Blogging Has Changed Me.

So, my blog has been very quiet the last couple of months.. It didn't really help that my laptop broke (more than once - and still isn't right) but it's mostly down to the fact that I just haven't been in a blogging mood and have been feeling very negative about it. I still don't really know what I want to do. You can't force blog posts because the quality won't be there, I'm sure you can agree but not only that, if you're forcing yourself to write something then you're not enjoying it.. and whats the point of a hobby you're not enjoying?

The trouble is, my blog has changed me, not in a personality transplant kind of way but in a way that I find myself wanting and buying things I don't need but want because everyone else has it or my favourite bloggers made it sound amazing.. Or because I want to blog about it even though I know I'll probably rarely use it and will more than likely forget to blog about it anyway.. I don't like how I'm always wanting so much now. - Before blogging, I wouldn't have bought something for the sake of it, I'd only buy things I actually needed/knew I'd use. I feel like I was starting to become a little bit materialistic and was more focused on what to buy next. Obviously if money wasn't an option then it may not have been such an issue.

You may be aware that myself and Aaron are living on one wage due to nobody seeming to want to employ me. If I was working too then we could afford for me to buy things just to review them whether I needed them or not but we can't. It can bring me down sometimes wanting to have a spend and not being able to. I end up questioning my own blog and comparing myself to others who have more money to spend and have a list as long as my arms and legs of things I'd buy if I could which it gets depressing. A hobby that should be fun ends up bringing me down and that's never a good place to be.

I feel like I should have certain things in order to "fit in" in the blogging world and because I don't, it leaves me feeling like an outsider looking in all the time. If I had the money for things, my blog would probably be more successful. I'm well aware there are plenty of bloggers out there that are successful without rolling in it but there's only so much I feel I can do with no money to throw at it. Whether true or not, I sometimes feel like without money or a specific writing style, my blog will never go anywhere and I'll never gain the page views I hear others reaching or have regular readers that interact (comments on posts, talking on Twitter etc) with me on often enough that we become friends. I'm not big on numbers (although I wouldn't complain if I had more lol) but what would really make it for me would be to honestly say I've made friends through blogging. I'd also like to make it clear here that I'm not after a bunch of freebies from various companies, that isn't why I started to blog.

I think a lot of how I'm feeling about my blog has stemmed from how I'm feeling about myself and my life in general. Being unemployed is causing me so much stress (and Aaron too as he's been doing 12 hour days which leaves him feeling exhausted and me feeling guilty) which brings my mood down so much. I'm applying for jobs all the time but nothing is coming up. I'm glad I have the volunteering or I'd be going mad, no joke. I also have rubbish friends that let me down no end of times or don't want to know at all unless I contact them first, that's pretty crappy.. Plus there are a few other private factors that have made me feel down lately and when you feel like that about one thing, you start feeling like it about everything! My head hasn't been in the right place to carry my blog on lately.. This post has taken me around 2 weeks to write too!

I do want to blog. I just feel like I need to pick myself back up again first..

Christmas Decoration Haul.

This year we decided to get a bigger tree as the last 2 years was we had a pre-decorated pop up one. They're great for saving space but now we have a bigger place I wanted one with branches to hang pretty things from! So we sold my pop up one to my lovely pal Claire and bought a bargain one from Homebase along with some pretties from several shops..

I decided on a slim tree as we didn't quite have the space for a big bushy one.. It was £19.99 which I thought was great value considering it will last a few years and doesn't look as cheap as it was once you've pulled all the branches out and ruffled it up :) I also picked up a gorgeous star shaped tree topper. It's white and covered in iridescent glitter, what's not to love!?

I love looking in the cheap shops for Christmas bits. Although they have a lot of tat, sometimes they have some things I like. These bits are from Poundland.. I don't need to tell you how much they cost! I didn't end up using the baubles as I bought more than I needed but they'll do as replacements or something..

After Poundland we went to a local garden center called Marlows. They had some really nice Christmas bits and some of it was really well priced too. The bigger baubles at the front were £1 per set (there are 2 sets there), the bigger baubles in the tubes were £1 (6 in a tube) and the smaller ones were 75p (8 in a tube). The ones in the tubes are a mixture of glittery, shiny and matte.

On our way home, Aaron mentioned a place called Blackthorpe Barn. I'd heard of it but never been and had no idea where it was.. Suddenly he pulled off the dual carriage way, we parked and I ended up in the most awesome, Christmassy place I'd ever seen. WOWZERS! I wanted to buy everything and could have quite easily spent a fortune. I'm sorry I can't remember exact prices of these bits but I know they were no more than £4 each. I absolutely love the deer which I think was the most expensive but well worth it.

I got these bits from a cheapy shop in town called QD. The sign, which ive wanted since seeing one similar on Pinterest, was 99p and so were the baubles. Bargain!




I got this gorgeous yet stupidly glittery guy from Asda for £4.99. I looove it although you only have to touch it lightly and you've got a ton of glitter on you! Isn't it just gorgeous. 

That's it I think! Oh I got 300 fairy lights from Tesco for £11.50 in their half price lights sale too. I am planning on doing another post with pictures of all the decorations up/out and another post on a Christmas fayre I went to. Unfortunately my laptop is broken so I'm not too sure when it will be.. My phone is also broken so I'm not having much luck am I! 

Hope you're all well xxx

Christmas Tag (with pictures!)

I saw this tag floating around that Georgina from Makeup-Pixi3 made and who doesn't love a tag! I love filling in questions and it's great for readers to get to know more about the person behind the blog. So without further ado...


1. Do you prefer a real Christmas tree or synthetic?

Growing up we nearly always had a synthetic one. We had a real one one year but none of us liked the smell or the mess so we went back to synthetic! I don't live at home anymore but Aaron and I have a synthetic one too.. It's much less hassle and saves quite a few pennies!

A few years ago mum and dad didn't have a tree topper so me and my sister got crafty!
2 angels with (unused) muff pads as wings! Pleased to report they were left on too!!

2. You're in a coffee shop, it's December, what do you pick?

I've never jumped on the Christmassy drinks or regular coffee shop goer bandwagon and probably never will.. I'm not big on coffee shops anyway.. It's really nice as a treat if I'm out shopping for the day but that's it - it would get expensive otherwise and I hate wasting money. During colder months I always have a caramel macchiato or hot chocolate and during warmer months I always have a mocha frappuccino.

3. What is your favourite colour scheme for decorating the tree?

Growing up we always had a green tree with really colourful decorations. Since I've lived with Aaron we've had a traditional theme but this year we bought a new new tree and have black, white, purple, pink and silver. I love it! I have a Christmas haul coming up soon :)

4. Giving or receiving?

You wouldn't be human if you didn't enjoy receiving gifts but you just can't beat that feeling you get when someone opens their gift/s and loves and appreciates what you bought them after you've shopped around and done your best wrapping skills on it :)

5. To mince pie or not to?
#sickface

6. What's your traditional Christmas lunch?

When I lived at home we had turkey with all the trimmings (no sprouts for me thanks) every single year as my family like to keep it traditional.. Usually Aaron and I would have turkey too but last year we had chicken instead as we don't actually like turkey that much!! We're at my parents for Christmas dinner this year and it's turkey again though.

7. Christmas Day fashion

Growing up me and my sister would always be put in our best clothes (usually a dress) probably cause my parents took a bunch of photos so we had to look nice! It wouldn't feel right anymore to not get dressed up and be wearing something nice. This year I made mum buy a Christmassy top so I'm hoping I can get her to actually wear it Christmas day (even just for a bit!) and I've got me some Christmassy leggings that I'm going to wear! - we both got called saddos by my dad and Aaron!!!

Vinnie was less than impressed by his Christmas hat..

8. What's your favourite Christmas song?

There is one Christmas song I could happily listen to on repeat.. The Pogues - Fairytale of New York. It is my absolute FAVE. I can't stand the Mariah Carey, Destiny's Child type ones.. Just no.

9. What's your favourite Christmas film?

That's easy peasy.. Elf!! I do like The Grinch and Jack Frost too though and Home Alone is a classic.

10. Open presents before or after lunch?

Before! Surely it's child abuse to make them wait til after!? At home, we'd always have our santa sacks in our room for when we woke up and would grab them and go into my parents room where we'd sit on the bed and go through them. Then we'd all get up and ready and sit together to open our presents. Oh we've always opened one before we went to bed on Christmas eve too.
Aaron and I open a present Christmas eve too but we like opening our presents in bed Christmas morning (we take them up from under the tree the night before) then we'll get up and ready and either start lunch or leave to go to one of our parents.

Myself, my mum and my sister a couple of years ago.. Christmas tree lights as hats, why not!

If any of you do or have done this tag, let me know, I'd love to have a read :) xxx

E.L.F Studio Matte Lip Colour in Tea Rose.

Last month I had a little spend on the E.L.F website for the first time, you can see my haul post here. Since then I was a busy bee, got ill and then had problems with Blogger errors! Now I'm back and raring to go again, woohoo! :)

One of the products I couldn't wait to get my mitts on (among many, I might add) was this E.L.F matte lip colour in tea rose, since seeing Miss Budget Beauty use it in one of her videos.

I like the packaging, it's simple without looking cheap or boring and it twists up for more product which there is 2 inches of inside. I was expecting much less so was pleasantly surprised. It will last quite a while, making it great value as it only costs £3.75. Online, it is described as jumbo which I disagree with but it's not a problem as it means a more precise application.. Speaking of application, it glides on easily and doesn't pull at your lips - I hate when products do that!

I love the colour of this product, it's a purpley-pinky-nudey kind of colour. I'll be honest, I did expect it to be more pinky than purpley but that could be down to the colour of my lips? I like it nonetheless. I do usually prefer a matte lip because it lasts longer than a glossy lip.. Plus when the wind blows my hair doesn't stick to it!! It easily lasts a few hours without the need to touch up although of course, everyone is different and it depends if you're eating/drinking too obviously. I don't find it's all that moisturising, in fact it can be a little drying which for me it isn't an issue but if you suffer from dry lips you'd want to wear lip balm with it.

Overall, I really enjoy using this product and have found myself wearing it most days. I really wish I'd taken advantage of their 50% off offer a few weeks ago because I'd like to try the other colours too but they're well worth the money full price so I shall definitely order a couple more in the near future.

You can purchase the E.L.F Studio Matte Lip Colour here for £3.75.

Do you have any of the Studio Matte lip colours? Can you recommend any of the other colours to me? xxx

Where have I been?

Sorry I haven't posted in almost 3 weeks.. Here's where I've been and why I've not been posting..

If you follow me on Twitter, you may know that the first week I missed, I was super duper busy. I was working a few of the days and seeing family the other days.. The best part was seeing my cousin, Stacy who I haven't seen for over a year, even though we live in the same town!!! I just happened to bump into her in Asda and we arranged to see each other the next day which was lovely and hopefully we'll get back to seeing each other regularly like we used to - we've always been close.

The following week I became quite ill :( It started on the Saturday, I was feeling heady all day then started going from boiling hot and sweating to freezing cold and shivering.. Then both at the same time! I had an early (and restless) night and woke up feeling the same.. Monday I felt like I had tonsillitis then Tuesday I could barely get out of bed. When I did I felt dizzy, disorientated and like my head was going to explode. I'd never felt that bad before and text Aaron. Usually he'd reply saying "aww, you'll be alright, have some rest" but he was quite worried and came home right away. He went to the local pharmacy, explained my symptoms and they suggested congested sinuses and gave him some tablets.. I took these all day along with pain killers but nothing would even take the edge off.. I had so much pain behind my eyes that it hurt to look at the TV or my laptop/phone or even look side to side and my head was thumping - a thousand times worse than any migraine I've had - and I suffer often with those! I struggled to sleep that night and woke up feeling even worse Wednesday morning. Aaron took the day off and took me to the doctors.. After being poked and prodded (don't be rude!) I was told I had sinusitis and given antibiotics and codeine. The codeine took the egde off within an hour and I managed to have a good sleep for most of the day and all night. The next day I wasn't too bad and Friday I felt almost human again.

I feel myself again this week, thankfully. Aaron really looked after me, as he always does.. He took care of everything round the house (cats, cooking etc) and made me food and drinks. He's a goodun.
So after all that I'd really missed my blog and was hoping to get some reviews up this week - following my E.L.F haul - but every time I try and save/publish the posts, I get errors come up so I'm a little bit stuck for now but I will keep trying and have posted on the Google help thingy bob.. If this works then it must be something to do with the pictures.. What a palava!!

Hope you've all been well :) xxx