Dress Ideas for Christmas

Christmas is often the season of giving. A lot of giving can mean you're a little short of money for yourself, especially when it comes to outfits for the party season. Introducing your answer to bagging yourself maybe even a couple of outfits on a tight budget! Just For £5 are a brand that sell everything at £5 - what it says on the tin really. A lot of people question why they can sell for such low prices - they have actually been selling to the industry for 10 years and decided to do this online as well! You may already know I work in retail and I'm always left shocked how much clothing items cost to make compared to how much they get sold for! In this post I have picked out 6 dresses in different shapes and styles as well as 6 pairs of shoes - 3 flats and 3 heels.

After scanning the Just For £5 website for a while I noticed they had loads of nice monochrome dresses. We all know monochrome is a style that never expires and can be worn any time of the year - including Christmas! Dress number two is definitely my favourite.

1 - Polka Dot Tunic Dress 

2 - Pearl Detail Tunic Evening Dress

3 - Monochrome Tunic Dress

I picked out another few dresses again. This time I focused on the colour red as the theme. All dresses are different shades and styles. I think they're all pretty simple dresses which means there is plenty of accessories you could jazz them up with. I love dress number four as it's so simple but statement at the same time.

4 - Hem Detail Skater Dress
5 - Long Sleeve Burgundy Skater Dress
6 - Chiffon Pleated Party Dress

My top picks of the flats! I've chosen your typical darker shaded shoes as it would go well with several outfits. I think shoe number three is a brilliant twist on a classic loafer style with the glitter.

1 - Brogue Style Tassel Loafer
2 - Lace Up Brogue Shoes
3 - Glitter Tassel Loafers

Again sticking with the black shoe theme except for the dark green wedges. The black heels however both have something a bit different about them rather than your standard black wedge or court pair of heels! And shoe number five is my favourite out the collection, the most perfect shade for Christmas time!

4 - Suede Platform Wedges
5 - Classic Platform Wedges
6 - Peep-Toe Platform Heels

So what do you think about Just For £5? One last thing, there cut off date for deliveries on time for Christmas is 18th December and everything comes first class postage too!

Solution to Pale Girl Problems

I'm pale all year round without fail. I go on holiday and my skin's idea of a tan is to go a lobster shade of red and then straight back to milk bottle legs and arms. So when Sunkissed sent me these goodies I couldn't wait to try them out and I've got nothing but good things to say! With the upcoming party season fast approaching I definitely needed a self tan that wouldn't be letting me down. I'd actually had a dabble in Sunkissed's cosmetic range when I was a lot younger and enjoyed it back then so it's nice to go back to a familiar brand from your younger days isn't it?

Firstly the Application Mitt* (£3.99) works a treat, leaves my skin with no streaks and an even and flawless natural looking tan. My favourite thing about the mitt as I don't get any stains on my hands like you do with a lot of mitts out there. This usually leaves my tan uneven and patchy on my hands/wrists area but no problems with this mitt from Sunkissed. Then onto the Instant Self Tanning Mousse in Medium Bronze* (£4.99), nothing but good from this bottle of magic. Now you might not believe me until you try it but this doesn't have that digestive biscuit smell that self tan usually does have - instead it has a coconut scent to it. This makes me a massive fan as I love fruit scented beauty products. Gold star to Sunkissed for this as I can say goodbye to worrying about stinking a room out with self tan. Now this is an instant tan and as I mention all the time when I say I'm pale, I mean really pale so 'medium bronze' is probably a shade or two darker for me. I find best to apply at night before bed then shower in the morning which leaves me with a golden natural looking glow. I had so many compliments from friends and family saying I look a lot better with a bit of colour to me (I often get the "are you ill?" comments). Now possibly the best product I got sent was the Exfoliating Tan Remover* (£3.99), usually I find it so hard to get rid of any patchy areas after a few days of wearing self tan. I was so excited to see this and was even more excited to try it out. It clears up any patches as well as removing dead skin cells, making your next tan application even smoother! You can also use this product after applying your tan to make sure you have a flawless tan that's even and smooths out colour!

I can't recommend Sunkissed products enough and I personally can't wait to purchase some more. I'm pretty sure it will be my go to product for a natural glowing tan for the party season.

What are your favourite tanning products?

Christmas Lights Switch On | Lifestyle

On Friday evening I went along to a Christmas lights switch on at a local gardens in my area with a few family members. I really enjoyed this light switch on as usually they're full of rowdy youths and what not but this one was really family orientated and had a nice atmosphere to it. Before the lights came on we went for a walk around the garden centre there which is part of the Blue Diamond Garden Centres Company. They had all the Christmas decorations out and it made me super excited for the festive season. I picked up a few bits for my secret santa at work also. I'm going to go back after Christmas to because it has a stunning homeware section. I snapped a few photos on my phone as well..

I might have to go back and visit before Christmas to pick up a few last minute bits and bobs!

Fireworks and Santa! And terrible photo quality (oops!)

How are you getting into the festive spirit? 

& Make sure you enter my Secret Christmas Giveaway HERE!

SECRET CHRISTMAS GIVEAWAY

I really wanted to host a giveaway for Christmas but with a twist! So I wanted everything I am giving away to be Christmas inspired but I wanted it to all be a secret. 

So here we have the Christmas giftbox for one of you lucky readers to win. So far I have included 10 gifts, 3 samples and 1 card addressed to winner. I'm going to add a few extras the more entries this giveaway gets though! I'll be using Rafflecopter to host the giveaway. All you have to do is follow me using GFC and/or Bloglovin'. If you do both of these then you can earn yourself more entries! The giveaway is open until 15/12/13 at 12:00am. I'm afraid the giveaway is only open to readers in the UK, an international giveaway is something I will look at in the future. I will then announce the winner later on that day and contact them. If you have any further questions about the giveaway then you can email me at: whatlaurensays@hotmail.co.uk

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Good luck if you're entering! 

Christmas at Lush

I haven't brought anything from Lush for so long. So when I kept seeing rave reviews about their lip scrubs I knew I had to get my hands on one, especially as I'm prone to dry lips whatever the weather. Obviously I couldn't pick up just one thing though. I didn't go too wild though as at the new house we've moved to it has a corner bath which means it's mainly showers unless I want my legs up the wall to have a bath. So let's have a look at the Christmas bits I picked up from Lush..

| Santa's Lip Scrub - £5.50 |

When I heard this Christmas themed lip scrub was cola flavoured I knew I'd want that one. If I'm honest I didn't even give any of the others a chance but I'll definitely be grabbing another one when it becomes unacceptable to take anything with 'Santa' out in public. The scrub leaves my lips feeling so much better, especially as it gets colder. I use it a fair few times a day and have seen a much softer lip condition. The taste really is like cola cubes as well, yum!

| Luxury Lush Pud - £3.40 |

As I mentioned I couldn't go over the top as I just wouldn't get the use out of bath bombs with current bathing conditions at the new house. This smells gorgeous though and I'm excited to see what colours it sparks off around my tub. I'm a sucker for anything Christmas related, let's be honest!

What are you loving from Lush?

& I'm blogging every day of December!