Christmas Yankee Candles
If you know me at all, then you'll know I LOVE candles. Especially at Christmas as there's just something really special about lighting a festive candle and it helps to get you in the christmassy mood. I also love all the Christmas scents, like cinnamon and spices and all that. So as I know lots of people share my obsession for Christmas candles I thought I'd show you my collection of my Yankee ones.
Autumn Loving
At the moment I've got my GCSE mock exams so I haven't really had a chance to take some photos and write a proper post, but I thought I'd post something anyway. So here are some photos that I took a few weeks ago that are really autumnal and so I thought I'd share them with you, because who doesn't love Autumn?
Top 4 Lip Balms For Autumn/Winter
As it's getting colder now your skin gets drier, including your lips and I don't know about you, but I absolutely hate having chapped lips, so lip balm comes in handy in the autumn and winter. There are so many different amazing brands of lip balm but I'm going to share with you my top four brands, so if you're interested keep on reading...
Vanity Planet Palette Makeup Brushes
Last week I purchased these Vanity Planet Palette makeup brushes and they are amazing. My friend told me about them as they were £82 down to only £25!!!! So if you're reading this now quickly go on their website and buy them because I'm not sure how much longer they'll be on offer for. They're also so soft and are synthetic and I don't think I'll ever need to buy any makeup brushes ever again as I have everything I need now. The handles are so nice too as they are wooden and just feel really nice to hold.
Autumnal Eyes
In the Autumn, eye makeup changes quite a lot and I always go for darker and more smokier looks. This year I'm really going to try and be more adventurous with my makeup too because I always see really nice autumn makeup tutorials and different looks on Youtube or Instagram but never try them out or I just feel like I wont be confident enough to wear a dark lip. But anyway I thought I'd show you some of the eye shadows I'll be wearing this autumn and the sort of shades you might want to go for.
Kiko '116'and '124'
I absolutely love the khaki shade as I have green eyes and I also just think that its quite different.
Maybelline Colour Tattoo in 'On and on Bronze'
This is so good as it really is like a tattoo and stays on for ages. The colour is also so pretty and autumnal.
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| top to bottom: Maybelline Colour tattoo in On and on bronze, Kiko 116, Kiko 124 |
Tanya Burr Cosmentics 'Hollywood eye palette'
These eye shadows are such good quality and all of the shades are so beautiful.
Urban Decay 'Naked 2' palette
This is probably my favourite as you can create so many looks.
Thank you for reading!
A Stroll In Shoreditch
On a school art trip to Shoreditch (London) recently, I took lots of pictures of the street art as its so amazing and I also have to use it in my school project. We also went to Tate Modern too, but I much preferred the street art as in Tate Modern a lot of the art wasn't very impressive e.g. there was a Sainsburys receipt on the wall! So not going to lie it wasn't that interesting and there wasn't much talent. But don't get me wrong there were some amazing pieces and I know that the art is just meant to make you think but I just feel like anyone could have done it. But anyway here are all the photos I took in Shoreditch...
September Beauty Faves
I haven't done a monthly favourites in a while but they're always really popular and there are a few beauty things that I've been loving this month, so I thought I'd share then with you. Also I know I haven't posted much on my blog recently, but I just haven't really been that motivated. But now that its finally Autumn (YAYY!) I have a few autumnal posts planned and I think I'll really get back into it.
Beautiful Brighton
I said in my last post that I would be putting some photos up of Brighton that I took when I was there, so as promised here they are! Also if you haven't been to Brighton then you definitely should. It's so nice there and the atmosphere is just so happy and I kind of wish I live there as there is so much to do and I feel in love with The Lanes and the beach.
Brighton Haul
I recently went to Brighton for a few days with my mum and picked up quite a few things. The shops there are amazing so I couldn't resist. They have Zara, Urban Outfitters, MAC, Kiko and Oliver Bonas, that I don't have anywhere near where I live, so that was very exciting! I also took quite a few photos of Brighton itself, which I'll be putting a post up soon about, as I definitely think that it is one of my favourite places. But for now, let's get into the haul...
The Lake District
For our family holiday this year we went to the Lake District and stayed in part of a cottage that was in the mountains. We were there for a week and the weather was amazing for us so we went on lots of walks and just had a really relaxing time. The scenery, as you can see, is also so beautiful and it kind of reminded me of being in Iceland because of all the mountains, which was really nice. So you know the drill; here are the photos that I took when I was there...
Vanilla Star Cupcakes // Tanya Bakes Recipe
For example for this recipe she wrote: ' These were some of the first cakes I made when I was little, with my mum. We used to call them fairy cakes as this was about 20 years before the cupcake craze began! They are pretty, cute and yummy, too, they will not fail to put a smile on anyone's face.' I think that this is a really nice touch and just makes it a bit more personal. This book is also quite special to me because I went to her Norwich signing for it and got to meet her for the second time and take a selfie with her.
So let's get into it...
INGREDIENTS:
50g unsalted butter, softened
180g caster sugar
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
160g plain flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
160ml milk
For the icing:
500g icing sugar
250g unsalted butter, softened
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
To decorate (optional):
Chocolate stars (I used magic stars)
Glitter Sprinkles
1. Preheat the oven to 180°/350°F/GM4 and line the cupcake/muffin tray with paper cases.
2. In a bowl , cream together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy.
3. Then mix in the egg and vanilla extract.
4. Fold in the flour and baking powder, then slowly add the milk, beating as you go until you have a smooth batter.
5. Spoon the mixture evenly into the cupcake cases and bake for 15-20 mins until golden.
6. Then transfer to a wire rack to cool.
7. For the icing, mix together all the ingredients until smooth. Spoon or pipe onto the cupcakes and decorate with chocolate stars and glitter or whatever you fancy.
Thank you for reading and let me know if you Tanya Bakes and if you've baked anything from it yet.
Beauty/Makeup Storage
I've wanted to do this post for quite a while now but always put it off as I thought: 'I'll find a better way to store my makeup soon' or 'I haven't finished organising yet'. But I've finally done it! and even better, this post idea came from MakeSpace, an
on-demand self-storage service
that picks up, stores, and delivers all the items you need. So basically for this post I'll just show you how I store my makeup and beauty stuff and what I use to store it, so lets get into it...
Firstly I keep all my makeup brushes, which are mostly Real Techniques, in this cute little pot from Ikea. They're quite popular, so I'm sure you've seen them all over instagram as they're just so cute!
Then I keep my sort of everyday makeup, lipsticks and mini makeup in this acrylic makeup organiser from amazon as it's just easier to get to things and it looks pretty.
Onto the main part, I keep pretty much everything in these ALEX drawers from Ikea as they are just perfect. In the first drawer I keep most of my makeup, in the second drawer is nail polish, lip balms and palettes, the third drawer is hair products and bath and body products and the last drawer is skincare.
I used to want to get the MUJI storage dividers as they're such a good size to keep all your makeup in and fit perfectly into these drawers, but I didn't really want to spend money on them when you can honestly just use takeaway containers. So that's what I use to keep everything organised as they're free and all you have to do is wash them up!
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| Second Drawer |
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| Third Drawer |
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| Last Drawer |
Iceland Travels
I recently got back from a school trip with loads of my friends to Iceland, which was amazing. I have only ever properly been abroad once before and that was when I was eight years old and my family and I went to Portugal. So as I have recently added another page to my blog about travel, I thought what better to do then make a post showing you all the photos I took when I was there. We stayed there for five days and in that time visited so much and it really was one of the best experiences of my life! So be prepared, there are lots of photos (I did have even more, but it really was ridiculous so I deleted some!).
Blushed Nudes Eye-Shadow Palette | Maybelline
I got this palette as a birthday present form my best friend and I've used it so much since. I actually haven't had an eye shadow palette like this before with more pinky toned shades in and I had been wanting one for the summer and this palette did catch my eye a few times but I never got round to actually purchasing it. So I guess you could say my friend did very well with this present ;)
So for todays post I thought I would do a little review of it and show you some swatches of the shades as they are very beautiful.
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| Top Row in palette - Left to Right |
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| Bottom Row in palette- Left to Right
Overall there are twelve shadows and they all blend out so well and most of them are really pigmented. They are mostly shimmery but I also love that some are matte and it comes with a little brush with a sponge applicator on one end and a brush on the other, which is handy. They also stay on for a reasonably long time there isn't too much fallout when you apply them.
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On the back of the packaging there is also little guides of which shadows to use with others and you can see how versatile they all are and its just a really helpful guide, especially if your are just starting out with makeup.
Thank you for reading!
