Monday 30 November 2015

My Favourite Places to Shop | Christmas 2015



Hello Everyone,
so seen as today is cyber Monday I thought I would share with you my favourite places to shop in-store and online.
Online
Shopping online can be very convenient when you don't have time to go into town or your local shopping centre. Look Fantastic and Feel Unique are both really good for beauty and hair products and often have discounts and you can find vouchers on the internet so you can get the great products you can buy in store delivered straight to your home for less! The next place I'm going to tell you about is actually an app. It's called Mallzee, it's an app which has over 100 different shops on that you can buy from and you can just search for the clothing item you are looking for eg. a woolly jumper and it comes up with results from all the different shops. You can then narrow down your results by price, colour and style. Some of the sites I find the easiest to use are H&M, Superdrug, Yankee Candle UK and Forever 21. Amazon has some good deals on today and I'm sure will do in the run up to Christmas they are also a really reliable place to shop on.
In-Store
I love going into shops near Christmas time because I love looking at all the Christmassy window displays. My best advice for you if you are going shopping near Christmas is to have a good think about what you need to get for who and where you need to go to get them. Places like Debenhams, T.K.Max, House of Fraser and Next you can get multiple items at and have things ranging from clothes to homeware to make up and they stock multiple brands so shops like this help you to get multiple gifts with out having to go in loads of different shops. Sops such as Boots, Lush and Superdrug will have a lot of beauty giftsets and Christmas bargains that would be perfect for any beauty lovers that you know. Zara, Topshop, Jack Wills and any other places like them are really good if your looking for clothes or accessories that aren't necessarily overly Christmassy. Shops like PINK, The Body Shop and The Perfume Shop are all just really nice shops so if you just go in I'm sure you'll find something for one of your friends. If you are in need of stocking fillers or inexpensive presents then PRIMARK is the place to go they have super cheap small Christmas themed things!

I hope this has helped you plan out where you'll be going to do your Christmas shopping; and before I go lets just get excited about the obvious...it's December 1st tomorrow!!! Advent starts so that means a chocolate every morning until Christmas!
see you on Saturday,
Charlotte x

Saturday 28 November 2015

The Best Advent Calenders | Christmas 2015


Hello Everybody,
so seen as advent is just around the corner (I'm so excited to have a chocolate on Tuesday morning!) I thought that I would share with you the advent calenders that I think look really good this year so here we go...

Classic Chocolate Calenders
Every year my auntie buys me, my brother and my cousin a personalised Thorntons advent calender, there isn't much to say about this except it's Thorntons chocolate and Christmas in one so what's not to love!?!? Other really good looking chocolate calenders are the Lindt calender which looks super cute as you get a little chocolate bear and his friends and The Divine advent calender which is Fairtrade so its a win win you get chocolate and help other people who helped to make the calender.
Beauty Calenders
In the way of beauty calenders I've never actually had one myself as to be honest I would much rather wake up to chocolate everyday! but some of my friends and family have and I've read other peoples reviews as well so I thought I'd tell you about the ones that I've heard the best things about. The Benefit advent calender last year and I was really jealous that I didn't get it when I saw what was in it but this year they don't have a full calender they are just doing a 12 day party poppers advent calender that has some of there products such as the they're real! and BADgal mascaras, the total moisture facial cream and the lollitint lip & cheek stain. Another calender I always think looks really good is the Body Shop advent calender; this year there calender includes products like their body butters and facial oils. this years calender theme is all about having beautiful, revitalised skin so contains lots of there moisturisers and oils.
I have also always really wanted a nail polish advent calender as anyone who knows me knows that I love to paint my nails. I have heard really good things about the Ciate Mini Mani Month calender and there nail polish is really good so this one is perfect for you if you have a love for nail polish like me. The final calender I wanted to mention is kind of in the beauty category but it kind of isn't and that's the Yankee Candle Advent Calender; they actually have three different advent calenders this year, a carousel, a house and a normal advent calender and then you can burn a different Christmassy scented candle everyday!

I hope that you liked today's post and let me know in the comments below what advent calender you will be getting this year. See you on Monday,
Charlotte x

Monday 23 November 2015

What to buy for Secret Santa | Christmas 2015


Hey Guys,
I thought I would start off my gift guide with what to buy for secret Santa. Now don't get me wrong I love secret Santa but sometimes you pull out the name of that one person you don't really know very well and you have absolutely no idea what to get them but I have found some presents for the three main secret Santa price categories that will hopefully help you out. you can mix and match presents to go with your budget and I categorised them but a few of the gifts might be one or two pounds under or over the price bracket they are in. A lot of these gifts are also for girls but there are a few that you could find an equivalent for in a male version and I will be doing a gift guide for men so hang fire for them. All of the gifts mentioned will take you to where you can buy them if you click on them; Anyway on with the post:

£5 Secret Santa
Yankee Candle-Christmas Garland, Small Jar
Lynx Attract for Her-Duo Gift Set
Zoella Wonder-Hand Cream
Ferrero Rocher Box
Dream Big Notebook
Quality Street Chocolate Tub
Nivea Mini Treats Bauble
Nivea Men Mini Treats Bauble
Thorntons Premium Collection
Tanya Burr Lip Gloss-Afternoon Tea
£10 Secret Santa
Lush Secret Santa Gift Box
PINK Hot Crush Body Mist
Happy Holla Days Hot Water Bottle
Real Techniques Mini Must-Haves
Nivea Gorgeous Skin Gift Set
PINK iPhone Case
Lynx Black Washbag
Sound Machine
3D Frog Mug
PINK Holla-Day Water Bottle
£20 Secret Santa
Smartphone Projector
Real Techniques Deluxe Holiday Set
Ted Baker-Silver Heart Stud Earrings
Benefit-Balm Set (Pucker Up & Party!)
Real Techniques Collectors Edition-Sculpting Set
Yankee Candle-Cranberry Ice, Large Jar
Ted Baker-Bow Pencil Case
Eclipse Eau de Toilette and Body Lotion
Benefit-Crescent Row Limited Edition Set
Ted Baker-Lotty Purse Spray Fragrance

I hope that this post has helped you if you were stuck for what to buy for your secret Santa gift or any present for your friends and family; more gift guides will be coming soon so look forward to that, see you on Saturday,
Charlotte x

Saturday 21 November 2015

My Christmas Playlist | Christmas 2015


Hey guys,
There's only 34 days till Christmas!! So obviously I'm in full Christmas mode and one of the things I love the most about Christmas is the music so as soon as we are in November I start listening to my Christmas playlist so I thought that I would share my playlist with you.
Now my Christmas playlist is a real mix of carols, old classics and new Christmas songs, but I love listening to them all the same so here's a list of the songs on my Christmas Playlist:


Underneath the Christmas Tree-Kelly Clarkson
All I Want for Christmas is You-Mariah Carey
Last Christmas-Wham!
Jingle Bells-Frank Sinatra
Mistletoe-Justin Bieber
We Wish You a Merry Christmas
One Night One Moment-From Nativity!
The Twelve Days of Christmas-Bing Crosby
Ding Dong Merrily on High
Mary's Boy Child-Val Doonican
She's the Brightest Star-From Nativity!
Happy Xmas-John Lennon
Hark! The Herald Angles Sing
Silent Night-Nat King Cole
Santa Baby-Madonna
Joy to the World-Nat King Cole
Do They Know it's Christmas?-Band Aid 30
Sparkle and Shine-From Nativity!
Away in a Manger
Santa Claus is Coming to Town-Jackson 5
Winter Wonderland-Dean Martin
Nazareth-From Nativity!
Deck the Hall-Nat King Cole
The Waitresses-Spice Girls
Wonderful Christmas Time-Paul McCartney
Frosty the Snowman-Nat King Cole
Jingle Bell Rock-from Mean Girls
Baby it's Cold Outside-Frankie Vaughn
Counting Down to Christmas-From Nativity 2 Danger in the Manger
White Christmas-Michael Bublé
Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer-Michael Bublé
The Little Boy that Santa Claus Forgot-Nat King Cole
Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas-Val Doonican
Mrs Santa Claus-Nat King Cole
Baby Please come Home-U2
Snow Angel-From Nativity 2 Danger in the Manger
Let it Snow, Let it Snow, Let it Snow-Dean Martin
Baby it's Cold Outside- Idina Menzel & Michael Bublé

Hopefully this post will have got you in the Christmas spirit and i'll be posting my guide to the 2015 advent calenders and starting off with my Christmas gift guides so look forward to them. Also be sure to let me know the staples of your Christmas playlist in the comments,
Charlotte x

Monday 16 November 2015

Pintrest Hacks Tried and Tested | Eyes


Hello Everyone, 
so im sure you'll all have been there scrolling through Pintrest and then you keep coming across different beauty hacks and tips that look really cool and lets be honest we all have 100s of them saved but we never really get round to trying them out or we're a bit sceptical to so I thought that I would start a new series where I test out different beauty hacks I see on Pintrest and let you all know if they work or not. and if you see any that you'd like me to try then leave a comment below letting me know what it was or just leave the link to it.


#1 DIY Gel Eyeliner
So for this one all you have to do is place your pencil eyeliner in a flame for a second and then let it cool for 20 seconds afterwards and then it should look more like a gel eyeliner when you apply it!
This one I'm in two minds with because I don't like how it looked when I just lined my lash line as it seemed a bit like lining my eye with an oil pastel but when I blended it out it looked really nice and would have looked good on a smokey eye so I would definitely use this method if you are trying to create a smoky eye but not if you just want to line you eye or do a winged eyeliner look.
#2 Business Card Eye Shadow Protector
Don't you just hate when you get your mascara on your eyelid right after you've spent ages perfecting your eye shadow well this is meant to help. all you have to do it take an old business card or credit card and place it over your eyelid while you apply your mascara. This way any mascara that would have gone on your eyelid will go on the card instead!
Now this one does work in the most part but you have to be careful not to completely ruin your eye shadow whilst doing it. You need to make sure that you don't press the card on to your eyelid or some of the shadow will be removed when you do it but it is pretty effective otherwise so I would definitely give this one a try.
#3 Lash Curling Technique
Another one to do with you eyelashes but for this one you are meant to curl your eyelashes at the base of your lashes and then gently pull the curler back towards your eyebrow so that the bit where your eyelashes are in between is tracing your eye line and pinch them again (sorry I'm really bad at explaining this and it probably is making no sense to you but just type in 'secret to lash curling' into Pintrest and there are load of diagrams that come up that will hopefully help you) This technique really helps to make your lashes more curled and I think that it lasts longer as well.
#4 Fake Lash Look 
Now I'm all for your eyelashes looking super long and thick but lets be honest does anyone actually enjoy apply fake eyelashes I think not they don't go on right and they just never seem to look even but this hack was meant to make you lashes appear like they were fake without having to go through all the hassle of applying fake lashes so what you have to do is curl your lashes as normal (or using hack #4) and then apply a thin coat of mascara, then use a small brush and apply your powder to both your top and bottom lashes. After that apply two more coats of mascara making sure to cover all the powder. Try applying your mascara going left to right as you draw the brush to the end of your lashes rather than just dragging it straight up.
This hack did work but the effect wasn't really that noticeable for how much time and effort it took so I think that it would be less time consuming and more cost effective to just stick with false lashes or just mascara on its own.
#5 Easy Eyeliner 
So to easily and quickly apply your eyeliner, you are suppose to apply it to the upper rim of you eyelash curler and then curl your eyelashes as normal and the eyeliner is suppose to transfer onto your eyelid. now this one was a complete and utter FAIL!! the eyeliner din't transfer on to my eyelid at all maybe it had something to do with the eyeliner I used or my eyelash curlers but this one just did not work at all!
#6 Mascara Rescuer
All you have to do is place your old, dried up mascara in a mug of hot water for 5 minutes and then it should be as good as new! This is definetly my favourite hack it has rescued my old mascara and has made it as good as new there are no more clumps and it's a lot easier to apply!

I hope you all liked today's post don't forget to let me know any hacks that you would like me to try out next time,
Charlotte x

Saturday 14 November 2015

3 Simple Steps to Silky Smooth Legs


Hello Everyone,
as the festive season is nearly upon us and I'm sure you'll be going to Christmas parties in sequinned party dresses I thought that I would share with you my 3 steps that I follow when I want my legs to look silky smooth.

Step 1: The first step is pretty obvious and I'm sure most of you already do it but it's to shave. Now although most of you probably do this fairly frequently (even though it can be a real pain!) and probably have your own technique and products you use I thought I'd tell you a couple of my shaving tips and what I use; I used to use either shaving foam or shower gel when I was shaving my legs and then I went on to not shaving but using the Veet in shower hair removal cream as my friend Alice recommended it to me, it was a good product but it didn't work ad effectively as I would have liked it too but it is however an alternative if you don't want to use a razor. I now use my conditioner (Alberto balsam) and just a regular shaver and I find that this is the most effective method for me and using conditioner helps the blade to glide easily and moisturises your legs while you shave so it's a 2 in 1 method!
Step 2: The second step is to exfoliate and I think this is the step that most people don't do and it really does make a big difference to the appearance of your legs.
Right after you have shaved and rinsed your legs, exfoliate them this removes any dead skin from your legs which makes them really smooth. I use the Sanctuary spa Covent Garden body scrub which is a really good but you can also make a really cheap and effective exfoliator by mixing coffee and shower gel/soap together and rubbing it on your legs.
Step 3: The final step is to moisturise and again I think this is a step that a lot of people neglect but really it's just as important as shaving. You remove a lot of moisture from your legs when you shave and exfoliate so it's really important that you put it back in.
As soon as I get out of the bath or shower I moisturise because there's no point in you going to all the trouble of shaving and exfoliating and then missing out the final step! I use the Nivea moisturiser which is super hydrating and lasts for a long time or Johnson's Baby Lotion as it doesn't contain any artificial things and isn't perfumed which is good for people with sensitive skin like me.

After you've completed all 3 steps you should be left with silky smooth legs and to make it last longer try to moisturise your legs everyday if you can and shave 1-2 times a week depending on how quick your hair grows and if you've got a special event to go to like a Christmas party.
I hope this posts has been helpful and have a great time whatever you get up too in the run up to Christmas. I will be posting a guide to advent calendars 2015 very soon so look forward to that and leave me a comment telling me what advent calendar you got last year,
See you on Monday,
Charlotte x

Monday 9 November 2015

5 reasons to look forward to Christmas


Hey everyone,
I thought that today I would get back onto the Christmas topic today and share with you reasons why I think that everybody should  be getting really excited for Christmas.

  1. Friends and Family-at Christmas it is a time to celebrate with all of your loved ones who you may not see on a regular basis throughout the year
  2. Presents-now who doesn't love giving and receiving presents (I'm going to be posting some posts on Christmas gifts so look forward to them if you're stuck for what to buy someone for Christmas)
  3. Christmas Dinner-what always makes Christmas day for me is the lunch nothing beats a good Christmas dinner with your friends and family
  4. Sales-Christmas brings with it the sales, so you can finally buy that jacket that you've been saving up for 
  5. New Year-after all of you're boxing day sales shopping is done you can look forward to the new year, where you reflect on the year that has past and then look forward to starting afresh and with a new approach to the new year
That's all for today guys but i will be posing a lot more Christmas themed posts very soon,
Charlotte x

Saturday 7 November 2015

Review-Graze's Bakery Box

Hey guys,
So I thought I would do a review today because I've not done one in ages; actually I think the last review I did was for my camera which I got back in March/April time if you want to read that review then click here, but anyway on to today's review.
Just quickly before we get properly into today's post, can we all just take a minute to appreciate how cute the design on the Graze box is though!!
Okay now we've all taken a minute I'll get on with the post; So last month I decided to subscribe to Graze which is a website that delivers healthy snacks straight to your door however often you like. I get the graze bakery box delivered every fortnight and I'm going to admit I was a bit hesitant to subscribe because I thought Graze was for super healthy people who love fruit and nuts and I'm not going to lie that is definitely not me but I thought I would go on the website anyway and have a look around.
When you first go on it your asked about your food preferences and if you have any food allergies, then it comes up with a list of all of the snacks they offer where you can rate them and say weather you would like to receive them or not. Now most of the snacks that I liked the sound of were in the bakery box so that is why I chose to have that box to be delivered to me but there are many different boxes to chose from such as the breakfast box, protein box and sharing box.
So far I have not found a snack that I don't like and I would definitely recommend you give the boxes a try. They also have a really good blog which I will link here, where there is more information about them and lots of fun recipes and tips.
Also before I go I thought I would share this photo with you; I took it tonight when we all had sparklers at a little family bonfire party and I really like it. I posted it on my Instagram so if you're not already and would like to then click here to follow my Instagram. I hope you've all had a good week,
Charlotte x

Monday 2 November 2015

6 Fall Themed Posts | Fall 2015

Heya guys,
so I know I was very excited Christmas and believe me I still am super pumped for Christmas but today I thought I would bring it back to the current season and talk about my favourite fall posts that I have read this year also I'm not gonna lie it does include a couple of Halloween posts but you know what why not!
 

All of these posts are actually saved from bloglovin' so if you're not already following me on there then you can click here to do so. Also guys happy bonfire night for Thursday so let me know what you're doing on Thursday, see you on Saturday,
Charlotte x

Sunday 1 November 2015

Happy (Late) Halloween!!

Hey guys,
I hope you all had a great Halloween yesterday weather you sat at home and watched horror movies or went out trick or treating.
I'm so sorry that I didn't post anything yesterday but I had a very busy day yesterday and I thought I would just tell you all about what I have done and then since it's now November we can truly start getting ready for Christmas!

So yesterday I went with my five best friends to Alton Towers for Scarefest and for those of you who aren't from England and don't know what it is, Alton Towers is a big theme park and every Halloween they have Scarefest which is a big Halloween event that runs for most of October where everyone goes dressed up and there are lots of actors hired to go around scaring people and they also have Scare Mazes where there are loads of actors that are dressed as zombies and other Halloween creatures and they jump out and scare you in live action performances. It was so fun but we only managed to go in the first one as most of us were very scared in that one which was meant to be the easiest. We all had such good fun and we got there just after it opened and didn't leave till the park was closing so we had a really long time there. We went on Air, The Blade and Sonic Spinball and Dual multiple times; as well as spending a lot of time and money on the arcades.


I would definetly recommend going to Alton Towers on Scarefest next year it was so much fun and now that Halloween is over it's time to start thinking about Christmas and I've got loads of great posts planned for then.
Any ways that's it for today let me know what you did for Halloween in the comments and don't forget to check back tomorrow for another post,
Charlotte x