One of my favourite things to do during Christmas time is organising Secret Santa with my friends. We usually do this every year and I think it's a great idea because everyone gets a gift and no one ends up broke! As we get older, we all get busier and don't meet up with some people as much as we would like to. So it's also a nice event which allows you and your friends to get together.

The first thing I bought was the 'Golden Wonder' box from Lush. This includes the Golden Wonder bath bomb and the Star Dust bath bomb. I've never tried either of these bath bombs but they did smell amazing, and Lush never really disappoints. I think the Lush boxes are perfect gifts as they aren't expensive, and they come in really pretty wrapping too! We don't have Lush shops in my country so I thought it would be an even nicer gift for my friend since she can't buy them whenever she wants.

The other two things I got her are both from Primark. First I picked out a plain rose gold necklace which I thought was really pretty. I think jewellery is always a good present cause you can never really have enough, can you? I also picked up a woolen headband from Primark because my friend is going to be abroad for New Year's Eve and I knew she wanted one since it's going to be quite cold.

None of these gifts are anything ridiculously expensive but I would personally love to receive something like this for Christmas. Even though these gifts are quite ordinary and you could give them to almost anyone, I felt like she would enjoy them a lot more because they are things that she wanted and that she's mentioned before. So I think it's always important to be a bit more thoughtful when it comes to buying gifts, which is obviously much easier when it's a good friend of yours. I hope these gift ideas will be helpful to some of you, and I'd love to hear some of your ideas too!

Last month my brother graduated from his Masters degree at the University of Edinburgh, so my family and I went up there for a few days for his graduation ceremony. I've been to Edinburgh quite a few times in the past year, but I had never been there in Christmas time before. I LOVE Christmas but I usually find it quite hard to get into the festive spirit when I'm at home since it's still really hot and sunny outside! So naturally I was super excited to visit Edinburgh at this time of year and it did actually put me in the Christmas spirit.

This was mainly thanks to the massive Christmas market that is found right across all of the shops on the main street. There was everything from a Ferris wheel to an ice skating rink, and everything looked absolutely beautiful. All the stalls in the market had such cute things and if I could I would have probably bought something from each one. Obviously I did not do that haha, but I did buy a few little gifts for some people back at home.

On our last night in Edinburgh we went round the Christmas market all together, and ate a few things from there as well. It was ridiculously cold and it rained a bit too but it didn't make the experience any less wonderful. I also had a waffle with Nutella and strawberries which was probably one of the greatest things I've ever tasted in my life (not even exaggerating).

The Christmas market and all of the other Christmas decorations made the whole trip so much more special. It really helped to make me happy and excited for Christmas even though it doesn't feel as festive here in Malta. My mum and I already agreed that we would love to visit Edinburgh at the same time again next year, so hopefully it won't be long until I'm back there!

xo

This post is way overdue, but I've been ridiculously busy in the past month and now I'm finally getting my life back together. If you've read my previous post you would know that my friend and I were in the UK for a few days at the end of October (aka Halloween!!!!!) We spent two days in Sheffield where we went to a One Direction concert which was probably the best night of my entire existence, and then we went all the way to the beautiful city of Brighton and spent a few days there.

I think it's safe to say that I completely fell in love with Brighton. The best word I can think of to describe it is 'cute'. Everything and everywhere and everyone is just so CUTE. I mean, there were literally little colourful hearts drawn on the floor - who does that? Cute people, that's who. I love all the little quirky shops full of random things that you didn't know you needed in your life; but you do need them, all of them. I loved walking on the pier and by the beach, it was all just really lovely. The weather wasn't even too bad either! I was expecting it to be freezing but the sun was actually visible which was a bit surprising haha. We also went to some incredible restaurants, namely 'The Breakfast Club' and 'Burgers And Cocktails' - amazing!

Every person we met was so friendly and we felt as though we could easily get along with anyone. Strangely enough, most of the people we spoke to asked us why we chose to visit Brighton from all places because they didn't think of it as anywhere special. Whereas my friend and I both agreed that it would be one of our top places to live in. I rarely fall in love with places so much but this was definitely a city that had an effect on me, and I'm surely going to be back in Brighton one day.

xo

Last month I was lucky enough to experience one of the best trips of my life, alongside my best friend. Last December we bought tickets to go watch One Direction perform in Sheffield on the 29th October 2015. This was obviously the highlight of the holiday but I was really excited to visit both Sheffield and Brighton too. We decided to spend two nights in Sheffield, and travel to Brighton the day after the concert to spend another two nights there.

We flew to London, so travelling to Sheffield was quite a struggle; especially since we're not used to catching any trains back at home. We basically spent about 8 hours travelling from 7am, which was obviously quite exhausting. However that didn't stop us from heading straight to the Meadowhall shopping mall as soon as we arrived. 

All the things I was fascinated by are probably things that most people encounter on a daily basis, but for me everything was completely different than what I'm used to. Firstly, I now understand why so many people are obsessed with Autumn. In my country Autumn doesn't really exist; we just have really sunny days and every now and then there's a bad rainy day. So the first thing I noticed once we arrived in Sheffield was how cold it was, and all the pretty leaves, and basically just that feeling of Autumn which I completely fell in love with.

I was also really impressed with the Meadowhall shopping centre, which is huge. Again, we don't have 75% of those shops or restaurants in Malta so it's always a bit hard to control yourself from buying everything you lay your eyes on. We chose to walk from our hotel to the shopping centre as it wasn't too far away, and it was just a really lovely walk to be honest.

Needless to say, the One Direction concert was beyond incredible; but I will be uploading another post dedicated to the whole concert. I'll also be uploading another post about the time we spent in Brighton (which by the way, is absolutely beautiful). 

xo

 I thought I'd write a post about my most recent lipstick purchases, which are a mixture of both winter and summer colours. Considering that it's still extremely hot and sunny in Malta, I haven't exactly gotten into the Autumn vibes yet. The lipsticks I'm going to mention here are from MAC, Rimmel Kate Moss, and Topshop.

Starting off with the MAC lipsticks, Velvet Teddy has definitely become my most loved lipstick. It is the perfect nude shade for my skin tone, and I always get so many compliments whenever I wear it! I would recommend Velvet Teddy to anyone who is looking for a subtle nude shade to wear everyday. I think it will suit most skin tones, and it's also very long lasting even though it's quite a light colour. The other MAC lipstick I bought is All Fired Up which is retro matte meaning that it is slightly dry. It's a beautiful pinkish-red and I think it's a colour which can be worn both during the day and night.

The Rimmel Kate Moss lipsticks are possibly one of the most underrated makeup products. They are such good quality for a cheap price, and it still surprises me how many people have never heard of them. The ones I bought recently are the numbers 48, 107 and 110. The shade 48 is part of the new nude collection which have a light pink packaging. It was the only one I liked out of the nude collection because the others were way too light for my skin tone. However this shade is an amazing sort of brown which is quite dark but not too shocking. I'm completely in love with it and it's surely one of my favourites out of all my Kate Moss lipsticks. The lipstick 107 is one that I have been wanting for a very long time after hearing Zoella constantly rave about it. It is basically the perfect lipstick to wear during Autumn - an amazing burgundy shade. The last Kate Moss lipstick is the 110 which is basically a bright pink. I haven't actually been brave enough to wear this yet because I have a strange fear of wearing pink lipsticks, but I'm sure it looks amazing.

Last but not least, I walked into Topshop while I was in Edinburgh and went straight to the makeup area since we don't get Topshop makeup here in Malta. I don't quite remember where I had seen this specific lipstick, but I've been in love with it for ages (I probably saw it on one of Zoella's videos since she mentions Topshop lipsticks quite often). The lipstick is called Infrared and it is literally a bright orange shade. No, it's not an orange-red. It's just orange. To be fair I was quite petrified to wear this because it's quite bold, but I plucked up the courage and wore it to a party back in Summer, and it looked great!

xo