12 days of Christmas day 11: Christmas make up look

"On the eleventh day of Christmas my true love gave to me...eleven pipers piping"  It's Christmas eve guys! Hands up if you're excited!!! To celebrate I wanted to show you the makeup look I will be wearing for the big day. I'm planing on having a pretty chilled "friendmas" that will hopefully involve eating my body weight in rocky road and vegan cheese but I still wanted my makeup to be a little bit special.  Disclaimer: As far as I know everything used is vegan but if I'm wrong please let me know :) 

The skin: 

-dermalogica phyto-replenish oil

-elf maximum coverage concealer

-nyx concealer 

The cheeks:

-sleek contour palette (heavy on the highlight of course)

The eyes:

-elf shadow lock eyelid primer in gold

-elf beautiful browns palette

-elf black mascara

-elf black eye liner

The lips:

-elf lipstick in posh 

I hope you enjoyed today's post. Let me know if you recreate this look. Now get your stockings hung up ready for tomorrow and I will see you over on my youtube channel for a special Christmas day video! 

Twelve days of Christmas day 9: Festive nails

"On the ninth day of Christmas my true live gave to me....nine ladies dancing" I decided to have a go at some Christmassy nails for today's post. I know most people reach for the reds and golds at Christmas time but I decided to go for something a little bit different and have actually come up with some thing a little bit more Frozen inspired.  Disclaimer: As far as I know everything used is vegan but please let me know if I'm wrong.

How to:

-I used a clear polish from Topshop as a base coat

-I painted both hands with two thin coats of Topshop nails in a pale blue (the names rubbed off my bottle and I can't find the dame, sorry!) and left to dry

-I then used the pritti princess polish in Aladdin's diamonds to create a gradient from my cuticle to the tip of my nail. I found it easiest to place a blob by the cuticle, wipe the brush clean and then drag down lightly.

-Once this has dried, repeat.

-Apply a second coat of the clear polish all over the nail to even everything out and protect the polish. 

This is a really simple design that I think looks really effective. you could definitely try this with lots of different colour combinations too. Let me know if you try these out.

12 days of Christmas day 7: Vegan Christmas Biscuits

"On the seventh day of Christmas my true love gave to me...Seven swans a swimming"  I love to bake year round but especially in the festive season because I feel like eating your body weight in cake is acceptable at this time of year. I wanted to create some vegan Christmas biscuits to nibble on throughout December. I use a Betty Crocker recipe as inspiration and tweaked it slightly.  Ingredients:  - 2 1/2 cups of plain flour -1 cup of vegan butter -1/4 cup of almond milk -1 1/2 cups of caster sugar -1 cap of orange essence -icing and sprinkles to decorate (or anything you like)  Directions:  -pre-heat oven to 180 degrees -cover two baking trays with baking parchment -cream sugar and vegan butter in a bowl -alternate adding flour and almond milk a little at a time, mixing as you go -add a little orange essence and mix (you could use peppermint if you prefer) -sprinkle flour on to surface and roll out dough -use Christmas cutters to create biscuits and pop them on the baking trays making sure to leave space between them -bake for 10-15 minutes making sure to check on them -leave to cool on a wire wrack for 10 minutes  -ice and decorate in any festive way you like  I can confirm that these are delicious and I haven't stopped eating them since I last made them! Let me know if you give these a go, I suggest you do! 

Twelve days of Christmas day 5: Vegan rocky road

"On the fifth day of Christmas my true love gave to me.....five gold rings" I have another festive treat for you today. This one is definitely inspired by Steven's mum, Hilary, who always makes the most amazing rocky road at Christmas. As we're on the other side of the world this year I have had a go at recreating it, only I've made it vegan. 

Ingredients: 

-300g of vegan chocolate (I used Sweet William)

-1 loaded tbs of vegan butter

-a good blob of golden syrup (precise I know)

-100g of marshmallows

-75g of glace cherries

-75g of pistachios 

Instructions:

-line a small but deep baking tray with baking parchment

-melt chocolate in a bowl with the vegan butter and golden syrup

-add cherries, marshmallows and pistachios and mix until everything is coated in the chocolate

-pour into the baking tray and pat the mixture down so that it's even.

-refrigerate for a couple of hours so that it sets

-slice into pieces and sprinkle on some icing sugar or any other decorations you like 

I was really pleased with how these turned out and was surprised how easy and quick they were to make. I have actually popped these in the freezer ready for Christmas but made sure to try one first and they are delicious. I can't wait to share them with every body on Christmas day. Let me know if you try these out at home. 

12 days of Christmas day 1: Tips for having Christmas abroad

"On the first day of Christmas my true love gave to me...a partridge in a pear tree"  This post is the start of my 12 Days Of Christmas series. This will be alternating between my blog and youtube channel and is going to take us all the way up to the big day!  This Christmas is my second living abroad. Last Christmas felt very strange and I was actually pleased when it was all over. This year I am feeling way more festive and I'm definitely going full festive cheer! I thought I would share some tips on how to have the best Christmas away from home.  1. Affordable Christmas decorations:  When you're travelling, the last thing you want to do is spend money you don't have on lots of fancy Christmas decorations but I do like to add a little bit of Christmas spirit in to my surroundings. This year I raded K Mart's Christmas section and found a few items to brighten my room on the cheap. A Christmas tree ornament, fairy lights and a festive candle and it's beginning to look a lot like Christmas!  2. Embrace the changes:  I learnt last year that trying to recreate you're usual Christmas doesn't work and you can end up feeling a little down about the whole thing. I think the best thing to do is really experience Christmas the way the country your visiting does. This way you don't feel like your missing out an anything and you get a whole new experience. 3. Avoid Christmas specials: This doesn't necessarily apply to everyone but I remember feeling really sad last year while watching very British Christmas specials such as the Vicar of Dibley and Downton Abbey. I think I will be giving them a go again this year as I'm feeling much more settled in general but I would give them a miss if your feeling a little bit home sick.  4. Be with friends: This speaks for itself. Surround yourself with people you care about. No one wants to be alone on Christmas. If you happen to be in a new place where you don't know any people yet then what a perfect day to get mingling. Tis the season and I'm sure you will find a group of people happy to share the festivities with you. 5. Keep in touch with home (sort of):  We all want our loved ones to know we're thinking about them over Christmas and vice versa but when that turns in to 6 separate Skype chats mixed with a 13 hour time difference you can pretty much say good bye to Christmas day. I would recommend splitting them up over a few days so you can still chat with everyone without it being such a military operation. They all have plans for Christmas day too so it works out better for every body. You can send any cards and gifts you have well in advance so they still get a little something from you on Christmas day any way.  So there we have it. This may not be relevant to every one but I hope it can help some of you out. Make sure to keep following my 12 days of Christmas. I have lots of exciting things coming your way so make sure to follow along. See you over on my youtube channel tomorrow for day 2. 

Merry Christmas ya filthy animals!!

Merry Christmas!!! I hope you all have a wonderful day filled with happiness, family and most importantly lots of food!

Festive Look

So Christmas is just around the corner and although the hot Australian weather has much stopped me from feeling remotely festive, I still thought I would try and get into the spirit with some sparkly festive make up. I tried to keep it very affordable as Christmas is expensive enough. 

I think I'll be spending my Christmas makeup free on a beach but I'll definitely be wearing something like this in the few days left running up to the big day. 

Face

-Precious Mineral Blooming Fit BB cream

-Revlon colour stay concealer

-YSL touche celait

-Bourjois Maxi bronzing powder

Eyes

-Elf beautiful browns palette

Australia Metalix guns and rose petals eye shadow 

-Maybelline the falsies mascara

-Maybeline master precise liquid eyeliner

--Maybeline brow satin in dark brown

Lips

-Maybeline colour drama in Light It Up

The perfect bargain Christmas palette

Elf was a brand that I used to love and would always place huge orders on there website. I loved how affordable the products where while still being really high quality. It recently seemed to disappear from the Uk, I think they had a problem with distributers or something which means that I haven't tried any of there products for a while. However, a couple of weeks ago now we popped into K-Mart for a bargain spree (travelling makes you poor) and I found an elf stand. I've never actually seen it in stores before so couldn't resist having a little browse.
I managed to find the beautiful browns palette which as well as filling the void my Naked palette has left (why I decided to leave that in England I'll never know) it also has all the perfect shades for a beautiful Christmas look. Now Christmas in Australia is definitely going to be different but that doesn't stop me paying tribute to an English Christmas with my makeup. I can't remember the exact price of this but I think it was around $4 mark. 
Despite the bargainous price range I've always found elf eye shadows to be very good quality, they're very highly pigmented and soft, similar to Urban Decay. I've used it most days (that I've decided to wear makeup) since buying it and I love it. If they haven't already I say bring back elf to the UK. 

Lush Christmas

 

It's that time of year again...sort of. I had actually popped in to Lush the other day to check out their Halloween products only to see that they'd by passed that holiday all together and it was in fact Christmas. I love Halloween so I was a little bit disappointed but then I started rummaging through the new Christmas products and got very excited indeed.   They have some amazing Christmas products out. Some new and some old favourites that come out every year and I loved them all. I had to be a little bit sensible as I'm going away soon so wanted to get things I would use up before going, I focused on the bath bombs.  

 

Butterbear: I think this is a new one this year and is similar to the butterball. The scent is really mild which some might prefer. It has cocoa butter and ylang ylang in which are great for the skin. Once in the bath it leaves small chunks of coca butter floating around, these melt into the skin and leaves it feeling soft and silky afterwards. It's a bit of a bargain at £1.95 too.

 

 

Cinders: This is an old favourite and one I buy again and again every year. It's the classic Christmas scent and is so spicy and warming that you feel all cosy in the bath. The popping candy on the top bursts when it's in the bath and if you close your eyes you feel like your lying next to a crackling fire.

 

 

Luxury Lush Pud: I think this one has been out before but I haven't tried it. I love how bright and colourful it is and just know it will turn into something even more exciting in the bath. It's main ingredient is lavender so I know it will be prefect for before bed or at the end of a long day.

 

 

The Yog Nog: This bath bomb is huge and the scent is the perfect mix of sweet and spicy. It's supposed to be very hydrating and softening for the skin but I know it will be great for relaxing and warming up on the chillier nights.

 

 

The Sparkly Pumpkin: This is the only bubble bar I picked up as you can get a few baths out of each one and I didn't think I'd have time to use up too many. I couldn't resist this one though. I'm sure it will make a big mess of my bath but it's just so pretty and sparkly. It has a hint of spice to it so it still smells festive but is more fruity as it contains quite a lot of citrus fruits. I love it and can't wait to use it up.

 

 

So there we go, officially Christmas, sort of. I wanted to share these while they were still new but I have lots of Halloween posts coming up too. There were so many other amazing products that I would have loved to try too, for those of you not moving to Australia in the next few weeks, you should definitely check them out!

 

I have a giveaway running on my previous post so make sure to check it out and get entering!

Merry Christmas!!

 

 

 

Merry Christmas everyone!! Obviously it's still Christmas eve but as we'll all be busy opening presents and stuffing our faces tomorrow I thought I'd use today to share a few festive images and wish you all a Merry Christmas! I hope you all have an amazing day filled with happiness.

Yummy Festive Treats

 

Hello!! I've got something a little bit different for you today. Festive treats! These are all really quick and easy and will be great for last minute gift ideas or for party food.

 





First up are these cute snowmen. I made these last year for my brother and sister and decided to make them again this year as I think they look great and are so easy to make.

 

-Take a skewer and add 4 marshmallows (I found vegetarian ones on amazon by Freedom)

-Melt some white chocolate in a bowl and cover the marshmallows, I like to let it set and then repeat this so it's nice and even

-Once they've set for a second time you can decorate them, I used strawberry laces for the scarves and sparkly icing for the face and buttons

-Bish Bash Bosh, snowman on a stick!



 

 Next are these little reindeer. Again these are really cute and very easy (even though they don't look much like reindeer, meh)

 



 -Take a skewer and add a marshmallow (the ones I used were very small so I used 2 instead)

-melt some milk chocolate and cover the marshmallow

-before the chocolate has completely set add a pretzel to one side and a Smartie to the other

-Use some icing to draw on eyes and taa daa one little reindeer face!

 

 

 

The last idea are these festive rice crispy treats.They are Christmas tree wannabees as it turns out it's quite difficult to use the cutter once it's set. I've decided these could also be Halloween snacks if you took out the smarties. Don't be put off by the colour, they are yummy!   -Melt around 200g of marshmallows in a pan with some butter
-stir stir stir you don't want it to burn
add some rice crispies, I'm not sure how much I ended up using but I find the best was is to keep adding a little and stirring until your happy with the consistency.
-add some green food colouring and smarties and mix it all in
-pour the mixture onto a baking tray and flatten. Then pop in the fridge and leave to set, I added some silver stars on top for a bit of sparkle.

   

I hope you enjoyed today's post. I did go a little bit marshmallow crazy since I discovered the ones from Freedom. They are seriously yummy and completely vegan! I'm really happy with how these all turned out so let me know what you think and if you try and for yourselves. I can't wait to start munching my way through this lot!