DAY #3 - LUSH CHRISTMAS WISHLIST

Who honestly doesn't love Lush's Christmas range? It may be one of the best things to happen each year. Since I haven't been able to go into Lush this year, and I don't have a Lush near me at home, this year's Lush Christmas post comes to you as a wishlist from the Lush website.

'Santasaurus' Bubble Bar
Like most (I assume), I base my product choices in  Lush on what they smell like. The Santasaurus bubble bar is so cute that I want it regardless of what it smells like.

'Snowie' Bubble Bar
As with the Santasaurus, I don't think I can resist a bubble bar that looks like a snowman David Bowie.

'Jester' Bubble Bar
Another adorable and orange-scented bubble bar. Basically, I want all the bubble bars.

'So White' Bath Bomb
A classic, I love apples.

'Shoot For The Stars' Bath Bomb
I can't resist any product with orange in it (as most of Lush's products seem to contain) and I also can't resist how stunning this bath bomb is.

'Golden Wonder' Bath Bomb
A classic Lush Christmas bath bomb.

'Butterbear' Bath Bomb
The Butterball is my absolute favourite Lush bathbomb, it smells beyond incredible, and every Chrismtas Lush rerelease it in the shape of an adorable bear.

'Snow Fairy' Shower Gel
The epitome of the Lush Christmas products and smells.

'Bubbly' Shower Gel
It's orange, I can't help myself.

'Reindeer Rock' Soap
It's blue, it looks like a reindeer carving on a cave wall, the reindeer is gold, it has a slightly different berry and floral scent, I want it.

'Santa's Postbox' Soap
It basically just smells really, really orangy.

'Shooting Stars' Soap
I couldn't decide between the orange scent of Santa's Postbox or the lemon and lime scent of Shooting Stars, so I've added both of them to the list.

'Sugar Plum Fairy' Lip Scrub and Lip Tint
Who doesn't love a Lush lip scrub? They always leave your lips feeling amazing, and I can't resist the gorgeous plum colour and orange scent of these two.

'Be Excellent To Each Other' Bag
I've been drooling over this tote bag with a quote from 'Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure' on it ever since I saw it a few months ago, and I think it's something that I  genuinely need in my life.

Rosie

Might have to go and place a massive Lush order now

DAY #2 - BODY SHOP CHRISTMAS

As sad as it sounds, the times when the Body Shop and Costa Christmas ranges are released is something I look forward to every year form about October onwards. Every year I do a post talking through the Body Shop's new Christmas products, and this year is no exception.

Every year the Body Shop release three Christmas scents- there's always one related to vanilla and one related to cranberry, and the third one changes each year. This year's scents are winners. There's vanilla chai, frosted berries and spiced apple. Unsurprisingly, spiced apple is my favourite.

Unlike the apple scent of two Christmas's ago, which was an incredibly juicy, sweet and mouth-watering scent, spiced apple has a much more dark and stereotypically festive smell- you can definitely smell the cinnamon and I love it. All three scents this year have a much darker scent compared to the usual fresh and bright scents the Body Shop release- they've not shied away from the spices this year and I can't say that I'm complaining. There's not all that much I can say about vanilla chai, it's a lovely, wintry, spicy vanilla, and you all know what vanilla chai smells like. This year, the Body Shop have taken a different turn on their usual cranberry (or occasionally frosted cranberry) scent. As the name frosted berries suggests, the regular old cranberry has turned into a berry medley and, though you can still smell a hint of cranberry, it is very much a festive mix of winter berries. As loyal as I am to the traditional cranberry scent each year, I'm really liking the change and, so far, all the Body Shop presents I've bought this year have been from the frosted berries range.

Wish List: (The products available this Christmas that I love the most)
-Shower gel
-Foaming bath
-Lip balm
-Scented candle
-'Rosie Monkey' bath sponge (I wonder if you can guess why...)
-Individual bath fizzers (especially eyeing up 'candied plum')

Rosie

The Body Shop fanatic

DAY #1 - THE 12 DAYS OF BLOGMAS

20th December. A weird time to start doing Blogmas, but hear me out. I've neglected my blog enough this year that Blogmas was something that needed to happen (plus it's probably my favourite thing to do on my blog each year), I'm officially back from university for Christmas, and I wanted the end of Blogmas to coincide with the end of the year. Hence why Blogmas is starting today of all days.

So I'll be here everyday until the 31st December, and I thought we'd start off the 12 days of Blogmas with a classic December playlist. 

1. 'Mistletoe'- Justin Bieber

I'm not a fan of Bieber, but this is my flatmate's favourite Christmas song and hes played it so many times over the last couple of weeks that I couldn't not honour it on this list.

2. 'Ribbons and Bows'- Kacey Musgraves

Kacey Musgraves, one of my favourite country artists, has released her own Christmas album, and I absolutely love this original by her. 

3. 'Fairytale of New York'- The Pogues and Kirsty MacColl
Along with 'Step Into Christmas', possibly my favourite Christmas song. Somehow Christmasy, without being very festive and also being completely savage.

4. 'Step Into Christmas'- Elton John
My other joint-favourite Christmas song, impossible not to want to dance to this. I saw Elton John live in the summer and I was kind of disappointed that he didn't play this.

5. 'Feliz Navidad'- Michael Buble

Not usually my favourite Christmas song, but I can't resist Michael Buble's version.

6. 'All I Want for Christmas is You'- Michael Buble
As much as I love both versions of this song, I can't help but love Michale Buble's slower and more jazzy version. 

7. 'Hark the Herald Angels Sing'- Busted

This one just makes me laugh every time I remember it exists.

Merry Christmas!

Rosie

2015 READING CHALLENGE: DECEMBER ROUND-UP

Happy last day of 2015, crazy right? In December I read 10 books, and I read a grand whopping total of 72 books in 2015, which is beyond belief as I only properly got back into reading (after a hiatus) in the last few months of 2014. I am also currently reading 'I Capture the Castle', which I am planning on finishing over the next couple of days. I started this year with a reading challenge of 30 books, which I increased to 50 after the summer, and I exceeded by 22 books; I am 144% through my reading challenge which is ridiculous. As of the time of writing this, I have read over 28,180 pages in 2015. 2015 was a fantastic year for me in general, I hope you all had a great year and that 2016 is amazing for us all.

Books Read:

1. 'Percy Jackson and the Greek Gods'- Rick Riordan 
I really, really liked the sound of this book when I first heard it was coming out, it's the stories of the main Greek Gods and Goddesses but told in the voice of Percy Jackson. I love Greek mythology, but I'd forgotten most of what I know about it. This was a really fun, interesting, enjoyable book and I really feel like I learnt a lot from it.

2. 'Anna and the French Kiss'- Stephanie Perkins
I never thought I'd enjoy Stephanie Perkins' books, they didn't sound like something that would interest me, but they were all really cheap on Kindle so I bought them. This book though, holy crap, it was fantastic. I absolutely loved it, I read the entire thing in less than 24 hours and I'm already desperate to read it again. I love all the characters, I fell in love with St Clair almost straight away and I am obsessed with this book; I loved it so much I bought myself a physical copy as well as a Kindle one.

3. 'Lola and the Boy Next Door'- Stephanie Perkins 
After reading Anna, I needed to read this one straight away. However, I'm really disappointed to say that I didn't enjoy it nearly as much as I did Anna and the French Kiss, I couldn't get into the story in the same way and I really couldn't stand any of the characters. Cricket and the appearance of Anna and St Clair were the highlight of the book for me; the last four or so chapters saved this book.

4. 'Anne of Avonlea'- L.M. Montgomery 
I was on a reading roll at the start of December, I read three whole books and the end of Percy Jackson in less than a week. Everyone knows by now that Anne of Green Gables is my favourite series ever, but I hadn't re-read this one in such a long time, I couldn't remember what happened. I really, really enjoyed this book, much more than I remembered doing so, and I thought it was a really fantastic continuation of the series; I love everything about this world so much.

5. 'Isla and the Happily Ever After'- Stephanie Perkins
The synopsis of this book initially appealed to me most out of all Stephanie Perkins' books, but I was nearly put off by the first chapter until I released that Isla wasn't usually like that. What I like about this companion trilogy is that all the characters from the other books make appearances, and I especially liked the fact that it was set in Paris again, I was missing that in Lola (plus, after Anna, I'm slightly obsessed with Paris when I never was before). No spoilers, but I really liked how the romance in this book happened quite early on, instead of having to wait till right at the end like most books; the romance in this, and in Anna especially, was so sweet and lovely and made my heart all warm and fuzzy.

6. 'Anne of the Island'- L.M. Montgomery 
Again, this is the third book in the Anne of Green Gables series, which I'm working my way through re-reading. I only actually read up to this book when I was younger, and again I really enjoyed it, and it's rekindled my love of Gilbert Blythe.

7. 'Percy Jackson and the Greek Heroes'- Rick Riordan
As with Percy Jackson and the Greek Gods, this is Greek mythology told in the voice of Percy Jackson. This is the stories of some of the Greek Heroes, which I think I actually enjoyed more than I did the Greek Gods. This was also a really fun and enjoyable read, and I liked the fact that Rick Riordan included quite a few female heroes as well, which you don't often hear about in Greek mythology.

8. 'Let it Snow'- John Green, Maureen Johnson and Lauren Myracle 
I read this book for the first time last winter and I was quite disappointed with it. I didn't love any of the stories, they all fell a bit flat for me, and I only gave it three out of five stars on Goodreads. I also found it to be a really slow read, it took me so long to read each story, and that added to everything that wasn't great about it. I decided to read it again this year as I needed a book to take with me on the train to work, as the hardback edition of the Percy Jackson book was absolutely massive and not practical at all; plus, it's Christmas and you're obliged to read Christmassy books at this time. This time, I enjoyed it much, much more and I read each story in one day each, which I think added to my enjoyment. So much better the second time round. I thought, as well giving my opinions of the book overall, I'd also say a little bit about each individual story.
'The Jubilee Express'- Maureen Johnson
This is my favourite of the three stories, the first time round it creeped me out a little bit, but this time I really enjoyed it. It made me feel really festive, much more than the other stories did, and I really enjoyed this one.
'A Cheertastic Christmas Miracle'- John Green 
I enjoyed this story so much more the second time around. It's not like your typical tragic, misunderstood John Green story, which was good for me. It was just nice, and nice is what you want at Christmas time.
'The Patron Saint of Pigs'- Lauren Myracle
This story let the entire book down. It's the longest of the three, which does not work in it's favour. The story itself was okay, but all of the characters are so annoying that they just let the entire thing down; not good.

9. 'A Christmas Carol'- Charles Dickens
I read this book either last Christmas or the year before and it's one of my favourite classics. Everyone knows the story of a Christmas Carol, and it's one that I love and really enjoy reading. I'd highly recommend this one, it's absolutely fantastic and a must-read in December.

10. 'Six of Crows'- Leigh Bardugo
This book has got so much hype and I've been interested in reading it since the beginning of the year or whenever it was announced; it was described as similar to Ocean's 11, which is one of my favourite films ever, and I've been desperate to read it ever since then. I didn't think I was enjoying it all that much at first, and then I found myself thinking about it whenever I wasn't reading it, and then I realised I was basically hooked. This book is actually genius, the plot twists and not-plot twists were amazing, and I really loved how the reader was kept in the dark about their genius plans so there were so many surprises and then double surprises. I loved it and I need the next book asap.

Happy New Year

Rosie

BEST BOOKS OF 2015

The time has come. It is the end of 2015. And to be honest with you, it was a really, really great year for me in all senses of the word. In 2015, I read an astonishing total of 72 (complete) books; since I only properly got back into reading in 2014, that's a ridiculous number of books. Today a have compiled a list of my favourite books of 2015 (there's quite a few, I read a lot of great books this year) in no particular and very random order (in the order they appeared on my Goodreads shelf). I'm not going to go into detail on any of these books as you can see my thoughts on each of them in my monthly reading wrap-up posts and I have a hell of a lot of favourites, but here we go...

1. 'Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me?'- Mindy Kaling
I read this at the end of 2014 but I thought it was only okay. I wanted to re-read it as I wanted to re-read the bits on The Office when they made sense (I hadn't watched it before) and I wanted to read it again before I read her new book. This time round, I thought it was brilliant and I absolutely loved it.

2. 'The Scorch Trials'- James Dashner
At the end of 2014 I became somewhat obsessed with the Maze Runner series, so obviously this was going to make the list. Second books in trilogies are never as good, but I really enjoyed this one.

3. 'The Death Cure'- James Dashner
A great finale to the Maze Runner trilogy, I was slightly disappointed with the ending of this book, but as an ending to the series it was fab.

4. 'Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban'- J.K. Rowling
My family are all obsessed with the film of this book, but I've never really seem the hype until now. It's still not my favourite of the films, but holy cow this book was absolutely incredible. Like beyond amazing. It's definitely now one of my favourite books of the series when it never was before. Fantastic, fantastic, fantastic.

5. 'Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix'- J.K. Rowling
Another surprise Harry Potter to make this list, but this one was so incredible I was slightly in shock. This book has always got hate for being the most long, slow and boring of the Harry Potter series, but I absolutely loved it, so much I can't believe it. I didn't like it at all before but I flew through it and it's now one of my favourites

6. 'Anne of Green Gables'- L.M. Montgomery 
This is my favourite book of all-time, so of course it's included here.

7. 'Brazen'- Katherine Longshore
This is a historical fiction set in the time of the Tudors and Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn, which is my absolute favourite period of history. I thought I'd enjoy this book, the first sentence alone is incredible, but I was surprised about just how much I loved it and how invested I got in all of these characters. It's an amazing read and I'd highly, highly recommend it.

8. 'The Princess Bride'- William Goldman
This book is so damn weird. And if you don't get straight on board with the weirdness, I imagine it can be a really difficult book to enjoy. I was hesitant at first because of just how weird it is, but I ended up really loving it and I'm now trying to force everyone else to read it.

9. 'How to Be a Woman'- Caitlin Moran
This book changed my life. It was incredible, hands down one of the top three books I read it 2015. I love Caitlin Moran and just everything about this book was absolutely mind-blowingly incredible. I'd recommend it to anyone of any gender (though maybe 16+). Fantastic.

10. 'Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief'- Rick Riordan
Percy Jackson is a well-known and well-loved series for good reason. It's really enjoyable to read and it's actually genius. Anyone of any age would enjoy this book.

11. 'Doon'- Carey Corp and Lorie Langdon
This is fun, trivial romance with attractive boys and the most gorgeous book setting ever seen. What could be better?

12. 'The Selection'- Kiera Cass
Even more trashy, trivial and fun than Doon, but I loved it so, so much. Sometimes you just want to read a princess book set in a castle with pretty dresses and nice romance and just general everything-is-easy-and-fun, and this delivered all that and more of the same. I really enjoyed it, plus it gave me Miss Congeniality vibes which was a bonus for me.

13. 'The Raven Boys'- Maggie Sitefvater 
I won't go into too much detail with this as everyone must know by now that I am beyond obsessed with the Raven Boys. After the first book this became one of my most favourite series of all-time and I don't think I have words enough to describe just how much I love it.

14. 'The Invasion of the Tearling'- Erika Johansen 
By far the best book I read this year. This is the second book in a trilogy and it was so, so fantastic. I can't give anything away without spoilers but holy cow. I can hardly wait for the third book.

15. 'The Dream Thieves'- Maggie Stiefvater
The second book in the Raven Cycle series and definitely the best of the three published (so far). I loved everything about this book, I am in love with the Raven Boys, this is one of the best books I read this year.

16. 'Heir of Fire'- Sarah J. Maas
The Throne of Glass series is immensely popular and I read all the books currently published this year. I can totally understand the hype, I thought this book was brilliant, I flew through it reading 100+ pages a day, I can see why everyone loves it.

17. 'Queen of Shadows'- Sarah J. Maas
So amazing, I have no words.

18. 'Me and Earl and the Dying Girl'- Jesse Andrews
You wouldn't think it, but this was a really fun, hilariously funny read. I read the entire thing in a day and I really, really enjoyed it.

19. 'Paper Towns'- John Green
This book surprised me for two reasons. Firstly, the premise of this book never seemed like something I'd enjoy, it was sitting on my shelf for over two years before I finally picked it up, and secondly I'm not all that big a fan of John Green. I really, really enjoyed this book, it's definitely my favourite of John Green's works, and I was surprised about how much I enjoyed it.

20. 'Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe'- Benjamin Alire Saenz
This book was just beautiful, it made my heart all warm and fuzzy and I'd recommend it highly to everyone.

21. 'Blue Lily, Lily Blue'- Maggie Stiefvater
I just really loved the Raven Boys this year.

22. 'Moranthology'- Caitlin Moran
This is a collection of some of Caitlin Moran's columns in the Times magazine, and I really like her columns and her writing. I will read anything this woman publishes.

23. 'Anna and the French Kiss'- Stephanie Perkins 
This is another book that surprised me, I didn't think it would be something I'd enjoy, but holy shit I loved it so, so much. I read this entire book in less than 24 hours and had to struggle to stop myself from re-reading it again straight away. I fell so in love with these characters (especially St Clair, you know what I mean) and I spent far too much time thinking about it when I should have been thinking about other things (which also happened with the Raven Boys); I loved this.

INSTAGRAM YEAR 2015

I didn't Instagram all that much in 2015, and most of them are pictures with other people, but I thought I'd share a few of my Instagram pictures from the year.

August- we hiked to the top of the Brecon Beacons in Wales 

August- I met Lego Darth Vader

November- we celebrated Christmas early at Cub camp 

November- I saw the RSC Henry V at the Barbican

December- we went to the Harry Potter Studio Tour

December- we went to the Harry Potter Studio Tour 

MERRY CHRISTMAS

Just a short little note to wish you all a very merry Christmas. I'm currently sitting here in the world's tackiest Christmas jumper watching The Holiday, having over-indulged in probably the best Christmas dinner of my life, as you're supposed to do on Christmas day. I've had a really, really great Christmas and I hope you all have too. Merry Christmas everyone.

Rosie 

MAGIC IS MIGHT

So last night my family went to the Warner Brother's Harry Potter Studio Tour which was absolutely amazing and just everything perfect and wonderful; we went last time 3 years ago, not long after it opened. I'd obviously completely recommend going if you ever have the chance, but I personally think it's best to go during the winter time, when the Great Hall is decked out all festive and the Hogwarts model is covered in snow. These are just a few of my 300+ photos, spoilers below if you've never been to the tour before and want to be surprised first time. (It took so long to go through these photos for this).

Rosie

CHRISTMAS HOME DETAILS

Since it's coming up to Christmas (two days!!!) and my mum has been busy making the house all festive and lovely, I thought I'd give a little peak into some of the decorating we've done. My Christmas tree will also feature heavily, as it's one of my most favourite things ever. We don't like to have a themed tree, we like to collect something interesting from everywhere we go, and I thought I'd show some of my absolute favourites (we have a very, very weird tree and I love it).

Anne Boleyn 

William Shakespeare (bought in Stratford Upon Avon)

Kings College Cambridge

Bought in a Christmas shop in the middle of Disney Land Florida in August

Bought halfway up the Eiffel Tower in Paris

Rosie