What I got for Christmas 2014!

Hello everyone! I hope you all had a Merry Christmas! I had one of the best christmas I have had in a long time! I got a lot of lovely presents, and I am really grateful for every single one of them. This year I think my family have really spoiled me, and I wanted to make a disclaimer that I am not trying to brag or boast in anyway shape or form, I am just really happy with what I got. This maybe a long post, so I will warn you now. 

The first thing I got was Lush prodcuts, and I got a gift set from my best friend Annie, and in the gift set I got Cinders and Shooting Star. My mum got me Melting Snowman, Cinders, and this white one but I don't know the name of it.

The next thing I got was some Skincare and Sprays, and I got Soap and Glory shower gel's, a jack wills shower gel, a Soap and Glory body mist,anti bacterial wipes and a face mask from Avon. I also got one of the Soap and Glory christmas gift sets, and I think this one was the Citrus one, I am not sure on the name..x

I got some baking stuff from my sister, and she got me these 4  mint green mini china loaf tins, baking beans, and a cake tester. She also got me a vintage Minnie Mouse apron which I love so much.

I got vouchers and money for christmas, and I got £40 worth of Boots Vouchers, a £15 Primark Voucher, £10 H&M Voucher, and £60. I already spent £10 of my money... :)

 I got lots of lovely little bits for christmas and I got an Avon mascara, the Sweet Mint EOS, the Blueberry EOS, a Tanya Burr Nail Polish in the shade Little Duck. I also a heart lollipop made out of hairbands, the Real Technique Shading Brush, and the Orange Baby Lips Electro. As well as this I got a blue cath kidston mug, and a pack of Cath Kidston tissues.

The films I got this year was Frozen and The Fault In Our Stars.

I got 2 books this year and they were The Pointless Book by Alfie Deyes, and Zoella's new book Girl Online.

The next thing I got is 5 Bath and Body Works mini hand gel. I don't remember the names, but hopefully you will be able to see!

I got some candles for christmas and I got this Yankee Candle set, and this set of 3 tea lights from Ikea. I also got a mirror thing?

My 3 most special presents that I wasn't expecting to get all of them, was the Marc Jacobs Daisy Dream perfume, the goodies a go go benefit set, and the Naked 3 Palette. I am so grateful for all of these presents!

I am really happy with what I got for christmas and I am so grateful! I am going shopping tommorow so next week there will be a Shopping Haul! Hope you enjoyed!
Bye!x

DIY- How To Make Easy Mince Pies!

Hello everyone, today I have for you a recipe for mince pies, and these are amazing and the best part is you need 3 ingredients! Its so simple and easy to make, and it takes literally 10 minutes to make, and 20 minutes to bake! So lets get on with it!

Ingredients:

Ready Rolled Short Crust Pastry

Tesco's Finest Mince Meat

Milk (for glazing on top of the pastry)

Method:

1. First of all you need to preheat the oven too 180 degrees.

2. You unravel the pastry until its flat out, like this.

3. After that you get a medium size pastry cutter and cut out as many circles as you can but leave a bit of pastry for the top part.

4. Now for this part, you need to get a cupcake tray, and place the circles in the tray.

5. You then place a spoonful of the mince meat and put into the pastry.

6. You then cut out a shape for the top to cover the mince pies. I used a Sherri glass to cut out the circles. I then place them on top and I brushed some milk over the top as the glaze.

7. After that, you put them into the oven for 20-25 minutes, until the mince meat is bubbling.

8. You then take them out the oven and wait for them to cool for 20 minutes.

9. You then dust them with a bit of icing sugar or powdered sugar if your American.

That is it, and it was as easy as that! I hope you enjoyed it and I hope these turn out well for you! Bye!xx

GRWM- Makeup for Christmas Day!

Hey everyone, today I have for you a GRWM, and this is the first one i have done, so I wasn't quite sure how I wanted to do this (take the pictures) so I hope you enjoy it! This GRWM is going to be for Christmas day, and I will be showing you the makeup I will be wearing!

Hope you enjoy it!

Okay the first thing I am going to do is my makeup. Before I apply my makeup, I am going to wash my face with the Simple Facial Wash Gel. I just apply that to my face and cleanse my face. I then wash it off with a cloth, and then apply the Simple Hydrating Moisturiser.

After my moisturiser has completely dried, and my face isn't sticky, I will then prime my face with the Baby Skin primer, and this is £7.99. I am apply this onto my face, and as I don't have a eye primer, I put some on my eye lids.

I then put on my concealer, and I am using the Rimmel Wake Me Up Concealer. I apply this under my eyes, and on my spots, and just where there might be a bit of redness. I really like this concealer, its really light and it doesn't feel like your wearing it. This was £5.99 in the sale.

I then apply powder, and at the moment I have the Natural Collection Powder, and I know Natural Collection isn't an amazing brand, but I have only just started using powder, so I didn't want to spend a whole lot of money on a makeup item I might not even like. I do like powder, so if you could recommend me some good powders in the comments that would be great!

I then do my eye makeup and I was aiming for a smokey eye so I first applied this caramel brown colour over my lid.

I then apply this brown colour in my crease and blend well.

Finally I add this black bluey colour in the corner eye and blend together with the brown.

(Here is a little picture of what it turns out like!)

At this point I would usually put on eyeliner, but for some reason I have lost my eyeliners, which is really annoying but I will hopefully get a new one for christmas. So I then go on to my eyebrows, I fill in my eyebrows with the brown eyeshadow colour from my Sleek Palette and then to put them in place I apply the Natural Collection clear mascara to them.

After that I put on my mascara, for my top lashes I use the W7 Mascara, and this mascara seperates your lashes really well. For my bottom lashes I use the Clinique High Impact mascara, and this gives my bottom lashes lots of length.

For my lips I thought I would wear a nude pink colour, so I decided on a mix of lip products. I was firstly going to apply this Topshop Lipstick in Pillow Talk. I then add the Tanya Burr Lipstick in Just Peachy. Its a really gorgeous glossy pink colour, and I tried to recreate Tanya's lip choice from her vlog the other day.

Hope you enjoyed it, and I will speak soon!

Bye!x

Merry Christmas!

Hello everyone! I cannot believe it is christmas eve! I literally can't contain my excitement for tommorow... I wanted to take this chance to say thankyou to everyone for reading my blog, and giving it such amazing great feedback! There has been over 10,000 people who have read my blog, and I have only had it since September. I only started this blog, to write really, to tell everyone what beauty things I love, and things I would recommend and its turned into something amazing for me. I have anxiety, and I can't say what I am feeling to the people who help me, and I l know I don't talk about my anxiety problems much, but I am planning to. I was thinking of doing a Dealing with Anxiety post, and I will basically talk to you about what I have gone through, and what helps me and how things can help.  After December I will be going back to posting once a week, as I can't think of a lot of post ideas, so if you would like to give me some ideas that you would like me to do, then that would be lovely! But you don't have to! I jsut wanted to say thankyou for such amazing support, and I hope you get amazing presents, eat tasty food and spend the day with your family. Christmas is a time to have fun and be with family, so I hope you have an amazing christmas!

Have a merry christmas, and a happy new year!

Bye!

Marie xx

The Christmas Tag!

Hey everyone, today I have for you the Christmas Tag! I can't believe its only 11 days until christmas, I am so excited for christmas that I am shaking as I am writing this. Last year wasn't the best christmas for me or my family, so I am trying to do everything in my power to make this one amazing! I hope you enjoy this tag, and let me know in the comments..... whats your favourite thing about christmas?

Do you have any christmas traditions?

Well every year, a lit up sleigh comes down my street and around where I live, and me, my mum, my dad , and my sister all watch it, and we donate some money, as they are doing it to raise money for a charity but I am not entirely sure what it is, I think it may be the Salvation Army.

Whats the best present you have ever got?

I think every present you receive is amazing, but 2 years ago when I had a broken leg, I was always cold, and I couldn't go out and buy a onesie, but for christmas my auntie bought me a stitch onesie, and Stitch is my favourite disney character. I think I might have a picture, if I do, I will insert it below! It might not be amazing quality...

What is your favourite christmas film?

My favourite christmas film is between, Nativity, Elf, The Home Alone Films, or The Grinch.

What is your favourite christmas song?
Band Aid 30 - Do they know its christmas?   or

One more sleep- Leona Lewis.

What are you doing on christmas eve this year?

I am really excited for the 24th because I will be spending the day with my best friend Andrew, and I will probably have family round in the evening that live in Bexhill.

What is on your christmas list this year?

The most expensive things on my list this year are Benefit Makeup and Marc Jacobs Daisy Dream Perfume.

What advent calendar do you have this year?
I have the Maltesers advent calendar this year.

Have you done your christmas shopping yet?

I did it last weekend with my sister, and they are already wrapped and under my christmas tree.

Whats your favourite christmas candle?
Yankee Candle- Christmas Eve

Yankee Candle - Christmas Cookie

Whats the best thing about christmas to you? 

Spending it with family, opening presents, christmas dinner, and just being together with people you love.

Do you have a fake or a real tree?

I have a fake tree because my mum doesn't like pine needles??

Have you decorated your room?

Yes I have and you can see what I have done, as I have done a DIY on how to make your room more festive!

Whats your favourite thing to do on the run up to christmas?
Watch christmas films, bake cakes, cookies and food, decorating my house, and shopping for christmas presents.

That is the end of the Christmas Tag, and I hope you enjoyed it! 

Bye!x

DIY- Christmas Cupcakes + Vanilla Cookies!

Hello everyone, today I have for you 2 recipes, and one of them is how to make these christmassy cupcakes, and the second recipe is how to make my Christmas Vanilla Cookies.

These are quite simple to make, and they are very tasty!

Hope you enjoy!

CHRISTMAS CUPCAKES

Ingredients: to make 12:  133g self raising flour

133g margarine

133g caster sugar

1/2 tsp baking powder

2 eggs

1/4 tsp vanilla extract

To make icing: 55g margarine

250g icing sugar

Boiling water

Food colour of your choice

christmassy decorations

Method: Preheat your oven to 170 degrees

1. Put the christmassy cupcake cases into the cupcake tray.

2. Cream together the butter and the sugar until light and fluffy.

3. Add the egg and the vanilla extract and mix.

4. Add the flour gradually.

5. Put the mixture in the cupcake cases

6. Pop in the oven 20-25 minutes, until golden brown.

7. Once your waiting for the cakes to cool, you can make the icing.

8. You put the butter in the bowl and cream together with the icing sugar. To make it a bit easier, I add a bit of boiling water to make it easier to mix. If its too runny add more icing sugar. If its too dry and more water.

9. You can then pipe your icing, I added a bit of yellow food colouring. I then put a little edible (Father Christmas, christmas pudding, snowman,stocking) on top of it.

CHRISTMAS VANILLA COOKIES

Ingredients: 170g margarine

150g caster sugar

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

1 egg

281g plain flour

1/2 tsp baking powder

Icing- (I got the Dr.Oeteker Pink Icing)

Any other decoration you would like to use!

Christmas cookie cutters

Method: Preheat your oven to 180 degrees

1. Cream together the butter and sugar

2. Add the: egg, vanilla extract, baking powder

3. Add the plain flour and stir together to form a ball.

4. Put in the fridge to chill for 10-15 minutes.

5. Put your ball of dough onto a floured surface, and roll out about 1cm thick. ( Yes, i am watching Zoella)

6. Cut out your shapes, I had a christmas tree, and a gingerbread man!

7. Pop in the oven for 11 minutes until golden brown.

8. Let them cool, and then ice and decorate them.

9. Eat them with a cup of tea!

I really hope you enjoyed this post, I love doing baking, so if you would like me to post more recipe's, then let me know in the comments!

Bye!x