Blogmas Day #1: November Favourites

Hi everyone!

This month I've decided to participate in Blogmas, where you must post every single day until Christmas, like a virtual advent calendar. I knew of vlogmas due to YouTubers doing it last year, so I will try my hardest with this blog version. So, I thought I'd start this off with a favourites post. Apologies that this isn't really an introduction post or anything, but I decided to take part AFTER I'd prepped this post, tomorrow's is much more Christmas orientated. Anyway, time for the monthly round up of what I've been loving! November was a month full of fireworks, UCAS and employment, pretty much. Sorry if this seems a bit sparse, but no fear, December will be mental. So, without further ado...

First up, my favourite thing about November is that I am FINALLY employed, and at my favourite shop as well! It's been a bit up and down trying to get used to it all, but now I feel settled and I'm absolutely loving it. Up above is the HMV shirt I have to wear, which is a pretty cute pink colour, really. So yes, being able to have much more money is fab, and doing something I love is an added bonus.

With a lack of funds up until about last week, the beauty purchases have been pretty minimal this month. On the left there is my old faithful, the Maybelline New York Master Drama Khol Liner which was £4.49 from Boots. Although fairly cheap, it's the best eyeliner that I've ever tried! Sometimes you get cheap ones that barely even come up out properly on your waterline but are passable on your skin, but this one is a complete all-rounder, SO good! Next to it is the 17 High Gloss - Risky Red nail polish, which I purchased back in August at a Carboot Sale. This month I traded in my usual mint green Essie nail polish for this one and I LOVE it! Red is such a glam colour, it looks brilliant on my nails. Finally on the right was a purchase actually made this month, hallelujah! It is the Estée Lauder Signature Black Cherry lipstick, which I believe was £21.00 from Boots. This is pretty steep for a lipstick, yes. My last one ran out and my mum picked out this one for me. Firstly, the packaging is fantastic, I'm absolutely loving the gold. The colour itself is a little lighter than I was expecting for something called black cherry, I mean it LOOKS dark, but when applied it comes out fairly lighter. It's a lovely colour, but because I'm such a lover of dark lipstick, I would've preferred one a few shades darker. Still, I will definitely be using it after paying that much!

This is SO cute! I recently met up with my best friend Emma to see the fireworks, and she got me a couple of presents! Some galaxy chocolate, and this beautiful necklace! As it was a present, I'm not sure where it's from, but it's style like a bottle with a corkscrew, with an image of Lana Del Rey inside. I ADORE Lana, so this was such a lovely gift. The box it came in is also stunning!

So, these are a couple of entertainment-based things. Firstly, a couple of weeks ago I received a parcel and was so excited as I couldn't remember anything I'd recently ordered! So, I opened it and the lightbulb moment happened, as I had sent off for a free The Blogger Programme tote bag about a month prior! I adore tote bags, and how appropriate for blogging, it was totally free too, which was a bonus. Next to that is the Queen Greatest Hits CD which was £9.99 from HMV, and ever since it was Queen/Michael Jackson week on X Factor, the CD has been hammered in my household, but I almost recognised EVERY song! Possibly the most radio-friendly band ever?

Last but not least, TV shows! Firstly, Some Girls was back on BBC3 for it's third series about two weeks ago, and it's been just as instant and hilarious as the first two, gotta love consistency. It's almost like a female version of The Inbetweeners, and is highly underrated outside the twittersphere! Underneath however is the ever-popular I'm a Celebrity...Get Me Out of Here! which was back on ITV over a week ago. It got off to a rocky start with the departure of Gemma Collins and Craig Charles, but soon picked itself back up again and has fast become must-watch TV. Pictured above was the Cube challenge, featuring my current two favourites Jake Quickenden and Jimmy Bullard.

So that was my November favourites! I'm so excited for what December brings after a brilliant November. What were your favourites this month? See you tomorrow for day 2 of blogmas!

Thanks for reading,

Jade xx

July Favourites

Hi guys, these are a few things that I was really loving in July this year, including: clothing, cosmetics, TV shows and food. I've also experimented with the design to make it look a bit more aesthetically  pleasing, hope you enjoy!

First up is clothing, and I was absolutely delighted to find this. I'd wanted something smart and girly for ages, and the pink colouring as well as the black collar provided this. I usually really do not suit pink at all, so I was pleasantly surprised to find that I actually really loved what this looked like on! I bought it for £8.99 from New Look, total bargain for something non-Primark!

Speaking of Primark, that's exactly where I got this from! I'd been looking for ages for a really nice playsuit for summer, but couldn't quite find one that I liked enough to purchase. However, looking around Primark, I stumbled across this one! I love the colouring and patterns, and at just £7.99 I just couldn't say no!

This was another Primark purchase this month! I was a bit strapped for cash so this month it's been another one of limited spending and looking for bargains. But anyway, I was looking for a dress in Primark and came across this one. I absolutely love the blue colour, and teamed up with a flower belt I have, the two went together so well so I just had to get it, especially once again for another brilliant price, this time just £10.00.

Well this is decidedly less girly than the other stuff! Anyway, I'd wanted something along the line of this for a while, but usually I have a look on Truffleshuffle.com for this type of thing. I decided that I didn't really like any of their 'drink' shirts. However, after being dragged (okay it wasn't that bad!) around Matalan, this Pepsi-Cola vest caught my eye and as it was only £8.00 I decided to pick it up for the summer!

Now for a quick piece of jewellery that I picked up this month! My necklace that I had been wearing pretty much everyday for the past few years was getting tatty so I wanted a new necklace, and another green one at that. I was in a charity shop and this one caught my eye, I liked how dramatic it was with all the different large green gems inside it, and I just adored it after trying it on, so now this has become one of my main necklaces, haha! The best part is that I only had £1.50 on me and the woman let me have it for just that, what a bargain!!

This has been my old faithful for almost three years, after originally testing out lots of different ones, getting help from one of the make-up ladies in store and finding the perfect make and colour for my skin tone. I'm including this because it usually lasts me a good few months but the time came where I needed to re-stock! The exact make is the No7 Beautiful Skin BB Cream, but more specifically the Normal/Oily SPF 15 one in the 'Fair' shade. It usually costs me about £11.99 but it is so worth it for me as it lasts so long, is the exact right colour and doesn't feel too heavy or anything, it does a really good job. Oh, and I usually buy it from Boots.

Here's another cosmetic that I've been loving this month! These are Estée Lauder lipsticks - the red one is #26 Nectarine and the more purple/brown one is #48 Hot Kiss. They are both absolutely wonderful - very pigmented leading to a very fantastic colour, plus it stays for hours. The Hot Kiss one in particular is probably my favourite ever lipstick shade that I've ever discovered, as you can see it's quite worn out! The packaging also looks amazing! Go check out their website, or failing that, Debenhams stock their products too! 

Okay this boxset isn't exactly new as the show has just finished it's fifth season, but oh my gosh, during the summer holidays I've enjoyed watching back over the Glee season 1 boxset SO much! Season One was just pure gold with the comedy and drama and the story lines were just so on point. 'Bad Reputation' is most probably my favourite episode. Season One aired between 2009-2010 where the show found great success in the ratings and in the charts too.

This wouldn't be me unless it was rounded off with SOME form of food, haha! Firstly, this month my parents drove past a Cadbury Shop and brought us back a bag of 'Mis-Shapes' and they are absolutely gorgeous - a mixture of milk chocolate shapes and then also ones filled with caramel. I love both, so now I don't have to decided which one I'd prefer when I get a bag full of both of them! OH and secondly I was reminded of my love for Dip-Dabs this month when deciding to get one at my brother's futsal tournament. SO sugary but SO delicious!

So yeah that's it for this month guys! I hope you enjoyed this post and knowing me it had to be long and include food! Which of the items featured was your favourite? Most importantly, what were YOUR July favourites? Comment a link to your favourites' posts and I'll be more than happy to check them out!

Jade xx