Friday 30 January 2015

What Santa brought Ray; Xmas 2014

I love a good haul, birthday gifts/Christmas gifts reveal type posts, but I hear some people hate them. If that isn't your kind of thing, I get it, but... You may want to look away now! Because that is exactly what today's post is.

I had hoped to get this out earlier in the month, but it's kind of slipped away from me! January, where have you gone? Come back, we had plans! We've had snow here yesterday which took all my natural light and scuppered my plans to take my last photos for this post... But as soon as it stopped falling I grabbed my camera and got snapping! It then promptly started again...  But it did make me feel all festive again!

So let's have a look!


Goodies galore! A few things I couldn't resist cracking open to get a better look inside, or start using straight away, but I managed to keep some things nice for photos. Like the iTunes voucher which I intend to spend on a bit of Ed Sheeran and Taylor Swift. The Yankee Candle set contains Christmas Cookie and Icicles. I'm really excited about trying the Oddka set from my mum, as it has a little bottle of Electricity in it! I've been absolutely dying to try that.


My parents paid for my Disneyland park tickets, but my lovely mummy was really naughty and spoiled me with a Thomas Sabo bracelet, which my grandad added this adorable hummingbird charm to. Top Tip! If you know the dates you are planning to visit the Disneyland parks in Paris, you can check the calender. Going (super) off-peak like we did will allow you to buy 'mini' tickets for £38. We had two each which saved about £40. Bonus! :)


While we're on the topic of Disneyland.... These Alien plushies are all over the Disneyland parks. I picked one up every single time I spotted one and for some reason... Put it back down and didn't buy one. When we'd left the parks at last, I realised that was a horrible decision. But Claire got me covered and sneakily nabbed one before we left. Yay! She also got me a giant Marilyn Monroe cushion, but i'm currently sitting comfortably with it, so no piccie. Seriously though, this thing is huge.


This years Nail Polish gifts were insanely wow!

Rimmel Salon Pro Saturn & Mercury polishes made me chuckle. (I may or may not be biased towards the Saturn one... I wonder why teehee.) With the Toy Story Alien, I definitely feel a bit of a space theme in some of my gifts from my buddies this year.

The Christian Louboutin in Escatin, a gorgeous bright orange, and the Ciate Haute House set... Were from the same person, along with other goodies... I actually could not believe how spoilt I was when I saw what was in the goodybag. She is so naughty! I told her off, and then promptly declared my love for her.

My brother gave me some Euros, which I spent in the Rue Cambon Chanel store! It was a tough choice, but in the end I chose 'Alchemie'. A pretty good choice as I haven't seen it at a single Chanel counter in the UK yet. It also came with a free mini of the absolutely lush Chanel 'Coromandel' perfume.

Even my Secret Santa from work got in on the polish addiction action. (Thank you Santa!)
The funny thing I think about this was I'd actually picked up the Barry M Christmas polishes a little before Christmas and almost bought them. Then I remembered I'd been barred from buying make up and nail polish so somehow resisted.


I was really excited to unwrap some Library of Fragrance from under the tree, in what I think are two of the most interesting sounding scents. Rain and Thunderstorm. I definitely want to get some more of these as I love way layering them creates such unique scents. I've currently been mixing the Rain with Sephora Mango. Mangoes in the Rain makes a great perfume.

I'm a lippy addict, especially when it comes to unusual shades or formulas. The OCC Lip Tars are way up there in my list of favourite products and the shade Sybil isn't like anything previously in my stash! Illamasqua's Gender is another lipgloss i'd been eying up, as if there's one thing I can't resist... It's expanding my collection of blue lip wear.  Peeking into the corner there is the Charlotte Tilbury Vintage Vamp palette. This is absolutely stunning and the quality is amazing. I absolutely lovethe effect it has, even if I haven't quite mastered the 'Vintage Vamp' look, and it always looks a bit grungey on me. Not that its a bad thing... I'm a big fan of both looks!

It wouldn't be Christmas without a nice stack of smellies and PJ's would it?

The Baylis and Harding Macarons set made me chuckle, as part of my Parisian adventures may or may not have included coming slightly obsessed with the little cookie type things. I also got a bumper gingerbread set but I couldn't resist opening it up and checking out what was inside. Sorry!

The three lovely bright orange packages in the middle there are Lush's Sparkler, Northern Lights and Christmas Eve! They smell so good and promise to do awesome things to bath water. There was also a Santa Lip Scrub(not pictured) which I may or may not have snuck off to Paris with me!

This years PJ's was this super toasty and fleecy fairisle set and the best onesie in the world, Care Bears, Grumpy Bear!! I'd been after something like this since I saw the custom made Care Bears jumpsuits on Etsy. I found this gem in Primark and a cheeky snapchat later, and it was as good as mine!


Oooh! I almost forgot to show you this adorable notebook! Which is already half full with scribbles and notes planning my next big holiday! I won't jinx it by revealing where just yet... But the cover is a big hint. ;)

So, voila! I was such a lucky spoiled little sod this year. I have such lovely, generous and supportive friends. I really wish i'd taken a photograph and shared with you what gifts I gave to them this year as I was really proud of my choices. I love shopping for gifts and usually spend months gathering bits and bobs. I may or may not have already begun to think about Christmas 2015!
Mainly because I ended up buying something else for my friends Birthday, leaving me with a different present that i've now reserved for Christmas.

Have you shared your gifts on your blog? I'd love to see! Please drop me a link!
 








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