Blogmas Day 7 | Lush Luxury Pud Bath Bomb Review

I absolutely love lavender, not only does it smell heavenly it really helps me sleep and so even though the smell of this isn't anything new or special, it's a classic but it is the most fun and beautiful bath bomb ever, it's part of the Lush Christmas collection which is why it takes its shape as a Christmas pudding with a little piece of holly on top, it has such vibrant colours with its moisturizing Shea butter buttons in bright yellow, blue, green and orange. This bath bomb soothes and relaxes you as well as leaving you skin feeling amazingly soft, it's very similar to the twilight bath bombs with its scent packed full of lavender oil and that's why it's one of my favourites, there is nothing better than having a cozy night in the bath relaxing with this bath bomb before drifting off to the best nights sleep ever! 

Blogmas Day 6 | Sugar Cookie Recipe

Sugar cookies are a delicious classic Christmas treat and so I thought it would be perfect to make some! The recipe is really easy to follow and if you find it a little too dry just add a little bit of water to the dough, you can cut them into any shape you like, I chose stars and Christmas trees because I just thought those shapes would bake the best and keep their shapes! You can decorate them how you like too, some people like to use royal icing to pipe shapes or outlines I decided that I just wanted to dust mine with icing sugar! Below is the recipe!

Ingredients: 

3/4 cup of softened butter 

1 cup of granulated sugar

1 egg

1 tsp vanilla extract

2 & 1/2 cups of flour

1/4 cup of water

1/2 tsp of baking powder

1 pinch of salt

Directions:

-In a large bowl beat together butter and sugar until until light and fluffy then beat in the egg and vanilla extract. Stir in the flour, baking powder and salt until a dough is formed.

-Divide dough in half, shape into a disc and wrap in cling film, place in fridge for 1 hour. Once it has been refrigerate remove and leave to reach room temperature until soft enough to roll out.

-On a floured surface roll out dough to a 1/4 inch thickness, cut out shapes and place them on a tray lined with parchment paper.

- Bake in oven at 375F (190C) for about 10 minutes or until pale golden with golden brown edges. Remove from oven and place on cooling racks, once cooled dust with icing sugar and enjoy! 

Blogmas Day 5 | Stocking Stuffers From Bath and Body Works

I have finally discovered my favourite scent from the Bath and Body Works Christmas range and they have all the perfect stocking stuffers in that scent and even though I bought these for me to use I think that they would make either a perfect little gift set or either of them would be a perfect stocking stuffer! 'Tis The Season scent is everything you can imagine about Christmas blended into the perfect festive scent and that is why I love it! The single wick candle is the perfect size but still with a long lasting burn and the adorable hand sanitizer is perfect to carry around in your handbag or pocket giving you a little bit of festive freshness! I don't know if i'm the only person who likes to change the soap scent for the season which is why I thought it would be perfect seeing as I just finished the hand soap I had in my bathroom! Not only is the packaging so pretty this scent smells amazing with a blend of red apples, fresh cinnamon and cloves what better way to get into the festive spirit!

Blogmas Day 4 | Lush Christmas Love

When my two favourite things Lush and Christmas come together I get very excited! I love so many of the products this year that I have decided to talk about some of my favourites that I can't stop using! Not all of their Christmas range has really christmassy scents like cinnamon and cloves, some of them do but not all they are just all beautiful and look so festive, I love them!  Below are the products I want to make sure I stock up on for the rest of the year!

-Shoot For The Stars Bath Bomb-

-Gold Fun-

-Rose Jam Shower Gel-

-Stardust Bath Bomb-

Blogmas Day 3 | Peppermint Bark

One of my favourite Christmas treats to make is my peppermint bark, it's delicious and is always popular with my friends and family! It is one layer of peppermint flavoured milk chocolate then a layer or white chocolate and then topped with crushed candy cane! It's really easy to make and so delicious! It's also really easy to tweak the recipe to the way you want using dark chocolate etc. Below is the recipe!

Ingredients:

452g of Milk Chocolate Chips

452g of White Chocolate Chips

1/2 tsp Peppermint Extract

8 Peppermint Candy Canes- crushed 

Directions:

1) Line a 12inch X 18inch pan with parchment paper.

2) Fill a saucepan with a small amount of water and place a glass bowl on top, large enough to sit on top, fill with the milk chocolate and heat on low slowly until the milk chocolate has melted.

3) Whilst on the heat add the peppermint extract and stir, work quickly  as the chocolate can start to thicken, remove from the heat and carefully pour the melted milk chocolate into the tin, using a spatula spread evenly and place in fridge for 30 minutes or until hardened.

4) Once the milk chocolate has hardened remove from fridge. 

5) Melt the white chocolate in the same way and pour over the top of the milk chocolate and use a spatula to spread evenly.

6) Top with the crushed candy canes and place in fridge for an hour.

7) Once hardened, break up and enjoy!

Blogmas Day 2 | Christmas Market

I love Christmas markets, when I was back in England I used to go to Germany to visit the Christmas markets there because they were absolutely spectacular, wandering the cobbled streets filled with the sweet sounds of Christmas music whilst sipping mulled wine, festive perfection!  Whilst i'm so sad that I can't go this year I still wanted to get into the festive spirit so off to the local Christmas market we went! It was actually so lovely, snow was falling softly creating the most perfect Christmas scene, as we wandered around the different market stalls and drinking mulled wine, it was so festive and fun! I didn't end up buying anything, although some of the stalls had some delicious festive chocolates and homemade fudge as well as gorgeous handmade decorations and gifts, but it was just lovely to be in that atmosphere and have fun! It's one of my favourite things to do this time of year and I would definitely recommend  you do it too!

 

Blogmas Day 1 | Advent Calendars

I'm so excited to start my first day of Blogmas!! In spirit of being December 1st and I know many of you will be opening your advent calendars today, I thought my post should be all about them, there are so many different ones out there now, there is pretty much one for anyone whether your love is candles, beauty, tea or just chocolate then there's one for you. In true style of my blog I have been obsessing over all the beauty ones this year from Benefit to The Body Shop but also who can resist the chocolate ones ?! I decided this year to get  both a chocolate and beauty advent calendar and after standing in Sephora debating over this years Benefit advent calendar I decided to put it back down and walk away... compared to last years size of 24 days it have been squished down to a 12 day which is already a huge disappointment and for $60 I just didn't feel like it was what I wanted... If I had been back home in England this Christmas though I probably would have been very tempted because of the cheaper price! I know a lot of them can be quite pricey and if you have the money to treat yourself then why not but this year I decided to go for a beauty brand I really like which is less expensive and just a fun little treat every day! Hard Candy released a 12 Days Of Beauty calendar and a 12 Days Of Nails calendar which means lots of beauty fun for the full countdown, below is a little sneak peek of what goodies are behind those colourful metallic doors!