January Favourites | 2016

The vast majority of January Favourites that I read or watch contain mainly beauty and skincare products with a couple of random favourites thrown in every now and then. With me, well this month at least, it's mainly TV shows and random favourites. What can I say? I watch A LOT of television and YouTube. With saying that, let's jump straight into what I've been absolutely loving this month.

Skincare

There is one skincare favourite and it is Vaseline's Spray and Go Moisturiser. I am an incredibly lazy person when it comes to my skin, I'm just extremely lucky to have quite salubrious skin, the only problem I tend to get is dryness. Even when it comes to moisturising I usually cannot be bothered and I have the tendency to be rather fussy when it comes to the consistency and texture of a moisturiser. If a moisturiser is too thick or greasy then I'll instantly hate it. Vaseline's Spray and Go is nothing like that at all; it isn't greasy in the slightest and is absorbed into the skin almost instantly, so there is no waiting around before getting ready. You simply spray on the moisturiser and rub it into the skin, it's light and refreshing. This product is the saviour for my dry skin, especially in the colder months and it's only £1.99. 

Television

January 2016 welcomed the return of the 6th season of Pretty Little Liars. This show frustrates the life out of me but at the same time I love it. No matter how many loop holes and confusing story lines it contains, I am kept 100% addicted. If you haven't already started watching Pretty Little Liars firstly, where have you been? And secondly you definitely have to start watching.

The second TV show I have found myself re-addicted to is The Vampire Diaries. I binge watched the first four seasons a couple of years ago and then stopped with the intention of only taking a break from it. Two years later and I have re-watched the first four seasons in just over 3 weeks and I'm not stopping anytime soon! Before I started watching The Vampire Diaries, I was very skeptical. I was convinced I wouldn't like it and it was just another teen vampire storyline like Twilight. If you think the same, give it a try anyways because it is one of my favourite shows despite my original skepticism.

I love documentaries and lifestyle shows, The Biggest Loser being one of them. I am aware of all the various opinions and comments made about The Biggest Loser in the past and at present but I watch it for my own enjoyment and interest only. I recently watched an old series on YouTube and forgot how much I enjoyed viewing people slowly change themselves for the better and discovering themselves for the first time. 

Linking in with The Biggest Loser is Jillian Michaels. She was one of the training coaches on The Biggest Loser but made the decision to leave after seeing the programme turn it's focus onto elements she did not agree with. Since then, she has filmed her own reality television series called Just Jillian and actually allows the public to view the big softy that she really is underneath that extremely tough exterior. She is family-orientated, humorous, down-to-earth and a great mum to her two kids. Despite only two episodes having been aired so far, I love the light-heartedness and casual feel to the show.

YouTube

This month, to no surprise, I have been absolutely loving The SacconeJoly Family, as usual. Their daily vlogs just make me so happy and content no matter how bad a day I might have had. They definitely deserve more subscribers and viewers than they have and I reckon Emilia should have her own YouTube channel soon, seeing as how keen she is at making her own exceptionally cute videos!

Clothing

January has been the month of bad weather - from storms and gale force winds to snow and extreme flooding. Being it the middle of winter, it's been freezing constantly so I've been very much appreciative of my Ugg boots and my Black Parka from New Look for keeping me as warm as I could possibly be. For when I opt to stay inside (most of the time), Men's Jogging Bottoms from Primark have been the comfiest and warmest casual clothing option for me and they are only £5!

Random

The last thing I have been loving this month is the juicer I bought in the Boxing Day Sales. I have only tried a few different juices for now but I have loved all of them. So far I have tried Carrot and Apple, Apple, Kale and Beetroot and Pinapple, Kale, Spinach and Carrot. I liked all of these combinations but my mum didn't like any of them, so if you try any of them, let me know what you think. I am keen to try out more juices because they are such a healthy way to start the day or to refuel your body after a workout, plus I'm on a bit of a health mission.

We are already a month into 2016, it feels like New Year was only yesterday! I hope you liked reading about my January Favourites as I definitely enjoy reading them from other bloggers. I also have lot's of exciting posts planned for the up and coming month so keep an eye out for them.

xxx

My Brother Turned 18!!!

There is just over 2 and a half years between my younger brother and I. When I turned 18, my mum threw a big party at the house and invited all the friends and the family she could possibly think of, decorated the house from top to bottom and ordered a huge Costco cake. When my brother turned 18 on the 25th of January, she did exactly the same but had to scale it back slightly - if she didn't tone it down, I reckon my brother would've killed her.

Stuart's birthday fell on a Monday this year so we had the party on the Sunday and spent his actual birthday celebrating just him, my mum and dad, me and his girlfriend. My mum's side of the family have a reputation when it comes to family gatherings. Well, to be more specific, it's my uncle, cousins and myself that have the reputation. Everybody usually gathers in the living room to eat and chat away at family events, not us, we gather either in the kitchen or the conservatory and we really get the party going. This year my uncle brought speakers, disco lights, spinning light bulbs, everything you can think of; including alcohol. The conservatory was where the party was at that night.

The night was a great success, we all danced, drank (reasonably), sang awfully and took an abundance of photo's. Even my mum jumped in a few of the pictures! Stuart had a really good night and he entered his 18th birthday having drinks and a good laugh with people he cares about the most.

On his actual birthday, I was supposed to be going back to university... like that was going to happen, Stuart had presents to open, we had a meal to go to and a movie to see. I was only missing introductory lectures anyways. I decided to get Stuart a personalised hip flask as his 'memorable' gift and then his favourite Def Leppard album on Vinyl because I knew my parents had bought him a Vinyl player, he was over the moon that I'd managed to track one down in such good condition. The facial expression that appeared when he opened the gifts made all the effort and money worth it. He now has a very decent and ever growing Vinyl collection, ranging from ACDC to Justin Bieber. 

Of course I couldn't go through the day without posting a whole bunch of my favourite photo's of Stuart and I on his Facebook for all his friends and the family to see. It was difficult but I eventually managed to pick after a few hours of searching through boxes and boxes of photographs.

In the evening, we had originally planned to have a meal at TGI Fridays and go to the cinema to see Ride Along 2 but when does anything ever go right to plan? We didn't have a meal at TGI Fridays, instead we ended up at a Carvery for Stuart to have his favourite dinner; sirloin steak. We also did'nt go and see Ride Along 2, that was replaced by the film Dirty Grandpa starring Robert DeNiro and Zac Efron. I'll be honest, I did not have high expectations for this film in the slightest because the trailers I'd seen were awful, however, it was actually really good and really funny. I would definitely recommend this film to anybody, especially those who find shows like Celebrity Juice funny. Plus Stuart has promised to take me to see Ride Along 2 very soon since I really wanted to see it!

Overall, I thought the birthday celebrations we had for my brother turned out great and thankfully so did he despite how fussy and particular he can be. I still cannot believe that he is 18 years old and can legally go out to clubs and buy alcohol now; both of which he has already done. My family have A LOT of big birthday's and celebrations coming up this year, this was just the first of the many to come. 2016 is definitely going to hurt everyone's bank balance!

xxx

Cinderella: The Ballet

I have always loved ballet even though I never got to try it as a child. Seeing a ballet performance has been something I've longed to see for as long as I can remember and I finally got to see one! My mum has never really been interested in ballet as she finds it confusing and hard to interpret but she does like the music behind the dancing. When the Scottish Ballet decided to perform Cinderella in Glasgow, it was perfect! My mum knew the storyline and would be able to keep up and I would finally be able to see a Ballet performance! I'd seen the advert for Cinderella: The Ballet online just after Christmas and was absolutely thrilled when my mum agreed to go, especially since the seats we managed to get were perfect.

The whole performance was two hours long with two intervals. The act followed the basic fairytale storyline of Cinderella but did incorporate a few twists to the tale. One example of a twist was that Cinderella's father did not die in this performance, instead he developed depression and an alcohol addiction from the loss of his first wife and struggled to cope under the authoritarian personality of his new wife. Another twist to the tale was Cinderella's spell breaking whilst she was still in the ball with the prince. Of course she managed to conceal her identity and escape leaving a glass ballet slipper for her prince like in the fairytale. The rest of the performance followed the traditional fairytale and a slight comedic element was employed with the step sisters competition for the prince and to impress everyone with their 'looks' and 'dancing abilities', it was very lighthearted and funny.

Beautiful is a somewhat pathetic description when discussing the ballet costumes worn. Each dancer looked elegant and impeccable, especially when gliding across the stage. The main focus of the entire performance was the Royal Ball. The entire second act was dedicated to the flawless dancing, lifting and spins of the dancers. The act was inspiring and stunning to watch. Even my mum - who doesn't see the beauty in ballet dancing - found the entire Royal Ball scene mesmerising, she couldn't take her eyes off the stage. Everything about the show was picturesque, even the programme is a visual masterpiece, all of the pictures are angelic and admirable. I would absolutely love to be in the audience of another ballet performance, I have heard that the Scottish Ballet are taking on a version of Snow White next so I'll definitely have to look into that further.

Seeing a ballet performance live has only excelled my love for it's beauty. I would love to have the courage to attend a ballet class myself as I genuinely believe I would be okay at ballet. Maybe I will start teaching myself, but for now I just want to see more.

xxx