FAIIINT

Archives for August 2015

Slubby

Style

Fashion blogger Stephanie of FAIIINT wearing George at ASDA textured chunky cardigan & Wonderfit skinny jeans, FAIIINT Splice tank top, Kurt Geiger Saturn boots & Balenciaga city bag. All black everything dark style casual outfit.Fashion blogger Stephanie of FAIIINT wearing George at ASDA textured chunky cardigan & wonderfit black skinny jeans.Fashion blogger Stephanie of FAIIINT wearing Ottoman Hands Signs & Symbols labradorite gold ring & Phoebe Jewellery Moonstone Moon Necklace.

George Textured Cardigan * / FAIIINT Splice Tank Top / George ‘Wonderfit’ Jeans * / Phoebe Jewellery Moonstone Moon Necklace * /
Ottoman Hands Labradorite Ring * / Kurt Geiger ‘Saturn’ Boots / Balenciaga City Bag

I think these ‘wonderfit’ jeans might be the comfiest pair I’ve ever owned & that’s coming from a bit of a skinny jeans fanatic, they certainly live up to their name, hugging every inch perfectly thanks to an impressive amount of stretch and they are so soft they feel more like I’m wearing a pair of leggings. Normally when I get home I can’t wait to take off my favourite pair of super skinnies and set my legs free, but I’ve been happily lounging around in these all day. I think that’s pretty impressive considering they’re only £20! This cardigan is also from George (much to a lot of peoples surprise who assumed it was much more expensive) they’ve got some lovely knitwear in at the moment and being the sucker for interesting textures that I am I couldn’t pass this up. Knitted from a chunky yarn with ribbon woven through it gives it this great slubby kind of texture, it’s super soft and cuddly and the fit is that perfect kind of oversized, I know I’ll be wearing this a tonne come autumn.

I seem to be getting a little collection of labradorite jewellery lately & this ring from Ottoman Hands is my latest addition. I love the raw, organic look of their pieces which are crafted using traditional Ottoman jewellery making techniques and the brand also works closely with local Turkish gem cutters and artisans when producing their collections. This is from their ‘Signs & Symbols’ collection, and I already have my eye on a few more pieces as I’ve barely stopped wearing this one.

Whilst I’m talking of things I can’t stop wearing, no, I don’t think I have taken these Kurt Geiger boots off since they arrived! I have to admit I brought them mainly because they were just too cheap to pass up & I’ll always have soft spot for lace up boots, but after trying them on they quickly became my new favourite pair. It might be a while before you see a different pair of shoes on my feet around here!

Lush Cup O’ Coffee Mask & Ocean Salt Scrub

Beauty

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Lush Cup O’ Coffee Exfoliating Face & Body Mask / Lush Ocean Salt Face & Body Scrub

As I mentioned in my post from the Lush Summer Sneak Peek evening earlier this week, I discovered a few new favourites to add to my skincare collection thanks to recommendations from the Lush girls & the generous selection of products in our goodie bags for us to try too. I don’t post an awful lot of beauty reviews here, but when I come across products I truly love & that do exactly what they claim like these, I do like to shout about them and share them with you guys.

I’m a bit of a face mask addict (and also a coffee one too!) so as soon as Becca introduced me to their new Cup O’ Coffee mask & the intoxicating coffee scent hit me, I knew I had to try it out. Clay masks are my favourite kind for my combination skin, and this one is packed with kaolin but also agave syrup and oils for added moisturising, so it’s not drying on my less oily areas like some masks can be. It’s pleasantly thick and the strong scent really lingers whilst it’s on, it’s enough alone to give you a wake up kick in the morning! After applying to skin and leaving for 5-10 minutes, you wet your hands and gently scrub before rinsing. The coffee grounds are quite a strong exfoliator, perfect if you like a real good scrub, but I already use AHA’s at night so I just gave it a light massage. Afterwards my skin was noticeably perkier, brighter and incredibly soft too. I guess caffeine is as good at waking up my skin as it is my brain! This comes in two sizes, I went with the smaller one to test it first, but with such instant results it has already become part of my weekly skincare routine and I will absolutely be going back for the full sized one soon so I can try it out on my body too.

The Ocean Salt Scrub I’ve been using mainly as a body scrub as it’s a little too gritty for me to want to use on my face along with my other exfoliators. A combination of sea salt, grapefruit, fresh limes steeped in vodka plus avocado butter, coconut oil and seaweed to condition and soften. This has been a real treat to use on dry areas like my shins, knees and elbows, leaving them soft and free of scaly, dry skin. I love the citrus scent of this in the mornings too, it’s fresh and invigorating and perfect for helping me to wake up on early mornings.

SummerDine at Highcross

Life

FAIIINT Bill's Restaurant at Highcross Leicester. Selection of starters including Spiced Tortilla Chips. FAIIINT Bill's Restaurant at Highcross Leicester. Crispy Crumbed Halloumi. FAIIINT Bill's Restaurant at Highcross Leicester. Selection of starters including Bill's Cheese & Tomato on toast. FAIIINT Bill's Restaurant at Highcross Leicester. FAIIINT Handmade Burger Co at Highcross Leicester. Goats' Cheese Veggie stack burger. FAIIINT Handmade Burger Co at Highcross Leicester. View from above of table of burgers, sweet potato fries and shakes. FAIIINT Handmade Burger Co at Highcross Leicester. FAIIINT Handmade Burger Co at Highcross Leicester. Oreo Shake and Banoffee Pie, Strawberry Cheesecake, Brownie and Waffle sundaes.

Bill’s & Handmade Burger Co at Highcross Leicester

Last week I was invited along with a small group of other local bloggers to sample some of the best places to eat at Highcross to celebrate the launch of the Highcross PLUS App. It’s free to download and has lots of exclusive offers and discounts across many of Highcross’s stores and restaurants, with a special focus on dining throughout August. I love that Leicester is starting to become a more foodie kind of city, with new places from independents to much loved chains seeming to be popping up constantly over the past few months and the vast majority of these are situated around the outdoor food court area of Highcross.

I headed over to Bill’s for starters, where I met up with the lovely Gabby who’d invited us, plus Nancy, Sophia, Emma & Hareem. I’ve always loved eating at Bill’s when I’ve been to one elsewhere in the UK, so I was really excited when I first heard we were getting one here too and it’s quickly become one of my new favourite places for lunch. The menu is nice and varied, with plenty of great vegetarian options so I don’t find myself constantly ordering the same thing and getting bored and the food is all really hearty and delicious. We were treated to a selection of starters and to share, which was perfect as we all got to try out a lot of things we hadn’t had the chance to try before. Favourites for me were the Crispy Crumbed Halloumi, Bill’s Cheese on Toast and the Spiced Tortilla Chips. Though not something we had this time, I highly recommend the halloumi veggie burger too! I might have filled myself up a little bit too early considering there were two more courses to go, but I just couldn’t stop eating the halloumi, Grille Piadina bread and tortilla chips, they were soo good!

After Bill’s we made our way over to Handmade Burger Co for mains. I’m already a big fan of theirs and I love that they have a selection of veggie burgers and allow you to mix and match everything too so I actually have a choice, instead of just the usual lone veggie burger on the menu to keep us happy! This time I went for the Goats Cheese Veggie Stack which is made up of some of my favourite things – chargrilled mixed peppers, juicy mushroom, goats’ cheese, caramelised red onion relish & watercress. My eyes lit up when it came out and I saw that it had a really nice thick slice of goats’ cheese, the more cheese the better as far as I’m concerned! It’s definitely something I’ll be ordering again. We also got some sides, and I think all of us ended up ordering a portion of sweet potato fries with rosemary salt, those went down really well. Of course I couldn’t not try the Oreo Shake, I love a good shake and it was even more sickly and amazing than it looks!

Service here is usually self-serve but we were given table service and our waiters Paddy and Sam were super friendly and accommodating, they did a brilliant job of explaining everything to us, recommending dishes and seemed genuinely interested in making sure we had a great meal. Most of our table mixed and matched their burgers and added extras but Lerelle, Eddie, Johnny and Blake in the kitchen did a great job of making sure we got everything quickly and all together. I was a little jealous of some of the girls meaty burgers, the ‘Slow N Low’ pulled pork one looked and smelled incredible and I do wish I could have had a little bite, burgers and bacon are my vegetarian weakness!

The plan was to visit Patisserie Valerie for dessert, but as we all got chatting we lost track of time and realised too late that it would be closing too soon to go. It was a shame as I do love their cakes, but thankfully Handmade Burger Co also do ridiculously good sundaes, so we decided to each get one of the flavours and share so we could try them all! If I had to pick a favourite it would have to be between the Banoffee Pie and the Brownie & Waffle, but honestly they were all very good.

We left ready to burst with a takeaway shake in hand (highly recommend the butterscotch!) which I curled up on the sofa with as soon as I got home, the perfect end to a really lovely night. It was so nice to see Nancy & Hareem again, and meet Gabby, Sophia and Emma too, the 6 of us was the perfect number of people and we were all talking each other to death before we knew it! Thanks so much to Gabby for the invite.