My trip to Bicester Village

During the weekend I went to Bicester Village. It's a chic retail outlet in Oxfordshire consisting of very much liked brands such as Burberry, Mulberry, Dior (and the list goes on). So many people turned up to shop despite the on and off outbursts of rain on the day.
If you do plan to shop there, you will need a good amount of savings because almost all the shops are high end designers. As you will see from these pictures, my purpose of visiting was not to shop, but to capture the scenes at the village, window shop and soak in the atmosphere.

The last 2 pictures show my only purchases.

I got this checkered shirt from Jack Wills & my favourite Yuan Zhi candle from Molton Brown.

Le Whif: Eating by Breathing?

You read that right. Eating by breathing is the new take on fulfilling your chocolate cravings with almost no calories, fat, carbs etc. And it's not April fools so hear me out on this one...

Le Whif is a new product invented by Harvard University and it has been all over the press. Papers such as the New York times and Thomson Reuters have praised this product with Thomson stating that this has 'global ambitions'. Basically the Whif contains tiny amounts of cocoa. Each Whif allows 8 whifs or 'breaths of chocolate'. On their main website, it is said that Le Whif uses 'particle engineering' to form natural food substances like chocolate.

If you look through their main site, you will notice they also have breathable vitamins and breathable coffee. After all its publicity and all the articles I have read on it, I finally managed to get my hands on these. Despite all the positive views on this, I didn't have high hopes. The reason I got so many was because I wanted to trial them on a panel of people to see what they thought.

And the verdict?

My instinct proved me right. Le Whif is a bizarre invention. When I tried it, it felt like I was inhaling very small amounts of cocoa powder, which I could have done myself ... but why on earth would I want to do that?! It didn't taste of much. Just imagine flavoured cocoa powder in minimal amounts hitting your taste buds. Simply put, that was it. Rather than fulfilling my cravings, I wanted to eat chocolate. I just did not get this product at all.

And as for my panel of volunteers who tried these?
They are as baffled as I am. They did not see the appeal. And they found it amusing the fact that Harvard university came up with this.

 I am truly speechless people!

DKNY Perfume review

(I got this perfume on the boxing day sale last year a Harrods! Didn't get round to blogging about it. So here we go.)

When I was about 11 or 12 years of age, I didn't wear or own any perfumes. One day as I was flicking through a women's fashion magazine, I saw a perfume sample from the DKNY perfume pictured above. I smelt it and I remember being so intrigued that I kept the sample with me so that one day, when I can afford to and when I'll be mature enough, I can buy this fragrance.

That day was one of the few days which slowly paved my way into my fascination with scents.

I remember capturing the scent in my head each time I smelt the sample so that I won't forget it. It's a very friendly smell, for all ages, for all women. Not too strong, not too light. It's my perfect blend of sour citrusy elixir. Sharp crisp top notes, sour tangy middle notes and light gentle base notes...

I would replay this over and over again.

 It doesn't cost a fortune and the scent is simple yet still continues to captivate me as it did in the past. It's so summery and I love wearing this in the summer, but also during winters because I feel like I'm still carrying part of the summer season with me.

The first time I got this perfume was several years later. I already lost the perfume sample by then but I remember sampling different scents at Boots and then stumbling on to this and it was then that I was brought back to memory lane, back to the day I first smelt the sample. I immediately got the fragrance. And since then, I've been restocking. This is my latest addition after another empty bottle of the DKNY fragrance. 

I just love it!

My Eid in Snapshots

 My Eid consisted of hot chocolate at Roast + Conch ....

...a Clocky the alarm clock for my present....

(This is SO cute and having tested it, I am impressed. It jumps upto 3 feet down on the ground and runs around as soon as it alarms. I'll never be late for anything again).

 ...a new lens!! 55-300mm Nikkor Lens is SO cool! It is more flexible, more awesome, more striking, more amazing... did I already mention it is awesome??

...testing the new lens...

...and munching nuts and crackers at the park...

Eid Wishes

Wishing each and every one of you reading this.....

A 

Very 

Happy 

Eid

Mubarak!

---

=)

Venchi - my favourite chocolatier

When I heard the fabulous news that Venchi has just opened a store in Covent Garden, I was so excited I squealed with delight. Venchi is an Italian chocolatier founded by Silvano Venchi.

I think this is their first store in the UK, which is so surprising because they definitely deserve so much more recognition. Venchi was established in 1878 so it has come a long way! 

I hope that this will be as famous here as it is in Italy.

It is so different compared to other chocolatiers such as Thornton's and it brings a refreshing blend of chocolates to our palettes.

Ask me what my favourite chocolate is and I'll immediately tell you it is Gianduiotto, made from a paste of sugar, cocoa and hazelnut. And Venchi has so many of these and more, it certainly satisfies any sweet chocolate cravings one has.

I cannot wait to try each of their chocolates and their gelatos. I am so pleased that they've made their mark in London. And although they are costly treats, try them and you'll understand just how worth it they are.

If you want to visit their site out of curiousty, here it is.