Winter Wishlisting...

Today the temperature took a definite dip and it felt like winter might be upon us! So, with that in mind, I couldn't help doing a bit of wishlisting! Who could resist jumpers with cute woodland animals, cosy scarfs and pumpkin mittens?!

Cream Sequins Robins Christmas Jumper - New Look - £24.99

Scalloped Bracelet Set - Forever 21 - £10.65

ASOS Pumpkin Convertor Mittens - ASOS - £10.00

Raccoon Knit Sweater - George at Asda - £16.99

Bonjour Embroidered Beanie - Topshop - £12.00

Knitted Tube Scarf - H&M - £6.99

Gold Fox Head Ring - New Look - £3.99

Shell Pink Popcorn Lightweight Oversize Top - New Look - £14.99

What are some of your picks from the high street this autumn/winter?

Thanks for reading!

This Autumn/Winter I'll Be Watching...

Having just uploaded my Top Ten of Dexter video this week, I'm still in the mood to discuss film and television (when am I not!). So today I thought I would put together a little list of some of the shows and films I'll be watching this Autumn/Winter!

TV:

Breaking Bad

I'm FINALLY going to start watching Breaking Bad on Netflix. Yes, that's right, I've waited till right after it has finished to get around to watching it, which means spoilers are everywhere!!! Must avoid reading anything about it if that is at all possible...

The Vampire Diaries Season 5

We all know how much I adore this show - I can't believe season 5 is upon us already, how did this happen?! I also really want to start watching The Originals but I have no idea if there are plans to air this on ITV2 - does anyone know?! I get the feeling Elijah might not be around much in TVD from now on, so got to keep seeing him somehow ;)

Modern Family

I've been working my way through season 1 of Modern Family and loving it - I watched a few episodes when I was in Australia, my aunt, uncle and cousins regularly tune in, and it was the first time I'd seen it. If you haven't seen it and think ''typical, overhyped US sitcom'', you'd be wrong! It's really clever and funny and I'm thoroughly enjoying the first season.

The X-Factor

There is no point whatsoever in me pretending I'm not going to watch the X-Factor. Every year I say ''I will not be sucked into this again'', and every year I spot someone I like and that's it - I'm hooked. Also, there's a contestant from my home town in the live shows this year - IMAGINE he gets to the final three? We'll have the X-Factor parade marching through the town centre!

Films

Not Another Happy Ending

Looooooooook, it's Henry Ian Cusick, a.k.a Desmond Hume from Lost, one of my favourite characters of all time! Also, this film stars Karen Gillan who I really like, and from what I can tell it's a cutesy rom-com with a bit of a twist - this is a no brainer for me. I haven't read any reviews, so it might be dreadful, but I'll go and see it anyway!




Veronica Mars

I know this one doesn't come out till 2014, but I'm just too excited not to include it!! Veronica Mars is one of my favourite tv shows of all time, and Kristen Bell is quite possibly my favourite actress (she, Emma Stone and Sandra Bullock would probably tie!). I am so thrilled they finally got to make a movie out of such an incredible show, and I can't wait to see the cast back together again.



AND FINALLY...

The Hunger Games: Catching Fire

I can't even tell you how much I am looking forward to this film. I am a huge, huge fan of The Hunger Games series and Catching Fire is an amazing book. I loved the first film, and think the casting was spot on, so I've been looking forward to this since last year!



Hope you enjoyed that little run down of my viewing material for the next couple of months - I'm sure other shows will pop up on tv that I'll love, and there will more than likely be trips to the cinema to see more than just these three movies, but I'll just have to keep you posted on that!

Thanks for reading guys, and thanks so much to everyone who follows my blog - I hit 200 followers here on GFC today and I'm so thrilled. A big, big thank you to each and every one of you ❤

B is for Blogging!

What else could the letter B really stand for?!

I started this blog (under another name!) way back in 2010 and posted once. This was followed by an equally abysmal two posts in 2011, and it wasn't till 2012 that I started posting regularly! My posts were essentially condensed essays, discussing my favourite tv shows, and I never really thought blogging would change my life in any significant way.

For the first few months of 2012 (during which I started my YouTube channel too!) I posted on my blog every week. By the middle of the year though I had let things slide, and I didn't record a video or upload a post for months (I'm not entirely sure why either!). When I made the decision to go to Australia last December though, I realised I wanted to blog more regularly in the lead up to my travels, so that I was already in the habit of uploading posts when I went on my adventure. I wanted to document it all here, and I'm so glad that I did.

My wee Kangaroo pal - isn't he sweet!?

My little corner of the internet had about four followers (three of whom were my real life friends!) for a really, really long time. It seriously blows my mind to see that there are now almost 200 of you here on GFC, over 200 on Bloglovin', and that my little rambles here have had over 30,000 page views - it's insane! Blogging itself can sound like such an isolated thing - sitting at home typing away on your computer, but I can't believe what amazing friends I have made doing this. I met my lovely friend Gemma through YouTube last spring - who would have thought a year and a half later I'd have been at her engagement party, had regular pizza express dinners (with regular glasses of wine!) and even have worked alongside her during an internship. Through the many Scottish blogger events I've attended over the past eighteen months, I have met so many lovely people, some of whom I now speak to literally every day (you know who you are ;)). We're even going off on a wee weekend adventure in the autumn which I officially cannot wait for.

I've also been lucky enough to go along to some really lovely events, which I never expected would be the case back in 2010 when I wrote that one rambly post! From product launches to afternoon teas, I have enjoyed and appreciated every single one.

Not only that, but blogging in terms of reading other blogs has had such an impact on me! I'm not going to start listing all of my favourite blogs (we could be here for a while!), but if you've been reading mine for any length of time you'll know that I will forever have an attachment to Sprinkle of Glitter. Louise was one of the people who made me want to start blogging and making YouTube videos in the first place, so a huge big thank you to her :) I now get all of my product recommendations from bloggers whose opinions I trust. I might think an ad campaign for the new YSL mascara looks amazing, but I sure won't buy it until I've done a bit of research on the old blogosphere!

Blogging gives me a place to chat away about whatever I feel like at the time, and I love that. Twitter chats get me in touch with people from across the globe who have similar interests, and the joy of seeing that little red notification saying ''comment awaiting moderation'' when I log on to my account never ever ceases to put a smile on my face. So if you're thinking of starting a blog, I say do it. Seriously. You never know what could happen or who you might meet. And, failing that, you'll always have a space to share the things that you love/are passionate about, which is an amazing thing.

So that's why B is for blogging! What would you choose from your life to write a post on the letter B?!

Thanks so much for reading :)

My Pout Picks!

Last weekend I headed into Edinburgh once again for a lovely afternoon with two of my best blogging friends Laura and Jade. We went along to the Pout event at the Corn Exchange, which I mentioned in one of my previous posts. The wesbite describes Pout as ''A ladies lifestyle show featuring, fashion, beauty and leisure time for aspirational women from Edinburgh and the surrounding areas.'' We were greeted with a goodie bag and a snazzy cocktail, and then we headed off to explore! So I thought I'd just do a wee recap of some of my favourite exhibitors from this year! In no particular order, I really enjoyed...

I've written about Appointedd before here, and I really enjoyed chatting to the lovely Leah Hutcheon (founder of the company) again at Pout. Appointedd is an online salon booking portal, with lots of salons to choose from in the Glasgow and Aberdeen area. Leah also gave a great talk on using websites and apps to better organise your time, which she gave alongside Cally from...

If you enjoy a bit of online shopping and haven't heard of Malzee yet, get over to the website now and check it out! Mallzee is essentially an online shopping social network with a huge number of amazing stores including French Connection, Urban Outfitters and House of Fraser to choose from. More on this coming in a post soon as I was lucky enough to go along to their launch party on Tuesday night!

I absolutely loved seeing Joanne McGillvray's beautiful collection in the flesh, having seen so much about this up and coming Scottish designer online recently. Her clothes are stunning - there were a pair of printed trousers which the lovely Joanne herself was actually wearing that I almost had to be dragged away from. Lucky I had a sneaky purchase from the following company to ease the pain ;)

I couldn't resist buying one of the adorable cake pops from Cake Cetera! Well, who could? It's a cross between a cupcake and a lollipop for crying out loud, this is something we all ought to try once in our lives! The whole range of products, including their gorgeous cupcake bouquets were lovely and an inventive twist on the now ubiquitous cupcake!

If you missed it, I did a whole post on some of the lovely Granny Sally's products that I was lucky enough to test out recently, so go and check that out here! I love these natural products, and such cute packaging is always a bonus!

These were just a few of my favourites! Others included Odyssey Boutique (a lingerie and swimwear boutique which also offers a range of specialist beauty treatments including waxing and nails), the Scottish Wildlife Trust (got to be kind to our furry and feathered friends) and obviously the i-On and Snapshot photobooths... neither of which we managed to resist!

Thanks so much to Pout for inviting us along! We had a lovely afternoon :)


*Disclaimer: We were invited along to the event in a blogging capacity which was really lovely of the Pout team, but the opinions in this post are all very much my own :)

Get Ready With Me!

Hey guys! Major apologies for this cop out of a post, I've had a crazy busy week being back at uni and settling in (which I'm going to do a post on this weekend!) and have been along to a couple of lovely blogger events (which there will also be posts on!) and I've just not had time to write up a post... so instead, if you haven't subscribed to my YouTube channel, here's a wee link to my newest video - it's a get ready with me one, which I really enjoyed filming, so expect to see more of these in future!

I really hope you're all well, and can't quite get my head around the fact there are almost 200 of you following this blog now! I appreciate every single one of you, so leave me a wee comment to say hi if you haven't before - I get such a kick out of getting comments from you lovely readers (it's actually quite sad how excited I get!!)... x

FILM REVIEW: About Time (d. Richard Curtis, 2013)

source

As we all know, romantic comedy films are kind of my thing. Love Actually didn't make it into my Top Five 21st Century Romcoms but it certainly would have made my top ten, and so the moment Richard Curtis's new (and apparently his final) film offering ''About Time'' hit the screens, I was off to the cinema like a shot, with Emma in tow.

About Time encompasses two of my favourite themes - love/romance and time travel. It's the story of Tim (Domhnall Gleeson), a twenty one year old law student who is hit with the revelation that he (and all of the men in his family) can travel back in time. Stunned, when his father (played by the ever amazing Bill Nighy) makes this confession, Tim begins to experiment with his new found ''skill'', hoping that it might finally help him find the one thing he is desperately looking for - a girlfriend.

As in most films of this genre, Tim meets the girl of his dreams in Mary (Rachel McAdams), and after a few false starts - literally - he begins to make it work. The chemistry between all of the lead actors is strong, and let's face it - Bill Nighy and Rachel McAdams could both play trees in their respective next films and I would still adore them. The romance between Tim and Mary is lovely to watch unfold, but for me, it isn't the driving force of this film. I know, shocking, right? (Who am I?!) And, despite the opinion of a few presumptuous film reviewers, I'm pretty sure it wasn't intended to be the driving force anyway.

The film is very much focused on family, and making the most of the time you have with your loved ones. It uses the time travel plot to explore the idea of living your life to the full and what that really means. This will mean something different to everyone, and I think that's what is really special about this film. It's warm and funny and sad, and for something that many people will simply brush off as another chick flick, it has a really philosophical undertone to it. It makes you sit up and think about what and who's most important to you in life and gives you a push to remember to really value the time you spend doing what you love or relaxing with your family. You only get one shot at life, and making the most of that time is so important.

I cannot recommend this film enough, and also recommend that if and when you do see it you have a box of tissues or two on hand - I'm pretty sure 90% of the people in the cinema (including us) were bawling their eyes out when we saw it! Next on my to see list are Rush and Sunshine on Leith - what films have you been to see recently? :)

Thanks for reading!

First Impressions | ''Granny Sally's Soap Kitchen'' Range

Hi guys! Hope you are all well :)

I was really excited to be invited along to the Pout event in Edinburgh tomorrow - can't resist a girly day out with some of my favourite bloggers! When I was contacted ahead of the event to see if I would be interested in sampling a couple of products from one of the lovely brands which will be appearing at Pout, I jumped at the chance!

Since I only received the products this week this will be more of a first impressions post than a full on review, but you can expect to see that in a couple of weeks. But I have to say, my first impression of the Granny Sally's Soap Kitchen range is definitely a positive one. It is a Edinburgh based, family run business selling a lovely range of handmade soaps, body scrubs and body butters, candles and skincare, in a variety of scents. I was pleased as punch to receive four sample products from the Next to Godliness Tea Tree Range, and a jar of their Vanilla Rice Pudding Scrub.

The scent of these products is AMAZING. I'm a sucker for anything vanilla, but I literally want to eat the Vanilla Rice Pudding scrub! The tea tree cleanser, toner and moisturiser smell incredibly fresh and clean, and the brand uses only natural ingredients - always a huge plus:

''We use only the best natural ingredients with either vegetable or fruit bases - this way we can keep natures cute and fluffy types happy too!

You can even use it on sensitive skin!''

I also love the packaging - the little jars are so cute! I like that the design is nice and simple, inkeeping with their natural products.

So that's it for my first impressions of these lovely products - I always like discovering new Scottish brands and can't wait to see more of their lovely range at the Pout event! I just wanted to draw your attention to the event, incase you hadn't heard about it! Pout will be held at the Corn Exchange in Edinburgh tomorrow and Sunday morning (21st and 22nd September 2013) and as far as I'm aware you can still buy tickets online, or on the door! Will I be seeing some of your faces there?! :)

Thanks for reading, and thanks so much to Granny Sally's Soap Kitchen for sending me these lovely samples - I feel very lucky on the odd occasion I am given the chance to try something out and let you all know what I think of it :)