#bloggersecretsanta

As I explained yesterday, I’ve participated in two bloggers Secret Santa’s this year. The second one I joined in with was set up by the gorgeous Hayley from ‘Tea Party Beauty’. One of the funniest blog posts I’ve read for a while was written by this lovely lady ‘24 Hours to Live - The End is Nigh’, if you have not read it, go now!

So to say I was a little excited when I received a giant red parcel box is an understatement! My excitement then escalated when I opened up the beautiful gold gift box inside to find all these fabulous treats!

I feel so spoilt with all these gorgeous pieces! I especially love the Lush shower gel and the cute little bath bomb. So i would like to say a massive THANK YOU to my Santa, the beautiful Jessica from ‘Beauty, Bits and Bobs by Jess B’, I feel really spoilt!

 

#secretsanta13

 

I’ve been a little naughty this year and got involved in two separate bloggers secret Santa’s! I loved the whole process, stalking someone via social media (not in a creepy way, obvs!) and finding new fab blogs to read and follow. Trying to establish what you think they would like and making it personal to them. I had so much fun playing Santa and hope my giftee’s likes their goodies!

So the first Secret Santa I got involved in was set up by Hannah Bailey who blogs over at ‘hannah bee’. I love her blog, so go check it out if you haven’t already!

I was so excited when this box of goodies arrived and my Secret Santa was revealed as Georgia from ‘What I Adore More’, a very cute blog which I can’t believe I hadn’t come across prior to this Secret Santa!  

Georgia was so thoughtful and I received a beautiful Cath Kidston notebook and this gorgeous mug along with some yummy chocolates (which may have lasted all of five minutes, oops!). It was such a lovely present to receive, so I would like to say a massive thank you to Georgia!

Christmas Cocktails: Sloe Gin Fizz

Christmas is the season of fun filled festivities and merriment, a time for family, friends, food and some fabulous drinks. As the song goes ‘Tis the season to be jolly’ and after a few cocktails you will be well on your jolly way! Therefore each Saturday on the lead up to Christmas I will be sharing with you my favourite festive cocktail recipes. I hope you enjoy and let me know if you try one out!

Sloe Gin Fizz

You Will Need...

            Crushed Ice

            50ml Sloe Gin

            Dash of Lemon Juice

            Cream Soda

            Blackberries

Fill a tall glass with ice, Pour in the Gin and lemon juice, then stir. Top up with Cream Soda and add a handful of Blackberries to garnish.

BOOK CLUB TAKEOVER: Loretta from 'The University Project'

Here are my thoughts… I LOVE hearing other people’s views and reviews on pretty much anything especially books! Some of my favourite reads are ones that have been suggested by other people. So thinking along those lines,’ The Book Club Takeover’ was born! Hopefully each week I will bring to you a post from one of my lovely and amazing fellow bloggers who will in turn share with you what their favourite book is, why they love it and a review. I hope you enjoy this feature as much as I do!

 

Hi I am Loretta, I’m a second year Zoology student at Bangor University and I blog over at The University Project about my day to day university life, stationery, books and everything in between! I’ve recently been planning some beauty and fashion posts and I would really love suggestions on the kind of posts you would like to see! I only started my blog this summer but it is quickly becoming my pride and joy, I love having my own little space on the internet!

I’m one of those girls who attempts to follow fashion but I never manage to pull it off quite the way I intended to and therefore I think my favourite book is The Devil Wears Prada by Lauren Weisberger, in fact I completely love the whole series! As much as I enjoy a good meaty book, sometimes a girl just needs a bit of light hearted reading! The long awaited instalment came out this summer I immediately marked it for my holiday reading!

 

I’m sure most of you have either read the book or seen the very popular movie adaptation but just in case you have been living under a rock for the best of this century I will sum up the book for you. A young recent graduate from Brown is struggling to make her way in the New York writing scene and so takes the job of an assistant at a fashion magazine but it turns out she has the boss from hell but everyone in the industry knows that if you survive a year, you can get any writing job you want. Andrea does her best to stick it out and understand the world of high fashion that she has found herself thrown into whilst attempting in vain to convince her loved ones that she hasn’t changed or lost her values.

Lauren Weisberger is such a talented writer and every time I open one of the books I completely believe the situation she is writing about. I loved her books as a teenager and I still love them now in my early twenties and I think that says a lot about how relatable her writing is. I’ve always enjoyed the escapism aspect of reading a good book and I have yet to find a Weisberger book that doesn’t achieve this.

Lastly I want to thank Gemma for allowing me to take part in her book club, I have been keeping my eye out for a bloggers book club for a while so  I was thrilled when she asked me to take part!

Lush's Christmas Eve Bubble Bar

 

As you may have guessed by now I’m a little bit in love with Lush’s seasonal offerings. As I shared last week their Snow Fairy shower gel is a highlight of this time of year for me. However there are a few other Christmas goodies I like, one of these being their Christmas Eve Bubble Bar.

I love their Bubble Bar range, I’ve never been that keen on Bath Bombs but their Bubble Bars are the best invention ever! This one is perfect for those wintery evenings leading up to Christmas.

The Christmas Eve Bubble Bar is made from Jasmine and Ylang Ylang Oil. To me it smells quite floral, something I’m not usually a fan of, however this wasn’t too overpowering and I quite liked it! As usual it’s also super bubbly, which the big kid in me is a huge fan of!

What bubble bars have you tried or would recommend?

Dear Santa...

Dear Santa,

Hope you and the elves are all good?

I think I have been pretty good this year, I may have had the odd naughty moment, but I think you should over look those and put me on the nice list!

Please find here my beauty wish list, all of which I believe every girl should own and they would all look beautiful under my tree....

Urban Decay Naked 3 Palette, MAC Vegas Volt Lipstick,

Benefit Rockateur, Kenzo Flower in The Air Perfume

 

Lots of Love

 

Gemma xxx

Motivational Monday #36

I am truly getting into the Christmas Spirit, hence the ELF quote today! It has to be one of my favourite Christmas films, it never fails to make me laugh and get me in the mood. Yesterday I spent the day wrapping presents and watching made for TV Christmas movies, so to say I’m getting excited is an understatement!

As I mentioned in last Mondays post, I am all about spreading the Christmas spirit! I love this time of year as everyone seems to make an extra effort to kind, do good deeds and to just be generally more lovely. I wish this could be bottled up and everyone to embrace this all year round!

Anyhow, back to today’s quote, I don’t want you all literally singing! I am a terrible singer, I just shout. I am taking this metaphorically as in you need to be the person you want to be! Therefore I am going to make an extra effort and take the time to do some good deeds and just be a more kind and helpful person. I think we can all be guilty of getting wrapped up in ourselves and being a little selfish. If you can’t slow down and look at the wider picture at Christmas, when can you?

Happy Monday!