My Evening Pamper Routine

Hi everyone :) Getting ready to celebrate New Years tonight? I'll be doing that after I finish this blog post. I love this celebration; watching the fireworks on TV at midnight and having a good night with friends and family :) 

Today I thought I would share my pamper routine with you which I aim to do at least once a week; normally on the weekend because it is very easy to get caught up with everything and forget that your body needs to be looked after in order to keep up! So on this evening I do everything that I think should be done to leave your body feeling pampered and leave you feeling relaxed as well :)

• Firstly I get my little jug of juice to have whilst I'm in the bath. On this occasion it was the Pink Grapefruit juice from Morrison's.
• I then tie my hair up in a bun so that it doesn't get wet or covered in bubbles.

• I then take off my make-up and start running the bath so that it is filled up when I am ready to get in.
• As it is filling up, I add the bubbles - (Imperial Leather 'Love Story' pampering bath cream), and the bathing salts - (BHS bathing salts) 

• After that, I use the Garnier Exfo-Brusher wash to cleanse my face.
• I then get some of the Boots Cucumber skin freshener on a cotton wool pad and gently apply it to my face.
• Then it is time for the face mask - (7th Heaven Cucumber peel-off mask) which I leave on for 20-25 minutes.

• I then light my candles, normally 3 - one scented; and put on one of my spotify playlists on a low volume as background music.

• I then get in and relax to the music for a bit, with the water not too hot, but warm enough to start relaxing the muscles.

• It is then time to wash your body. First I use the Beauticology mango & mandarin scrub which I apply with my hands and then rinse off.
• I then use the soft sponge thing (don't know their proper name haha) and apply shower gel - (The Body Shop Wild Argon Oil) which smells so nice! Then i wash that off.

• I then get out of the bath and take the face mask off. Next, I apply my face moisturiser - (Simple kind to skin hydrating light moisturiser) which you leave to soak in.
• Then I moisturise the rest of my body with the E45 endless moisture cream.
• I then get into my PJ's, which for this night was my blue and pink playsuit.

• Before it is time to relax in bed, I cut my nails and file them etc, and then apply my Sally Hansen Maximum Growth Daily Nail Treatment.
• Then I apply my No7 Lash&Brow Protector, which is basically a conditioner for your lashes and eyebrows :) 
• Finally, I get my little red tin and apply some lip balm.

• I then grab some snacks, a cup of tea and a movie and jump into my freshly made bed :)
• After all of that, it is time to get some sleep as a decent nights sleep consists of 8 hours at least.

 Hope you liked going through my pamper routine, you should definitely give it a try and add any of your own twists to it, so that your body is getting the care and attention it needs :)

Enjoy your New Year's activities everyone, and I shall see you in 2016.

xx

My Christmas Day

Hi guys :) I hope you all had an amazing Christmas, spending time with loved ones, partying or whatever it is that you all got up to! I take quite a few photos around Christmas as I like to keep them as memories for each year, and today I thought I would document my day on here for you all so I hope you enjoy it and I look forward to reading other blog posts about this. Just to say, none of this post is in any way me bragging; just showing you what I got up to, because this is my favourite day of the year :)

Presents

Starting from the top left: 

• Paterson's Clotted Cream Shortbread, Nestle Milkybar Pack, Maltesers, Rowntrees Fruit Pastilles, Rowntrees Jelly Tots.
• Playstation Wireless Stereo Headset, Fujifilm Instax Mini Film, Seagate Expansion 2TB Hard-drive, Digiflex Cable, Homemade Cushion Keyring, Spin the Bottle.
• Sleep Lounge Dressing Gown, Primark Bra Sets x3, Love to Lounge Slippers, Love to Lounge Pyjamas.
• The Body Shop Strawberry Shower Gel, Impulse Free Spirit Set, H-Samuel White Gold Earrings, Lancome Treson Midnight Rose Perfume, Superdrug LASH Double Volume, Burberry Weekend + Brit Rhythm, Halo Eye Make-Up Remover Pads x2, USpicy 32pcs Make-Up Brush Set, Royal Cosmetic Connections Foundation Brush, Superdrug Conditioning Cuticle Oil + Cuticle Cream, Smart Salon Eye Lash Curler, Lokai Bracelet, Sure Motionsense Deodorant x2, a|wear Necklace.

Make-Up

For Christmas Day I put on:

• Face: No7 Beautifully Matte Make Up Base, No7 Stay Perfect Superlight Foundation (Cool Vanilla) Colour Unlimited Bronzer, Rimmel London Stay Matte Powder (003 Peach Glow)

• Eyes: Rimmel London Eyebrow Pencil (Brown), Colour Unlimited Eye Shadow (Black and Silver mixed), 2true Waterproof Eye Liner (Black), No7 Stay Perfect Long-Lasting Volume Mascara (Black)

• Lips:  No7 Precision Lips Pencil, No7 Moisture Drench Lipstick (Sugar Plum)

 Clothes & Accessories

• Primark Christmas Jumper, Primark Leggings, Primark Christmas Socks.
• Superdrug Elegant Touch 'Not Another Christmas Jumper' Nails.
• Primark Christmas Elf Dress.
• Snowflake Headband.

Your clothes and accessories really do help you to get in the Christmas mood, so hopefully my outfits and nails etc have inspired you all for next year! :)

Table

I set our dinner table every year because I have a system and I know where everything goes; I'm a bit OCD like that haha.

So yeahh I lay out the table cloth, placemats, cutlery, crackers, candles, condements, napkins and glasses and it is all set up and ready for our meals :)

If anyone has any recommendations for good Christmas crackers, please let me know because these ones are so bad; like the jokes were just rubbish and the little prizes were things like golf tees haha.

Food & Drink

• Breakfast: Bucks Fizz, Scrambled Egg, Blinis, Smoked Salmon.

• Starter: Pate and Toast.
• Main: Turkey, Ham, Swede, Brussels (in a creamy garlic sauce), Roast Potatoes, Sausages in Bacon, Stuffing, Parsnips and Carrots (roasted with oil and chilli), Gravy.
• Dessert: Mini Christmas Pudding with Custard.

• Cake Left: My Dad bought this from a friend; traditional Christmas Cake.
• Cake Right: My Nan makes a cake every year and so this is the one that she made.

Other

Of course on Christmas Day you have to get the Quality Street out! My favourites are the red ones (Strawberry), but I don't really have a lot of these anyway because I am not a great lover of chocolate; it's just a Christmas tradition :)
I also took some selfies throughout the day, and this is the nicest one of me and my brother Luke.
Throughout the day we also listened to music, played games such as Trivial Pursuit/Ludo etc, and had a laugh.

So, that was my day, hope you all enjoyed your's as much as I did :) Looking forward to New Year's now!

xx

Festive Drinks Review

I am a flavoured coffee lover. I always go into McDonalds when they have their Vanilla or Toffee Lattes because its the only time I will actually drink coffee; otherwise it is too strong and I just don't like it. 

Since it is Christmas, most places that sell hot drinks have brought out limited edition festive ones so I thought it would be nice to try all of the ones that sounded half decent and review them :) 

I have to say, I haven't tried all festive drinks out there because that would take ages and would also cost quite a bit, but I have gone through a fair amount.

Cafe Nero

 4/10 - Spiced Orange Latte

This drink was nice at first, but then I realised that it was actually more 'spiced' than 'orange' and it left a weird after taste in your mouth.

McDonalds

 9/10 - Toffee Latte

I love this drink! It is sweet enough to get rid of the strong coffee taste, but not sweet enough to make you stop drinking half way through. The only thing is, if the person serving you doesnt mix it properly, you just get a latte and then toffee at the bottom.

Starbucks

 7/10 - Eggnog Latte

When I saw this I was just like, I don't think I will be able to stomach this drink.....but I went for it anyway! It stinks, you can definitely smell the egg, but honestly it has a nice creamy texture and is just like a warm milkshake :) Only thing is, I don't think you can have a lot of it, and I also felt I needed water after drinking it.

 3/10 - Honey & Almond Hot Chocolate

All I have to say is you can definitely taste the almonds, not much honey though. I don't think the flavours blend well together, I ended up giving it to a friend at work, who added more hot chocolate to it and then seemed to like it haha.

 9/10 - Toffee Nut Latte

I actually really liked this one. The flavours work well together and the coffee didn't taste too strong. The only thing was I couldn't really taste the toffee; I thought it would have been a bit sweeter. 

Costa

 9/10 - Sticky Toffee Latte

This one is another 9 because I thought the balance of coffee and flavouring was nice, but I again didn't really get the toffee taste I was expecting.

 10/10 - Caramel Fudge Hot Chocolate

Yes, I gave this a 10 because it was absolutely amazing. I loved the flavours, it wasn't as sweet as it sounds and it smells so good too!

 8/10 - Gingerbread Latte

This one I liked; it was well presented and I love the little gingerbread man that comes with it :) The coffee wasn't too strong, but it did leave a weird taste on your tongue and kind of dried out my mouth to be honest. But it was nice.

 1/10 - Salted Caramel Cappuccino

Oh my goodness, this was disgusting. I only gave it a 1 because they put cute glittery sprinkles on top! :') But seriously this coffee was way too strong and I couldn't really taste any caramel flavour at all. I hardly drank any of it.

 10/10 - White Hot Chocolate

Another hot chocolate getting a 10. But this drink tastes so nice; exactly how you imagine white chocolate to taste as a drink. It wasn't too sweet like I thought it would be, and to be honest I think I would prefer this to the normal milk chocolate version! 

So yeahh, those are the drinks that I have tried this year. Pret also do one that sounds quite nice and that is a Mint Hot Chocolate, so give that one a try too if you have a shop near you :)

Obviously these are my opinions, but I hope this saves you time when trying to decide which festive drink to try first! 

Merry Christmas everyone :)

xx

Gingerbread House

I thought I would do something a little different for Christmas this year; so when I saw this little set in Morrison's for £3, I thought it was perfect. Everything you need comes in the box, including the little sweets for decorating!

I miss being creative and I have such a busy schedule this month, so the fact that this set involves no baking and it allowed you to decorate it however you like, I thought I would give it a go.......

On the back of the box there are easy-to-follow steps on how to put the house together and then the rest is up to you. I have to admit, it is harder than it looks, but I enjoyed it and also found it quite therapeutic haha. 

The only bit of advice that i would give it, the smaller the hold that you cut in the icing bag, the better. I may have cut mine a bit too big, so doing the more detailed areas such as the windows was a bit of a challenge! :')

Anyways, this is the finishing product after I added the little sprinkles that they supply to attempt to make it look like snow:

xx