Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas everyone! Thank you for your continued support throughout 2016. It's been a crazy year, so much has changed and my blog has brought amazing things thanks to all of you. 

I'll be back in January 2017 to celebrate Annie Writes Beauty's 3rd birthday!! 

Dining at Carluccio's West Quay

Six months ago, I'd never heard of Carluccio's. We didn't have one in Southampton and I wasn't entirely sure where the nearest one was but my Italian needs were answered when they opened in West Quay a couple of months ago. Arran and I have been making sure we have at least one date night a month and our latest one was spent at the new Carluccio's.

Winchester Christmas Market Photo Diary

 

The Robin Hood Pantomime at The Mayflower

The panto is a Christmas tradition for many so when the opportunity arose to have a Southampton Bloggers event with The Mayflower, ten of us went along to the showing of Robin Hood The Panto starring Shane Richie and Jessie Wallace. The pantomime will be running at The Mayflower until January 8th 2017 and is the perfect family show for this Christmas. I can't wait to tell you what I thought...

Merry & Bright Birchbox

What is Christmas without a festive Birchbox? This December, they bring you the Merry & Bright Birchbox full with five beauty samples and the opportunity to win a Prada bag with SecretSales.com. Take a peek at what I found inside mine...

A Very Merry Christmas with Regis

Christmas really is my favourite time of year, I love the lights, the pigs in blankets and the warm fuzzy feeling you get from making memories with friends and family. I also love the gift giving, seeing peoples faces light up is such a warming feeling, so you can imagine how I felt when I opened my personalised sack from Regis Salons. I'm going to give you a peek at what was inside mine...

A Baileys Blend Christmas

What is Christmas without Baileys? Not a Christmas I want to be involved in! Baileys has forever been my festive tipple of choice from as long as I could legally drink it and I've made sure I'm stocked up for Christmas. My other one true love is coffee so when Baileys told me about their new Baileys Blend in partnership with Pact Coffee, I couldn't say no, I had to try it.

Glitz the Season with ghd

The festive season is well and truly upon us and ghd have us all covered with their #GlitzTheSeason campaign. If you search the hashtag, you'll find so many inspiring hairstyles that even if you're rubbish at hair, like me, there is bound to be one you can master.

Giftwrapping with the Wrapper Snapper

Ever since working in Clinton Cards when I was younger, I've had a love of wrapping presents. I'd buy matching wrap, bows, ribbon, you name it, I bought it. I was a gift wrapping shops perfect customer. Since leaving my card job, I've still enjoyed every moment of giving the gift of perfectly wrapped presents so getting to meet The Wrapper Snapper was ideal for me. West Quay is my go to for all my shopping as they have so much under one roof so after picking something up for me, for him and the home, I was excited to get wrapping.

Fabulously Festive with The Body Shop

The Christmas party season is upon us, think office parties, after work drinks and walks around the Christmas markets with mulled wine. I love this time of year but I find myself very busy, usually jumping from one event to the next after work so I need reliable makeup looks that I can quickly transform ready for my evening events. Thankfully The Body Shop have everything I need to do just that.

The Primer Potion with a Heart

Urban Decay are famously known for their much loved Primer Potions so with that in mind, Urban Decay have just released something very special to help raise funds for Crisis. This special product will help homeless people across the UK and is an official non-profit partner of The Ultraviolet Edge global initiative to empower women.

Christmas Stocking Memories

Christmas is all around us at the moment and I'm feeling particularly festive this year. WoolOvers recently sent me a beautiful, personalised stocking made from pure merino wool with a cashmere surprise inside as well as lots of other little gifts. They specialise in all natural knitwear which is stylish and affordable, so with my polar bear pyjamas on, I dived in...

Christmas Hats with a Heart

Once again F&F have teamed up with charities to help support people in need this Christmas. The campaign touched both of our hearts, so Arran and I both decided to share all you need to know about it as well as our cool Christmas hats we'll be rocking this year.

Photo Fun with Cue Camera

Over the last week, two shipping containers have found their way into Guildhall Square in Southampton, gold with twinkling lights, you can't miss them and they've definitely peaked interest from anyone walking past. The shipping containers are actually a photo studio filled full of outfits for adults, children and even pets and it's the brainchild of Cue Camera, an exciting new venture taking place in Southampton from now until New Year, although I kinda hope they just stay there forever.

Festive Favourites from Pixi by Petra

Pixi by Petra have been a makeup brand I've really taken notice of this year. They sell incredible skincare, fun and innovative makeup and have the sweetest, green packaging. I had a box of Pixi Favourites sent through a couple of weeks ago containing some beauty gifts to make the holiday season that little bit easier for me. The gift of beauty keeps on giving all year round so have a read of what I thought about the products. 

Christmas Gifts from Seventeen

I have spoken about my love of Seventeen products so many times on Annie Writes Beauty, I've used them for years, the products really are incredible and they're a bargain so it was only right I shared two amazing products that would satisfy any beauty addict this Christmas.

I Completed My Autumn Bucket List!

When I decided to create an Autumn Bucket List I kinda thought I'd fail at it a little, like miss one or two off or just give up after I had finally visited a pumpkin patch. I said in that post that I'd do an update so as I sieved through my Instagram photos it turned out that I checked almost every damn thing on my list! So if you missed my original post, here is a re-cap for you.

In My Mailbox

So you guys are really liking my In My Mailbox series so I'm going to keep it going for a while. I really love watching unboxings on Snapchat and Youtube and seeing as I don't have a channel, I'm giving you a blog post instead. I do unbox all my parcels on Snapchat (Alicea89) so make sure you're following me there too. This isn't me showing off, I want this to be more like a quick, informative post so please do let me know your thoughts in the comments. I've received everything in this post the last couple of weeks so stay put and grab a cuppa...

Christmas Decoration Haul

I am obsessed with Christmas and I think Arran has finally reached the point of not caring and just lets me crack on with it. Every year I find a way to squirrel more decorations into our home and this year has been no exception, I've even bought more since taking the photos for this post.