Merry Christmas!! (Signing Off For 2015)

Wow, I cannot believe we are on the last day of Blogmas already! On one hand it feels like it has absolutely flown by, but it also feels like forever ago that I was writing up those Christmas gift guides. I'm very busy over the festive period spending time with my loved ones, so I wanted to take a short break from blogging to really make the most of that time, but I will be back in 2016. As this is my last post of the year, I wanted to take the opportunity to wish you all a Merry Christmas and a wonderful New Year, and to thank you all for the support over 2015.

My Christmas Day Makeup Picks

So the big day is almost here - I cannot believe how much this month has flown by, it's ridiculous!! On Christmas Day I have so many different places to visit that it always has to be an early start for me, and I don't really have that much time to get ready, so I like to have my outfit and makeup planned in advance, that way I can go from sitting in my pjs to heading out of the door as quickly as possible. Last weekend I had a little rummage through my makeup stash and picked out all of the bits and pieces I want to wear on Friday, so I thought I'd share my choices with you.

Festive Sparkly Nails

I love painting my nails ready for Christmas Day, and adding that bit of sparkle to my tips. I usually try a few different styles out a few weeks beforehand, and usually I end up opting for something simple but festive - I'm not the best at nail art despite my many attempts! This year I've decided to use a product that I've had for quite a while but never reached for much in the past - but it definitely has that Christmas sparkle that I'm looking for.

My Winter Beauty Saviours

Winter is a time that can really wreak havoc on our skin. I suffer from dry skin the majority of the time, but winter can be a bit of a nightmare, and I really have to step up my skincare routine and make sure I'm always moisturised - otherwise it can get pretty uncomfortable. As you can imagine, because of this I've tried quite a large number of beauty products that promise to keep my skin in top condition, with varying results. Here are my all time favourite products for keeping my skin hydrating during winter.

Slimming World Sunday - Scan Bran Christmas Cake

When it comes to Christmas treats I absolutely love mince pies. Before I joined Slimming World, I would buy a 6 pack from the corner shop, and they'd be gone within a couple of days. Now though, with them being so incredibly high in syns, I've had to resist indulging as much as I used to (though I did have a mini one at an Xmas party last week!), but I think I've found a perfect Slimming World friendly alternative. Someone from my group had made the Scan Bran Christmas cake and brought it in to one of our taster nights a couple of months ago. After tasting a small square, I was struck by how much it tasted like mince pies (and perhaps even better!). I knew then that I had to make it for myself, as this was going to be what saved me from my mince pie cravings this year!

My Winter Pamper Evening

There's nothing better on a cold winters evening than getting some of your favourite beauty products out and having a good old pamper session. I don't know what it is about it, but it's just guaranteed to make me feel a lot warmer and snuggly, whatever the weather may be doing outside! Here's what I like to do on my ultimate winter pamper evening.

The Body Shop Glazed Apple Body Butter

The Body Shop is one of my favourite places to go during the Christmas period, as their festive scents are always so good. The Glazed Apple range was first launched last year, but this product in particular has been a real hit with me, so much so that I've had to go and repurchase a new one recently.

New Look Winter Wishlist

The "problem", if you can call it that, with losing weight is that you get to the stage where some of your old clothes begin to look ridiculously big! After having a sort out of my winter wardrobe recently, I've realised I am now at that stage. Whilst some things, cosy winter jumpers for example, can be passed off as oversized, some things just really do need replacing. I'm going to hold off for a while, and see what I can get in the sale, but that hasn't stopped me having a little browse on the New Look website recently, so I can get an idea of that I might want when I come to do my post-Christmas shop. I haven't shopped in New Look for the longest time, despite it being one of my favourite stores, and I remember them having a great winter sale last year, so I'm hoping I can pick up some good stuff. In the meantime, here's what I'm currently lusting after...

My Red Lip Favourites

I don't tend to rock these often, but nothing beats a bold red lip at a festive party. Since I've become braver with my lipstick choices over the last couple of years, my red lippie collection has grown quite considerably, so here's a rundown of my five favourites.

The Best Of Budget Skincare

When it comes to skincare, so often we read that we should be investing our money in the best brands, and quite frankly it's not always possible to spend an absolute fortune on the latest must have, miracle working moisturiser, and more often than not, the cheaper products work just as well anyway! Whilst I do like to splash out on the odd product, the majority of my skincare is bought from the drugstore, and here are my favourite finds at a more reasonable price.

Mini Stationery Haul

What blogger doesn't love cute stationery?! Every time it gets towards the new year, I like to go out and buy myself some new stationery (of course this has to include a diary) to inspire myself and get the ideas for new blog posts flowing for the next year. I don't know about you, but there's something about a new notebook that just makes me want to sit down and write, so when I went out on a shopping trip recently, I made sure I picked up some new bits and pieces - and this little lot came to less than a tenner!

Slimming World Sunday - Surviving The Festive Period

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December can be a real struggle when you're following a weight loss plan. With all of the social events, and just generally being busier than we usually are, it can be really tempting just to write the month off entirely and overindulge at times when really we could've stayed on plan, leaving us with a big gain to tackle in the New Year. Truth is though, if we really sat down and took a look at our schedules for the month, we could probably still be on plan the majority of the time. There are some events that we all face through December though, that can be really tricky to Food Optimise through, but here are my tips for tackling those moments, to limit the overall damage that Christmas can do to our weight loss journey.

Shopping My Stash For Winter

I'll be honest, I've been wearing the same old makeup on rotation for a good few months now. I've not been particularly experimental at all, so a lot of my products have just been tucked away in the drawers and completely forgotten about. Since we are now well into December, I thought it was about time I had a rummage through my makeup stash and dug out some recently unloved products and get some good use out of them. Afterall, I did say all that time ago when I bought my Muji storage, that switching my everyday products up would become a regular thing - guess I failed at that one!

Skyn Iceland Skin Hangover Kit

It's at that time of year again where the festive parties are in full swing, and for some of us that can mean overindulging and overdoing things just a little, and our skin really doesn't thank us for it. With the Christmas parties tends to come the Christmas hangovers, and our skin can sometimes be left dull and puffy. I'd seen this Skyn Iceland Hangover Kit in Marks & Spencers a few times whilst I've been having a browse around, and it seemed like a handy little kit to have this time of year, So I've been putting it to the test recently.

My Bargain Winter Coat

I've been trying to spend a lot less money on myself recently, especially with Christmas coming up, and with various things to save for looking into next year, but I really was in desperate need of a new winter coat. Primark always has a wide selection of coats, but I find a lot of them really just don't suit me. I did, however, spot this gorgeous number whilst I was out on a shopping trip a few weeks ago.

Christmas DVDs I Watch Every December

Over the last few years, I've really loved sitting down and watching the Christmas 24 movie channel when I'm at home in December. I remember a couple of years ago, sitting down for hours making my wedding invitations whilst Christmas 24 was on in the background! Whilst I'm all up for discovering new Christmas films - some of them incredibly cheesy - there are some DVDs I just have to watch every single year. It's not Christmas til I've watched this lot!!

No7 Mini Eye Palette

You know me, I can't resist a new eyeshadow palette. I also can't resist shopping in the Boots 3 for 2 Christmas gifts, whether that be for myself or others! No7 have some really great gifts this year, and when I saw this little palette for just £10, I had to treat myself using some of my Boots points! Whilst they do also have a much larger palette for double the price, the colours didn't really appeal to me, whereas some of the shades in this mini version just called out autumn/winter to me.

Festive Homeware Haul

I really don't know what's more fun at Christmas time. Shopping fot gifts or shopping for bits and bobs for the home. Either way, I love shopping this time of year! Whilst we were all good on the tree decorations from this year, I wanted to pick up a few extra pieces, so that it wasn't just one corner of our living room that had a bit of festive sparkle! If you follow me on Instagram, you've probably already seen these purchases before, but I wanted to share them with the rest of you too.

Slimming World Sunday - A Long Overdue Update

Well this is a very long time in coming! It's been over two months since there was last any mention of Slimming World on my blog. If you've been following me on Instagram though, you'll know that I've still been 100% committed to the plan, and have done pretty well in my blogging absence.

My Favourite Festive Scent

Don't get me wrong, I love to burn candles all year round, but it's the winter scents I love the best. I'm a real big fan of those warmer, spicy and foodie scents that seem to be everywhere this time of year. My absolute favourite has to be, without a doubt, the Christmas Memories candle by Yankee Candle. I spotted this on a recent shopping trip with my friend Alison and instantly started blabbing on about how amazing it was and how she had to buy one for herself. She did, and to my surprise & delight she picked one up for me as an early Christmas present too (thank you so much!).

The Best Beauty Crackers

There is one particular beauty product that didn't feature at all in any of my gift guides - beauty Christmas crackers! They are everywhere at the moment, with more and more brands jumping on the cracker bandwagon as their popularity has increased over the years. I think they are a great little stocking filler, or as a table decoration at a girly pre-Christmas get together. As they seem to be so popular, I thought they deserved a gift guide of their own - so here are my top picks.

Christmas Gifts Over £30

image from weheartit.com - edited by me

Now we're onto the really good stuff! The slightly more luxurious items that you may buy for someone really close to you - and that you secretly hope you'll find tucked under the tree waiting for you on Christmas morning! If you've got quite a big Christmas budget, or you just want to treat someone really special, hopefully they'll be a few ideas in here for you.

Christmas Gifts Under £30

image from weheartit.com - edited by me

This was probably my favourite gift guide to compile. There's so much stuff in this guide (especially the beauty section!) that I'd love to receive myself - it was so tempting whilst browsing to add a few bits into my online shopping basket, but I was a good girl! Under £30 is the price range I tend to use for most of the gifts I buy, so it was really useful for my own Christmas shopping research too!

Christmas Gifts Under £10

image from weheartit.com - edited by me

I'm back!!!! I'd been thinking about it for a while, and I couldn't have done all of that Blogmas prep work months ago and then let it all go to waste! So I thought I'd kick things off with my favourite posts to read at the moment - gift guides!! I've got most of my Christmas shopping done already, but I still can't resist taking a look to see if there's that hidden gem out there that I've missed! I'm starting off today with the £10 and under guide, perfect for those office Secret Santa gifts or stocking fillers.

#AMonthOfMAC - Viva Glam V

I can't believe we are at the end of #AMonthOfMAC already! I've had so much fun doing this series, and it's going to be really weird not having a blog post going up every day anymore - oh well, it's nearly Blogmas! Viva Glam V is my most recent MAC lipstick purchase, so it's appropriate that it's the last one to be shown in my collection.

#AMonthOfMAC - Viva Glam Miley Cyrus

Can you believe this was my first ever Viva Glam purchase?! None of the shades had previously taken my fancy, so I'd held back until I saw the promo photos for this lipstick. I'd really wanted to not fall in love with this lipstick - I can't say I'm exactly a fan of Miley Cyrus - but this was just to pretty not to go and buy, and with the proceeds going to charity I felt like I was doing a good thing by making this purchase!

Primark Haul September 2015

This months haul is pretty big. I kind of lost a bit of control when I went on my last trip to Primark, but now that they have well and truly stocked up on their autumn/winter pieces, I couldn't help myself. This is my favourite season for fashion and so I was dying to get a few new pieces for my wardrobe.

#AMonthOfMAC - Vegas Volt

Of all of the lipsticks I own, Vegas Volt is the one that just screams out summer to me. I love wearing this lipstick, whether it be for a day or night look, throughout the warmer months. If you're looking for a nice, vibrant - but not too OTT - lipstick to wear next summer, this is the one to buy.

Slimming World Sunday - September 2015 Update

 Another month, another award! I'm so pleased I've been able to keep this up, and if I carry on at the rate I've been going, I should get to target for Christmas, which would be amazing. Having sat down and worked it out, that is now the aim I am focusing on. September was a good month for me in terms of weight loss, when you look at the month as a whole, but I think it highlighted to me just how important going to group is for keeping me on track.

#AMonthOfMAC - Up The Amp

Purple lipsticks are a very marmite trend. On some people I think that can looks gorgeous. On me? I'm not so sure! I bought this lipstick as I'd seen it look really nice on several people. Unfortunately, I don't think it has the same effect when I apply it myself.

#AMonthOfMAC - Russian Red

Compared to Ruby Woo, this lipstick is much more of your classic red. It's a lot deeper than the brighter blue tones that Ruby Woo has, but again I think this suits a lot of people. This is definitely my favourite red lipstick that I own.

Payday Wishlist

Today is finally my payday! It seems like forever since the last one - probably because I've spent most of the last month broke! But now I finally have a little bit of cash to spare, it's time to treat myself. Here are a few things I've been lusting after recently.

#AMonthOfMAC - Ruby Woo

Ruby Woo is another MAC lipstick that a put off purchasing for a really long time, this time because of the horror stories I've read and heard about how drying the lipstick was. I'd always thought it was a beautiful colour though, so I eventually bit the bullet and decided to buy it. As it turns out, I don't think it's as bad as people make it out.

#AMonthOfMAC - Rebel

Ask a group of beauty lovers what their favourite autumn lipstick is and I reckon at least half of them would say MAC Rebel, and I can see why, it's one of my favourites too. I put off buying this lipstick for such a long time, as it looked really scary in the bullet, but with so many people saying how gorgeous it was, I thought I must be missing something, and I'm so glad I finally caved and bought it.

#AMonthOfMAC - Pure Zen

When I first bought this lipstick it was an instant regret as I really didn't think it went well with my skintone at all, and just looked plain awful. I've since had a little bit of an experiment with it though, and learned to love it teamed with other lip products.

Why I Love Autumn

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So according to my diary, today is the day that autumn officially begins, so of course I had to do an autumn themed post, didn't I?! With the days getting shorter during this time of year, autumn can become a bit of a nightmare for bloggers when in comes to the lighting situation for photos. Despite this, autumn is by far my favourite season, and here are some of the reasons why.

#AMonthOfMAC - Plumful

I've been waiting all month for this post to come around, as Plumful is my favourite ever MAC lipstick, and I couldn't wait to start raving about it! It's the perfect lipstick shade for this time of year too, so I'll be getting a lot of use out of it over the next few weeks & months.

#AMonthOfMAC - Please Me

Despite not being able to get hold of this lipstick when I originally tried to buy it, I finally got my hands on Please Me a few months later and, although I like it, I've not used it as much as I'd thought I would.

Neutral Nails

Now that summer has well and truly gone, my pastel and bright nail polishes have been tucked away for next year. Whilst I'm not quite ready to embrace the full on dark vampy shades that I usually wear throughout winter, I have really been loving my neutral nail colours recently. Here are some of my favourites from my collection.

Slimming World Sunday - Coming Back From A Gain

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I remember the first ever time I gained weight whilst following Slimming World. It was only half a pound, but I was absolutely devastated! Looking back know, I know it was silly to get so upset about it, but it's not always easy to brush it off and move on. Here are my top tips for getting back on track following a gain.

#AMonthOfMAC - Pink Plaid

Pink Plaid was a bit of an impulse purchase for me. I bought it whilst there was a Debenhams offer on, and I'd initially wanted to buy Please Me. Having seen that was out of stock, along with a lot of other shades I had on my wishlist, I quickly added Pink Plaid to my online basket, as it seemed to be quite similar.

#AMonthOfMAC - Peach Blossom

Peach Blossom is another of my favourite MAC lipsticks, which was one of my earlier purchases. It's the perfect lipstick for daytime wear during the spring months.

Falling In Love With Blogging Again

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When I took a break from my blog back in spring, I wasn't sure if I was ever going to come back to it. What was meant to be a weeks break turned into three months due to my health, and I'd got used to having so much free time outside of work to do other things, I wasn't sure how I was going to go back to managing my blog again. But there was always that niggling thought in my mind that I really did miss it, I just wasn't sure how I was going to get back into the swing of things. If you're thinking of taking a break, or just not in the right mindset at the moment, here's how I got my blogging mojo back.

#AMonthOfMAC - Patisserie

Patisserie is an extremely popular MAC lipstick, made ever more so by bloggers/vloggers such as Anna (Vivianna Does Makeup) and Lily Pebbles raving about it. I tried forever to get this lipstick but it always seemed to be sold out. I eventually managed to track it down when I went on my mad dash to buy Kelly Yum Yum, and it's become one of my favourite MAC lipsticks since.

#AMonthOfMAC - Mehr

Poor Mehr! I showed this lipstick to my husband when I bought it. His response when I told him the name was "Meh, that sounds about right!". I think that's pretty unfair! It might not look like much in the bullet, but I think it's a very pretty colour, and great for everyday wear.

#AMonthOfMAC - Lustering

Lustering is one of those forgotten lipsticks in my collection - I'll be honest I had no idea it was there until I dug all of my MAC lipsticks out for this series! It's one of those colours that looks gorgeous in the bullet, which is probably why I bought it, but is a little bit of the "nothing" shade on the lips.

Splurge Or Save?

I'm sure we'd all love to have a mahoosive collection full of the most luxurious high end makeup that we could indulge ourselves in every single day, but the reality is for the majority of us this is way out of reach! Sometimes though it is nice to treat yourself to the odd luxury product whilst keeping our stash topped up with those drugstore gems. But where's best to invest those hard earned pennies, and where should we be saving our money on the drugstore alternatives? Here's a breakdown of the products I like to both splurge and save my money on.

#AMonthOfMAC - Kinda Sexy

Wow, I can't believe we are at the halfway point of #AMonthOfMAC already! I hope you're enjoying the series as much as I am! Now, Kinda Sexy is one of those lipsticks that really lives up to its name. When I wear it I do actually feel "kinda sexy" which believe me is something very rare! I'd say until I recently bought Brave, this was my all time favourite nude lipstick.

#AMonthOfMAC - Kelly Yum Yum

I debated whether to include this lipstick in my #AMonthOfMAC series, as it was limited edition and obviously not available anymore, but it was just too pretty for me not to include it, so I hope you don't mind! The Sharon/Kelly Osbourne collection launched last June, whilst I was on my honeymoon. By the time I'd remembered the collection had launched, and managed to get online (the wifi at the hotel wasn't the best!) everything I wanted had sold out. I was still desperate to get my hands on Kelly Yum Yum though so, after landing at 3am a couple of days later, I drove to Milton Keynes (about an hour from home) on minimal sleep in the hope that it was still in their Debenhams store!

Autumn Transitional Makeup

I think it's safe to say that autumn was now hit the UK. In fact, it's felt like it's been here for quite a while! Did we even get a summer?! Before it gets really cold, and I pull out my really intense berry and red shades, I like to break myself into autumn gently with some slightly softer shades that are still season appropriate. After all, you never know if another semi-warm day is just around the corner(!).