12 Days of Christmas | Day 10

On the tenth day of Christmas, Stacey gave to me, ten amazing movies, nine YouTube videos, eight resolutions, seven must-read books, six make-up tips, five favourite blogs, four amazing people, three recipes, two cute doggies and a new blog post every day.

So far in the twelve days of Christmas I've recommended seven books and nine YouTube videos. It is about time I recommended 10 films (or movies). Obviously I may have a very different taste to you, so don't bash me for what I like (you are the worst kinds of people...), I'm simply telling you which are my favourite and recommeding you watch them if any take your fancy. Tadah.

1. Love Actually

I've seen in three times this Christmas I love it that much. Oops. It follows around different people and their Christmas love stories, who are all somehow entwined with eachother. It isn't your typical Christmas film, and it is full of familiar faces. Hello Hugh Grant.

2. Bridge to Terabithia

I first watched this in the summer when I was going through my "I need to watch everything Josh Hutcherson has ever been in" stage. I hadn't cried like this watching a film since the first time I watched Titanic. I was literally sobbing. It is so beautiful and sad. It is about two kids with an imaginary world but things sadly turn out for the words. I hugely recommend this one.

3. Billy Elliot

An absolute classic. Even if you aren't into dancing you really should see this if you haven't already. Set up north during the miners strike, it follows a young boy who wants to become a dancer but his father is very against this idea. Not giving too much away am I? Since I've seen the film probably around 20 times I really want to see it in the West End now.

4. Titanic

Of course this was going to be on the list somewhere. I cry every time I watch it. I don't even own the DVD I just watch it when it's on TV and I'm sure I've seen it at least 10 times. Not only is it a great film, Leonardo DiCaprio is also very attractive in this.

5. The Princess Diaries

It is one of those childhood classics. I loved it then and I love it now. I wish I found out I was a princess of a far away land when I was 15...

6. Wuthering Heights 

(The version with Tom Hardy and Andrew Lincoln) I first watched this because I was in a play adaptation of the book written by Emily Bronte that the 2009 film is based on. It is so chilling and thought provoking. If you fancy watching it, it is on YouTube. If you've read the book and found it difficult to understand then this will help greatly.

7.  21 Jump Street

A comedy and Channing Tatum, what more could you want? It is so funny and cannot wait for 22 Jump Street to hit our screens. I can quote so many parts of this film. Whoever was sat around me and my friends when I saw this at the cinema, I apologise for the loud laughing.

8. Moulin Rouge

This is also one of my mum's favourite films. It is just so crazy, but has the added love story with a saddening end, basically any Baz Luhrmann film. The music also makes it pretty incredible. I just love the cinematography and the way it was filmed. 

9. Romeo and Juliet

Another Baz Luhrmann film, but the music (again) just makes this so so good. Dicaprio is amazing in this modern adaptation of the Shakespeare play. 

10. Mean Girls

Last but not least. The most quotable movie of all time. Do I need to say more? Most likely not.

See you all tomorrow!

Cheerio x

12 days of Christmas | Day 9

On the ninth day of Christmas, Stacey gave to me, nine youtube videos, eight resolutions, seven must-read books, six make-up tips, five favourite blogs, four amazing people, three recipes, two cute doggies, and a new blog post every day.

It's currently 8:32pm as I am writing this. If I'm honest with myself I could have had this up and published around five hours ago. But I've found myself watching Sherlock. I've already finished series one. Actually, that's not too difficult; there's only three episodes.

 Today's blog post is about procrastination. Something we do without even realising it *cuddles with the dogs for five minutes* ahem. 

When we find ourselves procrastinating we turn to the wonder that is YouTube. One minute you could be watching a video on Marxism, or how a cell divides. Next thing you know, you're faced with funny cat videos, or the 'weird' side of YouTube. I'm talking about videos such as the 46 year pregnancy. Don't lie. We've all been there.

Now before I start watching series two I thought I'd share with you some of my favourite videos on YouTube. Some classics. Some you may have never seen before. Enjoy.

1. Wrecking Ball Chair Fail

This video deserves way more views than it already has. I came across it on tumblr. The website of all things funny and weird and pretty and yeah. It gets funnier the more you watch it.

2. Charlie bit my finger... again!

I couldn't not put this in. It's a classic. And hilarious to impersonate. Charlieeeeeee

3. Lily's Disneyland surprise... again!

If you haven't seen the first one, I'd check it out it is so cute! But Lily's little sister Chloe had me in stitches because of her reaction- you'll see what I mean.

4. David after the dentist

Another classic, but too too funny to miss out. Is this real life?

5. Ultimate dog tease

A talking dog, what could be funnier?

6. Jimmy Kimmell- I told my kid I ate all their Halloween candy

We don't get into Halloween as much as America, which you will probably be able to tell after watching this video. I don't know whether to laugh or be annoyed. Very funny though.

7. The photobooth Challenge

A lot of youtubers have done this, and they are all very very funny. I've picked one at random for you to watch before you go searching for the rest of them. Yes these are two adults playing with the settings on their webcam.

8. Times we've pooped our pants

A weird video to come across judging by the title? Someone I'm subscribed to put up this video and it is actually really funny. I don't know if it's the facial expressions, or the way they tell the stories but I really enjoyed this one.

9. Drunk make-up tutorial

Last but not least is a video by the YouTube Queen that is, Jenna Marbles, all of her videos are top quality, but this one has to be one of my very favourites.

See you all tomorrow!

Cheerio x

12 days of Christmas | Day 8

On the eighth day of Christmas, Stacey gave to me, eight resolutions, seven favourite books, six make-up tips, five must-read books, four amazing people, three recipes, two cute doggies and a new blog post every day.

Happy New year everyone! Today's blog post isn't exactly eight resolutions, but rather eight things I aspire towards by the end of 2014.

1. Drink more water

I've never drunk a lot of water, in fact I hardly drink at all. I can sometimes go from the moment I wake up in the morning to six in the evening without  drinking anything. I aim to drink at least a litre of water a day. Sometimes when we think we are hungry we are actually hungry so hopefully I won't want to snack all the time, and may even clear up my skin!

2. Spend more time with my family

I think I sometimes take my family for granted. Sometimes I'd rather sit in my room for hours than sit and watch the football with them downstairs. I'll hopefully be going to university in the summer so I'll not see my family for months at a time. It's definitely time to start spending more time with them- even if I hate football!

3. Go on more walks

I have two energetic dogs and live in the countryside with some lovely walks and views. Seems like a no brainer really.

4. Don't be afraid to say no

I sometimes think I'm too nice *parents laugh in the background* No, but really. If someone asks me to do something, even if it's something I don't want to do, I feel inclined to do so because I feel like it would be rude to say no. It's okay to say no to doing something you don't want to.

5. Don't be afraid to say yes

A bit of a contradiction to number four. What I mean by this is to leave my comfort zone more, do to more things.

6. Read more books

This is a really simple one, but I don't read as much as I want to. I plan on reading a little bit every night before I go to sleep. A wind down.

7. Save my money

Whilst I had a summer job, I was really good at saving my money. Until my summer job ended and I had to buy christmas presents. And clothes. Okay and some things I didn't actually need. But this year I actually plan on saving my money and leaving it as emergency money for university.

8. Learn to cook more meals.

I can make a mean pasta dish, and I know how to put things in the oven but that is about it. I don't plan on starving at uni so I intend on learning new recipes and cooking for my family.

These are my resolutions for 2014. In December I may revisit this post and update you all on how well I stuck to my resolutions.

Hope you all had an amazing 2013 and all the best for 2014.

See you all tomorrow!

Cheerio x

12 days of Christmas | Day 7

On the seventh day of Christmas, Stacey gave to me, seven must-read books, six make-up tips, five favourite blogs, four amazing people, three recipes, two cute doggies and a new blog post every day.

I've read quite a handful of books this year, which is a surprise for my with my busy schedule, so today's post is telling you about my seven favourite books this year.

1. The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky

I began 2013 reading this book, and I didn't put it down until I had finished it, which only took me a day. It's such a beautifully written book, and a one I find really relateable. It surprises you, it makes you happy, it makes you sad. It has all the perfect ingredients for a good read. It is about teenager Charlie who is coping with the suicide of his friend. The book sees him writing letters to a stranger, and we read about how he copes through high school and the mental trauma of a past event revealed later in the book. In my personal opinion, better than the film.

2. The Fault in our Stars by John Green

This was the first John Green novel I read and it did not disappoint. Sometimes, books that are constantly talked about put us off, but please do not be put off by how much it has been raved about be cause believe me, it deserves all the recognition it gets. John Green is the kind of author who makes you fall in love with a character, or characters and then does something dramatic, pulling at your heart strings. The pages of my copy are tear stained and when I finished reading I had to go have a lie down and contemplate my life. The book follows cancer sufferer Hazel through a story of love, heartbreak, and more heartbreak. Truly, truly beautiful, even if you want to scream at Green for making you feel all of the emotions. The movie adaptation will be hitting cinemas in 2014.

3. To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee

Sometimes studying a book at school puts you off it forever because of the intense analysis of every single word, however I found myself going back to it last summer. The main theme of prejudice and discrimination is what draws me to this novel, and the way the author portrays these seemingly 'bad' characters. Discrimination is a topic that I'm very interested in, so I really enjoyed reading this book again, even if Boo Radley's house creeped me out a little.

4. The Woman in Black by Susan Hill

Every now and again you see a film which prompts you to read the book. The Woman in Black was one of them. The film left me sat on the edge of my seat, not daring to move, and so did the book for that matter. In fact, I found the book so much scarier than the film. I suppose your imagination can lead you to imagining worse things. I didn't sleep for a week! The film left out things from the book which I think would have been important and more chilling, but many films these days don't follow the book exactly. Again, I preferred the book to the film. Sorry Daniel Radcliffe.

5. Looking for Alaska by John Green

Oh, look at that, another John Green book. I was so impressed with The Fault in our Stars I went and bought the entire Green collection. I found this book a bit harder to get into that TFioS, yet about a quarter of the way through I was hooked and couldn't put it down. I don't know if it's the heartbreak and the hope that things will work out well for the protagonist and his love interest, or the beautiful way it is written. I see quotes from this book, and many of his others all over Facebook, Twitter and Tumblr so there must be something special about them. I'd personally love to see a film adaptation of this be made. I was also very surprised with the ending of this one.

6. Billy and Me by Giovanna Fletcher

Don't lie we've all done it. Imagined we've bumped into our favourite celebrity in the street, hit it off and lived happily every after. Well this is (almost!) what Billy and Me is about. The protagonist of the story, Sophie May, is so normal you start to empathise with her straight away. I found myself actually laughing out loud and a few points. If you enjoy reading but sometimes struggle getting into things, this book is easy to read but you become hooked instantly. And I finished it in three days.

7. The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold

I was a apprehensive about starting this book, I wasn't sure if I would like it because of the subject, however I couldn't put it down because I was anticipating every word. It got to the point where my eyes were burning I was that tired, I wouldn't put it down! The book is about a young girl who was murdered, watching her family from heaven cope with the aftermath of her death. Bit of a tough subject isn't it? But that should not put you off. Although it is such a tragic event, Sebold manages to show light of it, giving much promise for such a dark matter. The only thing I would suggest is not reading it just before going to sleep- it kept me awake for hours trying to decode and work things out. A truly beautiful book.

See you all tomorrow!

Cheerio x

12 days of Christmas | Day 6

On the sixth day of Christmas, Stacey gave to me, six make-up tips, 5 favourite blogs, four amazing people, three recipes, two cute doggies and a new blog post every day.

I'm not a beautician, nor am I a professional make-up artist, but I thought that today I would share with you 6 make-up tips that I swear by, enjoy!

1. Use make-up brushes

This may seem like I am stating the obvious, but a lot of people don't actually use make-up brushes, yet using them really changes the way you apply your make-up and makes the finished product look so much better. For example, using a foundation brush means that your foundation won't appear streaky and you will have even coverage and a flawless finish.

Here are 8 basic brushes which make-up artists believe help with your application:

1. Foundation brush (these can either be flat or round, depending on which you prefer)

2. Concealer brush

3. Fluffy powder brush

4. Blush/angled contour brush

5. Small blending brush

6. Flat eyeshadow brush

7. Precision angle brush

8. Lip brush

2. Concealer

Your skin is made up of a lot of different colours, and sometimes you want to eliminate these for example, the redness around your nose or chin, the redness of spots or the dark blue circles under your eyes. Using the same concealer for different colours will not help eliminate the beasties.

Image credit

Opposite colours actually cancel eachother out. So, if you look at the colour wheel, a green pigmented concealer would eliminate redness, which is perfect for spots, and an orangey-pigmented concealer would eliminate the blueness of under-eye bags.

3. Filling in eyebrows

Sometimes we go a little crazy with the tweezers, making our brows look a little sparse, or they are just simply not the shape we want them to be, so we turn to filling in (or drawing in, in some cases) our eyebrows.

My first tip would be to use a powder rather than a pencil, because you don't want your eyebrows to look drawn on, you want them to look as natural as possible. I would suggest getting a matte eyeshadow matching your natural hair colour, unless your eyebrows are naturally very dark, then go for a slightly lighter shade. For example, if you have black eyebrows, go for a dark brown colour to fill them in. If you do use a pencil, use light upward strokes and don't draw your eyebrows in as if you are following a dot-to-dot.

Image credit

This photo here shows you how to shape your eyebrows.

Line A: To find where you should start your brows, follow a straight line up from the side of your nose.

Line B: To find where the highest point of your brow should be, follow a straight line up from the outer part of your iris.

Line C: To find where your eyebrow should end, follow a line from the side of your nose up diagonally to the outer corner of your eye. Where line D crosses is where your eyebrow should end.

Remember, eyebrows are sisters and not twins; it's okay if they aren't exactly the same.

4. Contouring

Sometimes we don't like the shape of our face, other times we want to accentuate our features. Contouring is the art of highlighting and shading different parts of the face, to 'alter' the shape. The image below shows you where to highlight, and where to shade your face. When contouring, apply in circular motions so you don't get a harsh dark line. This obviously isn't the finished product, I've been much stronger with the contouring than normal so you can see what I mean.

5. Colours for eyes

Some eyeshadows do not suit certain eye colours, however if you put colours that cancel eachother out next to one another, they can help eachother stand out.

Image credit

For blue eyes, because orange is the opposite colour, use eyeshadow with orangey undertones such as gold which will really make the blue in your eyes 'pop'.

For green eyes, red is the opposite colour, use eyeshadow with redish undertones such as plum to make your eyes stand out.

Brown is a neutral colour meaning any colour will work with it, however the most 'stand out' colour would be your purples.

6. Smokey eyeshadow

I'm not going to lie, it has taken me a good few years to perfect the smokey-eye look, and some days it still looks pretty bad, but hopefully these tips will help you create your perfect smokey eye.

Start off by choosing 4 different shades. For this look I went for a black smokey eye so you could see the effect better. 

1. Begin by using a flat eyeshadow brush and packing the second-lightest colour  all over your lid as your base colour. 

2. Using a blending brush, put the lightest colour in the inner corner of your eyes to brighten them and open them up.

3. Using a blending brush again, blend the second-darkest colour over the outer corner to the middle of your eye and also through the crease.

4. With a clean blending brush, soften the edges of the eyeshadow outwards and upwards.

5. Again with the blending brush, blend the darkest colour into the outer corner of your crease and up.

6. So the black doesn't look too sharp, use a clean blending blush and blend the colours together.

I hope you enjoyed reading today's blog post and have come away with some helpful tips. I'd really appreciate your comments because although this post took hours, it has been my favourite to do and I am tempted to do more of these in the future.

See you all tomorrow!

Cheerio x

12 days of Christmas | Day 5

On the fifth day of Christmas, Stacey gave to me, five favourite blogs, four best friends, three recipes, two cute doggies and a new blog post every day.

Before making my own blog I read quite a few which got me 'into' the whole blogging thing, and today's 12 days of Christmas blog post is dedicated to my favourite blogs which I think you should all check out!

The first is the first blog I came across was sprinkleofglitter. Louise's blog is mainly beauty,baby and lifestyle. It's such a happy blog, the photo's she puts up are so colourful and beautiful, and you can't help but smile when you read it, especially the posts about her daughter- what a cutie! She also has a YouTube channel under the same name which has over 1 million subscribers.

To check out sprinkleofglitter, click here. 

Another of my favourite blogs is Tanya's Burr's beauty, style and lifestyle blog. Tanya is a makeup artist and I first came across her on YouTube with her makeup tutorials. Girls watching this, I highly recommend them! Her blog is brilliant as she writes posts about her favourite products, which helps, for example, if you don't know which foundation to go for. She also posts about her life, again, with lovely photos.

To check out Tanya's blog, click here.

Again, there is a running theme with this blog post, as I found out about Zoe Sugg's blog through her YouTube channel which has over 3 million subscribers. Zoe's blog, Zoella is also a beauty and lifestyle blog. I love her writing style and her posts are also helpful, especially her DIY ombre post.

To check out Zoe's blog, click here.

Carrie Fletcher is another person I found about through YouTube,  she started her blog 'alliknownow' back in April and I've been loving it. She posts about her thoughts and feelings. They are so well written and leave you thinking for a long time- very inspiring and I urge you to check it out.

To check out Carrie's blog, click here.

Last but not least is 'a-small-islander'. She is one of my nearest and dearest friends and began her blog in the beginning of December. So far, her posts have been lifestyle, posting about her birthday and Christmas- they are really cute and think you should go have a look at her blog because it will make both of us very happy.

To check out Kirsty's blog, click here.

*Disclaimer* I do not own any of the photo's used in today's post.

See you tomorrow!

Cheerio x

12 days of Christmas | Day 4

On the fourth day of Christmas Stacey gave to me, four amazing people, three recipes, two cute doggies and a new post every day.

Now this isn't me being soppy here, but these people mean a lot to me! Okay, maybe a little bit soppy...

Stateside diner back in 2012- yum!

Prom 2012

Holly Ball Dec 2013

This girl is a character! Back in year 2009 we both auditioned for the school musical, Jesus Christ Superstar and became inseperable! I can't help but laugh when I'm around her. We're going to the West End one day.

Grease back in March 2012

Flashmob August 2012

Last day in lower school 2012

We used to dance together, back in the day, and for around three years I honestly thought she was in the same year as me until I moved to high school. The 2 years between us is invisible, she's my little bundle of joy and going to miss her oodles when I go to university. *gets emotional* I had to restrain myself from putting some photo's on from 2008, hilarious, but I don't want those monstrosities on the internet!

Grease back in March 2012

Slaughterhouse Spring 2013

Evolution Festival Summer 2013

There seems to be a running theme of meeting these girls during something artsy. We met during one of the youth theater productions many moons ago, but it wasn't until Grease in 2012 that we became close. I love our little girly dates and inside jokes *i'm having a breakdown* and I can speak to her about anything and everything.

Opening night of Les Misérables December 2010

March 2013

One Direction Concert April 2013

Last but certainly not least is my fellow concert goer. We became close during Les Misérables (surprise surprise) when we realised how alike we were. Since then we've had so many laughs, I've been so close to peeing myself on a number of occasions! 

See you all tomorrow!

Cheerio x