Monday, 1 February 2016

My skincare products that I love 2016 beauty PRODUCT ONE



Hi guys!
Start of this month when I got paid I invested in some new skincare bits I needed/wanted/lusted after.
I did some shopping around and found the best prices on Amazon.

My skin type:
My skin unfortunatly gets very dry, particularly round my hair line and on my lips. They have always been that way so I have to be mindful of that when choosing skincare. Also my face is sensitive to product changes. I try to stay hydrated and its often improves my lips.
I dont have spot problems at all, never really have, Ive been cleansing and following a strict face care routine since I was 12. I used to LOVE the Nivea Visage Young range in my teens and would still use it today but they no longer make it.

PRODUCT ONE -


What I needed:

Something for tired eyes! I work full time and still have to find time to run my home, cook and clean. Unfortunatly there is never enough hours in the day (Or indeed, the night) and I seem to forever be fighting against dark circles and puffiness.

What I found:

Simple kind to eyes revitalising eye roll-on. "wakes up tired eyes"

Review:
Packaging is - excuse the pun - simple and cute. Small and thin in size, so perfect for your handbag/ purse.
Now, what I LOVE about this product is the steel ball, its so cold and refreshing with each use. Wakes you up and releases puffiness. The gel is odourless from what I can tell. Its just a really nice fresh feel. I am enjoying it.
While bags feel lighter, perhaps even non existant, the dark circles have no obvious improvement as of yet. RRP £5.


Affordablity       ***** 5/5
Packaging          ***** 5/5
Ease of Use        ***** 5/5
Does the Job       ****  4/5




Monday, 11 January 2016

Cooking and Cleaning - Save time on housework and cooking with these handy tips - New year new you 206

Hints, Tips & Tricks.



When Cooking:

Cover baking trays and cooking trays in a layer of foil. This saves time washing up after every use as you can just replace the foil in most instances.

Opt for pre-cut meats. These are a little more expensive gram for gram but if you are desperate for free time then its a worthy sacrifice.


Use a food processer or hand blender for chopping up veg. I just got one for christmas and now can cook things like a stir fry in just over 10 mins total time. I cant explain what a life saver its been. Ive fallen in love with cooking again.

Have a washing up ready for pots and pans after cooking. You will thank yourself later on when you dont have to scrub.




When Cleaning:

Walk around the laminate or stone floors with mop socks on. You can find these on ebay for a few pounds a pair. Great for mopping on the go while washing up.

For quick and powerful washing up, buy a big scrubbing brush (made for surfaces and the like) The bristles are powerful and they cover more surface space. So with minimal effort and time the washing up is done.

Rather than spending your time trying to erase stains like hair dye or the like, just get a magic sponge. The stain will be gone instantly, and you wont be hanging around scrubbing. These also work great for grout cleaning.

Invest in a robot hoover. This is something I will be doing this year beyond doubt. There are ones out there for around £60 that look like they will do the trick ok. Obviously a Roomba would be ideal if you have the £££ for one.



When doing a laundry load, always make sure you are doing a full load. Not only does this save time but its also saves money in the long run. Also most machines have a wash, when in a hurry I use quick wash on the items I can. I can get through a full wahsing basket within an hour. My machine has a 28 min cycle and a 15min cycle as far a short washes go. These are normally fine for towels and things.

Do not fall into the trap of cleaning out cupboards and things before you have cleaned the rest of the house. For people who dislike housework its easy to get caught up in tasks that have you sitting down sorting rather than up and cleaning. All this results in is a beautiful cupboard and a messy home. Start with the rooms people would see first if they came to visit. Makes sense.




Tuesday, 22 December 2015

blogmas day 21 - christmas 2015 - Christmas without kids


I hear a lot of people say that christmas is for children. I do somewhat agree with this, as the magic of santa and his flying sleigh eventually is lost on us adults.
I imagine spending all of the festive season buying your children gifts and making christmas a magical day for them does make you feel like christmas is for the kids.

But there are a group of us, childfree or just who havent got children yet, who enjoy the day just as much but in a very different way.

I think being open minded when reading this is very important. There is no room for judging here - If you chose to have children, I think thats great if it works for you. I hope you can appriciate that I chose something different.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Now, to tell you a bit about our day!

Shall we start with christmas eve?


Christmas Eve:
I wake up around 9am ish, I dont have to be up for anything really so a little lay in until around 10 wouldnt be unusual on this day.
I will spend my day cooking up party food and making our little home "guest ready". Making sure we have plenty of extra towels and blankets washed and folded for guests that will be staying the following day.

My partner, Ryan is at work this year (we both work at the same place, but I had holiday booked over christmas) until about 5. So it will be just me jammin out to over played christmas songs most of the afternoon with a glass of wine or 2.

I have a spa bath around 3pm for an hour, packed with dead sea salts, cocoa butters, bubbles, petals & candles. Add in face and hair masks and its a job well done. Get all my skin and hair looking beautiful. Slip into some nice nightwear, sort out my hair and the evening begins.


Once Ryans home we settle down on the sofas, pull over the festive tarten blankets, light some candles and talk about our days.
Within no time at all we will start getting ready for our evening. This consists of a Game of Thrones marathon, Chinese takeout and some decent bourbon...
 ...We feed eachother malteasers while waiting for dinner.

I dont think this is a normal christmas eve for most, but for us its such a cute little tradition that we now do every year.
We end up in bed around 12 ready for the big day...

Christmas Day:

Wake up around 8.30, we need to be up quite early as we have a lot happening. Rush into the living room, grabbing the cat on the way!
Switch on the virtual fireplace on our spare screen and pop some christmas music on for background noise. This will all only take a few moments. Grab a few christmas morning candid piccies of us in our most festive PJs. Then we get down to it.
The cat has his stocking first, this year he has a new dangle toy and a couple of bags of treats. Not much but he is spoilt all year round anyway. We "help" him open them, and grab a few piccies whiles he is doing it. (We LOVE our cat haha). Once that little novelty is over, we move on to our christnas gifts to eachother.
(Hope to dress Frodo up like this cutie ^)

This year I got my other half a Phillips shaver he wanted, a new PS4 game (Just Cause 3) some new tops, pj bottoms, pj set, a new book he wanted (Poem for my sprog) and a bundle of stocking fillers including a new watch, portable phone charger and novelty gifts.
I know what ive got, but I am leaving that for my blog post after christmas. I have been so so so spoilt this year!

Some beautiful christmas morning shots...
EXPECTATION:
REALITY:


After gift opening we will go and get dressed and get ready to go to my mum in laws for christmas breakfast. Before we leave the meats go in the oven on very low. She is an amazing cook and we get on so well, I love going to see her and her husband. We have breakfast (full english) and exchange gifts there, have a catch up and are usually home by 12.

Soon as I get home guests have usually started arriving, I will pop the meats on a higher heat soon as I get back home so dinner will be done for around 2.30.

Greet guests and do another prezzie exchange while grabbing some bubbly or something light to drink. From this point our guests arrive at will, so meet and greet as needed. Around 1.30 I pop in the potatoes, veggies, stuffing, pigs in blankets and start making up the gravy. When thats in I will lay the table for the main meal.
The night before I prep all the christmas veg and pop them in the fridge, so on Christmas day im not in the kitchen peeling and parboiling veg for most of the day. I just pull the trays out of the fridge and place in the oven. Saves me about an hour and a half doing this.
Stuffing balls are all pre-made and again, I just pop them in the oven when needed. Such a great way of doing things.
 

Dinner is served at 2.30 and everyone will sit down and enjoy. After dinner me and Ryan quickly wash up the plates and cutlery (takes around 10 mins to get all done) and all leftovers go in the fridge. A quick 5 min tidy up ready for more guests to arrive.

More gift exchanges and the board games come out.

Around 6pm we all take a break, The men head outside for cigars and bourbon. I will stay inside, while me and my bestie pop some champagne and eat expensive chocolates... such is christmas.

Around 7.30 I pull out the party food from the fridge (spring rolls, pork pies, chicken wings, hog roast sandwhichs... we have a ton this year, more than we could ever eat.) and I leave these out for a few hours so everyone can enjoy some christmas tea.
More board games and card games continue now all evening. These will definately end up drinking games and I expect most of us will be more than tipsy.



Monday, 21 December 2015

Christmas 2015 Blogmas 20 - The Christmas Party Plans

So as you may know from my last short but sweet post we now have a little christmas party planned.
A handful of close friends will be joining us Christmas afternoon for an evening of drinks, games and of course, loads of yummy food.

Just the other day I grabbed the bestie and took her shopping with me. After a nice catch up lunch in costa we headed into Marks & Spencer to buy some party food. They had a beautiful selection this year and I am really pleased with all we got for the money.

Around 7pm Christmas tea will be served. Quite late but we do have so many events planned for christmas day its a matter of squeezing them all in at this point.

The Christmas Party Menu
 
Duck spring rolls
Mini toad in the holes
Snack size streak pies
Snack size turkey pies
Sausage rolls
Cheese and onion rolls
Mini chicken keives
Pork pies
Pigs in blankets 
Chicken and chips mini baskets
Turkey, cranberry and stuffing pasties
BBQ wings
Sticky sweet wings
Chicken legs
Cocktail sausages
Hog roast sandwiches
Mini chocolate eclairs
Mince pies
Cherry bakewells
Yule Log
Biscuits
 
Plus there will of course be lots of crisps and goodies from the 
snack table.
 
 
* * * 
 
Merry Christmas!
 

 

Sunday, 20 December 2015

Hello guys and merry Christmas!
Blog massive has come and gone. What with work and being unwell I just haven't had the time.

Today through being in a truly festive mood I felt like popping up a little blog post.

There have been a few changes to the Christmas plans, we have more guests and a Christmas party.

Just thought I'd do a little update on what's going on here right now.

The tree:


The snack table



Saturday, 5 December 2015

Blogmas day two - The soundtrack of christmas 2015 - Making a festive playlist

Sounds of the season

1) Bobby Helms - Jingle Bell Rock

2) Eartha Kitt - Santa Baby

3) Shakin' Stevens - Merry Christmas Everyone

4) Wizzard - I Wish It Could Be Christmas Everyday

5) Dean Martin - Let It Snow

6) Mel & Kim - Rocking Around The Christmas Tree

7) The Pogues Ft Kirsty MacColl - Fairytale Of New York

8) Wham! - Last Christmas

9) Idina Menzel & Michael Bublé - Baby It's Cold Outside

10) Band Aid - Do They Know It Christmas 

<3


Blogmas day 1 - Holidays are coming! My pre-christmas gifts to myself, yeah... its as weird as it sounds.

Hey guys, I am sorry I havent been blogging as much as I used to. In all honesty ive just started full time work and its been so difficult to find the time. I feel much better adjusted now and ready to crack on with Blogmas 2015.

* I just want to take a moment to say thank you to everyone who has ready my blog this year, I have had it around 8 months and have almost 34,000 views, I am amazed that people seem to be interested in what I ramble on about, so if you are reading this, thank you so much for taking the time to be here today <3 If anyone ever wants to contact me, email me on: katyconn92@hotmail.com I would be happy to hear from you. *

BLOGMAS day one

Holidays are coming! I spent so much time prepping for christmas this year I have no idea how I have found myself in december with still so much to do!

I have chosen to start out with an easy task that I LOVE doing... Christmas shopping... FOR ME!
No, you read me right, I buy myself little treats on the run up to christmas. I am not talking huge expensive gifts to lavish myself in, just cute little bath sets or the odd candle here and there.

Why do I do it?
I dont know where it all started from really... maybe its that I see little things and I really want and I know that nobody else will buy me? Maybe its that I get over excited when I see stuff I like on sale? Or maybe I am just plain spoilt... I have no idea, but I like it. Every week on the run up to christmas I gift myself and item. I guess its no different from an advent calender really??

So what do I do?
I hunt around online shops such as amazon, ebay, yours, boots and superdrug. I see things that I love and will use and I buy them. Its normally gift sets and little treats. Most of the time they are on sale and under say £4 per item.
This year I waiting for black friday and managed to get some amazing deals on amazon prime.

What do I get?
This year I got myself a number of gift sets (some shown bellow) I love anying skin care, hair care or beauty based.
I also got a celebrity weave fitted (LA weave hair extensions) and I love them.



So this is the end of blogmas day 1 - covering my weird little tradition.