New York City - Day 3

Now our third day in New York was New Years Eve. We got up early and had breakfast in our hotel on the 12th Floor over looking the city. Once we had eaten, all of us (expect for my dad) decided to avoid the caffeine... you will find out later why. We left our hotel and headed for the shops.

The first place we went was this Christmas shop, now something I didn't know about was the amount of Christmas shops in New York... it was slightly insane. However everything in this shop was reduced to half price so I bought the cutest ice skates decoration for the tree I have ever seen and even better as it only cost me $4. Although I am going to have to wait till the end of the year until I am able to put it on the tree but I think it is worth it.

My stunning Christmas decoration. 

Once we had finished in there we headed back down to Macy's, this time it was slightly quieter considering it was only about half 9. As there was eight of us we all went into our little groups for an hour. My cousin Daniella and I headed for the MAC counter in need of some goodies. Anyone that knows me will know that my favourite make up brand is MAC. Although the one thing I found in Macy's compared to at home is that it is a lot harder to get served and so you need to know exactly what you want else you aren't going to get anyone. Daniella picked up the Studio Sculpt foundation in NC15 & two nude lipsticks. I picked up the Studio Fix powder in NC20 which I must say I absolutely love & two matte lipsticks in Russian Red & Heroine. Once we had finished we popped out of Macy's and ran across the road to Victoria Secret and I'm not kidding it was the biggest Victoria Secret I have ever seen. We picked up a few things in there and headed back over to Macy's.

MAC Make up...

All of us went and had a look in Urban Outfitters and I was a little bit disappointed because they didn't have a lot in there for such a massive store. So once we were done we headed back to our hotel to get changed to head out for New Years Eve. Once we got back to the hotel it was 1ish so we went into Subway and had some lunch... yes I know what you're going to say, Subway? really. We were in a rush.

We got changed back in the hotel and put on our hundreds of layers... not even exaggerating I had on  300 denier tights, thermal leggings and my joni jeans. We filled our pockets with chocolate and had a drink each and then we headed over to Times Square. At this time it was only about 2pm however we knew that it was important to get there early and while you may think we were crazy, seeing the ball drop was the main reason for coming to New York for New Years. Earlier in the day we spoke to a couple of New Yorkers who said hardly any of them do it... after a few hours we learnt why.

My New Year attire. 

Once we got to Times Square you could understand why security is so tight as I have never seen so many people nor police officers in my life. We got talking to one police officer who was one of the most friendliest people I have ever met. He was telling us about everything that was happening tonight and what we were going to have to deal with... especially not being able to pee for 10 hours, hence the no caffeine.

Family with the police officer!

While we were talking outside of the pen we got speaking to a couple of New Yorkers; Jacqueline and Aneesa who were from New York and if you ever go to watch the ball drop you will learn so much about the people you speak to because they are literally the only people you speak to while in the pen.

I will skip the boring part of waiting for 6 hours absolutely freezing, I couldn't actually feel my feet.

Our lovely New York friends.

Around 8pm Idina Menzel came on and sung Let It Go; she is seriously incredibly talented and of course over a million people were singing it as well because lets be real who doesn't know Frozen? After that Magic came on a performed a few times and there was a lady presenting throughout until Taylor Swift came on and sung Shake It Off and Welcome to New York. I absolutely love Taylor Swift and she really was incredible and certainly worth the wait.

As by this time it was 10 minutes till midnight the mood changed a little as people were excited to finally ring in the New Year as we saw the ball drop there was balloons thrown out of buildings and confetti everywhere, it really was incredible.

The most incredible evening!

I would say that I really think standing in Times Square for New Years is something that everybody should experience even though it was absolutely freezing it was most certainly worth it.

I really hope you're enjoying reading these! Let me know. 

Lack Of Updates...

New York City

I do apologies for the lack of updates over the past couple of weeks but I have been working pretty much full time. Alongside that I have been doing last minute christmas shopping and catching up with family members that I haven't seen for a year therefore I haven't had much time to do anything else. I sadly won't be updating until the beginning of January because tomorrow I'm off to New York City.... ekkkk, i'm super excited. The day I also fly (29th Dec) I am actually turning 19 so an all round exciting day.

When I come back I do have a number of OOTD posts and what I will be doing while I'm there.

I was just wondering what beauty products I should pick up while in New York, do you have any suggestions?

I hope you all have a lovely New Year & see you in 2015.

The Christmas Tag

I've seen this tag floating around for some time, so I thought why not have a go. I originally saw it on MilkBubbleTea so give hers a read while you are at it. So here I am having a go at the Christmas Tag. 

1. What is your favourite Christmas movie?
My favourite Christmas move has to be Miracle on 34th Street. I absolutely adore this film and I think it was one of the first Christmas movies I ever saw. This film absolutely captures the essence of christmas and family which is why its a must for me. 

2. Do you open your presents on Christmas Eve of Christmas morning?
When my brother and I were younger on Christmas Eve we used to be able to open a small present from our friends but now were older and I'm usually working we don't do it, we now open them all on Christmas morning. My family is one of them families who open them as soon as we wake up... even though I'm almost 19 I wouldn't be able to wait.  

3. Do you have a favourite Christmas memory?

One year my parents moved the Christmas presents from the front room to the conservatory and when my brother and I walked into the front room we got scared because the presents weren't there... my brother even started to cry! 

4. Favourite festive food?

Last year was the first year of being a vegetarian at Christmas and it was so weird not eating the meat however I still do love the Christmas lunch. However the desserts my gran does are heavenly. I think my favourite is the Christmas pudding and fruit salad. 

5. Favourite Christmas gift?

Over the years I have had some amazing Christmas presents but I think my favourite was either my Michael Kors handbag I got last year on my ipod I got about 5 years ago. I used it none stop till it broke. 

6. Favourite Christmas scent?

My absolutely favourite Christmas scent has got to me my Yankee Candle in Snowflake Cookie, it is the sweetest smell ever but I absolutely adore it. My house smells of it because I'm always burning it. Along with that I do love the smell of Gingerbread... I love anything that is gingerbread. 

7. Do you have any Christmas Eve traditions?

When we were younger my brother and I used to have one friend around our house in the evening. However last year I was working in the afternoon so in the morning my dad and I do what we usually do on Christmas Eve which is search for my mums Christmas present (yes my dad leaves it to Christmas Eve.) Another Christmas Eve tradition that I love is that my dad and I go to my grandparents and see them the reason we go up there is to exchange the presents for the morning but I just like going up there to see everyone seeing as I only see them a couple times a year now. 

9. As a kid, what was the gift you always wanted but never received?

I'm not sure I think I got most things that I asked for. Actually I think I asked for some baby that wee'd itself but my dad wouldn't buy it for me because of the amount of mess it would make! 

10. What’s the best part of Christmas for you?

Considering I hardly see the majority of my family like that, I am actually really excited to see everyone. Some of my family live in France and every other Christmas they come over so I am excited to see them this year as I only see them about once a year. Along with that it has to be the Christmas sales. 

I really enjoyed this tag, I hope you enjoyed reading it! 

Mini Lush Haul

I have to admit before going into Lush last week, I have never really bought anything in there before... woops. Anyway I thought I better change that so I thought I would start the autumn season off with some bath bombs and bubble bars. I bought two bath bombs and two bubble bars. I know a lot of people can get a bit confused between the different ones so I thought I'd give you a little explanation quickly.

Bubble Bars - Create bubbles in your bath and turn you bath a lovely colour
Bath Bars - Are incredibly soothing and you will step out of the bath feeling silky smooth.
Bath Bombs - The fun one, will turn you bath an incredible mix of colours.

Now lets dive in!

The first one is the Candy Mountain bubble bar. This is pink and white in the shape of a mountain. (hench the name) Now this has got to be one of Lush' most popular bubble bars. I absolutely adore the smell of this as its so sweet, it smells like sherbet (can I eat it?) All you need to do with this one is crumble it under the tap and it will give you a pink bath with lots of bubbles... what's not to love?
Price £2.75

The second one I have is the Dragon Egg bath bomb, I think this might be the most talked about Lush bath bomb ever... and that takes some doing. I was talking to the Lush sales assistant for about 10 minutes about this one... yes 10 minutes. From the outside this might not look like the most exciting bath bomb with it being white with little bits of colour. However when you put it in the bath its like an explosion of colour. It turns you bath a gorgeous golden colour with citrus smells spiralling for miles... its a must win.
Price £3.35

The third one I have is another bubble bar. I bought Wizard purely because of the fact that Halloween is coming up and I thought I had to get something that represented Halloween. Very similar to Candy Mountain with its shape however this one is purple and white with a lot of glitter. The shimmer will turn you bath into a purple sparkle heaven. I've heard that this one is amazing for distressing because of the essential oils. I think this one would be perfect after a long day of work!
Price £3.25

The last one I bought was a little something for Christmas which was the Luxury Lush Pud bath bomb. Now this one most certainly caught my eye the moment I walked into the store. Its pink with pots of green, orange, blue and yellow coming through the sides. With a little bit of holy and ivy at the top its perfect for a cosy winter evening. This one will make your bath turn into party time with all of the amazing colours. Its lavender oils will also calm you after a hard day... this one is a must.
Price £3.50

These are the only one I bought however while speaking to the sales assistant she did recommend some others.

Bath Bombs - Granny Takes a Dip, Northern Lights, Think Pink & Twilight.

Bath Melts - Snow Angel and The Melting Snowman (mind the glitter)

Bubble Bars - Drummers Drumming, The Christmas Penguin, Sparkly Pumpkin (you will come out of the bath looking like a glitter ball) & Creamy Candy.

These are just the ones she mentioned to me but they all smell absolutely amazing so go and check them out for yourself!

I hope you enjoyed this little haul.

Topshop Haul

Hello all, I hope you have had a lovely Christmas and New Year. This is the first post of 2014 and so much has happened since I last posted as during the Christmas period. First of all I turned 18!!! I then got kept on at my part time job. I now have so much on, life is getting scary.

Anyway here's a quick post of the Topshop items I got in the past month. (Disclaimer; By no means does this mean that I am showing off and I receive no money from my parents all of these I either brought myself or have been given as a present. However my job enables me to have discount in a number of shops which include Topshop.)

My favourite items out of these are my cigarette trousers, I have brought three pairs two of them were in the sale and a pair were full price. I think that these trousers are great because they can be dressed up and down. The ones I love are my tartan ones this is because it is my favourite trend of the A/W 13 season. I think that this trend is so great because it comes in so many different colours that no two tartan prints look the same. I like the maroon and green tartan this is because I feel as though the colours go together and look like such a statement piece.

As it winter and absolutely freezing I had to get some jumpers two of them are crop jumpers. I love anything cropped so these jumpers are the greatest thing ever. I got two of them in the sale however the pink fluffy one was brought for me for Christmas and I absolutely love it as it's so soft.

The playsuit was what my mum brought me for my 18th birthday party. I really loved the colour of it because it was a nice bright colour which is a bit unusual for the winter. I wanted something that wasn't black but still looked classy. The material on this playsuit is amazing, I couldn't quite get over how thick it was, it's so great even for this time of the year.

This coat is by far the biggest bargain I think I have ever seen. The original price of the coat was £95 and I got it for £37.50!! I love the coat because it's so soft and it's really easy to layer. Although one thing I will say is that Topshop's coats aren't particularly thick and therefore you will need layers underneath them. I think that this is because Topshop coats are seen more as a fashion piece than anything else. 

Finally is my evening wear, the tartan skirt is one that I brought today, I love how soft it is it's a lot like my pink fluffy jumper, I like that Topshop have made there skirts for winter a lot thicker because I can still go out in the freezing cold. The second one is my leather skirt, I love this skirt because I love anything that is leather this skirt has such a great fit and is so comfortable to wear all year round! Finally is my sequenced top which is gorgeous, I think this top is the greatest thing for the party season. 

Thank you for reading.

Naomi xo