Fun Things To Do On Halloween

Hi lovelies,

Ok, let's be honest here. I'm not a fan of anything remotely scary. I hate being terrified.. I can't think of anything worse! I know some people love it & I applaud you for it. I wish I had the guts to visit haunted houses & watch scary movies but I get no enjoyment out of it, just a slight heart-attack & feel sick. But, the reason I wanted to write this post, is to prove that you don't have to be into scary things to enjoy Halloween. I absolutely love decorating the house with cute sparkly pumpkins & baking cute spider cookies, so I've put together a few ideas to inspire you to do the same.

Pumpkin Picking
This is something I have wanted to do for years & finally, this year I got to go to a pumpkin patch! I took my mum & we visited Tulleys Farm. They have a PYO section on the farm, where they grow over 75000 pumpkins each year! There was so much choice, from big traditional pumpkins, to small bobbly ones! Mum & I picked a selection, as I find the little ones are perfect for decorating around the house, including our window sills, ledges & bookcases! Tulley's are open until this Wednesday, so there's still time to go along if you're local.

Baking

There are so many mouth-watering Halloween treats that you can bake from the comfort of your own home. You just have to walk into a supermarket & you are transported to confectionery heaven. I've lost count of the amount of magazines I've picked up over the past month & how many page corners I've turned to save the recipes! I made the most delicious Salted Caramel Tart this week & oh my goodness, it was incredible if I do say so myself! I decorated it using white icing to give it a Halloween theme, but I'm definitely saving the recipe for other occasions as it went down so successfully. If you simple type 'Halloween Food' into Pinterest, the most amazing selection comes up & the recipes are incredibly easy to follow. I loved the idea of these little strawberry ghosts, so easy & quick to do.

Movie Night
This doesn't have to involve scary films as such.. any Autumnal / Winter themed movie will do! The Nightmare Before Christmas is one of my favs, alongside Halloween Town (who remembers this from the Disney channel?!) But even films like Chalet Girl that make you feel all warm & fuzzy are definite crowd pleasers. I would highly recommend one of these over the Final Destinations! You can make up for the lack of scariness with some Halloween snacks & decorations after all!

Walk
Now you can make this as scary as you like! There's nothing I love more than wrapping up in my fluffiest coat, putting on my hat, scarf & gloves & going for a walk at this time of year. I much prefer to go in the daytime.. however if you did feel daring, you could venture out at night for an extra scary experience! (Just make sure you go with friends / family & take your phone!)

Games Night
There are so many fun games I've found online for this time of year! The girls & I are heading to visit our friend Nicola this week & I've printed off Halloween themed quizzes & prepared some games! So far we have 'pin the nose of the witch', 'Mummy wrap' & 'dangling donuts'. All you need for the Mummy wrap, is to be divided into teams & see who can wrap the person of choice in as much toilet roll as possible in a short space of time! & the dangling donuts game I thought would be hilarious to play; you just need to put some donuts on a piece of string & hang them from a door frame or something similar & blindfold the person before they try to eat the hanging donut! Think of a pinata but with donuts & you can only use use your mouth! You can tell we're taking alot of alcohol with us.. haha!



I would love to know what you've got planned for Halloween.

Whatever you're doing, I hope you have a wicked time : )

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Life Lately #137

Hello lovelies,

It isn't everyday you get to wear sparkly green glitter on your lips is it? Halloween feels like a life time ago now, but almost like it was yesterday at the same time. We all dressed up at work, Elisa & I dressed up as witches & Nicola was a dead bride. I was so in love with my makeup, I'm going to try to recreate the look (maybe slightly more subtle) for my birthday with pink glitter!

I went to visit my grandparent's last week & took Honey for a walk in their garden. You know those places that just bring back all the happy memories of your childhood? Their garden does exactly that. It's so special to me & Honey absolutely loves playing in the fallen leaves, just like I used to do.

Ricka & I met up for some Christmas shopping last weekend & we headed to Guildford. It was so busy in the shops, I never knew people were so organised with their Christmas shopping! We had such a lovely day & catch up.

On Wednesday, I met up with Gemma, Alice, Elisa & Lily at Costa. The plan was to test out the new Christmas drinks, so Gem had the Lindt hot chocolate & Elisa had the black forest hot chocolate. They both smelt incredible.

James has started his new job & he's loving it! One of the perks of the job, is he gets to bring home their dog food. Honey was extremely excited by this as you can see. Every bag / tin I got out the bag she would sniff & try to open & then decide to roll on top of the food! Was so funny to watch.

James has been away this weekend & he sent me flowers at work! I seriously can't believe how lucky I am. Thankyou babe, you made my day!

& finally Boop & Cathy came round for dinner last night & we ordered a Chinese & stuck on Horrible Bosses 2. It was so lovely to catch up with them & show them the Lanzarote vlog that I recently finished! We all seriously had the Summer blues after though.. why has it suddenly got so cold!? It's really starting to feel like Christmas! I picked up our Christmas tree today from Tesco, the decorations are also bought ready for the tree & I've started my shopping. I can't wait to make our little flat all festive.

Have you started your Christmas shopping yet? : )

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September & October Favourites

Glittery Nail Polish

A glitter top coat just completes my everyday look at the moment. I'm loving using this one from Nails Inc over dark reds, greens & even pastel colours like lilacs & baby pinks. If you want to check out more of my nail art, you can see them over on my Instagram, or I regularly post about What I'm Wearing On My Nails so keep an eye out for those!

Soap & Glory Mascara
I only seem to discover new products when I run out of my exsisting ones. My favourite mascara is & always will be the Maybelline Lash Sensational mascara, but I have to say, this one is slowly creeping up my list. I think it's pretty similar to the Maybelline one, it definitely lengthens my lashes but it seems to hold the lift longer throughout the day.

The Life-Changing Magic Of Tidying
I bought this book a few years ago & never actually read it. I mean, I started it, got a few pages in, then completely forgot about it & moved on to the next book. I rediscovered it the other day when I was sorting through my collection of books & decided to give it another go. It amazes me how the subject of tidying can be so interesting. That sounds weird, but why would you write a whole book on how to tidy? Isn't it easy..? Marie Condo is a brilliant author & honestly captures your attention on the subject right from the first page & I can't wait to put into practice all the tips & tricks she suggests.

Gold Accessorize Eyeshadow 

I mean, can you get anymore Autumnal? I've absolutely loved wearing this for evenings out over the past month, paired with this Primark top, they make such a statement together. 

Primark Top

I picked this up in the Primark in Poole on our holiday to The New Forest last month & I'm obsessed. It's perfect for days out, or dinner & drinks in the evening with jeans & boots. It goes with everything & I can see it's going to be a staple in my wardrobe. I went shopping with my girlies last week & I also picked it up in red.. it's just such a lovely style, I couldn't resist.

Music

Ellie Goulding - First Time

The Citrus Clouds - Fire Exits

TV

TOWIE

Ah the new season started in September & as always, I'm obsessed. 

Dr Foster 
So, it was only when someone said to me 'season 2 starts next week' did I suddenly remember 'I forgot to watch season 1!' James & I started this last month & we are hooked. It's so gripping. We are half way through season 2 at the moment, so no spoilers please!

Events

James & I went on holiday to The New Forest in the middle of September & had the most amazing time. I wrote a full post on our adventure which you can read here if you like.

James got a new job! I'm so proud of him. It's still working with animals but is in a much better paid position. He's just started his first week so we're excited to see where it'll take him in the future.

The girls & I headed to London for the day & we generally had one of the best days ever. We had a picnic, visited Choccywoccydoodah, The Sky Gardens & finished by seeing a show in the evening. It was called The Comedy About A Bank Robbery.

I got my hair cut! I absolutely love it. I now have a longish bob & it's so much fun to style.

We celebrated Mum's birthday on 22nd. We had a chilled day together, eating lots of food & venturing out on an Autumn walk.

& finally it was Halloween! I didn't go out to celebrate this year, but we all dressed up at work & it was so much fun. I'll obviously fill you in a bit more in my next life update post!

& seriously, I can't actually believe that when I come to write the next Favourites Post, it's going to be reviewing the end of the year.. how scary is that!? So much has happened, it's going to be quite an emotional post I think.

Did you celebrate Halloween this year? : )

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What I've Been Wearing On My Nails #36

Models Own - Aqua Violet Beetle Juice 

I re-discovered this nail polish when I was having a sort out the other week. Isn't the most fabulous colour? It looks like a normal blue shade, but you can see glitter running through it when it catches the light. So perfect for these colder months.

Barry M - Silver Foil

I remember purchasing this after seeing Patricia reviewing it on her YouTube channel many years ago. It's still one of those polishes that I reach for, as people always comment on it.

Ciate Mini - Gold Digga

This shade just screams Autumn to me! It's the perfect colour for wearing on those cold wintery nights, wrapped up with a hot chocolate.

Ciate Mini - Gold Digga & Models Own Nail Art Pen - Silver

Ah & these were my Halloween nails this year. You might remember a few years ago I did a mixture of designs, but this year I went for spiders & webs. Sometimes I think the simplest of designs are the best for nail art. 

What have you been wearing on your nails this month?

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Life Lately #116

Hello lovelies,

Have you ever dieted? I mean like, properly dieted? Isn't the most miserable thing ever?! James & I decided to start eating better by cutting out chocolate, crisps etc, but we are seriously so miserable. I like fruit & veg don't get me wrong, but it was so hard to stick at it. We've now got to the stage of being sensible with food & not going crazy with our portion sizes & we seem to be doing well so far. I've decided I could never live without chocolate.. ever..

The girls & I had Sunday lunch at a local pub last week, which I'd never been too. It was the most adorable little place, complete with a log fire & the best roast I've had in ages. Definitely going back again soon!

Friday before Halloween, James & I had the morning together to carve our pumpkins. I've never done anything other than a scary face, so this was a new design for me! Did you carve pumpkins this year?

We also got to dress up at work for Halloween. I went as a dead child, who had come back to life as a doll. Weird I know, but I wanted to have pretty makeup, complete with a bit of gore on the side!

On Tuesday, Gemma & Ollie had a gender reveal meal at Pizza Express, where we found out what sex the baby is! I'm actually so excited to meet their little one!

I met up with Lorna in the week & we went to Costa. My heart could literally not take the excitement of finding out that their orange hot chocolates were back this year. They were my weakness two Christmas' ago & I can't wait to binge on them again this year!

Friday night, Campbell held a firework evening at his house, complete with the most amazing display. James & I were planning on going to a local display on the Saturday night, but didn't feel we needed too as Campbell's was so good. We'd had our fill of fireworks for this year.

& finally we celebrated Char's birthday this weekend. We went to Giggling Squid for lunch on Saturday & had breakfast at Char's Sunday morning. It was so nice to catch up with her (she's currently away a uni)

How has your November been so far? : )

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Halloween Wishlist

Facial Tattoos

If you're like me & scroll through countless photos of people doing amazing Halloween makeup, then go to try it & massively fail.. then this one is for you! I'm not one for overly scary makeup either, so this would be perfect for a non-messy, cute look.

Star Print Bobysuit

Ok, so how gorgeous is this? I have to say I'd never be brave enough to wear it over the top of just my bra (maybe with a black cami or crop top underneath) but it just looks so beautiful. Like I say, I tend to go for a more pretty approach when it comes to Halloween so I was immediately drawn to this.

Off The Shoulder Bat Print Dress

Again, how cute?! You can never go wrong with a black dress, especially one covered in bats.

Skeleton Leggings

These just looked such good fun & perfect for someone who doesn't like to have everything on show. They remind me of those fun leggings Primark do at Christmas that are perfect for wearing around the house or you could jazz them up for a night out, with heels & a black crop top.

Skull Jar

How cute is this little guy? As I mentioned in my Tips & Tricks For The Working Day post, I love to have unusual cups & bottles to drink out of as it encourages me to drink more throughout the day. This skeleton jar is only £3! Complete bargain.

Blood Choker

Who else hates getting messy on Halloween? I always do my makeup & totally forget I've put it on & manage to get it all over my clothes! Luckily, New Look have designed this choker which is perfect for keeping those stains at bay!

Fright Night Coin Purse

& my final item is this purse. It's so adorable & perfect for that night out on the town to celebrate Halloween! I can't resist a bit of sparkle.

Do you celebrate Halloween? What are your plans this year? : )

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Lush - Pumpkin Bath Bomb

Hello lovelies,

I'm sure if you've been a follower of my blog for a while, you'll know I have a slight addiction to Lush, especially when there is an occasion around the corner..

I never used to bother about celebrating Halloween. I never went trick or treating, I'd be the one wrapped up in the warm, looking out my bedroom window, waiting for others to come to my house! I always made my mum open the door as I was too scared to greet anyone! Now I'm 25, I think I'm more obsessed than ever..

I've already started buying a few decorations for our house & for work this year (we are dressing up on the 31st on box office!) If you're looking for cheap decorations, I can't recommend Poundland enough. I get all my decorations from there & I seriously wouldn't consider going anywhere else.  

Anyway! I actually wanted to talk to you today about one of the beautiful products from Lush's Halloween range this year, the Pumpkin Bath Bomb.

This little guy caught my eye when watching the Halloween product reveal a while back. I did think about purchasing his sparkly bubble bar friend, but I remember using it last year & having to scrub glitter from the bath tub for days..

This little guy though is so adorable & the scent he produces is delicious. I had to stop myself from licking him.

Lush describes the bath bomb like a "slab of sweet pumpkin pie" which I couldn't agree more on. It contains vanilla absolute & cinnamon, which come together to give you homely biscuity scent. Now I couldn't smell biscuits, but it defiantly reminded me of baking at home on a cold Autumn day.

When I placed the bomb into the water, it reacted instantly! Fizzing around & turning my bath a bright orange colour. I was half expecting there to be a green colour inside, which I thought would have been a nice touch. However, it quickly dissolved, leaving my bath smelling deliciously sweet.

My skin felt extremely soft & moisturized after my bath, one thing I can never fault Lush on. I always feel like I've had a treatment after using their products.

I also picked up the Autumn Leaf Bath Bomb from the range (review coming soon!) as the colours fascinated me, however I wasn't keen on the scent. Hopefully I'll change my mind when I use it in my bath. It's quite common for me to go into Lush & sample something & not like it but once I'm home & can smell it without mixing with other scents, I tend to really like them! Does that happen to anyone else?!

There will also be a review on two of the bath bombs from the Christmas range (So White & Never Mind The Ballistics) coming soon! So keep your eyes peeled for those. : )

Have you tried any of the Halloween range from Lush this year? Is there any other ones you'd recommend for me to try?

*Please note this was not a sponsored post & all views are my own.

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Life Lately #90

 

Hello lovelies,

 

A few weeks back I had my hair cut & highlighted. I had one of those nightmare trips to the hairdresser, where I came out & really didn't like the way the stylist had dyed my hair. I asked for balayage but I actually came out with a dip-dye with a few pieces of hair which were blonde towards my roots. My own fault I know for not saying at the time, but I came home & styled it myself & after a few tears & comforting from the girls, I realised it wasn't too bad, but still not what I'd asked for. Have you ever had a disappointing hair cut? It's the most gutting thing ever!

 

Shortly after Honey's birthday, I decided to have her spayed. She'd recently turned 6 & I never wanted to dismiss the idea of her having puppies, but it was the right time to get it done as she's 'middle-aged' now in doggy years. It was heart-breaking leaving her at the vets in the morning as she doesn't like strangers & gets very nervous about new surroundings, but all went well & she was back home later that day, wearing the cone of shame. (Up reference there!) After lots of cuddles & a good snooze, she was back to her normal happy self.

 

It was my mum's birthday on 22nd October & we had planned an afternoon tea at our local garden centre, but as Honey had had her operation the day before, neither of us wanted to leave her, so we stayed in & had breakfast together, which was equally as nice.

 

On the following Saturday, myself & James attended Rosie & Gareth's wedding in Gloucester. The ceremony was held at the local church, followed by the reception in the village hall, which was decorated with bunting & adorable glass jars with candles on the tables. It was such a lovely day & we can't thank Rosie & Gareth enough for letting us share their special day with them.

 

My girl Char was back from uni at the end of October, so we celebrated in the best way we could, with lots of food! I've mentioned the Giggling Squid many times on my blog, but it really is one of my favourite restaurants in our local town.

 

Ah Halloween! One of my favourite times of year! James was back for the week of half term, so we both traditionally carved our pumpkins on 30th. Can you guess which one is mine?

 

Also we were allowed to dress up for work the following day. I did James' & my own makeup & we found it great fun chatting (& scaring) all the customers. Of course, we had to have an opera & a ballet on that day so it was extremely busy!

 

That evening we went to see the local fireworks with Bo & Kieran. I absolutely love firework displays & although they are so expensive, it is tradition to go every year for us. This year, the display was to music which we thoroughly enjoyed. When we left the cricket grounds, it was so foggy, it seemed to happen while the display was going on. Perfect for Halloween night, as we had to walk back through a grave yard to get to the car park!

 

& I wanted to include these two new purchases that we bought for our dogs recently. Harvey got a new collar which was woodland themed & Honey has a new jumper for Christmas with Little Pudding written on it. She looks so cute wearing it round the house!

 

& finally yesterday I met up with my girl Ricka for pancakes at Bills restaurant. We had a lovely catch up & I was able to give her her birthday presents from the weekend.

 

How was October for you? Did you celebrate Halloween this year? : )

 

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Life Lately #89

 

Hello lovelies,

 

Last weekend I went to visit James at uni for a few days. One of the days we visited The Cotswold Wildlife Park which I have been to before about 2 years ago, but it was just as lovely the second time round. I'm writing a full post about our day, so I won't ramble on too much about it now, but I just love being around animals & could spend all day there. (which we did!)

 

On 12th October, Honey turned 6. I'm finding it quite difficult to believe as it still feels like yesterday her owners brought her to us & she fitted inside my shoe. Here she is snuggled up in her new bed with her new toys. Yes, she is very spoilt, but can you blame me? Just look at that face..

 

I went to see my girl Ricka for the day last week. I was so lovely to have a catch up with her. She also took me to see her two horses, Tia & Hattie who are so adorable. We gave them a brush then went for tea at our local garden centre. They've just started putting up the Christmas section, which was very exciting! After work that night, I went round to my friend Bo's house with the girls & we had hot chocolates & some home-made cookies, while watching Pitch Perfect 2. Bliss. 

 

Ok, so.. I've always wanted pink hair. Don't worry, this is just a wig! But I started practicing my Halloween makeup last week & there will be a post coming up soon on this look if you're still struggling on what character to go as. I'm thinking zombie princess!

 

& finally I had a lovely lazy Sunday breakfast before work yesterday with my girls at Bill's. I've mentioned them before, but I'm so in love with their breakfasts. I had scrambled egg on toast with bacon. Mmmmm.

 

How was your weekend lovelies? : )

 

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Life At The Moment #65

 

Morning lovelies,

 

How was your Halloween? Myself & James got to dress up for work. The one day a year he lets me decorate his face with makeup & I loved it! We managed to scare a lot of children as it was half term & busy at the theatre.. mission accomplished! ; )

 

Have you been to see any fireworks this year? James & I went to our local village display last weekend, which was lovely. The smell of all the food makes me hungry just thinking about it!

 

I met up with Gemma last week for a late lunch, just look at my stack of pancakes! Yum : )

 

Elisa, Cathy & I went Christmas shopping on Saturday & of course, we had to make a pit stop at Costa to try out the new Christmas range of drinks & snacks. I had the salted caramel yule log & the orange hot chocolate & oh my goodness, I've never tasted anything so nice!

 

I decided to paint my nails firework themed this week (mainly for Char's birthday & to wear for the second display we went to this weekend) which was one of the best in the country. Seriously, I've never seen fireworks like these.. 

 

& finally, yesterday marked the 100th anniversary since the start of the first world war as I'm sure you all know. I've been wearing my poppy at work & we've had so many people coming in to buy poppies, it's been lovely to see.

 

Hope you're all having a fabulous Monday : )

 

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Life At The Moment #64

 

Morning lovelies,

 

Let's start right at the beginning of the month when myself Cathy, Jo & Kym went to see The Dreamboys. For those of you who don't know, The Dreamboys are a group of men who dance around in their underwear to music & take off their clothes. Sounds terrible I know.. but seriously, I never laugh so much as I do when we see that show! Perfect girls night out as well!

 

It was Honey's 5th birthday on the 12th, can't believe I've had her 5 years in December! She still seems like a baby to me.. but I think she always will be!

 

I saw my girl Lorna a few weeks back & she introduced me to this gorgeous tea room in our local town. I can't believe I'd never been before, it's so pink! We had the best catch-up accompanied by the richest hot chocolate I've had in years.

 

My mum celebrated her 60th birthday on 22nd October - I did a full post on our celebrations during the day & a full outfit post as well. Check them out if you haven't already, my mum's cake was amazing!

 

I went to visit James at uni last weekend to see his new accommodation. We visited beautiful touristy villages - complete with rivers running through them & adorable little tea rooms. We also went shopping on the Friday & had dinner out on the Saturday evening.

 

Monday, myself & Mils made the trip up to London to visit our friend Charlotte, who started uni in September. We literally had to rush around the shops at lightning speed, had a quick visit to Primark & of course, a trip to Nandos for lunch, before heading back for work in the evening! You can imagine how dead we felt..

 

Ah & look who popped into work for their pre-panto shoot.. Not going to lie, these two seriously scare me..

 

& finally, tomorrow is Halloween! I painted my nails last night but couldn't decide which design to go for so just went for all three.. Haha! How are you celebrating this year?

 

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Happy Halloween!

Hey guys!

Hope you all had amazing weekends. Did you go out celebrating Halloween?

I have no idea what I'm supposed to be in this photo, I just painted my face white & added alot of eye liner, black lipstick & a cobweb tattoo & that was it.. Sexy eh? ; D You might be able to see as well, Cathy (second in from the right) has got one contact lense in. It was seriously weird talking to her all night with one normal eye. And Campbell didn't have his cloak on here, but he was a vampire. (We also gave him some eyeliner & a bit of mascara to help with the look) ; D

After work tonight, we're all going to the pub quiz in our local town, I can't decide whether to dress up again or not? I've got to go straight from work to the pub, so I don't know if I can be bothered to take all the face paints & stuff with me. -sigh- What do you all think? : )

It's only a couple of days till my boy is home! Next weekend will be awesome, we're going to a fireworks display on the Saturday & then maybe for a couple of drinks afterwards. So looking forward to seeing him. ♥

Oh & I'm posting alot more on Twitter now I know how to use it! Come visit me there? : )