Archive for December 2017

I'm a firm believer that Christmas decorations should go up on the first of December, if that's not possible, they need to go up the first weekend in December. If you don't get them up soon enough, you don't get the comfort of a Christmas house for long enough! Comfort is what Christmas is all about for me and personally my favourite style is traditional reds, greens and golds. I also own a lot of Ikea decorations which give my tree a bit of a Scandinavian feel but still maintain the classic red colour!

I'm aware I am about to sound ridiculous, in my bedroom I have a full sized fake tree. To clarify, I didn't go out and buy one for my room, it's one we previously used in our dinning room but don't have space for in our new house soooooooo I asked if it could go in my room (I might be obsessed with Christmas!). I've built up quite the collection of Ikea baubles, such as Santas, mushrooms and birds; special baubles with memories attached to them such as ice skates, home-made hearts and little woodland animals; things my mum had most her life and let me 'borrow' for my tree and, this years addition, an angle to sit proudly on top of my not-so-little tree!

I always place presents I've bought for my friends and family at the bottom of the tree to cover up the *cough* ugly *cough* base. Then in the rest of my room I hang up my stocking, display my advent calendar and get out my family of Santa teddies. This year, taking inspiration from Zoella's extreme Christmas decorations addiction, I also bought the most adorable bedding from ASDA it's covered in cute little bambi's, candy canes and Christmas trees.

My top advise for decorating this season is to keep it united, have a set colour scheme and make it flow throughout the house and use it every year. I'm aware that you'll have to make a biggggg decision on what style you will want for the next few years or even decades BUT it will totally be worth it! You'll collect special baubles and ornaments that have stories and memories and you'll build up a collection of decorations that all match and fill up the house so it doesn't look mix-match or empty.

This post is getting lengthy now so I'm going to leave it here! I'd love it if you'd leave me a comment, I'd like to see your tree's this year (twitter @ alicerhodesblog ) Happy Blogmas Xx

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Alice

Everyone loves a Christmas treat! One of my personal favourite snacks at this time of year is a mince pie, every Christmas Eve me and my Dad make a batch for Christmas (even though we're all too full for them after Christmas Dinner!). Here's how I make them!

For twelve mince pies you will need:

- bun tin

- large mixing bowl

-scales

-round cutters

-decorative cutters (stars and Christmas trees)

-mincemeat

-1 egg

-icing sugar

-ground cinnamon

-100g unsalted butter

-225g plain flour

1. To start of you want to make your pastry. Weigh the flour and put it into your mixing bowl; then weigh the butter, cut it into small cubes and add it to the flour. Rub the butter into the flour with your fingers until they have mixed into crumbs.

2. Next add around two table spoons of cold water to the flour and butter and stir it with a knife until it forms a dough ball (use hands if necessary). Wrap up the dough ball in cling film and leave it in the fridge for 15 minutes to half an hour.

3. Set your oven to 200 *C, 450*F or gas mark 8 whilst the pastry is cooling.

4. Take the pastry out of the fridge and roll to a thin thickness (remember to flour the worktop and rolling pin) Cut twelve large circles, twelve smaller circles, eight stars and four Christmas trees out of the pastry.

5. Line the bun tin with the large circles and fill them with an appropriate amount of mincemeat (don't over do it, they'll leak!). Beat an egg and brush the edges of the circles with it; then place the smaller circles on top and seal the edges to avoid the filling spilling out.

6. Brush the tops of the mince pies with beaten egg; place the decorative stars and trees onto the tops and brush them with egg too. The beaten egg will help to seal the pies and give them a golden-brown finish when baked.

7. Place the mince pies into the oven for 10 to 15 minutes (keep checking them throughout the bake). Once they have turned a nice golden brown take them out of the oven and leave to cool.

8. Finally, dust six of the mince pies with icing sugar and the other half with cinnamon and voila, your mince pies are ready to eat!

That's it! Your treat is ready to eat with a hot chocolate by a nice warm fire, whilst watching your favourite Christmas film (of course). I hope this post helped you make some delicious mince pies, if not it probably made you wish you had a mince pie in hand (I want one writing this!). I'd love to see your Christmas bakes, tweet me @ alicerhodesblog .

Happy Blogmas Xx

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Christmas is one of my favourite seasons. Especially because I can do smoky golden eyes with bold berry lips and it doesn't look over-the-top or too dressed up, it just looks Christmassy. This is one of the makeup looks I've already been enjoying and will definitely be wearing for the rest of December.

For my face makeup I started with my Nivea moisturiser and MAC prep + prime primer. I don't usually wear primer as I have pretty dry skin so the makeup tends to not move about over the day but if I'm going to a party or dinner I'll use it to guarantee my makeup stays put. Then I used my beauty blender to put on my Rimmel Wake me Up foundation in the shade Ivory. I swear by this foundation, it gives me perfect coverage and makes my dry skin look alive and healthy, however, if you don't like heavy makeup it's not for you as it's majorly full-coverage. Then I used the matching concealer to cover any spotty areas.

For contour I've used the Rimmel Insta Duo contour-stick and the Maybelline Master Sculpt powder to add some colour back to my face and give my cheekbones a bit more definition. Finally for highlight I've used the benefit High Beam liquid highlighter with the MUA pink powder highlighter on areas I wanted more glow. I don't always use powder as it makes my dry skin look a little flaky and dead but I take the powder brush just to blend my face and neck perfectly.

Next, onto the fun part! For my eyes I used the Makeup Revolution 144 shade, 2016 edition palette to create a golden, smoky eye. I used a cool brown shade along my lash line and then blended it out to give myself a winged effect; then took a warmer toned brown and blended into and a bit above the crease; finally I took a gold shimmery shade and put it across my lid, blending it into the matte browns. I finished off with my MAC Extreme Dimension 3D black lash mascara. To make my brows big and bold, but still natural I used the Benefit Gimme Brow in the shade 5.

To finish the look of I used my Models Own 'Strawberry Mojito' matte red lipstick. It's bright, fun and Christmassy. To make the lip more special and glamourous, I added a coat of Tanya Burr's 'Sugar and Spice' lip gloss over the top! A little trick I learnt for a really bright lip is using a matte colour and then a gloss on top for a bold, statement finish.

I hope you enjoyed my post! I don't claim to be a makeup expert/guru but I just wanted to share how I'll be doing mine for the Christmas season this year, I get a lot of inspiration a tips from Tanya Burr's makeup tutorials- I highly recommend them if you don't watch her.

Happy Blogmass Xx

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This post is on a serious subject. Some people are for it, some strongly against. Christmas jumpers, you either love them or hate them and I'm here to take you through my favourites for this year. Of course being a fashion lover and taking style seriously, I adore ugly, over-the-top Christmas jumpers. I'll be covering a range of prices to showcase Christmas in jumper form from all high street shops.

(I don't own any of the photo below, they have been taken directly from the companies websites)

Topshop £55.00

This jumper is just the right balance of a garish Christmas jumper and a normal winter jumper. If I were to put money on one high street store making a '3D wreath jumper' look normal and, dare I say it, classy, I'd say Topshop could do it. I'm not saying I'd go to a serious event in this explosion of Christmas however I wouldn't be embarrassed walking around college in it. The actual jumper looks like a timeless cut and the wreath itself is fun and Christmassy without being too in your face like some Christmas jumpers. The only problem with this for me is the price, if you're prepared to pay £55 for a seasonal item then you NEED this jumper- it's brilliant! But for me, it's over priced.

River Island £28.00

Dinosaurs and Christmas all in one jumper. I think I need this in my life. I'm obsessed with this men's River Island jumper, it's cool, fun and I could definitely wear it outside the house without feeling stupid, which is always a plus. It reminds me of a Coach jumper I've been obsessed with for a while now but obviously because it's from River Island it's a lot cheaper! Similar to the Topshop jumper I think it's a little bit too expensive but if you obsess over Dinosaurs the way I do, this will no doubt already be in your wardrobe.

Monki (via ASOS) £20.00

It's festive, it's fun, it's a bright pink sweatshirt covered in Christmas trees. There's not much more I can say other than I love this Christmas jumper. Somehow Monki have created a Christmas clothing item that is stylish and possibly even more wearable than the Topshop jumper. Yes it screams Christmas, but it's done so that it doesn't take anything away from your outfit. You'll still look like a normal person in the streets, just one who knows how to celebrate Christmas in style.

Asda £16

Here's a little super market find for my review. I normally think Christmas jumpers from supermarkets are a little bit boring and mass produced however, the Asda men's section have impressed me this year. The photo doesn't show off this jumper well as you can't see that Santa's beard is actually fluffy faux fur and soooooo snuggly! I'm obsessed and really wish I'd bought it now. For me it's also a much better price for a jumper that realistically you'll wear about ten times a year. Asda had some more lovely pieces but they were all in the men's section, personally I have no problem buying/wearing men's clothing but it did annoy me slightly that the women's was mainly pink and sparkly rather than Christmassy.

So that's it, my top four Christmas jumpers for 2017. I will admit, I struggled finding jumpers which I really loved this year- there's too many slogans for my liking. However, I think these four, although on the pricier side, are really something special! I hope you enjoyed this post and have got an idea of where you'll be buying this years jumper!

Happy Blogmass Xx

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Before I start I'd like to say Alex Shulman was a brilliant editor and was British Vogues longest serving editor-in-chief, so she is a pretty impressive woman! However, for me, Vogue was loosing it. The covers began to feel boring and more worthy of Cosmopolitan or Glamour, not Vogue. The magazine was in need of a breath of fresh air, something new and exciting. Edward Enninful has provided what I was looking for.

Growing up I have associated Vogue Magazine with glamour, high-end fashion and the ultimate guide to fashion forward trends. In the last few months it had lost this idyllic status in my mind, I wasn't enthused by new issues or raving about the cover photos- it felt too safe, like it was equal to all other large fashion magazines. Rather than being the 'it thing' it was picking Celebrities that would sell copies and taking generic headshots for the cover photos. It wasn't satisfying my need for interesting angles; bold, garish cat-walk-style fashion choices; bright playful colours and refreshing, innovative ideas. It was just same old, same old. So I turned to independent, lesser known magazines and journals for more daring covers, breaking the boundaries between fashion and art.

Edward Enninful is, for me, Vogues saviour. He has chosen a cover photo that is new and intoxicating. The photoshoot has used a makeup look that isn't just a smoky eye and nude lip, it's playful and vivid. But the colours aren't just blue and red they're wild, electrifying and contemporary. It isn't something people are already wearing, it's something they're going wear because it was in Vogue.

That for me is what Vogue is. It's not what people are already doing, it's what people are about to do. It isn't predictable or of-the-time, it's what's about to happen- always one step ahead. If Edward Enninful keeps his covers this fresh and exhilarating Vogue will once again be what it was to me growing up- the epitome of what's about to be in style, or should I say, in vogue.

Happy Blogmas Xx

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