merry christmas!

Please excuse the fact that the picture is a little blurry but  merry christmas! I bought this reindeer onesie a few weeks ago to wear to one of my best friends christmas parties and decided that it HAD to be worn on christmas day! 

I've spent today with my family and it's been amazing! I was very spoilt this year and I couldn't be more grateful. I'm thinking of doing a post on the presents I got as I know I like reading those posts. I had a gorgeous christmas dinner and lots of lovely nibbles so feeling like a very lucky (and very full) girl.

Anyway, I really hope everyone's had as nice a day as I have and that Santa treated you well!

OFFERS 001

I've got some great offers for all you lovely lot!

The first one is the joining of Diet Coke and Models Own. If you buy 2 x 500ml bottles of Diet Coke, you receive a free Models Own Lipgloss! How lovely! The lipglosses available come in four different colours;  Pure Plum, Lacquer Red (the one i got and the one shown in the above pictures), Glossy Pink and Golden Nude. The offer is only available in Boots, I believe, and it's only running until 27th December so I'd snap up this amazing deal quickly and hopefully there are the colours you want left (when i went there was only the purple-y one and the red one and i'd have really liked the pink one)!

my bottle doesn't actually say 'Dove' on the top but this is the only picture i could find

And the second offer is between Nails Inc and Dove. In order to get one of the two (apparently you get both colours but in my local shop is was only 1 so i'm not sure?) lovely Christmassy colours, you have to spend £6 or over on some Dove products! Simples! The nail colours on offer are Pink Fizz and Mulled Wine (the colour i chose - they did actually have both colours available but i just thought that mulled wine was a more 'festive' colour and the name was very appropriate). Like the lipglosses, I think the offer's only available in Boots and it is only running until 27th December so hurry guys!

After writing this post I definitely think I'm going to go back to my local shop and buy some more and I definitely recommend you guys to go and have a look!

LATEST IN BEAUTY box #2

Another Latest In Beauty box review/post for you! This actually arrived a while ago but I've only just had time to  do it as lighting is not on my side at the moment and I've obviously been busy. Unfortunately this box wasn't as exciting/as good as my first one in terms of options of samples as the choices I was given were limited and I wasn't particularly interested in any of the products I could pick. I did, however, decide on a random 3 and thought I might as well just order it so I can get onto my 3rd box quicker and hopefully have better products available to me.

So, the first sample that I picked this month was the Skin Doctors Eyetuck. I'm not entirely sure why I ordered this sample as I've never really had problems with eye circles/bags but I'm actually working a lot more and getting a lot more stressed at the moment so I may start needing this soon!

This next sample is actually a men's fragrance. It's Boss Eau De Toilette For Men. I only ordered this because there was literally no other fragrance option and I guessed that even if I didn't like it or do anything with it, I could give it to my dad or some of my guy friends. However, this is one of the nicest male scents I've ever smelt. It's so masculine (aha, can't believe i've just said that) and quite strong. I'm pretty sure one of the guys I know actually wears this because it reminds me of them (a little freaky, i know). When (and if) I get a boyfriend, this is what he will wear!

The third sample is another Nicky Clarke hair product like my last post. This is the Moisture Shampoo & Conditioner instead and so I think after I've had a go with the volume ones, I'll see if the moisture ones make a change to my hair too. I'm really hoping these Nicky Clarke products do what they say they'll do because I would love to find a holy grail hair product that I just buy over and over again! Anyway, we'll see and I'll let you know how it goes!

In my box, I did get some leaflets with information and a discount code which is great as well!

I don't really have anything else to say about this box but I will let you know that I recently re-subscribed to GlossyBox and I got my December box the other day so I'm hoping to post about that on Thursday! Hope everyone's having a good day and only 5 days guys!

clothes show live haul

Well. I think this is the longest time I've not been blogging for and I'm not even going to try to explain why I've not been blogging. There are too many reasons (mostly to do with school) and I've just had NO time to do anything blog related. I've only just caught up on reading all the blogs I follow! I still have 2 more days left of school (i think my school is the last to break up. yay...) so there will be a lot of posts coming up! Today was the last day of lessons so I'm much more relaxed now so I can actually take time on this post. I do actually have a really big list of all the things I'd like to blog about! So I should have a post every night/day for the next two weeks (HOPEFULLY!) until I go back to school.

I'd also just like to point out that these pictures were taken in groups on like 3 different days so the lighting will be different as the post goes on but I hope you don't mind!

This was the goodie bag I got with my platinum ticket, eee. 

With the platinum ticket, also, came a lanyard full of discount codes, information about models/celebrities/performers etc and a map of where all the stalls were which came in VERY useful when my friends and I lost each other numerous times during the day...

We got a t-shirt as part of the goodie bag too but it's aged 9-11? Seriously, why would you make t-shirts for children of this age when most of the people that attend Clothes Show are about 15 years upwards? I think it may fit me but it will definitely only be worn around the house...

These are all the contents of my goodie bag. Obviously not the most amazing products in the world but I think I may get a use out of a few things. From the top left to the bottom right:

1. Nivea Visage Daily Essentials Rich Moisturising Day Cream. It's for dry & sensitive skin and I actually have quite oily skin so I may give it a go but will probably look out for one that's more suited to my skin type.
2. Oral B Pro expert Antibacterial & Fluoride Toothpaste. Who doesn't need toothpaste? I actually went to a party on Saturday and left my washbag at the host's house so if I hadn't of had my extra tubes of 'special' toothpaste, this would have been very useful!
3. Nescafe Original 3 in 1. I'm not a coffee drinker so I think this will go to my rentals or I'll just pass it off to someone at school.
4. 2 x Nivea Pure & Natural Body Lotion + Anti - Wrinkle Cream. Now this lotion sounds great! Unlike my face, the rest of my body has normal to dry skin so I will definitely be giving this ago. Not sure about the anti-wrinkle cream as obviously I'm a bit young to worry about wrinkles so may give it to my mum or something.
5. Ricola Original Swiss Herb Drops. Not going to even open these. They look pretty disgusting and I'm not tempted by them at all.
6. Oat So Simple Indulgent White Chocolate & Raspberry. I have never in my life tried porridge but it is supposed to be great for a breakfast cereal so this may be the perfect opportunity to give it a go!
7. Velvet Soft Soft Soft Tissues. Like the toothpaste, who doesn't need tissues? 
8. (i've already used these nails and didn't write down the name before i threw the packet away. i really enjoyed putting the nails on and they looked lovely but they just didn't last very long at all. by the end of the party i was at on saturday, i'd given up and pulled them all off. it has made me want to invest in some quality fake nails though)
9. Raisin Oats & More. My friend says these are really nice so when my beloved Coco Pops run out, I'll have a taste!
10. Dove Hair Therapy Nourishing Oil Care Express Treatment Conditioner. I'm always looking for new hair products so I think I'll see if there's a shampoo to go with it and then give them a go!
11. Snack A Jacks Crunch Curls: Cheeky Chutney Flavour. I'm not even going to bother with these and I'm going to throw them away instantly. They sound absolutely vile.

Went to the Cosmopolitan and Company stand where I got both magazines and another little goodie bag for only £3! It was an absolute bargain! I can't wait to read the magazines and the goodie bag contained:

1. Lightly Carbonated Neuro Bliss Mood Enhancement Drink. This is probably the weirdest thing I've ever been given. When I first pulled it out the bag, I was thought "I definitely won't be drinking that" and thought it looked like baby milk. However, there was a point in the day when my friend and I were just desperate for a drink so decided to try it. Oh how we were pleasantly surprised. It has the strangest taste but is a bit like lemonade. I wouldn't drink it out of choice but it can be tolerated. I believe there are other flavours so I may give them a go instead.
2. Missguided Lipsplash in Missled. I was very happy with this product. I LOVE Missguided cosmetic products so I can't wait to wear this one day. It's a lovely nude shade and I think would go with anything. I'm thinking Christmas Day will be the perfect opportunity!
3. The Body Shop Gift Card. Unfortunately this ran out on the 12th of December so I can't use it! It's a real shame because I really love Body Shop products. Wish I'd got my act together sooner and had a chance to use it!
4. Kleenex Balsam Tissues. Will always come in useful!
5. Loreal Youth Code (not sure if that's the full name...). I think this is another product I'll give to my mum so I hope she likes it if I do give it to her!

This is definitely my most favourite and most exciting purchase from the day! Models Own had an offer where you chose 3 products for £10 and got a huge goodie bag full of other products! I honestly couldn't turn it down and it took me quite a while to pick just 3 products... In the end I picked 3 nail products; a mini black WAH nails nail art pen which I can't wait to have a play with, Beth's Blue (i've been after this product for so long! purely because it has my name in it...) and Smash Up Gold.

These were all the products I got in my goodie bag. I will be doing a whole post on all these Models Own products so if you can't see these products too well in this picture then just wait for another post.

1. Powder Eyeshadow in Neon Blue
2. Powder Eyeshadow in Graphite Grey
3. Hi-Definer Grow-Fast Mascara in Black
4. Kohl Neon Eyeliner Pencil in Neon Orange
5. Kohl Neon Eyeliner Pencil in Neon Green
6. Glitter Eye Pencil in Purple Princess
7. ShapeIt BuffIt
8. Lipgloss in Red Hot
9. Lip Balm in Ballet Pink
10. Lip Balm in Red Hot
11. Duo Eyeshadow in Green Mist
12. Duo Eyeshadow in Woodland

Glossybox also had a stand at the show so I HAD to go and visit them. There were giving away the November box for £5 so I picked that up and they also gave me a code to get my first box (technically second box for me) for free so I definitely got back on the Glossybox bandwagon when I got home! I won't do a post on the whole November box as it would be a bit late and plenty of other people have done one so have a search around and I'm sure you'll find one! In my box I got the Arbonne FC5 Cooling Foot Creme, Dead Sea Spa Magik Dead Sea Bath Salts, Illamasqua Freak Eau De Parfum, Monu Skin Perfector and Nail Rock Designer Nail Wraps.

for some reason the picture uploads this way. on my computer it's the right way up but on blogger it's this way. sorry!

Another magazine stand was Elle so went buy there. It was the same sort of offer with the Cosmo & Company magazines. Two issues of Elle and a goodie bag for £3. The products I got with Elle were Balance Me Rose Otto Body Wash (this smells delicious and i'm so excited to use it in my next bath!), Jemma Kidd Make Up School Hi-Shine Silk Touch Lipgloss in Perfect Red (this is a GORGEOUS colour and i think it will make an appearance on Christmas Eve) and a £20 Kurt Geiger gift card (i didn't actually realise how much it was worth until just now so i'm pretty excited about it!).

During the day I managed to pick up lots of bits and bobs including the leaflets in the first picture and some magazines shown in the second picture.

a little blurry, my apologies.

And lastly was another lovely little addition that came with my Platinum ticket. I managed to get a free book (Daughters Of Fortune) which was great because I LOVE books and when I finally finish my everlasting book list reading list I will get onto it. Anyway, whilst at the Books And The City stand the ladies said if we filled out this form then we could get another book (Baby Be Mine) and yet another goodie bag (which was actually just 4 leaflets) so we definitely couldn't turn that offer down.

Well that was a long post! Phewph! I know it's about 3 weeks late but worth it I hope? Anyway, I'm off to finish watching Desperate Scousewives (guilty pleasure!) and remember guys, only 6 days until Christmas!

clothes show live

As usual, there's going to be an apology at the start of this post because of my lack of posts. And I know everyone's like 'you should only blog when you want to blah blah blah' but I feel that people will end up unfollowing my blog if I don't post more often so I'm trying really hard to get more posts done but I've got a lot going on at the moment and all my teachers are piling on the work so it's very hard to find a spare moment to take pictures of things and then find the motivation to write a blog post but I've only really got about 2 weeks left of school before the Christmas holidays so there will be more coming guys! Just bare with me!

Now I'm sure most of you know that last weekend and the past few days have been Clothes Show Live. I went last year and absolutely loved it so knew that I'd have to go again this year. I went with a different group of friends this time and it was very different to last year but still enjoyable! I'm going to put some pictures in the post now so you can see some of the things I got up too!

this is the view from my seat and as you can see, my friends and i were not actually that far away. last year i was on the front row so obviously these seats were not as good but i'm definitely not complaining!

george lamb and the winner of britain's next top model (i don't watch it so i don't know her name but grace rings a bell?)

the only way is essex stars (arg and maria) and the hollyoaks stars (lynsey and darren)

we had a lovely performance off the risk too!

my favourite model. nom nom nom.

we also had a performance from her majesty and the wolves (i didn't realise but kimberely wyatt is the singer which was such a good surprise!) and i really love them but they didn't do my favourite song which was sad but a good performance anyway!

my friends pippa & vicky and i with the band FranKo. the one to my right is, in fact, dave the laugh from the film angus, thongs and perfect snogging!

The day started early and meant getting a tram in the freezing cold (obviously i didn't dress appropriately, i never do...) into Manchester. As always, my friends and I had to run for our train (i'm not even joking, this has happened the past three times we've gotten a train) which led to a major stress out but we got there on time and found that we were, unexpectedly, all sitting together which was lovely as we thought we were all going to be split up. Relatively quick train journey with lots of laughs and gossiping and when we arrived I think the excitement really kicked in. We clambered (quite literally) off the train and through the corridors (is that what you'd even call them?) of the Birmingham NEC to the big halls where all the stalls were and where the show was being held. Like last year, I got the platinum ticket which meant a 'goodie bag' (got to love freebies) and I'll include the contents of it in my haul post coming up on Friday, hopefully. Anyway, after we got that we went into the main hall, stopped to watch FranKo's performance, had a quick toilet trip and then went to our show!

The theme of this year's show was A Night At The Deparment Store and it was incredible! Not only do the model's walk down the catwalk showing lovely outfits that I can only dream of pulling off, they also dance as well which really adds to the whole performance. They're not just regular dancers either, they're amazing! They really work hard as well as they must put on about 3 shows every day and the whole event lasts for 5 days so that's 15 shows with some pretty hardcore dance routines. Kudos to them! I've not included all the pictures I took of the show, only my favourites as I didn't want the post to be too picture heavy.

After the catwalk show, my friends and I went shopping which was definitely the best bit! I'm not going to tell you everything I bought as I'm going to do a whole other post on everything for you guys so be excited about that! We shopped for almost the whole afternoon (a grand total of 6 hours i think) which was definitely exhausting! Also during the afternoon, we met the band FranKo twice which was fun and each time I was my lovely, awkward self and managed embarrassed myself in front of the boys. Always a good thing. We also spent some time at one of the dance stages watching some groups of dancers. Some of them were incredible and I so wish I could dance like them but others were just not as good and I just felt awkward standing there. Just over an hour was spent sitting down and regathering strength as one my friends, Lydia, felt ill (as did i later on in the day along with our other friend Amy - coincidentally we all ate the same chicken nuggets at lunch...). Before we left to get the train back home we did have a go on the Xbox Kinect that was available which was fun and a nice way to end.

HOWEVER, the day only got worse from there on. I started getting a headache towards the end of the afternoon but thought nothing of it, assuming it would go but it didn't. I was fine for the first half of the train ride but then a migraine started kicking in and I knew I just had to get home. But it wasn't going to be that easy, was it? Oh no. A girl had to steal one of my bag's didn't she? Last year I'd found a new make up brand called Jelly Pong Pong at the Clothes Show and fell in love! This year, I planned to go back and they had the most amazing deal going on; a goodie bag full of great make up for £5! Anyway, when I was having a nap on the train, I must have kicked the bag (which was quite small) under the chair in front of me. So as I was gathering up my stuff to get off the train I realised that it wasn't there and the 4 girls in front of me had left the train too. Was I suspicious? Just a little. Anyway, I told my friend's and a lady who was sitting where the girls were sat, overheard and leant over. It turns out that she had seen the bag and thought it belonged to one of the girls so called them back, asked if it was theirs and they took it. My friend Pippa later told me that apparently the girls realised that it wasn't theirs when they were stood on the platform of the train station but just laughed it off and didn't seem to care. Anyway, because I was feeling really ill and because it was only £5, I wasn't too upset and it wasn't like losing the make up was life threatening. It was just an annoying situation. As we were about to leave the train, however, the woman who had overheard me before came up to me and offered me £10 to make up for the fact that the girl had stole my bag. I literally couldn't believe she was doing this because it was in no way her fault for the girl taking my bag and I was definitely not going to blame her for what happened. I told her I couldn't take the money off her but she wouldn't listen to me, stuffed the money in my bag and ran off! I'm still in shock right now to be honest! She was such a lovely woman and I still don't blame her for what happened but it's completely restored my faith in the belief that there are nice people in the world! Back to the story though! We went to get the tram and I really started to feel sick and I had a bad feeling that I was going to puke any time soon. I was completely dreading the tram journey home and when we finally got on the tram, my stomach was just being thrown about everywhere. Luckily I wasn't sick but I definitely had a migraine and my dad did pick me up when I got back to the tram station and I just went home to sleep it off. The next morning, I was right as rain which was brilliant!

So unfortunately it was a bad end to a great day but I really did have an amazing day apart from feeling ill and I completely recommend people to go to Clothes Show Live next year! There are so many bargains and it's so enjoyable! There's even plenty of things for boys to do too!

I hope you've enjoyed this post and I do have more posts in line for you! I'm also thinking of starting another feature type post (yes, it's one of those again but this one will hopefully last longer than the others!) so expect that to come too. I hope everyone's had a good week as well and everyone is well! I'm off to watch a double bill of Come Fly With Me and to read a bit of The Great Gatsby for my English Literature class so I hope you all have a good evening too!