What I Got For Christmas 2019

 Hey beaut's!!!

I hope you all had an amazing Christmas and stuffed your faces with all the pigs in blankets and chocolate because I know I did! I'm so sad Christmas is all over for another year though, I absolutely love the build up, the pretty decorations and the twinkling lights but hey, today I thought I'd keep things slightly festive and join in on the 'What I Got For Christmas' bandwagon, personally I love reading these type of posts or watching them on youtube, I just love seeing what lovely gifts everyone received. I was so lucky this year and received some amazing gifts from my family, boyfriend and friends and I really am grateful and truly thankful for everything I got! Anyway lets get going...

So lets kick things off with makeup and beauty, there wasn't actually much makeup on my Christmas wish list this year which is a first for me, I did however really want to try the Morphe Continuous Setting Mist and the Morphe Highlight and Contour Sponge so I did actually ask my Mum for those, she also picked me up the Soap & Glory 'The Mask Force Five Set' and the Soap & Glory 'Brow Sweet' gift set, bless her, she knows I'm a Soap & Glory addict! My boyfriend Michael was naughty and treated me to the Jaclyn Hill X Morphe Eye Master Collection which I've lusted over for years, and he got me the beautiful Anastasia Eyeshadow Vault which contains the Soft Glam and the Modern Renaissance Palettes, and honestly the vault is stunning, the pictures just dont do it justice!

Michael really did spoil me... last year he got me the Harry Potter Hogwarts Great Hall Lego Set which I had no idea I was getting but once I completed it I got a little bit Lego obsessed so Mike got me the Harry Potter Clock Tower Lego Set this year! I couldn't believe it, apparently it joins onto/goes with the Great Hall too, I'm currently half way through and I've caught the Lego bug again, it's so addictive! Mike also got me the most precious Harry Potter music box which you wind up yourself and it plays the iconic Harry Potter theme song, I LOVE this so much and haven't stopped winding it up since I got it!
Another gift from my parents was this massive Yankee Candle Set, you'll probably already know I'm a crazy candle lady so this is the perfect gift for me, it's crammed full of different sized festive Yankee Candles which are always my favourite scents, I cant wait to get burning!

My secret Santa at work got me some Lush bit's which I really appreciate as I haven't had any festive Lush bits this year - mainly because of how pricey Lush is these days - so it was such a nice treat to get those! And finally how beautiful is my new Pandora ring, I LOVE IT!!!

So that's all of my gorgeous gifts I received this year beaut's! Me and Mike also received some tins of biscuits which I think will last us a lifetime ha ha and we received some money and vouchers to share between us so I think a shopping trip will be in order very soon!

What did you get for Christmas beaut's?? Leave me your links below as I'd love to see.

nopin

Easy and Affordable Gingerbread Truffles

 Hey beaut's!

If your having any festive get together's, dinner parties or you just want something sweet but picky to add to your Christmas Day table then I have the perfect bite size sweet treat for you - Gingerbread Truffles covered in white chocolate, oh my! These cost me around £2.50 to make and don't require much effort either, there so easy but so effective!
What You Will Need
1 packet of ginger-nut biscuits
2-3 tablespoons of cream cheese
2 bars of white chocolate
Sprinkles to decorate (optional)

How To
* Blitz the entire packet of ginger biscuits in a food processor, once the biscuits are blitzed pop 2 tablespoons of cream cheese into a bowl and whack in the ginger biscuit crumbs and mix until you get a wet sand like consistency!
* Once thoroughly combined, mould the mixture into little balls and pop into the fridge for an hour to set, if your in a rush just whack them in the freezer! If you find your mixture is too dry and you cant roll them into balls add in a third tablespoon of cream cheese and that will help bring everything together!
* Once your balls are firm and set (oh wow that sounds interesting doesn't it LOL) melt your white chocolate a coat the balls evenly and decorate whilst their still wet! I had some Christmas sprinkles in my baking cupboard so I used them on a few of my truffles, I was also using a block of milk chocolate that day for another recipe so I grated some milk chocolate on some and drizzled some melted milk chocolate on some others, you could literally use whatever you like to decorate them really!
* Once decorated pop them back in the fridge until your ready to serve them and voila! The truffles will stay good in the fridge for 4-5 days then you'll need to whip up another batch he he!

Will you be giving these a whirl beaut's? Or have you already tried them? I'd love to know!

nopin

December Degustabox Review + £5 off Discount Code!

Hey beaut's!

I have a subscription box review for you all today but it's a subscription box with a difference.... it contains yummy food and drink, so say hello to Degustabox*. Degustabox works very much like how beauty subscription boxes work, for £12.99 a month (postage included within the £12.99 price) you will receive 10 to 15 surprise food/drink products, many that are completely new to the market! So if your a bit of a foodie like myself and you love subscription boxes your going to love this beaut's!






The shortlist for this months box is...
Smith & Sinclair Alcoholic Cocktail Gummies £15.00 for a selection of 8.
Candy Kittens Tropical Mango £2.00
UFIT Crunchers Sea Salt & Vinegar
MadeGood Granola Bars £2.90 for 1 box.
Gloriously Grown Vietnamese Jumbo Wrapped Cashews £3.00
Blue Dragon Thai Holy Basil Stir Fry Kit £1.50
Blue Dragon Teriyaki Street Food Skewers £2.70
Indie Bay Snack Chocolate Pretzel Bites £1.25
Arden's Gruyere & Spinach Twists £1.75
Oteas Green Tea, Cranberry, Cherry & Strawberry £3.39
Lagunitas DayTime Session IPA £1.80
Pedrino Vermouth & Tonic Spritz £1.95
Very Lazy Chopped Garlic £1.50 


Overall I think the 'Gourmet and Fiesta' themed box is really good, it has a great variety of yummy treats to try and enjoy and plenty of things to whack out for Christmas, the pretzel bites, crisps, twists and cashews are the perfect nibbles for a festive buffet!

If you like the look and sound of Degustabox you can grab your first box for just £7.99 with the code R5R0F HERE.

nopin

*This post contains gifted items from Degustabox, all opinions are my own!

The Pro Co Vegan Skincare That Will Leave You Glowing!

Hey beaut's!

I'm hugely into skincare and looking after my skin these days, I think it's because I'm getting that bit older now and I've realised how important it is to have a good skincare routine in place. Whilst I've been perfecting my skincare routine I've been testing out a couple of The Pro Co skincare products and I've been loving the results so far! 
To give my skin a little TLC (which is well needed at this time of the year) I've been using The Pro Co's little trio of serums starting with their Vit C Serum, I use this little beauty twice a day after cleansing before my normal moisturiser and it leaves my skin feeling so smooth and supple, not to mention naturally radiant - I love that glow!!! The Vitamin C serum is actually formulated using a unique combination of active and natural ingredients to reduce the signs of ageing by helping reduce the appearance of lines, wrinkles, age spots and dull, faded looking skin. It also improves skin firmness over time, evens out the skin tone and increases radiance, all whilst being gentle on the skin! I've really been loving this bottle of gorgeousness, it's great for no-makeup days when you want your skin to look glowy and healthy but then it's also great for makeup days too as it creates a lovely dewy base that doesnt go oily or greasy!

The Eye Rescue Serum is literally a god send for me and my tired, dark eyes! The serum has been formulated using advanced encapsulated natural ingredients and designed to help fade existing pigmentation and improve skin micro-circulation, so if your part of the dark under eye club girls and boys this one could be for you. Just like the Vitamin C Serum I use the Eye Rescue twice a day after cleansing, I simply pop one tiny drop of the serum onto my ring finger and gently pat the product around my eye area until its absorbed! Afterwards my eye area feels nourished, smooth and it does indeed help with the tired, dark appearance of my eyes!

Lastly I been trying the Retinol Serum, this is a proven anti-ageing powerhouse that delivers higher performance, deeper penetration and extended release to increase the benefits to your skin and improve multiple signs of ageing. I only use this serum once a day at night before going to bed, I massage 1-2 drop of the serum all over my face taking any excess down my neck and then in the morning my skin feels lovely, so smooth, moisturised and supple! I definitely feel like this is a product that will have amazing results over time so I'll have to do an updated review on this one later down the line, but so far so good!
If your after trying out some eco friendly beauty then The Pro Co is definitely one to try, not only are their skincare products vegan and suitable for vegetarians, but they help tackle the continuing environmental issues by creating Eco friendly packaging that contain less than 2% plastic. I also love that all of the serums have pipette style applicators, it makes the products feel and look much more luxurious and expensive in my opinion. 

All of the serums are £7.99 each however Amazon have a pretty good promotion on at the moment if you fancy a little pre-Christmas treat - I mean why not, you deserve it - youcan actually get  20% off each serum featured in this post making them just £6.39 each which is such a good, affordable price for skincare!

nopin

*AD – This post is a paid advertorial with The Pro Co and also contains gifted items, all opinions are my own!

Gingerbread Christmas Light Cupcakes Recipe


Hey beaut's!

Finally I've found some time to do one of my favourite things....festive baking! I love baking at Christmas time, you can include all those yummy spices within your recipes and have fun with decorations, and lets face it - we all love naughty treats at this time of the year don't we! Today I decided to whip up a batch of yummy gingerbread cupcakes with some simple vanilla buttercream, but what makes these fun is how cute the Christmas light decoration is, I saw this idea on Pinterest so I just had to give it a go for myself and I actually loved going to town whilst decorating these! 
What You Will Need For The Cupcakes
75g unsalted butter, softened
100g caster sugar 125ml black treacle 1 large egg 1 large egg yolk 175g self-raising flour 1tbsp cocoa powder 2tsp ground ginger 1tsp ground cinnamon 1/2tsp ground allspice 1/2tsp ground nutmeg 1/4tsp salt 3/4 tbsp milk

What You Will Need For The Buttercream
200g unsalted butter
450g icing sugar
1tsp vanilla extract
A splash of milk
M&M's and melted chocolate for decorating

How To - Cupcakes
* Pre-heat your oven to gas mark 4 /180 and line a muffin tin with your cupcake cases.
* In a large mixing bowl, beat together the butter and sugar until smooth then add in the treacle and eggs and mix again until well combined!
* Once the wet ingredients are well mixed add in all of your dry ingredients and mix again, you'll find the mixture goes quite thick so you'll need to add in some milk a tablespoon at a time until you get a nice whippy cupcake batter consistency, mine took around 4 tablespoons of milk.
*Once your mixture is completely smooth pop a heaped tablespoon of the cupcake batter into each cupcake case and bake in the oven for around 15 minutes or until the top of the cupcakes are springy to the touch, then transfer onto a wire rack to cool.

How To - Buttercream
* In a large bowl, beat the butter until it becomes super whippy, then start adding the icing sugar slowly to avoid the dreaded icing sugar cloud and mix until combined. As usual if the buttercream is too stiff then pop in some milk until you get your desired constancy. 
* Pipe the icing on top of the cupcakes and then go to town on the 'Cristmas Light' effect decoration, I melted some milk chocolate and popped it into a piping bag and created little swirly lines around my cupcakes to act as the Christmas light cable, I then stuck M&Ms vertically into the side of the cupcakes onto my little make-shift cable. 
And there you have it, 12 super yummy and super festive cupcakes that are really fun to make, I feel like kids would love the decorating process of these too. You could also use other things to act as the cables like those gummy strawberry laces or you could colour some buttercream black and pipe that on with a tiny round pipping nozzle, what ever you find easiest really!

Will you be doing any baking over the festivities beaut's? What will you be making? I'd love to know!


nopin

Yankee Candle Alpine Christmas Collection!


 Hey beauts!

Christmas is now within touching distance and one brand that I just couldn't be without at this time of the year is Yankee Candle. Not only do I buy their candles as gifts but I have to stock up on their festive scents for myself, Christmas just isn't Christmas without a Yankee Candle or two burning around the house!

This year Yankee Candle brought out their Alpine Collection which features 6 brand new scents - After Sledding, Alpine Mint, Alpine Morning, Evergreen Mist and finally the two scents I have are Pomegranate Gin Fizz and Candlelit Cabin. I'm absolutely obsessed with Pomegranate Gin Fizz already, it contains notes of Cranberry, Sparkling Pomegranate, Fresh Lime and Festive Orange, this one is fruity yet festive as it smells like the perfect Christmas tipple! Candlelit Cabin has notes of rustic pine and warm spices, this is more of a fresh festive scent, imagine walking outside of a frosty morning through Christmas tree's, yup it's lush and definitely a more traditional alpine scent! 
Yankee Candle also have the option to personalise your large jars now which I think us amazing, you simply choose your favourite scent then you can upload a photo, or choose from Yankee Candles edits and you can also add your own personal message! I think this is such a lovely idea and makes a cute keep-sake to anyone your gifting it too, the personalised large jars are usually £24.99 but at the moment if you use the code PD20 you can get your personalised candle for £20.00! 

This collection is perfect for creating that cosy, festive atmosphere throughout your home and as always I found that the scent throw of both of these candles amazing, they both fill the entire house with their scent very quickly and still linger when they have been blown out which is always a bonus! As always the Yankee Candle large jars have a burn time of between 110 – 150 hours, so you get plenty of  use out of them!

You can find all of the Christmas Yankee Candles HERE.

nopin

*This post contains gifted items from Yankee Candle, all opinions are my own!

Soap & Glory Christmas Gifts 2019

Hey beaut's!

Soap & Glory always sleighhhh when it comes to Christmas gifts, and lets face it - Christmas just isn't Christmas without some Soap & Glory under the tree! This year theres everything from bath and body sets that range from big to small in all of the popular Soap and Glory scents, theres skincare sets containing the amazing Soap and Glory face masks, makeup gifts and mega cute stocking fillers and beauty baubles! Prices range from £5.00 all the way up to £60.00 for the huge set that Soap and Glory do every year, theres such a good variety this year!

Soap & Glory have two tin style gift sets to pick from this year which are just £10.00 each making them amazing budget gifts or secret Santa's for your work budget, the Original Pink Collection (which is an absolute classic S&G scent) contains four travel sized favourites - Clean On Me, Hand Food, Scrub Of Your Life and The Righteous Butter, theres also a Bright + Beautiful Sheet Mask which I think is such a nice addiction!
A fab set to buy someone who's maybe new to Soap & Glory is their Holiday Heroes Gift Set, it contains 6 products which really show off what S&G have to offer from bath and body, to hair and even skincare! Theres 5 travel sized products within this set including Clean On Me, Hand Food, The Righteous Butter, a 3-in-1 Daily Vitamin C Facial Wash and a Rushower Scent-sational Dry Shampoo, and they've included a pack of the Puffy Eye Attack Under-eye Brightening Hydrogel Patches, now you can probably see why I said it would be perfect for a S&G newbie! I also love that everything comes in a little travel bag which can be re-used over and over. I've actually already bought one of these sets for someone for Christmas as I think it's the perfect prezzie and for £12.50 you cant go wrong! 
If your looking more for stocking fillers then Soap & Glory have quite a lot of choice this year but my favourite has to be the 'A Christmas Quacker' bath bomb! This super-size fizz-a-ball bath fizzer has the most amazing festive fragrance which fills your bathroom with the scent of Christmas, and once the bomb dissolves it reveals a hidden floating duck soap inside, how amazing is that!!

Something very exciting for Soap & Glory's Christmas collection this year is that they collaborated with Wonder Woman on some of their gift sets which let's face it - is pretty epic! Their 'Wonderful Face' Palette (£12.50) is just one of the amazing gifts that's on offer ( I need the brush set in my life asap though), the palette opens up to reveal four eye shadows, two blushers, one bronzer and a highlighter, you will be gorgeous and glowy all festive season long!

Do you have your eye on anything from Soap and Glory's Christmas collection beaut's? Or are you gifting anyone any of these prezzies? I'd love to know!

nopin

*This post contains gifted items from Soap & Glory, all opinions are my own!

Whiffy Wax Christmas Home Fragrance Gift Set

Hey beaut's!

If you have a home fragrance lover on your hands then the Whiffy Wax Christmas Home Fragrance Gift Set could be the perfect Christmas gift for them! These sets come in lots of different fragrances but their most festive ones are Twigs and Berries, Festive Gingerbread, Winter Fairy and Mulled Wine and Berries which is the one I have! 
If your new to Whiffy Wax they literally sell everything that will make your house smell incredible, theres wax melts, wax burners, candles, room sprays, reed defusers, and carpet fresheners with so many scents to choose from. What I love about Whiffy Wax is that all of their products are made entirely by hand using only handpicked quality ingredients, no machinery is used during the manufacturing process and the products use recyclable eco-friendly materials and soy wax.
The Whiffy Wax Christmas Home Fragrance Gift Set in Mulled Wine and Berries (£12.00) contains a 175g carpet shaker, 100ml room spray and 2 x 1oz wax melts - the perfect trio to get your entire home smelling of all things festive! This Mulled Wine and Berries scent really is to die for, it smells of mulled wine, apple, sweet berries, brandy, orange, clove, ginger, cinnamon and vanilla, it's literally all the scents I associate with Christmas wrapped up in one, it's divine! As always with Whiffy Wax the quality if the wax melts is amazing, you literally need a small chunk of the wax to pop into your burner and that's enough to provide a big ole scent throw, I wouldn't say their overpowering but they do certainly pack a punch. The room spray provides the same gorgeous scent just in bursts as and when you need it, perfect for a quick spritz before someone comes over. The carper shaker can just be sprinkled over your carpets, left for 15  minutes then it can be hoovered up and your left with not only a burst of fragrance but it really pulls any bad odours out from your carpet!
The Whiffy Wax Christmas Home Fragrance Gift Sets are £12.00 and can be found HERE, you could also use my code HAYLEY20 to grab yourself 20% off all products, that would make the sets just £9.60, making it a budget friendly gift too!

nopin

*This post contains gifted items from Whiffy Wax, all opinions are my own!