Instagram Diary | December ♥

I've been a little bit instagram obsessed in the past 4-5 weeks and have gone into picture upload overload! I usually put up about 20-25 pictures in a month, but for December however, my picture upload was well over 100. The combination of a daily upload from my Ciate advent calendar, being surrounded by pretty festive things to take pictures of, plenty of time off, lots of nights out and lots and lots of shopping, i.e. hauls and new products, has led to me being super snap happy!
 

I sifted through my 142 uploaded pictures this month to try and find the ones I thought would best summarise my month / be interesting and have compiled them into a collage below. Like last month, I have linked the caption to a relevant blog post if there is one so you can read more if you want to, and for more pictures my Instagram username is: Hannahripley1 ♥

♥ Lady Million EDP | Matching Lipstick & Nails | Lush Christmas Shower Gels ♥

♥ My Mum's Christmas Present | Rimmel 'Diamond Dust' | Lush Order ♥

♥ Lush Order | Benefit 'How To Look The Best At Everything' Set | Hair Care Christmas Presents ♥

♥ Navy Glamorous Disco Pants | Ciate Advent Calendar | Lush 'Christmas Eve' Bubble Bar ♥

♥ Giveaway Prize from Chloe's Way | Topshop 'Green Room' | Las Iguanas ♥

♥ Topshop Socks | Topshop Hot Water Bottle | Shopping in Liverpool ♥

♥ December Favourites | Soap and Glory 'Best of All' Set | Collective Beauty Haul ♥

♥ Avon Nail Wear Pro+ 'Cosmic Blue' | Lush 'Melting Snowman' Bath Melt | Benefit 'She's So Jetset' Set ♥

♥ Feel Unique Order | Primark Jewellery | Hot Chocolate ♥

♥ Birthday Cupcake | Mac 'Costa Chic' | Bioderma ♥

♥ Huuuge Collective Haul | Ciate 'Bumble Bee' Caviar Pearls | Birthday Pandora Charms ♥

♥ Models Own 'Jack Frost' and 'Utopia' | Models Own 'Ibiza Mix' | Models Own 'Northern Lights' ♥

♥ 'Black Eye Friday' Night Out | Me & Jeri | Boxing Day Night Out ♥

♥ John in Las Iguanas in Liverpool | Cocktail Party OOTN - Primark Midi Dress | John in Bowness ♥

♥ Wrapping Christmas Presents | Family Picture on Christmas Day | Christmas Tree on Christmas Eve ♥

♥ Jamie Oliver's Italian in Liverpool | Birthday Text from John | Tapas at Bodega in Bowness ♥

♥ The Hobbit in 3D | Birthday Breakfast Fry Up | Jacuzzi Bath with TV at Aphrodites ♥

♥ Michael McIntyre in Liverpool | Birthday Cake | Christmas Decorations in Liverpool ♥

 

♥



Monthly Favourites | December

 

Hello lovely ladies.

I always feel like I'm jumping in early when I do 'monthly favourites' but if I don't get it done now then I never will, and I like to highlight which products have stood out to me over the past few weeks and give them the praise that they deserve. This month contains 7 items and there appears to be a bit of a theme of 'mini' products or just generally small things (with the exception of the Clynol conditioning spray). It's a bit of mixed bag this one, varying from lips balms and hair oils, to an advent calendar! Read on to find out what I've been loving and why...

 

 

Ciate Mini Mani Month Advent Calendar

This advent calendar by Ciate was a birthday gift from my mum and has been one of the most exciting gifts I have ever received (it's the little things). This advent calendar has one mini bottle of Ciate nail varnish behind each of its 24 doors and has brightened up each of my mornings ever since the first day of December! If you follow me on Instagram (hannahripley1) you will see that I've posted a daily picture of the nail varnish which is behind each door, and it ranges from bright pinks to muted nudes, to bottles of caviar pearls, all the way to exclusive glitter shades. A nail varnish lovers dream!

 

 

Clynol Moisture Dream Conditioning Spray

Again, a present from my mum (she buys me great things!), but this one was a Christmas present last year and was unfortunately lost and forgotten about amongst the vast collection of hair products that I own and was sadly neglected. I came across this again when I was packing up for uni in September and it has been my go-to product while I'm away there ever since! It does basically what it says on the bottle and infuses a penetrative moisturising and nourishing solution into the hair in a handy 'spray-in' application to bring back a healthy bounce and shine. I apply this to wet hair and leave to dry naturally and I am left with soft, tangle free and frizz free locks.

 

 

L'Occitance Hand Cream

This was a freebie from Marie Claire magazine back in October and although I thought that the scent 'date bouquet' wouldn't be to my preference (it was the last one available), I actually really love it. The product is shea butter based and I already know that I will buy a bigger tube of this soon because it is not just 'one of the best', it is 'the best' hand cream that I have ever used. I can't get enough of it. It normally only needs to be applied once a day because it's just so intense and leaves not even a trace of residue on the skin after application. I know it's pricey, but it's worth every penny and I love it.

 

 

Weleda Wild Rose Smoothing Night Cream

A sample sized product that I received in a She Said Beauty Box and has not left my bedside table ever since! I put this on every night before I go to sleep; it absorbs quick and the faint scent of rose is very calming. The cream is quite thick but it is very nourishing and I am starting to notice an overall improvement to the quality of my skin and this will be one of the products to thank for that! When I wake up my skin is a lot fresher, less dull and looks smooth and hydrated so I would highly consider purchasing the full size of this product once my sample has run out.

 

 

Clinique 'All About Eyes' Eye Cream

 I received this small pot of eye cream as part of the Clinique Bonus Time offer back in October, and although it's only a 7ml pot a little goes a long way and this is going to last me forever! It's really thick and nourishing and I apply this both night and day to help reduce puffiness and dark circles and it is one of the best eye creams that I have ever used. It instantly hydrates my under eye area and calms any puffiness of the skin and helps to fade away the purple tinge of the dark circles. It absorbs into the skin pretty quickly which makes it easy to apply concealor to the area soon after.

 

 

Macadamia Natural Healing Oil Treatment 

Being only a tiny 10ml bottle I expected this to disappear pretty quick, but it's still going strong and I'm only about 1/4 of the way through the bottle after 5 weeks of regular use. This is a lovely hair oil to use, it's quite light so I have to use a generous amount of my thick and frizz-prone hair, but it doesn't weigh it down or leave any residue, it just makes it smooth, sleek and shiny. I use it in all sorts of ways; pre-washing as a treatment, when damp and leaving to air dry, before blow drying, and a finishing product to smooth the hair after styling and it always leaves my hair in amazing condition with minimal flyaways and high shine without the grease.

 

 

Blistex Lip Massage Balm

This is something that is totally unique to me and I've never seen anything like it, and to be honest I didn't mean to pick it up, I just wanted the cheapest lip balm that was in Asda and this was only £1.19. I've not had it for long but I really enjoy using it as an alternative to regular lip balm that you just apply onto your lips, this you instead rub over your lips and the ridges on the rubber applicator massage it into your lips for extra absorption instead of it just sitting on the surface of the skin. As with all Blistex products it is really nourishing and moisturising, I just especially like this because it's something a little bit different.

 

 

So, that's what little old me has been loving this December.

 

Busy few days coming up, as is expected with the festive season, and I have a night out with the girls planned for tonight and also for tomorrow night, and then I have an anniversary night away with the boyfriend booked for the night after that, and then before we know what's hit us, it's Christmas Eve!

 

I've got one more post that I'd like to slip in before Christmas but if I end up being too busy to squeeze it in then I'll take this chance to wish you all the happiest of Christmases and hope you all enjoy yourselves and spend time with your loved ones!

 

Merry Christmas!

♥ 



SheSaid Beauty Box | December

I feel a bit bad saying this, but I'm just really bored of these boxes now, I don't look forward to them and they don't excite me at all. Even when I open them up and see what's inside there hardly ever seems to be anything that I'm eager to try out. I'm forever miserable about these beauty boxes so my advice would be to not waste your money on a subscription to them because you only ever get sent a load of rubbish; there's probably going to be about 1 in 10 products that you'll actually use and enjoy enough to purchase the full sized version of, well atleast that's my experience of them.

 

Moans aside, here's December's box:

 

I expected the December box to be really special and different with it being Christmas and all - maybe a red box, or have snowflakes on it or something - but nope it was just regular run of the mill box except with one extra bonus product inside .. tea bags! Ha - you've got to laugh really don't you! Bonus Christmas treat of two tea bags.. One is 'Jade Sword Green Tea' and another is 'Jasmine Silver Needle'. I do like tea, I drink it daily but I've never tried any other variants other than the typical Tetleys so I'm curious to see what I make of these. 100 of these tea bags cost £30.00 so I hope they're good at £3 a brew! *edit - 30p a brew, haha idiot!

 

There was also an Amie Spring Clean Cooling Mask (full size) which cost £1.50 for a 15ml sachet but they are also available in a larger 75ml size. These have been in a box a few months ago and although it tingled my face to the point that it was uncomfortable and I had to wash it off almost straight away it did freshen up my skin, so I'll give it another go and hope for the best this time!

 

 

There were another two full sized products in the box; one of them a Technic nail varnish. My information card says these cost £1.25 but I know they can be found for 99p in the likes of Body Care. I think these nail varnishes are great as you get a full 12ml for such a cheap price and they're good quality too, not streaky or easily chip - plus the colour of this is beautiful! It's called Tawny Port and is a deep, rich purple.

 

The other full sized product is as a pair of colour contact lenses.. what? These cost £6.99 and are a one time use product so I am saving these for maybe Christmas day to see how many of my family members notice that my bright blue eyes have been switched for green! I am somebody who has never needed to wear contact lenses before and I'm a bit funny about things that go near my eye, I always have nightmares about waking up blind (!!) so I think I'm gonna be a little bit squeamish when it comes to putting these in - they look so weird!

 

 

 

This product looks quite exciting and they're called 'Jamela 24k Gold Under Eye Mask' and I'm really unfamiliar with using anything like this before but they look so cool! There's no instructions for use anywhere on the packaging so I'm not sure if you use them once and throw them away, or if they're a reusable product. But these squidgy gold pockets are apparently infused with natural nutrients and anti-oxidents which stimulate collagen production and increase the skin's thickness and elasticity. Now, I'm only 20 so don't have huge eye area problems but I look forward to a little relax time, lying back and popping these on underneath my eyes to see what effects it has.

 

 

Last, but not least, are these two sachets from the Doctor Duve brand (never heard of it) and OH MY these are expensive!! I received a sachet of anti-aging eye cream, and also anti-aging face cream (although my card says skin boosting face cream, but oh well), and a 30ml tube of the eye cream costs £115 (!!!) and a 50ml pot of the fact cream costs £129 (!!!) - who spends that much on cream?? These had better be good, I'm expecting miracles if it's that price! I can't find it written anywhere how big my sample size is but I guess about around 3ml.. and that means that my eye cream sample sachet is worth £11.50. Wow.

 

 

So that's a little run over of what I received in my December She Said Beauty Box. It was actually okay this month! I like all of the products and look forward to using them, I'm just a little bit apprehensive about trying to put coloured contact lenses in, and also I hope the tea is nice!

♥



Winter Primark Haul | December 2012

I can't quite get over how good Primark is at the moment, I've been absolutely loving their winter stock and there's so many cosy jumpers that I could snatch up, plus I've had my first taste of a 'midi dress' from Primark and stocked up on them so now I'm all sorted for outfits over the next few weeks of festivity. A lot of people have been saying that Primark prices have increased and it's not 'cheap' anymore but I don't think that a single thing I bought was over-priced or expensive at all, everything was extremely good value for money in my opinion.

 

The items below are what I bought on a visit to Liverpool to last weekend:

Sheer Maxi Dress: £14

This dress doesn't look very sheer on the picture, but it is and it has built in shorts/knickers at the top so obviously you don't have the problem of your underwear being on show. I thought this skirt was a bargain for £14 and is extremely nice for Primark - it has two slits going all the way up the front of it, is an amazing colour and I like the belt that came with it too! I wore this skirt on my birthday night out and got lots of compliments on it - I love it so much. 

Both of these midi dresses cost £10.00 each and I'm looking forward to wearing them on nights out over the next few weeks. The grey one is extremely fitted and makes me feel like I daren't breathe in it and it shows every single lump and bump.. but as long as you're having a good body day it's very flattering! The black one is a lot easier to wear because it's looser and a stretchier jersey material so gives you room to move and breathe! I think both of these dress will be pretty timeless and can be worn again and again so were a good staple purchase for just a tenner each!

 

Striped Knitted Jumper: £10

 

Dipped Hem Fox Print Shirt: £6

I saw this shirt in a recent Primark haul video by Kate (Dolly Bow Bow) and thought 'Ooo that's cute' but when she said that it was only £6.00 I just knew that I had to have it! It took me a while to rummage around and find but I finally did and I'm glad I spent the time looking for it. Such a lovely little bargain shirt for every day casual wear.

 

Slouchy Jersey Top (White): £6

Slouchy Jersey Top (Blue): £6





Bobble Hat: £3

Definitely a winter essential! It's been so cold recently that I can't leave the house without a hat on.. plus it's good for covering up bad hair days. For £3.00 everybody should have one.

Scull Scarf: £3

Necklace: £4

 

Primark is absolutely manic at the moment with Christmas shoppers rampaging everywhere, but if you can bear the crowds then get yourself down there ASAP because there are some bargain gems just waiting to be found!

♥