5 WAYS TO GET INTO THE FESTIVE SPIRIT

Christmas is peaking around the corner, and for a festive freak like me, I couldn't be more excited. The past 22 years of my life I've always spent the week or two with my family with no work and just time to relax. With me moving out this weekend and a Christmas job, I doubt I'll spend anymore time at home other than Christmas day. It's such a shame as we have Christmas traditions on Christmas eve and Boxing day as it's my Grandad's and Cousins birthday so it's going to be hard not being involved, however I do love my job and I'm going to be so upset when I leave my position in January. Because of my lack of festivities this year, I felt I needed to get myself in the mood and get all Christmasy. I teamed up with my lovely blogger friend Beth, and you can read her post here.

GO INTO THE CITY - I know it sounds obvious, but popping into your nearest city to do your Christmas shop instantly gets me in the mood. I work in Chapelfield, a mall in Norwich, and it's teaming with loads of gorgeous decorative lights and a huge singing (Yup it sings alright) Christmas tree. The mix of thick jumpers, cold cheeks and millions of people doing their Christmas shop strangely gets me very festive. I love doing my Christmas shop and I love making lists for people, it's such a lovely way to get Christmasy!

DO A SHOE BOX - I've done this a few times now, and doing this is so so so lovely. Check out Samaritans Purse here to find a bit more about them. The main gist of it is packing a shoe box for a young girl or boy to make their Christmas day. Not only does it do good, but giving and appreciating is what Christmas should be about. Other than the Religious side of it, but not everyone is Religious. It's great to do something for someone else regardless, but this is a beautiful way to get into the Christmas spirit. If you don't do any of these points, please at lease do this one. You don't need to spend a lot of money either.

HAVE A CHRISTMAS FILM NIGHT - I am moving in with the loveliest person, and we've already decided to go into the city to buy a tree, decorations and Baileys! I'm pretty sure the evening will lead onto a Christmas film and a few drinks at our local, but it's perfect to get merry. Switch on some incredibly tacky Christmas music, add the Baileys and you'll think it's Christmas already.

SECRET SANTA - I have already asked my work lot if Secret Santa is an option, because I LOVE it. If you're not already doing Secret Santa, try bringing it up with your group of friends to keep costs down, or even join a Secret Santa in the blogging community. It's great to find the perfect present for someone with a caped cost. It makes things fun and it's something I've always enjoyed.

ORGANIZE A CHRISTMAS MEAL - Get all your favourite humans together and go out for a lovely Christmas meal. Maybe even cooperate Secret Santa into it! Christmas meals can be so much fun, and if you're in the right venue you could organise a few fun games to lighten the mood. Get the wine flowing and the crackers popping and you're onto a winner. Even if it's you on two of your pals, it can still be a lovely evening, bound to get you into the Christmas spirit.

There's countless ways to get festive, and even though some of these points are obvious, they're the best ways to get Christmasy. It's all about being with the people you love, so make sure you try and spend time with the closest people around you if you can! Thanks for reading, and hope you're feeling festive!

LUXEMME - NYANE LUXE CUT OUT HIGH NECK DRESS - LOOK BOOK*

Luxemme is the to go to fashion website for gorgeous, stylish quality clothes. I was asked if I wanted to become a premium blogger and model some of their beautiful clothes and I had to say yes. I love giving a grunge feel to clothes and even though the full range of clothes on their website are classy yet stylish, I could easily give them my own punky spin, which I love when it comes to clothes. I am currently eyeing up the Kamille Faux Leather Skirt which is my dream skirt! Here I am modeling the Nyane Luxe Cut Out Neck Dress which is an affordable £35, which you can get here in black and white in sizes 6-12. This is perfect for Christmas parties and any events you have coming up. It'll look gorgeous teamed up with a blazer, fur coat or a leather jacket if you're looking to dress it down. I teamed this look with bold lips and gold eyes to keep it punky with a classy twist. I kept everything else to a minimum to allow the dress to speak for itself! My heels are from Topshop.

This dress is bang on trend at the moment, and this high neck style seems to be everywhere. I love the slit down the side of the dress giving the outfit a little more sass. Even though it's a figure hugging dress, it fits well in all the right places, accentuating my curves in the best way possible. The material is lovely, meaning it wont cling to places you don't want it to cling! This will be my staple Christmas party dress, and I cannot wait to show it off.

What do you think of the dress?

Have a look at all the other beautiful things

Luxemme have to offer here - You wont be disappointed.

Thanks for reading and come back soon

for some more posts on Luxemme!

*I was kindly sent this for review

NORWICH BLOGGER HALLOWEEN BEAUTY EVENT - THE GOODY BAG

Being one of the Norwich Bloggers organisers we aren't new to the putting together goody bags. This now being our third event we realised that events really aren't all about the bags. We concentrated more on the event itself but also narrowed down what we felt would fit into the bags at this event. We are no way saying we were picky, but we knew what we wanted our bags to be like. We wanted a small goody bag this time around, compared to our crazy one filled with incredible bits which you can read all about here - The bag really was amazing if I do say so myself. We wanted this bag to be small, yet full of things that beauty bloggers would absolutely love and use on a daily basis. We contact brands we already knew and loved so we could create a well rounded and beautiful bag. First off thanks to The Blogger Programme for the bags. We bumped into these guys when the Norwich Bloggers team were invited to meet Pixiwoo. They were hovering around the venue and it was nice to finally meet some representatives for the brand. We told them about the event and they were happy to provide the bags for us. I'll be doing indivual reviews on some of the items, but here's a quick look into what was in store for the bloggers...

Stir Drinks samples. I love me some tea so this is perfect! I'm super excited to try both of these. You can grab them from their website here.

Nanshy is an amazing and affordable brand and has everything you need in the way of makeup tools. I love blending sponges and I'm so glad I made the switch! You can grab this for £5.95 here.

I'm already a fan of Witch Skincare so I was super excited when they contacted us wanting to get involved! These sizes are perfect for traveling and I can't wait to try them out.

Wild About Beauty is a brand I love and had the pleasure to work with before at our first Norwich Event where you can read all about here. I'm so excited to give this ago! You can get this shade, Laura on their website for £14 here.

I've never actually tried Lipcote before, even though it is so iconic and I hear about it everywhere. I'm really excited to try this out and but it to the test under the mistletoe! You can grab it from Boots for £3.69 here.

I love Ecotools and they're the first brushes I ever bought because they're super soft and such great value for money! I'm so excited to give this a go and I can't wait to put it into my kit. You can grab it for £7.99 from Boots.

This smells lovely and makes my hands feel amazing! I'll be doing a blog post on this soon, but for now you can grab it from their website for £3.80 here.

Everyone knows Real Techniques and it was a delight to have them in our bags again. I've always wanted to try this particular brush out so expect this in a review post very soon! You can pick it up for £5.99 from Boots here.

I had never heard of Kiss until now, but now I know about them I see them every time I'm in Boots! They do some gorgeous lashes and I'm excited to give these a go! I'm all for lashes and wear them pretty much every day, so I'm excited to see how these are! You can grab them from Boots between £4.99 and £5.99 here.

So there we have it - The Norwich blogger event bag! Thank you to all the lovely brands that got involved and spoiled our gorgeous bloggers! If you're interested in any of the Norwich Blogger events you can follow our Twitter here. Thanks for reading!

AISLE STYLE 2016 BRIDESMAID COLLECTION*

The wedding day is a massive event with so much time, effort and planning going into every detail. One thing that shouldn't be stressful is the bridesmaids dresses. Aisle Style makes it easy with some gorgeous classic dresses that are just beautiful. Floor length, knee length, simple to classic, you are for sure going to find the perfect dresses for your beautiful bridesmaids. I have chosen my top 5 dresses and why I think they're perfect! Even if you're not planning your wedding or a bridesmaid, there are also some gorgeous wedding party dresses too which you can find here, so there's something for every wedding attendee! There's even breath taking prom dresses which you can find here, and even brides dresses too which are here.

Ice Blue Strapless Sweetheart

This is super classy and just gorgeous. For anyone that loves simplicity and elegance this is perfect. It's feminine and modern and I can see it teamed up with some ice white flowers. It's a dress any bridesmaid would feel divine in. You can find the dress here at an affordable £79.99.

V Neck Pleated Long Tulle Dress

If you're looking for a elegant dress with a twist, this is perfect. With it's Grecian feel this dress would look effortless with a beautiful necklace and a casual up do. Sophisticated and effortless! This little number is incredible at £65.99 here, and wont break the bank. I honestly think this dress is to die for.

Sleeveless Bateau Neck Lace Dress 

This one jumped out at me right away not only because of the beautiful structure of the dress but by how delicate it looked. The blush pink looks gorgeous on any skin tone and the length is classy yet playful. The lace detailing effortlessly fades around the waist and that's something I really love. Again the price of this is unbelievable at £75.99, and you can find it here. 

Illusion Bateau Dress

The beautiful thing about this dress is the colour selection - You are bound to find the correct colour to suit your wedding theme! I love that there are darker options which is great for winter weddings, and this emerald shade pictured above is my favourite of them all. The shape of the dress is classy, timeless and a very popular style so it's ideal for any wedding - and the bridesmaids will love them! You can find it here for £99.99.

Illusion Jewel Neck Dress

I picked this one up because of the vintage appeal. Vintage weddings are becoming more and more popular and this year I've been to my fair share of vintage style weddings. I felt that not only will this look beautiful on bridesmaids, but felt it was also a great style for a wedding guest, I love the bow detail and the bodice is beautiful. This dress is £60.99 and you can find it here.

Overall, there are loads of dresses in so many different styles to choose from at Aisle Style that I'm sure you'll find a dress to suit even the fussiest bridesmaid! There's so many classic and modern styles in an array of colours! You can check the rest of their beautiful 2016 here, and you can even filter the dresses into dress shapes to find the most perfect dress. You can also shop prom dresses, wedding party dresses and the all important wedding dress. Aisle Style is the to go to website for all things wedding! Thank you so much for reading, and I hope you find the perfect bridesmaids dress for your wedding!

*Sponsored post - All content is written by me.

SANTA'S LIP SCRUB - LUSH CHRISTMAS COLLECTION

When I think of Christmas, I always think of Lush. Either people are waiting on the return of the infamous Snow Fairy or curious to welcome the newbies, and this is one of the newbies! This limited edition lip scrub is for sure my favourite! This has a gorgeous cherry cola flavour which takes me back to my toddler days when I picked numerous flavoured sherbet from the old school sweet shops. This tastes sooooo good. I cannot stress that enough! I could eat this from the pot. You pop this on your lips and give it a gold old scrub and like away! It's that simple! It's perfect for scrubbing away any dry areas while moisturising, and it's perfect to use before a lipstick. There's nothing worse than applying lipstick and it sticks to your dry areas?! Am I right?! It's also super cute with its edible red hearts which gives this more character. I'm in love! I would urdge you to try this out if you like sweets and have those annoying dry winter lips.

Have you ever tried a Lush lip scrub? 

What's your favourite from the Christmas collection?

Grab this from Lush for £5.50.

Thanks for reading!

CARTOON VAMPIRE HALLOWEEN MAKEUP LOOK INSPIRATION

When it comes to makeup looks I never go normal. From my Drowned Mermaid to my Dragon Lady I'm always on the hunt for different looks. Today I bring you a Cartoon Vampire! I wanted to do something simple yet something that looks pretty effective. The hardest part of this look is covering the eyebrows. I didn't use any fancy covering foundations, and everything for this look I had already owned - So anyone can achieve this look with what they have.

To blank out my brows I used a glue stick to push them up and flatten them. I then used concealer then powder to set then repeated this one more time. I didn't use any fancy concealer or powder. If I were to this properly I'd use a high coverage concealer and powder! I then used a thick foundation all over my face for the best coverage and powdered. This is costume makeup so it's not a problem if it looks slightly cakey. I had a lot of spots when doing this too so I had to apply it thickly. I then used the purple from the Kryolan Bruise Wheel (You can get it here for £11.99) and blended it all over the eyes. It's very pigmented so I just kept blending until I had an ombre effect and then carried on down the sides of the nose. You can use a normal purple eyeshadow and blend it in with a powder brush. I then used a dark grey matte shade over the eye lid just to darken them and set them. I painted on my brows with Mac's Blacktrack with a thin liner brush. I applied this thinly and wide to create a cartoon feel. I then used the Blacktrack liner over the lips creating a thicker, cartoon like lip. I then used Mac's Diva in the center for a sublte ombre feel. I used Harmony by Mac to add some contouring to add a different dimension to the look. I popped in my Scarecrow Vampire Fangs (You can see my review for this here) and then my red contacts, some mascara, and I was good to go. It really is a simple look to achieve. It just takes a little time blanking out the brows then redrawing them on precisely!

Thank you so much for reading!

What are you going as for Halloween?!

NORFOLK PLACES TO GO IN AUTUMN - BACTON WOODS

I recently went to Bacton Woods in Norfolk, a place I have so many memories about. I used to go there when I was in the Guides and I constantly came here as a child to take the dogs for walks. This place is nostalgic and to me it's simply magical. I adore the hues of autumn. The gorgeous crisp greens melting into yellows, browns and burnt orange. It's a place to come and reflect and clear your mind - I adore coming here. Here's a few snaps from my few hours - Enjoy!