celebration I always look forward to because I love treating my Mum and Gran. They both do so much for me so I love spoiling them on their special day as a thankyou to let them know how much they mean to me. On Sunday morning, me and my brother made my Mum the custom Mother's Day breakfast in bed (croissants; shop-bought but we cooked them and she appreciated it nonetheless!). While eating her breakfast, my Mum opened her pile of presents and was over the moon with them. We'd bought her a Pandora charm, a blouse she'd wanted, some wine, flowers and chocolates. 

After breakfast we got ready to go out and went to visit my Gran and Grandad. My Mum gave my Gran her Mother's Day gifts while my brother and I gave her some daffodils since they're her favourite flowers.

For lunch we ordered Pizza Hut (a tradition for every Mother's Day so my Mum and Gran don't have to cook). It was delicious and it took about 3 hours before we weren't too full to eat some Chocolate Pear cake that we'd baked the day before!* 

All in all, it was a lovely relaxing day. I hope you all enjoyed Mother's Day and treated someone that is special to you!

*If you want to see a recipe for the cake then let me know and I'll do a blogpost on it - it's really simple and really tasty!

Remember to follow me on Instagram @xdaisiechain and follow me on bloglovin'. Thankyou for reading, a new blogpost will be up soon!

Rachel x

London Haul

As you may or may not know, in a few days, I'm going to London! I've never been before so I'm really excited because I've always wanted to go and I think it will be a brilliant experience. It's a school trip so it's a structured 4 days (we already know where we're going and when) but I'll do a blogpost when I get back about the things we did while we were there. 

Today though, I'm going to be sharing the things I have bought for the trip; I'm only going to mention a few things as I still have a lot to buy!

The first thing I've bought to wear in London is this lovely pale pink spotty blouse. 

From Primark, it's only £7.00 and I thought it would be ideal for when we're out and about in the city. It's lightweight but comfy and quite dressy too so it'll look lovely teamed with black jeans, boots and a leather jacket. It has gorgeous neck detailing and a cute button at the back which fastens at the neck. 

Another thing I bought is this collared blouse which is something I'm really excited to wear! It's so pretty and again will look great with jeans and a leather jacket. This is from New Look and is £14.99; slightly more expensive than the Primark top but I think I'll wear this a lot - I love the floral pattern and lately I've been obsessed with collars so I can't wait to wear this again and again!

First of all, I need to apologise for the terrible quality pictures in this post (due to rainy weather and therefore dreadful lighting) because this picture does not do this shirt justice. In reality it is a lovely fabric but on the image above it looks slightly plasticky (I can assure you it's not). Plus, I adore the royal blue colour and cute collar. It's translucent so I'll need to wear a vest top underneath but aside from that, I thought it was perfect and I've wanted a top like this for such a long time. Despite the hanger saying M&S, the top is from Select for only £10; I never normally venture into Select so I was surprised when I managed to find this! Also it would be great underneath a jumper, with the collar showing so I'm sure I'll be able to get lots of wear out of this when I get back from London too!

Next up is jeans/jeggings! This particular pair are from Primark and an absolute bargain for only £7.00. They are extremely comfortable and they'll be perfect for long journeys on the bus. 

Although these 'jeggings' seem identical to the previous pair, they are a slightly lighter colour and these ones are from New Look. They are a bit more expensive at £14.99 but they seem great quality and again really comfy and ideal for the long bus journeys in London.

Once again this photo doesn't do these jeans justice (sorry!) but they are a gorgous pale blue with a faded effect and they are super stretchy and comfy; I also love the gold button fastening at the waist. They were £19.99 from New Look so they're still really cheap for a pair of jeans that will hopefully last a while.

For the journey I picked up some magazines to read while travelling - one of which was the Zoella edition of Company that I've been wanting all month! The others include: Heat, OK! and Now but I'm looking forward to reading Company the most because of Zoe's interview!

I also got a neck pillow from Asda; I think it was only around £4 and I'll be able to use this on the bus to London as well as the aeroplane when I go abroad in the summer.

So that's the end of this haul and there'll be some posts coming up soon about my time in London. I hope you enjoyed this post, if you want to see more hauls then let me know in the comments. Remember to follow me on Instagram @xdaisiechain and follow me on bloglovin'. Thankyou for reading, a new blogpost will be up soon!

Rachel x

This or That Tag

Lately I've seen many bloggers doing the 'This or That' Tag and although I wasn't tagged by anyone, I thought I would join in and do it myself! Basically there are 5 categories consisting of some quick fire questions that I'm going to answer.

MAKE UP

Blush or Bronzer?

Blush

Lipgloss or Lipstick?

Lipgloss

Eyeliner or Mascara?

Mascara

Foundation or Concealer?

Concealer

Neutral or Coloured eye shadow?

Neutral 

Pressed or Loose eye shadow?

Pressed

Brushes or Sponges?

Brushes

NAILS

Barry M or OPI?

Barry M

Long or Short?

Short

Acrylic or natural?

Natural

Brights or Dark?

Brights

Flower or no flower?

No flower 

BODY

Perfume or Body Spray?

Perfume

Lotion or Body Butter?

Body Butter

Bath Wash or Soap?

Bath wash? What's bath wash? 

Soap

Lush or BOMBCosmetics?

LUSH

FASHION

Jeans or Leggings?

Jeans

Dresses or Skirts?

Skirts... Dresses... I like both!

Dresses

Long sleeves or Short sleeves?

Long

Stripes or Plaid?

Plaid

Flip flops or Sandals?

Sandals

Hats or Scarves?

Scarves

Studs or dangly earrings?

Studs

Heels or Flats?

Flats

Necklaces or Bracelets?

Bracelets

Jackets or Hoodies?

Jackets

Abercrombie or Hollister?

I don't own anything from Abercrombie and I only own my Hollister spray... 

Hollister

HAIR

Curly or Straight?

Curly

Bun or Ponytail?

Ponytail

Bobby Pins or Butterfly Clips?

Bobby pins

Hairspray or Hair gel?

Hairspray

Long or Short?

Long

Light or Dark?

Dark

Up or Down?

Down

RANDOM 

Rain or Shine?

Shine

Summer or Winner?

Summer

Autumn or Spring?

Spring

Chocolate or Vanilla?

Chocolate 

That's the tag done - I tag all of you reading this to do it too! Remember to follow me on Instagram @xdaisiechain and follow me on bloglovin'. Thankyou for reading, a new blogpost will be up soon!

Rachel x

Washing my makeup brushes

Back in January of this year, I finally purchased some Real Techniques make up brushes. I started using them around mid-February (so not too long ago) but it occurred to me last week or so that they were getting pretty dirty and were in desperate need of a wash.

I was aware you could buy various 'brush cleaners' but I wasn't sure what they actually were and therefore unsure about what I would be paying for. So after a bit of research (aka looking through blogposts) I came across various posts that mentioned washing makeup brushes using Johnson's Baby Shampoo. I decided to try it out and wash my own makeup brushes and in this post I'm going to explain how I did it; for any novices out there - just like I was!

All pictures used in this post are my own.

I squeezed a little bit of the shampoo onto my palm, took one of my brushes and began to move the brush in a circular motion on my palm (or instead use the motion you would if you were using the brush on your face).

Then rinse the bristles under the tap, (being careful not to wet the handle) and swipe the brush backwards and forwards on your palm, rinsing your palm under the tap every 30 seconds or so to get rid of the makeup that has been washed off the brush.

The brush should be starting to return to its normal colour; repeat the steps until it has.

Next, dab the brush onto a cloth or paper towel until it leaves no colour behind on the cloth.

Now simply leave the brushes to dry and they should look as good as new!

I was pleasantly surprised when washing my Real Techniques; they still feel super soft and no bristles came out.

I hope you enjoyed this post, if you want to see more 'tutorial' type things then let me know! Remember to follow me on Instagram @xdaisiechain and follow me on bloglovin'. Thankyou for reading, a new blogpost will be up soon!

Rachel x

Summary Sunday #1

Hi everyone, today's post is a little different than my usual ones! I've seen several bloggers doing this now and I thought it looked like a fun thing to do!

Basically this post will just be me sharing 6 photos with you from throughout my week. I'm not sure yet if this will be a weekly post yet, as I want to vary my blog content a little more so it may pop up every two weeks instead.

1. My cousins birthday cake from last Monday - it was a chocolate cake topped with Rolo's, Munchies and Smarties...yum!

2. My outfit for 'dress down day' (own clothes day) to help raise money for Sport Relief.

3. A gorgous daffodil from my grandma's garden - spring has finally sprung!

4. PIZZA from my trip to Pizza Hut yesterday.

5. I've had lots of cuddles from Simba this week as I've been feeling a bit poorly and had a really sore throat :(

6. A picture of my dirty Real Techniques makeup brushes that I washed for the first time this week (blog post on that coming soon!).

I hope you enjoyed that little insight to my life this week, let me know if you'd like to see more of these in the future!

Remember to follow me on Instagram @xdaisiechain and follow me on bloglovin'. Thankyou for reading, a new blogpost will be up soon!

Rachel x

'I ♡ Spring' Tag

Since it is the first day of spring today, I'm going to be doing the I Heart Spring Tag. Now that the weather seems to be warming up a little, spring definitely seems to be on it's way! 

(Please note: all images used in this post are my own.)

I've seen a couple of other bloggers doing this and I thought it was a fun and unusual tag to do so I thought I'd give it a go! 


1. Favourite spring nail polish?
Personally I like trying out new brands of nail polishes so I don't have a particular favourite, but during spring I love wearing bright and pastel colours.

2. What is your must-have lip colour this spring?
The on trend colour this season seems to be orange, but it tends not to suit my skin tone so I like to stick to pale pinks.

3. Show us your favourite spring dress!
No matter how many pictures I take of this dress, they never do it justice. I bought it in springtime last year and continued to wear it throughout summer as well. 

I adore the detail on it - it's so pretty! The dress also has gorgeous back detail and it is 'skater dress' style.

4. What's your favourite flower?
During springtime I love seeing daffodils popping up all over the place and to me they mean that spring is finally here and I also like seeing daisies in my garden over spring time. 

5. Favourite spring accessory?
I love wearing dainty bracelets and scarves; they're my favourite accessories any time of the year - not just spring!

6. What sprind trend(s) are you most excited about this year? (Make up, fashion or both!)
This spring I'm looking forward to wearing tops and dresses with collars on; I think they're so cute and perfect for spring time. Makeup wise I'm looking forward to hopefully purchasing the 'wake me up' Rimmel foundation because lots of other bloggers have said it will be ideal for spring and summer. I'm also excited to hopefully purchase the Maybelline Colour Tattoos in the shades 'Pink Gold' and 'On and On Bronze' because I think they will be the prettiest eye colours for spring.

7. Favourite spring candle?
I'm not really a candle lover but if I was I would probably love fresh floral scents during springtime.

8. Favourite body spray/perfume for spring?
I don't have a particular fragrance that I wear at this time of year but at the moment I'm loving the Cresent Bay Hollister Spray and Gold perfume from Next, both of which I will probably continue to wear throughout this season.

9. What is spring like where you live?
Currently it's very early spring so it's quite cloudy most of the time but over the past few days it's been quite warm and sunny. 

10. What's your favourite thing about spring?
My favourite things about springtime are: seeing a vast improvement to the weather, seeing lovely flowers appearing everywhere, longer days, being able to wear pretty lightweight clothes instead of having to cover my outfit with a heavy coat as well as loving the idea of lots of baby animals being born this time of year.

11. Are you a spring cleaner?
I'd like to think I am, but I'm really not. I'm not any type of cleaner - I'd love to be able to keep my room tidy and organised but I never seem to be able to. This spring I might encourage myself a bit more to do a spring clean because I'm in desperate need of a clear out!

12. Any plans for spring break or an upcoming holiday?
In around 2 weeks time I'm visiting London for the first time which I'm SO excited about! 

I hope you enjoyed this post; why not let me know what you love about spring? Remember to follow me on bloglovin' and thankyou for reading, a new blogpost will be up soon!
Rachel x