It's that time of year again when students-to-be are packing up to fly the nest and start a new adventure at University. As a student blogger, I've written quite a few posts now about the do's and dont's of Uni, but not many that focus on fashion. I would say my true personal style really evolved in my first or second year of Uni. It absolutely is a crucial period in terms of finding your sense of identity in terms of how you feel in your own skin, and loving what you're wearing will give you that all-important confidence boost about yourself.

If you haven't heard of PrettyLittleThing yet, firstly where have you been? And secondly, you really should! They have a student style section which gives you a huge catalogue of inspiration and cool pieces that can really make an outfit. More importantly, you can get 10% off all year round with your student discount at Unidays - bonus! PrettyLittleThing kindly sent me some pieces to style for different occasions and scenarios that will no doubt occur multiple times during your time at University. Check out what I chose below:

1. A look for when... you're out shopping with your new flatmates
Crop top: https://www.prettylittlething.com/basic-khaki-roll-sleeve-crop-t-shirt.html
Cropped jumper: https://www.prettylittlething.com/prettylittlething-grey-trim-cropped-hoodie.html
High-waisted Mom jeans: https://www.prettylittlething.com/light-wash-mom-jeans.html

Many of you will soon be celebrating the end of the exam period. I've been there many times now and generally it goes a bit like this: 1. Spend two hours getting ready 2. Friends arrive for pre-drinks 3. Spend a good few hours at someone's house playing drinking games (everyone knows this is the best part of a night out) 4. Get a taxi to town to go to a questionable nightclub 5. Boogie 6. Walk home, stopping at some kind of fast food place on the way 
Now let's skip back to step 3, because there's a new kid on the block in the games industry and it's called "Shit Happens". I was kindly sent this to review and in true student fashion I, of course, had to review it as part of the night out ritual. 

You know the feeling: you've had a great Wednesday night out but perhaps aren't feeling too fresh for your 9am lecture the next day. You can't sack it off but all you want to do is stay in your cosy pyjamas. Here's where Get The Label come to the rescue! They offer super comfy athleisure wear (as well as much more) which makes it look like you've made the effort even if you're a little bit hungover still.

Us gals go through a lot in our lives: we put up with monthly periods and all the fun and cramps that come with them; we push babies out of our bodies like some kind of Superwoman; and on top of all that, we go through the pain of trying to take off glitter nail polish that just doesn't want to budge. We've all been there - desperately scrubbing away at a chipped glitter coat with a cotton pad, only for the cotton wool to drag and cling onto the tiny pieces of glitter until your left in a crying heap on the floor and glitter nail varnish STILL on your nails. Okay, this may be an exaggeration, but it's a pain, right? Something we could do without? Well fear not glitter lovers, Leighton Denny has come up with a solution.

I was generously gifted Leighton Denny's NEW Easy-Peel base coat, along with one of their glitter nail polishes called Twinkle Twinkle to try with it. The instructions say to put two layers of the Easy Peel base coat on before topping with your fave glitter polish. The base coat paints on white and then as it dries it turns clear. It dries super quickly and doesn't feel thick or gloopy, so it doesn't take long to do the two base coats. Once they were dry, I put on two layers of Twinkle Twinkle to complete the look. I love the look of a glitter polish and this silver colour goes with most outfits so it was perfect for my Saturday night out. 


Now here is my recommendation: this peel-off base is great if you want to wear a glitter polish for a day or for a particular event, without the trouble of taking it off the next day. It is PERFECT for that. However, don't expect it to last a whole week. The beauty of this product is that it's super convenient if you want to be able to take off your polish really easily. I found that after submersing my nails in water quite a bit during the day (e.g. while showering, washing up dishes) the nails started to come off. In the instructions, it suggests that you gently push at the edges of your nail until the polish comes away from your nail bed. And it really is that easy! And also how satisfying is it peeling off nail varnish? (The answer is VERY). If you peel of shellac or normal nail polish, it often leaves nail beds feeling rough and brittle. With the Leighton Denny Easy Peel base, my nails felt perfectly healthy and smooth after taking them off - bonus!

If you're a local, you'll no doubt be aware of Cardiff's City Road - jam-packed with so many delicious eateries from all over the world, you really are spoilt for choice. Saray is a Turkish restaurant situated about halfway down the infamous road, and they kindly invited me, along with a few other bloggers, to a cooking masterclass with their fantastic chefs. 

We were sat down in the restaurant and offered a beautiful cup of Turkish tea - very unlike my usual morning English Breakfast tea! The aromas were fantastic too and complemented the smell of freshly baked breads coming from the kitchen. 

We started off with an Adana kebab masterclass using minced lamb (my favourite meat!). We were shown how to roll and place the mince onto the skewers so that they look presentable before they are cooked. They made it look a lot easier than it actually was! Regardless, I like to think I did a pretty good job of it in the end! 

We then went through to learn how to make their fresh breads, and we also made Pide - a kind of Turkish pizza. These can have an array of different fillings - we made a Ispanakli pide (feta cheese, spinach, red peppers, onion and mushrooms) as well as two meat pides (one chicken, one lamb) but the vegetarian pide was my favourite for sure.


The best bit about the cooking class? Being able to eat it all at the end! They say food always tastes better when you've made it yourself, and this was no exception! The lamb kebab and pides were beautiful, and the fresh bread and dips complemented the dishes perfectly. The fact that we saw all the food being freshly prepared made me realise how different Saray is to other Turkish restaurants I've been to. Every single thing I ate (even the hummus) had been freshly prepared in the restaurant - and you can really tell! The flavours were fantastic and I can't wait to go back and bring along friends and family.


If you're a Cardiff student like me (or even just visiting Cardiff) looking for somewhere to eat out - perhaps City Road feels a bit overwhelming with its huge choice of restaurants - look no further than Saray!