Where have I been?

Hi my lovelies,

You all might have noticed my absence for the last few weeks; I’ve been on holiday and completely off the grid (technologically speaking). That means no blogging, no emails, no social media whatsoever while I’ve been gone.

If you follow me on Twitter, you may have seen that I’ve been out of the country on a Caribbean cruise for the last two weeks, and I had a fantastic time. I’ll post about that soon, but you can find my itinerary Here  if you want to check out where I’ve been in the meantime.

It’s the first time in years (possibly ever) that I’ve been on holiday with just my mother, and we had a blast discovering the Caribbean islands (and the Caribbean rum) together. I’ll be back with a full post about my cruise and the lovely P&O ship Azura we went on later but I’m just writing this as a heads up that I’m back and we can return to our regular blog posts again! I haven’t written for a few weeks so it may take me a little time to get back in the swing of things, but we’ll get there together!

Let me know if you have and special post requests for February, or just any other comments you might have below!

Oh, also we hit a milestone on my little blog while I was holidaying – 500 followers! I just want to thank every single one of you that takes the time to read my posts, I love you guys!!

I’ll be back with a beauty related post very soon, and I can’t wait to get back into the whole blogging community again.

Ciao for now!

Jess xoxo

A Look Back at my First Year of Blogging – 16 Things I Learned in 2016!

Hi my lovelies and happy new year! We made it to 2017!

I’ve had a little bit of a hiatus over the new year period, partly because I posted so much for Blogmas, partly because I needed a bit of time free from work, free from stress just to relax and spend time with my family and friends. But I’m back now, and I’m jumping in to 2017 with a fresh perspective and loads of blog ideas!

I was also a very spoiled girl at Christmas – let me know if you’d like to see a “What I Got For Christmas” post – And I hope every single one of you had a fantastic time over the festive period!

Can you believe I’ve had this blog for a whole year? It’s strange to think that over Christmas break last year I picked up my laptop and started to write, and I haven’t looked back since! I’m planning to do a giveaway for all my followers soon after I come back from my holidays (I go two weeks tomorrow for a fortnight’s Caribbean cruise, and I’m SO excited!) just to say thank you for sticking with me so far! Please vote below and let me know what you’d like to see in my giveaway – it is for you guys, after all!

I’ve learned so much over the last 12 months and found some great new friends (I hope) in the process – so let’s see what 2016 had in store for me and what I’ve realised a la Kylie Jenner in the last year! I’ve also interspersed some of my fave blog photos I’ve taken this year!

My Top 10 Christmas Movies! – Blogmas, day 13!)

Hi my lovelies,

Welcome back to Blogmas! We’re over half way through now – can you believe it’s less than two weeks until Christmas?

I figured I’d go for something a bit more festive for today’s post, so I’m going to count down my favourite Christmas movies for you! I’ve loved watching Christmas films ever since I was little, and these are some of my absolute favourites! I’ll count down from 10 to 1, with my very favourite at the end!

More Blogmas Posts Here!

On with the countdown!

10: Jingle All The Way

This movie is somewhat of a guilty pleasure for me. Whether it’s Arnie’s slightly wooden yet extremely comical acting, the scene with the parcel bomb, or the creepy guy that no one likes getting whacked with a thermos at the end, I love to watch this movie. It follows Arnold Schwarzenegger (right spelling first time, wow!) trying to get a sold out toy for his son the day before Christmas – it’s funny, memorable, and one that I watch without fail every year!

9:The Santa Clause

A childhood favourite of mine – I have all of the Santa Clause movies on DVD and the box set comes out around this time every year for me to watch! Everyone’s seen Tim (The Tool Man Taylor!) Allen in his hilarious transformation into Santa by now, and it’s loads of family fun! Pretty much as cheesy as it gets but something I still enjoy watching.

8: The Nightmare Before Christmas

My Top 10 Favourite Christmas Songs! – (Blogmas, Day 8)

Hi my lovelies,

Welcome back to Blogmas! If you’re anything like me, the festive season is your fave and you love blasting out all of those Christmas songs non stop, 24/7 over the entirety of December. (It’s what it’s for, is it not?)

Today’s post is a countdown of my favourite Christmas songs to listen and sing along to (and make everyone else I know sick of) over the festive period! It was really hard to whittle it down to just 10 as I love so many Christmas themed songs! I’m counting down from 10-1 with my favourite at the end, so stay tuned!

More Blogmas Posts Here!

How I spent my Birthday + Manchester Haul! (Blogmas, Day 7)

Hi my lovelies!

I’m back with another blogmas post! I’m getting pretty good at this blogging every day malarky, even though it’s taken lots and lots of prep and post writing, brainstorming etc. Today’s post is all about how I spent my birthday last week, and what I bought while I was in Manchester!

More Blogmas Posts!

Okay, so every birthday for the past four or five years, I’ve taken the day off and gone to the christmas markets in Manchester, just me and my mum. It’s a tradition now! This year was no different and off we went bright and early to catch our train. It’s about 45 minutes into Manchester from where we live, but it’s worth the trip to do some serious shopping and have that ever so lovely mulled wine (or amaretto hot chocolate, yum!) before having some food!

We always hit all the stalls, and manage to get lost every time trying to find our way to the town hall and Spinningfields and we stuck to the tradition this time but with a twist as we found our way there quite easily, but then couldn’t find our way back! Our time was mostly spent browsing the stalls and trying to keep warm – we didn’t get much from the markets, but my mum bought a beautiful silver ring at the Affleck’s pop up in the town hall (and I would have bought a dress if they had it in my size)

 

Welcome to Blogmas! (Blogmas, day 1)

Hi my lovelies,

It’s that festive time of year again (and my first as a blogger), and I know it’s definitely going to be a challenge for me, but I’m going to try Blogmas this year!

I’ve got some great festive themed posts lined up for you all through December, and I hope you’re all as excited as I am to count down to Christmas.

I’ll be covering my usual monthly segments (faves & fails, Birchbox preview and unboxing, Look Incredible, my Lust List) as well as some of my favourite things about Christmas, a few gift guides for those of us (me included) that aren’t quite done with our shopping, and reflections on my year of blogging. I started my blog just before Christmas last year, so I’ve been around for a full 12 months almost!

I’m also going to be unboxing my Selfridges beauty advent calendar (not every day, I’ll recap every three days or so) so look out for those! You have no idea how excited I am to open the little windows every day!!

I hope you all are enjoying reading my blog, and that I’ve made a few friends in the process – Merry Christmas to you all, by the way – and I hope to carry on for a long time! It seems like so long ago that I turned on my laptop and started talking about my adventures in beauty, and I’ve learned so much from all of you in the time since!

Are any of you guys doing blogmas this year? If you are I’d love to know what you’re planning – we can give each other a bit of moral support! Let’s hope I get through it in one piece!

For a bit more Christmas cheer, you can check out my Christmas Tag post from yesterday – I’d love to read your Christmas Tag posts too!

As always, please let me know what you think in the comments and anything you want to see from my blog because I really love you guy’s input. Thank you guys for reading, and please don’t forget to give this post a big like and a share if you enjoyed it, and I’ll see you all very soon in the next post! Remember to click that lovely follow button to be updated about anything new from me!

More Posts from me:

The Christmas Tag! || Review: Love Me Beauty! || Look Incredible Beauty Box – November 2016 || Counting Down to Christmas with the Selfridges Beauty Advent Calendar! ||  Review: Jeffree Star Liquid Lipsticks in Mannequin and Rose Matter|| The Best Beauty Blending Sponge? ||

Find me on twitter || Subscribe on Youtube  || Follow on Instagram ||

You lovelies can also follow my blog with Bloglovin’ – Check it out here! (Send me yours and I will follow you too!)

If you’d like to, send me an email over at jessica.purcell.1992@gmail.com and I’d love to chat with you about all things beauty!

Ciao for now,

The Christmas Tag! (And a happy birthday to me!)

Hi my lovelies,

So it’s the end of November, and it’s also my birthday today, yay! I’m kicking off Christmas in style, and doing my Christmas Tag! I started my blog just before Christmas last year, so I didn’t get to do all the counting down, but I definitely am this year!

I wasn’t tagged in this, but I’m so psyched for Christmas to be here already, so I hope you all like this and I’d love if you did your own Christmas tag for me to read!

Onto the tag!

1. What’s your favourite Christmas movie?

I love, and I mean LOVE It’s A Wonderful Life. I watch it at least twice over the festive period, and I know that you can watch this any time of year but it’s special at Christmas time. I used to watch this every year with my great grandad on VHS every year, and I’ve kept on the tradition as I’ve grown up. It’s my favourite Christmas movie because there’s so much meaning to it, it’s all about family and giving and of course I love all Jimmy Stewart movies.

Want to collab or guest post with me?

Hi my lovelies,

Something quick for today’s post – I’m asking all you lovely bloggers out there if you want to get together (online, that is – I’ll bet most of you are super far away from me) and collab on a post with me!

Right now, I’m working on a post all about my favourite lipsticks for Autumn (or Fall if you’re so inclined), so I’d love to chat with you guys about your fave lippies this season and see what you’re into! We can link each other’s blogs in the post – and get some Autumn inspiration (which will no doubt leave my purse lighter after buying new lip colours!)

I’m super busy at the moment, so I haven’t had that much time to be here and blog every day, but I want to keep my blog updated at least twice a week (hopefully more), so if you want to guest post on Beauty By Jess let me know! We can chat about post ideas if you’d like, and more readers (for both of us) is always good!

Comment on this or message me via all the usual methods (Email, Insta, Twitter – links below) and I hope we can work together soon!

More Posts from me:

September Faves & Fails || Sneak Peek – Birchbox October 2016! || Ultimate Sephora Wishlist Tag! || Review: Perfect Pamper Box! || The Lust List – September!|| An Update on my Colourpop Haul! ||  Review: Jeffree Star Liquid Lipsticks in Mannequin and Rose Matter|| The Best Beauty Blending Sponge? ||

Find me on twitter || Subscribe on Youtube  || Follow on Instagram ||

You lovelies can also follow my blog with Bloglovin’ – Check it out here! (Send me yours and I will follow you too!)

If you’d like to, send me an email over at jessica.purcell.1992@gmail.com and I’d love to chat with you about all things beauty!

Ciao for now,

The 7 Deadly Sins of Beauty Tag!

Hi my lovelies,

So today’s post is a little different, I’ve seen this tag a few times lately, and it sounded super fun to do, so I did! Basically it’s all about the seven deadly sins, and how they apply to us beauty bloggers! I’m tagging all of you guys in this tag, so I’d love to see all of your answers to these questions too!!

Onto the Questions!

GREED: What is your most inexpensive beauty item? What is your most expensive?

Most Inexpensive – My 99p Essence Lip Liners! They’re so good and I can’t believe they’re so cheap!

Most expensive – Probably my Urban Decay Alice Through The Looking Glass Palette as far as makeup goes. Though I have a Clinique serum that is worth more than this (I got it free!) and my GHD’s which were many many pounds but well worth the investment!

What’s In My Travel Makeup Bag? & Why I’ve Been Mysteriously Absent!

Hi My lovelies,

So you may have noticed it’s been over a week since my last post – not something I usually do! Did you guys miss me?

Anyway, this post is so super late because I have had zero time to blog over the past week at all: I went away for the weekend on friday morning, got back late sunday night and then had a really important exam on wednesday morning. All that, coupled with the whole Brexit thing (I won’t get into that here, if you follow me on twitter I’ve voiced my opinions pretty strongly) has meant for the most busy week ever! But we’re here and I’m back with a brand new blog post.

I find it really hard to pack when I’m travelling, as I like the luxury of having loads of stuff to pick from when I’m at home, and makeup for me is especially hard to whittle down into just the essentials that I ‘need’ while I’m away. That being said, I probably did still take a lot of product with me, even though I was only away for just 3 days! I thought I’d use this post to show you what I brought with me!