Hello snow petals ~ I must sincerely apologise for my absence over the past month. At the beginning of the New Year I decided to take a break from my blog. In twenty-nineteen I often felt overwhelmed by an internal pressure from myself to constantly create new content. Although I adore blogging with all my heart, I seem to place an idea of perfection upon what I share through my blog and social media platforms and it began to take its toll on my health. For twenty-twenty I want to focus on dreaming up beautiful content which I’m truly proud of; this is not my full-time job so I hope you will appreciate that my other focuses such as my work, and hobbies like ballet will keep me busy too.
Today I’m pleased to share with you my first travel diary of twenty-twenty. London is one of my favourite locations to visit and earlier this month my mother and I took a trip this magical city. During this visit I finally got to meet my sweet friends Victoria and Tara which was a dream come true…
The magic began in Covent Garden which was just a short stroll away from our hotel. It is one of my favourite spots in London, not only because it reminds me of the flower market featured in My Fair Lady, it is also a great place for shopping! I adore the way each boutique is presented in a unique, charming way and I couldn’t resist stepping into Dior…
As I stepped into the boutique I was transported into a realm of sparkling bottles containing delicate perfumes and beautifully packaged lipsticks…
I decided to purchase a new bottle of my signature scent, the Miss Dior Absolutely Blooming fragrance…
The kind-hearted shop assistant placed my new perfume inside a dainty Dior bag which was lovingly tied with a golden embossed ribbon and spritzed with Joy by Dior.
Next on our itinerary was a trip to Ladurée for the most delectable delights!
Myself, Victoria and Tara had planned to meet one another at Ladurée for a girly afternoon! I feel so blessed to have met such sweet souls and we clicked instantly with one another. After exchanging our gifts and quite a few giggle we decided to order a set of delights fit for Marie Antoinette…
We all chose the Ispahan dessert (which I shared with Victoria) alongside a plate of rose and strawberry candy macarons.
The Isaphan is a “rose flavoured macaron filled with rose petal and lychee cream, embellished with fresh raspberries.” Of course we had our treats with a pot of Marie Antoinette tea…
Afterwards, I couldn’t resist taking photos of all the Parisian decor. Ladurée was dressed up for Valentine’s Day with love-heart macarons and beautiful red boxes.
I can’t wait to visit the original Ladurée in Paris for the first time and maybe try the Raspberry Saint-Honoré or Rose Religieuse.
Myself and Victoria were so overjoyed when we spotted the pale pink macaron boxes!
We had ours tied with a pink ribbon on the bag and a white one on the box…
The macaron flavours I chose were.. rose, vanilla, strawberry candy and their limited edition heart-shaped macaron for Valentine’s Day!
I also purchased their classic Breakfast Tea which I have always wanted ~ I adore the pretty pink packaging so much!
The excitement wasn’t over yet because we had an evening at the ballet ahead of us…
Myself, Tara and Victoria each had tickets to watch The Royal Ballet’s performance of The Sleeping Beauty with Lauren Cuthbertson as Princess Aurora and Federico Bonelli as Prince Florimund.
For this magical evening I decided to wear my pretty pink midi dress with lace trim from Ted Baker. I featured this darling dress in my Get Ready With Me for The Nutcracker video. The way it swirls and swishes reminds me so much of Aurora’s wedding dress…
I wore this fairytale piece with my ballerina necklace from Ted Baker… Finally, I curled my hair, applied my favourite Too Faced products and spritzed myself with my limited edition bottle of Viktor and Rolf’s Flowerbomb perfume and I was ready to go…
I have only entered the Royal Opera House once before and it was last April when I saw the Royal Ballet’s performance of Romeo and Juliet. The grandeur of the Opera House is a magnificent spectacle to experience and I am in complete awe each time I lay eyes upon it. Our seats were on the front row and whilst waiting for the orchestra to commence, I took the time to read through the signature red programme and gaze at the splendid architecture…
The performance was a masterpiece from start to finish; Lauren Cuthbertson was perfect as princess Aurora in Acts I and II ~ her rose adagio brought me to tears! I was heartbroken when we heard from Kevin O’hare (The Royal Ballet’s director), that Lauren had sustained an injury mid-performance. Fumi Kaneko, who had danced beautifully as the Lilac Fairy was chosen to take over and she was wonderful!
Once the curtain calls had come to an end, we went to the stage door on Bow Street, hoping to receive an autograph from some of the dancers. We were so lucky to meet and receive autographs from first soloist, Anna Rose’O Sullivan and principal, Matthew Ball (who I saw as Romeo in 2019)
The magic continued into the following day as we woke up early for ice-skating at the Natural History Museum ice rink. We were so lucky to see the rink dressed up in all its splendour for Christmas.
The tree was twinkling and before stepping onto the ice, we took some time to photograph the Viktor and Rolf Flowerbomb pop-up displayed beside the rink. There was a pale pink telephone box, a magical London sky-line, the London eye filled with mini Flowerbombs and a flurry of snowflakes which appeared like a pretty pink winter wonderland…
I was quite nervous about stepping onto the rink because I hadn’t skated in years ~ I wore my own white skates with a faux fur trim which definitely made me stand out… I’m happy to say myself and Victoria had a magical time and we didn’t fall over!
To replenish ourselves after ice-skating, we wandered over to the Peggy Porschen parlour in Belgravia which had just released its Love Letters collection for Valentine’s Day…
I’m going to share a blog post on this romantic display very soon but I thought I would discuss my thoughts on the treats we sampled from their Sugar and Ice range which was on the menu during our visit.
I shared the Jolly Gingerbread cupcake with Victoria ~ it consists of a warming cinnamon and ginger sponge, a swirl of vanilla buttercream which was decorated with a fondant snowman, a snowflakes and sprinkles which we had with a pot of their Classic Chelsea Rose tea!
My mother selected the Vanilla Cloud cake ~ a wonderfully fluffy vanilla chiffon cake which is layered with Italian meringue buttercream and finished with a dainty macaron…
Victoria’s mother chose the Playful Polar Bear cupcake which is the cutest!
Made with a chocolate chip filling and topped with peppermint frosting, it is the perfect wintry treat.
I love the fact that every detail is thought of at Peggy’s ~ each cappuccino and latte is finished with a chocolate snowflake…
I was so grateful to receive some beautifully wrapped gifts from Tara and Victoria.
I particularly loved the Megan Hess Christmas card from Tara.
Each present was wrapped with the sweetest swan gift-wrap and tied with a soft satin bow.
I hope you enjoyed this travel diary mon ami! I will hopefully have written another one in the summer because last week my mother and I finally booked our flights and hotel for Paris in July! I’m so excited to finally visit this magical city of dreams ~ p.s remember to watch my video of my adventures in London…
I’m sending lots of love to you all,
As a new content creator, and a perfectionist myself, I completely understand taking a break. Creating content is very time-consuming. I am a firm believer in quality over quantity, but I find myself wanting to go for both, and it can be very stressful. I love creating, but there are other hobbies to focus on as well. Never feel like you need to rush content. I’ve been following you for a while now, and your content is lovely and worth waiting for. 🌸💖🌺✨
Everything about your London trip looks and sounds absolutely delightful! I hope that one day I may be able to visit London. Up to this point, I have not even been able to leave the United States, but I love reading about other people’s travels so I have something to dream about. ✨💫 I look forward to hearing about your travels to Paris in July! Paris is actually another dream destination of mine.
Anyways, I hope your day or night is absolutely lovely. 🌟
Dear Katherine,
I’m so glad to hear I’m not the only one who struggles with perfectionism ~ it can be so exhausting. I definitely agree with your thoughts on quality over quantity. I would much rather share a blog post which I’m truly proud of! It makes me so happy that you enjoy my content because I work so hard on everything I create. London was so wonderful and I hope you are able to visit one day ~ travelling is so much fun 🎀 I’m so excited for my trip to Paris ~ I’m constantly counting down the days! Sending lots of love to you angel,
From
xo Sophie Bethany Rose