Advent Calendars! (Blogmas day 1!)

Ello… remember me? I am the girl who promised that I was going to upload weekly posts back in September and then didn't. Yeah, sorry about that! The past couple of months have been really really hectic. I have started to study fashion and textile design at university, been promoted in my job and started a little business. All in the past 3 months! I haven't been away from blogging fully, as I have had to run a blog as part of a project for my university course. I am so lucky to have had the experience of posting on this blog for over a year as it has given me lots of practice!

Anyway, now that's out of the way I can get into todays post. BLOGMAS DAY 1!!!
I literally can't explain to you how excited I am to be writing this blog post. This time last year I committed to a full month of daily blogging and I really enjoyed it! This year I have decided to do the same again, although with my hectic university schedule the posts may not be daily, but there will be a post for each day regardless! (Let me know if you are doing blogmas as I would love to follow you!)

One of the most exciting things about the lead up to christmas are the advent calendars. Personally I am partial to a little bit of chocolate in the mornings. Hey its the one month a year you are allowed to eat chocolate before breakfast! (well 25 days of it at least!). The last couple of years the idea of 'beauty' calendars have spread around the internet and I have always looked at them and thought 'gee I would love to have one of those, but I am not paying £60+ for an advent calendar' and then popped to pound land, but this year I have been swayed.
I was browsing in my local TKMax the other week and came across this Ciate Nails Mini Mani month. I saw this on Fleur De Force's blogs last year and always wanted one for myself. Now before anyone rolls their eyes, yes this advent calendar was still a lot more than your pound land one! But would ya just look at it! Its darling! At £20 rather than £59 I would say I got myself a bargain. Plus I LOVE Ciate nail varnish and am constantly painting my nails so the products aren't going to go to waste! I will keep you updated with what is inside!

Now it wouldn't be christmas without a traditional calendar so I also bought a frozen milk chocolate advent (Nothing says christmas quite like a disney calendar). My family also buy a candle each year to burn every evening. This is quite important to my family as being brought up in a christian family Christmas has always been a lot more than just present wrapping and giving to receive.

Anyway, I hope you enjoyed this first little instalment of Blogmas! It feels really nice to be back here writing again. As always I would love to read some of your blogs, leave links in the comments!

Lots of love, 

Francesca

Manicure Monday!

I have a sunday night routine which includes washing my hair, getting my bag ready for uni and painting my nails. Last night I decided to go for my last girly nail design for a while as starting from next weekend I am going to be in full christmas festive mode!

The nail varnish I used was Maybelline in 'Feline' and my Rio nail art tool pens. I then sealed my design with a Barry M topcoat. I decided to only do the rose design on the accent finger and to keep the other nails pretty simple as I thought it made it look chic and a little sophisticated. Let me know if this type of post is something you would be interest

Sorry that this post is a little short, I wanted to try something a little different with my blog! Let me know if this type of post is something you would be interested in!

xoxox

Top 4 christmas decoration!

Following on from my previous two posts I am still on the hunt for the most perfect christmas decorations for the inside of your home/bedroom. 

Wilkinson

One store that have really surprised me and have upped' the game in christmas deco this year is wilkinson. ( http://www.wilko.com) They have updated their website to make it so easy to find their christmas decorations, and have even split their decorations into 4 trends which consist of various colour schemes or themes of animals throughout. This is something that I feel other stores don't really address much but is something I definitely look for when shopping for decorations! I am really drawn to their 'berry' collection which is, as you guessed, involving reds and tartan within. 

Fleece throw £8.00

This fleece would look so cute thrown over the bed with mountains of pillows all over the top of it! I don't think anything says christmas without snuggly cushions and wrapping yourself up in a blanket watching christmas movies!

Decoration £1.50

The first thing that drew me to this item was the chain that it was attached with. It is so different and sweet that I think I am going to have to buy this for myself for my little christmas tree that goes in my bedroom.

2m Garland £3.00

I am guilty to have already brought this item from wilkinson. It is just so adorable and turns the room to automatically look christmassy so effortlessly. The twine that it is on is also cute which I personally think makes anything look and feel like christmas and present giving!

Sign £2.00

I don't think anything shouts, MERRY CHRISTMAS quite like a sign that states just that. This would look really good on the back/front of a door or on your wall, it basically will look and feel like christmas anywhere!

Star pegs £1.00

I love this idea of putting up a piece of string and then attaching your christmas cards or photos with these pegs. I have bought some similar to these but will be buying this also so I can display some of my fugifilm instax camera photos!

Bottle basket £8.00

I saw this and automatically fell in love with it? It is such a simple item, yet looks like so much effort has been made into putting it together. This would just look perfect sitting on your side or just below your christmas tree. It is one of them items that you just want to have although you don't know what you will do with it!

Above are some of my favourite bits from wilkinson, let me know what you have bought for decorations this christmas or what you think I need to get!

Lots of love

xoxox

September Favourites

Sorry this post is a bit late but I can't quite believe that october is already here! It seems like just yesterday it was the summer holidays and now preparations and the excitement for winter and christmas (yes I said the C word) is upon us!
I have begun to think about future posts and a couple of ideas I have had are winter OOTD's and christmas DIY. so look out for them!

I have been using lots of new beauty products this week that I have been absolutely loving!

The first product being Hand food from 'Soap and Glory'. I don't want to hype up the product anymore than it has already been, but.. it is pretty amazing! I have dry skin and have tried pretty much every hand lotion that you can. E45, Dove and Simple naming a few but none have lasted a long time. Whatever is in the formula of this product is so long lasting I only have to apply it once after a shower/bath and it lasts until the next time I have a shower/bath.

My next product I have been loving this month is the 'Grease lightning' spot treatment from 'Lush'. I wouldn't say that this product removes the spot but it defiantly reduces the appearance of it remarkably! I usually put this on any areas of redness before I go to bed and after I have washed my face. One thing to note on this product is that after application it really dries up the skin so can be a little annoying.

Another item I have been using everyday is the 'Baby lips' moisturising lip balm. This is a new thing to the UK so we are a little bit behind on this craze, but it is one that I am really loving right now. The one I have been using more often is the Hydrate one. It smells of lemonade (I think) and feels so lovely on the lips. I have also been using it as a base for my balm stain to mute down the colour a little bit.

A bit of a random product that I have been using everyday and has been constantly in my bag for uni is this cute body spray from 'Gilly Hicks'. It is in the scent 'Annadale Moore', which is really sweet and fruity. Basically it is yet another product that I like that smells of a sweet shop when being sprayed!A sweet shop in a good way obviously. It is a little awkward size as it is not really designed for being in your hand bag but it is not too big that its heavy to carry. One thing I would say is that you do need to reapply it a few times to make the scent stay throughout the day.

My final beauty favourite is Benefit 'They're Real' mascara. Like many people who rave about this product, I find that this mascara has some magic power of extending the lashes without me looking. It really has the affect of wearing false lashes when your not!

So there are my favourites! Sorry they were a bit late. I would be really interested in seeing what yours are so leave your links below so I can read and comment on them!

xxx

Products mentioned

Hand Food by Soap and Glory- £7.00

Grease lightning by Lush- £5.95

Baby Lips 'Hydrate'- £2.99

Gilly Hicks body spray- £10.00

Benefit they're real mascara-£9.50

Yankee Candles galore!

So I may have gone a little crazy in the past few weeks regarding a certain brand of candles...

So in my defence they were on a crazy discount which I feel makes it totally acceptable! 

So the candles in question..

Summer Scoop £0.84p each - I picked this candle up a couple of weeks ago in House of Fraser at my local shopping centre. The candle smells like strawberry ice cream and when its being burnt it lets off a sweet shop scent! (Which I totally love). I also picked up this cute butterfly bowl to place my candles in. This was also on a HUGE discount and I got it for £1.80. 

Sicilian Lemon £1.00 - This candle smells really fresh and 'clean' when being burnt. I bought this for my bedroom to go with my Summer Scoop candle and they go so nicely together! This candle reminds me so much of being on holiday which I love!

(This is how the candles look currently on the plate in my bedroom. I love the way that this is arranged)

Candy Corn £8.49 - This candle was bought at a huge discount! I got it from an outlet shopping centre and have looked online to buy this again but can't get hold of it anywhere! The candle smells a mixture of popcorn and candy. It is a perfect Halloween themed candle, hence the image on the glass. It really makes the room smell so sweet and it is currently sitting in my kitchen ready for october! 

Camomille tea and Red Berry and Cider £8.49 each - Both of these candles were bought as presents for family friends for christmas. The Camomile tea reminds me so much of my grandparents house as it has such a sweet and clean scented smell. Red Berry and Cider pretty much sums up the scent of christmas for me. We always get a real christmas tree and the decorations sometimes have a scent within them that makes the tree smell nice. This is what the candle smells like. I love the bright red of the candle also as it gives off a really 'wintery' feeling whenever I see it!

Hope you enjoyed this first 'lifestyle' post. I love buying candles as they can really set up a mood! Let me know what candles I should be getting next time I am out! 

University Fashion

At the moment I am sorting through my clothes and deciding on new things to buy which I can wear to university. Three of my favourite high street shops to shop in at the moment is 'NEXT', 'ZARA' and 'TOPSHOP'.

Brown Tan Tote Bag £35 (NEXT)-  I love the size and shape of this bag as it fits everything I need to bring to uni, and much more! The colour is also perfect as it means it is able to go with various outfits and clothes.

Tan Leather Loafers £45 (NEXT)- I love these shoes as they look very smart as well as comfortable. I think that they will look really nice with tights and a cute winter dress and a coat also.

Lace Dress £55 (NEXT)- This dress looks lovely and really smart. I love the detailing and would wear it with a cute winter coat, tights and boots also!

Black Dress £46.00 (TOPSHOP)- I love the fit of this dress as it really flatters the body shape. This is a product that I will be buying with my student card!

Scallop Shorts £32.00 (TOPSHOP)- I have tried this on in the store and love the way that the shorts fit. Although they are quite expensive for a pair of shorts, I really like the way that the shorts look.

Lipstick 'Velvet Pillow Talk' £8 (TOPSHOP)- This colour is perfect for my skin tone and will look lovely as a natural daytime look!

White Short sleeved shirt £59.90 (ZARA)-zara is really one of my obsessions lately and I love all the way that the clothes fit and look smart and very feminine!

Hooded Wool Coat £79.99 (ZARA)- I am really in love with this coat and am going to purchase this as soon as I have saved up enough!

Pleated Skirt £39.99 (ZARA)- This skirt is so lovely and although has the colour that is perfect for the summer with a pair of tights it can look gorgeous!

Mini Office City Bag £29.99 (ZARA)- This is a perfect size for the days when I do not need to bring a lot of bits with me!

So there is a roundup of some of my favourite things for the new year! Let me know which ones you like also!