I hoped you all had a lovely Christmas! I feel very grateful for what I've received this year and thought I'd share with you all.





I received from my parents the Miss Dior 'Blooming Bouquet' perfume, this was the one present I did know about because I chose it. It smells gorgeous and I think the bottle is so pretty. I also received a MAC eyeshadow quad with shades 'Naked Lunch', a neutral frost finish and 'Blackberry', a matte purple. My mum chose two so I can also get a couple for myself - I'm really after a burgundy shadow when I go shopping.



Another makeup item I received that was a complete surprise was the Benefit Besties set. It comes with some of my already favourite items such as High Beam and Gimme Brow and some I haven't tried before but I'm very excited to such as the Hoola Bronzer and the They're Real mascara and lip product.





I also received a couple of CD's for Christmas. From my parents I received James Arthur's new album Back From The Edge and from my auntie I received Little Mix's Glory Days album. I'm loving these both a lot so definitely expect a couple of reviews soon. I also received the Blu-Ray Friends box set from my parents which I'm so excited about because I love Friends, I watch it all the time.




I also received some body products such as the Zoella Beauty 'Spa In A Jar' set. I was in Superdrug with my mum a few weeks ago and mentioned how I love her Christmas packaging (so much rose gold and burgundy!!) so I was really happy to receive this. From my friend Rebekah I received a Body Shop set which smells amazing. My friend Bethany got me a set of Nivea lip balms (she knows how much I love lip balms :)) and a phone charging bracelet which I'm looking forward to trying.
My nan got me a few bits including a set of Jack Wills lip balms and nail files. I also received quite a lot of chocolate including a couple of dark chocolate oranges - my fave!





This Christmas I asked for some makeup brushes although I was unsure what brand I wanted. I was really happy that my auntie got me a Real Techniques Eye Set and from my grandparents I received a Happy Jackson set, their brushes are so pretty with the monochrome stripes! From my auntie I got a Hollister T-Shirt and my parents got me a burgundy shirt from New Look. I love this because I've wanted a new shirt for ages, particularly burgundy because I think a shirt is the only item of clothing I don't own in burgundy?? I have a burgundy obsession okay.


I also want to say a huge thank you to my friend Shann from SimplyShann who surprised me with the lovliest Christmas package including an MUA palette, Makeup Revolution lipstick and the cosiest socks EVERRR.





My main present which was a complete shock is my new Rose Gold GHD straighteners. I'm so excited to use these and they are so pretty with the rose gold! Sticking with the rose gold theme I also received a rose gold hairbrush and some rose gold stationery too.

'Tis the season for getting out the shimmery gold shadows and glittery golden polishes.

I love a good gold eye look all year round but I feel like it's very seasonably fitting this time of year, especially by pairing it with some gold nail polish. Here's the golds I'm getting out to wear this Christmas season!


You're probably aware of my love of Urban Decay shadows, they are so gorgeous and pigmented. The palettes include a variety of shades but for a Christmassy eye look I take the shade 'half baked' which is found in both the Naked and Naked 2 palettes, all over the lid. Purchasing half baked in the palettes is useful because it comes with lots of complimentary shades (Tease in Naked 2 is a great transition shade) but you can also pick it up singular too.


Before I discovered Urban Decay's palettes I loved the gold shade from Maybelline's Nudes palette. It's surprisingly really pigmented and began my love of gold eye shadow. It's the perfect alternative to a high end palette because it comes with lots of shades that compliment the gold really well too. Rimmel's new Magnif'eyes palette is gorgeously gold toned with lots of orange and pink toned shadows that work really well together. Because gold tones are so in right now you are spoilt for choice in drugstores of palettes perfect for the season.

I'll probably be pairing my golden eye look with a nude lip, perhaps Bobbi Brown's Neutral Rose luxe lipstick (the packaging is gold after all!). Of course, if you felt really festive a red lip would be very fitting - I suggest SEVENTEEN's Rioja Your World Mega Matte.




Usually I just paint my nails with a Maybelline colour show nude polish, but for the season I decided to go a little different and hunted out my golden polish shades. I took a SEVENTEEN gold shade which is probably way too old but I don't buy nail polish often and gave my nails a couple of coats of this. I then took a gold No.7 Glitter Effects polish and coated my thumbs with this. I'm very impressed with both of these polishes because I've had them on a few days now and neither of them have chipped at all.

For today's Blogmas post I will be sharing with you the music I have been listening to lately. Just as I did last year I will be including some Christmas favourites and some non-Christmas songs I've listened to lately.

 What have you been listening to lately?

 

The day I post this I have finished my first term of year 11. It's been the most stressful but fun term I've ever had and I thought I'd reflect about it on my blog.

I began Year 11 unsure where I fit in my year and soon enough found a great friendship group that for the first time I feel fully included in. When I look back at how I felt at the end of year 10 I'm very glad that I feel much more happier and confident now. At the end of year 10 I just wanted to get year 11 over and done with but now I've changed my mind, I'm not looking forward to leaving at all!
There has always been ups and downs in my friendships this year, there will always be those people who seemingly look for drama at every oppotunity, but I'm at that point now that I don't really care about what those who don't matter say or think.

Workwise year 11 has typically been the hardest year so far. I did my mock exams in December - I'll see how those went next term - but I feel like I did as well as I can. I applied for college this term and decided which A-Levels I will be taking, hopefully English Combined, Modern History and French. Two of them I'm very excited about and one I'm... working on. I feel like I need English for the type of career I plan on having and I'm just hoping it's a lot better at college than it is at high school.

Our school held 'mock interviews' which were actually so helpful, the experience made me feel a lot more relaxed about my college interview which will happen next term! I took a few of my blog posts along with me to my interview and I was really pleased with how they went down. I've always been a little scared about telling people about my blog and getting a good response really makes it worth it.

Outside of school, this term many exciting things happened. I went to see McFly at the beginning of the term in September and then met Tom Fletcher AND HE READ MY BLOG!! I still can't believe this happened and it's definitely my proudest achievement to date. I also went to see a recording of The Voice Kids after my mocks in December which was an amazing experience. I've also got to know some amazing blogging friends this year and I'm feeling very inspired about blogging right now which I haven't actually been the past few months - I'm so ready to blog in 2017!

I hope you enjoyed the different style of post from me as I've never done anything like this before and I'll update you in Easter as I enter the busiest term ever!

I'm really proud of how far I've come this year in the blogging world - I've gained over 500 followers on Bloglovin' and over 1100 on Twitter, made some amazing friends, developed my photography skills and written some posts I'm really pleased with. However that's not to say I don't have ways I want to improve in 2017 - I do! Here's a few goals I want to achieve by the end of 2017...

Use Instagram More - I'm still getting used to Instagram, so often I'll run out of photos for it, or just forget about posting on it altogether. I get bored of my Instagram theme so easily and that puts me off posting too. I'm working on it, but I wince when I read that bloggers should post on Instagram "once or twice a day" because here's me remembering to post once or twice a week! By the end of 2017 I want to feel confident that I post frequently enough on Instagram.

Join in more Twitter chats - I've always enjoyed Twitter chats when I've participated in them, however I don't clear time and join them often enough. I really want to make sure I do more next year, so please let me know your favourites!

Post more often on my blog - A 2016 blogging goal of mine was to post at least 5 times every month and I did succeed in that, however I think this year I would like to set myself the challenge of posting at least twice every week. I really want to stick to a Monday and Thursday posting schedule, it will be difficult but I'd love to do it.

Write and photograph in advance - My post is supposed to be going up on a Monday evening but it hasn't been written - the sky is gloomy so my lighting is terrible and I'm running round trying to do homework so the post doesn't end up getting published on time. I know I can avoid this if I write and take photos for posts at the weekend, especially in the winter months when it's impossible for me to take photos by the time I'm home from school. It would take so much stress of blogging so I really want to do this more.

Comment on other blogs more - I check out the Bloglovin' app all the time so I'm always reading new blogposts but I've found recently I don't leave comments as much as I used to. I really want to get back to commenting as much as I used to because I really enjoy spreading the blogging love.

Take blog photos I'm fully happy with - I've improved in blog photography a lot since January but (I'm hoping it's just the bleak winter sky taking it's toll) I've not been feeling too happy with my photos lately. By this time next year I hope I can look at my photos from now and see how much I've improved - I look forward to it!

MAC's limited edition holiday collection, The Nutcracker Collection, sold out unbelivably fast this year and I had given up hope of getting an item until I was browsing MAC's website late on a Friday night and noticed they had restocked the Nude Lip Bag.

The set comes with a lipstick, pro-longwear lip pencil and vamplify lipgloss along with the stunning makeup bag too. It retails for £29 which is very good quality to say you get £49 worth of products inside.



I chose the Nude Lip Bag because it comes with 3 great wearable products. The lipstick included in the set, 'Magic Spell', is the only one of the three products to be limited to the set only. It's a cremesheen finish which although I don't like as much as mattes or satins it is a really nice everyday lipstick.




The bullet makes the shade look a bit darker than 'Velvet Teddy' - think more a 'Whirl' sort of shade - but because it's a cremesheen finish it isn't overly pigmented and isn't that dark. I think I'll get a lot of use of the lipstick because it's a lovely nude shade.


The lip pencil 'In Control' is my second pencil from MAC, although it is a pro-longwear one. I have heard things about these being much harder to sharpen so we will just see how I get on, but the lip pencil itself I am very impressed with. It glides on like a dream and is a really nice pink-toned nude shade. It feels so nice to use and I look forward to trying it with a few different lipsticks I own - I have already used it with my Bobbi Brown 'Neutral Rose' lipstick because they are a perfect match.





The final item the set comes with is the Vamplify lip gloss which I was most excited to try because I've never used anything like it. It reminds me of a liquid lipstick in how pigmented it is, yet is also like a lipgloss because it dries glossy and you can feel it while you wear it on your lips. I'm not even the biggest lip gloss lover but I like the Vamplify gloss because it's really easy to apply with the applicator. A lip gloss also makes a change to all the matte lips I've loved lately - it's a nice break!



The set comes with the shade 'Tuned In' a rosey brown shade that's darker than what I'd usually go for but I like it for this time of year. After trying this I'm certainly tempted to try some of MAC's other lip products than just their lipsticks!



Did you manage to pick up any of MAC's holiday items this year? Perhaps you are hoping to receive some this Christmas - I'd love to hear!