Its Beginning To Look A Lot Like Christmas...

Hey Everyone!

Well what do you know- winter is upon us already and its exactly 6 weeks today till Christmas day (eek where has this year went?). I love this time of year- getting all cosy in my onesie at night, lighting candles, the influx of Christmas adverts, I'm a celebrity is back (favourite tv program ever woo!) and becoming dangerously addicted to hot chocolate. 

Talking of I'm a Celebrity...Get Me Out of Here, isn't it just the most entertaining programme of the year? I absolutely love Ant and Dec, they are utterly hilarious and I'm enjoying getting nightly fashion inspiration from Get Me Out of Here Now's Laura Whitmore. I'm sad to see that Russell Kane isn't back though- I thought he made the after show. Any thoughts?

On another note, I had a burst of inspiration for posts last night, and I am so excited to share all my winter wishlists and themed posts with you in the coming weeks. I feel like this year, because I'm so busy Christmas will just kind of by pass me, but I'm determined not to let that happen by marking the occasion with festive posts and of course the usual Christmas preparation (I've usually got my shopping done by now but I haven't even started!)

Also, on the blogging front, I'm thinking of a slight change of direction- I want to make posts a bit shorter, with more good quality pictures, not so categorised and hopefully more flowing. I'm quite an organised, structured person but I want my blog to be a bit more arty, a kind of creative outlet, rather than an extension of study.  So yep that's the plan- we'll see how it goes!

I'm looking forward to the Coca Cola advert- that's when you know its Christmas!

What's you're favourite thing about this festive season?

Review | NYC Showtime Waterproof Mascara

I picked up NYC Showtime Waterproof Mascara in Superdrug for £1.99 as a kind of 'you will do until I find something better product' after my L'Oreal Telescopic ended smudging to the top of my cheekbones after only a few hours wear. I thought either it had a very short prime time or I needed something a little (or a lot) more long wearing. Without the £10.99 price tag (ouch!)

I was pretty much bang on the money with my first impression. This mascara is pretty much your average, not bad, not great product. The packaging is admittedly quite nice for how much it was. So far the writing has stayed intact and everything has stuck where it should be (classic signs of cheap packaging). The wand is pretty standard; straight, strong and brush-like without much flexibility or movement (which isn't necessarily a bad thing). The formula is quite dry which I like as I don't end up with mascara on my lid from blinking too quickly, yet it isn't too dry that it flakes. It definitely lives up to it claim of being waterproof, as it doesn't budge from my lashes even after a day at school (the ultimate test) and, what is most impressive, is that it is actually just as easy as a normal mascara to remove! No red eyes or endless scrubbing. 

However, it really doesn't do anything amazing for my lashes. It gives them a bit of definition, and can look decent if you apply 3 or so coats (I'm sorry, but who has time for that?) but it doesn't volumize or lengthen. For a natural, day to day, long wearing, affordable mascara, this is good. But, if you are looking for a bit of oomph- this isn't the product for you. 

I am still searching for a mascara that ticks all the boxes, and I now wonder whether I will need to wear a waterproof one all the time or whether there was just some weird smudging thing going on with my Telescopic.

Have you tried this mascara? Which one would you recommend?

Review | ELF Eyelid Primer

As you may know, I love a smokey eye, but what is insufferably annoying is when your eye makeup rubs off in the course of a few hours. There are a great many high end eyelid primers available which I have heard raved about constantly (hello Urban Decay Primer Potion) but for a lot of us that is way out of budget. At that point I turned to ELF and found the Eyelid Primer in Sheer for a tiny £1.50.

The packaging is fairly simple yet durable- so far no leakages or faded writing. It has a really nice formula; I apply one 'swipe' onto my crease and blend all over the lid and up to the brow. I love how it gives a very even surface and colour to my eyelid and provides a great base for shadow. It sounds weird, but it actually feels soft on my eye- like a blanket or something, and is therefore really smoothing. It slightly enhances the usual colours of the eye shadow and reduces creasing, though doesn't prevent it all together. Although it doesn't work exactly as I'd hoped, this product has still become part of my everyday routine because it provides a beautiful base for eye shadow.

Have you tried this? Can you recommend any other drugstore eye primers?

Instagram | The Last Fortnight In Pictures

From left to right and down:

glitter nails yay | hi there | last hint of summer? | yup, still watching this constantly | top o' the mornin to ye | I'm stretchy and I know it | new Benefit catalogue- so tempting! | me + yo yo = life complete | tried this on in TKMaxx- I wish I'd bought it- and it was the last one- never going to find it again :( | pretty pearl nails | Saturday shopping | edited to the max :)

I'm keeping this post short and sweet as I tend to ramble on a lot- have you noticed? :P 

How has your week been? My homework is overloading and I have the cold boo! 

Cheryl Cole A Million Lights Concert

Hey Everyone!

Remember me? I'm back to normal life after a crazy last two weeks (I was in a musical woot!) so hopefully regular(ish) posting will resume. In saying that, today's post is not beauty or fashion related but instead I thought I'd share with you some pictures of when I went to see Cheryl two weeks ago.

This is how close we actually were! ^

It was absolutely amazing and it made me love Cheryl even more. We had really good seats and at one point Cheryl came and stood on this big platform just in front and she was so close! The concert made me realise just how much she has done as a solo artist and what an incredible dancer she is. And in case you're wondering, my cousin and I did try to sneak round the back of the arena and we got really close to the tour bus but we were sent off by a security guard (spoil sport!) I really hope Cheryl returns more to the public eye as I often (weirdly) forget how much I love her! I think she's got a knack of pulling off whatever she wears or does- like she had in side braid kind of things which I have never been a fan of but they looked great on her and it made me want to try them (odd example I know! :P)

Do you like Cheryl Cole? Would you like to see more of this kind of 'what I'm up to' post?

On a side note- I would like to try and write up posts on my phone but my Blogger app is stuck with posts from like 10 weeks ago and will not refresh even after reinstalling it- any ideas why this is?