What I Got For Christmas 2016

    

Merry Christmas!

Well Christmas is over (*sob*) but it's still December. I hope you all had an amazing Christmas. The past few days my Youtube subscription box has been full of 'What I Got For Christmas' videos and I've read so many blog posts as well. I love seeing what people got so I wanted to do my own post in case you are as nosy as I am.

I love pyjamas and being comfortable so when I recieved two pairs of slippers, pj's and a dressing gown on Christmas morning I was so excited. The pj's are slightly oversized so they are that bit more comfy and the dressing gown is longer than I'm used to and it's so soft!



Another thing I got for Christmas was books. And lots of them! I love reading but I've run out of books to read so I made a list of books I thought would be interesting and my mum got me some of them. The three fiction book I got are 'The Moonlight Dreamers' by Siobhan Curham, 'Flawed' by Ceclia Ahern and 'Follow Me Back' by Nicci Cloke.

I also got 'Our Story' by The Vamps and 'Our World' by Little Mix. I love The Vamps and Little Mix so I really wanted their books.

I haven't read any of these books yet but I might do reviews of them once I have.

My family know I love candles so they made sure I was well stocked up. I got the candle from B and M Bargains which I mentioned in my Last Minute Gift Ideas post. I also got a candle from Primark which is in the scent madagascan vanilla and another candle which smells of vanilla toffee but I'm not sure where this is from. Then I got some light changing candles which is handy because my cat Fitz doesn't understand candles and flames so whenever I have a candle lit I need to make sure she doesn't dip her tail into the flame.

The next thing I got was a mini hot water bottle which is the perfect gift for me because I'm always cold. I also got the Sweet Christmas gift set from Lush which has three products in it that are all Snow Fairy scented. Then I got a perfume from Next which is called Just Pink. It smells so nice and the bottle is so pretty.



The last lot of gifts I recieved that I'm going to show you today are all random but really cool. I got a DIY emoji cushion set. So you get two small cushions and two bigger ones, the stuffing to stuff them with and the faces which you can sew onto them. I'm really excited to use that. Then I got something which is really practical. It's a laptop tray so that I can sit in bed and do my homework. This is great because although I have a desk, the room it's in gets really cold in the winter. Finally, I got a light up letter box. I don't actually know what they're called but they have been everywhere recently. I did mention this in my Last Minute Gift Ideas but I wasn't expecting to get this because I have almost no space in my room but I got it and I think it's really nice so I'll just find somewhere for it.

So that is everything I'm going to show you. If I showed you everything that I got for Christmas we would be here for ages. I love everything I got and this post wasn't me trying to brag or boast. I just love seeing these types of posts and videos. Le me know your favourite gift you got for Christmas and what you got up to on Christmas Day.

Love Courtney x





 





#BloggersSecretSanta - Ally

Hello everyone!

So I have been taking part in the #BloggersSecretSanta event which was organised by the lovely Teenella. (@realteenella on Twitter) The whole point of this event (can you really call it an event?! I don’t know!) is to write an appreciation post for another blogger than you may not even know. I thought this was a really good idea as most secret santas are about exchanging actual presents but this one is all about finding other bloggers and writing about all the good things about them and their blogs. My blogger than I was given to write an appreciation post for was Ally! I had never heard of Ally’s blog so I was very excited to find another blog to read and enjoy.

Ally is 13 years old and she lives in America. Her blog is allyrocks24.wordpress.com. As well as having a blog she also has a Youtube channel where she posts videos about dance and challenges with her sister, Lexi who is 11. Ally often posts short, quick updates which I like as sometimes I don’t have time to sit and read super long rambly posts.

Another thing I like about Ally’s blog is the way she writes. She will often write as she thinks. For example:

“Talk to you guys soon!

*10 minutes later*

Oh wait, I remembered what I wanted to say!”

I really like this style of writing because most bloggers, I know I do, sit and try and think about what they want to say. But they will just carry the post on as one piece of writing. When Ally adds in those parts where she is thinking about what she is going to write it makes it seem more realistic.

One post which Ally did that I enjoyed was her 'A Day In My Life' post. I like that she went into depth about what she did on a typical school day and can I just add that I could never start school at 8am! Or have dance class for 4 hours!

Another post that I really liked was ‘My Photography’. I love taking pictures and seeing other people’s pictures so this post was right up my street. This post included pictures that Ally had taken on her trip to New York and they were so good.

I mentioned before that Ally has a Youtube channel. She has posted some dance videos which I really liked. She is such a good dancer. She also posted some videos with her younger sister Lexi and from their videos together they seem to get on really well. However if they are anything like my siblings and I they don’t get on that well all the time!

I tried to find out if Ally has a Twitter or Instagram but she mentioned in a blog post that she doesn’t. Although she did say that she has a music.ly. Her username is @ally_rumbaugh. She has quite a few music.ly’s on her profile (I don’t know if that’s the proper name for it) and they’re really good.

Although Ally doesn’t have her own Twitter she co-runs a Twitter account and occasionally writes for another blog called Simply My Life. I think it’s crazy how she can write for her own blog, write for Simply My Life, run her Youtube channel, go to dance class and attend school. I could never do all that!

Love Courtney x

Amazing Cinnamon Buns

Hello everyone!

Cinnamon is such a classic Christmas flavour/smell. These buns are so easy to make and they are perfect for this time of year.

To make 8 buns you will need:

• 200g self raising flour
• 50g margarine
• 75g caster sugar
• 1 egg
• 45ml milk
• 5ml cinnamon

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 200 degrees C/ gas mark 5.
2. Sieve the flour and cinnamon into a large bowl.
3. Add the margarine to the bowl. Rub into the flour to form breadcrumbs.
4. Add the caster sugar to the bowl and stir in.
5. Add the egg to the bowl and stir until you have a stiff but sticky mixture. You may need to add the milk to achieve the right consistency.
6. Lightly flour the table and roll the dough into a sausage shape.
7. Cut into 8 equal pieces. You can have more or less depending on how big you want your buns to be.
8. Roll into balls and place on a baking tray, making sure to leave room between them as they will expand during baking.
9. Bake until well risen and golden brown in colour.
10. Leave to cool slightly before eating.
11. Enjoy these delicious cinnamon buns with a beverage of your choice!

So there you have it. A recipe for easy, amazing cinnamon buns perfect for the festive season. Let me know in the comments if you make these. See you soon. Not long until Christmas!

Love Courtney x

Last Minute Christmas Gift Ideas

Hello everyone!

It's one week until Christmas! If, like me, you have left your Christmas shopping until the last minute don't worry. I am here to give you some ideas for presents that you can easily get a hold of in time for Christmas as they all come from places that have a physical shop so you don't have to order online and pay a ridiculous amount to get it delivered before Sunday.

My first idea is candles. Everyone loves candles and I would prefer to go into a shop to buy candles than order them online anyway because there is a chance they will break during delivery and you never really know what it smells like until it arrives. The one I have included is from B & M Bargains. I read a post comparing these to Bath & Body Works Candles which they definitely look like. However I can't compare the two brands as I haven't tried either but these candles smell amazing and they are only £2.99. I have asked for the Frosted Cranberry one but they do other scents as well.

Another gift idea is Lush products. You can get various gift boxes ranging in size and price. The one I have included is called Festive Friends. It contains 3 bath products and costs £12.95. These make really good presents because you don't even need to wrap them as the box they come in is so pretty anyway. You can also decide how much you want to spend as these gift sets vary in price starting at about £10 and going up to over £100.

This notebook from Primark is so pretty and only costs £2.50. Notebooks, and stationery in general, make such good Christmas presents for people who are at school or uni, people who are very organised and like to make lists or just people like me who love stationery! The marble is also very on trend right now but it all depends on what the person you are buying the gift for likes.

Calendars also make good Christmas presents because it's getting to the end of the year and most people forget to buy themselves a calendar for the upcoming year. You can get so many different designs of calendar from most stationery shops so just find one that you think they will like and you're good to go!

The next gift idea is something that has been everywhere recently. It's a light box that you can write a message on with the letter stickers that come with the light. The one I have included costs £12.99 from New Look but I'm sure you could find one almost anywhere. I would love to get one of these as I think they are so cool but I'm not sure there would be any space in my bedroom for one.

This next one is so cool and is the perfect gift for people who love gadgets and listening to music in the shower. This shower speaker from MenKind sounds awesome. You connect to it via Bluetooth and you can stick it on the wall in your shower so you can play music without getting your phone wet. For £14.99 I think this is amazing.

The final gift idea is a DIY, although if you're not very good at DIY's I have seen these in Primark for around £2. This is basically hot chocolate on a stick. All you need to do is melt some chocolate, pour it into a mould, stick a spoon or lollipop stick into it and top with marshmallows and chocolate chips. Then once the block has set you swirl it in a mug of warm milk and there you have it. There are loads of tutorials online but they look super nice and easy to do.

That's all the last minute Christmas gift ideas I have for today. All of these presents could be made/bought for male or female and they could all be adjusted to suit your budget. Let me know if you're as disorganised as I am and if you will be using any of these ideas. See you soon!

Love Courtney x















Winter Makeup Routine

Hello everyone!

It's getting ever closer to Christmas (eek!) and I've just started my Christmas shopping (oops!) Today I have a winter makeup "tutorial". But let's be real I'm no makeup pro so I'm just going to tell you how I created this silver/purple eye look with lots of highlighter and a nude/pink lip.

Base

For foundation I used the Loreal Infallible 24hr Matte. This foundation has a good amount of coverage and it's matte but it doesn't look cakey. It also lasts really well throughout the day.

Then I used the Rimmel Match Perfection concealer under my eyes to cover up those bags and make me look more awake.

Next I used my favourite Makeup Revolution Iconic Lights and Contour palette. I used the second shade from the left on the top row (the matte white colour) to set my foundation and concealer. I also used the third shade from the left on the bottom row to bronze up my pale face. Finally from this palette I used the first shade from the left on the top row to highlight the heck out of my cheekbones. It doesn't show up well on camera but my cheekbones were poppin'.

Eyes

To start my eye look I first used the shade Naked 2 from the Urban Decay Naked Basics palette to fill in my eyebrows.

Then I used two eyeshadows from Makeup Geek. I applied the shade High Wire (the shimmery silver colour) all over my eye lid. Then I blended the shade Fairytale (the matte purple colour) into my outer crease and the outer portion of my lid.

Next I took my Collection Extreme 24hr Felt Tip liner, prayed to the winged liner gods and did a thin flick.

Finally, I curled my eyelashes and applied my favourite mascara, Maybelline The Falsies. I love this eye look because it's different to the typical gold eye that you see everywhere this time of year.

Lips

Last step lips. First I applied MAC Cosmetics lipstick in Brave. Then I put some of the Maybelline ColourSensational Shine Gloss in shade Fuschia Flash on top.

So there you have it. An easy, cool toned, winter makeup look that's not your typical warm toned bronze and gold. Let me know in the comments your go to makeup look for the festive season. Do you prefer a bold or nude lip? Smokey or neutral eye? See you soon.

Love Courtney x







Festive Nail Art

 

Hello everyone!

A couple of months ago I did a Halloween nail art post. I definitely prefer Christmas over Halloween so I wanted to do a Christmas version. I'm not the best at nail art so if I can do these 5 festive designs then anyone can. If you wanted to you could go all out and do a pattern on every nail or you could just do one on an accent nail.

This one is inspired by a Christmas jumper. It's quite easy as long as you have a steady hand. All you need to do to recreate this is paint your whole nail in a classic red then use a white nail art pen (it's easier using a nail art pen than a nail polish brush) to create the zig- zag across the middle and add some polka dots on either side.

This one is my favourite out of them all. It's a Christmas tree! Again paint your whole nail in a classic red. Then use a deep shimmery green and paint a triangle so that the widest part is at the tip of the nail. Once dry dot on some bright colours for the baubles on the tree. Last but not least use a gold (or silver) polish for the star on top. Or if you wanted to be extra fancy you could use a nail gem to add a 3D effect.

This one was a bit of a fail but I'm going to include it anyway so that you guys can take inspiration and hopefully do this better than I have. To do this holly design you have to paint your whole nail in white. Then using a green colour paint on some leaves. Once those are dry dot on some red spots for the berries.

This Rudolph one is so cute! First, paint your whole nail a light brown colour. Using a white nail art pen draw 2 dots for eyes. Once they are dry add 2 black dots in the centre for the pupils. Using the black you used for the pupils draw on the antlers. Last, we have to do the red nose! Paint a semi- circle at the tip in a deep red colour.Then to add some extra sparkle go over the semi- circle in a glittery red!





This is probably the easiest one out of them all. It's a basic, but still festive, candy cane design. All you need to do is paint your whole nail white. Then do some red diagonal stripes. My stripes were a bit thick but you can make them as thin or as thick as you like. If you wanted to make it a bit more exciting you could go over the stripes with a glitter like the one in the Rudolph design.

So there you have it. 5 festive nail art ideas. Let me know in the comments if you try out any of these or any other Christmas-y nail art designs. See you soon with another post!

Love Courtney x



The Christmas Tag

Hello everyone!

Today I bring you another Christmas-y post. It's only 18 days to go so I'm going to do the Christmas tag. This isn't one particular set of questions, it's just a bunch (25, to be exact) of questions related to Christmas which I gathered from different tags I've seen floating about the internet.

1. What is your favourite Christmas film?  I wrote a post about my favourite Christmas movies last week but from the ones I mentioned my ultimate fav would have to be Home Alone 2.
2. Have you ever had a white Christmas?  In the U.K it's always freezing during winter so yes I have had a few white Christmases but more often than not it's just icy and slippery.
3. Where do you spend Christmas?  I have always spent Christmas at home with my parents, brothers and sister. We spend he whole day indoors keeping out of the cold.
4. What is your favourite Christmas song?  I love 'Fairytale of New York' by The Pogues and Kirsty MacColl.
5. Do you open any presents on Christmas Eve?  In our house my siblings and I get to open one present each from one other person.
6. Can you name all of Santa's reindeer?  I feel like most people can't do this but I just remember the part at the start of Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer. You know Dasher and Dancer and Prancer and Vixen. Comet and Cupid and Donner and Blitzen. But do you know the most famous reindeer of all... Rudolph the Red Nose Reindeer.
7. What is your favourite Christmas treat?  In my opinion you can't go wrong with a Terry's Chocolate Orange.
8. Do you prefer giving or receiving presents?  I'll be honest I prefer receiving. Mainly because that means that someone has put the thought and effort into giving me a gift. And also because I am pretty bad at present buying.
9. What is the best gift you've ever gotten?  My sister is really good at giving gifts. One year she got me tickets to my first concert and to see my favourite band Little Mix. I also love my iPhone 6S that I got last year.
10. What's your dream place to spend Christmas?  I would love to spend Christmas in New York. I think it would be so festive. That answer was definitely inspired by Home Alone 2.
11. Are you a pro at present wrapping or not?  I think I deserve an A for effort but I'm not great at wrapping presents. I just use to much paper and I don't have enough hands.
12. Do you make New Year's resolutions? Do you keep them?  I do make New Year's resolutions but whether I keep them or not is a whole different story. I try but by the end of January I've given up all hope. I'm determined to keep up with my resolutions for 2017 though.
13. When do you start Christmas shopping?  Most people have finished their Christmas shooping by now but I, being the organisational goddess that I am, have not. Help, does anyone want to do my Christmas shopping for me?
14. When do your family put up the Christmas tree?  If it was up to me, we would put our tree up in November but there's still an empty space in our living room just waiting to be filled by a Christmas tree.
15. Is your Christmas tree real or fake?  Our tree has to be fake because we have lots of animals who likes to eat things. Otherwise I would love a real Christmas tree.
16. What tops your Christmas tree?  We always have a star at the top of our Christmas tree.
17. What's your favourite winter candle?  I mentioned this in my last post ( which was my Winter Essentials) but my favourite winter/ Christmas candle is by Yankee Candle in the scent Christmas Eve.
18. What's your favourite winter beverage?  I love hot chocolate especially the orange hot chocolate from Costa.
19. Do you prefer coloured or white lights? I think it depends on where they're going and what kind of theme your going for. But personally I love warm toned white lights because it just makes a room feel warmer and cosier.
20. When did you find out the truth about Santa? How? I can't remember exactly when but at some point I realised that on Christmas morning my mum and dad would always make us wait for ages whilst my mum had a cup of tea. When really they were to lazy to get up during the night at put out our presents. Sleep- loving runs in the family.
21. What's your favourite part of Christmas dinner?  I love, love LOVE yorkshire puddings. What's your favourite part of your Christmas dinner.
22. When do you start getting excited for Christmas? January, haha. But I probably start to really show it after Halloween. I think the build up to Christmas is better than the actual day so I want it to last as long as possible.
23. Do you use advent calendars? Definitely yes. I'll probably still use advent calendars when I'm much older and have my own kids.
24. When do you go to bed and wake up on Christmas? I try to go to bed reasonably early on Christmas Eve but I get too excited and can't sleep so probably between 12 am and 1 am which for me is super. Then in the moring I also wake up pretty early at about 7 am.
25. What's your favourite thing about Christmas? I can't possibly pick a favourite. I love the music, the movies, the atmosphere, the food and drink, the clothing and makeup. Everything.

So that is my variation of the Christms Tag. 25 questions about the most wonderful time of the year. Feel free to do this tag on your blog or you can answer some of them in the comments. Let me know if you do this tag so I can go and read it. See you soon with another festive post.

Love Courtney x



My Winter Essentials

Hello everyone!

In case you hadn't noticed it's winter. So today I'm going to show you some of the things that I think are essential for wintertime.

As I mentioned in my November Favourites my skin is dry at the best of times but during the winter it gets significantly worse. So to combat this I use a moisturiser. The one I am using just now is the Superdrug Vitamin E Intense Moisture Cream. (£2.99 from Superdrug) To moisturise my hands I love The Body Shop hand creams. I have the Spiced Apple and Frosted Berries scents but I also love the Mango and Satsuma ones. (£4 from The Body Shop)

Once my hands are silky soft thanks to my Body Shop hand creams I like to paint my nails a gorgeous berry colour. I love this one by Avon in the shade Cherry Jubilee. (normally £6 but currently only £2.75 from avon.com)

Now my makeup essentials. I love highlighter any time of the year but I think it looks so pretty at Christmas parties. I really like Makeup Revolution Iconic Lights and Contour Pro palette. (£8 from Superdrug) To go with the highlighted skin I love winged eyeliner. If I can magically make it look even that is. To do my eyeliner I prefer a felt tip applicator to a brush. The one I am currently using is the Collection Extreme 24hr Felt Tip Liner. (£2.99 from Superdrug) Finally for lips you can't go wrong with a berry lip to match the nails. I've recently been using the Rimmel Kate Moss lipstick in 107 (£5.49 from Superdrug) which I like but has almost run out so I'm open to suggestions. Something in a similiar colour, not drying or patchy and long lasting. Leave any recommendations in the comments. However, before I put on a dark lipstick, or whenever I remember, I put on a moisturising lip balm. The one from Nivea is really hydrating and smells really good too. (normally £1.65 from Superdrug but it's currently £1.09)

The last thing which is a Winter Essential for me is candles. This one from Yankee Candle called Christmas Eve smells amazing.The small jar is currently sold out on the Yankee Candle website but they sell lots of various sizes and Yankee Candle is sold in so many places.  Plus it's super festive considering it's called Christmas Eve! I have the small jar which is £6.74 but they range in price depending on size. On the website it says it has top notes of orange, almond, lime and lemon. Then mid notes of red berry, cinnamon and nutmeg. Finally it's base notes are violet, amber, creamy praline and vanilla. That basically means it's like Christmas in a jar!

So those are all of my Winter Essentials. Let me know some of yours in the comments. What are your must have products for wintertime? See you soon with another Christmas-y post.

Love Courtney x











My Favourite Christmas Movies

Hello everyone!

Seeing as it's almost Christmas (eek!) I thought I would do a post all about my favourite Christmas movies. Because who doesn't love cosying up under a blanket, drinking hot chocolate and watching a Christmas movie?!

In no particular order ( I couldn't pick a favourite out of these) the Christmas movies that just make this time of year festive for me are:
                                     

To me Home Alone is the epitome of a classic Christmas movie. If you haven't seen any of the Home Alone movies you need to change that this year. My favourite is Home Alone 2: Lost In New York. Home Alone is about a young boy called Kevin whose family goes on holiday at Christmas and leave him 'home alone'. What's your favourite of the Home Alone series ?



This is such a feel good film. I love how there is lots of different storylines that all connect. It's so Christmasy and I have seen it so many times. Love Actually is about lots of different people but they are all linked in some way. They are either parent and child, workmates, siblings and so on. Each of the characters have a problem which they spend the duration of the movie trying to overcome and then at the end they all come together to celebrate Christmas.

This is like the perfect anti-Christmas, Christmas movie. It's so funny although it's definitely not relatable. I'm like the complete opposite of the Grinch. The Grinch is a thing (not really a person is he ?) who hates Christmas. Then comes along Cindy Lou who tries to make him love the holiday.

 This is very similar to Love Actually in the sense that it's such a feel good romance movie set around the holidays (obviously.) The Holiday is about two women who live on opposite sides of the world. At Christmastime they decide to swap houses. Whilst in the others hometown they each meet a man and fall in love.

So that's it for today. Hope you enjoyed hearing about just some of my favourite Christmas movies. Let me know your favourite in the comments. See you on Sunday (if my internet doesn't fail me) for another Christmas related post. Also how many times have I said the word Christmas in this post ?!

Love Courtney x