Chelsey Prentice

Christmas is only 3 days away and I finally feel fully in the spirit. I’ve been rushing around as usual but a cosy day at home watching The Holiday and Christmas with the Kranks, along with burning Diptyque’s Pomander candle has got me in the mood.

My plans for Christmas day are to stay at home and spend time with family, then my boyfriend will come round in the evening and stay over. What are your plans for Christmas? It will be strange as it’s the first Christmas without my uncle who loved this time of year but, whilst always thinking of him I plan to enjoy it the best I can.

I’m always last minute with presents and need to get a few more bits tomorrow afternoon but I’ve done most of my wrapping which is progress for me as I usually leave it until Christmas Eve! I usually have a quiet day at home on the 24th so hopefully this year will be the same.

It’s also been 6 years since I originally started blogging and I’m proud to have kept it up for so long, including during illness and difficult times. I may not have tens of thousands of followers but as long as blogging makes me happy I’ll continue to do it and the supportive, friendly community make it worthwhile. I’ve made some lovely friends through blogging, worked with some great brands and indulged in my passion for writing, fashion and beauty at the same time. I wish you all a very Merry Christmas and all the best for 2017.

Can you believe it’s less than 2 weeks until Christmas? What with looming deadlines and a packed social calendar at this manic time of year it isn’t always easy to get into the festive spirit. If you’re feeling more Scrooge than Elf then try some of these tips and you’ll be full of the joy of Christmas in no time! (Hopefully)

Listen to Christmas songs

Nothing sparks nostalgia and happiness in my heart like the Christmas songs from my childhood. Favourites include Last Christmas by Wham, Do They Know it’s Christmas by Bandaid and All I want for Christmas by Mariah Carey. I like to liven up boring activities such as ironing by listening to them quite loudly and singing along. (very badly) Even better, watch or join in with a carols service if you can. It’s worth getting in touch with your local choir or the Salvation Army often hold them in town centres and churches around this time of year. On Sunday they actually sang carols really close to where I live which was lovely.

Eat, drink and be merry

I don’t need an excuse to enjoy food but Christmas is definitely a good one! I especially like festive themed treats such as mince pies, gingerbread, candy canes, Twiglets (not particularly festive but we always have the mini ones at Christmas) advocat, mulled wine and anything with cinnamon in. Don’t even get me started on chocolate florentines. If all else fails a glass of Bailey’s (or three) should raise your spirits.

Burn a Christmassy candle

I’m obsessed with candles, especially those of the festive variety and theres nothing like the sniff of pine, cinnamon or orange to get you feeling festive and usually also feeling hungry! I’m currently burning Yankee Candle’s Bundle Up which I love.

Deck the halls

We’re guilty of putting the tree up about a week before Christmas as we don’t usually find the time before then but I always make sure that the lights in my bedroom go up in early December. We also have a wreath this year which is a lovely festive welcome every time you arrive home. There’s something quite magical about fairy lights

Watch Festive films

Home Alone is my all time favourite Christmas film but I also love Elf, Love Actually, The Holiday and The Muppets Christmas Carol! I usually watch one of them on Christmas Eve whilst wrapping presents, which is another way to get Christmassy. (If wrapping doesn’t stress you out that is)

Other ideas including crafts such as making Christmas cards or baking, reading a festive book, visiting Winter Wonderland and nabbing an invite to a child relative’s nativity. How do you embrace the spirit of Christmas?

Every so often I order the odd item from misguided but I’m always put off by postage charges (aren’t we all?) and prefer to look at items IRL and try them on if needs be so I was beyond excited when I found out that Missguided were opening an actual shop in Westfield Stratford. Of course it had to be after I moved out of London but that didn’t stop me paying a visit when it opened a couple of weeks ago.

The store is so pretty and I wanted almost everything on sale! They have everything you need from casual wear to statement pieces to wow over the party season. I was very restrained and walked away with just a lone pair of embroidered ripped jeans which I’m modelling in the picture below! They were £35 which isn’t bad value for an embroidered item. If you haven’t been I’d definitely recommend taking a look around if you can get there.

Every season I tend to start using a handful of products religiously and this Autumn/Winter I’ve found some new favourites to add to my routine.

I like to keep it simple when it comes to skincare and not use too many products but Im getting to that age now when I could do with using a moisturiser regularly. That’s where Mac’s Complete Comfort Creme comes in. The formula glides onto your skin, absorbs quickly and leave your skin feeling smooth and fresh with a glow. I love the smell too and tend to use it before applying make up.

Believe or not but I didn’t really start wearing foundation regularly until about 2 years go, so although I like it to cover all of my imperfections I also like it to look fairly natural. Born This Way by Too Faced does the job really well and is a great base for my other make up, such as powder highlighter. The only downside is getting that Lady GaGa song in my head every time I look at the packaging!

I’m always keen to try different brow products so when I nabbed this Freedom Makeup Brow Duo powder at an event I was excited to try it. I use the darkest shade as my brows are naturally quite dark anyway and I was really impressed. It’s become my new go-to brow product as you can use an angled brush to create a natural but groomed look.

How pretty is this I Heart Makeup Unicorns Heart highlighter? All of the colours blend together to create a frosted white glow with a hint of green and blue. It really pops and is perfect for the party season. Not bad for £5!

Other products I use regularly and would recommend are the Kat Von D Lock it concealer, Mac Zoom Lash mascara and NYX Soft Matte Lip creams which I blogged about previously

Wagamama is one of my favourite restaurants but more often than not, I opt for the same dish when I order so when I was offered the chance to try some new dishes at the intu Lakeside restaurant it was an opportunity I couldn’t turn down.

The first dish I tried was a hirata steamed bun with tori kara age chicken which is tasty sake, soy and herb marinated chicken with a chunky ‘panko’ breadcrumb. It was topped with Japanese mayo which is made with extra egg yolk, mirin and rice wine vinegar. These buns are becoming popular in the street food scene and I can see why as they are really tasty and easy to eat on the go. The chicken has a satisfying crunch and the bun is really soft with a texture almost like raw dough but in a good way! There is also a vegetarian mushroom and aubergine version.

The second dish was shitake donburi which is a rice dish topped with salad and an omelette. This is a great healthy, balanced option but is also really tasty and filling as the portions are very generous

Our final and my favourite dish had to be bang bang cauliflower which is coated in firecracker sauce and finished with ginger. It was so tasty and crunchy with a spicy kick at the end. It was also served with peppers and onions which I love. These dishes are available now and have definitely encouraged me to be more adventurous.

There’s nothing like a good old blogger meet up, especially when there’s a festive theme! Add a few brands and food and you’ve got a recipe for a great day out. After attending the same event, organised by Soeurs De Luxe last year and arranging to meet a couple of my friends there I decided to go again this year

It was a similar set up to last year with various brands exhibiting their wares who we could chat to about their products or service. There were old favourites such as Jewellery Box, Blogosphere magazine and Joe Browns along with brands that I hadn’t heard of until the day including Aromand and Gia. All of the displays were so pretty and festive and the brand representatives were very friendly and informative. Joe Browns and Jewellery Box were our first port of call (below) as they have some unique pieces for Christmas gifts or to treat yourself with.

Tech brand PNY had a wheel to spin which determined what free gift you could receive which I thought was a great idea! I got a selfie stick which will come in handy. The organisers did such a good job of getting the brands involved in both the event and the goodie bags which were amazing! The food was also warm and tasty and there were sweets to snack on too! What’s not to love?

Aromand caught my eye as I’m obsessed with candles! They smell amazing and are handmade in the UK. The brand also sell room fragrance, jewellery and reasonably priced toiletries and gifts which would be ideal for Christmas presents

Who doesn’t love cheesecake? Sweet Cheesus were also at the event last year and if you have never tried one of their cheesecakes then I urge you to as they are delicious! I wish I had one right now to be honest. They come in a small jar so you can feel more virtuous than you would after scoffing a normal sized cake.

How cute are these clutch bags from accessory brand Gia London? They have a new collection including backpacks and shoulder bags coming soon so keep your eyes peeled.

It was great to catch up with friends over food and apple and rum punch and to discover new brands but unfortunately as the venue got busy it became too packed for me and there wasn’t really any room to stand and chat. There was also nowhere to put our coats so I was sweating in my coat and carrying my cardigan around! Unfortunately we didn’t get to chat to all of the brands as quite a queue began to form in front of most of the stalls and I just felt too hot and uncomfortable in the end but overall I definitely enjoyed the event and would be interested in attending next year if there is one.

It may only be November but on Thursday I enjoyed a Christmas themed night out at intu Lakeside in Thurrock. The shopping centre is my go to place for shopping and eating anyway but this Christmas you can have the convenience of having everything in one place and enjoy the ice rink, Santa’s grotto and Christmas village before or after doing your Christmas shopping. The Ice Rink and Christmas village opens today with a launch event at 4.30 and is located in car park 3 near House of Fraser

The ice rink looked amazing and very festive but unfortunately I’m too much of a wimp to brave the ice so we enjoyed mulled wine and hot chocolate from the bar and soaked up the festive atmosphere.

There was a DJ playing festive and old skool tunes which took me back to my teenage years! It’s just a shame we had to leave early to catch a particular train but I’ll definitely be back before Christmas. We even got to meet the big man himself! Now we just need to borrow a child so we can visit the Grotto…

It was my birthday last Saturday so as a little family celebration we tried out The Shoeburyness Hotel which is a short walking distance from where we now live. The name is slightly deceiving as it used to be a hotel but is now a bar and restaurant, which was built back in 1899 and refurbished in 2012. The decor is both traditional and modern with a very cosy feel.

I chose the scallops to start which were delicious, followed by sirloin steak for my main, all washed down with a superb Pina Colada!

The staff were so friendly, chatty and welcoming which made our evening even more enjoyable. They even added a candle to my panna cotta dessert and sang Happy Birthday to me as they brought it over!

It was such a lovely evening and we’ll definitely be going back for more. I’d love to try their Sunday lunch one weekend and also just go to the bar one evening. I’d definitely recommend it if you’re ever in the Southend area or even to travel to as it isn’t far from Shoeburyness train station on the c2c.