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DISCLAIMER: I realise how late this post is, but I have had it prepared for so long but had others I wanted to put up before it. These are some of the things I have been loving for the past couple of months and into January 2015. I hope you enjoy!

1. Revlon Matte Balm in '225 Sultry'

This is a gorgeous dusty pink matte shade, which is extremely pigmented and easy to apply because of the crayon-like shape of the pencil. As this is one of their matte balms, it glides on easily like a balm would and does not stick to the dry parts on your lips like a lot of other matte lip products tend to. The shade is perfect for any time of year and as it has a blue undertone it doesn't make your teeth appear yellow as a lot of pink lip colours can do.

2. Mac Lustre lipstick in 'Plumful'

This is a gorgeous lipstick I have been wearing religiously since I bought it. It is a gorgeous subtle plummy purpley colour which is really easy to wear and goes with any make up look. The colour is buildable - in the photo below where it is on my lips I have just lightly dabbed it on, but a stronger colour can also be achieved with a heavier application.

(Top - Revlon Matte Balm, Bottom - MAC Plumful)

My attempt to show off 'Plumful' in all its glory ... I realise how stupid I look but when I smiled normally you couldn't see the colour properly for some reason

Eyeliner - Soap and Glory Supercat Liner (discussed later on)

3. Tangle Teezer

You know when people say 'If your house was on fire and everyone (pets included) was safe, what one thing would you save?' Fairly sure this would be that one thing. I don't know what I did before I discovered this but honestly it has made brushing my hair after a shower a painless experience - rather than dragging a bristly brush through my hair and breaking it when it came to knots, this brush just glides through your hair, eliminating knots without you even noticing it's doing so. Also great for brushing out curls if you wanted a more natural, wavy look after curling your hair. Fits in the palm of your hand and easily in a handbag too.

4. Rimmel Nail Polish in 'Midnight Skinny Dip'

SO GLAD I DISCOVERED THIS PRODUCT. Slight back story here - one of my favourite ever nail polishes is Essie's 'Aruba Blue', so when that ran out, before forking out €10 (YIKES) for a new bottle, I decided to go on a hunt for a dupe product and this, ladies and gentlemen, is it. For €3.99 it has become my new go-to nail polish for pretty much the entire month, saving me about €6 compared to the Essie one. With two coats the colour is practically identical, dries really quickly and lasts quite well on the nails to. A-D-O-R-E.

5. Insomnia Hazelnut Hot Chocolate

I hope you got the chance to try this before the Christmas flavours disappeared again for another 330 days. This has now become one of my all time favourite Christmas flavours - beating Starbucks' Gingerbread Latte by a clear mile!

6. Oxford & The Fudge Kitchen

If you read my two blog posts about Oxford you will know all about this. A recent trip to Oxford left me newly addicted to not only the town, but in fact, the salted caramel fudge *sigh*.
Day 1: http://siofiee93.blogspot.ie/2014/12/oxford-visit-2-day-1.html
Day 2/3: http://siofiee93.blogspot.ie/2014/12/oxford-visit-2-day-2.html

7. Urban Outfitters coat

I got an Urban Outfitters voucher for my birthday and had wanted to invest in a nice Winter coat as the ones I have are either a parka (which I'm getting quite bored of) or a giant black one that makes me look like a teddy bear (not always a bad thing but sometimes it's a bit bulky for the outfit). You may have already seen the photos of it in the 'Oxford Visit #2 -Day 1' blogpost but I am absolutely obsessed. The style is oversized so I got it in a medium as I wanted to be able to layer things under it, and as it has both navy and black in the tartan design, it goes with pretty much everything. Plus it was €25 off and I got 10% student discount. WOOP!

7. Soap & Glory Supercat Liner

Allow me to go on the record to say this is my favourite liquid eyeliner I have ever used. WOAH. Quite a big statement, I'm aware. This is the perfect, blacker than black eyeliner, felt-tipped and so easy to apply and perfect, and has not yet dried out on me as I found my Alexa Chung 'eye do' to do more quickly then I had expected. If you are a girl who likes her cat flicks but has difficulty getting them even (don't we all) then I suggest you try this! And if you don't wear flicks and just like a black line at the lash line to make your lashes appear thicker - this is also the one for you!

9. MAC Paint Pot in 'Painterly'

I have been wanting to purchase this for a while now and never got around to it fund-wise, but I picked this up in Duty-Free on my way back from Oxford last month and have used it every day since. It provides a nude, even base on the eye lid and is the perfect base for eyeshadows to stick to, acting almost like a primer. It can also be used on its own just to even out the skin tone of the eye lid without having to add a shadow on top, for a more natural but flawless effect.

8. DKNY bag

I got this beautiful little bag from my Godparents for my 21st birthday and just received last month as they live in Galway and I hadn't got a chance to see them since my birthday. I never usually use or warm to small bags as I overpack for EVERYTHING (as in, I could overpack my bag to go and get petrol), but I found this bag fitted my essentials nicely: powder, a brush, lipstick of choice, money, cards, licence & gum and didn't weigh me down at all (my usual issue with big handbags is how heavy they get so quickly and you end up hauling it around with an arm/shoulder cramp for the day - not fun). It goes with everything and I love the quilted design. A perfect addition to my bag collection.

10. La Roche Posay Physiological Cleansing Milk
This is the cleanser I have been using for the last couple of months to remove my make up and cleanse my skin at the end of the day. I have found it has really helped my skin as I have been suffering with bad break outs in the last few months.

I hope you enjoyed reading this post about my favourite things throughout the months of November and December, and I hope it gave some of you some ideas of things you might like to try yourself! Please feel free to let me know your favourite things at the moment in the comments, I'd love to hear what things you have been loving - some things I may try myself this month!

Thank you for reading,

Siofra

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Theme: Cheese (a collective choice).

So moving to Southampton not only means leaving home, but also leaving some of 'my people'. You will probably recognise these three from earlier blog posts, but Clare, Alison and Niamh, are three of the best friends a girl could have. We have been together through thick and thin, highs and lows, break ups and make ups, birthdays, exams, school, and now University. Although a lot has changed in our lives, we've only grown closer as the years have ticked by, despite us being scattered around the country (and occasionally the world). And so I picked a cold Monday night, filled with comfort food and cheese, to bid these three wonderful people farewell as I pop across the pond on a new adventure.

(The below photo is from my birthday, we didn't manage to get one the other night in the excitement of it all)

They are no strangers to adventures mind you; Clare worked as a fashion intern with MaxMara in London last Summer, Niamh spent the Summer on a J1 in Boston, and this year, as well as securing a job in Disneyland Paris, Alison is travelling to Thailand to do research on various creatures such as sea turtles and elephants, and travelling around Thailand for two weeks afterwards. See what I mean? AMAZING PEOPLES THEY ARE.

I thought it would be nice to show how we spent our last night together, and I hope you enjoy seeing just how much food we can manage to eat when in each others' company.

For starters - the ULTIMATE throwback Spotify playlist (TLC, R Kelly, Backstreet Boys and Spice Girls to name a small few), with a side of grilled Halloumi cheese. Trust me when I say you have never tasted anything like this. I also supplied some hummus and carrot sticks - just in case.

For the main course, I chose to make my favourite Mac and Cheese recipe, along with garlic bread, which are my ultimate favourite comfort foods. We had wine and lemonade with our food as we laughed and reminisced over our last almost decade of friendship.

And for dessert, my Mom's famous Fruit Cobbler, made by Clare and I - the ultimate comfort food, doused with cream and served piping hot. Tea and coffee followed, along with even more chatting, bonding and enjoying each others' company until we dragged ourselves upstairs around 3am. Needless to say the chatting continue, along with an impromptu photoshoot - flamingo onesie included- until eventually we slowly started to wilt and retired to bed to catch a couple of hours shuteye before having to get up again in the morning.

Fruit Cobbler: Strawberries (2 punnets), blueberries (1 punnet), raspberries (a handful - they go mushy the quickest), a pear sliced and a large grated apple (approx 700g of fruit altogether), heated in a pot with 5 tablespoons of caster sugar and a good dash of balsamic vinegar, just until the juices start to come out of the berries. Transfer to a pyrex dish and make the topping.

Topping: 6 heaped tablespoons of butter (chilled), 225g self-raising flour, 70g sugar, large pinch of salt: mixed with hands until it resembles breadcrumbs. Add 130ml of buttermilk and stir until combined - should resemble a wet dough. Put this on top of the fruit in large blobs (it will spread, don't worry if it doesn't cover all the fruit before cooking), sprinkle with brown sugar/caster sugar, & bake for 30 minutes or until golden brown, at 190 Celcius/375 Farenheit. Serve with cream/ice-cream/créme fraîche. SO GOOD!