Favourites of 2010

I am so bad at doing monthly favourite posts, I think i've done about 3 this year so I thought it was time to make an effort and do a favourites post for 2010. I borrowed this from Jess - i've changed it a bit so it suits the things I love a bit better.

Cleanser - No7 Soft & Soothed

Toner - Liz Earle Instant Boost™ Skin Tonic

Moisturiser - Liz Earle Skin Repair Moisturiser™ Dry/Sensitive

Special Treatment - Liz Earle Superskin Concentrate™ 

Exfoliator - St Ives Apricot Scrub

Lip Product - Burt's Bees Beeswax Lipbalm

Shampoo - Liz Earle Botanical Shine Shampoo

Conditioner - Liz Earle Botanical Shine Conditioner

Mask - Aussie 3 Minute Miracle

Hairspray - Toni & Guy Firm Hold Hairspray
Shine Spray - Lee Stafford Shine Spray

Miracle Product - Charles Worthington Frizz Smoothing Leave In Spray

Electrical - Remington Straighteners

Foundation - Maybelline Dream Matte Mousse

Concealer - Benefit It Stick or No7 Concealer Stick

Blush - Sleek Rose Gold

Powder - 17 Pressed Powder

Eyeshadow - Sleek Storm Palette

Brows - ELF Eyebrow Kit

Mascara - Rimmel Lash Accelerator

Lipstick - 17 Sheer Moisture Lipstick in Pink Chiffon 

Lipgloss - Max Factor Vibrant Curve Effect in Intuitive

Fake Tan - St Moriz

Perfume - Marc Jacobs Daisy

Soap - Lush Honey I Washed The Kids

Shower Gel - Lush Snow Fairy

Nail Polish - Eyeko Rain Polish

Top Coat - Collection 2000 Ice Cube

Hand Cream - Soap & Glory Hand Food

Cuticle Cream - Lush Lemony Flutter

Magazine - Glamour and More

Celebrity - Ellie Goulding

Album - Ellie Goulding - Lights

Songs - Ross Copperman - Glass and My Forever - Now Faded Photographs

Film - Due Date

TV Show - X Factor, Come Dine With Me or The Apprentice

Online Retailer - ASOS 

Other Retailer - H&M

I hope everyone has a lovely new year, feel free to link me to your favourites posts :)

Christmas Twenty Ten

I thought it was about time I shared some of my favourite presents with you as i've been loving seeing what everyone else has been getting! I hope you all had a lovely Christmas surrounded by your friends and family; mine was really relaxed and just like any other Christmas. I made the most of it though as next year i'm hopefully heading to uni so things are going to be a little different. Anyway, back to the point of this post, here are my Christmas present favourites...

The Pink Cow Vanilla Biscuit and Ginger Bread Shower Gels. 

These smell amazing! I already have far too many shower gels but these really are perfect additions to my collection and I can't wait to start using them.

Boss Orange Perfume. 

When it comes to perfume I can never decide which ones I like best but when I saw that this was on offer at Boots I dropped lots of hints to my mum and they certainly paid off! I love citrussy orange scents and this is lovely and not too overpowering. It also came with a gorgeous scented candle which I can't get enough of!

Accessorize Jewellery Tree

I've been wanting something cute to store my jewellery on for a while so when I saw this in Accessorize I knew I had to have it for Christmas. I've only put earrings on it so far; i'm not sure if i'll put any necklaces on it as it might look a bit overcrowded. To be honest I just like it because it looks pretty in my room, I don't really mind that I can't put much on it ;)

Burt's Bees Hand Set.

Its become a bit of a tradition for my mum to buy me some Burt's Bees products for Christmas so I was really pleased to get this. I love the little box it comes in and the Almond Hand Creme smells good enough to eat. 

Lush Secret Santa.

I think everyone should get a little piece of Lush for Christmas as it just makes the perfect present. Satsumo Santas have become a firm favourite of mine as they make the whole house smell really citrussy and the bath water goes bright orange. I usually use a whole one at once as I love how much it fizzes!

Mischa Barton Bag.

This is my favourite present, I absolutely love it! I saw this a few months ago and loved it but forgot about it so when I opened the wrapping paper it was such a nice surprise! It's the perfect size and shape with a really long strap which is perfect for me and it has the most beautiful purple lining inside. It has two parts to it which is really useful and I love the quirky zip fastening.

x

A Little Bit Of Lush

These are three tiny bottles of Lush that I wanted to review because they're just too cute not to mention!

Rub Rub Rub is a refreshing shower scrub in a bottle. I love the solid sugar scrub's Lush do and this is a little bit similar to them. Instead of being made with sugar it is made with salt so the bits in it are a little bit smaller and it has the same formula as a shower gel. I really like the scent of it and it's definitely a product that wakes you up! I got it in a bottle which makes it hard to get out because of the salt particles but you can buy it in a tub in the shop which i'm sure would be a lot easier to use. I'm not sure if i'd repurchase this as it did make my skin sting a little bit and I much prefer the scent of Sugar Babe which is also a lot easier to use.

Happy Hippy is a zesty shower gel which reminds me a little bit of the Lemon & Tea Tree shower gel by Original Source. It is made using grapefruits which means it smells really citrussy and similarly to Rub Rub Rub is really refreshing especially if you use it in a morning. I read a few reviews where people used this on their hair; I haven't tried this as i'm not sure whether it would be a good idea although I expect your hair would smell lovely! I don't think i'd repurchase this as there are lots of other similar shower gels that I prefer and I do think it's a bit expensive for what you're getting.

Snow Fairy is everyone's favourite. I'm not going to go on about what it smells like etc because i'll sound like a broken record; even if you haven't tried it i'm sure you'll have read about it! I managed to make a tiny 100g bottle last me a year! I only used it a couple of times a month as a treat and the rest of the time I used other shower gels. I actually think its the best way to use it as you never get bored of the smell and it makes Christmas more of a treat as you can buy another bottle :) I do tend to use it a lot through December so it's a scent that is more Christmassy to me and I love that the scent lingers in the bathroom for a long time afterwards.

I really enjoy writing Lush reviews so i'm sorry if you're not a fan of them; I do have a few other products that I might review although if I end up buying anything in the sale then there will be a lot more to come! I'd love to hear your thoughts on any of these if you've tried them :)

Take Back The City For Yourself Tonight

.1. I had a really nice relaxed Christmas at home with my family and got lots of lovely presents which i'll probably share in a separate post. I also hit the Boots sale this morning and picked up a few bits, I did have a quick look in Topshop but it was really busy so I just got the Guinea Pig Hot Water Bottle which i've been wanting for a while :) Fingers crossed i'll be able to go to the Lush sale at some point although I doubt there will be much left!

.2. It was Muffin's birthday on Tuesday and it's Truffle's birthday tomorrow and they'll both be 4 :) They're turning into old little Guinea Pigs although they don't act any different to how they did when they were 2! They're still very noisy and very lively and I love them to bits. They had some parsley as a birthday treat which they loved but I do feel sorry for them having to celebrate their birthday week in such cold weather!

.3. I went out on Monday night with some friends from sixth form and had an eventful night. I have a lovely bruise on my knee from falling down the nightclub stairs - lesson learnt from this: don't drink too many Vodka & Cokes and then hold your friends hand walking down stairs in shoes you can't walk in!

.4. ♥ A few to follow: Danielle, Megan and Lucy

.5. ♫ I'm currently listening to: Snow Patrol - Take Back The City and I Blame Coco - Self Machine

Happy Christmas!

To all my lovely readers! I hope you all have a fantastic day tomorrow!

& Happy Holidays to anyone that doesn't celebrate Christmas :)

I'll leave you with Florence & The Machine's gorgeous cover of Last Christmas

x

Shake Up The Happiness It's Christmas Time

I saw this on Christina's blog and thought it would make the perfect post for Christmas Eve :)

1. What's Your Favorite Holiday Movie?

I've loved watching Bridget Jones this year and i'm ashamed to say i'd never seen it up until now! Other favourites include Love Actually and Shrek.

2. Whats Your Favorite Christmas Color?

Gold, Silver or anything sparkly!

3. Do You Like To Stay in Your PJs Or Dress Up For Christmas?

I wouldn't say I 'dress up' but I like to wear something nice for Christmas

4. If You Could Only Buy One Person a Present This Year Who Would It Be?

This is such a hard question! I would buy my pets something because there isn't one person I could choose!

5. Do You Open Your Presents On Christmas Eve Or Christmas Morning?

I've always opened them on Christmas Morning

6. Have You Ever Built a Gingerbread House?

I've never built one but it's something that I know i'll do one day!

7. What Do You Like To Do On Your Christmas Break?

I like spending time with my friends and family - last night me and my friends had a Chinese and swapped Secret Santa presents which was lovely :) I also like to bake tasty treats and do no work or revision for sixth form!

8. Any Christmas Wishes?

I'd love a little bit of snow just for Christmas day and if Santa wants to be generous and bring me this watch or these boots then that would be lovely ;)

9. Favourite Christmas Smell?

Gingerbread and sweet smelling Yankee Candles

10. Favourite Christmas Meal Or Treat?

I love Parsnips, Roast Potatoes, my Mum's stuffing, Aero Hot Chocolate and Popping Candy Chocolate Oranges (not much then!)

All photos are from We ♥ It and Tumblr

Things I've Been Buying

This is a bit of a 'collective haul' post (even though I hate the word 'haul') of a few things i've picked up in the past couple of weeks. The majority of these were bought when I was meant to be Christmas shopping - I always seem to find things I want when i'm buying for other people!

Boots had a 3 for 2 offer on quite a few brands so I picked up a few essentials.

I was originally going to pick up my favourite 17 pressed powder but Maybelline products were on 3 for 2 so I opted for their Dream Matte Powder and 2 Dream Matte Mousse foundations. I'll probably review the powder as it was £7.19 and it will be nice to compare it to the 17 one which is £3.99.

I needed a new white nail polish as mine always seem to dry up and get messy. Instead of picking up a really cheap Natural Collection one I thought i'd try one by Collection 2000. Again they were on 3 for 2 so I chose a clear polish and a trio eyeshadow in 4. Sandcastle. They were all £2.99 each.

I went to Primark because I haven't been in a while and I didn't get chance to look properly last time as it was so busy. I picked up the cream slipper socks because I wanted something cosy to wear on my feet at night as I hate having cold feet. I haven't stopped wearing them and were a bargain at £3, i'm definitely going back for another pair!

I also bought some 80 denier tights because I only have black leggings and nude tights so I thought they were something I was missing out on! They were £2.

You saw the purse in my Secret Santa post and I went back and bought one for myself. It was only £2 but I think it looks like something you'd find in Topshop as it's really good quality and is a really pretty design.
I'm hoping to pick up a few things in the Christmas sales in the next few weeks so expect a similar post soon :)

Snow Is Falling NOTD

I thought it was time I made an effort with my nails as i've just been painting them one colour recently and I wish I had the time to be creative with them more often. Earlier this year I posted this wintery NOTD and I thought i'd do another one this year.

I was inspired by the snow we've had recently and also Alice's Frosty Nails which I thought were really cute. 

I used Eyeko Rain Polish as the base, OPI Pearl's Night Out for the 'snow' and NYC Starry Silver Glitter to give the snow a bit of sparkle ;)

If there was any Eyeko polish i'd recommend it would definitely be Rain Polish, I always find myself wearing it as it's easy to apply and is such a gorgeous colour. This is the first time i've used the OPI polish as I don't really like wearing it on it's own. I thought it made a really nice effect rather than using a plain white polish. It took a few coats to make it noticeable but OPI polishes are really easy to apply and fast drying so it wasn't a problem. I didn't use any special tools, I just used the brush from the polish to create the snow. The NYC polish was really cheap and the glitter is quite small and looks lovely on top of the OPI polish. The bigger bits of glitter make it look more quirky and remind me of Christmas lights :)

Everywhere The Snow Surrounds You, And Melts Your Troubles Away

.1. This is my last Sunday post before Christmas so I thought i'd make it a festive one.  I'm not going to lie, for me it still doesn't feel like Christmas! I have wrapped up all my Christmas presents though and I think i'm the world's worst present wrapper! I tried to cover up the mess by adding lots of bows and ribbon to them haha and the only things I can manage to wrap neatly are books! 

.2. I'm going out tomorrow night which i'm really looking forward to and i'm sure it will get me in the Christmas spirit as you can't beat a few drinks and lots of laughs with your friends at this time of year! I'm not looking forward to it being -8 though!

.3. I'm really missing X Factor this weekend, i'm gutted it's over and I wish it was on all year round, although it probably wouldn't be as entertaining if it was! My new guilty pleasure is Take Me Out, it always makes me laugh and there are some real idiots on it! I'd really like to see Stella win The Apprentice tonight too :)

.4. The lovely Emma interviewed me recently for her blog. You can read it here and be sure to follow her as her blog is fab!

.5. ♥ A few to follow: Alice, Helen, Rosie and Sriya

.6. ♫ I'm currently listening to: Coldplay - Christmas Lights, Matt Cardle - When We Collide, Train - Shake Up Christmas, and Hurts - All I Want For Christmas Is New Year's Day

Secret Santa Gift Ideas.

I know a lot of people have finished (or nearly finished) their Christmas shopping but I thought i'd just share a couple of little gift ideas as I know sometimes you just need a bit of inspiration! I've been looking for a few things for a friends Secret Santa and I wanted to couple of smaller presents that I knew she'd like rather than one big present. I had a budget of £15 and we weren't allowed to buy any bath sets as everyone gets them at Christmas!

The first part of my Secret Santa present is from Topshop. I picked up this owl mug for £6 which I thought wasn't too expensive and it comes in a nice little box too. I really like the design of it as I know my friend quite likes her owl necklace and it says 'I Love Topshop' on the bottom which is quite cute. There are about 4 different designs in total which you can see here.

The next thing I bought was this little taupe/nude purse which is from Primark. I wasn't planning on buying anything as a gift when I was in there but I fell in love with the purse as it looks so much more expensive than the mere £2 I paid for it! I was considering keeping it for myself but I think i'll go back and get one if I get chance.

The final thing I bought were these vintage inspired photo frames from Boots. They come in a pack of two for £10 but I thought it would be nicer if I just gave her one and put a photo of us in it. 

In total I spent £13 which left me just under my limit of £15.
I hope this gave you some inspiration if you're stuck with any Christmas gift ideas :)

Taming The Frizz

I don't do a lot of posts where I share the love for one particular product but I thought this one deserved it.
I blow dry my hair after every wash which is usually every other day and then I straighten it afterwards. I've been doing this for as long as I can remember as I have really thick hair and leaving it to dry naturally is impossible! I know all that heat isn't good but i've been lucky as my hair hasn't shown any sign of damage. It's also quite long at the minute so blow drying it is the only way of getting it dry in a reasonable amount of time. I often find that after straightening my hair it begins to curl once i've been outside and it also goes a bit frizzy. By the end of the day my hair has completely lost it's shape and looks wavy, especially at the front.

I thought i'd take advantage of the snow last week ;)

I started using the Charles Worthington Frizz Smoothing Leave-In Spray as I got it in a gift set and wanted to see if it would work for me. It is really easy to use; you simply spray it on the ends of damp hair and then style as you normally would, so I blow dry it and then straighten it. It makes a huge difference to the way hair looks and I think it's really noticeable. My hair stays exactly as I styled it all day and even when I go outside in wind (and snow!) it still stays perfectly straight. I'm not sure if this product is available in a bigger bottle but at £1.80 for 50ml from Boots it's really affordable and is something i'll continue to repurchase.
Let me know your hair must-haves :)

And It's Beginning To Get To Me, That I Know More Of The Stars And Sea

.1. I'm doing something a bit different this week as i've been catching up on all my favourite blogs and I thought there were some really good posts that deserved a special mention.

5 Ways To Survive The Holiday Season by Steph, 

I Want To Tell You A Secret by Alice, 

A Letter To My 16 Year Old Self by Sofia &

Speak Your Mind Even If Your Voice Shakes by Gem 

are all well worth reading.

.2. I haven't got anything (other than blogs) to read at the minute so I need some ideas! I've read all the Sophie Kinsella and Lindsey Kelk books and want something similar to read over Christmas, so if you know of any similar chick-lit rom-com type books pretty please can you recommend them below ;)

.3. I'm gutted that at the end of tonight The X Factor will be over! It wouldn't be the same without everyone's tweets and i'm going to be so bored until another reality TV show comes along (although nothing can really beat X Factor can it?!). I'm voting for Matt and One Direction as I can't really choose between them. I love One Direction as they're all very cute and it would be nice to see a group win the competition but I love Matt because he's a brilliant performer. I do like Rebecca; she has an amazing voice and will no doubt have a really successful career but for some reason I just can't connect with her.

.4.  I've finally finished my Christmas shopping! I didn't have a lot to buy but I did it all in one afternoon so i'm quite proud of myself. I had to buy a Secret Santa present for a friend and had a budget of £15 so i'm going to share that with you for anyone that needs any inspiration.

.5. ♫ I'm currently listening to: Snow Patrol - It's Beginning To Get To Me, Plain White T's - Rhythm of Love and Kings of Leon - Pyro.

Sorry this week's post has been a bit 'blah' - I haven't really been up to anything that's worth talking about!

A Sugary Selection

Today's post is a little review of the Lush Sugar Scrubs I bought recently. I've tried 'Sugar Babe' before but 'Sugar Plum Fairy Scrub' was new to me and I wanted to see if i'd love it as much as I love 'Sugar Babe'.

The Sugar Plum Fairy Scrub is limited edition this Christmas and is very cute with a little angel on top. It works in exactly the same way as the other sugar scrubs and smells lovely. The scent is really hard to describe; it's quite sweet and fruity with a hint of almond. I found it to be really moisturising and it works really well to make your skin really smooth and smelling sweet. I never use a whole sugar scrub in one shower as it would work out to be really expensive! I managed to break this one up into about four chunks so it would last me about 4 showers. This works out at just under 50p a shower which I think is a lot better than using all £1.95 of it in one go! This sugar scrub is exactly the same size as the ones in the regular range at Lush but it's actually cheaper so i'd definitely recommend stocking up on these as they're a bit of a bargain.

Sugar Babe is available all year round and is the only product I regularly repurchase from Lush. I love the scent of it; again it's really hard to describe, it is quite floral but really really sweet which makes your skin smell lovely! It has a soft centre with a little red surprise in the middle which makes it smell even nicer! Again I break it up into about four pieces to make it last a bit longer. This sugar scrub is quite expensive at £2.60; this means it costs about 65p a shower so I usually use it as a treat once a month to give my skin a bit of love!
The trick with all the Lush shower scrubs is to wet them a little bit and then quickly rub the sugar onto your skin. If you wet it too much it will dissolve as it's made of sugar and you'll have nothing left! 

If anyone would like me to review 'Rub Rub Rub' which is a liquid sugar scrub/shower gel then feel free to let me know in the comments :) If you've tried these sugar scrubs i'd love to know your thoughts on them too.

Sweet Strawberries

This NOTD really has nothing to so with strawberries I was just trying to think of a more creative title ;) 

I'm currently wearing Barry M Strawberry Ice Cream or, in reality, Baby Pink. 

This is the first time i've worn this colour as I picked it up when the Nail Paints were on 2 for £5 and then I forgot I had it! I love the colour and to be honest I haven't worn a 'girly' colour for a while so I think it looks quite cute :)  

Applying it was ok; it was a bit thick which meant it creased as they took a while to dry. It took 3 coats to make them opaque which is good as some polishes take more. I think if Barry M made their brushes flatter and made the consistency slightly thinner their Nail Paints would be perfect. I'm not complaining for £2.50 though!

Sigma F80 - The Perfect Brush?

I might as well be honest and say i've had the Sigma F80 brush for about 3 months and have only used it a couple of times. I decided it was time to play around with it and see if it would work for me and i've been so happy with the results! I normally apply my foundation with my fingers as I bought a really cheap flat foundation brush and it just made my foundation streaky. It made me a bit reluctant to try any other brushes for my foundation but as this one is a completely different shape I can see why it works so well.

I currently use Maybelline Dream Matte Mousse foundation so I didn't think it would work as well as liquid foundation when it was applied with a brush but surprisingly it did. I'm not sure if I use more or less foundation than I do when I use my fingers but I don't mind as it gives such an even 'airbrushed' finish. It also makes applying foundation a lot faster as it is quite a big brush and this is great for me as i'm always in a rush! It's also really easy to wash even though there are a lot of bristles and it hasn't shed once which is brilliant.

It's safe to say i've been converted and like a lot of people, the Sigma F80 gets a big thumbs up from me :)

You can purchase it from Sigma for $16 which is around £10.

Tears Stream Down Your Face, When You Lose Something You Cannot Replace

.1. My driving test was cancelled... AGAIN! I'm not doing it now until January which is annoying as i'm going to have to pay for more lessons and more time on my mum's insurance! I just want to get it over and done with as I know i'm capable of passing it :/ I have been lucky enough to have four days off 6th Form because of the snow which has made my week a lot better though ;)

.2. My lovely little Hamster Honey passed away on Friday and i'm going to miss her so much. She was quite old and had a really happy life and never failed to make me smile. I'll never forget the times she climbed the stairs, the times she would scratch the carpet and annoy my mum and how she always used to come and get her breakfast in a morning even though she was nocturnal :) Losing a pet is so hard but i've got lots of happy memories which i'll never forget and i'm just happy she died peacefully in her sleep. RIP Honey 01/09/08 - 03/12/10 x

.3. I think everyone should follow TheQuoteWhore on Twitter. Every single tweet actually has meaning and I love reading through them everyday. My favourite one so far has to be 'Never regret anything that has happened in your life. It cannot be changed, undone, or forgotten so take it as a lesson learned and move on.'

.4. ♥ A few to follow: Lauren, Sammy, Stephanie, Georgie and Michelle.

.5. ♫ I'm currently listening to: Coldplay - Fix You, Bruno Mars - Grenade, and Alicia Keys - Wait Till They See My Smile

Lush, H&M and a Starbucks Gingerbread Latte

I went shopping last weekend and actually did myself proud by not spending every penny I had. I saw lots of really nice things but resisted the temptation to get them as Christmas is coming up and I really need to save my money for presents (I haven't started my Christmas shopping yet!). I love how all the shops are really Christmassy; all the bags I got were red and had Christmas themes and so was the Starbucks cup :) 

My first stop was Lush; I haven't been since they released their Christmas products so I was looking forward to seeing what they had to offer. I managed to leave the shop without purchasing any bath products which is a first for me! I have so many bath ballistics and bubble bars to use up including some from last Christmas so I didn't want to waste my money buying products that were just going to sit in my cupboard. 

Sugar Babe £2.60 and Sugar Plum Fairy Scrub £1.95

I love Lush's Sugar Scrubs and always repurchase 'Sugar Babe' so when they brought out the 'Sugar Plum Fairy Scrub' for Christmas I knew i'd have to try it! It's also a bit cheaper than 'Sugar Babe' so it's well worth the money! I'm hoping to review both of these soon so look out for that post coming soon :) Even though I didn't want to buy any bath products I did fall in love with this Gingerbread House Tin so i'm going to drop lots of hints to my mum in the hope she'll get it for me for Christmas ;)

Snood £7.99

I've been loving H&M recently and there lots of really nice things I was tempted to buy. If the shop wasn't as jam-packed with clothes it would have made it a lot easier to find nice things and it put me off looking for longer. I'd seen lots of posts about H&M snoods so I picked this lovely nude one up. It's really cosy and soft and i've worn it everyday since I got it! It wasn't expensive and if you're looking for a new scarf or something to keep your neck warm i'd really recommend it :)

I also got a free Galaxy Ripple from New Look - they were giving them out for free in the entrance which was nice of them, especially as I didn't actually buy anything!

Things I wanted but didn't buy: these boots, this hot water bottle and these handwarmers.

Just A Little Bit Of Snow

Today was another snow day for me and as i've been loving everyone's week in photos posts I thought i'd do one for today. It hasn't stopped snowing where I live so i've had quite a lazy day although I did managed to venture to the Co-op (like a lot of people) so I could have hot tomato soup and fresh bread for dinner - perfect!

I haven't got a lot of photos as I took a few on my phone which turned out badly! 

1. Breakfast - Rice Pops and Apple (it tastes a bit like healthy Lucky Charms!)

2. You're never too young to have an advent calendar - I got a Santa hat in mine today ;)

3. Homemade jam tarts, there aren't many left!

4. The huge pile of uni prospectuses I recycled now i've sent off my UCAS

5. I've been listening to Take That all day

6. The amount of snow I woke up to on my window ledge

7, 8 and 9. More snow pictures (click to enlarge)

I hope everyone has a had a good day with or without snow!