My 2019 Goodreads Challenge

At the start of 2019, I set myself a reading challenge over on the Goodreads website. My goal for this year was to read 20 books throughout 2019 as I really wanted to get back into reading of a night time before bed, instead of being on my iPhone the whole time. So let's see how I got on and what books I did manage to read...

Here is the list of books that I managed to read:

Living With Evil || Beautiful Child || Don't Tell Mummy || Damaged || While You Sleep

Reasons To Stay Alive || Some Kind Of Wonderful || 13 Minutes || On The Run

Shannon: Betrayed From Birth || Not That Kind Of Love || The Mummy Bloggers || My Sons Not Rainman || A Real Boy

I managed to read 14 out of the 20 books, which for me is actually pretty good considering how the past few months have been for me. As you can probably see from the books that I did read, I love books that are based on real-life events instead of made-up stories. I do love books written by Giovanna Fletcher though, as I love her style of writing.

I am gonna be setting myself another reading challenge for 2020 and hopefully, I will be able to complete it, as I now have myself the Kindle app on my iPhone and have subscribed to Kindle Unlimited for £7.99 per month.

The first book I will be reading in 2020 is called: Through A Mothers Tears

Do any of you use Goodreads?

Or have a reading challenge of your own?

Soap & Glory Advent Calender

Every year you can always guarantee that as soon as the Soap & Glory advent calendar goes on sale in Boots, and down to half price I am always straight there to purchase it and this year was no different!
I can't justify spending £60 on it for myself when I could be buying presents for other people, so I always treat myself to it when it goes down to £30.

Soap & Glory always come up good with there advent calenders and definitely give you your moneys worth in products and more, they have some travel size products aswell as quite a few full-sized products aswell and me personally I love a mixture of both in a beauty advent calendar as you get to try out products that you probably wouldn’t have thought to try out before.

Clean On Me Shower Gel || Heels Genius Foot Cream || Bath Bomb || Sexy Mother Pucker: Bare Enough || Tweezers || Best Washes Naughty But Spice Body Wash || Vitamin C Facial Wash || Eyes Cream Liquid Eyeshadow || Hand Food Sugar Crush Scent || Bright & beautiful Radiance Boosting Mask || Sugar Crush Body Buttercream || Bath Bomb || The Righteous Butter || The Rushower Scent-Sational Dry Shampoo || Clean On Me Shower Gel || Sugar Crush Body Wash || Soap Rose Petals || Original Pink Hand Food || Sexy Mother Pucker: Plumsup || Butter Be good Hydrating Body Butter || Soap Rose Petals || Puffy Eye Attack Hydrogel Patches || The Scrub Of Your Life || Speed Plump Miracle Moisture Mask

I have included links to all the products I could find that are in this year's Soap & Glory advent calendar, there is a few that I think maybe exclusive just for Christmas so ain't featured on their website. I can confirm though that the "Naughty But Spice" range smells amazing! and I would definitely purchase it over and over if it was an all year round product.

Did you purchase a beauty advent calendar this year?
If you did which one was your favourite?

Avant Skincare

Avant Skincare

When it comes to skincare and taking care of our skin especially in the colder weather, I'm pretty sure we can all say its something we could be better at right?!

Over the past two weeks or so I recently rediscovered Avant skincare after finding some bits in my skincare drawer that I forgot that I had, and because I am trying to declutter my beauty/skincare drawers a little bit, I decided to give these products a go.

During the day I have been using the Pro-Perfecting Collagen Primer Touche Eclat, this can be worn on its own or under foundation to create a smooth canvas. I personally have just been wearing this on its own as my skin has been pretty clear just lately which makes a change, if my skin does have a bad day anytime soon then I will just apply a small amount of BB Cream over the top just to take any redness away.

Once the day is over and it’s time to wash the day away, I will do the normal skincare routine that I have got myself into and get myself all ready for bed including those cosy pyjamas. Before I get myself all comfy though I will apply the following product, I usually wake up in the morning with really dry and itchy skin, so after I’ve cleansed my face I tend to apply the Hyaluronic Acid Vivifying Face & Eye Night Cream. I love how soft this leaves my skin feeling and has a really nice sweet almond scent to it since I’ve been using this night cream I’ve found it keeps my skin feeling moisturised throughout the night as well which is a bonus, as dry skin of a morning is an absolute nightmare!

Have you tried any of these products?
If so, what were your thoughts on them?

December Goals

1 - Memory Tattoo

I've finally decided on the tattoo that I am going to be getting done in memory of my sister, I am already booked in with the tattoo place with a date and time and one of my sisters closest friends is coming to have hers done at the same time as me which I am looking forward to. I myself now class her as a close friend of mine as well as she has been there for me right since the morning of my sister passing away suddenly.

2 - Make That Phonecall!

Suffering from really bad social anxiety means the idea of me making a phone call is my idea of complete hell! But I made a promise to my sister in the chapel of rest and in my part of the speech at her funeral that I would try my hardest to get that call done by the end of the year, and I'm really hopeful that I can do it as well and make her proud of me!

3 - Declutter

With the end of 2019 nearing closer than ever, it's now time for me to start slowing decluttering everything ready for a fresh year, this means decluttering all my beauty drawers and any other random place where I just seem to store random bits and pieces. The year 2020 is gonna be the year where I really do start cutting back on everything, and only purchasing stuff if it's really necessary and I know I will get usage out of it. This will also include using up all the beauty stuff I own or possibly even donating anything that I either haven't opened or just hasn't been used at all. This will also include a digital declutter...starting with all these junk emails!

4 - Be More Active Online

The last few months have been really tough for me and I've really struggled both physically and mentally, therefore I have taken a step back from social media and my blog for a little while. I am hoping to get back into being more active online throughout December though and get my blog and Instagram back to how I like it, and really start enjoying it more instead of feeling an immense amount of pressure to post what seems to be popular at the time!

Happy Birthday To You In Heaven

My birthday message to you in heaven

This took me a while to write through the tears but this is just the start of what I need to say to you...

Life Update

I've been very quiet over here on my blog for quite a while now, and as you can probably tell from my last blog post it was because my younger sister passed away suddenly, without no warning at all.

So for today's blog post, I thought I would just give you a little update on what has been happening with my life just lately, and hopefully, usual blog posts will resume very soon!

Dear Sister.....1988 - 2019

If there’s one thing you have taught me these past few weeks, it’s that everything can be snatched away in seconds without any warning at all!

I majorly regret not coming in to say goodbye before the coroners took you away, but since you arrived at the Chapel Of Rest I have been in to see you most days, I even managed to put some tinted moisturiser on you and then your other sister and cousin came in to do the rest of your makeup to make you look more like you.

Dear Anxiety.....

I have been wanting to do a post like this for quite a while now, but could never really put words to paper on what I wanted to say. It was only recently that I was sitting watching something online that I ended up just picking up a notebook and it all just came to me.

It's a kind of follow up from a blog post I did last year all about Social Anxiety and what it actually feels like to live with if you're interested then you can read that blog post HERE

So I thought I would share the little bit that I did come up with, and this is it...

Meet Lulu the Chihuahua

If you already follow me over on Instagram, then you would all ready know that we have recently added a new member to the family, in the form of a little chihuahua called Lulu, as I couldn’t help but post a photo of her over on there. She has been with us for just over a week now, and it's actually quite hard to think of her not being here as she has fitted in so well to the family already, even if she's refusing to let the cats into the house at the moment!

New Niederegger Marzipan Flavours

If you remember back in November last year, I was kindly gifted the Christmas products of marzipan by the brand Niederegger which you can read here, and just recently I was kindly sent some of the new flavours to have a taste of to see what I thought of them.

I really wasn't expecting these at all until the parcel arrived at my front door, I was actually having a pretty rubbish week so this parcel of marzipan really was a nice surprise to cheer my mood up a bit, so a big thank you needs to be said for sending me these!

June Glossybox: Unboxing

This month's Glossybox features a selection of three makeup products, one skincare product and also one haircare product. This month's items are designed for any occasions that you may have coming up, whether that be weddings, parties or just your usual barbecue, there is something for everyone this month. I for one am really looking forward to trying out both the skincare and hair care product's this month, as I have really been slacking off when it comes to a good skincare routine just lately and trust me it's starting to show!

Taking A Step Back From Social Media

I have been wanting to do this post for a while now, but couldn't figure out why I was wanting to take a break from social media, or even for how long exactly until now. It's mainly been my blog and Instagram that I have taken a little break from and hopefully, I will be able to get back into the swings of things by next week, but there's no set time limit for me to do that just yet.

May Glossybox: Unboxing

I am quite late with this Glossybox blog post this month, but even though it is coming to the end of the month and the new box will be being dispatched soon, I didn't want to miss out on this one as I haven't really seen many posts about it this month.

Having no proper internet at home at the moment has meant that I am unable to post as many blog post's as I would have liked to this month, hopefully, June will be a better month for me blog-wise.

A Rant To An Inanimate Object

Hey there bed, you look so comfy and inviting when I am tired, but my god you proper annoy me when I am trying to tidy up! I always end up stubbing my little toe or my shin on the edge of you if I’m walking past and I forget that you are there, you leave me with bruises galore. It bloody hurts for that 1 minute that seems like 5 minutes, I know you don’t mean to hurt me because let’s face it I put you there and you can’t move out of the way....in fact, I am just really clumsy and walk into everything.

My Four Goals For May

Visit Wales

Since I moved back to London, I have only been back to Newport once to visit and do a bit of shopping, but this month (the 4th to be precise) I am going back again for another visit and to finally meet my old next door neighbours little girl Pink and I can't wait to meet her and see the other girls aswell.

Battle Of The Three Primers

Over the past few weeks, I have been testing out a couple of primers to see what works best for me and how my skin also reacted to them, as I have really sensitive skin so I always struggle to find the perfect products for me. I gave my skin a weeks test on each primer, two of the primers are what I received in previous Glossybox's and the other one is what I personally purchased myself.

April Glossybox: Unboxing

This month Glossybox are celebrating the start of spring with their vibrant Fruity or Floral edition of the boxes this month. If you receive the fruity box, then you will get everything fruit inspired and if you receive the floral box then you will get everything flowery inspired. I received the fruity box as you can already see from the main photo in this blog post and to be honest with you, I was rather happy with this months box and what I received, so let's get into the post and show you what I got.

Monday Moments #12

I haven't done one of this type of blog posts since back in December, and I think this is mainly because I haven't really had much to share in a Monday Moments blog post. I only do these once a month now, as I find if I do them more than that then my blog gets a bit repetitive and boring, wouldnt you agree?

Throwback Thursday: Childhood Memories

Throwback Thursday's are usually the kind of posts you come across over on Instagram, with it being an image of an old photo from a long time ago. I was laying in bed the other night thinking of types of blog posts that I could look into doing, and I came up with doing a throwback Thursday style post but instead of using images I thought I would do it in a list style post on childhood memories.

Nail Of The Week Ft Barry M

Oh hello there painted nails, it's certainly been a while, hasn't it?

It's also been a while since I have done any sort of nail related blog post since rebranding my blog and changing the name of it.

March Glossybox: Unboxing

This month's Glossybox is all about Empowerment, and it says "Now it's time to focus on yourself and recognize your own strength and beauty" which I think is a brilliant reminder to tell anyone who needs to focus on themselves a bit more.

Shopping Online With Magnitone and LayBuy

Firstly I want to start off by saying the content of this blog post is entirely my own content, it has in no way been sponsored, gifted or paid for. I purchased the item in this post with my own money, I just wanted to share with you the LayBuy option as I thought it was a pretty good thing to spread the cost of an item if you needed to.

How I Grew My Pinterest Views

I've always loved spending time having a little look through Pinterest, usually when I'm laying in the bed of a night time and just want to find some inspiration for my blog, or things to draw. It's only been the last few weeks that I've really put an effort into arranging and organizing my Pinterest and boy have I noticed a difference in my views on there!

A Recap Of February

Let's take a quick look on back on the month of February and see what three things stood out the most for me, I like to keep these kind of posts short and not make them too long of a read for you.

Mothers Day Gifting With Prestige Flowers

For most of us the next upcoming day to celebrate is Mother's Day (31st March), whether your a mum yourself, or your buying for your own mum, you just can't go wrong with a gorgeous bunch of flowers can you? I know for a fact that my mum certainly likes to receive fresh flowers.

Introducing Sinivalia & Blended Valley - Plus 4 Competitions*

I was lucky enough just lately to collaborate on a blog post/social media posts with the brands Sinivalia and Blended Valley, and was kindly sent some pieces, Sinivalia being the skincare and Blended Valley being the aromatherapy oils. I was also sent some pieces that I could give away to you lucky lot in the style of 4 competitions, with each winner winning one piece each, keep reading to find out how to win these.

February Glossybox: Unboxing

Another month and another one of my trusted Glossyboxes arrives to my door for me to enjoy, I tend  to really like getting these boxes each month, it's like a special treat of beauty bits that I wouldn't usually think of purchasing myself.

I've already been a paying subscriber to Glossybox for over a year now and recently posted a picture over on my Instagram of a year with Glossybox, so that you can see for yourself what a variety of products that you do actually get each month.

A Recap Of January

So finally January is over and is it just me or did January just seem to last forever, it just seemed to drag on for ages. I had planned for this blog post to be up on the 1st, but I just didn't have time to sit down and type it all up....even though it was already written up on my iPad.

Three Tips For Instagram

I have always had a love/hate relationship when it comes to Instagram, I go through stages of posting everyday sometimes twice a day, and then other times down to posting just once a week. I then wonder why I keep losing followers instead of gaining any, it's basically because I just ain't putting the effort into it.

Organising & De-Cluttering: Clothing

Being organised and tidy is something I have always been a big fan of, it's the OCD part of me, but the last year or so though I have found myself not wanting to get rid of anything in my bedroom just incase I may need it in the next few months or so.

January Glossybox: Unboxing

The start of a brand new year also means the first Glossybox of 2019, I originally wasn't going to subscribe again to this beauty box and was going to try a different brand, but in the end I decided to stick with it as I knew I would regret it otherwise....so here's to another year with Glossybox!

What's On My Bedside Table...

If like me your a bit nosy and like to see what kind of stuff that is kept on our bedside tables, then this blog post is definitely one for you to read because I am going to be showing you exactly what is kept on my bedside table and including a picture of my gorgeous bedside tables aswell.

Hello 2019 - Yearly Goals

So last night we all ended 2018 and celebrated the new year welcoming in 2019,

with a new year starting there always comes some yearly goals that we all would like to achieve.

So instead of looking back and reflecting on 2018 and what was good or bad about it, I am gonna look straight to the future and share with you the four goals I am setting myself for this year.....