7 top tips for surviving the Christmas party season| Christmas Week

7 top tips for surviving the Christmas party season

The festive season brings with it all sorts of lovely things. From the sparkling lights in the town to the sparkling wine in our glasses, we love to party hearty all through December. But partying all night can present us with a less than desirable situation the next morning, particularly if we’ve got a day of work ahead of us, or worse still, another party! 

Here are our top seven tips to help you get through the party season with your health, your reputation and your good looks intact.

1. Drink water

We can’t stress enough how important it is to maintain a healthy intake of water while you are out partying. Dehydration is the top cause of lacklustre skin, dull hair and fatigue. Alcohol as well as coffee and tea will dry you out, so top up your fluids with plenty of water to keep looking and feeling great. 

2. Moisturise

The chilly December weather combined with drying winter winds is the perfect recipe for dry, dull skin. All that Christmas shopping in the cold and wet takes its toll on your skin, and all those late nights and alcohol infused parties only exacerbate the problem. Invest in a good night time moisturiser and slather it on before bed to wake up fresh faced and ready for anything.

3. Prepare for the worst

Alcohol dries everything out in a big way. Your headache? Dehydration. Get a moisturising boost from the inside out by popping a B12 vitamin or a fish oil supplement before you even leave the house. You’ll look better and feel a tad less fuzzy in the morning.

4. Sleep with an extra pillow

It might sound bizarre, but all that puffiness you suffer the morning after the night before is a result of fluid accumulating from your lymph glands. To promote better drainage and prevent the puff, sleep in a more upright position than you usually do.

5. Make the most of your tea bags

Caffeine is an amazing product for tackling the tell-tale signs of a hangover. Pop a couple of wet green tea bags over your eyes to reduce inflammation, simulate the skin and combat dark circles. You can use them on the sides of your nose too, which are a common, but unexpected, area of alcohol induced inflammation.

6. Eat yourself better

There are plenty of urban myths surrounding the ultimate hangover curing foods. Last night’s cold pizza, a fry up, even a hair of the dog are all acclaimed as feel good food. But stop; before you open that pizza box, take heed. Greasy food will upset your stomach and do nothing for the onward day’s energy. To really beat off the morning after blues, eat bananas, kiwi and spinach, have an egg for breakfast or indulge in some slow release energy from a healthy bowl of porridge. 

7. Take a supplement

No, Monster energy drinks and Mars bars do not count as a supplement. However, there are some products out there that really can kick start your day. We highly recommend Amazing Grass - Amazing Meal Original Blend, which is a health drink that can really start your day with a bounce. It uses a blend of organic, raw superfoods that promote energy, health and a better start to the morning. 

Of course, the very best solution to looking your best the morning after the night before is to stay away from the alcohol. However, nobody wants to be a bore at the Christmas party, so abstaining completely is often not an option. Try to moderate your alcohol intake, and intersperse those glasses of bubbly with a rehydrating bottle of water every now and then.

Find out more about the range of vitamins and minerals that you can by to help you survive the party season! HERE

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Ebay Finds| American Limited Edition Chapsticks

Ooh, here's a cheeky bonus post for you all! I have been addicted to browsing Ebay recently and am a sucker for reading posts/wishlists about what bargains people have found on the site because it is truly amazing, and one day I was browsing and came across the beauties you can see in the photo above - Limited Edition Chapsticks!! Now, if you're in America then these are apparently readily available to you but in the UK we aren't as fortunate and don't get these that easily so when I saw them on Ebay I was sold immediately and added them in my basket. 

CAKE BATTER - Put the best first! This is my new FAVOURITE lip balm ever. ever. ever. This smells divine and just like pure vanilla, I love the taste of actual cake batter and having it a lip balm form has made all my wishes as a child become true. 

PUMPKIN PIE - This year's limited edition chapstick, and at first I was a little hesitant because pumpkin can be a bit strong and other pumpkin smelling products end up being cinnamon like but let me tell you this is not the case for this one! It is more a mix of cinnamon and nutmeg which are scents that are very strong, but I have grown an instant liking to and it tastes just as nice as it smells. Medium Smell if strength is considered. 

CANDY CANE - As soon as you put this on, you get a tingling effect on you're lips and some people hate this but for me I love it more than anything else. Just like candy cane is in real life, its got a minty smell and taste (should i really have tasted any of these?!). Another one that wasn't a disaster! 

Buy All Three of these Scents/Flavours on Ebay or with the link below if it doesn't work! Let me know if you buy any because trust me if you spell them you will not be disappointed. I now have my eye on a Red Velvet one and 

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The Christmas Boutique Decor| Christmas Week

This week for me officially kicks off the Christmas Countdown, WELCOME TO FESTIVE WEEK! Yes it is fast approaching Christmas and for me the best part is that I get to decorate the house in lots of pretty decorations and this year with the help of The Christmas Boutique I can make me whole house look even prettier! In this post I am going to talk through some of my favourite picks! If this doesn't get you in the festive mood then I don't know what will! 

Gingerbread Man/Woman Tea Light Holder* £9.99 - 

Light Up Christmas Trees* - Buy Here 

This area of the newly decorated fireplace is by far my favourite but that's mainly because I am candle obsessed! This cute little tea light holder is perfect to hold my Yankee Candle Medium Jars in and looks pretty sat on the top of the fireplace and then we have the two trees on the side pulls it all together and the light patterns on them change from time to time like fairy lights.

Three Heart Cluster Bells* £12.99 -

On the actual fireplace I decided to hang up the large cluster bell heart, to add some modern feature to the old fashioned fireplace. The set comes with three different sized hearts, but I decided to use the largest size as it looks more effective and when you shake it - it sounds like jingle bells! 

  Set of wooden snowflakes £4.99 *- 

Set of Four Frosty Snowflakes £5.99* 

Set of Two Hanging White Reindeer's £5.99* - 

The other decorations that I've put around the fireplace are actually all tree decorations but I thought of using them a little bit differently and keeping to the style of decorating the fireplace (which if you haven't already guessed then the fireplace is our main place of decoration this year). At the top the wooden snowflakes are in my favourite colour - purple and look pretty at night and with everything else but I also think they would look nice on a tree too. Then we have the frosty snowflakes which are the cutest things ever, and I love how they look on the side of the fire I am still undecided whether I should put the other two up as well. Then finally the best till last, the reindeer's how CUTE ARE THEY? They are so sweet and very fragile so I had to be careful with putting them on the bottom of the fire but they look perfect!

Father Christmas Gift Bag £8.99* - 

How sweet is this large gift bag? Typically, we just put presents out but I think this year I'm going to defo put them in year and give them out because it is the perfect thing to round up everything on christmas day.

The Christmas Boutique offer such a wide range of Christmas Decorations and are all able to buy online with various delivery options! If you like some of the stuff I have mentioned in this post, then make sure you check out the website for even more goodies and the selection of things they have to offer. This time of year I think is the best time to start buying because there is so much more to get, then leaving it to last minute. 

*this post contains pr samples, all opinions expressed are my own*

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100 Years of Glamour|Max Factor

Last week I attended a very glamour screening of 'Breakfast at Tiffany's' courtesy of Max Factor at the Every Man Cinema in Leeds! When the invite popped in my inbox, I was super excited and a little startled that I had even been considered to come! I look my friend Aimee along as my plus one because she is just a big of a fan of the film as I am. 

Before went to the screening we went for a bite to eat at the resturant downstairs and then at around 6 ish made our way up to the private room. Inside we greeted to drinks, finger food and makeovers. They had there amazing Max Factor makeup artists there doing different looks on everyone and might I say they were doing a fab job! After a quick little photosesh in front of the huge display we made our way into the screening room.

I have never been to the Everyman cinema in the trinity and no matter how many times I have gone shopping there - going to the cinema is something I haven't done. It isn't like any ordinary cinema its special, comfy and luxurious. They had sofa's instead of chairs, little stools next to you for your food and drink and you are allowed to take PIZZA INSIDE!! I was mind blown and can't stop talking about the place, it was truly amazing. 

Upon arrival in the screening room, we were greeted to a goodybag from Max Factor on our chairs. Each one had the latest issue of Marie Claire and Instyle Magazine, A bottle of water, popcorn, sweets and some makeup goodies which i have fallen in love with and will be blogging about soon! 

It was an evening full of sprarkle, glamour and fun and I would like to say a big thank you to Max Factor for inviting me I had an amazing evening! 

Find out more about the cinema here. 

 

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A Visit to Specsavers in Leeds...Part 2| The Glasses

If you missed my previous post about visiting specsavers in Leeds, then be sure to read it here. In this post I will be showing you my fancy new pairs of glasses and how they have been doing over the past few weeks of me road testing them. Under Specasvers 2 for 1 offer I managed to get two beautiful pairs, one for everyday and then one for the evening time to change things up a little along with having really super thin lenses that Specsavers provide which is great for people like me with really bad lenses. 

The Hilfiger frame is a plastic based frame and the other is metal, both of these frames are something that I have never tried before. I have always been a girl to go for the black frames and they are square shaped never on earth did I think that the rounder framed glasses would suit me but something about these two pairs and the lovely help of Julia from the store made me fall in love with them. 

The Everyday Pair - These are plastic so I feel very scared about breaking them, but they are amazing and feel so light on my face. I love the shape of them and the colour as they look so bright against my dark hair colour. 

A Visit to Specsavers in Leeds

This pair is also purple (i like the colour purple, can you tell?) but these are metal not plastic and even though these are the wider frame size they are ever so slightly cat eyed in the corners if you can see. These make them so chic and perfect for the evening because they add an edge, in the picture above in the red dress was taken during diwali and I received so many lovely comments about how much they suited me and that's the best thing. 

Wearing glasses can be a pain and sometimes can be embarrassing for some, but you have to wear them with style and you have to rock them so hard that everyone looks at you and can see that even though you wear glasses you aren't hiding behind them. Getting compliments about the frame that you are wearing is the best feeling in the world and I get all fuzzy inside because my glasses are what makes me who i am and i like that people are noticing them. 

Hope you enjoyed this post and look out for more posts in the future about glasses!

*post in collaboration with specsavers, all opinions are my own*

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2 Years On| 10 Things I've Learnt From Blogging

Its been exactly two years now since classandglitter made its debut, and my oh my how quickly these years have gone! I love every single thing about blogging and wouldn't change it for the world, thank you to every single one of you for reading and following me and here's to another 2 years! Today, I am talking about some things I have learnt about blogging over the years..

1. Write what YOU like
Never feel as thought you are obliged to write what other people write and always write what you want and you like. The YOU in this point has always been important to me and if I'm not happy with something then I won't talk about it or if I don't feel happy writing the post then I don't carry on writing it!

2. Stay TRUE
This kind of goes with the point above, but being truthful in whatever you write is the most important thing. People don't want to read something that isn't true to who you are, being honest in your posts makes it much more easier to understand where you are coming from.

3. Blogging Inspiration comes and goes
Being stuck in a rut when it comes to blogging is normal and its not a bad thing if you don't post one week because the people who read your blog would rather read something that you've put loads of effort in rather than something short and unnecessary. 

4. You don't have to have lots of money to be a blogger
This is something I have touched on before, but if you can't afford to buy all the latest releases then there is no problem! You can still blog on a budget and talk about the things that you can afford, look at more blog - its more drugstore than high end because that's my budget.

5. There's no right or wrong way
Blogging is everyone's learning curve and no where on the internet does it tell you how to do blogging correctly because each person is unique and the way you write and talk is personal to you and that is what makes it more interesting to read. 

6. Take a break and take care
You don't want to stress yourself out about your blog, because to you and me it is meant to be a relaxing thing and something that we enjoy and getting stressed about it won't help you because then there isn't any fun in it.
7.  Pictures say a thousand words
Even though, the words you write in a blog post are important the pictures you put on your posts are just as important. The picture you have at the start of the post is what draws people in and that is what sets the scene. I take so much take in taking my pictures and make sure that I take a little extra time editing them and selecting the ones that I love more.
8. Learn and Improve
There are so many things I still don't know how to do and that's okay, I can still enjoy myself with the things I do know how to do. Blogging is a learning curve for us all and I learn everyday about the complicated things like SEO and my design and edit things. We learn from our mistakes so make an attempt and then try and try again.
9. Imperfections are Perfections
If you have an ugly spot on your face one day then it doesn't matter, if you're having a messy hair day then who cares..if you've forgotten to wipe the lipstick off you're teeth then its okay! There is no need to put on loads of makeup and cover yourself up, sometimes its okay to look messy!
10. Don't think about everyone else
Your blog is about you and you are the editor, manager and creator. You need to think about yourself and what you enjoy not what everyone on the outside thinks because at the end of the day they come and go but you have to stay.

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