12 Awesome Memories From 2012

It's new years eve and I'm somewhat sad to say goodbye to this year.  I've experienced so many amazing things so for my last post of this year I wanted to share some of my favourite memories.  It was really hard to choose just 12 and most of them are related to my travels in Australia.  Here they are in no particular order:

Celebrated my 27th birthday in style at the Ramada Plaza in Southport

 

Met my amazing boyfriend  <3

Enjoyed a fabulous day at the Lush spa in Leeds for my best friends hen-do

Fell in love with Hong Kong

My gorgeous nephew was born

Bought a car in Australia

Visited Ayers Rock

Stroked wallabies and kangaroos (and wombats, koalas and elephants!)

Camped in the outback

Sat on a giant bench in Broken Hill

Moved to the Gold Coast

Saw many beautiful sunsets

Awww, what an amazing year  :)

I hope you have had a fantastic year too whatever you have done.  Here's to an even better 2013!

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

YSL Forever Youth Liberator Serum

I'm just going to start out by saying I absolutely love, love, LOVE this product!  The YSL website claims it to be the product of 100 years of research and part of a collection which includes moisturisers, eye creme, cleanser and an eye serum.  

My Glossybox sample.

The full size bottle.

The packaging is beautiful even on the small sample, which I received in my Harrods Edition Glossybox, the full size even more so.  The bottle, which has a pretty purple/silver gradient effect paint job has a 'pipette' type device in the lid which dispenses just the right amount of product for one application.  I found this really handy as I'm forever cursing myself for squeezing too much product out of tubes!

Merry Christmas!

Hey dolls!  For those of you who celebrate it I wanted to wish you a Merry Christmas.  I hope you all had a wonderful day!

12 Perfect Party Dresses Under £55!

Wowee, it's nearly christmas!  One of the best things about this time of year is choosing the perfect dress for Christmas parties and, of course,  New Years Eve.

Ax Paris always have a massive range of dresses in many different styles, there's literally something for everyone and every occasion.  I have a few of their dresses and I'm always amazed with the fantastic quality at purse friendly prices (which is extra good for me as I always seem to end up buying more than one outfit for special occasions!).

Unfortunately I'm not likely to be going to any parties this festive season but that doesn't stop me from looking at all of the glittery outfits on offer.  I've picked out 12 of my favourite dresses from the Ax Paris website.  

1. PVC Peplum Dress  -  £25.00
2. Halter-neck Embellished Maxi Dress  -  £45.00
3. Lace Kick Out Dress  -  £40.00
4. Sequin Kick Out Dress  -  £55.00
5. Flow Chiffon Jewel Embellished Dress  -  £35.00
6. Print Bottom Peplum Dress  -  £25.00
7. Strapless Drop Back Jewel Dress  -  £29.99
8. Strapless Sequin Thigh Split Maxi Dress  -  £50.00
9. Animal Cap Sleeve Fitted Dress  -  £25.99
10. Chiffon Jewel Maxi Dress  -  £55.00
11. Flock Skater Dress  -  £22.00
12. Asymmetric Embellished Drop Back Dress  -  £18.99

They offer free delivery in the UK for orders over £45 which is great if you're still looking for NYE.

Christmas Tag

I've seen this Christmas tag doing the rounds and I thought I'd have a go in an effort to finally get me into the festive mood!

What is your favourite thing about Christmas?

I love having the excuse to over indulge and eat loads of yummy rich food without feeling guilty.  Also having time to spend with family and friends is always great.

What is your favourite make up look for the festive season?

Glitter!  Christmas means Christmas parties and for those I love to wear something dramatic and sparkly.  Full on glitter nails is essential!

Real Tree or Fake Tree?

My family have always had fake.  My mum has the most gorgeous artificial tree and I think it looks a million times prettier than a real one.  This year is different as we are travelling so we can't have a big tree so Si's mum sent us this amazing magic tree which grows green crystals all over it.  Pretty amazing!  We might have a bit of a dilemma next year as Si likes real trees and I don't...

 

Giving presents or receiving presents?

Everyone likes to receive gifts but I just love giving them too.  First of all it means I get to go shopping and always get to treat myself to something whilst I'm at it  ;)  Secondly I absolutely love wrapping gifts and making them all pretty.  Every year I have a bit of a colour scheme and wrap everything in matching paper with coordinating ribbons, bows and tags.

Do you open presents Christmas Morning/Eve/Evening?

I never open any presents before Christmas morning.  We always open presents from parents in the morning and then the rest wait until after Christmas lunch when one lucky family member gets to pass them out from under the tree.

Handmade Christmas Cards or Bought?

Bought.  I'm too lazy to make them and I'd probably leave it to the last minute anyway.

What is your favourite Christmas film?

I'm not a huge fan of Christmas movies... maybe Elf?  I don't mind that one.

What's your favourite Christmas Food?

It's all about Christmas dinner!  Turkey, ham, roast potatoes, sprouts (I love sprouts!!), the apple sauce and stuffing.  The only thing better than Christmas dinner is the 'hash' my mum makes the next day.  I don't know if anyone else does this but it's basically all of the left over veg mixed up and warmed up before being fried.  So delicious!

What's your favourite Christmas Song?

Something upbeat and fun like Jingle Bell Rock.

What's your favourite Christmas Memory?

The year I got my bass guitar.  My siblings were all opening awesome presents and I only had one crappy little present.  I knew something was going on when my mum asked me to go and get some coal for the fire (way back in the day when we still had a coal fire!)  Behind the living room door was my new bass, I was completely over the moon with it!

I pinched these questions from Steph over at www.ess-jay24.blogspot.com.  Click on the link to check out her answers and check out the rest of her blog!

If you have these posted on your blog leave me a comment with the link.  I'm pretty nosey so I'd love to read your answers  ;)

Estee Lauder Pure Colour Crystal Lipstick Watermelon Fizz

This lipstick is a little piece of luxury for my lips.  It's a bright pinkish red with pretty golden flecks and the consistency is wonderfully creamy.  I love how it makes my lips feel moisturised.  On application the colour is sheer but bright and glossy, a perfect colour for summer.  This is my one and only Estee Lauder lippy so far but I love the texture of it so much I'd definitely try more.  The gold packaging is so glam it looks fab in my make up bag and the lipstick itself has a layer of shimmery gold on it.

Pantone Colour Of The Year 2013

So Pantone has announced that their colour of the year for 2013 is emerald.  Not one of my personal favourites but I think it could make for some interesting and fresh make up looks for spring and summer.

Here are 11 of my favourite green make up products (not all of them strictly emerald in colour) that I could see myself experimenting with next season.

1. Midori Pressed Eyeshadow Sugarpill  -  £8.95
2. Metallic Liquid Eyeliner Barry M  -  £4.79
3. Powder Mono Eyeshadow Dior  -  £21.50
4. Nomad Nail Polish Illamasqua  -  £13.50
5. Emerald 3D Crystal Nail Polish Filthy Gorgeous  -  £6.30
6. Parrot Green Dazzle Dust Barry M  -  £4.59
7. Poison Ivy Eyeshadow Trio Collection 2000  -  £3.19
8. Green With Envy Nail Polish Orly  -  £5.00
9. Whisper Individual Lashes Sugarpill  -  £3.95
10. Vert Profond Little Round Pot Intense Eyeshadow Bourjois  -  £6.99
11. French Kiss Intense Supersoft Kohl Pencil Collection 2000  -  £1.99

What do you think of Pantone's choice of colour?  Love it or hate it?

Baroque & Roll Beauty Awards - My 2012 Favourites!

Now it's almost the end of 2012 (already!), I've been planning to do a post with my favourite products of the year.  I thought I'd have a bit of fun with it so I've put together my own little awards post to show off my most loved products of this year.

Studs & Spikes

I've noticed lots of spikes and studs appearing not only here in Australia but also back at home in the UK.  I'm a big fan of this trend and love how even a minimal amount of studded or spiked embellishment can make an otherwise basic piece a little more edgy.

In today's post I have compared some of my favourite items from both Australia and the UK. 

My Insta Week

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I wanted to post this yesterday but we ran out of internet  :(  Hate this pre pay mobile broadband but needs must to stay in touch with the rest of the world!  Here's what I got up to on Instagram last week...

Getting hot!  It actually reached 36 degrees that day.

Followed by a thunderstorm which reminded me of the movie Ted.

My Insta-Week

A bit of a quiet week.  We had 4 days off our main job but Si was ill so we didn't do much at all.

Blast from the past!  Playing Theme Hospital.

Bearded dragons at Point Danger.

The moon looking pretty through the bedroom window.

Blogging!

Christmas is coming!  1st Christmas card and opening door number 1  :)