Here Comes Halloween!

Don't be fooled by the title of this post, I'm sure you all already know Halloween isn't my favourite holiday. Dressing up has never really appealed to me at all. I can probably count on one hand the amount of times I've dressed up for Halloween, I can remember going out as a witch and a princess when I was younger, I know how original. This year some of the girls and I are going to a Haunted Farm in Meath this Sunday which doesn't sound like my cup of tea at all as I hate being scared. My sister went last week and it sounds TERRIFYING!! I'm not going to lie I'm a tad bit on the scared side about the whole experience so I'll let you how I get on. I went to a attraction like this in Florida called Skull Kingdom and let's just say I didn't last 2 mins in the place, I'm curious to see will I be the same this time.At least my sister came back alive which is the main thing as I know I'll definitely come out okay.

The two things I do like about Halloween that gets me by, is decorating the house and Lush goodies. My Mom goes all out when it's Halloween and she picks up the cutest decorations, we must have tonnes in our Sitting room. I think they just give such a warm feel to the place and my little nephew loves them too. He's dressing up as Woody from Toy Story this year and he's so excited so unlike his Auntie. My Mom always has two candles on the go at once, this time of the year is no different. I adore the two she's burning at the moment, Blissful Autumn and Candy Corn & Buttercream. My Sister picked me up the latter as I loved it so much in the store, it smells amazing and I love the illustration on the front. When my Mom seen mine she went to the store the next day and got one for herself and my Aunty. It's different to any other Yankee candle I've seen as it contains different coloured wax (orange & ivory) swirled together. If your near the Yankee store in Carrickmines I'd definitely pick one up as they are half price. At the moment I think there around the €10 mark which is really good value considering how much they usually are. My Mom bought me a little holder for mine which you can see in the picture above, I love it and I'll definitely be putting my Christmas candles in it. Candy Corn & Buttercream is always burning in my Sitting room and the smells to die for, it has such a gorgeous sweet scent.

At this time of the year Lush bring out their Halloween and Christmas collections which I always pick up a few bits from. I know I'm getting a bit ahead of myself talking about the festive season so I'll show you some of their Halloween bits. The Enchanter* is one of their limited edition bath ballistics for Halloween which smells amazing. I bought a few Lush Bath products when I was in Manchester during the Summer as I never get to try them at home as I don't have a bath. I remember buying a few of their bubble bars, Rose Jam and The Comforter. I was literally was on a mission to go to Lush and buy a couple of their bath products as I never get to try them not having a bath. I must of had a hundred baths in the hotel I stayed in over the five days I was there.  I bought a couple of bath products but the two I just mentioned really stood out for me and if I was going to buy any again I'd buy these. I haven't gotten around to trying The Enchanter yet so I can't wait to stay in my Aunt's house to give it a go. I haven't used Lush's Bath Ballistics before, what do you guys think of them? I really can't wait to use this as it has such a gorgeous citrusy scent and going by the website it changes colour as it fizzes which sounds pretty cool to me. On the other hand I've been using their Twilight shower gel* a hell of alot. I'm a big fan of their shower gels already, my boyfriend already bought me one of their Christmas ones (Ponche) which I love and I can't wait to pick up Snow Fairy next. When I first smelt Twilight I wasn't too keen on it, the strong lavendar scent was a bit too much. After using it in the shower a couple of time I've done a complete 360 and I really like it. It's a nice relaxing shower gel that I've been using mainly at night and the scent sticks around for ages. I love the colour purple so me and this product was a match made in heaven, it also little bits of silver glitter in it, don't worry it doesn't show up on your skin at all. The only thing that I'd say is if you don't like scented products, Twilight may not be for you.

Lastly seeing as I had Friday off work I decided to do a bit of a clean out of my room. I was surprised at the amount of clothes I had to throw out now, they are all miles to be big. This is a good thing but I have to wait til Friday to buy some more, I really want to get a new Winter coat I may have a look in Zara. I tidied up my makeup collection and made a little gift bag for my Sister with alot a products. I always buy new stuff at this time of year so there was no point in me keeping lots of makeup that I may not necessarily use if that makes sense. I'm hope she likes everything but I have a sneaky suspicion she will.

Do you like Halloween? What are you getting up to?

Laura<3

Fearne Cottons Favourites Hatbox

Last week seen the unveiling of the second Star Gift from Boots which was Fearne's Favourites Hatbox. I love seeing what gift set is on offer as the selection of Christmas goodies this year in Boots is amazing. I always pick up their Soap & Glory sets as all the products come beautifully packaged and make great Christmas presents. I wasn't planning on buying Fearne's Favourites Hat Box last week, I came home from work to find that my Mom had bought it for me. I'm glad she did, it was a wonderful surprise and I probably may not of picked it up myself otherwise as I'm so broke til payday!

Usually €47.00, last week this beautiful set was on special for €22 which is slightely over half price and such amazing value for what you get. First off if you don't know who Fearne Cotton is she's a very popular TV and Radion presenter from England. She has her own clothing line which has some beautiful pieces that I've had my eye on recently. Every year in Boots at Christmas, they bring out a Fearne Cotton Beauty Collection. I haven't tried anything of hers before as I've always been drawn in by Soap & Glory and Ted Baker so I'm glad my Mom picked this up for me.

You may be wondering what's inside this hatbox, there's quite an assortment of products to tickle your fancy.  I've start off with the two makeup products, a mascara and eyeshadow palette. You can buy the latter individually on its own in Boots for €10.50, so if you managed to get this set for €22 you've made good savings. The palette itself wouldn't be my favourite item from this set, two of the siz shades (olive green shades in particular) wouldn't be what I'd usually go for. Maybe they'll grow on me, I think for this time of the year you could incorporate them into any look. The packaging for this palette is gorgeous too so I wouldn't mind pulling this out of my makeup bag either.I was pleasantly surprised by the mascara, I wasn't expecting anything amazing from it. It doesn't clump which is rare for mascaras from gift sets, I hardly ever use them. It leaves my eyelashes seperated and natural with maybe a added bit of volume The rest of the goodies consist of  full sized body products e.g body wash, body polish, hand lotion etc. which all have a gorgeous light musky vanilla scent. As you can see all the products come in beautiful matching packaging, I absolutely love the design. I think these products would look good in any bathroom or bedside table. I can't wait to start using them all myself, I have already popped the body spritzer and hand lotion in my bag. I'm going to keep the hatbox for storage as it's just too pretty to throw away I think. The drawstring bag will also come in handy, when I travel I'll probably use it for toiletries. I really like this set and though I didn't pay the full €47 for it, thats the joys of Boots Star Gift as you may purchase something you wouldn't usually go for as the offers are just so good.

What do you think of the Boots Star Buys so far? Do you have your eye on anything?

Laura<3

A Whole Lotta Reading

When I don't have my head stuck in my college books these days, I love to spend some time reading. I recently went to Easons and picked up a few books I had my eye on. I know I have a Kindle but I seriously prefer to read real solid books. When I'm travelling I don't mind bring my Kindle along with me but when I'm at home I just grab a book off my shelve. Over the past few weeks, I've bought s few new titles so I thought I'd share them with you guys. It's quite a mixed bag, I don't tend not to be drawn to a particular author as long as the cover description is good I'm sold.

Like alot of people I was pretty excited to see that J.K. Rowling was releasing a new book. I was a huge Harry Potter fan so I'm looking forward to seeing what The Casual Vacancy is like. I've heard quite a few mixed reviews so far but they never put me off reading the book in question so I'll let you know my thoughts on it. The only book I actually finished on my Kindle so far is John Green's The Fault in our Stars which is such a great read and well written, I'd definitely recommend it. I wanted to pick up another one of his books for a while, the blurb on the back of this book looked the best out of the three in stock. I'm expecting really good things from it. You & I is written by an author that I'm not familiar with. I read about it in a magazine and decided to pick it up as it sounded like something I'd like. After researching the book I found out that Emma Gillmor Murphy is a student here in Dublin so it's nice to support an Irish author.

My Mom gave me Friends Forever by Danielle Steele to read as soon as she finished it. She absolutely loved it and thought I'd really enjoy it too. My Mom is a big Danielle Steel fan and has read pretty much all her releases so if she says something is good she means it. I can't wait to get stuck into this one. 5 Peppermint Grove is again by an author that I'm not too familiar but I've seen an interview with her recently on TV and her books sound good. One of my favourite authors is Cecelia Ahern, I loved P.S I Love You and I must admit I cried a little through the movie aswell. When I saw she was releasing a new book I had to snatch it up. I've read all her books so far and I've really liked them. I was lucky enough too meet her in Easons on Saturday and she was beyond lovely.

When I was down the country visiting family friends recently, I came back with all these. My Aunt's friend runs a Book Club in her town which is such a good idea I think. I wish we had one in my local area. When I was leaving to head home to Dublin she gave me all these books which I can't wait to read when I have time soon. I've heard such amazing reviews on A Game of Thrones so I'll probably start off with this, I can't believe I haven't read it already to be honest. I only pictured the first book in the series here but she actually gave me the whole collection, there just wasn't enough room to get them all in. I know it will take me a while to get through the whole series as each book is ginormous but if I do manage to finish them I will let you know what I think.

What books do you have your nose in at the moment?

Laura<3