Christmas 2012 in Pictures :)

Hello!

So recently a little pre-New Years resolution has been to photograph everything that has made me smile over the Christmas period. I thought I'd quickly share some of the simple things that have put a smile on my face during the last few weeks :) You should know, I've received a few strange looks photographing some of these.

Winter Wonderland in Meltham:

These are just a few snaps of the lights going up in my village, the festive Victorian window in our village flower shop and a few Christmas decorations starting to pop up in the gardens on my road. This has been getting me ready for the festive season.

 Out and About Randomness:

These are some of the things that aren't particularly strange to see buy just made me feel wonderfully nostalgic :) So here's the old style gypsy caravan in the local orchard and a lovely man just playing his accordion. He was very friendly!

Childhood Memories:

The festive period always makes me feel at home and nothing does that better than taking a look through some old photoes. Recently my sister and I have taken to swapping old photoes of ourselves over Facebook, much to the embarrassment of both parties. However, these two aren't so bad and are a good reminder of family love.
So that little blond thing is me, on the left with my lovely Grandad and on the right with my beautiful sister.

 Student Life:

Last but not least a bit of student life. And clearly being at college is all about coffee as these are pictures of some truly cute ones I've enjoyed between classes. That heart is all natural by the way? Talented people at Coffee Evolution. And lastly a quick look at the Clockwork Orange poster up in the English department, just because it's awesome and my college is clearly cool enough to know.

 Have a wonderful Christmas everybody. Next post will be in a few days and I'll be talking all about how to beat those winter blues!

Bye.                

Christmas Tag.

Merry Christmas!

It’s December! Yeah, believe it or not, it’s here. Christmas is a pretty busy time for the blogger, what with Christmas hauls, Party Season Tutorials, even some yummy Christmas decorations, just to name a few. However I can’t let Christmas go by without a Christmas tag so to save time I’m getting mine in quick so I can keep up to date with all of the festive events as they happen. So, you may notice that this isn’t the big 2012 tag, it’s not the winterlicious either – I’m a sucker for tradition so I thought I’d go for a tag that circulated a few years ago, just to give you all a bit of variety. 

Onwards and upwards we go:

What is your favourite holiday movie? 

The cool part of me – if there is one - wants to say The Nightmare Before Christmas because it’s just magical, and a little bit crazy. But, as is unfortunately true, I am no such ultimately cool person so the truth is it’s the 1994 remake of Miracle on 34^th Street because let’s face it, Mara Wilson was soooo cute when she was little and it’s just such a ridiculously festive film.

What’s your favourite Christmas colour? 

Red. Just red. Red everything. Oh, and some green, Christmas tree green…. And a bit of gold. Christmas is just a very colourful time of year for me but I can’t pick just one colour. Red, green and gold – that’s a combo that makes me feel traditional and festive.

Do you like to stay in your PJ’s or dress up for Christmas? 

PJ’s. I’ve been known to have a shower, and then put my pyjamas back on. If there’s one day of the year I’m allowed to be lazy its Christmas. Sometimes we go for a walk after lunch; I’ll get changed if we go out, but mostly its pyjamas, hot chocolate and maybe even a hot water bottle.

If you could only buy one person a present this year who would it be? 

Me! Only kidding.  A toughie! Seeing as I’ve already bought half my presents I’m going to act like I was asked this back in January or something. Seeing as I’m signed up for the Secret Santa, I guess to be fair to my friends and family, because I love them all equally I would probably just buy for my blogger, whoever they may be.

Do you open your presents on Christmas Eve or Christmas Day? 

Well I don’t know about you but Christmas is just way to exciting to open presents and then go to bed! We’ve always opened our presents on Christmas morning… well except when I was little and I just couldn’t wait until the next day so my Mom would let me open a little one early. Or there was the year that my Mom thought I wouldn’t find my Christmas presents if she hid them... wait for it... UNDER MY BED! Needless to say, Christmas definitely came early that year.

Have you ever built a gingerbread house? 

No! I want to though, every year I say I’m going to make one, but then the Christmas chocolate kicks in and we all know how lazy that makes us. I am however making gingerbread Christmas tree decorations, which of course you will be making with me. Recipe and some baking pictures hitting TopKatTV on December 23^rd. Don’t miss those!

What do you like to do on your Christmas break? 

Walk. A lot. I usually have a lot of work to do over Christmas (Santa’s little elf, you see.) revision for exams tends to keep my indoors so anything to get outside when the weathers at that really crisp but sunny stage is a huge treat. I also love attending the big light switch on and the Christmas fairs. Unfortunately work has meant I had to forgo most of the festivities this year. 

Any Christmas wishes? 

Well I’ll be boxing up my mistletoe that’s for sure! I prefer wishes that actually will come true so I usually just hope for a good Christmas day, because it’s the one day you can just be happy without thinking about how much the whole holiday is costing and whether you’ll get snowed in.

Favourite Christmas smell?

Cinnamon and that mulled wine spice smell. I also love those dried oranges with cloves stuck in them. We’ve just bought a mulled wine fruit tea and it smells divine. Anyone wanting to join in with that should head over to Whittards... to make Christmas truly special.

Favourite Christmas meal or treat?

Well, the meal is clearly Christmas dinner! Treat wise I think Christmas pudding because you don’t really have it any other time of year so that makes it really special and indulgent. Plus you end up eating it with cheese for months to come.

Which holiday do you celebrate? 

Erm, Christmas?

What are you doing for the holiday this year? 

Same as per really. Christmas with the family, my grandparents are spending Christmas with us as they have been for the last few years. I really like a big family Christmas, although I do feel sorry for poor old Mom who, despite our attempts to help, still somehow ends up running around after us all.

What’s your favourite holiday drink?

That has to be Baileys. It’s just so warm and makes you want to snuggle up in front of a fire, even if it is served on the rocks. If you’re not a liqueur person then try adding a splash of Baileys to your festive hot chocolate.

Candy cane or gingerbread men? 

I haven’t actually noticed if we have more gingerbread around at this time of year in England. We tend to have candy canes in the house because my Mom doesn’t like ginger but I would prefer gingerbread. Hence why I’m making some. I’m also going to be making an orange version of the decoration for Mom, I will include that recipe with my gingerbread one.

What’s your favourite Christmas song? 

If I’m feeling a vintage Christmas then it’s Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas. I can’t deny though that I grew up with All I Want For Christmas so I can’t ignore that either. I don’t usually like Christmas songs that are released now but I did really like Train’s Christmas Time last year. Dare I say it as well, I wasn’t completely horrified by Justin Beiber’s offering to the Christmas scene either, but don’t hold it against me!

What’s the weirdest gift you’ve ever received? 

Hmm, for Christmas I don’t actually know. I’ve received things that seem weird now, like a wizard cookery book, but at the time I was really into Harry Potter- not that I don’t still hold a love for it – and cooking. My Mom bought me a mixing bowl I really wanted once, which she broke! And I have also noticed since it is the same bowl used in Downton Abbey (It’s from Sainsbury’s. Yup, all that vintage magic ruined.) She wasn’t very happy when she asked me what my favourite present was, looking at the pile of CD’s and a new pair of curlers and I said my mixing bowl. Moral of the story, never become a chef.

Have you ever made a snowman? 

Of course. It wasn’t a very artistic snowman and I usually get too cold to finish it by the time I’ve done the body. It’s about then that I realise the carrots are all being used for Christmas dinner, the stones are buries under the snow, and in the modern age, not many people have lumps of coal lying around that are just perfect eye size.

What is your favourite winter fragrance? 

I don’t really have one. I usually get a bottle of Christina Aguilera for my birthday and Christmas but the most festive scents I have are Ed Hardy’s Hard Candy and La Perla. I have recently added my Roberto Cavalli perfume, which I will be reviewing soon, along with many other scents in my perfume collections.

What is top of your Christmas list? 

Curlers! When mine broke I brought some new Remington ones but they’ve never compared to my beautiful Mark Hill ones. They’re also on sale in Boots, hint hint to Santa.

What is the most important thing to you about the holidays? 

Time off? No, in seriousness it’s what I said before; it’s just that one day a year where you can put everything aside and enjoy the day. No fuss. Just family.

I’ve just noticed that this tag is over a thousand words. If only it were so easy to write my thousand word English essays… oh well.

Happy holidays everyone. Wherever you are I hope you’re enjoying whatever holiday you celebrate at this time of year. Have fun.

Merry Christmas!

Feliz Navidad!

Joyeux Noel!

Frohe Weihnachten!

Buon Natale!

P.S. Yeah, I may have run out of ones I can do on an English keyboard.

Clinique Gift Review

Hola!

It's time for me to stop being lazy and start getting on with the Christmas madness. I'm having so much fun buying all of my presents, especially those for my secret santa :) and I couldn't help buying myself a few gifts along the way. Recently I've been spending a long time browsing the Clinique website and adding pretty much all of their Christmas gift sets to my list to Santa. So whilst I was in House of Fraser and I saw they were giving away a free makeup bag with lots of lovely minis inside. I thought seeing as I had two products in mind that I wanted to buy I would and the fact that I haven't used Clinique for a while now that I would just bite the bullet and rekindle my love for the brand.

So here's a little review of all the products inside (because the bag itself is fairly self explanatory) and I'm also going to do a little count up of how much the bag is worth. I'll divide up all the ml's, don't you worry, just leave the maths bit too me.

So starting from the left we have the Turnaround Overnight Radiance Moisturiser (15ml = £10.40)
I'm not sure what I think of this product. Granted I've only used it for a few days now but I fully intend on replaying my usual overnight cream with thins until the sample runs out to get a really good idea. So far though I am very impressed. Like I said, I haven't really noticed any lasting results but when I put this on at night it just feels indulgent. It's a perfect creamy consistency without being too heavy and absorbs within seconds. It's non greasy as well which makes it more comfortable for overnight as there's nothing I hate more than rolling over in bed and that really heave face cream that refuses to sink in just goes ll over your pillow. Final verdict: gorgeous and fuss free.

The Take The Day Off Makeup Remover (30ml = £3.84) is the star product in this bag for me. I really love oil based makeup removers as they just break down the makeup but this product is a miracle. The smallest amount of this and the makeup just slides of. It feels almost dry when you sweep it across the eye and doesn't tug or irritate the eye area. Plus it's suitable for contact lens wearers like myself so that's a bonus. I honestly have nothing bad to say about this product and it's at the top of my repurchase list.

Just right from the above is the first step in Clinique's 3 step process. The Mild Liquid Facial Soap (30ml = £2.25) I've found pretty much does what a lot of reviews have already said. It feels lovely and lathers up nice but it is a little drying. I wouldn't fancy using this with the very strong Clinique toners and you really do need the Turnaround... Moisturiser to give the skin that extra moisture. However this does leave the skin clean and soft which I like. If all I need is a good moisturiser then I can't complain that this gel wash really does strip away oils.

This next one is a bit of a oops as I haven't actually used it yet. This is definitely more of a first impressions review so yeah, it's the Sparkle Skin Body Exfoliating Cream (40ml = £3.20)

Okay! So after that embarrassment we move one of the products most suited to my picky tastes, the High Impact Mascara (3.5ml = £7) I wouldn't use this mascara alone for a night out because I have a five step system for my lashes (Which I will be sharing later this week, hint hint, wink wink.) but for day time wear this mascara has just about enough lengthening and volumising potential to be a lovely addition to any make up bag. It's definitely not a wonder product for me but it's mane selling point for me is it's defining power. The brush really separates the lashes and the formula isn't clumpy. I just wish it was a full size... *sigh*

Last but not least is the Superbalm Moisturising Gloss in Currant (7ml = £6.76) This lip gloss is much like any other. It's very much bang in the middle of what I like to think of as sticky glosses and wet glosses. The shade is also good, very good for a bag like this in fact as it comes out quite neutral so it'll suit pretty much everyone. I found that one coat of this in the morning really did last most of the day without drying up, settling into lip lines, gathering at the corners, you know, all those things you get with some glosses. Overall, an average product, no complaints but not my favourite.


So with a final total of £33.45 plus the price of the makeup bag I'm really really happy with this gift. With it only being a case of buying two Clinique products you don't have to spend a fortune to get this lovely set of indulgent items and if you've had a break from Clinique like I have it's a lovely way to get back in touch with their products.

If you're thinking of treating yourself this offer, as far as I'm aware, is only running in House of Fraser stores, NOT Clinique as a whole.

Hope everybody's having a lovely run up to Christmas and don't forget to buy presents for yourself too!

Bye. xoxo

Boots Points Treats: Mini Reviews.

Hello! 

The recent points event at Boots really got me in the mood for Christmas and spurred me on to start getting my Christmas shopping done stat. The event meant that for every fifty pounds you spent, you got twelve pounds worth of Boots point on your card. I also had a voucher to boost the total. May have been slightly helped by the obscene amount of money I spent as well but that's besides the point. 

At the end of buying all my lovely Christmas presents for everyone else I decided to use my points and buy myself some treats. I jumped headfirst into Boots' three for two offer (okay, so it's not the first time this season) and bought myself two items I've been eyeing for awhile and my free item, but more on that one later.

The first products that I've been lusting after for a long time now is  Soap and Glory's concealer. Kick Ass Concealer is a three step concealer compact that has an eye brightening corrector, a facial blemish concealer and a translucent setting powder. My views on this product are a little mixed. I love the idea of this compact, it's super cute and great for travelling and touch ups, perfectly handbag sized. The consistency of the product is good too. The only thing I don't like is the colours. I have very very pale skin but the light concealer just wasn't a match for me at all. I got the medium. I can only assume that they will bring a darker one out at some point as it seems to be strange that they have light and medium. Why not just light and dark if there are just two? A mystery. The translucent powder is just white, it's way to light so I've been using it as a matt highlighter, which is always great to have, but still not what I brought the product for. As for the concealer, the brightening corrector is just too light for me, it makes my under eye area look very strange and mismatched to the rest of my face, the blemish concealer is far to dark. On the plus, whilst it is a hassle, I have found very good results in combining the two shades so for that reason it wasn't a total loss. It's also a lot more matt than my Collection 2000 one, which I love, but it's not as multi purpose as I can't really use the concealer on large areas. Overall, with the £10 price tag I'll give this product a 7/10.

The Revlon sections sits right next to Soap and Glory in my Boots store. In seeing it I was reminded of the frantic conversation I had with my best friend over whether I wanted to buy  the Passion or Frenzy shade in their Just Bitten Lipstain. I originally bought Passion and loved it and couldn't help going back for the red/plum colour that is Frenzy (think the mental image of when Rob Pattinson talks about his vampire frenzies in Twilight, yikes!) but yes, it does have that blood red, I've just vamped up my look impact. I won't ramble on about this lip stain as you can read exactly what I thought of it in my Kiss Proof Colour post along with several other lip stains out there.

Last but not least was my free product and let me just say this was a chance find. Due to the lack of time I challenge my friend Luke to choose me a product to get free. Don't worry, I chose some backup myself just in case. However, like a true shopper at heart he headed straight for the Maybelline ColorSensational lipstick. With a little bit of careful guidance I eventually walked away with the shade Cherry Candy. This lipstick is just sheer enough to look strangely natural and yet still give you a full colour pout. This shade comes the 'The Shine' collection so it's ultra moisturising and well... as you'd expect, shiny. These lipsticks are a bit similar to the Revlon Lip Butters in their consistency so they aren't particularly long wearing but do build well when reapplying so it's not a problem for me as I always have a mirror handy. 

So have you treated yourself to anything nice lately? Let me know! 

Bye x

Gift Voucher Blogger Challenge

Hello My Lovelies.

The Gift Voucher Blogger Challenge is almost over so I know I'm cutting it fine but if there really anything better than a gift voucher! I mean, really?

So here's how it all works. You trawl the internet (I love some internet shopping) and select 5 awesome gifts that you would love to give this Christmas.


Then, giftvoucher.co.uk will select 2 winners. And here's what you can win:

• ASOS Gift Voucher worth £35
• Topshop Gift Card worth £35
• Amazon.co.uk Gift Certificate worth £35
• JolieBox.com 3 Month Subscription
• BooHoo.com £35 Gift Voucher

So here's the catch, each gift must be under £35! Not too hard I don't think, time to get creative.

Competition closes on the 9th November and all you need is a blog and some gift ideas :)


 Lets have a look at my picks: 






My first gift, and I actually want this myself if the 17 Nail Clash Complete Collection.
I think this is a perfect gift for anyone who wants a quick, easy ways to jazz up their manicure. I also worked out that at £20 you really do get a lot more than what you pay for in this se.

 

Next up is probably something I would look at for a best friend. A little quirky but colour blocking is so on trend and I have a feeling it's going to come back with full throttle next summer.It's never too early to get started on your summer wardrobe so I'm going to take full advantage of the Little Mistress sale with this lovely lemon and coral play suit at just £11.40.

To me, Yankee Candle's are that gift that when you get it, you know it's cost money and I always feel like the person that's bought the gift has really put some thought into the scent they choose for you. However just receiving a candle alone can be a bit boring. That's why I love the Yankee Candle trays and shades. A small tray, shade and candle will come in at £24.69 exactly and look so adorable. I personally love the Vintage Blue Floral  shade.





I've recently become a big fan of the knuckleduster clutch bags that are all over the market at the
moment. It's a fantastic way to instantly get four rings on your hand without looking ridiculous and keep a firm hold on your bag. I know that this one from Missguided is on my Christmas list and come in way under budget at the affordable price of £25.99.




My last, and final gift is a piece of jewellery is something I bought a very long time ago for my Mom and I would love to buy again. It's such a lovely idea and the end result is very cute. For £24.99 you receive a silver cage pendant, and a shell containing a pearl. Each colour symbolises something different and it's from.... drum roll, Argos!




So if you want to get in on the action just head over to Giftvoucher.co.uk here: Click me!


Bye Addicts!

International Secret Santa

Is it too soon for a Merry Christmas?

The lovely Sandra from The Puzzle of Sandra's Life has organised an international Secret Santa that sounds just about too lovely to be true. Personally this is a great fuss free way for all of us bloggies to discover other blogs and connect whilst getting a hand picked gift under our tree to boot. Everybody loves receiving a secret gift but I personally love shopping for them too. So if you're like me and want to get involved, all you have to do is have a blog. I think I'll leave all of the rules and details to Sandra so go click this nice link right here: Secret Santa! to get involved!

Bye Bye!