Revolution Cosmetics Advent Calendar

I'm going to start this off by saying that I actually won the Revolution beauty advent calendar on Instagram. So this is not something I just went out a bought myself, although I am a huge fan of beauty advent calendars I had to cut back this year sadly. But I was really excited when I received this in the post and I thought that since we're now a week into December I would give you my first impressions of this calendar. I'd also like to point out how amazing TAM beauty were with the order as they apologised for the delay due to black Friday and sent me a free item to make up for it! Now onto the actual Revolution beauty advent calendar..

 First of all "25 full size products" hell yeah! I hate it when these beauty advent calendars only have sample size products. Also 25 not 12 or 24 but 25 which is always great. The calendar itself is pretty big but that's to be expected since its got 25 full size products inside. I'm not going to talk about every single product I've got so far individually, I just want to give you the general gist of the quality of it.

Okay, inside a couple of the windows so far there have been makeup brushes, and though they are smaller brushes they are amazing quality. Since they're small I shall be putting mine inside my makeup bag which goes inside my bag. So they're going to be really handy when I'm out and about. Most of the products have been pretty easy to get out, I've struggled in that area before with beauty advent calendars, although as you can see in the picture there's no easy starting point to open the window which can make it a bit more difficult.

This is probably the only product so far that I'm not sure if I'd use, simply because of the colour. I am not a big fan of bright pink lipsticks. However there was another one of these in a lovely nude colour which I love and have been using often so I guess a variety of colour doesn't hurt. Its all about personal taste I guess. The pigment is good and they've got a nice texture and don't leave your lips all dry so I'm quite pleased.

This is possibly my favourite product so far, along with the strobe balm. This is the baked blush which looks so nice and the colour is amazing. I haven't actually used this yet as its from todays window but I am looking forward to using it very much. I mentioned the strobe balm which is also amazing and I have also gotten an anti shine balm.

Overall I am really pleased with the products I've gotten so far and I'm really excited to see what else I get, I definitely recommend this beauty advent calendar as its not overly priced and has amazing products!

Claire xoxo

Tarte Grav3yardgirl Swamp Queen Palette

I am a huge fan of grav3yardgirl aka Bunny and as someone whos been watching her videos for years as soon as I heard she had collaborated with Tarte I was so excited. So obviously I got the palette which I'm now going to talk about.

First of all look how pretty it is! I love the quote at the top "Believe in yourself, love yourself, embrace your individuality" which is very Bunny. As you can see there are 9 eyeshadow shades and 3 cheek shades. The brush is also very good which I'm pleased about because lets face it you can never have too many makeup brushes! I have used the blush at the top, sweet tea, as more of a bronzer because I'm quite pale and it looked really nice. The middle one, does this thing really work?, is such a pretty blusher shade and gator wings makes a really nice highlighter.

The eyeshadows are such lovely colours, I have yet to use all of them but I have done a day look using #SFS, haunting, mancat, uncommon and big baby. It looked amazing, the colours were so pigmented and blended together nicely and I wish I had of taken a photo but unfortunately I had to go out so I didn't have time. I cannot wait to try more looks with this amazing palette, I highly recommend it.

Claire xoxo

October TBR

October means Halloween so I tried to add some spooky books to my TBR this month. I've not done much reading recently, but I'm planning on getting myself back on a roll again. So here is my spooktacular October TBR!

 

First of all I have The Vampire's Assistant by Darren Shan. This is the second book in the cirque du freak series and I'm very excited to read it. It's also a very short book so it shouldn't take me long to finish. It's about a boy who becomes a half-vampire and must serve as the assistant to an old vampire. You may have seen the film! 

   

The second book in my October TBR is The Witch's Kiss by Katharine & Elizabeth Corr. I picked this up the other day because I thought it sounded good, it was the "some fairy tales are darker than others" part that got me. From what I gather it's about a teenage witch who falls in love with a guy who's part of an old curse. I added this to my October TBR because I thought it was the perfect Halloween book.

Next is Dead Until Dark by Charlaine Harris. I'm sure you've all heard of True Blood, this is the first book in the series. I enjoyed the show a lot and I'm looking forward to seeing how the books are. Another good one for the Halloween month.

Then we have A Monster Calls by Patrick Ness. An obvious choice for this month. Its about a boy who keeps having the same dream until he wakes and there's something outside his window that wants the truth from him. I've heard many good things about this book and I'm sure it won't disappoint.

Cress by Marissa Meyer is actually the book I am currently reading. It's the third book in The Lunar Chronicles which is a collection of fairy tale retellings but with cyborgs and aliens. It's one of my favourite series' so far, I cannot wait to finish this book!

Finally, The Bronze Key by Holly Black & Cassandra Clare. This is the third book in the Magisterium series and I loved the first two. It reminds me a bit of Harry Potter but with different types of magic and a different plot. I look forward to finding out what happens with the amazing characters in this book. Anything by Cassandra Clare never disappoints me!

Claire xoxo

Updates on My Life

I haven't made a blog post in quite a while so therefore I have lots of updates for you all. I've been pretty busy the past few months and I have a lot of exciting news.

First of all I got accepted to college. I'm really excited about this, very scared too, but mostly excited. I will be starting my animal management course in September. Its a two year course and I already have my placement sorted so I'm one step ahead. I've been to their keep in touch day and it all looks really good. They have alpacas and six cafes which I was not expecting. I also met someone doing the same course as me so now when I go in September I wont be completely alone.

My second piece of news is that I have a boyfriend now. We've only been dating for a couple of months but he's really amazing. He's helped me get out more and made me laugh when I feel really rubbish which is what I've needed. I met him through a friend of mine who is also new to my life and has been so great helping me get out and about too. So I have a few new people in my life who have been brilliant and I'm so glad I met them.

I have finished all my counselling sessions now. I feel like I am free. I'm finally going out and having fun and living a normal life. Obviously there are so many people that have helped me get to where I am now and I can not thank them enough, they all know who they are. For the first time in a long time I feel like things are finally going right.

I've had lots of fun days out lately, some with my friends, family and with my boyfriend. Its been a really good few months. I went to the beach with my friends a couple of months ago, I went to the cinema with my boyfriend, went bowling with friends, met up for coffee with people I hadn't seen in quite some time. I've spent days out with the family and spent lots of days at the kennels volunteering.

The only bad thing really that's happened to me recently is smashing my iPhone screen. But I got it fixed today and so everything is good again. I feel like I'm on a rollercoaster that only goes up!

Claire xoxo

Lady Midnight

Lady Midnight, book one of The Dark Artifices series by Cassandra Clare. Oh my god. It was amazing. I'm not biased on anything because Cassie is my fave. This may be a long post, I have a lot of feelings about this book.

WARNING: SPOILERS AHEAD!

First of all, Emma Carstairs is the best. I love me a good Carstairs *ahem*Jem*ahem* and Emma did not let me down. She is a bit (a lot) reckless and sassy. So much sass. I love how through the book she slowly realizes she has feelings for Julian and its so cute, but so sad. She lost her parents and she's all about the revenge, but she sees the Blackthorns as her family now. She used to have a crush on Mark and also Jace (tbh who wouldn't) and then she's like "Oh, I think I'm in love with Jules" which we all saw coming.

"I keep you around because I need an audience for my witty remarks." - Emma.
"What witty remarks?" - Julian.

They're so perfect for each other and I hate the clave but then there's the whole 'too much power' thing and I don't want them to suffer but either way they will. But Emma's going to use Mark to make Julian think that she doesn't love him and I just want to cry need them together. But they cant be together and its not fair and why did Mark say "Why lie?" like bitch that is your brother you're going to hurt. Just because you feel out of place because you were in the hunt does not mean you can date the girl your brother is in love with.

Anyway, on to Julian. Jules. What a perfect guy. He knew he loved Emma before she knew she loved him, so he had to suffer for longer. Poor baby. And now he's going to have to watch his brother date her, which was like his biggest fear. I want to give him a cuddle. He works so hard to keep his family together and look after them, he's probably the strongest character in the whole book. Plus, he had to kill his dad, even if it wasn't his dad anymore it still looked like him and he was 12. I think that's part of the reason he looks after the kids so much, because he was the one that killed their dad so he feels responsible. He's a cupcake and I don't want him to suffer anymore (he probably will though).

Okay, Mark. I do like Mark, mostly. Him and Kieran were so cute until Kieran pulled a dick move and now Mark hates him. Why do my ships always sink? I guess they ended up together because in the hunt they were all each other had. Which is sweet, until Kieran got Julian and Emma hurt. I know he just wanted Mark back but, what the hell was he thinking. Mark kind of needs to get his shit together. He's acting like he barely knows his family, but he's not making the effort to get to know them. And then he decides that hes going to date Emma like what the fuck? I thought you liked Cristina, but apparently you like anything that moves. But I do feel bad for him because he was forced into the hunt and then the clave decided to not rescue him and he comes back five years later and he doesn't even recognize his own brother. He's had it hard and I think he needs a hug too.

Ty is a cinnamon roll and I love his Sherlock references. He wants to be a detective which is adorable and he's so smart and it makes me feel dumb. I also kind of ship him with Kit, because Kit thought he was beautiful and Ty was sitting outside of his room. Plus their ship name would be kitty. How cute.

So Kit turned out to be the lost Herondale and I'd forgotten all about that until I found out it was him. I'm really glad it was him because I want to see more of his character. He shut himself in a room in the institute, but to be fair he just saw his father ripped in half by demons. Not really something you get over very quickly. He doesn't like shadowhunters, but I have a feeling Ty will change his mind, through friendship or maybe something more. Because Casssie said that we would be shocked by who Ty ends up with and Kit is the lost Herondale so maybe.

The storyline was brilliant, I didn't suspect Malcom until they said that Annabel was in love with a warlock and I thought it might be him even though the whole time he was supposedly helping them. It's nearly always someone you know. It was always about him wanting to bring back the woman he loved which was kind of sweet if he wasn't making murderers and killing people to do it. I think he went mad in his grief. I'm glad nobody I liked died, I hate it when that happens. But my ships were destroyed. Appart from Cristina and perfect Diego who are quite cute but I think Cristina also likes Mark but its all probably going to get very complicated soon.

I enjoyed the parts with the characters from TMI in it, Magnus and Alec have adopted children and I just oh my god its so cute my otp have a family I cant even love it. Simon and Clary are parabati, Simon and Izzy are engaged, so are Jace and Clary now and I am so happy. Thank you Cassandra Clare.

Over all 9.5/10. I really loved it and I highly recommend it to everyone.

Claire xoxo

Good Things in 2015

For the past few years I have written down all the good things that happen each year and put them in a jar. Last year was no different. Though I didn't get many written down in 2015 since it was quite a rough year so I thought I would look at some of the good things that I wrote down and share them with you.

The first thing I pulled out was "My 19th Birthday" which I remember very well as it was in December. I saw my family and had a really good time with them and ate lots of cake. I didn't do anything spectacular for my birthday but it was one of the best days of 2015.

Next is "BBC RADIO 1 BIG WEEKEND" which is probably the most memorable day of 2015, one of the most amazing days of my life. I went on the Sunday and I saw Imagine Dragons, Olly Murs and Taylor Swift (to name a few) and it was incredible. Though I had a panic attack halfway through and my aunts had to guide me out of the crowd and I got hella embarrassed. I remember seeing Dan and Phil on the stage and freaking out more than when I saw Taylor Swift. I only got to go because it was held in my city and my amazing aunts got us tickets.

Then there's "Spending the day with Paige watching DVDs" the first day I ever watched How I Met Your Mother because she brought the DVDs round. I just know that it was a fun day and it was really good seeing Britcher the Ninja Paige.

Another says "Pretty Little Liars" as I first watched PLL in 2015 and ended up watching 5 seasons because I loved it so much. Its now one of my favourite TV shows ever and I am so excited to watch season 6.

Finally there's "Getting a new Laptop" which is what I am using to write this post. I only had an ipad mini and my phone for so long, I needed something bigger and better and so I managed to get a wonderful new laptop (I say new but it used to belong to my dad until he got a new one and offered it to me for a good price what dad makes their child pay for things) and I really love it.

That's all I shall put in this post, just a few of my good memories from last year.

Claire xoxo

January TBR

This year I've decided to do a TBR (to be read) for each month of the year instead of faffing about trying to choose which book to read next. Therefore I shall tell you my January TBR incase anyone else is struggling to pick which books to read this month.

1) Cinder by Marissa Meyer

Cinder, a gifted mechanic, is a cyborg. She’s a second-class citizen with a mysterious past, reviled by her stepmother and blamed for her stepsister’s illness. But when her life becomes intertwined with the handsome Prince Kai’s, she suddenly finds herself at the center of an intergalactic struggle, and a forbidden attraction. Caught between duty and freedom, loyalty and betrayal, she must uncover secrets about her past in order to protect her world’s future.

I have already read this book and written a blog post about it, I highly recommend it; 10/10 would read. It's the first book of the Lunar Chronicles so if you read it prepare to end up reading the rest of the series.

2) Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief by Rick Riordan

Percy Jackson is a good kid, but he can't seem to focus on his schoolwork or control his temper. And lately, being away at boarding school is only getting worse—Percy could have sworn his pre-algebra teacher turned into a monster and tried to kill him. When Percy's mom finds out, she knows it's time that he knew the truth about where he came from, and that he go to the one place he'll be safe. She sends Percy to Camp Half Blood, a summer camp for demigods (on Long Island), where he learns that the father he never knew is Poseidon, God of the Sea. Soon a mystery unfolds and together with his friends—one a satyr and the other the demigod daughter of Athena—Percy sets out on a quest across the United States to reach the gates of the Underworld (located in a recording studio in Hollywood) and prevent a catastrophic war between the gods.

I am currently halfway through this book. I think I put off reading it because I'd seen the film and I never enjoy books as much if I've already seen the film but once I got going I found out it was really good and quite different to the film too. So far so good, hopefully I'll make a full blog post about it once I finish it.

3) Game of Thrones by George R.R. Martin

Summers span decades. Winter can last a lifetime. And the struggle for the Iron Throne has begun.
As Warden of the north, Lord Eddard Stark counts it a curse when King Robert bestows on him the office of the Hand. His honour weighs him down at court where a true man does what he will, not what he must … and a dead enemy is a thing of beauty.
The old gods have no power in the south, Stark’s family is split and there is treachery at court. Worse, the vengeance-mad heir of the deposed Dragon King has grown to maturity in exile in the Free Cities. He claims the Iron Throne.

I am actually about 3/4 of the way through this and I don't know why I haven't finished it yet because its really good. But I'm terrible with starting another book when I haven't finished the one I was reading before. Hence, this is in my January TBR.

4) Magisterium: The Copper Gauntlet by Holly Black and Cassandra Clare

Callum Hunt’s summer break isn’t like other kids’. His closest companion is a Chaos-ridden wolf, Havoc. His father suspects him of being secretly evil. And, of course, most kids aren’t heading back to the magical world of the Magisterium in the fall.
It’s not easy for Call . . . and it gets even harder after he checks out his basement and discovers that his dad might be trying to destroy both him and Havoc.
Call escapes to the Magisterium -- but things only intensify there. The Alkahest -- a copper gauntlet capable of separating certain magicians from their magic -- has been stolen. And in their search to discover the culprit, Call and his friends Aaron and Tamara awaken the attention of some very dangerous foes -- and get closer to an even more dangerous truth.

This is the second book in the magisterium series and I'm really looking forward to reading it as the first one was pretty good I'm sure it will only get more exciting. Plus Holly Black and Cassandra Clare are both brilliant authors.

5) Matched by Ally Condie

In the Society, officials decide. Who you love. Where you work. When you die.
Cassia has always trusted their choices. It’s hardly any price to pay for a long life, the perfect job, the ideal mate. So when her best friend appears on the Matching screen, Cassia knows with complete certainty that he is the one…until she sees another face flash for an instant before the screen fades to black. Now Cassia is faced with impossible choices: between Xander and Ky, between the only life she’s known and a path no one else has ever dared follow—between perfection and passion.

A book I've had for a while but just haven't gotten round to reading yet. It sounds really exciting and I cant wait to read it.

Claire xoxo

Cinder

I just read Cinder; the first book of the Lunar Chronicles, by Marissa Meyer. It is one of the best book I have ever read and immediately after I finished it I went on amazon and ordered the next three books (can you hear my bank account crying in the distance) because I loved it so much. This is more of a rant than any kind of a review because I suck at reviewing things and I can rant for days about this book. Just a warning; there will be spoilers so read at your own risk.

So, Cinder is part cyborg and she's the main character, she's a teenage girl who works as a mechanic. Her step mum hates her and one of her stepsisters hates her but I think Peony likes her. She also has this friend who is a cyborg called Iko who is the funniest character in the book. Cinder meets the Prince, Kai, who asks her to fix his android. There's a plague going around and Cinder's sister Peony catches it and so her step mum sends her away to be one of the trial cyborgs to help find a cure. When shes there she finds out shes immune. Theres these people called Lunars who live on the moon and who have special abilities. The Queen of the Lunars, Queen Levana, wants to marry Prince Kai so that she can become empress since Kai's father has the plague and will probably die soon.

I love Cinder because she puts up with so much shit and she's so happy just when she gets a new foot and her only friend is an android. But she's so positive and she tries to help Peony by giving her the cure but then Peony dies and she gives it to the little boy. She just wants to run her own life instead of having her stupid step mum rule her life. Plus even though she likes Kai she believes that she doesn't stand a chance with him because even if she wasn't part cyborg she would still be a nobody whos not worthy of a prince. And it makes it worse when she finds out shes also Lunar.

Prince Kai is a persistent little fucker. "Go to the ball with me, go to the ball with me, go to the god damn ball with me." Cinder has to say no like a billion times. But she goes anyway so she can warn him about the evil bitch queen who's going to kill him. He's pretty much the perfect guy if I'm honest. I mean, hes a prince so hes probably rich but he's not snobby or conceited. He cares a lot about his people and always puts them first even though hes only like 18 and he may have to marry some bitch to keep everyone safe.

Cinder turns out to be Princess Selene, I fucking called it! I knew it from the moment they said that they didn't find Princess Selene's body, just what was left of it. I was like "I bet its Cinder!" and it was. So now she must defeat Queen Levana to take her rightful place on the throne and win back Prince Kai.

Overall, I really loved this book. It's probably in my top five favourite books of all time. Definitely worth reading if you haven't already.

Snowbaz is Life, Snowbaz is Everything

Today, I need to discuss a very important topic with you all. Carry On by Rainbow Rowell. The most incredible, amazing, wonderful, gay book I've read in quite some time. Carry On is like fanfiction but its actually canon and oh wow its amazing. Did I say that already? I suggest reading Rowell's other book Fangirl before you read Carry On, but you don't have to. Carry On is based on the made-up books from Fangirl and its kind of like reading a Draco and Harry fanfiction. But so much cooler because its a real book and not some short crappy fanfiction with bad grammar written by a twelve year old. I warn you in advance my rant is messy and contains spoilers so read at your own risk.

Simon Snow is the worst chosen one who's ever been chosen.

Okay, I'm a big fan of both Fangirl and Eleanor and Park by Rainbow Rowell which is what led me to read Carry On and boy did it not disappoint. First of all Simon Snow is a cutie patootie who makes lists about things he misses most about Watford but doesn't include Baz on his list (probably because he thinks about Baz so much that he doesn't need to put him in the list to remember him). I love his friendship with Penelope. Actually, I just really love Penelope.

My first spaz fangirl moment was at the end of page 176

"And when I felt myself slipping too far, I held on to the one thing I'm always sure of-

Blue eyes.

Bronze Curls.

The fact that Simon Snow is the most powerful magician alive. That nothing can hurt him, not even me.

That Simon Snow is alive.

And I'm hopelessly in love with him."

I love snowbaz. I really love Baz's love for Simon. The way he says that nothing can hurt him, not even himself, because he's holding on to the fact that Simon is going to be okay. That Simon is alive. That's the only thing that's keeping him going. As long as Simon is okay he can hold on.

"Sharing a room with the person you want most is like sharing a room with an open fire."

Because Baz is a vampire and fire kills vampires, but at the same time; Simon is warm and bright. Baz can't keep away, even if he gets himself killed.

The fact that they say "Crowley" all the time makes me think of Supernatural and I just omfg imagine Crowley in Carry On like "why is everyone gay? Its just like Dean and Cas but with vampires and fucking wizards lets try not to imagine a Carry On/Supernatural crossover shall we?

Right, we're going to get down to the good stuff now. Lets start at chapter 61. In this short chapter Baz mentions wanting to kiss Simon five times. Then Simon kisses him. Apparently to shut him up because Baz is kind of trying to kill himself with fire and its all very dramatic and Baz cant think. I'd also like to point out that Baz calls him Simon for the fist time right before Simon kisses him.  

"He's not a monster. He's just a villain.

He's not a villain. He's just a boy.

I'm kissing a boy.

I'm kissing Baz."

At which point I think Simon realizes his feelings for Baz. That he doesn't hate him and just because he's a vampire doesn't mean he's a monster and he loves him.

"I'm going to die kissing Simon Snow."

What a way to go Baz.

"If Baz thinks I'm ever letting him go, he's wrong."

Simon wants to keep Baz because he loves him and god why did it take you so long to realize that you stupid mushroom its so cute.

"Simon snow is going to die kissing me."

This is what Baz thinks before he stops being an idiot and pulls himself together. He doesn't want Simon to die, he has to save him.

"Simon Snow is still going to die kissing me.

Just not today."

Baz admitting that he wants to stay with Simon forever. And he will even if Simon now has wings and a tail, it just gives him more character, right? I just imagine people constantly tripping over his tail with no clue what is happening because they cant see it and Simon and Baz will have to try not to laugh at all the humans who are clueless as to why they're tripping over thin air.

But have you ever come across a ship as amazing as snowbaz (apart from malec obvs) because they were supposed to kill each other but they ended up falling in love and if that's not the most ironic thing ever then I don't know what is.

Claire xoxo

P.S. I don't even know what this is, I just have so many feels about snowbaz I had to share it.