Christmas Shopping

Cardigan: Pimkie

Peter Pan Collar Top: H&M

Jeans: Dorothy Perkins

Boots: New Look

I wanted to jazz up my casual outfit so I chose to wear a top with a beaded Peter Pan collar instead of my usual plain white tops. I love the coral colour with the dark jeans and it was also quite a comfortable outfit, so it was perfect for going shopping. I stupidly forgot to take a scarf with me though and it was so cold and rainy out. Typical!

While I was taking pictures, my cheeks were really aching (probably cos I have a cold and everything hurts) so for some reason I thought doing this would help, god knows why.

Outtake

I could not stop laughing when I saw it after uploading the pictures onto my laptop. Oh dear.

And on that note, goodbye.

Christmas Countdown:The Winterlicious Tag

Hi everyone,

I'm sorry I haven't been blogging much lately, I've been so busy sorting Christmassy things out, buying presents, helping other people look for presents etc.

I've seen this tag all over YouTube recently and thought it'd be really fun to do on my blog.

1) Favourite Winter nail polish?

Essie After Sex. It's a lovely, shimmery red which I think will be perfect for Christmas.

2) Favourite Winter lip product?

This is going to be really boring, but it's got to be my Caudalie Lip Conditioner. My lips have been so dry recently, so this has been an essential! Another favourite lip product is Collection 2000 Cream Puff Lip Cream in Cotton Candy.

3) Most worn Winter clothing piece?

Probably my cosy jumper from H&M. It keeps me so warm and it looks really festive.

4) Most worn Winter accessory?

My New Look hat. I've been wearing it non-stop this month! (Apart from when I'm at home, obviously)

5) Favourite Winter scent/candle?

I went a bit crazy this year and bought a million Winter candles but my absolute favourite is the Empire Home Mulberry candle from TK Maxx.

6) Favourite Winter beverage?

I've been drinking this Bruno Christmas Blend coffee every morning since I bought it, it's delicious!

7) All time favourite Christmas/Holiday movie?

There are so many but I will probably have to go with Love Actually, we watch it every year and it gets us all excited for Christmas.

8) Favourite Christmas/Holiday song?

I really like Michael Bublé's versions of Christmas songs haha I'd have to say my favourite is 'All I want for Christmas is you'.

9) Favourite Christmas/Holiday food/treat?

I love Zimt Sterne which are star shaped cinnamon biscuits with icing on top. So yummy!

10) What is your favourite Christmas decoration this year?

I like all of our decorations, but my favourite this year is this little reindeer.

11) What's at the top of your Christmas list?

Money towards a new bed (not very exciting, I know!)

12) What are your plans for Christmas this year?

I'm spending Christmas Eve and Christmas Day with my family and my boyfriend and then on Boxing Day, I'm going to my boyfriend's house to be with his family.

I tag all of you! Let me know if you've done this tag, I'd love to read it!

Redken All Soft Shampoo & Conditioner

These are my favourite hair products ever! I first bought these back in July and I made the mistake of getting them from a salon here in Luxembourg which means they were very overpriced. I adored them but thought it would have to be a one-off thing, since they were so expensive. However, my cousin told me to look online and I found them on feelunique for so much cheaper.

The name pretty much says it all, they make my hair feel so soft and lovely. I feel like my hair's condition has become so much better since I started using these. Even before using the Kérastase products, these had already reduced the frizz. When I do use the Kérastase products, I tend to use different shampoos and conditioners, because I feel like I'd be wasting the pricey products if I use them all at once.

I know a lot of people say to buy cheap shampoos and more expensive conditioners, and a lot of people also say the complete opposite. There's no real reasoning to my choice, it's not like the conditioner isn't very good, but if I don't use the shampoo, I notice a difference in the way my hair feels. If I use a different conditioner, my hair doesn't miss the All Soft one as much. So I would definitely buy the shampoo if I had to choose between them.

I definitely recommend these if you have very dry, tangled hair and I also recommend buying them from websites like feelunique and lookfantastic (they always have great deals on Redken products!), as they are cheaper than getting them in a salon.

I've repurchased them twice since my first ones, but am still on my second bottles, I just wanted to have back up ones for when I run out. I'd also love to try the All Soft Heavy Cream, which is a conditioning treatment.

Have you tried these? Which Redken products would you recommend?

Christmas Countdown: Christmas Tree Hunt

After what seems like a million years, we finally got our Christmas tree! We usually get it early December but just never had the time this year. 

So the other day I went to the shop with my mum and my brother and we found the perfect tree. It's the perfect size and has no 'bald' patches and it's quite fluffy, if that makes sense. I think it's the best tree we've ever had and am so glad they still had decent ones left.

My mum and I decided to have a red, gold and cream theme this year and I really like how it turned out. 

This past week was  quite stressful and I spent it getting all my uni assignments done and then doing last minute Christmas shopping. I keep wanting to buy more stuff for everyone, even though I've already bought everyone's presents! While we were shopping, we briefly stopped by the Christmas market in town so naturally I took a bunch of pictures of all the pretty lights and decorations.

Peter Pan Collar

Jumper: H&M

Skirt: Asos

Tights: H&M

Boots: Random shop

This is the outfit I wore to my boyfriend's party. I finally bought something that has a collar and it has sequins! I wasn't sure which shoes/boots to wear, but ended up choosing plain black ones. I don't like wearing heels, despite the fact that I'm not very tall but it's just personal preference. 

Nutella Cake

Hi guys,

It was my boyfriend's birthday on Saturday and as well as making chili con carne, I also made him a Nutella cake. I used a Nigella recipe which I'll link here. It turned out really nice and yummy and it wasn't too hard to make either. It was very rich and although the recipe says it serves 8, I think it could probably serve 12 since you only really need a small slice otherwise it's too sickly.

Ingredients:

For the cake

6 large eggs

a pinch of salt

125g unsalted butter

400g Nutella 

1 tablespoon water

100g ground hazelnuts

100g melted dark chocolate

For the icing

100g whole, peeled hazelnuts

125ml double cream

1 tablespoon water

125g chopped dark chocolate

Preheat the oven to 180°C/gas mark 4 and separate the egg whites and egg yolks. In a large bowl, whisk the egg whites and salt until stiff but not dry. In a different bowl, beat the butter and Nutella together, then add the water, egg yolks and ground hazelnuts.

Melt the chocolate and then fold in once it has cooled down a bit, then lighten the mixture with a dollop of egg white and beat it in. Then gently fold in the rest a third at a time.

Pour the mixture into a 23cm/9inch round, greased and lined tin and cook for 40 minutes or until the cake's beginning to come away at the sides, then let it cool on a rack. Leave it on the base, because it's quite damp inside and will fall apart if you try and remove the base.

Toast the hazelnuts in a dry frying pan until they turn golden brown, keep shaking the pan so they don't burn on one side. Put them on a plate and let them cool down completely.

In a saucepan, add the cream, water and chopped chocolate and heat gently. Once the chocolate is melted, remove the pan from the heat and whisk until it's the right consistency to ice the cake. 

Ice the top with the icing (we had more so we also did the sides) then line it with the toasted hazelnuts. We also added some Malteasers, as if there wasn't enough chocolate!

Unfortunately while we were on the way to my boyfriend's place, the icing sort of slid off a bit, hence why it looks so messy and homemade.

Wishlist #4: Perfume

Hi everyone,

After buying loads of presents from shops like Sephora and Paris XL, I've obtained quite a collection of perfume samples and have fallen in love with a few so I thought I'd put together yet another wishlist of my favourites. I already own Coco Mademoiselle but it just smells so amazingly good that I had to add it here anyway. If I had to choose one out of all of these it would have to be Jimmy Choo. I've been using the sample every day since I got it, that's how much I love the scent!

1: Chanel Coco Mademoiselle Eau de Parfum 50ml 73,50€ 

2: Jimmy Choo Eau de Parfum 60ml 70€

3: Issey Miyake Pleats Please Eau de Toilette 50ml 58,30€

4: Miss Dior Eau de Parfum 50ml 73,40€

5: Viktor & Rolf Flowerbomb Eau de Parfum Limited Edition 50ml 88,50€

What's your current favourite perfume?

Kérastase Nutritive Masquintense Cheveux Epais for Dry Hair

The second product from my recent hair care haul is the Kérastase Nutritive Masquintense which is a rinse-out treatment for dry hair (and you can also get the version for thin hair). My hair is reasonably thick and very, very dry so I thought I'd try the one for thick hair and see if it would make much of a difference. I've been using this twice a week for the last few weeks, without combining it with the other products (like the Ciment Thermique for example) so I could be sure that if there was a difference, it was down to this product alone.

The first thing I noticed was that it reduced the frizziness of my hair, same as the Ciment Thermique. This has made it a lot more manageable and easy to work with. It makes my hair feel really nourished, as well as making it very soft and shiny. I actually feel like I've just come out of an expensive salon after blow drying it because it just goes exactly how I want it to, which doesn't happen very often. Since this is a treatment, I do only use it twice a week maximum (I try not to wash my hair every day) and the days when I don't use it, I still feel like it's made a difference despite not being quite as shiny.

I use a hazelnut sized amount and apply it to the ends of my hair, despite the fact that it says to apply to the roots all the way to the tips, I don't really like putting too much product on my roots. I leave it for about 5-10 minutes, depending on how much time I have.

I'm really impressed with this treatment but it is quite expensive (usually around£24). I did get it on offer on lookfantastic where it currently costs £19.92 so I'd recommend buying it from there or any other discount website.

Easy Peasy Orecchiette with Rocket, Parmesan & Tomatoes

Hi guys,

This shouldn't even be classified as a recipe because it is so easy. I had this at a restaurant a few months ago and it tasted so nice and is such a light meal. I decided to try and recreate it. Orecchiette is my favourite type of pasta but you can always replace it with a different kind.

Ingredients:

Orecchiette

(I used 250g for two people which was too much/enough for leftovers)

Rocket

Tomatoes

(however much/many you want!)

Parmesan shavings

Olive Oil

Salt & Pepper

Boil water for the orecchiette and follow the instructions on however long it takes to cook. Add a tiny bit of salt and olive oil to the water.

Once the pasta is almost done, chop the tomatoes and put them in a frying pan with some olive oil. Season with salt and pepper and cook on medium heat for about two minutes.

Assemble your plate! I put some rocket on the bottom then added the orecchiete, the tomatoes and a bit more rocket and mixed it all together. Drizzle a bit of olive oil over it and add a bit of pepper. Then add some parmesan shavings and voilà, done!

If you want to add some crunch, you could toast a few pine nuts and add them too.

Cosy Winter Jumper

Jumper: H&M

Tank Top: H&M

Leggings: Next

Hat: New Look

Boots: New Look

 Bag: Next

Watch: DKNY

Hey guys,

You can probably tell by looking out of my window in these photos that it's been snowing here in Luxembourg this week! Which means it's time to wrap up warm and be snuggly every day. H&M have some really nice Winter jumpers in stock so I bought this one on Sunday and I love it. It's my only 'slightly christmassy' jumper I own, which is sad but I can never find any nice ones here. It would probably look really nice with a shirt underneath and only the collar sticking out at the top, but I don't own an shirts that have collars (I really need more clothes! Hah) Hopefully it will keep on snowing and I'll be able to do some snowy OOTD's!

Hope you're all having a great week!

Wishlist #3: Makeup

Hi guys,

I promised a makeup wishlist and here it is. There are so many products I currently want to buy or repurchase but I won't allow because Christmas is just around the corner. I've already bought most of the presents but I always like getting a few extra bits too. These products are quite expensive, but it is a wishlist so I thought I'd go all out.

1: NARS Foreplay Orgasm Palette 49€

2: Chanel Rouge Coco in 02 Perle 29€

3: Urban Decay Smoked Palette 43€

4: Urban Decay Naked 2 Palette 43€ 

5: NARS Blush in Outlaw 29€

6: YSL Rouge Pur Couture in 04 Mauve Pigmenté 29€

7:Benefit SUGARlicious 29€

8: NARS Andy Warhol Large Than Life Eyeliner in 47th Street 25€

What's on your makeup wishlist?

Christmas Countdown: Advent Calendars & City Lights

Hi everyone,

I apologise for the lack of blogposts this week, I've been really ill and didn't feel up to doing anything at all but hopefully I'll get back on track now I'm feeling a bit better.

I'm going to be doing Christmas related posts throughout the month, where I'll share something christmassy like recipes, decorations, Christmas markets and whatever else I get up to. 

Every year, for as long as I remember, we've had the same reusable advent calendar which you fill yourself. This year we have little Lindt reindeer, which are so cute and really yummy. While we were shopping for things to fill it with, we spotted a really cool advent calendar and decided to get it too. You have to download an app and then scan the door you open and you see this cute little holographic figure. I think it's such an original idea and can't wait to see what comes next.

Another type of advent calendar that I love the idea of are beauty ones (like the You Beauty Advent Calendar which you can find here) where you get beauty products every day. It's a great way to save money on products, however they're a bit too expensive for me, so I'm sticking to standard ones for now (sigh). 

Something I would like to do one year is fill up our reusable one with little beauty products/gadgets that I know everyone in my family will love. It would be interesting to see if I can keep the cost down too, otherwise there would be no point. 

 What's you favourite type of advent calendar?

Simple Eyeliner

 Hi guys,

This look is one of my favourites, it's really easy, quick and fuss free. I used to only ever wear eyeliner and mascara and recently I've gone back to keeping things simple and not doing too much to my eyes. 

Face:

Collection 2000 Lasting Perfection Concealer in Light 2

NARS Blush in Douceur & NARS Blush in Amour

Eyes & Eyebrows:

Soap & Glory Archery in Brownie Points

NARS Primer

NARS Larger Than Life Long-Wear Eyeliner in Via Veneto on the top and bottom lashline 

Sleek Palette: Black Shadow smudged out on the top and bottom lashline

Maybelline The Colossal Volum'Express Smokey Eyes Mascara

Lips: 

Collection 2000 Cream Puff Lip Cream in Cotton Candy