2015. You've come and gone so quickly. Too quickly. It seems just like yesterday that we were celebrating last Christmas and parting ways with 2014. This year was a major year for me. It was the year I affirmed what I want to do with my life. I uncovered my strengths and weaknesses. I met new people. And subsequently, I learned a lot. Without me babbling any further, here are the five main things the year 2015 taught me.

1. Challenge yourself
It's the only way you'll grow as a person. Being quite a reserved person, not to mention a perfectionist, has always made stepping out of my comfort zone incredibly difficult for me. What's the point if there's the potential I'll fail? I've always been a little intimidated by new things, new experiences. A desire to be good at everything is impractical and impossible. 2015 has made me realise this and I've learned that instead of wanting or trying to be good at everything, it's better to take a risk. Two things can happen as a result: you can fly or fall. If the latter happens, you've discovered a weakness and you can learn from it. I've never challenged myself more than I have in the last couple years. While last year was probably more social, 2015 was the year I pushed myself creatively. And I am so proud of myself for that. I've always doubted my creativity but this year I feel it has grown and I've accomplished so much with it.

2. It always seems impossible until it's done
Do you ever sometimes sit there, staring into space and feeling so overwhelmed by the tasks you have to complete, unable to find the will to get started? I do. This was me at the beginning of each semester this year. Never had I seen so many assignments crammed into such a small amount of time. And I just sat there thinking, how is all of this going to get done? 2015 taught me the importance of baby steps - because small individual tasks make up one huge final result. I've learnt that while planning is key to success and achieving your goals, thinking too far ahead can just add to stress and feeling unmotivated. Of course, you get out what you put into something, and nothing worth having comes easy. Work hard and you'll accomplish what you set out to achieve.

3. Treat people the way they treat you
This applies to better and worse. As a kid, I was always so nice to everyone. A little too nice. I thought that if I was nice and polite to everyone, they would treat me the same way. But the obvious truth is people aren't always nice and occasionally people will take advantage of that niceness. And that's not fair. I've learnt that it's not a sin to treat people in the manner they treat you and sometimes it's impossible to be kind to absolutely everyone you meet. I'm not at all saying to be mean or a bully. But sometimes it's best to take a step back - sometimes two, or even three steps back - from bad company and cleanse your life of negative energy because life's too short to have others bring you down.

4. Bad things fall apart so better things can fall together
Sometimes, it all seems too difficult. Things aren't going your way. You're not getting what you want. Something - or someone - isn't what you thought it would be. But it's only the present and you have no idea what amazing things await you in the future. When you feel like your luck is bad, it's important to just keep going. Soldier on. Tough times are a test to see how resilient you are - they make you so much stronger than you were before. And when the storm passes, you'll be left with a beautiful rainbow. A clear day. A fresh start where great things will happen to you.

5. Self belief is important
This is something I majorly struggle with and something I plan to work on in the new year. I think the lack of belief in myself and my skills boils down to the fact that I am so critical of myself and expect so much from myself. I always deny that I'm good at something even when people tell me so. And I think recently it has moved away from humility and towards completely putting myself down. In this aspect of my life, I feel like I've become my own worst enemy. The older I get the harsher I am on myself instead of growing in self belief. I think I'm also this way because I don't want to build myself up too much for fear of disappointing people who might be relying on me to carry out a certain task. So 2016 is going to be the year I turn 'I can't do this' into 'I can do this'. After all, if I don't believe in myself, who else is going to believe in me?

I hope 2016 brings you all that you wish for and more. Stay happy and safe during your New Year celebrations!

When I saw these cookies on Pinterest via Dear Crissy I could not resist making them. They just looked too good not to! And they definitely are too good. Beautifully chewy and full of sugary, maple flavour, they are the perfect little treat for the festive season - especially if you have a sweet tooth. I hope you enjoy these cookies as much as I do.

Ingredients

COOKIES
1 cup butter, softened
1 1/2 cups caster sugar
1/4 cup packed brown sugar
1/4 cup pure maple syrup
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp cream of tartar
Pinch of salt
3 egg yolks
1/2 tsp vanilla essence
1 3/4 cup all purpose flour

ICING
1/4 cup full cream milk
1/4 cup butter, melted
3 tbs pure maple syrup
2 cups icing sugar

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 300F/150C.

2. In a large bowl, beat butter with a mixer on medium for about 30 seconds. Add the next six ingredients (through to salt). Beat on medium for two minutes, scraping bowl as needed. Beat in egg yolks and vanilla essence. Beat in flour until combined.

3. Shape dough into balls.* Place them seven to eight centimetres apart on a tray lined with baking paper. Bake for 12-16 minutes** or until the edges are lightly brown - the tops will still look slightly soft.

4. Cool on baking paper for two minutes. Remove and cool on wire rack. Centres will dip as cookies cool.

5. Drizzle with icing - stir together 1/4 cup full cream milk with 1/4 cup melted butter and three tablespoons of maple syrup. Whisk in two cups of icing sugar to make icing drizzling consistency.

*The size of the balls will determine how large the cookies come out and subsequently how many cookies you'll get out of one batch of dough. Just make sure that you are consistent with whatever size you decide to go with.
**The length of time in the oven will depend on your oven as well as the size of your cookies. So begin at 12 minutes and keep an eye on them.

Tip: if your cookies don't come out perfectly round or bleed into each other for whatever reason, you can always use a round cookie cutter before they harden to get them circle and photo-worthy.

1. Traditional & Cosy
This tablescape is full of Winter goodness - which doesn't really apply to Australia at this time of year - but it sure is a lovely table. It incorporates real evergreen and cedar boughs garland with contrasting red berries as well as pinecones. These adorable tea towels are used in place of napkins and candles in empty cans add warmth to the table and a vintage feel.


2. Gold & Classy
I feel like this table would really suit an all-female Christmas party - it just screams feminine and fun to me while being classy at the same time. The use of gold confetti placemats and the gold glitter gift boxes make this setting playful while the fern garland and tall candle holders keep it formal.  I love that these tall candle holders are clear and that white has also been used so that the table is not overwhelmingly gold.


3. Natural & Musical
With a beautiful grey linen tablecloth as the base, this table utilises a neutral colour palette. This is perfect for those of you who would prefer to not have an over-the-top dining table. It is wonderfully understated with natural decorations, including a birch log with cut-outs for candles. My favourite thing about this tablescape would have to be the sheet music placemats. To make it more relevant to Christmas, you could buy carols sheet music and then stain it with tea for an aged appearance.


10. White & Wintery
Another one of my favourites, this is the perfect table those of you who are going with a Winter wonderland theme this year. This tablescape is Nordic inspired - it is a very popular design trend at the moment. If you're struggling with a colour scheme, you can't go wrong with white. It's fresh and clean unless one of your guests spills their glass of red wine. The handmade paper stars offer a homely touch and the choice of greenery adds to the wintery feel. And how cute is that little house candle holder!

How I managed to get this blog post out I'll never know! Life, as per usual, has been incredibly hectic lately. Anyway, here I am with a few of my favourite pins. I thought I'd start a sort of series entailing collections of my favourite images from Pinterest. Fortunately, with my course, I get to go on Pinterest quite often to source ideas and concepts, and get inspiration. But there's always a bit of personal pinning mixed in there too. I don't know how often I'll do one of these although this one was quite fun to put together... Hope you enjoy and I would love to hear who your favourite pinners are.

1. I found this interior really beautiful, which is strange because it's not really a style I would normally go for. I adore the wall and ceiling detailing - so traditional, which I love - and I think herringbone flooring is starting to grow on me. I've never seen a sofa shaped like that so I found it interesting - it's definitely the focal point of the room and that taupe-purple-grey hue is stunning.

2. Summer is fast approaching and I just can't deal with it. There's still a month of Spring to go but the temperature is already quickly rising. This photo was just perfection for me as I find looking at images of snow actually cools me down - guess what I'll be doing on 30+ degree days...

3. Pinecones are just to pretty and perfect. I use them as decor all year round - they're certainly not just a Christmas thing although I can't wait to spray paint and glitter up a few this year. In fact, I can't wait for Christmas in general because it's my favourite day of the year, even more than my birthday. And speaking of Christmas, doesn't the last one feel like it happened just yesterday? I can't believe how fast this year has flown.

4. I'm not usually a big necklace kinda gal but I just really liked the styling of this image and the outfit in it and thought it was a cute piece of fashion inspiration.

5. Something about this quote really resonated with me when I read it. I feel another blog post coming. It's a little mysterious, like it doesn't have one meaning but can be interpreted in different ways by different people.

6. I just love how these shelves are styled. I think decor and styling them is my favourite thing about interior decoration. It's just so amazing how little things like books and plants and other bits and pieces can have such a big effect on a room.

7. These donuts look so good I wanted to grab them through my computer screen. They're one of the worst foods you can eat but goodness they're delish! And now I have a massive craving: thanks, Internet.

8. I came across this image while doing an activity for my lighting class a bit over a week ago. I thought the decorative lighting was so pretty and is a great example of creating movement in an interior because of the way it encourages your eye to travel from the front to the back of the room.

9. Harry Potter, Harry Potter, Harry Potter. I'm not ashamed to say that I'm 22 years old and it is still my favourite book series. I found this graphic, which is derived from the Prisoner of Azkaban - my favourite of all the movies and most read book from the series. It was actually the first book I read from the series too, back when I was like seven years old and didn't realise there was an order to them. I'm so excited that there is an eighth story but I'm not sure how I feel about it being a stage play - I really wish it were another book.

10. My desire to travel grows stronger each day and images like these make me wish so much that the timing and financials were right to do so. I've never travelled beyond Sydney but that doesn't necessarily make me feel sad or like I'm missing out on anything. The urge to leave Australia's borders is there but I've always viewed travel as a luxury and I just have so many bigger priorities at this point in my life, such as starting my career and setting up my future.

11. I wish so badly that Halloween was more of a thing here. Not so much for the spooks or trick-or-treating but more for the decor. These gold pumpkins make my heart so happy but they are an impossibility. I'm so jealous of you if you live in the US with all the pretty Autumn/Fall and Christmas decor and decorations. This is why we can't have nice things.

12. Texture is something I have become so drawn to. And I am a bit like a magpie with glittery and shiny objects, so I was pretty much the iPhone emoji with the love heart eyes when I saw this picture. This may even be a concept for a future project. We'll just have to wait and see.

Highlighters have always been on my 'to avoid' list. Sure, the idea of glowing, luminous skin is appealing but these products - both liquid and powder - are usually riddled with ingredients that are terrible for acne-/blemish-prone skin. Until perhaps now. Since this whole strobing thing has become a trend, I thought I would start looking into highlighters again.

For a beginner, I think powder is the way to go when it comes to highlighting/'strobing'. I know that I don't really understand how liquid highlighters work in terms of whether to apply them before or after you set your face. If you set your face first and then apply liquid over the top, your makeup would separate, wouldn't it? But if you powder after, aren't you going to mattify and lose that luminosity you've just applied? #confused


Retailing at $60, I purchased Becca's Shimmering Skin Perfector Pressed in Opal from Adore Beauty for a bit over $46. It is definitely on the pricey side, so not for those on a smaller budget. Because my skin is on the lighter side, I was hoping to get Moonstone but unfortunately I wasn't quick enough as it was sold out by the time I was ready to make a purchase. Because Becca claims that these highlighters adjust to different skin tones, I thought I might just get away with Opal.

On first impression, this pressed highlighter looked a little more pink than what I thought it would. It has been described as a cool gold but I would say it's more a of a dusty rose gold. As a result, I've noticed that if I pile this on, it does look slightly brown on my skin in certain lighting - basically when light is not reflecting off my skin. This is a little disappointing because it means I can't go for that super highlighted look which is 'in' at the moment but does confirm that Moonstone would be a better match for me. It also suggests that the skin-adjusting claim Becca makes isn't entirely true. This is my only negative for this product so let's move on to the good stuff!

When I first applied this to my skin, I fell in love. I finally had that glow that I was lusting after for years but thought I would never be able to achieve. A little went a really long way, so you can easily go for a subtle daytime glow or build up to a more saturated luminosity. It may seem a little glittery to some but I quite like the effect it gives to the skin and it's definitely not chunky but more akin to a baked eye shadow or blush. I would say the texture is creamy but still obviously a powder and it feels comfortable on the face. I have found that it is best applied with a brush, particularly for my dryer skin. Whenever I applied the highlighter to my skin with my finger, I noticed that it clung to my dry patches and emphasised the brown look I mentioned above. I feel that using a brush also allows for a more even application and makes for easier blending if you have accidentally gone overboard with it. Also, with how little you do need to achieve that 'strobed' look, I can see this lasting me a couple of years at least. Lastly, as far as breakouts go, this product for the most part has been kind to my skin, which I'm incredibly happy about.