Frankie Press Journal

So tomorrow marks the start of a brand new year and many a New Year's Resolution. One of mine, well a goal for 2014 really, is to get organised and for me the first step is to start with a brand new journal. I really wanted a Frankie Press Journal last year, but by the time I discovered these journals they had already sold out so this year I made sure to order one in time.

My week in pictures

Finally a Star for the top of my Christmas tree! | My Christmas stocking | Presents for my family |

Christmas morning breakfast of scrambled eggs and smoked salmon | beautiful present from my Brother | my Christmas presents | fresh Rosemary and Thyme from the garden for Christmas dinner | stormy Kent and no way into London | one of my favourite sale purchases costing all of 45p!

Christmas cosiness!!

So I can't believe Christmas Day is only one sleep away. This year is the most Christmassy I have felt in ages with my first ever Christmas tree and decorations so I thought I would share some of my favourite cosy Christmas and Winter things. Merry Christmas everyone!!

Christmas jumper heart shaped hot water bottle - perfect for cold winter nights

Snowflake Christmas Cookies!

These gorgeous Snowflake Christmas Ginger cookies can even be made into tree decorations. I made these the other week and took them into work and they disappeared in no time!

My Week in Pictures

Vaseline Paint the Town Red - great stocking filler gift | Random telecom box at Whitecross Market | Butter London - Giddy Kipper | Aww cute Hot Chocolate | Cocktails at Shoreditch Grind | Dinner at Cay Tre - yes my dinner is on fires! | Got to see David Tennant in Richard II - yay! | Hmmm my cookbook collection is out of control | Brand new Adidas running trainers - New Year's resolutions start now!

Christmas Stocking Giveaway

As it'll be Christmas Day a week today I thought I would celebrate with my December giveaway and I thought it would be lovely to give away a Christmas stocking filled with lovely little treats. I've had a lot of fun putting this giveaway together and I can't wait to send it to the lucky winner!

My week in pictures

Homemade Christmas cookies | My new blog business cards with a seasonal twist | Preview screening of The Secret Life of Walter Mitty | Cocktails at work Christmas party | Me in my borrowed Christmas jumper | Browsing around Greenwich Market before going to see Saving Mr Banks | Joe & Stephs Cinnamon Toffee Apple popcorn | Monkey nuts and Oreo milkshake at GBK | At the O2 to see a preview screening of Mandela 

#EsseXmasMeet

Last week I had a really fun afternoon with the #EsseXmasMeet at the Missoula in Romford. It was really lovely to meet other bloggers and everyone was so friendly. I'm really looking forward to the next meet up!

'Eat Yourself Young' Workshop

Recently I was lucky enough to be invited by Simplyhealth to a healthy cooking class with Nutritionist Kate Cook at the Underground Cookery School in London. The 'Eat Yourself Young' workshop hosted by Kate, who has been practising nutrition for over 13 years, to discuss healthy eating and nutrition was really engaging and very informative.

My week in pictures

My new haircut | Cute free Christmas Jumper cuppa from Waitrose | Super cute pincushion from Cath Kidston | Early pressie for me from Origins | Gingerbread House with Snowman in Wholefoods | Veggie Burger at Honest Burger | trinket 'J' necklace with a lovely little message | Fish & Chips at Missoula for the Essex Bloggers meet up | my very first Christmas tree and all things Christmas!

Review: Brooks and Brooks Hairdressing and Kérastase Lift Vertige

“A woman who cuts her hair is about to change her life.” - Coco Chanel

Stila Color Me Pretty Lip and Cheek Palette

Stila Color Me Pretty Lip and Cheek Palette is the limited edition Christmas palette. It contains 5 of Stila's famous Convertible Color creams which can be used to brighten cheeks and lips. Just tap on to cheeks or press onto lips to add a sheer tint for a healthy glow. 

Under £5 pre-payday treats!!!

There have been grumblings around the office this week about how gloomy the pre-payday week can be especially with Christmas not far away. So to get us through the week I thought I would put together my top 5 pre-payday cheer up treats, all of which are under £5 so won't break the bank.

1. Mavala nail varnish in Amethyst - £4 www.beautybay.com 

    I'm loving this Winter nail varnish shade at the moment. I love the quality of Mavala  
    nail varnishes and at £4 it's a beauty steal I think.

November All About Nails Giveaway!!

Review: Lush Melting Snowman

The Melting Snowman "Hot Toddy" bath melt from Lush is my favourite bath product at the moment. I have to confess that having only purchased it for the first time a few days ago, I am very late in my discovery of this amazing bath melt.

Tartan blanket scarf

                      

I love scarves!! I have lots of them and I really don’t need any more, but I do get a little Winter buzz when I find a lovely scarf that I know will keep me warm and cosy over the Winter months. I’ve had my eye on this one from Zara for a little while now and when I saw it looking lovely and cosy on my beautiful best friend,  I knew I had to have one of my own.

Review: Bumble and Bumble Thickening Creme Contour

I’d had my eye on the Bumble and Bumble Semi-Sumo hair wax for quite a while, but when I went into Space NK and spotted the Bumble and Bumble Thickening Creme Contour a fairly new release from Bumble and Bumble, I knew that this would be better suited to my hair needs. 

Review: Roses de Chloé Perfume

Roses de Chloé (75ml EDT, £64 John Lewis) is one of the recent additions to my fragrance collection and I fell in love with this perfume as soon as I tried it! 

Finished products #2

I've stored up quite a few empties over the last few months and weeks and to be honest they have begun to clutter up a corner of my room so I thought it was about time that I put up an empties post.

Review: Canon EOS 600D for blogging

                       

Let me introduce you to my new super duper Camera!! I finally took the plunge & have made the shift up to DSLR with a Canon EOS 600D. I've been saving up for this for a while & having sold my Fuji Finepix bridging camera I had been reliant on my iPhone 5 for a good while. There are some good deals out there in the run up to Christmas & Canon are also doing a £30 cash back offer. 

I decided on the Canon 600D after doing quite a bit of reasearch & talking to other bloggers. The deciding factor for me was the flip out screen as I'd like to feature more make up looks & swatches on my blog & with that in mind I also purchased the Canon camera remote control which will really help when taking self portraits. 

There is a lot I have to learn about the 600D so if you have any tips & hints on how to get the best shots, I'd love to hear from you. 

Frock Me

                   

The Perfect Sunday

In the past I've had a bit of a love/hate relationship with Sundays. On the one hand it's the perfect day for chilling out but then the pre-Monday dread would set in. I'm not really one for lounging around in my pjs on a Sunday, I like to keep busy & do things so I've tried my best to combat the pre-Monday dread by doing just that & making sure Sundays are full of fun things instead of wishing away the day. 

As you'll have seen from yesterday's post, the first thing I did was to get up & make jam. I just felt like being productive & I now have quite a few jars of raspberry jam to enjoy & share with friends & family. Then after catching up with all things blog related, I braved the rain & headed down to Kings Road for the Frock Me vintage fair at Chelsea Town Hall. There were so many lovely, pretty things there, I had lots of fun browsing around.

I had a little wander up the Kings Road, with lots of lovely things catching my eye including some mouth watering delicious looking cakes & then headed to Kentish Town to enjoy a very chilled out evening of an amazing veggie Sunday roast dinner & boardgames with friends at the Assembly House.....bliss!

What's your perfect Sunday?

Homemade Raspberry Jam

Hi my name is Jasmin and I like making jam!......Some people who know me say I have Grandma like ways what with my love of making jam, baking, crafting, knitting and gardening but I'm equally happy out having fun with friends or being at home making jam or baking, I guess that's just how I am. I woke up this morning and just felt like making jam, it's such a perfect activity for a Sunday.

Great Pink Bake Off

We held a Great Pink Bake Off cake sale at work in aid of Breakthrough Breast Cancer. I decided to make old fashioned fairy cakes to donate to the cause & I spent a fun afternoon decorating the fairy cakes with my niece & nephew.

Bourjois Java Rice Powder

When I spied this pretty vintage looking powder, my face lit up in the aisle in Boots. This is available at all Bourjois stockists now, for £9.99. The Java Rice Powder is a re-release and re-formula of a product that first came out on the beauty market almost 150 years ago. 

October Giveaway!!!

 

I'm so excited to be doing my first blog giveaway and as I've mentioned before to celebrate my little blog I will be doing a giveaway each month until Christmas. Following on from my Revlon Cherries in the Snow post, this month is the Revlon Cherries in the Snow lipstick and nail varnish giveaway. One of my friends has also made and donated the blue Origami Crane to the giveaway so it's all up for grabs!

Nars At First Sight palette

I have lusted after the gorgeous Nars palettes for absolutely ages and the other day after receiving an email from Nars about the At First Sight palette (£45) I knew I had to have it, so I treated myself and it hasn't disappointed at all!



The palette consists of 6 shades; 1 blush, 1 bronzer and 4 eye shadows. These are all best selling Nars shades which includes Deep Throat blush (some of the Nars names take a little getting over), All About Eve, Bellissima, Codura, Noveau Monde eyeshadows and Laguna Bronzer.

I already have the Deep Throat blush and Laguna bronzer in the full size and I love them both. The Deep throat blusher is such a pretty peachy-pink shade which gives the right amount of shimmer without any large glittery particles. Laguna for me is more of an all over bronzer as the shade, when gently applied isn't that much darker than my natural skin tone, so I like to use it to give a natural warm glow. 

L'Artisan Parfumeur Caligna

Rimmel - Sky High

                        

Cherries in the snow!!

                                       

London Fashion Weekend

Over the weekend myself and some of my lovely friends headed down to London Fashion Weekend at Somerset House in London for an afternoon of fun, fashion and of course shopping!! This was my fourth London Fashion Weekend event and the second time I've been to the catwalk show which I have to say is one of my favourite parts. This time unlike before I was quite restrained and didn't spend a lot of money all. I of course picked up a copy of Elle magazine and some Label M shampoo and conditioner which I was really keen to get my hands on and I'll be doing a review on that soon.

One of my other highlights of Fashion Weekend was discovering a simple but beautiful hair up of which just requires an Alice band which you tuck your hair into and within in a few minutes you have beautiful results. I'm definitely going to be experimenting with this look.

I really enjoyed the Trend catwalk show as it was really fun to see the highlights of the up and coming trends, such as Pink, Back to Nature which featured a lot of khaki and feathers and Victoriana which was my favourite of the trends.

I did enjoy Fashion Weekend but because it was such a popular event it was difficult to have a proper look at all the stalls and there was just not enough space to manoeuvre as the rooms in Somerset House are quite small, but it was still a fun day.

Mary Katrantzou - Fashion in Conversation

I ❤ stationary

There is one thing I have always had a love for since as long as I can remember and that is stationary! I loved the excitement as a kid of a new pencil case, filled with new colouring pencils, felt pens and bright gel pens and also the joy of writing on the fresh first page of a new notebook. I still love all those things now and despite having amazing gadgets such as my iPhone and MacBook Pro, I am never without a notebook and pen in which to jot things down in especially lately ideas for my blog.....I'm definitely a list maker.

Paperchase and Muji are my favourite go-to stores for stationary. I absolutely love the array of colourful pens and minimalist notebooks in Muji and the host of colourful and funky notebooks in Paperchase. In fact I can spend ages browsing around both stores.

The whole going back to school feeling in September brings back memories of the excitement of new stationary and I thought I would show some of my favourite stationary items at the moment.

What's on my desk

My new blogging notebook from Paperchase

The coloured pens, plain lined notebook and colourful notebook are from Muji. The bird design writing paper ad rose notebooks are from Paperchase. The cute sticky notes are from Selfridges' stationary section.

Extra bits in photos are my I ❤ NYC mug from NYC. The Zebra pen and my Damien Hurst paperweight where gifts.

Anyone else share my love of stationary?

An evening with James McAvoy

Last night I went with my friend Ade to the 'Meet The Filmmakers - James McAvoy and Jon S Baird' event at the Apple Store on Regent Street in London and it was such a fun and interesting evening!

Edith Bowman from Radio 1 spoke to both James McAvoy and Jon S Baird about their new film 'Filth' which is based on the book by Irvin Welsh. It was really interesting to hear about the making of the film, the process of writing a script from the book and moving it to the big screen.

'Filth" is set in Edinburgh in Scotland and James McAvoy plays Bruce; a corrupt policeman with a drug addiction who is intent on climbing the ranks. It was really insightful to hear how James approached the role and how he has tried to make the audience empathise with the character without excusing or condoning his actions. Prior to attending the event last night I wasn't sure that this would be my kind of film as I don't enjoy violence in films and I know there are a number of violent and difficult scenes in the film. However after getting an insight into the film and characters I am quite intrigued to watch it and see how the characters and narrative have been explored.

I got to meet James McAvoy very briefly at the end of the interview and he even signed my blogging notebook so I was very happy indeed!!

I didn't realise until very recently that such free events were hosted at Apple Stores but now I've signed up to a few more and I'm really looking forward to them.

'Filth' is out nationwide on 4 October.

Origins GinZing.....This is love!

Origins GinZing face cream available in Boots for £23

While I've been away....

So I know I have been a bit absent from the blogging world of late which sadly in part was due to having not been very well for a while and some life changes which took up a lot of my time and energy but in and amongst all that there were also a fair few fun times too.....

Delicious homemade cherry scones with jam and clotted cream in Arran | Me meeting the lovely Rachel Khoo at Big Feastival | Breathtaking Isle of Cumbrae | Pony trekking with friends on Arran | Home grown strawberries | Beautiful sunflowers | My view of London on the way home | My birthday cake

My crane family from my colleague | Me with a new pepper plant addition to the garden | The beautiful gardens of Brodick Castle on Arran | Fresh cut flowers from my garden | New Zara purchases | Amazing presents for my birthday | Birthday Raspberry Pavlova....yum!! | Jay Z and Justin Timberlake at Wireless

Budget beauty tip.....head to Liberty!

Liberty beauty hall

I know some of you will be thinking the luxurious beauty hall at the Liberty store is an interesting place to head to for budget beauty but allow me to explain. I love the Liberty beauty hall and I have spent many a happy moment and pound there. I love the way the hall is arranged and the staff are friendly & helpful. I find it a really good location for buying foundation as there are plenty of large windows so you can check how the foundation looks in natural light. 

Hmm...I'm getting a little distracted so back to the budget beauty tip; on one of my trips to the beauty hall I was told about the Liberty loyalty card. Like many store loyalty cards it's free to sign up to and you receive points for each pound you spend in store but I have to say it's much more than that as there are also has some amazing benefits.

If you use the card in the beauty hall you receive beauty points for every pound you spend. Once you have 150 points you'll be eligible for a £5 voucher & twice a year you'll be sent the vouchers you've earned which you can use online or in store. My favourite perk is the rush to counter offers. Each month you'll receive a Liberty beauty email with a rush to counter offer which offers a certain beauty product for free, all you have to do is present the email at the relevant beauty counter while stocks last. I've managed to bag myself a full size Bumble and Bumble Surf Spray and the Hourglass Script eyeliner for free through the rush to counter offer. You'll also receive Liberty's seasonal beauty magazine & get invites to special loyalty card holder shopping events which often provide cardholders with discounts not to mention free drinks and nibbles. In the summer I was sent a £10 voucher to spend in store just for being a loyalty card holder and I happily used the voucher to purchase my Hourglass Ambient Lighting powder.

Liberty beauty are currently running a special offer for loyalty card holders where you get the most amazing goodie bag if you spend £150 in store (the goodie bag has sold out online) on beauty, so if you have beauty shopping to do why not check out the Liberty beauty hall.

*This is not a sponsored post- just purely based on my own experiences

DSTRKT London

Last night I was out celebrating one of my lovely friend's birthday at DSTRKT in Piccadilly in London and we had one of the most amazing food and dining experiences!!

Wild Trout and Red Quinoa

Hello again

Hello!! I'm sorry it has been absolutely ages since my last post. Lots has been happening but the main reason was that I was ill for quite a while & I just wasn't able to blog. Thankfully I'm better now & I have lots of posts in mind so I'm really excited to be back!!

In addition to beauty posts I'll be featuring a few more lifestyle posts including more recipes & even some grow your own updates from my little vegetable patch! 

Nars Radiant Creamy Concealer

Nars Radiant Creamy Concealer in Biscuit