Blogmas Day 15 - DIY Body Scrubs

Hello Everyone!

It's Kat here. I'm sorry I have been behind on all the Blogmas posts, but the internet has been down in my area for over a week now. I thought that for Today's post I would do DIY Christmas Body scrubs. In the winter, your skin tends to feel dryer and not as healthy as it is in the summer, so it is really nice to take more care in pampering and looking after your skin.

1 - Peppermint Body Scrub

To make this body scrub you will need:

- 1 cup of granulated white sugar 

- 1 cup of soft brown sugar

- 1/4 cup of almond oil

- 1-2tsp Peppermint oil

Combine all the ingredients and put them in a jar. You can tie it with ribbon or put a tag on it and it will make the perfect Christmas gift. I love this body scrub because the different textures of the sugar really help to exfoliate and get rid of any dead skin. Also the almond oil makes my skin feel so healthy and lovely. This also a great lip scrub too.

2 - Christmas Spiced Body Scrub

You will need:

- 1 cup of granulated white sugar 
- 1 cup of soft brown sugar
- 1/2 cup of almond oil
- 1/2 cup of coconut oil
- 1tsp cinnamon 
- 1tsp ginger
- 1tsp honey
- 1tbsp grated orange zest

This body scrub is absolutely amazing! The ingredients are all so Christmassy and it smells so good. The mixture of the almond and the coconut oil and the honey make it so good for your skin. The grated orange is not only christmassy but brightens and hydrates your skin, leaving it really smooth. This is personally my favourite body scrub.

I hope you enjoyed reading this post. Comment down below which one is your favourite if you tried them. I will see you on the 17th with another post!

See you next time,
Kat xxx

Blogmas Day 22 - Something to Make you Smile!

Hello Everyone,
Elle here simply with something to make you smile. I have decided to make this a series so I will be doing one every month for you to look at when you are down!

See you on the 24th,
Elle xxx

Blogmas Day 20 - Review of the Lush Snow Time Gift Set!

Hey Everyone,
Elle here! So, one of my best friends decided to give me an early Christmas Gift, which I was very pleased about, and it happened to be a Lush Gift Set. Therefore, I will be reviewing it today! So Ladies and Gentlemen, Boys and Girls, may I present the Lush Snow Time Gift Set!

This set is amazing for those of you who prefer fruity scents to the spicy Christmas scents as the products inside are more of the winter range compared to the Christmas range. I will warn you however, as there is a lot of polystyrene that decides to greet you as you open the box!

 The first item in the box is the Frozen Bath Bomb...
This bath bomb has a very strong grapefruit scent and has a blue glittery centre! that looks amazing in your bath. Imagine dropping a handful of explosive glitter being dropped in your bath and that is what this bath bomb looks like. It leaves you with a deep blue bath with a top of silver glitter!

The second item is the Baked Alaska soap...
This soap is very citrus scented and is extremely colourful! I would however say that it does take a while to lather and definitely falls out of your hands a lot in the bath and shower. However, you do get a very good amount of it.

 
 The third item in the box is the Snowman Bath Jelly...
This item I was really looking forward to and had very high expectations for but it didn't really meet my expectations. It takes absolutely ages to lather and when I tried to wash my hair with it, it ended up completely drying it and making it feel like straw, so definitely not for someone with dry hair. The smell is another thing that I am a bit skeptical about as it smells like blackcurrant fruit pastilles which is not really something I want to smell like.

 The fourth item in the box is the Snowman Fun...
This item also has a fruit pastille scent but I can live with it due to the amazingness of this product! Fun can be used as play dough, bubble bath, body wash and shampoo. It lathers up very nicely and creates lots of bubbles even just after using the tiniest amounts!

The fifth item in the box is the First Snow Dusting Powder...
I have only used this product once but I really liked the sparkle effect it gave my arms. It also has a very light blackcurrant scent which is quite nice in small doses. This would be great for Christmas Parties too!

The sixth and final item in the box is the Christingle Body Conditioner...
This is by far my favourite product in the box as it is a brilliant invention. It leaves my skin feeling like it has already been moisturized and really nourished! It also has the nicest peppermint and menthol scent that isn't particularly Christmassy but amazing for your body. I also got a lot of compliments when I met up with all of my friends after using this in the shower!

I hope you enojoyed this post and I will see you soon!

See you on the 22nd,
Elle xxx
 
 

Blogmas Day 18 - Mulled Wine

Hello Everyone,
Elle here. Tis the season to be jolly welcome to BLOGMAS day 18! Now today I have the best mulled wine recipe ever! Sorry kids this is just for the grown ups.

INGREDIENTS
 

2 clementines

1 lemon

1 lime

200 g caster sugar

6 whole cloves

1 stick cinnamon

3 fresh bay leaves

1 whole nutmeg , for grating

1 vanilla pod , halved lengthways

2 star anise

2 bottles Chianti or other Italian red wine

METHOD 

• Peel large sections of peel from your clementines, lemon and lime using a speed peeler. Put the sugar in a large saucepan over a medium heat, add the pieces of peel and squeeze in the clementine juice. Add the cloves, cinnamon stick, bay leaves and about 10 to 12 gratings of nutmeg. Throw in your halved vanilla pod and stir in just enough red wine to cover the sugar.

• Let this simmer until the sugar has completely dissolved into the red wine and then bring to the boil. Keep on a rolling boil for about 4 to 5 minutes, or until you’ve got a beautiful thick syrup. The reason I’m doing this first is to create a wonderful flavour base by really getting the sugar and spices to infuse and blend well with the wine. It’s important to make a syrup base first because it needs to be quite hot, and if you do this with both bottles of wine in there you’ll burn off the alcohol.

• When your syrup is ready, turn the heat down to low and add your star anise and the rest of the wine. Gently heat the wine and after around 5 minutes, when it’s warm and delicious, ladle it into glasses and serve. 

 

Serves 10 Cook time 20 minutes

I hope you enjoyed this recipe!

 

See you on the 20th,

Elle xx

 

Blogmas Day 16 - Christmas Morning Muffins

Hello Everybody,
Elle here with BLOGMAS day 16! Now I don't know about you but on Christmas Day, I don't really fancy a huge fry up for breakfast as I want to save my appetite for lunch. However, I still want something special to eat in the morning, so, with these muffins, you can make the batter the night before and out it in the fridge for the morning!

Ingredients

• 250 grams plain flour
• 2 ½ teaspoons baking powder
• ½ teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
• 100 grams caster sugar
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• ¼ teaspoon ground nutmeg (or good grating of fresh nutmeg)
• 2 clementines (or satsumas)
• approx. 125 ml full fat milk
• 75 ml vegetable oil (or melted butter left to cool slightly)
• 1 large egg
• 175 grams dried cranberries
• 3 teaspoons demerara sugar (for the topping) 

Makes 12

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 200°C/gas mark 6/400ºF. Line a 12-bun muffin tin with muffin papers or (as I have here) silicone inserts.
2. Measure the flour, baking powder, bicarbonate of soda, caster sugar, cinnamon and nutmeg into a large bowl; grate the zest of the clementine/satsuma over, and combine. If you are doing this in advance, leave the zesting till Christmas morning.
3. Squeeze the juice of the clementines/satsumas into a measuring jug, and pour in the milk until it comes up to the 200ml mark / halfway between the ¾ cup and 1 cup marks.
4. Add the oil (or slightly cooled, melted butter) and egg, and lightly beat until just combined.
5. Pour this liquid mixture into the bowl of dried ingredients and stir until everything is more or less combined, remembering that a well-beaten mixture makes for heavy muffins: in other words a lumpy batter is a good thing here. 
6. Fold in the cranberries, then spoon the batter into the muffin cases and sprinkle the demerara sugar on top.  Bake in the oven for 20 minutes, by which time the air should be thick with the promise of good things and the good things themselves golden brown and ready to be eaten, either plain or broken up and smeared, as you go, with unsalted butter and marmalade. 

 

Blogmas Day 14 - Mince Pies!

Hello Everyone,
Elle here with BLOGMAS day 14 for all you lovely people. I have the perfect mince pie recipe for you today!

1.) To make the pastry, rub 225g cold, diced butter into 350g plain flour, then mix in 100g golden caster sugar and a pinch of salt. Combine the pastry into a ball – don’t add liquid – and knead it briefly. The dough will be fairly firm, like shortbread dough. You can use the dough immediately, or chill for later.

2.) Preheat the oven to 200C/gas 6/fan 180C. Line 18 holes of two 12-hole patty tins, by pressing small walnut-sized balls of pastry into each hole. Spoon 280g mincemeat into the pies. 

3.) Take slightly smaller balls of pastry than before and pat them out between your hands to make round lids, big enough to cover the pies. Top the pies with their lids, pressing the edges gently together to seal – you don’t need to seal them with milk or egg as they will stick on their own. (The pies may now be frozen for up to 1 month).

4.) Beat 1 small egg and brush the tops of the pies. Bake for 20 minutes until golden. Leave to cool in the tin for 5 minutes, then remove to a wire rack. To serve, lightly dust with icing sugar. They will keep for 3 to 4 days in an airtight container.

Makes 18 Prep time 30-40 minutes Cook time 20 minutes

I hope you enjoyed this post and I will see you on the 16th!

See you on the 16th,
Elle xxx

PS. This is Elle from the future, my internet completely broke and I had no way to upload these videos and Kat had the same problem as she has the same internet provider :(
 

Blogmas Day 13 - Everyday Winter Makeup

Hello Everyone!

It's Kat here. Today's post will be all about my everyday make-up routine for the winter/Christmas season. The products I have used can be used for a full-face make-up look for work or parties, but also for a natural daily make-up look. I just love these products so much and I think that they tie in so well with the Christmas season.

Base

Firstly, after exfoliating and cleansing my skin, I moisturise my skin using Liz Earle skin repair, Light Moisturiser. I like to use the light moisturiser so that it doesn't make my skin too oily. I then apply Bareminerals Prime Time Fountation Primer. Bareminerals uses all natural minerals so applying this to my skin fiirst before any other products makes my skin feel so healthy. Some people don't like to use a primer and don't feel the need to, but this primer really smoothes out my skin and makes my foundation go on ten times better. 

For foundation I use Nars all day luminous foundation. This goes on so well after the Baremminerals Primer. I then use the collection lasting perfection concealer with shade number 1 (fair) under my eyes, and shade number 2 (cool-medium) to cover any blemishes. To apply and blend in my foundation, I use the Sigma 3DHD Kabuki brush. This brush makes applying foundation so easily because the flat sides just glide along your cheeks with almost no buffing needed, and the sharp angles help to prevent foundation getting into your eyebrows and hairline. The Sigma 3DHD precision brush is amazing for blending concealer under the eyes, on the brow bone and around the nose.

Cheeks

For my cheeks, I have been using Tanya Burr's Rosy Flush Cheek Palette. I just feel like this palette has everything in one that you would need for your cheeks, and it gives them a really natural pop. The brush I use to apply this is the Lottie London Blush Brush. This brush is so soft and the perfect size for blush.

Eyes and Brows

My top 2 make-up products for my brows have to be the Soap and Glory brow filling archery pencil and brush, and Maybelline Brow Drama eyebrow mascara. To achieve my everyday brows I brush through my eyebrows with the brush on the soap and glory pencil, then I fill in my brows using light strokes with the pencil and brush through them again. Once I am happy with the shape of my brows, I go through them with the brow mascara. This highlights hairs that you never even knew you had, it gives your brows a fuller look, but also masks the fact that you have filled them in by darkening the hairs and bringing them forward. So in a way this helps to make your brows look more natural.

For my eyes, I have been using a coat of the fair collection concealer on my lids to brighten my eyes and cover up any veins. Then I have been using the w7 in the Nude palette on my eyelids.

This palette is extremely similar to the Urban Decay Naked 3 Palette, the Naked 3 eye-shadows are easier to blend, however this palette has longer staying power and is £31 less than the Naked 3 Palette. The colours are beautiful rose golds and nudes. This is great for winter time, because a nude/gold eye tends to go well with a red lip or a nude lip (as oppose to summer when people would tend to wear a more pink lip).

After the w7 palette, I use my MAC eye pencil, in Coffee. This is a dark brown eyeliner but I like to do a very small flick and smudge it out slightly for a more natural look. I apply a tiny bit on my waterline and sometimes  use a white eye-liner pencil to highlight my tear duct and wake up my eyes. Then I curl my lashes and apply a coat of Maybelline sensational lash waterproof mascara on my top and bottom lashes. It is important to use a waterproof mascara in winter because the air is cold and misty and can cause your lashes to "uncurl" or smudge under your waterline.
On an ordinary day I would leave it at that, however for a more formal or special occasion I will use Tanya Burr's individual lashes. I just apply 4 across my top lash line, using smaller ones for the inner corner and longer ones towards the outside of my eye. This really lengthens my lashes and opens up my eyes.

Lips

Christmas is the perfect time to wear a red lip. My favourite lip gloss has be Tanya Burr's Bewitching. This is only available in her Deck the Hauls Advent Calendar, but a very similar one that I also love is cherry picking. Bewitching is a deep shade or red-purple, it is quite pigmented but not as pigmented as I would like it to be, however it is still a great lip gloss. The lipstick that I am absolutely loving at the moment is an MUA lipstick in the shade 13. This lipstick is absolutely amazing! Don't be put off by the fact that it is only £1, it is one of the creamiest, most pigmented lipsticks I have ever tried, and the staying power is fantastic. I could eat a 3 course meal at a restaurant with this lipstick on and it wouldn't wear away at all! It is a really bright and merry shade of red, perfect for the Christmas season, and the texture of the lipstick isn't Matte but it also isn't overly glossy too. Another great thing about it is that it has a lip liner on the end that you just unscrew and use with a brush, which is so handy and really cute too. 

I hope you enjoyed reading this post, and I hope it was helpful to you. I will see you again on the 15th...

See you next time,

Kat xxx

Blogmas Day 12 - The Ultimate Starter Beauty Box!

Hello Everyone,
It's Elle here with Day 12! We are already half way through BLOGMAS!!! Now if you are friends with or have a relative who is just starting out in beauty and is asking for a million beauty items that aren't the cheapest and you think she will have no use for, I have the solution. Ladies and maybe gentlemen, may I present THE ULTIMATE STARTER BEAUTY BOX.

 So for stage one of the process, all you need is a box. I have this really cute lips box that came in a Seventeen beauty set which would be perfect to put the beauty items in. I also decided to add some pink tissue paper into it to make it feel more gift like as it is always nice to open something and then look into the tissue paper to see all the items.

 Stage 2 is filling the box so I have made a list of things that can be put in the box!

• Lip Butters, if you think that lipsticks or glosses are too much then it is nice to give them a lip butter to make their lips nice and soft.
• A nail polish, this is a great starter make-up item as it will not look as if they are wearing make up but they can still feel like they are.
• Lip Gloss Stick, this is great for people who like to feel as if they are wearing a lipstick but isn't as heavy and gives the look of a gloss.
• Blush and Highlighter, these steps are totally optional and are probably better for people who are more advanced with make up or older but, these items came with the box so I felt that it would be good to include them.
• Face Mask, these are amazing to start out with and can really help your skin, especially when you are starting out with make-up. The 7th Heaven ones are also about £1 and amazing!
• Soap, another beauty essential that is quite cheap and you will find that who you are buying for will think that the different scents are quite cool!  
• Deodorant, perfume or fragranced body spray, people who are starting to wear make-up are usually younger and in their early teens and starting to wear different scents and perfumes.

For Stage 3, all I did was stick a ribbon to just the lid, not the whole box! I also tucked in a Candy Cane for a nice effect and that was it. Job done!

Thank you for reading and I really hope you enjoyed this post. I actually really enjoyed writing this and it definitely has got me into the Christmas Spirit!

See you on the 14th,
Elle xxx
 

Blogmas Day 11 - Tanya Burr's Triple Chocolate Cookies

Hello Everyone!

It's Kat here. Today's Blogmas Post is a review of Tanya Burr's triple chocolate cookies. I love to stay in and bake on a cold winter's day, and these are my all time favourite cookies to make at home. They are delicious and so fun to make!

How to make:

300g caster sugar

200g unsalted butter

175g self raising flour

75g cocoa powder

1 egg

Any chocolate of your choice (I used Green and Blacks milk chocolate and Cadbury's milky bar)

Preheat the oven to 200 degrees. Mix the sugar and the butter together in a large bowl. (You can use a whisk instead if you want). Then add the egg and the cocoa powder and mix until it is a smooth consistency and a dark brown colour. Then gradually stir in the flour (this may take a bit of arm strength!). It is so much easier to do it in 4 lots and will prevent you from getting flour all over the floor. 

Then break up your chocolate and mix it in with the cookie dough you have made. Roll the mixture into 10 balls and place them about 5cm apart from each other on 2 baking trays (lines with grease proof paper). Then put them in the oven for 10-11 minutes. If they feel soft on the outside and liquidy on the inside when you take them out, DON'T put them back in for another 2 minutes! They will burn. Just leave them to set for 20 minutes and they will be lovely and soft and gooey!  

You can use these cookies as a centre-piece for your table, or you can wrap them up and give them as gifts to people. 

Thank you for reading. These cookies are so yummy and they are perfect for dipping in my Christmas Spiced Hot Chocolate, so go and check out that post if you are interested in making them. I hope you try making these cookies because they are so tasty and a great snack for the winter time!

See you on the 13th,

Kat xxx

Blogmas Day 10 - My Top 10 Drugstore Christmas Make-up Items

Hello Everyone!
Elle here with my top 10 Christmas Make-up items to get you in the festive beauty mood! I hope you enjoy!

1.) Rimmel Match Perfection Foundation 100 Ivory

This foundation gives light to medium coverage with a dewy, skin like look on your face. It comes in a huge range of shades and is very natural so good for work or school.

 2.)Rimmel Match Perfection Concealer 010 Ivory

 This concealer may say that it is a brightening/highlighting concealer but do not be fooled! It doesn't really highlight my under eye areas where I tend to use it and works just as well as a medium coverage blemish concealer. I would say that if you would like to use this as a highlighting concealer go a shade down!

3.) Rimmel Clear Complexion Powder 021

Now I know this may come as a shock to all you Rimmel fans out there, but... I don't actually like the Stay Matte Powder! I don't know but I just find it very heavy on my skin and I really don't like the really caked on feeling some powders give and this one is perfect! Don't be alarmed, it does the exact same job as Stay Matte but is just less heavy and better for your skin. I use the transparent one to set my foundation and concealer and mattify the areas of my face where my make up usually comes off first.

4.) MUA Eyebrow Pencil in Blonde

 
 This has been my brow savior for as long as I can remember. It has a soft consistency so glides nicely onto your brow and has a brush on the end to comb through your brows either before or after you have filled them in. Whats more, it's only £1.00! BARGAIN!

5.) Miss Sporty Clear Mascara

 
I love this clear mascara for taming my eyebrows after I have filled them in to keep them in the right place for the remainder of the day. There's not really that much to say abut the product as the name says it all... It's 'Just Clear Masacara'

6.) Tanya Burr Shimmer Pot in Creme Brulee   

This eye shimmer is what turns the whole make-up look from everyday, to Christmas! It's a gorgeous shimmery almost brick-red colour and also looks beautiful underneath the eyes on the bottom lash line. Unfortunately, it is limited edition from the Tanya Burr Advent Calendar but if you can at all get your hands on it it is definitely worth it.

7.) Rimmel Glam Eyes Liquid Eyeliner

I really like this eyeliner for fine lines across my lash line to make my eyes look that bit bigger. It is really easy to apply and glides along very smoothly. Don't worry if you have sensitive eyes because I do too and there are some eye products that make my eyes water a lot but luckily this didn't!

8.) Maybelline Lash Sensational Mascara

 This mascara is insanely good! The shape of the wand means that it curls your eyelashes as well as adding length and volume. It is one of those mascaras that you can put on and suddenly you are hit with a wave of compliments on your eyes. Yes it's really that good!

9.) Sleek Blush in Rose Gold 

This blusher looks amazing with the eye-make up looks and has a lot of shimmer. The level of shimmer means that it also plays the part of a highlighter so it is a two in one! It is an amazing level of pigment for a drugstore blusher and you only need the tiniest but to make a nice effect. It's also one of those blushers that makes you look really healthy and well rested!

10.) Avon Glazewear Shine Lip gloss in Iced Pink

 Although it really doesn't look like it, this lip gloss goes amazingly with the rest of the look adding a natural finish that still has a bit of colour in it. The pink is a similar colour to the blush so ties it all in really nicely!

Thank you for reading and I hope this has inspired you to do some Christmas Make-up looks on yourself. There should be a tutorial of this look going up on the weekend so you can see what it all looks like on the skin!

See you on the 12th,
Elle xxx