Gingerbread House

(Completely forgot to upload this post! but better late than never ;)

 

During the festive season, there are a lot of things I love to do to make me feel Christmassy!

 

One of them, is to make a gingerbread house from scratch. (It always ends up messy, but making it stand up on it's own this year was a first!)

  

 

 

I start off by making the gingerbread, which I do by using the same recipe as I did for my Halloween Biscuits.When it comes to shaping the dough, I roll it out pretty thin - about 5mm , and use a template from the internet. This Year I Used one from the Tesco Website, which you can find here. I then baked all the sides of the house in the oven for about 20 minutes at 190°. After they had cooled, I decorated them with chocolate buttons and little coloured sweets (which ended up falling off the door of the house, as I managed to drop it on the floor :( ), and I then stuck them together with icing.

 

Hope you enjoyed this post!

 

♥

 

Snowflake Nails

 

Every Year, I like to make my nails festive! I end up changing the design about 5 times throughout December, but for now I decided on snowflakes. ❄

 

 

I recently purchased, Barry M's white nail art pen, which was perfect for creating the snowflakes. And I also just used some glitter over the top to make my nails all sparkly!

 

♥

Winter Wonderland

Last weekend, Me and my two brothers and his girlfriend, went on a 'spur of the moment' trip up to London, to visit Winter Wonderland.

 

(I think my eyes show how excited I was)

 

Despite it being absolutely freeeezing, and not actually going on any of the rides, we had a good time just walking round, and taking in the pretty, sparkly, festiveness that is Winter Wonderland. We also had fresh doughnuts, which were amazinggg! and I think I would actually go all the way back there just to get some more.

 

I had wanted to visit it again later this month, so I could go on some of the rides, but as I'm pretty busy at the moment, and the prices of hotel's are getting more and more expensive as it gets closer to Christmas, I think I will have to wait until next year!

 

If you're in London at all before Christmas, I would definitely recommend a trip here! It's so cute and festive, and helps get you in a Christmassy mood! (It's also free if you don't go on the rides.)

 

 

Thanks for reading!

 

♥

 

YouBeauty - Advent Calender

 

A few days before December arrived, this beautiful thing appeared on my door step. 

 

 Being the excited, impatient person I am, I found it difficult waiting each day to open just one door. So by the 6th day, this had happened...

 

 

I know it's a bit late to review this product, as the start of December was a while ago now, and many people would have probably wanted it ready for the countdown. However, I really love it, so I wanted to write about it! (no harm in that, ay!)

 

Although I was hoping for some of the products to be a bit bigger (a few of them are just samples) A good amount of them are really decently sized, and you obviously get your moneys worth. It can still be purchased online here, for just £49.95, which is a great price seeing as the products are worth over £240!

I had previously looked at buying different beauty style advent calendars, but ended up deciding on this one, purely because it has a wider range of products. (Mostly skincare, but also make-up, and bath and shower products).

My favourite products include the Stila Lip glaze, the Himalayan Detox Salts, the Steamcream moisturiser and Dr. Lipp.

I would love to know peoples opinions on other advent calenders!

Thank You for reading!

♥

 

Outfit Of The Day

 

 

 

 It's pretty much winter now here in the UK, so It's getting pretty chilly. I decided to go for a casual warm look, as I was off out for a walk with my boyfriend, before going out for a meal for my brothers birthday.

 

I am obsessed with disco pants at the moment, so I Just paired them with a warm knitted eyelash jumper, burgundy scarf, parka, black ankle boots and socks with cute little bows.

 

Make sure to leave me a comment with a link to your outfit of the day if you have done one! :)

 

Thank-you for reading!

 

♥

Yankee Candle - Christmas Cookie

 Just recently I started a new full time job. Even though this is obviously good in many ways, It also means I have less time to do the things I love doing (like blogging).

 I have decided that each week from now on I am going to try and post at least once. So this week I thought why not write about something I have recently been loving? So here:

 

Christmas Cookie - Yankee Candle

 

 

 As soon as Autumn hits, I Like to get into the Christmas spirit (bit early, I know). So, this year I decided to treat myself to a new festive candle.

 

After spending quite a long time smelling all of the wintery scents, I found my favourite - Christmas Cookie. This is by far one of the best scents ever! It smells so sweet and vanillary, and makes me want to just pick it up and eat it! I have used it LOADS and still have a fair bit to go, which is good. I will definitely be picking up the bigger one next time!

 

 

♥

 

Halloween Gingerbread Biscuits

 

Soooo, the other day I decided to make some Halloween inspired biscuits, and I thought I would share them!

 

Ingredients:

350g (12oz) plain flour

2 teaspoons of ground ginger (you can leave this out if you want plain biscuits)

1 teaspoon of bicarbonate of soda

100g (4oz) butter or margarine (sliced into chunks)

175g (6oz) light brown sugar

1 egg

4 tablespoons of golden or maple syrup

 

For the decoration:

200g icing sugar

A few drops of orange food colouring (or red and yellow, mixed)

Writing icing

 

You will also need Halloween shaped cookie cutters (unless you're good at cutting shapes with a knife)

 

1) preheat the oven to 190° and grease a baking tray.

2) Put the flour, ginger, bicarbonate of soda and butter/margarine into a mixing bowl. Rub together with your fingers until it looks like breadcrumbs.

3) Add the sugar to the mixture, and stir. Then break the egg into a bowl and mix it with the syrup.

4) Add the egg and syrup into the mixture until it makes a dough.

5) Knead the dough, and roll it out, until it's about 5mm thick. Cut out your shapes, and put in the oven on the baking tray. Bake for about 12-15 minutes

6) When the biscuits have cooled, mix a few drops of the food colouring in with the icing sugar, and add as much water as needed. (You can miss out the food colouring if you've made ghosts).

 

Happy Halloween!

What will you be doing?

♥

 

 

Halloween Make-Up Ideas

With Halloween just around the corner, I thought it was a good time to share some easy to do Halloween make up ideas, using basic products!

 

 

 For this classic skeleton look, you need black eyeliner, black eye shadow, mascara and a bit of white eyeliner for the teeth. This is perfect if you love contouring! I contoured my cheek bones, nose, and all around my face using black eye shadow.

 

 

 This one is a bit simpler. All you need is a black eyeliner, and your favourite mascara and lipstick! You could go all out and go for a dark lip too! I wanted to keep it more neutral on the lips, so more attention is drawn to the eyes, therefore opting for a light pink colour.

 

 

Creepy doll - For this you need to make your eyes look as big as possible! (without covering up the rest of your face.) White eyeliner can help to create this illusion. Then you just need to use a lot of pink blush, for the cheeks, and using a black eyeliner, create the scar type things.. Conceal your lips, and using a bold lipstick create a lip shape smaller than yours!

 

 

 

 The not so scary cat look - probably the easiest and quickest look out of them all! Just create your favourite Smokey eye, put on your 'go to' lipstick, then add a cat's nose using a black eyeliner and a pink lipstick or eye shadow for the middle. simple!

 

I hope you enjoyed this post, and that it gave you some ideas for easy make-up looks, that make it look as though you made an effort, (without really making much effort!)

 

I would love to know what you are going as for Halloween! Let me know in the comments.

 

♥

 

 

 

 

Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Brownies

In my last blog post I mentioned my most recent favourite recipe, chocolate chip cookie dough brownies! So here it is...

 

  

 

(They taste better than they look ;) Promise!)


For the brownie:
175g (16oz)  Margarine
350g (12oz) Caster sugar
3 eggs
100g (4oz) plain flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
70g (3oz) cocoa powder
an oblong tin, roughly 20cm x 30cm

1) Heat your oven to 180°C, 350°F, Gas mark 4. and grease the tin.
2) Melt the margarine and mix in the sugar.
3) Beat the eggs and add them to the mixture, along with the flour, baking powder and cocoa powder. Stir until everything is mixed well.
4) Pour the mixture into the tin and smooth with the back of a spoon. Bake for about 40 minutes


For the cookie dough:
150g Margarine
150g Caster sugar
300g flour (any type you like)
splash of milk
as many chocolate chips as you want!

1) Melt the margarine and mix it with the sugar
2) mix in the chocolate chips and flour, and add tablespoons of milk until the mixture turns to a soft dough.
3) After the brownie has cooled, spread the cookie dough mixture onto the brownie, and wolah!

Hope you enjoy!

 ♥

September Favourites

When I decided I wanted to do a post about my favourites for September, I thought I would be writing about beauty products. But as I went to write them down, I struggled. I realised that there haven't been many beauty related products I have really been LOVING this month, So I decided to include some random favourites too!

 

Beauty 

Bourjous Colour Boost - Peach On the Beach 

I have worn this constantly through September and absolutely love it! The colour is so pigmented and goes on really nicely, giving a slight gloss to the lips. Although I see coral as more of a summer colour, I will definitely still be wearing this through the Autumn months.

 

  Bourjous Bronzing Powder

 This is one of the best bronzers I've tried! Since my tan had already mostly faded by September, this was a great way of bronzing up my skin.

 

 Hair 

 Herbal Essences - Bee Strong Range

 This has been my saviour through September and all of summer. The sun, as well as using hair straightners so often, really dryed out and damaged my hair. These products put the moisture back in, and made it look and feel a lot stronger and healthier.


Food

Belvita Breakfast Biscuits - Crunchy oats

For some weird reason, I've never liked any type of cereal, so I find it really difficult finding things to eat for breakfast. This month, my Mum picked up some of these breakfast biscuits, and I have eaten them most days since. I even sometimes put them with fruit and yoghurt, just to make me feel like I'm being healthy haha.
Chocolate Brownie's with Cookie Dough
A few weeks ago, I saw a picture on tumblr of Chocolate brownies with cookie dough on top, and thought, I want that! So I took my favourite brownie recipe, and my favourite cookie recipe, and boom! This is now one of my favourite things ever. (I forgot to take a photo, so I'll put some up soon, along with the recipe!)


Songs
This month I have been listening to two songs on repeat. The first is a song called Great Escape, by an amazing singer, Mike Dignam, who i discovered on Youtube. This song was perfect for summer, and I have listened to it most mornings getting ready. You can listen here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0LhpMXYKemE
The second, is the song Wings, By Birdy. She has such an amazing voice, and It's one of those songs were I feel like the lyrics were written for me.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eBKfy0FwUC8

Fairy Lights

Since it's now autumn/ Fall, I wanted to add a new touch to my room, to make it feel more cosy. I recently brought these fairy lights, from Amazon, and absolutely love them! They are so simple (and were fairly cheap too!) but they instantly make the room feel more cute and festive!

If you have written a post on your monthly favourites, be sure to leave a link in the comments, and I'll go and check it out!

♥
 

An Autumn Weekend Walk

It seems so strange that September is already here. Like most people, I can't believe how fast this year is going, but i'm glad it's autumn.

 

All through summer, I can't help but wish it would stay warm and sunny for ever (not that we get that much sunny weather in England), but as soon as Autumn hits, I realise just how much I like it. Big Jumpers, warm fires, duvet days, and delicious smelling candles, are some of the things that make me love autumn so much. 

 

 

 

Me and my sister have wanted to go blackberry picking since summer hit, and last weekend seemed like the perfect oppurtunity. It was wellie weather again (which excited me), so we headed off for the fields with our wellies, bags for the berries and of course, our doggie.

 

I feel so lucky living so close to the countryside. It's so peaceful and is perfect, if like me, you love spending time outside.

 

We walked for a couple of hours, talking, picking blackberries (even the dog joined in on that) and just enjoying being outside. Even though England isn't too warm at the best of times, It was such a nice temperature, and was good to get a breath of fresh air.

 

I definitely want to make more time to escape to the fields. The countryside is so beautiful at this time of year, and even if you have noone to brave the outside with you, listening to music whilst you walk can be so relaxing and even quite therapeutic.

 

♥

Red Lip Evening Make-up

 

 One of my favourite things to do is to try out different make up looks. This time I wanted to go quite heavy on the eyes, along with a red lip. I love a bold red lip but haven't quite got the confidence to wear it on an everyday basis, so I thought this would be a nice Evening look.

 

 

 

Products:

Rimmel Match Perfection Foundation

Collection lasting perfection concealer

MUA undressed palette - (Shade 9 over lid, Shade 10 through crease, Shade 1 inner corner)

MUA Eyeliner - Jet Black

Maybelline Colossal Volume Mascara

Bourjous Delice de Poudre Bronzer

Calvin Klein Lipstick - Heatwave

 

♥

 

 

Nails of the day

I've really been loving Barry M's Gelly Hi-Shine nail paints recently, and today I thought I would try out my latest colour - Prickly Pear.

 

 

 

 

 

I would never have normally gone for a purple colour, but I really love this! and I think it looks really pretty with some glitter over the top. I used Barry M's Rose Quartz glitter.

 

♥

90 things to do before I die

 

Following on from my previous blog post, I thought I would share my bucket list!

1) Snorkeling in the great barrier reef

2) See northern lights

3) Be in a flash mob

4) Dance in the rain

5) Visit less privileged people and do something to help them

6) Give flowers to a stranger

7) Roadtrip across America

8) Free hugs all day

9) Safari

10) Sleep under the stars

11) Make someones day

12) Stand on every continent in the world

13) Go somewhere far away by myself

14) Visit Greece

15) Swim with dolphins

16) Charity work

17) Learn to drive

18) Take my mum on holiday

19) Let people close to me know how much I love and appreciate them

20) Colour run

21) Paint fight

22) Sleep on the Beach

23) Add a lock to the lovers bridge in Paris

24) Visit the Carribean

25) Go waterskiing/ wake-boarding

26) Go surfing

27) Have a best friend

28) Go skiing

29) Conquer fear of heights

30) Whale watching

31) Spontaneous run for ages

32) Cuddle a koala

33) Cuddle a monkey

34) Give an inspiring speech in front of lots of people

35) Stand up for myself

36) Go skinny dipping

37) See an elephant in the wild

38) Take part in a protest I truly believe in

39) White water rafting

40) Visit New York

41) Go backpacking

42) Raise £1000 for charity

43) Save a life

44) Adopt an animal from a shelter

45) Eat with a stranger and pay for their meal

46) Outside movie

47) Swim under a waterfall

48) Volunteer work

49) Make a scrapbook

50) Have a job I enjoy

51) Take a dance lesson

52) Long bike ride

53) Build a huge sandcastle

54)  Have no regrets

55) Bake a really tall cake

56) 10 random acts of kindness

57) Canooeing

58) Drive a speedboat in a warm sea

59) Chalk art in the street

60) Swim in an infinity pool

61) See 7 wonders of the world

62) Be someones everything

63) Compliment a stranger

64) Go in a helicopter

65) Parasailing

66) Build a home for the poor

67) Watch the sunrise somewhere beautiful

68) Build a huge snowman

70) Take polaroid pictures

71) Spontaneous trip (just pack bags and leave)

72) Get married

73) Have a baby

74) Water zorbing

75) See how far I can get with no money in 24 hours, for charity

76) Kiss under miseltoe

77) Kiss underwater

78) Karaoke

79) Run the marathon

80) Buy a puppy

81) Buy my first car

82) Buy a house

83) Break a world record

84) Be on TV/ Radio

85) Go to a street party

86) Be remembered for something good

87) Have a garden party

88) Stay up all night talking

89) Swim in the dark

90) Visit Niagara falls

 

I'm sure I'll end up adding more, but for now I thought 90 was a good number to stop at.

 

♥

 

 

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Where to go next

Today I thought I would write about something slightly different. My last few posts have been beauty related, and although I love talking about different products, I think it is sometimes good to write down your thoughts and feelings, (which I wanted to do) instead of bottling them up, And I also want my blog to be a place where I can write about anything I feel like. I used to write things down on pieces of paper as a young child, and although I wasn't going to let anyone see them, I felt that just by writing them down, a small weight was lifted from my shoulders.
 

Like a lot of people my age, I have found myself stuck with what to do next. Having just completed my A-Levels I have so many things to decide on. I already knew that i didn't want to venture off to university like a lot of people I know, mainly because I have no idea what I would study. So i'm here trying to figure out my next step, whilst everyone around me seems to already know theirs.

Not so long ago i was so excited to leave college, as everyone says (the world is your oyster), and I was really looking forward to exploring the world, and just living life. However, just recently i have lost all enthusiasm. Getting a job, work experience, or an apprenticeship has proved difficult, and i feel completely lost with where to go next. The reason I wanted to write this post, was not only to try and get rid of some of the stress of working out what to do, but also to try and help some of the few people reading this that might be in the same position as i am. I think one thing that can often make people feel better, is for them to know that they are not the only one in that position, and other people feel the same way.
 

I have realised that there is so much more to life than finding a job that makes you 'rich'. I know that a lot of people's biggest goals are to become millionaires, but what would be the point in wasting a lot of your life constantly working to earn money that you don't have time to spend. I'm not saying that being 'well off' is a bad thing, but I would much rather spend my time being happy in a low payed job (that is enough to live off), than spending all my time being stressed and angry, with a lot of money. I decided that instead of looking at what jobs are best payed, and trying to go down that route, I would look at things I enjoy and go from there. I also decided to create a list of things I would love to do in my life time, because I don't want to be a person that looks back with regrets and says 'what if'.

I guess what I am trying to say is that life is so much more than big houses and nice cars, so don't worry if like me you're stuck for what to do now, because you'll realise what makes you happy, and that's what you should strive to be. For now though, live in the moment, and be thankful for what you have. Every situation teaches you something, like this one has for me, and I have learnt to focus on doing things I love to make me happy, rather than wasting time working out how to become 'successful'.

Happiness is success.

♥

The Body Shop - Strawberry body puree

Having already tried and loved the Body Shop's Body Butters, I decided It was time to give the body purée a try. The strawberry smelling products are my favourite, so this made it easy when choosing which scent to have.

I have been using this product for about a week now, and completely love it. Although it's not as rich and creamy as the body butters, I still find it just as moisturising, and just as delicious smelling! The scent may seem quite strong at first, but it soon becomes less intense. (Still just as delicious, but a bit more subtly sweet.)

If you love the Body Butter's I would definitely recommend this product, whether it's the strawberry scent or a different one. My skin has definitely thanked me for this, and my nose has too!
♥

Collection 2000 lasting perfection concealer

(Re-post from last year)

I've seen a lot of people raving about this product and i wanted to join in, as i feel it really does deserve all of the hype.

A lot of the time when there is a big hype over a product, I often tell myself I will have to go out and buy it, but on many occasions i just don't. The reason mainly being the price tag. If i have a product i am happy with, i rarely want to go out and stock up on a similair product with a high price (In my opinion it's a bit of a waste of money). However i had been on the search for a new concealer, as I had difficulty in finding one that covered my ever worsening undereye circles (i've had many coursework deadlines and sleeping isn't always an option). Since this was only £4 in superdrug and boots, i thought it was worth a try.

I have always kind of believed that 'you get what you pay for', as in if you pay more, you get a better product, but this has proved me wrong. The creamy formula covers my undereye circles perfectly, as well as any blemishes, and lasts around 6 hours at best. The wand makes it super easy to apply to blemishes, and when blended in with a brush or using your finger, it leaves a flawless finish.

As with most products there are a couple of downsides, but nothing that stops this being my absolute 'go to' concealer. I do find it creases under my eyes a bit throughout the day, but i have found this with all concealers i have tried. It also comes in only 3 shades, making it difficult to match to all skin tones. I did actually have it in shade 2 at first, but i found this too dark for my skin tone, and i also found it had a bit of an orange undertone. I loved the formula though and decided to buy it in shade 1 (the lightest shade). This was then too light for my skin, so mixing both 1 and 2 together made the perfect shade for me. I also now just use shade 1 on its own, as i like the subtle highlight it gives around my eyes. Whether you have money to splash out on, or you are on a budget and looking for a good concealer, i definitely recommend this. I have a good feeling you won't be dissapointed!