Month: December 2016

Christmas traditions! The end of Blogmas.

Christmas day is finally here! The day we’ve all been waiting for, I can’t believe blogmas is now over for another year.

I thought since alot of our Christmas traditions take place on Christmas Eve that I would tell you about them today for my final blogmas post.

1. Christmas eve drive to look at Christmas lights 

Every Christmas eve for the last 5 or so years me and Tim have gone on a drive to look at the Christmas lights around our home town. It’s so festive and makes me feel really christmassy because we do it every Christmas eve so you know it’s almost the big day. Mum usually comes too and this year my sister Sarah & nephew Noah joined us too.

2. Christmas eve bags

Every Christmas eve we have little bags with treats in. This year we had chocolate orange segsations, christmas socks, hot chocolate and Christmas hats.

For Noahs bag I added some chocolate straws, a Christmas craft set, Christmas colouring book & crayons.

I didn’t want to leave Casey out so I got him a little Christmas shirt and a toy reindeer. It was so cute everytime the reindeer sang he smiled and hugged it 😍

3. A Christmas film 

You have to watch at least one Christmas film and this Christmas eve we went for Home Alone. It was ok, I quite enjoyed it but I wouldn’t go crazy for it like some people do. I was also having a lot of fun with  Noah so I did miss a bit of the story tbf.

4. Christmas attire Christmas jumpers, all cosy! Hats, earrings, christmas socks, anything Christmassy is perfect to get you in the spirit. 

5. Treats for Santa, Christmas pjs & stockings 

Santa of course needs fuel for his busy night so I left him out a mince pie & a nice cold glass of diet coke. I also left a Carrot for Rudolph. Before bed I had a nice hot shower, put on fresh Christmas pjs (& our Christmas duvet cover) and left my stocking out for Santa! All ready for him to come πŸŽ…

I love Christmas traditions, they are always the best bits of the festive season and make it feel so magical & special.

Its the most magical time of the year! 


In my beauty advent calender today…

I got a full sized eyeshadow palette. This is a really nice one and really useful for mixing and creating different looks. 

I hope you’re all enjoying your Christmas day! That’s it for another Blogmas.

Ho Ho Ho 

Roseanne πŸŽ…

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Our annual Christmas party πŸŽ‰ Christmas eve part 2

Yesterday was our annual Christmas party πŸŽ‰ Our friendship group from school have been doing Secret Santa for about 4 or 5 years now as it’s easier (& cheaper) than getting everyone a present and it’s a bit of fun. I always organise it so Me & Tim turned it into a party occasion last year and we thought we’d do the same this year too. 

We got the flat ready & party food cooking once I’d got back from work! 

Christmas crackers!

The games table! I got these cute set of Christmas themed photo booth props from B & M in town for Β£1.99, They are so cute & festive! The werewolf game is a mystery role playing card game for a large group, Tim found this on Amazon for Β£15 and of course classic pub quiz which we picked up from Tesco for Β£2.50! The questions are actually really good as there are lots of cool categories like food, sport, celebrity, science & nature and they aren’t too ridiculously hard which is great for all the family!

We had nibbles, drinks & exchanged presents first! 

I got an awesome Fantastic Beasts colouring book & mystery mini figure which turned out to be Harry Potter, awesome β˜‡

Once we had eaten we continue with our drinks and played the games;

Photo booth fun…

Pub quiz…

Team Brookehill, winners of the 2016 wooden spoon! 

It was a really good night and great to catch up together before Christmas!

I can’t believe it’s Christmas eve and Santa will be here soon.

Ho Ho Ho

Roseanne πŸŽ…

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Blogmas day 23: Festive bakingΒ 

This is so wierd, I planned to do my festive baking today at the beginning of the week and I got a notification today on Facebook telling me that day 22 of last year’s Blogmas was festive baking too, how wierd. So looks like Dec 22nd is Blogmas baking day! Although this year I have had to post it on the 23rd as I already had a post ready for today, anyway…

I did plan to do these in more than one post but the time has completely got away from me (seriously where has Blogmas gone?!?) and so I’m doing it all in one mega baking blog post. 

So, what’s on the menu?

  • Mini heart mince pies
  • Chocolate orange cupcakes 
  • Gingerbread men 

    First up, Mince pies! I made these using a Slimming World recipe, you can check that out here

    My little helper!

    I went for a heart on top (less festive than a star I know) as I couldn’t find my small star cutter. These still look lovely and the hearts are quite cute.

    These went down a treat in class, since these were ready and Slimming World friendly I thought I’d take them to my class that day as we were having our Christmas party. They didn’t last long at all.

    Next up, chocolate orange cupcakes!

    These were made using a Mary Berry recipe, Queen of baking who else could be better!! Check out the recipe here 

    I have to admit that I used pre made icing as I didn’t have time (or enough bowls!!) to make this too, thanks Mrs Crocker for saving me πŸ‘

    I used the chocolate orange minis in the grab bags to pop in the middle (a yummy, gooey surprise) and to decorate on top of the cupcakes as these are a better size than the large segments of a full chocolate orange 🍊🍫 That’s just my preference but it worked really well.

    This cupcake set came from TK Maxx and was only Β£4.99. It comes with cupcake cases of two different designs and four different Christmas cupcake toppers. I love this cute little set! It would also make a lovely gift for any baking fans. 

    And finally, gingerbread men!

    I’ve never made these before (& to be honest my sister did most of the prep for these ones anyway) but these are soooo good and they smelt so Christmassy.

    This recipe is again from Queen Mary Bez and I found it on the BBC Good Food site (best site for cooking & baking, failsafe recipes galore!) gingerbread men recipe

    These smelt amazing and taste so yummy. From this recipe they are a tasty mix of a shortbread biscuit with a yummy taste of ginger to them. If you wanted to have a stronger flavoured biscuit I’d recommend adding more ginger and the cinnamon to add that spice. I didn’t add the cinnamon to mine as I hate the stuff, yuk.

    I really liked how these looked when they were done so I didn’t add any decoration to them but you could pipe on detailing or add sweets for buttons and features if you wanted to.

    Noah was such a good little helper and he loved rolling out the doughs and cutting out the gingerbread men (and tasting them at the end too of course)

    A fun, festive and yummy way to spend an afternoon. I can’t wait to have a cuppa at work with a gingerbread man and I’m going to serve the cupcakes at our Christmas party tommorrow!

    In my beauty advent calender today…

    A gorgeous red lipstick! πŸ’‹ I love how many different lipsticks you get with this advent, it’s perfect for starting a lipstick collection & since I only really had liquid lipsticks before this has been great for me. I’ve found a new love for creme lipsticks throughout December! I’ll definatly be wearing them more often now.

    Here’s a swatch…

    You can’t beat a festive red!

    It’s Christmas eve eve, 2 days to go! 😁

    Ho Ho Ho 

    Roseanne πŸŽ…

     

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    Christmas eve part 1: Christmas arts & crafts

    Only one day to go!! Im doing Christmas eve in two parts again like last year as theres been lots going on these last few days, super festive! 

    How is it Christmas eve already, this is so mad, where has December gone?!? I’m going to miss all the festive build up, its one of the best bits of Christmas.

    I found an awesome craft set from Wilko in town and had to get it to do with Noah, I knew he would enjoy it. 

    In the set you get 12 ceramic Christmas themed ornaments, mini pots of paint, a paintbrush, 2 tubes of glitter and string to hang them up. What made this set even more amazing is that when I got it it was reduced to half price making it a bargin Β£2.50!! I couldn’t believe it. 

    Full price it would have been Β£5 which is still really good as it’s great fun, brilliant value and these would make adorable homemade Christmas presents too.

    Here’s me and Noah having a go at some crafty arty fun…

    He really enjoyed himself which is the main thing 😊 & Auntie Ro Ro did too hehe.

    Part 2 will be up later! Our annual Christmas partyπŸŽ‰

    In my beauty advent calender today…

    Today was a bother lipstick in a lovely autumnal plum colour.

    Here’s a swatch…

    Ho Ho Ho 

    Roseanne πŸŽ…


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    Relaxing at Christmas! πŸ›€

    We all know how hectic and crazy the preparation for Christmas can be and although I sort of love the craziness it can be a bit overwhelming at times too. I had a list the length of my arm and very few days to get it all done and it was really stressing me out, and at Christmas that’s the worst! So what do you do in that situation? Take yourself away from the stress and give yourself time to relax and enjoy the holidays, then you’ll be ready to face the Christmas tasks ahead. And once your more relaxed those tasks are alot easier to face and aren’t usually as bad as they seem, I mean what could be more christmassy than wrapping & sorting out presents.

    Here’s how I wound down, chilled out and relaxed ready for the day ahead…

    First up, I ran a lovely bath! πŸ›€ I love baths so much and I had one Christmas Lush Bath bomb left to use so why not?!

    The bath bomb that I had left was my Father christmas one…

    I popped this into my bath and it smelt so good.

    I didn’t realise he was green inside!! 

    I had a moisture bomb face mask left so I thought I would pop this on too! 

    If you havnt tried these I definatly would!! They leave your skin feeling so soft. If you want to know more about it my sister wrote about them on her blog, you can check that out here.

    Lookin’ good ✌😁

    I still hadn’t burnt my Yankee candle wax melt in the scent ‘Christmas cookie’ so I thought, why not do that now too. It smells SO Christmassy & sweet.
    And you can’t have a relaxing bath without candles.

    & lastly (Once I’d taken the face mask off, of course!!) I grabbed my book to read whilst I soaked…

    I decided to start reading one of the Harry Potter books (yes, again) and I went for the 6th book ‘The half blood prince’. I love the later books as you learn so much about the story and they tie up lots of loose ends. This is one of my favourites. 

    So that’s how I relaxed and I felt much better and ready to tackle all those Christmas jobs once I’d had some me time πŸ‘

    How do you relax? Any bath product recommendations? 

    Ho Ho Ho 

    Roseanne πŸŽ…

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    Work Christmas party 🍾Blogmas day 22

    On Tuesday was our work Christmas meal and it was an evening at Fynn Valley golf club, a meal & disco. 

    I’m not usually one to take photos of myself but I loved my outfit, I bought this dress from Boohoo a few months ago so I was pleased to finally be able to wear it!!! It was Β£25 and it’s so pretty.

    Fynn Valley looked lovely and we all had a lovely place setting complete with a Christmas cracker!

    The meal was really yummy, for starters I had filo prawns…

    My Main course was Venison pie with roasties and vegetables.

    & dessert was a trio, lemon meringue pie, chocolate mousse and sticky toffee pudding, delicious.

    Once we had all eaten it was time to party! It was good to let our hair down and have a chat & dance together, lots of fun.

    It was so strange being back at Fynn Valley as it’s where my twin sister Sarah got married and I hadn’t been there since!! 
    It was a really fun night and a great start to the Christmas holidays! πŸŽ„

    Today in my beauty advent calender…

    Another favourite today! A liquid highlight. It looks so lovely.

    It’s a lovely light gold shimmer 🌟

    & here it is on, I couldn’t not try it out. I’ve also got the gorgeous baked blusher from yesterday on too 😌

    Ho Ho Ho 

    Roseanne πŸŽ…

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    A Christmas party make up look: Blogmas day 21 πŸ’‹

    Since I had my work Christmas party last night I thought I would do a Christmas party make up look for you guys. I loved this look with a red lip and bronze eyeshadow. 

    The products that I used were:

    • The body shop bb cream in Shade no 2 mixed with Bourjois healthy mix radiance reveal foundation in the Shade light beige, 1 pump of each.
    • Collection lasting perfection Concealor in Cool medium & Bourjois radiance reveal Concealor in Ivory.
    • Clinique face primer creme
    • Revoltuion blusher ‘love’
    • Make up obsession highlighter in the shade ‘bronze’ 
    • Revolution make up eye primer 
    • Make up obsession eyeshadow in the shade ‘rich’ & Maybelline Nudes palette.
    • Diorshow mascara in black 
    • Tanya Burrs perfect brows palette
    • Rimmel lip Liner in the shade 004 ‘Indian pink’
    • Tanya Burrs lipstick in the shade ‘Big kiss’

    Brushes

    • Real techniques beauty blender; I used this for foundation & concealor.
    • Real techniques buffing brush; I use this brush to apply blusher.
    • Real techniques base eyeshadow brush; I used this to apply the base colour of my eyeshadow & the darker colour into the outer corner.
    • Real Technique multi-task brush; I use this brush to just wipe away any excess and clean up the look.
    • Primark fan brush for highlighing; this Brush applies highlighter flawlessly. I only recently got this after wanting one for ages and I would 100% recommend getting one of these.
    • Revolution, Limited edition angled brush; I used this brush for my eyebrows.

      I used a mixture of two face products in order to give more coverage all night without being too heavy. I love the mix of my bb cream and the healthy mix foundation, it works really well. I used a pump of each on my beauty blender to apply it to my face.

      I used the Collection concealor for my face and any blemishes or spots and the Bourjois concealor under my eyes which is why I go for a lighter shade to make under my eyes brighter.

      I bought a few of the products listed above expecially for this make up look, these were…

      I love the colours that you can get by ‘Make up obsession’ and I went for a glowy bronze look with the highlighter and eyeshadow as I thought this would work really well with the red lip. The eye primer I used (from my beauty advent calender) was also fab and my eyeshadow stayed perfect all night.

      Tanya Burrs lipsticks from her Autumn collection are AMAZING. people kept asking me all night what lipstick I was wearing and commenting on how well it had stayed on even whilst I was eating the meal. I love the slightly darker shade of red in this lipstick, it’s party perfect.

      Here’s the finished look!

      I was really please with this make up look & it went perfectly with my outfit but would be so versatile for so many party looks! 

      I hope you liked the look too πŸ’‹

      In my beauty advent calender today…

      Today I got a baked blusher! This is one of my favorites items from the advent calender so far!! I love pink blushers and this one is beautiful 😍

      Ho Ho Ho 

      Roseanne πŸŽ…

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      Work Secret Santa πŸŽ… Blogmas day 19Β 

      This afternoon at work we did our secret santa present exchange! It was lovely to hang out together, do a Christmas quiz, have a laugh & nibbles. I love my present that I received, someone knows me well…

      It’s a postcard book version of one of the Harry Potter colouring books. I love the adult colorings books and of course Harry Potter so this is perfect πŸ‘Œ 

      These little postcards are so cute so I think I’m going to colour them in and use them as my thank you cards from Christmas. 

      Here is one of the pages…

      Today In my beauty advent calender…

      Today was a lovely dark purple eyeshadow with a lovely shimmer in it. This would be perfect for the party season & to create a lovely smokey eye make up look. 

      6 days until Christmas!

      Ho Ho Ho 

      Roseanne πŸŽ…

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      Christmas gift guide 🎁 Blogmas day 20

      As it’s less than a week until Christmas I thought I would do a Christmas gift guide to help anyone who is still stuck on what to buy someone or is a last minute shopper. 

      First up, 

      Presents for her 

      Make up

      • Make up obsession *make your own palette* These are awesome, you buy the palette and then choose what you fill it with from blush, eyeshadow, highlight/strobing or contour. The palettes range from Β£4-Β£6 in Boots with the individuals currently priced at; Contour Β£3 highlighter/strobing Β£3 Blush Β£3 & eyeshadow Β£2
      • Tanya Burr ‘Tanya presents’ beauty box. This is Β£20 from Superdrug & comes with lots of limited edition items from her Christmas collection.
      • Makeup Revoltuion London: 12 days of Christmas storage chest. This is Β£35 from Superdrug and is full of blush and eyeshadow palettes, make up spray, brushes and more.

      Bath time 

      • The Body Shop box of delights Β£28. This comes in loads of lovely scents from Vanilla Chai to Frosted Berries. In this set you get a bath foam, shower gel, body butter & lip balm. 
      • Soap & Glory ‘Foam & fortune’ gift set Β£20 Boots. This comes with lots in it from body butter, face wash & shower creme all in a lovely box.
      • LUSH giftsets varying from Β£10-Β£50. These are usually themed & come with different bath bombs and/or face washes/shower creme. They have some naively Christmas themed ones.

      Candles 

      • Sanctuary ‘Colour me in’ candle Β£10 Boots. This is so cute! You pop the candle on, relax & colour in the box. I find the adult colouring really relaxing so I just thought this would make a nice gift. 
      • Yankee candle small Pillar candle Β£10.99 Boots 

      Perfume

      • DKNY fresh blossom Β£20 Superdrug.
      • Lacoste touch of pink Β£27 Superdrug 
      • Marc Jacobs Daisy Β£53 Superdrug

      Other gift ideas

      • Babyliss curl secret Β£89.99
      • Chopstick curler Β£15
      • Box of Thornton chocolates Β£4 Superdrug 
      • Vouchers for clothes shops (easier than trying to choose an item of clothing)
      • Books, Amazon Β£3.99

        Presents for him

        Bath/shower sets

        • LYNX black magic speaker set Β£7 from Boots. This includes a body spray, body wash, deodrant and a speaker that you can use to play music from your smartphone.
        • Nivea Sensitive gift set Β£10 Boots. This includes shower gel, face wash, moisturiser and deodrant.
        • L’OrΓ©al Barber shop set Β£20. This set includes a shower gel, skin & stubble wash, moisturiser & shave gel.

          Aftershave 

          • Paul Smith Men Β£16 Superdrug 
          • Diesel ‘Only the brave’ tattoo Β£44 Superdrug 
          • Davidoff ‘Cool water’ Β£25 Superdrug

            Gadgets 

            • Amazon Echo Dot Β£44.99. This is a hands free voice controlled device called ‘Alexa’. You can ask it to do loads of things such as tell you the weather, traffic updates, questions etc. It’s really cool. I’ve got one of these for my husband this year.
            • Fitbit. These record your steps, activity for the day, sleep & more. A couple of options are the Flex Β£69.95 or the Alta Β£84 which is what I’ve got,I love mine.
            • Beats Headphones, on ear Β£59.95

              Other presents 

              • Braun series 3 wet & dry electric shaver Β£59.84 from Boots 
              • Braun beard trimmer Β£19.99 Boots 
              • Games academy table tennis set Β£7 from Superdrug. This comes with two bats, 2 balls & a net.
              • Cadbury Chocolate selection box Β£2
              • Retro sweet boxes, you can do these as a one off or as a monthly subscription and are only Β£3.69, a bargin for those who have a sweet tooth and a lovely little treats each month! My sister did this for her husband birthday.

              Presents for kids 

              Bath stuff 

              • Minion bath set & squirtle Β£2.50 Superdrug 
              • Avengers bath & soap set Β£5 Superdrug 
              • 3D Unicorn bubble bath Β£3 Superdrug

              Toys/games 

              • Cyber flyer Β£12.99 Argos. This is a child’s droid which they will love flying around and is a bargin price.
              • Board games such as pie face, junior monopoly or a compendium of games with classic games like snakes & ladders, ludo etc. They have a great set in Argos for Β£8.99 with 12 different board games in 1.
              • Wilko colouring books & craft sets are from Β£1 onwards depending on the size of the pack. These are fab!
              • Lego is always a winner! Boys and Girls love it and it’s hours of fun for the young and old.

              Other ideas…

              • Cadbury Chocolate selection boxes Β£2
              • Chocolate Santa’s Β£1
              • A cute animal hot water bottle Β£7 You can get these in Superdrug. These are really cute and come in lots of different animals like a monkey, an elephant or a bear.
              • Christmas hair grips between Β£5-Β£8 from John Lewis.

              I hope these ideas have helped you out if your stuck & need some inspiration! 5 days to go 🎁

              Today in my beauty advent calender…

              Today was an Angled make up brush, this is super handy. I used this to do my eyebrows this morning and it worked really well.

              Ho Ho Ho 

              Roseanne πŸŽ…

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              Blogmas day 18 πŸŽ„Sunday lunch

              Today me & my husband Tim met up with some of our friends that we havnt seen for a little while. We thought it would be nice to go for a meal together just before Christmas so we met at a little pub called the Westerfield Swan. 

              Since its almost Christmas (1 week to go!) we thought we’d go in our Christmas jumpers.

              The pub is so cosy & it looked lovely and festive πŸŽ„

              The food was super delicious too, I went for the fish & chips for main and my favourite dessert.. 

              The warm white chocolate tart! It’s amazing.

              It was a lovely afternoon catching up, seeing little Harvey whose now 7 months old 😱 (Its scary how time flies) and just having a laugh.

              In my beauty advent calender today…

              I got this little eyeshadow brush, super handy for popping in your bag or for travelling. 

              1 week to go until Christmas! 

              Ho Ho Ho 

              Roseanne πŸŽ…

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