NORWICH BLOGGERS CHRISTMAS MEAL AT WARWICK STREET SOCIAL

As one of the 3 organisers of the Norwich Blogger events, alongside Courteney and Justine, we had been organising this event since June. A Christmas meal being organised in June?! That's right - These Norwich Blogger events take a lot longer to organise that people realise! Making sure we have the best place, the best food and the best company doesn't happen over night. After having a few ideas on who to have our meal with, we settled on Warwick Street Social with its fantastic food, lovely and attentive staff and a beautiful venue. Previously to this event we held a cocktail evening to find the two best cocktails to compliment the Christmas Meal which turned out to be the Gingerbread Man cocktail and Candy Cane cocktail. 

We were lucky enough to have the lovely people down at Neal's Yard send us over some beautiful Wild Rose Beauty Balm for little party favours, which I adore and will review properly soon! Me and my mum (Thanks mumma!) Spent a fair few hours making the table names too, which looked lovely on the tables. We made sure the table looked perfect with candy canes!

 Gingerbread Man Cocktail

 Prawn, Crayfish & Mango Martini Cocktail & Avocado Puree.

 Modern Ham, Egg and Chips – Crispy Ham Hock, 

Cured Egg Yolk, Spiral Potato & Pineapple Salsa.

 Pan Roast Hake Fillet, Crushed New Potatoes, Wild Mushroom Cream & Buttered Leeks.

 Crispy Spiced Buttermilk Chicken, Home Slaw & Tomato Skinny Fries.

I started off with the Modern Ham, Egg & Chips which was lovely! I loved how cool the knot of fries looked. I've never seen anything like it! I then went for the Buttermilk Chicken, which isn't actually on the festive menu, because I am the pickiest person alive! I've had this meal here before and I always love it!

 My secret Santa!

 Chocolate Fondant, Salted Caramel Puree & Homemade Vanilla Ice Cream.

 Prosecco Jelly, Red Berries, Dehydrated Raspberries & Strawberry Sorbet.

 Cinnamon Doughnuts, Star Anise Poached Pineapple & Crème Fraiche Sorbet.

Because I'm greedy, I managed to have a taste of everyone's dessert. I actually chose the Cinnamon Doughnuts which were utterly incredible! I loved the Creme Fraiche Sorbet as well - Oh my goodness! What I'd give right now to devour that. We then finished off the night with some adorable Candy Cane cocktails which finished off the night beautifully. A massive thank you to my secret Santa too! I have my diffuser going in my room and everywhere is constantly smelling of beautiful coconut! Overall I had the best night with the most loveliest girls! I've met some amazing people which I can now call friends, which is such a lovely thing to be able to say. I'm constantly proud of being part of the Norwich Bloggers and I'm always overwhelmed by what we achieve.

You can read the full WSS Festieve Menu here.

Thanks for reading!

Candy Cane cocktail.

NYX TAME & FRAME - BRUNETTE REVIEW AND SWATCH

I've always used eyeshadow for my brows, and I've never strayed from that. I'm very late on the pomade train but I felt like it was now time to switch things up a bit and give new products a try. I tend to stick to what I know and love, so I was unsure of how this was going to pan out. Before we dive into the review, I can say that I will no longer go back to a eyeshadow for my brow again!

The pot is small and portable and has a standard screw-on screw-off lid. I use a normal eyebrow brush for application as this doesn't come with a mini one like some others. I don't usually care for travel sized brushes so this wasn't a fault for me. I picked up the Brunette as it matched well with my roots. When I had no roots and all blue hair I'd tend to go for something darker. The product is smooth and easy to apply, gliding onto the brows well. It's easy to blend if you're into the ombre look which I tend to go for, but it's equally good at creating a bold shape if that's what you like. When swatched onto my arm it didn't budge at all, and needed a serious scrub with a makeup wipe to get it off. On the brows however it can rub off a little with contact, but it's barely noticeable. It lasts all day and my eyebrows always look as good as it did when first applied! It's easy to get off at the end of the day with a face wash and needs little scrubbing that way.

Overall, I wont be going back to a shadow again! The NYX Tame & Frame provides crisp lines and bold colour, while keeping it natural or as prominent as you choose. It's now a staple in my makeup back!

You can grab this from Feel Unique for £5.50 here.

How affordable is that?

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CHRISTMAS WITH CLAIRE'S

I adore Christmas. This is my forth year working in a shop and I still love Christmas in retail. I love helping people find the right gifts and brightening peoples day when I can. I walk past a teeny tiny Claire's on the way to work each day, and I've been eyeing up a lot of pieces, but due to a retail wage, I obviously had to budget myself, which I 1000% didn't keep to. Claire's have some amazing Christmas items this year! Last year most of my festive accessories were from Claire's and I received many compliments during the Christmas season. I had to show you what I got this year (so far), as I know they'll feature in future festive looks. All the links and close ups are below!

 Christmas Food Earrings here for £8.

I wanted to grab as many earrings as I could, but on a budget it can be hard. I fell in love with this glittery set, and for £8 for the lot, these will keep you going all the way through December (Or November - No judgement here!). I love the glittery ginger bread men - They're super cute!

 Knee High Christmas Lights socks for £6 here.

I'm actually obsessed with these. As soon as I saw them I actually gasped - They're so beautiful! I love a good festive sock, and my favourite socks are knee highs so these are going to look amazing. I'm going to pair them up with the light necklace as well for double the festiveness. 

Christmas Lights Necklace (Which I'm going to use in my hair somehow) for £8 here.

And the most gorgeous Rose Gold Reindeer Antlers here for £6.

The Christmas Lights Necklace is of course for your neck, but I usually think a little outside the box and I'm going to do everything I can to get this in a hair look. Around a massive bun or in some kind of braid. This is going to look super magical and I know costumers are going to ask where this beauty is from! For when I'm feeling a little more subdued and classy, I picked up the Rose Gold Reindeer Antlers. They're a perfect alternative to the usual massive antlers, and these will look pretty at a Christmas meal. I'll be wearing mine at the Norwich Bloggers Christmas Meal this weekend for sure!

You can see all the amazing Christmas things at Claire's here.

Also keep checking in store or online for deals!

Thanks for reading!

BATTLE OF THE DEODORANTS - SURE MAXIMUM PROTECTION REVIEW

If you read my last post you'll know that I'm going to try as many deodorants as I can to find the perfect one, so I wont keep this introduction long. You can see my previous review on the Mitchum Ultimate Gel deodorant here. At the end of trying everything I'll do a round up and I'll have hopefully found my favourite deodorant on the high street!

This deodorant is everywhere, and recently blew up on major bloggers and vloggers channels all over the internet. This was one of the main deodorants that got me through my University struggles, but I recently haven't been using it - and I'm unsure as to why.

PROS -
All day protection
Hardly any scent
Dry armpits
No sweat smell

CONS -
White marks pretty much everywhere
Not a huge amount of product

Overall this is a great deodorant, and a big contender for the 'Battle of the Deodorants' series. When I've put it on for work at around 8am, I'm usually good through until 5:30 when I finished, and even through to after work drinks if I need too. It says on the product to apply before you go to bed as it's waterproof - but I'm yet to try that! I don't doubt for a moment that it wouldn't work. I can trust this product and it's currently my to go to, I just wish I didn't have to worry about the white marks! I'm still battling many other deodorants, so maybe this one will get knocked off the top spot soon...

You can grab this from Boots for £4.99 here.

Any deodorants that I should try out?

Thanks for reading!

MAKEUP REVOLUTION NEW-TRALS VS NEUTRALS PALETTE MAKEUP LOOK

I adore this palette, and it's my current go-to autumn eye shadow palette. The pigmentation in these shadows do not reflect the £6.99 price tag at all, as these are super blendable and the pigmentaion is insane. Whenever I want to use a red toned matte shadow, I always reach for this palette. Vogue, Trend, New-tral and Tone are all incredible matte red hued shadows. If you want to see a full in depth review of this palette, you can see the swatches all here. I wanted to create an evening look with both light and dark shades!

I began using Partial all over the lid, and then added Tone in the crease and corners. I then layered on Strong in the corners and blended out to create more depth. I have hooded eyes, so it's really hard to get eyeshadow looking half nice sometimes. Also, winged liner tends to get lost in my eyelids due to not having much of an eyelid. As you can see in the photo below my crease starts very close to my lash line, so I have to cheat my crease by using darker shades higher than my actual lid crease. I then swept Tone and Strong underneath my eyes and blended it out. I then added winger linger, my brows, mascara and fake lashes - because you know I love fake lashes!

Overall, I love this look! It's dark, but not too dark! The softness of the shade Partial gives it a more day time feel, but the dark crimsons suggest that it can be worn through to the evening! I adore this palette, and for £6.99 you really can't complain!

You can grab this palette here for £6.99!

What do you think of this look?

Thanks for reading!

 

MAKEUP REVOLUTION HALLOWEEN PARTY/FREEDOM FINAL

When I was invited to Makeup Revolution's second party of the year, I couldn't say no. Their 2nd Birthday party, which you can read here, was incredible - it was going to be difficult to top it. Their venue, event and goody bags were phenomenal last year so I was coming to the event with high expectations as they had raised the bar so high because of their previous bash. This event wasn't just a Halloween party but their freedom final. This event held the promise of goody bags, cocktails, the freedom final and a party according to our home-sent invites, so me and many other bloggers were drumming up hype on social media, a lot of us excited for what the goody bags held as their last ones from the previous event were amazing. You can also see my vampire makeup for the event here.

The venue was decked out amazingly! The swanky venue had some amazing Halloween touches that I was discovering all through the evening. On arrival I was handed a fruity alcoholic beverage which was lovely, and there was also an open bar if we fancied any thing else during the evening. I loved that we could get up close and personal with their products, just like the previous event, however some areas weren't as lit as others, so it was hard to get a proper look - but I guess dim lighting was needed for an extra spooky feel!

The food on the night was exceptional! The waiters were constantly handing out an array of canapes and always making sure everyone didn't go hungry. Hilariously I became friends with a waiter as I obviously love food, so he was coming over tempting me with food before anyone else. After an hour of chatting, eating and drinking, it was time to meet the finalists. 

It was lovely to meet the finalists, and it was so much fun being able to see their amazing looks in person. Each one of them are insanely talented, and each one was as humble as the other, talking about how appreciative they were for getting so far. After meeting them we had a chance to vote. It was so lovely that we had an input on who the winner would be! After another hour of drinking and dancing, it was time to announce the winner. Lorna, the girl with half a skull painted on her face, was the winner! She won £20,000 with the others also winning a generous £1000. Each of them looked amazing and it was truly hard to work out who was going to win! After the winner was announced, I unfortunately had to go home as I had a long train journey ahead of me. As we left we were handed some sweets and a pompom key ring which was a nice touch,

A few days after the event I noticed I had missed out on getting my hands on some makeup revolution products at the event which I was gutted about - I didn't realised there were opportunities to get anything - so I'm upset that I couldn't review some products for you all! Regardless of that, the event was brilliant. Makeup Revolution know how to party, and Adam is super lovely in person. It's great seeing that the person behind the brand genuinely cares about their customers and bloggers, it makes me want to stay loyal to the brand and continue to use their products.

Thanks again to Makeup Revolution for going above and beyond, your bash was just as good as your two year party - so here's to many more years ahead!

LEE STAFFORD COCO LOCO COCONUT BALM REVIEW

Before I get into this review, this is my new holy grail. I am in LOVE. Because I have blue hair, my hair has been bleached one too many times, and all home done. So as a result of that, my hair can look a little sad, lifeless, dry and a bit flat. This product alone seems to diminish all those problems and I am forever in debt to Lee Stafford (my hair says thank you). This product is simple and easy to use as it can be used on dry or wet hair, so play around until you find a way that works best for your hair. I use a small amount - a little goes a long way - and I smother it all over my wet hair before drying. I simply smooth my fingers over the product and it melts into my fingers, which makes it easy to spread over the hair. Be careful not to use too much - I have fallen victim to that too many times and greasy locks aren't cute. I concentrate on the ends of my hair as that's where it's most dry and needs the most protection.

I then dry my hair with a hair dryer as usual, and put my hair in a way so that it's curly when I wake up. When I wake up he next day, I am greeted with soft, thick hair. It really is a miracle product and how I've gone so long without it I literally have no idea. It gives such life and bounce into my hair that I can't seem to describe. Me and this Coconut Balm are now best friends and inseparable, and I carry it everywhere I go as I never want to stay at a friends and be without it. The idea horrifies me. If you have bleached hair like mine, I couldn't recommend this enough - it's fantastic. 

Grab this from Boots for £6.99 here,

but always check in for Lee Stafford offers on Boots!

Thank for reading!