The BE Blog

I seem to be forever on a mission to find that one magical product that will help my uncompromising skin. Usually I seek the advise of the the YouTube and Blog Yoda's for this, which usually ends in me screaming 'WHY DO THEY MAKE THIS LOOK SO EASY?' at my computer screen. However, the Shills Deep Cleansing Black Mask from blackmaskcleansing.com seemed to be popping up all over my social media, as from time to time beauty fads do. Everyone was raving about how good it was now it pulled all the dirt out of your pores, and the satisfying part was that the effects were visible when you pull the mask off. I was sucked into the hype and bought it even though I had to ship it over from America, that's how curious I was to try this. Was this the product that was going to fix all my clogged pore problems?

No, no it was not. The mask was fine, but just fine, I have used better just from the high street. Many peel off masks work just as well. I am not saying that Shills Cleansing Black Mask works any worse than these but I was expecting something that would change my life, maybe my expectations were too high, but that is the power of social media. 

The mask is quite thick and sticky but applied pretty well, even though you have to use quite a lot of product to get the right coverage. The problem I had to start with is that it takes an extremely long time to dry. Usually I don't mind waiting for masks to dry if they feel amazing. When I say feel amazing I am talking for instance about the masks from Lush as they smell amazing and feel so refreshing or GlamGlow where you can really feel the mask working. Both masks from these brands have changed my life (at least the face mask section of my life). But, in my opinion the Shills Cleansing Black Mask mask smelled funny and didn't feel anything happening. 

Even with this rocky start I still held up hope. I had seen on the Facebook videos that this was a painful mask to take off. I would have settled for pain, at least then I would feel like it was working. Alas, there was no pain and nothing on the mask when I pulled it off. One of the appeals of the videos is that you could physically see all the gunk from your face in the mask. I know it sounds gross but again it is an indication that the mask actually did something , that is the satisfaction that I was looking for, but there was nothing. Don't get me wrong it did make my skin feel a little smoother but all of my blackheads were still visible on my face. 

Now, this probably won't stop me buying something just because I have seen it on the internet, because let's face it the internet influences most of my beauty buys these days, but this particular product did not work for me. Of course this is just my opinion and I would love to know if any of you have tried it and what you thought? Am I just doing something wrong? 

But before I get to the giraffes I want to tell you about the rest of the park. Blair Drummond is a Safari Park therefore there is a large part that you can drive your car through to get an up close look at the animals. However, since there was only me I decided not to drive through and to be honest I saw nearly all of the animals just walking around. 

Once you park up and walk in the entrance there are places to eat and a huge adventure play park for kids. To the left were some of the smaller animals and a petting area and to the right were the lions, large mammals and the boat safari to chimp island.

I decided to take a right first, there is a wood walkway where you could get a great view of the lions and giraffes. I stood and watched the lions for a long time as they were very active. There were at least three young lions that were playing, running around and fighting.

Next was the rhino house where they had the cutest baby rhino that my sister told me was called Bonnie. 

There was also an elephant which was of course impressive, however inside the elephant house they had some leaf cutter ants that would walk along the rope in between their two tanks carrying their leaves, it was fascinating to watch.

I took the boat to chimp island, which I have to admit was less than impressive. You were crammed on to a boat that stopped to let you look at the chimps for maybe about a minute, if that.

On the other side of the park were meerkats, sea lions (I did not get to see the show due to the amount of school trips in the park that day), tigers and a petting section. I spent quite a bit of time in this section watching the meerkats and sea lions. 

One thing I did find very impressive about the park was that you could book a barbecue for the day at no extra cost, allowing you to bring your own food. For families and large groups I thought this was such a good idea, it adds something extra to your day.



The last activity on my agenda was my meet and greet with the giraffes. I met up with my sister and the giraffe keeper, who told me a little about the animals before taking me into the house where the giraffes were waiting to be fed. I was speechless and tried my hardest to hold back my tears. They were so close and so beautiful. I was amazed at how gentle they were and how close you could get to them. They were sticking their head over the railing looking for treats. I couldn't get the lettuce ready quick enough for them. Being able to hand feed them like that was such an experience and a dream come true. Hearing their story and all about their unique personalities from the keeper just made me fall in love with them more. They are magnificent, gorgeous creatures and I can't thank my sister, Emily enough for letting me have this ridiculously special experience. 

If you have read my previous posts then you may know that I have been to Disneyland Paris recently. As always I had an amazing time. Even though I have been to Disneyland and Disney World many times, this trip was full of firsts for me. It was the first time I went with my boyfriend, the first time I stayed on Disney property and the first time I experienced many things at Disneyland Paris, either because they were not there the last time I visited or I had just never stumbled across them before. 

In recent years I have learnt that the key to having the best time at Disney and the best way to optimise the time you have there is to do your research beforehand. It worked so well when I went to Disney World last year so this time for Disneyland Paris it was no different. Of Course you can't plan out every second of your trip but it is good to have a rough idea of what you want to do, and most importantly where you want to eat. If you take nothing else away from this post I would strongly urge that you book your restaurants in advance.

Anyway, I thought I would share with you some of the best bits about the trip and some bits that I didn't think were particularly bad but they just were not as good.

The Rides 

The rides are probably one of the biggest attractions attractions at Disneyland, and although many of the classics remain the same there were some new rides at Paris that I had never experienced before.  We had great luck the first two days of our trip as the lines were incredibly short, we never waited longer than 20 minutes to get on a ride and we managed to get on nearly everything we wanted in those first two days. This I was thankful for as the Saturday was very busy, an hour or more wait for almost everything. The highlight for me was the upgrade to Space Mountain, previously Space Mountain Mission 2 and now Hyperspace Mountain. They have now added a Star Wars overlay inside, it is incredible! As much as I loved Mission 2 this exceeded my expectations, and of course being a massive Star Wars fan only helped. The others that were firsts for me were the new Ratatouille ride which I can not recommend enough, it was a story ride with a little something extra, it transported you into the world of Remy, the movements were so smooth and it even had smells as you moved through the pantry.

This time I also experienced Crush's Coaster in Walt Disney Studios for the first time, as always the line was over half an hour so we decided to take advantage of the single rider option and we walked straight on. The ride is short so don't be put off by riding with strangers, I just made friends with the woman sat next to me. To be honest I was not that impressed by this ride, I  mean it was good just not a two hour wait worth of good, I was a little disappointed.

Of course as it was Gordy's first time at Disney we did all the classics, my favourite in any Disney park is Haunted Mansion or Phantom Manor as it is called  in Paris, this was the first ride of our trip and as always it did not disappoint. To my surprise Gordy seemed to really enjoy Peter Pan's Flight the most, it is also one of my favourites and a true classic, but I was expecting one of the bigger thrill rides to be his pick so I was happy that he was enjoying the smaller rides too. The biggest disappointment though was that Pirates of the Caribbean was closed for refurbishment as it is a ride I could ride over and over again, I also really want to show Gordy this ride, but I am sure the upgrades will be worth it.

The Characters

I love meeting characters at Disneyland and every interaction we had on this trip was just perfect. The first encounter we has was with Timon, which is Gordy's favourite, his face when we seen him was priceless and I was so happy as this was the moment when I truly knew he would really enjoy our time here. I finally got to meet Captain Hook, which I have wanted to do every time I have been in the past. We were able to meet Mickey in his traditional tux with a relatively short wait time. We also stumbled upon Genie and Jafar which were both great. I was determined to meet at least one character in their blue Anniversary outfits, the lines for these encounters were the longest lines in the parks, in the end we decided to wait for Donald (one of my all time favourite characters to meet in the Parks) we waited over an hour to meet him, but the interaction we got from him and the photos we took were amazing, some of my favourites from the trip.

The only slightly bad thing I would say about the characters at Disneyland Paris is that there was not a lot of variety in the characters just walking around. Certain characters were in certain spots and these never changed and after seeing the characters that they could potentially bring out after the 25th Anniversary celebration, I was kind of hoping to see some rare characters out and about.


The Fireworks

The fireworks show at Disneyland Paris has recently changed from Disney Dreams to Disney Illuminations for the 25th Anniversary. I am not going to lie I had a tear or two. It is amazing, I don't want to spoil things too much, but the projections on the castle are stunning and it was the perfect mix of nostalgia and the new (spoiler: they include the new live action Beauty and the Beast). This show just really tugged on my heart strings and made me very emotional, it is that feeling that only Disneyland can provide. It made it extra special that I was sharing this experience with someone I care so much about. I could not fault the Illuminations show.

The Hotel

Unfortunately in the excitement I didn't really take any photos of the hotel so you will just have to take my word for it that it was amazing. We stayed in Disney's Sequoia Lodge and it was perfect. You couldn't get a better location, only about a five minute walk to the parks but still far enough away that it was quite peaceful. The Californian lodge theming was stunning, the lobby, the bar and the rooms just felt so comfortable and inviting. To top it all off we also received a surprise upgrade on our room. It was funny because we only expected a standard room and when walking round the outside we pointed to the rooms with the balconies overlooking the lake and jokingly said that they must be the 'fancy' rooms, turns out when we got up there we had one of those rooms. I can not recommend Sequoia Lodge enough it was a great hotel for our stay.



The Food

I don't want to go into the food too much as I have two posts coming up reviewing Bistro Chez Remy and Walt's Restaurant, but here is a little overview. As I have mentioned before it is best to book your restaurants, don't just turn up and expect to get a table because chances are you won't. Two weeks before our trip I booked us in to Hunter's Grill at Sequoia Lodge and Bistro Chez Remy in Walt Disney Studios, both were included on our meal plan. When we were there we booked into Walt's Restaurant through the concierge desk at the hotel , this was not included in our meal plan but for €3.99 we could upgrade and get a two course meal.

Walt's was amazing, the food and the place were just incredible and if you ask for a window seat you get a perfect view of Main Street. The theming in Bistro Chez Remy was the best thing about the experience, the food was good but not spectacular and really it is a restaurant designed for the kids, I am glad we got to experience it but if it was not on the meal plan I probably would not have paid for it. I will go into more detail in my reviews.

Hunter's Grill was one of many buffet style restaurants that Disneyland Paris has to offer, I wasn't too impressed. The food was fine but the desert selection was twice the size of the savoury. The restaurant was crammed too just not very comfortable.

As well as the restaurants I tried many of the snacks and drinks throughout the park. The blue popcorn, a Nutella crepe, an anniversary donuts as well as a Glowtini where you get a keep sake light up ice cube and many other cocktails. The one snack I was most excited about however was the Pineapple Whip, now if any of you have been to the USA parks this is very similar to a Dole Whip, not exactly the same but close enough, I found this just inside Adventureland as you come off Main Street at a fruit stand. I would recommend you look out for them and let me know how you think they compare to the original Dole Whips.

The Not So Good Bits

Lets face it, I pretty much loved every second of the trip, there are not many bad things I could say about it.  There are however three points I would like to make. The first is that unlike the other Disney Parks at Disneyland Paris there are not many places that you can go to escape from the kids, I know Disney is for kids but sometimes when you are there as an adult you want a few hours away from it all. In the other parks there are plenty of bars and places to that are catered to adults only, Paris doesn't really have this. The second is the range of merchandise, usually when I visit a Disney Park I could spend a small fortune but this time I really struggled to find anything to buy myself. Every shop sold exactly the same stuff and most of it was kids. There was a lack unique items as they have in the other parks. Lastly was the customer service, this was by no means bad, in fact the hotel staff were fantastic, however when you are used to the level of service in the US parks it is easy to see the difference. It just seemed to be lacking that Disney charm. Now I know that I shouldn't compare Disneyland Paris to the USA parks but sometimes I couldn't help myself.


Just Being There 

I have outlined all the individual things that I loved about my trip to Disneyland, but nothing quite beats the feeling of just being there, in that atmosphere. This time was extra special because I had Gordy there, experiencing his first Disney trip with him was just the best. Having him there made the trip perfect, sharing what I love with him and seeing his reaction as he soaked it all in was priceless. The feeling I get when I go to Disney is something that I can't even describe and this time was no different.

Let me know if you have ever been to Disneyland Paris and what your favourite thing about the parks is.