First of all Happy New Year! I hope 2014 is a great year for you all and it's filled with happiness. I love looking back at my photos from throughout the year so I decided to make a collage with one photo from each month. 2013 hasn't been the best year of my life but I've got good memories of this year too, it's not all bad.

Snowy weather // 18th birthday // Revision taking over my life

2 week old kitten // Last day at school // End of A-level exams

Girls holiday in Greece // Bought my Macbook Pro // Uni room

New favourite lipstick // Festive Starbucks // Christmas coffee back at home

I have a lot of other photos from 2013 as I'm constantly taking photos but I thought these summed up each month pretty well (excluding all the drinks and nights out but they're not pretty pictures haha!)

What are you looking forward to in 2014?
Also what posts would you like to see from me in the upcoming year?

I really enjoy reading these sorts of posts, don't get me wrong I do love reading beauty posts but these are always more personal (and I'm a bit nosey!).

Christmas Coffee // Tacky Christmas jumper (Primark) // New glasses 

Black eye ** // Christmas tree // Oxford

Erm...interesting knickers in Primark // Festive Costa // Quiet night down the pub

What have you been up to lately?

** Also just to clarify the black eye is my own fault and it was alcohol induced (I walked into a wall because I was too busy on my phone haha!). Drink responsibly and don't end up with a bruised eye for Christmas day like me! Although I've been told it looks like I'm just wearing purple eyeshadow, that was until it's now all yellow and gross, oops!

I've finally come back home home for Christmas and I have a few weeks off uni, and in all honestly even though I love uni, I'm loving being home. Anyway I haven't been posting very much but hopefully next semester I'll get into a routine!

My parents waited until I was home before we put the Christmas tree up and now I'm getting excited for Christmas.

Sadly we don't buy a real Christmas tree anymore because my kitten thinks it's fun to jump onto it and all the needles end up all over the living room! I still love having a Christmas tree up anyway. 

 Getting in the Christmas spirit with a festive hat and a few little decorations around my room.

Also since I've been home I went to Oxford to do some Christmas shopping, which resulted in me buying myself a few things and not getting much Christmas shopping done for anyone else! It was obviously very busy but it was still nice to visit Oxford again.

Are you prepared for Christmas or are you rushing around like me?

First of all, I apologise the quality of my pictures isn't great at the moment. I'm trying to deal with the lack of light and using my point and shoot rather than my Canon EOS 1000D which I don't have with me at uni. Anyway, moving on to my first ever monthly favourites post.

MUA Heaven and Earth Palette - £4 | Review
I had completely forgotten about this palette for a little while if I'm honest but when I was packing for university I put it in my bag and now I've rediscovered it and remembered why I loved it. It's just a great neutral palette that can create looks for both day and night and the shadows are really pigmented.

 Barry M Bold Waterprof Eyeliner - £3.99
Although I only bought this last month, I've been absolutely loving it. It definitely is waterproof and it is  a bold black like the name suggests. It applies so well as it's really creamy and it does last all day, which never usually happens when I use other eyeliner pencils.

Barry M Nail Paint (Raspberry) - £2.99
Everyone and their Mother appear to love the Barry M nail paints and I completely agree. I've been loving wearing the shade 'Raspberry' this month because it just fits in perfectly for Autumn and Winter.

Topshop Lipstick (Called Up) - £8 | Review
I've already reviewed this lipstick last month and I'm still loving it. I think so far it's definitely my favourite lipstick for this season and it's not drying at all which I love.

Boots Botanics Radiant Youth BB Cream (Light) - £8.99
I reviewed this quite a while ago and like the Heaven and Earth palette I mentioned earlier, I forgot how much I loved it. I've been mixing this in with my Rimmel Match Perfection foundation and it's a brilliant combination for coverage and shade. I'm so glad I've started using this again and so far it's been my favourite BB Cream I've tried.

What are your favourites this month?

I can't be the only one who gets excited about Christmas as soon as we've passed Bonfire night?! I absolutely love Christmas and I'm already getting ready to decorate my room.

Cappuccino // Starbucks Toffee Nut Latte // Costa Salted Caramel Latte

I absolutely love the Christmas and seasonal menus at Starbucks and Costa and I also bought the cutest mug from Poundland so I can feel festive whilst drinking my cappuccinos in my room. Having a festive mug just makes hot drinks taste that much better. This owl mug from John Lewis is also really cute and only £5. 

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Fairy lights or actual Christmas lights are a definite must have for the festive season as they just brighten up a room (quite literally) and they also make the room look more cosy. You can get 100 fairy lights from Tesco for only £6 which is a bargain.

Spending a day in bed all snuggled up with a hot drink watching my favourite films such as Harry Potter and The Holiday. 

Lighting candles to make my room smell like Christmas. Even though I'm not allowed candles in my uni room I'll be lighting candles in my room when I'm at home on my Christmas break.


What are your festive essentials?

I know I've only just done one of these posts, but I've had a really busy couple of weeks. I handed in my first uni assignment which was stressful in itself and I'm at home for the weekend for the first time in 8 weeks. I will be doing more beauty posts recently, if you have anything specific you want me to do a post on, please do comment and tell me!

McDonalds // Waiting to go home // Coffee with my best friend

Pretty Parks // Autumn Leaves // My kitten

I'm so glad to be home and today was such a typical Autumn day and I love it.

How has your week been?

Since moving to university last month things have changed a lot, I'm having to cook for myself even though I had only cooked pasta once in my life before and I'm obviously going out a lot and enjoying myself so here's a few photos of what's happened in the past couple of months.

Dominos // Typical Autumn weather // Living off coffee // Halloween hair // Halloween night // Ben and Jerry's for breakfast

What have you been up to lately?