Waste(less)

The end of the year is upon us and with it an enormous amount of reflection is due. A more serious take on that is coming but, for now, I thought I'd share some of my favourite things I discovered and did this year.

During the January sales, I bought two things I love dearly, a white fuzzy crop sweater that is just a huge 90s throwback, and Zara's Oriental perfume. That's also when I started wearing what is now my signature gold necklace, which I've mentioned in my Everyday Gold Accessories post.


For Valentine's, and actually, our 2 year anniversary, my boyfriend and I went over to my favourite place, Porto. This was my third time visiting, and I never want to come back home afterwards. Porto is the most beautiful city, with gorgeous architecture, amazing views and great places to visit and I'm basically living my film photography there because every corner is gorgeous. We stayed at CityBreak Apartments Coliseu and I can say for sure, I'll never book a different place, the room was beautiful and comfortable and everyone was so nice.



By May, two things happened: I turned 23 and decided it was time to chop my hair, and so I donated around 50 cm of hair and I never felt so free. These were some of my favourite gifts, my brother gave me my baby, my Fjallraven Kanken, while my boyfriend bought me this gorgeous silver choker with a mother of pearl horn charm and my mum gave an adorable midi polka dot skirt.

By the beginning of summer, I started getting really into a more sustainable lifestyle, you can read all my blog posts on this here, and that's really becoming a big part of my life. In July I went on our yearly trip to Algarve with my boyfriend's family and honestly, I've never enjoyed a couple of weeks in the sun more, I felt truly relaxed, which was much appreciated after all the stress I'd been dealing with for the past seven months. I had the time to just lay in the sun and read, and that's when I got into reading again, thanks to both Lolita* and Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine*, which I must say, was my book of the year. While we were so close to Spain we also went on a little day trip to Ayamonte, where we always go to, and enjoyed a day eating calamari and doing some shopping, my boyfriend's parents even gave me a bottle of my favourite perfume, Black Opium* by YSL.

In August, I started working for a month, which, as great as it was actually being called to work, it also was a dreadful time and I hated every second of it, but every break was truly enjoyed as I read Call Me By Your Name* for the whole 10 minutes of them, and that soon became my second book of the year.


As we got into the cooler months, I stayed in a lot more and decided I wanted a new show to binge watch besides Friends, to be honest, I was afraid I was going to get sick of it, I've been pretty much watching it non stop for the past five years so, I think I was due a break. As everyone was always going on about it, and I actually remembered watching it years and years ago on TV, I decided to watch Gilmore Girls and let me tell you, I couldn't stop watching it (and yes, I was as disappointed as everyone else by the last season and by Year in The Life), I'd watch it from the time I woke up until 5 am when I couldn't keep my eyes open anymore, or I'd have to force myself to go to bed because I just wouldn't stop any other way. Safe to say this was the show of the year for me (although an honourable mention goes to The Walking Dead for seriously upping its game).

In early December I took a few days with my mum to go to Toulouse to visit my brother and it was pretty refreshing. I had visited twice before, once on my own and another time with my mum for Christmas, and it had always been maniac, the first time they were trying to show me around, the second time they did the same for my mum, and now I pretty much know the city so I can get around easily and at will. Although Toulouse will never have the same appeal as Paris to me (I'll never forgive my brother from moving), Toulouse can be so pretty. Winter was also the time when I got super into my Black Opium* YSL and I'm so sad to think it'll be over any day now...

As for a few year-round favourites, I had to mention my Godsend, The Ordinary*. Back in June, I wrote this blog post, all about my skincare routine and an honest review on The Ordinary Skincare and I still can't imagine using any other products. At the time I mentioned the Niacinamide 10% + Zinc 1%* and the Salicylic Acid 2% Solution*, I was also using the Alpha Arbutin 2% + HA*, at the time I didn't think I really needed the Alpha Arbutin, but once I had stopped using it for a while I could really see a difference on my skin and its texture so, I'll be repurchasing it. I'm currently trying out the Lactic Acid 10% + HA* as the Salicylic Acid was out of stock at the time I had to repurchase my products, but it really is no match to my old classic, so I'll be going back to my tried and tested regimen next time.

Lastly, every month this year I decided to add my favourite songs to a playlist which as now created my stuck playlist, with all my favourite songs for this year, it's much better than the Spotify one they make every year, trust me.

And there we go, a year in favourites, how fast did that go by? What were some of your favourite things this year? Let me know in the comments below.

Last year I showed you my Salted Caramel Hot Chocolate, which I love, but you do have to make salted caramel and that's something I'm not always in the mood to do so, this year, I'm showing you a hot chocolate base that you can have on its own, and four delicious variations you can make with it, first we have a rich and fresh Peppermint Hot Chocolate, followed by a warm Gingerbread Hot Chocolate, then a spicy and tingly Chai Hot Chocolate and, lastly, a classic, Orange Hot Chocolate, what more do you need? And do you know what? If you still have some Christmas gifts to figure out, why not add all the dry ingredients to a cute jar, write the recipe on a little tag and wrap it around the jar? A tasty gift that keeps on giving and an affordable one at that...

Hot Chocolate Base

This is the hot chocolate base that can be your blank canvas for any flavour combo you like and for it, you'll need:

In a saucepan whisk together the sugar, cocoa powder and cornstarch. The cornstarch is supposed to make it a bit thicker, but it won't make it solid like a pudding so don't worry. Once it's all combined pour in the milk of your choice and whisk until it's all well blended. Bring the mixture to a light boil over medium heat and stir gently but frequently, once it starts lightly boiling reduce the heat to medium-low and let it simmer for around 20 seconds, stirring constantly so it won't burn. Remove from the heat and, if you're using cream, stir it in.

Now that you have your basic recipe you can stop here and add some marshmallows to make it extra Christmasy or you can go a step further and make one of these.







Peppermint Hot Chocolate

Make your hot chocolate base but this time add some crushed candy canes, as many as you like, depending on how strong you want the flavour to be. Remove the hot chocolate from the heat once the candy canes have completely dissolved. Whip up some cream, it doesn't need to be very stiff, just enough for it to hold in a spoon. Pour the milk into your favourite mug and add a spoonful of whipped cream on top, sprinkle some crushed candy cane on top and then add a candy cane on the side and you're ready for a sweet but fresh treat.

Gingerbread Hot Chocolate

Now, this is a new one for me but I already love it. Once again, make your hot chocolate base but now with a twist, add 1 teaspoon of cinnamon, 1/2 teaspoon of ground ginger (you can add more or less, according to your own taste), and 1/4 teaspoon of ground nutmeg to the dry mix before you add in the milk. Then proceed as normal. Once you've poured it into your mug you can add a bit of whipped cream, although I don't think it needs it.

Chai Hot Chocolate

This one may seem quite similar to the gingerbread one but wait until you try it. It's more of a twist on your Chai Latte than anything else, but let's move on. Once again, start with our hot chocolate base but this time add around 1 tablespoon of your favourite chai mixture (I particularly like the Twinings Spiced Chai, Palais Des Thés' Chai Imperial and their Spicy Passion) to the dry mix, once you add the milk you'll realize you're basically making a chocolate chai latte and everything will click and make sense and all will be right with the world. Once you're all done make sure to strain your hot chocolate as you pour it into your mug so as not to get any chai bits in your smooth drink. Top it off with some whipped cream, or the classic frothy milk foam, ground cinnamon and whatever you want to help make it prettier and you're ready to warm your soul with this beautiful drink.

Orange Hot Chocolate

This one is already a classic in my home and that's for a reason. To me, nothing screams Christmas like chocolate orange and once I first made this hot chocolate recipe I knew I wanted nothing else on Christmas morning for the rest of my life. As you already know, start with our base but this time add the zest of around half an orange to the mix at the same time you add the milk, this way it'll infuse it perfectly. You can add as much or as little orange zest as you wish, but I like mine quite orangey. If you can't get your hands on a chocolate orange, or any orange chocolate for that matter, you can just add the zest and move on with the recipe as normal but, if you do have some chocolate oranges lying around, chop one or two segments and add them to the pan at the same time as the milk and zest, this way it'll fully melt into the milk, making it richer and even tastier. Pour it into your mug, add a spoonful of whipped cream (although for this one I was actually feeling the milk foam a bit more) and then top it with another chocolate orange segment, this one will slowly melt and you'll occasionally feel a fresh taste swirling around as it does, how tasty does that sound?

And there we go, my five go-to hot chocolate recipes, which one would you love to try?

As I delve more and more into the plastic-free movement and sustainable living I thought I'd share with you some of the DIY products I'll be trying for the foreseeable future. I don't think I ever thought about making my own products, but as I was browsing Pinterest I came to think of how much plastic there is just containing the products we use on a daily basis, be it for hygiene, house cleaning or just general enjoyment. Not only that but, when it came to the ingredients, I couldn't even read half of them, let alone understand why they were really there, were they absolutely necessary? Were they safe? Could I do the same job without them? And so, a journey for a greener home commenced. 

Earlier this year, when I decided I wanted to live a cleaner and greener life, I started by eliminating as much plastic out of my life as I possibly could at the time (you can read my Plastic Free Life post here), a few months later, I'm also trying to reduce the amount of products I use, not every product is easy to substitute or make yourself but a few are and I've decided to show you a few.