AD/PR Sample | Birthday Gifts From Moonpig

Birthdays have been a little different this year for a lot of people so we've not been spending them the way we normally may do. I've recently celebrated my own birthday and had to think about what I'd like to do, as I am limited due to shielding at the moment. It was a nice surprise when I was contacted by Moonpig who wanted to send me some goodies to help with enjoying my birthday. Moonpig allows you to order cards for many occasions and these can also be personalised to the recipient, whether this is photo cards where you can upload your own images, or personalise the design of the card already created. They also offer a range of unique gifts as well as flowers, so you should be able to find something suitable. These items can be ordered at the same time as any card, and you can choose to have them delivered to yourself to give to someone in person or have them delivered directly to the recipient, which could be particularly useful with the current situation we find ourselves in.

To start my birthday celebrations this year I went pumpkin picking with some of my family which I absolutely loved. I've always enjoyed Halloween so being able to go and pick my own pumpkins has started to become a little tradition around my birthday. Last year I went on my actual birthday but this year we went slightly earlier as the sun was shining, and when you are wandering around a big field it helps if it's not raining! I also wanted to go when it was a little quieter given the current pandemic. After bringing back the wheelbarrow full of pumpkins I have been arranging them and deciding where to pop them in the house to decorate and I ended up creating a Halloween themed spread on my living room coffee table which turned out great in time for my birthday. On the day we ordered some pizza and had a film night with the family in my household, and yes it was a Halloween film.

The first item I received from Moonpig was the Rainbow Cake Kit (£12.00) that looks like it's going to create an amazingly bright and colourful cake. It gives you almost everything you'll need to bake the cake, all you need to get is some eggs, butter and milk to add. I've not baked the cake yet as I need to swap out the food colouring for some vegetarian safe ones, but once I've got these it's going to be a fun activity to do and I'm sure my little sister will enjoy baking this with me, and she will no doubt enjoy eating it too. The second item I received was the Chocolate Indulgence Wicker Tray (£25.00) that contained a selection of chocolatey goodies. My tray contained Honeyrose Bakery Organic Triple Chocolate Cookies, Divine Cocoa - which would be perfect for hot chocolates or baking, Ritter Sport Butter Biscuit and Lily O' Brien's Petit Indulgence Collection. If you enjoy chocolate then one of these trays are perfect. 

It's not just food items that Moonpig offer, as I also received a Miss Patisserie 'Happy Birthday' Gift Set (£15.00) which contains four good-sized fizzing bath bombs and are 100% vegan and part of the Moonpig vegan range. I love their colours and glittery effect and can't wait to see what they look like in the bath. The last item I received was The Red Anthurium Plant (£24.00) which is a nice household plant that is easy to care for can brighten up your room. It comes in a white plant pot so it ready to pop wherever you desire. That's it for my Moonpig birthday gifts. As I mentioned earlier it was a lovely surprise to receive these in the post to help celebrate my birthday this year. They have so many options to choose from that whatever the event, you should be able to choose ideal cards, gifts or flowers to give to your loved ones or friends. 

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23rd Birthday Haul

I've been incredibly lucky this year to have received lots of beauty filled presents so I thought it would be a good idea to write a little post about everything, as not all products were bought here in the UK. This is not an exhaustive list, as items such as chocolates, pjs and lovely alcoholic gifts have either been consumed or worn so I didn't think there was much point including them. I received some vouchers and money too which have nearly all been spent on even more makeup which I'll do separate posts about. I have to include a disclaimer too that I'm extremely grateful for everything and I was definitely not expecting all of this! The first item I'd love to talk about is this beautiful lightbox above which includes 69 letters and symbols, and can be powered with either batteries or with a plug. I've wanted one of these for so long now and hadn't mentioned it to the family member who bought it so it was a huge surprise and I can't wait to use it for future blog posts and Instagram photos.

My boyfriend Andy put in an order with Sephora with a few things I'd previously mentioned, including one of Too Faced's new Christmas gifts - The Chocolate Shop. I'm not a patient person and couldn't face waiting until Christmas Day to open a Christmas set. The palette includes 21 eyeshadows, a highlighter, bronzer, blusher, eye primer, mascara and lipstick. Who would want to wait to open this? I've only tried a few Too Faced products before so this was the perfect opportunity to try a bit of everything. The Chocolate Shop includes the Chocolate Soleil Bronzer which is well loved by other beauty bloggers, the Chocolate Covered Strawberry Blush and the Luminizer in Inner Light. It features an adorable mini Melted Chocolate Liquified Long Wear Lipstick in Chocolate Milkshake, a mini Better Than Sex Mascara and a mini Shadow Insurance. It's cruelty free and paraben free and has a combined value of $312 but costs just $58.

Last weekend I went out with some of Andy's family and his Grandma bought me these cute mini mixing bowls from Lakeland. They are heavy like large mixing bowls and I've not decided what to do with them yet. In design they're incredibly similar to some plates, bowls and milkshake pieces that I have from Ikea and I'm sure they match the colours spot on.

Two other palettes that were bought from Sephora were the Tarte Amazonian Clay Blush Palette Color Wheel and the Tarte Rainforest of the Sea Eyeshadow palette. The blush palette is exclusive to Sephora I believe that's limited edition with a value of $150 but comes in at $44 which is a huge saving. It includes 10 blush and highlight shades in a compact palette and in my opinion is a perfect size with a variety of cheek shades to choose from as 5 shades are warm toned and 5 are cool toned. The Rainforest of the Sea palette is so tiny it's adorable! Aside from Tarte's beautiful packaging, the palette is also limited edition and has 8 eyeshadows of both matte and shimmery formula. I've not used anything from the Rainforest of the Sea collection yet so I'm definitely excited to be trying the palette out. 

 Two more palettes (I know, but I love eyeshadows!) came from my family after I'd been lusting after them both in person and on Twitter. Firstly there is the Too Faced Semi-Sweet Chocolate Bar palette which is another in the set of chocolate bar palettes which I have a huge thing for. I've found both the original Chocolate Bar palette and the Chocolate Bon Bons palettes so be highly pigmented and easy to blend, so it was an obvious choice to add to the list! It holds 16 eyeshadows that are cocoa-infused, and if you ask me, chocolate and makeup is the perfect combination. The second palette was the Urban Decay Moondust palette which I've been almost dreaming about for the past few weeks. It has eight new moondust eyeshadows that are super sparkly and go perfect on top of the Urban Decay Electric palette. It's obvious that it's not an every day palette but for those special occasions or days where you're really feeling like adding a bit of glitter, it's just unreal.

Andy also made a cheeky Colourpop order, buying me four individual shadows, a blush, two lippie stix, an Ultra Satin Lip and two of the collab collections. I'm not going to go into too much detail here about the items as I plan on doing a whole post dedicated to my first Colourpop product try on's and experience. From what I've used so far, I'm very impressed.

Finally, here are a few little bits. Andy picked me up another Beauty Blender since mine is looking pretty ragged since I bought it back in April. I don't use it every day but with beauty sponges they need to be cleaned regularly and mine has taken it's toll. From my family I also received another Too Faced Liquified Long Wear Lipstick and a Too Faced Melted Liquified Matte Long Wear Lipstick in two stunning red shades. Again I won't go into too much detail as I plan on doing a collective Too Faced post but they're right up my street! I'd love to thank everyone who wished me well on my birthday and now I can go on to enjoy Halloween (which I think is the best holiday). Don't forget to enter my Urban Decay Naked Basics Giveaway!

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24 Things To Do Before I Turn 24

I write this post each year about a month before my birthday and although I feel my blog has developed so much recently, I still want to create little posts like this. It's something I can look back on every year and see whether I've done some of the things I set out to do.

1. Go on a weekend away

I don't think I've ever had a proper weekend away before. Sure I've had my fair share of hotel stays in cities but they've been for a night or two and spent a lot of it going into shops I usually shop in and dining in huge chain restaurants. I'd like to stay somewhere other than a budget hotel (which I usually do because they're the best option for me) and spend the time really enjoying myself. Exploring a place properly and making the most of it.

2. Buy a house with Andy

Once we're out of our overdrafts we plan to get a Save To Buy ISA to go towards a deposit for a mortgage. We're looking to buy a 2/3 bed property that we aim to live in for at least the next ten years instead of renting a flat until we decide to move onto the next chapter. I've lived in student rented places before and as much as they're good we need our own proper home.

3. Throw a housewarming party

I obviously can't do this without having a place but I'd love to get both of our families together and all of our friends and celebrate moving out into our own space. I love a good party and I can't really go out clubbing due to my conditions so having a housewarming party is perfect as I can wear flats and sit down when I need to, surrounded by everyone that I love.

4. Buy a Macbook/iMac

Since I finished university I've had to use Andy's laptop to store all my photos on and write my blog posts on. Whilst I have nothing wrong with sharing a laptop and neither does he, we both want another device to edit vlogs on and to be able to both write blog posts etc at the same time instead of waiting for the other to finish using it first. 

5. Learn to drive

I bet everyone reading this who has read my previous posts (21 and 23) is laughing because I say this every single year! In the last few months I was owed some tax back from being emergency taxed last year so I finally bought my provisional license which is a step and a half for me. Maybe next year will be the year!

6. Go Full time with blogging

This is kind of relevant to now but I'll explain. I finished my job back in January and it wore me down. I've got a few medical conditions that means that I find it so difficult to be on my feet each day, to take public transport just to get to and from work and also to not have many days in between work to recover. I loved my job but looking back I'm so glad I'm no longer in it. In the past 9 months my body is so much better, I'm not as tired and I'm working towards turning this blog into a full time career. I live with my parents and I'm saving up towards a mortgage on a house with Andy so whilst I'm at home I have 8-5 to blog. I do earn sometimes from my blog and my Instagram and would love to turn this into a job where I can sustain myself and go towards my future.

7. Go back to Berlin

I first went to Berlin in February of 2011 and fell in love with the city. I went with my History class and loved learning about the events in Germany between 1920 and 1950 whilst also exploring Germany for the first time. It was completely different to how I had previously imagined and having only spent four days there I would go back in an instant.

8. Create more makeup tutorial posts

I am planning on doing some Halloween tutorials in photo form on the blog in the next few weeks but after that I'd really like to have the confidence to create some more makeup looks. I do class this blog as more beauty focused so having more makeup posts would hopefully make it more popular.

9. Buy some Alex drawers

So I have three Muji drawers and a makeup desk, but in my room have one box for excess makeup and one for all my hair products. My makeup desk has a drawer in for makeup and one for skincare and then on top of my Muji I have lipsticks and foundations. If I had a set of Alex drawers I could fill them with my makeup, get rid of the boxes and have a neater desk.

10. Get my eyebrows tattooed

After seeing Shannon from Shaaanxo on YouTube get her eyebrows tattooed on I went from never wanting anything done to my face to instantly wanting eyebrows to dye die for. My eyebrows are so light that if I don't apply makeup to them and actually draw them on that people joke that my eyebrows have disappeared. They're not even sparse but the colour is so faint that it's a pain having to spend a good 5 minutes per brow creating a shape, filling them in and then setting them. If they were tattooed on then I could get away with only spending a minute or two tops on them each day.

11. Hit some major blogging milestones

Over Summer I hit 26,000 combined blog followers and this was absolutely amazing. A huge chunk of this surprisingly comes from Pinterest. Maybe before I hit 24 I will hit 30,000 followers and increase my page views to 10,000 a month on Google Analytics (I don't use Blogger's stats as they're completely unreliable).

12. Finish writing out my recipe book

A family member bought me a recipe book from Paperchase a few years back where you fill it in with all the recipes you make so you don't have to buy them for every course. It took me a while to make my own up but I love having my own book to refer back to.

13. Set up my own blogging office

At the moment I'm sat in my room where my makeup desk is so close to my bed that I can't actually work at it. I'd love to move into a place where for a few years I can have my own office to take blog photos in, write posts and store all my makeup so that it's a separate space from my bedroom.

14. Create a gallery wall

This comes with moving into a house but I'm obsessed with prints of makeup and pretty things, especially using watercolour and motivational quotes. I'd love one wall in our living room to be full of everything that we love and admire.

15. Visit Santorini

This is one of the places I'd love to travel to next. It's a stunning place to visit and I can just image taking photos and using the drone there to capture some unreal footage. It seems so tranquil and it would be a lovely place to visit for the ultimate relaxing holiday.

16. Do another fundraising event

I ran fast walked the Big Fun Run last month and would love to participate in that or the Dechox event again to raise some money. I was in the Charity Committee in Sixth Form and loved doing bake sales for charity and now I've taken to other events to raise money.

17. Go to another festival

I've been to Leeds Festival 3 times, V Festival twice and Womad Festival a few times and really want to go to another next summer. Maybe after 5 years I'll head back to Leeds Fest or maybe after year I'll end up in V Fest again.

18. Try and do at least a video per month on YouTube

Before you jump the gun and think I have a beauty channel, I don't. Myself and Andy have our own YouTube Channel Landy Vlogs where we film us travelling whether it be abroad or just to a theme park. We love creating them and our Los Angeles vlogs and our most recent V Festival vlog where so fun to film, so if we could get one video up a month it would be such a good way to document each year in film.

19. Go pumpkin picking

An obvious one that will have to be done next month considering my birthday is just shy of two weeks before Halloween. I love carving pumpkins and I'd love to go somewhere other than a supermarket to pick one to carve.

20. Learn to bake something new

Ah I love baking. And cooking. But baked goods are so much more aesthetically pleasing to the eye which makes me want to bake more. And I should because I try so hard and it's so rewarding when you bake cakes for people so I definitely need to get back into it.

21. Have a strict skincare regime

I have combination skin and still at aged almost 23 I haven't found a whole routine to stick to yet. Some products are made for combination skin but don't hydrate my skin enough, or they'll target dry areas more and leave me with excess residue. I need to up my skincare game and find a routine that works.

22. Do some more DIY projects

I've previously posted my DIY Flower Crown Tutorial and it really inspired me to do some more. I'm planning on doing a post about DIY blog props and bases so hopefully I'll have posts like that up soon.

23. Invest in some more makeup brushes

I have a huge love for XOBeauty, Real Techniques, Nanshy and Lab 2 brushes and need to pick up some more. I'd love to try out some other brands out like Spectrum and Zoeva and once I've found which ones work best for me, I'll stock up on them.

24. Have a makeup clearout

I've been blogging for two and a half years now and although I've given away products that don't suit me and thrown away some products that are out of date, I need a good clear out. Although I see my makeup as a collection and don't want to throw much away, things like mascaras and eyeliners don't last that long and should be chucked. Maybe it will give me the opportunity to try some new brands out if I run low on a product afterwards.

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Birthday Beauty Haul | Blogtober

I was incredibly lucky this year. Upon turning 22 on Monday I was shocked to see that I had been gifted some beautiful presents. I think maybe the hint that I adore Mac and Urban Decay was apparent. My boyfriend Andy had already told me before the launch of the Smoky Palette in summer that he would buy it for my birthday along with some other bits and I am to excited buy it to touch it! I love it when you have brand new products and they look so perfect you don't want to ruin them. The packaging of the Smoky palette is gorgeous and it will come in handy closer to Winter time when I'll be wearing darker eyeshadows. 
As well as the palette, Andy also bought me Up The Amp from Mac which he knows have I been looking at for quite a while. I only started buying Mac lipsticks last year after umming and ah-ing for too long and I haven't got a colour in my collection that is similar so I can imagine this is one I'll be using pretty quickly. From other family members I received the shades Brave and Ruby Woo which overall make up most shades in my Mac collection now. I was shocked to have shades I was after for ages so either I'm talking too much or they know me too well.
I had always wanted to make my own Mac eyeshadow palette and received the blank palette with 15 shadow inserts and bought myself an eyeshadow just to put in ha! It was funny to see my Stepmum thought the eyeshadows were £2.50 each so it wouldn't take me long to fill the whole thing and was open mouthed when I told her they were £10 each, oops. Since I have a Mac gift card I plan on getting the brightest white and the darkest black since I find most palettes lack pigmentation in both of these are lacking in most eye palettes. 
The Mac brush cleanser is my favourite thing to was my makeup brushes with and since I actually ran out last night this came just at the right time. To set my makeup I was so relieved to have the Deslick spray from Urban Decay as oily/combination skin can ruin your makeup in minutes if you're in the heat. With some birthday money I bought myself a Nars Lip Pencil as the colour is a stunning burnt orange-red shade which looks nothing like anything I already own. I was given some bits from Primark and Topshop too which I might do a post about soon! I'm so grateful for everything I've received and can't wait to make some amazing makeup looks using these products.

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I'm Feeling 22! | Blogtober

Today I turn 22! I didn't want to rush a 'birthday haul' style post until I could take proper photos so I may as well just show you some of my instagram photos and tell you all about my day. I woke up around half 8 despite not setting an alarm to allow me to have a lie in, typical. Andy and myself decided to go through the McDonald's drive thru to grab breakfast since I was letting myself eat whatever the hell I wanted. After making a Topshop order and eagerly waiting for my JD order to arrive, it was time to actually celebrate.

I opened my card and presents from Andy and was over the moon. I usually guess all of my presents and got every single one right this year, much to his dismay. His birthday was only 8 days ago and we finally decided on a budget in order to not spend a ridiculous amount like we did last year. After all, it's about spending time together and enjoying ourselves. I won't give away what he got me just yet, but they were good presents!

Once we came home we tucked into the Ferrero Rocher and Nutella birthday cake that Andy had kindly made me. He did such a good job and considering he never bakes and this is probably the first cake he has ever made by himself. It was so yummy and I couldn't finish a whole piece it was so chocolatey. I ended the day by watching the latest episode of The Walking Dead and then chilled out in bed. Tomorrow I'm off shopping for a few makeup bits with the birthday money I received and might include them in the haul post I'll put up in a few days time.

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