IN THE SPIRIT OF CHRISTMAS...

Christmas, the holliest, jolliest, happiest time of year, a time to have some good family time. Not only is it the time where little kids get super excited at the idea of Santa, leaving cookies and milk out and trying to stay up to get a glimpse of his shining sleigh and prancing reindeer; it's also the time when, depending on what you enjoy, we can get excited for food, giving presents, receiving presents, wearing a cute Christmassy outfit, wearing your favourite red lip, the sunshine (or snuggling up in your warm blankets and pyjamas for those in the northern hemisphere), the smell of a fresh Christmas tree (or an artificial one), making your room and house all festive (basically making everything you can think of festive) and some nice family time. 

I love decorating the tree. Most years I go away with my family to another part of Australia to visit the rest of our family, but this year we're staying here and they're coming down here. Since it's the first time we've been able to have a tree in years, we borrowed a tree from a friend who's was much bigger and nicer than our lame, short, artificial tree from over seven years ago. We figured we'd borrow one since she was going away and didn't need the tree, and it's the first time we weren't going away, so save money yeah? :P I was so happy with the decorations I was able to get. We ended up getting some glass and ceramic ones from Myer since they were 35% off and some ceramic and porcelain ones from Lincraft since they were 50% off. I went for a red, gold and white/silver theme. I intended going for a red and white/silver theme, but I wanted an angel ornament and the only one I liked was in gold, so I thought I'd add some gold to it. I was really scared that the glass baubles would fall off and break (or I'd drop them), but I didn't, which I'm happy for. We also found these really nice scented stick ornaments that smell like fresh Christmas trees and hollies. We hung some up and the tree smells so nice! Too bad you can't smell it...

Here are some shots of our tree an my favourite parts of it. I'm really happy with how it turned out, and my glass ones and the snowflake are definitely my favourite ornaments. If you might see, I did hang one of my Domo's up on the tree as an ornament too. I figured that his mouth does have some red in it, and he's pretty cute anyway, so why not? ^-^

Another thing that I believe is a big part of Christmas is the crackers. The thing is, I find crackers to although be fun to pull apart, the jokes are lame (and some don't even make sense), if it does come with chocolate, it's the bad dollar store kind and the other things inside useless and junky (which is not worth what you pay for them). I thought I'd make my own! I found these make your own cracker kits at Lincraft in their 50% off sale, and picked up a couple. Yeah they do come with the lame jokes and the paper crowns, but I left out some of the jokes because some of them were so lame and didn't make any sense. I still kept the crowns and stuffed them in because even though they're useless, they're kind of traditional for crackers. I made some for females and some for males, since I thought some cute rubbers from Daiso and EOS lip balms I found at Costco were great cracker stuffers along with some good Lindt chocolate balls.

I've also been thoroughly enjoying wrapping the presents. I wrapped all of the presents for cousins and everyone else under the tree except mine. I alternated between a cute light brown wrapping paper with red birds and various swirls/designs with red ribbon and brown kraft paper and red ribbon. I got both of the paper at K-Mart, and I got the kraft paper for only $5 and 10m of it? I thought that was a steal, 'cause I love the look of it with a nice brightly coloured ribbon. It's much thicker than wrapping paper, but it's still tearable, so it doesn't take too much fun out of it for the people who like to rip their paper, despite making me sad as I watch what I thought looked beautiful and took time ripped into shreds in a matter of seconds...and yes, I am one of those people who care about how pretty wrapped presents look. ._. 


I also love cooking and baking. We're doing most of the cooking, and I'm helping my mum out in the kitchen. I love potatoes, so I have to make huge amounts of roast potatoes (because who would say no to roast potatoes?) and I'm also making tiramisu and two ice-cream flavours with mochi. Mochi is one of my favourite toppings for ice-cream as it adds a bit of chewiness and texture to it. Mochi is made out of glutinous rice flour, water, sugar and optional colour and flavouring. When I eat it with ice-cream I prefer it plain with no colour or flavouring. This is the recipe that I use (which is not mine, but adapted from Honeysuckle Catering's Mochi Ice-Cream Recipe):

1/2 cup glutinous rice flour
3/4 cup water
1/4 cup sugar
Cornflour for dusting

Combine glutinous rice flour and water in a bowl. Once combined well, add sugar and mix until combined. 

Cover with some plastic wrap and put it in the microwave and microwave for 2 minutes (since I have a 1100 watt microwave, I do 1 1/2 minutes to be safe). 

Take it out and stir so it doesn't burn, and recover and microwave for a further 30 seconds. Take it out of the microwave and let it cool. 

Once it's cool enough to touch without burning yourself, put it on a well floured surface and knead until it's not sticky and well covered with the cornflour. You don't want it too sticky that it sticks all over your hands, and not too floury that all you get it flour when you eat it. 

Roll in out into a sausage shape, cover in plastic wrap and refrigerate. Before you're ready to serve, cut it into bite sized pieces and top your ice-cream with it. 

It tastes better if you eat it the day you make it, or the day after (if making at night) as it gets hard after a couple of days. 

For the ice-cream I'm making this year, I haven't fully decided on the flavours, but I'm tossing up between caramelised pecan, candy cane, matcha green tea, vanilla bean and strawberry (which some I haven't tried, but will probably have to go with trial and error), not only because they're super festive (colours and flavours), but also because it's a great way to use up those candy canes that lie around. I love peppermint hot chocolate, but since we're blessed with the sunshine at Christmas, hot chocolate isn't the ideal drink. I don't really like eating candy canes plain, but in ice-cream? Everything's better in ice-cream! This is the recipe I use (which is not mine, but adapted (to Australian measurements) from Gemma Stafford's 6 Holiday Ice-Cream Recipes):

400ml condensed milk

500ml whipping cream/heavy cream

1 cup pecans, chopped

1/3 cup brown sugar

2 tbsp butter

1/2 cup candy canes/peppermint sweets

Put the whipping cream in a bowl and whisk with an electric beater or stand up mixer until stiff peaks form. Pour in condensed milk and whisk until well combined. 

Split mixture in half. For caramelised pecans, place pecans, brown sugar and butter in a pan on medium-low heat. Once sugar has melted and browned, pour on to baking paper and when set, crumble into pieces. Mix into the ice-cream base. For candy canes, crush into small bits and fold into ice-cream base. Put into containers and freeze. It makes about 500ml each and tastes absolutely amazing.

I've used this recipe and added macadamias, honey nut cashews, vanilla extract and honey and it tasted amazing! I figured it would be Vanilla Honey Nut? It tasted good though, and that's what matters right?

For beauty, red is where it's at. Red and white is my kind of Christmas, since I'm not too fond of how green looks against my skin. I mean, where can you find green lipstick in the store anyway? I leave the greenery to my Christmas tree ^-^

I love my Etude House Fresh Cherry Lip Tint in 01 Cherry Red and Etude House Kissful Tint Choux in 01 Red Choux for my lips. It looks like a cherry pink-red on the lips rather than a true red though. I prefer the tints over lipstick because I can choose if I want slightly red lips or the full on red look. It's also super moisturising and doesn't come off when I eat and drink, avoiding those lip prints on your glasses, food and it won't get on your teeth! Although the lip print might be a good way to tell your cup apart from everyone else's! 

I've also been loving the NYX Butter Glosses in general. First of all, they smell absolutely amazing (compared to the Mega Shine Glosses; the artificial cough-syrup cherry scent is what put me off them despite their amazing reviews), like sweet sugar and vanilla cupcakes. As someone who loves to bake often, it's definitely a good scent in my books. The colour range is really nice, and I have the shades Red Velvet, Tiramisu and Angel Food Cake. Red Velvet is a nice red wit a blue undertone. which I really like on. Tiramisu is a pink based nude on my skin tone and Angel Food Cake is like a mauve-pink. Also, thumbs up for all the names, they make me crave cakes and desserts!

For nails I love the Kester Black Nail Polish for Bellabox in Coral Me Maybe, the Sally Hansen Hard as Nails Xtreme Wear in Brick Wall and the Essence Colour to Go Nail Polish in Fame Fatal. They're all very different kinds of reds, Coral Me Maybe being a bright coral-red, Brick Wall being a dark wine red and Fame Fatal being the true red. I have Coral Me Maybe on my nails right now. I got it in my October Bellabox, but it is available on the Bellabox store as it is made exclusively for Bellabox. It says on the Bellabox store: 

Exclusively created for Bellabox, this chip-resistant nail polish introduces a high-shine finish to your nails with a striking bright peach/coral shade. Made in Australia, this environmental friendly vegan polish protects our surroundings while helping you strike a trendy statement. It is free from toluene, DBP, camphor, formaldehyde and formaldehyde resin.

You can get away with two coats, and it goes on smoothly and has worn well for five days until chipping to the point where you need to redo them. Maybe it's my Sally Hansen Insta-Dri top coat, but I like it. The formula is great and the colour is nice and bright, but personally I wouldn't spend $20 on a nail polish ($6 is where I draw the line, considering I tend to want so many of the colours; I can't afford to want 10 colours and pay like $15 for them xD). Brick Wall is an Autumn/Winter favourite, but I thought I'd throw that one in there too. The formula is thinner than most polishes, but the Hard as Nails line wears really well, better than all my other nail polishes without a top coat (but the opaqueness of the colours do vary). The Essence polishes are always a fave for me, since the majority of the shades are really good. They go on smoothly with two coats for the most part, wear pretty well and the brush is fat, making it easy to apply the polish. For around $3 a piece, they're really worth it. I'll probably be wearing the Kester Black and the Essence one more. I mean, it's summery and bright days for us here, so why not embrace that? (Meaning, I still wear heaps of grey and black, but the colour on my nails make me somewhat summery..?)

Christmas music - one of my favourite aspects of Christmas. Can I just say now that Michael Buble's voice IS Christmas? It makes Christmas even more Christmas if even possible and I just love it. It's the album I've been jamming to since October (no shame) and puts me in the Christmassy mood. I love the whole album, but my favourites are 'It's Beginning to Look a Lot like Christmas', 'Jingle Bells', 'White Christmas', 'Santa Claus is Coming to Town', 'All I Want for Christmas', 'Winter Wonderland', 'Santa Baby', 'Holly Jolly Christmas', 'Christmas (Baby Please Come Home)' and 'Blue Christmas'. 

I'm also loving Glee's Christmas Albums Volume 1 and 2. My favourites are 'Deck the Halls', 'Baby it's Cold Outside', 'Last Christmas', 'Jingle Bells', 'All I Want for Christmas is You', 'Santa Baby', 'Extraordinary Merry Christmas', 'Christmas Eve with You' and 'River'. 

Also, I've been obsessed with Amy and Ellen's Christmas single, 'Jesus, All We Need'. I love it, not only because their voices are absolutely breathtaking (as are they), but also because I love the lyrics 'cause to me, they perfectly represent the true meaning of Christmas. Also because the tune is lovely and, ugh I just love it. I mean, does the forty times I've listened to it in the past three days and the 5 stars I've given it say anything about it? 

Well there is one Christmassy full blog post, and by the way, less than a week 'till Christmas? WHO ELSE IS SO FREAKING EXCITED??!???!!

- Jess xo

100 QUESTIONS THAT NO ONE EVER ASKS TAG

I wasn't tagged by anyone (since I have no blogging friends) but I thought it could be fun (:

1. Do you sleep with your closet doors open or closed?
Closed, I'm scared of moths flying in my closet and eating holes in my clothes.

2. Do you take the shampoos and conditioner bottles from hotel?
Uh, yes, it's free!

3. Do you sleep with your sheets tucked in or out?
Out - always has to be out. In hotels, I always pull them out before sleeping, I hate feeling trapped. At home, I don't even sleep with a sheet, and if I do it's always scrunched at the bottom 'cause I kick it to the bottom.

4. Have you ever stolen a street sign before?
No.

5. Do you like to use post-it notes?
Yes, although in Australia the Post-It brand is pretty expensive.

6. Do you cut out coupons but then never use them?
I don't cut them out, I rip them out when I need them, or if I find them.

7. Would you rather be attacked by a big bear or a swarm of a bees?
A big bear? 

8. Do you have freckles?
I don't think so.

9. Do you always smile for pictures?
Depends on the situation, it's either smile or derp.

10. What is your biggest pet peeve?
I have countless ones.

11. Do you ever count your steps when you walk?
Sometimes.

12. Have you ever peed in the woods?
No.

13. What about pooped in the woods?
No.

14. Do you ever dance even if theres no music playing?
No.

15. Do you chew your pens and pencils?
I used to.

16. How many people have you slept with this week?
None (unless soft toys count, then six)

17. What size is your bed?
King Single.

18. What is your Song of the week?
All of 1989.

19. Is it okay for guys to wear pink?
Heck yes, who says pink is just a girl's colour?

20. Do you still watch cartoons?
Sometimes. 

21. Whats your least favourite movie?
I don't have one.

22. Where would you bury hidden treasure if you had some?
I have no idea.

23. What do you drink with dinner?
Water for the most part, and occasionally juice, flavoured sparkling mineral water (both diluted) or flavoured vitasoy.

24. What do you dip a chicken nugget in?
Nothing.

25. What is your favourite food?
Basically everything unhealthy.

26. What movies could you watch over and over and still love?
Mean Girls, The Proposal, The Hunger Games, Tangled, Mulan, The Little Mermaid, The Toy Stories, The Devil Wears Prada, Pitch Perfect and 27 Dresses.

27. Last person you kissed/kissed you?
My soft toys :P

28. Were you ever a boy/girl scout?
Nope.

29. Would you ever strip or pose nude in a magazine?
No. Definitely no.

30. When was the last time you wrote a letter to someone on paper?
Two weeks ago, to a friend who was moving. 

31. Can you change the oil on a car?
No.

32. Ever gotten a speeding ticket?
I can't drive yet, so no.

33. Ever ran out of gas?
I again can't drive yet, so no.

34. Favourite kind of sandwich?
Crumbed chicken sandwich.

35. Best thing to eat for breakfast?
The cereals in Australia for the most part suck, so Coco Pops?

36. What is your usual bedtime?
10-12

37. Are you lazy?
Yes. Yes. Yes.

38. When you were a kid, what did you dress up as for Halloween?
We don't celebrate Halloween in Australia all that much.

39. What is your Chinese astrological sign?
Like what year I was born in? If so I'm a snake.

40. How many languages can you speak?
One fluently.

41. Do you have any magazine subscriptions?
No.

42. Which are better legos or lincoln logs?
Lego, because I've never heard of lincoln logs before (I googled them and thought they were a form of food xD)

43. Are you stubborn?
Sometimes.

44. Who is better...Leno or Letterman?
I had to google who Leno was...and I've heard of Letterman more so I guess Letterman? (I clearly don't watch them)

45. Ever watch soap operas?
No.

46. Are you afraid of heights?
Sometimes.

47. Do you sing in the car?
Sometimes. 

48. Do you sing in the shower?
Not really.

49. Do you dance in the car?
Sometimes. 

50. Ever used a gun?
Does a nerf gun count? xD

51. Last time you got a portrait taken by a photographer?
School photos.

52. Do you think musicals are cheesy?
Not really since I don't really know any.

53. Is Christmas stressful?
No, because the stress is fun because it's for Christmas.

54. Ever eat a pierogi?
What is a pierogi? *googles* Well I clearly haven't since I don't even know what it is.

55. Favourite type of fruit pie?
Apple and cinnamon, mmm...

56. Occupations you wanted to be when you were a kid?
Dentist.

57. Do you believe in ghosts?
No.

58. Ever have a Deja-vu feeling?
Yes, a lot.

59. Take a vitamin daily?
I'm meant to take Vitamin C tablets, but I always forget (resulting in me getting sick often).

60. Wear slippers?
Only when it's super cold.

61. Wear a bath robe?
I wear a nightgown when I'm cold...?

62. What do you wear to bed?
A tank top and shorts/a long t-shirt when it's hot and a tank top, long pants and a hoodie when it's cold.

63. First concert?
Taylor Swift's Speak Now.

64. Wal-Mart, Target or Kmart?
We don't have Wal-Mart in Australia, and our Target sucks (and has become really expensive and branded) so Kmart (my second home yes).

65. Nike or Adidas?
Well I'm definitely not sporty in the least and I prefer not to spend that much on clothing so neither?

66. Cheetos Or Fritos?
We don't have either in Australia, but I feel I'd like Cheetos more.

67. Peanuts or Sunflower seeds?
Never tried sunflower seeds, so peanuts.

68. Ever hear of the group Tres Bien?
Nope.

69. Ever take dance lessons?
I took the dance lessons with my school from Prep to Year Six, until realising that I was super clumsy after spraining my ankle three times in a year and tripping and grazing my elbows and knees consecutively three times just after I'd healed.

70. Is there a profession you picture your future spouse doing?
No, haven't really thought of it. Something in business, medicine or sciences maybe?

71. Can you curl your tongue?
Nope.

72. Ever won a spelling bee?
Yeah.

73. Have you ever cried because you were so happy?
I cry from laughter a lot, so yeah.

74. Own any record albums?
Nope.

75. Own a record player?
Nope.

76. Regularly burn incense?
Nope.

77. Ever been in love?
If food counts.

78. Who would you like to see in concert?
Ed Sheeran or Taylor Swift again.

79. What was the last concert you saw?
Taylor Swift's Speak Now.

80. Hot tea or cold tea?
Cold tea for the most part, but warm milk tea is amazing in winter.

81. Tea or coffee?
Well I like cold tea so tea.

82. Sugar or snickerdoodles?
I'm assuming this means sugar cookies, not sugar by itself, and I prefer snickerdoodles.

83. Can you swim well?
I can swim, but not the best.

84. Can you hold your breath without holding your nose?
Yeah, but not for long.

85. Are you patient?
It depends, if I'm bored (or involves me being hungry) then no.

86. DJ or band, at a wedding?
Band is classier, I feel like DJ's are more parties and school dances ("I ought to cancel your Spring Fling. But I can't do that 'cause we've already paid the DJ." Mean Girls anyone?)

87. Ever won a contest?
Yeah.

88. Ever have plastic surgery?
No.

89. Which are better black or green olives?
No olives.

90. Can you knit or crochet?
I can finger knit and hand knit...?

91. Best room for a fireplace?
Living room.

92. Do you want to get married?
In the future, yes.

93. If married, how long have you been married?
I'm not married.

94. Who was your HS crush?
How does one have a crush for all of high school? And I haven't had one yet.

95. Do you cry and throw a fit until you get your own way?
When I was three yes. Now, not as much.

96. Do you have kids?
No.

97. Do you want kids?
Yes, in the future.

98. Whats your favourite colour?
Black (I clearly don't care about all the 'black is a shade not a colour' crap)

99. Do you miss anyone right now?
Yes, my friend who moved across the country.


Wow, it's done! It's not really 100 questions, more 99, but we did it! I highly doubt anyone would've read that since I'm not exactly interesting, but if you did, comment and tell me you did! I'd be so surprised!

JUST OVER 13 DAYS 'TILL CHRISTMAS EEEEK! My next post will be a Christmassy post, so stay tuned for that! 

- Jess xo

DAISO BEAUTY PRODUCTS + REVIEW

Daiso, for those of you who don't know, is a Japanese 'dollar' store where everything in the store is $2.80. I've gone through a lot of their items, and quite a few of their beauty items. I'm here to share my thoughts about them for you now ^_^

Here we have the Daiso Cotton Puffs. I've repurchased these at least five times because I love them so much. They are an absolute essential for me. They're like cotton rounds, but rectangular, puffy, soft and lovely. They come in a box on 90 like below, but two of the boxes. So that's basically 180 puffs of happiness for $2.80, how could you go wrong?

This is the Daiso Marine Lotion. It comes in a nice pump bottle, and I believe is meant to resemble a serum of some sorts? It's like an unset jelly consistency and feels nice on the skin. I'm not sure if it's improved my skin, but I stopped using it because I didn't feel it did much. 

I've heard many reviews on the Daiso Charcoal line. They all seemed to be positive, so I grabbed the charcoal peel off mask. I assume it was meant to clear my pores, but I didn't see anything. Then when a tried with a biore nose strip (which are always trust worthy) nothing came off? It didn't work for my friend, so either I have very clear pores or it just doesn't work. 

I don't know what they're called exactly, but theyre some of Daiso's lip products. The first is a slim lipstick and the second one is a lip gloss. I'm indifferent about the lipstick, since it has too much shimmer in it for my liking, but I really like the lip gloss. It smells like sweet milk tea in my opinion, and it's a nice lip gloss, especially for $2.80. It's got the right amount of stickiness, but not too much and quite nice colour payoff. I haven't found it again though...so I don't know where you can find it. I guess it's kind of pick and choose. 

Now, these are Daiso's oil blotting sheets. They have a huge selection, and I've seen many reviews on them, so this is my thoughts. I have the Cutie Star 200 Blotting Sheets and the Silk 100 Blotting Sheets. The Cutie Star one may have twice the amount as the Silk ones, but aren't as soft and convenient to grab. I find myself grabbing two or three when I intend to take one out of it, and end up sometimes wasting one anyway. I like the easy accessibility of the Silk ones, and they're much softer on the skin. 

I don't have a picture, but I've tried the BB, Collagen, Q10 Coenzyme and Honey Sheet Masks. None of them impressed me, they left my skin kind of sticky and didn't do anything to make my skin feel any better like the My Beauty Diary, Innisfree and Etude House Sheet Masks that I've tried in the past. Even the cheaper ones from Korean grocery stores have done more to my skin than them. This one is a pass for me. 

I've got their tweezers, and they're okay. They're good for $2.80 when you see the great reviews of tweezerman tweezers then see the price. 

These are the beauty things I've tried from Daiso. I really like their craft section and some of their eating plates/bowls are pretty cool too (and same with their food). I'll be taking another trip to Daiso soon for some other things (like their display folders? I love them). Anyway, that's it for now!

- Jess xo