"ALL THE BRIGHT PLACES" - JENNIFER NIVEN, BOOK REVIEW X

I'd heard so many good things about this book before I got it for Christmas and I was so intrigued to find out what was so good about it.

The book itself is written back and forth from the viewpoints of Finch and Violet which I loved. I loved reading it from both points of view because I felt like I could understand both of them whilst understanding them both together as one person at the same time.

I'm the type of person who gets very emotionally invested in a book and it's characters and that might be one of the reasons I enjoyed it so much. I'm not going to give away the story or the ending (in case anyone is considering reading this) but I'll tell you about the main storyline.

Theodore Finch and Violet Markey meet on the ledge of their school's bell tower - Finch is a troubled character, one who could be seen as careless or reckless about his own life but I don't think his reason for being on the bell tower was to actually jump off at that moment. 

Violet, on the other hand, finds herself on the bell tower after struggling with the death of her sister but standing on the ledge, she's scared and panicked and Finch encourages her to come back. Throughout the book, Finch tries to show Violet all the good things in life that she's lost sight of but at the same time, he is spiralling downwards into his own black hole. 

"The story of a girl who learns to live from a boy who wants to die"

Honestly, I think this is my favourite book. Although I will warn you that you have such a mixture of emotions throughout and one point had me crying like the characters were real and I, myself, was Violet Markey - I felt strangely enlightened and uplifted at the end. 

"Even when we weren't wandering, you showed the world to me"

When reading this, don't read it as if it is about the facts - look deeper. It wants you to look at the lighter things and at the brighter places. It's about Finch showing Violet what there is to live for even if he can't see it himself and that she needs to live for everyone that she loses because the memories of a person is what keeps them alive. 

Above everything, it teaches you to speak up if you feel something's wrong. It includes various different countries and their suicide helplines in the back of the book in the 'Authors Notes' where Jennifer Niven explains her experience with losing those she loves - both to fatal disease and suicide. She has done such a wonderful job with this book which can be read in so many different ways - some people may not like it and they may not be able to read between the lines and see past the facts, but that's fine, because however you read it you will still get something out of this book. Don't be scared to read about mental health and suicide because it's definitely something that needs to be read about and understood more - a fictional book can be a good way to start.

I'll be re-reading this book in no time, I highly recommend it. It's gave me a lot to think about for the next year ahead of me - I'm going to start looking for all the bright places too.

Theodore Finch, April 3. "Today is your day. You're off to great places! You're off and away!... Your mountain is waiting, so... get on your way!"

OTHER LAST MINUTE STOCKING-FILLERS GIFT GUIDE! £10 AND UNDER X

Hedeghog Hottie from Dorothy Perkins.

Welcome to the last of three gift guides I've posted the last few days! For anyone leaving it to the very last minute, here are some gifts which are under £10.00 and make for lovely stocking fillers!

Working in OUTFIT, I get to see so many cosy looking pyjamas, fluffy socks and other comfort gifts. One of my favourite things in stock at this time of year is the 'Hotties" from DOROTHY PERKINS which are like water-bottles except you warm them up in the microwave! 

My favourite one this year is the adorable hedgehog with ice-skates and a scarf on which is lavender scented but there are so many more - unicorns, owls, dachshunds (sausage dogs) etc. They are currently £9.00 (£7.20 at the moment). I received one of these a couple of years ago and I love it!

They also have plenty of fluffy, christmassy socks in different packaging. One is the "Navy Shammy socks in a Bauble" for £5.00 (£3.75 at the moment) and another is the "Red Fairisle Sock Stocking" for £7.00 (£4.90 at the moment). Socks are always the perfect stocking fillers. 
Theres lots of discounts on and 48% off selected lines at Dorothy Perkins for 48 hours so get the discount whilst you can!

Birth Stone Necklace from TOPSHOP.

Birth Stone Bracelet from TOPSHOP.

TOPSHOP have the prettiest pieces of jewellery in at the moment! I particularly like the birth-stone range they have. They have the birthstone necklaces for £7.50 and the birthstone bracelets for £6.50 for all birth months. For someone who likes more delicate pieces of jewellery, these are lovely little gifts. 


Another gift that I think makes for a wonderful stocking filler as well as being very popular recently is an art-therapy colouring book. I have a couple of these myself! My favourites being the "Art therapy, Anti-stress Colouring Book" which can be purchased on THE WORKS website for £6.00 and the "Mindfulness Colouring Book" which can be purchased on AMAZON for £3.95. This would be a particularly nice gift for someone who works really hard throughout the year. Do not underestimate them as "childish"! They can actually be really calming and enjoyable and I'm sure many people would like to try them but may not feel the need to purchase one themselves. You could also pair them with a nice set of colouring pens too!

Happy Box.

When I'm struggling to find a nice, more personalised present I always turn to notonthehighstreet for gifts or even just inspiration to make my own gifts. There are literally so many lovely presents on there which you can personalise or buy as they are and, although some pieces are expensive, I'd always suggest having a look just to see what lovely ideas people have came up with which you can then do your own version of or search for elsewhere.

One little gift I found on notonthehighstreet was a "happy box" memories diary box for £9.95. It includes a lovely little box with 40 illustrated blank cards for a person to write on and post into the box - the idea of this is to write down and keep any happy memories to look back on in the future. The same person also sells a "worry box" worry diary box for £9.95 also. This is such a thoughtful gift for anyone who may stress a lot at work or university or college etc and I think giving this to somebody shows how much you care about them. On the back of this box it states:

Worry Box.

 "Don't fill your head up with worries, fill this box up instead. Every time you feel worried about something, write it down onto a little card and post it into the top. Once your worry is in the box, your mind will be free to concentrate on the wonderful things in life. As time passes you will realise that not all worries are worth worrying about after all"

How lovely is that?

The seller also has the boxes including an 18th/21st birthday "Wishes and Wisdom box", a non-christmas version of the "happy box", a baby shower "Wishes and Wisdom box", New baby's "First Memories box" and a wedding "wishes and Wisdom box". You can also buy the happy box and the worry box as a bundle for £16.95. A lovely present to consider for lots of different occasions!


I hope the three gift guides I have posted have been helpful and I hope you all have a wonderful Christmas, thank you for reading!

Holly Amber X

FOOD & DRINK GIFT GUIDE! £15 AND UNDER X

Onto the food & drink section of stocking fillers!

Pug in A Mug Tea Infuser.

This first gift is mega cute! A "Pug in a mug" tea infuser from BOOTS for £5.00. You pull apart the pug and fill the belly with loose tea and then perch him on the side of the mug. Christmas is one of the times where you can justify buying something so simple but so cute for somebody. I'm sure there's plenty other designs of tea infusers but this one in particular I liked the most.

The second gift I'd suggest under the food & drink category (maybe more so for a man who, in my opinion, are 10x harder to buy for!) is a alcoholic-drink tasting selection. At BOOTS they have a "World larger selection" and a "Cider tasting selection" which includes 4 different drinks each for £10.00. As a stocking filler or maybe a Secret Santa present, this is the perfect price and a generic gift if you are unsure of what to buy!

Cocktail-making set.

Another alcohol-based present which is a little more fun is a cocktail shaker, syrup and accessories set from DEBENHAMS (and I'm sure many other places sell them) for £10.00. In the one I found you get a cocktail shaker with measurements marked on the sides, 6 straws, 4 glitter sticks and 3 syrups - cranberry, peach and lime flavoured margarita. £10.00 is a well-rounded price for a stocking filler or maybe a secret-santa present for someone who likes to get a bit merry over Christmas!

STARBUCKS Dusting Set.


The third gift I found which is very suited for this time of year is a STARBUCKS Dusting Set. For £10.00 you get 4 different hot-drink dustings; cinnamon, chocolate, vanilla and nutmeg. I'm pretty sure everyone's inclined towards a hot chocolate in the colder months and again, for a secret santa present, this could be a lovely little gift! 

STARBUCKS Stacking Mugs.

STARBUCKS also have the nicest Christmas mugs each year too. My favourite this year is the silver ceramic stacking mug which is £7.95. Some may think their mugs are over-priced and I wouldn't buy one any other time of the year or for myself but they make for a really nice present. 

In the picture to the right there is also a gold version of this mug but I can't seem to find it on their website!

The one thing it is acceptable to do over Christmas is eat a mountain of chocolate, yum. 

Christmas Dinner Slab.

Obviously there are plenty of chocolate gifts you can find in all of the supermarkets, THORNTONS, HOTEL CHOCOLAT etc, you are spoiled for choice. One traditional, cute design from hotel chocolat is this Christmas dinner slab which is simply milk chocolate but the design makes it very festive! You can purchase this one for £5.00.

Festive Christmas Wreath.

For someone who prefers their chocolate to have a little kick to it, HOTEL CHOCOLAT have a range of chilli-chocolates. They have 10 festive chilli-dark chocolate penguins for £7.00. They also have 6 gingerbread men cased in milk chocolate for £7.00. The designs of these are so sweet and I'd love to open one as a present on christmas day.

One last chocolate item, for those who have a particularly sweet tooth, is a Cookie & Caramel Christmas wreath from hotel chocolat for £7.00. "Generously studded with nibbly cocoa biscuits, shortbread biscuits and crisp caramelised Florentine squares" - YUM! Its a lovely present for a family to share between them (though I wouldn't judge anyone for having one all to themselves).
They also have a white chocolate version with pistachios and cranberries for a slightly more savoury taste.

Definitely have a look on the HOTEL CHOCOLAT website for all the amazing Christmas chocolates and sets they have this year! They have all kinds of flavours and designs and I think they look like a luxury-chocolate present when you open them.

With 10 days left till Christmas, I hope this has helped anyone struggling for those last few presents! 
Thank you for reading.

Holly Amber X

BODY & BEAUTY STOCKING-FILLER GIFT GUIDE! £20 AND UNDER X

Belle of the Ball, photo taken
from BOOTS website.

One of the things that brings me the most joy is giving people gifts and I must hold my hands up to starting my Christmas shopping the first week of November - you could say I was a bit eager, oops. It's usually easier to buy the more expensive 'main' presents and some may struggle to fill up those stockings with smaller gifts. So I have some suggestions!

I think I speak for all women when I say a Soap and Glory gift-set would look wonderful under the Christmas tree of Christmas morning. The display in the BOOTS stores for Soap and Glory at the moment is so exciting and to make it even better, you can find most of the sets in the 3 for 2 offer as well!

The first I'd suggest is the BELLE OF THE BALL gift-set which is £12.00 at BOOTS. The packaging for all of the S&G products is beautiful for starters. This set includes the "Smoothie Star" body wash, body smoother, hand cream and a body polisher.

Gloss it girl, photo taken
from the BOOTS website.

The Righteous butter drum, photo taken
from BOOTS website.

The second is the GLOSS IT GIRL set of 5 sexy mother-pucker lip glosses for £14.00 at BOOTS. In its cracker-shaped packaging, I think this is such a lovely present! Considering the lip glosses are usually £9.00 each on the S&G website, how wonderful is this set for the price!?

One more S&G set I'd suggest buying as a gift is the RIGHTEOUS BUTTER DRUM which is only £5.00 at BOOTS. Any one who has tried out this body butter will believe me when I say it is wonderful and for £5.00 I think it'd make a lovely little gift to add to someone's present pile!

TED BAKER "Shine On" set, photo taken
from BOOTS website.

TED BAKER have had some lovely small and big gifts for Christmas this year. One of those is the "Little Luxuries" set which is £14.00. 

This comes with a hand cream, body spray and lip balm which are have a soft floral scent - all packed into a lovely little bag. Products such as hand creams are nice gifts as I personally think a person doesn't think to buy themselves one, so getting one as a gift is perfect.

Another TED BAKER set is the "Shine On" set which includes a pair of tweezers, a mascara, an eyeliner and two eyeshadow trios with a mirror in each for £16.00. My favourite thing about this set is that it comes with everything you need for the eye-section of your makeup routine.

Sparkle and Shine Set, photo
taken from BOOTS website.

A smaller, cheaper TED BAKER gift is the Sparkle and Shine set which comes with a nail polish and a lip/cheek tint for £8.00. There are two versions, one of which come with a nude toned nail polish and a golden-toned tint and another which comes with a deep pink nail polish and pink-toned tint.

Sparkle and Shine Set, photo
taken from BOOTS website.

Eye-shadow palettes can be a wonderful gift for someone either just starting to experiment with make-up or for those who purely love make-up and trying out new looks. 

Travel-sized, Full Exposure
Palette, picture taken from
the SMASHBOX website.

One palette which would be perfect for somebody who doesn't have much experience with makeup is the SMASHBOX "Full Exposure palette" (which is £17.50 in the travel-sized version). This has all the shades needed to create an everyday look or a more dramatic smokey-eye with both matte and shimmery shades. The travel-sized version includes 8 shades (the best shades from the full-sized palette in my opinion). 

One of my favourite drug-store make-up brands is definitely SLEEK. This SLEEK Make-up palatte gift set which includes a make-up bag, the Vintage Romance i-Divine Palette, the Antique blush and two lipsticks in the shades Liquer which has a sheen finish and Vamp which has a matte finish (my favourite shade of the SLEEK lipsticks) is only £19.99!

SLEEK Make-up gift set, photo taken from
BOOTS website.

 I find SLEEK products to be such good quality, I  particularly love their eye-shadow palettes and the shades  they put together in them. The palette included in this set is probably for a person who already has some experience with make-up in my opinion as the shades are darker and maybe a little more complicated to work with as a newbie. 

LUSH is amazing all year round and for someone who only has a shower in their house (like myself) it's painful seeing everyone else with the gorgeous bath bombs. Still, some of their Christmas gift-sets don't include bath bombs! My absolute favourite scent at this time of year is "Snow Fairy" from lush which is a very sweet scent (I'm pretty sure it's described to smell like pear drops). In the "Little Snow Fairy" gift-set which is £8.50, you get the Snow Fairy shower gel and some pink FUN! 

Magic Wand Bubble Bar from LUSH.

The LUSH website has wonderful little videos at the top of the page for their products so you can see how they are used and how their bath-bombs look when fizzing in the water. For someone who does have a bath, the Magic Wand bubble bar has the same snow-fairy scent and turns to water sparkly, bubbly and pink. You can purchase it for £5.25 which may seem a little expensive to some people but I'm pretty sure this will last for 3/4 baths!

I hope this has helped anyone struggling for gift ideas! Over the next few days I will be uploading a couple more gift guides of different sorts for all of you last-minute shoppers!

Thank you for reading!

Holly Amber X

DECEMBER GLOSSYBOX REVIEW!

The collaboration box with Really Ree was only ROSE GOLD!!! Everyone's current favourite colour, I'm sure.

It was so beautiful! Most definitely my favourite design of all the boxes I have received so far. It was also wonderfully festive with "Let it snow!" written down the front side in the same rose-gold colour.

A little side note: I never throw away my GLOSSYBOX boxes! I simply remove the packaging inside of them and use them as makeup/beauty product containers - I've saw plenty of other uses for them also! They're just too pretty and high-quality to get rid of.

As if the design wasn't brilliant enough, there was 6 products as oppose to 5 in this month's edition which was thrilling! The bonus 6th item included in the box was the STARSKIN Balancing Bio-cellulose Second Skin face mask (the behind the scenes version) which is £8.50 at SELFRIDGES.
It includes a mask which is soaked in a vitamin-packed serum. The one I received claims to be "intensely soothing...deeply purifying...pore refining...sebum balancing...(and provides) breakout prevention"
The mask should be applied onto dry skin and left on for 20-25 minutes (with 10 minutes in the fridge beforehand to enhance its calming and cooling effect). It includes ingredients such as coconut juice, vitamin B, vitamin C and chamomile (and so many more).

I haven't tried this yet; I'm saving it for a pamper day where my skin needs some revitalising! However, I am very excited to try it out, it sounds wonderful.

The next product I came to was the HYLAMIDE pore delete (prismatic liquid) which is £18.00 for the full-sized version. It claims to blur pores and mattify the area; unlike a normal primer, you apply this after your foundation but before your powder (or as the last step in your skincare routine). I've been using it after my foundation and have found it a little hard to use as the consistency is quite thin but as you pat it into the area it becomes very tacky. Nonetheless - it does what it claims to! It definitely makes the area seem "blurry" and minimises your pores and it also mattifies the skin. I'm just not too sure about the consistency of this product but I'm going to continue to use it, it might just need some getting used to!

The third product in the box was the COLLECTION long-lasting nail effects nail polish in the shade "Cosmic stars" (retailing for £2.99). The colour is a gorgeous glittery purple, so perfect for the festive month! Although these nail polishes are relatively cheap, I loved receiving this in my GLOSSYBOX this month; a colour I'm sure I'll be wearing throughout the Christmas period.

It claims to be a chip-free nail varnish which lasts up to 7 days - I very much hope so! Nothing annoys me more than spending an hour painting your nails (whilst trying not to smudge them) for it to chip and break off the very next day!

The fourth product in the box I was very wary of when I first opened it. It was the ESSENCE liquid lipstick in the shade "Show Off" which retails for £2.50. First off, I'm not a huge fan of this brand and I wasn't crazy about the packaging of this product - it felt slightly cheap and I was a little disappointed. Still, you shouldn't judge a book by its cover! (Slightly cliche but its true). The product itself is very pigmented and gives off a wonderful colour and coverage. Also, the shine it gives is beautiful just like a lipgloss but it doesn't feel as if it is going to shift after half an hour like one!
The shade is a slightly red, party-pink tone (not one I'd personally wear on a day-to-day basis). Though I don't think this colour suits me all too well, this may be down to my incline towards the safe, nude colours - boring holl.

To sum up, the packaging could definitely be better but the product itself is surprisingly good - for £2.50 I'd definitely give it a go, I'm considering purchasing an everyday shade for myself too (maybe "almost real" - a very safe, pink nude).

The fifth product in the box was the ETRE BELLE Golden Skin Caviar Eye Roll-on which, for the larger size, retails for just over £30.00! Safe to say, for that price I had very high hopes for this product. The cooling gel-like product is meant to refresh the skin under the eyes and soothe it - reducing the tired, run-down look that many students like myself tend to experience I'm sure! The size of this produce (the smaller version) is such a wonderful, handbag-like size which you can whip out and roll along the skin under your eyes to look instantly revitalised. 

The product is extremely cooling and soothing, I love the feeling of this when I apply it in the morning (when I'm usually struggling to keep my eyes open) and at night before bed. Definitely one of my favourite items in the box - I love feeling like you've received a luxury item when you pay so little for the subscription!

And finally my favourite product in this month's edition... the SO SUSAN Statement Skin Highlighting Pencil (which retails for £15.00) in the shade "Starlight" - such a pretty name! Before subscribing to GLOSSYBOX, I hadn't tried the SO SUSAN brand but I wish I had, I just love the products I've tried out so far. This highlighting pencil is a gorgeous white/champagne gold colour which is extremely pigmented (but with very little/no glitter). The shape of the pencil makes it perfect to highlight smaller areas such as the inner corners of the eyes or the cupids bow or the broader areas like the tops of the cheek bones. I've been using this so much (on it's own and below a powder highlighter). It blends wonderfully and it claims to work well mixed in with your foundation too. Also, its paraben and fragrance free which is always a bonus. 

The full-sized version of the products in the box this month total to £77.00 (considering only one product was travel-sized, in my opinion, and you only pay £10.00 for the whole box, I think thats pretty good value for money!) Very pleased with the December box and the extra item was a wonderful surprise. If you are at all interested in subscribing, I'd appreciate if you did so through my personal link as I receive reward points :) 

Thank you, as always, for reading!

Holly Amber X