bloomzy /

Photo Diary: Holiday in Provence 1

 
Photos around Provence, South of France

Here is the first of my photo diaries from my recent holiday in Provence, in the South of France.
I love France and Provence is somewhere I have visited a couple of times for it’s weather, scenery and good food.
So I wanted to show a little bit of Provence in the few photos I included this time.
We have; cakes, animals, coffee, architecture and…a pink bike, of course.
The cakes just looked so inviting, and I’m a big fan of French decaffeinated espressos because I can’t have caffeine and they’re still rich with flavour, compared to British decafe coffee anyway. The cute kitty was the ‘village cat’ that wandered around – I took that photo when we were sat having dinner. As for the dog, I don’t know who it belonged to as it was in a different town but he was really friendly – I was taking an outfit photo when he came over and photobombed me. It’s safe to say I forgave him. Hmm…I think the rest is self explanatory, except for the pink bicycle, which was just a prop to advertise for a nearby Pizzeria.
I haven’t done a photo diary for a little while, so I hope you still enjoy them!
bloomzy /

OOTD: Holiday in Provence, France 2

(T-shirt, Shorts & Sandals: Topshop, Bag: Primark, Necklace: Marc by Marc Jacobs, Sunglasses: New Look)

Here is the second helping of my outfit shots from my recent holiday.
This time taken in a wonderful small village in the mountains, outside a lovely restaurant we actually ended up going to a few days later. I loved the look of the place so I wanted to do a quick outfit shot in front of it.
Obviously this was a casual outfit, just something comfortable for a day of walking, browsing markets and sipping on decafe espressos. I wore my favourite grey t-shirt…ok I only have one, but if I did have more this would be my favourite because the material is wonderfully comfortable, soft and light. I also paired it with my Marc by Marc Jacobs wishbone necklace, which is just the right amount of ‘rock’ without taking too much from the outfit.
I look so teeny-tiny on these photos, and as much as I would like to think it’s a combination of the slope I’m standing on and the fiance’s height, lets just face it, I’m a shorty.

Apologies for the quality of the above photos, these were taken on my iPhone not camera.
bloomzy /

French Beauty & Skin Care Haul

Some French beauty products that I picked up on holiday

Whenever I go away on holiday I always spend about 90% of my money on gifts.
However this time after the fiancé kept pestering me to ‘treat [myself]’ I decided that for once I would.
I knew I wanted to buy a few French beauty products and luckily for me the well-known ones, which we also have at home, are slightly cheaper in France. Also they carry some brands that haven’t made it to the UK yet.
French pharmacies are amazing, and much better than British ones, in my opinion.
Even the smallest of pharmacies carry lots of well-known beauty brands, and their new products.
So I paid a quick visit to the pharmacy and spent a good 30mins trying to decided what I wanted to pick up.
I finally decided on a few things:
+ Avène Eau Thermale – Micellar Lotion (make-up remover)
+ Avène Eau Thermale – Eau Thermale (thermal water spray)
+ Evian Brumisateur (facial spray)
+ Caudalíe Eau de Raisin (grape water)
+ Belle à Croquer Rosée de Concombre – Sérum Plaisir des Yeux (Cucumber Eye Serum)
+ Avène Eau Thermale Crème Nutritive Compensatrice Riche (extremely rich compensating cream)
+ Avène Eau Thermale Micellar Lotion – Travel size
+ Avène Eau Thermale Lait Corporel Hydratant (moisturising body lotion)

As you can see I went a bit crazy with the facial sprays.
I’d been wanting to try out Evian’s for a while, and then I was drawn in by Avène’s & Caudalíe’s too.
I plan to try them all out and then do reviews, then later maybe do a comparison post featuring them all.
The Belle à Croquer Cucumber Eye Serum was a last minute item that sounded nice (I love the smell of cucumber, and I remember always putting cucumber on my eyes at sleepovers etc.), so I thought I’d give it a try.
I will try to review all the items as I use them, but feel free to let me know if there is one you’d like to see sooner than the others, and if there’s a general consensus I will put that one at the top of my list.
bloomzy /

OOTD: Holiday in Provence, France 1

(Blouse: Glamorous*, Jeans: Primark, Shoes: Urban Outfitters, Bracelet: Marc by Marc Jacobs)

I’m back from my holiday in Provence, in the South of France and I thought I would make a comeback with an ‘outfit of the day’ post. Unfortunately I didn’t take as many outfit shots as I had wished, but I did take a few so I will slowly update with them over the next week or so.
This outfit was for an evening meal at a lovely restaurant we visited last time we were there.
Luckily in the evenings the temperature was slightly more bearable, so I was able to wear jeans.
Even then it was around 32c, which was surprising – maybe I slowly acclimatised, I don’t know.
The blouse is from Glamorous. It’s such a fine material that it was perfect in the heat.
I did pop a white vest top on underneath though as it is very sheer. I just wanted something casual-formal, so I paired it with the jeans and my gold panther court heels, which added a little bit of a flare to it…at least I thought so.
bloomzy /

Photo Diary; Adventures in the World of Amélie

Café les Deux Moulins, Montmatre, Paris

On one particular day during my time in Paris, the fiancé indulged me and we went to Montmatre.
That’s a pretty normal tourist thing to do in Paris, I hear you say. Well yes it is, but as some of you may know by now I am a bit of a Francophile, and my favourite movie is Amélie. Sooo you may be catching on that we went to Montmatre to…visit the places used whilst filming Amélie.
I took a lot of photos around the locations in Montmatre during that day.
So I choose to post these ones first. Probably the most iconic location in Amélie: Café les Deux Moulins.
This is where they filmed the scenes of Amélie and her friends at work, where she choose to eat her favourite creme brulee, and where several of the major storylines take place. I always remember Amélie staring at Nino through the glass screen longingly as she wrote the day’s specials ♥
The cafe itself, is a lot smaller than it looks in the movie. Nor does the front of the cafe look the same as in the movie, and it isn’t in the location they filmed the outside from, so be careful as you could easily walk by and miss it! 
Tables and bar stools take up most of the space, which is filled with tourists (mainly Japanese) and the odd local. 
The bar & toilets have been kept the same as in the movie, whilst bits of memorabilia are dotted everywhere.
Our waiter was hilarious. He laughed and helped us with our pronunciation and chatted with me about Amélie and my love of Macarons. He even tried to get a kiss from the Japanese girls beside us, but the cultural barriers were just too strong.
If money isn’t an issue I would suggest grabbing a bite to eat, so you can soak up the atmosphere.
I had a salad, white wine and macarons for dessert, whilst the fiancé had a burger and beer.
At €40+ this is expensive, even for Paris, and it’s obvious the little cafe is cashing in, especially as the food is average.
However I had been waiting for this for a long time and the atmosphere was wonderful so I didn’t mind at all. 
Trivia: For other Amélie fans out there, remember the scene where Nino finds all the ‘Ou et quand?’ posters?
That was my metro station! La Motte-Picqet-Grenelle, located in central Paris, a 10min walk from the Eiffel Tower. 
It’s a small world.
bloomzy /

Photo Diary; Paris, I Love You

Le Mur Des Je T’aime (I Love You : The Wall), Montmatre, Paris

I was all prepared to finally do my ‘Amelie Adventure’ photo diary post, but then I found these.
These photos were taken on the same day, and feature the popular ‘I Love You Wall’ in Montmatre.
Situated in a small park just outside the metro entrance, you could easily miss it if you weren’t looking for it.
The park itself is a lovely tiny place to relax in, especially if it’s a particularly hot day, as it was when we went.
Luckily there are plenty of trees to offer shade.

If I remember correctly it wasn’t particularly busy, there were only 3 other people there at the time.
I love little places like this that make you feel as though you have stumbled upon something magnificent.
If anyone was wondering, these were taken in July 2011, hence the longer hair.

Frédéric Baron created this mural along with Claire Kito and Daniel Boulogne.
With over 300 languages on the wall, each reads ‘I Love You’ or the equivalent in that language.

Can you spot your language?