Happy 25th Birthday To Me

25 aka quarter of a century. Maybe turning 25 won't be so bad. I can still choose if I want to be wise and mature, or young and care-free. I have every excuse to have a quarter life crisis. 25 means lower car rental rates (even if I don't have a driver's license lol). I can totally justify buying expensive cosmetics; gotta keep that skin young! I am still a "young adult" and have 15 years before "middle age". 30 is the new 20, haven't you heard?! I'll always be ten days older than my future husband but I still look pretty young for my age. I get to celebrate with pizza, family and friends, and most importantly cake!

My 24th Birthday Celebrations

This weekend was packed with amazing food, great company and loads of fun; what better way to celebrate my 24th birthday! I had the best time and it truly was one of the best birthdays I've ever had. Not only did I have the most beautiful (and fitting) birthday cake made by the talented Alessandra Cake (here), the cutest decor and the tastiest food, my fiancé surprised me with the best gift a blogger could ever receive, the famous and much hyped Olympus Pen E-PL7 camera. Of course, I will be doing a full review of it here on the blog once I've learned how to use all of its features, but in short: A-mazing! Other gifts included make-up, lingerie, clothes, perfume and pretty much anything else girls love so thank you to all of my lovely friends!

For the occasion, I chose this ASOS Purple Dress (here) and I love how it matched the whole party theme. It has these beautiful velvet details both at the front and back and the bell sleeves make it a lot more interesting and boho looking. You can tell I went for the girly look not only with my outfit but with the entire decor, after all turning 24 isn't old at all and I wanted to have a bit of fun with it.

On Saturday night we got together with a bigger group of friends and headed to L'Artista, which in my opinion has the best Italian food in town. The prices are incredible affordable, portions are massive and the food is truly authentic (I'm half Italian so I'm very picky when it comes to Italian food). The restaurant's atmosphere is enjoyable, the decor is fun and they truly make you feel special on your birthday by singing Happy Birthday at the top of their lungs- Italian style. It is located just a few minutes away from Golders Green tube station so if you haven't been yet, I most definitely recommend paying a visit. Next time I'm there, I will be sure to take some pictures of the food and place and share a review here on the blog.

For this night out, I wore a Vero Moda Denim Dress (here) with flared sleeves that scream retro and are very 70s, and my trusty Clarks Over-The-Knee Brown Boots* (here).

Needless to say, this weekend was a big one and I can't believe how blessed I am to have such amazing people in my life to make occasions like these all the more special. Thanks to everyone who wished me happy birthday over here on the blog and on Instagram, and if you haven't entered my Urban Decay Giveaway yet make sure you do so HERE, it closes on the 1st of February and it is open internationally!

Thank you for reading and have a nice week ahead beauties!

xoxo

*Item sent by the brand. All opinions are my own (disclaimer here).

It's My Birthday: 24 Things Before I Turn 25 + Urban Decay Giveaway

Today I turn 24, Happy Birthday to me! Instead of creating a fashion/ beauty wishlist, I would much rather make plans for the year ahead of me. I find that setting goals not only motivate me more to go after something, but it will also make my year a whole lot more meaningful. This year I decided to come up with Birthday Goals aka a list of 24 things I wish to accomplish before I turn 25 next January and in a year, I will be back here to see how it all went down and hopefully tick as many things off as I can!

1. Read the Bible more and pray more

2. Sing a solo at church

3. Plan my wedding

4. Go wedding dress shopping

5. Have a pre-wedding photoshoot

6. Throw a bridal shower

7. Take a dance class

8. Exercise more (aka get in shape for wedding!)

9. Take a photography class

10. Buy a new camera

11. Have a professional blog photoshoot

12. Blog makeover

13. Go to /hold a blogger's event

14. Go to a brand press release

15. Get a promotion at work

16. Learn how to bake

17. Travel to another continent

18. Go to a concert/ music festival

19. Take mum to a spa

20. Do more charity work/ volunteering

21. Go to the cinema at least 20 times

22. Dye my hair blonder

23. Try nail extensions

24. Take a professional make-up class

Wish me luck! And despite not being in this list, I decided 2016 was going to be the year that I would Give Back more and guess what, here I am to do just that holding my first 2016 giveaway! I know it's MY birthday, but I want to gift one lucky reader with the beautiful Urban Decay Naked Basics Eyeshadow Palette & the Urban Decay Sheer Revolution Lipstick in shade Liar, both perfect for every day use! 

It’s simple to enter, and easy to win! You must complete the steps in the Rafflecopter widget below. There are no mandatory fields because I know some of my readers aren't bloggers thus they will not have access to all social media platforms and I want everyone to be able to enter. Of course, there are ways to increase your chances, the more entries you complete the more likely you will win the prizes thus you are highly encouraged to complete all fields. This giveaway will run until the 1st of February giving everybody more than plenty of time to enter AND it is Open Internationally!

Terms and Conditions

– This giveaway will run until 1st of February 2016 (Midnight GMT time).

– This is open internationally and I myself will be shipping the prize once I have the winner’s details.

– One winner will be chosen at random via Rafflecopter, and the lucky winner will win an Urban Decay Naked Basics Eyeshadow Palette worth £23 and an Urban Decay Sheer Revolution Lipstick in shade Liar worth £15.50.

– There is no purchase necessary to enter this giveaway.

– ALL entries will be checked and verified, with any lacking, dishonest or duplicate entries being removed completely.

– I am providing the prize myself and this is not being sponsored by Urban Decay (I just love the brand too much!).

– The winner will be notified and will have 48 hours to respond. If the winner does not respond within 48 hours, an alternative winner will be selected via Rafflecopter's randomiser.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Good luck everyone!

Thanks for reading beauties and have a lovely weekend ahead!

xoxo

UPDATE: WINNER is Danielle Kearney

Widget is playing up and won't let me display the winner. Contacted support to resolve this.