My Winter Favourites!

Hello all, welcome back!

I rarely try out new products when it comes to my skincare, especially in Winter, mostly because I have dry sensitive skin and unless I've read lots of reviews I won't go near it! With this in mind I thought I'd share my winter favourites, these are things which I automatically turn to as soon as the weather starts getting cold!

From left - right:

Vaseline petroleum jelly cocoa - available from Boots/Superdrug as well as most supermarkets

Nivea Creme - £3.56 from Boots

Nivea express hydration primer - £4.99 from Boots

Real techniques buffing brush - part of the core collection, £21.99 from Boots

As you can see my winter skincare and makeup is all about keeping as much moisture in my skin as possible! The Vaseline and the Nivea creme I use on a night, they both work wonders on dry skin however are better used when you can leave them to soak in, not when you're about to put foundation on! 

I don't always wear face makeup in winter. However, when I am wearing makeup I use the Nivea hydration primer, although this is a primer and not a moisturiser I find it works really well at moisturising the skin enough to create a lovely base for make-up and keeps it on well throughout the day. I usually use a sensitive skin moisturiser, such as the ASDA Young Skin matte moisturiser or the ALDI Q10 dry & sensitive day cream with SPF 15.

Finally, onto tools! As my skin gets more sensitive in the winter I don't like wearing lots of makeup, hence why I turn away from my beauty blender and towards my buffing brush!
Although I love my beauty blender, for day to day makeup in the winter months I prefer a lighter coverage and by using the buffing brush I still get all the coverage I need without feeling as though I'm wearing a full face of makeup. 

I hope you enjoyed seeing my winter favourites, please leave any skincare recommendations in the comments!
Unfortunately my laptop has broken and after being sent for repair twice, PC World have deemed it unfixable, this means I'll be without one for sometime (not sure how long) but will post updates from my iPad so you guys know when I'll be back posting. Hopefully it'll be as soon as after New Year, I restart university on the 11th so fingers crossed it'll be not too long after that! Sorry for being a bit absent in the last few months, having a broken laptop has been not at all helpful but 2015 should be a better year!
Hope you all have a great time over the next few weeks, whatever holiday you celebrate!

Stay golden! Gracie xo 

Morning routine!

Today I'm bringing you my morning routine, this is what I do from washing my face through to makeup on an ordinary day!

Skin care (L-R):

Neutrogena Visibly Clear Blackhead Eliminating Cleansing Lotion

Clearasil Ultra Rapid Action Gel Wash 150ml

Young Skin Matt finish moisturiser - ASDA, £1

NIVEA® Daily Essentials Express Hydration Primer Dry & Sensitive Skin 50ml

Makeup (L-R):

Estee Lauder pure colour palette

Dainty Doll eye-shadow base - Frankie's Girl - see Dainty Doll website for stockists

Happy Booster™ Glow & Mood Boosting Illuminating Bronzing Veil - £8.95 - Physicians Formula online

Collection Colour Lash Mascara - £1.99 - boots.com

Rimmel Clear Complexion Transparent powder - £3.99 - boots.com

W7 In The Buff palettes - £9.99 - w7 cosmetics online

Seventeen Doll'd up mascara - £6.29 - boots.com

Collection extreme 24hr felt tip liner - £2.99 - boots.com

w7 brow twister - £4.95 - w7 cosmetics online

Estee Lauder palette

Rimmel 25 hour lasting finish foundation - £7.99 - boots.com

Seventeen stay time concealer - £4.49 - boots.com

Elegant touch eye-shadow brush

Lash and Brow groomer - unsure of brand 

Eco Tools travel size eye shading brush

Eco Tools travel size concealer bush 

(both part of the 5 piece brush set available from boots.com)

Beauty Sponge - TKMaxx - £4.99

Eyelash curlers - TKMaxx - £2.99

Angled contour brush - TKMaxx

Powder brush - TKMaxx

Hope you liked seeing what I use in my morning routine, most of these products are available from Boots (where I buy most of my makeup) however when they're not I've tried to say where they're from so you guys can try them out for yourselves! Stay Golden, Gracie xo

Edinburgh at Christmas...

My favourite thing about living in Edinburgh is Christmas! It's my favourite time of the year and is especially amazing when you're surrounded by the festive delights that Edinburgh has on offer.

In Edinburgh there is loads going on at Christmas the European market and Scottish market are my two particular favourites, so many amazing Christmas gifts and of course the food! From Bratwurst sausages at the European market through to seafood chowder at the Scottish market there's everything you need to keep warm on a chilly December day!

I've been to both the markets quite a few times (I'm totally addicted to them) and thought i'd take the opportunity to show you guys what my Christmas so far has been made up of.

 Hope everyone has been having a great month, stay golden!
Gracie xo

 PS: all images in this blog post are my own and taken and edited by me

Top 5 books from my bookshelf!

Hello all and welcome back!

Today I'm going to do a countdown of my top 5 favourite books from my - rather compact - bookshelf. At uni I don't have a lot of room for books, however that doesn't mean I don't prefer some over others.

RRP £7.99

Number one is Divergent, the first in the Divergent trilogy written by Veronica Roth. 

For those who enjoy: The Hunger Games

Others in the series: Insurgent and Allegiant

RRP £7.99

Number two is We Were Liars written by E. Lockhart.

For those who enjoy: The Fault In Our Stars

Others by the author: The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks

RRP £8.99

Number three is One Day written by David Nicholls

For those who enjoy: romantic novels

Others by the author: Starter for Ten

RRP £7.99

Number four is Perks of Being a Wallflower from Stephen Chbosky.

For those who enjoy: coming of age teen novels, such as The Fault In Our Stars 

Othersby the author: unknown (sorry, this is the only one I've read)

RRP £7.99

Number five is The Ladies Paradise written by Emile Zola.
For those who enjoy: classic literature
Others by the author: Unknown

Those are my top five, they've all been read and enjoyed multiple times and they'll be read many more times in the future! Hope you enjoyed this post, as always stay golden!

Gracie xo

Disclaimer: all the prices are RRP prices from the Waterstones website, these books are probably available elsewhere for a lesser price.

My recipe's: breakfast favourite!

Hello all, welcome back!

This Sunday has been pretty hectic for me as I've got a psychology essay due in tomorrow - yikes! Following that I have a 2 hour lecture and *fingers crossed* I'll make it to the gym for an hour after that, because it's all systems go I wanted to make sure I had breakfast ready to eat - quite possibly in a lecture if I'm late. 

It's times like this when I look to overnight oats (sometimes called summer porridge). This simple breakfast is something which has recently become insanely popular, and quite possibly because it's quick, easy and can be super good for you. 

The recipe that I make is a mix of a few different recipes that I found online using ingredients that I always have in, the beauty of this is that you can completely cater it to suit your diet and your life. So, here's my version:

ingredients available at any supermarket // measuring cups/spoons £1 for both, Poundland

Ingredients:

> 1/2 cup Quick Cook Porridge oats- I like ready brek as it gives a super smooth texture

> 1/2 cup milk- I like using semi-skimmed

> 1/4 cup Greek yogurt- I use non fat, but just choose your favourite Greek yogurt

> 2 tsp honey

> Cup measures and spoon measures

> A pot with a lid- any you want, I use a small circular tub so I can eat on the go if need be, but you can transfer your oats to a bowl if you have more time in the morning

> PLUS any fruit/nuts/seeds you wish to add for extra flavour

Method:

Literally all you do is add everything into your tub, stir together, put the lid on and refrigerate overnight. So so simple!

I used chocolate ready brek for this to add more flavour(I plan to add orange segments when I eat it) but you can add a whole range of things, pretty much whatever you want! Fruit works especially well, you can add this fresh/frozen/dried/pureed,nuts and seeds also work great, as does peanut butter. On my Pinterest account (Grace Collinson, @collinson0579) I've created a board called Blogstuff where I pin things related to blogs posts, you'll also find a few overnight oat variations, I find that experimenting is the best way to find out what you like.

Not the best looking but it is the best tasting!

I'm hoping to make this into a 3/4 part mini series so you can get a glance of some of my favourite things to eat, now I'm at uni I find making your own can often be the cheapest way to shop, especially if you're smart with your ingredients and have the time to make food. It's also a great way to make food and freeze it for when you're short on time- or money!

I hope you enjoyed this post, let me know some of your favourite breakfast dishes! See you on Sunday!

Stay golden, Gracie xo