5 festive things I've done in December

Usually I get excited for Christmas but never really do anything to celebrate until closer to the actual day. But this year I am LOVING December. So much has happened already this month to get me into the Christmas spirit. Have a read at why I'm basically Father Christmas this year.

1. Thorntons advent calendar - One of the best things about Christmas is the abundance of chocolate that appears and tends to last until February. This year I treated myself to a Thorntons continental advent calendar which is slightly more pricey but definitely worth it.

2. Bought a real Christmas tree - this year is the first year that I've bought a real tree. We've put it in our living room at the flat but it's potted with its roots so I'll take it and replant it in the garden when I go back home for Christmas. 

(Excuse Kayleigh's grumpy face haha)

3. Early Christmas dinner - last Sunday we decided to have a Christmas meal in our flat which grace and I cooked with all the trimmings. Everything went perfect until we spilt chicken juice everywhere but all in all it was a lovely day. 

4. Mulled wine at the Christmas market - Northampton's Christmas lights were turned on in November so as a flat we all went into town and walked round the Christmas market together. Of course no Christmas season is complete without mulled wine and this was my first one of the year. 

5. Christmas night out - as it was our last weekend all together we went out in town and had a Christmas themed night. My friend from home came to visit and it was such a good weekend. 

Girls house

We are in the middle of finalising the paperwork for our house next year and I am excited to say the least. I'll be sharing the house with 4 other girls from uni who are all lovely. We have had a few problems in our flat this year due to a few flat mates having friends over and items dissapearing etc so I'm looking forward to living in a house where I trust everyone who lives there. 

We've visited the house twice now and have decided on who is having which bedroom already. I think it used to be an old bake house but it only got renovated 2 years ago so everything is nice and new inside.  

We have one big kitchen/living room which is technically in the basement but part of the ceiling is raised so there are still windows at the top. 

Bedrooms are all on the ground floor in a long corridor and are all double bed en suites. 

I can't wait to move in next September and hopefully live there until I finish uni in 3 years time! 

Working while at uni

Along side uni I have managed to get two part-time jobs. These are both flexible in terms of when I work so it's just as and when I have spare time and want to make a little money. 

The first job I have is being a student ambassador for the university. My job basically includes helping out at open days, occasional office work and other odd jobs that the uni needs help with. Doing this job definitely makes me feel more of a part of the uni rather than just one of the thousands of students. I've only worked one open day so far but hopefully this will be a job I can carry on doing trough out the whole time I'm at uni. 

The second job I have is with a company called Events People in which I get to work at all kinds of events around the country doing stewarding and waitressing. So far I've worked at Northampton firework display, the MK football stadium and at the Deco theatre in Northampton. These have been great fun to work at because you're never doing the same thing. 

I do most shifts at both of these jobs with my friend Ashleigh who is on the same Fashion Marketing course as me and lives in the same halls. This makes going to new jobs so much easier for me as I feel more confident if I have at least one person that I already know there. 

Fashion illustrations

I've studied art throughout school for as long as I can remember and recently I've been missing it as I'm studying a subject where I no longer get to do any physical artwork. So every now and then I've started to mess around with different techniques in my spare time to create little pieces that I feel still could add to my fashion marketing course at somepoint.

I've never actually studied fashion or design before now but I'm finding making fashion designs and illustrations very interesting at the moment. These are some that I made while just sat in front of the TV relaxing for a few hours. 

I used watercolours and a thin soft brush to paint on top of already drawn figures. This made it so much easier to keep the design within the right proportions. 

My tattoos

I had always wanted to get a tattoo since I was roughly 16 years old, but obviously for legal reasons I couldn't get it done until I was 18. This gave me plenty of time to think about the designs that I wanted to get and I'm glad I did wait because what I wanted when I was 16 were very different to what I finally decided to get. 

I had my first tattoo done in October 2014 just after I had turned 18. The design I chose was 3 roses consisting of my parents, my little sister's and my birth dates inside the petals of each rose to symbolise how much they mean to me and how close we all are. When I have children I want to get an extension from the rose with my date in it to include their birth dates as well.

I had this tattoo done in Bedford at Triple Ace Tattoo Studio. As soon as I had it done I loved the design and the placing of it as it's hidden on a daily basis and I didn't want anything visible. However after a few months I noticed that sections were starting to fade and in other sections the ink had bled out due to stretch marks on my hips. I am going back this January to get it re-done by the same tattoo artist as they offered to do these touch ups free of charge.

In September this year I moved to Northampton and after extensive searching, I found a tattoo studio called Fat Fugu in the town centre. After looking through portfolios of the different artists I decided to go with a lovely girl called Amy who has done my next two tattoos for me, both on the same day. The first design is my watercolour elephant which is now called Edgar (super cute I know). I went for a cartoon sketched look of a baby elephant which Amy drew from scratch to make it individual to me. Again this January I am going for touch ups at Fat Fugu on the colour sections as I'd like them to be a little brighter than I first thought. 

My last tattoo is an unalome which is a Buddhist symbol representing the reaching of enlightenment. The path starts at the centre of the spiral, and as you continue down this path you are wandering. When you reach the top of the symbol (the straight line) you have reached enlightenment. I thought that this was quite a nice representation of someone's life, especially mine, as there have been many ups and downs but I think I'm finally becoming more settled and happy within myself. 

25 facts about me

1. My middle name is Tallulah 

2. My boyfriend is a bodybuilder 

3. I have 8 piercings and 3 tattoos

4. I love being in bed (yes, I'm lazy) 

5. My birthday is 4th October 

6. I HATE peppers 

7. I go to Spain nearly every year 

8. My boyfriend and I went to turkey for our one year anniversary 

9. I went to a girls private school 

10. I've dyed my hair nearly every colour except blue and green 

11. I have one younger sister 

12. I love animals and would love a pet snake

13. I'm so scared of spiders 

14. I live in topshop jeans 

15. I want to set up my own business in the future

16. I'm really close with my family 

17. I passed my driving test when I was 17, 6 months after my birthday 

18. I'm studying fashion marketing at Northampton uni 

19. I used to have 7 horses and 6 sheep

20. I love antipasti mushrooms 

21. I love to help other people 

22. I don't like full fat Coke 

23. My hair is now its natural colour

24. My dogs are called Uschi and Reuben 

25. I'm trained in bra fitting

My Christmas wishlist

Make up drawer:

Shoes:

Pedicure: 

Make up setting spray: 

Teeth whitening: 

Handbag - river island:

Ari by Arianna grande perfume:

Clinique primer: 

Halloween - Broken Doll

So this year for Halloween, my cousin and I decided that we would it's broken dolls. 

I liked this look because it was pretty yet still goes along the Halloween theme. I started by applying my normal daily make up along with some sparkly pink eyeshadow by Barry M. 

I then used a brown eyebrow pencil do draw two straight lines and create my dolls mouth. I lined my waterline with a white eyeliner pencil to make them stand out.

To create the cracks on my face I used a black eyeliner pen and a white eyeliner pencil to add a little dimension to the cracks.

My daily make-up routine

So I just thought that I'd share my daily make up routine with you. This is just the make up I'd wear on a typical uni day for example rather than when I going out on a night out or somewhere special. It is all products available in high street shops although some products are slightly pricey.

 

Step 1- I ALWAYS moisturise and prime my face before I even start to put anything on my face. I've found that if I don't do this my foundation goes patchy throughout the day and it doesn't last as long.

 

Step 2- I use Clinique's beyond perfection foundation in the colour Creamwhip (4) which is a fairly light colour with a yellow tone to it as my skin is naturally on the yellower side. I apply this by putting a stripe down my nose, on both my cheeks, my chin and my forehead and blending it with a flat foundation brush. You don't need much of this foundation as a little goes a long way due to the fairly thick texture. I LOVE this product as it lasts the whole day and it gives a fairly heavy coverage while not feeling too thick on my face.

Step 3- I've used this Clinique loose powder for 6 months or so now and I'm only about half way through the tub. It seems to last FOREVER. It gives such a matte finish to my skin which lasts for hours. I use the invisible blend which is designed for most skin shades as it just mattes your skin rather than adding colour.

Step 4- I actually use a natural collection eyeshadow to fill in my eyebrows as I found that it matches the colour better than any eyebrow product I've used before. I use a small angled brush to define the edges of my eyebrow before filling in any gaps. I use Benefit's 'Gimmie Brow' to just set them into place and add a little volume.
 

Step 5- I tend to do the same shape eyeliner everyday using Maybelline's Master Precise eyeliner pen as its quick and easy. I line my top lid all the way from each edge before adding a little flick to create a semi-cat eye effect. It has quite a flexible applicator and I the colour is lovely and thick unlike some which I've found to come out a little grey rather than black.

Step 6- I find that after I have done all of the previous steps I can sometimes have dropped powder onto my eyelashes so before applying my mascara I do a downward stroke on the top lashes just to remove any dust that might make my eyelashes stick together. I then use upward strokes and wiggle the brush along my eyelashes until they are fanned out and have more length to them.

Step 7- Hoola bronzer by Benefit it by FAR the best bronzer I have tried. I love the colour as its not too orange but yet not so dark that I look like I've contoured with mud. I use the provided brush to emphasise my cheek bones and give my face a little more structure before blending the bronzer up to my temples and across my forehead which gives a more sun kissed look. To finish off this slight contouring I add 3 small dots of Benefit's High Beam highlighter to the top of my cheeks and blend with my finger.

Step 8- Last but not least I use a Mac lip liner to add volume to my lips and define the edges before filling them in with a Clinique lipstick. If I fancy adding a little shine to my lips I will top it all off with Soap & Glory's Sexy Motherpucker lip gloss. This contains plumping ingredients which make your lips tingle...it is AMAZING STUFF.

Bloody Joker

To create this look I applied my daily makeup as normal, excluding the bronzer and highlighter. I then used a makeup sponge and black face paint to dab down my face to give the illusion that I had been crying.

To create texture on my mouth I used latex as a base for my split smile before layering fake blood over top. I used a fairly thick one for this so that it didn't drip too much.

I then used the same fake blood to draw lines from both my eyes in a typical joker style. I applied this quite roughly so that not to create perfect lines. 

Lastly I added extra blood to the inside of my lips just to even the whole look out. 

And there you have it, my quick and easy Bloody Joker Halloween makeup.