Festive Present Wrapping

It's that time of the year again, when we all make the dash around numerous City's and Towns searching high and low for presents and gifts for our loved ones. Last minutes Christmas shopping is the worst! I'm just going to throw this out there too, it's the one time of the year a lot more men leave their caves in one big men-mass swarm, all grunting and groaning in the shops looking for something to get their wives, girlfriends, sisters and mothers (okay, we know that's not entirely true, and some very organised and thoughtful men did their Christmas shopping in February...YEH RIGHT!) This year, I have completed my Christmas shopping AND wrapping by the 20th (not bad).

Although Christmas is a time for giving and receiving, I am one of these people that is ALL about the giving. Putting lot's of thought into people's presents, wrapping them nicely, and PRESENTing (see what I did there?) them to special people in your life is SO exciting. I always feel a great sense of satisfaction when the presents are all bought and wrapped ready for the 25th and popped under the tree.

I thought i'd share some of my wrapped presents with you, in order to get your creative juices flowing if you lack a little in that department or just to give you a few ideas!

Red, Striped & Snowflake Wrapping Paper - M&S

Retro Wrapping Paper - Urban Outfitters

Red Ribbon, Natural Twine, Bakers Twine, Sequin String - M&S

Naughty Swear Word Paper (For the Christmas Un-Enthusiast) - Urban Outfitters

Where's Wally Paper - Urban Outfitters

Red Bells - Wyvale Garden Centre in Northampton

Plush Hearts - Wyvale Garden Centre in Northampton

Red and White Stitch Ribbon - Wyvale Garden Centre in Northampton

Present Labels - M&S

I hope this has inspired you, or if you just like to have a nosey at how people decorate presents, then this has fulfilled that desire for you. I'm a firm believer in how a present is wrapped is a good judge of character and says a lot about someone as a person ;) No pressure guys! 

Have you done all your Christmas shopping? Do you love giving presents as much as I do?

♥

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Beauty Lovers Advent Calendars

 Liz Earle Advent Calendar £100* (free delivery until 4th December)

 You Beauty Advent Calendar £59.95 + £2.95 P&P*

Every year, I will be given a chocolate advent calendar from my grandparents (yes, i'm 22 years old) and each year, I still find it just as exciting opening the little door and having a cheeky piece of chocolate for 24 days of the month (even though we all eat chocolate all year round, but it's in the shape of Snowmen and holly...thus making it 100% DIFFERENT...okay?) . However, being a complete beauty junky, when these got delivered to my door, I suddenly lost all enthusiasm for my chocolate advent calendars. 

The first one is a Liz Earle advent calendar. As most of you know, I am a huge fan of Liz Earle. I've used their cleanse and polish for well over a year now, and although I dip my toe into the realm of other cleansers, nothing ever comes close. This is the perfect pre-christmas, skincare lovers treat. I appreciate that not everyone will have £100 to splash out on a lavish advent calendar, but look how amazing it is! The perfect early Christmas present for your best friend, Mrs or your Mum. It houses samples of all their best selling skincare, eye care, haircare and body care. I can't express to you how excited to am to start opening this. The end of December can't come quick enough..

The second beauty advent calendar has been created by Latest in Beauty to celebrate their 1 year partnership with You magazine. If you aren't really much of a skincare enthusiast, then this would be much more "up your street". The calendar is made up of 24 different branded beauty samples including Benefit, St Tropez, Espa, L'Occitane, Eve Lom and Dermalogica (a few of my favourites from the long list). There is much more of a variation of products in this one, from mascara and lip balm, to hair masks and hand cream. The calendar is worth over £210, so you are getting yourself an absolute bargain. It's like one giant beauty box! :) You can click here to go the site and take a peek at the products included (or if you want it to be surprise i'd advise you don't scroll down on the website and go straight to the "add to basket"). I, myself have looked at the products included (as I wanted to see if the advent calendar was worth the price tag), and I can confirm that it is! I'd probably use almost all of them. 

Have these interested you? Are you contemplating spoiling yourself or someone else during the exciting Christmas run up? I personally think these are a brilliant concept, I just wish they'd been around sooner. 

♥

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All Things Christmas

Christmas is always my favourite time of the year. People are always much more cheery, everything looks so pretty and wintery and fairy lights are scattered everywhere. The run up to Christmas always seems to last a while, and then you blink, and it's all over. Where does the time go? There are those few days for some of us between Christmas and the New Year for you to relax, watch tonnes of films and eat plenty of Christmas treats, as well as all the sale shopping. I almost don't want this lovely mid-week to end. Above are some snaps I took of all things Christmas. My Mum always decorates beautifully, and this year, she decorated twigs and branches, such an easy thing to do, yet looks so pretty and festive. I have also snapped a few of the presents I recieved, I got some lovely things! I hope you all had an amazing Christmas, and that 2012 will be a good one. I have yet to decide whether I will be making any resolutions (I never do). Let me know what the highlights of your Christmas were & what did you get?

♥

December GlossyBox : Christmas Edition

This month's GlossyBox is a special limited edition Christmas box. The first thing you will notice, is the shiny red box, with black bow and white tissue paper. As much as I love the baby pink & brown colour theme of the original GlossyBox's, I absolutely loved the colour scheme of this one!
The theme of the box this month was "Christmas Gift Guide - Part 2", all items carefully selected to ensure you are the "Belle of the ball at any Christmas party". This has got to be my favourite box of all the months so far. I absolutely love everything in it, and there's not one thing I wouldn't use. I especially like that there a few make up items.

• Cargo Cosmetics Classic Lipgloss "Tokyo" - This is a really pretty shade, and I can definitely see myself getting a lot of use out of this.
• Deborah Lippmann Nail Varnish "Razzle Dazzle" - This is AMAZING. The first thing I noticed when I opened my box as it was so sparkly and pretty.
• Deborah Lippmann "Stripped To Go" Sachet - This is a finger mitt for removing nail varnish, great on the go!
• FAB Daily Face Cream - This cream is really lightweight & sinks into the skin very quickly but leaves it so soft and is a great base for makeup. It is for sensitive skin & contains an antioxidant booster. So far, so good.
• Nouveau Lashes "Noir" Mascara - I was really excited when I saw this in the box. I am a sucker for mascara. I have applied this a few times. I found the brush to be quite hard, and it did hurt my lashes a little bit (that could be my application technique), but it does make my lashes look volumised & very lengthened.
  
• Rituals Foaming Shower Gel - This smells AMAZING, and it's really moisturising. It's one of those products you use in the bath or shower, and get little whiffs of it throughout the day.

Did you sign up for the Limited Edition GlossyBox? What did you think of it? and what was your favourite item?

♥

London Eye with GlossyBox

Me, Kate, Gemma, Louise, Kate, Lily

Most of you will be aware of Glossybox by now, one of the (now many) brands who offer a monthly beauty box subscription. I was very kindly asked if I wanted to become a GlossyBox Ambassador alongside many other amazing bloggers and vloggers, and of course I took up the offer having met and spoken to the gorgeous girls behind the brand at the previous GlossyBox event. I'm really looking forward to getting a bit more of an insiders view on the thoughts and process' of the items that go into the boxes each month and of course that means keeping you lovely lot updated.

So on Wednesday of last week, Louise & I took the tube over to Waterloo to join the GlossyBox team and the rest of the Ambassadors for a spin on the London Eye. I've never been on the London Eye, so I was excited, but also a little apprehensive (panic attack sufferer locked in a pod is not the best combination) I was fine though, and really enjoyed mingling with the rest of the girls up in the sky overlooking the City at night. It all looked so pretty. We also took a stroll along to the Christmas Market (literally a 2 minute walk from the eye). It made me feel so christmassy with the smells of mulled wine and various sweet treats floating about.

One of the highlights of the evening was finally getting to meet Sammi & Gracie, they were a hoot. It was also lovely to catch up with everyone and a few gorgeous girlies I hadn't seen in a while. And it goes without saying that spending time with Louise was amazing, as always.

♥