the brighton diaries

I went travelling again, didn't I? Brighton was the destination of choice this time and I had the best time. I fell in love with the city when I was there for a couple of days last october and fell in love even more now, when we stayed for an entire week and had all the time in the world to get completely lost in it. Brighton just has everything I love: individual colourful shops and little cafes, cute alleys and lanes, art, a huge lgbt community, creativity, and of course the beach.

Now, I planned on doing a haul-post much like the one I wrote about Toronto but I actually only bought a Mac eyeshadow refill in the mermaidy shade 'Steamy' to put in one of the palettes me and my girlfriend own together (I know, the benefits are endless...) and two wild eyeliners (NYX vivd brights in the shade Blossom)  and gold (Lush shade Fantasy). And even though  I've had a lot of fun walking around with dots of gold underneath my eyes there is only so much I can say about that. So instead I thought I could list my favourite spots/things we did. Most of it is going to be extremely touristy and I doubt anyone who has ever been will learn something new, but everything in that town i just so pretty and worth a mention so here we go.




Hipster heaven
Though, that actually doesn't do it justice at all. The North Laine has lots of authentic shops where you can buy directly from local artists, designers and jewelers. There are loads of little cafes and everything just looks amazing. From the pastel painted buildings to the flowers and the bunting across the street. My favourite shop is just a few streets down from the North Laine, quite hidden away from all the other shops you'll find a massive vintage shop called Beyond Retro. They have everything from denim jackets to jumpers and floral skirts to sunglasses and bags in great condition for great prices. And they have their own label too which is also definitely worth checking out!

North Laine / Beyond Retro

The food
Lots and lots of cakes is what we had during our stay. Cake from chain restaurants, cake from individual cafes and of course, cake from Choccywoccydoodah. In there I went for their classic chocolate coconut cake and even though I could only eat about three bites before I felt like I was going to explode, those were the best three bites of chocolate I have ever tasted. It's worth the hype. Another thing that is definitely worth a visit is a pizza place called Dead Wax Social. Great music, lots of vinyl and quite possibly one of the best pizza's I'd ever head. Also worth mentioning: they have 2 for 1 pizza offer every Wednesday! Then there's JB's American diner, located on the boulevard just across the street from the beach and it's everything the name says. Red booths, vintage pictures of Elvis and Marilyn Monroe all over the place and a menu full of burgers and hotdogs. What I would recommend it for is their milkshakes though. Seriously, treat yourself, you won't regret it, not unless you start to do some calorie counting anyway. And last but not least we had Wahaca. Twice. Why? Because we love Mexican food and we don't have Wahaca in the Netherlands. Judge us all you want, we had the best time.

Dead Wax Social / Choccywoccydoodah / JB's diner

The Tattoo
Not the most obvious thing to do when you go away on vacation maybe, but I went ahead and got myself a new tattoo in Brighton. Exactly one year after I got my last one done, according to my Facebook memories from that day. I came across this tattoo shop called Velvet Tattoo a while ago on Instagram and have been following them ever since because they do great work and they gave me my best tattoo experience this far. My tattoo artist Kat was extremely friendly and welcoming and she did a great job drawing up my exact floral tattoo wishes for me. I couldn't be happier with the result and I will definitely be going back.

The music
There are record stores all over town and we've only been to a few. Cult Hero on North Street has to be my favourite though because they don't just sell vinyl and cd's but also a great selection of all my favourite cult movies and their soundtracks.

The most obvious tourist attractions
Are they worth it? Yes. The pavilion is extremely pretty and the tour around it is done well. The pier with its fair, attractions, rides and all the sweet goodness in the world is everything it should be. And as it was actually just around the corner from our hotel and we went on it almost every night. (The many Pokemon and Pokestops on there may or may not have had anything to do with this as well. Although we did win a great Brighton teatowel at the funfair eventually) Also, and I know this may be a bit controversial, but the i360 ride was pretty awesome too. I have been lucky enough to go on the ferris wheel when I was there last October before they removed it, but the i360 was definitely just as cool, if not better because the views with the city on one side and the sea on the other with the beautifully lit boulevard in between is pretty good. Having said that, we did pick the perfect time to go on it, just as the sun set in the sea and the sky turned all shades of pink, orange and purple.

The Royal Pavilion: a shit panorama of a beautiful building

Pier / Pier / Lanes / i360

The bike ride to the beach huts
We spotted a bike rental place at the beach from our hotel window, we spotted the bike lane along the boulevard, we spotted an opportunity. We're from the Netherlands after all so there we went, on possibly the hottest day of them all, on the wrong side of the road on a 15 minute ride straight ahead across the boulevard to the beach huts and even though there is literally nothing else you can do with them but look, it was beautiful.

Beautiful, the word that sums up the city, the people, the food, the fairy lights and bunting, the mentality and I honestly cannot wait to go back.

Love, Anjelica