Most Popular Posts of 2015...

I've seen a couple of bloggers share these kinds of posts over the last few days and it was more for my own curiosity than anything else that I decided to check out my most popular posts from 2015...

Two Year Blogiversary and Giveaway

This was by far my most popular post of 2015, and needless to say this was one of the biggest give-aways that I had done on my blog ever. I was actually quite shocked by how popular it was. If you missed out on it you don't have to worry as I am already planning the giveaway for my 3 year Blogiversary!

My DFMA Diary Week One

I am unsurprised that this was one of my most popular posts of 2015 as it was one of the most exciting things that I did this year. For those of you that don't know I did a 1 month Film, TV and Theatre Makeup course and I decided to do a write up of my experience on the blog. You can check out week 2, week 3 and week 4, by simply clicking on them.

Bloggers Bake Along to GBBO: Black Forest Gateau

Ahhh my first week of the Bloggers Bake Along, probably my biggest achievement of the year was taking part in every single week of the bake along. I never made it easy on myself and the first week was no exception when I made this monstrosity of a cake for Tim's Birthday. The chocolate work was so fun, and it was the first time I made something so extravagant...

First Impressions: Lush Eye Jewels

This was one of my favourite new products of 2015 so I am glad that this was one of my most popular posts. It's more a Youtube video than a post, where I give a look at four of the eye jewels in the Lush makeup range from the Oxford Street store. I am so in love with these...

Bloggers Bake Along to GBBO: Mary Berry's Tennis Cake

The tennis cake, something that when I watched the GBBO episode, I thought looked so simple and beautiful... Then I made it, and OMG was this an effort and a half to make. I had to prepare a tonne of fruit, bake the cake, cover it in marzipan, colour some fondant, make royal icing in three different colours, AND try to make an upright tennis net... I was so please with the final result, even though it was without the tennis net...

There are my top 5 posts of 2015, are there any that I missed that were your favourite from my blog this year? Let me know in the comments below!

Blogger Book Club: The Book of You by Claire Kendal

Buy this book: Amazon

Here I am sitting down to write this on the day the post is due to go live, having only just finished the book a mere five minutes ago. Part of the reason for my finishing the book so late was due to the Holiday Season getting in the way, and the fact that the book only arrived at my doorstep a week before Christmas. Knowing that the review was due to go live today I picked up the book in the hopes to at least start it, 5 hours later and the book was finished, and it wasn't too great an effort to get through. I mean that in a good way of course. Before I get too much into the book here is the description from Amazon:

'Clarissa is becoming more and more frightened of her colleague, Rafe. He won’t leave her alone, and he refuses to take no for an answer. He is always there.

Being selected for jury service is a relief. The courtroom is a safe haven, a place where Rafe can’t be. But as a violent tale of kidnap and abuse unfolds, Clarissa begins to see parallels between her own situation and that of the young woman on the witness stand.

Realizing that she bears the burden of proof, Clarissa unravels the twisted, macabre fairytale that Rafe has spun around them – and discovers that the ending he envisions is more terrifying than she could have imagined.'

First Impressions: I'm always intrigued by book covers that are mainly black and white with a small splash of colour, and this cover definitely caught my eye, it kind of reminded me of the cover of 'Before I Go to Sleep' by S J Watson. Before I even read the blurb I knew it would be some sort of crime/thriller, one of my favourite genres I would like to add.

During Reading: I'm a big fan of books that are written in a diary style, some of my favourite books when I was a child were the Little Wolf books, due to the way that the entire story is written in letters to little wolf's parents. I always find there I connect much more when a book is written in this way, I just feel like it's so much more personal. The entire book moves between this style and third person, so that you don't feel trapped in the mind of the main character Clarissa. I don't want to give too much of the story away because you really should read it for yourself, but in this story Clarissa is fending off unwanted attentions from a creepy work colleague. The passages where she is being harassed by him are all written in diary style, which certainly made me feel like I was experiencing the harassment right alongside Clarissa, and really added to the tension. Having read the entire thing cover to cover in 5 hours you could definitely say that this book had me hooked. I will admit though that I was disappointed with the ending, it all seemed very unsatisfactory for me, as I did have higher hopes for Clarissa, I can't give much more away than that, but the whole thing felt very rushed...

Final Verdict: Overall a very gripping thriller, a book you will find difficult to put down. If you are a lover of crime/thriller novels then I suggest you get your hands on this one ASAP. The ending is the only thing that lets this book down, but even that isn't enough to stop me from saying that I would happily read this again.

Rating: 4/5 Creepy Stalkers

To find out what the other bloggers thought about the book check out their links below:

Leanne / Lorna / Chloe / Sarah / Charli / Lizzie

Lush Christmas 2015

I always feel very lucky when I am invited to blogger events, especially as I feel as though my is still very small, and going to these events always make you feel very special. When I got the email from Lush to invite me to their Christmas 2015 event I knew I would have to attend.

So yesterday at 5:30pm the shutters opened and myself and some other local bloggers were let into the store after hours. There were plenty of staff around to help us and to show us the Christmas products and answer our questions about any of them, and also demonstrate any that we particularly wanted to see!

It was honestly so difficult for me to control myself and not buy one of everything, but I managed to keep within the budget I set myself, which I was very proud of. Here are some of my favourites from the Christmas collection this year:

The Magic of Christmas Bubble Wand.

This is the first bubble wand I have ever purchased from Lush, as I have always felt like the sticks they come on are a little bit flimsy. However the magic of Christmas has been formed around a cinnamon stick, which supports the bubble bar very well. This bar is full of cinnamon and cloves meaning to me it smells exactly like Christmas.

Star Dust Bath Bomb

The star shaped bath product of last year was covered in silver glitter, and had a more citrus' smell to it. This year's star shaped bath product is much more like a bath bomb and is vanilla and rosewood scented. I have also been informed by Lush staff that this turns your bath water a lovely blue colour, and what with that being my favourite colour I couldn't pass it up!

Bar Humbug Bubble Bar

This dark purple treat smells like liquorice, but at the same time is very sweet. Purple is another of my favourite colours, and I can imagine nothing more relaxing than laying in a deep purple bath of sweet smelling liquorice!

Yog Nog Bath Bomb

My absolute favourite product from Lush Christmas 2014 was the Yog Nog soap, then this year I have been lucky enough that Lush have decided to make a bath bomb of the same scent. With Soya milk and Shea butter in the centre, this not only smells delicious, almost like toffee, but it leaves your skin feeling silky soft.

So there are my top picks from the 2015 Christmas selection, don't forget to keep an eye out for my haul of everything I purchased coming up next week! Also let me know in the comments what your favourite is from the collection this year...

15 Goals Before 2015!

via

Last year for the first time ever, I set myself 14 goals to achieve in 2014, so how did I do?

1. Start going to/stick to the gym - I did start going to the gym last year, and even attended some Aquarobics classes, which I actually enjoyed. However our gym did end up going into administration, meaning I ended up not going to the gym for half of the year...
2. Lose 1 stone by the end of the year - I managed to lose 11 Ib's last year, which is amazing for me, but then I managed to put it all back on again...
3. Eat more healthily (less takeaways) - Tim and I definitely started cooking a lot more, but we also slipped into some bad habits for the last three months of the year...
4. Drink more water, and a lot less Coca Cola -  Failed at this to be honest...
5. Get a Full Time Job - I got myself a full time job! YAY!
6. Move out of my mum's house - I also moved out of mum's house and in with my boyfriend... DOUBLE YAY!
7. Start saving money and being more sensible - Ok, so this didn't happen as such, but I have definitely been spending less money, I just have more things to spend it on currently.
8. Go on more adventures - Whilst this didn't actually happen, I have had many life adventures this year, including becoming an Auntie!
9. Watch at least 2 films a week - Again this didn't happen, but I have managed to watch some decent films.
10. Keep up to date with all my TV shows - Finally, another goal I kept up with... I even started watching some new TV shows, and I'm still managing to keep up with all of them.
11. Complete all the video games I own before buying more - Big, fat, fail.
12. Read at least 1 book a month - How many times can I say the word fail?
13. Keep making Youtube videos - Yes and no, I did keep making videos, but there were MASSIVE gaps between some of them... Must try harder!
14. Be myself, and be happy - I've definitely been myself, and I have definitely been happier than I have ever been this year!

Whilst I somehow managed to fail a lot of the above goals, I am glad that my Main goals (i.e moving out) were met, and I was desperate for them to happen. So what are my 15 goals for this year?

1. Exercise at least twice a week
2. Lose 2 stone by the end of the year
3. Move out of our flat and into out own home
4. Start saving money
5. Keep up to date with my TV shows
6. Eat only one takeaway a month
7. Give up fizzy drinks and alcohol (except for special occassions)
8. Watch 52 new films this year
9. Upload one Youtube video a week minimum
10. Read 3 blogposts a day and leave comments
11. Complete all the (old) video games I own
12. Use my camera at least once a week
13. Work my way through my eye shadow palettes
14. Pick up a new hobby
15. Keep working to handle my Gerbils

Let me know in the comments what your goals are for this year, and whether you think you'll be able to manage them!