MERRY CHRISTMAS!

I just thought I'd wish you all a Merry Christmas and hope you all have a lovely day and there should be a few posts up very soon - including a 2015 Beauty round up!

GLOSSY BOX DECEMBER'15

I decided after watching a few gift guides from some lovely bloggers, a lot of them said about beauty box subscriptions so I may have subscribed to Glossy box after seeing a sneak peek of their December Christmas box, mainly being because of how beautiful it is in all its rose gold glory! I subscribed to the deal where you pay monthly so it's £10 a month and £3.99 for shipping which I think is a pretty good deal, I like the idea of getting items I wouldn't necessarily think to buy myself and getting a nice surprise when I love one of the items I would have never come across if I hadn't have received it with Glossy box.

My favourite product from this months box is the So Susan Statement Skin highlighter pencil, this is such a great highlighter and as soon as this runs out I immediately need to purchase it! I love the texture of it, and because it's slightly thicker than any of the crayon highlighters I've used before, it's more pigmented and stays on so much longer and by the end of the day, even if it's a long day in work my face is still glowing! This is definitely worth a try and I'm so glad I got to try it because this is definitely going to be featured in my December/2015 favourites.

I also received some skincare bits that I can't wait to try, specifically the Hylamide Pore Delete. This looks really interesting and you can use it without makeup after your skincare routine or with makeup after you've applied your foundation and before you apply powder. It's more of an instant fixer as opposed to a long-term treatment which is actually better for me, for days where I maybe want my makeup looking better than usual or when I'm going out, so I'm going to give it a go tonight for my Christmas do and I will get back to you on how I find it. They also included the Etre Belle Golden Skin Caviar eye roll on, and I don't really use products like this but I know my mum does and she might like it, although after tonight it might be nice to pop this on in the morning after being out all night and waking up looking like death!

I think with stuff like this there will always be something you may not really like, and in this instance it's the Essence Liquid Lipstick in the shade Show off, it's not really a colour I would pick out for myself and I'm not a massive fan of lip gloss. But it is interesting to try different products I wouldn't normally pick up for myself and I could always give this to my sister if she liked it which is a plus I guess. On the other hand something I may not have bought myself but has come in handy because of it's lovely shimmery colour is the Collection Long Lasting nail effects in the shade Ice Queen, particularly because of the time of year and Christmas being no less than 2 days away!

I'll have to give all of the products a good try and will let you know what I make of them and whether any of them are worth purchasing in the full size! Although the Glossy box subscription is great and the December box was beyond lovely in all it's rose gold glory but I've also heard great things about the Birch box subscription! What to do, if any of you subscribe to Birch Box let me know what you think and whether it's worth unsubscribing to Glossy Box and going with Birch Box instead?!

THINGS I MENTIONED:
Glossy Box
Etre Belle Golden Skin Caviar eye roll on
So Susan Statement Skin highlighter pencil
Collection long lasting nail effects
Hylamide Pore Delete
Essence Liquid Lipstick in show off
Starskin Bio-Cellulose second skin mask

NOVEMBER NON-BEAUTY FAVOURITES

So this may be a slightly late November non-beauty favourites, but I'm going to do it anyway because there's a few random bits that I have been loving recently! The first being the most amazing bag from Zara, I'm in love with this bag and am constantly wearing it everywhere! To be honest this was a bit of an expensive treat for me, I don't usually buy bags often and when I do they're definitely not £90 but I'm so glad I treated myself because it is completely worth it! It's real leather and such a sturdy bag, I know I'll be using this for a long time and it's just one of those bags that makes every outfit that slightly bit better and smarter. I'm considering doing a 'what's in my bag' post because I'm obsessed with it, but let me know if that's a post you would want to see?

I think I probably always have a candle in my non-beauty favourites, so why not continue this tradition with my new favourite candle this month from the oh so cheep and cheerful Primark. They have some great home bits and I can't not visit their home section when I'm there and of course I couldn't leave without picking up the cutest candle ever, it's the Frosted Marshmallow candle. This is such a 'me' candle, I love sweet scents like vanilla and marshmallow especially around this time of year and for £3 of course I was going to get one or a few dozen of them. I also managed to find the greatest thing ever....COPPER HANGERS! I have never been so happy and excited to buy hangers, they were so cheap compared to places like Tk Maxx and Home Sense, they're £2.50 for 5 I think. They look great on an open rail with some of my favourite pieces of clothing, and of course make a great Instagram photo, so if you see some grab them quick as of course almost everyone has them!

The next thing is a book I saw in Anthropologie, it's the Love x Style x Life book by Garance Dore. For those of you who don't know who Garance Dore is, she's a French photographer, illustrator and of course author and also has a lovely fashion blog not to mention some beautiful illustrated art prints that I have been wanting to get my hands on for a while! This is such a lovely book and so aesthetically pleasing, and thinking of Christmas would make such a nice gift, it has great photos and beautiful fashion illustrations with some brilliant advice on style, beauty, love and so on. The author herself is lovely and this is such a wonderful, easy read, I find myself picking this up often for either a quick read or some inspiration for an outfit and not to mention this makes a great photo and a nice addition to my shelf. If you haven't already had a look at her wonderful website you definitely need to - garancedore.com

My last favourite is a TV show from America and I managed to find it on Netflix, it's a The CW show The 100. I have been looking for another show to watch for a while after watching The Vampire Diaries, The Originals, Teen Wolf and Pretty Little Liars on repeat for at least 100 times, and that's from the beginning. I'm so glad I decided to watch it, it's so good, I managed to watch the whole two seasons in about 3 days which was great at the time but now means I have to wait until the 3rd season comes out to continue watching it which I don't think is until 2016! It's essentially about the human race and how they had to go into space to survive after the earth became uninhabitable because of radiation but now they're running out of air and they need to come back down to earth to survive. So they send what they consider criminals that are all under 18 and I mean clue in the title there's 100 of them and they have to survive on earth but they find out that there's other people/creatures living and surviving on earth too. It's all quite complicated to explain and of course there's a whole load of drama, romance, murder and so on but I can guarantee this is a great watch if you enjoyed The Vampire Diaries and other shows like that.

Hope you enjoyed this slightly rambling post, but comment down below to let me know what some of your non-beauty favourites have been!

THINGS I MENTIONED:
Zara black leather chain bag
Primark Frosted Marshmallow candle
Primark copper hangers
Love x Style x Life - Garance Dore
The 100

NOVEMBER BEAUTY FAVOURITES

I cannot believe it's time for November favourites already, I didn't do an October favourites last month because there wasn't really anything different I was loving but I've had the chance to try out some new products and there's quite a few things I'm loving this month so I'll get on with it. The first product and overall thing I've been loving is just painting my nails, I go through phases of enjoying painting my nails and then dreading it and end up with chipped nails for a good couple of weeks. But with the help of some new nail polishes I've actually been quite good and as we speak my nails are freshly painted and not chipped at all. The first nail varnish is a lovely nude, brown colour from H&M called 'Nutmeg', I'm in love with this colour and bearing in mind H&M nail polishes only cost £3.99 they are such great quality, don't take too long to dry and then when they are dry they don't smudge or go gloopy. My other favourite nail polishes this month are all from Essie of course, which are slightly pricier than the H&M nail varnishes but who can refuse getting a few Essie nail polishes when it's 3 for 2 in Boots. I picked up the shades In Stitches which is so so lovely, Bordeaux and Bobbing for Baubles. To me these are quite Autumnal/Winter shades slightly darker even though the two of them are quite muted tones they're still dark shades which makes them perfect for this time of year especially considering one of them is called Bobbing for Baubles!

Although I have already done a post ranting about the new H&M beauty collection and how amazing it is, when I was in London I popped back in quickly and didn't plan on picking anything up but of course I did. The first thing I picked up was one of their High Impact eye colour's in the shade Anthracite purely because I don't really have any shades like this and I'm finding myself wanting to make my eye makeup slightly darker and intense now the dark and gloomy days are here with winter so this lovely dark, navy shimmer is great for creating the perfect smoky eye look. One thing I will say is that the fall out if this is dreadful, you just end up with huge chunks of dark shimmer all over your face but if you're willing to put up with that and doing your makeup taking slightly longer then that's fine, but this product really is lovely and I love pairing this with my Naked palette with the shade Smog. So I also picked up a hand cream purely because my hands have been a bit dry recently now we're in the colder seasons, so I picked up the Cashmere Haze hand cream and it smells so lovely, plus the packing is really aesthetically pleasing to me as well as all their other skincare and body care products but I ran out of time to look so I think there needs to be a H&M order placed quite soon.

I had been debating for a while whether to get this and if I was willing to spend that much money on this product but I finally took the plunge and placed an order to Space.NK for the...wait for it...HOURGLASS AMBIENT LIGHTING EDIT! This is the most beautiful palette I have seen, I'm so in love with it and have used it pretty much everyday for the whole of this month. I think this is a great choice if you want to try out a bunch of Hourglass's products but don't want to commit to a full sized product just yet, although this doesn't work out to be that much of a cheaper option I just think this makes such a lovely gift whether that's for someone else or if like me you had a bit of a shit day and thought about treating yourself, which I do way too much according to my last bank statement. This is a really handy product because if you're going away you pretty much have the powders you need all in one palette and don't have to take extra products with you, not to mention the fact that it is just simply beautiful and amazing, clearly I am well over excited to have this is in my life so obviously this has to be my favourite beauty product not only of the month but probably ever!

I have been trying to get my hands on some NYX products for what seems like forever, and since when did FeelUnique.com stock NYX and how did I not know this! Although I could have picked up almost all of their products I wanted to give some a try before I went and just threw my money at everything. The main product I wanted from NYX was a few of their Soft Matte lip creams, but I have a bit of trouble with matte lip creams because of how dry my lips are - side note if any of you know of any lip balms or miracle products that would help my little dry, chapped lips to sort themselves out please leave some recommendations below, I beg of you because they are quite literally horrendous this time of year... Anyway after that little meltdown, I like to give products a go before I commit to getting that product in every shade they make, but good news I love, love, love this product! I picked up the shade London which is a lovely brown, nude colour and now I desperately need every other shade and have my eye on the shades Cannes, Prague, Milan and Monte Carlo plus how great are those shade names. I also picked up one of their Butter Gloss's in the shade Creme Brûlée, this is a lovely pink and nude lip gloss that isn't too sticky on my lips so is perfect for night outs. Also Boots has come out with wonderful news that they now stock NYX!!!! This is where I now order all of their products...

As it's now the end of November, there is no excuse to why I can't and shouldn't pick up all of Lush's Christmas products! I picked up the Father Christmas bath bomb, this is a favourite from last year and smells so good, it smells of candy floss and sweets, this is probably my favourite from the whole of their Christmas line so I couldn't recommend this one enough! I also picked up the Yog Nog bath bomb, which I hadn't tried before and didn't think I was going to like the smell of this because it's quite spice scented but surprisingly I do, it smells a bit like toffee and really reminds me of Christmas and the spicy scents so I couldn't not pick this up. Another thing I hadn't tried or smelt before was the Rose Jam shower gel, and like everyone said it does smell really good and is lovely, I hadn't used any of Lush's shower gels or creams before but after using this one I've now added a few to my Christmas list like of course The Comforter shower cream as well as the Yuzu and Cocoa shower cream. I love Lush in general, but especially this time of year with all their lovely Christmas products and gift sets and think they make the best gifts if you don't know what to get someone, so Lush as a store is one of my favourites this month. 

My last favourite that I have to mention is the Garnier Micellar cleansing water, this is my favourite cleansing water and even tops Bioderma for me purely because Bioderma I think is slightly harsher and dries out my skin and really stings my eyes, I know your not meant to get it in your eyes but when you accidentally do oh my god it hurts! So purely for the reason that the Garnier Micellar cleansing water doesn't sting my eyes and is less harsh on my skin I had to include this is in my favourites plus not to mention it's so much cheaper than Bioderma! I hope you enjoyed this slightly rambling favourites, leave a comment of what some your favourites are this month and keep an eye out for my Non-beauty November favourites! 

THINGS I MENTIONED:
H&M nail polish - Nutmeg
Essie nail polish - In Stitches
Essie nail polish - Bordeaux
Essie nail polish - Bobbing for Baubles
H&M High Impact eye colour - Anthracite
H&M Cashmere Haze hand cream
Hourglass Ambient Lighting Edit
NYX Soft Matte lip cream - London
NYX Butter gloss - Creme Brulee
Sleek Matte Me Lip Gloss - Birthday Suit
Lush Father Christmas bath bomb
Lush Yog Nog bath bomb
Lush Rose Jam shower gel
Garnier Micellar cleansing water

KIKO HAUL & REVIEW

It's taken me a while to get this Kiko haul sorted for some reason, but I've finally given them all a try, they took what seemed like a good couple of years to arrive but I can overlook that purely because of the lovely rose gold packaging. In store I managed to pick up a lipstick and a matching lip liner and miraculously they were actually in stock. I picked up the lipstick in the shade 02 , and I'm in love with this colour, it's a lovely berry almost mauve, wine colour, and for once I've actually found a berry colour that suits me. It goes on so well and lasts so long on the lips even after eating and this is one of the best lipsticks I have because it doesn't dry my lips out as much as my other lipsticks, so for this price I'm thinking I need to pick up some more shades for definite! The lipliner is also another great product and is a perfect match for the lipstick, to be honest the only reason I picked this up was because I don't have a lip liner in this shade but I'm glad I did because it is such great quality!

I was slightly disappointed when leaving the Kiko store in London because the one thing I really, really, desperately wanted was the Kiko Contouring Pencil set but they didn't have them in stock. But not long after that they had them back in stock online, thank god because I really wasn't happy. The main reason I wanted these was because I thought they would be a good dupe for the Clinique Chubby Stick - the contour and highlight ones that are £19 each and with the Kiko ones only being £9.90 for both I made a very wise decision. My favourite out of the two is the bronze contouring stick, I do think the highlighter is great but isn't as good as the bronzer. It is a little scary at first when your drawing a dark brown line across the side of your face, but they blend so well and are so easy to work with. I usually use this as a base and then maybe, depending how intense I want my contour I go back in with another bronzer like the Nars Laguna bronzer just to touch it up a bit, but I highly recommend these if they're still in stock, for the bronzer contour pencil alone and I'm so glad I didn't rush into buying the Clinique chubby sticks!

I think I definitely need to look into Kiko more because the quality of they're products are so good not to mention they're affordable, you should definitely check out they're new Christmas range, it looks amazing! But let me know what Kiko products are your favourite and if there's any I should check out!

THINGS I MENTIONED:

KIKO Intensely Lavish Lipstick - 02

KIKO Intensely Lavish Lip pencil - 01

KIKO Contouring Pencil set - 01 Light to Medium

A DAY IN CARDIFF

I'm always popping into Cardiff, mainly because it's the nearest place with any decent amount of shops and is only about half an hour away from where I live so it's such an easy trip to get there. I thought I would just do a quick post about a few places in Cardiff and maybe make this an on going thing if I go anywhere new or interesting the next time I'm in Cardiff. When I go to Cardiff with my mum we usually stick to the arcades mainly because she's not the biggest fan of shopping and once I'm in Topshop or Zara there's no getting me out of there anytime soon. So the arcades it is, that way we avoid a mental breakdown on behalf of my mother but I do love the arcades because there's a few different cute shops there and not your usual everyday shops.

One of my favourite things when I go to Cardiff with my mum is she always takes us to this little cafe that I absolutely love, it's called Barker's Tea Rooms and I'm in love with most of the furniture there especially the old brown leather armchairs, I mean if there was an option of buying some of the furniture then I'm all for that because it's all so lovely and comfy. They do such nice panini's, and everything just always looks so nice, I like that it's usually quite quiet because it's down one of the arcades and isn't one of your typical chain cafes. It's definitely worth skipping a trip to Starbucks and coming here instead!

Although most of the bigger shops aren't in the arcades, the arcades do have some lovely little stores with some great things, one of them being Home by Kirsty, which is a lovely design shop that do some lovely interior bits, the nicest cards and a few other things. I could have bought everything there and I need to go back and pick up some cards and also they had the cutest mugs with a constellation pattern on, and for some reason I'm obsessed with mugs but don't use them for hot drinks because other than hot chocolate I hate hot drinks so I literally have so many random mugs just everywhere in my room. But anyway, thinking of Christmas, they do some great little things that would make really cute presents if your not sure what to get someone that are different and something you can't get in your average store so your guaranteed your present will be slightly different to everyone else's - I will link them down below as well as their lovely blog.

I haven't been putting too many posts up lately due to the fact that I've been dying from the flu, I may be being slightly over dramatic but I have literally not moved other than when I've been able to get myself out of bed to go to work! But I'm feeling slightly better so there should be a few posts on the way, I'm also working on a huge home haul so fingers crossed that shouldn't take too long I'm just waiting on a few more things to arrive but I hope you enjoyed this post, and let me know if you like these kind of posts and want to see more of them!

HOME BY KIRSTY - link
HOME BY KIRSTY BLOG - link

H&M BEAUTY

It's about time I had a good rant about how good the H&M new beauty collection is, I mean you've probably already heard everyone else rave about them so this isn't exactly new news but I am absolutely in love with the new H&M beauty range - it's so affordable but such great quality and worth buying a good dozen of their products which I intend to do after trying a few products out. The first thing I picked up was a nail polish in the colour Nutmeg, I love these type of colours, nude browns are my absolute favourite and this one is no different. It's such good quality, dry's relatively fast and when dry doesn't smudge or go gloopy, I definitely need to pick up some more colours next time. I also picked up one of the cream lipstick because why not, I picked it up in the shade Firebrand, I had wanted an orange/bright red colour for a while from MAC but thought this would be a cheaper alternative. I do really love the shade and think it's a lovely quality lipstick I just wish it was a matte lipstick instead because I do prefer matte lipsticks rather than satin lipsticks but I still really like this product though. 

They also had some lovely eyeshadow products and I did like the look of their palettes but I had recently bought a few eyeshadow palettes so thought it would be a change to pick up something different. I managed to pick up one of their eye colour-to-go eyeshadow pencils in the shade Fairytale which is a lovely champagne shimmer colour that works great on its own and quite easy to blend out for a less shimmery look. I also picked up one of the Colour Essence eye pencils in the shade Copper Bullion, this is such a lovely copper colour that works great with the Zoeva Cocoa Blend Freshly Toasted and a bit of Subtle Blend in the corner and then just using this on your waterline/eyelash line for more definition instead of black eyeliner. I really love how both of these products work and at £3.99 each you can't go wrong, so you should definitely pick some up because I intend to go back and pick up a few dozen of them. I hope you enjoyed this haul and keep an eye out for a new post coming soon!

THINGS I MENTIONED:
H&M Nail polish - Nutmeg
H&M Cream lipstick - Firebrand
H&M Eye colour-to-go - Fairytale
H&M Colour Essence eye pencil - Copper Bullion

MINI SEPHORA & BATH & BODY WORKS HAUL

During the October half term my sister got to go to America with her school, I mean I did get to go when I was in her year as well but it would have been nice if I could of maybe hid in her suitcase and gone again, with them but apparently this wasn't an option. So obviously I had to give her some dollars to get me a few things which she kindly let me do, I mean if she hadn't I would have definitely  had to have hid in her suitcase for sure.

 

The first things I thought of was some beauty products from Sephora and I only asked her to pick up a few because I didn't want to then get them and them to be the completely wrong shades so I went with the things I'd been wanting to try for a while and knew I would love the shades. The first thing I asked her for was the Bite Beauty Matte Cream Lip Crayon in the shade 'Glace' which is a dusty mauve colour, I absolutely love this colour, it's such a perfect almost purple shade which is perfect for this time of year. I did originally want one of the Kat Von D Everlasting Liquid Lipsticks but unfortunately my sister couldn't find them so instead I asked her to pick me up the Tarte Amazonian Clay 12-Hour blush in the shade Exposed. I'm so glad I decided to ask for this instead, it's such a beautiful blush and the perfect shade, although I wish they had the Kat Von D lipsticks in stock but this just means that there will have to be a Sephora order soon. The last thing thing I asked for was the Fresh Sugar Lip Treatment in the shade Nude because I have heard such great things about these and my lips are beyond dry and chapped and thought this would be a nice little treat to help moisturise my lips and keep them protected and hydrated.

She also kindly picked me up some candles from Bath & Body Works which is a must when you or someone you know goes to America of course. I chose the medium sized tin candle in the scent Vanilla Pumpkin Marshmallow thinking this would smell more of marshmallow's than pumpkin's because I'm not a massive fan of spicy scents and unfortunately their Autumn range was full of spicy scents but luckily this is a really sweet scent and smells like cupcakes which is always a good thing. The last one has to be my favourite and I need it in their 3 wick candle because I've burnt this so much already, it's a mini candle in the scent Marshmallow Fireside and smells amazing and I need this burning throughout the winter season and Christmas time. Why Bath & Body Works don't ship to the UK I don't know, but that needs to happen soon otherwise I'm going to have to go to America purely for Bath & Body Works!

And obviously I couldn't let her go without giving her a long list of American Sweets to bring home! The first thing on the list was the Birthday Cake Oreo's and I'm going to be honest I'm not sure whether I like these, and still don't know, they taste kind of weird and I can't tell whether I actually like them or not. But one thing I do know I like is Reese's peanut butter cups of course, and I know you can get them over here but I made her get me a massive bag of them in the mini's because when they're mini you can eat twice as many of them without feeling too guilty because they're mini so...

A few of the other sweets she brought home were some Jolly Rancher's, Sour Patch Kids and the watermelon ones, peanut butter M&M's as well as Swedish Fish which taste so good and are now my favourite. 

I hope you enjoyed this mini American Haul and keep an eye out for some more posts and haul's coming soon!

THINGS I MENTIONED:

Bite Beauty Matte Creme Lip Crayon - Glace

Tarte Amazonian Clay 12-Hour blush - Exposed

Fresh Sugar Lip Treatment - Nude

Bath & Body Works

FRESH FIG

I have been on a rampage with candles lately, lighting every single one I have and I've started to notice that I might be running out of candle options! So of course I had to order a new one, and I stumbled across The White Company advertising a 15% off their Fresh Fig collection so I mean who wouldn't take that deal and it's that time of year again where it's acceptable to light as many candles as you want. I love the Fresh Fig fragrance so knew I would be happy with the candle, it's a fresh and fruity scent with a musky undertone and when lit is such a strong scent and fills the entire room. They're usually £20 but I got this for £17 with the 15% off and I do think it is definitely worth the price and they are really great quality and burn evenly so none of the candle is wasted, they are the same price as the smaller Diptyque candles but this one is much bigger in comparison, so if you're looking for similar clean, fresh scents then I would definitely have a look at The White Company's candle range and I mean the lovely packing is also a plus. I'm obsessed at the moment with candles so if anyone has any scents they think I might like, let me know.

THINGS I MENTIONED:
The White Company Fresh Fig candle

BURBERRY HAUL & REVIEW

I have been wanting to pick up a few Burberry make-up pieces for what feels like forever, and when I went to Paris I thought it was the perfect time but clearly it wasn't as in the whole of Paris they didn't sell one thing from the Burberry make-up collection. But of course when in London you have to treat yourself a little, and they happen to have a Burberry store just for their make-up collection so obviously I had to pick up something. The first thing I picked up was a lipstick purely because of how beautiful the Burberry lipsticks are, I mean that packaging never mind the great quality of the actual lipstick itself. I wanted a slightly pink colour, so I picked up the Burberry Lip Velvet lipstick with a matte finish in the shade NO.421 Rosewood. I absolutely love this colour, it's the perfect colour I was looking for, it's almost a pink mauve colour and I think this will be perfect for Autumn and Winter.

I was torn between buying a blush or eyeshadow but went for an eyeshadow instead because I could not resist their beautiful shimmery colours so I picked up the Burberry Eye Colour Glow in the shade NO.003 Shell. This may be my favourite out of the two because the colour is so pretty and pigmented, and goes on so well with one wash over the eyelid and works great with a wet brush for a more intense colour. You could also use this below the brow almost as a highlighter and in the inner corners of your eyes to make your eyes look bigger which I thoroughly enjoy doing. Because they are high end, designer products they are pricey but completely worth it and I'm so happy with the products I picked up, they are such great quality and I am super tempted to go back for a blush.

THINGS I MENTIONED:
Burberry Lip Velvet lipstick - NO.421 Rosewood
Burberry Eye Colour Glow - NO.003 Shell

LUSH OXFORD ST HAUL

Of course going to London you can't not go to Lush Oxford Street, and I have been waiting so long to go and to get my hands on some of the new products. But oh my god the store is huge and filled to the brim with amazing Lush products everywhere! I had been waiting to go and because I knew I was going to London I tried to not buy anything from my local Lush and just wait until I got to the Oxford St shop, and boy was it worth it. I did pick up a few things mainly bath bombs, but I wish I picked up so much more and I'm thinking a Lush order might have to be placed very soon.

I tend to go straight for the bath bombs whenever I'm in Lush and that's exactly what I did. The first thing I picked up was the Intergalactic bath bomb that everyone has been raving about and I am in love with it and need another few dozen of them. I also picked up The Experimenter because it was one of the Oxford St exclusives, but to be honest I was slightly disappointed when I used this. I mean the colours were great at the beginning for like about a minute then they just sort of disappeared and the water turned this grey colour. I picked up my usual favourite, Avobath as well just because this is so good for my skin because of the olive oil in it and I thought now it's getting colder my skin gets quite dry so now I've got a few stocked away for those days.

I wanted to look at a few of their bath oils as well, especially the ones covered in copper glitter. A lot of them had really strong scents I didn't like but I managed to pick up the Sun bath oil that didn't have such a strong scent and smelt like Terry's Chocolate Orange which is always a plus. I also picked up Mmmeliting Marshmallow Moment purely because this smells amazing, I love sweet scents and this is probably my favourite.

Another amazing smelling product I picked up was the Yuzu Cocoa bubbleroon, it smells so good and looks like a macaroon! These are meant to be good for your skin because of the moisturising coconut oil and shea butter in it, this is the main reason I picked this up as well as it smelling like the Soap and Glory lime sugar crush body scrub. I picked up Frozen which is one of the newish ones that I had been wanting to try and I also picked up a Christmas favourite, the Candy Mountain bubble bar. I definitely need to go to Lush again and pick up some of the Halloween and Christmas ones they have out, it may be slightly early but I'm definitely picking up the Father Christmas bath bomb as soon as I go back to Lush!

THINGS I MENTIONED:
Intergalactic bath bomb - £3.95
The Experimenter bath bomb - £3.95
Frozen bath bomb - £3.95
Avobath bath bomb - £3.50
Yuzu and Cocoa bubbleroon - £3.75
Candy Mountain bubble bar - £2.95
Mmmelting Marshmallow Moment bath oil - £2
Sun bath oil - £2

LONDON FASHION WEEKEND

Not only did I get to go to London in September but I got to go to London Fashion Weekend on the 27th as well! I had the best time and need to go every year from now on, not to mention move to London as soon as possible! This year it was at the Saatchi Gallery which is such a lovely space, and I suggest if you get the chance to go visit the gallery you definitely do, especially now that there's a lovely exhibition on by Karl Lagerfeld and Chanel which I'm hoping I get the chance to go see - Mademoiselle Privé. I bought the Silver ticket which included entry and a seat at either the Designer or Trend catwalk show as well as a lovely tote bag designed by Mary Katranzou filled with a few goodies. There were also a few talks going on by a few people in the industry, I managed to get a seat at a talk by the lovely Alexandra Stedman aka The Frugality on 'Becoming a Blogger'. 

It was such a chilled day, just wandering around and looking at all the beautiful clothes that unfortunately were really not your usual affordable high street brands but nonetheless it was great to have a peek at some of the new trends coming this year. The pieces that stood out to me were mainly amazing fur coats and gilets as well as beautifully patterned pieces. I'm definitely on the hunt for an amazing fur coat to add to my wardrobe this year, and bearing in mind how cold it is already I'm thinking this would be a practical purchase as well as a fashionable one. 

I'm so glad I managed to get a seat at the brilliant 'Becoming a Blogger' talk by the amazing Alexandra Stedman aka The Frugality, I'm absolutely in love with her blog as well as her lovely instagram that I regularly stalk for new outfit ideas. It was such a helpful talk, she had advice on how to get your blog started but also how to keep your blog going and how to use your social media to make sure people see your blog. Although she does have a background in journalism and the fashion industry she emphasised how this isn't an important factor for everyone and you can still have a successful fashion blog without this background. Alex seemed like such a nice person and had some genuinely good advice and was in no way arrogant about her own blog and success, if you haven't already had a look at her blog or lovely instagram you should definitely do that now.

I had such a great time and it has definitely made me want to go shopping and of course to the next London Fashion Weekend in February 2016! Keep an eye out for a few hauls from my time in London coming very soon...

THINGS I MENTIONED:
The Frugality's blog
The Frugality's instagram
London Fashion Week
London Fashion Weekend

LONDON - COVENT GARDEN

Of course going to London you can't not go to Covent Garden, with all their lovely little stalls. So obviously we went straight there and like everyone else on this planet we had to take a few dozen photos of the wonderful new art installation there by French artist Charles Petillion which consists of 100,000 of giant white balloons formed in the shape of a cloud. I have to agree with everyone though, it is amazing and as soon as you spot it your completely taken aback by how many balloons there are, and how big they are.

I also love Covent Garden because of the beauty shops and after walking around what seemed like the whole of London, I finally found somewhere that sold Burberry make-up. Who knew that's where it would be, I managed to walk right past it on the Friday but then someone told me there was a Burberry beauty shop there so that meant obviously going back on the Saturday. I have been wanting to purchase a couple of products for so long, since way before Paris which was way back in June. So the lovely lady in Burberry helped me pick up a lipstick and an eyeshadow, a haul and review is coming very soon and I'm absolutely in love with some of Burberry's make-up products and another purchase will have to be done soon. 

London Fashion Weekend post coming soon!

WHAT I'M WEARING -
Quay sunglasses
TOPSHOP black bag - similar here
TOPSHOP turtle neck
TOPSHOP joni jeans
TOPSHOP espadrilles
Primark jacket

LONDON - CARNABY STREET

It's not often that I get to spend a few days in my favourite city of all, London so I thought I would make the most of this rare opportunity by doing a few blog posts. The main reason I went down to London was for London Fashion Weekend *trying to hold back the excitement*, but also my friend, Rochelle had just moved to London to start uni and she was nice enough to let me and my other friend, Liv to stay with her for basically a whole week - so thanks Roch. The first place we essentially ran to was Carnaby Street, I've been to Oxford Street plenty of times but for some reason never Carnaby Street. It is such a cute place, with probably the most random cluster of shops, like Brandy Melville and Monki, which I was beyond excited to go to. Luckily it was quite a nice day to just have a nose around, we went to Brandy Melville first, I absolutely love their jewellery and they're such good prices.

My new favourite shop purely because I finally found the perfect white shirt for me that I have been looking for, for what feels like a good 5 years is the miracle shop Monki. They have some great pieces, and they also have a range by the lovely Susie Bubble but they really do have some great affordable, essential pieces like a white shirt that you can then build a good couple of outfits around and that will be an essential piece in your wardrobe for so long. Not to mention some beautiful lace, triangle bras, so I definitely recommend that if you're anywhere near Carnaby Street to go and have a look or just go straight online.

The only thing you can possibly do next bearing in mind we also hadn't had breakfast, is of course get a cupcake and what place better to go than to Crumbs & Doilies that is beyond the cutest little cupcake store. To be completely honest I had been wanting to go to Crumbs & Doilies since I knew I was going to London and had slightly stalked their Instagram - this is when you all realise how sad my life is. But moving on, I decided to get your typical cookies and cream cupcake, and oh my god it was amazing and you should all go to London purely to go and try their cupcakes and I'm in no way over exaggerating here, they even had some sort of Snickers brownie concoction.

We also had a little look in MAC but I did manage to resist, although they did have a much nicer store with much nicer bags, and I mean that's a reason in itself to by something. We also stumbled across some rather cute store called We Built this City, selling of course great but pricey art prints that I wanted to fill my bedroom walls with. But they do have some kind of affordable more tourists items that are lot more arty farty than your usual average tourist items like mugs & postcards that would make a great gift for someone who hasn't been to London before.

Clearly from the cupcakes alone you should all now be on your way to Carnaby Street, but seriously it's such a nice place and slightly more chilled than Oxford Street where everyone seems to be in a massive hurry all the time. There are more London posts coming up very soon, so keep and eye out.

THINGS I MENTIONED:
Brandy Melville jewellery
Monki white shirt - £25
Crumbs & Doilies Instagram