HOW TO LOOK FRESH & ALIVE DURING THE FESTIVE SEASON

We all know that this time of year is always pretty hectic; with busy schedules, lots of parties, increased working hours, deadlines, illnesses and the stress of Christmas shopping! It is no surprise if you're feeling a little run down and in need of a break! These are some of the products that I like to use when I have had too many busy days and late nights and want to pretend that I've had my 8 hours sleep and several facials of course... 

When my eyes are feeling incredibly tired and pretty much still asleep I always like to use a good hydrating eye cream, like the Bare Minerals Renew & Hydrate eye cream, as it always makes my under eyes feel so smooth and refreshed. You could also try keeping it in the fridge and then applying it to your under eyes to fight those pesky under eye bags.

I've recently been using The Body Shop's Vitamin C Energising Face Spritz; it smells of oranges and really hydrates your skin and makes it look a lot more fresh and radiant. You can also spray this onto your face during the day as a little pick me up. Another product that I like to use to add radiance to tired and dull skin is the Bare Minerals Biolucent Mineral Brightening Treatment. I really notice a difference when I use this product, as my skin looks so radiant and healthy, the kind of finish that a good dewy foundation would give. The cold weather is also a further battle to our skin, making it feel even more dry and dehydrated, so a good overnight mask like Clinique's Moisture surge mask is a must have.

There are of course a few make up must haves that really help to hide the appearance of dark circles and blemishes that have maybe appeared after one too many take aways or other naughty foods this time of year. I love Mac's Pro Longwear Concealer and Mac's Prep and Prime Highlighter in Radiant Rose. I always talk about both of these products on my blog so sorry if you're a regular reader, but they are just so good! I always find that a pretty pink blush makes you look so much more alive by adding a good amount of warmth and colour to your complexion. I've chosen Benefit's Bella Bamba as it's a gorgeous bright pink, that still looks like a natural flush of colour on the cheeks. Finally, to make you look even more fresh and alive, I like to add a little highlighter, like Mac's Soft and Gentle, to the cheekbones, brow bone and inner eye. This really lifts your eyes and makes them look so much bigger, brighter and awake. 

I hope you find some of these products useful to you during this festive season and know that you're not the only one feeling very tired and ready for a day off come Christmas day! It's times like this when I'm especially grateful that us woman can have a little helping hand in looking great with a little, or maybe even a lot of make up!

THE NEXT BIG THING - SOAP AND GLORY

My mum first discovered and bought me the Christmas Soap and Glory set about 4 years ago. Ever since, last year was the only year that I haven't purchased this set, while it was on offer. The set was originally £60 but every year Boots reduce it to just under half price, so this year it was £29. The offer is on for the next week but as it's such a popular offer they do sell out fast, it's already sold out online! It seems that a lot of Boots stores do still have quite a lot of stock in so if you do fancy getting a great bargain then be very quick! 

This year I have been on a mission to use up the hundreds of beauty products I have and I've been so successful that I actually had to go out and buy body moisturiser and shower gel! I figured that this year I kind of did actually need the majority of the products in the set so it was definitely a must have. 

The set includes 10 full size products:

HAND DREAM™ Super Cream 100ml

ORANGEASM™ Body Wash 500ml

BUTTER YOURSELF™ Moisture Lotion 500ml

HEEL GENIUS™ Foot Cream 125ml

SUGAR CRUSH™ Body Scrub 300ml

WHIPPED CLEAN™ Shower Butter 250ml

THE RIGHTEOUS BUTTER™ Body Butter 300ml

OFF YOUR FACE™ 3 in 1 Daily Purifying Cloths (25 cloths)

SEXY MOTHER PUCKER™ Lip Lacquer in Charm Offensive 7ml

THICK & FAST™ Super Volume Mascara 10ml

I have used the majority of the products before and loved them. The only product that I have used and not liked was the Thick and Fast mascara, but I'm prepared to give it another try. I really wanted to try the Orangeasm range, so I was glad that the body wash was included so I'll just have to go and buy the Body butter now! I needed a good hand cream, so I'm looking forward to trying Hand Dream. I loved the original mother pucker lipglosses but this new formula seems just as good. It's very creamy and a gorgeous nude colour. Unlike the original Mother Pucker glosses it doesn't have that intense plumping formula, so it's gentle on your lips and doesn't feel like they're tingling off.... okay weird...  

I love all of the different scents that Soap and Glory offer so I'm so glad that I managed to get one of these sets and I can't wait to start using everything. 

BIRTHDAY DAY AT THE ZOO

My 22nd birthday was earlier this week, although for some reason I kept thinking I was actually turning 23 - god knows where I got that from. I didn't know what to do and having your birthday in December makes it all that much harder, as it's freezing outside and everywhere is super busy with crazy Christmas people.  

I decided that my boyfriend, Jamie and I, should go to the zoo, as I had been wanting to go for a year or so but we had never got round to it. Luckily the weather was really good and the sun was even shining, even though it was absolutely freezing, at least it was dry and sunny! There was also hardly any people there so it was really nice to just go around, wherever you wanted, without having to fight the crowds to see the animals. We decided to feed the Elephants and Giraffes. Jamie was really up for it but I wasn't so sure I wanted their wet, slobbery mouths/trunks that close to my hand. I decided to just play photographer while Jamie fed the giraffes but when it came to the elephants the woman just shoved food into my hand so I kind of felt like I had to. Thinking back, the giraffe feeding involved a lot less contact so I would have been much better off feeding them. It turned out that I actually did quite enjoy feeding them and even fed them a few more times. 

It is quite surreal to see such amazing animals so close up, obviously it would be much better to be able to see them in their natural habitat but it's as close as we can get and I'm pretty glad for the huge enclosures and fences separating us. 

We stopped at Pizza Hut on our way home for dinner and of course ice cream factory. It did occur to me that my 22nd birthday could have quite easily been a childs birthday any age under 10, with a zoo trip and then ice cream factory, but oh well! I never do anything for my birthday so it was nice to actually do something a little different for the day.

I think there may have been a bit of a connection between Jamie and the giraffe, they're looking straight at each other in one photo and further down Jamie looks so happy to be feeding him! It also looks like a kind of selfie of the two of them in the one where they're both at either side of the photo. 

Definitely more of a unique choice, but the Giant Anteater is one of my favourite animals to see. I think maybe because it's such an odd looking animal... sorry Giant Anteater.

I think this lion was actually yawning at the time, but it looked pretty cool, as if he was roaring. 

When life gets too much, just lay on your back with your feet up in the air - don't ask questions, just do it! 

One of my favourite animals are Tigers, we hunted far and low for them. In other words we followed the little signs around the zoo trying to find them. Right at the end of the day we managed to find them, by this time they had had enough of the day and seemed to be ready for bed, curled up inside. This was pretty good for us as we could see them so clearly, as they were right up near the viewing glass, as you can see from the photo. It's unbelievable how huge they are and thinking that such a beautiful and really dangerous animal could be that close to you. 

URBAN DECAY TEN 24/7 GLIDE ON EYELINER SET

I'm not normally a pencil eye liner kinda gal but somehow this eye liner set from Urban Decay stood out to me and told me that I had to buy it - so I did. There was something about the range of colours that just drew me in. As I don't normally use eye liners, I liked that there were a lot of colour variations in this set as I can use them when I try to create more exciting looks, as well as the typical everyday shades.

 There is a full size black liner (1.2g), 9 smaller liners (0.8g) and a sharpener. I also liked that nine of them are slightly smaller than the standard full size UD liner, as I know I won't ever use up a full size bright blue or gold liner.  The sharpener is a bonus and pretty handy to have.

Formula wise, these are amazing. They're so creamy so they glide onto the eye really smoothly, without any tugging or pulling of the eye. The colour intensity is even more amazing; they're all so true to colour and deliver the most vibrant beautiful shades, some with glitter and some matte. Finally, the longevity is perfect. When I swatched these on the back of my hand they actually did not come off! I washed my hands numerous times and even showered and there were still 10 little faint coloured lines that refused to disappear.  

Perversion: The blackest matte black. You will not find a darker black pencil! 

Glitter Rock: Metallic pink/peach with multidimensional glitter 

Moonspoon: Metallic grey with silver sparkle

Vacancy: Bright metallic teal green. One of my favourites! 

Faint: Warm taupe matte

Gonzo: Bright blue with subtle shimmer

Smokeout: Dark brown satin

Mugshot:Light metallic taupe with slight pink shift

Stargazer: Metallic gold with sparkle

Voodoo: Bright metallic purple with pink/purple sparkle. Another favourite!

Left to Right: Glitter rock, Mugshot, Faint, Stargazer, Voodoo, Vacancy, Smokeout, Gonzo, Moonspoon, Perversion. 

If you also need want this eye liner set, it's available from the Debenhams website, the Urban Decay website or any Urban Decay counter, but be quick as it's only limited edition for Christmas and will probably sell out soon! 

BRIDESMAID FOR MY BEST FRIEND

I was planning on writing up this post about a week ago but apparently my laptop wasn't too keen. I had just about turned it on when it completely and literally died right there in front of me. Luckily, it was just a quick and fairly cheap fix and now we're back up and running - maybe it heard how close I was to trading it in for a shiny new Mac book (happy bank account but I'll keep dreaming). 

Last month my best friend got married and I was lucky enough to be a bridesmaid. I was really excited for the day as I love going to weddings, even though I definitely never want to have my own, I like to see other peoples. 

I started off the day very early so that I had time to get myself ready, travel to the hotel and then do the brides make up. It always feels so good making someone look their best for such a special day in their life. 

The wedding went so well and was such a beautiful day. The bride had not so kindly decided that all four of us bridesmaids should do a speech. I feel okay about public speaking as I've done it quite a lot, however it was still pretty hard to plan what to say, while trying not to bore everyone else and instead hoping for the odd laugh!  I tried to think through every conversation that we had ever had, to find something worth sharing. I thought about so much that I could say, but knew it had the potential to come out wrong and then people wouldn't get it and it would be very awkward. I had a kind of eureka moment; I remembered that we both love One Tree Hill and that she had told me that her now husband, had proposed to her just after she was watching OTH. I felt like a genius! If you are also a OTH fan you'll know what I'm referring to; I decided to quote a part of Haley's maid of honour speech to Brooke. It was great as it related to myself and her but also joined her and her husband. 

I didn't think I would be nervous but I think the fact that the other bridesmaids had been stressing, made me over think mine and become nervous, my hands were shaking but apparently I hid it well. Luckily my speech went smoothly and I managed to say exactly what I wanted to and I even managed to make people laugh! 

The rest of the day was so much fun and I even danced a little bit. Did I mention I don't drink so I was completely sober and dancing makes me feel so awkward, but I got into it when some good songs were playing. 

My speech - god knows what I'm doing/saying but it seems to be going down well!

My boyfriend, Jamie and I 

 There's something pretty alien about wearing exactly the same dress and accessorising it exactly the same as three other people, but you get used to it. I'm now looking forward to the next wedding I get to go to, even though there isn't any in the near future just yet!