Laura Mercier Long Lash Mascara

Laura Mercier Long Lash Mascara £19.50 - link

I'm sure you know by now that I am a little (lot) obsessed with mascaras. I have no idea why - I just love 'em.

I've had this floating about for a while and I'm not too sure where I got the sample from - maybe a beauty box but who knows, the full size is on it's way to me from SpaceNK and I can't wait.

I LOVE this mascara. It's incredible and I haven't really seen any other reviews about it, unless I'm just late to the party, but this is potentially the greatest mascara for length and volume I've ever tried.

The wand is bristles not plastic (which I prefer) and the shape makes it perfect to coat every lash. The formula isn't clumpy at all but where it is great for length it fails slightly in thickness. It is definitely buildable though and even suggests two coats for maximum potential.

It retails at £19.50 which I think is really reasonable in comparison to other high end mascaras that usually cost around £22.

I can't recommend this enough, it's amazing and definitely deserves more credit.


What's your favourite Laura Mercier product? Have you tried any?

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

Merry Christmas!

So far my day has been spent with copious amounts of tea and chocolate oranges, being absolutely and completely spoilt and trying to get my dog to keep a santa hat on and as you can see above, I succeeded.

I hope you have a lovely day full of food, presents, more food and good company.

Feeling Festive With Christmas Candles

Nothing brings me more joy than a wondefully scented candle, especially those that are Christmas themed. I've been burning Christmas candles since November and I thought I'd share some of my favourite ones with you. I tend to stick to the sweeter side of things when I'm picking candles, vanilla being my favourite so if you're a cinnamon kind of girl I'm not going to be much use to you - sorry!

The one pictured above I bought from Tesco about a week ago and it smells incredible. Apart from the packaging, which is adorable, it's not that 'Christmassy' as the scent is mainly vanilla but I bloody love it! It retails for £5 which I think is pretty reasonable, all in all well done Tesco.

Yankee Candle - Christmas Cookie

This is, again, pretty much entirely vanilla scented. It smells a lot sweeter than the one from Tesco and a lot more buttery for lack of a better word. I think pretty much everyone has smelt this candle, it's lovely. And because it doesn't smell so traditionally festive you can get away with burning it all year - if it lasts that long.

Yankee Candle - Snow In Love

This is a fresh kind of smell and is pretty similar to Yankee Candle's 'Fresh Linen'. It's a really 'homely' scent and perfect for burning throughout the day.

Lily Flame - Ho Ho Ho

I have absolutely no idea how to describe this smell which is useful considering you can't smell it. It's a really rich, deep fragrance  with top notes of amber and incense and it's kind of like a perfume scent but in a good way. Again, sticking to my theme, it doesn't exactly smell 'Christmassy' but definitely adds a bit of something to a cosy night in. 

Flamingo Candles - Chocolate Orange

If you've read any of my Christmas posts you'll know I'm slightly if not manically obsessed with chocolate oranges so you can guess why this candle is one of my favourites. It just smells like chocolate oranges, there's really not much else to say. I love it.

What's your favourite Christmas scent?

                         

Christmas Wishlist 2014

make up bag - notebook set - lush jingle bell gift set - nars virtual domination palette
zoeva the complete set - chelsea boots - diptyque vanille candle - vogue print
origins super sampler - nails inc be gelous


I actually find it really difficult to get a list together for what I want for Christmas, despite finding things I want all year when December rolls around suddenly I don't need anything. But after many, many hours of online shopping I've narrowed it down to this.. and another double sided A4 page.


My list is pretty beauty heavy this year with the Nars palette being the shining star. I can't even express how much I want this in my life. It is beautiful. Santa, (aka boyfriend) I hope you're listening.

The Nails Inc set is on sale at the moment on Asos at 50% off making it £29, so if it's on your list too then now's the time to buy it! The colours are all really wearable as I find that more often than not with nail varnish sets that there's always a couple of weird shades, but this one looks great. And as a side note I also really love their new packaging, well done Nails Inc.

Origins Christmas sets are always amazing and this one is no different. Personally I think this is the best one this year. It has a little bit of everything which is great for people new to the brand or for people like me who want doubles of everything because they are a complete skin care addict. Either way I think it's a great buy for Christmas.

The Vogue print is my favourite thing in my entire list. I am absolutely in love with it. I'm redecorating my bedroom (again) and have been spending pretty much every evening lusting over prints and posters on Etsy and this has been sitting in my basket since I first saw it a couple of weeks
ago. I'll be a very happy bunny if this is under the tree on Christmas morning.


What do you want the most for Christmas this year?

Nail Polish Storage

Since moving this year and decorating more times than I can count I've been looking for ways to
store things in more practical (yet inventive) ways.
I used to have all my nail polishes in a draw or displayed beautifully on a shelf but I have no room to do either of those anymore so I thought I'd share with you a way that I've found that looks great and is pretty much as practical as it gets.

The jars are from H&M home, which may possibly be my most favourite thing in the world right now, and they're £6.99 each link. They're pretty big too so if you're a complete nail varnish addict like I am then these are perfect for you. They also just look nice as decoration on a dressing table - I usually have these on a shelf above my make up storage (aka Alex) and they look lovely.

I'm really getting in to home stuff recently and I'll hopefully be giving you a tour of my bedroom in January.

I hope you liked this post and let me know if you want to see more like it.

Christmas Gift Guide For Her - £20 & Under

- topshop duo - this works dream team - flamingo candle pink lemonade - 'smile' make up bag -
- pewter statement necklace - snowflake cookie yankee candle  - ciate set of 6 baubles -
- grey fairisle slipper socks - gold statement necklace - hands of hope ornament - grey beanie -
- cath kidston mug - daily dishonesty book - thebalm california face palette -
 - everything is going to be ok - starbucks set - benefit cheek me out duo -

I honestly want every single one of those things and I hope you do too.
This took so much longer than the one for him I did yesterday, us girls are hard to buy for just because there are so many choices! And also sorry about the pink theme, it was a total accident I promise. 

I definitely recommend having a look at the Topshop beauty gifts they're adorable and perfect for friends/sisters etc especially if you're on a budget. Asos are doing some really cute gifts too, I'm particularly loving their stationary with this being my favourite.

I hope this helped you with gift ideas or just by adding a few bits to your Christmas list!

Lots of love.

Christmas Gift Guide For Him - £20 & Under

- nerf gun - nerf gun bullets - ted baker edt set - 'stuff' washbag - photos that changed the world -
- the hungover cookbook - scrabble mugs - green moleskine journal - soap & glory set -
- globe money box - keep it covered apron - darth vader alarm clock -

Men are notoriously difficult to buy for so most of the time I just buy a few random things like the ones pictured above. Books, mugs and journals are pretty much fail safe with all ages of men but really I think most of these will suit any age and any relationship e.g dad, friend, boyfriend etc etc.

Good luck shopping for the man in your life I hope this made it a little bit easier!

Lots of love.

Chocolate Biscuit Wands

Shopping List:
- Wooden Skewers
- Unsalted Butter (225g)
- Plain Flour (225g)
- Caster Sugar (75g)
-1 Large Bar Of Milk Chocolate

Method:
This recipe makes 6-8 fairly thick & medium sized biscuits.

1. Preheat oven to 180º (Gas Mark 4) & line baking tray with butter.

2. Mix butter and sugar in a bowl until smooth then gradually add the flour and continue mixing until it becomes a doughy/paste texture.

3. Roll out the dough on a lightly floured surface to the thickness of half of the tip of your finger (or 5mm if you have a ruler, which lets face it, you most probably don't.)

4. Cut the dough into any shapes you want. I chose a stars obviously and just drew out a star, cut it out and used a knife to cut the dough around it.

5. After you've used all of your dough and turned it into shapes, push in the skewers about an inch into each biscuit.

6. Place on the baking tray evenly apart and put them in the oven for 10-15 minutes - they should be a pale golden colour.

7. Place on a plate or a wire rack and leave to cool for 20-30 minutes.

8. 30 minutes later, fill a saucepan with water about halfway and boil. When it's boiled place a glass bowl on top and add put in the chocolate (if you know how to do this in the microwave without it exploding then do it that way, I'm sure it's much quicker.)

9. When the chocolate is melted use a spoon to coat the biscuits. It's much easier to do one side at a time and once that side has set then doing the other side. Once you've covered all of your biscuits, and decorated them if you want to,  put them in the fridge until the chocolate has completely set and isn't 'damaged' by touching it.

And Ta da!


I've made these a couple of times and they're so good. I would say though that the time they need to be in the oven for varies on how hot the oven already is so keep checking them every 5 minutes.
I hope you give these a go over Christmas and that you love them as much as I do!


Lots of love.