Alcohol review: The King of Soho Copacetic Vodka and Variorum Gin

As I said in a previous blog, I’ve really been leaning into playing host of late, and an integral component of that is ensuring my guests have a drink in their hand at all times. If that drink is made from an exotic spirit, such as those from The King Soho, even better!

I was provided with a full bottle of The King Soho Copacetic Vodka and a sample bottle of The King Soho Variorum Gin

Alcohol review: Kwai Feh Lychee Liqueur

Since moving into my flat in September last year, I’ve been really enjoying hosting friends, and part of my hosting duties include mixing fun cocktails for my guests. I was kindly sent a bottle of the Kwai Feh lychee liqueur to review, and had lots of fun using it to jazz up some well-known drinks recipes. 

I love lychees as a fruit, and this liqueur both had a strong lychee taste and smell. This lychee essence goes with a lot of alcoholic spirits, making it a very versatile ingredient for drinks. In the photo below, I made lychee mojitos:

The ingredients for this drink were: a handful of mint (I have a mint plant which I use for this, very helpful!), 25ml of Kwai Feh, 25ml of rum, 25ml of freshly squeezed lime juice, 15ml of sugar syrup, topped up with lychee juice.

Whilst I enjoy rum cocktails, I don’t actually love the flavour of rum on its own, so it was pleasing to my taste buds that the lychee liqueur overpowered the rum in this drink! The lychee mojito was very fruity and fresh, with the mint leaves and lime really bringing out the tastiness of the lychee in the drink.

The next drink I made was the pink señorita cocktail, partially inspired by the pink aesthetic of the Barbie film!

The ingredients here were: 25ml Kwai Feh, 25ml tequila, 25ml Cointreau, 10ml lemon juice, topped up with pink lemonade.

Review of five Maison Margiela perfume samplers

In my review of the LookFantastic Autumn Scent Edit, I commented that I couldn’t see the fuss around Maison Margiela’s Lazy Sunday Morning fragrance. On FeelUnique, the site where I have been getting perfume samplers for the last few months to share my thoughts on here, they conveniently had several other Maison Margiela fragrances as samplers. Thus, I thought this would be an opportune moment to see if my ‘meh’ response to Lazy Sunday Morning was an anomaly, or if this brand as a whole wasn’t to my taste. 

Review of five perfume samplers from FeelUnique - part 8

You know the drill by now – my brief thoughts on five little samples of perfumes!

Alive by Hugo Boss Eau de Parfum

With top notes of Madagascar vanilla, plum, cinnamon, apple and blackcurrant, there’s no denying that the creators of Alive EDP were aiming for a distinctively fruity scent. The middle notes of jasmine sambac and thyme, and base notes sandalwood, cedar and olive tree aim to complement the traces of fruit with woodsy scents.

Sponsored post: RINSTA fashion, glamorous Y2K fits

I was kindly sent two cardigans from RINSTA, a hot new website that specialises in Y2K-style aesthetic. Here are some snaps of me in said cardigans!

Review: LookFantastic Scent Edit Autumn 2021 box

Getting perfume samplers in the post were one of the little treats that served as a fantastic pick me up during the seemingly never-ending period that was lockdown. As I have now exhausted all the perfume samples that are available on the FeelUnique website, I had to look elsewhere, and was alerted to this very tempting offer from LookFantastic.

It's a box with five fragrances in, luxury-sized (so larger than the usual 1.2ml sample-sizes I reviewed from FeelUnique), with two other non-fragrance samples thrown in. The box costs £55, which may seem pricey… until you consider that the box comes with a voucher code, that gives you £55 off the price of a full-sized bottle of any of the five perfumes it trials (and I made use of this voucher!)

Here are my thoughts on the seven items in the box:

Review of five perfume samplers from FeelUnique - part 7

My dedication to sampling all the perfumes that are out there continues, with a little help from FeelUnique! June and July was a busy period during work, so I didn't have time to produce much blog content, and as such, I've built up somewhat of a backlog. I will endeavour to increase to frequency of my reviews, going forward!

Chloé Rose Tangerine

This Chloé scent features just five ingredients (tangerine, blackcurrant, rose, cedar and white amber), attesting to that age-old adage that it's quality, not quantity.

Review of four perfume samplers from FeelUnique - part 6

I'm slowly but steadily making my way through all the perfumes that FeelUnique are letting you sample. And it's proving to be a lot of fun! With department stores re-opening and putting out testers again, it means the thing that I was missing, which led me to order these samplers to begin with, are reinstated. But I've gotten so used to making my monthly FeelUnique order, that I shall continue with the tradition!

Review of perfume samples from eBay pot luck – part 4

Graciously, the FeelUnique Pick and Mix sample deal is back! I had been missing it a lot, and in lieu of it, I'd bought a pot luck of assorted perfume samples from eBay. As my previous reviews (un et duex et trois) attest to, the collection had been decidedly unlucky.

Fortunately, now that FeelUnique is letting me order samples again, I needn't venture to the eBay samples any more, and thus, part 4 of reviewing them will be the final instalment.

Red Door by Elizabeth Arden

Review of five perfume samples from eBay pot luck – part 3

You know what this is about by now! I was missing the FeelUnique '5 samples for £3.95' deal (which in itself was a response to missing being able to test perfumes in department stores pre-Covid-19). So I bought a sample of 50 perfume samples for £23.50 off eBay. The only issue was that I didn't have any say in the perfumes, and alas, some of them weren't to my tastes (see previous reviews of the eBay pot luck, here and here).

Intrusion by Oscar de la Renta

Review of five perfume samples from eBay pot luck – part 2

This blog is part 2 of my testing out the assortment of perfume samples I got for £23.50 from eBay. My thoughts on the first few are here!

Review of five perfume samplers from FeelUnique – part 4

You know the drill by now! I order 5 perfume samples on FeelUnique, pay the £3.95 Postage and Packaging, and report back on what I thought of the samples, particularly, whether I'd ever buy a full-size bottle of it! November's opinings.

Sol de Janeiro Cheirosa '62 Eau de Parfum

As the name suggests, the Sol de Janeiro seeks to emulate the rhythms of Brazil in a perfume, in particular, capturing the essence of Brazil in the summer.

Restaurant review: KOUZU (Belgravia)

I bought a voucher to dine at Kouzu on BuyAGift. The restaurant fancies itself an upmarket Japanese restaurant, and the deal retails at £49 ordinarily, so I will be assessing it as if I paid this amount for the deal (in fact, I got a fair bit off the price due to a discount code, but I’m aware discount codes don’t occur all the time).

The starters were perfunctory. With regards to the salmon, if they were going for the 'high quality and low quantity' vibe that's typical of many high-class restaurants, they really needed to work on the presentation, because what is photographed below doesn't scream 'high-class' to me:

Restaurant review: GALVIN AT WINDOWS (Mayfair)

Back in February, I had the pleasure of being able to try the five-course tasting menu at Galvin at Windows, at the Park Lane Hilton. With the exception of Yuauatcha and Sticks’n’Sushi, I rarely dine at expensive places, so when I got the opportunity to, it always feels like a special occasion!

Restaurant review: GOGI KOREAN BAR AND GRILL (Warwick Avenue)

Having done my Masters (part-time, over two years) very close to Tottenham Court Road, I was able to indulge in all the Korean restaurants in TCR’s vicinity, which certainly gave me an appetite for the cuisine. This fondness was cemented by On the Bab, one of the best restaurants I’ve been to, by far, and recipient of a coveted A-grade on this blog.

One part of my Korean dining experience that was sadly lacking, however, was that of the Korean barbeque. This is where Gogi, situated about a ten minute walk from Warwick Avenue underground station, came in.

Cooking: salmon and pomegranate salad

I made a salmon and pomegranate salad today. It was easy to cook and tasted so delicious, so I shall share my recipe!

Step 1: Buy a few fillets of salmon from your local high street. Before putting them in the oven for the time allocated, chop a few fine chillis (as shown in the first photo) and evenly distribute these on the salmon:

Step 2: While the salmon is cooking in the oven, cut open a pomegranate. Break all the individual pieces into a salad bowl and throw in a healthy quantity of greens. Use a spoon to spread the two fruit/veg out, before drizzling delicious balsamic vinegar over the combination.

Once the salmon is ready, boom! There's your dinner! Including preparation time, this took less than 20 minutes to make, and the end result is delicious and nutritious. Am definitely going to follow this recipe again (I may make amendments) - watch this space!

Review: RICH AND SWEET TOMATO CHUTNEY (Asda)

Product reviews: three shower gels (Radox, Boots own brand)

The Radox Brazilian fusion was 50p from Superdrug, the Zingy Lime Fizz was 75p from Boots, and the Radox lavender and waterlily shower gel was £1 from Boots.

Radox Brazillian fusion was by far my favourite of the three. It had an incredibly fresh smell and I loved the way it left my skin feeling afterwards, smooth and hydrated. There was a spicy edge to its aroma, which I presume is the Brazilian contingent. A.

The 'zinginess' of the Boots Zingy lime fizz was a little too pungent; the smell completed overpowered my nosebuds when I applied some. Unfortunate, as I adore the colour (my bedroom walls are that exact same shade of lime green). C

Conversely, the scent of the Radox lavender and waterlilly was far too faint. No sooner had I applied it to my skin and washed it off, the smell of the product had gone. I know shower gels aren't supposed to linger that much (that's what perfumes are for, after all), but this shower gel was too diluted by half. The picture above, of the watery consistency, can attest to that. C+

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The rest of my product reviews are here.

Bar review: THE REDCHURCH BAR (Shoreditch)

The last time I had cocktails using a Groupon deal with my friend Rebecca was The Escapologist in Covent Garden, which, despite a customer who rudely pushed in in front of me, was a thoroughly enjoyably evening. Rebecca and I had had our boozy night back in September of 2016. Almost nine months later, here I was, taking advantage of another Groupon deal, again with the same babe.

However, the original plan had to been to visit The Redchurch Bar with a friend on May 20th. We arrived in Shoreditch at 4pm (where both the Groupon deal and Google say the bar is open from), but the doors weren’t open. We assumed the bar staff were just running a little late, so settled up shop in The Verge across the road, where, graciously, there was also a Happy Hour (review of The Verge coming soon).

We sat in The Verge until 7pm, occasionally popping over to see if it had opened yet. It never did, although at some points, a man (presumably the manager) was standing behind the locked door, furrowing his brows whilst on his phone. Eventually we gave up hope on our Redchurch cocktails, and went for dinner in Brick Lane. But that was really, really annoying. Of all the problems I’ve had with Groupon, up until then, I’d never experienced a place not actually being open.

So, of course, it was with trepidation that I approached the place with Rebecca some 10 days later. Amazingly, it was open! Admittedly, we got there a bit later, 8:30pm, but the lack of staff was telling immediately; it was a fairly spacious bar, yet I only spotted two couples in The Redchurch bar.

Something inconvenient that this place did with their deal which both The Escapologist and Adventure Bar eschewed (by allowing the deal-holder to open up a tab) was that we had to order all our cocktails at once. This wasn’t ideal because it meant some drinks lost some of their chill towards the end, and as we all know, if there’s anything I need more of, it’s chill.

Even more annoyingly, was the fact that they didn’t have ingredients for a bunch of the drinks. As I’ve stipulated in past reviews of Groupon cocktail deals, if I’ve shelled out £24 for six cocktails, I want to maximise my returns by ordering the most expensive drinks. There were several which were £11.50 here, and the one which caught my attention was the ‘Chinese Cosmopolitan’. I’m Chinese, and I love Sex and the City, so that drink sang to me straight away.

Even more worryingly, they didn’t have lychee to make that drink, and they also conspicuously lacked the ingredients for several of the other drinks which cost £11.50. To not have the ingredients for one cocktail is bad enough, but for the waitress to continually tell me I couldn't have what I desired because they didn't have the components? Poor af.

In the end, Rebecca and I were able to find three drinks apiece that we liked, and here they are:

Product reviews: MANGO and VANILLA BODY BUTTER (Boots)

Back in March, when going through airport security before my holiday in Prague, it transpired that due to a last minute reshuffle of things in suitcases, I’d put my expensive Body Shop blueberry body lotion in my hand luggage rather than my check-in luggage. 

As you can see, the size of the container is substantially higher than the limit of liquids you’re allowed on a flight, and so, a perfectly good container of body lotion which was only about 80% used was unceremoniously confiscated from me.

Now that the sun’s finally shining the UK, I now need lotion to apply to my legs, lest they look too dry when wearing sundresses, so I had to replenish my body moisturiser supply. I bought these two items as part of a ‘Buy one get second half price’ deal.