London at Christmas...

Hello Everyone!

On Sunday 22nd December I embarked on one of the best days out of my life! I got all the Christmassy feels, it was simply wonderful! For my sister however, it was to start a great day but quickly spiral into a big soppy mess with the evening of JLS' last ever concert. 

I know Christmas has sadly come and gone, too quickly for my liking, but I thought that by sharing a few of the photos I took from the day it would make you feel happy and excited about what has been. So here we go, lets marvel in the Christmassy magic.....

This is in Piccadilly Circus, when me and my sister got lost on
the first tube to Winter Wonderland.

We made it! The queue to get in was so big, but it did
move rather quickly. 

Here is a compilation of the little wooden huts that were selling
food, drinks and cute souvenirs to buy.

Above are a few photos of some of the cool attractions that were at Winter Wonderland.

 Below is the same huge Christmas tree that was placed high up above on one of the wooden huts. The photo on the left is from when we first got there and the second is later on with the lights on.

This is the super cute ice rink, which I wish I had booked tickets for.

Yep, your eyes aren't deceiving you, it in fact a Parrot on the
 mans shoulder. The parrot was on a leash attatched to him,
so it couldn't fly away. It's not everyday you see something like that.

The food hall in Harrods at Christmas time, how festive.

This big statue of Santa was in the Christmas shop in Harrods.
It was nearly as tall as me.

Harrods from the outside, at night with all the pretty lights shining
and lighting up the street.

The O2 arena at night looks really nice.

JLS saying their goodbyes at the end of the concert, it was a teary night.
Everyone around seemed to be upset and crying.

Just an image of the stage to finish the blog post off.

Thank you so much for viewing my photos, it truly was a marvellous day. I love London so very much and at Christmas time it is all the better, I hope to visit again at this time of year for the 3rd year in a row next year. I just hope that everyone reading this had a lovely Christmas and I wish them all the best for the New Year.

Merry Christmas!

Hello Everyone! Or should I say Merry Christmas Everyone!

Wow! I can not believe it is Christmas already, it doesn't seem that long ago I was sat at my Grandma's house with my family tucking into our Christmas dinner (Ooo, those pigs in blankets!) This is my most favourite time of year, it makes me all excited and happy inside, I guess you could say I'm full of Christmas joy! :D As I'm writing this I am watching elf in my living room with my sister after just getting back from our families annual curry at a restaurant around the corner, what a great way to celebrate Christmas Eve.

Anyway I just wanted to wish everyone a very Merry Christmas and a very Happy New Year! I hope that you get the gifts you want and that you just have an all round good time what ever you end up doing. Only a few hours till the big man himself (Santa Clause) tries to squeeze through your chimneys to deliver all your presents.

After Christmas I will be posting a few Christmassy posts to make everyone feel happy! :D

Haircare

Hello Everyone!

Week 6 (well it is currently week 8! :/) of #BritishBloggerSelection and the theme for this week is haircare. Six weeks have gone so quickly (It's like the whole of the summer holidays, woah), I have loved being part of a blogging community sharing ideas on the same themes. It has also helped me to stay on top of writing at least one blog post each week, as sometimes struggling with what to write is very common for me.
I do love my hair, it's so long which means I have to take extra care of it. Saying that.. I haven't as of this moment had a haircut in about 2 years, I have just let my hair grow to the length it is today (No, it isn't down to my bum, aha). But do not panic, I am getting it cut very soon, and am awaiting the hairdresser to moan at me! However, when I was talking to my friend about this topic- she too was shocked about how long it's been since my last trim- she said that my hair doesn't look like it hasn't been cut for 2 years which I suppose is a good thing. It must all be down to the products I use;

The first product I use in my hair is Herbal Essences Beautiful Ends Split End Protection Shampoo. As you can probably guess from what I said above, I have split ends, so many that my hairdresser might have a breakdown! aha :/ So I like to think that this shampoo will help to protect my hair from further damage. It smells of raspberry, which I LOVE (it's my favourite fruit!) and it leaves my hair smelling gorgeous for days inbetween washes. This shampoo is my fave, the herbal essences collection, as it makes my hair feel and look so nice and shiny.

Another product I use to protect and repair my split ends is the Herbal Essences Beautiful Ends Split End Protection Cream which is like a conditioning lotion that you put through the ends of your hair. You put it either on dry hair, or towel dried hair and leave it in to work its magic. As this is in the same collection as the shampoo, this also smells amazing and it doesn't make your hair seem greasy or sticky like how I imagined it be.

The last product I use in my hair is the Alberto Balsam Sun Kissed Raspberry Herbal Conditioner (Yeah that's right, it's Raspberry again!) This is such a nice conditioner, as it too smells amazing and leaves your hair so silky and smooth. I never really used to use conditioner, it was just something that seemed to take too much effort to use. So since then I have come up with a solution to this and it was recommended to me by a friend. Wash your hair with shampoo and then when it comes to the repeat section I use shampoo and conditioner mixed together.

That's everything I use in my hair, it's not a lot, but I guess I like to keep it simple! Either that or I'm just lazy ahaha :D

Recipe: Chocolate Drops

Hello Everyone!

Last week I decided to do some baking. I love baking, I genuinely think opening my own bakery would be brill! The only thing I don't like is the waiting around for it to cook in the oven, it just always takes too long! :( 20-30 minutes seems like hours to wait.

This time I chose to bake some chocolate cookie type things, called Chocolate Drops (I call them chocolate poo's, you'll see why later). The recipe for them is from my mum, I think it may have been past down to her from someone in my family. Chocolate Drops are so yummy and amazing, you'll never want to put them down. If I ever feel a random impulse to bake, the ingredients are also those you're more likely to find in your cupboards.

Ingredients: (Makes 18-20)
* 100g Butter
* 50g Caster Sugar
* 1/2 Teaspoon Vanilla Essence
* 90g Plain Flour
* 15g Cocoa Powder

Pre-Heat the oven at 190c/ Gas Mark 5

Method:
1. Cream together the butter, sugar and vanilla essence until light and fluffy.
2. Sift the flour and cocoa powder into the mix and stir together.

3. With a spoon drop 18-20  teaspoons of mixture on a greased baking tray, making sure they're well apart. (if you want them to be bigger, then you'll end up with less drops)

4.Bake in the oven at 190c (Gas Mark 5) for 17 minutes.
5. When thoroughly cooked, remove from the oven and leave them on a cooling rack for 1-2 minutes. 

6. After they have cooled, it is now time for the best part... eating them.

This is such a simple and quick recipe to make, even those not confident with cooking can make these. You should try making them to understand my love for them.

Boyce Avenue Concert Review

Hello Everyone!

This is a review that I wrote from when I attended a Boyce Avenue concert in June 2012. I thought that I would share it with you.

Concert Review: Boyce Avenue, band of three brothers stunned crowd in London.

American acoustic, rock band sing a collection of their best songs and most loved covers to a sold-out Hammersmith Apollo.

 When Boyce Avenue announced they were going to be touring the UK for the seventh time, fans flocked straight to the box office to get them a ticket to the musical experience. As many don’t know who Boyce Avenue are, people underestimated their power to sell out 5000 tickets to a packed out Hammersmith Apollo in London. They did it!

The American three piece band- made up of; Daniel Manzano, bass player, Fabian Manzano, guitarist and led by youngest brother Alejandro Manzano- impressed their adoring fans with a backlog of their album tracks and a mixture of loved covers. Boyce Avenue are known for their covers of songs on YouTube, at one point they were the second most searched band on YouTube, behind Americas great rock band, Linkin Park with over 600 million views and counting. Putting this aside they are only known due to the internet, in the UK they have never appeared on the radio or TV, this doesn’t seem to hinder their success. As this year alone they have toured around the UK and Ireland twice; with the first time at the beginning of the year with UK boy band One Direction and now their own headline tour. Their biggest yet!

Before Boyce Avenue could grace the stage singing their hits, their support acts Alex Goot and Tyler Hilton came out to showcase their talents in front of the 5000 strong audience. Due to vast queues outside the Apollo and the slow paced ticket collection staff, the majority of the fans missed Alex Goot’s set- Not with too much disappointment I suppose. After the noisy rabble of 5000 voices had settled down in their seats, Tyler Hilton took to the stage. For those who don’t know who he is, he is most known for his role as ‘Chris Keller’ on US TV drama ‘One Tree Hill’, on the programme he portrayed a musician so fans had an idea of what to expect prior to the concert. As a result of his star status from One Tree Hill, when the deep, husky voice began to sing, the fans seemed ecstatic that he was there to perform. Hilton performed an assortment of his songs, so simply and acoustically, it was as if he was singing a series of love stories; including songs such as ‘Prince of Nothing Charming’ and ‘Loaded Gun’. The fans were amazed by his power to be on stage, just him and a guitar, and still managed to entertain the crowd exceptionally. Even people, who were previously not fans, were wowed and became fans. To finish his set he sung an unknown, underrated cover of Britain’s best, Coldplay’s ‘Us against the World’, which went down very well. Even so, Tyler filmed himself and the crowd during the song and later uploaded it to his YouTube channel.

It was Tyler Hilton’s very first time in London and he seemed to love and appreciate every minute of his performance. He was in awe of the crowd’s reaction to him that he vowed to tour the UK again. 

After a short interval, anxious fans finally got to see who they’d been so patiently waiting for. Boyce Avenue took to the stage appearing through the mist to hoards of hysterical screaming fans. One by one they came and slowly collected their instruments and took their places; Alejandro centre stage, with equally talented brothers either side. The mist seemed to suddenly disappear as the lights were raised and there they were, Boyce Avenue, ready to put on a great show. Starting the night of amazing live music, was a very cleverly mastered medley of ‘Daylight’ and ‘Tonight’ which went down a treat with the crowd. After performing a few more of their own songs, the once screaming fans now turned into an enthusiastic choir as together with Boyce Avenue they sung a medley of some of their best pop covers; ‘What Makes You Beautiful’, ‘We Found Love’ and ‘Dynamite’. There was a sense of passion within the fans to join in and have fun as much as they could.

Boyce Avenue were nothing but thankful to the devoted audience, none more so than trusting the crowd to experience a love story in the making. When gaining the crowds full attention, Alejandro introduced one of the bands friends and his girlfriend to the stage, neither the 5000 fans nor the girlfriend knew what romantic gesture was just about to take place. The friend took to mic talking to everyone, pouring out his feelings for his girlfriend, then got down on one knee and proposed. All 5000 people managed to be hush for this spectacle holding their breaths awaiting the answer. As a simple YES rang through the mic, the Hammersmith Apollo roared with excitement and happiness for the newly engaged couple.

This same excitement remained until the end; Boyce Avenue performed an encore of Coldplay’s ‘Fix You’ which again allowed the entire audience to sing along to this heart-warming song. It was almost like a bunch of walruses wailing together as the crowd tried to hit those high notes. To end such a fabulous night they sung ‘Hear Me Now’, which shows off their abilities to entertain and involve a crowd, splitting the audience in half to get each side to sing different parts of the chorus. This set up is traditionally used in their shows, so old fans would know what to expect. This once 3 minute song had now turned into a 10 minute encore version, finishing with Boyce Avenue thanking the crowd for being such a great audience and gracefully taking a bow overlooking the admiring crowd.

The volume of high pitched screams throughout and the crowd’s response can only reassure Boyce Avenue of being welcomed to return to perform in the UK again. This was the best concert you could ever attend, the atmosphere was immense, fans joining in to sing the chorus, jumping, clapping, crying and cheering. Never have I been so totally amazed by what I witnessed at a concert before, it was so worth the money. Boyce Avenue, have now been established as a worthy, talented singing act to wow the crowds in years to come, they deserve all the fame and recognition they get. Boyce Avenue, Exceptional Talent!

Skincare

Hello Everyone!

It is week 5 of the #BritishBloggerSelection and this weeks theme is all about skincare. This is something that some may treat like a chore as it can take up so much time which you could be spending doing other, more exciting things. But this is not the attitude to be expressing if you want to have great skin! I think most people suffer from/have suffered from spots or dry skin patches at some point. It can be very hard to find a ‘get rid quick scheme’ that’s right for you, as everyone’s skin is different.  

For me, the first product I use is Simple’s Kind To Skin Purifying Cleansing Lotion to cleanse my face, to clean my pores and remove some of my make-up that is blocking the pores. I use Simple for this task as I have very sensitive skin, my skin is so often irritated by every product I use, and this seems to really work with my skin. I use a cotton wool to smooth this around my face in the morning, when I wake up and at night before I go to bed to remove my make-up. Mainly I cleanse my face around areas prone to break outs.



Most people use face wipes to remove their make-up, I go through phases of using them and then not. If I do I would only use it around my forehead, avoiding my mouth as the face wipes have always brought me out in a rash. (Ooo how lovely.. aha) When removing my make-up after a long day, I tend to use a flannel and some warm water as I feel that this is a really good way of not irritating the skin.



I'm really bad when it comes to using moisturiser, as my skin can get so dry and irritated by the simplest product, so I have to be careful what I use. (Even Simple's products have caused a reaction many a time). The doctor once gave me some prescribed cream to use as a moisturiser- Aqueous cream which can be very watery and can sometimes bring you out in spots. I have tried Garnier's moisture match moisturiser (the start a fresh one) which is for normal to dry skin types. This did work, however I sometimes get lazy with things like this.



When I get a break out of spots I find sudocrem a great go-to as this works wonders on spots. I use it mostly during the night, putting it on the individual spots and sleeping with it on my face (kind of like a face mask). For when my spots get very bad I either use Lush's Cosmetic Warrior natural face mask 2-3 times a week or Garnier's spot roll-on.

Another skincare (if you can class it as skin!?) product I use is Vaseline as in the winter I get super dry lips, they're always chapped. I go through pots of this like no-ones business, people always seemed shocked at how quickly I use them! This is a must have in my bag at all times of the year, my lips really do suffer without it. When my lips are so dry, I cake my lips with Vaseline. Then I use an exfoliating hand glove to rub off the dry skin and make them smooth.

Favourite Make-Up Brand

Hello Everyone!

Wow, it's week 4 already and I'm actually on time- just!!
This weeks #BritishBloggerSelection theme is about your favourite make-up brand and an explanation as to why you love it so much.

I am not much of a make-up wearer, having only just started to wear it 'everyday' since last summer (2012). I never really needed to wear mascara to enhance my eyelashes as they were already super long, and for quite a while my skin was pretty clear from blemishes and spots. However, if I was having a bad day with spots or any redness then I would use a small bit of my mums concealer.

Looking through the make-up products I do own, it seems evident that I am a big fan of Rimmel, as the majority of my items are from this brand. I think more often than not I self-consciously buy products from the brands stall in the make-up department without thinking "oh hello another Rimmel purchase". Maybe what draws me towards buying them is the stylish packaging which is engaging and partly makes you want to purchase it due to the overall look. As Rimmel is a high street drug store brand it is a conveniently great price, making it all very affordable (even for students, like me). I have found that the individual products seem to all last a long time too, which makes it worth every penny you spend. A little goes a long way with Rimmel.

I am a huge fan of nail varnishes, maybe it's because I'm into art and painting. Basically here I'm trying to say that the wide variety of colours available in nail varnishes are very similar to acrylic paints used in art, which is very exciting! My nails are always different colours, I love painting my nails! It can express a mood or a feeling, for example around Christmas I like to go for dark/glittery colours as I love Christmas sooo much!! However, it can take quite a while to paint nails and get them neat, I always end up with varnish all over my fingers. :/ I decide when to paint my nails a different colour when my present colour starts to chip, which for me happens very quickly as I do not apply a top coat. 


Favourite Products:
* Rimmel London Match Perfection Foundation; I love this foundation, as the consistency of it is very thin and very quick and easy to apply to your face with fingertips or a brush. This foundation comes in quite a few different shades, which means there is one out there for everyone, I use the Ivory 001. It is also a great price at only £6.99, and the quality is amazing- this is a favourite with many beauty bloggers. This foundation has a slight shine to it, when it is on your face, but it's not OTT and it gives you a nice glow.



* Barry M Nail Polishes; These are my favourite nail varnish brand as they are so affordable, being usually only between £2.99 and £3.99 each and they seem to give you so many uses. Barry M have a huge range of colours and even types (for example; the gelly polishes and the effects- crackle) that you'll be spoilt for choice. When wearing one of their polishes they tend to last a long time without chipping. For me I find that the coverage and amount of coats depends on the colour as sometimes with a dark colour you can get away with one coat. 

* Collection 2000 Lasting Perfection Concealer; I know that this is none of the brands I previously mentioned, but this is a god send. This is the best concealer that I have used as it has such great coverage on any spots, blemishes or redness completely for up to 16 hours (so it advertises). It is in packaging very much like lip-gloss, with the applicator being the same as a lip-gloss brush. With this product there a fewer shades to choose from, I firstly picked up a light 2, as in the shop lighting it seemed to blend into my hand. When I got home, I became all patchy where it was too dark for me, so I purchased the fair 1 (oh the joys of being pale!)


This is all of the make-up products that I have been loving, what are your favourite brands?