It's almost Christmas!

I can't believe Christmas is so very close!

Unfortunately I can't fully relax until I have got my school work out of the way but hopefully, it won't take too long.

Blogging has unfortunately been pushed back lately due to things being busy but I just wanted to quickly wish you a very merry Christmas! 

I hope you have time to relax and enjoy the company of those around you.

Much love 

Holly X

Lush Bath Bombs

Personally, I am very good at getting myself stupidly worked up and stressed over things that really aren't worth it (usually school), and one way that I like to relax is with a really nice bath. Usually, I find it pretty difficult to just sit and relax because I get bored so quickly but I have definitely found that a bath bomb helps me to relax.

In all honesty, I can't say that I have really tried many brands of bath bomb but I have always been a fan of Lush. Knowing that Lush is a trusty brand and loving the results of their products, typically it is my go to brand. 

If you are stressed and in need of relaxing, I highly recommend Lush and their products.

Holly X

Homemade Holiday Treat - Spiced Banana Bread

Although I try (and fail) to eat healthily and resist the delicious temptation of cake, the holidays seem like the perfect time to treat yourself. So, what a better way to treat yourself than by making this amazing banana bread! One of the first things that come to my mind when I think about Christmas is the spices, specifically cinnamon and ginger. As a result of this, I will add some spice whenever I see the opportunity, for example in the banana bread.

Having been ill for the last few days, in the result of being stuck in the house, I slowly felt myself going insane. So, as I was feeling a little better I took this opportunity to do some festive baking. I didn't want anything too heavy like chocolate so I decided to go with some lovely banana bread. I took a simple banana bread recipe (140g Sugar, 140g Butter, 140g self-raising flour, 1 tsp baking powder, 2 eggs, 2 bananas) and then add a little spice, I didn't measure the spice but I did add a decent amount of cinnamon and a dash of ginger. 

If you are looking for a simple yet delicious festive bake I definitely recommend adding some spice.

Thanks for reading,

Holly X

Candle Loving

There are few reasons for my deep loving of candles. Of course, there is the obvious point being that candles make your room smell nice, but I think my top reasoning for this love is just how they look. Now I'm not talking about the pretty jars here but that twinkle of the flame just out of the corner of your eye. I love it! Especially at this time of year when you're snuggled up on the sofa after a long day, a candle just provides you with that wonderfully cosy feeling that makes winter so special. 

So not only do candles make you feel cosy and relaxed and simply just look amazing, but I think that candles are great for setting the atmosphere. A perfect example of this is Christmas candles. I think that nothing gives my room that Christmas feeling more than my Christmas candles. With such a wide range of scents available to buy, it's almost impossible to go wrong with finding that perfect Christmas scent. 

I feel that one common misconception with candles is that you can only use them in the colder seasons, but I completely disagree. I completely understand the need for different candles throughout the year, but candles are so versatile and by far one of my favourite features about decoration. 

Basically, I love candles. 

I hope you have/had a lovely day.

Holly X

Goodbye Summer

We are almost two weeks into September and as the temperature drops and the leaves begin to fall from the trees, it has become evident that summer has left. Despite how much I love summer, I am also so excited for Autumn to begin. Autumn brings cosy blankets, autumn walks and lots of tea! My favourite. Yet my absolute favourite thing about Autumn is the autumn candles, by far. So as the summer comes to an end, I thought I would look back to my summer and share just a few of my favourite pictures from my summer with you.

I had a lovely summer but am so excited for Autumn! 

Have a good day,

xxX Holly Xxx

New Glasses

I have had glasses since around the age of 5. When I was younger I had to wear these little circular glasses that made me look adorable. However, as I grew older I kept forgetting to wear them. Then I decided that I didn't want to wear them because I didn't like how I looked. Yes, that's right, I chose to walk around with unclear vision purely because I cared too much about how I looked. Now my eyes aren't terrible so I could still see, but not as well as I would have liked to. 

So I hadn't been wearing my glasses for years when about a year ago I started to get headaches and my eyes started to hurt. Clearly, it was time to start wearing my glasses right? Oh no, I still put off wearing my glasses until I absolutely HAD to put them on. A few months ago I just got so fed up with this that I went and got myself some new glasses, well my mum got them for me (thanks mum!). 

So here we have my new glasses! 

I absolutely love them and like to think that they suit me. Believe it or not, they actually make me feel more confident about myself. You always hear about glasses making people feel less confident but they do the complete opposite for me. 

Now not only do I feel more confident but I can also see better! Win, win!

That is all for today, thank you for reading!

xX Holly Xx

Cutting off my hair

Hello, everybody! 

So about 3 weeks ago I chopped off a decent amount of hair. I went from all this ...

 to this...

About just over a year before I got my hair dyed ombre. I really like the colour and it was nice. However, I hadn't died my hair before this and it proved very difficult to care for. I hadn't had my hair cut since I got it died and therefore my hair was in horrible condition. It felt dead and weak and it was just a nightmare to deal with. I had been wanting to go for a big change for a while so I just went ahead and cut it. 

Honestly, I miss the length of my hair a lot but it feels so much nicer now. It's a lot easier to care for and I know that my hair will grow quickly. I don't regret cutting it but I am excited for it to grow back!

Just a quick post but I wanted to write about it, so I did.

Thanks for reading, I hope your day goes well.

Bye!

xxX Holly Xxx 

Summer Picnic OOTD

Hello, everybody, I hope your day is going well.

The another day I went on a picnic with all my friends, so today I thought I would talk to you about my outfit.

I chose to wear this outfit because not only did I like how it looked but it was comfortable. On the day it was pretty hot and the sun was shining, so, of course, I wanted something that wouldn't make me too hot. I thought these shorts was perfect because of their flowy nature, they kept me nice and cool. Also with weather like this I love wearing crop tops with high waisted shorts or skirts. As for shoes, I decided to wear my coral canvas style shoes as they were super comfortable and added a pop of colour to the outfit.

Sunglasses ~ H&M

Crop top ~ New Look

Shorts ~ Possibly peacocks but I can't remember

Shoes ~ Also possibly peacocks but again I have forgotten

So that is all for today, lately, I have been loving patterned shorts and I hope to purchase more soon.

Thanks for reading, I hope you have a good day.

xxX Holly Xxx

Milani lipstick - Naturally chic

Hello and good day!

Back on my trip to NYC, one of my purchases consisted of a Milani lipstick.

As we don't have Milani products in England (as far as I am aware) when my eyes fell upon the Milani stand, I was off. My legs couldn't carry me fast enough as I ran (yes I literally ran across the store) to the stand. I was in love. I am such a fan of Milani and if I had it my way I would have bought it all. However, due to lack of space in my luggage, I restrained myself. The lipstick that I chose to purchase was no. 25 - Naturally chic.

This colour is such a beautiful colour and I am addicted to it. The product is moisturizing and the colour lasts for ages. On top of this, it is very easy to apply and great coverage. I couldn't give this product enough praises.

That is all from me, thank you ever so much for reading and I hope you have a great day.

xxX Holly Xxx

My beautiful H&M dress

Hello, Everybody, I hope you are having a marvelous day!

Finally, some summer weather has arrived in England. The other day or my wonderfully

large shopping trip I purchased this lovely dress. This dress is from H&M and cost £19.99 and I am 

completely in love. 

Firstly the colour. Mint green is one of my favourite colours. I think that it is just

such a pretty colour! Of course, this is what originally caught my eye in the shop.

Secondly the style. My typical dress would be a skater dress and I feel that this style

generally looks good on me. However I decided to step outside my comfort zone a little and try on this style, and I must say that I was surprised to see that I actually liked how it looked on me.

I'm not saying I look the best but I think its looks alright and I like it. The final feature that sold me this dress was the detail. The dress is covered in this stunning lace. I am a sucker for lace. On top of all of this, the bottom of the dress has this little lace fringe sort of thing (sorry I am rubbish at describing things, just look at the picture), and I think that is super pretty too. All in all this dress is perfect and as long as England provides me with a decent summer I shall be getting plenty of use from it.

Side view

Back view

The bottom of the dress

That is all from me for today!

I hope you have a great day.

Thank you for reading.

xxX Holly Xxx

NYC

Back on the 5th April 2014, I had the privilege to travel to NYC!

I completely fell in love with the city, more than I had expected, to be honest.
Everything is beautiful there and I had an amazing time.
I must say that it made me super excited for what I hope will be many future travels.
Anyway, today I don't want to waffle on too much but just show you a few snaps.
So here are some photos from the trip ... enjoy!

The Empire state building. 

These reminded me of Monsters inc. and I got very excited.

Stunning view from the Empire State Building.

Me looking tired with a beautiful background.

The girls :)

Central park is lovely!

Thought this looked pretty.

The statue of liberty !

Satisfying our love of pretzels.

NYPD! Coolest people ever.

By the Hudson River.

In the big apple.

9/11 memorial. Very touching. R.I.P


So here are just a few of the hundreds of photos from the trip. I am so grateful that I got the opportunity to go on this amazing trip. I am in love with New York and one day I hope to return.

That is all for today.
Thank you ever so much for reading and have a fabulous day.

xxX Holly Xxx

Wait... it's April?

I hereby shamefully admit that it wasn't until a few days ago that I actually realised that it was April.

Yes, that's right... I was convinced that it was still March.

However, that is not the case as it in fact Easter!

I am a little upset that I didn't get the chase to decorate for the occasion, down to a few reasons.

The first reason being that my room is in such a state that I was physically unable to decorate it. The second reason being that I have been so super busy, I just haven't had time! With exams approaching at a very rapid speed I have been attempting ~attempting being the key word here~ to focus on school. On top of that I have also been trying to sort my room, a project I have been working on for at least a year, and then I went to New York! I had SUCH a blast in New York and there will be a blog post on that soon :D 

Enough with the excuses!

On that note I will just wish you a very happy Easter and say goodbye as it is currently 23:11 and tomorrow are the last day of the Easter holidays meaning it shall be crammed full of school work.

Thanks for reading ! 

xxX Holly Xxx

You Against Me - Jenny Downham

Welcome to what I do believe is my very first book review! How exciting! 

Today I will be reviewing You Against Me by Jenny Downham. I recently finished this book and just had to share it. However do just bear with me because like I said this is my very first book review, but I guess we will just have to see how it goes.

A few month ago I was pondering around Waterstones, looking for a few new books. One of the things that intrigued me the most about this book was the blurb. 

"If someone hurts your sister and you're any kind of man, you seek revenge, right?If your brother's accused of a terrible crime but says he didn't do it, you defend him, don't you?
When Mikey's sister claims a boy assaulted her, his world begins to fall apart.
When Ellie's brother is charged with the offence, her world begins to unravel."

Now I am a sucker for romance but I had been looking for something with a little more depth, and this was perfect. Without trying to give any spoilers I will try and give you a rough outline of the story. The book is based on a crime accusation and how the truth comes out. The victim of the crime has an older brother Mikey, one of the main characters. The other main character goes by the name of Ellie. Ellie's older brother is the one being accused of committing the crime. Both Ellie and Mikey are trying to do what is right and protect their sibling. However, in the midst of it all, they fall in love.

That is all I shall say as I don't want to ruin it for anybody who wishes to read this book, and I do recommend that you read this as I loved it and simply couldn't put it down. So if you are looking for a romance with a little more depth, why not give this a try? However, I must say that this book taps into sexual violence so please bare this in mind before purchasing

I give this book .... 10/10!

I thou-rally enjoyed this book and really wanted to share it, so I apologise if this isn't a very good review but I simply felt like I had to share it.

Thanks for reading,

xxX Holly Xxx

Waterstones haul

On 8th November it was my 16th birthday.

Now being a fellow book lover I had asked for some Waterstones vouchers,

and in return, I received £75 worth of vouchers.

So now that I have pretty much spent all of that money I figured I would share some of my more recent purchases and do a little blog haul. I am only going to show a few for now or this post would go on forever! Sorry about the image quality, I know it's not the best.

So the first book I am going to share with you is 'The light between oceans' by M.L.Stedman.

This book was £7.99.

Although I haven't read this yet from what I do know this book is about 

a boat washing up on a remote island, and inside the boat is a dead man and a baby.

Unfortunately, that's all I know for the time being but it sounds rather exciting.

This book had been described as 'gripping' and 'moving'.

So yes, I am very excited to read this!

This next book is 'The moon and more' by Sarah Dessen.

Now I am quite a fan of Sarah Dessen books. I find that whenever I start one of 

her books I can not put it down. Personally, I find her style of writing super and I am a definite fan.

Anyway, her books are more teenage based I find and more romance, but me being 

an absolute sucker for romance, am obsessed.

I am also yet to read this book but it is about the main character 'Colby' having

to choose between two guys.

This book is also £7.99.

This next book is also by Sarah Dessen and this is 'Along for the ride'.

Now I actually have read this book and I absolutely loved it!

This is about a rather unsocial girl called 'Auden' who goes to stay with her dad

for the summer. She gets to know more about herself as well as meeting

a 'mysterious' guy.

If you are looking for an easy read and love a bit of romance then I recommend this one.

This was again £7.99.

This is 'You against me' by Jenny Downham. 

Now this is the book that I am going to start reading next, this sounds really good and I can't wait to see if it is as good as it sounds. 

This book was £6.99

I don't really know how to describe the story yet as I haven't read it

but it has been described as 'intense' , 'gripping' and 'a tale of love'.

All of which makes me very excited to read this.

So that is all for today. Although I do have a ton more books to share, 

I figured that would do for now. Maybe I will do another book haul soon, I don't know.

Thanks for reading, 

xxX Holly Xxx

Lush - Golden Wonder review

(excuse my weird hand position)

For today's post, I am doing yet another Lush review.

Just in case you somehow missed it, I am obsessed with Lush.

So I really enjoy going out and trying their products and today I am reviewing a bath bomb.

This one was part of the Christmas range which sucks because it was amazing!

So basically I had heard this was pretty good and I thought it looked pretty cool. 

I mean it looks like a pretty little gift, what's not to love?

Based on this, I purchased it. Finally, after having it a few weeks I got around to using it.

And oh my, I was more than impressed.

Here are some snaps I took showing the bath bomb in action.

I think this is possibly my favourite bath bomb to date. Mainly because of the excitement 

I got when using it. 

First of all, when I placed it in the water, like all bath bombs it started fizzing and 

one of the things I particularly enjoyed was how the colour spreads.

It was mesmerising just watching the colour spread around my bath.

But by far my favourite part of this bath bomb was the surprise stars.

Although i think someone had mentioned this to me before it had completely slipped my mind.

So when i discovered these beautiful little stars scattered around my bath i got more

than a little exited.

As well as being visually appealing it also left me smelling and feeling great!

Overall i 100% recommend this bath bomb as it was really quite good.

Thanks for reading,

xxX Holly Xxx