#TheWinterProject : Favourite Winter Scent

This weeks topic for #TheWinterProject is favourite winter scents. For those of you who know me will know that I am obsessed with candles, I cannot have a bath without them! There is something in particular about candles that makes you feel all nice and relaxed; and at this time of year a lovely scented candle help puts you right into that Christmasy mood. My personal favourite brand of candle is Yankee candle, they have such a HUGE range of scents from florals to foods, and they also have a brilliant selection of festive limited edition candles you are spoilt for choice. They come in a range of sizes and with cute festive images and lovely looking jars and tumblers, I find that they make some great stocking fillers and presents. If you need some help chosing a scent, I recommend 'Christmas Cookie', 'Apple and Pine Needle', 'Merry Marshmallow' but the winner for me has to be 'Christmas Eve'. This candle is jam packed will all the traditional Christmas scents just one whiff makes me feel all warm and Christmasy! Ranging from as little as £1.35 for some sampler candles up to £19.49 for a jar that will last you weeks, I guarantee that you will be able to find your favourite winter scent too!

Some of the Christmas range, image taken from Yankee.co.uk

I would love to hear from you...

Do you have any of the Yankee Christmas candles?

What is your favourite winter scent?

Ellie

                                                                                       

#TheWinterProject : My Favourite Winter Accessory

This week the topic for #TheWinterProject is favourite winter accessories. For years I have always had a weakness when it comes to buying scarves, it seems that no matter how big my collection is already I am always tempted to add to it. I love a scarf that is practical and warm, but also stands out as a fashion piece; and I believe that this little beauty (in fact it's far from little, lets say bordering on blanket) is by far my favourite fashion scarf to date. To those of you who read my blog may recognise this scarf from my 'Tartan overload' post recently where I showed you things I had recently bought that followed that the tartan trend, and as pretty much the whole of the population know by now, tartan is back with a bang, so this scarf is most definitely on trend. If this hasn't sold it to you already I must boast that it is also cleverly double sided so it is basically 2 scarves for the price of one! Therefore depending on your mood or outfit you can chose which tartan to wear, the red and green tartan really helps to liven up an outfit and the black and white side compliments so many other garments, or you can twist it showing both sides it's really up to you. You can find this scarf in Zara for just shy of £20, a bargain! I know this scarf in particular has been super popular, however Zara have a lovely range of patterns available in the same size so you are no doubt spoilt for choice. If you ask me, this is the ultimate winter accessory. 

What is your favourite winter accessory?

Ellie

                                                                                       

The sunshine award

It's always nice to be tagged in one of these award post. Its a great way to disocver new blogs and find out more about fellow bloggers in the blogosphere! This is a lovely award as the purpose is nominate bloggers 'who are positive and creatively inspire others in the blogosphere' how nice?!
So thank you to the lovely Andrea for nominating me.

As part of this post you must:
Share 11 facts about yourself

Answer the questions set by your nomination blogger
Nominate 11 bloggers
Include your own 11 questions for those nominated

Facts about me:

1. I study fashion design in Newcastle

2. I am the no.1 Harry potter and Lord of The Rings fan

3. I drink way too much Yorkshire tea

4. I have slight addiction to cheddar cheese

5. I've ran a half marathon for charity (best experience ever)

6. About half of the songs on my ipod are Beyonce songs

7. I love anything vintage

8. I am horder of old disney videos

9. I have never had my eyebrows waxed

10. My nail beds suck

11. I have a bad habit for constantly quoting lines from my favourite films

As for Andreas questions...

1. Can you explain the meaning beyond your blog name?

My blog name pretty much just sums up what my blog is all about, my views on the things I love! 

2. If you could swap lives with any fictional character, who would you choose?

Definitely Hermionie Granger, I have had a bit of a girl crush on her ever since the 5th Harry Potter film, plus to be a student at Hogwarts and wind up married to a Weasley I wouldnt complain! 

3. If your house was burning down (and your family/pets etc were all safe) and you could save one thing, what would you save?

It would have to be my families box of home videos, there are so many memories stored on those videos that are too precious to loose. Also my teddy bear since birth, haha I'm one for nostalgia if you couldn't already tell! I'd probably risk a few burns for my camera, although I'm hardly ever without it so I would most likely already have it on me, haha.

4. What did you want to be when you grew up?

In my primary school years I wanted to be an athlete, I was first to volunteer myself for sports days! Then I had a dreamy period of studying law which I was actually considering doing until I got distracted falling in love with textiles, and have since wanted to be a pattern cutter!

5. What's your guilty pleasure? 

I've been asked this before and the first thing that always pops into my head is all the time wasting telly that I seem to find myself watching on  a way too regular basis. You name it...'Nothing to Declare', 'Homes Under The Hammer', I love em' all!

6. If you could say anything to anyone, what would you say to them?

I would tell Ryan Gosling I loved him, although like that would be something he'd not heard before?!

7. What's your flava... tell me what's your flava?

Hmm, my first thought when I read this question was, crisps. When I used to listen to this song when I was younger I always used to quote a flavour of crisps after david sung the line 'whats your flavour' haha, in terms of my favourite flavour of crips, a packet of sensations sweet chilli never fails to please my taste buds.

8. Who's your secret celebrity crush?

Well it wouldnt be a secret it if I told you ;)

9. If you won the lottery, what would be the first thing you'd buy for yourself?

Probably some calms, I'd need after all the excitement that I had just won the lottery haha! Then, a holiday.

10. What's your biggest regret?

I try not to regret things, I find learning from my mistakes is much more effective.

11.What is the meaning of your life? 

Crickey this is hard one! I don't really think too deeply into the meaning of life because to be honest it all starts to feel a bit daunting really! I just like to take things as they come, not to miss out on any opportunities, and enjoy it!

As for my questions...

1. Why did you get into blogging?
2. What do you enjoy most about blogging?

3. What word best describes yourself?
4. Where do you see yourself in 5 years time?
5. If you could live in any era in history, when would it be?
6. If you could interview anyone (I mean serious Peirs Morgan style interview) who would it be?

7. If you could take credit for the production of any film, which would it be?
8. Where in the world would you most like to visit ?
9. If you could only shop in one shop for the rest of your life where would it be?
10. What is your top beauty tip?
11. What would your ideal day off be spent doing?

And my nominees are...

Amber Types
A Yellow Brick Blog
British Beauty Addict
Beleza by Ems
Hbbeautyblog
HOLLISA
Life of A Trainee Journalist
Makeup by Candlelight
Masha's Mumbles
Ro's Tinted
Tangled

I hope you enjoy it!

                                                                                        

Isabel Marant for H&M: My Outfit Picks

The day has finally arrived for the release of the Isabel Marant collection for H&M! It was like waiting to buy tickets for a concert the webpage was so busy this morning at 9am with queuing pages that made the wait even more tense. But I eventually got there to see what was pieces were on offer, as Isabel Marant is very well known for her knit wear I had my hopes up for a gorgeous chunky jumper to get my hands on time, and I certainly wasn't disappointed. There was a lot more clothing than I expected with a great range of garments and accessories, with almost every item having some exciting print, knit, or embellishment that would make it a statement in any outfit. After passing on the details to my mum of what jumper I wanted on my Christmas list I decided to put together some outfit combinations with some of the garments available in the collection, all a tad over my budget, but a girl can dream!

1. Loop knit jumper (as hopefully to be seen under my Christmas tree) £69.99, Waxed slim fit jeans £69.99.

2. Girls knit Jumper (biggest size fits size 8) £34.99, Peplum skirt (not Isabel Marant just regular H&M) £.19.99, Suede and leather fringed boots £149.99.

3. Wool coat £99.99, Mens patterned top £29.99, Embroidered slim fit jeans £59.99.
4. Embroidered jacket £199.99, Waxed slim fit jeans £69.99, Court shoes with metal bead £99.99.
Unfortunately but not unexpectedly, some of the stock has already sold out online so it's probably best visiting your nearest H&M asap to see whats in store.

Have you bought anything from the collection?
What do you think of it?

                                                                                        

#TheWinterProject : Favourite Winter Nails

I read about this project on one of my favourite blogs that is Beleza by Ems, and although I may be a day behind I loved the sound of the project so much that I couldn't wait to jump on the band wagon. The idea of #TheWinterProject is to write a series of winter related posts over the weeks leading up to Christmas with a different festive theme each week. So, to start things off, let me introduce to my favourite winter nail polishes!

I have a thing for combining nail polishes, you will rarely see me with just one nail colour on. This gorgeous icy blue and creamy colour remind me of cold winter days and they go really great together. The blue 'Where's my Chauffeur?' by Essie (which I nicked from my flat mate on this occasion) is a stunning great quality colour that I highly recommend, I also own a similar colour by Barry M which is a cheaper option but bare in mind you have to apply a few coats to get a solid colour, but it is worth it. See this polish in one of my previous posts HERE. The creamy shade 'Lychee' is one of the gelly polishes by Barry M, the brand I can always rely on for a cheap but decent nail polish.
for a more night time, occasion appropriate look, these two polishes look SOO good together it would be a crime to separate them. For the base colour I apply two coats of 'Raspberry' a lush shade by Barry M which I feel is a really festive red, so I always like to wear it at this time. Another colour by Essie, 'Leading Lady' is what I like to apply over the top. For me a glittery nail polish just yells Christmas so combined with the Barry M paint you are fit for the season!

Are any of you taking part in #TheWinterProject? If so, send me your links in the comments box below!

Ellie

                                                                           

My Collaboration With Dr.Martens

To those of you who don't know, I currently study Fashion Design at Northumbria University and as part of our current semester we have been undergoing a live project set to us by the fashion and famously shoe retailer Dr.Martens. Our task? To design a AW/14 capsule collection, incorporating local culture, which is targeted at the Dr.Martens customer, and to manufacture one garment from that collection. Therefore you can imagine that uni is very exciting (slash a tad stressful) for me at the moment. As I specialise in womenswear I will be creating an androgynous style look with a mods influence that will be filled with gorgeous tartan and winter wools. The garment that I chose to make will be presented to Dr.Martens in December via a mini catwalk show with the chance for it to be displayed in store! So keep your eyes peeled for my post in December when I will be uploading exciting pictures and possibly videos of the presentation.

Our project has also made the paper! Read the article on The Journal's website HERE.

Picture taken from The Journal Website.

Are you doing any exciting projects at the moment?

Ellie

                                                                                       

Product of the week: Maybe she's born with it, maybe it's Maybelline

When it comes to eyelashes, in my case I am definitely not born with naturally gorgeous ones so it is most definitely Maybelline I have to thank. Since using their Volum Express Lift Up mascara I'm afraid to say that I find it so hard to branch out and try new ones as I'm too attached to it and have never been able to find a competitor! In the past I have used Dior Show which was lovely but I found it didn't last that long and was it bit too pricey to be buying every few months so I was just saving it for special occasions, but even my use of that fizzled out with my love for my Maybelline one overpowering! Yes you may say I'm a little too attached to my mascara but let me just explain why...

Firstly, the curved brush. For some reason it seems so rare now to find mascaras that have a curved wand, this being something I always look for in a mascara. This is because I find that it really helps to give a natural curl and lift up your eyelashes making them stand out.

Secondly, unlike some of Maybellines other mascaras the consistency of this mascara isn't too thick and gloopy so it applies really nicely, evenly separating the eyelashes. It's also great for adding length wheres some of the other maybelline mascaras seem to add mainly thickness. I focus particularly on my corner lashes when applying it and the length you get is great and natural.

Furthermore, its perfect for all occasions. If you read my blog you'll know that in terms of make up I prefer a more natural look and this product fits my brief really well. However I have found that it is not just appropriate for everyday use but also when worn with a slim line of black gel eyeliner on top of the eyelid and and a bronze eye shadow it creates a really simple yet striking evening look.

And finally, at £6.99 it doesn't even scratch the surface so it's a guilt free purchase every few months. So never mind product of the week, this mascara is pretty much product of the year.

Have you ever used this mascara?

Can you recommend any other curved brush mascaras?

What is your favourite mascara?

                                                                                Ellie