A Night Out at Roxy Ball Room

Anushka Searle on 28 July 2021

With the new found freedom and cocktail nights breaking the bank it’s time to find an alternative night out…enter Roxy. Roxy Ball Room, nicknamed “Roxy’s”, is the night out that every friend will enjoy. Whether you simply want a drink, a game of pool, a pizza night or a full night of activities, Roxy’s has a lot to offer. On my visit to their Merrion street location I was lucky enough to test out their duckpin bowling and crazy pool, alongside a pizza, some drinks, and of course I brought some friends along for the ride too.

Duckpin Bowling

A fun and quick alternative to your average game of bowling. Each player gets three tries each go, in comparison to the usual two, meaning that you can rake up a pretty high score. The only downside is that the game was a tad glitchy for us as the pins often came down with the front pin missing, making it impossible to get a strike. On the upside, the game was really fun, you get lots of rounds, and it is right next to the bar! Who doesn’t want a bit of drunk bowling?

Crazy Pool

Never have I ever seen crazy golf combined with pool before, but Roxy’s made that happen. You are presented with a variation of different tables with loops and obstacles at varying difficulties and you have six tries to get the ball in the hole. We had lots of fun with this game, and it was great to try something new. My one suggestion would be that the tables are too smooth so we often ran into the problem of the ball rolling off the table or getting stuck in the exact same place, this could also be improved by changing the sides of the table so that the ball can bounce off of them.

Pizza Time

With all those games and drinks you are bound to work up an appetite and Roxy’s pizza is there to solve that problem. If you’re a bit peckish then you can buy by the slice, but let’s be honest a full pizza is always the better choice. Roxy’s has recently changed their pizza bases and my Italian boyfriend was thoroughly impressed by them. My only point of criticism is that their pizza range is very limited, with only two vegetarian options (including margherita) and no vegan or gluten free option. If they improve their menu to include a few more topping and base options, then their pizza would be incredible.

Overall, the five of us had a great time at Roxy’s and the staff was amazing and very friendly. I would definitely recommend Roxy’s to anyone that hasn’t been as it is a great location for birthdays, befriending flatmates, or a simple games night. Roxy’s is everchanging and I can’t wait to see how they develop this fantastic business further.

Poundland Perfumes Giving Marc Jacobs and Viktor & Rolf a Run for their Money

Anushka Searle on 1 March 2021

Love a designer dupe? Well, look no further than Poundland’s perfume range…that’s right, perfume for a pound! With most designer perfumes ranging from £50-£100 and made from ingredients that can cost as little as 20p, it is no wonder people are thrilled about this bargain. So, I decided to take a closer look at their ingredients and put them to the test…

Lily Petals vs. Marc Jacobs’ Daisy

Like many others, I am a fan of Marc Jacobs’ Daisy and the whole range of Daisy perfumes and so it is a scent that I have memorised, and Lily Petals did not disappoint. Lily Petals smells almost identical to the Marc Jacobs version. If you compare the ingredients between the two Lily Petals has 52.94% of the same ingredients as Daisy, with the addition of the cheaper oil, Hydrogenated Castor Oil.  Ingredients not included in the dupe include Acrylates/Octylacrylamide Copolymer (microplastics), Benzophenone-3 (absorbs UV and can cause allergic reactions), Benzyl Benzonate (used to treat lice), BHT (used to treat Herpes), Ethylhexyl Methoxycinnamate (absorbs UV and can disrupt glands), Ethylhexyl Salicylate (absorbs UV)¸ Methyl 2-Octynoate (synthetic fragrance), and Hydrolyzed Jojoba Esters (used as an emulsifier). Considering only one of these ingredients is contributing to the fragrance it is unsurprising that Lily Petals smells so similar. Also, as Lily Petals seems to lack a lot of the UV absorbing ingredients, I would recommend keeping the bottle away from direct sunlight. That being said, it appears that the £59 price tag for 50ml is mainly down to unnecessary ingredients, a fancy bottle and branding. I have to say I do miss the beautiful Daisy bottle, but £1 for 100ml is pretty convincing. I also decided to test the longevity of the perfume; I put Lily Petals on each wrist at 10am and although the scent was weak for me, my boyfriend said he could still smell it at 8pm.

Rating: 3/5

Fleur Bloom vs. Viktor & Rolf’s Flowerbomb

Flowerbomb is another personal favourite of mine, but as it is £78 for only 50ml it is definitely not one for a student budget. Though Fleur Bloom does smell extremely similar to Flowerbomb, it only has 35.29% of the same ingredients as the original. Fleur Bloom has the additional ingredients of PEG-40 Hydrogenated Castor Oil, D&C Yellow No.11 and FD&C Yellow No.6 and these colour ingredients do make the perfume look a lot more yellow than the original. Ingredients that are not found in Fleur Bloom include Ethylhexyl Methoxycinnamate and Benzyl Benzonate – both of which were not included in Lily Petals – along with Butyl Methoxydibenzoylmethane (absorbs UV), Pentaerythrityl Tetra-di-t-butyl Hydroxyhydrocinnamate (an antioxidant), Benzyl Alcohol (fragrance and human neurotoxin) Citral (natural scent), and many colour ingredients (Ci 19140 / Yellow 5, Ci 60730 / Ext. Violet 2 Ci 17200 / Red 33). In terms of ingredients Fleur Bloom does not match up to Lily Petals, but it is still a good dupe nonetheless and I find the scent to be exceptionally similar. I tested the longevity of Fleur Bloom; I put it on my wrists at 11am and amazingly the scent was still strong when I went to bed! So, although Fleur Bloom loses against Lily Petals on ingredients, it is a clear winner for a long-lasting fragrance.

Rating: 4/5

THE LGBTQ+ YOUTUBERS YOU NEED TO WATCH

Anushka Searle on 28 February 2021

Joel Rochester
Image credit: Goodreads

Channel: FictionalFates

Bio: Joel identifies as a “bisexual Black British boy”. He is currently in his third year at university, studying English Literature and Creative Writing. He began his bookstagram and blog back in 2015 and this encouraged him to start his booktube account last year, which is already at 50.2k subscribers. Joel was particularly encouraged to start his channel because of BLM, as he felt “more empowered to use… [his] voice in spreading diverse reading and representation and showing that black lives matter”. Indeed, he also amplified his voice through the format of literature, as, in 2020 Joel wrote a short story, ‘The Boy & The Dragon, and is in the process of writing his first novel.

“Reading was probably my escape from reality, like a comfortable and safe space from a harsher world that didn’t like a queer British boy, a queer Black boy”

– Joel Rochester

Video Recommendation: ‘how I organise myself as a reader + student’ / ‘let’s talk about black books, baby‘

Rose Ellen Dix & Rosie Spaughton
Image credit: divamag

Channel: Rose and Rosie

Bio: Rose and Rosie are a married comedy duo; they have been married for 5 years and you can watch their beautiful wedding video their channel. They both had individual YouTube channels in 2011, before making their first combined channel, “Let’s Play Games”, which was a gaming channel. They then made their channel Rose & Rosie where they do comedy skits and along with more personal videos, including Rose’s experience of having OCD and Rosie’s experience of being a bisexual woman in their “BISEXY SERIES” (Rose and Rosie Vlogs). They have recently started their podcast “Rose and Rosie: Parental Guidance” which discusses their experience of trying for a baby through IUI.

Video recommendation: ‘Rating Gay Ships on Netflix/Discussing My Trauma | EMDR therapy | PTSD and OCD (uncut)‘

Melanie Murphy
Image Credit: YouTube

Channel: Melanie Murphy

Bio: Melanie is an Irish YouTuber, author, a mother. Her content centres around empowering others by representing her true self.  Melanie shares her bodily insecurities and mental health struggles. Along with this, she discusses and tackles “taboo” subjects such as: abortion rights, sex, sobriety and biphobia. Notably, her “PMS PARTIES” series portrays the often-overlooked subject of PMS, visually representing the struggles that people with periods face. Melanie also creates shorts, including FEMME, a spoken word film about her sexuality, and CHOICE, a film to tackle abortion rights in Ireland. She uses her creative format to speak-up for the LGBTQ+ community and actively tries to educate her viewers, including LGBTQ+ sex and relationships education which is very limited in the UK curriculums.

“I can’t silence all the voices swimming in my brain that question the validity and extent of my bisexuality”

Melanie Murphy

Video recommendation: ‘Why We Still Need Pride/FEMME‘

Header image credit: Metro Weekly

Review: Nando’s The Great Imitator

Anushka Searle on 23 October 2020

f you haven’t heard the news, Nando’s has released its very own vegan chicken – made from pea protein! After some research I’m still not sure as to how this ‘pea protein’ is shaped into these chicken-like-strips. Nonetheless, this is the nicest chicken imitation I’ve ever tasted. In fact, my meat-eating Italian boyfriend even stated that this was “as close as you could get to chicken”, which is a major compliment. Though, as a vegetarian I normally stay away from fake meat, I was also pleasantly surprised by The Great Imitator, even though I despise the name.

You can choose to have your vegan chicken in wrap, pitta or burger. I went for the wrap which contained lettuce, plant-based perinaise, and chilli jam! I think the strips worked well in the wrap as they were well distributed. The strips were well marinated, but the marinade doesn’t absorb as well into the plant-based alternative. I usually go for medium spice, but I think I should have gone for hot! As for the strips themselves, I think the ‘meat’ has a nice texture – not as dry as Quorn!

My boyfriend tried The Great Imitator pitta – which I also had a nibble of! The pitta contains lettuce, semi-dried peri tomatoes, cucumber moons (Nando’s bizarre description) and plant-based perinaise. I think the combination of fake meat with pitta bread is a little bit too dry. Unlike the wrap, the strips don’t work as well in the pitta, as they are not well distributed – a patty would be better! He also decided to try the new coconut and lime marinade, which I personally found to taste quite odd – who wants their Nando’s to taste like Malibu?

Along with trying The Great Imitator, we also tried the new plant-based garlic perinaise. The dip had quite a subtle garlic flavour, and as a massive garlic fan, I would have liked it to be a little bit stronger and more reminiscent of Domino’s garlic and herb. However, the texture of this dip was spot on and you wouldn’t be able to tell the difference between that and the non-vegan perinaise – who needs eggs?

Now, I must address the elephant in the room. There was some controversy that The Great Imitator isn’t vegan as it is cooked on the same grill as the meat. However, the Nando’s grill is as long as a kitchen counter, and all vegan and vegetarian items are cooked on their own section of the same grill. Therefore, although The Great Imitator is vegetarian, it would be cooked on the same grill as halloumi, so there will be some non-vegan contamination.

Though I did enjoy The Great Imitator wrap, I don’t think I will be swapping this out for my usual order. My usual order is a medium sweet potato and butternut wrap with added halloumi, which at the moment isn’t on the reduced menu, so The Great Imitator will have to do for now.

Header image credit: popsugar uk