Every family does Christmas differently, each with their own traditions and specialities. My family does Christmas in quite a big way, we've always had lots of extended family to our house and so it's very busy and filled with people. As it's Christmas Eve I thought I'd share a few traditions of Christmas Eve, Christmas Day and Boxing day, both old and new.

In my family, we use Christmas as a bit of an excuse to spruce ourselves up for a few days and make a real effort. Which I'm pleased we do, it's always nice to look back at photos and think well at least my outfit was nice! For me, this of course, means taking my makeup into consideration, I want to look quite festive, yet be something that's going to last well and doesn't need too much done to it during the day. Whilst for the actual day I still haven't quite decided what lip option I'll go for, this is a look I've already worn a few times and I know it's a safe one to whip out for all the festivities. Golden, defined eyes and a matte lip with a perfected base that lasts all day.

As I've said many times before in these blogmas posts, I love Christmas with a passion. What's been especially is nice this year, is counting down the days with so much festive content to be catching up on. It's so nice to see how other people prepare for Christmas, and oh those gift guides are helpful! I've rounded up 6 of my favourite festive blog posts, just in case you're in need of any pre-Christmas Eve reading.

Mince pies and a cup of tea or mulled wine are the perfect treat for counting down to Christmas. And what's better than mince pies - homemade mince pies. This is my Mum's trusty recipe with a sugar topping to make them go extra crispy, buttery pastry and they're dairy free/vegan too! Delicious hot out of the oven with a dollop of brandy butter.

Christmas trees are definitely a favourite thing about Christmas. I mean they smell like Christmas, we've always had a real tree in the hall way and so when you come in the house is filled with the scent of pine. We nearly always decorate the tree together, depending on when I'm home from uni. This year we decorated the tree all together with my boyfriend and my brother's girlfriend, we spend ages on it as every decoration has a memory and of course we end up fooling around to Christmas music. I've picked out a few of my favourite decorations to share in the run-up to Christmas.

There's nothing like a fresh manicure to make me feel put together. Whilst I only paint my nails myself, it still makes me feel pampered and looking like I've got myself together. The festive season is definitely a time for wanting to look put together. I see a lot of my family around Christmas, and there are several things going on in my village that it's important for me that my nails are looking festive too. I've gathered my six favourite nail polishes that are perfect for the festive season, a mix of bolds, glitter and more neutral there's something for everyone.

I've shared the things I love about Christmas, and I do love Christmas. I've always been one of those children who was way too excited for Christmas and now I'm an adult who's way too excited for Christmas. But there's one thing that just gets on my nerves, and I have to say it's been growing as the years go by - commercialisation.

Nothing will make you feeling more festive than a bit of Christmas music. There are some great Christmassy songs, and some not so great, but they're guaranteed to make you feeling Christmassy, and it's always hard not to break into a little dance or song when you hear them. I've gathered my top favourites, as well as a few that have become traditions in my household, for my ultimate Christmas playlist.

Hello, my name's Emily and I'm a self-confessed Christmas addict. It's my favourite time of year, I get excited about getting excited about Christmas. For me, mid-November is the countdown to advent, and that's when things start to get really Christmassy. As it's blogmas, I'm sharing my top five favourite things about Christmas, as if I need to feel any more festive.

There's something about hot chocolate that feels festive. I know it's a cosy drink perfect for a winter's night, but what's better than a steaming mug of hot chocolate and a Christmas film? Maybe it's the hot chocolate song from The Polar Express that does it for me. Before I found out I have an allergy to dairy I just thought I didn't like hot chocolate. Having perfected a deliciously decadent hot chocolate recipe that's dairy free I can confirm I want to drink them all the time.

In my family, Christmas is a big deal and so in my first year of university, I found it difficult to get into the festive feel during Advent, knowing I was away from the usual traditions of home. Chances are you've got deadlines looming, and the end of term is approaching much faster than you'd like with work piling up. Plus you've got to factor in any Christmas shopping and not wanting to feel like a total scrooge. Now I'm in my third and final year, I've come up with several hints and tips to getting myself feeling festive away from home, all of which can be on budget and will have you feeling festive in no time.

Christmas is definitely one of my favourite times of the year, everything is so cute and cosy and I love the build up to spending time with lots of family. Last year I dabbled in a bit of blogmas (which you can read here) and decided that this year I'd plan more and do as much as possible. Realistically, I just don't have the time to daily blog the whole time whilst studying so I'm compromising with 12 Days of Blogmas. I know that technically the 12 days of Christmas don't start until Christmas day, but we'll forget about that for now! My schedule is a little weird so I recommend keeping an eye on Bloglovin' and Twitter to see when new posts go live, but they're going to be twice weekly on Wednesday's and Sunday's from today until the 18th, and then every day for the final 6 day countdown to Christmas Eve. That's the plan anyway, if anything changes it'll be on Twitter. Kicking off the 12 Days of Blogmas is my cosy Christmas wishlist, because Christmas jumpers and pjs are essentials in Advent.

Whether we like it or not, wintry weather is well and truly upon us. For me, winter mornings mean starting the day with porridge. As a child, I loved having porridge and getting as much golden syrup on a spoon as humanly possible. It was probably more golden syrup with porridge rather than the other way round. Now I still love a bit of sweetness to my porridge, but I avoid sickly sweet syrup in favour of some sweet and fruity recipes. I'm sharing my top three porridge recipes and toppings, all of which have dessert inspirations and are perfect ways to start a wintry day.

Now that the evenings are darker and air is chillier, it's the perfect time cosy pamper nights and giving yourself some TLC. Fairy lights and cosy blankets are obviously essentials.

Yes, I'm another of those bloggers who loves autumn, I always have. There's just something about the cold but not too cold, and beautiful colours that I've loved forever. Whilst it's currently freezing outside and winter is definitely attempting to make an appearance, I'm clinging onto autumn like there's no tomorrow with my 5 favourite things about the season.

It's been a while since I've posted a blog post, or really done anything to do with blogging, and I missed it. It feels good to be back to writing a blog post and planning content and I'm definitely looking forward to having a big ole' blog reading session. October was so full of uni bits for me that I barely had time to do anything but uni work, so now I'm ready for a catch up and bit more organisation.

I usually tend to only gravitate towards a more minimal makeup in the warmer months, but recently I've found myself having little time to get ready and so easy and minimal makeup has been essential. Whether I have a 9am lecture, or I'm not really doing much that day, having a few products that make me look so much more together and make me feel more myself are key. Sometimes I just don't feel like applying a load of makeup, and to be honest, it makes doing my makeup properly for going out a little bit more special. I've found myself doing this look on most days and it's really become a go to, as I don't have to think about it throughout the day and it's so quick and easy to do in the mornings.

I know it's a cliche, but seriously where has September gone?! We seem to be just flying through the year, and I'm not really sure how I feel about that. When I look back on it though, September has been a pretty busy month. The first half of the month I was at home, enjoying spending time with my family and packing all my bits and bobs up. For the second half, I've been back at uni for my final year, moved into a new flat, and spending lots of time with my friends making memories. When it came to me thinking about my loves from September I could only think of a handful of actual things. It's been a month of sticking to things I know and just enjoying being back with my closest friends rather than branching out with new products too much.

I've never really been one to do anything with my hair. It's straight, pretty boring and since I've been about 15 a ponytail or bun is my go to. For quite a while I had hair down to my waist, and the easiest thing to do with it was just put it up all the time. More recently I've been experimenting with different lengths, mostly opting for something a little shorter but still long enough to go up if needs must. With different haircuts and length, of course, comes some experimenting with different styles. I've been embracing my straight hair and trying out something a little different that I've completely fallen in love with. Don't get me wrong I still have days where my hair is up and out of the way, but I've really been enjoying this little routine for sleek hair that looks polished throughout the day with minimal effort.

Things have been pretty hectic these past couple of weeks. I was packing up to move back to uni, and since being back although my classes haven't started it always takes a little bit of time to just get yourself back into the swing of things. Not to mention getting used to living in a new flat and working out how best to organise your space. Whilst it's so so lovely being back with all my friends, it's been nice to take some down time and finally catch up on some much needed blog posts. I've seen these kinds of posts before, sharing a few posts and articles that you'e enjoyed reading and I think they're such lovely ways of spreading a lil bit of a blog love.

Bunting is one of those things that I don't really know what I'd do with 10 metres but I need it. There's something about the pastel colours and vintage-y patterns that I just love and want to completely adorn my house with. When I moved to uni I decided that I was going to buy some but turns out it's bloomin' expensive so I gave it a miss. Earlier this year I became pretty obsessed with The Great British Sewing Bee and promptly decided that I was going to sew pretty much everything anything that I could, including some bunting. After endless searching through Pinterest for DIYs and not really finding any of them that easy to follow I decided to kinda just go for it. I have to say I'm really impressed with the result, it was much easier than I thought it would be so I'm sharing my easy DIY bunting.

I'll be honest here, I can be pretty lazy when it comes to my hair, throwing it up in a messy bun is just so convenient! But when I got my hair cut I was determined to actually look after my hair more, and I've been pretty good at doing so. Where I was still falling short is continuing to just wear it up the whole time because I could never get it as sleek looking as the hairdresser, and straight hair just never does what you want it to do. When Irresistible Me got in touch and asked if I'd like to review their Diamond Professional Styling Iron* I was pretty excited, I've never really used hair tools other than a hairdryer before so I was looking forward to seeing if this cold be what takes me out of hair laziness. Having it used the iron for a few weeks I can confirm that it's taken me right from constantly wearing my annoyingly flicky hair up and out of the way, hating the idea of not styling my hair with it.

The perfect base is key to having a decent makeup look, and one that lasts all the day without the need for touch-ups is essential to me. I mostly find it a hassle to be constantly carrying makeup around with me just in case, so for a while I've been on the hunt for the perfect base that not only looks perfect when I've finished my makeup, but that also wears nicely and doesn't need constant checking. I'm sure I've mentioned these products separately before, but over the past few months I've found that combining them just gives me the perfect stay in place base. No need for touch-ups, nothing too powdery or cakey, and not too oily either, and it's survived the summer heat approval too.

I'm so happy that we've finally made it to September. August really isn't a favourite month for me, it often seems to drag rather, and I'm always ready for more Autumnal weather and that new start feeling. Autumn doesn't officially begin for another couple of weeks, but there's something about the transitional period of the start of the month that's so cosy. Not to mention that I find September to be another new year; I think that stems from back to school season and moving back to uni, but I really love that fresh start September brings.

Okay seriously, where has August gone?! We're zipping through 2016, although not going to lie I'm looking forward to August being over. It's a bit of a stand still month; everything and everyone seems to slow down in August. I much prefer September and being able to feel I can start again, not to mention it's closer to Autumn. I have to say I was also a bit on the go slow this month, meaning I don't really have too many things to talk about, but here are the few bits and bobs I've been loving in August.

I really enjoying putting together last weeks catch up post, and so I'm going to be continuing on with this little series and seeing how I get on with it. Like last week, some weeks will be a little dull compared to others, but I'm hoping this will encourage me to actually make the effort to do interesting things, or at least make what I'm doing seem interesting. This week has been pretty busy; last Friday I travelled down to Canterbury where I go to uni to see my friends for a leaving party and to stay with my boyfriend. This then developed into me staying in London with my brother, so all in all it's been busier than I was expecting.

I've been seeing this floating around and being published on people's blogs several times recently, and as I love lifestyle and 'get-to-know' kinda posts I thought I'd give it a go. It was actually hard than I thought it would be, hence why it's the almost alphabet because U, V, X and Y I just cannot.

If you've read my body confidence post then you'll probably know that this year I've lost some weight. It's been a yearly goal ever since I was around 16, and I finally lost weight in a healthy way that I can definitely continue in the long term. Weight loss journeys are different for everyone, and they certainly aren't a walk in the park. It feels weird to even be calling it a 'journey', but I'm sharing how I lost weight to feel healthier, to like my body more and to enjoy food again.

For a while I've liked the idea of having a more chatty post going up on a Sunday, a little catch up on the week and looking to the week ahead. There's something nice about Sunday's being a chilled out day, finding new things to read and watch as well as having a bit of a pamper. I'm starting off this series of Sunday catch ups to just see how it goes, how I like it and such, to share any musings from the week and a little insight into behind the scenes Emily Writes.

It's no secret that I love brow products. My brows have a fairly nice shape naturally and with a bit of attention, they can look quite nice. What they don't have is much colour, my brows seem to be a completely different shade to my natural hair colour and whilst tinting does the job, I can't help but try out a variety of brow shaping products. Benefit launched their new brow collection back in June which seriously made me want to buy everything in shiny new packaging. In the end, I picked up Ka-Brow, a cream gel product that can be used to define, shape and fill in eyebrows as naturally or boldly as you please.

This August it's a year since I was diagnosed with a dairy allergy. For someone who's diet was basically cheese and chocolate I was pretty upset. Over the year I've found some dairy free alternatives that I adore, to be honest most of them I'd enjoy even if I could eat dairy that's how delicious they are. Plus I'll also be sharing how hard I've actually found it being a self-confessed cheese addict.

I'm one of those people who does basically nothing with their hair. I pretty much just use shampoo, conditioner and nothing else. I recently got my hair cut, meaning that not only does it look much healthier but I also wanted to get some products similar to the ones my hairdresser used. I did a little shopping online and picked up some bits and bobs that I'm hoping I'll really enjoy using.

For as long as I can remember I've never really been one to be body positive. Looking back on photographs I was never really that big, but I got bullied a lot for my looks. Of course, that's going to make anyone have doubts and I became one of those teens who constantly needed approval. I needed to know that others thought my hair looked okay, that my outfit was flattering, that my makeup looked alright. I'm finally starting to feel much more confident in my own skin, and it's such a weird feeling.

Somehow July seems to have simultaneously sped past but also been a rather long month. To be fair I've been a busy bee; I still can't believe that my trip to Paris was the beginning of July! The things I've been loving this month are mostly new to me, which has actually been so lovely. I've really enjoyed using newer products and trying things that I never thought would suit me. Books, apps and beauty, there's been a lot I've been loving this July! 

I love reading, but there's something so lovely about it finally being the summer hols and you can crack open a book and really get stuck into it. I find that during other holidays, I have so much reading for uni that I rarely have much time for reading for pleasure. I've gathered together some books I've loved reading over previous summers, perfect beachy reads and a couple I'm going to be getting stuck into myself.

There are few things worse than not believing or having faith in yourself. You are meant to be your own number one fan after all, and whether you like it or not everything you do is literally for you. But sometimes a little tiny seed of self-doubt will plant itself in the back of your mind and it's the pits.

I've dreamed of going to Paris for what feels like ever. For my birthday, my boyfriend got me Eurostar tickets to Paris; needless to say I was ridiculously excited. For medical reasons we could only stay two nights, so we were determined to make the most out of our trip last week, which was just magical, everything I thought it would be and more.

More recently I've been wanting to experiment and try out more budget friendly options. I try to use a mix of higher end products and budget friendly, but for a lot of things I've been gravitating to more expensive products. Don't get me wrong I love using those products, but the cost isn't my favourite thing ever and for some things I actually prefer a lot of the cheaper offerings. I'm planning on posting several budget beauty themed posts this July, starting of with a little haul of recent purchases.

Confession time; I'm an overpacker. When it comes to me packing I think I'll need absolutely everything, and end up barely being able to lift my own suitcase. Considering this year I'm going on two mini break/long weekend trips I thought it would be the perfect time to perfect my packing for a short trip away. Tomorrow I'm heading to Paris for a kind of long weekend break, but it's not actually at the weekend because it's so much more expensive. Anyway, going for a couple of days means that in reality I shouldn't need to pack too much, leaving space for any shopping that may or may not happen. I've picked up a few tips and tricks for lighter packing for a weekend getaway this summer, and so here they are.

I seriously can't believe how quickly June has gone. We're over halfway through 2016 and that's definitely going way too fast! June has been a month of ups and downs for me, but I've still got plenty of bits and bobs I've been loving to share with you. Like May, there are mostly beauty and makeup products, but being on my summer break I've had a lot more time to experiment and try out new things. 

Whilst it may not feel like we're coming to the end of June in terms of weather, it technically is summertime. In the UK we tend to have a burst of summer, all of a sudden we get sunshine, nice weather and people wheel out the barbeque. I like to be as prepared as possible for such bursts of sun, so here are my summer essentials.

About a year ago I posted about seeing myself being on medication for the foreseeable future, and how I need to not let that define me. Things have changed a lot more in a year than I could've ever expected, so here's a little update.

Wedding season is upon us, and I for one one a wedding. I went to a wedding at the weekend so I thought I'd share my makeup, hair and outfit with you all. As always I went for something pretty simple with my makeup, a fairly neutral base with neutral defined eyes and a nude lip, and with my hair too. I'm a creature of habit, what can I say! But my outfit was something that once upon I time I wouldn't have worn at all, so I guess you could say that's where I made the change from my usual. I think a bit more neutral and classic makeup is always the way to go with makeup/hair/outfits for weddings, as you don't want to look back on photos wishing you'd gone for something that stands the test of time better.

Way before I got into blogging, I loved reading blogs. It started with reading the blogs of youtubers, and then I started discovering bloggers on twitter and I've never looked back since. I can spend so much time reading blogs and discovering new blogs too. I love loads of blogs, but I thought I'd share the love and gather some of my absolute favourites with you.

Cute little drawstring pouches can be so useful, whether it's to house your sunglasses  or to keep your powder and lipstick handy in your bag, I have a lot of uses for drawstring bags. Way back in April I decided that I was going to use a pair of old pyjamas to make a drawstring case for my magnifying glass, which was a lot easier than I thought it would be! Sewing your own really doesn't take too long, and doesn't require oodles of sewing skills either, I mean I can barely see the needle to thread it! For this DIY I do recommend using material from old clothes as you then don't need to sew a hem, making it even easier! Here's my simple step by step guide to making your own in no time at all.

Nature noun - 'the phenomena of the physical world collectively, including plants, animals, the landscape, and other features and products of the earth, as opposed to humans or human creations'

A couple of weeks ago, the lovely Hannah tagged me to do the 7 day nature photography challenge. This couldn't have come at a better time for me as I was just about to head home to the Suffolk countryside for a few weeks.

Taking time to practice mindfulness, being calm and properly thinking and switching off is so important for our minds, and not just if you suffer from a mental illness. We live is such a full on society where taking a break from staring at a computer screen is staring at a mobile screen. It's very rare that we spend time completely for ourselves, allowing our minds to wander and totally relax without screens and the constant outside world connection.

So I've been blogging for a year-ish. I say ish because if you go through the archives of Emily Writes, my first post is actually 26th April 2014. But for a year from that point my posts were extremely sporadic, and it wasn't until around this time last year that blogging really became I hobby that I wanted to pursue. So to celebrate and to say thank you for your support I'm running a little giveaway.