#TheWinterProject : Favourite Winter Make Up

After a bit of catching up I am now up to date with #TheWinterProject topics! So for this weeks post I will be showing you my favourite winter makeup, we all know everyone loves to get dolled up at Christmas time with all the parties and events, and these following products are what I like to use most to create that festively glamorous look...

Firstly, when applying a full face of makeup I always like to apply highlighter to my cupids bow, cheekbones and brow bone. In particular I have grown very fond of seventeens newest WOW highlighter, it adds a really nice shimmery effect to the areas you apply it to, particularly when the light shines on it.

Over the top of this I apply my favourite foundation, Skin Illusion by Clarins. I especially love this product as it has such a lightweight consistency so I never feel caked even when wearing a full face of makeup! And perfectly for the winter season, this foundation has the benefit of not drying out my skin! For best results and a smooth finish, apply with a foundation brush.

In these winter months I always suffer from getting increasingly pale, so this natural bronzer by Rimmel London is one I have used for years to hide that. It has the slightest shimmer but not enough for it to look unnatural. I apply it lightly, dusting my whole face with a large bronzer brush, then once again to my cheeks, brushing from the cheekbone inwards.

At Christmas time I always like to make a bit more effort for parties and events, this shimmery eyeshadow does the job very nicely, adding a nice Christmasy shine to the eyelids. I apply the powder right up to the brow bone so it catches the light really nicely. This shade from The Body Shop is a nice natural bronze like colour with purple pigments, it is quite natural so is also suitable for everyday wear. Visit The Body Shop website for more gorgeous shades.

Now for the final touches, these eyelashes by Ardell from Boots are a lovely natural lash that add that extra pop to your makeup, they have extra length and a slight curl at the edges which is great for enhancing your natural lashes fullness. I love wearing them when dressing up at Christmas! To apply them I use Shu Uemura eyelash glue which is hands down the best I have ever used, it also last ages as I have had it for about a year and its still as good as the first time I used it!

It's rare that I leave the house without a bit of lippy on even if its just a neutral shade. But recently I have not been able to take off this lipstick I purchased from MAC earlier in the season, this shade 'Prepare for Pleasure' is from the limited edition Divine Night collection. I found that everything from this collection had a real Christmasy feel to it and I couldn't leave without buying this gorgeous lipstick which really brings some excitement to winter makeup.

Is there any makeup that you particularly like to wear at winter or Christmas?

Are any of you taking part in #TheWinterProject?
Ellie

                                                                                        

German Christmas Market

Last night me and my lovely boyfriend decided to have a festive evening by going to the German Christmas market at Millennium Square in Leeds or Christkindelmarkt as the Germans would say. We could practically smell the Frankfurt sausages being cooked over the wood stove from a mile off so we couldn't resist getting one as soon as we walked in! I got the cheese sausage which when arrived seemed to have no cheese so I thought I had been given the wrong one until I took a bite and cheese started to ooze from the sausage, it was incredible! My boyfriend on the other hand got a spicy German sausage which was equally as delicious, if you have never had a German hot dog before I strongly suggest you do as me and boyfriend were both in agreement they were the nicest hot dog's we had tasted!

After scoffing down our food by a toasty fire we went for a look around the market. There were over 40 stalls which were all quaint little wooden chalet with lights and festive decoration, each selling something unique from home made treats such as pretzels, chocolates, mini pancakes and candied fruit, to festive hand crafted Christmas decorations, jewellery and candles. It was such a nice atmosphere walking around, we felt like we were on holiday in Germany at Christmas time, it was lovely! As we were walking around the sound of singing voice was getting louder and which we were wondering what direction it was coming from until we approached the beer Keller, as we quite fancied a beer and wanted to join in the sing along we headed on inside to order a Stein of German beer. The room was all lit with lights and had cosy little alcoves for you sit and German style bars all around. It really made you feel as if you were abroad as the windows had painted backgrounds of the German countryside, which was a nice little touch! The Keller was jam packed full of visitors singing along to the band that were playing who were also dressed in Lederhosens, they looked fab! But not only this, there was also a female yodeller, I had never seen someone yodel live before and she was amazing, she did it so effortlessly! She also attempted to teach us how to yodel but as many of the audience had sunk a few beers by the evening you can imagine it sounded just like a whole lot of noise rather than a yodel but it was a good laugh.

Once our voices were strained from belting some good old classic songs, we tootled around for another quick browse before heading home with a German doughnut in one hand and some chocolate coated marshmallows in the other!

Overall it was really nice evening that put us right into the festive mood, unfortunately it was the last day of the market today which is a shame as I would have loved to have gone again with friends. However I know Leeds isn't the only place that hosts a German market so if you manage to find one near by to you I highly recommend you go!

Here are some pics from our visit...

Have you been to any Christmas markets like this?
If so what did you think?

Ellie

                                                                                       

#TheWinterProject : Christmas Present Ideas

With uni work I have unfortunately been a tad behind on #TheWinterProject so over the next few days I will be doing a couple of posts on this. So to start with, Christmas shopping! With all uni work out of the way I can finally get excited about Christmas and begin the festivities. I'm sure many bloggers will agree that shopping has to be one of the best bits, and for me my favourite thing to shop for has to be stocking fillers! I love buying lots of little personal gifts for friends and family that I know will make them smile. Take a look my stocking filler gift ideas...

1. Online shop notonthehighstreet.com has some really great gift ideas,

 including this 'You're just my cup of tea mug' 

a lovely personal gift costing £17.50

2. The Body Shop has a fab range of Christmas related bath & beauty gifts,

the lip balms and body butters come in the most adorable packaging

& range from £7 - £10.

3. Another notonthehighstreet.com find is this handmade heart

personalised Christmas decoration, available for £14, a lovely girly gift!

4.I have always loved Cath Kidston phone cases and this seasonal

Santa phone case would make a great gift and can be bought online for £14.95

5. Who doesn't love a silly stocking filler?! This Santa egg cup accompanied with an eggs Santa hat AND Christmas tree toast cutters really cracked me up when I saw it (honestly no pun intended!)

you can buy on various places online or I bought it at Primark for £4.

6. These gloves are genius invention! I hate it when I'm trying to text but my hands are too

 bloomin cold to do without gloves! These touch screen gloves are great, 

I've already bought two pairs as presents for people! From proporta.com they are £14.95

7. Finally, I cant remember a Christmas without candles for presents and Yankee candle

do the best range of festive scents in a variety of sizes, starting from as

little as £1.35 for tea lights and £19.49 for the biggest jars.

So if youre like me and love buying stocking fillers, I hope you find my selection useful,

Happy shopping!

                                                                                       

What I've Been Up to: Dr. Martens Collaboration

Hello again! So I think it's about time I wipe the dust of my blog and return to posting, I was very sad to see I hadn't posted since November it really didnt seem like that long as the last couple weeks have flowwwn by! Not only has my blog been neglected by my body as well for the amount of stress I have put it under in the weeks leading up to various uni deadlines, haha! However it has all been worth it to finally see the finished result. To those of you who read my blog regularly, will know that I posted around a month ago about a project I was doing at university that is associated with Dr. Martens. As budding fashion designers me and my fellow students were set a task by Dr. Martens to design a AW/14 capsule collection, incorporating local culture, which is targeted at the Dr.Martens customer. As customers just see the final garment, you would be surprised how much behind the scene work there is into doing so, altogether I had an 80 page sketch pad full of research, a 40 page sketchpad full of initial design ideas and a whole portfolio full of design development!  But that's what I love about my course really, exploring all aspects of design and watching it grow into a collection. 

As well as designing a collection of 6 outfits we also had to manufacture one garment from that collection. As I specialise in womenswear I  created an androgynous style look with a mods influence that also follows current trends with gorgeous tartans and winter wools. After a long hard graft, I along with others on my course presented my garment to VIP's from Dr. Martens this week in a mini catwalk show. I have to say I felt pretty proud  of what I have achieved this semester and it was so nice seeing my final garment being worn down the catwalk. And I cant ramble on about this without showing you any photos of course! I hope you enjoy looking at my work as I did doing it.

And just a little clip for you..

What do you think of my project?
Have you done any exciting project with uni or work recently?

                                                                                        Ellie