AD - Summer Bedroom Inspo

Hey beaut's!

I love switching up my decor throughout the seasons, and Summer is the perfect time to get things feeling lighter and brighter, especially in the old boudoir! So with Summer in mind I thought I'd put together a little post of - mostly easy - ways to update your bedroom for the current season, I hope this gives you a little inspiration beaut's!

How To Keep Your Home Warm For Less

There’s nothing worse than getting up in the morning or coming home from work to a cold home. It’s quite frankly miserable to have to wear multiple layers and wrap up in blankets in your own house. While it may seem like an endless battle between keeping your home cosy and trying to keep a lid on your energy bills, there are a number of simple tricks that can make a huge difference to your home’s temperature without breaking the bank! 

Here are some top tips for heating your home and saving money at the same time… 

Curtains 

If you don’t have curtains around your home currently, having them installed is one way to help insulate your rooms. They can be used to your advantage to keep heat in and stop cold air from getting in. Keep your curtains wide open when its sunny to allow the sun and heat to stream in, and firmly shut in the evenings to insulate the warmth already in your room. 

Investing in some long and thick draped curtains that go right to the floor and reach the ends of your windows will ensure no heat escapes or cold air enters underneath. Curtains are a useful temporary solution for homes that may have older window panes or doors with cracks where draughts can creep in.

Smart thermostats 

Another tip is to make the most of advances in boiler and central heating technology. Smart thermostats can be found in many homes across the UK and you should make the most of this. Smart thermostats can be programmed to turn on at certain times of the day or can be triggered by temperature so they kick in or turn off once your home hits a certain temperature. 

Most new boilers nowadays will come with a smart thermostat that can be controlled via a handy app on your phone. BOXT are leading providers and installers of combi boilers in the UK, offering top of the range Worcester Bosch and Vaillant boilers to homes and businesses. Their top priority is customer service and they are renowned for having boilers installed with minimal hassle, as soon as the next day. 

Don’t believe the old wives tale that leaving your central heating on low for longer periods of time is more economical. You should only use your boiler when it’s needed by setting it to come on around half an hour before you get up in the morning or arrive home from work. Doing this means your home is cosy as soon as you walk in but also allows you to avoid overspending on energy bills by having your boiler running constantly. If you have pets, you may want to set your thermostat to turn on for a short period in the middle of the day to make sure your home doesn’t become too chilly for them.

Keep your radiators clear 

Next, try to avoid blocking the heat from your radiators with any furniture. Radiators may not be the best looking items in your home, but placing sofas or other pieces of furniture in front of them will leave you spending more than necessary to keep your home warm. Leaving clothes or towels hung on your radiators to dry will also mean they absorb the heat that should be keeping you warm. Try to keep the areas around your radiator as free as possible to allow the heat to flow freely.

Insulate water tanks and pipes

If your home doesn’t have a combi boiler installed like most do these days, you should try to keep your water tank and pipes as insulated as possible. Minimise the amount of heat lost from your tank by using specially made insulation jackets and make sure your tank is installed in a space that isn’t prone to draughts. 

Pipe lagging can also make a difference by preventing heat from escaping on the journey from your boiler to the radiators around your home. Foam lagging can be found in any DIY store and is easy to fit. 

Draught-proof your home 

If you live in an older or period home, draught-proofing is essential to stop your energy bills from going through the roof. Check around your floorboards, window panes, door frames and more for any cracks or gaps where cold air can creep in. There are plenty of DIY options for preventing draughts like floorboard filler, rubber window seals, under-door draught excluders and more. You will notice a difference in the overall temperature of your home by stopping any pesky draughts from finding their way in. 

Heat reflectors

A final but still important tip for keeping a warm home for less is to place thin sheets of foil behind your radiators. This reflects the heat produced by your radiators into the room, rather than letting it hit the wall and be absorbed. 

*AD - This is a collaborative post.

Should I Go Vegan and Switching Up My Diet!?

Hey beaut's!

Becoming vegan or being vegan seems to be so popular these days and I must admit I hadn't even heard of the term vegan or veganism until a couple of years back, currently I'm not vegan and as far as I'm aware I'm not gluten free or dairy free either but this is all something I definitely want to look into more, mainly because this year I've had a few problems with my digestion and suffer quite badly with acid reflux! I actually take tablets everyday now for my acid reflux and it's the pain and discomfort of having acid reflux that has really made me want to think about food and what I fuel my body with! I have already made a few changes to my diet - granted their not huge changes - but hey their still changes non the less and it's really made me think about what I want to do going forward!

If you’re in the US and wondering if changing your food ways and becoming vegan would work for you and also be beneficial to your health then you’re in luck because Health Labs can really help a sister (or brother hehe) out! HealthLabs.com* offers fast, private, and affordable lab testing that can be scheduled and ordered online with your results coming back in just a couple of days, theres no need for fasting before hand either and the tests are literally administered in approximately 10 minutes or less which is fab!

 Theres a number of vegan testing panels to choose from on the HealthLabs site that cover a number of different things but the test I'm most drawn too is the 'Should I Be Vegan?' test. This is a basic vegan test that tests you for 18 meat and dairy products, this is great if you've been experiencing or suffering from on going stomach pains, sluggishness, headaches, or an overall feeling of unwellness because if it proves to be a positive result it can pin-point exactly what it is that your intolerant or allergic of! To be honest I'm really interested in the dairy side of things, it's something I've always wondered about because I've noticed I can get quite headachy after eating cheese sometimes so this is definitely something I'm looking into! The vegan tests start at $149 but the 'Should I Be Vegan?' test I'm interested in comes in at $199 but you can get that a little bit cheaper if you use my 25% off code HAY25. I think it's totally worth the price if it's going to make a dramatic improvement to your health. If your already vegan then fear not because HealthLabs also have tests you to take to check for possible nutritional deficiencies that you may have, this will help you know whether you need more or less of a specific vegan friendly food item which again will benefit your health, pretty awesome hey!

I'd love to know if your vegan and how you find it? Has it made a huge difference to your health? Or are you considering it like I am? I'd love to know!  

*This post is in collaboration with Health Labs, 

all opinions are my own.

Cafés & Resturants I Want To Visit In London!

*Picture above is the yummy chocolate cake I baked*
Hey beaut's!

The food scene in London is literally fantastic these days, it's full of quirky restaurants, vegan friendly places, amazing cafes and coffee shops and if your into your sweet treats theres plenty of places to get your sugar fix too! I'm hoping to go to London in the next few months or so - so thought I'd pop up a post of a few places I'd love to visit and dine in - HINT... it's very cake and bakery heavy he he!

Peggy Porschen - Arhh this place just looks absolutely beautiful, if you haven't seen the most beautiful pictures of this place on Instagram and are wondering what it is - it's a chic bakery featuring creative cupcakes, fancy cakes and other sweet treats, plus tea and champagne, whats not to love. The bakery itself is decorated beautifully, it's pink with flowers everywhere and I'm actually in love with their vintage vibes and pastel shades, it's so picturesque and definitely somewhere I'd LOVE to stop off at for tea and cake!

Crumbs and Doilies - Shock another bakery he he! I actually stumbled across someone called Cupcake Jemma on YouTube a couple of years back when I was getting into baking, Jemma does some incredible recipes which are really easy to follow along and now I'm a huge fan of hers! After watching her recipe video's for a while I realised she had her own bakery in SOHO London called Crumbs & Doilies and ever since I found out I've wanted to visit her bakery so badly!

Duck & Waffle - I think I just want to eat in the Duck & Waffle restaurant because it's 40 floors up and I imagine the views of London are absolutely breath taking, it's also open 24 hours a day so you can literally dine whenever suits you! I've checked out their menu on line and everything sounds immense, I'm definitely tempted by their breakfast waffles too!

 Cereal Killer Café - Ummm a cafe for cereal, can I move in please he he! The Cereal Killer Café looks so epic and really retro, they serve over 120 different types of cereal (no that isn't a typo, they really serve over 120 different types of cereal) from all over the world with 30 types of milk your literally spoilt for choice.

Purezza - My best friend Kate from the blog katescloset recently visited Purezza - a vegan restaurant that serves pizza with their very own vegan cheese! Kate absolutely loved it and her pictures of the place look incredible so of course it's now on my list of places I'd love to eat in whilst in London!

Elan Cafe - Finally we have the Elan Cafe, another place that has my favourite things within it - tea, gorgeous cakes and beautiful instagram worthy decor! I think it might be quite similar to Peggy Porschen but the cake loving side of me needs to pay this place a visit!  

What food places can you recommend I visit in London beaut's! I'd love to know!



* This is a collaborative post.

My Beauty Advent Calandar Top Picks 2016

Hey beaut's!

Theres just 90 sleep's until Christmas and I cant tell you how excited I am, every things becoming that little bit festive now with websites starting to get their Christmas gifts in and Tesco's have got loads of their Christmas chocolates out so I thought I could just about get away with talking about all things advent calendars today, I done a post like this last year so I knew I wanted to follow suit and do one this year with my top picks! I've narrowed it down to just 10 even though their are sooooo many advents this year to choose from, I've chosen 9 beauty calenders and one candle calender, I hope you enjoy!

What Is It - Benefit Girl O’Clock Rock ’12 Days’ Calendar 2016

What's Inside-  Benefit always do amazing advent calendars and gifts for Christmas and this years 12 days of Christmas calendar really doesn't disappoint, although I do think it looks a bit young and it's not all that festive but hey ho. Behind all 12 windows is one of Benefit's best selling products in miniature including a mini Hoola Bronzer, mini they're Real Mascara plus so much more, all of which are perfect little samplers if you haven't tried them before or if you have they are a great size for popping into your handbag for when your on the go.

How Much Is It - £34.50 

It's Available From- 14th October on the the benefit website HERE.

What Is It - bareMinerals Countdown To Gorgeous Advent Calendar 2016

What's Inside - I believe this is bareMinerals very first advent calendar and it certainly looks the part, behind all 24 doors is a good mix of their lip glosses, lip balms, eye shadows, blushes, mascara's and even their skin veils, they've done an amazing job with this one.

How Much Is It - £75.00

It's Available From - 1st November on the bareMinerals website HERE.

What Is It - Ciate Mini Mani Month Advent Calendar 2016

What's Inside - Every year Ciate bring out their Mini Mani Month and if your into your nail polishes then this will be right up your street. The calendar is filled with individual boxes that contain 18 mini paint pots and 1 full size including 4 new and exclusive shades! Inside one box you’ll find a special limited edition surprise, alongside 1 mini treatment and 2 magical nail toppers, PLUS a sneak peek of a new nail care superhero! Sound amazing right, I'm also loving Ciates festive packaging this year, it's so pretty!

How Much Is It - £50.00

It's Available From - The Ciate Advent is available NOW on the Ciate website HERE.

What Is It - ASOS Beauty Advent Calendar 2016

What's Inside - Oh hello ASOS Advent Calendar... I was so excited when I heard about this. I mean how cool is it that ASOS have an advent calendar this year! Within the ASOS Advent theres a good mix of skincare, make-up and hair care products from brands such as Dermalogica, Elemis, Philosophy, Nip and Fab and Yes To, this is going to be a great all rounder for all ages I think and it's contents is worth a whopping £175!

How Much Is It - £50.00

It's Available From - The ASOS Advent is available NOW on the ASOS website HERE.

What Is It - The Body Shop 24 Happy Days Deluxe Advent Calender

What's Inside - The Body Shop are spoiling us beauty advent calender lovers with not one but three advent calenders to choose from this year, ohhhhhh! I love the design of this red and pink deluxe one which contains treats from the body shops bestsellers to brand new body care, skincare, makeup and accessories. The Body shops calendars do tend to be more on the pricey side but I think if your wanting to splurge on a calender this year then The Body Shop is the way to go because their products are just amazing!

How Much Is It - £80.00 (worth £127.50)

It's Available From - The Body Shop 24 Happy Days Deluxe Advent Calender is available now HERE.

What Is It - Boots No7 Advent Calendar 2016

What's Inside - I'm loving the look of this No7 Advent, it has 25 windows which each contain a mix of mini and full size popular No7 makeup and skincare products, rumour has it that theres even makeup brushes and tools inside too.

How Much Is It -  £40.00 (Worth £150)

It's Available From - No date as of yet but it will be available very soon at Boots.

What Is It - Tanya Burr 12 Days Of Christmas Beauty Advent Calender

What's Inside - The gorgeous Tanya Burr is back this year with her second advent calendar, shes stuck with the '12 days of christmas' theme and behind each window you'll find 12 extra special limited edition Tanya Burr treats so you can shimmer and sparkle on every occasion. The products within this are mostly glitters so think glitter nail polish, glitter pigments, glitter liner and sparkly glosses!

How Much Is It - £25.00 (Currently on offer for £15.00)

It's Available From - The Tanya Burr 12 Days Of Christmas Beauty Advent Calender is available now on the Superdrug website HERE.

What Is It - Makeup Revolution Beauty Advent Calendar

What's Inside - As you may know already I'm a HUGE Makeup Revolution fan so when I saw they where launching another advent calender this year I was soooo excited. This years calendar contains 25 windows, yes 25 windows which means your get a present on Christmas day too, theres eye shadows, lipsticks, lip glosses and even makeup brushes to find and I think it looks pretty cool to be honest! 

How Much Is It - £40.00 (Currently on offer for £30.00)

It's Available From - The Makeup Revolution Beauty Advent Calendar is available now on the Superdrug website HERE.

What Is It - NYX Beauty Advent Calender

What's Inside - Unfortunately I couldn't get a clear image of this yet but yes NYX are bringing out and black suitcase style advent calender which looks absolutely amazing! It will include long lasting lip colours and eye shadows plus more, I'm so excited for this! 

How Much Is It - £60.00

It's Available From - No date as of yet but it will be available very soon at Boots.

What Is It - Yankee Candle Party Pavilion Calendar

What's Inside - Now I know this isnt a beauty calendar but seeing as I'm a crazy candle lady theres no way I couldn't include this one by Yankee Candle. Inside this pavilion theres 20 Tea Light Candles and 4 Votives with scents including Christmas Memories, Winter Glow, Christmas Cookie, Snowflake Cookie, Bundle Up, All is Bright, Festive Cocktail, Macaron Treats, and Star Anise & Orange, what a fab selection!

How Much Is It - £29.99

It's Available From - The Yankee Candle Party Pavilion Calendar is available now HERE.

Let me know what you think of these advent calendars beaut's... Will you be buying one of these this year?? I'd love to know.

Baking | Pretzel M&M Cookies Recipe

Hey beaut's!

If theres one thing I love to do in the kitchen it's bake, so when I saw Tanya Burr's recent baking video I took total inspiration from it and decided to do my own spin on her Peanut Butter, Pretzel, M&M Cookies, I actually hate peanut butter so I had to change quite a few things up within the recipe so I thought I would share my recipe with you all today just in case their are any peanut butter haters out their like me!

What You Will Need

1 cup of butter (227 grams)

1 cup of light brown sugar

1 cup of caster sugar

3 cups of self-raising flour

2 eggs

1 tablespoon of vanilla

¾ teaspoon of bicarbonate of soda

1 cup of broken up pretzel pieces

1 cup of M&M's

How To

1. Firstly pre heat your oven too gas mark 4 and line a couple of flat baking sheets with greaseproof paper.

2. Then in a large mixing bowl, cream together your butter and both your caster sugar and light brown sugar until it's smooth and creamy, then pop in your eggs and vanilla and mix again.

3. Once all of your wet ingredients are well combined pop in your bicarbonate of soda and start adding the flour gradually, don't just throw it in all at once otherwise it will be so hard to mix together and your likely to get covered in flour in the process he he.

4. Then it's time to pop in your M&M's and your pretzels and give everything a good mix, to break up my pretzels into random sized pieces I just popped some into a sandwhich bag and lightly pushed down on them with my hands, you can use a rolling pin for this but I find if your too heavy handed the sandwhich bag is likely to split so using my hand worked out better for me!

5. Roll your dough into balls and place them on your baking trays spaced apart, I did space mine quite far apart but they still spread massive and ended up touching each other so just bare in mind that the bigger your dough balls are the bigger your cookies will spread.

6. Pop them into the oven and bake for around 8-10 minutes. When you remove your cookies they will probably still look quite dough like but that's completely normal, as long as they are a nice golden colour and slightly browned around the edges they are done and will firm up as they cool.

And there you have it, very easy but very yummy Pretzel M&M Cookies! These tasted so good, I'm a huge fan of foods that combine sweet and salty and that's exactly what you get from these, the sweetness of the cookie dough is divine then you get the pops of chocolate throughout from the M&M's and the crunch and saltiness comes from the pretzels, they are so divine! My mixture actually made around 20 cookies however you could get more or less depending on how small or large you roll your dough balls, either way your left with gorgeous cookies!

Do let me know if you give these yummy cookies a whirl beaut's, I'd love to know!

New 'Riviera Escape' Yankee Candle Reviewed

Hi beaut's!

I recently popped into my local garden centre for a bit of a nosey about and of course I gravitated towards the Yankee Candle section. I soon became excited because I could see that they had a whole new collection on sale that has been released for Spring and Summer named the Riviera Escape Collection, so of course I had to pick a couple of the new scents up to try starting with Riviera Escape!

Riviera Escape (£1.80) is described as 'a coastal scent of glittering promenades, full with hillsides of beautiful blossoms glowing in the sun' and my goodness this screams summer to me! If your into slightly aquatic scents with hints of floral then I think you'll love Riviera Escape, I get that fresh sea air vibe from this mixed with floral blossoms which I think is such a nice combination and makes the scent so fresh and clean which I love! I would say the scent throw of  Riviera Escape is medium, it's definitely not overpowering but it still fills the house with it's gorgeous fresh scent very quickly. 

All the Yankee Candle votive/samplers claim to provide up to 15 hours of fragrance and Riviera Escape certainly really lasted really well. I actually used my votive over three days and got a good kick of scent each time. I'll definitely be buying this little beauty again!

Have you tried any of the new Yankee Candle Collection beaut's? Which new scent is your favourite? I'd love to know.

Easy Creme Egg Cookies ♥

Hey beaut's!

I haven't done a baking blog post in absolutely ages which is quite surprising since I'm always baking at home, but today I'm back with an extremely scrumptious recipe that's easy to do and goes hand in hand with Easter - Creme Egg Cookies!

What You Will Need

200g butter

300g caster sugar

325g self-raising flour

1 egg

5 regular size Creme Eggs

How To

1. Firstly pre heat your oven too 180c or gas mark 5 and line a couple of baking sheets with greaseproof paper.

2. Then in a large mixing bowl, cream together your butter and caster sugar until it's pale and creamy, then pop in your egg and mix again.

3. Once all of your wet ingredients are well combined start adding the flour gradually, don't just throw it in all at once otherwise it will be so hard to mix together and your likely to get covered in flour in the process he he.

4. Then it's time to roughly chop up your Creme Eggs into different sized chunks, this is definitely easier to do if your Creme Eggs are at room temperature. Once your happy with your chopped up Creme Egg's add them to your cookie dough and mix again until the Creme Eggs are well incorporated through the cookie dough. You can actually pop in more Creme Eggs than 5 if you like which is what I wish I would of done, the more you pop in the more yummyness you'll get running through your cookies.

5. Roll your dough into balls and place them on your baking trays spaced apart, I did space mine quite far apart but they still spread massive and ended up touching each other so just bare in mind that the bigger your dough balls are the bigger they will spread.

6. Pop them into the oven and bake for around 8-10 minutes. When you remove your cookies they will probably still look quite dough like but that's completely normal, as long as they are a nice golden colour they are done and will firm up as they cool.

And there you have it, very easy but very yummy Creme Egg cookies! These are so nice because not only do you get the chunks of dairy milk running through the cookies but the goo from the inside of the Creme Eggs ends up melting and spreading through the cookies  giving you a slight chewy caramel consistency that actually tastes of Creme Egg, it's amazing! 

Do let me know what you'll be baking over Easter beaut's and if you give these yummy cookies a whirl, I'd love to know!

Yankee Candle 'Fireside Treats' Votive Review ♥

Hey beaut's!

I recently popped into my local garden centre to check out their spectacular Christmas department and of course I gravitated towards the Yankee Candle section, there was a few of my favourite Yankee's that I had been meaning to pick up for while so I decided to get them this time around, one of which was Fireside Treats which I actually bought three of, I know I'm terrible aren't I he he.

Fireside Treats is one of my all time favourite Yankee Candle scents, its available all year round but I think its definitely best suited during the Autumn and Winter so I tend to stock up at this time of year hence why I picked three up this time around he he. Yankee Candle describe Fireside Treats as 'The joys of camp ... mesmerised by the fire, singing and laughing, while toasting marshmallows to rich, gooey perfection!' and it really is, it smells exactly like your toasting marshmallows by the fire on a cold crisp day, its soooo nice and very realistic. If you like mild sweet scents with a touch of smokiness and warmth then you honestly need to try Fireside Treats because I think you'll love it. The scent throw is medium, it's definitely not overpowering but fills the house with it's gorgeous scent very quickly without being sickly what so ever.

All the Yankee Candle votive/samplers claim to provide up to 15 hours of fragrance and Fireside Treats certainly always lasts me really well, I think because the scent really lingers and fills the entire house you don't have to keep it alight for so long so you can certainly get a good few uses out of it that's for sure.

Have you tried Fireside Treats before beaut's? What did you think? I'd love to know.

Things I Love About Autumn! ♥

Hey beaut's!

We are nearly at the end of September which can only mean one thing... Autumn is well and truly here, and this excites me so much! So today I thought I'd put together and different post for me and my blog and just share all the things that I love about Autumn, enjoy! 

Candles, Candles and more blooming Candles 
 At this time of the year you may as well just call me the crazy candle lady because I get obsessed, my house is already full of them he he! I just love how they make your house feel so cosy and I just love all the spicy scents as they are so warming and give that wintry feel that I love.

Gold Smokey Eyes 
 My Urban Decay Naked Palette literally gets used to death during Autumn and in particular the shade Half Baked, its just such a gorgeous gold that I love to use when creating a gold smokey eye.

Berry Lips
Autumnal makeup wouldn't be complete without that berry lip, I have a few berry lippies that I love for this time of the year but my favourite at the moment is my most recent purchase of Revlon's Moisture Stain in Parisian Passion, I'm wearing it HERE on Instagram and have been addicted to it.

Lush Baths
I've now kissed goodbye to having showers and said helllloooo to the bath tub again, yup bath season is back and I cant wait to stock up on lots more Lush goodies, especially the Christmas ones he he.

Crunchy Autumn Leaves
One of my most favourite things about autumn is the crunchy leaves that are all different shades of orange, I think they look super pretty and the inner child in me still loves walking through them all and kicking them everywhere when I'm walking the pooch and also picking huge handfuls up and throwing them everywhere ha ha, it's so fun and satisfying.

Hot Chocolate
  I literally only drink Hot Chocolates throughout Autumn and Winter, they aren't an all year round type of drink for me so I'm super happy we are now into hot choccy season, bring on the marshmallows and whipped cream ha ha.

Snugly Jumpers, Boots, Hats and Scarves
 Arhhh yes cosy clothes are my favourite, I hate summer clothes when everything is bright and in your face, give me a huge thick jumper in a burgundy hue any day.

Halloween
I get so into Halloween, I usually decorate the lounge all spooky and autumnal and me and Mike buy pumpkins to carve every year without fail, we actually went to a pumpkin patch last year which was amazing and I'd definitely recommend going if you can. I also watch Hocus Pocus over and over whilst chomping on toffee apples, arhhh I cant wait.

Twinkly Lights
I go twinkly light crazy at this time of year because I think they make a room look and feel so cosy, I literally drape them anywhere and everywhere ha ha.

Gingerbread
I love gingerbread men, I always make my own and do loads of batches over Autumn and Winter, the smell of them baking is just one of the best smells and the fact they taste amazing afterwards is just a huge bonus he he.

Movie Nights
To be honest I love movie nights all throughout the year but at this time of the year I love it even more because you can just get really cosy in your thick pj's and slippers, get all your cosy blankets out, have a hot chocolate by your side and watch loads of festive movies, and yes, I have already started watching Christmas films he he.

The feeling that Christmas is approaching
 I love all things festive and the feeling that Christmas is approaching is amazing! I love it when all the shops get their gifts in and decorations, arhhh I seriously cant wait! 

What are you excited for around this time of the year beaut's? I'd love to know.

Don't forget to to enter my GIVEAWAY to be in with a chance of winning a Halloween Candle Bundle! Click HERE to enter!