Newport Food Festival - What I'm Going to See

Newport Food Festival has been one of my favourite Saturday days out since it began.  This year it is happening on Saturday 4th October and it has been really great to see it grow and develop each year.

This year I've booked to see 4 demos at the Studio in the Riverfront, Tom Westerland, Ping Coombes, Michael Hendry and Honeybunch Cake Company.  They all be "new to me" demos as I know some of the Chefs are regulars at Newport Food Festival and I really looking forward to attending them as I've learnt so much over attending demos during the last few years.

There's so much going on, in my free time I'm looking forward to seeing the Street Performers and visiting lots of local companies in their stalls throughout the town.  My favourite place to visit has been Gower Cottage Brownies - their brownies are amazing.  I've bought from them every year they've been in Newport.  I'm so glad they'll be attending again this year.  One I'm looking forward to visit is Pizza Wheels I love getting buy freshly made pizza from a wood fired oven.  Hoping they'll be making cheese ones (for the kids) and well as spicy ones for my husband and I.

Some of the events I think I might miss this year is the Festival Supper, this sounds like so much fun and the menu looks divine as well as the talks on Beer, Tea, Coffee and Welsh Tapas in lots of different venues from the Market to Waterstones.

Only 10 days to go, I'm loving the countdown on the Food Festival website.  Have you seen it yet?

What are you looking forward to seeing in the Food Festival?

REVIEW: Jesus Christ Superstar, Dolman Theatre, Newport

The musical Jesus Christ Superstar, written by Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice, traces the last seven days of Jesus Christ as seen through the eyes of Judas Iscariot.

This weeks presentation by MY UK at The Dolman Theatre is the Arena version as originally portrayed by Ben Forster, Tim Minchin, Melanie C and Chris Moyles after the ITV prime time show Superstar where Andrew Lloyd Webber gave the UK public the chance to decide who would be playing the starring role of Jesus.

Jesus for this version is played by Jordan Leeming while Judas is portrayed by Connor Hendrýk Fogel and Abbie Davies is Mary Magdalene and they did a really great job within the production.

My highlight of the evening was Jordan Huntley playing Pontius Pilate, singing Trial Before Pilate pleading for Jesus to give Pilate a reason not to kill him.  Dave Jones also gave a rousing performance as Herod bringing a touch of light relief in the middle of a dark emotive story.
                                                   
One complaint for the opening night would be the lack of sharing microphones between cast members as there were several children with one line solos which were not heard due to the loudness of the band. Hopefully this technical difficulty will be rectified for later performances.

Jesus Christ Superstar will be at the Dolman Theatre until September 20 2014.

L'Oreal Paris - Elvive Extraordinary Oil Shampoo and Conditioner

I recently received some products from L'Oreal Paris to review for their web site.  I was so impressed by these products I decided to include them on this web site as well.  

Here are the reviews on the website:

• This shampoo, when used with the Extraordinary Oils conditioner works wonders on my hair.  I've got really weak, thin hair and after using the products my hair feels stronger and shiny-er.  It also works really well on my daughters thick hair leaving it really shiny.

• I love this conditioner. It worked really well on my daughter's hair as well as my own. She had really thick and full hair and I have really thin and fine hair. The conditioner used with the shampoo made both our hair look and feel really shiny and strong. Thank you l'oreal paris

Have you tried this shampoo?  What did you think?

My Daily Makeup Routine - September 2014

At the beginning of the summer holidays ELF ran a 50% off campaign and that was the step I needed to sort out my new make up routine for September.  The picture above shows the haul I managed to pic up for approx £30.00.  Not all of the products above made it into the final list of products I use every morning therefore listed below are the ones that made the cut:

• Mineral Infused Face Primer (in Clear) - this is first on, and as it says on the box it fills lines and helps prepare your skin so make up goes on evenly.  It certainly does that I love the smoothness I feel on my skin after using it.
• HD Mattifying Cream - This is the foundation I am currently using and it is very similar to my favourite foundation - Benefit's Some Kind-a Gorgeous but significantly cheaper.  I find the coverage and the finish very similar in both products so I would definitely buy the ELF one again.
• Eyeliner and Shadow Stick in Black/Smoke - described as "Achieve colour intensity for your eyes with twist-up ease" on the ELF website  and I would certainly agree with this,  I found the smoke a little dark so now I only cover half my eye and use a finger to smudge it across the whole eyelid.
• Volume Plumping Mascara - I choose this because it has a brush similar to Benefit's BadGal mascara.  So far I have no complaints, it's not as good as Benefit's but for everyday use I cannot complain.  It goes on easy and covers all my lashes really well.
• Mineral Blush in Joy - again, this was purchased as a Benefit dupe as well,  I really like Benefit's Dandelion and have used it for many years. I cannot complain about the ELF version, it suitably highlights the the cheek area,

Finally, you'll notice I have not mentioned a lipstick, that's because I'm not really sure about a lipstick at the moment.

What do you use in your daily routine?  Link me up in the comments below especially if you have any good ideas about lipsticks