1. Drink More Water: 

This will probably seem like a strange one but I'm one of those silly people who will just genuinely forget to have a drink and end up dizzy and dehydrated . Obviously I want to change this because I know my skin, mind and body will thank me for it.

2. Making Time For Breakfast:

I know, I know breakfast is the most important meal of the day and my brain won't function properly without it. But in the mornings when it's a choice between an extra few minutes in bed and breakfast, my lazy brain wins every time. Then as soon as I get to college I instantly regret it and end up feeling starving and uncomfortable all day.

3. Relax!:

I'm a very (and I mean very) stressy person. I can get myself into right states stressing over the silliest of things. This is something I really want to change because it's not nice worrying so much over things that a lot of the time don't even matter, and it's not fair on my poor friends and family who have had to calm me down so many times.

That's it for my resolutions I didn't want to set myself a ridiculously long list of things I'd never keep up with so a few little things that will make a difference is a much better idea in my opinion.

What are your resolutions? Let me know in the comments.

xxx

What I Got For Christmas (2013):

Now, first things first, MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE! I hope you all had an amazing time and got spoilt rotten. I would also like to say that I am not making this post with the intention to boast or brag about what I was given I just thought it was something you would be interested in. I know full well I've been given a lot and I'm extremely grateful for everything, I'm a very lucky girl to have the family, friends and boyfriend that I have.

None of these presents are in a particular order and I'm not going to be listing who gave me which gift because I think it will make this post even longer than it needs to be when it's already going to be a big one.

Firstly, I got this beautiful pair of white high top Converse. I'm head over heels in love with them as I've had my eyes on a white pair for a few years now so I know they're going to be getting a lot of use, and sadly knowing me they wont stay clean for very long.

This beautiful hot chocolate making set is amazing! I love the mug but I think the spoon has to be my favourite part of it I just love the fact when its resting in the mug it looks like a Deer popping it's little head out over the top.

I also got this little kit from MaxFactor which includes, a Lipfinity gloss in 340 Essential Natural, Glossfinity nail polish in 140 Cobalt Blue and a False Lash Effect mascara in brown. The kit also came with a money off voucher for a foundation and a little idea booklet of looks to create from the products. I love this present because False Lash Effect is one of my favourite mascaras and the colours in the other products are gorgeous.

My friend got me something I've been wanting for a very very long time, a Tangle Teaser! I was so excited opening this I couldn't thank her enough and instantly opened it to use, I love it already and I'd say it's definitely worth all the hype already even after only a few uses. I love the fact she chose the pink one too because I'm not a massive fan of the other colours available from the range.

My first ever M.A.C lipstick comes next, I'm sure you could imagine just how happy I was to get this! It's a matte lipstick in the colour Please Me, and it's beautiful I've had compliments on it already. It comes out a little darker than it does in this picture but all in all the picture does it justice. It lasts all day too.

These eye shadow's are from Bourjois and they're part of the Ombre Stretch line. I was given the colours 10 bleu and 07 violet. I'm not usually a fan of blue eye shadow but the colours are beautiful they remind me almost of peacock feathers, with a really subtle shimmery undertone to them. I can see myself getting a lot of use out of these.

This top from Superdry was another of my main presents and it's quite possibly one of the most comfortable things I have ever worn. As well as being a really nice looking t shirt it feels so soft to wear I think this will be getting a lot of wear over the next few years too.

This next present was so unexpected and has to be my favourite from the lot. I was given my first ever set of M.A.C brushes, which again you can imagine my excitement about. My dad had the idea to go to a cheap little shop and buy a make up bag that was on it's last legs to hide the brushes in so I'd think I got some discount brushes but then I'd realise what they really were. I thought that was such a sweet idea and it worked because I fell for the little trick, which just made the surprise even better. 

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This cute little guy is taking pride of place as a new charm on my pandora bracelet. It was part of the Chinese New Year collection as my symbol is the rat for the Chinese New Year.

These two rings are another addition to my jewellery collection and they look so good with every out fit. I like how they're bold enough to make a statement with but they cant be seen as too much. I'd also like to add that those spikes are deadly and I've accidentally stabbed many a person with them!

Sticking with jewellery I was given these lovely River Island earrings, these sweet pink daisies with a gold centre, which I think I'll be wearing through Spring and Summer almost every day. As well as these cool rings in all different shapes and sizes in a mixture of black and silver colours. I look forward to wearing them as a stack and making different combinations with them. The fact they're different shapes should mean that they'll add something really different to a look too.

From Urban Decay I was given the Vice 2 palette, which has an amazing variety of matte's, shimmers, subtle's and bright's which I really look forward to having a play around with and seeing what looks I can create. As well as a Black Market set of the 24/7 liners in a lovely variety of colours which should make a nice change for me instead of just wearing black eye liners.

I'm getting my room redecorated soon because I'm going to be staying at home throughout University, and I've had the same room for years now. The look I'm going for is an old style girly room so I asked for some calender blocks to go with this theme because the ones I had before hand were these bright purple, chipped things that my little sister had written her name on when she was younger and went through a phase of writing her name on everything. These new ones, however, I love they fit in perfectly with how I envisage my room looking too.

Sticking with new room ideas, this beautiful vintage looking glass bottle also goes well with my new room and is currently sitting prettily on my dressing table. It had a lovely white ribbon around it and a sparkly butterfly charm too.

I got two books this year, the first was Why We Broke Up by Daniel Handler, which I've heard wonderful things about. it's written in the style of a letter from an ex girlfriend to her ex boyfriend essentially explaining why they broke up. (Pretty self explanatory really) and the very famous One Day by David Nicholls which I'm ashamed to say I am yet to read even though I call myself a book addict.

My aunt also got me this floaty scarf in a black and grey butterfly print. I love the print of this because I could easily get away with wearing it all year round.

Two sweet smelling perfumes have been added to my collection this year. The first is Anna Sui's Flight of Fancy which can I just say has an absolutely stunning bottle a pink and yellow with a peacock lid. It smells amazing too and is already going to be a favourite come summer I have no doubt. I also got Next Diamonds, which is my favourite colour (purple) and smells very sweet too.

I got a Christmas themed beauticology set which included a strawberry swirl and cherry candy cane body washes and a pink peppermint body lotion. I'm looking forward to trying these out and hopefully they'll keep me in the Christmas spirit for as long as possible too. I was also given these Fearne nail varnishes in beautiful packaging which are very welcome additions to my nail varnish collection.

I got a fair few jokey presents this year too, as my favourite animal is an elephant my mum and dad got me a make your own felt toy elephant, which even though it's a 4+ toy I have already made and I think he looks super cute. As I'm going to be starting my driving lessons soon I got a theory test book. I also got a Winnie the Pooh colouring book and colours, which is a bit of an inside joke in my family that we all love colouring in. The mosaic tray is because I almost always have breakfast in bed and so this is for me to have my breakfast on.

For when I straighten my hair and poof it all up I was given an Andrew Barton Volume collection set including the shampoo, conditioner and spray for damp hair. I also (finally) got my hands on Liz Earle's Cleanse & Polish hot cloth cleanser which I'm already very impressed with. As well as a little cocoa butter gift set, including a body was, body polish and body lotion.

I had asked for some long legged pyjama's this year and the ones I got I really love. I have a black rose themed set, a spotty set and a Thumper from Bambi set.

I got two diaries too, the one on the left I'm going to be using as a college diary for homework and coursework deadlines e.t.c. and the one on the left (which my aunt made by hand!) I'm going to be keeping safe at home for important dates outside of school.

In terms of dvd's I got the Nativity and the Nativity 2 which are my favourite Christmas films, Dirty Dancing (which I love), Oliver and Company, which was my absolute favourite Disney film as a child and Les Miserables which again, I love. I was also given Michael Buble's To Be Loved album, which has already been played all the way through at least 10 times, and is actually playing as I type.

Last but not least it wouldn't be Christmas without chocolate!

xxx

How to: Contour

First things first, what is contouring? Put simply contouring is when you take a slightly darker colour than your usual skintone or foundation in the areas that recede (or you want to look like they recede) from your face to create an illusion of more of a shadow there in order to make your face look thinner and your overall makeup look better. 

Before contouring:

To contour I would hugely recommend RealTechniques contour brush, but any brush that gets gradually thinner is just fine. A dual fibre brush like this one is perfect if you're new to this as it lessens the chance of you using too heavy a hand with the product.

To start off I would recommend using a powder then as you get more confident you can bring in different types of contour such as liquid or gel formulas.

The first place everyone contours is under the cheekbones, this is very easy to find but if you struggle just pat your face around the cheek area and when you feel the bone you know to put the product underneath. Focus the majority of the product towards the back of your cheekbone and gradually blend out towards the centre of your face. But never take the contour past the pupil of you eye, that is where the contour should stop otherwise it will look completely unnatural. When you've finished take whatever's left of the product onto your ear so you don't have a very obvious dark line along the side of your face and a pale ear.

Next comes the temple, again this is easy to find. Just pat (lightly, very lightly) some of the powder into the hollows at the side of your face and this will instantly thin out your face and give it more dimension.

I always take my contour under the jaw line and my chin, because I'm a little self-conscious about my chin and I genuinely really love the way it looks. Again use a light hand with this as you don't want it to look like you've got a great big dirt line under your face! Just use a light hand to create the illusion of a shadow under the jaw.

Lastly for the face, take a little more of the product on the brush and just lightly dust it along the outline of your face to give everything more dimension and blend it all together. This will help make the contour look much more natural and seamless.

 After Contouring:

Additionally, some people like to contour the nose, if that's something they want to make look longer and slimmer. To do this just take a smaller bush and the same product you've been using before and outline your nose. Then just  blend this out until it's not obvious that you've contoured your nose.

After everything:

This has been a really highly requested post guys so I hope you enjoyed this and it helped some of you out. If it did I'd love to know in the comments.

xxx

Perfume Reviews:

Weeks and weeks a go my Mum came home from a shopping trip with her friend with a little bunch of perfume samples that she'd been given. Out of the bunch she gave me these three samples.

The first of the bunch (and my absolute all time favourite of them all) was Marc Jacobs - Daisy. As soon as I smelt it I fell head over heels in love with it and wanted the full bottle so badly so I could wear it every day. It's described as "radiant and charming, Daisy is a sparkling floral bouquet capturing the vintage edge of the violet" as strange a description as that sounds I have to say it describes it perfectly. It is a floral perfume but a very mature and not too girly or sweet kind of floral. I'd recommend this both as a transition perfume from young to adult types of perfume but also as an adult perfume too.

Another Marc Jacobs scent is Dot. This is described as " Chic and charming, a lush floral bouquet of beautiful jasmine and juicy red berries" once again the description is almost perfect the scent is just the right mix of jasmine and red berries. It's definitely my second favourite of the three, in fact these two samples have given me a real taste for all Marc Jacobs scents because I really love them both. This too is a nice scent for all ages, that I'm thinking of looking for a big sized bottle of.

Last but not least is Vera Wang's - Princess. This is a very sweet and girly scent, however it's not so overwhelming that it can be found sickly, I think it's the kind of perfume that you could only wear during the day if you were in a certain type of mood.  The bottle describes it as " Playful, Unpredictable, Spirited. A sheer fruity floral that is born to rule!" I can smell the sweetness of the floral in the perfume but personally I'm not too sure where the fruit comes into it. Unless you have a certain taste then I'd say this isn't a perfume for anyone over the age of 20, I'll use up the sample but as for buying the full bottle I have plenty of other perfumes I'd rather spend my money on than this. Although that being said if someone gave this to me as a present I would be grateful and use it as it is a nice scent just not the best I've ever used. 

That's it  for my little reviews, I hope you enjoyed the post and maybe it even gave you some last minute Christmas present ideas? 

xxx

Tag: 11 Most Reached For Products:

I really love the idea of this post, just a nice simple tag where you can list those products that you just can't live without with no limitations in the type of product you chose. So without rambling on too much I'll get started. These aren't in any particular order they're just the products I've been reaching for the most lately.

MUA bronzer in Shade 3, has to be hands down one of the best bronzer's I've ever used. Considering it only cost me a pound it's so highly pigmented and doesn't have that orange under tone that leaves your face looking patchy and muddy. All in all it's just the dream bronzer, cheap, lasts all day so highly pigmented that you only need to tap your brush into it once or twice and a good colour.

Soap and Glory's Heel Genius, this is such a good foot cream. It's really thick and creamy it makes you feel like you're rubbing a really high brand expensive product into your feet. The colour is fantastic too, I know it's a foot cream that you're going to rub into you shouldn't really judge it on the colour but it's such a cute light mint green colour. And (of course because it's Soap and Glory) it smells amazing and does real good to any dry skin or cracked heels on your feet.

My most reached for blush at the moment has to be the Topshop Cream Blush in Head Over Heels. It really is so creamy and you just need to add a tiny dab along the apples of your cheeks and blend it out for an instantly flushed glowing look. It's colour is also a nice almost coral pink that adds a little bit of warmth to your face. All in all if you asked me to recommend you a blusher I would definitely suggest giving this one a try!

The Rimmel London Glam' Eyes mascara is the perfect lengthening mascara, which doesn't add any volume I have to say but sometimes I really don't want to have volumised lashes if I'm after a certain look. You only need to apply one or two coats for a really long lashed look, 

I'm sure you all know by now that without a serum in my hair I just look like one giant fuzzball! that's why a lot of my review posts have been for hair serum's. This is the latest addition to my collection and I really do love it! The product snob within me thought that because it's a Superdrug own brand it would be really awful and make my hair look greasy, but it doesn't at all, it tames any frizz and keeps my hair smooth and shiny in between washes. I'm thinking of giving it its own review so I'll leave it there, but for now I recommend Superdrug's Style Expertese serum.

A nail varnish remover is something that every girl owns, whether a girly girl or not. If you paint your nails as much as I do however, then you're going to need a strengthening one such as Cutex's Strengthening. Again I love the colour of it such a cute baby pink, but the main point is that it gets the job done. I wouldn't say the changes I've noticed in my nails has been spectacular but they do feel a fair bit stronger than usual and I attribute that to this product.

Don't ask me why but when it comes to a face scrub I always reach for one with apricot in it. Any apricot skin product is sure to do wonders for your skin, it really helps young skin stay young and plump. As for this St. Ives scrub in particular, I have the invigorating one as my skin can tend to look a little lack lustre and dull when it's in need of a good scrubbing. I use it around about twice a week and I have to say it really does make my skin feel and look ten times better. Much brighter and softer.

Another Topshop, and another radiance enhancing product now. This is the Topshop Glow Highlighter in Polished. This looks so beautiful buffed out along the cheek bones and down the centre of the nose. Whenever I'm wearing I feel so much more awake than usual and safe in the confidence it looks good. This really isn't something you need to wear a lot of just a few tiny dots along the cheekbones and blended out with your finger is more than enough.

My Lush Mint Julips Lip scrub is something that I'm sure you'll be familiar with if you've been following my blog for a while. It was featured in my anniversary post and I've been using it non stop ever since. As soon as you open the pot you get a lovely smell of mint coming your way and it tastes amazing too. I would say it's saved my lip many a time in these colder months.

This Sally Hansen Insta-grip is a recent discovery of mine but I honestly don't know where I'd be without it now I have it. It's hands down the fastest drying basecoat I have ever used and makes the varnish that you put over the top of it dry fast too in my opinion. It really does grip too giving the colour something to cling on to and last so long.

Last but by no means least is the Batiste dry shampoo. Love it or hate it we all come back to batiste it's a classic brand for dry shampoo and at a good price you can't really complain. This dark haired version is the perfect colour for me it goes on undetectable, and makes my hair look instantly better.

That's it my eleven most reached for products. I really hope you enjoyed this post and if you did let me know in the description. I'll see you all next time.

xxx