In case you didn't already know, Christmas is fast approaching and that means having to buy gifts for people. Some people are more organised than others when it comes to doing this, I for one have had most of my Christmas shopping complete since October, and some people struggle when it comes to selecting gifts for people. This year is my first Christmas where I have a job and therefore I went a little over the top with everything that I decided to pick up for friends and family, however today I'm going to be suggesting a few lower budget things that would work perfectly either on their own or complied into a really cute hamper style gift.

If you know your friends really like makeup then that is always a great thing to grab, both Superdrug and Boots are doing super good deals at the moment on their gifts. Boots is doing a 3 for 2 and I think Superdrug is too so you can always pick up a good selection of things for such great prices.

Boots wise I have picked up a few of their Ted Baker little body soufflé's which are available in a mint green shade or a rose pink and are £4 each, so I picked up three and with the deals they had going on I managed to get them for £8. These paired with something like a cute pair of frilly socks and a bar of chocolate would look super cute, however if you're super low budget then this would look awesome on its own too!






Another thing that I love which are on the slightly higher end of the low budget are the little gift sets that Boots sell, I have picked up several of these for certain people and one of my favourites is the Soap and Glory 'Glam-o-flage' it's such a great gift if you're willing to spend a little more. This set is £20 and consists of their Supercat eyeliner which, may I add, is one of my favourite eyeliners of all time! I also picked up some cute bath/pamper product gift sets, one of the cutest that I grabbed was the Laura Ashley Mini Indulgence gift set for £10. This has four absolutely adorable mini pamper products that appear to be so high end and are presented so beautifully. This would work perfectly for both mums and friends!










If your friends like YouTube then a Tanya Burr kit would be an ideal little gift that you can then pair with things such as their favourite candy or a cute pair of socks. Both her eye kits and her little Christmas nail kits are so cute and look as though you have put so much thought into them! I would recommend the Fairytale eye shadow palette and the nail set in Toasted Marshmallow which is such a pretty nude pink shade and is something that I would definitely wear on a regular basis!







Stay tuned this upcoming week for more low budget posts!

On the 8th November 2015 I met my best friend after well over a year of us talking and getting to know each other. Of course, I had met some of my internet friends before but none of those have ever come close to the importance that Sammi plays in my life, she is my rock and my best friend and to be able to hug her and speak with her face to face was such a special experience that I don't think I will ever forget it.

I want this post to be something that I can look back on in five years time and remember the feeling that I felt when I saw her for the first time, I want to be able to show people that internet friends are important and just as real as the people that are 'real life' friends. So for this to work I'm going to begin by explaining my friendship with Sammi.

The two of us started talking right at the beginning of the September of 2014, we had bonded over our mutual love for Sam King's videos and after she helped me to get a follow from him we spoke almost every day. This was through direct messages on Twitter, until we Skyped for the first time in the October where we stayed up talking for around eight hours, getting to know each other even more than we already did, our Skype sessions eventually changed to FaceTime sessions. Without a fail the two of us would have at least one FaceTime session every week, letting each other know how we were, what we had been up to and how much we hated the stress of school etc.

It's been like this for over a year and we have had so many opportunities to meet each other but for one reason or another we have always failed at doing so. Over this year we have become so close that I couldn't imagine life without her at the end of the phone, and so when she told me that one of our favourite bands, All Time Low, were performing at the Teen Awards we both realised that this was our opportunity to meet.

To start with I had planned to surprise her by saying that I didn't get tickets and then turning up but this all failed when I ended up with tickets and she didn't. We had a frantic panic to get her tickets and in the end we finally got her and her friends a set of tickets too, it was such an amazing feeling to think that we were actually going to meet and be able to see each other face to face!

But about four days before we met we encountered a problem, Sammi's tickets had been cancelled and she was left with train tickets booked to London and no concert tickets, it left us in this state of limbo as to what was going to happen. We didn't speak about it much until that day when she text me to let me know she had managed to get hold of some tickets, I was half asleep when I got the message and just replied with 'see you later' not really thinking about what I had just been told. I was officially meeting my best friend.

Eventually Sunday came around and me being me I got to the station well over an hour early and had to wait for my friend Jamie to arrive before I could head to Wembley, eventually after delays and cancellations we made it and headed straight to McDonalds because food is always a main priority in life. It was while we were in the queue that I got the phone call from Sammi to tell me she was off the tube and in Wembley too (insert overly excited squeal here), this is when it started to feel real for me.

Jamie and I headed to the arena while Sammi and her friends went to get their tickets, once they had got their tickets Sammi called me and I headed off to meet her, Jamie filmed the footage on my camera and Sammi's friends filmed it on her phone. As I headed down the stairs from where Jamie and I had been sat watching the red carpet I completely lost sight of Sammi until I heard her yell my name, which I responded to by running at her. You can see the footage of the two of us meeting here.

The fact that I was in her arms and she was in front of me was incredible, I was actually able to touch  her and as weird as that sounds it was something that I had been wanting to do for so long. What hurt the most was when we had to say goodbye, not knowing when I was going to see her again hurt a lot, only being able to see her through a screen for however long it is going to be sucks, but it makes the time that we get to spend together super special.

I am so thankful for Sammi, and for Sam King being the reason that the two of  us became friends, I couldn't imagine my life without the two of them.

Anyone who knows me knows that I have two ways of dressing, I either go for the typical 'girly girl' style with skirts and sweaters or the 'grunge' style with flannels, oversized tees and black jeans. While looking for a new set of tees to wear with my flannels I came across Maison de Choup, a bold and quirky online store with a wonderful back story.

The brand was created midway through 2014 by George Hodgson, who throughout his young life suffered greatly with anxiety disorder. It was his constant compulsion to create that lead him to build up his brand that not only houses designs from George himself but a collection of work from other young artists and designers too.

One of the tees that attracted my attention the most was the 'White Noise Tee' (see below) which is a simple white tee with a series of prints down the middle. This is such a cool piece as you can so easily dress it both up and down purely depending on what you pair it with.


Another of the items on their website is the 'Words Fail Me' top which is available in either white or navy, one of the most wonderful things about this design is that 25% of the proceeds go to the charity Young Minds.


Maison is a wonderful store with a whole lot of potential, they have a new line of clothing coming out soon and I really suggest that you keep an eye on them as a brand.

You can find Maison de Choup at http://maisondechoup.co.uk/