The Doughnut Diaries

So, I am having to write this post as a matter of urgency because these DELICIOUS doughnuts did not hang around long and I wanna get words to page whilst I’m still experiencing the immense sugar high. If you’re local to Norwich or have visited in the last few weeks you may have noticed a number of people walking around proudly carrying a Krispy Kreme dozen and wondered where they came from. Well on Friday the 2nd of September a Norwich Krispy Kreme fresh store will open its doors in Chapelfield for the first time.

On Thursday night I attended the Norwich Bloggers social at none other than the Warwick Street Social and we were very privileged to be joined by the lovely folks from Krispy Kreme!! On arrival I was presented with my very own assorted dozen!!! After a proper rubbish day I was made up only having tried an original glazed the previous week and already hooked I was gagging for the extra flavours! As you can imagine by the speed this post has been published the following 24 hours involved a lot of doughnut eating…..

 

Thursday Night Dinner- Nutty Chocolatta- The most delicious, amazing, topped and filled doughnut filled with NUTELLA!! All that chocolate hazelnutty goodness set me up good and proper for a few drinks at the WSS!

Midnight Snack- Glazed Raspberry- A classic raspberry jam filled doughnut with that signature iced glaze on top, shared with the mother and put a smile on her face.

Friday Coffee and Cake- Cappuccinos for 3 and an Original Glazed, Nutty Chocolate, Chocolate Iced and an Apple Pie- shared with my parents who grew up in the 50’s and state they’ve “never had doughnuts so light” and their childhood holidays both mostly consisted of seaside resorts famed for doughnuts!

Special Delivery for the one I love- Strawberries and Kreme, Chocolate Dream Cake, Chocolate Sprinkles and Triple Chocolate Cake- I hand delivered these to my boyfriends building site for him to share with his boss, strawberries and kreme is his favourite and was perfect as always, he gave 2 to his boss who proceeded to buy him lunch and let him leave off early. There really is no denying the joy that is the Krispy Kreme effect!! *Bribery is never a good route to go down but if you’re planning on it Krispy Kreme is clearly a damn good idea to use*image

 

Friday Night In- Strawberry Gloss- Now this is 100% my new favourite. Definitely the one that always caught my eye at service stations with its princess pink glittery, glossy, glaze; thankfully its taste did not disappoint. O M G is all I can say, I’ll be going back for this one first. Teamed with a glass of fizz this was the ultra girly night indulgence.

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Sharing is Caring- Chocolate Custard- I was gonna eat this with my lunch but as I had already definitely had my fill but I gave it to a friend at work when she coincidentally told me how this was her favourite KK. Definitely made her morning.

12 doughnuts. 6 happy people. 36 hours. 

 

If you do decide to let your dozen hang around longer than I did do not refrigerate to ensure soft and fluffiness and they are good for 3 days.

Enjoy folks, do not underestimate the power of the Krispy Kreme. 1st in line for the Norwich store on the 2nd gets a gold card which is a years worth of free doughnuts and many more giveaways too so get yourselves down to Chapelfield to enjoy the launch. I on the other hand will be hopping on the treadmill to jog off my day of doughnut decadence.

Whats your favourite KK?

love Holly x x

 

All Bar One Launch Party

 

A couple of weeks ago I was lucky enough to receive an invitation to attend the launch night for the brand new and improved All Bar One in Norwich. All Bar One has been closed for some time due to a fire and has had a £1m refurbishment so I was super excited to see the changes!!

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It started at 5 so I got myself dressed up and headed on down straight from work, on arrival they had door staff to let you in and a hostess checking names on the guest list which made me feel pretty special. My party were greeted inside by a lovely lady handing out the arrival bubbles and she explained the concept of the evening. Each of us received a drinks token to either go to the left to the wine bar and try some of the new wine available on the menu or go to the right to the cocktail bar to taste one of their cocktails! A Cosmopolitan or a Disoronno Sour. (A lady driving gave me her tokens so I had both. Yum yum yum.)

We found ourselves somewhere to soak up the atmosphere and get stuck in to our drinks and watch the venue fill. Throughout the night the incredibly knowledgable staff came round handing out complimentary tasters off the main menu from mini burgers, to calamari, falafel and filo feta parcels for the vegetarians out there. We even got out own antipasti slate too! It just was wonderful to see the place alive again! So I thought I would just break it down to cover everything!

The Decor

I love what they have done with the place, It has such a warm and modern feel with amazing attention to detail. Thick hardy leather chairs and stools which will endure the major footfall in warm tan tones and deep teal. There are loads of different lighting features including the -so on trend right now- exposed element Edison bulbs and soft lit lamps throughout. The lights have perfectly clever placement near cut glass mirrors to add light to the space. The colour palette chosen of muted Jewel tones- think teals and blues, tan and brown with hints of nude and orange with a lot of strong wood. On the walls they have chosen colourful artwork and some picture clusters which all work really well. It still looks like an All Bar One which is vital to keep that brand continuity but is a welcome return to the Norwich bar scene.

The Staff

The new team all seemed great and I wanna commend them all on their amazing manners and service. I haven’t been served by such polished and polite waiting staff in Norwich for ages. They all made you feel genuinely special and welcome. On top of that they new all the dishes they were serving inside out from memory so have clearly been trained really well!

The Food and Drink

Everything that I tried I loved! The menu appears to be updated and diverse with something for everyone. Inspiration from lots of different global cuisines, lots of choices for veggies and if you’re healthy eating and from full meals, sharers, tapas and light bites. You would struggle for even the fussiest person to not find something they would like! And last but certainly not least the drinks. The cocktail menu is quite extensive so a blend to tickle all tastebuds! The house white I tried was lovely and the cocktails were made good and strong the way they should be. They also had an Aperol bar which isn’t my cup of tea but looked really popular! You can take a look at the menus right here!

I had such an awesome night! Thanks so much to the manager Clive and the team and I’ll definitely be back very soon!

Has anyone else been since the reopening? What’s been your favourite thing?

Thanks for reading!!

love Holly xx

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Katie Loxton: New favourite

So I recently discovered Katie Loxton and her amazingly chic and affordable accessories in Quest Gifts in Norwich. Quest is an independent retailer selling gorgeous gifts, accessories, home furnishings, jewellery and beautiful cards and gift wrap.

I treated myself to a couple of Katie’s stunning bits from her accessories range- the Girly Goodies nude clutch for-wait for it- £15.50 ladies!! And the super cute ‘key to my heart’ key ring for £7.99!! (Pictured below with some of my other hero products)

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Her pouches all feature a cheerful little slogan embossed in gold like my Girly Goodies there’s also the likes of “Ooh La La”, “Pretty in Pink” and “Bag of Tricks” giving her bags a unique and fun twist and not to mention affordable enough to get one in every colour to go with every outfit!! And there is the selection to do so too if you have a wardrobe full of colour!!

The fabric is a leather look PU with a similar cross-hatched texture to Michael Kors and Prada bags- which guys let me tell you is amazingly wipe clean because I had a few too many on Saturday night and dropped mine about a million times!! With the key ring in the same finish there’s no messing up that bad boy knocking around in the bottom of my big old handbag. Still looks good as new!! What’s not to love??

Well if bargain premium quality accessories weren’t enough she also makes candles and reed diffusers too in lush scents also featuring those convivial little messages. I haven’t tried these yet but the home range looks just as special!!

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My whole experience was left nothing short of luxury when my items were beautifully wrapped and I was given an official Katie Loxton bag shopping bag (pictured below) too which was a nice finishing touch and really gave it that premium edge!

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Go check it all out! Quest have stores in Norwich, Holt and Bury St Edmunds to visit or you can go check out the woman herself on her official website katieloxton.com and bag yourself some treats of your own!

 

Has anyone tried the home ranges? Or got some favourites of their own? I love my bag to match my favourite Dune Cliopatra shoes <3

 

Thanks for reading, Holly xx

 

 

 

 

 

Norwich Bloggers Event

On Sunday the 10th of July the Norwich Bloggers invited me to come along to one of their networking events for bloggers in Norwich and surrounding areas,  I was actually there working, representing my company Benefit Cosmetics who are hugely into networking with bloggers and influencers and building on their social media following because they are a brand that do not pay for advertising. I arrived at around 1.30 ready to get started for the bloggers arriving at 2 and set my little area up with a table bursting with goody bags supplied by the company. There was lots of other brands there too from Lisa Angel, Neals Yard, Exposed brushes, The Curl Company, FYFO, Arbonne, White Rabbit Gifts, Jarrolds and Courteney who is one of the Norwich Bloggers founders doing gel nails for everyone free of charge. The event had such a great vibe, a real sense of community amongst like minded people who share a passion. The was no rivalry at all and everyone was just so kind and interesting to talk to and offer advice to each other. The was a huge range of subject matter across the attendees too with a strong beauty leadership but also lots of lifestyle, fashion, fitness, cooking, crafts and motherhood too!

In our Benefit goody bags everyone got a super cute passport holder and mini Lollitint, along with the details of the blogging scheme that Benefit has started for bloggers to be able to sign into a portal designed exclusively for them to be in with the chance to receive products to review and demo and info about events and launches! For more info feel free to get in touch!

Goody bags galore!

Goody bags galore!

Almost all the brands and businesses had something great to offer and the generosity was astounding from the gifts and goody bags provided. I just had the dream of starting a blog in the back of my mind at this point but after meeting some girls I can hopefully now call friends I just knew this world was something that I was dying to be part of and here it is becoming a reality. Norwich Bloggers is a such a great was to unite and meet people and the girls behind it Courteney, Justine and Hannah are incredibly proactive at doing lots of events and getting people together. Hopefully I’ll be able to attend the next event as a blogger <3

Supplying delicious sweet treats at the events the had Milk and Moss Coffee who had made the most amazing vegan and gluten free cupcakes with super adorable Norwich Bloggers toppers! They were amazing and as someone who doesn’t do well with wheat it was a real treat to be able to enjoy a cake worry free!!

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Are you local to Norfolk and like the sound of this kind of event? Does anyone else have groups like this in their home town or have any amazing events they’ve attended? I’d love to hear!

Thanks for reading, let my journey commence.

Holly  x

 

 

A little intro….

Hey there lovely readers thank you for coming accross my page!

My name is Holly, I’m a beauty and fashion junkie and have been in the cosmetics industry for over 5 years and felt it was about time to share my passion for all the gorgeous beauty delights I come accross with the world, along with some fashion must haves, (and if I’m writing it as a compulsive shopper likely will-haves!) and lifestyle tips and tricks too!

A little info about me! Animal lover. Adventurer. Shopaholic. Gin queen. Bargain hunter (pretty successful at it too). Permanent dieter (not so successful) and a lover of luxury and how to cut corners to get it.

I hope you enjoy my page and how I navigate life <3