Homeware Haul

So finally I have my own place! Which of course means my hours on Pinterest admiring homeware and decor designs have become a reality plus I now work for a homeware/furniture store which doesn't help the bank so I thought I'd share with you a few of my recent purchases...

So first of all, I have gone for a sort of Grey, White and Pink theme in my room with a few copper accessories. I already had the battery powered fairy lights from uni which I got from Primark for £2.50 along with the cushion which was from the Range. The duvet set is from Dunelm for about £24 - my new favourite store which you will notice a regular re-occurance throughout this post.

This adorable trinket dish comes I think comes from my favourite online stationary and homeware store Typo for £6.

 The copper cup which I use to store my makeup brushes came from Amazon for £5.99 and I originally found the candle holder on ASOS for £10 however I purchased the last one and then found them again on Amazon for £11.

Ok so there is a bit of a re-occuring  round mirrored copper dish came from Amazon for £4.99. I am still trying the best sort of things to put in it but I am thinking maybe a couple of tea-light holders or simply as another, larger trinket dish.

I brought this copper wire basket as a set of two with one of them is smaller than the other from ASOS for £20 - yes okay this was a pricey purchase but I couldn't find anything similar anywhere else. Ideally I was looking for two that were the same size but these have continued to do just what I need them to. They fit perfectly into these square units that I brought form IKEA. I use one for all of my paperwork and file storage and the other for hair products mostly.

This is my favourite purchase of them all, a Teddy Bear Rug from Dunelm which I brought for £29.99. It is the softest loveliest to stand on rug and I am completely in love with it. Everything about it is perfect, the colour, the size, everything! If you live near a Dunelm then do go and try it out, I have heard rumours of a Teddy Bear Blanket which I would love to try out as well. 

This mirror is amazing. You may have seen them before but I brought it from The Range for £75 which is again expensive but I feel it is totally worth it! The front of the mirror opens and reveals a jewellery cupboard inside. I actually use it as you see for hair accessories, nail varnish and makeup palettes!

So that was my little haul, there are many more beautiful purchases that I made which I could easily ramble on for ages about but I thought I'd leave it as a small snippet and maybe you'll see the other pieces throughout other posts. I might put together a Pinterest board over the up coming week of everything so feel free to head on over and take a look! https://uk.pinterest.com/Sammys_Bubble/ 

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It's (almost) Christmas!!!!!!

If your not a fan of Christmas then I suggest you stop reading this post, for me it is one of the best holidays of the year. Weirdly I enjoy the build up to Christmas day itself more than the actual day, visiting the Christmas markets, buying the presents, seeing friends etc.

This year I've been fortunate to visit two Christmas markets, Winter Wonderland and the Bath Christmas market which for anyone who has been following me on here or on Twitter for a while will know that Bath is one of my favourite places. Many reasons why but too many to go into now. Bath Christmas market offers a whole collection of I believe about 100 stalls throughout the lower end of the city as well as a very busy and bustling crowd. My two favourite stalls are the Macaroon stall, which always offers about 15 different flavours of Macaroon to choose from with my favourite being the Salted Caramel. The other being a stall by a company called Pollyfields, a company that this year also opened a permanent store in the city. They sell dried oranges and cinnamon stick decorations, candles, wreaths, pouperi etc and you can smell them from a mile off!

The build up to the day as everyone knows includes buying presents for people, for some this feels like a chore and believe me I know the feeling when you've searched high and low but still can't find a gift for that one person. However for me this is one of the things that I enjoy doing the most, individuals such as my best friend or my sister are the best people to shop for and if anything I get carried away - especially with my sister who's Birthday is also at the end of November. I love going the extra mile to ensure I get that perfect present for someone because it makes it all worthwhile when they open it. Last year I took a risk and brought a Tassimo coffee machine for my parents not knowing how into it they would get and I feel that they now couldn't imagine life without it. The next step is the wrapping of the presents which for me requires a good week of evenings on Pinterest coming up with some inventive ideas on how to make them look great. Adding tree decorations, string and stacking them in a pile was just a few things I did last year. This year I have just gone for a very basic and traditional plain brown wrapping with snowmen printed all over because lack of time was a thing. I still searched around online though for the best Christmas labels which I purchased from Typo.

This year we are having a small Christmas and so each member of my family has been assigned a course of the meal to organize.

 I'm in charge of dessert so of course back to Pinterest I go and I have decided to go ahead with making a vanilla cheesecake which could include some fruit on top and some Pinterest inspired Strawberry Christmas trees (If successful there will be a how-to blog post going up).

There’s a tradition in my town that on Christmas day everyone heads down to the harbour for the annual Christmas day harbour swim. I can confirm that I attend each year as a spectator as oppose to a participator but if its not already obvious enough then on average around 300-400 people, some in crazy costumes, swim from one side of the harbour to the other side. Its all for fun because the water is ice cold however they have a competitors round where you can race against each other.

(So I forgot to post this...its been sat in my phone for a while and I didn't just want to waste it so...heres to 363 days until Christmas 2017!! 

Oh and the Cheesecake and Strawberry Christmas trees shall not be going up as they were slightly disastrous)

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The Nail Polish Tag

1) How many nail polishes do you have?
So many I can't even count urm.... 16 nail art pens and 70 nail varnishes and I know I have a few more in the bottom of a handbag somewhere (Is that too many?)

2) What is your favorite brand of nail polish?
Barry M - I just can't get enough of their nail varnishes, they have such a great range and variety of colours and types of nail varnishes, I love their pastel colours however I also love Kiko nail lacquer it stays on so well and looks amazing!

3) Do you like or hate crackle polish?
Hate it, I feel like it makes your nail varnish look chipped which is never a good look

4) What was the brand of your very first nail polish?
miss sporty nail varnish

5) If you had a nail polish line, what would it be called?
Probably something simple like Sammys Nail Varnish 'S.N.V' 

6) What nail polish color do not look good on you?
Black and dark brown but do those colours look good on anyone?

7) What nail polish shades do look good on you?
Blue's and Pinks and Purple's

8) Name 2 of your nail art best friends.
Not one to venture into nail art as I have got terrible skills when it comes to drawing stuff but when I do...I use a cotton bud and the one time I used nail foils I loved them

9) What is the best nail polish gift you have ever received?
Not sure I've ever received them as a gift :(

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Why I love The Range

Anyone that knows me can tell you that I absolutely LOVE homeware! The Range is a chain store in the UK...if you don't know it then think of Ikea but smaller and more home accessories as oppose to flatpack furniture and it is so affordable. My room is full of stuff from The Range and even being sat here now I'm looking at my rug (thats under a pile of stuff) and thinking yeah that might have come from there too...I've lost track but here are a few things that I have purchased in the past year from there, they don't rotate their stock too often so they may have a few of these things still if you see something you like.

1- Pack of 2 White wicker baskets with a blue, fish covered lining. I don't have much space in my student room so its all about temporary storage and different ways to organise things.

2- Cushions, all four of these cushions are from from The Range, I actually brought two of the white fluffy cushions and left one back home because they are so soft

3- Fake Flowers, just something to brighten up the room a little bit.

4- Colourful bins, I keep these three on my windowsill with all my bath bombs from Lush in them - NOT Bath Melts...I learnt that the hard way and had to share a bath with the pink bin

5- White old looking watering can with some more fake flowers in them

6- Floral Bunting

I can't wait to get my own place as I will be spending an awful amount of time in The Range.

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Lush Haul: First Impressions

So I absolutely LOVE Lush products and since living in a city that has a Lush store I am forever buying their products, I got a couple of items for Christmas and I shopped in their Boxing Day sale so some of this is still available however some of it is not...

Five Gold Rings Bubble Bar
So if it is of any indication on how much I love this product, I can tell you that I now only have 2 gold rings... I don't believe they are still selling this one as it was a Christmas exclusive but I do hope that they bring out something similar in their general range. I got it as a present but the value for money for what is essentially 5 bubble bars is incredible! They don't have a very strong scent and so I love putting them with another product, like a bath melt.

Golden Wonder Bath Bomb
This was a great surprise when I dropped it into my bath...the inside of it was blue! Who would have ever known?! Again it is no longer on sale because it was a Christmas exclusive but it had a strong christmas spice sort of scent which is one of my favourite scents!

Bar Humbug Bubble Bar
Glitter, Glitter and more Glitter! I used this one whilst at home over Christmas break and lets just say my parents weren't exactly happy with the state of the bath after I had used it.

Dashing Santa Bath Bomb
A warm herbal scented bath bomb, the product itself has a faded red colour so I am going to be intrigued to see what happens when I place it in the bath as I have never had a red as I have never used a red bath product.

Frozen Bath Bomb
When I first heard about the Frozen bath bomb I didn't expect it to have a citrus scent, I expected something a bit cucumbery...something fresh however that isn't to say that it is a bad smell and I can't wait to try it!

Big Bang Bubble Bar
This bath bomb smells as if all the scents of a Lush store put together into one Bubble Bar and has to be my favourite scent out of all of the ones I have purchased.

You've Been Mangoed Bath Oil/Bath Melt
This is one that I have brought several times, I preferred the old appearance as I feel like this one looks particularly small. Creating a moisturising bath for your skin and a strong Mango scent I love using it. Just pop it in the bath but make sure that there is none of it half melted on you anywhere else your towels will turn temporarily green!!!

Skydancer Bath Bomb
I love liquorice as a sweet and when smelling this charity bath bomb I couldn't work out why I liked it so much...turns out it has a liquorice scent mixed with a floral scent making it the perfect smelling bath bomb. This is a rather large bath bomb and I feel that when I come round to using it I may split it into two pieces.

Yoga Bomb Bath Bomb
This bright orange bath bomb has a very natural scent bringing the outdoors, indoors to create a relaxing bath.

The Experimenter Bath Bomb
This one has a warm incense type of scent and is full of colours with a mix of reflective shiny confetti pieces and glitter that is sure going to make an explosion of a bath.

Intergalactic Bath Bomb
This Bath bomb smells of a minty yet relaxing aromatherapy scent, filled with glitter and popping candy making your bath full of colour and bubbles! I feel that it is one of the nearest things to Lush's Limited Edition Northern Lights.

Candy Mountain Bubble Bar
Candy Mountain is a repeated product of Lush's that I also purchased last Christmas, I really like the sweet scent that comes with it and it always produces a large amount of bubbles to make a fun bath!

Snow Fairy Shower Gel
I LOVE this shower gel, when I first smelt it I thought ew it smells like cough medicine but it has really grown on me smelling of a strawberry/candy floss shower gel scent that sticks to you for the rest of the day. In order to save it I don't use it every day because for the size of the bottle it is a bit pricey for a cheaper, similar version of this product I would recommend the Imperial Leather Marsh Mallow Shower Cream as you get a much larger bottle for only £1.

I am totally gutted that I missed out on Northern Lights when it went up on their website for what felt like seconds...it is my all time favourite bath bomb that lush do and I really wish they had brought it back properly this year...I tried out Lush Fairy Dust over the break as I brought it for someone as a present and it smelt amazing...it reminded me of strawberries in scent and it was magical being able to cover yourself in glitter!

Side Note... LUSH...what happened to the old design of You've Been Mangoed?!?!? The orange bar with MANGO written into it...yeah I know you know the one I mean...this one looks a lot smaller in size as well.

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