L's Christmas Photos 2017

Hi all!

It's been a little while since sharing a post with you, between the two of us we've been moving, attending weddings, working and prepping for the Christmas season so took an unintentional break from blogging. It has been lovely to spend time with family and friends and tuck into the expected stash of Christmas food, so I thought today was the perfect opportunity to share some of these photos with you.

Mother's Day Recommendations

Hi all!

I've done a quick post to share a few Mother's Day ideas that you can send or arrange as a surprise. These are all local to South Wales so are great if you don't want to travel far or give local!

I have personal experience of each of these places, treatments and products so can fully recommend as a gift for your mum (or any other worthy female in your life!)

Life Update

Hey all!

So my blog posts over the Christmas break did not go to plan - a lot of my family have been ill so I was helping with lots of the food etc and then unfortunately I have got the dreaded flu myself! So lots of sleeping, lemon and honey, and trashy tv has been my plan over the last few days.

The cold part hasn't been too bad but the aches I just hate! The weirdest thing is that it was all in my hands and elbows so typing just wasn't possible - sooo I'm a little behind with my festive posts particularly a recap of 2016 and goals for 2017. I'm hoping to get them up this week!

Without further rambling here are some more pictures of my Christmas break including some of the lovely presents. I didn't take any pictures of all my presents together, I actually didn't get any make up this year and although all of my presents were lovely they consisted of a lot of pyjamas, socks and kitchen items!

Birthday Time!

Hi all!

It was my birthday last weekend so posts the last week have been a little thin on the ground...it was lovely to have a long weekend for it and I had something planned every day which was really nice.

It was overall quite a quiet weekend but to be honest I'm getting to the age where using a long weekend to see friends and catch up on sleep and good food is the best kind of weekend!

First me and M had an afternoon tea session at Celtic Manor which was amazing as you would expect. It was the Chocolate Afternoon Tea which is available until the 19th of June - we will definitely be writing a full post on this as it is beautiful! Here's a few snaps to show you how amazing:

After that we just about made it through the front door, and had a girly evening in with face masks, tan and some prosecco to celebrate! It was a lovely evening, and M even made some Captain America cookies for me, how cute and clever are these??

After this we had a very civilised night out with yummy cocktails and a cheeky McDonalds which was really nice as we haven't been out for a while.

I also had a lovely meal with my family at Wahaca, me and my dad shared the Wahaca Selection which was lush to try so many different things and I washed it down with a Mexican hot chocolate which is dairy free. It was an interesting taste and I'd order it again but it's quite bitter so hard to finish the whole thing.

I had some amazing gifts from friends and family. My brother bought me a sushi making kit which I can't wait to try out and also a selection box from T2 tea who have some crazy loose leaf tea flavours such as Caramel Brownie and Choc Chip Chai.

M got me a lush Origins set with my favourite products in and a pre order of the Harry Potter and the Cursed child - who isn't excited for that!!
I also had another Barnes and Noble classic book to add to my book shelf. I'm getting quite a collection together now and can't wait to get as many as I can!

I also had some vouchers so I went shopping on the weekend and bought the Naked 2 palette which I have wanted for ages and also some stuff from Lush too!

It was a really nice weekend and it was a shock to go back to work last week!

I've been struggling ever since and now I'm away with work so am feeling all over the place, looking forward to getting back to normality and joining my new gym permanently when I get back.

What have you been up to lately? I have so many posts to catch up on and so much to share with you!

L xxx

Birthday!

Hello!

Last week it was my birthday, and it's been a bit of a different one this year. I turned 27 and although that doesn't sound particularly old this year I definitely feel it. Suddenly it was the week of my birthday and I hadn't even thought about what I wanted for it from my parents, and I spent some of the week away with work so it flew by even faster!

I started the day with a favourite breakfast of mine - chia seeds, almond milk, greek yogurt, fruit and a good dollop of peanut butter. It was lush!

I went into work and was met with this monstrous cake - who on earth can turn down what is essentially a giant triple chocolate cupcake. It got me through my 11am slump and my 3pm slump - normally I'm a fan of the 'sugar is the devil' saying but birthdays mean anything goes!



As I mentioned before there has been so much going on this week, one major thing that has happened is that I have finally bought my own house! I am massively scared but also excited, I can't wait to own my own home, decorate it and essentially grow up!

As far as presents go, I had a gorgeous Champneys set from my aunty which was a lovely surprise, I've been working my way through my stash for quite a while and haven't bought any bath products so this will be a lovely treat now that all of my budget will be going on house bills and items!

My mum has also been buying me a few things for the house, we are both fans of the citrus scent so she has got me a citrus candle to put in my kitchen, they're great for getting rid of cooking smells and i can't wait to get more of these to put everywhere all over the house!

She also picked these up from Home Sense, 3 beautiful silver bottles that will be going in my new bathroom! It's a very plain white bathroom with a black tiled floor so it needs a bit of sparkle!

I went out to watch the rugby with a few friends (M included in the middle!)

There were a lot of shots to celebrate me buying a house, in fact the next day I did begin to question if it was even real!

As a birthday celebration I took a day off work and went for afternoon tea with my mum, it was absolutely amazing and I can't rave about it enough. There will be a full post on this soon!

So there was my 27th birthday!

It was short and sweet and I definitely feel like this year is much more grown up. I'm super excited about having a house and although it is pretty small it will be all my own, so any blogs or website you read with interior design ideas please send them my way - I will be writing a wishlist post in future for the design ideas I would love to incorporate into my house.

L xxx

Christmas 2014

Hello there!

I know a lot of people have already posted about their Christmas but I've loved seeing what other people get up to, their decorations and their traditions so I thought I'd share mine too.

One of my favourite things about Christmas is my dog; he absolutely LOVES wrapping paper! He waits patiently for you to unwrap your present and then runs away with the paper to shred it up. By the end of the opening session he's surrounded and normally has a load stuck to his tail! What a beauty!

I've dyed my hair back dark now and have been loving curling it and having it all back to my usual colour again. Blonde highlights were fun for the summer but I do prefer it this colour.

Wasn't long before Christmas dinner was served, we have ours about 1ish so I hadn't had many snacks beforehand and piled my plate up high! We had a massive turkey joint from our local butchers that we are still eating now.....even after the turkey curry!

My job was to make a cheesecake for the big day so I made a ferrero rocher hazelnut cheesecake in the tin above. It took a good few hours to set but when we removed it it looked really good and didn't last long at all!

My dog seemed pretty happy with his new blanket and teddies that he had, what a spoilt pooch!

We spent the afternoon playing games including a beetle drive, boy girl fruit flower and a few others. They were so much fun with everyone joining in especially making mistakes and coming up with wrong answers!

I had some lovely things for Christmas. My main present was a Hudl2 which is a tablet, I've wanted a tablet for ages but haven't been able to afford them and had no idea my parents had got me one! It was a lovely surprise and I'm hoping it will make blogging a lot easier too as I can do it on the go.

I also had a jar of nutella with my name on which was a personal highlight:

I also had some amazing Alice in Wonderland items, my mum went on a bit of a theme! There was a mug and loose leaf tea from Whittards, a vintage Alice in Wonderland book and a diary for the year. I also have an owl diary so will have to decide which is going to be my work diary and which is going to be for blogging and fitness related things!

In my Secret Santa gift I had a lovely bauble from Molton Brown filled with hand wash; how beautiful is this! I've never seen them before so it was a lovely surprise (though i think was well over our £5 budget!)

Since Christmas Day we've been making our way through the leftovers by making Bubble and Squeak which is a Boxing Day tradition for us and also our annual winter beach walk. I've been shopping in the sales and spent a ridiculous amount of money on a black wool coat from Linea and a black Ralph Lauren dress that I'd seen full price and loved; I never thought it would be in the sale so I had to get it!

I have been shopping for a dress for New Year's Eve too, this little black dress cost me £20 in the sale so I'm really pleased with such a bargain! I'm going to a friend's house for the night so needed something nice but also comfortable; this doesn't come with a belt and has a nice elasticated waistband and can be worn with tights so its perfect. I will be keeping warm and comfortable as well as hopefully looking nice too!

I love the gold details on the bottom of the dress; black and gold is definitely a favourite of mine. I also did my nails nude and sparkly; this is Essie's Sand Tropez with Barry M's Rose Quartz glitter on top. It's a simple but pretty combo and I've added as many layers as possible for the ultimate New Year's bling!

What have you been up to? Did you all have a good Christmas?

What will you be wearing tonight, do you have big plans or a quiet night in?

I'm hoping mines a bit of both!

L xxx

Christmas Gift Guide

Happy Sunday morning!

I expect by now most of you have started to turn to the brochures and internet adverts that have suddenly been making its way into our inboxes and shopping baskets.

I have had loads of fun making wishlists and my own Christmas list from the Debenhams, Boots and Space NK Gift guides. So without further ado here are my picks of products that you might want to add to your wishlists or buy for fellow friends or loved ones.

Starting off with Boots, full of amazing product goodness that it would take a rather strong individual to ignore.

Smashbox always have some cracking products out for Christmas and I've always got my eye on the miniature primers. I've heard they're amazing and for £25 for the trio it's a good way to try them out.
The On The Rocks palette is also an extensive range of eye shadows for a bargainous £49 and would make a great gift.

Benefit gifts are extremely popular and it's not hard to see why, they're beautifully packaged and usually contain a great variety of their products as the perfect trial of something that may be new to you or as a travel kit. The above is the perfect pick me up for on the go make up or a cohesive travel kit, all you're missing is your base products and you're good to go! For £29.50 the Sexy and Scrumptious gift set is amazing.

Liz Earle have never sold their gift sets anywhere other than John Lewis. I think it's great they've gone more mainstream by selling at Boots and this gift set contains their infamous Cleanse and Polish followed by a skin tonic and eye cream. All have very good reviews and contain natural products so would be an ideal gift for someone new to the brand for £19.75

These pages are my favourite! It's like a perfect mix and match section; Nails Inc polishes ranging from £15/16, Benefit's Hoola bronzer, Lancome mascara and YSL Touche Eclat. All of which have rave reviews and anyone would be happy to receive. 

Ted Baker produce some amazing gift sets also and i particularly like their designs this year. I'm a fan of coral anyway but the bottles lined up in different colours as above remind me of being on holiday in Southern Italy on the Amalfi Coast as the houses are similar colours and this makes me happy.
The UpTed Abbey set above looks like a lovely gift and I would imagine it will be on offer as a star gift at Boots sometime soon.

Origins also have some great gift sets where the value can be worth around £30 more than the price it is on sale for. The set below costs £40 though is worth somewhere near £68. Ginzing is one of their most popular ranges and this gift set is the perfect range of products for someone who deserves a pamper via a skincare set packed with vitamins and minerals.

So what do Debenhams have to offer?

You can never go wrong with a bit of sparkle in the form of a piece of jewellery. Watches are a classic item and rose gold is a popular choice at the moment, although silver and gold are still the classics.

The Clarins palette contains a gorgeous selection of eyeshadows that anyone can wear, especially over the Christmas season and would be perfect in time for New Year's Eve. The ten shades are a great basic palette for £35, meaning it's only £3.50 per eyeshadow which is pretty good value for Clarins!

Lancome sets are also really good value for money and the larger set has a massive variety of trial sized products and an eyeshadow palette:

It is hard to even think about Debenhams without considering Urban Decay. They have plenty of products available year round but this year their Christmas sets are awesome. The limited edition Vice 3 palette is sure to sell out and the eyeliner and lipstick sets are musts in every beauty addicts collection. I've got Vice 3 and the Black Magic eyeliner set already, the others are sure to find their way into my life too! These products range from £27 to £42.

Lastly L'Occitane are another brand where you just cannot go wrong with gift sets, especially with scents such as Shea Butter as they're so soft and light that anyone would be happy to receive it and you just cannot go wrong, especially for £20 or £35.

I couldn't complete these Gift Guides without a mention from Space NK, my latest favourite store. Having never bought from them before until a few weeks ago I'm now a constant browser of their site and some gift sets have particularly caught my eye:

Nars Virtual Domination cheek palette; £45 but worth £117. I really need it but cannot afford it; I need to find someone who can afford to buy it for me! A lovely present for any female who loves good quality blushes.

This is nicely followed up with the Digital World Lip Coffret also from Nars featuring 5 lip pencils, 3 of which are limited edition all of £32. They also allegedly come in an acrylic style box for future storage which I always thing is a good idea.

GlamGlow have a gorgeous skincare set out containing three different mud treatments for £50. With a huge following for its tingling and cleansing muds this one is sure to make a skincare obsessive extremely happy!

In fact i imagine at this rate I will be producing another Gift Guide in a week or so with other new products that I've found!

Do you find it easy or hard to buy for fellow females are Christmas time?
I think I could quite easily do it but may come into problems when a budget is required and also stopping myself from buying one for me too!

What are on your Gift Guides?

I've got another 'product free' gift guide coming next week!

L xxx