Christmas Part 2 - What I GAVE as presents

Hi All,

This is part 2 of my Christmas Haul post for all you hanging onto Christmas. This post may inspire you next year, so I hope you enjoy seeing what I gave for Christmas. I bought most of the presents from Westfield in London before I came home for Christmas.

I don't know about anyone else but I prefer giving presents to receiving them, in fact it may be my favourite part about Christmas. Last year at uni, I had so much time to look for presents, but this year with my job I got most of them all in one weekend. Next year I'd love to do more shopping!

If you would like to know any more about any of them, please let me know.



Mum
My mum's present was actually the first one I bought. She is a huge fan of Jo Malone as am I, but our hometown doesn't have a Jo Malone shop so she only has one of the perfumes. Her favourite is the pomegranate scent, which I recommend if you haven't smelt it.

I spotted this pomegranate gift set, complete with perfume, body lotion and bath oil which would be perfect for her. Jo Malone is quite expensive and I had to venture into the designer part of Westfield to pick this up but it is so lovely. She was delighted with this and loved her present as she doesn't always get to browse Jo Malone to buy new products from there.

Have any of you ever used Jo Malone, if so what do you think?

Sister

The first present I bought my sister was a Pandora bracelet and charm. Neither of us has had anything from Pandora before, but I know a lot of people who have to trust it was worth it. My sister has a lot of friendship bracelets and I wanted to get her something like that she could wear everyday so decided to go with the leather style. I personally prefer this as it's not too over the top and I chose a grey colour to match any outfit.

I decided on only 1 charm because firstly I wasn't sure if she would even wear it, and secondly I don't like the one's with loads of charms as they can get a bit too busy. She LOVED this which I was so pleased about, and wants to stick to one charm as the one I got her is meaningful, very happy!

Now, if you've seen my last blog post you'll know that we both bought each other Harry Potter tickets, which was my second present to my sister, but as we were told we both got the same thing I had to return these and get her some other little things which she loved. We are both very excited for Harry Potter!




Dad
Originally I had planned to get my Dad his favourite Creed aftershave, and left it till last minute because there was a shop at home that stocked it. However, when I went to the shop a few days before christmas, I was told they stopped suppling it and you could only get in it in London. Where I'd just come from!! TYPICAL So, I went on the hunt for more presents. He's a massive sweet tooth so the sweet shop from an American shop went down a treat.

The Waitrose Food Guide was also bought from him by me. My mum and dad love travelling around going to pubs for food so this will be perfect for them! He also used the Molton Brown range everyday so this is always needed. He was very happy indeed!

So these are my main presents I handed out to my family on the day. I framed my graduation photo's for my grandparents which they absolutely loved as well! I love shopping for people, and I love to make sure I've got them something which is relevant or personal as it makes it that bit more special. 

What did you give for christmas and would anyone you know like any of these presents?

Cya x

What I Got For Christmas

Hi All,

Firstly I hope you had a lovely Christmas and enjoyed your day whatever it was you were doing!

In today's post I will be sharing with you some of the lovely things I received for Christmas. I will be doing this post in 2 parts and will shortly be posting a 'What I Gave' blog post for you all. So on with the presents! Now I am not going to share with you EVERY present I got, so I am just going to share with you a selection of my favourites.

BaByliss Curl Secret

If you follow me, or know me at all, you will know I have been banging on about this for AGES. I asked for this for christmas and yes I finally got it. I am so excited to use this! A lot of you have asked me to do a review of this because I know it is highly sort after, but the price puts a lot of people off so I will be doing a review for you to let you know exactly what I think of it.


I have actually used this already as I was far too excited to try it and did a photo shoot with the after effects to show you. I am currently editing all the photos and videos now which is taking a lot of time so will be posting this in a few weeks for you.

Here's a sneak preview from the shoot <<


Now onto more presents..

Harry Potter

Now.. this was a funny one. Without knowing me and my sister bought each other one of the same presents. We are both HUGE Harry Potter fans and have been to Harry Potter land in America but haven't been to the studio tour in London yet. So.. for christmas we both accidentally got exactly that. Luckily before we both opened the same present for each other on christmas day my dad told us the situation once he found out and I was able to return them due to having already purchased tickets. 

So.. after all that palaver, me and my sister will be going to the Harry Potter studios in February, so we just catch it whilst it's still in the snow. I'm SO excited eeek.

Little Mermaid
I'm a huge huge huge Disney fan and my favourite Disney film, although a hard choice is The Little Mermaid. Now for the past few years, this has been a nightmare to get hold of, but as it was released recently my sister managed to snap me up a copy and get me the boxset. Can't wait to watch this!

As well as the first film, this contains the second one which I equally love and a third one I didn't even know about!

Have you seen or heard of the 3rd Little Mermaid film?



Oribe Texturising Spray
This spray is something I have wanted to try for a while now after seeing many other bloggers talk about it. The spray is quite expensive at £38 a bottle but I'm excited to try it. Having long hair, I really hope this is worth the price! This is also something I may do a review on.

Understandably it is not an everyday purchase at that price as many other dry shampoo's and volumisers are cheaper. However, if it's worth it is may be an investment.

Let me know if you'd like me to do a review on it?

So, like those are the main presents I wanted to share with you. Find below a nice little photo of all my presents. Some include a flashing Paris canvas, many cupcake books and a lot of nail varnish and jewellery. I hope you all had a wonderful day, I certainly did. I just can't believe how quick it goes by!

I will be posting part 2 of this next week where I share with you what I gave for christmas and make sure to stay tuned for the curl secret review in the next few weeks.

Cya x

Winter Wonderland

Hello,

It's Christmas very soon and I don't know why but this year I wasn't feeling Christmassy. That is until I went to WINTER WONDERLAND.

If you don't know what Winter Wonderland is it is a huge event in London held in Hyde park. I had heard of this before I lived in London and always wanted to go and now I have moved to London, I couldn't not see what it was all about. 

It is MUCH better than I expected it to be and it made me feel so chistmassy. I love stalls and little markets during Christmas and Winter Wonderland is full of them!! Full of food and gifts! As well as the section, there is also an ice skating rink, lots of bars, many game stalls where you can win cuddly toys and what not. However, my favorutire part of this was the rides.

I was expecting fair ground rides, but they are not little fairground rides.. These rides are suitablable for theme parks, hugeeee scary rides and there are so many it's brilliant. I am a huge fan of rides and this did not dissapoint! 

Winter Wonderland was amazing, the atmosphere was great, everyone was so happy and they were even blowing out fake snow! There was Christmas music being blasted out and a lot of mulled wine to go round.

The event itself is free to get into, however you have to pay to go on the rides, which can be very expensive. The average per ride is £6 so I only went on 3, but there are MANY rides I would've loved to go on! Winter Wonderland was a lot better than I was expecting, I can't get over the scale of it, it's split up into sections; the stalls, the food, the games, the ice kingdom, the ice rink, the rides and santa land. I would definitely go back, in fact I want to go back before christmas this year!

I would love to know if you've been and what you thought of it, or you haven't been and would like to go?

If you would like to find more out about Winter Wonderland, check out their website HERE where you can buy tickets and see what attractions they have.

Find some photos I snapped of the event below:

Check out the moose head on this pub

One of the very colourful rides

Mid spin during a very very fast ride

Now this is not the London Eye, it's their giant wheel

The carousel ride

I went on this drop ride and you could see the whole of London!

One of the roller coasters, this was amazing

Cya x

John Lewis Christmas Advert

Hi All,

So, the wait is over. The John Lewis Christmas advert is here.

I wait all year for the Christmas adverts, it is the one time of year that retailers know they have to get right and pull out all the stops to outdo their competitors. John Lewis have held the top spot for a while in the UK, and their adverts have now become almost iconic with people waiting all year for them and waiting to see what emotive advert they produce. I am one of these people. I have loved John Lewis' adverts from the start and throughout the year, not even around christmas time, I find myself searching for all of the adverts on YouTube and watching them from beginning.

So, if you are wondering why I am writing this blog post when it isn't even Christmas yet, it is because John Lewis have released their christmas advert. Yes people, it's been released!! It is due to be released on TV during the X Factor on Saturday night, however it has been released online for all of us searching for it prior. John Lewis have actually bought out the entire advert break during X Factor, which the agreement of Simon Cowell, to make sure their advert is memorable and everyone is talking about. Which I'm sure they will. Watch the new 2013 John Lewis Christmas advert below:

The advert tells the story of a bear and a hare around Christmas time. The advert is animated so is quite different to anything they have done before. It shows the bear not in the Christmas spirit, whereas his best friend the hare is trying his very hardest to get his best friend in the spirit so they can enjoy it together. The advert shows all the other animals enjoying decorating the tree etc but the bear yawning. It is soon clear the bear is going into hibernation, and will always miss christmas due to his sleeping patterns and is therefore not aware of how enjoyable christmas can be.

The advert really pulls on your heartstrings when the hare is looking at all the other animals enjoying christmas day and he is so upset his best friend can't be there. The next thing, the bear comes along with a huge smile on his face after receiving the hare's present of an alarm clock to wake him up just in time for Christmas. And they all live happily ever after. Of course.

The advert cost a whopping 7 million so I do hope they sell a lot of those alarm clocks!

Something I think John Lewis do perfectly with their adverts is the music choices, this again is a perfect choice and I'm sure this cover of Keane's 'Somewhere Only We know' by Lily Allen will be a hit, as all the other iconic, slowed down, covers are. The music is so emotive and beautifully fits with the story. The music for last year's snowman advert particularly stood out to me because it was so entrancing, it made the advert.

Their adverts are so iconic, and are always known for being a tearjerking and emotional. They could be criticised for being very repetitive and following the same story, which is some cases they do. A lot of John Lewis christmas adverts follow the same story for finding the perfect christmas gift for your love ones, which this new advert follows too. However, John Lewis know if they feature products in their adverts, people will buy them, which is exactly what happens. This alarm clock will now be on everyones Christmas list.

As much as I do love this advert, and think the animation and disney like style really sets it apart from anything they have done before, I do prefer some of their other christmas adverts. My all time favourite one (and this is a hard choice) is 'The Long Wait' and I know this is a similar view of many others. The advert shows the boy impatiently waiting for Christmas and when the day is finally here, he cannot wait a minute longer. You assume he is waiting for Christmas all the time, but in fact he is waiting to give his parents the present he has bought him. It is such an emotive advert I do remember I did actually shed a tear at this one, because it is unexpected. Watch it below:

There have been many other brilliant John Lewis Christmas adverts and another favourite of mine is the Sweet Child Of Mine 2009 advert, I absolutely love the transition at the end, it works perfectly. Here are their 2008, 2010 and 2012 adverts for you to have a look, and probably cry at.

I'm sure there will be many more Christmas adverts I will love and I'll make sure to share the best ones with you! So that's it, another long year of waiting for the John Lewis Christmas advert is upon us.

And remember, give someone a Christmas present they'll never forget!


Cya x

Decor Updates

Morning,

This is just a quick update on my decorating situation.

If you read my last blog, you will know I am decorating my flat at the moment. I was very excited to get my new rug for my living room, as I had picked out the perfect rug which would match my colour scheme wonderfully.

On Saturday my Rug was delivered and I was very disappointed to find out it was a completely different colour to what it was on the website. This was a real shame for me as I was so excited to get it. I had previously gone into the shop and to see the colour and even asked them to look out the back, but it wasn't there for me to view, so I went ahead with what I had seen online. The rug itself was lovely, really soft and the perfect size, however, the shade was about 5 shades darker than it was on the website. Instead of the 'dusty pink' it stated it was, it was actually a dark purple colour.

This was the rug image on the website

As I lay the rug out, I started to get used to it, but the purple and pink decor just didn't go and I was still unsure when I looked at it. I paid £130 for this rug and I think if you pay this much you have to be sure it's the right one and this one just wasn't. The rug was too dark and made the room feel almost smaller, which I certainly didn't want.

This was a very large rug because it was for my living room floor, so returning it was a bit of a pickle. Luckily I had someone with me who was able so help carry it onto the tube. Safe to say we got some strange looks!

And this was the actual rug

So now I'm on the hunt for a new rug! I have a light brown wooden floor so it has to go with this, I also have a dark brown sofa, and pink decorations in there as well as pink curtains. I'm thinking maybe a cream rug, but definitely want to see it in the shop. Let me know what colours you guys think would go with this and if you could recommend any rugs for me, that would be great.

If I've learnt anything from this it would definitely be to look at the rug in the shop before you buy it!

Cya x

Decorative Accessories For The Home

Hello lovelies,

I am a massive lover of decorative accessories, especially for the home. Little ornaments such as wall art, birdcages, pretty photo frames, candles and especially artificial flowers. I could spend hours in the home section of stores such as Next or Dunelm Mill just browsing, but most probably will end up buying something I don't need.

I went on a little shopping spree this weekend and decided to get lots of lovely things for my flat. I hadn't put anything on the walls yet and really wanted to so did a lot of research prior online to try and pick out the best wall art. I think you have to be very careful with wall art, firstly that it will go with everything else in the room and match the decor, and that the piece isn't too busy and distracting, to me wall art is meant to compliment the room, not take away from it.

In this post will be showing you pieces I bought this weekend, as well as other cute decor in my flat.

I am firstly going to show you the new wall art I bought. Now I am getting a larger, purple canvas for my bedroom but that hasn't been ordered yet as I'd like to see it in the shop before I purchase it, but can't seem to find it anywhere apart from online. This piece is from Debenhams and is a beautiful purple piece with 5 flowers which will scale across my bedroom wall. I will hopefully be ordering this piece this week. If you want to check it out click HERE. The first wall canvas' I am going to show you are in my living room and are from Next. The room colour scheme is purples/pinks/creams, so these fit perfectly.

I had originally seen these canvas' online for £70 and loved the design, but the price put me off. However, going into the store they were marked as £30, so I immediately grabbed them and got them. They are still marked up as £70 online, but in store I got both for £30, bargin! I have pink/purple curtains and am hoping to get the dusty pink rug from Next, so these images will suit my colour scheme perfectly. You can find these canvas' HERE and the rug I would like can be found HERE.

The second piece of wall art I got was for my bedroom. As I have already said I am looking to get the larger canvas for my other bedroom wall. This canvas is grey which matches my bedroom colour scheme. My duvet covers are a very dark purple and busy design, therefore I wanted the wall art to be very simplistic and plain, but still pretty. I settled on a set of 3 canvas' from The Range. The canvas' are 3 lilies on a grey background, they are very simple but still decorative. These were the hardest to hang because they all had to be the right size and height. Unfortunately I can't link you to this on the website as it is no longer there as of yesterday, but there is a photo below for you.

The last piece of wall art I purchased was initially intended for the bedroom, however it looks better in the hall and I am so pleased I put it here as it fits perfectly and every time I walk past it I love it more and more. I had not actually seen this online, so it was not on my list when I was shopping, but it caught my eye in Wilkinson and the colour scheme matched my flat well, so I just had to get it.

As well as wall art, I also got some photo frames and a candle I had seen online, the cream photo frames and the candle are from Next Home and the silver photo frame is from Wilkinson. I like the silver photo frame as it is quite quirky and stands out as opposed to a blank frame. The Next frames are a bit plainer, but they are so pretty and I couldn't say not to them. I have not filled these frames yet, but will very soon! To find the Next frames click HERE and to see the Wilkinson frame click HERE. The candle featured in the photo was also from Next and is HERE. See all items in the images directly below.

My purple bowl originally had various items in it, including stationary and hair stuff, however I wanted to make it prettier and more decorative so also bought a box of potpourri in Wilkinson, which smells amazing and was purple, pink and cream so have filled the bowl with this. It looks so much better and my room now smells of roses every time I walk into it. The Potpourri can be found HERE.

I also got some new cushion covers to match my curtains & new rug I will hopefully be getting. The cushion covers were from Dunelm Mill and were £6.99 each. If you would like to see or purchase these cushions click HERE.

As well as these new purchases, I already have some decorate items around my flat which I will show you below. I am a big fan of artificial flowers, as you will see and I love slogan plaques! I am still mid decorating my Flat and still want to buy a lot more to decorate but I'm so happy with how it's coming along at the moment. Below are some photos of my flat currently and the accessories I have in it.

If you would like to know where you can purchase or see any of the items above, please feel free to contact me and ask me where I got them from. I love scoping out decorative items for the home and hope you enjoyed this blog post! x

Cya x

Social Media Week

On Monday, I was lucky enough to go to Social Media Week's Opening Party. If you don't know what Social Media Week is, it is a week long event which takes place around the world, holding events, guest talks and lectures revolving the world of social media. For more information, check out their website HERE. The opening party is a great way to get a flavour for the week and a fantastic chance to network so I was very excited to go. For all of you that couldn't make it, I will be including photos of the night, so you all can see.

The first thing that took me by surprise was the giant red carpet outside we had to walk down! As well as this, around 20 photographers were snapping my photograph! I didn't have a clue where to look it was very surreal, but what a fantastic welcome. Upon entering there was also a lobster van which was serving various food throughout the night that went as quickly as you could even say the word lobster.

The inside of the party was decorated beautifully and the lights and effects around the room did look really good. As you can see from my photos, it was quite dark but there were a lot of strobe lights which heightened the atmosphere.

The night itself was good, there were various stalls and stands showcasing brands, but by far the best was the Duck DJ stall. When the ducks and blocks moved around the square, the beat changed and it was almost like a DJ deck. Very fascinating.

At the party there was also a great graffiti battle in which a white blank wall was covered in graffiti, it was great to see this progress and it was done only using a pen, great to see! Although I don't know what the image on the left is meant to be, eggs?

As well as this there were Nokia stands, lots and cupcakes and blue wine. The Nokia stands were showing the various new Nokia phones, which had some great new features and the cupcakes even had Nokia logos printed on them. To top this off and promote Nokia just that little bit more, the wine was blue, blue wine!

Overall I had a good night, although I would suggest more hubs next time, apart from networking there wasn't as many stands or focal points as I imagined there would be. It was a great event and I can't wait to keep updated on the rest of Social Media Week. If you would like to keep updated with Tweets about Social Media Week, take a look at their Twitter page HERE.

Cya x