Christmas presents!

I haven't had a chance to post for a while. The last few weeks of work before Christmas  were a bit mental, then it was straight into Christmas fun. This is the first time I've given my Mum a proper Christmas list of possible presents and she did not disappoint and had obviously shared the knowledge with my sisters and Nanny too!
So here are some of my favourite gifts:

Wooly snood (Primark), grey and white horse print scarf (independent), mutli-coloured spotty scarf (independent), flower print hanging photo frames (same shop as Cath Kidston bag in previous post), McFly 'Memory Lane' album, McFly book (I'm not too old to love them!), Now 83 CD, Cath Kidston pouch/pencil case, funny tin (not sure what my sister is trying to suggest), Urban Decay Naked 2 eye shadow palette, Clarins Wonder Perfect Mascara. 

Urban Decay Naked 2 palette.

 Lovely packaging, including a lip gloss tester. I don't know whether this is always included or whether it was perhaps a gift package for Christmas.

The palette mainly contains shimmer and glitter eye shadows but there first and fifth shadows are matte and so useful for creating shadows in the crease of your eye. All of the colours look gorgeous but I especially like 'half baked', 'chopper' and 'verve'. 'Blackout' also does a good job for lining the lash line. I was also really pleased that this palette comes with a decent double ended applicator brush. I will try and post some pictures of these colours on my eyes once I have played around a bit more.

Clarins Wonder Perfect Mascara
Clarins is not a brand I would normally look at but one of my relatives works on their counter in Debenhams and she gave me a few different testers some months ago, one of which was a very mini Wonder Perfect Mascara. I really liked it, used up all of the tester and put it on the Christmas list.

The things I like most about this mascara are:
1) It goes on evenly - I never seem to get clumps between lashes. I sometimes find this happens a bit unpredictably with my other favourite - Benefit They're Real.
2) It really does add length and volume and is build-able.
3) It also goes on to the lower lashes quite easily, which is something I've struggled with in the past. 

The only slight down side of this mascara is that it does not want to leave your lashes. It takes a fair amount of cleanser to shift it. If you cleanse daily anyway then this won't be an issue.

I'll post some pictures of it in action as soon as possible.

Polka-dot bag

It's probably becoming clear that I've got a bit of a love for Cath Kidston! This bag isn't the genuine article but you can hardly tell. Apparently it came from a market stall in Bath but I love it!

Snood and scarves.

I wear a scarf a lot in the winter because it just helps me to feel a bit more snuggly. My sisters did well in picking these ones for me. The wooly snood was from Primark, the horse scarf from a shop in Brighton, the spotty one from eBay.

I hope you got some lovely presents too. The next blog will be showing some of the bargains I've picked up in the Sales, so come back and have a look.

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas!

I went to a pantomime on Thursday and made a big dent in my Christmas shopping list (and bank account!) today. Christmas is well and truly on the way. 

I moved into my first house just before Christmas last year and so I never got round to putting a tree up. I just had a tiny borrowed one. This year I have had the added excitement of buying a tree and all of the decorations to go on it. Luckily it ended up being a fairly stress free task.

 I went to IKEA yesterday evening and straight away saw the tree for me. Not too tall and not too 'fake' looking. It's got brown branches which I think really helps. 

All of the decorations are IKEA. They had some good mixed sets in both silver and red. I decided to stick with silver. I only needed two sets to cover the tree pretty well. The first contained 6 silver baubles with sparkly white stripes.

The second set contained a mixture of silver/grey baubles, hearts, stars and parcels with various finishes which add some variation. I decided to avoid tinsel and went for a 5m string of silver beads instead. 

The lights came from Wilkinson - £6.50 for 100 bulbs. The only thing I'm missing is a cute Angel to go at the the top. So far I think the bill is under £40 which is reasonable I think. 

My next job is to get present wrapping so that I can hide that nasty plastic tree base.

Sweet Treats!

Are you part of a 'Secret Santa' at work this Christmas? Is there a birthday coming up and you're not sure what gift to buy? Rather than taking the easiest option and buying the usual sweet and chocolate brands, why don't you find a real sweet shop and choose something a bit more personal?

These yummy Coconut Mushrooms came from Cornish Goodness in Polperro, Cornwall . If you venture in to such a place you will find shelves and tubs full of colour and you will be able to pick something to suit the personality and tastes of whoever you are buying for. And of course, you might as well treat yourself whilst you are there.
A few of my favourites are below. Tell me if I am missing others that are even better!

Snowies

 Chocolate Chewies

 Rhubarb and Custard

Chocolate Rasins

The inspiration and the first Lovely Treat!

Here are two of the channels that I have really enjoyed watching and reading for quite a while now.

SLStevo - http://www.youtube.com/user/slstevo
For beauty, hair and fashion.

Tanya Burr - http://www.youtube.com/user/pixi2woo
For easy to follow, great quality make up tutorials

I also enjoy reading www.helenlimbrick.com.
Helen always writes about lovely things she has created or been doing.

I hope you like them too.

MORE IMPORTANTLY! Below you will see my first Lovely Treat. It's a beautiful Cath Kidston Bookbag. It usually costs £18 but I got it in the sale from an independent shop on Southwold high street. I'm looking forward to using it for the first time.

Southwold is a gorgeous seaside town in Suffolk. I go there on holiday nearly every year with my family. It's a Lovely Treat in itself. 

http://www.cathkidston.co.uk/p-18345-cath-kidston-pinny-flowers-oilcloth-bookbag.aspx?referrer=category

The first blog

For the past year or so I have really been getting into watching tutorials on YouTube and reading blogs on things I'm interested in. I watch a massive range from videos about walking up mountains to girly beauty tutorials. I love seeing products that different people are trying, purchases people have made and also being a bit nosy about the lives of others. Having been inspired, I thought I'd give blogging a go myself. So here it is! I plan to blog about lovely little (or sometimes big) treats I've bought or been given and places that I've been to and had a lovely time. Thanks for reading!