Harry Potter and the Cursed Child - Lumos Charity Gala

Last week I was lucky enough to go and watch a special performance of the Harry Potter and the Cursed Child to support JK Rowling's charity Lumos. We watched both parts on the Sunday and it was incredible! I won't reveal any spoilers but the story line and acting was really good and definitely worth a watch! Before the performance started JK Rowling gave a speech explaining the great charity, Lumos. It was eye opening and made everyone think about the role of orphanages and made you question whether they were even helping orphans at all. It was a great day and I would encourage everyone to look into the great charity. I have left links to the Lumos Charity in this blog post. 

If you can, definitely try and grab some tickets for Harry Potter and the Lost Child!

Soraya x

Budapest

Last week I was in the beautiful city of Budapest. We arrived early afternoon on Tuesday and decided to walk around the city to see where everything was and not to too much as we had an early flight so and an early night was definitely needed. Our hotel was in Pest and we took the metro every morning to get into the city centre. We then walked along the bridge to go to Buda which is the more traditional and cultural side of the city and Pest is the where the hustle and bustle of the workers and where the majority of tourists are situated. 

As we were relaxing on Tuesday we decided to visit things in Pest such as the Hungarian Parliament,  the Shoes on the Danube Promenade Memorial and the Basilica of St Stephen. 

Basilica of St Stephen

Hungarian Parliament

Wednesday was dedicated to exploring Buda which included the Fisherman's Bastion, Buda Castle, Liberty Statue and finally we relaxed at the Gellért Thermal Bath. Walking around Buda involved a lot of steps so if the queue for the funicular isn't too long, then I would advise using that instead to get you to the top. After a long day we decided to take the night cruise along the river which separates Buda and Pest.

Fisherman's Bastion

Liberty Statue 

At the highest point of Buda

Gellért Thermal Baths 

Hungarian Parliament at night

After a busy day on Wednesday we decided to take it easy on the Thursday, which was also my friend's birthday. We hopped on the tour bus (which was a nightmare to find on Wednesday) and saw the sights we had not managed to see yet and then we took the metro to Heroes Square. After that, we went to the Szenchenyi Bath, which had 14 different baths. I think we managed all of them. This was lovely and relaxing and we noticed that it was a lot busier than the Gellért Thermal Baths the previous day. There were lots of teens from the UK who had probably stopped off in Budapest whilst they were inter-railing. To celebrate my friends birthday we decided to out that night for a proper celebration. Friday was a long day of waiting for our evening flight so we just relaxed and ate a lot of food!

Heroes Square

As a typical Brit, I will obviously mention the weather! It was extremely hot, especially when you're walking around all day. It's exactly like the beautiful weather we are having at the moment.

If you're in need of a lovely city break with a mix a sightseeing and relaxing spas then Budapest is definitely the place to go. 

Soraya x

Photo Credits: Myself and @jproths

  

Interning at Yumi International

Last month, I was given an amazing opportunity to join the Online Trading  team at Yumi International, a fashion brand sold in Debenhams, House of Fraser and on their own website. Yumi sells beautiful trend-inspired clothes with a unique twist. 

I was in the office twice a week writing blogposts for their 'Yumi Journal' for their upcoming AW16 collections. In addition, I was also writing posts for their various social media accounts and creating boards for their Pinterest account. I loved writing the blog posts explaining their inspiration for each collection and writing about the key pieces from each collection. 

One of the mornings, I got to attend their last photoshoot for the AW16 collection as I was taking behind the scenes images for their Instagram account. This was amazing as I had never seen what a photoshoot for a fashion brand was like apart from our own FCP fragrance brand photoshoot which is not quite the same. It was so interesting to see how much detail went into a fashion photoshoot and how a single crease or out of place hair would change the shot and not look right or as professional to be put on their website.

I learnt so much at Yumi and had great fun writing blogposts and social media posts. Thank you so much to everyone at Yumi for an amazing experience. I'm sure I will be sharing the posts on my social media when each one goes up!

Love Soraya x

I'm off to Budapest tomorrow so follow me on Instagram - soray_ray to see my adventures :) and next Monday's post will be a series of pictures from my trip to Hungary.

Photo Credit: Yumi

A Chanel and Stella McCartney Bag in one?

Last week I went on a much needed shopping trip to London and I went into Zara and I fell in love with but I found a beautiful bag which I knew had to mine. The bag looked like a hybrid of the Chanel Boy bag in terms of the shape and structure of the bag and the embellishing of the bag - a silver chain around the edges if the flap of the bag really reminded me of the Stella McCartney Falabella bag. Both of these bags are iconic and ones I would love to own, but seeing as I'm a student both of these beautiful bags are definitely out of my price range!

I thought that this Zara bag was a perfect bag as I got the best of both worlds with the shape of the Chanel and the embellishing of the Falabella bag in one. I think this bag is such a lovely all day bag as it has two pockets to fill up. I must say the bag itself is quite heavy so you definitely can not overpack this bag too much or it would would be too heavy to carry round all day. With the chain and leather panelled strap, I can have it long with the leather strap or double the strap up for an evening bag. The strap is not long enough for a cross body but is a perfect shoulder bag. The material of the bag on the interior and the bag is a smooth leather and there is a patterned velvet on the flap pf the bag.

Link to the bag

I have been wearing this bag everyday since I bought it and I know I will wear this bag to death.

Soraya x

Photo Credit: Zara Website

Summer Must Have: Espadrilles

This Summer I have noticed that espadrilles have been a Summer must have. Luxury and high street brands have come out with their versions. I think espadrilles' are a great alternative to always wearing flip flips and sandals during the warmer months; and in England it's not hot enough to wear flip flops or sandals so espadrilles cover your feet but still look summery compared to wearing trainers all the time! I thought I would share what I have bought and some of my favourites that I have seen in the shops.

Last summer, I bought some beige and silver pair from Zara and I wore these to death last summer and they still look brand new.

This summer I thought I would buy another pair but in leather. I saw these Kenzo espadrilles with an embossed tiger on the pink leather in the Selfridges sale and thought these were perfect for summer as they were bright and would go with anything from jeans to dresses.

Now for the ones I'm loving in the shops but just haven't bought... yet!

These Chanel espadrilles have been all over my Instagram and I think they are beautiful with the classic and understated colours which allows you to wear them with anything. Chanel have two options either leather espadrilles or canvas.

Kurt Geiger have come out with some beautiful espadrilles in different colours with a black toe cap.

I also love the espadrilles with the lace ups around the leg. I think these ones are perfect for holidays and also dress up your outfit as it looks like the wrap around sandals that are on sale.

River Island

Soludos

Soludos 

Check out my Pinterest board - Espadrilles for more of my favourites

Love Soraya x

Photo Credits: Myself and Pinterest

Flamingo Fever

This summer has been the rise of the Flamingo motif on absolutely everything. The Flamingo style lilo's proved to be very popular among celebrities and bloggers, which has filled my Instagram feed. Not only have the lilo's been popular, but any piece of clothing or accessory have proved very popular too. I thought I would share some of my favourites. 

Sophia Webste

Sophia Webster

Alice & Olivia 

Skinny Dip

I have not bought any Flamingo themed things yet this season (well, not yet anyway) but I am very happy that I can whip out my H! by Henry Holland bomber jacket I bought a couple of years ago. It is definitely a statement bomber jacket but it will always be one of my favourites.

Soraya x 

Photo Credits: Asos, Sophia Webster, 

Nordstrom, Skinny Dip, Myself

Anastasia Beverly Hills Haul

Last week, I made a little Cult Beauty order as I needed some new brow stuff and I thought I would try the Anastasia Dipbrow as I really liked the Brow Definer, which I bought in New York, but it ran out too quickly; so hopefully this will last a little longer! I went for the shade Dark Brown as that it's the same shade as the one I bought in New York. I also bought a new brow brush as the brow brush I am using at the moment with my Smashbox eyebrow powder is quite thick and I did not think it would would well with the Dipbrow gel. The brush I bought was the #12 Duo Brow/Eyeliner Angled Cut/ Spooley. 

I then thought I would try the Anastasia Glow Kit. There were two collections out of the three on the Cult Beauty website so I decided on the Sun Dipped collection as I thought I would wear those warmer shades  the most. I absolutely love my BECCA highlighter and I can not wait to try these beautifully pigmented highlighters. 

L-R - Summer, Moonstone, Tourmaline & Bronzed

I am very excited to try these two products! See you on Friday with a new post. 

Soraya x 

Photo Credits: My own 

All links to products mentioned are linked