2014 - Memory Favourites

As i haven't really gotten enough over-all favourites of the year that i haven't already mentions a billion times on this blog, i thought that i would switch things up a bit and do my favourite memories of the year, rather than my favourite products or 'things' as the memories mean so much more to me.

First up, on the 19th of March of this year, i went to Birmingham's HMV Institute to go and see my favourite band perform. It was a really special evening as i took my mum to see them too as she is a fan also. We had a really amazing view from the balcony with our snazzy reserved seats and it was definitely one of the best days of the year. I even managed to meet them after the show too!!

Next up i travelled down to Bristol on the 24th of May to attend the Dot to Dot festival. We only went for one of the days and we saw Young Kato, Rayleigh Richie and Indiana before seeing The Midnight Beast again. It was such a good and intimate show and it was one of my favourites. 

We also met them outside too and there was no barriers so we could just chat to the boys, they were so friendly and ill never forget this day!!

Next up i raised lots of money for Cancer Research by doing the Race For Life with my best friend! We walked it as running miles just isn't our fortè unfortunately. It was such an amazing experience though and i would definitely do it again in memory of my Nan and Granddad<3

On the 18th of July i travelled down to Bath to attend The Midnight Beast's DRTY WKND Tour! This was probably my favourite show of theirs to date! There was no barrier from us and the stage so we really had the best time! I got to meet the boys again and one of them recognised me and knew my name, I'm a lucky bunny!

I also met Sally (Stefan's mum) and she was the sweetest lady! So lovely to meet her. I also met Ashley from the DHC trio who supported the boys on tour!

Next up was Summer in The City in London's Alexandra Palace in the middle of August this year! Or Ally Pally as everyone seemed to call it haha!

This was such an amazing experience as i am such a huge fan of Youtube and its culture/community! This was my second time attending this event and i met my favourite two boys, Dan and Phil again! The stage show was so so amazing and i loved everything about the event!!

I would definitely attend again like a shot if i was able to!

Next up, me and Chloe went to see the Lady herself, Lady Gaga on the 15th of October! This was my second time seeing her and the whole production of the artRAVE was so good! It was a really long show and we were super close and could see her for pretty much all of the show! Which is a pretty good achievement as a standing ticket holder in an arena!

I would definitely see her again on her next tour, she never fails to put on a show.

Lastly, but definitely not least, is the time i went to The Clothes Show LIVE on the 6th of December! I met the first Youtuber i ever watched many years ago and he put me in one of his vlogs for being his 1,000th subscriber! Alfie, you're the best.

I also met one of my favourite beauty guru's on YouTube, Fleurdeforce! I also met her husband Mike who was as lovely as i thought he would be! The fashion shows were also amazing and this was my second year attending this event but i would definitely go time and time again if i had the opportunity to!

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I really hope you enjoyed this different take on a 2014 favourites post!

I really want to say a special thank you to my Dad for taking me to all of these places and i really, most definitely couldn't have done any of it without him! These events have all been the favourite things that have happened in my life and he is one of the people who have helped me achieve it! A huge thank you to my Mum aswell who has accompanied me to a lot of these events when i have no one else to go with! Love you to very much :D

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Have you been to any of these events?

What was your favourite memories of this year?

Cheerio!

L A U R A  J E S S I C A

<3

The Party/Festive Nail look 2014

Hello!

Tis the season for the glittery and festive varnishes to be dug out and slapped on top of another.

I am a total lover of glittery varnishes and this probably contributes to the reason why i love Winter so much.

So i though i'd share with you my staple party/christmas look for this season, and i really love it.

For the Base Coat we have Orly's Bonder (Rubberised Basecoat). I always use this as a base to my varnishes, especially if they're the darker colours as these are always prone to staining. The rubberised formula really helps lock away my nail from the varnish itself to really protect my nails from yellowing and staining.

Next i follow up with the Main Colour which is Nails inc's Redcliffe Road, unfortunately i got this colour in a set of minis from Nails inc and i think this may be discontinued, but i will link a similar shade.

I then followed up with the glitter which was Mavala's Pure Diamond, which is an amazingly thick glitter polish, it isn't streaky or sticky and it also applies really smoothly and dries really quickly.

For the topcoat i chose Ciate's Speedcoat because i have found that this really keeps the varnish that i am wearing on for much longer than any of the other top coats i have previously tried. It is really thick but it dries really quickly and also has a really thick glossy finish.

I really love the ring finger being slightly different from the others, especially with a similar colour or glitter.

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I really hope you enjoyed reading this post and that you have gotten a little bit of inspiration for what your go to varnish is going to be like!!

What is your favourite colour for this season?

Do you always crack out the glitters or is it just a Festive thing?

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Cheerio!

L A U R A  J E S S I C A

<3

4 Red Nail Polishes // 2,000 Views!!

It's that time of year when everyone is cracking out the red nail polishes, it is probably my staple colour for the festive season and I'm sure it is for most of you too! (with some added glitter too of course)

I was recently sorting out my nail varnishes all into colours and shade when i came across 4 red's that literally all looked the same, but were different brands. So as it is the festive period, i thought that i would do a one week review of these babies for you.

During the week i went to college for a couple of days and i also was baking and really making sure i wasn't just sat around so that i really tested the varnishes out.

These were the Varnishes that i found and i think they are all pretty much identical, especially when on the nails.

From Left to Right - Ciate, Nails inc, Rimmel and Mavala

Last Monday they had just been painted and after two coats were all looking pretty good and near identical!

Tuesday - Still holding up well and no chips!

Wednesday - The nail with Ciate on was the first to take a big chip

Thursday - Slight chip arrived on the Nails inc nail

Friday - My middle nail broke so i had to cut it off :( but it still kept the small chip that it always had

Saturday - The Ciate one had even more damage and was still very thin even after two coats

 Today/Sunday - As you can see Ciate really didn't fair up very good at the end of it, Nails inc following, Mavala in second and Rimmel at the top! 

It just shows, you don't necessarily have to pay a lot of money to get good quality!

Thankyou for reading and i hope you enjoyed!

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BIG NEWS!! - I have finally reached 2,000 views!! 

Thankyou to everyone who reads my blog, whether its regularly or this is your first read!

I hope there's more to come!

Cheerio!

L A U R A  J E S S I C A


<3

Something Super Yummy For The Holidays!

Hello!

Recently i have been snooping around the web to find the best chocolatey treat around for the holidays!

And... I found one! Its a really yummy 'Brookie' recipe that i found on Lily Pebbles' blog! If you aren't sure what a Brookie is then head over to her post, which will be linked at the end of this one, and she explains it all!

This recipe is dairy-free and is very naughty but extremely easy and yummy!

Sorry about the quality of the photos, it was using my iPhone rather than my camera!

Im not going to lie, I've honestly probably eaten about 4 already in the space of an hour? They're bigger than my palm.... oh well, its a Sunday??

Lily's Post + Recipe - here

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I hope you enjoyed this mini post this week, next week will be the review of my 4 identical (different brands!) red nail varnishes, ill be wearing them all week without a top coat to really test their durability!

What are you doing in the run up to Christmas?

Will you be making some of these?

Have a wee discussion in the comments below if you like!

Cheerio

L A U R A  J E S S I C A

<3

Clothes Show LIVE 2014

Yesterday i went to the Clothes Show LIVE in Birmingham! 

It was honestly probably one of the best days I've ever had and this post is going to show what i got up to!

Im going to post lots of photos rather than lots of text! Personally that is my favourite type of blog post, rather than having to read so much text!

Enjoy x

I told Alfie that i was his 1,000th Subscriber from back in the day! He took out his vlogging camera and vlogged me (i was so embarrassed) 

The vlog will be on this channel this evening : Here

Me and Fleur and her husband Mike! Love these two!

Its only the one and only Hilary Alexander! Starstruck!

Here are some of the highlights from the young and growing Designers on the designer catwalk!

Here are some of the goodie bags that i came away with! My personal favourites are the Rimmel and Ciatè ones!

Last but definitely not least - we saw the lovely Peter Andre! (heart eye emoji)

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I'd love to give a special thank you to my Dad for driving me there and back! and also to my Mum for coming with me and allowing me to have the literal best day :) Thanks a lot guys (if you're reading this)

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Hope you enjoyed this post!

Did you go to the Clothes Show this year?

If not will you be going next year?

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Cheerio!

L A U R A  J E S S I C A

<3


Fleur's Channel - Here

Alfie's Channel - Here

YOUTUBER BOOK RELEASES - Zoe Sugg (Zoella)

Hello!

As some of you may know, at the beginning of this week Zoe Sugg, more commonly known as Zoella on the interwebs, hit the shelves of shops such as Waterstones and WHSmith's with her new fiction book; Girl Online.

This was the first book Zoe had ever published and Penguin books made this happen for her. She has told many a story about her writing her own little stories when she was younger and once typing and printing out a huge story! But unfortunately, she cannot find it anywhere!

I received her book on the release day as a surprise gift from my mum, yay!

I started reading it the same day and it had me hooked, it touched on so many issues that have effected me and a lot of others, you can really see her personality shining through in this too.

Some of the issues touched on in this book are: anxiety and panic attacks, peer pressure and bullying, drifting away from best friends, parents trying to accept a homosexual child, teenage love and also online abuse. This makes it sound like quite a deep book, and in some ways yes it is, but she has written it in a way that makes it such a light and enjoyable story, but definitely has a deeper meaning if you look more into it.

She has an audience where the majority are probably under the age of 18, maybe even 16. She has a real platform to be able to put all of these issues out and into the world to allow young people to understand these issues in such a way that would not be 'boring' for the average teen, she has really done this successfully and in an understanding way.

Overall this book is probably one of my top three books, the other two being The Fault in Our Stars and Paper Towns by John Green!

I really suggest that you go and give this a read!

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If you have read it, what did you like about it?

Did i mention all of the issues that she touches on?

Get Zoe's book 'here'

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I hope you enjoyed this post! 

Have a great week

Cheerio!

L A U R A  J E S S I C A

<3

TAG: Me Time!

Hello!

If you're a YouTube beauty guru watcher like me, then you'll probably have seen this tag floating round the site. The tag was made by two lovely ladies called Estee and Amelia from the channels EssieButton and AmeliaLiana.

Ill link their video at the end of the post :-)

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1. What do you watch or read during Me Time?

I don't really watch too much television but when i do, i will always go back to the same channel! E4 has all of my favourite shows; The Big Bang Theory, How I Met Your Mother (now ended :( ), Frasier etc!

At the moment i am reading 'An Abundance of Katherines' by John Green, who is one of my favourite authors if you hadn't already guessed.

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2. What do you usually wear during me-time?

As Estee and Amelia rightly said, #nobra comes into play on this question, i can't understand people who don't? Ultimate comfort.

Other than that here are my comfy, casual clothes!

 I chose my Simon's Cat t-shirt, my 'Love to Lounge' joggers and my fluffy socks (which kinda go with my top, accidental match up oh yeah)

I throw all of these on as soon as a come home from anywhere and don't have to go out again, who has time for normal clothes anyway?

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3. What are your Me Time beauty products?

The first thing i will do is remove all of my makeup, for this i will use the Garnier Micellar water with a cotton pad to wipe off all of my face makeup and then follow up with my Simple Eye Makeup remover with a cotton pad to dissolve all of that eye makeup!

I will then like to cleanse my face to make sure that it is super clean and smooth! For this i use either the Ultimelt from Soap and Glory or the Hot Cloth Cleanser from Ren. These are both great cleansers and feel amazing when being wiped off with a hot cloth, i could stand there for hours.. literally

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4. Current Favourite Nail Polish?

At the moment i am really loving this combination on my nails, it is super autumnal and also really festive at the same time.

Here are the products used - 

 Models Own - Roman Candle

Maybelline - Divine Wine

Nails Inc. - Redcliffe Road (couldn't find the nail polish:( sorry)

  

Here a close up of the colours :)

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5. What do you eat/drink during Me Time?

I usually drink a nice cup of tea but recently i have been getting into different flavours of tea, and i have to totally blame this one on Estee because she really loves her Chai so i thought i would try this one and i really like it!

If i eat anything during me time, i will probably go for something to do with garlic or pickled onion because my taste buds don't usually go down the sweet alley, I'm usually more of a savoury kind of girl!

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6. What is your current favourite candle?

My current favourite candle is from the Glade christmas addition and it is the Apple and Cinnamon one! I don't actually have a picture of it because i burnt it down so fast that i haven't had time to buy a new one yet! (slight addiction)

Other than that one i really love the Jo Malone scent; Wood Sage and Sea Salt.. (I'm yet to own a candle though... maybe one day.. lower your prices Jo Malone gosh)

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7. Do you ever have outdoor me-time?

Not really, I'm not that much of an out-door goer, by myself anyway (anxiety sucks). I much prefer snuggling up on my bed or sofa with a warm drink and some snacks, especially at this time of year!

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8. Would you ever go and see a movie alone?

I definitely wouldn't rule it out as an option! Especially if the film has been out for quite a while as the cinema wouldn't be that full! However i still would need to get over my fear of doing things out of my town alone (yet again.. anxiety sucks!).

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9. Favourite online shop?

My top three favourite online shops that i am ALWAYS checking are - 

Lazy Oaf

LynseyLuu

Topshop

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10. Anything to add? What do you like doing during me time?

I love to scroll through my twitter feed, write some blog ideas down, watch some youtube from my subscriptions and cuddle with my dog ben!

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Estee and Amelia's video

I hope you enjoyed this tag! I really enjoyed making it and i hope to do a few more of these in the future if you want them!

Lots of love

Bye!

L A U R A  J E S S I C A

<3

DIY - Christmas Hat Tree Decoration

Hello!

So as it is getting closer and closer to christmas (i know i said the 'C' word) i thought that i would do some little DIY christmas tree decorations!

I should hopefully doing a couple more of these before Christmas is over so i would really welcome your suggestions!!

This particular DIY is super easy and you don't need many things to make it!

Here is most of what you'll need. You'll obviously need scissors and a needle of your choose aswell! However i did forget to mention some fabric glue (optional).

To start off you will need to put your templates onto the desired fabric and cut around them to make the shapes. To ensure that the templates do not move around you will need to pin them to the fabric below, (see picture above at the top)

When you have finished cutting all of the different parts out, they should look something like this (see picture above at the bottom)

When you have finished this you are going to want to sew around the outside of your main body shape (see picture above at the top) of the hat with a Chain Stitch , but not all of the way round!

 Leave the bottom open so that you can pop all of the cotton wool inside it to give it a bit more bulk and definition (see picture above at the bottom). After it has been completely stuffed you should begin to sew up the bottom of the hat with the same technique of stitching.

Your hat should look something like this!

Now, you can either stitch on the furry material which we make using the template earlier OR if you prefer you can glue on some of the cotton wool to the bottom and the top of the hat to create a different kind of look!

As you can see i went for the cotton wool option but both look really nice!

I then decided to stitch a small amount of ribbon to the top of the hat so that it will hang nicely off the christmas tree when i am ready!

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I hope you liked this little DIY post! I am sure to be doing more of these in the further if you'd like me to!

Please leave any recommendations or themes of felt decorations you'd like to see on my blog, in the comments section, and i will definitely try and make a 'How To' for you!

Thanks for reading!

L A U R A  J E S S I C A

<3