christmas baking: peppermint bark and shortbread biscuits

I've been baking a little, well a lot really as I decided to give my family some different types of gifts this year some of which included these cute christmas shaped shortbread biscuits and blocks of peppermint bark. Although now a little late I thought I'd share these recipes if not for adaptation for other events then for Christmas 2015!

my christmas wishlist #3

The final Christmas wishlist post from me is full of easy-to-buy and last-minute gifts like dvd's, gift cards and beauty products easily found and bought from places like Boots and House of Fraser. If you're anything like a number of people I know then Christmas Eve will be the day to get the bulk of Christmas gift shopping done, to me that is madness as I've been preparing for a little while now but each to their own. Consider this my final wishlist with craving posts going back to normal from now on. :)

perfumes

craving: party season clutch bags

With party season comes party bags and and a whole parade of fantastic going out dresses, co-ords, playsuits, jumpsuits and of course the range of beautiful accessories and impressive cover-ups including fur coats and soft bikers. I digress.. This post is about those party season clutch bags and how awesome they are this year!

christmas weekend away in Bristol and Exeter

Last Saturday my best friend and I made our way up the line for a day trip to Bristol followed by an overnight stay in Exeter and another day of shopping there. We had everything planned out starting at Cabot Circus with an Egg Nog latte from Starbucks we spent most of the day there picking up Christmas gifts from friends and family before heading over to Ikea to stock up on candles (lots of candles!) and most importantly wedding bits for my best friend's wedding (♥ that film). We then had a hunt for Homesense so that I could spend the voucher I won on Stephs blog recently before driving back down to Exeter for the night to stay in the Mercure Southgate Hotel.

christmas movie watch list

Now that we're do close to 'the big day' I believe it's perfectly acceptable to be watching festive movies non-stop so I thought I'd share a few of my favourites. Christmas film are great to watch with all the family or to snuggle up on the sofa and have a giggle at but I always pop one on whilst I'm doing my wrapping, putting the decorations up or writing my Christmas cards too. :)

festive crafts: christmas pudding gift tags

At Christmas time I like to put my personal touch on the gift wrap I use, whether it's drawing on name labels or personalising simple brown paper wrapping with twine, washi tape and metallic pens. This year I decided to make some gift tags of my own and Christmas puddings seemed like the cutest and easiest design to go for so I thought that I'd share the process with you whilst there's still time to get crafty before Christmas. :)

shopping at the eden project

The Eden Project is one of those places that if you're in Cornwall you have to visit, living just over the bridge it's not a place I go often but when I do (probably once a year or two) I love it. Oddly (or not if you know me well) my favourite thing about going there is visiting their shop! If you don't know already, eden project is made up of fantastic gardens, and a collection of indoor domes that house the largest indoor rainforest in the world . There are sculptures, things to do, learn and play - They even host some fab gigs and Elton John will be playing there next year - It's an awesome setting for concerts!

gift ideas for him

Buying for boys appears to be the worlds worst thing at Christmas, or so I'm told. I believe that I've done alright for Shaun this time around though I suppose we'll have to wait until December 25th for a true verdict. But honestly, buying Christmas gifts for guys or even mens gifts in general isn't really all that bad, especially if you know their style. I've found that sourcing presents for my boyfriend is easier than presents for my dad, then my brother is relatively easy to buy for too. None of them create a particularly stressful gift shopping situation though.

autumn / winter at topshop

I really do love the autumn and winter months the most, I don't know how many times I've said that recently but to me it's the best time of year for style and shopping. Topshop always does it for me during these seasons, the colours and mix of materials are fab and so I almost can't go in without coming out with a collection of super stylish pieces. :D

'testing on bloggers' with the body shop

As a great lover of animals and of course of makeup when invited to be part of this campaign I jumped at the chance because when the RSPCA and The Body Shop join forces you should damn sure be paying attention.

my christmas list #2

I'm back with another Christmas wishlist because well, why not.. It's nice to have a little inspiration for gifting right? Well this one is a bit of a mix from jewellery and hair products to ski wear and things for the kitchen - there's pretty much something for everyone, though it is my Christmas wish list remember.. :P

betty jackson black collection

Up until recently I wasn't exactly one to wear a statement necklace but I've slowly been converted by the likes of supersized spikes and chunky golden chains to wear things like this sizable collection from Betty Jackson. The Betty Jackson Black collection uses lots of deep and neutral shades alongside beautiful holographic crystals and shiny jet black jewels, with the odd appearance of a rich and deep burgundy of course.

a dogs christmas gift guide

Not everyone is into getting their pets gifts for Christmas but I just can't help shopping for treats and toys for my boy so I thought i'd put together a 'what to get your dog for Christmas' gift guide / wishlist.

anastasia dipbrow pomade & brow wiz review

I'm so in love with these products and how my brows have looked since I've been using them! It's a beautiful thing being happy with your eyebrows you know.

craving: a new purse

My purse has seen much better days and it's about time that I replaced it! But rather than popping down to the high street as I normally would I thought that my money would be best spent on something else. I'm looking for a purse that is going to last, a well made, possibly designer piece and most likely leather. I've collected a few of my favourites together including pieces from the likes of Love Moschino, Guess, Thierry Mugler and Pepe Jeans.

my christmas list #1

It's collage after collage at the moment what with Christmas coming up I'm either browsing the web for my own Christmas lists or shopping for gifts for my friends and family. This series of posts will be rammed full of things I'd love to have for Christmas (or whenever really) and will be just like having 4 of my craving blog posts crammed into one big festive wishlist!

zoeva

craving: kate spade errythin!

There's so much beauty in this one blog post, it's a little hard to process. Kate Spade New York is a brand that has been on my radar for some time and yet I've never dedicated a post to the beautiful pieces that they consistently come out with.

another boohoo haul

I love everything from my last boohoo haul so much that I decided to make another autumnal order full of my favourite autumn and winter shades, materials and styles. Boohoo is full of unbelievably good value staple and on trend pieces that I can't help but fill my wardrobes with. :)

that biker trend

A biker jacket is a staple of my wardrobe and I'm sure of many others as well, I have a variety of shapes, colours and materials suitable for all sorts of occasions. Most recently though my eye has fallen upon these real leather bikers of beautifully rich shades from River Island. The inky green, deep red and rich dark pink jackets are all fantastic colours and if I could own them all then I absolutely would. Instead I decided to create some dream outfits that I'd love to wear with them to show you how I style biker jackets with a variety of pieces, be it trousers, dresses or shorts - heeled boots, peep-toe platforms or over knee boots.

deep teal biker jacket

berry burgundy booties

Following my craving for thigh boots a couple of weeks ago I bought a pair of low heeled over knee boots by Ravel with beautiful gold piping and buckle details, I of course bought them from my go-to shoe store, Spartoo. They arrived promptly and I've been wearing them almost every other day since they came into my life so I can't wait to show you in an outfit post.

craving: new season coats

The best winter coats around are beautifully structured, warm and evidently cosy and the high street stores are littered with gorgeous pieces that promise so much. I've searched through my favourite clothing shops to create a collection of on trend overcoats which I would just love to own. They're all looking seriously good this year so it wasn't easy to limit myself to just 4 options for each style I crave.

clinique tinted moisturiser review

I've been converted to a new foundation or rather a tinted moisturiser, the Clinique Moisture Surge is the first Clinique base product I have tried and I absolutely love it. It smells good, feels creamy and super soft on application and sits lightly on my skin. I use shade 03 which a very helpful consultant at Boots matched me on way back when I bought this little bottle a couple of months ago and today I bought a new pot because I can finally feel my first purchase running out.

craving: christmas jumpers

I'm fully aware that it's only October but as I've mentioned already, I've started my christmas shopping and as you've probably noticed people are already counting down the weekends and the fridays until the big day. That's a little bit crazy but personally I love christmas so as the christmas jumpers are weaning themselves onto the shelves they are creeping onto my wishlist and even gift lists!

my first book giveaway NOW CLOSED

I haven't given away a book before (let alone 5!) but it's only recently that I started talking about the books I'm reading on my blog and as I mentioned in my previous post; I'd like to discuss them more. This month I have my head in three books, one of which is this one by Rick Riordan and subsequently I have 5 copies of it to giveaway.

little asos order

eyeko skinny liquid eyeliners review

craving: knee high boots

autumn / winter at new look

Another autumn and winter style blog post, I just can't get my head out of the misty autumn clouds! This time I've focused in on New Look and what their collection has to offer the trends that everyone is shouting about. There are so many wishlist-worthy pieces on the New Look website that I'll admit once again it was difficult to avoid collaging 70% of the site. So I've picked out just 26 of my favourite, floral, khaki, layered and check pieces for you to see including burgundy boots, a floral midi or two and a check blazer.

feelunique beauty haul

Does it count as a haul if you order four things? I don't know that it does but either way this is what I'm calling my latest Feelunique order. I've been wanting an excuse to buy things on Feelunique because, well just because I wanted new pretty beauty products in my life okay.. I wanted to try a couple of things I haven't had a chance to before and I needed a new makeup bag. Two weeks ago Zoe gave me the most perfect excuse by launching her Zoella Beauty range (thank you Zoe) and so I popped a few things in my basket and proceeded to checkout as quickly as possible - here's what I bought:

essie parka perfect nails

winter jeans shopping

my harry potter studio tour experience

Exactly 2 months today I was lucky enough to be whisked away to the WB Studio Tour by my lovely boyfriend. I was incredibly excited as I'd wanted to visit for so so long and he surprised me with a day trip for my 24th birthday.

SCA Volvo Ocean Race Team

Equality has always been a hot topic of late and actually it should be spoken about and actioned upon more than it is. Since Emma Watson's recent speech at the UN (if you haven't heard it where have you been?!) it seems that more people are talking about gender equality which is great. I was especially inspired by this article talking about a 15 year old boy's letter then following this as well as other examples of equality approval from a variety of male and female celebrities I found out about an all woman team that has entered the Volvo Ocean Race this year.

boohoo autumn clothing haul

I'm restocking my autumn wardrobe following my clear out earlier on in the year and with my eye being drawn to Boohoo's website more and more I decided to go for a bit of a fall haul. As you can see from my Boohoo wishlist that I posted last week there are still a lot of things that I'd like to get hold of but this is a good start I think. :)

my holiday haul

Shopping abroad is fantastic, especially in Portugal. There are so many stores that I love to visit and we're always finding new unique stores hidden between the amazing and huge 'chinese shops' and various cafe restaurants. My favourite discovery this year is a store named Parfois which I subsequently found have stores all over the world and ship to the UK which I'm pretty excited about. This is are the majority of things that I bought, excluding the clothes - I'm going to write about those separately.

my health kick: sleep

Sleeping is so important - people aren't always aware of the effects that a lack of sleep can have on your body and mind. It may seem odd for me to be talking about health and sleep but continue reading and you'll understand why.

autumn / winter at boohoo

Autumn is my favourite part of the year with the red and orange leaves everywhere, the crisp chill in the air and smell of log burning fires - then there are the clothes. The beginning of this season is always full of wishlist's for me thanks to the reintroduction of beautiful deep colours and layering pieces.

last of the summer nails

life in black leather boots

I've found myself knee deep in bookmarks again and I appear to be collecting a wishlist for every type of black leather boot there is! Almost every saved shoe is shade of black, most likely leather and of course a boot because that was the original purpose of my online shoe shopping spree. You may know by now that my staple footwear is a boot of some sort and beyond that a black boot is my go-to. To have a collection of every shape, height and style would be a dream! The collection below would do my quite nicely - especially because of the variants in heel height.

I thought I'd show you some favourites from my shoe shopping list, explain why I like these types of boots and how I wear them.

my happy distractions

I spend a lot of my time on digital devices, it comes with the job and of course the blogging - but recently I stepped back from myself and remembered that there is a life beyond it all and I still have one. Don't get me wrong, I love the internet in all it's wonder but there is a good amount of shit on the web, and quite literally in some instances. I'll never step away from my phone, iPad and laptop forever, as I said, it's my job, my hobby and I love it but I am drawing myself a line.

what's in my holiday suitcase?

I'm now on holiday! So what better time to show you (and tell you) what is in my summer holiday suitcase .. Okay so it's not a suitcase as I use my Dakine holdall from Bagable but you get the gist. I use a holdall instead of a suitcase because it is lighter meaning I can take more and make the most of the baggage limits.

what's in my holiday carry-on bag?

I don't carry much that I think i'll need on the plane in my carry-on luggage, just the necessities and then I use the rest of the space to carry heavy items - the type that are allowed, no big bottles of suncream!

what's in my beach bag and picnic hamper

my must haves: burts bees lip balm and hand salve

craving: asos again

my health kick: peppermint tea

I've been drinking peppermint tea for months now and cannot stop raving about how good it is. This tea has had such a wonderfully positive effect on me, my body and my attitude. - Plus it's pretty tasty. So as I'm sat here with my after dinner cup I thought I'd talk about why I love it so.

mjus embellished booties

light in your home

my health kick: myvitamins supplements

I've been taking these supplements every day for a month now and I'm enjoying the benefits that I'm getting from the goodness in them. My skin although still spotty is much clearer and more manageable which is great when you consider that I haven't changed my makeup or skincare routine recently, nor have I changed my diet in a way that would contribute to clearer skin.