Hey everyone,

as you know Christmas is the most wonderful time of the year, and I absolutely love it so today I'm going to be sharing with you my favourite things about Christmas! Enjoy! xx

Christmas Tree

Bare Trees

Snow (a very unreliable favourite)

Berry Lips

Christmas Jumpers

Roses Chocolates

Lush's Christmas Collection


Winter Candles

Christmas Decorations

Blankets

Christmas Lights

Blogmas!!!

Hey everyone,

I really enjoy it whenever I have a proper skincare routine that I do every night. In winter, so far I have established a pretty permanent one so I thought I'd share it with you all! Enjoy! xxx

The first thing I use is either Soap and Glory's Peaches and Clean Cleansing Milk or Garnier's Micellar Cleansing Water.


If I use Peaches and Clean, I put 2 pumps on my fingertips and start to work it into my skin making sure I get rid of any last bits of make up. For my eyes, I do a really small pump, split it between my two hands and gently rub my eyes until all of the product has come off. I then use a wet flannel to get rid of any excess product still on my face.


However, if I use the Garnier Cleansing Water, I nearly fully soak a cotton pad with the product and just move the cotton pad across my face, focussing on my eyes. This is really quick and easy for if I'm rushing a bit.



I then use my Nivea Rich Regenerating Night Cream. I have this in a pot (you can also get it in a tube) so I just get a bit of product and massage it all over my face.


Next I use my Simple Spotless Skin Rapid Spot Zapper on any blemishes and around my nose.



Finally, I use my Body Shop Born Lippy Pink Berry Lip Balm and my Zoella Beauty Wonder Hand. These are 2 of my most favourite products to use in autumn-winter.

So, I hope you all enjoyed this post, thank you so much for reading, and I will see you all very, very soon,

Love Lou
xxxx

Hey everyone,

I love doing how much is my face posts for you all and you all seem to love them so today I'm going to be doing one on my standard look so far this December! Enjoy! xx

Smashbox 24h Hour Photo Finish Shadow Primer - £20.00



Urban Decay Solo - Half Baked - £14



(I put the link to easy baked as the website said Half Baked was blue so I went with the most similar shade)

Urban Decay Naked Palette - £38.50



Soap and Glory Supercat Skinny Liquid Eyeliner - £6.50



Maybelline Go Colossal Mascara - £6.99



Seventeen Stay Time Concealer - £4.49


Soap and Glory Blur and Brighten Concealer - £6


Kiko Free Spirit Lip and Cheek - DISCONTINUED - was £12.50





Total = £102.98

Thank you all so much for reading, and I will see you all tomorrow,

Love Lou
xxxxx

P.S. I'm going to be doing a tutorial on this look later in the week!

Hey everyone,

A couple of weeks ago I went to the most gorgeous garden centre and they had the most amazing Christmas display. I took a lot of photos so I thought I'd share them with you all today. Enjoy! xxx













So, I hope you enjoyed this post, thank you for reading, and I will see you again tomorrow,

Love Lou
xxxx

Hey everyone,

Buying people presents is one of the things I love most about Christmas! But, sometimes the presents that mean the most are the homemade ones. So today, I'm sharing with you 4 ideas for some DIY gifts! Enjoy - xx!

Gingerbread Body Scrub

• 1 Cup of Sugar
• 1 Cup of Brown Sugar
• 1/2 Cup of Coconut Oil
• 1/4 Cup of Almond Oil
• 1/2 tsp. of Vanilla Extract
• 1/2 tsp. of Cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp. of All Spics
• 1/2 tsp. of Nutmeg
• A Mason Jar with lid

In a medium size bowl combine all ingredients (apart from oils).Gradually add the oils until it's your desired consistency - you may need more or less than the stated amounts. Scoop all the scrub into the mason jar. Decorate the jar and print out a little label to stick on et voila! How quick and easy was that!

Pamper Hamper

• A wicker basket (of an size)

You can personalise this as much or as little as you like. You could use things like:

• DVD's
• Body Lotions
• Body Scrubs
• Bubble Bath
• Bath Bombs or Bubble Bars
• Snacks
• Face Masks
• Cleansers
• Moisturisers
• Candles

Obviously, you can add in different things or take things out. It really just depends on who you're making it for and what they like and dislike.

Cookie Mountain

• 250g softened butter
• 140g caster sugar
• 1 egg yolk
• 2 tsp vanilla extract
• 300g plain flour.

Mix the butter and sugar in a large bowl with a wooden spoon. Then add the egg yolk and vanilla extract until combined. Finally sift the flour - you may need to use your hands to make it into a dough. Then choose 5 different sized stars - 2 cookies of each size. Cut 2 out of each size and pop them in the oven for 15 mins. Then put the 2 stars together and pile them up in size order. Wrap them in cellophane and tie it with some ribbon at the top.

Hot Chocolate Kit

• 1 tub of your favourite hot chocolate
• A cute mug
• Marshmallows
• Candy cane (optional)
• Wicker basket.

In the basket put the mug and the hot chocolate. Wrap some marshmallows in cellophane and put them in the top of the mug and slot the candy cane over the side of the mug. If you want you can wrap the whole thing in cellophane put you don't have to.

Thank you so much for reading, and I hope this has helped you in one way or another. I will see you all again tomorrow,

Love Lou
xxxxx

Hey everyone,

I haven't done a pamper routine in quite a long time so today I thought I would do a Christmassy routine! Enjoy - xxx!

First of all, I run a bath. I am constantly changing up what I have in my bath. This year I am loving the Lush Christmas Range! Today I used the Magic Wand Reusable Bubble Bar and also popped in a few squares of the Zoella Beauty Le Fizz bath fizzer bar.

Magic Wand Bubble Bar has the scent of Snow Fairy which is probably my most favourite Christmas scent and Le Fizz is from the Sweet Inspirations collection so it has a scent of macaroons and toasted almonds. These sweet scents work hand in hand to create the most gorgeous Christmas scent.


I then take my make up off using the Soap and Glory Peaches and Clean Cleansing Milk. This literally melts away make up and it is perfect for all skin types. I then used the Nu Skin Glacial Mud Mask (review here). This exfoliates and cleanses at the same time so it is currently my favourite mask to use!

The mask has to dry for 15-25 minutes so during that time I have my bath and have a little sing-song to my "Blogging..." playlist on Spotify - even though I'm definitely not blogging! haha.


When the mask is dry, I wash it off and put on the Nivea Rich Regenerating Night Cream. This is my absolute favourite moisturiser all year round. It moisturises my skin without making it look greasy or oily at all.

Finally, I put on my cosiest pair of pyjamas, light a candle and put on some tv. Most probably the combo of : Strictly Come Dancing, X factor and then I'm a Celeb. I absolutely love tv this time of year and I always make sure I'm completely ready for all 3 programmes because there is nothing better than sitting down and watching all three back to back!

So, thank you all so much for reading, and I will see you all very, very soon,

Love Lou
xxxx

Qotp - What have you been doing to pamper yourself this winter?

Hey everyone,

As Christmas is my favourite time of year, I thought I would be a good idea for me to do a q and a so you could get to know what I love about Christmas and why. Enjoy! xx

@beauty_lils on instagram asked:

What is your favourite thing about Christmas and why?

Ooohhh, this one is hard. I'd have to say probably seeing all my friends and family and just having time to be together... and I can't forget the food ;)

@gracekate on instagram asked:

What is your favourite Christmas present you have ever received?

How could I ever pick one!!! I have got to say my laptop - because without it my blog would never have been created and I would never have discovered my love for writing!

@alohaitslily on instagram asked:

What is your favourite Christmas Decoration?

It has to be the santa posters I put on the doors that my Grandpa gave me a couple years back!

@girlabroadblog on instagram asked:

Ultimate Christmas Lip Colour?

I love a dark berry lip so I either use MAC's Plumful or Kiko Free Spirit in 105!

@itscaitlinx on instagram asked:

Favourite Festive Film?

I'm going to be completely cliché and say Elf - it's just so good!

@_elizabeth_coyle on instagram asked:

What is your favourite Christmas tradition?

This is really, really hard... I think it probably has to be baking our Christmas cakes with my Grandma and Mum every year!

So, thank you so much for watching, and I will see you all again tomorrow,

Love Lou
xxxx

The first thing that I thought looked really cute was the Liz Earle Winter Nourishment Gift. This contains a 100% pure muslin cloth and an intensive nourishment treatment. This is perfect for those of you who have friends' or family members that are really into skincare products and trying different brands. The set was purposely designed to nourish and replenish dry, chapped winter skin. This gift set looks amazing and retails at just £8 so this is really affordable as Liz Earle products are amazing!

Soap and Glory are the most amazing brand for gorgeous but affordable gift sets. One of my favourites this year is the Get Into The Smooth set. This is a set of 3 body butters : The Righteous Butter, Sugar Crush Butter and Smoothie Star Butter. These are all mini butters but aren't so small that they don't last very long. They are the perfect size to pop in a suitcase to go on holiday! This set is £7.50 which is the exact same as 3 minis but you can't get a Sugar Crush Butter or Smoothie Star Butter as minis.

Anyone who knows me will know my love for the Jack Wills gift sets. The packaging is gorgeous and the products are some of the best quality I have ever used. A gorgeous set they have released this year is the Body Spray Trio. This has a full size Hope Cove spray, English Velvet spray and Signature spray. Hope Cove is by far my favourite scent - it's the most gorgeous fresh but sweet scent ever. But, the other sprays are a close second. This set is £10 which I think is really affordable for the amount you get and the quality of the products!
Sleek is a brand that I would never look to when shopping for Christmas, however this year some of their sets are incredible! My favourite is probably the Say the Magic Word Mini Matte Me Collection. This has 4 of the mini Matte Me liquid lipsticks in the shades: Birthday Suit, Velvet Slipper, Rioja Red and Shabby Chic. This set has shades that suits every skin tone - it has the most gorgeous nude shades as well as a darker shade or two. This set is £5 which is less than a full size Matte Me!!

Last but certainly not least is the Boots Extracts Vanilla House of Treats! This has in it the Vanilla Body Wash, Vanilla Body Spray and Vanilla Body Lotion. They are all full sized products and they smell incredible. This set has the most gorgeous packaging - it's just so Christmassy!! Vanilla is such a classic but beautiful scent that should be a staple in everyone's perfume library! This set is £10 which is an amazing price for the products you get.

Thank you so much for reading, and I will see you all tomorrow!,

Love Lou
xxxx

DISCLAIMER : These photos were all found on www.google.com - None of them are my own

Hey everyone,

Welcome to the first day of Blogmas! I am going to be doing a blog post everyday which is really exciting! Last year I did every other day, so this year, I thought I'd step it up a bit! Today, I'm going to be sharing with you a recipe for gingerbread pudding! Enjoy! xx

Ingredients (Serves 8) :

350ml of Full-fat Milk
150g of Dark Brown Muscovado Sugar
1 and 1/2 tsp. of Bicarbonate of Soda
75ml of Stem Ginger Syrup
150g of Unsalted Butter
75g of Black Treacle
275g of Self Raising Flour
1 and 1/2 tbsp. of Ground Ginger
1 tsp. of Ground Cinnamon
1 tsp. of Mixed Spice
A pinch of Sea Salt
60g of Stem Ginger - finely chopped
3 Egg Yolks

Preheat the oven to 180 C/350 F/Gas Mark 4. Warm the milk and sugar in a saucepan and whisk to combine. Bring to a simmer, then remove from heat and stir in the bicarbonate of soda. Stir in the stem ginger syrup.

Melt the butter, treacle and golden syrup in another large saucepan.

Sift the flour, spices and salt into a bowl. Add the stem ginger to the dry ingredients, using your fingers to rub it in and distribute it evenly

Add a little milk mixture to the butter and treacle mixture to loosen it and whisk until smooth. Slowly begin to whisk the dry ingredients into the mixture, adding extra milk mixture to loosen when necessary. When all of the flour mixture has been incorporated, whisk in the remaining milk mixture and the egg yolks. The batter will be quite wet.

Pour the batter into a 25cm x 5cm baking dish and bake for 40 minutes, or until the centre is springy to touch. Serve with vanilla ice cream and warm butterscotch sauce.

Thank you so much for reading,  I'll see you all very, very soon,

Love Lou
xxx