Merry Christmas

I hope everyone has had a good Christmas. While this year has been harder than in the past, as I'm away from my family in Canada, it was a lovely Christmas nonetheless. Crackers were popped, presents were ripped open, and I had a huge Christmas dinner before bed. I got so many beautiful gift, and also pulled off the ultimate Christmas surprise. If you want to see a few snaps of my Christmas, then read more.

Stratford-Upon-Avon: The Shakespeare Town

The boyfriend and I went exploring in Stratford-upo-Avon the other day. It's known as the birthplace of Shakespeare and is the cutest little English town I have seen! I absolutely loved it. There are a lot of cultural things to do, such as the Royal Shakespeare Company, the MAD museum, and the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust.

My Christmas Wishlist

You knew this was coming, didn't you? This will probably one of the last "collage" type posts I'll do in a while, because I'm hoping to get back into blogging (and taking pictures over Christmas time!) It's simply been a little difficult, so these kind of posts are easy to get ready. Anyway, this is my Christmas wish list - and yes, I have expensive taste. It's such a problem, because I can't exactly ask for any of this, so I'll usually end up telling people I want PJs, or makeup, or anything simple.

Birmingham Comiccon & Memorabilia Show

A few saturdays ago, the boyfriend and I decided to go to the Birmingham Comiccon & Memorabilia show, and it was a great day out! In the grand scheme of things, we should have planned better, but we still enjoyed ourselves very much. We got there around 1 pm, thinking we'd buy some ticket and be in quickly. Boy, were we mistaken - why don't you click ahead and see what happened?

Smiggle Blogging Event

Last Thursday, I went to the Smiggle event in the Birmingham Bullring. I had been to the Solihull store before, but just for a quick browse. It was actually really fun to explore with stationery store with all the bloggers! Even though I no longer need stationery as much as I used to in school, it was hard to resist all the wonderful products that were presented to us. 

Smiggle gifted us with a great goodie bag (I got a pen, a pencil case, the cutest macarons erasers EVER and a lolly) and a cool advent calendar. I can't wait to the use the advent calendar and see what little surprises I'll get every day. 

Christmas: Boots 3 for 2 Picks

You know what everyone's favourite words are? 3 for 2, 3 for 2, 3 for 2! I swear the 3 for 2 deals need to start coming to Canada because they're so tempting and good (especially during Christmas time). Boots is pretty famous for it's 3 for 2 deals (or does it just feel like that because I'm from abroad?) and right now they have so many good gift sets/stocking stuffers for Christmas! Read below to see my favourite picks!

Sephora Wishlist: November

You know what's even better than makeup? Christmas makeup gift sets - they're always so amazing! I miss being able to walk down the aisles of Sephora and looking at all the sets that come out. I've been looking at the sets online, and I've got my eyes on a couple, along with some other things that I have been wanting to get for ages! Anyway, these are the products sitting in my Sephora shopping cart at the moment:

Cohorted Mini Haul

Have you heard of the website Cohorted? No? Have you been living under a rock? If you love makeup and you live in the UK, you have to check it out. This is how it works for all you non-cohorted folks: every Monday at 6 pm, Cohorted puts out 4 fabulous beauty items for sale. If you want to buy it, you join a cohort, and the more people join - the bigger the discount! They'll always tell you what the maximum discount will be, so you'll have a clear idea of what amount you could save. They have some of the latest items, and some great classics.

Life Update: October

This is what I can gather from my latest update/instagram feed: I like taking selfies! Hah, might have to work on having more creative pictures up there, but I'm such a lazy bum when it comes to instagram. Anyway, here's what's been going on in the month of October.

FABB Birmingham Haul

Look. At. This. Bounty.

I have never seen such a fabulous goodie bag than the one I got at the FABB Birmingham event (find my post about it here). The bag was so heavy I could barely carry it back home! Obviously, it would take me ages to go through every item I got, so I won't do that. I'm obviously going to try every single product and if something blows my mind, I'll let you guys know. Or if there's something you spot in the picture and want a review of it, let me know in the comments!

FABB Birmingham

I had the pleasure to attend #FabbBirmingham this weekend, and I'm so glad I went! If you haven't heard about the FABB events, they're blogger meetup/events that happen all over the UK. They're organized by Ray and Tor, who are a million times amazing for putting together these events. This was really fun, especially because there was a big focus on bloggers interacting with brands. I went with a few girls who I had met at the Birmingham Blogger Meetup last month, and it was so nice to see some familiar faces! I love how there's a little community in this big city, mainly because it's made moving to Birmingham a little less crazy. 

Anyway, click on the read more to see pictures from the event!

Milford Perk Diner

The boyfriend and I actually spent last weekend up in Pembrokeshire for a good country break, and it was great. We didn't get up to much, mostly catching up with old friends and enjoying a pint at his favourite pub. I had a huge craving for pancakes, and if you've ever been to Pembrokeshire, you'll know variety in food is not common. I can have an English Breakfast everywhere I go, but finding pancakes was a little difficult. We were recommended this lovely little dinner in Milford Haven - Milford Perk Diner.

Halloween Tutorial: The Skeleton

This is my favourite look so far! The boyfriend thought I looked proper creepy when I walked down the stairs, and I think I might actually do this on Halloween night. This is such an easy look to recreate, the only thing to remember is that it's not going to look perfect. All you need for this look is some white face paint (super easy to comes across this time of the year), black matte eyeshadow, and a black kohl pencil. That's it!

Clinique All About Shadow 8-Pan Palette

I'm pretty sure my life is being taken over by palettes. What is it about these that makes them so appealing? Is it the convenience? The beautiful shades that all go together? The beautiful cases that protects the shadows? Either way, I'm a palette-aholic. My latest addition is this gorgeous one from Clinique which holds eight beautiful, pigmented shades that are perfect for a day to day basis. These shadows are not too glittery, they blend seamlessly, and are very soft.

Halloween Tutorial: The Mime

If there's one thing that I love about October, it's Halloween. From the first of the month, I'm already planning my costume, what I'm going to do, what candy I'm going to eat. Yes, I love Halloween, and I'd be a little annoyed if everyone didn't share my enthusiasm. Last year, I actually did two ~Halloween-inspired looks, mainly out of me watching too many tutorials on Youtube and wanting to try them out. I did a zombie look, and a flower nymph look. 

September Favourites

Let's all take a moment of mourning for the end of September, my birthday month (silence). Now, let's celebrate the beginning of fall! Hoorah! Being a fall baby, I don't feel in my comfort zone unless I can step out in some ankle boots, wear a deep cherry red on my lips, and layer a cute jacket on top of my outfit. My favourites for September fall into the beauty/skincare kind, and most of them are super affordable!

"Workwear" Fashion Haul - H&M, Forever 21, and The Gap

With a new job starting later this week, I had the sudden realization that I didn't really own any "office casual" clothing. Working at The Body Shop meant I could wear black leggings and a black t-shirt to work every day, super comfortable but not exactly a good base for working in an office setting. So as I heard I got the new job, I decided to treat myself by getting some new pieces that I could work at work. I managed to spend less than £40 at every store, which is a really good bargain when I've come out with seven tops and one bottom. Read below to see what I got!

Life Update: September

I am two days away from my 4-month mark living the UK, and already some things are changing. The biggest news? I got a new job! Today is my last day working at The Body Shop store, and I am very sad to go. I will forever be grateful that they gave me a chance, allowing me to land a decent job less than two weeks after I landed here. The girls at the shop have been welcoming, sweet, and I hope we do stay in touch. I'll definitely miss the free samples, the mini-makeovers, and the general friendliness of everyone I worked with. I never thought I would enjoy working in retail again, but the team at the shop made my time there really fun - especially during a time where I felt like such an outsider.

Birmingham Blogger Meetup Haul

I wanted to write an entirely separate post about the goodie bag I got at the Birmingham Blogger Meet, hosted by Abbigayle Warner. Just look at my stash! I would have never believed I'd get all of these goodies for free, and I'm super grateful to Abbigayle and the sponsors for being so generous with us. Anyway, read more if you want to see the products in detail!

Drops of Youth Eye Concentrate

The Body Shop have actually been dropping in a lot of new products lately, and as an employee, sometimes I get the pleasure of trying things out before they get released. One of their last releases was the Drops of Youth Eye Concentrate, which is a serum that comes in the form of a rollerball. It's meant to reduce lines, bagginess, and tiredness in the eye area. It retails for £19,which is a little pricier than most Body Shop offerings, but not as crazy as some high-end products. Plus, with the small amount needed to do both eyes, it'll probably last you a good while.

Birmingham Blogger Meet Up

I had the pleasure of attending the "Back to School" Birmingham Blogger Meetup last Sunday, which was organized by the lovely Abbigayle Warner. This was my first ever blogging event and I have to say, it was so amazing! I really had a lot of fun, I only wish I could have had more time (and been a little less anxious) to meet more of the girls. A small group of us met at Primark about an hour before the event, which was nice because I like meeting people one-on-one than in a big group better. We then went to The Slug & Lettuce where the event was held and sat down in an area just for us. Anyway read below to see what else I got up to that day!

Mini Boots & Paperchase Haul

I was feeling a little spendy the other day, so I decided to go to Boots to pick up some essentials (aka razors, deodorant, etc) and I was sucked into the beauty aisles - typical me. I managed to control myself and only picked up three things (yes, I forgot to photograph one, that's how unorganized this post was) and then went to Paperchase because I needed a new diary for the year. 

Maybelline ColorDrama Intense Velvet Lip Pencils

I noticed these little beauties on the Maybelline stand at Superdrug the other day, and since they had a big "NEW" sign above them, I had to have them. Obviously, right? These are the supposed dupe for the NARS Velvet Lip Pencil, which I've never used so I won't be doing a comparison. They're called the Maybelline ColorDrama Intense Velvet Lip Pencils, and I love them.

Nostalgia & Comics

A few weeks ago, the boyfriend and I decided to explore a little bit of Birmingham, since we never go into the city centre that often. He didn't want to go to a clothing store, while I didn't want to go to a video game shop - so we settled on finding a comic book store in Birmingham. After a quick google search, I found the address for Nostalgia & Comics. After a quick drive we entered the store, and wow! I was so impressed. 

Torrevieja, te Quiero

For my birthday week, the boyfriend and I whisked away to Torrevieja, Spain with the boyfriend and his parents. The next post is super photo-heavy, so it's under a cut. Anyway, I took about 300 pictures during the entire week, and no, I wasn't going to post them all because no one wants to scroll through so many. I've managed to "condense" it to about 60-something photos, showing you guys how we went our vacation.

Spain Shopping Haul

While most of my trip to Spain was spent on the beach, soaking in the sun, we did manage to take a little detour to a local shopping center - because we all know how much I love a good mall. I only had to go to three shops before I decided to halt my spending, otherwise I would have never been able to bring everything back! I went to Bershka (an old favourite that dates back to my first trip to Spain three years ago), Lefties (a new favourite) and Kiko (the makeup mecca I don't have access to in Brum).

Soap & Glory's Drama Clean & Peaches and Clean

During a random trip to Boots, I picked up these new products from Soap & Glory. I've never tried anything from their skincare range before, and I'll be honest - I wasn't wowed. I got the Peaches and Clean (a cleansing 3-in-1 wash) and Drama Clean (micellar water). The products themselves have beautiful packaging, that great S&G smell we all love, and decent ingredients. Plus, S&G is fairly affordable, so I thought I had found some great high street products to use in my skincare routine. 

My Birthday Wishlist

Oh, it's been a while since I've done a wishlist post, hasn't it? Sometimes these are the best things to do to prevent yourself from shopping. Plus, I like seeing these list because that means I won't spend money on silly things and save for things I really love. Here are a few high-end products I've had on my wishlist for a while, and what better theme than my birthday? I'm turning 23 today, and I'm celebrating in sunny, beautiful Spain. The only thing that could make today any better would be to have my friends and family from Canada around me because I miss you guys so very much! (/end of cheese <3)

August Favourites

Another month has gone by, can you believe it? I don't mind too much because September is my favourite month, so it's my favourite month of all. I had plenty of favourites this month! I don't have a lot of new products, just some old everyday favourites that I can't live without. It's a nice mix between beauty and non-beauty favourites, and if you've got your own favourites this month, let me know in the comments!

My "No Makeup" Makeup Look

While I do wear a full-face of makeup for my days at work (That's what you get for working at a place that sells makeup), I much prefer to keep it super simple during the weekends. This is also the perfect Back To School look, because it's super simple and natural. All you need is these five simple items:

1. A Base
The best base for those "No Makeup" days? A BB cream. I have become so obsessed with my Garnier BB Cream, and I really want to try some other ones. You really feel like your skin can breathe with a BB cream, since it's so much lighter than a foundation. Plus, there's so many options out there - colour correction, blurring, etc - you'll have a BB cream for everything.

2. A concealer
Bobbi Brown said that if she could only use two makeup products, it would be a colour corrector and a concealer, and I have to agree. As long as I can get rid of my redness and the dark circles under my eyes, I look pretty decent. Right now, my favourite concealer is the Collection Long Lasting Concealer. It's very creamy, but doesn't settle into lines too much. Plus, I have yet to find a better coverage (but then again I haven't tried the one from NARS yet).

3. Eyeliner
Whether it's a simple wing with my liquid eyeliner, or just doing my tight line with a pencil one, eyeliner makes your eyes pop and generally only takes a few second to apply. There are even days where I might just skip the eyeliner all together because step #4 is what really makes your eyes look more awake.

4. Mascara (and a lash curler)
Once your lashes are long and voluminous, you already look so much better. It makes you look more awake and puts the focus on your natural eyes. My favourite mascaras right now are Benefit's They Real, the Body Shop's Super Volume Mascara, and Rimmel's Scandaleyes Mascara.

5. A tinted lip balm/Lipstick/Lip Gloss
Whatever your preference is, as long as you've got your own MLBB (my lips but better) product, then you're set. I don't like to go for a bold lips when the rest of my makeup is so simple, so instead I used this lip crayon (the best mix between a balm and a lipstick) which is easy to apply and gives your lips a nice wash of colour.

And here's a bonus pictures of the look for glasses!
What are your must-have products for a bare face?
Do you ever go makeup-free, or "makeup" makeup-free?

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Lush Catastrophe Cosmetic

I've always loved Lush products, and for the longest time I really wanted to try their masks. They always look like they would work really well, and nothing feels better than a good mask. It's the perfect add-on to a pamper evening. I recently stopped into Lush and treated myself to the Catastrophe Cosmetic Fresh Face Mask, which is made from blueberries (the best fruit in the world). It's a cleansing mask that will soothe redness, irritation and leave your skin feeling super clean. 

It retails for £6.25, and you'll probably get a few uses out of it. The boyfriend and I have used it once, and our tub is still pretty full. You leave it on for 10 to 15 minutes, and then simply rinse it off. It hardens slightly on your skin, but leaves it feeling so smooth and clean. I really enjoyed the feeling of this mask, plus I love that it has so many good ingredients. The blueberries are full of antioxidants, like Vitamin A, C, and E. It's moisturising and soothing, the perfect mask for a quiet evening.

Have you tried any masks from Lush?
Any recommendations as to which one I should get next?

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What's In My Makeup Bag: Country Break Edition

I am currently writing this from Johnston, Wales, the quaint little town where the boyfriend is from. We've taking a little break from Birmingham and have come up here for a few days until Sunday evening. As I packed for this 5-day break away from the city, I tried to reduce my makeup bag to the bare essentials - a good practice run before our week-long holiday in Spain in September. After all, you don't want to take too much makeup when you're away, right?

Moda Exhibition

I managed to snag two visitors tickets to the Moda exhibition. It's the biggest UK trade show, showcasing over 1450 brands and their newest collection for the next year. As it is a trade show, you can't purchase anything, only visit. Plus, everything is being sold at a super low price, since stores then sell it at the RRP which is usually a lot higher. For example, I saw a beautiful beaded dress price at £30, but it's RRP was £80! How crazy is that? It makes you realize how much the things you buy might actually be worth when initially both in large quantities by a certain store. Click below to see more since there are a lot of pictures!

Giraffe

A few weeks back, the boyfriend and I tried out another restaurant in Touchwood. We went to Giraffe, mainly because it has a really funky name, and a really varied menu. You've got pasta, burgers, steaks, salads, etc. Plus, they had a great deal on cocktails, which is always a plus. It's a really affordable place for a date night, and just two steps away from the cinema (a plus in my world). The staff was so friendly and attentive, I really liked the service. The ambience was very relaxed, as you can tell from the original decor they've got going on. Click below to see what we ate!

Caramelised Chicken

It's been a while since I've posted a recipe, eh? To be honest, half the time I try to cook something new, I'm too overwhelmed to even think about taking pictures. Plus, I'm the messiest cook in the world, so I'd be a bit ashamed to take pictures of my horrific kitchen. Still, I managed to snag a few pictures of my latest, favourite recipe which is Caramelized Chicken. I got it from Home at 7, Dinner at 8, which was featured in my last FAVOURITES, and the boyfriend and I are obsessed.

Topshop Summer Haul

I wanted to pick up a few pieces before my holiday to Spain, since I didn't actually bring too many summer clothes with me to the UK. Who knew we would be having a heatwave? All I packed up before moving were sweaters and jeans, expecting that would be perfect for rainy England. I wanted to get some basics that would be good for me all year round, but that would extremely good in sunny Spain weather. I settled on three new pieces (ignore the floral shorts above, they were just a matter of creating symmetry) from Topshop.

Garnier BB Cream

Ever since the whole BB cream trend started, I wasn't buying it. What does BB even mean? Apparently, it can stand for "blemish balm" or "beauty balm", depending on the actual benefits of the product. Plus, I didn't really see the need for it because I'm always going for a high coverage foundation. But you know what? There are days when you don't want to cake your face with makeup, but you still want to look presentable. Enter the Garnier BB Cream. I initially heard about this on Casey Holmes' Youtube channel. She's always mentioning this BB cream over any other, and has said it works really well on oily-skinned girls too. Well, I have been completely won over.

The Body Shop Wild Argan Oil Body Butter

#1 perk of working at The Body Shop? Probably the freebies. #2 perk? Freebies of products that haven't been released yet! I was kindly gifted a tub of Wild Argan Oil Body Butter which is part of the Argan Oil range launching in early August. It's made with fair trade argan oil from Morocco, and apparently argan oil is also known as "liquid gold". How crazy is that? 

July Favourites

It's my favourite time of the month! Here are some things I have been loving in the month of July, including both beauty and miscellaneous things. I can't believe summer is already halfway over! That's so depressing, but at least I have a holiday coming up in September so that'll make the summer last a teeny bit longer. I'm kind of excited to see what fall season is like here in the UK, but I doubt it can beat the beautiful, magical fall that we have in Canada.

Lipstick Addict Tag

In honour of National Lipstick Day (yes, that's right), I decided to do the Lipstick Addict Tag! I'm the biggest lipstick fan, it's the probably the one product I can't help but always run to when I'm walking through the makeup aisles. I know what colours work on me, and I'm always on the lookout for the perfect red. Anyway, let's get to the tag!

Staffordshire's Monkey Forest

It was my first weekend off from work, so the boyfriend and I finally got to go to the Monkey Forest in Staffordshire. To be honest, we were completely blown away. I thought that it might be the kind of place where you walk around and maybe spot a monkey if you're lucky, à la Jurassic Park, but it was so much better! We got to see so many barbary macaques, as they have about 140 of them in the park. They also have six baby monkeys, one of which was born on the day we went! Anyway, this post is super photo heavy, so click below to see what we got up to.

Handmade Burger Co.

Last Friday, the boyfriend and I headed to Touchwood shopping center for a bite to eat. We've already gone to Handmade Burger Co in the Bullring, we hadn't been to this one. I love this place! It's similar to Nando's in how their menu looks, and how you order at the front before they bring your food. The atmosphere is very family-friendly, fun, and casual. No need to dress up like I did!

My Swimsuit Collection

This post has been sitting in my drafts folder for almost a month now, and that's only because I've been too lazy to take some actual pictures! Well, I don't have that many swimsuits to start with, and some are brand-spanking new. First, the top bikinis in the picture above, they're both from American Eagle and were part of the mix and match models. I got them all when they were having their sale at the beginning of the summer, and you can still find them online. Unfortunately, I don't have any links for any of these swimsuits, none of them are online anymore.

Vitamin E Aqua Boost Sorbet & Body Sorbet

The newest additions to The Body Shop are the Vitamin E Aqua Boost Sorbet (£12) and the Body Sorbets (£8), which come in a wide range of scents - mango, pink grapefruit, strawberry, satsuma and moringa. I've been using these both these products since they launched and I've been pretty impressed.

The Body Shop Haul

Since starting work at The Body Shop, it seems like I've already acquired a rather small collection of TBS products. Here's what I got on my latest haul, where I finally took advantage of my employee discount (the two greatest words a beauty blogger could hear, truly). I combined some things I bought myself, along with things I was kindly gifted as they're new products we're selling.

The Woodmans Rest

Every Friday night, the boyfriend and I decide that we're too lazy to cook (it is the end of the week) and we either have a takeout or eat out. Last Friday, we decided to go to our local pub (how crazy is it that I have a local now?) and grabbed some delicious food. We've actually been to the Woodmans Rest a few times since it's a short walk from our flat, and I really like going there. The ambience is nice, the meals are incredibly affordable, and the pints are always a plenty.