The Past Few Weeks in Instagram Form (8 - extended edition)

                            Watching Shlomo                                                Preparing for a guest slot on the radio

                         Me & Emily off to Rocky Horror                                             My outfit

                         Visit from the mother                                                          Pretty purse

              Finally found some Gatsby inspired earrings                                    Another fox dress

                    Pretty ring from a Hull boutique                                     This is what I do in between lectures

                                   First time at Bingo                                                 Lincoln uni do froyo

                         Skyping Jake in the newsrooms                                             £1.50 roses

                    Moroccan tea & dissertation reading                                Lincolnshire Sausage Festival

                      White Rabbit teahouse                                                        Mackerel Pate

                         Rock Paper Scissors treats                                          Cupcake making for City Vibe

                          Beautiful print                                                          Free pumpkin pie vegan cupcake


Due to my lack of posting on here I thought I'd catch you all up. These photos are only half of what's been happening lately but they make a boring text post a lot prettier.

At the beginning of third year me and my friend Luke email interviewed Shlomo. Shlomo is a beat-boxer and was touring with his show Human Geekbox. Luke and I got press passes and went to see him. All I can say is that it was the strangest thing I've ever seen. Strange and wonderful that is. We met him afterwards and chatted to him. He was so friendly and kind. If he's touring in your city, definitely go and see him!

The journalism department at the University of Lincoln all know each other. One of my tutors from last year invited me on his show to discuss "Behind the Headlines". I've never been nervous about being on the radio before but I was then! It turned out to be an excellent experience and a great morning.

My friend Emily invited me up to Hull to go and see Rocky Horror at Hull New Theatre. Her mum kindly let me have her ticket as she didn't fancy going this year. I love Rocky Horror but seeing it live was amazing! One of the best parts was dressing up and seeing the audience's costumes as well.

A few weeks ago my mum came down on the train for a visit. My dad works on weekends so can't visit much but my mum likes to pop down every so often. We usually wander around the shops and have lunch. I took her to one of my favourite cafes, - Coffee Aroma, and she loved it. She was also kind enough to buy this gorgeous purse for me. As we were browsing the charity shops I found these beautiful Gatsby inspired earrings (see earlier post for more detail) and had to have them. I also ended up buying ANOTHER fox dress (I have a problem). And my last pretty purchase was this cameo ring from a Hull boutique I've talked about before called Tessie's.

I barely have lectures this year and on Monday we have 2. All the journo lot like to amuse each other with mental Snapchats (there are far weirder ones). This is just one of mine. Our atrium and canteen have also started doing frozen yoghurt which has made me very very happy.

Two of my housemates and I went to bingo for the first time a few Thursdays ago. It was such an odd experience. My friend Guppy also came along and laughed when we all accidentally played the wrong game. I'm still being taunted to this day by her...

I skyped my friend Jake from Paris in the newsrooms last Sunday for an interview. Being in a dark, cold newsroom at the weekend was an odd experience, but it was so nice to chat to Jake. Hopefully next year I'll have enough money to go and visit him for a few days.

Dissertation reading has began. It's so hard trying to fit it in around other university work but I've found reading and tea in bed is a good combination. Not excited to begin writing 10,000 words though...

Last weekend I also went to Lincoln's yearly Lincolnshire Sausage Festival and liveblogged it with my friend and group member Richard. The liveblog was for our website Lincoln & That and is our online project. The festival turned out to be a lot better than expected. I wandered to my favourite fruit and veg shop and bought myself some beautiful white roses for £1.50! So cheap!

One week when it wasn't City Vibe (our third year radio programme). Guppy, Laura, Emily and I went for a shopping spree in Nottingham. I bought a velvet green skirt from AA I've been wanting for years, browsed the MAC store and persuaded everyone we had to go to the White Rabbit teahouse. I had seen people recommend it and it was gorgeous. The decor, the food, the tea, everything! The mackerel pate, salad and toast which was so so good.

A lot of cake and tea has been consumed lately. Third year is taking it out on me (and everyone else for that matter). Luke and I decided to spend an hour away from the newsrooms in Rock Paper Scissors for tea and cake. Chocolate cake with chai icing/frosting is my new favourite thing.

Yet more cake was consumed for our City Vibe show the other week. We did our own Bake Off so I bought Peppa Pig cakes to make. I didn't enter them but recorded the cracking of eggs, whisking etc for noise effects.

This beautiful beautiful Amelie print is from The Ritz Cinema and Theatre (previous post on this is here). It's by a local artist called Melly Em Clark. I spotted it and had to buy it straight away. Amelie is a favourite film of mine and I'm in love with this print.

Once again it's cake again... This time in the form of Yellowbellys of Bailgate's vegan pumpkin pie cupcakes. You've probably read my thoughts on Yellowbellys before (one of the best shops in Lincoln). 3 of us from City Vibe went up the other day as we're going vegetarian and vegan 5 days before Lincoln's Veggie Fair. Linda (the woman who owns Yellowbellys) was so lovely to us and gave us free cupcakes! Vegan cake is so delicious, especially when it's pumpkin pie flavour!

Hope everyone else has had a mad/exciting past few weeks like I have!

Alice
  x

MAC Eyeshadow: Cranberry Frost

First and foremost, sorry once again for lacking on the posting! As I've said in previous posts, university work eats up a lot of my time. For the past few weeks I've spent 95% of the time in the newsroom, with the other 5% being a mix of eating, sleeping and visiting my friend's flat.

Don't worry though, I haven't forgotten about Alice and the Rose! My future posts may be a bit sporadic but I'll still be here. It just seems that my spare time has either been spent having meetings for group work or sleeping... Although last Friday a few of us decided we'd have a day off and go to Nottingham for the day.

I've been to Nottingham a couple of times and for shopping it's amazing. Nottingham is humongous compared to Lincoln and it has 5 x the amount of high street shops that we have. Amongst the big high street brands are cute little boutiques and cafes so you also get the best of both worlds.

After having a good wander round and falling into several shops, I spotted the MAC sign round the corner. I've only ever used MAC lipsticks and nothing else. For a while now I've been curious about trying their eye shadows, and after having a look round, Cranberry Frost caught my eye.

A rich, shimmery pinky-purple shade, Cranberry Frost reminded me of Queen, a similar coloured shadow from my Alice in Wonderland Urban Decay kit. I used to use Queen all the time when going on nights out in Sheffield and it was a gorgeous shade. Surprisingly Cranberry Frost turned out to be just as good.

Cranberry Frost is easy to apply and is fairly subtle at first until you build it up. I blended it with a shimmery gold shadow & they complemented each other wonderfully. I think Cranberry Frost would also work well if you wanted to do a different take on the classic smokey eye. For my first MAC eye shadow, it's a pretty good one. I might have to branch out and try some others... 

Have you tried MAC's Cranberry Frost before? If not, do you have a favourite MAC eye shadow?

Alice

  x

Weekly Wantings: Pink Coats

Pink Coats by alicelucyrose-1

I know I know. I'm behind on the whole pink coat trend. To be honest when I first saw people on Instagram, Twitter, Bloglovin etc discussing pink coats, I thought they were awful. Fast forward a few months or so, and now I desperately want one. 

At first when I heard about pink coats, an automatic disgusted expression appeared on my face. All I could envisage were hideous hot-pink or Barbie-pink coloured coats. Now I know I'm a girl but I've never been a big fan of pink clothes. Pink lipsticks and blushers are fine, but a hot-pink dress? Not a fan. 

However when I spotted pastel pink coat photos floating around the web I changed my mind. Gone were the ideas of walking Barbies and in replacement was the image of an elegant Audrey Hepburn lookalike. 

The pastel pink coat is elegant looking and wonderful for Winter. I love the different shapes and styles of the coats too. Some, such as the ASOS coat in the top right of my Polyvore collage, is a vintage-style cocoon coat. It's beautiful and long-line and would have been perfect for Holly to wear in Breakfast at Tiffany's. Sadly long-line coats never look right on me as I'm 5 ft 3 with tiny legs so they swamp me. But if you are tall and looking for a beautiful pink coat, this is the one for you.

I also love the two coats on the bottom even though they're mohair which I've never been too keen on. The Topshop one is more of a light pink than pastel but I love the shape of it (sadly it isn't on their website anymore). The boyfriend one from New Look is one of my favourites due to the shape of the collar and style of the sleeves. Boyfriend coats are also incredibly comfy and are easy to layer up. 

My favourite of all the pink coats is the Zara woolen overcoat on the top left. I'm desperate to find this coat as all sizes are sold out online. Anyway, I prefer woolen coats to mohair and this one is a shorter style so it won't make me look smaller than I already am. The buttons and style of this coat make it classy but beautiful. It's only £79.99 as well which I'd say is good for a coat. I definitely need a pink coat this year so let the hunt for the perfect one begin!

Do you like pastel pink coats?

Alice

  x

The Ritz Cinema & Theatre

It's only the second week of university and it's so hectic already. Welcome to third year I guess. I haven't had a lot of time in the house to sit down and relax so I will post on here whenever I find the time. Being busy is something I love but juggling everything around is proving a little tough at the moment.

Although the past two weeks have been busy, my Sunday afternoons have been spent at my local independent cinema.

The Ritz Cinema and Theatre first opened in the 1930s but closed down in the late 90s and turned into a Wetherspoons. Last year however, a team of people and local artists put in lots of hard work to renovate the upstairs area of The Ritz and turn it back into a cinema.

Midnight screenings are a popular feature at The Ritz, as well as the Kid Clubs. Last month stand-up comedian Adam Buxton put on a show and there was also a Doctor Who convention (hence the Tardis and K-9 in my photos).

A lot of the midnight screenings that me and my friends wanted to see were showing in the summer so we didn't get a chance to see them. However my friend Guppy spotted a Studio Ghibli season ticket. Five films across five weekends. And all on a Sunday. It was BOGOF on the season tickets so we both decided to go. Each ticket was beautifully designed and a photo of mine is on my last Instagram post.

The cinema is only one screen but the layout looks amazing. I took my camera with me on the first Ghibli screening to take some photos and ended up going a little mad...

The bar and waiting area is so quaint and nice with it's selection of uncomfortable (but actually very comfy) looking seats. I didn't actually take a photo of the bar as it was a little busy; but they have a selection of chocolates, pop and alcoholic beverages. They also do Poppets and cherry Tango which I got a little over excited about.

My favourite bit of The Ritz is it's memorabilia room. Filled with hundreds of DVDS, some amazing film postcards, figurines and posters designed by local artists it really is a feast for the eyes. I think my favourite thing of all was the cushion, which I spent a good ten minutes laughing at. The framed tickets (on the last photo) are actually from The old Ritz cinema.

Have you ever visited The Ritz Cinema in Lincoln? Or do you have one like it where you come from?

You can read more about The Ritz here.

Alice

  x

The Past Few Weeks in Instagram Form (7)

                     The Brayford in the sunshine                                               Studio Ghibli

                        

                                   Fred                                                                         Homemade burgers

                                 The best thing ever                                                     Lincoln is pretty

                                Krishna and fur                                                            Prettiest book

                          Wishing to be tall                                                              Adorable designs

Apologies for the lack of posts lately. University has caught up with me even though I haven't actually properly began my third year yet. To be honest this post should be titled "The Past Week in Instagram Form" but I wanted to stick with my theme. Being back in Lincoln has been hectic (in a good way of course). I've celebrated freshers week with my friends and had the best time. This year's freshers has even topped first years. Every day was jam packed with seeing friends, outings, nights out and interviews.

I've been spending a lot of time just sitting and chatting to my friends and going to our local hangouts. Our particular favourite is a pub situated on campus called The Shed. It overlooks the Brayford and sitting outside when it's warm/sunny is lovely.  

Lincoln has a small and independent cinema and theatre called The Ritz. Me and my friend Guppy found out they were showing a Studio Ghibli film each Sunday for five weekends and had to get a season pass. The Ritz designed such beautiful passes. 

I always miss Betty when I'm in Lincoln but spotted this fella in our back yard the other day and decided to name him Fred. Now I'm tempted to convince my housemates we need to adopt him.

Being back in Lincoln and having a bigger house means we now have a bigger kitchen as well. I'm also trying to eat a lot healthier so am cooking from scratch. I made cheesy bean burgers the other day using a recipe from an ASDA magazine and they were delicious. I'll put up some quick and easy recipes on the blog soon.

My friend had a pub crawl belated birthday event and we ended up in a lovely little pub called Widow Cullen's Well. Her housemate suggested the Chocolate Stout and the rest is history. I'm in love.

I'm at the side of Lincoln where I can easily go up Steep Hill. I pass these benches every time I go swimming and I always think the view looks so pretty. 

Freshers week has been pretty hectic, I've been out most nights but have also had some brilliant interviewing opportunities. On Wednesday I interviewed Jameela Jamil with my friend (and yes Jameela is beautiful in real life) and on Friday I interviewed one of the members of Kids in Glass Houses and met them all. It's been amazing. On Friday my friend Krishna came down to visit for the KIGH gig (one of the best gigs I've ever been to) and we went round all the little boutiques the next day. She tried on a gorgeous fur coat but didn't end up buying it. 

We also ended up in an antiques shop which had some amazing books. I spent 20 minutes reading this one which was called Roses are Red and was about love and scorn in Victorian times. The illustrations were beautiful and I nearly bought it, but then realised I had no real purpose for it. 

After ambling back down Steep Hill we wandered into one of my favourite vintage shops called Ego and tried loads of things on. These platforms have been there ages and I had to try them on. The height they gave me was amazing but the thought of breaking my ankle was not. What I'd give to be taller...

These prints caught my eye because of the cute and quirky design. They were on sale at The Ritz and I may have to go back and buy one.

So that was a snippet of the past week and a bit. Right now I'm writing up a to-do list for beginning back at university tomorrow and tidying my room (yay).

How has your week been?

Alice

  x 

Weekly Wantings: Kanken Backpacks

Kanken Backpacks by alicelucyrose-1

Fjallraven Kanken is a Swedish brand of backpack that I've been spotting all over the blogging world currently. Having never heard of the brand before I was first drawn to them by their extensive range of colours. I love how classic they look, and their backpacks are stylish yet practical. I particularly love the lilac and burgundy one. Tempted to invest in one for travelling...

Do you like Kanken backpacks?

Alice

   x

The Raw Chocolate Company

 **This is a sponsored post**

A few months ago I was browsing an organic shop in Hull with my friend when I spotted a "raw chocolate bar". At this point I had no idea what raw chocolate was but decided to purchase one and find out. The bar I purchased was a Lovechock bar. It was absolutely delicious and unlike any chocolate I'd ever tasted before. Intrigued to find out more, I went on online to find out more information on raw chocolate. 

Upon browsing I came across The Raw Chocolate Company. Their website drew me in as it featured all different types of raw chocolate bars but also raw chocolate covered snacks as well. I'd never seen The Raw Chocolate Company's products in any shop before and really wanted to try some. The fact that their chocolate contains no artificial colours, flavourings, and uses organic ingredients made it appeal to me even more.

I decided to take a chance and email The Raw Chocolate Company asking if they'd like to work with me and if I could review some products. They replied to my email pretty quickly and to my surprise they said yes and that I'd receive some products in the post shortly. About a week later I wandered past the porch to see a Graze box sat on the mat. After a few minutes confusion I picked up the box to see the words "not from" in front of the Graze sign which made me chuckle. I just had to take a photo for the amusement.

After taking this I excitedly tore open the package (I can never open packages neatly no matter how hard I try) and a load of goodies fell out. Kris (the man who replied to my email) had said a booklet had come with the chocolate for me to have a nosey at and find out more information about the company and products. The booklet gave information about each individual product and where the ingredients came from which is always nice to know. There's a booklet on their website as well which you can flick through.

The product I wanted to try the most was the Raw Chocolate Covered Mulberries. To be honest I don't even know if I've ever tried a mulberry before but I can't remember doing so. These were the first product I tried and were delicious. They were chewy and more-ish but with a toffee like taste. The raw chocolate that covered them added a very delicate chocolate taste that wasn't too overpowering. 

Next I tried the Raw Chocolate Covered Goji Berries. I've had plain goji berries many a time and went through a phase of taking small packets of them to college to snack on. It's difficult to describe the taste of goji berries... They're sweet but with a hint of bitterness. This came through with the raw chocolate ones but once again they were also very more-ish. I'd definitely buy these and the mulberries again as they'd be perfect to take to university to snack on when I'm there all day.

I was just as impressed with the chocolate I was sent. First I tried the Organic Vanoffe flavoured one as it appealed to me the most (as did the bright blue/turquoise packaging). Vanoffe is creamy and delicious tasting with the lightest hint of vanilla. I'm amazed at how creamy it tasted even though it's dairy-free. It's very sweet and was probably my favourite out of all the bars.

Vanoffe Dark was equally tasty. The dark chocolate is quite bitter but has a lovely bit of sweetness with the vanilla once again. I found that with this bar it was very rich and half a small bar at a time was the best for me.

The Organic Raw Chocolate with Goji Berries & Orange was another rich bar. For some reason this one reminded me of Christmas because of it's warming orange flavour and chewy goji berries. This was probably my second favourite and would probably be nice to enjoy with a glass of wine in the Autumn/Winter.

The last bar I tried was the Organic Pitch Dark Bar, this was once again a lovely bar but like the Vanoffe Dark half a small bar could satisfy you in one sitting.

All in all, I was very pleased with all the products from The Raw Chocolate Company and would definitely purchase some (if not all) of them again. The products are perfect for vegans and those wanting to know what ingredients they are consuming. 

So I would like to say a big thank you to The Raw Chocolate Company (and Kris in particular) for sending me these products. I thoroughly enjoyed giving them a try and will most likely be back to buy some!

If you want to check out The Raw Chocolate Company for yourself here are some links:

• Their website
• Their Twitter page
• Their Facebook page

Have you tried raw chocolate before? What did you think of it?

Alice

  x

**Even though this post is sponsored my views on these products are 100% honest and unbiased**

Orla Kiely SS 14 Collection

In my previous post I mentioned that although I had many favourites from London Fashion Week SS14, one collection stood out to me more than the rest. That collection is Orla Kiely. As soon as I saw the outfits the opening to Moonrise Kingdom began to play in my head. Every single outfit was so Suzy Bishop-esque, especially the long sleeved blue shirt dress with the pink collar. The style of the set was amazing and I love the cute props like the camp-fire and easel. Even looking at these photos makes me want to chuck on a pink or navy beret and pull on some knee-high socks. The 60's inspired collection stands out with animal prints and pops of colour, and I also particularly like the socks and sandals combination (even though most people think it's wrong). 

Do you like Orla Kiely's SS 14 collection?

Alice

  x

Lush Rose Jam Bubbleroon

The Rose Jam bubbleroon is described to give you a bath that "helps you get out of it feeling better than when you got in". Coconut oil and shea butter in the bubbleroon leaves your skin feeling silky while the rose scent is delicate and fragrant. Much to my friends amusement I love a lot of rose scented products which they always like to point out and make a joke out of due to my second name. Now it's turning to Autumn I find myself drawn towards Lush when I'm in town. In the Winter I buy many of their bath bombs, bath melts and bubble bars/bubbleroons. I've used several of their bubbleroons before and love Rose Jam because you can use it for 2 baths. It comes apart really easily as well so you aren't left with a crumbly mess. If you're a Lush fan and like rose scented things then the Rose Jam bubbleroon is perfect for you; and as Sylvia Plath said in The Bell Jar: "There must be quite a few things that a hot bath won't cure, but I don't know any of them".

What are your favourite bath products from Lush? Have you tried their bubbleroons before?

Alice
  x

LFW Collection Favourites

So many collections from London Fashion Week for SS 14 amazed me. I managed to catch a couple on the live stream but was out and about most of the week so had to catch up on an evening. These are my main favourite collections (but there's another post currently pending for my absolute favourite collection).

Bora Aksu

I managed to catch a tiny bit of Bora Aksu's show on the LFW live stream. After seeing a few of the dresses I immediately fell in love. My initial reaction to the dresses was Alice in Wonderland and tea parties. Bora Aksu's collection featured beautifully detailed dresses ranging from cornflower blues to light yellows to in your face fuchsias. Bora is originally from Turkey and the influence of it was very much apparent in his collection with his prints. I chose these 4 dresses out of the collection to display as they're just so lovely and delicate looking. 

Emilia Wickstead

The Emilia Wickstead collection followed with cornflower blue and pale dresses like those at Bora Aksu. Instead of giving off an Alice in Wonderland vibe however, they seemed to be more princess-y. To add to that, it seems to be a coincidence that Kate Middleton is a fan of Emilia Wickstead. The dresses were all midi or maxi and floated gently behind the models. I particularly love the lady-like pastel pink dress.

House of Holland

Henry Holland's collection differed to the floaty and frilly dresses from the two previous collections. He stuck to the true House of Holland style of kitsch prints and bold accessories. Pretty dresses were adorned with bright flowers and waist belts. Not pictured is an beautiful top and trouser set in duck egg blue with navy lace sections which was another favourite of mine. His dresses managed to be elegant but out there at the same time. I absolutely love the coral shift dress because of it's unique print. 

Peter Pilotto

Peter Pilotto's collection was filled with vividly printed dresses in bright colours. His dresses seemed to flow away from the body of the models and seemed very structured. Lace was mixed with digital prints and wide sleeved shirts were paired with equally wide skirts. Some of the outfits almost seemed like paintings with the colour and print combinations The digital printed shirt and skirt was my favourite as it looks wonderful. 

What were your favourite collections at LFW?


Alice
  x