Thursday 10 December 2015

Christmas Baking: Mince Pies and Jam Tarts.

Wow, I can't believe how fast the countdown to Christmas is going. I feel like I am up to my eyeballs in University work and don't feel like I can really enjoy it until my assignments are done. They're not actually due in until the beginning of January, however I would like to get them done before Christmas so I can enjoy the day itself and then prepare my exams properly without having to worry about finishing an essay! However, so far this is not going to plan, but positive thinking and all that!

To try and get myself in the mood for Christmas and to have a proper break from reading a book or a computer screen I decided to do a spot of Christmas baking. I love baking all year round but I believe that Christmas time is the perfect time to do a spot of baking! So off I popped to the shops to get some ingredients! 

I wanted it to be fairly simple and not complicate things so literally all you need for this recipe is 4 ingredients. I don't like mince pies myself so I thought I would do an alternative version for people like me! 

Ingredients
Short crust pastry
Mince pie filling
Strawberry Jam
1 egg

Step 1. Pre-heat the over to 175oC.
Step 2. Roll out your pre-made pastry on a clean, dry work surface. Using a cookie cutter, cut out the desired size and shape for the bottom of your mince pie/jam tart. I used a circular, flutter edge one. Place these one by one into your muffin/cupcake tray. 
Step 3. Gently stab, with a fork, your pastry in the middle of the circles. Once you have done this, place a spoonful of your desired filling into the middle. 
Step 4. With the remaining pastry, cut out the tops for your mince pies/tarts using your desired shape. I used Christmas trees as I don't have a star cutter which is what I intended to use. Once you have done this, place on top of the filling.
Step 5. Crack an egg into a small bowl/cup and whisk. Brush this over the pastry.
Step 6. Place your mince pies/jam tarts into the over for 15-20 minutes or until golden brown.

I think these are served best with a cup of tea for an afternoon snack!


Thursday 26 November 2015

Christmas Gift Guide: Main Presents/Luxury Items

It is officially less than one month until Christmas!! Woohoo!! I am so excited! Although not looking forward to how much University work I have to between now and then! I have 4 assignments and 2 exams in January and life is a little stressful right now! I am glad I have my blog to vent to and get my feelings down. 

This is the last in my Christmas Gift Guide series. It is just a few ideas for if you are wanting to splash a little more cash on someone you love!


Xbox One Fifa Bundle: A unisex present but stereotypically more for that special male in your life! Do be warned though, you probably will not seen the person you buy this for for a while! I know from experience!

Ipad Mini 4 Gold: I am an Apple product lover and although I have an iPhone and a MacBook Air, I would not be upset if I got one of this under my tree! On the other hand I won't be asking for one! However, I know a lot of people who would be happy to unwrap this and I think they can be very useful.

ghd Platinum Vintage Pink: My ghd's are my holy grail product, I would never ever go back to another branded pair of straighteners as I don't think they are as good as ghds. I have the rose gold ones which I love! The black ones are just as nice however I think for a present limited editions ones are more special and personal.

Michael Kors Watches: I also have a Michael Kors watch which I got from my Mum and Dad for my 18th birthday and its so special to me. I have one of the rose gold (yes I am obsessed with rose gold!) ones however I do like pretty much the whole range. These silver and navy matching mens and ladies are so cute! Some people may argue this is cringey but I think it would be quite cool to have matching watches. These are so sophisticated too!

So they are the last of the presents in my Christmas Gift Guide. Whether you buy these items for yourself as a pre Christmas treat or if you buy them for that special someone in your life, these luxury items would get a good use out of. I also think there is a good range of gifts to get a gamer, a tech savvy, a beauty fanatic or a fashionista.

See you in my next post!
Holly xx

Saturday 21 November 2015

Christmas Gift Guide: Stocking Fillers for Men!

Time for the second instalment of my Christmas Gift Guides! 

Personally I think that men can be much harder to buy for than women. They are so picky and I think there is a lot less choice of what you can buy them (I also think that men can have a much more expensive choice than women!!). This post will be stocking fillers for men, showing you a few presents you can buy for under £15 for the men in your life!
1. Chocolate Set: Who doesn't love chocolate? I think this would be a perfect stocking filler for the men in your life! It gives them a choice of 12 different chocolate bars and who knows they may be generous and share it with you!
2. Star Wars Egg Cup: So this December the new Star Wars film is released, pretty much every male in my life that I know is excited for this but it also means new Star Wars merchandise! This egg cup would be perfect for any age in my opinion. Who doesn't love egg and soldiers?!
3. Cure For Farting: I personally think this is hilarious and is perfect for a joke gift.
4. Blackboard Mug: This mug would be perfect for someone of any age or any gender in my opinion however, I think men are lovers of novelty/joke gifts. No excuse for getting their drink wrong now!
5. Christmas Dinner in a Matchbox: Finally is this Christmas Dinner in a Matchbox gift. It includes a '3 course meal' in form of a hardboiled sweet which apparently tastes of sage and onion stuffing as the starter, roast turkey as a main and Christmas pudding as the desert. Just a bit of fun really!

So here is my pick of the best stocking fillers for men!

Thanks for reading!
Holly xx

Tuesday 17 November 2015

Products I Want To Try.

I am supposed to be doing uni work right now I'm in a serious procrastination mood! Oops! So I thought I might as well do something productive and write a blog post! 
I have always been into make-up however, over the past few years I have started to get more interested in different make-up looks and different brands, probably since my interest in blogs and YouTube started. Personally I think you should treat yourself every so often whether thats a new item of make-up, clothing or something else you've been pining over for a while.
These products I have chosen are products that I've been lusting over for a while.




1. Origins Super Spot Remover: This product, if I remember correctly, used to be quite popular in the beauty blogger community a few years ago but I never got to try it. I've suffered with minor acne for probably about 8 years now and it is something that I'm very insecure about. No matter what I try, my skin never manages to clear up to how I want it to be. However, I have heard great things about this spot remover gel, and a few of the other products in the spot remover Origins range.

2. Soap & Glory Arch De Triumph Eyebrow Shaper & Highlighter: I have been after a new product to fill in my eyebrows for a while now. I have only ever used one product on my eyebrows that I have had for a good few years so probably should throw it away! Oops! Anyway this product has always been an eyeshadow so I've been wanting to try a different kind of product and I've heard good things about this!

3. Soap and Glory It's About Prime Eyeshadow Underbase: Personally I have never used an eyeshadow primer but this is probably the explanation as to why my eyeshadow never stays on throughout the day! I've heard good things about the Soap and Glory make-up range and although I have never tried any of the products myself for £4 you can't really go wrong for this product!

4. Max Factor Smokey Eye Drama Kit: Whenever I wear eyeshadow I usually go for a gold toned smokey eye and I never really experiment. I LOVE the colours of this pallet and I really think they would compliment my skin tone and eyes (although it does say it would compliment blue eyes when I have brown eyes!). They also do this pallet in other colours but this was the one I was drawn to.

5. NYX Intense Butter Gloss: I don't know much about the NYX brand, however everything that I have read or seen about these brands has been positive and I know that they are knew to the Boots website. This colour is such a pretty deep pink called 'Spice Cake' I do believe. Their products are also reasonable priced.

6. DKNY Be Desired: For Christmas I am after a new perfume as I am running out of all of mine! I don't know how though, I had 5 on the go at one point! When reading the new Glamour magazine with Tanya Burr on the cover I came across a sample for the new DKNY perfume and it smells delicious. I'm rubbish at describing scents however the Boots website describes this as including hints of orange oil, blackcurrant and violet.

So here are a few products I've been wanting to try recently. Are there any products you can recommend? Or have to tried any of this products?

Back to the uni work I go!

Holly xx 

Tuesday 10 November 2015

Christmas Gift Guide: Stocking Fillers for Her!

Its that time of year again where some of us are well under way with our Christmas shopping while the rest of us are stuck in the dreaded mental block of what gifts to buy for their loved ones! Personally I'm usually the former but this year I'm definitely the latter but love spending hours browsing the shops and online stores to see what I can give to people.

When thinking about what I could do my blog post on today Christmas instantly popped into my head. To be fair, at this time of the year Christmas is always in my head! I love this time of the year and think its so magical! So I decided, why not do a Christmas gift guide series for all the people (including me) struggling for what to spend their money on this festive season.

The first in the series is stocking fillers for her. I've decided to stick to just one online store for this to stop it from getting too complicated! I've chose Not on the High Street for this as I think they do unique yet affordable gifts that personally I'd love to receive which is particularly good for stocking fillers.


1. This personalised mirror is so cute and it just so happens to be my name as the example, that is fate right? Or could just be because it is a festive name? Who knows! However, this is very cute and would be the perfect addition to a stocking. What girl doesn't need a hand held mirror?
2. How cute is this bookmark? I personally love reading and if I was gifted this bookmark with my favourite pictures of someone I love I would be happy and for £7.99 what could go wrong?
3. Who wouldn't love these pink pencils with your name on? They certainly wouldn't go missing in other people's pencil cases!
4. This heart bangle is so elegant yet so pretty and would be the perfect addition to any female in your life's wrist!
5. These initial paper clips are £2! £2! How amazing is that? And they're certainly better than any other normal paper clip!
6. A floral letter print frame  would be the perfect addition to any room but particularly a female's bedroom! So many high-street shops sell items like this for ridiculous prices but this is £8! That is crazy cheap.
7. I love this personalised locket and think it could be really sentimental. Perfect for that someone special in your life if you don't have a lot of money to spend on them!
8. This necklace is also very cute. This is sentimental in a different kind of way. If they love reading, in particular Jane Eyre, why not get them this necklace in sentiment of this. They also have different versions relating to different authors and novels.
9. If your giftee is a jewellery fan but they're very picky, this jewellery stand is perfect. It is decently priced but also unique from ordinary jewellery stand.
10. Finally is this personalised notebook. This would be perfect for any female (or even male) who loves travelling or wants to travel in the near future as they can get all their ideas and memories down in one notebook.

So here are 10 stocking filler ideas for any special women in your life, they are reasonably priced but also very personalised so it looks like you've thought a lot about what to get them.

I will be following this post up in the next few weeks with a stocking filler guide for him, and then also special gifts you can get for male and females if you're wanting to spend a little more money on them!

Thanks for reading!

Holly xx

P.S. Only 45 sleeps to go!

Tuesday 3 November 2015

The Best Of: Missguided New In.


I love Missguided and have ordered from them a few times. It is good quality for the price that you get and the clothes are gorgeous!

I love this teal jumpsuit and after recently seeing Kendall Jenner in a jumpsuit similar I have fell in love with this one. Teal is my favourite colour and I think it is perfect for this time of year! Whether I actually have anywhere to wear this is a different matter!

I am usually a leggings or skinny jeans kind of girl so if I were to buy something like this cigarette trousers I would be quite far out of my comfort zone. However, I think these would be perfect for this time of year for a night out or cocktails with the girls as they would look sophisticated with a pair of heels but would also keep you from freezing to death!

I recently tried a wrap playsuit on in Miss Selfridge and I loved it on, however I could not justify £60 on something I wouldn't wear on a regular basis, however, this is a fraction of a price for £30. I love the lapel collar on this dress!

My favourite thing about the winter months is wrapping up in wooly jumpers and cardigans and this oversized/kimono cardigan would be perfect for grey and cold days in the run up to Christmas!

This skirt is not something I would usually go for but I love this, there is just something about it! I think it would look perfect with a polo neck and a pair of boots!

Do you like Missguided? Do you know of any other good online stores?

Holl xx

Saturday 24 October 2015

About me!

Before I delve fully into the world of fashion and beauty, I thought I'd let you know a little bit about myself.

I am currently 19 years old and I am in my second year of university where I commute 3 times a week. I also work behind a bar part time as I like to have a little splurge now and again! I absolutely love working behind a bar and prefer it to working in retail due to the increased interaction.

I love reading whether it be books, magazines or blogs and I also love watching YouTube videos with my favourite YouTubers being Zoella, The SacconeJolys, TheMitchalaks, VelvetGh0st and FleurDeForce to name a few!

When I'm not busy being lazy (oops) I love to experiment in the kitchen which hopefully I can express with posts on this blog whether it be classic dishes or experimental baking! 

So please follow my blog if beauty, fashion or lifestyle type posts interest you and I'll do my best to impress. If you have any requests for posts please do leave a comment.

Holl xx

Tuesday 20 October 2015

Introduction.

Today is the 20th October 2015. Just another day? Or the day to remember as when I created this blog? Who knows? 

This isn't the first time I have created a blog actually. I have attempted many before but have never been happy with it and decided to delete it each time. This time I hope for it to be different. I deleted every single one that I created before for two main reasons: 1. I didn't have the time and 2. I HATED the design and the layout. I am a little bit older now so as well as maturing a lot since my first blog I have come to realise and accept that my blog will probably never be as good as the big names such as Zoella, I don't have the money to pay for a graphic designer, a good camera or all the products that come with it! However, I am determined to stick to it this time. I love writing, not that I am any good at it, and I love having somewhere where I can just write without any restrictions of what its about or how long it can be!

I hope you enjoy this blog as much as I will enjoy being the creator of it (hopefully)! You can expect to see a mixture of beauty, fashion and lifestyle posts.

I hope that you stick around and comment on my posts, all constructive criticism and suggestions are welcome!

See you in my next post! 

Holl xx