Hannah's top three winter time skin care products (Blogmas day 11)

Hannah here!

For today's blogmas post it was my turn to do my favourite winter skincare products! During These cold months I find that my skin really suffers so I try extra hard to maintain a good scincare routine. Here are my top three winter scincare products!

3) St Ives Face Scrub (apricot) 

This face scrub has been a real life saver this winter as I tend to get dry patches on both my face and arms. This scrub can be used anywhere on your body to gently exfoliate the skin, removing dull surface cells. I use this product in the shower once or twice a week and find that it leaves my skin feeling so much healthier. 

2) Garner Micellar Cleanser

This is a product that Jess introduced to me a few months ago and I am obsessed! After reading Jess' blogpost on the clenser I had to try it. This is a miracle product that not only cleanses your face, but can remove all makup quickly. It is the most efficient and gentle skin product I have ever tried. 

1) The Body Shop Tea Tree Toner

My favourite winter skin care product has to be The Body Shop's tea tree toner. I have a very oily t-zone making me prone to breakouts. Since using this product I have noticed a dramatic difference in my skin and would never dream of going back! 

Thank you for reading! I hope you are enjoying blogmas, and found this post both enjoyable and useful! -H xox

Gingerbread Recipe (Blogmas Day 8)

Hannah here!

Gingerbread is my favourite Christmas treat, so here is my simple and foolproof recipe for gingerbread cookies!

Ingredients:

90g clear honey

175g soft dark brown sugar

60g soft unsalted butter

350g plain flour 

1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon ground ginger
1 teaspoon mixed spice (I always add a touch of ground cinnamon)

1 medium egg beaten

(Its difficult to say how many gingerbread cookies this recipe makes as it depends on the cutters you use, but it definitely makes a decent batch)

Method

1. Over a low heat, melt together the honey, sugar and butter. Stir until the sugar has dissolved. Leave to cool for about 10 minutes.

2. Meanwhile sift the flour, baking powder and spices in a bowl and add the egg.

3. Pour the sugar mixture and mix well to form a soft dough. Cover the dough with cling film or a plastic bag when its not being.

4. Roll out the dough on a floured surface an cut it into whatever shapes take your fancy.

A festive idea is to make a hole in your biscuits with a straw, then a ribbon can be placed through the hole and they can be hung from your christmas tree as a decoration.

5. Place the cookies on a baking tray lined with a sheet of baking paper and bake in the oven for 10-12 minutes at 180C/ 350F/ Gas 4.

6. Leave to cool and then decorate with icing and any sweets or treats you have to hand.


I had a lovely time making these gingerbread cookies at the weekend with my 4 year old godson. Here is a picture of our marvellous creations, its safe to say I had a helping hand!

Hope you enjoyed reading, let me know if you try out this recipe!
-H xox

Christmas decorations (Blogmas day 7)

Jess and Hannah here,

We both love Christmas (as you can tell) and one thing that gets us into the Christmassy mood is decorating our house so in this blog post we thought we would share our top three Christmas decorations with you!! 

Hannah's top three: 

I absolutely adore Christmas, and coming from Denmark we have lots of wonderful decorations all over our house. Here are my top three:

3) This Christmas house is one of my favourite decorations as it fascinates me as a child, a tea light can be placed inside to make it look extra cosy.

2) As most people know Cinderella holds a very special place in my heart.

1) In Denmark it's tradition to make these paper hearts to decorate your Christmas tree with, so making these with my mum and hanging them on our tree is one of my favourite parts of Christmas.

Jess's top three:

It was so so so hard to choose my top three Christmas decorations because as soon as December 1st rolls in our house is filled top to bottom with all different kinds of decorations from stockings to buntin to nativity scenes, however I have managed to whittle it down to my top three: 

3) Number three is our display nativity scene, we have two nativity scenes, this one which is my favourite mainly because of the intricacy on each figure, and then we have a wooden (unbreakable) set which can be played with by the children in the family.

2) At number two I have chosen this Disney Noel sign, my mum bought this one year in Disneyland Paris and it has been on the shelf throughout Christmas time ever since.

1) And finally at number one I have chose our indoor Christmas tree as my favourite Christmas decoration, mainly because of the soft toys underneath which I have many memories of playing with as a child. 

   

Thank you for reading all about our favourite Christmas decorations, we hope you enjoyed reading it.

-J&H xox 

❄️ Book review: 'Let it snow' ❄️ (Blogmas Day 6)

Hannah here!

Recently I read the rather festive book 'Let it snow' and thought it would make the perfect book review for day 6 of blogmas!

 It is a winter themed book of three holiday romances, written by three different authors. The authors are Maureen Johnson, Lauren Miracle, and John Green. Each author has written their own "winter romance" themed short story that all intertwine slightly. I loved the variety it offered in both characters and writing styles. I was also very impressed by the consideration the three authors had given for the other stories to create a well-written, and festive collection. This is a book I would thoroughly recommend to anyone who enjoys a light read and wants to get into the Christmas spirit! 

Thank you for reading, and lt me know if you, read 'let it snow'! I hope you are all enjoying December and all its wintery fun!

-H xox 

First five days of the YouBeauty advent calendar (Blogmas day 5)

Jess here,
This year for christmas I have got the YouBeauty advent calendar, this is an advent calendar filled with skincare products, makeup and general beauty products and I thought I would share what I get in my calendar every five days. So here is the first five days of the YouBeauty advent calendar 2014:

Day 1) A Liz Earle cleanse and polish mini set, I am so happy to have received this as I have been wondering whether to buy this skin care product for months and now I can test it out, when I tried this I loved it, this product made my face feel so nice and the idea of having the muslin cloth to wipe your face is very clever.

Day 2) A Laura Mercier foundation primer, I had not heard of this product before so I am very excited to try this out, when I tested it on my hand it felt very light and smooth so hopefully it will be the same when using it on my face (which I have not done yet as I do not wear facial makeup on weekdays as I am just going to school) 

Day 3) A Molton brown orange and bergamot body wash, this smells delicious and I'm so disappointed its so small as I am in love with the smell! 

Day 4) An Essie nail polish, this is he colour peak of chic, I think this nail polish an be used by itself or as an over coat, however I personally think it would look nicer over another colour nail polish! I really like this as it is sparkley and Christmassy!!! 

Day 5) A caudalìe nourishing body lotion, this is an anti oxidant moisturising body cream (however I think I will put it in my bag as a hand cream as it is the perfect size), I am not sure how to describe the smell, and at first I was not sure if I liked it however it is definitely growing on me each time I use it! 

Thanks for Reading,
-J xox

Charlie and the chocolate factory (Blogmas day 4)

Hannah here! 

For our fourth blogmas post I thought I would tell you all about my trip to see Charlie and the chocolate factory in Covent Garden.

I was given the tickets by a friend of mine who won them in a competition but wasn't able to attend and had seen it last year (lucky me)! 

I took one of my school friends (Jess had already seen it) and we had a lovely evening. The musical is amazing. For anyone that hasn't seen it the set is phenomenal and it has such a large and talented cast. It is easily the best musical I have ever seen! This musical would be loved by all, and there's no better way to get into the Christmas spirit than with chocolate! 

Thank you for reading,comment or tweet us your thoughts and let me know if you've seen Charlie and the chocolate factory! 

-H xox 

Christmas Wishlist (Blogmas day 3)

Jess here,
For our third blogmas post I will be writing my ultimate Christmas wishlist,this includes presents that I am asking for this year but also presents that I know I will not get but I would love to have and I'm sure many of you will agree with some of them!

Firstly here is the list that I am asking for from my family this year:
1) This blue and green tartan cape, I tried this on in the shop and fell in love with it, it was very comfortable and I loved how it looked on so I decided to put it on my Christmas list. http://www.newlook.com/shop/womens/accessories/dark-green-check-blanket-wrap-cape_316716630

2)I love topshop jeans and I always get the leigh style however Hannah has always raved about the Joni jeans and I do love high waisted skirts and shorts so why not try some high waisted jeans?! I didn't want an ordinary style so when I came across these I fell in love and decided to ask for them for Christmas. http://www.topshop.com/en/tsuk/product/clothing-427/jeans-446/joni-super-high-waisted-jeans-1108/moto-prince-of-wales-joni-jeans-3347037?refinements=category~%5b941191%7c208527%5d&bi=1&ps=20

3)I love to have TV programmes on DVD and this year I have been loving two series in particular, Modern Family and Game of Thrones, so of course I have asked for both of these on DVD.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Modern-Family-Season-1-5-DVD/dp/B00LGJT9ZG/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1417553154&sr=8-1&keywords=modern+family

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Game-Thrones-Season-1-3-DVD/dp/B00AQGE5BS/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1417553295&sr=8-1&keywords=game+of+thrones

 And now for my ultimate Christmas list:
1) A St Bernard dog, they are so cute and fluffy, this is my ideal dog for when I am older. I never used to like dogs but when I saw a St Bernard I fell in love!!!

2) Even though I haven't passed my driving test yet a car would be an ideal present, and my dream car would be this gorgeous light blue mini! 

3) My final dream Christmas present would be a trip to Disneyland Paris! Disneyland Paris is my happy place and is my favorite during the winter season so a trip over Christmas is my ideal present! 

Thanks for reading my Christmas wishlist and Dream wishlist. 

Hope you enjoyed this post, let us know whats on your wishlist by commenting or by tweeting us on our twitter @livesofHandJ 

-J xox