NOVEMBER BERRY PURPLE FAVOURITES

I can't believe it's nearly been a whole year of my colour favourite series! I'm not sure whether to continue it next year yet, I'm not certain I have enough new colourful products! 

Throughout November I've been really enjoying wearing berry shades, I think they're perfect for the transition into winter as well as working well for autumn. These are my November Berry Favourites:

MAC Nocturnelle eyeshadow: I loved wearing this plum eyeshadow so much in October that I've also been smudging it under my lower lashes throughout November. It's a beautiful deep plum that really brings out brown eyes. You can see me wearing the look here.

Essie nail polishes: I can't get enough of Essie nail polishes at the moment and Essie Bahama Mama and Essie Sole Mate have been constantly on my nails this month. Bahama Mama is a beautiful rich plum shade and Sole Mate a vampy deep berry purple.

MAC Rebel lipstick: I've recently written a full review on MAC rebel here. It's the perfect autumn berry shade that's so versatile and long lasting on the lips. I love to pat a small amount onto my lips and really rub it in to make a pretty berry stain.

Revlon Super Lustrous Lipstick in Berry Allure: This gives a lovely berry sheen and feels quite balmy on the lips which means it can still work on blustery autumn days. It's great for a subtle berry lip and looks great with winged liner. I also really love the packaging of these revlon lip glosses!



OCTOBER MONOCHROME FAVOURITES/SEPTEMBER BROWN FAVOURITES/AUGUST FUCHSIA FAVOURITES/JULYS CORAL FAVOURITES/JUNES GREEN FAVOURITES/MAYS GOLD FAVOURITES/APRILS BLUE FAVOURITES/MARCH MINT FAVOURITES/FEBRUARYS ORANGE FAVOURITES/JANUARYS PINK FAVOURITES

HAPPY THANKSGIVING

Autumn / Fresh peonies / Rain / Frosty mornings & pink skies / Organic strawberries & almond croissants fresh from the farmers market / Early morning cups of peppermint and liquorice tea in my cosy Topshop fluffy dressing gown

I love the thought of celebrating Thanksgiving and with brands in the UK now embracing Black Friday, I've decided to have my own little Thanksgiving celebrations this year.

I'm making sweet potato mash, rosemary roast potatoes, mounds of buttered peas, yorkshire puddings, sizzling veggie sausages and gravy for tea and me and Alex are planning on having an evening of films and chatting about things that we are thankful for. It's important for me to focus on the good things, to stay positive and to try and keep a happy mindset. I love to spend my time pinning inspirational quotes on my pinterest (along with a few quotes thrown in about cats and pancakes!) and I try to write down 10 things a day that I'm grateful for every morning.

I'm so grateful for everyone who leaves me such nice comments and everyone who reads my blog. I've spoken to such lovely people through my blog, instagram & twitter which has kept me positive through some tough times. Thank you so much and I hope everyone has a great Thanksgiving :)

LITTLE HOME THINGS

There's nothing I love better on a cold autumn night than watching a good film (normally Harry Potter!) in my living room with tealights flickering and a big mug of hot chocolate or peppermint tea. I've been enjoying collecting wintry pieces for the home and these are a few of my favourite things that I've got recently:

I've become a bit obsessed with tealight holders and this starry gold one from ikea is the latest to my collection. It's great value for only £2 and I've actually been using this for storing bits and pieces in, I think it would be great for holding cotton buds too! I also bought the little snowflake lights from ikea as they were too cute to pass up, they look so pretty lit up on the kitchen table and I think i'll be able to use them all throughout the year.

My brother bought me the little house tealight holder along with the copper home shaped wire basket from Tiger for my Birthday. I love them both so much and the basket is perfect for storing beauty products in. Tiger have some great things in at the moment and I'm planning on buying these cute little DIY elf decorations after seeing them on Katy's lovely blog. 

The polka dot teapot and mug follow on with the white and gold theme, I actually bought my Gold Anthroplogie monogram mug last year but they have them again this year and I'm so tempted to buy another letter! The Tesco tea for one set is great value at only £8 for a whole little set and I've been really enjoying my morning peppermint and licorice tea from it. The teapot warms up your mug whilst the tea steeps and it means that I can have two or more cups of tea!

Have you bought any bits for the home recently?

LUSH CHRISTMAS

I'm always so excited to see Lush's Christmas offerings and after a trip to Lush on Friday I now have a lovely little haul that's making my whole flat smell amazing! Here's what I bought:

Snow Fairy: This bright pink, sweet candy shower gel is one of my favourite products from Lush. I'm so glad that Lush has added skin softening seaweed to Snow Fairy this year, I've always loved the smell but felt that it wasn't really moisturising enough for the winter months. With this addition, it's perfect to use over the festive period as keeps your skin feeling silky soft and leaves a lovely sweet lingering scent to your skin.

Cinders: This lovely little bath ballistic contains cinnamon, sweet orange oil and vegan popping candy. It's become a tradition for me to buy Lush Cinders every Christmas and whenever I use it the scent fills the whole home and makes me feel so, so festive!

Snow Angel: This is the prettiest bath melt that's full of moisturising ingredients. Snow Angel is covered in gold and silver glitter (which is something I normally avoid as the glitter can get everywhere and sticks to your skin!) but this was too cute to pass up, I'm going to save this for a day when I know I'm just staying in, possibly Boxing day!

I also got two soaps that both smell absolutely amazing. Yog Nog is my favourite of the two and smells like sweet spiced fudge. Both of these soaps contain coconut oil and so leave your skin feeling so soft. Alex actually picked up Reindeer Rock soap to show me as it contains Lingonberry and so reminded him of Ikea! It smells so delicious, like winter berries.

I really love everything that I bought from lush and I've already added the Gold fun bar - a sweet toffee smelling soap/bubble bath to my Christmas wishlist! 

Have you tried anything from Lush's Christmas collection?

A WINTER WISHLIST

I really enjoyed creating an autumn wish list and so I thought I would create a little winter wishlist too! Here's a few things that I think would be perfect for the festive season and that are at the top of my wishlist for winter:

Topshop Velvet Lace Playsuit: Its the lace detailing on the back of this that made me completely fall in love with this mulberry coloured playsuit. I can imagine wearing it with black tights and heeled boots to Christmas parties or festive gatherings. 

Chanel Camelia De Plumes Highlighlighing powder: This is a stunning, platinum, iridescent highlighting powder that would be perfect to wear on Christmas day!

Kate spade notebook: I love this little gold notebook, perfect for writing lists and keeping notes over the festive season.

Nars Satin Lip Pencil in Majella: I've got my eye on this garnet Nars lip pencil after reading so much hype about them. I think this cool-toned red would look so great over Christmas.

Asos pieces Midi ring: I've may have caved and already purchased this ring! It's just recently arrived and its such a pretty, dainty ring. It fits me as a standard ring rather than a midi ring which I actually prefer and I've been wearing it non stop!

Dior Diorific Vernis Smoky Nail Polish: The bottle of this Dior nail polish is just stunning and the colour looks like such a great winter berry shade. 

What's on your wishlist?

A FESTIVE TOUCH

After seeing the Coca Cola advert on tv last weekend I've decided to completely embrace the fact that its now nearly Christmas. Michael Buble has been playing in the background whilst I've been baking festive treats and slowly adding festive touches to my make up routine. Heres a few things that Ive added to my make up bag:

thebalm Mary Lou Manizer: This highly pigmented champagne highlighter adds a beautiful glow to your skin. You only need such a small amount brushed over your cheekbones, on your brow bone and on the inner corners of your eye to give a beautiful shimmer that's so lovely for the festive season.

Bobbi Brown Shimmer Wash Eyeshadow in Champagne: I bought this eyeshadow a while ago as I read that the Make-up artist used this on Katherine in the Vampire Diaries. I'm already so in love with season 6 and so pulled this out to wear. This eyeshadow is a pretty shimmery champagne colour which is quite sheer so I like to wear this as part of a brown smokey eye, or just on its own for a shimmery wash of colour over the lids if I'm wearing a bold red lip.

Mac RiRiwoo lipstick: Very similar to MAC Ruby Woo, this cool toned matte red is the perfect winter lipstick. I wore this last year in my festive decorating video, it's long lasting and gets me so excited for Christmas when I wear it!

L'Oreal Mono eyeshadow in 205 Sable Lame. This stunning shimmery light gold eyeshadow gives a touch of festiveness to my make up and lasts well on my eyes. These L'Oreal eyeshadows are so buttery and pigmented, see a full review and swatches here.

MAC Mineralize Blush in Gleeful: Aptly named, this wine coloured blush is perfect for the colder months. You only need such a small amount for it to add a long lasting beautiful rosy red glow to your cheeks.

Nails inc Chelsea Square: I'm already breaking out the glitter nail polish and Nails Inc Chelsea square is such a pretty rose gold glitter that is great for the run up to Christmas.

Are you excited about Christmas already?

THINGS THAT MADE ME HAPPY THIS WEEK #6

Monday: Waking up extra early to get a good start to the week, eating hot croissants smothered in melted butter whilst watching the sunrise.

Tuesday: A fairy-lit evening spent in cosy pj's laughing along to episodes of Friends.

Wednesday: Blasting out Michael Buble's christmas album and planning warming winter meals. So far I've got: creamy winter vegetable & spinach lasagne, butternut squash rosemary & goats cheese puff pies and cinnamon & nutmeg spiced baked rice puddings!

Thursday: Planning a weekend shopping wishlist full of red lipstick and glittery Essie nail polishes (the ones in the photo are Essie A Cut Above and Essie Stroke of Brilliance) whilst catching up on the Vampire Diaries.

Friday: Wearing a beautiful new Nars blusher that I got for my Birthday - Nars Dolce Vita I'm so in love with it already and it's the perfect Autumn/Winter shade! 

What has made you happy this week?