Lush Christmas

Hey guys! Christmas is my favourite time of year for beauty launches, because everything seems to smell of spices, citrus and amazing scents, especially when it comes to candles and bath/body products! There is one brand that I get most excited about though, which has got to be Lush, and I know I am not alone when I say that. Within a week or so of the new range coming out each year there seems to be an over-abundance of Lush hauls over blogs and Youtube channels, but who can really resist the pretty, glittery goodness of a Christmas Lush product?!

I went into store a couple of days before Halloween, and picked up a few bits to stock up (sadly not everything that I had planned on getting though as so much was sold out)! I thought that it would be quite fun to do a little Lush haul, and also talk about some of the products that you can get in this year's Christmas range.

The first thing that I bought was the Golden Wonder, for £3.75, which is one of my top favourites! This is a bath bomb, and is actually really big. The exterior has an extremely thick layer of golden lustre covering it, so be careful when you pick it up! My friend asked me if this leaves loads of glitter in your bath afterwards, and surprisingly no, it doesn't. You obviously get a bit, but simply pouring some water over that gets rid of it! Inside there are also little coloured sections, so you get a little rainbow of colours as it dissolves. One of the great things about Golden Wonder is the small gold stars in the centre of the bath bomb, which just add to the Christmas effect! The scent of this is very citrusy and slightly spicy, it actually smells really similar to the Costa spiced apple drink which I adore the smell of. 

Cinders, costing £2.50, is a product that Lush have realised for the last few years I believe, however I only tried it last year after hearing FleurDeForce raving about it so much! It is quite a small bath bomb and has a mixed scent of cinnamon, orange and bonfires. The best bit though is that it contains popping candy (some of which you can see on the top of the bath bomb), so it sounds amazing when you put it in the bath. 

Another of my favourites is the Melting Snowman, which cost £2.25! This was the last one in the store, and when I saw that I practically ran across the shop to pick it up before anybody else could (I think that shows you just how much I like it). This is one of Lush's bath melts, meaning that it is extremely moisturising and leaves my skin feeling amazing, plus it smells of almond but has a spicy kick to it! 

I admit that this next one I bought last year and haven't used yet, but Lush have brought it back again this year so I thought that I'd include it too! The Christmas Penguin is a bubble bar and costs £3.25, plus just look at how cute it is. The scent of this is floral mixed with citrus, without being too sweet, making it quite a good neutral scent! One of the nice things about this bubble bar too is the fact that it makes your bath water a lovely sky blue shade, which adds to the calmness of a bath.

Next is another bubble bar, this time Candy Mountain, which only costs £2.75! Again this is one of mine from last year, but it has been brought back again by Lush and I am so glad. This is swirly candy pink and white, with a slight silver lustre coating over it! The scent is almost identical to the Snow Fairy shower gel, which I'm sure you've all heard people talking about, in the sense that it's the same vanilla-candyfloss scent.

One thing that I have strangely never tried from Lush is any of their bar soaps, even though I had heard really good things about them! I was eventually convinced to try one when my friend bought a piece of the Yog Nog soap (which costs £3.40 per 100g) and told me to smell it. All that I can say is oh my freaking goodness - it honestly is probably one of the best smelling things that I've even encountered, so obviously I had to buy a piece for myself!

It has a really gorgeous smell, very spicy and nutmegy, but also quite sweet. The formulation is also lovely too since it's very moisturising without being at greasy! Also just a little note, when I took a photo of this I had already used it once, hence the slightly strange white exterior, so it does look better when you first buy it.

There are some great little gift sets that Lush have realised this year too, and I was lucky enough to get my hands on a couple! The first being the cute Little Snow Fairy* set, costing £8.50, which comes wrapped in pretty pink and silver paper, along with silver ribbon. This contains a 100g bottle of the fairly legendary and popular Snow Fairy shower gel, along with 100g of pink Fun! These are both product that I had never tried before, so I was fairly excited to test them out.

Snow Fairy has a very sweet scent, without being too sickly - it actually reminds me of strawberry Hubba Bubba! If you don't already know what Fun is, think of Play-Doh, but you can use it as a bubble bar, shampoo, soap - basically anything soap orientated. The pink Fun again is sweet, but slightly more sour than Snow Fairy, I would guess that it contains raspberry. This would definitely make a lovely gift or stocking filler for somebody at Christmas, I know that I would be very happy myself if I got it!

The other gift set is the Joy To The World* set, which costs £8.50 aswell! This contains a 45g pot of Dream Cream hand and body lotion, and a 120g block of Snowcake soap. Dream Cream is apparently Lush's number 1 product, and is great for very sensitive skin! It is made up of a mixture of cocoa butter, oat milk, chamomile and a few other products, making it very moisturising and cooling. This smells largely of lavender, which is a scent that I really don't like, but it does mellow after a little while making it more bearable!

Snowcake's scent is one that I'm not too keen on either, and that is marzipan! I know that a lot of people love this soap so I guess that I must be one of the few odd ones out. Just from picking this up you can really feel how moisturising and buttery it is, without being greasy, meaning this set would be perfect for somebody with dry skin! Like Little Snow Fairy, this would make a great gift, just make sure that the recipient likes the scents of marzipan and lavender first!

I hope that you enjoyed this post! Christmas time at Lush is honestly my favourite, so I think I will have to make an order online to stock up until next Christmas (can you believe that it is 2015 in a little over a month?!). I'd love to know if you are planning on picking some Christmas products up from Lush, or if you have already, and if you are planning on giving anyone some as a present!

What do you think of this year's Christmas Lush range?

Make sure that you enter my giveaway to win a Daniel Wellington Classic Sheffield Watch here!

My Diamond Advertiser for November  is Asia from Asia Jade!

Twice Haul

Hey guys! Today I am here with another haul post, containing some very exciting things, all from Twice. If you had never heard of Twice before, they are an American company which sell second-hand, and sometimes new, clothing and handbags! Now when I said second-hand your mind may think of old clothes, that nobody would want, however Twice only sell like-new products from recent collections. The brands that they sell include Kate Spade, J.Crew, Ralph Lauren and much more, the only difference is that they cost a fraction of their original RRP!

Even though Twice are an American brand they actually post internationally to the UK, Canada and Australia (also I checked, you don't have to pay tax and duty)! Ontop of this, you can also sell any of your unwanted clothes and handbags to them, helping you earn some money. Sadly this option is currently only available for those living in America, but hopefully they change that in the future!

I must admit, when I saw that they saw that they sell a lot of high-end brands, I was a little hesitant about whether or not the products, bags especially, were genuine or not! After having a little look around the Q&A section, I read that they check all of their products for authenticity, so I guess that clears that one up.

Now that I have got that little explanation done, onto what I bought from Twice when I was given some money to spend! I honestly spent hours searching through everything on the website, trying to find my few favourite things (which was so hard, especially since there seemed to be loads of new products coming onto the site every hour), however I eventually narrowed it down to five things!

Their handbag section is actually quite new to the site, so I obviously had to get something from there, or should I say two somethings! The first one that I ended up going for was the gorgeous Kate Spade Palm Springs Maggie Satchel* in Pebble, which cost $114.95/£71.52 (RRP of $398/£247.63). I spotted this beautiful light, blush pink leather bag and had to buy it! It has so much room inside, plus it is actually my first designer handbag which is exciting. This was brand new with its original Kate Spade tag and dust bag, and even though it had a couple of little marks on the back (which I've managed to wipe off), it is seriously amazing value for money considering the original cost!

The other bag oriented thing that I got was again from Kate Spade, this time it was the Kate Spade Spotted Neda Purse* for $49.95/£31.08 (RRP of $198/£123.19)! I have wanted a Kate Spade purse for absolutely ages, so when I saw this I knew that I would be buying it, especially since it has spots on which is probably my favourite print. The lining of this is lovely, and also fits so much in it!

Strangely I don't own a single pair of black jeans, so I thought that it would be a good idea to get some, especially since monochrome seems to popular for autumn and winter this year! With that in mind I decided to go for a pair of American Eagle Black Jegging Jeans*, for $16.95/£10.55 (RRP $50/£31.11). Even though these are classed as jeggings on the Twice website (since they contain 2% spandex), they feel, for all intensive purposes, like normal jeans! The fit of these are honestly amazing - they aren't too long and are really comfy.

I got a couple of tops too! The first being a MANGO Brown Striped Blouse* for only $8.95/£5.57 (RRP $50/£31.11).  I must admit that even though this is in the size XS, it is very oversized, and I did think that the brown was a bit darker than it was in real life, but I think that it looks alright on - I just need to find a belt of some sort to help pull it in at the waist! Apart from that though it feels well made, and the material is nice!

The second top, and last thing that I bought, was a Uniqlo Oatmeal 3/4 Sleeve Top* for $7.95/£4.95 (RRP $14.90/£9.27)! I love 3/4 sleeve tops, and loved the colour of this, so obviously I had to buy it. Uniqlo isn't a brand that I had heard of, however the material of this is quite thick and extremely soft, meaning that I'll have to look into some of their other tops!

I was really impressed with my purchases and what you could get from Twice, for a fraction of what the products would normally cost! I really wish that there were more shops like this, as it's a great way of being able to buy designers labels without paying the full cost.

I have also kindly been given a 50% off code (yes, 50%) for all of my readers on their first order, to help indulge in some somewhat guilt free shopping! If you'd like to take advantage of that lovely offer then make sure that you click here, and you should get a little code popup for you to use. I'd love to know what you buy if you get something from Twice too!

What do you think of the concept of Twice?

My Diamond Advertiser for October is Jordan from Jordan Alice!

Recent Purchases

Hey guys! Something that I haven't done in quite a while is a haul, so I thought that I would collect together most of the stuff that I have bought recently and do a recent purchases post! I actually remembered after taking all of the photos for this post, and packing my softboxes away, that I had left out a few things, but I will maybe pop them in a future haul. 

Shopping just hasn't really been my things recently, especially beauty wise! Most beauty things just haven't been catching my eye at all, whereas clothes have been far more interesting to me than usual. 

I'll start off with clothes! From Debenhams I bought a couple of things, the first being a Tenki Cream Chevron Print Dress (the link isn't the exact dress, but similar) for £26. I hadn't actually heard of Tenki before, however they do some beautiful dresses, and this one really caught my eye! The top half of the dress is a floaty cream material, then the lower half is navy with a coloured chevron type print. The second thing from Debenhams is a Red Herring Navy Spotted 2-in-1 Dress for £13! This has definitely been my absolute favourite dress over the summer, as it's really soft and floaty, plus I could quite easily wear it over autumn and winter as it's navy. 

Since I am so short I find it really hard to find blouses or shirts that aren't too long for me, so when I found a really pretty one in H&M I had to buy it! I bought the Draped Wraparound Blouse in white for £19.99, and it looks nice with just some jeans and boots, making it perfect for the colder weather. 

The last piece of clothing that I bought was just a Primark Navy Boyfriend Cardigan for £8, if I remember correctly! Cardigans are essential for when it gets colder, and this is nice just popped on over a dress or jeans to add an extra layer. 

Before I get to beauty orientated things, there are three other things! The first is a Limit Cream Strap Watch from H. Samuel (the link is the same watch, but in burgundy), which only cost £1.99. I had been after a little watch for a while, so when this was in the sale I couldn't stop myself from buying it! Then I got a really pretty Red Herring White Faux Pearl Flower Earring & Necklace Set for £2.40 in the Debenhams sale! I only bought this for the necklace really, because I can't wear earrings that aren't genuine silver or gold, since my ears literally burn if I wear anything else.

The other would be the M&S De Jouy Toiletry Purse for £6.80, using a discount code! I'll tell you the truth, the main reason that I bought this is because it matches my Ikea duvet cover (the blue and white one that everybody seems to have), but it really is a lovely makeup bag. It has a waterproof lining inside, which is great as you can then wipe it if any makeup gets spilt and the bag is just a lovely quality! This also doesn't open like a normal zip makeup bag, instead it is more of a clutch bag style and has a zip, then two bent metal bars on the top which you open apart and kind of fold down. Hopefully that made some sort of sense, as that is honestly the best way that I could describe it! 

Now onto beauty things! The first thing would be the Lush Comforter Bubble Bar for £4.50. This is my absolute favourite bubble bar, as it smells amazing and each bubble bar lasts for ages (I bought my first one in December 2012 and I only ran out in June this year), making it great value for money. 

One very exciting thing would have to be my first ever YSL lipstick! I'd been after one for ages, because just look at them - they are gorgeous. I noticed that Feel Unique had an offer of "£10 off a spend of £25" so I got the YSL Rouge Volupte Shine Lipstick in Corail Intuitive for only £15, rather than its usual price of £25! Corail Intuitive is a beautiful pinky coral shade that really seems to suit my skin tone, and the formulation is really nice. 

Another great offer that I got would be the Benefit Gimme Brow Brow Gel, in Light/Medium, from Look Fantastic for £12.60 instead of £17.50, also using a discount code!

A couple of essential products that I also got were the Liz Earle Instant Boost Skin Tonic and Collection Pressed Powder in Ivory! The Skin Tonic cost me £13.25 from Liz Earle, and although this is a little pricey, I really don't mind paying that as my last bottle lasted me over a year and it does miracles to my skin. The Collection Pressed Powder only cost me £1.99 from Boots, which is an absolute bargain for such a good powder - I'd really recommend that you try it!

That is, nearly, everything that I have bought recently! You may have noticed that this is my second post within a week, as I'm trying to get back into blogging, so hopefully I can keep it up. I have actually got all of my posts planned (emphasize the planned part, rather than written), meaning that should help me keep up with it a little more! 

What have you bought recently?

Recent Summer Purchases

Hey guys! It seems like I haven't done a haul in ages, because truth is I haven't really bought much this year. There haven't been many makeup/beauty products that have really caught my eye (except the Hourglass compacts, but they are so expensive), and I know a lot of other people have thought this too - clothes just seem to be so much more interesting this year! I have bought a few bits over the last couple of months, meaning I thought that it would be a great opportunity to do a haul post, especially since I have found myself really short on blog post ideas.

I'll start off with clothes first! All of the clothes are actually from the ASOS sale, because it seemed really good this time so I couldn't resist getting a few things. The first thing to go into my basket was a really pretty Tan Scallop Edge Satchel that I have had my eye on for ages, plus it was a bargain at only £10! It's actually very spacious, even though it may not look it, and it's a lovely quality. 

Next is the gorgeous Bird And Heart Print Skater Dress (this is sadly sold out now, but I have left the link in if you'd like to see some better pictures)! I have been trying to wear more dresses this year, and it's going really well, so I've been gradually increasing my collection of dresses and thought that this would make a nice edition, especially at just £8.50. I got the dress in the size 8 as it was the only size left, however it's a little looser than I'd like so it would have been good to get a size 6 if they had it - oh well! 

The last thing from ASOS is a New Look Twist Bikini Top, which cost £6! I had been on the look out for just a basic black bikini top for quite a while (I had some bikini bottoms that had nothing to match with), and when I saw this it looked perfect. It's a very pretty twist/ruffle top, that isn't too small, I just wish that I was going on holiday somewhere this year to wear it! 

Onto beauty orientated bits! I bought three things when Boots had their 3 for 2 beauty offer on back in April, which I had kept my eye on since they were released and had eagerly waited for the offer to come back on. The first thing I went for was the Revlon Colorburst Lacquer Balm in Demure (which I reviewed in my last post), because I had heard so much hype surrounding them and wanted to put one to the test myself! Demure is a lovely nude pink shade, with a slight silver glimmer in it, so if you'd like to hear more make sure you read my review. I also got another lip product - the Soap & Glory Sexy Mother Pucker Gloss Stick in Bashful! I had troubles trying to decide between Bashful and Nudist, but decided on Bashful as it was that little bit more pink toned. The third thing I bought was the Maybelline Eye Studio Lasting Studio Gel Eyeliner in Intense Black! This has had hype surrounding it probably since I started blogging, but for some reason I had just never bought it. I've only used it a couple of times since I got it, however from what I have tried it seems really good, albeit quite hard to remove! For the three products it cost me £15.98 which I think is pretty great value for money. 

I noticed that Bank had all of their Barry M products reduced online to only £1, so I was definitely obliged to pick out a few products! I ended up getting three of their nail polishes, all of which are blue or green for Summer! The first one that I knew I was definitely getting was the Gelly Hi-Shine Nail Polish in Sugar Apple. This shade was from their Spring Gelly collection and is a gorgeous shade of mint green, which reminds me of Essie's Mint Candy Apple polish! When I tried Rose Hip, which is also from the Spring range, it did disappoint me quite a bit as I didn't find the colour that great and it looked quite streaky, so I hope that this one is better. The other two are both from the Barry M Aquarium Collection, which came out in March this year! The two shades that I got were Pacific, a metallic ocean blue shade, and Arabian, a metallic emerald green with gold shimmer. I thought that £3 for all three of these polishes was an amazing bargain, especially since they are £3.99 each in Boots!

Finally is the Korres Pomegranate Lip Butter from Debenhams! I know that a lot of people love the Korres Lip Butters, and I had a £5 voucher to use at Debenhams, so I decided to treat myself to the pomegranate version. I've only used it once so far, but I must really soon!

That is what I have bought recently! It doesn't actually look like a lot however I've come away with quite a few things that I have wanted for a while. I wish that I was going on holiday this Summer though, because I have seen so many pretty things that would be no use in England, but perfect for somewhere hot! I'd love to know what you've got your eye on at the moment, as it may give me some ideas on what I should buy.

What have you bought recently for Summer?

Mini Spring Haul

Hey guys! Lately I have been buying a few things, mainly clothes, in readiness for Spring (although they would still be fine for Summer). Beauty stuff lately hasn't really been interesting me as much, since there hasn't been many releases/popular products that I have desperately wanted, hence the lack of beauty products in this haul! I have been trying to branch out a little more with what I wear, e.g wearing floral clothes since they seem really popular this year, but I will talk about that a bit further into the post!

Just a little note - obviously the dresses are longer than they appear in the photos, I had to fold them up a bit to fit in the photo. 

A great bargain that I got a couple of weeks ago was this Red Corsage Dress from F&F at Tesco, which was in their sale for only £5! At first I wasn't really keen on it, but it has definitely grown on me. It goes to just above my knee and I'm 5ft meaning it would be pretty short on anybody taller than me! I posted a photo of me wearing it on Instagram here if you'd like to see it a little better. Now, I have no idea when I will wear this, as I don't do to many events that actually require an outfit like this, however for £5 I wasn't going to refuse.

Dresses are something that I very rarely wear, instead I like to stay in my comfort zone and wear jeans, but this year I am determined to wear more dresses (once it's a bit warmer of course). I don't suit skater dresses or skirts at all, which makes buying dresses/skirts very difficult since a large percentage of the nice, everyday ones are normally in the skater style! I am also trying to wear more prints, so when I saw this Blue Floral Print Crochet Collar Dress from New Look for £17.99, I decided to take a leap and buy it. I'm still not completely converted to it, but the tags have now been taken off so I have no choice!

I got three things from Primark, the first being a Daisy Print T-Shirt, which was only £3 or £4! I got this a couple of sizes bigger, in the size 10, than I normally wear (size 6 or 8), because I always find that the Primark's cheap T-shirts come out extremely small and tight after they have been washed a couple of times. Plus who would really want a top that would make you boil when it is, hopefully, warm?!

The next thing from Primark was a Black & White Daisy Skirt! This was £6 if I remember correctly, which I thought was really good for such a pretty little skirt. It would be great to wear with a top of some sort and some ballet flats when it's sunny! A problem that I very often find with Primark's clothes is that they tend to be quite thin and see-through, however this isn't at all. It has a silky under layer, then the top net part with the design on, which I think is quite good quality for only £6!

The last thing was a Pack Of 5 Tan Tights for £2.50. These are not interesting in the slightest, just cheap, thin tights that I wanted to try on with a dress to wear to my Aunty's wedding (I later found out that they look awful with the dress so that ruled them out)!

I will start off with the Sterling Silver & Cubic Zirconium Necklace! I saw this on offer on Amazon a few days ago, and it looks really cute so I thought that I would get it and see what I thought. It only cost £13 and it looked really cute! It's quite dainty too so I am probably wearing it to my Aunty's wedding this month!

A product that I saw being talked about a lot last year was the Michel Mercier Detangling Brush, since many people said that it was better than the Tangle Teezer! When I saw this one, for fine hair, in Tk Maxx a little while ago for only £7.99, I was pretty excited as I had been contemplating whether to buy one at their full price (around £13) online. I have only used it a couple of times since I got it, but so far so good!

I got a couple of bits from Boots last Monday, the first being the Barry M Gelly Nail Polish in the shade Rose Hip, which cost £3.99! This is from Barry M's new Spring collection, meaning I was very excited to try it. I tried it pretty much as soon as I got home but I was actually slightly disappointed! The colour was a lot paler than I expected, and didn't suit me much, plus I actually found it to be quite a gloopy (not gel like) consistency. Has anybody else found that with it?

Finally the second thing that I got from Boots was the Garnier Summer Body Light Sunkissed Look Moisturising Lotion for £2.55! I used this all throughout summer last year and really liked it since it very rarely went streaky, and the finish was lovely. I am close to finishing my old bottle so I thought that I would get a new one for Spring and Summer!

That is what I have bought recently! I may well have a more beauty orientated haul coming up soon as my wishlist is gradually growing, I'm just waiting now for Boots or Superdrug to start their 3 for 2 offers. If anybody knows when either are starting I'd love to know please!

Have you been buying anything for Spring?

My Diamond Advertiser for April is Frankie from Curiouser And Curiouser!

What I Got In The After-Christmas Sales

Hey guys! Today's post is going to be about what I got in the after-Christmas sales. I didn't actually get much this year, and only got some things from Boots and Lush! Normally I get a lot of stuff in the Boots 50% off sale, but it just didn't seem as good as previous years. This was my first time getting something in a Lush sale, because I completely forgot about it in 2012! Now, onto what I bought..

I will start with the few bits from Boots first! One of the first things I bought was the Lancome Hypnose Doll Eyes Set (£14.67), which contains a full sized Hypnose Doll Eyes Mascara, a mini Bi-Facil Eye Makeup Remover and a mini Crayon Khol Pencil Eyeliner. I had hoped to get the Hypnose Star set, however it was sadly sold out, but I was still happy to get this because I've never tried anything from Lancome! Next was a No7 Set (£8) that contains a bronzer/highlighter hybrid compact (which is unbelievably pretty) and a round kabuki brush. The bronzer/highlighter has three "sections" - a simple white shade, a rose gold shade and a coppery shade! The brush isn't particularly soft, but it is still a pretty good brush. 

The other beauty set that I picked up was the Soap & Glory Eyes Box (£8). I spotted this and loved the look of it! It contains a full sized Thick & Fast, a Smoulder Kohl Pencil Eyeliner, a mini eyeshadow brush and six eyeshadows which contains some gorgeous shades (I found a photo on Google of all of the shades so I will link it here). The last thing from Boots was some Monty Bojangles Orange Truffles (£2)! I haven't tried these before and since they were only £2 I thought that I would. I'm not really very keen on these though, they are extremely sweet and I don't have a sweet tooth at all!

Now onto Lush! Sadly a few products had already sold out online, such as Candy Mountain, but I got a few other products to keep me going throughout the year! The first thing that I got was three of my favourite product from Lush, the Golden Wonder Bath Ballistic (£1.75 each). It is definitely one of the prettiest bath ballistics that Lush do, mainly because of how it makes the bath water shimmery! I then got two Melting Snowmen Bath Melt (£1.12), which is another one of my favourites and smells lovely. I only got the one Cinders Bath Ballistic (£1.22), which contains popping candy, meaning that I had to get one! It smells exactly like fruit punch, which I love. The last product that I bought was the Magic Wand Bubble Bar (£2.47)! I had had my eye on this since it came out in 2012, but always resisted the temptation to buy it because £4.94 is quite a lot, however when I saw it at half price I caved and bought it. I am so glad that I did! It smells absolutely amazing, and exactly like bubblegum, so I'm really happy with that purchase.

On top of those lovely things, I was kindly given three little samples! The first was some Unlucky For Dirt Bar Soap (I believe they are no longer selling it), which smells like rose Turkish delight. Next was a little pot of The Greeench Deodorant Powder and I have absolutely no idea if and how I will use it! The last was a little pot of Whoosh Shower Jelly. I love the smell of this, it smells very citrusy and fresh (I may wait until Spring to use it) and I can't wait to try it! 

That is everything that I bought in the after-Christmas sales! I was really happy about what I got this year, and they were all great deals. 

Did you get anything in the after-Christmas sales?

My Diamond Advertiser for January is Niamh from Niamh's Dream!

What I Got For Christmas 2013

Hey guys! I can't believe that we are already over halfway through January, this year is going quick already! Today's post is about what I got for Christmas in 2013. I realise that I have left this really late, but better late then never right! Like in my "What I Got For My Birthday 2013" post I want to clarify that I am in no way bragging or showing off, I just wanted to do this as I love reading these sort of posts because they always give me ideas of what to buy (or put on my birthday/Christmas list).

First, starting with makeup! I received the Nars Creamy Concealer in Vanilla because it is my favourite concealer. I've had the tube that I am currently using since about April last year, and I still have lots left so this is for putting in my storage! The other makeup item was the Smashbox Try It Kit. I knew that I was going to get this because I got my Mum to order it when it was on offer at Boots at half price, and I had never used any Smashbox products before so this little kit seemed great! The only brush that I got was the Real Techniques Shading Brush which I can't wait to use as Real Techniques brushes are my favourite.

I actually got quite a few nail polishes, the first being the OPI Matte Top Coat! I had asked on Twitter what was everybody's favourite matte top coat, and this was by far the most recommended. Next was an Essie set of 3 polishes in the shades Leading Lady, Limo Scene and Adore A Ball! I spotted this in Tk Maxx in about November, and it was only £7.99, which is the cost of just one Essie polish making it an amazing deal. The last nail polish was the Ciate Very Colourfoil Manicure Kit! I have never tried any Ciate polishes before, and they are always raved about so much, so I'm looking forward to trying this. 

For skincare and moisturisers I received Marks & Spencer Nature Extract Spiced Cranberry Body Butter, which I love the smell of! I also got another body butter, but this was The Body Shop Shea Body Butter which has become one of my favourite products. Like my birthday, I got another of the Loreal Post Party SOS sets that included the Loreal Micellar Water and Loreal Triple Active Day Moisturiser! Another The Body Shop product that I received was a little Ginger Sparkle Set - this included a hand cream and little nail file with gingerbread men on!

The last few beauty bits I received was the Nivea Luscious Lips Set which contained two lip butters and two "stick" lip balms! The other two The Body Shop products, in one of my favourite scents, were the Shea Body Mist and Shea Shower Cream. The only Soap & Glory set that I got was the Soap & Glory I'm Your Manicure Set which has a tube of Hand Food hand cream, Scrub & Happiness hand scrub, Pink Soda nail polish, three sided nail buffer, moisture gloves and cuticle stick in it! I'm really looking forward to trying all these products out (although the Hand Food is already one of my favourites), especially the hand scrub because I've never seen a scrub for your hands before. Lastly is the Bumble & Bumble Surf Spray! I had this on my Christmas/Birthday wishlist and it was definitely one of the products I really wanted to try. So far it has been pretty good, I admit it's not as amazing as the hype led me to believe, but it is still nice!

I only received a few pieces of clothing this year because my wishlist was definitely centred more around beauty stuff! The first thing was some Black Slipper Boots from George (Asda), they are fur lined inside and fit my feet really well because they don't fall off everytime I take a step, and with little, very narrow feet that's a real problem for me. Next was a Cable Print Heat Retaining Top, also from George! It is quite thin but really retains heat well, and I am pretty sensitive to the cold, so this will be good. The final item from George was a Reindeer Christmas Jumper! This is really cute because the two reindeer are nose-to-nose with a little red pompom where they meet, whilst the rest of the top is white. I wore this on Christmas day with a pair of Zara leggings and I think that they looked nice together! The last couple of clothing bits that I received were two packs of socks. The first were some "Mistle Toes" Socks (I think that they were from B&M), which are five pairs of Christmas themed socks! The others were some Primark Fluffy Socks, which are one of my favourite things from Primark. 

This year I ended up with a huge amount of chocolate, but the funny thing is that I barely eat any chocolate at all - I have only eaten about a sixth of this lot so far! I did ask for the Lindt Stracciatella Cookies & Cream Truffles because they seriously taste amazing and aren't too sweet. I then received a pack of four Crunchies, which used to be one of my favourite chocolates. I got a few things from Thorntons, four of which were from the Continental range - two of the Milk, Dark & White Boxes, a bag of Viennese Truffles and a Continental Selection Box. There was also a bag of Turkish Delight and two miniature chocolates (a little Alpine Log with a marzipan robin on and a little Christmas Pudding Truffle!)

My iPhone dock broke during the summer and since then I have been having to put up with no speakers and using the standard cable charger, so it was pretty good when I received the Groove i-Speaker Dock 20! The sound quality is amazing, and it is generally a great dock. Next I got a set of three LED Pillar Candles (which have become a part of my new photo background) and are one of my favourite presents! They all change colour using the remote and really do look like real candles. The other LED candles that I received were three LED Bird Tealights from Wilkinsons, and they are so cute! 

Last of all is the assorted other things that I received! First of all was the No7 Illuminated Make-Up Mirror, which I admit I knew I was getting, but I was still so happy to receive it. I had been needed a new mirror for ages, and this one is perfect, I especially love the built in lights! I had put the Bobbi Brown Makeup Manual on my wishlist aswell, and it is a great book. It's really useful because it has lots of little tips in it and I'm looking forward to reading it all (again!) I've been baking since I was about seven and enjoy it, so the Cake Recipe Book by Rachel Allen will hopefully give me more inspiration about what to cook. There are some lovely looking recipes in it and I don't own a recipe book by Rachel Allen meaning this should be fun to try! Last of all was a Kenwood KMix Freestanding Mixer Cover. I bought my mixer about one/two years ago and never got round to getting a cover for it. This one is vinyl so it is easy to clean and stops dust going on the mixer! 

That is what I got for Christmas 2013! I loved all of the things that I got this year and can't wait to use/wear all of them.

What did you get for Christmas?

My Diamond Advertiser for January is Niamh from Niamh's Dream!

What I Got For My Birthday 2013

Hey guys! I hope that you all had a great Christmas, I can't believe how close it is until the New Year. As some of you may know it was my birthday on the 17th, and I thought I would show you all what I got for my birthday! Firstly I want to clarify that I am in no way bragging or showing off, I just wanted to do this as I love reading these sort of posts because they always give me ideas of what to buy (or put on my birthday/Christmas list). I have tried to put the link to as many of the things I received, but there are a few that have either gone out of stock or are no longer available, meaning I can't, sorry about that! 

First I will start with the MAC stuff! This year I asked for a few MAC products, since I didn't own any previously and they are always talked and raved about so much. I was lucky to get three lipsticks, all in the Cremesheen formula, in the shades Peach Blossom, Coral Bliss and Creme Cup! I played it fairly safe with the shades because my closest MAC store/counter is over an hour away, so I didn't want to end up with a shade that I didn't like. Onto the eyeshadows I got both of the shades that I put on my wishlist, which are the shades Satin Taupe and Sable, both of which are shimmery browns! 

I have been after this product for months and it is the Urban Decay Naked Basics Palette! I wear a lot of neutral shades of eyeshadow, so this seemed perfect for me. I am yet to try out many of the shades but currently I really like it! The last piece of makeup that I received was the Anastasia Lash Genius, which is a top coat that will make any mascara waterproof. I decided that I would use this when I went to the spa that day to give it a proper test, and I must say that it is really good! It was only effected slightly when I went in the steam room, but even then it only smudged a little. 

I don't own a proper blush brush, which meant that I was really happy to receive the Real Techniques Blush Brush! Real Techniques brushes are my favourite and are always soft, which is exactly what this one is. I haven't given it a proper test yet (I keep forgetting I have it) but I will have to soon!

I got a couple of things from The Body Shop, the first being the Japanese Cherry Blossom Eau De Toilette, which I have had my eye on since my birthday last year! It has a lovely floraly, slightly sweet, scent which isn't one I would normally go for but I love this. The other product is the Almond Shower Gel which has quite a subtle almond scent, making it smell really fresh and nice! 

The last makeup/skincare thing that I was given was the Loreal Post Party Beauty S.O.S, which includes the Micellar Water and Triple Active Day Moisturiser! If you have read my blog before I am sure that you know of my love for the Micellar Water, so I can't wait to give the moisturiser a try because it does sound great. 

I received a few fashion related bits (most of them fluffy, due to my slight problem with all things fluffy and fleecy)! The first was a pair of my favourite type of Primark pyjamas, which and super thick and soft. These have little Christmas puddings all over them too making them very festive! Next was a really soft snood from George at Asda, in a creamy mink shade. I don't think I have been out once since my birthday without wearing this because it is just so nice, and stops me getting cold!

Another fluffy thing that I got was a onesie! This particular one is from Peacocks and it is navy with snowflakes on, plus it is really pretty, thick and warm. I do have one slight negative though, the arms are rather short, and I am only 5ft, so I doubt this would fit somebody who is taller than me or has long arms!

The last item of clothing that I received was my much awaited Zara leggings! I have featured these in a couple of wishlists previously on my blog, so I was definitely happy to get them. I have worn them a couple of times already (I'm still trying to figure out how I can style them) and they are really warm and comfy!

I got a couple of things that weren't beauty or fashion related, one of which was a Hanging Heart Light from Asda! This is from the Christmas decoration section, however it honestly doesn't look too Christmasy so I think that I could pull off having it up during the rest of the year. The second thing I got was the Bake & Decorate cookbook by Fiona Cairns! I have had this book on my wishlist for quite a while now, and Fiona Cairns' cakes always look amazing, she even cooked the wedding cake for William & Kate's wedding, meaning her recipes must be good!

That is what I got for my birthday! I was really happy with what I got and I can't wait to give it all a proper try. I will have my "what I got for Christmas" post coming up soon too so keep an eye out for that!

What has your all time favourite birthday gift been?