Girls Day Out Show - Liverpool

The Girls' Day Out Show is described as ‘the perfect day out! With fashion, beauty, hunky dancers, fashion shows and lots more – all under one roof’ and it certainly lived up to expectations.

Parking at the Exhibition Centre was safe, secure and there were plenty of spaces, it cost us £8 for the day.

I arrived with 2 excited teenage girls just before the doors opened at 10am with a short queue to get in. Our plan was to get breakfast and plan our day with the map that we received with our entrance ticket. The refreshments were limited however we did discover the most amazing cupcakes, and everyone knows cake for breakfast on a girl’s day out is acceptable! I washed mine down with a sample of the new Baileys range (Belgian chocolate!).

With money burning a hole in our pockets we headed off in search of bargains. With lots of exciting exhibitors including high street favourites Oasis, Warehouse, Elemis, Fake Bake, Make Believe Beauty, Ruby Cosmetics and Baileys, we were spoilt for choice.

There were plenty of opportunities to test products and we came away smelling divine and I came away with perfect eyebrows (something I’ve never achieved before!) thanks to Ruby Cosmetics. I also managed to do some Christmas shopping, picking up bargain beauty products for my friends and family, including some gorgeous products from Boozi Body Care and Ivy Joan (gorgeous home accessories and Christmas decorations!)

The Girl’s Day Out had something for all ages; mini-make overs, teeth whitening, spa treatments, fashion catwalks, competitions, celebrities (we spotted Amy Childs, Nikki Graham, Sophie Kasaei and Mark Byron) and lots of half-naked men!

By 3pm we had spent up and our feet were starting to ache from all the walking round so we headed home feeling pampered and full of yummy cake! The girls were eager to try out their products in the car on the way home so I now have a lovely smelling car too!

Have you been to the Girls Day Out Show?

Ruthie xx

Disclaimer - I received 2 complimentary tickets from Girls Out Day on behalf of What's Good To Do and purchased an additional one myself

Nina Conti - In Your Face

If you want to be surrounded by a whole audience laughing out loud then seeing Nina Conti on stage is a must!

I first discovered Nina Conti on the BBC stand-up comedy programme Live at the Apollo, where she performed a hilarious act with a ventriloquist puppet called Monkey and a dummy mask routine.

I had tried to book tickets for her show at The Lowry but they had sold out within hours, so I kept my fingers crossed that I would be given the opportunity to review by What's Good To Do.

We decided to make our visit to The Lowry a ‘date’ night and first visited Pizza Express which is next door to the theatre; there are lots of food and drink venues right next to the theatre if you want to make a night of it.

Reading other reviews of her show we knew there was going to be lots of audience interaction and that every show is unique as Nina uses improvisation to create a different comedy experience every night.

My other half was hoping we didn’t get tickets on the front row, as it happens it seemed that the whole of the front row had been double booked so there was some kafuffle whilst the theatre manager negotiated with the guests, although it would seem that quite a few were not happy with having to take seats elsewhere.

The show starts with Nina’s sidekick Monkey appearing out of her oversized bag and warming up the audience with a Q&A session, allowing Nina the opportunity to get to know her audience and I presume begin to choose those who will become her life-sized ventriloquist dummies!

The live puppets included a police officer, medical student and lawyer as well as Monkey’s favourite audience member Alan who got an awful lot of stick for being a financial advisor for sales of fire protection equipment! As they donned their masks that Nina controls, their personalities through the eyes of Nina came alive, every one of them seemed to enjoy the experience despite the embarrassment!

If you think you are safe in your seats at the back of the theatre then think twice as Nina was not afraid to select a guest from the very top of the theatre to come and join her on stage.

The show involved improvisation, ventriloquism and audience participation of the extreme and I would recommend anyone who likes to smile to book their tickets!

It is not very often that I actually physically belly laugh and have tears streaming down my face but that’s what Nina achieved.

Laugh out loud funny

Ruthie x