H A P P Y H A L L O W E E N

Yes, it’s that time of year again, when all those spooks and spirits come out to haunt us and we get to stuff our faces with all the left over chocolates and sweets the trick or treaters left behind! It’s my 2^nd favorite time of year…it’s…

H A L L O W E E N ! ! ! ! !

(queue thunder and lightning sound effects and ghostly ‘OOOOO’ sounds)

I’ll be honest, even after a quick Google search, I’m still unsure where the roots of Halloween stem from and the history behind it, so let’s cancel the History lesson for today shall we? For me, Halloween has always been about the dressing up, the trick or treating and the big reveal at the end of the night where we showed our family what goodies we had collected.

From as far back as I can remember, my two sisters and I would rush in from school, assemble our outfits (which usually consisted of some sort of bed sheet, an ancient witch’s hat where the hair had all matted together or like every year, I’d go as a cat) and we'd set off around our neighbors houses in search for treats!

Throughout the whole of my trick or treating career, I was only tricked once. A guy (who looking back, must have been around his mid-twenties) answered the door and upon us saying ‘trick or treat’ he replied with ‘trick’ and gave my sisters and I one 2p coin between us. Ha! What a scrooge. 

Aside from that rather lame trick, the rest of my neighbors were always so generous when handing out sweets and every year we’d come back with pillow cases bursting full of sugary delights. 

Sadly, nowadays, society deems me too old to be trick or treating, so instead, I try to be one of the generous neighbors I used to have whilst growing up and always give out as much candy as I can. Last year I even dressed up in my sugar skull makeup (which you can see here) to scare the kids, however, not one little bleeder showed up! 

This year I’m still unsure what I’m going to do, but one thing I do know is, it will involve drinking and it will involve chocolate…(just like most Friday nights then?).

I thought I would include the remaining Halloween looks I’ve been attempting this year, with a few nail art looks to boot!

I hope you all have a terrifyingly amazing Halloween and I hope your memories of this holiday are as pleasant as mine.

=^.^=

Competition Wins

Good morning lovelies.

Well, autumn is fully upon us, the cold weather is settling in, the leaves are crisp and orange and the last bit of Hurricane Gonzalo has finally passed over London. Hurrah for autumn!

I haven't done a competition post in a few months now, so I thought I should update the ol’ blog with a few of my winnings. I did have a post planned a few months back but my laptop decided to die with all the photos of my winnings and so I had to start all over again. Bugger.

It’s going to seem like a lot of wins, I’m aware of that, but this is around six month worth of competition prizes soooooo…..yeahhhhh….

On with the blog!

Binky - Twitter competition - I won this amazing set of nail varnishes from Binky worth around £170! I've done several nail art looks with these already, which will be included in a separate blog, but I'm still in shock everytime I see them in my polish collection!

Intu - Twitter competition - I won £25 to spend at Intu online so I bought these snazzy items.

Lakeside Hotel - Twitter competition - I won these cute Rosemary Mint body wash & lotion!

Goddiva - Twitter Competition - I was lucky enough to be able to pick any dress from their Celebrity inspired collection, so I chose this absolutely stunning, vampy dress inspired by Eva Mendez and it's currently on their site priced at £36. It's a lacey, figure hugging beauty that has a wonderful vintage look and feel about it.I can't wait to wear it at my Christmas party and friends wedding this year <3

Soletrader - Twitter Competition - I won these exquisite Vivienne Westwood/Anglomania + Melissa shoes worth £100. I've had these on my wishlist for years and now I have them! Yay!

VitaCoco -Twitter competition - I won this case of Vita Coco's new coconut water drink with a hint of lemonade. I have to say, it was delicious! I shared these out with my friends and family and everyone gave it beaming reviews. It was so refreshing during the summer time and it's such a perfect twist on a classic drink. This case was worth around £19.

Tesco clubcard UK - Twitter competition - I still can't believe I won a Hudl and I still can't believe how much I love it. I'm not going to lie, I'm a bit of an Apple fiend; my phone, mp3 player and laptop are all Apple products, so I didn't know what to expect with the Hudl, but I have been pleasantly surprised. It's fast, simple to use, has great apps and it's so versatile, I could never be without one again! This little cheeky number was worth £110, but is now on offer at £79! Bargain!

Look Magazine - Twitter competition - Look at how prettily packaged these Rocco nail varnishes are! They're worth around £36 and I've included some looks below using these polishes (excluding the Mushroomy pearlescent one). Please note, I also put a matte top coat on top of the pink one in the below photo.

USC - Twitter competition - I won this cute Nordic Blue Mi backpack worth £21

Le Creuset - Twitter competition - I won this cute little pie set worth around £43. I could of chosen the traditional Le Creuset colours but I went for this simple one instead :)

No1 Currency and Hello Mag - Twitter Competition - I won this amazing Longchamp luggage set which includes a medium bag, a large bag and an Ipad case. I could of gone for their signature colour, which is blue, but I'm silly and I went for the red one instead. I kind of regret it a bit but I think this colour will be amazing for next summer. This set is worth £250.

W7 - Twitter competition - I won this cute little set worth around £10 from W7. Sadly, when it arrived, it wasn't packaged that great and so the eyeshadow palette smashed a bit, which you can see below. Sad times.

Skin Doctors - Twitter competition - I absolutely love Skin Doctors products, their one of my favourite brands. I had a choice of several ranges that I could pick from, but recently I've started to notice quite deep lines appearing on my forehead from laughing and from the stupid faces I pull, so I opted for their Anti Aging range. I've just started using these products so I'm excited to see if they will make any difference. Fingers crossed. I think this was all worth around £120.

Toni & Guy - Twitter Competition - I was one of the runners up in a recent competition Toni & Guy held. Goodness knows what the main prize was, because I was so shocked that I won hair straighteners! They said it would be a heat styling product but I thought they meant a serum or spray or something?! Not straighteners! I only got them this weekend so I can't wait to try these bad boys out and put them to the test. These are worth from £29 - 56 - such a difference?!

Hello Mag - Twitter competition - Primping with the Star set by Benefit - I still cannot believe I won this set. I've been wanting to try it out since it came out! I gave the foundation to my mum, as it was far too dark for my skin but I recently ran out of benetint and I've been dying to try the 'They're Real' mascara, so I am one happy little benefit lady with this. This set is worth £26.50

Iron & Velvet - Twitter competition - I won this Antibacterial surface cleaner in Coconut and lime. As a clean freak, I love this type of stuff, so I'm happy as larry with this beauty. This is worth around £8.

Beauty Shortlist - LesIndiennes 'gift set' - Don't get me wrong, I love a prize, but the photo of the prize was completely different to what I actually received, odd? Anyway, I didn't compain and kept these 7 soaps from Milan and so far, my mum has been loving them. I've decided not to use the Love Kills or the Cat one as I like the packaging too much...(what a loser). This is all worth around £52

Anyway, that's it for now. What has been your best win so far? Let me know in the comments below!

Sunny Sunday Brighton Adventure.

There were a few Chinese whispers going around last weekend that we may actually have some decent weather on Sunday. I’m not usually one for believing the hype surrounding British weather but when I woke on Sunday morning, the sun indeed, was out and looking fabulous.

One of my friends suggested that we should visit Brighton for the day and make the most of the lovely weather, so off we went on a little Brighton adventure.

After a drama free drive down we were lucky enough to find a perfect parking spot practically straight away, so off we trotted around the small cobbled streets of Brighton.

We first headed to the Lanes, where I was in my element for yummy food and drinks! There are several bakeries, sweet shops and tea shops dotted around in such close proximity; I didn’t know where to visit first.

After perusing numerous music shops and independent clothing stores we decided to go get some food from Bill’s.

Bill’s was packed full of people, all enjoying some Sunday lunch together. It had such a lovely vibe going on we didn’t mind waiting 10 minutes to be seated, which was great choice because the food and employees were fantastic.

As always, I had to order their beef burger with Monterey Jack cheese, but the highlight was the chips! I’m not usually a massive fan of potato based goodies, but these crunchy and salty delights were easy to chow down on.

I also ordered a small glass of Merlot, which was smooth, fruit and just down right heavenly. Even my friend said it was the best wine he had ever tasted (The red wine was called Cosecha Tarapaca merlot from Chile if you want to hunt it down yourself!).

After sampling the delights that Bill’s had to offer, we headed down to the sea front and onto the beach to throw a few stones in the sea. I wasn’t really wearing the most appropriate shoes (flat, velvet, ballerina pumps) so I had to hold on to my friends arm whilst he dragged me around the hilly, stoney beach. I obviously looked amazing.

We then took a long stroll down the pier, where we played a very intense game of pac man air hockey and afterwards took a ride on the Horror Hotel.

Even though I had a massive craving for churros, I resisted every temptation to buy a truck load of them on Brighton Pier so I felt very proud of myself. That was until we took another walk back down the lanes and visited Catwalk Cakes where we got these Salted caramel and fudge beauties. (Note: They are very, very sweet, but very delicious! One can be easily shared between two people as they're so rich).

As the day was drawing to a close (we had walked around for over 5 hours) we decided to start the drive back home, but that was until my friend said they wanted to visit the Rockery in Preston Park to have a little exploration. So off we went on another mini adventure.

All in all, it was a lovely little adventure to be had and a lovely way to spend a sunny Sunday.

I hope you all had a few cheeky adventures last weekend. Let me know what you got upto!