Insta-Fortnight

Happy Saturday guys!

Time for another insta-fortnight, the post that gives you all a sneaky look into what I've been up to for the past two weeks. And boy, do I take a lot of photos!

Tea whilst waiting for my boyfriend to get his hair cut at Harris & Gibbs, The Jewellery Quarter

All packed and ready to go home for Christmas!

My mum and I made double chocolate cupcakes. It took us almost an hour... They were gone in less than a minute.

 A beautifully wrapped present if I do say so myself!

A little glimpse at the gorgeous Christmas lights in the Centre:MK. It's like standing in a fairytale!

I made Christmas tree cake-pops!

A very festive Covent Garden.

A few of my Christmas presents!! I'm a very lucky girl :-)

The hamper that I made for my best friend's Christmas present.

Contents : A bottle of mulled wine, Harvey Nichols earl grey teabags, Harvey Nichols licqourice toffee (she loves it.. don't worry, I don't understand either), Harvey Nichols strawberry & cream sweets, Harvey Nichols cranberry jam with burgundy, Harvey Nichols three fruit jam, Harvey Nichols White truffle mayonnaise, Cath Kidston mug, two champagne glasses and two shot glasses (Not pictured, they were wrapped in tissue paper to stop them getting damaged).

The giant lopsided Christmas tree in the churchyard by my house.

DOMINOSSSSSSSSSS!

Candy cane love heart! The multi-coloured one is Tropical flavoured and tastes unbelievable.

London for New Years Eve!!

Back in Birmingham : Pizza Express lunch with my bestie to catch up!

Today I went to Cheshire Oaks Designer Shopping Village. I had never been before and I'm undecided if it was as good as Bicester, but it was nice to spend some time with my boyfriend and grab a few designer goodies with a hefty discount at the same time!!

The pretty sky as we were leaving. Summer hurry up!

I hope you've all enjoyed having a look at my pictures, if you also post Insta-weeks or fortnights please leave me a link, I would love to see what you've been up to also!

xxx

Stocking Filler Guide

11 Sleeps 'till Christmas !

I thought I would put together a little stocking guide for those stuck in a rut of buying sweets and travel sized cosmetics to go into stockings.

Gifts Featured

For anyone with an iPhone and a love of Ted Baker, this iPhone case is a must! Crafted from a beautiful 'Eudora Sequin' print with a Gold Ted Baker plaque, this makes a brilliant stocking filler. Find it here.

'Fun' by Lush is essentially play-doh for the bath! A product of a thousand uses, Fun really lives up to it's name. After pinching off a small part of the bar, it can be used as bubble bath, a shampoo, lathered up as shower gel or even crumbled to hand-wash clothes with. These cute bars come in five different colours and are priced at only £5.00 each.

Candy Canes are the key to any great stocking. Whether you prefer the real Peppermint sweets or Philosophy's sweet lipgloss version, these are essential for any well stuffed stocking.

A Christmas manicure in a bottle! At only £13.00, Nails Inc Magnetic Polish in Shaftesbury creates beautiful Emerald Green nails which turn into a 'swirly' effect when the magnetic lid is hovered over the nail.

All I can say is, Christmas wouldn't be Christmas without Love Actually. Grab a copy here for only £3.00!

This fur headband is perfect for those freezing winter days, and would look great with the Barbour jacket featured in my Christmas Gift Guide in yesterday's post. The one I have chosen for this post is from Jack Wills, but I have also seen similar from ASOS and Debenhams.

For any Chocolate lovers... Charbonnel Et Walker are the cream of the crop. Beautifully packaged and absolutely delicious, you can buy these Dark Chocolate Rose and Violet truffles here.

I spent ages trying to track down the perfect 'H' initial necklace and along the way found so many which either look tacky or were horrendously expensive. Just as I was about to give up my search, I stumbled across this sterling Silver Jack Wills initial charm. Priced at £29.50 for the charm (you can pick up a silver necklace practically anywhere if you don't already have one), this is just the right size and looks great as an everyday staple necklace.

Lush's Snow Fairy Star Wand is a solid version of Lush's bestselling Snow Fairy shower gel, and at £4.99 makes a great stocking filler. Whirl this around a bath for a bubble paradise then re-use it again, again, and again.

That's all for my stocking filler guide, I hope you enjoyed reading it and it has possibly given you some good ideas or starting points?

I would love to know what is on your Christmas lists this year?

xxx

Christmas Gift Guide

With less than two weeks until Christmas remaining, you probably have most of your Christmas presents wrapped and under the tree by now. But in case you haven't, and are really struggling to find the perfect item for someone special, here's a little Christmas gift rundown for you..

Gifts featured

Philosophy bring out brilliant christmas scents every year, and their bubble bath is the best in the business. At £14.00 each, these a great gifts for friends or relatives and add a little festivity to bathtimes! Products featured are Eggnog and Candy Cane. (Psst. They're also currently on offer at £12.60 in Debehams!)

These Ted Baker Sawp heels are to die for! Made from leather with a pony hair finish, these purple platforms are perfect for the party season! 

Personally, I love darker lipstick in the winter as I find it brings some colour into my face and stops me looking so pale! In my gift guide I have chosen MAC Viva Glam lipstick in 'Viva Glam 1'. MAC lipsticks are amazing quality and reasonably affordable at £14.00.

Wouldn't everyone love to receive a Barbour jacket for Christmas? My favourites from their collection are the waxed jackets with the cordrouy collars. Have a peek here. These iconic jackets never go out of fashion, so buying one for a loved one at Christmastime is a great investment.

Nails Inc is in my opinion the best brand of nail polish on the market, and I think the deep teal shade Kensington is a great little stocking filler!

This hat by French Connection is most definitely going on my Christmas list! At only £39.99, this floppy versatile number comes in a great Mulberry shade and would look great with a trench coat and some boots. Available in either Black (currently on sale for £20.00) or Shiraz here.

Sticking with my love affair for Ted Baker, these cute Safire pumps have been updated for Christmastime, in new winter colours with glitter instead of patent bows. 

L'Occitane's hand cream set is priced at only £20.00, and I think it's funky packaging and trio of gorgeous smelling creams would make the ideal gift this christmas. Plus, it comes in a lovely rectangular box for those who do not like wrapping presents very much!

Narcisco Rodrigues 'For Her' has to be my all time favourite perfume. At £71.49 for 100ml, it definitely doesn't come cheap, but if you are willing to splurge a little for an extra special treat, this perfume is elegant and musky, and I'm yet to meet a girl who doesn't fall in love with it.

Yankee Candles make brilliant Christmas gifts, as they last for ages and produce the most amazing smells you can ever imagine. Unless you have time to burn the candle for around eight hours at a time, go for the medium size jar or the tumbler ones, to avoid hollowing the candle and wasting all of the wax. Yankee Candles are available here, and the one featured in this post is the gorgeously fresh 'Clean Cotton'.

Last but not least, we have this beautiful bandage dress by French Connection. This dress has become somewhat of a staple piece in the last year, and an almost replica to those of Herve Leger. At £115.00, this makes a perfect present for anyone wishing to make the most out of the party season.

Glitter & Sparkle Nails

With the days getting duller and the evenings getting darker,  bright and sparkly nails are much needed to brighten up our days! I've had both of these nail polishes a little while now, but decided to dig them out the other day to get some sparkle on the go.

Both of these are reasonably cheap, but the Barry M glitter (£2.99) tends to wear off pretty quickly. The Jack Wills one (£6.00) however is as good quality as Nails Inc, and lasts about three days chip free.

I painted my nails with my usual Nails Inc Basil Street base coat, then one coat of the Jack Wills Blue. The Barry M takes a few coats to build up to full glitter, but once you have finished I think it looks great.

Do you love glitter nail polishes in the winter? Can you recommend any good ones I should try?


Hannah xxx

Christmas!

Eeeek, it's that time of year again, the presents are getting wrapped, the advent calenders are slowly going down and the trees are going up. CHRISTMAS!

This is definitely my favourite time of the year, and this Saturday was no exception. The day started with a spot of Christmas shopping, before purchasing a brand new tree and fairy lights, digging out last years baubles and getting ready to put up the tree. I had the most perfect evening in, Chalet Girl on in the background with a Rekorderlig Winter Cider in one hand and copious amounts of wrapping paper and sellotape in the other.

As the days of December go on, the chocolate disappears from my advent calender and the presents mount up underneath the tree. 22 days to go!

 I got these brilliant embroidered stockings from a shop on eBay. They were a little smaller than I thought they would be - less room for stocking fillers :( - but nonetheless I think they're great. If anyone wants the link, please leave a comment below and I'll dig it out for you :)

Rekorderlig's winter cider is amazing! I would recommend it to anyone, I know they serve it warm in some bars but I'm not such a fan of warm drinks. If you're like me, pick up a bottle from your local supermarket and drink it chilled, it's like Christmas in a bottle.

Hannah xx