My Mini Christmas Wish List

If you cant tell from my last few Christmas related posts, I am getting pretty excited for Christmas. November has whizzed by and the first of December is only 4 days away! Do you have an advent calendar yet? you're never to old for an advent calendar!

I don't know what it is but at Christmas every time someone asks what I want my reply 99% of the time is "umm, I dunno". All year round I will be seeing things and adding them to my wish list, but when December comes I've suddenly forgotten everything!

I have been having a little look around though and I've found a few things I would really like, I don't expect anyone to buy me any of this, in fact I will probably end up eventually getting half of it as a 'Christmas treat' for myself but there's no harm in dropping a few hints!

Number one is the Naked Palette. I've never been massively into makeup but lately I have been and I've been enjoying trying some new things out, so its time to expand my very limited collection! I did actually send my boyfriend the link to the Naked palette I wanted, is that to much of a hint? I would also be very happy to get Gwen Stefani's urban decay palette, it only came out earlier this month and it looks gorgeous, not sure I would use the brighter colours as much though. Definitely don't think I would be able to pull off the blue!

I would also love the Real Techniques Collectors Edition gift set, this set comes with 5 brushes and at £29.99 that means each brush is about £6.00 so you're getting a great deal. Its really good for people like me who are starting pretty much from scratch.

 

I love Barry M nail polish and I certainly would not mind topping up that collection. My favourite is the Jelly range they have, you actually look like you've gone to get your nails done...until I smudge them because I'm to impatient to let them dry. They have a great selection of colours and Barry M isn't very expensive either, so you can get a few colours without breaking the bank. My Favourite shade is Ballerina at the minute, so gorgeous!

 

ETSY! I love finding unique things on etsy so it would be great to have a gift card for the site. I have a ton of stuff on my favourites just waiting to be bought. I can spend ages scrolling down looking at everything and I find some really great stuff. I'm currently in the process of buying furniture to move into my first place and etsy is really good to pick up a few bits and pieces to make my new place feel a bit more homey.

 

I'm going to leave it there for now, I could go on and on! What's top on everyone else's wish list?

 

Christmas Gift Ideas Under £20

 

Christmas can get pretty expensive, especially if you have a lot of people to buy for! I've put together a list to help give you some ideas for gifts under £20, presents that are great if you have a lot of people to buy for.

 

Firstly there's the obvious skincare gift sets! I think these are really good and you can pretty much find one for whoever your buying for, I think this Zoella gift set would be a really good choice for a preteen. Superdrug currently has up to half price on selected gift sets, definitely worth checking out for a bargain!

 

Hot chocolate jars are really good as gifts to give out to almost anyone, you can also make a few at once so its great if you have a few school friends you need to buy for or as stocking fillers. You can decorate them how you want to make them look really Christmassy, and who doesn't like a cosy night in with a hot chocolate at this time of year! You can buy jars online or in most supermarkets so they're really easy to get hold of and they aren't usually very expensive. 

 

 

One present I would definitely be more than happy to receive is a lush gift set! They're also great because you can find one to suit your budget, this one is only £9.99. There's also this one is at the higher end of the £20 budget but I was actually surprised at how much was in the set. If you know any Lush enthusiasts like myself this will definitely be a great gift! I might have to try a few of the products in these gift sets myself...for research purposes.

 

I'm a big fan of personalised presents, I just think its so nice to give a gift that really means something to them. I found these personalised coasters, I think these are a sweet present. I think these would be a really nice present for a family member if you add some lovely family photos.

 

 

If you have someone who isn't all that into beauty, or someone who is already up to their eyeballs in products then a book could be a good idea. If you know there's a certain celebrity they are a fan of you could get their book. Maybe even a cook book if you know someone's into baking! WH Smith has a sale on right now so you'll definitely be able to find something they like for under £20. If you know they prefer to read electronic books then you could also get them a voucher so they can go and buy whatever books they like, also great if you're not sure exactly which one to get!

 

Jewellery can be a bit of a tricky one for under £20 but I found these gorgeous earrings on Not On The High Street that would be prefect for a friend. They're also really simple so they'll suit a lot of peoples style.

 

CHOCOLATE! You cant have to much chocolate at Christmas and you can get some really nice stuff for the under £20 budget. I love these personalised truffles from Thorntons if you're looking for something a little bit more special than just chocolate. I also found these cuties while I was having a look around, they look so yummy! Plus can you really go wrong with chocolate.

 

I hope this has helped you out or at least given you some inspiration! This has mainly been aimed a females, maybe I'll do another post aimed at guys as I'm sure I'm not the only one who struggles to buy for them!

 

 

Meat Free (kinda)!

I have always been very picky with my food and although I've gotten a bit better over the years I still like to eat pretty simple food. Then a few months ago I really started to go off meat. I've never been that keen on meat anyway but I started to actually feel sick after eating it. I decided to just stop eating it, I haven't cut it out completely but I rarely eat it now. As I was a pretty picky eater anyway you can imagine after getting rid of meat I was limited even more to what I could eat.

 

So that's when I started eating Quorn, this is basically just a brand of meat free meat. Being picky I'm always a bit cautious trying new food but I was kind of running out of options so I gave it a go! it was a great choice.

 

 

It actually mimics the taste and texture of real meat really well, but you don't get all the horrible fatty bits, which is what I think put me off eating it in the first place. I also thought that there wouldn't be too much choice but there's actually plenty to choose from. There's bacon, burgers, mince, chicken and probably tons of other stuff but they're my favourites! The bacon does look kind of weird but its tastes like super nice smokey bacon.

 

 

The other week I had steak burgers with a mozzarella centre and they were gorgeous! Honestly if I didn't know better I would have thought they were meat. Quorn is actually a really good source of protein, which is something meat free diets lack so its good to know you can still get the protein you need. One thing you will lack when you don't eat a lot of meat though is iron, but this can be found in other foods you can incorporate into your diet instead or you can take supplements.

 

I really love eating Quorn and I feel like I have a wider choice of food now! I've also kind of converted my other half which is great!

 

 

Fancy a Cup o' Coffee?

I hadn't been to Lush in far to long so I decided to treat myself and get a few things, I didn't get too much this time (very unlike me!). One thing I did get was the Cup o' Coffee facemask, I absolutely love Lush facemasks. I don't know what it is but they seem to do much more for my skin than any other brand I've tried. I also have quite sensitive skin and Lush masks generally contain natural ingredients so its perfect for me!

 

I decided to try a new one this time (living life on the edge as always). Cup o' Coffee is an exfoliating mask ad exfoliates your skin using ground up coffee beans. I will say these are quite rough on your skin but they really work. Because its not a gentle exfoliation I have been using this twice a week and I'm finding that I don't really need to exfoliate anymore during the week.

You've probably guessed what this mask smells like from the name, if like me you love the smell of coffee you'll like this but it is very strong. So if coffee isn't your...cup of tea...you'll probably not want to sit with this under your nose for 15 minutes.

This is a great mask though and it leaves my skin looking a lot brighter and so so smooth! I will definitely be purchasing this again.

xxx

Christmas Treats!

Ok so it is getting pretty close (kinda) to Christmas, the best thing about Christmas? THE FOOD! It just would not be Christmas if you didn't eat until you nearly exploded. And everything just looks so cute! Now Halloweens over and done with surely its time to start getting excited for Christmas, I know I have...I'm currently listening to Christmas songs, no doubt by the time Christmas is over I will have played them to death. Anyway back to the important part, the food!

 

I think I'm going to make some Christmas treats this year, so I had a look on Pinterest for some inspiration, as I usually do! and I was not disappointed. Here's a few of my favourites...

 

 

How cute are these?! they also look super simple so they would be great for kids, or for people who aren't the best at baking...such as myself!

 

Marshmallow Snowmen

 

 

Its little Santas made from strawberries! also you can eat as many as you like because its fruit, at least that's what I'll be telling myself!

 

Strawberry Santa

 

Cute cookies to go with hot chocolate...yes please! I really don't think one will be enough though, I wonder how many you can fit on one mug? I think these would be really cute to use if you have guests round over the Christmas period, just a little cute Christmassy touch!

 

Mini Star Cookies

 

 

Of course you have to have gingerbread at Christmas, I love how these ones are decorated. I think it would be a fun activity to bake a batch and then everyone could decorate one!

 

Gingerbread Men

 

Of course you need a snack to eat while you're sat watching your Christmas films and normal popcorn is just not good enough!

 

Funfetti Popcorn

 
 

 

More Ginger treats! I love the decoration and its something a bit different. These would be great to have out as snacks for guests, they're just to pretty to keep to yourself!

Gingerbread Cookies

 

I found tons more but these were my favourites. I'll definitely try a couple, my favourite has to be the ginger cookies dipped in white chocolate. That's one I'll do for sure but if my baking history is anything to go by, they probably wont turn out anything like those ones! Either way I'll post the result here, could end up a Pinterest fail post!

Thanks for reading, let me know if you have any more ideas, maybe some Christmas cupcakes?!

 

xxx

 

 

The photos used in this post aren't my own (I wish they were photos of my baking!) I have linked the original sites below each photo.

 

Fire works!

I've decided to start blogging again, I ended up stopping because I had just run out of motivation and topics to post about! But its crazy how many post ideas you come up with when you don't actually need them...I should have written some down because no doubt I'll be stuck again at some point! I was thinking of just starting a completely new blog but I decided not to and to just keep this one. Not sure I'm 100% happy with how it looks right now so I'll probably make a few changes.

 

So earlier I went out to a fire works display to celebrate bonfire night...which was actually on Thursday but I think most people waited for the weekend! I was expecting it to be stood outside shivering but it was actually fairly warm for November, and no rain! It was actually a really great display, the photos wont do it justice.

 

We didn't stick around for to long, I'm now back snuggled at home in my new throw from Dunelm mill, its from their teddy bear range and I swear it is the softest thing I've ever felt, perfect for cold nights!

 

 

I'll now leave you with a few very ammeter looking photos of tonight's fire works, do you know how hard  it is to get a good picture of them on an iPhone!

 

 

xxx