CHRISTMAS COLLAB: EVERYDAY WINTER OUTFIT

Ok i'm starting to feel like a real blogger, since I went on my first 'shoot' on Tuesday with my friend and fellow blogger Katie, from http://www.ktramshaw.com/ . We decided Durham would be the perfect place for our mini shoot, however the weather was not in our favour, cue freezing cold fingers (serious frost bite if you ask me), wind in eye balls and a whole lot of mud... which my brand new Michael Kors handbag fell face down onto the floor into.... Anyway, when Katie came to me with the idea of doing a Christmas collab post, I thought it would be great to give you guys some inspiration on what to wear over winter as an 'everyday outfit'. I find this so hard. I feel like I always buy pretty clothes, but tend to not want to wear them for just everyday wear, but then never have an occasion to wear them! So, I decided to go for a cosy camel coat, high neck cropped top, cord skirt and ankle boots;

LIVELY Smart Heeled Boot, £88, OFFICE Petite Crop Top with Turtle Neck in Space Dye, £12, ASOS Fur Collar Boyfriend Coat, £65, Topshop Burgundy Zip Front Cord Skirt, WAS £19.99 NOW £9.99, New Look Accessories; EMMALYN Button Pendant Necklace, £39, Ted Baker SELMA Medium Leather Satchel, £310, Michael Kors Scarf- River Island Ring- Pandora

TIS THE SEASON

SCALLOP MIX LACE BODYCON DRESS, £39, TOPSHOP
You got it, it's party season, and for many people out there they sigh at the prospect of having to battle with the hussle and bussle of crazy christmas shoppers on the high street all looking for the perfect party dress. However, as you're reading a fashion blog, i'm guessing you're just as excited as I am!
Today I found the one. That love at first sight moment when you know you've found the perfect party dress to take you through the entire christmas season. We're talking work do's, catch up cocktails, christmas day, boxing day and NYE. I chose the Topshop scallop mix lace bodycon dress as firstly, its £39 + student discount = total bargain. It also has the most beautiful lace detailing and is a perfect fit... cinderella moment and all that.... and it's my absolute favourite colour- but don't worry, if burgundy isn't for you it comes in more than one colour!
Have you found the one? Let me know!

BLOGMAS #20- RAMSIDE HALL

 

Ramside Hall is Durham's highest rated 4 star hotel, situated in extensive gardens, it is home to a championship golf course, state of the art spa facilities and award an winning restaurant.

 

Yesterday, my family and I paid the hotel a visit for their Pemberton's carvery, which is a Ramside tradition. Served 7.30 am till 9.30 pm you can take advantage of a traditional Sunday roast, seasonal vegetables and homemade desserts. I am usually a bit precarious when it comes to carvery's as I find that they can be very hit and miss, however I was very impressed with what Ramside had to offer.

 

Located in The Rib Room Steakhouse and Grill, the meal was accompanied by a piano player and a beautiful ambience, I would definitely recommend you pay them a visit if you live locally!

 

The highlight of my visit was the massive Christmas tree located in the foyer of the hotel... it is literally the height of the ceiling.

 

What did you all get up too at the weekend?

 

BLOGMAS #19- OOTD CHRISTMAS PARTY

 

You have probably heard me banging on about Christmas party outfits and panicking about what to wear for my work party on Friday, so I thought I would share with you the outfit I finally wore!

  I was wearing....   Strappy lace bodycon- £39- Topshop SAGITTARIUS Platform shoes, £58, Topshop Gold sequin embellished clutch- £39- New Look  

I tried to keep my outfit quite simple... I think everyone panics a little over trying to get the balance between night out/ party wear, and something appropriate for being out with your work colleagues! If you're wondering what my friend was wearing- it was the khaki kimono swing dress, £45 from River Island. I thought she looked amazing! Such a subtle but very festive dress...

  Have you had your Christmas party yet? What did you wear?  

BLOGMAS #14- MODELS OWN POP UP

Yesterday I finally completed my Christmas shopping, well, started it- so getting it all done in one day was fab! As usual, I headed to The Metro Centre in Gateshead- which as you can imagine was heaving, but as I had a mental list of what gift I needed for what person it wasn't too much of a painful experience, especially when I had to also find an outfit for my work Christmas party on Friday...

 

Anyway, on my way out I spotted the Models Own pop-up outside of Topshop and as many of the nail polishes I had on my wish list are sold out online I had to pay it a visit! I absolutely love their Glitter Gel and Diamond Luxe ranges- especially 'Red Velvet', 'Radiant Pink' and 'Oval Plum'. They have some gorgeous metallic and glitters in the range which are perfect for the festive season, and although they are £5.00 a bottle, I always find they last ages! PLUS they are currently 3 for 2...

 

P.s- How are we already on blogmas day FOURTEEN....

 

BLOGMAS #13- FESTIVE NAILS

Just a quick post to share with you some Christmassy nail ideas! I always keep my nails quite simple, as I am totally rubbish at nail art, however seen as its almost Christmas I thought it high time to splash on some glitter!

The two nail polishes I have opted for are from the Maybelline Color Show range, in the shades Burgundy Kiss, and Rose Chic. I thought these were the percent combo, also who doesn't love a burgundy berry colour and a rose gold glitter at this time of year?! 

I bought them both from ASDA who had them on offer for just £2.50 each- although don't hold me to it! 

I would love to give some nail art a go, so if you guys have any nail posts or ideas please share in the comments below!!

BLOGMAS #12- SNOW DAY

I just had to include this as my BLOGMAS day 12 post! I'm not sure what the weather has been like across the rest of the country today, but in County Durham we have had tonnes of snow- 6 inches to be precise.

Although snow is dangerous if you're out and about or travelling, as I realised this morning on my driving lesson...but it is also so much fun! Despite scuppering my plans for a Christmas shopping today, I ended up walking into town, making a snowman, and snowball fighting with my younger brother and sister. I'm so pleased we got some snow so close to Christmas, but let's just hope it doesn't cause chaos during this festive season! 

Have you caught the snow today? Leave me a comment below!! :) 

BLOGMAS #11- WINTER WONDERLAND

 

My apologies for the low quality pictures included in this post- I was just way too excited to just stand around and take pictures! Winter Wonderland Christmas market in London has been on my bucket list for sometime now, so when the opportunity came on Tuesday night after one of our work events, I couldn't resist!

 

Winter Wonderland is hands down the best Christmas market I've visited, situated in Hyde Park, London, the market is home to over 100 rides and attractions; including A magical ice kingdom, Ice skating, Zippos Christmas circus, Bar Ice, Cirque Berserk and a giant wheel. Not to mention a wealth of fairground rides, rollercoasters, restaurants, bars, street food and live music.

 

Although we only had a few hours, we definitely made the most of it, visiting the ice rink (£15 for 1 hour but veryyyyy worth it, it will 100% get you in the festive spirit), rollercoaster, haunted house and sticky wall... (we couldn't find the ice bar). As well as this we visited beautiful stalls selling Christmas gifts and trinkets, best.place.ever. I just wish we had the time to see everything! I highly recommend an evening visit, although you would need the entire day to explore... its open 10am till 10pm!

 

Have you been to Winter Wonderland? If not, GO!

BLOGMAS #10- SELFRIDGES

 

Okay I basically just wanted to write this post so that I could show off my Santa pics... I got so excited I just had to have a picture! I feel like a lot of 'Santas' look a bit crappy, but Selfridges definitely had a good one! Their Christmas section was amazinggg as well come to mention it!

 

Wednesday was spent on Oxford Street doing  a spot of Christmas shopping in our free time, I visited Selfridges, Topshop.... almost had a breakdown over how much stuff I wanted- but could not afford in there, Victoria Secret and Aldo.

 

Despite not buying a lot, I would definitely recommend Selfridges for personalised gifts and awesome Christmas decorations, Topshop for your Christmas party outfit, ALDO for some great party shoe offers, oh and Victoria Secret have their Victoria Secret fashion show items in stock now!!

  What have you all been up too? Leave me a comment below!

BLOGMAS #8- CHRISTMAS DAY OUTFIT

I don't know about you, but a new Christmassy outfit for Christmas Day is a must have... The more sparkles, the better!

My dress this year is a beautiful midi dress covered in sparkles, it comes in both green and white but I had to have white... Being the monochrome girl I am I just had to have it! 

At £49 the tinsel wrap a line dress by Topshop is a little pricey for a 1 day outfit, however with your student discount it works out a little cheaper! 

Although I am currently on the hunt for a Christmas party outfit for work, I wouldn't wear this, however time is slipping away and my party is next Friday!!! If you have any suggestions do let me know!

What are you wearing this party season? Leave me a comment below! :) 

BLOGMAS #7- YORK CHRISTMAS MARKET

Anyone who reads my blog often will have seen how often I visit York. It is such a beautiful city and its probably one of my favourites to visit, as although it is a city there is so much culture to immerse yourself in.

This weekend I paid a visit to their Christmas market.... Despite the absolute gale force winds on Saturday, it was actually a beautiful winter day at the market. So many wooden stalls and marquees were home to not only festive gifts and food, but also local handmade trinkets and produce.

One of my favourites was the donut stall, selling cinnamon donuts... My fave. Homemade pork scratchings and German sausages were also some of the busier stalls...

The atmosphere was amazing there, and although quite busy, it was the perfect place to visit on a Saturday afternoon. Not only did I visit the market, but I also visit the shops to do a bit of Christmas shopping- unfortunately the shops were crazzzzyyy busy! 

We ended the day by taking a walk through the city gardens, again this is another absolute favourite of mine, it's such a beautiful park, situated right by the shops but also by the river. 

What have you all been up to recently? What Christmas markets would you recommend? Leave me a comment below!!!

BLOGMAS #3- LEEDS CHRISTKINDELMARKT 2015

 

I recently visited the Christkindelmarkt in Leeds, as I do every year with family, it's one of my favourite paces to visit! As I am on placement at home this year it means I cant visit everyday like I could when I was at university in Leeds.... I really did go everyday...

 

The food is amazing there, not to mention there wide array of stalls and chalets filled with Christmas gifts. Although its not the biggest Christmas market around, it is still fab. We visited their "Alp Chalet", an authentic Bavarian eatery located at the centre of the market, and the food was sooooo good. I had their juicy crackling roast pork with beer sauce, red cabbage and potato dumplings- a firm favourite... I will definitely be back again before Christmas!

 

With a authentic German food, live music and a cosy atmosphere you cannot go wrong, it is also very affordable!

 

Of course while I Leeds I also went Christmas shopping- although I still haven't bought gifts for people yet!!

  Which Christmas markets do you recommend this year? Leave me a comment below!  
   

BLOGMAS #2- CHISTMAS TREE

Second post in a day... I can see I'm going to be doing a lot of catch up posts this Blogmas! Anyway- so I put the Christmas decorations up on Sunday, too early? I tend to put them up around the 30th of November as I couldn't bare not having a Christmassy home for the whole of December!

 

We always go for a real tree... although they come with a hefty price tag- £44... it is completely worth it to have that Christmas tree smell filling your home. We tend to get ours from Raby Castle, a local medieval castle. We go each year, as they also have a lovely Christmas market, Santas Grotto, Christmas shop, and the best countryside grounds. Although the weather was awful we still set out to find the perfect tree.

 

Once you have the tree up, you might as well put the rest of the decorations up. Although some people colour coordinate their decorations (I aspire to be one of these people), you can see ours tree is the complete opposite... we add to our decorations year on year so its a pretty random mix!

  Have you got your decorations up? Leave me a comment below!

BLOGMAS #1- LUSH FAVOURITES

 

Ok so my first #Blogmas post is a day late, oops. I am going to try my absolute hardest to get some posts scheduled to take part in Blogmas again this year- last year I found it was such a cute thing to do during the run up to Christmas, it really got me into the festive spirit! I would definitely recommend getting involved, and blogging about all things Christmassy!

 

So to kick #Blogmas off, I thought I would start with a little wish list. Have you been in Lush recently? If you have, then like me you were probably blown away by their huge array of festive bath bombs, Christmassy soaps and bubble bars.

 

For Christmas I actually asked for 7 of these.... ikr, a bit obsessive. Although they have a wide range of Christmas gift sets which include festive favourites and best sellers, I just couldn't find one that had all of the items I wanted, so I made my own!... if you want to do the same you can get your bath products wrapped in a Christmas scarf, so cute.

  My favourites from the Christmas range are:   - Bar Humbug - Peeping Santa - The Magic of Christmas - Holly Gollightly - Candy Mountain - Yog Nog - 5 Gold Rings - Snow Angel - Magic Wand   ...Sooooo kind of the whole range!  Have you got any favourites? Have you bought any Lush products recently? Leave me a comment below!

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

                                

MERRY CHRISTMAS! I hope you all had an absolutely amazing time and Santa left you some lovely presents! I am so busy at the moment I have unfortunately neglected my blog over Christmas, so I apologise that this is only a small post! I thought I would share with you some pretty self explanatory pictures of how I spent my Christmas and would love you to tell me about yours in the comments below! 

Christmas Eve I always spend at the carol service at Durham cathedral, it is becoming quite a tradition now, it is always so magical I love it! Then, I spent Christmas Day at home, I got some absolutely lovely presents, some of which included an I pad mini from my boyfriend, a giant polar bear toy, a ted baker makeup set, pandora ring and charm, daisy perfume, fashion books, fiorelli bracelet, a beautiful faux pony skin leather handbag,ted baker tablet case, Zoella book,nail polishes, mac lipglosses and my favourite present; a build a bear reindeer toy.. I literally LOVE it. What did you all get for Christmas? 

I spent the evening of Christmas Day at my dad's house, meaning more prezzies! Boxing Day was also spent at my dads and my boyfriend also came over. As always the week between Christmas and new year will be spent keeping up the festivities! 

                      How did you all spend your Christmas? Leave me a little comment below! :)