25 DAYS OF BLOGGING CHRISTMAS- DAY 14 | DECEMBER 14TH- O CHRISTMAS TREE 2

It's only 11 days till Christmas and that is not long at all. On Friday we got our Christmas tree, apparently later than everyone else, and it smells amazing. Our Christmas tree is not like everyone else's in that it's not colour themed and is a collection of things we have got over the years from places that we have been. We are also a very musical family so there are a LOT of musical themed decorations on our tree. Sorry a lot of these pictures are blurred but it's hard to get pictures with lights and also when you've just walked into the tree so everything is moving around- plus the tree is a lot taller than I am so I had to reach up for a few.


 The Christmas tree itself in all its glory

 Can't go wrong with Lindt bears on your tree plus more Lindor decorations around

 

This is the decoration we got from Florida this summer

 

My father works in transport... I'm a bit cocky about this photo

 

William Shakespeare in his element, a clear favourite of all the family

 

Here's the pine cone decoration from Day 9

25 DAYS OF BLOGGING CHRISTMAS- DAY 13 | DECEMBER 13TH- THEME IT

A really cute and lovely thing you can do if you're struggling on what to get somebody for Christmas is to theme it. My tip is to start off with one item and then work around it (lots of small things are so
much more fun and personal than to get one big thing). The key for themes is to stick to the same scent, pattern/ design or colour, they make very cute presents in a variety of choice.
Here are some of my top Christmas themes for presents:

Gingerbread:
- Gingerbread man socks- £3.50 each or 3-for-£8 in Topshop
- Ginger Sparkle shower gel- £4 in Body Shop
- Gingerbread man- around £2
Total- £9.50

Father Christmas:
- Socks- £3.50 each or 3-for-£8 in Topshop
- Santa's Lip Scrub- £5.50 in Lush
- Barry M  nail varnish in Red Glitter- £2.99 in Superdrug
Total- £11.99

Cranberry:
- Yankee Candle Sampler Votive in Cranberry Ice- £1.80 in Clinton Cards
- Cranberry Joy hand cream- £4 in Body Shop
- Cranberry Joy lip balm- £4 in Body Shop
Total- £9.80

 

If you are still struggling:
-Socks
-Candles
-Shower gel
-Jewellery
-Nail varnish
-Lip products
-Bath bombs
-Stationary
-DVDs
-Food
All make great presents

25 DAYS OF BLOGGING CHRISTMAS- DAY 12 | DECEMBER 12TH- A CHEEKY CHEAT

If like me you are prone to getting awfully chapped lips in the winter then you too will also have explored all the many many many ways to trying to get rid of them. Now I have been deliberating for ages about whether or not to get one of the Lush Lip Scrubs as everyone says that they work wonders but I wasn't sure if they were worth it at £5.50 a pop. However when I was in Lush recently I was looking at the ingredients and I realised I could basically make this exact same product at home for a fraction of the price. Apart from some colourings and flavourings that are added to the product, the only ingredients of the Lush Lip Scrub are jojoba oil and caster sugar.

Now I don't actually own any jojoba oil but I do have a plentiful supply of caster sugar. All you need to do is rub some caster sugar on your lips until you are satisfied that you have done enough and then lick the sugar off. All the jojoba oil does is to make your lips feel even softer afterwards but most lip balms already contain jojba oil so if you whack on a bit of lip balm afterwards then you are good to go.

This realisation is quite bad of me as Lush are losing out on a sale that they normally do fantastically on despite their cheap and easy ingredients but, as I always say, there is no point in spending money on something that you can make at home using things that you already own.

25 DAYS OF BLOGGING CHRISTMAS- DAY 11 | DECEMBER 11TH- OH CHRISTMAS TREE 1

As we have a very random main Christmas tree, George and I have our mini trees which are more colour coordinated. As a general rule I am not a fan of colour coordinated and matching Christmas trees but if it's mini then it doesn't really count...

(Fun Fact For You: Blue Christmas tree lights are my favourite, but only the blue ones that you get on a tree and not the big ones in shopping centres.)

George's Tree:
The classic green tree with red decorations, can't get more traditional than that really. I'm not going to go into George's tree here because most of the decorations are childhood nostalgia that no one else would understand.

My Tree:
The simple blue, silver and white theme. Take note of the mass amount of penguins- I went through a bit of a penguin obsessed stage at the age of about 10 which sadly coincided with my SpongeBob Squarepants obsessed days...

Are these not the most beautiful beads you have ever seen?



Favourite of my decorations

 

 

 

25 DAYS OF BLOGGING CHRISTMAS- DAY 10 | DECEMBER 10TH - CHRISTMAS NAILS

I will forever by eternally jealous of anyone who can do nail art on their own nails and make then look like Christmas puddings or reindeers etc. As I am very unskilled in even painting my nails I will just have to settle with painting my nails in different festive colours...

Boots Own Brand Nail Varnish From Last Christmas:
Last Christmas I was given a massive set of these and the three colours you can never go wrong with at Christmas have got to be red, gold and green. The green featured here in my Halloween nails look and I recommend that you use more than one coat if you want it to last longer than a couple of days. With three nail varnishes you can either alternate them on your fingers, paint all nails in the same colour, or have one statement nail and the rest the same colour (for example painting all your nails green and having one finger either red or gold gives a great look).
These nail varnishes come from the same range as this palette (meaning the first one I reviewed) as seen in my palettes post last month.

Barry M:
One thing Barry M are excellent at is nail varnish effects, and probably the best effect for Christmas time is glitter. Glitter can be used for either all the nails or as a statement nail (for example all fingers normal red and then one glitter red nail or any other colour and a glitter nail).

25 DAYS OF BLOGGING CHRISTMAS- DAY 9 | DECEMBER 9TH- SIMPLE BUT EFFECTIVE

This is one of the simplest but loveliest home-made Christmas tree decorations you can do- the pine cone. I made mine last year but I think it just looks so pretty and simplistic.

You will need:
- Pine cone
- Glitter
- Glue (PVA glue is best for this)
- String

How to make:
- Glue the area of the pine cone that you want the glitter to be on, I've gone for just the edges because it looks so pretty and simple but it can be done anywhere.
- Sprinkle glitter all over your pine cone (my glitter is purple but you rarely seem to get purple glitter) so that all the glue is covered (you might want to put down a piece of newspaper for this bit so everything is not covered in glitter).
- Shake off the excess glitter.
- Tie a piece of string round the top.

And there you have it, a quick, easy, and very simple Christmas decoration that looks beautiful.

25 DAYS OF BLOGGING CHRISTMAS- DAY 8 | DECEMBER 8TH- WINTER FACE

 

I haven't made all that many changes to my face this season apart from now I think it is okay to wear slightly more makeup as winter is not a very sweaty seasons (unlike summer).

1. In winter I crack out the foundation as I tend to look quite pale and ghostly at times during the winter months. I don't wear foundation all that often but when I do I use a very, very light coating of a loose powder which is the Body Shop (I am an addict) Extra Virgin Minerals Loose Powder Foundation. The thing I find with powders is you should only use a very light coating otherwise your face looks quite weird in certain lights and also you can sometimes see the powder on people's faces which is never a good look. I use a kabuki brush to apply my powder foundation.
My concealer is also from Body Shop but I'm not going to bore you with that as well as it never changes.

2. My absolute favourite thing about winter is dark lipsticks. I am a massive fan of the dark purple lipstick and I find them super flattering. My current favourite (if you didn't know this you must be living under a rock or something) is the Accessorize one in Infatuated which is a brighter shade of purple, I'm also currently looking for another darker shade if anyone has any recommendations...
I would absolutely love the MAC Rebel one (if anyone has it is it any good?).

3. The ususal Burt's Bees has not gone anywhere but I have changed around my Body Shop Born Lippy in Guava for a different one called Passion Berry. It has a beautiful fruity smell that is slightly less summery and a bit more heavy than the guava one. My only wish is that it came out in more of a purple tint when you put it on as it is quite sheer. I also wear the strawberry Born Lippy which is probably my favourite as that is slightly (but still barely) tinted but I use it more in the spring.

4. My key thing for winter is moisturiser, I am still using the Neutrogena one as that is the best but I'm getting through it like a mad woman as my poor skin suffers in the winter and I look like a lizard. This problem also happens to my hands but I really really really hate having greasy or sticky hands so if anyone knows a moisturiser/ hand cream than doesn't make your hands greasy or sticky then that would be great.

5. Eyes as well in winter are great because the darker colours can be cracked out, overall I think I just prefer winter makeup, dark colours are the one.
Dear Father Christmas I would love MAC Cranberry eye shadow please thank you.