Wow how is it nearly the end of the year already! It doesn't seem like 5 minutes since I was blogging about London trips and booking holidays and now its nearly Christmas? Woahh!
November has been a pretty funny month for me owning to the fact I have spent the last 2 weeks of it recovering from surgery and haven't really left the house. Even so I want to share with you a favourites post today - I am determined to make these a regular monthly thing - because I am nosey and I like to read them so I am going to assume you all do too! When I just looked back the last one I did was August which I couldnt believe! So make note, these will now be coming your way every month!!!

 I picked this product up around January in the sale in boots in a gift set and although it doesnt often get a lot of love from me, I have been using it the past couple of weeks. As I have said, I have spent the last couple of weeks cooped up recovering from my op but when I have left the house briefly I have done so wearing little if any make up (which I would NEVER normally do but it is one of the perks of being ill) - I have been putting this little beauty which is an instant radiance balm on which is designed to give your skin and instant lift and pick me up. Perfect for when your not wearing any make up but you want that 'i feel like crap but dont want to look like it' glow!
FYI they have changed the packaging of this now - it now comings in a while tube.

 I had this in my hand around this time last year in John Lewis in London and put it back. I picked it up when I went to Manchester with mum at the start of October after I continued to read such good things about it on the blogesphere. I seriously regret not picking this up sooner! Although I am quite blessed that I dont get many spots or blemishes - occasionally I get a little blighter that pops up from nowhere! A dab of this before I go to bed and 9 times out of 10 it is either gone or unnoticable the next morning!

 This face mask from lush has become a favourite of mine as a pick me up for my skin when it has been feeling crappy! There is nothing like sitting round the house feeling poopy to do that to you is there? Although this mask is labelled as a mask which helps with spots I find that the peppermint flavouring in this is perfect for making your skin feel fresh as a daisy!


 If you have been with me a while you will know that I am on the constant hunt for a good cleanser/make up remover! I picked this up in lush and decided to give it a try to see if it compared to my beloved Liz Earle Cleanse and Polish and I have to say - so far so good!!!

 Not really much to say about this product - got the recommendation from a friend to try and and am enjoying using it and how it makes my skin feel!

 I instantly fell in love with this beauty as soon as I used it for the first time! It has had some serious loving during the first 2 weeks in November and I am sure as Christmas rolls around will continue to get some!

I held off and held off on this rose gold beauty and resisted it after reading so much about it online but when I passed the Benefit counter one day and swatched it for myself I couldnt hold off any longer!

And that rounds up my favourites for November! I am sure there will be a lot of discoveries and new favourites in December what with functions and Christmas events it gives me chance to crack out the glitter and different make up that I normally use so I am sure you will see some of that come the end of December! Also any products on here that I havent yet done a proper review on, I will be doing them over the next couple of weeks so keep your eyes out for those! :)

Now before we start head off and grab yourself a cuppa, get comfy and we can have a good old natter and a catch up! My tea of choice today is a Blackcurrent Twinning tea in my lovely new Emma Bridgewater mug!

So how are we all???

I thought I would have a little catch up with you all today to see how you all are!

I am starting to get there now after my surgery am able to get up and about now which is better as I didn't really like being chained to the sofa. I have got an infection in one of my wounds which I am taking antibiotics for so hopefully they will start to kick in and get rid of it.

Have you all noticed my new tab up the top??? If you follow me on Instagram you will have seen on Saturday that I posted a screenshot from the Daily Mail website which I was featured on!!!

I cant tell you how excited I was! I have to say though as much as I love my job I am quite enjoying being at home and getting lots of blogging done and this exciting thing would never have happened had I not been at home reading Twitter at the right moment! I didn't actually think for one moment it would actually get mentioned on there as I assumed they would have thousands of replies. It was a bit weird being called a Fashion Blogger because that is something I dont really see myself as but hey ho! A mention is a mention!

Another exciting thing that happened last week is I hit my 3 and a half stone at slimming world! And not only that but while I was recovering in a hospital bed having just had my appendix out, my slimming world class were celebrating me being crowed Miss slinky! So I had to get my sash and certificate last week instead!
I was quite shocked when I saw on facebook that my group had chosen me to be Miss Slinky since I was crowned Woman of the year just a few months back! It has given me a boost and am aiming to get to my 4 stone now for Christmas!

I am looking forward the next couple of weeks! I am off out with my lovely friends I went to university with tonight which I am looking forward to as I havent seen some of them for at least a couple of years! Next Saturday (7th) is our Christmas party at work and now I have found the perfect dress I cant wait!!!  I somehow ended up organising our Christmas Party this year and am looking forward to everyone getting together for a night out as it isnt often all of us get to do that! On the 14th I am taking part in a concert which I am very excited about as it is the chance to sing with a massive choir (compared with the 8 or so people who usually sing in my church choir) and also the chance to sing at a local venue called the Victoria Hall which for you none Stokie people out there is a fantastic venue to sing at!

Then obviously we are in the lead up to Christmas which I LOVE!!!

So how are you all??? Let me know your gossip and what you have been up to!

Ok, I'll admit it! When I think about the lead up to christmas there are 2 things I look forward to; seeing the coca cola advert on TV and the Boots Christmas catalogue being released. Sad I now but come on hands up, who agrees??? When I think about Christmas and Christmas Shopping, you have to admit that Boots pretty much nail it. They have such a wide range of products available and with their epic 3 for 2 offer, you cant at least do some of your shopping in there.

2013 is another great year for Boots, in fact I would go out as to say it is better than last year. They have a lot of new brands on their shelf this year as well as welcoming back some of the old favourites. Last year I did feel like some of the brands offerings were a bit meh and there was a lot of the same kind of thing from brands that to me didnt seem to sell well. Not this year - well done boots you have done it again! *claps*

• No7 Eye Appeal Eye Shadow Palette - £10
• Vintage Perpetual Calendar - £10 
• Lee Stafford Polka Straight kit - £10 
• Dual Arcade Gaming iPhone Dock - £15
• Sanctuary Facial in a Box - £20 
• No7 Skincare collection - £35
• Soap and Glory once upon a lime - £18 
• Running Kit -  £12 
• Rosies Pantry Jam Making Kit - £12
• Trendz Glitter iPhone 5 case - £10 

Ok, so look outside, I know technically now it is probably more like Winter but its a bit of a tradition to share with you my favourite nail colours from the season! You know how much I love nail polish and so here are my top picks for Autumn/winter 2013 - Usually when I do these posts I stick to my top 10 but I thought hey, its only 4 weeks until christmas so a little early present for you! I am treating you to my Top 18 polishes instead! (Be warned I am hopeless at describing polishes)

 This has been one of my newest additions to my collection and is part of the Fall duo which Essie currently has on offer. I think it was around £12.99. I really love this colour. It is a beautiful dark raspberry purple colour! Great for Winter!

 This colour is absolutely GORGEOUS! It is the perfect colour for the party season. The best way to describe it is probably a rose gold colour. It catches the light beautifully.

 This is the other shade available in the Essie Fall Duo - This is a gorgeous grey/brown colour which I absolutely love.

 This is one I picked up when I was subscribed to Glossy box. It isnt a shade I reach for very often but I love teaming it with other colours, like over the top of a darker red at this time of year to glitter it up a bit. I think if memory serves me correctly these polishes are around the £14 mark which I wouldnt pay as the bottle is quite small and when you consider other high end brands such as OPI are not that much I am sure you could find a similar colour in another brand.

 This is one of my go to glitter polishes and has been a firm favourite of mine for a long time. Its name 'disco ball' serves it perfectly as that is exactly what it looks like when it is on your finger. It has small flecks of Blue and Purple as well as silver which means it goes perfectly with lots of different colours.

 To me this is the perfect red colour. When you think of double decker bus or phone box in London red, its like Rimmel has bottled that in a this bottle. This is just the perfect red shade without being too far on the orange or pinky part of the spectrum.

 Small chucks of gold goodness packed into a beautiful polish - Barry M sure now how to do a good glitter polish and this one is no exception! I love Barry M polishes and when you think of the quality and the price - you really cant go wrong! This one is perfect for teaming over the top of your favourite colour for a quick flash of sparkle.

 You cant do christmas without a bit of gold polish and if you have read my blog a while you will know that this is my all time favourite gold nail polish! To me this really is like gold in a bottle! It does take a few coats to get completely opaque but it is definately worth it when you do.

Again this one has had a lot of press on my blog over the years. This is my favourite all time glitter polish! I think this is probably one of the few polishes that I have had to repurchase! It is perfect for christmas time because it is just so darn glittery!! If you are looking for some serious glitter to bling up your nails over the festive period then this is defiantly the one to go for!

This is a shade I picked up in this months Glamour magazine (which I assume is still on sale) - £2 for a nails inc polish - certainly cant complain. Again with the gold - silver is another must have polish for the festive season. I always think silver (and gold) seem to be quite hard to get right in a nail polish but nails inc seem to have nailed it here (haha see what i did there)

Another favourite from Barry M. I know this is a well loved Autumn winter shade across the blogging community (as you can see my bottle is a little worn). This shade always gets me compliments when I wear it on my nails. It is the perfect raspberry colour which is brilliant for the cold months!

Not a colour you usually see knocking around at Christmas time but I wanted to include this blue polish from OPI because there seems to be a lot of Navy party wear knocking about on the high street at the moment and this would go perfectly with a little navy dress. The swatch here is one coat but it goes darker if you add another coat.

This is my most recent nail polish purchase that I picked up from TK Max (seriously in love with that place for beauty bargains) I swatched this and wanted to include it because the colour is gorgeous for christmas time when there always seems to be a lot of purple knocking around. The liquid sand effect makes the polish a bit grainy - as I havent worn it on my fingers yet I cant really pass comment but I love the colour!

This along with the Rimmel one is my favourite red - this being my slightly darker more glittery favourite. The picture really does do this one justice as it has a really gorgeous ever so slight glittery shimmer in it without being glittery - if that makes sense.

The swatch of this actually does not do anything for this at all. This is more of a dusky pink colour rather than the brighter colour it looks here. Perfect for wearing with those autumn nudes and pinks.

And that sums up my top colours for Autumn/Winter 2013. Which of these are your favourites? Any you will be rushing out to pick up??

With Christmas slowly creeping up on us - here is the second of my gift guides - Gifts for the girls! Again I have tried to give you all a good variety of different options because lets face it - we all like different things!

1. 3 in 1 Cake Maker - Next - £35 - You know I am partial to a bit of baking and this little gadget is a 3 in 1 maker that makes cupcakes, donuts and cake pops! 
2. Mr Grey Mug - Not on the high street - £12.50 - I love this mug from Not on the high street! Perfect for those female friends who loved the 50 shades books :) 
3. Little Love Potions - Benefit - £29.50 - You know I love Benefit and I love this little set which contains 10 mini benefit goodies including porefessional, hoola bronzer and bad gal lash mascara
4. Baileys Latte Set - BHS - £18 - Christmas is all about the Baileys coffee! How cute is this set! 
5. Betty and Walter Manicure Set - Boots - £8 - I love to keep a manicure set in my bag for those nail emergencies and this one is SO cute! 
6. Ciate Very colourful manicure kit - Selfridges - £18 - Because every girl needs colourful nails in her life and this set by Ciate is very cute! 
7. Cath Kidston sew book - Cath Kidston - £16 - Perfect for those girls who love to sew and get creative!!
8. Colour on the Go - Clinique - £20 - Lipsticks on the go without being bulky in your little handbag while your out and about enjoying youtself
9. Floral Organiser - Paperchase - £22 - I brought this filofax/organiser a few months back when I went to Manchester with mum. I am SO in love with it! It is perfect for organising everything! I loved my filofax but this one is perfect as it is A5 and is an amazing price when you consider most of the filofax ones are twice the price of this! 
10. Citybag with Zips - Zara - £59 - If you follow me on instagram you will see that I have purchased this bag a couple of weeks ago! It is perfect for those girls who like me love to carry everything but the kitchen sink around. 

Its not very often I talk about fashion here on my little blog - but this weeks selection from British blogger selection asked us to talk about our favourite clothes shops.

I have to say, I have never been loyal to a particular clothes shop. As you know I have lost nearly 3 and a half stone doing Slimming World and up until this point I was a size 22. When I was bigger I used to basically shop where I could get clothes - I worked in Evans as a 'saturday girl' from the age of 16 to 21 and used to get quite a good discount so I had quite a lot of clothes from there. I also used to shop in places like Inspire at New Look and Asda. Basically I would try anywhere that did my size.

Nowdays I am down to a 16/18 and it is SO lovely to be able to shop in clothes shops in the 'normal section'.

Anyway enough rambling....




I have been a massive fan of TU at Sainsburys for a long time. I find that they do some fantastic clothes which are affordable but the quality is fantastic and looks more expensive. I have made quite a lot of purchases in there over the past few years - particularly when they have their 25% off events!
You couldnt mention clothes shops and not mention Primark! I do have a bit of a love hate relationship with it because you can either find lots of stuff at good prices or you go in and see absolutely nothing. Primark again is fantastic if you want to update your wardrobe without spending a lot of money. I have been a fan of Primark basic T Shirt for a long time and find they are great usually ranging from £1-2 for vests and £2-4 for a T shirt. I mean for how long you wear them for why pay any more? I also love Primarks tights because again I find for how long tights actually last, their price of under £5 is enough to pay and they have it all covered from basic's to patterned to coloured tights.
My favourite Primark purchase of this year has got to be my lovely Mac which was £20. It is the perfect style that I was looking for and again who can complain about this price?

I have been a fan of New Look since back in the day when I was buying from their Inspire range and now even more so. I have always loved the clothes New Look offers up. I particularly love their Jeans which i always find to be the right length and are a fantastic price at around £10 for a pair. They are always a nice high waist which I love in a jean and are always a great fit. They also have some fantastic dresses in there and I have quite a few in my wardrobe that have come from there from everyday dresses to workwear to going out dresses!
I think New Look is probably my favourite all round shop. There are not many times I dont go in and see something that I like or come out with something whether it be their great basic wear like their Tshirts or Vest tops, a dress, jeans or even shoes and accessories!

There are another couple of shops I fleet in and out of, I do like Dorothy Perkins and I have been loving Forever 21 but like H&M we don't have one in Stoke. I think I am finding myself branching out a bit more when it comes to clothes shopping which I really enjoy. It is nice to be able to shop in different places instead of having to stick to the same shops all the time and I am defiantly enjoying being able to spread my shopping wings a bit more!

What are your favourite clothes shops? Do you like to shop around or are you loyal to one brand?

I think I am enjoying this spending my day on the sofa blogging too much. I have spent my week off sick so far with a cup of tea in one hand and my laptop on my knee catching up with everything and getting to read through lots of bloggness out there both on peoples blogs and on twitter! I am loving it too much!

I came across the 2014 Blogger Challenge through the British Blogger Selection as I noticed that Ellie who is running the BBS is taking part in the 2014 Blogger Challenge and so I decided to look into it.

There is a link over in the side bar (or below) if you want to take part in this and contact Gaby who is running this and it will take you to her blog where all the information is.
An overview of the challenge is that basically Gaby is going to send an email out every month giving you a topic to discuss on your blog on the 1st and 3rd weeks of the month. Basically the idea is to get new ideas and discussions onto your blog and you know me, Im all for that!

Head on over to Gabys blog if you want to take part or if you want to see all the other bloggers who are taking part!


 If your taking part in this - leave me a link in the comments so I can follow your posts :)

Cast your minds back and you may remember when I went to Birmingham for a girly weekend with my bestie, I mentioned that I had made a cheeky little purchase in the Mac shop. I have been giving my purchase a test and I thought it was about time I told you all about it!

I have lusted over the Mac Palettes for a long time. I know that they are a favourite amongst beauty bloggers and make up artists and I can see the appeal - I mean you get to build your own palette and include whatever colours you will wear because lets face it - we all have palettes where there is colours that go unloved. I think there are a couple of colours in my beloved Naked palette which have never seen the love of a brush.
Me and my friend had been saving for this weekend away for a while - she has a little boy and is saving for a house and with me working, we dont get to do things like this very often. So we saved and we went and I decided since I had wanted one for SO long that I would treat myself.

Now as I mentioned and you will have seen, I already have a Naked Palette which tends to be my go to eyeshadow for everyday wearing. However I do wear quite a lot of purple for work and fancied finding some easy to wear colours. I spent a lot of time before we went looking at different shades online and swatches that other bloggers had done.


This palette has seriously seen some love since I brought it. I wanted some purply colours but I picked up Satin Taupe because I know it is much loved and when I saw it - I just couldnt leave it in the shop! This is probably the one which I have worn the most since buying this palette. I love to wear this with a bit of Naked Lunch blended in and find the 2 go together really easily to make a simple look. I also find these to be really pigmented too which I love in a shadow!


The Mac Pro Palettes are avaliable from Mac stockists or online - in 2, 4, 6 and 15s which obviously means you can build them up as much as you want. The advantage of the 2 and 4 palette is you just pay for the palette as is which is £6.50 where as with the 6 and 15 you have to buy the palette and then the respective insert which obviously pushes up your price ( The palette is £14 and the insert is £6.50).

For me I found that the 4 was the perfect size as it is a nice size to fit in your make up bag without taking over it. Also it means you can customise it for different colours. I know a lot of bloggers have the 15 palette, one with nudes, one with colours but obviously this is very costly. Each of the shadows for this palette is individually priced at £10 and there are over 100 shades you can choose to customise you palette with.

Do you have a Mac Palette or do you lust over one? What are your favourite Mac shadowss???