Time out!

It's been a while since I last updated! So many Christmas related events and not enough hours in the day. 


Anyways, amongst the rushing around like a headless chicken, I managed to make a few new winter purchases, including my new hat from Miss Selfridge that I paired with my fail safe Vivienne Westwood jacket.

I also got a new wallet from Marc by Marc Jacobs

And lastly, a new MAC lipstick. It's more of a vivid violet tone than it looks in this pic, called Up The Amp.

This weather is so miserable! I went out to take some photos and ended up getting saturated. A brew and some home made cookies are definitely in order!

Pre-Christmas detox time?

This is how my weekend started...

(I used my blue foam by the way!)

 

On Saturday we (me + the bf) for his works Christmas do. We got there about mid afternoon and found a nice little cafe to get a bite to eat. Then went back to the manor place to drink mulled cider. Personally I can't stand cider so decided to drink a few Soco + lemonades instead to keep warm. After that I got changed and ready for the meal which started at 7, but the food wasn't served til about 9ish. By then (bad idea for an open bar) it's safe to say I was pretty far gone.

So Sunday was interesting. When will I ever learn...

It started to snow just as we were leaving! 

Aww, I'm so chuffed about this! I'm definitely going to plan a trip up to Edinburgh to visit them! Maybe towards summer when it's not deathly cold!?

Recent purchases

A few things I've bought over the past week. Some essential (and non-essential) items in the midst of Christmas present shopping!

I bought these shoes from Miss Selfridge. They're not super high but do have a concealed platform, so comfortable enough to walk in! I always buy too-high or unsensible shoes that get left at the back of my wardrobe so I'm not making that mistake again. These should go with most party outfits over the festive period!

How cute is this little bag from Urban Outfitters!? They had a 20% off event so it was a perfect excuse to buy it AND it was on sale at £12! Bargain.

The best cleanser in the world hands down! I've been using this for 3 years now and won't be switching anytime soon. I only have to buy it once a year (that's how long the 450ml bottle lasts using it every night). 

I used to suffer from really bad skin in high school and it was a massive insecurity to me. The amount of 'anti-blemish' products I used to buy was ridiculous! I've always been really cautious of what I use on my skin so when I was first introduced to cleansing oils, I was really skeptical about putting oil on my oily skin! Seemed so wrong, but in fact oil is the best cleanser for an oily skin type. It cleanses thoroughly and takes makeup off brilliantly, but doesn't strip the skin.

Even though I realise I've naturally grown out of having spotty skin, since using this my skins never been better. There's different formulations for all different concerns and skin types.

Ahh when I saw this I was so giddy! 

When I went to Amsterdam a couple of years ago I did a tour around the House of Bols, and every time I see them in bars or in the supermarket it reminds me of that nice memory! On the tour, you get to 'see', 'hear', 'touch' and 'taste' different flavours, and at the end they make you a customised cocktail based of your taste preferences.

I've bought a few different flavours over the years (if any of you don't already know, they do 38 different liqueur flavours!) but I've never seen a foam version before! This will serve me well for all Christmas cocktail making. I love experimenting with cocktails, maybe I should become a bartender hah.

And lastly, I bought these fab House of Holland tights! Gone are the days of nights out with bare legs!

Lazy Sunday

Here's a few pics I took whilst wandering around the German markets. There's way too much tempting things to buy and eat! Including a slice of triple chocolate slab which left me feeling queasy... it doesn't follow sushi and liquorice very well!

This is my favourite stall by far. I could actually live off liquorice! 

I got some feather hair extensions! What do you guys think? They're very subtle. You only get 7 feathers per pack (not all of them are visible in the photo) I'm super bored of my hair and needed something to jazz it up without being drastic!

I got this ring today from a local vintage+textile fair for £4. I rarely wear rings so it's nice to find one I really love.

I bought small sizes of all the ingredients to make long island ice teas at home! (Coke's in the fridge) I'm experimenting with the quantities at the moment haha.

Chilling with the animals

Yesterday, me and a friend went to take a few photos at an animal sanctuary type place near where he lives. To get to it you have to walk down a public footpath, where you come across a small few different divided fields. I have no idea who they belong to but it was on public ground. Thank god we took our thermos flasks! It was so cold my feet went completely numb which made driving home interesting.

This pony was the sweetest little thing! He came over as soon as he saw us and wouldn't leave. Think he just wanted some attention (I'm presuming it was male!)

I met a friend for a Starbucks the other day and she bought me this adorable little Christmas tree ornament. For now it's sat looking pretty on a shelf. Can't wait to get the tree up!

At the moment I'm in the process of making my best mate a Christmas box. I've made her a box (always from Paperchase) up for Birthdays and Christmases for the past few years now. It's great for collecting little bits and bobs in. I threw in a couple of hand bag sized Soap+Glory products (her fav), some penguin socks (another Xmas tradition!) earrings, sweeties, a hair mask, lipgloss and a primer. I know I'll end up finding loads more things between now and Christmas, it's always the way!

I love parcels!

Oooh my parcel arrived from http://www.americansweets.co.uk, filled with lots of nice treats (not all for me, but mostly).

I can't explain my obsession with American sweets. Most of them are so artificial tasting... which reminds me of how the sweets in Britain used to be when I was young, before they started using natural flavourings and whatnot. Nothing wrong with trying to make us healthy though I guess! 

Plus, it's one of my favourite places in the world. I have family there and always have such an amazing time when I go over. So I guess it's a kind of comfort thing to have treats that remind me of those good times.

Don't know if anyone remembers Pretzel Flipz? I loved them as a kid, but they sadly vanished off our shelves here!

I've always been a massive fan of the regular dots, so thought I'd give these ago. They didn't taste anything like candy corn. Very dissapointing!

Most delicious tasting lip balm ever!

A random picture from my trip across the pond over summer!

Also, a little package arrived from http://www.proopticals.com/

I love the skull feature at the side! Gives them a certain edge. 

Geek chic? Debatable haha. Being a fellow spec wearer before having my eyes lasered, I hated wearing them. Having to rely on them to see well was annoying and inconvenient. So it's great to now have the option of wearing these as an accessory rather than necessity. Also, I'm a massive Ray-ban fan, and these have similar frames to the wayfarers.

Getting into the spirit

Arghhh my internet's been down a couple of days! Very frustrating. Anywho, it's currently up and running and I'm writing this post from my new MacBook Air! (yay) It's so lovely and light. And super fast compared to my old lappy. Very impressed to say the least.

It's taking me forever to transfer all my music and photos over though. I'll be much happier when that's all done :)

This week has flown by! Amongst working, shopping for pressies and having a nice stroll around the Christmas markets (oh and spending forever in the Apple store trying to get served to buy my shiny new MBA!), I can't say I've really done anything productive. 

I intended to take my camera to the markets with me but ended up rushing to leave. I'll probably be back next week though I'd imagine. It's hard to resist. One thing I did learn though was to go on an empty stomach (not full to burst on Nando's). Sausages, crepes, waffles, cookies, macaroons... you name it, they had a stall for it! I did cave into some liquorice, a slight addiction of mine. 

In my mug I had orange punch with rum! (Was supposed to be Jager but they were out) Pretty sickly sweet, but warming which is always good.

I have these pair of tights, which are long over due the time they needed throwing out, but I can't seem to part from them. They're only from Accessorize (I think, maybe in the sale too) and there seems to be no suitable replacement. It's annoying me now! So yeah, ignore the massive ladder in the bottom ;)