2015 Favourites | Blogmas Day 25

Firstly, MERRY CHRISTMAS! I hope you all have a lovely day filled with fun and food and spending quality time with family!

As it is the last day of Blogmas I have decided to share with you my favourites from 2015. Not just beauty though! As I tend to do monthly favourites some of these things have already been mentioned on my blog but I hope you enjoy reading this anyway.

Of course Roller Lash was going to be featured in this post! You all know how much I love Roller Lash.  I recently mentioned the Benefit They're Real tinted primer which I am loving more everyday. From my Benefit calendar I've found lots of Benefit products that I definitely want to get my hands on.  One of those being the Watts Up Soft focus highlighter.  I loove it.

I've been uncertain of the Lash Sensational, but I kept trying with it and it is now definitely a firm favourite of mine.  If I apply it right, it makes my eyelashes look so thick and long. 

You will of heard me mention the company Prairie Charms here and I just had to put them in my 2015 favourites as they are the loveliest company.  Their customer service is so so good and well, the products are wonderful.  I'm very glad I've had the chance to purchase products from them and be part of their blogging team and designing the Christmas box. 

If you didn't know, I love musicals.  Like, a lot.  The 'Now That's we Call Musicals' CD is literally perfect for me and I find myself listening to it most days haha.  My all time favourite musical is Billy Elliot.  I love it so much. I spend a lot of my time watching the DVD of it live.  I have seen it 4 times and I would happily go 44 more times, haha.  

I've also beeng loving my L'oreal bronzer which I have mentioned maaany times before on this blog! If you haven't picked it up and are looking for a new bronzer I definitely recommend it,

I know I've only had this estee Lauder eye shadow palette which is from the Makeup Artist Collection set (mentioned in my birthday haul) but it is too lovely for me to not mention. Same with the modern Muse perfume, I've only been using it a month but it is fast becoming my favourite scent. 

Vicktor & Rolf's Flowerbomb perfume is my favourite perfume, closely followed by Calvin Klein Euphoria and Modern Muse! I wear Flowerbomb most days and like the name suggests, its a very sweet and flowery scent.  

I wear Estee Lauder Double wear mostly everyday.  I think I have fiiinally found a foundation that works for me! I have also been loving the Urban Decay Naked Skin Finish concealer.  The coverage is so good and it doesn't go cakey, woo! 

I've also been LOVING Justin Bieber, who would ever have thought that?!

That's all my favourites from 2015 and this will be my last post of 2015! I have finally got to the end of Blogmas (YEEEES) I am sorry I didn't manage to post every single day, but you know, life gets in the way sometimes but lets not turn this into a negative post!
I really hope you have enjoyed what I did manage to post and thank you to everyone who left comments and read my posts.

Lastly, have an amazing day today.  Whatever you end up doing, just make sure you eat lots and everything will be fine!!

See you in 2016 

Jessica 

xx

My Christmas Decorations | Blogmas Day 24

In our house, we have a lot of Christmas decorations up and we have colour themes, but who doesn't right?!  Taking pictures for this post has been much harder than I had expected and they don't look great but I thought I'd share them all with you anyway. 

Our front room is a red/gold/green theme which I really love as it make the room feel all nice and cosy! 

 (spot the dog haha)

In the dining room we have a silver theme and this is where the Christmas Tree goes.  How I wish it was a real tree :( 

There is a on our tree and of course, my mum always has to put the decorations I made when I was like 5 on there, haha.

There are more than just this snowman, but you don't want to see all of those haha

 I'd love to see what some of your decorations look like, send me some on Twitter! (@bird_butterfly1)

There will be another post going up tomorrow and then that will be my last blogmas post! If you count what I've done as blogmas haha. Anyway, see you tomorrow with my favourites from 2015!

Jessica 

xx

What I Love About This Time of Year | Blogmas day 12

Hi again! 

There are a lot of things I love about this time of year so I thought I would share them all with you! I might do this as a 2 part post, what do you think?! 

Anyway, onto the list.. 

1.  The weather 

I really prefer the cold to the hot weather! I know a lot of people hate the cold but I like it, unless I feel freeeeezing because I haven't got enough layers on then not so much haha. But overall, I'd pick winter over summer all the time. 

2. Fashion 

Because it's so cold it's the perfect chance to wear warm jumpers and wrap yourself up in your scarf and big coats! I much prefer the fashion in winter to summer. I find myself all year just waiting to put a jumper on! 

3. Evenings

Ok this is a bit of a weird one. Sometimes I hate the way it gets dark so early but most of the time I love it (is that weird?) once it's dark I love having cosy nights in wrapped up in my throw with a hot chocolate and a DVD or Netflix. 

4. Christmas 

Obviously this had to go on the list! What is there not to love about Christmas? Everyone and everything is so festive and friendly and happy at this time of the year, I love it! Not so much the crazy busy shops though. 

You spend so much time with family and friends and it's so lovely 

Let me know what some of your favourite things are about this time of the year and if you'd like a second part to this!

Jessica 

xx

The Christmas Tag | Blogmas day 11

*lets ignore the fact I missed a post 2 days in a row ok. Thanks haha* 

Can you believe it's already Blogmas day 11 though?! This month is going so fast. Today I thought I would do the Christmas tag. I love doing tags as I feel it gives you all a chance to get to know me better and I love reading other people's tags! 

1. What is your favourite Christmas film? 

There's no way I could just pick one! I love too many. So my top two would be the polar express and elf! 

2. Where do you spend your holiday? 

I spend Christmas at home with my parents and nan. Boxing Day is just spent with my parents or sometimes we go and visit my aunt and uncle. 

3. What is your favourite Christmas song? 

Like Christmas films, I could never pick my favourite Christmas song. There's way too many I love to pick just one! Christmas lights by Coldplay is high up there and not many people know of that one which makes me sad. 

4. Do you open any presents on Christmas Eve? 

Nope! Never have and I don't think I ever would! We always wait till Christmas Day until about midday when my grandparents would arrive and we'd start opening them. Feels wrong to me opening them on Christmas Eve haha. 

5. What holiday traditions are you looking forward to most this holiday? 

This is a bit of hard question for me this. As I've said on my blog before my grandad passed away in the summer so Christmas will be very different things year. I suppose just spending it with my parents and nan and spending the weekend before Christmas putting the decorations up with my mum! 

6. Is your Christmas tree real or fake?

Fake. I've always wanted a real one but my dad says it's too much mess, I think that's a rubbish excuse! Every year me and my mum try to persuade him to get a real one, never works. 

7.  Be honest: Do you like giving or receiving gifts better? 

The questions says 'be honest' so really i love both. It's so nice seeing someone open a gift you got them and being so happy about it. It is so nice receiving presents too though, I really like surprises so that's why I like receiving gifts. I think giving them is my favourite though. 

8. What is the best Christmas gift you've received? 

Ah I always get so many lovely things. When I was younger though I got a bike that I had been asking for for AGES so when I saw that I got it I was an extremely happy child. I also got this train set once from my Grandad and we spent the afternoon building it and it was so lovely. 

9.  What made you realise the truth about Santa? 

During Christmas the boxes of wrapping paper is kept in my room and one morning when I was opening my stocking presents I had noticed that the wrapping paper matched my mums so I figured it out from there! Fair to say, I pretty upset! Haha. 

10. Most memorable holiday moment? 

I have SO many amazing memories of Christmas all spent with my family. I couldn't pick one! (There's a pattern in these "pick your top" questions haha. Sorry!) 

So that's the Christmas tag for you all! Hope you enjoyed reading this. I tag any of you reading this to do it! 

Jessica 

xx 

Christmas Cupcakes | Blogmas Day 7

The title of this post may be a little misleading, they're not really Christmas cupcakes.. They're just chocolate cupcakes with Christmas decorations so sort of Chrismas, right?! 

Unfortunately, they didn't turn out quite as I hope as they just look a bit of a mess but they taste good, so thats what matters! 

I bought these really lovely Chrismas fairy cake cases and decorations so I thought they'd be perfect for this. 

Ingredients (Makes 12)

110g Butter or Margarine

100g Caster Sugar

2 Medium Eggs

75g Self-Raising Flour

25g Cocoa Powder

For the Icing and Decoration
175g Icing Sugar
75g unsalted butter
5m Milk or Warm water
Holly and Berry Sprinkles (Waitrose)
Edible Glitter Flakes (Waitrose)

Method

1. Preheat the oven to Gas mark 4 and then place the cupcake cases into the tin.  I used a muffin tin which worked well, but you can of course use a cupcake tin.
   
2. Next, cream the sugar and butter together.  It should become lighter and fluffy.  I put the butter in the microwave for a bit before doing this just to make it a bit easier. 

3. Once its all creamed together add the 2 eggs.  It is best to add one then beat it in and then add the other and beat the mixture again.

4. Then add the flour bit by bit and fold in using a metal spoon.  Once that's all folded in, sift the cocoa powder in and fold again.

(does not look too appetising here but it gets better!)

5.Finally, spoon the mixture into the cupcake cases.  I found filling them up about 2/3rds of the way up works well.

Put them in the oven for 15-20 minutes.  Mine took 15 minutes, but it all depends on your oven.  When they're cooked they should be well risen and firm when you gently touch them.  Leave them to cool on a wire rack!

I just made a basic butter cream icing by mixing the butter and icing sugar together.  I used a bit more than 5ml of milk as it needs to be spreadable, so I'd suggest just adding what every you think you need!
Decorating the cakes is where it all went a little bit wrong (i.e they turned out looking nothing like how I wanted them to!!)  I planned to pipe the icing on, but then my piping tube broke and I couldn't find anything to make a piping bag out go so I had to just spread it on.  I then just sprinkled the red and green glitter flakes all over while the icing was still wet enough so it would stick and then added the holly pieces on a few of the cakes.  This part of decorating them is entirely up to you!

They may not look like very neat but they taste so nice! I definitely recommend you make these if you like to bake as they are so easy to make.

See you tomorrow

Jessica 

xx

Top Christmas Films | Blogmas day 5

Christmas films are my probably one of my favourite things about this time of the year.  No matter how I may be feeling they just always seem to cheer me up, its always nice to sit and watch a film when its freezing cold outside with a hot chocolate.  I'm not going to go into details about what they're about as I'm pretty sure most of you will already know them! Here's some of my favourites:

Polar Express

Actual all time favourite Christmas film.  My mum loves it even more than me so this is a film we will watch together every Christmas.  Its just such a lovely film and I love it.

Elf

Everyone I know talks about Elf and how good it is.  I definitely agree, I love it so much.  It just makes me feel so christmassy and it does make me laugh a little! 

Home Alone

This is a film I definitely associate with my Grandad.  He loved it just as much as me. I love the second one as well, but I found the 3rd one rubbish.

Miracle on 34th Street

I still have this on VHS so that is a sign of how old this film is! Haha.  This definitely had to feature in this post as it was the first Christmas film I really remember watching and I loved it. 

The Grinch

I'm pretty sure everyone loves this film! Its just one of those that everyone knows and loves (I think) I watch this film every year without fail. 

That's all for my top favorites. I'm sorry this post doesn't have that much content but I thought it would be nice to share what I love with you all! 

Let me know some of your favorite Christmas films :)

Jessica 

xx

Christmas Playlist | Blogmas day 3

As I mentioned in my first Blogmas post, I love Christmas songs.  They're just so catchy and when ever I am in a bad mood, they can always cheer me up.  To be honest, I think everyone loves a good Christmas song. 

Today I thought I'd share with you my top favorites and so its a little Christmas song playlist! They're not in a particular order as there is no way I could pick one to be on top, haha.

1. Wham! - Last Christmas

2. The Pouges - Fairytale of New York

3. Band Aid - Do They Know its Christmas Time

4. Wizard - I Wish it Could Be Christmas Everyday 

5. Coldplay - Christmas Lights (I do love this one) 

6. Mariah Carey - All I Want For Christmas 

7. Michael Buble - Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas (all of Michael Buble's Christmas album is amazing) 

8. Dean Martin - Let It Snow

9. Slade - Merry Christmas Everybody 

10. Dean Martin - Rudolph the Red Nose Reindeer (AW) 

11. From The Snowman - Walking in The Air

12. Jona Lewie - Stop the Cavalry 

13.  Chris Rea - Driving Home for Christmas

14. Elton John - Step into Christmas

15. Shakin Stevens - Snow is Falling

What is your favorite Christmas song?

Jessica 

xx

A Little Chat | Blogmas Day 1

Hey everyone!

So thanks to Hannah (Twitter, Blog) tweeting about wanting to do Blogmas and being very enthusiastic about it (thanks Hannah, haha) I decided I should try and do it! I'm definitely not promising that there is going to be a post every day, but I am going to try my best and see how it goes. Its good to challenge yourself, right?!

This post is just a bit of a chat really, I hope thats ok.

My blogmas posts aren't going to be constantly around Christmas (I don't know if that means its not really blogmas, but lets go with it anyway.  I'm still posting everyday) as I don't want to push it on to you all, haha.  And if I'm honest, I'm not looking forward to Christmas this year as it will be the first one without my Grandad.  He was a huge part of Christmas in my family and I can't even imagine what its going to be like without him here.  I do love everything that comes with Christmas though, mainly the decorations and songs. There will be a post coming up on my favorite Christmas songs!

Anyway that will be all for this first blogmas post! I really hope you enjoy reading all the posts and can follow it! The posts will be going up at 12pm each day (hopefully)

Happy Blogmas everyone (is that a thing? I don't know, its going to be a thing for me ok)

See you tomorrow where the post will have a bit more of a topic unlike this one! Haha

Jessica 

xx

What I Got For Christmas

Since I enjoy reading posts on what people got for Christmas and videos, I thought I would write one.  I am in no way bragging or showing off what I got, I just thought some of you might want to read it :) 

Ted Baker's 'The Girl With The Beautiful Face'

I am well and truly in love with this.  The packaging is perfect and the products inside are even better.   The eye shadow crayons and lipstick are my absolute favourites. 

Soap and Glory: The Soapremes

(Given up taking my own pictures because the quality is rubbish, sorry) 

I do have a slight obsession with Soap and Glory so this was perfect for me, and it had cosy socks!!! What more could you want. 

Giant Ferrero Rocher

Ferrero Rocher are my favourites so getting a giant one in my stocking was like my dream come true., not gonna lie haha.

As well as this, I also got a lot more chocolate but I don't think any of you just want to see pictures of chocolate.  

Besides chocolate, I got lots of Avon nail varnishes.  I actually really like Avon nail varnishes and they aren't too expensive.  A few of the shades I got were, Candy Apple, Sheer love and Creme Brûlée, which are all the 'Gel Finish Nail Enamel'.  I also got the Black 'Colour Trend Starbust Nail Enamel' 

So there are a few of the presents I got, which I am all very grateful for. 

Jessica 

xxxx