Thursday 22 December 2016

The '2016' Christmas Tag

Hey everyone :)


Christmas is nearly upon us ... I think I said that in my last blog post too. Throughout my blogging time here ... I have come to love tag posts - they are fun and reveal lots of info about a person. So when I stumbled upon this tag post I had to do it!

1. What is your favourite Christmas film?
It either has to be 'The Family Stone' or 'Love Actually' - one is really sad and one is really happy!

2. Have you ever had a White Christmas?
I lived in Scotland until I was 18 so we had many white Christmases.

3. Where do you usually spend your holidays?
I normally spend them at home in Hemel Hempstead, as I don't get much time off from work - there is not much I can do. If I go to Scotland to my parents its a 350 mile trip in the car.

4. What is your favourite Christmas song?
I really liked 'That's Christmas To Me' by Pentatonix which I heard last year on a Spotify playlist. But Kylie Minogue brought out a song 'At Christmas' this year and I've played it to death!

5. Do you open any presents on Christmas Eve?
Our family never opened Christmas presents before Christmas Day. I have heard of families who have traditions of opening 1 present of their choosing from under the tree on Christmas Eve.

6. Can you name all of Santa's reindeers?
Rudolph, Blitzen, Dancer, Prancer ... and that is all I know ...

7. What holiday traditions are you looking forward to most this year?
I don't know if you'd call it a tradition but I always looked forward to my mum's cooking at Christmas.

8. Is your Christmas tree real or fake?
I don't have one for my house but the work tree is fake. My parent's used to have a real one that we re-used every year as we planted it in the garden but I think my Dad dropped some chemicals on the ground near it and it killed it one year.

9. What is your all-time favourite holiday food/sweet treat?
I loved my Dad's stuffing - it was way better than my Mum's and I made sure she knew it haha!

10. Be honest: Do you like giving gifts or receiving gifts better?
I hate opening gifts, I much prefer to give them :)

11. What is the best Christmas gift you have ever received?
Probably a gameboy colour from my parents when I was really young. My little brother and me got one each. We had opened everything and we got told to go get a black bag to put the rubbish in and when we got to the back porch there was two more presents and my Mum and Dad told us that Santa left them.

12. What would be your dream place to visit for the holiday season?
I have been wanting to go to NYC and I've heard it's really nice at Christmas.

13. Are you a pro-present wrapper, or do you fail miserably?
I have my moments, sometimes if I am in the mood they turn out really good, sometimes if I'm in a rush they look terrible.

14. Most memorable Holiday moment?
When Dave (my other half) and me made our Christmas Eve dinner - as he spends his Christmas with his family.

15. What made you realise the truth about Santa?
I can't actually remember - I think I just found out ...

16. Do you make New Year's resolutions? Do you stick to them?
I do make resolutions but 2 days later I'm back to my old tricks ...

17. What makes the holidays special for you?
I think everyone probably said 'family' but I don't normally see them as they are 300 miles away in Scotland. I think work, presents, food, the weather (hopefully snowy).

I hope you enjoyed those questions as much as I did ... if you want to steal the questions feel free.

I 'stole' mine from Emily Mae's blog - you can check her blog out HERE. I think she stole it from someone elses too so finding the original poster might take some time - but thank you - whomever you are :)



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Tuesday 20 December 2016

Christmas Gift Guide: Men's Aftershave/Perfume

Hey everyone :)

It's getting nearer and nearer to that festive period and I haven't posted in ages so I thought I'd start with a Christmas gift guide.

These are all aftershaves (or perfume - what do we call it these days for guys?!?) for the lovely men of our lives! I have personally bought these or been gifted these in the past so I love them all :)


All of these have little backing stories behind them and memories that I think about whenever I see them in shops or on my shelf at home. I thought I'd share a few of them with you guys ...

Dolce & Gabbana: The One (for Men)
I fell in love with this smell a few years ago. One of my friends Euan (from my school) was wearing it and I asked him what it was. Bought it a few days later and used it for a year or so. I would refer to the smell as a more older, mature smell. It has hints of grapefruit and orange and notes of cedar wood and tobacco. The bottle design is lovely also - a very well designed glass bottle, with a lovely hard brown/wood effect lid. 

Davidoff Cool Water
This was the first aftershave that my parents bought me for my birthday. It has been around for years. The bottle is a basic sea blue bottle with a black lid. It smells like peppermint, lavender with hints of amber and musk. I do think this is a young teenager's smell and not something for the more mature adult.

Armani Diamonds
I can't remember who had this aftershave but someone I used to live with at university wore this and it made me crazy! It smells so good! The smell is very sweet and has notes of bergamot and sichuan pepper. It also has notes of cedarwood and cocoa bean. Perfume Shop describe it as an aftershave for the young, urban man and I would probably agree with them. Maybe from 18 years to 23 years.

Paco Rabanne | Invictus
I remember when I first smelt this and it was a manager at my old work. I couldn't get the smell out of my head and I ended up asking his girlfriend what it was. The smell is what I'd call a 'manly man' smell. That might be stereotypical but for example when your in a club and you walk past someone and you get a whiff of a guy and he's just a proper dude. I'd say this smell would suit anyone from 20 - 30.

What are your favourite scents? Let me know in the comments below.




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Saturday 26 November 2016

LUSH - Christmas (2016)

Hey everyone :)


I have a love hate relationship with Christmas - I think as you get older ... you start to hate it ... or maybe that is just me!

One thing I like around Christmas is the Christmas-editions of things - like Starbucks' drink range, or McDonald's festive range ... one thing I've loved for the last couple of years (since starting this blog) is the Lush Christmas range!!! (yes three exclamation marks).

I didn't go as crazy as last year and just chose a few that caught my fancy!


Bubbly | Shower Gel
This was by far one of my favourite purchases this year (if it wasn't for snow fairy) it would be my favourite! The shower gel is full of lime oil, sweet wild orange oil and fresh grape juice. The shower gel is so refreshing and sweet smelling. It really wakes you up when your washing yourself.


Sugar Plum Fairy | Lip Scrub
I love lip scrubs although I could sit and eat the whole jar! It tastes and smells amazing and works wonders on your lips. The sugar is quite exfoliative and leaves the lips lovely and smooth. The flavour is a plumy-blackcurrant and it also has hints of orange oil too.


Never Mind The Ballistics | Bath Bomb
A very refreshing and citrus-esque bath bomb - full of cocoa butter, lime oil, sweet wild orange oil and fresh banana. This bath bomb leaves your bath a lovely orange/yellow/pink colour and smells amazing! It's a very refreshing bath to take and the cocoa butter leaves your skin smooth and soft.


Santa's Belly | Shower Jelly
Another favourite of mine - I bought this last year as I was intrigued by 'shower jellys'. Santa's Belly is full of fresh apple juice, star anise infusion, rose absolute and neroli oil. It's also such an odd feeling to wash your body with a handful of jelly.


Snow Fairy | Shower Gel
One of my favourite shower gels - it absolutely smells like candy floss and it just feels like you are washing yourself in that sweet, tasty goodness. I can't say anymore! I love when I am laying in bed after showering and I can smell it.


Star Dust | Bath Bomb
What is more Christmas-sy that a star! A lovely white star that smells of vanilla, rosewood and bergamot. The star starts fizzing a lovely white in the bath and then releases a lovely blue colour with colourful stars that float around the bath. The mixed smells of vanilla, rosewood and bergamot smell great.


Reindeer Rock | Soap
A very floral soap - full of lingonberry, coconut, jasmine and rose oil. The soap leaves your hands soft and smooth. I sometimes find with Lush soap they leave my hands with a dry feel but not this one.


Shooting Stars | Soap
I thought this soap looked amazing when I purchased it but I didn't get a nice cut from it. Not to worry though as it smells great! It's full of lime oil, sicillian lemon oil, bergamot oil and star fruit puree. Very refreshing, uplifting and relaxing.




Did you buy anything from Lush this year from their Christmas range? Let me know in the comments below!



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Monday 14 November 2016

LUSH - Halloween (2016)

Hey everyone :)


It's that time of year ... well actually it's nearly over ... HALLOWEEN!

I've been so busy lately that I haven't had a chance to write up this post - despite taking the pictures about 3 weeks ago when the order came.


Autumn Leaf
A very colourful bath bomb, you just add to the water and it will fizz away - it leaves your bath full of red, green and yellow colours. It contains neroli oil which is uplifting and puts you in a good mood, sandalwood oil which is soothing and bergamot oil which is cleansing and refreshing.


Pumpkin
Another bath bomb that just dissolves in the water and leaves it a beautiful orange colour - there are also waves of cinnamon, orange and vanilla to make you feel relaxed and soothed.


Sparkly Pumpkin
A very citrus-ey bubble bar ... it crumbles away in your hands under the running water and turns the bath a lovely orange colour but with a golden shine to the water. There are hints of grapefruit and lime. It also has juniperberry oil which is great for people with acne and dry skin.


Boo
A very floral scented bath melt. Made with organic cocoa butter, ginger oil, geranium oil and mimosa absolute. You just let it melt in the water (hence it being a bath melt lol) and then let the cocoa butter make you all soft!








Did you pick up any Halloween Lush items this year? Let me know in the comments below ...





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Saturday 29 October 2016

Toronto ... Toronto Zoo

Hi everyone :)

When we were in Toronto we used one of our days to go to the Zoo. It was a bit of a hassle to get there as its about 7 miles from the centre of Toronto.

We had to get the subway from Union station to Bloor-Yonge (that was the yellow line) and then change to the green line and head to Kennedy Station. This is where there is a large bus station. It was about 18 stops on the subway before we got there. The payment system is rather different to the UK and what we are used to ... you can buy tokens or they do have something similar to the Oyster card. The tokens cost around $3.25 each and one token is one way outwards, you can't come back on yourself or you need to use another token. When you move to a different transport like subway/train to bus like we did you get a transfer note so if you change again the driver can check and know you have paid. So it cost us about $6.50 each - one token out, and one token back. You can also pay cash rather than with a token but its $3.50 not $3.25 like the tokens and it has to be exact - no change. After the 18 stops on the subway, we then had to wait 10 minutes for a bus (the 86A) and then it was around 25 stops to the Zoo.

We could have got a taxi from the hotel to the Zoo - but we were told it would cost about $70 each way which is quite alot.

The Zoo was large - I think we could have spent 2 or even 3 days there to actually see/read and do everything thoroughly.





















The Zoo was amazing. So much to do and lots of different restaurants and places to eat also. 




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