Pear Shape Book Review

Hey guys. I recently read a book that I enjoyed so I thought I would do a review. Hope you enjoy :)

Books like Pear Shaped are my favourites. It's the type of book that makes you laugh, smile and cry and it's also so good that you don't want to put it down until you've read at least another chapter. 

Pear Shaped, written by Stella Newman,  follows the life of Sophie Klien, a pudding developer from London. It tells the story of how Sophie falls in love with Mr right but realises that Mr right isn't so right after all. Sophie meets a guy in a bar on a Friday night and at first he seems perfect and they have everything in common but as time goes on we realise that  James, the guy from the bar, isn't so perfect. He has money and thinks that he can do what ever he wants because of that. He's in his forties and wants someone half his age who looks a certain way. He wants someone who's stick thin and doesn't eat much at all. He even goes as far as telling her how he likes her but he doesn't think he can settle for someone who looks like her, someone who isn't a model. Sophie struggled with this a lot and at first she thought she should be the one to change. She lost her confidence for while but she got it back and realised that she deserved better. 

 It made me realise just how important it is to love  yourself and do what you love. No man should tell you what you can and can't do.I like how Sophie realises that in the end and that she doesn't let him ruin her life completely. She picks herself back up and finds someone who will love her for her. 

Another great thing about this story is learning more about the dessert industry and how it all works. I also like that Sophie goes on to do something she loves and sticks to what she thinks is good instead of listening to her sleazy boss. 

Overall I think this was a good book but towards the end after Sophie and James had split it dragged a lot and I must admit I did only skim through some parts. Even though the book did drag towards the end it did give an important lesson that I think a lot of readers can learn from. 
I did enjoy the book but it wasn't one of my favourites. 

What's the last book you read? Recommend me some good books with an element of romance in them in the comments :) 

Nutella Recipes

Hey guys so I've been loving nutella lately and lots of it. So I thought I might try some different ways of eating it. I found these recipes  that are amazing and thought I would share them. I hope you enjoy. Share your favourite recipes below :) 

This recipe is for a nutella hot chocolate, it's easy and delicious and only uses a few ingredients. 

You will need: 
Milk
nutella
Cream 
Marshmallows 
A mug 
A pan

Step one:
Fill up your mug with milk. I usually fill my mug up pretty close to the top but I leave enough room to add in cream later on. Once you have got your milk in your mug go ahead and pour it into your pan.

Step two:
Turn the heat on and stir the milk with a wooden spoon until it's just starting to get hot. Once its hot grab your nutella and add two tablespoons to the milk.

Step three: 
Stir the milk and nutella mixture until the nutella has melted. Once it has melted pour the hot chocolate into your mug.

Step four:
This is the best part, adding the cream and marshmallows. You can pretty much do what you like with this. I added on a load of cream with mini marshmallows.

Step 5:
ENJOY 

Now this recipe didn't go as it was suppose to. They were suppose to be fudgy and chewy but instead they're cakey and crispy. (In a good way) I was kind of glad they went wrong because they turned into whoopie pie style things. And what makes this even better is that you only need four ingredients!

What you will need: 

1/2 a cup plus one tablespoon of flour 
1 extra large egg
1 cup of nutella 
1 tsp of baking powder 
Nutella to add into the middle 

Step one :
Add all ingredients into a bowl and then mix together until it forms a dough that has no visible egg or flower in it. 

Step two: 
Take pieces of dough and roll them into little balls. Don't make them too big and try and make them the same sizes. Once you've done that put them onto a greased baking tray and then put into the oven. You know they're done when they're light brown with little cracks on the top (you will see what I mean in the finished picture) 
Extra tip, when you're rolling the balls put a little bit of oil or cooking spray on your hands to stop the dough from sticking to your hands.

Step three:
Once cooled turn them over on the tray and match each cookie up to another one of a similar size. 

Step four:
Spread a little bit of nutella on one of the flat sides of a cookie and then sandwich with another cookie. Once you've done that sprinkle a little icing sugar on top and you're all done!

I hope you like these and be sure to share pictures if you try them! 

Advent Calendars 2015

It's that time of year again where the shelves are beginning to be stocked with advent calendars. And these are usually full of cheap chocolate that none of us really want to eat. They are also aimed at children. In recent years it seems like big brands have seen a gap in the market for advent calendars aimed at a bigger demographic, beauty lovers. Many big beauty brands have decided to offer advent calendars full of mini (or even full) products for either 12 or 25 days. Brands such as No7, Benefit, Lush and The Body Shop are just some of the brands offering these beauty advent calendars. There are also calendars out there providing things like 25 days of Yankee Candles or 25 days of different teas. 

This year, I have decided to go for the Boots No7 25 Days of Beauty Wonders calendar. It is £38 ($57) but it is worth £148 ($223) and I think it is a bargain, my makeup bag is going to be topped up for a while! 

Not only is the calendar presented really well, the items inside it are brilliant. 

Here is what you get inside the calendar:

•  No7 Lip Crayon Delicate Pink 1.4g

•  No7 Mini BB Lip Blink Pink 5ml

•  No7 Shine & Tint Lip Gloss 4ml

•  No7 Skin Illuminator Peach 10ml

•  No7 Stay Perfect Nail Colour 4ml Mememe

•  No7 Gel Look Shine 4ml Pillarbox

•  No7 Nail Effects Sun Rays 4ml

•  No7 Mini Eye Shadow 1.5g top shade moonlight shadow

•  No7 Mini Eye Shadow 1.5g bottom shade forest fruits

•  No7 Extravagant Volume Waterproof Mascara Black 7ml

•  No7 Lovely Lashes Mascara Black 7ml

•  No7 Stay Perfect Amazing Eyes Pencil Bronze 1.2g

•  No7 Stay Perfect Amazing Eyes Pencil Black 0.8g

•  No7 Stay Perfect Amazing Eyes Pencil Brown 0.8g

•  No7 Eye Lash Curler

•  No7 Smokey Eye Brush

•  No7 Airbrush Away Primer 10ml

•  No7 Beautiful Skin Eye Make Up Remover 30ml

•  No7 Radiance Revealed Exfoliator 15ml

•  No7 Youthful Eye Serum 7ml

•  No7 Protect & Perfect Intense Advanced Intense Day Cream 25ml

•  No7 Protect and Perfect Intense Advanced Night Cream 25ml

•  No7 Protect & Perfect Intense Hand Cream Day 10ml

•  No7 Beautiful Skin Blissful Body Wash 50ml

•  No7 Beautiful Skin Perfecting Body Polish 50ml


I think it's brilliant to get so many products for such a cheap price. This is also good 
compared to The Body Shop because theirs is incredibly expensive and it is also the same price, if not cheaper than Benefit's and you get more products. I would highly recommend this product! 


Here are some other cool advent calendars available this year:

Lush: 12 Days Of Christmas 

The Body Shop Advent Calendar 2015

Yankee Candle Reindeer Carousel Advent Calendar 

Ciate Mini Mani Month Advent Calendar

Do you get an advent calendar for December? What are you going for this year? let me know in the comments. 

BE YOURSELF

BE YOURSELF 

Being yourself is a challenge many people face. It can be one of the hardest challenges people may come across. Growing up I have always been taught to be myself and this is something I am thankful for. Being yourself is not an easy thing, especially for teenagers. To fit in we have to think of how we should act, what people should expect and many people fear that if they don't act how their friends want then they won't be accepted. Many people put on a mask everyday just to fit in and feel like they belong. Don't be how other people want you to be, be you and be happy. In years to come you might look back to when you were younger and think about how you wish you had been yourself. Being yourself is not an easy thing, it will be easier to put that mask on every morning before you go to school and act in a way you know you really hate but being yourself will make you happier, you don't have to worry about letting your guard down or panicking if you have said something your friends won't like. At times myself I have thought will things be easier if I act like other people and change myself for them. Will it be easier? probably, yes. Will I be happier? No. Don't change yourself for anyone, if they don't like you the way you are then they aren't worth your time. Take this risk to make yourself happier. It may be hard but you have to love yourself and who you are. So I challenge you to be who you are, to be real with yourself. Just enjoy not having to worry about anyone or anything and just be comfortable with who you are. I hope that if you are reading this it might offer you a bit of comfort and make you realise that you a perfect just the way you are.

Thank you for reading, 
xo xo, 
Chronicles. 

'Be yourself; everyone else is already taken'

Oscar Wilde. 

The Tale Of A Devil

I had to write this for my English work a while back and I'm pretty proud of it so I thought I would put it here. Enjoy :)

I could hear the scraping suitcases and laughter from where I was stood on the old landing. I moved so I was stood next to the banister and thought to myself ‘’should I go down?’’

‘’Ava?’’ someone called. I quickly peered over the banister before slowly sneaking back into the shadows, letting out a sigh of frustration when the floor board creaked. Deciding to ignore the unknown caller of my name I slowly retreated back to the small room I had been staying in, remembering that I had been without the beautiful rose pendant. I reached my hand up to my neck, suddenly feeling like part of me was missing. As I entered the room I slammed the door behind me and ran to the bed, throwing the pillows and covers off as I searched for the source of my existence. A movement catches the corner of my eye and I stand, eyes roaming to see who the intruder was. The window was wide open. Dread filled my entire body as I realised the pendant was gone. My time was up. I move to the mirror, feeling as if I am floating and stop, my eyes looking into shiny surface. Looking back at me was the person I had been running from. Cold, captivating eyes, long, luscious, dark hair, skin as pale as snow. This was the face of evil. I am the angel of darkness. The lights flicker as a bone crunching sound can be heard through the room as wings sprout from my back. Feather by feather they turned black. A demon was born.

I hope you guys enjoy this. All of the credit for this goes to me, I wrote this myself and it is my work so please don't steal or anything like that because I spent a lot of time on this. 

Let me know what you think!

xo xo, 

Chronicles. 

Soap and Glory: Review

For Christmas last year my mama (grandma) got me the massive Soap and Glory box set that had been on offer in Boots (for you Americans that's like a drug store I think, it sells perfumes, makeup, shower stuff and so on) and I have been loving a lot of the products that came with it. Because I love them so much I thought that I would make an blog post about it so you can try them out.
What's your favourite S&G product? Let me know in the comments! 

Also if you're from the UK and have a family member who loves Soap and Glory, keep an eye at on the Boots Christmas offers (when it comes, obviously) because my mama got this for about £20! 

Daily Youth:

This face scrub was something that actually didn't come in box that I got from Christmas. I thought, well, I have all of this stuff to make my body smell all nice and feel soft. I might as well treat my skin as the rest of my body, right? 
So I went to Boots myself and picked this up. I use this every time I go in the shower and it makes my face feel soft and clean. It is strange texture when I put it on my face because it lathers up like your shower gel would but I personally like that because you can't feel all the little exfoliating beads (I think that's what they are? I'm not too sure what they are called) 
This product is for all skin types so any of you can try it out :) 
I can tell that there is a big difference in my skin since I started to use this so I would recommend it to anyone. Just moisturise after and your skin will be lovely and soft. 

Whipped Clean:

I have been in love with this product since I first used it. I wasn't too sure what it was at first but it's a shower butter/gel type of thing. It really does live up to it's name as I think the texture and look of it when you put it into your hand actually does look like whipped cream. That's another thing I love about S&G, their play on words. Anyway, back to the product. It has a really sweet scent and I couldn't work out what it was until I read the bottle and it says that it's a pistachio, almond and sweet vanilla scent. It honestly smells heavenly, I wish you guys could smell it! 
It makes my skin feel lovely as well as smell nice and it is also the perfect thing to use when shaving your legs as it says on the back of the bottle. I would definitely suggest that you invest in this product as it is heavenly. 

Sexy Mother Pucker:

Sexy Mother Pucker wins the crown for my favourite lip gloss/lacquer of all time. When I looked through the contents of the box I was really happy that it came with two makeup items. One of them was a Sexy Mother Pucker lip gloss in the shade Charm Offensive. At first I wasn't too sure about the colour but as soon as I tried it on I knew that I liked it. The colour is a really nice brownish-pink and has a really nice gloss finish to it. My only criticism for this is that it can get on your teeth pretty easily. My favourite thing about this is probably the brush, it seems to be thinner than other lip gloss brushes and it's really easy to use. 
Lucky for me my mum had another one of these Sexy Mother Puckers in another shade. This one was in the shade Punch Bowl. This is a fabulous pink colour and the bottle is gorgeous. 
The key difference between Punch Bowl and Charm Offensive is that Punch Bowl has more of a plumping effect. They are both meant to do that but I can see it and also feel it more with the Punch Bowl lacquer. I will be buying this again for sure. 
I would definitely recommend this to you if you want a nice colour and a little plump. 

Hope you enjoy,
xo xo, 
Chronicles. 

The Hardest Decision I Ever Made.

The hardest decision I ever made.

The hardest decision I have had to make is whether or not I should say goodbye to my Aunty before she passed away. Should I go and see Aunty Nen and say goodbye? Should I go and see Aunty Nen in the hospice? Should I go to the funeral? 

The choice I made was to go and say goodbye to my aunty, my dad’s older sister. My Aunty Nen (her name was actually Helen but I called her Nen as I couldn’t say Helen when I was younger!) had been diagnosed with terminal cancer and it began making its deadly consequences known in the later months of the year 2010.
In the December of that year we made the yearly Christmas trip to Sheffield, this time earlier than we had planned. We wanted to be as close as possible to Aunty Nen and family so we could be there if something happened.

On a cold December morning my Dad and I drove from the small village I was staying in with my parents and grandparents to  the small village my aunty lived in. This was the first time I was going to see Aunty Helen since the cancer had taken a big toll on her. At the time I was feeling scared, I didn’t know what to expect as I had never encountered someone who was dying and had never seen the true effect of what such an awful disease could have on a person. That day I was wrapped up nice and warm as it was now winter. I was wearing a big puffy black coat with a blue checkered shirt and a pair of dark jeggings.

Once me and my dad arrived at the house we had been in many times before I truly began to feel a little scared. I didn’t know how I should act. How does one act in this type of situation?
Upon entering the house I decided I was just going to act like myself, just be the happy smiley person I usually was. I can remember entering the large living room. Aunty Nen was on one of the big brown sofas up against the back wall of the room. When I saw her I was a little shocked. I didn’t know what to expect but I was not expecting this. Her skin was as pale as a ghost, her cheeks had sunken in almost as if the disease was slowly sucking the life out of her. Her hair was not the bright orangey red I was used to.
My dad and Aunty Nen’s older brother, my uncle John was also there. I remember laughing and spinning around, showing how much I had grown in the year since I had last seen them.

After the visit me and dad went back to the car and I wasn’t too sure how to feel. It was all incredibly overwhelming. I had a little cry in the car before we headed back to Sheffield to spend the rest of the day with my mum and grandparents.

The day it’s self was incredibly strange. I didn’t know how to act. For the rest of the day me, my mum, dad, mama and Granddad went out to try and keep our minds off of what was happening.

In the months leading up to this even,  aunty Nen’s health had begun to get worse after she was told her cancer was terminal. I can remember that she was in and out of the hospice for a few months before we went up in the December. I can remember asking my dad about how she was when I got in the car after a day at school. I had just started my first year in secondary school.

At the time this was all happening I was eleven years old. I had just started year seven in secondary school and this all sort of seemed surreal. I’m not sure if this was because of the distance but it almost felt like this was happening in a dream. I can remember things just going on as normal, we all worried about Nen and if something was going to happen but I still went to school as normal. I was just the same girl I always had been but this sad cloud was looming over the family.

When this was all taking place I didn’t know how I was meant to feel. This is the first death of family member where I was truly able to understand what was happening. I was unsure of the choice I wanted to make – I didn’t want the image I held of my aunty to be one that frightened me but I also didn’t want to regret not saying goodbye when I would never get the chance again.

I had hope in my heart that this was going to be a passing thing and she would be one of the lucky people that defy the odds and move on with their lives although she had already beaten the disease once. I wanted her to be ok for not only myself, but for my dad and his other siblings, my nana and granddad and also her husband and two young sons. It made me feel incredibly sad for my cousins, Tom and Max. I couldn’t imagine what it must be like to watch your mum go through something like that. It’s heartbreaking.

Although being at the other end of the country sort of sheltered me from it. It was like I could forget what was happening and almost pretended that it wasn’t happening. It was like it was taking place in another world or happening to someone who wasn’t me. I am quite thankful for the space because it was easier to distract myself from what was going on.

Looking back at the sad time now I am happy with the choice I made. I know if I hadn’t gone to see her I would regret it. I also attended the funeral and it was something I was surprised with. Although the ceremony was sad and I can remember sobbing through most of it, it was actually a day to celebrate and remember Aunty Nen’s life. We had a bit of a doo at her favourite pub after and it was like she was there. I felt wrong for enjoying it.

Being in this situation has made me realise that people don’t last forever, at some point we are all going to die. This is something that frightens me, even to this day. The thought of losing the people I love most makes me feel incredibly sad and it also makes me wish I could find a way to make people live forever. If I had to go back and experience this all again I would have gone to see her more. I only saw her three times before she died and now I wish I had gone to see her more. I am glad that I did get to tell her I loved her one last time though and I will never regret this hard decision.

I am thankful for this experience as it prepared me for the fact I might have to do it again, and I have. This time I didn’t go to see the family member. My Great Granddad’s death was completely different to my Aunty Nen, she was still herself even though she didn’t look like the Nen we all remembered.  My great Grandad Vin was a body shaped shell with a beating heart.  His death was sudden and completely unexpected.  I know if I had seen him it would have been completely different to my experience with Aunty Nen.

I know now that  every last minute with a family member counts, you never know when something is going to happen and I now want to make as many memories as possible with my family so I have many more happy memories to look back on when the time for them to go arrives.