#BigBlogmasproject2014 #2 Gift Guide For Women

With us now now officially in December (crazy) what better time to share my Christmas gift guide. Unlike previous years I decided to get organised with my gifts to spare myself the annual rush around on Boxing Day – trust me no one wants that kind of stress!  I’ve thought ahead and can happily say that I’ve already bought or have a good idea of what I’ll be buying my loved one’s come Christmas. However, if you are still in need of a little inspiration, or are feeling a little stumped on what to buy for the girls in your life my gift guide will hopefully give you a few ideas. The majority of the gifts mentioned are a range of prices, so there really is something for every budget -

For the bookworm

We all have that friend who constantly has her head behind a book, so what better gift to receive under the tree this Christmas time than a new read. This is something I’ve always appreciated myself as friends and family don’t always choose a book/author that I would necessarily choose for myself so it’s a great way to discover a new author or genre of book!

If you want to choose a book that’s more specific think about her interests if she’s a beauty lover why not treat her to a makeup manual such as Bobbi Brown’s or even Liz Earle Skin Secrets. Many brands now also offer a book/guide of some sort so it’s certainly worth looking into. For the fashion conscious why not pick up the Parisian Chic: A Style Guide especially if she enjoys blogs/street style this would be greatly received.

For the techy chic

Technology gifts are always thrown into the lads pile but I think plenty of girls appreciate techy gifts just as much if not more than guys (break the stereotype this Christmas!) For any girl with an IPhone (or smartphone)  portable chargers are a great stocking filler and although not something to get excited about it will certainly be their most used Christmas gift this Christmas (I wouldn’t go anywhere without mine!) You can pick up most portable chargers for £5-£10 and with an array of pretty colours you can’t go wrong, Ebay/Amazon has the best!

Sticking with the techy theme why not treat her to a Kindle/e-reader this would make a perfect gift for the girl that’s always on commute or travels a lot. You can get the older Kindle models for around £50-£60 but for an extra special gift this Christmas that will put a smile on her face go for it! (I do hope my Mum isn’t reading this!)

For the house hermit

I have no shame in admitting I fall under this category. For the girls in your life who would rather have a girly night in with a film, cuppa, and snuggly PJS why not spoil them this Christmas with some new loungewear. When I was younger this was always the gift I was always less excited about but as I’ve grown older I’ve really learnt to appreciate a good quality pair of slippers, or a fluffy well-made dressing gown. Primark do a great selection of winter warmers, and as the weather gets cooler she’ll be sure to appreciate this Christmas gift.

It’s also worthwhile noting over sized scarfs, gloves, or hats are always going to be appreciated for the cooler months, so whilst you’re in Primark picking up your lounge-wear it may be worth looking at their outwear too! Zara, H&M and New Look also have a variety available.

For the girly girl

You know the drill, gift sets are a fail safe option. I personally love receiving gift sets as it feels like you get lots of gifts for the price of one. They’re a great introduction to a brand, or even just nice to stock up for the year ahead. If your budget is on the smaller side why not get crafty and create your own gift sets! A lot of the time (especially with Lush) the pre made gift sets cost more than the individual products. To save money choose your own selection of products (you could even buy a selection of minis) buy some pretty wrapping or a box with ribbon and you’re pretty much good to go.

For the one that spends a lot of time at her desk

Stationery. Paper chase have a lovely selection of stationery that would make a quirky gift for friends or family. People always appreciate good stationery, even now in my working life I love to have a pretty notepad it brightens up my desk and makes looking at my horrendous ‘to do’ list a little more bearable. You could even buy them a personalised planner or calendar for 2015!

…And the rest

Perfume – for most girls this one is always a fail safe. Perfume is a very personal thing to buy though so if you’re not entirely sure what she likes I’d do some digging!

Tea - If she’s a tea lover why not purchase a lovely printed mug. Emma Bridgewater have some beautiful designs. You could even build your own box; include a mug and a selection of her favourite tea or even new brands of tea to try! Any tea enthusiast will be more than chuffed with the thought.

Just a few ideas that hopefully may inspire some of you who are still a bit stumped on what to buy the. A lot of these gifts are small, so this may be more of a stocking filler gift guide. Although it sounds cheesy it really is the thought that counts! I always take the following approach when buying gifts buy two gifts, something the person NEEDS and something the person WANTS. I’ve stuck to this logic when buying gifts for years and it always seems to do the trick.

What gifts will you be buying for the girls in your life? 

#BigBlogmasproject2014 #1 Sheffield Christmas Markets

For day one of the #bigblogmasproject2014 I thought I'd share some recent pictures that I took whilst merrily strolling through the Sheffield Christmas markets. I tell you what street photography is a lot harder than it looks, everything I learnt during my photography college course went out of the window so let's not judge the market on these pictures too much. 

If you haven't guessed already Sheffield is my home town, Sheffield is such a vibrant diverse city that's rich in culture, I feel like there's always something happening with various festivals at different points throughout the year. However, the Christmas markets have to be my favourite. As I work fairly central there's nothing more magical than walking through the city centre at night with all the Christmas lights twinkling the markets look so pretty. The traditional wooden cabins offer a variety of seasonal goodies, many of the cabins also showcase local talent, there are small craft stores and handmade items available. There's also a variety of food stalls from all around the world, the German hot dog stand has to be my fave, as we all know us Sheffielders do love a good sausage! It's worthwhile mentioning that there are lots of food stalls offering a wide variety of foods for vegetarians too so no ones left out. 

As well as stuffing my face with hot dogs you may also find me in the Sleigh Bar. The Sleigh bar is great for post work drinks before heading up to Devonshire Green (a street that has various bars.) With great food, drink and unique Christmas gift ideas the Sheffield markets are certainly worth a visit if you ever find yourself in the area!

The markets are open daily 10am-6pm (8pm on Wednesdays) until Christmas eve. 

Does your city have a Christmas market?

The Repurchase List #1

As beauty bloggers we are always striving for perfection in our beauty products, which can often mean a steady flow of new products appearing on our blogs. I wouldn't say I have a ridiculous amount of products as I've been very good at curbing the 'I'll buy it for the blog' excuse, however with new products constantly cropping up on the radar it can be quite easy to forget the golden oldies, and lets face it they are often the best! The real test for any beauty blogger is 'would you repurchase?' So I thought I'd incorporate a new series on the blog (put my money where my mouth is) to show you the products I repurchase. Hopefully this series will be a round up of products I simply can't be without, or are totally worth the hype.

The NARS Creamy Concealer received so much love from the beauty community, I was a little late discovering the product towards the beginning of this year (as I usually wait a little before purchasing hyped products as you'll see here.) This concealer was definitely one of my greatest discoveries of 2014 *spoiler alert 2014 favourites post* purely for its versatility. Under the eyes this applies matte, but still manages to feel incredibly hydrating. This brightens dark circles, doesn't crease, look flaky or obvious on the skin and for me it's incredibly long wearing. As well as the more conventional use for concealer I use this on scarring, dark marks and spots, it never causes congestion like other concealers I have tried, it provides a skin like finish and again never looks obvious on the skin. When I apply this to my face I get the 'your skin looks amazing' rather than the 'your foundation looks amazing' on me this is virtually undetectable. Unlike other concealers this doesn't oxidise throughout the day, it doesn't look orange the shade 'caramel' surprisingly matches my skin tone perfectly.

The creamy concealer is easy to apply and requires minimal blending, this never looks streaky I find my Real Techniques Contour brush does a fantastic job where application is concerned. Throughout the year I haven't found anything that works as good at this at concealing scarring but still looking incredibly natural on the skin, for me this concealer is an all round winner and I can't see me NOT repurchasing this any time soon. I did leave a gap when I ran out of this, in this gap I did discover a concealer I liked almost equally but unfortunately it didn't cover scarring or spots in quite the same way that the NARS one does.

The only annoying thing with this is the packaging (as with all concealers) the tube makes it pretty much impossible to reach any last dribs and drabs of product. I've tried ear buds, I've tried everything trust me (I was desperate haha!) It's annoying to see so much product being thrown away but what can you do!

What are your favourite concealers? What are your most repurchased products?

P.S I'll be taking part in the 'Bigblogmasproject2014' it commences tomorrow! The project involves posting every day throughout December (scary) you can read more about the project here. I'm excited to be taking part and hoping that you enjoy my posts throughout the project.

10 Thoughts On Turning 21

On Monday I celebrated my 21st Birthday, which still feels absolutely crazy to write or say I still feel very much stuck in my teens. But despite the denial I waved goodbye to another year and embraced 21 with open arms…well kind of. In the running up to my birthday and for a few days after I felt incredibly meh, I certainly hoped to have achieved slightly more by my 21st. Anyway, I was lucky enough to spend my birthday sitting on a beach in sunny Tenerife the holiday gave me a great opportunity to reflect on the year, the positives, negatives and even aspects I'd like to improve on. I feel incredibly refreshed and positive on my return from my holiday, so today I thought I'd share ten random thoughts on 21. Some of you out there may have had similar thoughts at 21 or may even have tips for the aspects I'd like to work on -

1. Feeling loved - Let's get the cheesiest out of the way first. On my birthday I was actually reduced to tears, which is a little unlike me as I'm not an overly emotional person. I felt incredibly overwhelmed with the text messages I received, old friends, new friends and family. I'm not a materialistic person but the fact that so many people had gone out of their way to even wish me a happy birthday made me feel like the luckiest person in the world. I feel lucky to have such a wonderful family, friends and partner who all went out of their ways to make sure I had a wonderful birthday.

2. Achievements - I feel like at times I dwell on the negatives, in general blowing your own trumpet can be seen as big headed or self centred but I think it's so important that we recognise and celebrate achievements that we have made, it spreads positivity and can really lift your spirits when you are feeling a bit meh about everything. Over the years I've managed way more than I ever thought possible of myself. My biggest achievement of 2014 was two promotions at work, that now see me in a more senior level job (something I had to literally fight for!) And my second achievement was passing my driving test and purchasing a car.

3. Coming out of my shell - If I said to anyone in my life (who knows me well) that I was shy they'd probably laugh in my face at the sheer prospect. Although I often come across as the bubbly person, the loud one or the most outgoing I'm actually incredibly shy when meeting new people. Networking/meeting new people in general is something that I used to dread. As my role broadened at work, and as my confidence levels grew (a little) I'm better than I used to be around new people. I'm now able to say yes to situations that are a little out of my comfort zone.

4. Finance - From speaking to other 20 something year olds it seems like I'm not the only one who isn't at the stage they thought they would be, financially by 21. Things aren't entirely grim, however in terms of savings I'm nowhere near where I wanted to be by 21. Surprisingly I was  far better at saving when I was younger, but this is something I am going to work hard on through 2015. Looks like I'll have to have a reread of the post I wrote here.

5. Career- Despite being fortunate enough to have a job that I don't mind so much, I did feel by the age of 21 I'd be able to sit down and say I want to do [insert job title.] Unfortunately I'm still as clueless as 16 year old me. I have endless qualifications from Photography, to Music Technology, even Business Admin yet I'm still not entirely sure what career path to go down. Over the years and at 21 I've finally learnt that it's okay to not know, the more pressure I put on myself the more miserable I feel. So I've learnt to not worry so much, as no matter what age it's never too late to change your career plans.

6. Learn to love myself- I'm the type of person who constantly pulls myself down, I've never been one to take compliments well. Learning to love myself has been one hell of a journey and one that still continues. During school I did often feel like an ugly duckling, I'm not the most thick skinned of people and lets be honest kids can be cruel. I used to pick up on the smallest of things, my teeth stick out a little, my skins terrible, I have a massive forehead, but looking in the mirror everyday and repeating the same negative phrases completely destroys what little self esteem you have left. The saying you need to learn to love yourself before anyone can truly love you is something I'm a big believer in. In order to have a healthy mind, and a positive body image I've stopped being so harsh on myself!

7. Living arrangements - When I reached my twenties the pressure to move out and have my own place was immense.   I did originally think I'd have a burning urge to own my own place by the time I reached 21 but in all honesty I'm still pretty happy living at home. I'm entirely independent, I cook my own food, clean my own clothes and have my own space. At this moment in time I don't feel the need to move on which did surprise me as I thought I would feel differently.

8. Stop comparing - Since hitting my twenties I feel like I've spent far more time comparing than I ever did in my teens! Many of my friends of a similar age are settled down, engaged, pregnant or have their dream careers and it does make me wonder how I'm doing…just bobbing along over here haha. While learning from others is important, if we use it to reinforce an unrealistic or negative self-image it can be an unhealthy habit to get into. Comparing is something that I'm trying to stop, but it does prove difficult at times after all I guess it's human nature. 

9. Lifestyle and fitness - It pains me to write this, but I am no where near where I wanted to be in terms of fitness or even lifestyle at 21. I thought I'd have a better exercise routine and diet, but I'm actually just as bad (if not worse) than my teenage self. Definitely something I want to work on through 2015.

10. Don't care what others think - Yup, I'm one of those people the kind that says 'I really don't care what others think' when in all honesty I still do, it's one of the main reasons I won't ever consider YouTube as I feel you have to be incredibly thick skinned I admire anyone that puts their lives out there. This is something I want to get better at, there's no denying I'm far better than I used to be, but I'm still not 100% there.

So there's my goals and thoughts on 21. I'm not sure if this post will be of interest to anyone but it certainly felt rather satisfying to write. What's important to remember is, you don't need a birthday, new year or milestone (or in my case holiday) to reevaluate, look at what you have achieved, what you would like to achieve or any goals you want to work on. It surprisingly feels rather refreshing and has certainly left me with a clearer mind.