Blogger Secret Santa Meet Up 2014

Two weeks ago today I attended the Blogger Secret Santa 2014 Meet Up in Nottingham, ran by the Lovely Hannah King and Emma Dean! We all met up at Ned Ludd and had four different brands come to speak to us about their products. We also all received this amazing goody bag from The Blogger Programme! And of course we each exchanged our Secret Santa presents and I was very happy with mine! :) I apologise for the quality of some of these photos, I had a camera malfunction on the day so photographed most of the products when I got home!

How cute are these tags that Hannah and Emma made?! I framed mine!

This is what I received from the Blogger Programme Goody Bag!

Superdrug Superfruits Clay Mask, Dream Dots and Faith in Nature Shower Gel. Can't wait to try the Dream Dots!

Hairburst hair growth tablets and Perfectil skin, hair and nail tablets (although I don't think I want my hair to grow anymore!)

Leighton Denny, Beauty UK Posh Polish and Flashmob nail varnish. I've only ever heard of Leighton Denny out of these brands.

Makeup Revolution eyeshadow palette, Flashmob glitter, W7 Perfect Eyes and Playboy lipstick. I have to say I can't see myself using any of these! The baby pink lipstick is not my colour at all and I'll probably save the Makeup Revolution Palette for fancy dress makeup! The glitter might come in handy one day?!

Vita Liberata NKD SKN Instant Tan in Dark. I'm excited to try this as I used their Overnight tan in medium and that was a bit light for me so I'm hoping this will suit me better! (Read my review of the tan here).

Makeup Revolution Primer and Nanshy Eyeliner Brush. I think there was only meant to be one primer in the bag! I'm looking forward to trying these, the brush should definitely come in handy!

The bag also included a Lemon Meringue sample from The Treat Kitchen and a Crabtree and Evelyn cracker which I am yet to pull!

Your Tea Tiny Tea, a 14 Day Detox (I do love trying teas!)

A Facethefuture goody bag, I'm excited to try out some of these samples! I've never used this brand before.

These samples are from the brands that came to speak to us.

The hello breath sprays are made by the same company that makes eos balms, which instantly got me excited about this product! The idea is it's meant to look nice and able to fit in your bag easily, but also do the job it's designed for: freshening your breath! This flavour is Pink Grapefruit Mint, yum!

I can't remember the lovely man's name that spoke to us about hello and The Ultimate Fix, but he referred to himself as "The UK Friendly Guy" So UK Friendly guy also gave us a sample of The Ultimate Fix, which is a product that you spray on your nails after painting each coat which is designed to dry them from the bottom up. The good thing about it is that it doesn't have much of a scent!

The lovely Lekha from Merumaya then spoke to use about the Merumaya range of skincare. We got to test out most of the range, and it all looked/felt/smelled amazing! I can't wait to try these samples and I think I'll be adding a few products (definitely the serum) to my ever expanding wish list!

Xenca Five a Day+ was probably the product I was most excited about! It's basically a supplement in the form of a powder that supposed to help the body get what it needs during a typical day. The lovely Suzie explained all the science behind it and I was fascinated! I have been taking one teaspoon a day as recommended with water every day and I will update you with the results soon! She also spoke to us about a collagen supplement which sounded just as good, and both are reasonably priced.

Lush also dropped by to show us some of their Christmas range. Needless to say I wanted everything! We also got to make our own bath bombs which was so much fun! The one I made was called "Cinders". The Lush team were all so friendly and nice and even came round and gave us arm and hand massages using the massage bars!

Here I am weighed down with all my bags after a great day!

You will probably see some more in depth reviews of some of these products over the coming months, as I am currently in the process of trialling them still! :) Also it was so lovely meeting all of you who went to the meet up! Thanks again to Hannah and Emma :) xx

Graduation

I graduated! :) A bit late in the year I know, but our university doesn't do the ceremonies until November even though I actually finished in May! Obviously this was a proud day for me, I worked my absolute butt off to get to this day! Don't let anyone ever tell you that you can't do it or that you've taken on too much, because I worked 16 hours plus a week and managed to get a First in Geography so anything is possible! And I'm not a natural brainiac, so take this as inspiration, if I can do it, so can you ;). Because this was a special day I wanted to remember it and share it with you guys :).

I was wearing heels and was petrified that I would fall over on stage! Thankfully I didn't!

Dress: Asos (had a lovely plunge back but of course the gown hid that!)

Eyes: Urban Decay The Great and Powerful Oz, Loreal Lineur Intense, Givenchy Noir Couture

Eyebrows: Benefit Browzings (review here)

Lips: MAC Dark Side

Hair: Curled with GHDs, not that they lasted long though, my hair is too long to curl now :(

My best uni friends :)

Had to attempt some hat throws!

Needed a selfie!

We all booked a hotel in Sheffield that night and went out!

Top: Miss Selfridge

Skirt: New Look

I felt quite nostalgic as I really miss Sheffield, but it was lovely seeing everyone because I haven't seen them since May!

I hope you enjoyed this post, it's quite a personal one for me but I wanted to share it! 

Have any of you graduated this year? :)

How to Make Your Bedroom Festive on a Budget

This may be slightly early.. (42 days and counting!) However there's nothing wrong with making your bedroom a little festive and cosy around this time! I am personally on a strict budget at the moment, I've not long been back from America and only been in my new job a month so my pockets are rather tight at the moment! So I just wanted to show those of you in the same position how you can make your room or house look festive when you're on a budget. And I promise this post is not sponsored!

 I'm aware that some of these cushions don't quite fit the theme! But I haven't got room to store these cushions if I get a whole new set! ASDA has some amazing Christmas homeware at the moment and it is all at a great price! There were so many different duvet covers I liked. But it was sensible to just have the one! I'm not sure where the throw is from as my parents bought it a while back, but you can find some great ones at bargain prices from B&M! I think this throw goes lovely with this bedding as it breaks up the intensity of it and makes it blend better with the rest of my room.

Duvet Cover: ASDA, from £10

Bambi Cushion: ASDA, £7

A great way to make your room feel more cosy and Christmassy is of course candles! This top one I bought from an apothecary in Bakewell called Elliot Rose which you can read about here (if you're ever in Bakewell I highly recommend visiting). I love the smell of this candle so much, it's not too intense and it the scent really reminds me of winter. The Faerie Wishes & Kisses one I bought from again, another independent little shop. However I believe these are available in a lot of places! The third candle is a Green Tea scented one (amazing smell!) which I bought from Clintons. All of these candles were less than £10 each and I don't burn them constantly so they last me a while!

I've had this Tatty Teddy a while now and he always comes out at Christmas! He's super cute and makes my room look a little more Christmassy. I believe the small ones are around £7.99.

I haven't quite found a spot for this little guy yet! But I will be putting a little tree up in my room nearer to Christmas so he will probably hang on there! How cute is he though?! And I love a good pun! He was £3.50 from Next, bargain!

Fairy lights!! I bought these in September and I intend to leave them up all year because they make my room look so much cosier and I much prefer them to having the full lights on. These were from Ikea and I absolutely love them. I don't remember how much these cost but I think they were around £12!

How do you intend to decorate your room for Christmas?

My Top 10 TV Shows

A bit of a random post today! I myself, love a good series. I'm always looking out for newly top rated ones on IMDb and I have a list of ones I want to watch! Finding the time however is another story! So I've put together a top 10 list and hopefully it might give one of you a new series to love!

10. Sherlock

Sherlock is just brilliant. The whole concept of how Sherlock reads people is just ingenious! The plots always keep me on the edge of my seat and you can never guess the next twist. Benedict Cumberbatch is an amazing actor too and I love how he portrays Sherlock! Great for those of you that like a thriller with lots of humour thrown in there too.

9. True Detective

This was one of my finds whilst browsing IMDb! Only one series has aired so far, but oh my god it was so good! It's an in depth thriller about a serial killer. It gets really dark at times as the characters are battling their own demons, but it really is a great watch and I got very attatched to the main characters! I'd recommend if you like a gritty thriller with a great plot. The opening credits are also the coolest I've ever seen..

8. I'm a Celebrity Get Me Out of Here

Bit of a random one here! I'm a Celebrity Get Me Out of Here is a reality TV show and I'm sure those of you from the UK will have heard of it! Basically I just love Ant and Dec, I think they are hilarious! And the whole programme is just really funny and it doesn't take itself too seriously.

7. The Originals

The Originals is a spin off from The Vampire Diaries (hint for what's coming up!) I didn't think I'd like this at first but I really do! It's set in New Orleans which is such a cool place and when I visited New Orleans this summer I was on the lookout for notable places (and possibly notable vamps..) It's a really good series and definitely worth a watch if you're into the supernatural like I am!

6. Made in Chelsea

Ahh there had to be one of those reality shows in there somewhere! Fortunately this is the only one I watch! I am obsessed though, I can never wait for my weekly dose of MIC! I like to see how the other half live and their dramas just entertain me! Great for a bit of lighthearted, real life drama.

5. Frozen Planet

If you haven't watched this, you need to! I don't just love Frozen Planet, I love all of the David Attenborough nature programmes! But I didn't want this list to just be all of them, so I picked my favourite! Frozen Planet was just the one that really stuck with me and I couldn't wait to watch every week. Besides from the fact that I love penguins and polar bears, the moments the crew captured are just breathtaking. I admire the film crew so much!

4. Friends

Ahh Friends! No top 10 would be complete without this! I actually didn't get into friends until this year! Before I kept catching random episodes and not really knowing what was going on and I was too young to watch it when it originally aired, but I managed to catch them from the start and now I'm hooked! I watch them every single day now, at least 3 usually! They're always on in the background when I'm cooking dinner or whatever! Great as a pick me up, they never fail to make me laugh when I'm sad.

3. Game of Thrones

Just to give you an insight into my obsession with Game of Thrones, when I was working at  camp this summer in America, the final aired and me and my friends had no way of watching it so we ended up streaming it off someones phone! It kept stopping to buffer and we could hardly hear it, but we watched it!! This series is put together great, it has followed the books closely so far down to every gory detail. Although the series is pretty out there, I would recommend it to anyone as it has drawn a diverse audience!

2. The Vampire Diaries

Well if you've read my blog before, you knew this one was coming! I watched The Vampire Diaries from the first day it aired in the UK and haven't stopped since! I don't even know why I love it, I just do! I can't get enough of all the love triangles, supernatural twists and of course, Damon Salvatore!!

1. One Tree Hill

I think One Tree Hill will always have a place in my heart. It's the one I always come back to. I do prefer the earlier series' when Peyton and Lucas are still in it, but all the series' are great. It's really well written and and I love how inspiring all the characters are. If you're looking for a great series to watch that you can really get into, I'd definitely give One Tree Hill a go. 

This post was meant to be a quick one but it actually ended up taking me hours! It was hard to decide on my top 10 and then I struggled to put what I love about each one into words!

What is your favourite series? Anything I should watch?