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2016 christmas Gift Guide

Sunday, 4 December 2016

December is here, Christmas is finally on its way and I can’t tell you how excited I am. I am so ready for all the Christmas cheer, the food, the family – I can’t wait! To kick of the season’s postings, I’m going to start with a gift guide for her and I’m going to fill it full of the sort of things that I would love to receive.

CHOCOLATE: More specifically, Hotel Chocolat and whilst I eat more than enough throughout the year, posh Christmas chocolate is just that much more exciting. Everyone indulges around this time of year so giving something sweet as a gift is usually a safe bet.

The Merry Little Christmas Hamper: This is one of their smaller ribbon-tied hampers but it’s still packed full of HC goodies making it a very good size and price for gifting! Clementine Baby Bombes, Milk Snowflakes, Rocky Road Slab, Comet Does Caramel Slab, Christmas Pocket Selection, Salted Caramel Nano Slab and Fruit & Nut Nano Slab £25 | Also: Penguin or Reindeer Selfie Slabs £16 | Christmas Sleekster £22.50 | Yule Log £20 | Toasty Toddies £10 | Christmas Hot Chocolate £9 | Festive Wreath £7
PERFUME: Perfume is my go to gift all year around - I think they make such great gifts and at this time of year especially, it’s easy to get all sorts of giftsets where you get another scented product as well as the perfume! It’s pretty easy to find something you know they are going to love!

Sweet like Candy Giftset By Ariana Grande: Whilst it’s pretty bottle and sweet smell is aimed at a younger audience, this is something my nana would LOVE. Ari’s bottles are some of my favourite with the striking geogmetric sphere and a cute pom pom attached to the lid. This time, it’s all matte baby pink making the hard bottle design very soft and girly. The scent is fruity with tones of blackberry and honeydew melon and sweet with marshmallow. The giftset includes 50ml of the scent, a 100ml body lotion and the cutest little cosmetic case. £31
Wonderlust by Michael Kors: I’m pretty sure my mum would love this one – shes a big fan of MK fragrances and with mandarin in its top notes (one of my favourite scents), this is another delicious scent. This time though, it’s in a new bottle – usually they are very square but Wonderlust is in a curved bottle. 100ml costs £84

Beyoncé Heat Seduction: In a signature Heat bottle, Beyoncé’s latest fragrance pulled me in again, with the mention of mandarin in its top notes along with some other exotic ingredients like Island Spice, Gingerlily and African Jungle Trail Orchid. 100ml costs £19

I Love Juicy Couture: Viva La Juicy was the first fragrance that I remember wearing – my best friend had it and I used to spray it all over myself whenever I was at hers. I Love Juicy Couture is the latest fragrance from them and combines fruits and floral flavours with amber and musk. With a gold leopard print across the bottle channels fun glamour. 100ml costs £69

BOSS THE SCENT for her: I first smelt this at a press day a few weeks ago and it became my favourite scent of the year; there and then! With honeyed peach and freesia it smells just like a Peach Bellini and because that’s my favourite drink, it made me smile. 50ml costs £36 

Hollister Wave: Wave comes for him and for her and as with most scents that come out of Hollister, this reminds me of sunny days at the beach. With citrus and floral notes, this fragrance is very refreshing but also quite young. Perfect for the pre-teens in your life! 100ml costs £35
BATH AND BODY: Bath stuff never used to interest me before I got a job. Nowadays, a long, hot bath with some of my favourite products and a little bit of pampering is a luxury that I look forward to!

LUSH Golden Wonder: Recognise this? You might do it you’ve ever used LUSH’s golden wonder bath bomb – it looks like a real life version and of course it’s bath bomb double comes inside. Along with the citrusy golden wonder bath bomb, there is another Christmas favourite – the shimmering star dust bath bomb. £9.95

LUSH Merry & Bright: I love this set because it has a few different types of products in it - Fireside soap, yuzu and cocoa shower cream and red fun! Doesn’t it just made you think of sitting by the fire with a big cup of hot chocolate?!

Soap & Glory KHOL-EYED: I thought this was just a fun kaleidoscope when I first picked it up but in fact there are three Crazy Sexy Khol, long lasting eyeliners hidden inside! Colours are called Smoulder, Foil in love and What a night £10
YANKEE Star Anise & Orange Candle: I think good quality candles are great gifts to give – they make you feel warm and cosy so why wouldn’t you want to give that feeling to someone you love? This candle combines Orange and Star Anise all those Christmas vibes along with a refreshing citrus hit, giving it the scent of liquorice. £21.99

New Shoes: Whether it’s a pair of heels for the party season or fresh pair of vans or Doc Martins to stomp around in, shoes are usually a fail-safe and very practical gift that anyone would be pleased to receive!

Novelties from Hawkins Bazar: There’s always a place in our stockings for cheap novelty gifts - I love opening these fun little extras! Hawkins Bazaar have a whole range of stocking filler gifts ranging from the useful to the hilarious! The nose on this cute Rudolph mug goes red when a hot drink is poured in and I killed my desk plant (and the three before him) so I’m in line for a new one!

Filofax: I love a Filofax for keeping me in check, I fill it with all my plans, my to do lists and my blog notes and enjoy the physicality of it; it’s nice to be away from a screen sometimes. This year they have released a special edition rose gold version. I had to wait a while for it to come back into stock so I can already tell this one is going to be crazy popular. Costs £48

 If you prefer to keep your dates on a screen, then they also have a range of gold tablet cases!
I love each product that I’ve included here so I am very excited to be able hold a giveaway for you guys! There will be 4 winners and they will receive one prize each, first come first served. Prizes include a Gold Filofax, Hotel Chocolat Selfie Slab and Merry Little Christmas Hamper, BOSS THE SCENT for Her and a Sweet Like Candy Giftset By Ariana Grande

Enter in the rafflecoptor to win:


*Sponsored Post
*Some photos taken from google
*The BOSS bottle is actually the fragrance for men. My comments were written from memory and are very real, I do love it but I was sent the wrong one and didnt realise.
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The Office Party: Silver VS Gold

Monday, 21 November 2016

It's late November already and last week, an invite to the office Christmas party landed in my inbox. Last years was in Holborn and I wore my usual, a crop top - a sparkly one obviously - but this year it’s at a very exclusive club in Mayfair and that means firstly, I may have to dress a little bit smarter and secondly, I need to think about keeping warm because its a longer walk away this time and last year I was freezing! It's happening in the first week of December which didn't leave me much time to find an outfit but luckily for me, Very were on hand with some festive pieces.  

I'm all about the sparkle at Christmas time, usually you'll find me in a lurex co-ord (thats where my sparkly crop top came from) or a sequined playsuit but for this post (and this party), I wanted to try and find a couple of outfits that still embody the sparkle and glamour of dressing for the festive season without being too over the top. I decided to go with a subtle metallics theme and picked out two statement pieces from V by Very.
This first outfit could easily be worn straight from the office to the party and the statement piece I chose for this one is a rose gold, a-line mini skirt. It could be dressed down with a white tee and trainers but obviously we want to dress it up a little bit for the Christmas party! I've worn it here with a long sleeve black top and some sock boots - this is definitely the warmest of the two outfits. I love the shape of this skirt because it accentuates the smallest part of my waist which always makes me feel confident, even if I’m feeling particularly bloated that day and the metallic material is just hit to glamour this festive outfit needed.
 The next is this luxe gunmetal silver dress. I’ve never worn a midi dress to a party before but a few little features on this dress really made it stand out. Apart from the figure hugging shape and subtle shimmer from the slinky material; I loved the short sleeves and the slits up both sides which both gave it a bit of an edge. It also comes with a tie around the waist which I've tired up at the back. The material is super conformable and I think this ticks both boxes of looking smart and keeping warm. Simply paired with some strappy heels and that's one outfit ready to go.

Which outfit do you prefer? 
*Dress, Skirt & Boots gifted by Very.co.uk
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LIFESTYLE: Christmas At The Milestone Hotel

Monday, 11 January 2016

Remember that I was telling you about the surprise that Andrew was planning for me? Well, last month, I finally found out what he had planned for us and it was pretty amazing! He booked us a night at a super old and very christmassy hotel, plus a few little extra surprises for me too! My dad was on his way into London on the day so he was able to drop us off outside right our hotel in Knightsbridge.
As we checked in and dropped off our stuff, I was handed a gold envelope which I opened once we got to our room! Apparently, the package that Andrew has booked included a Harrods voucher at check in so you know what happened next - within minutes, we were in an Uber and dropped off outside the store ready to get some Christmas shopping on! I knew exactly what I wanted and was on the verge of buying it for myself anyway so this was a super amazing surprise! As well as my new purse, we also stopped off in the food hall to pick up some Charbonnel truffles.
Soon enough we were back in the hotel drinking champagne in their amazing black and white conservatory.
My next surprise? A champagne afternoon tea! So as soon as we were finished with that glass, we were off to another cute little room. I headed straight for the table with the big armchairs, it just feels more luxury doesn't it?! Am I the only one who starts with a few sandwiches, then has a cake, a scone and finishes up with more sandwiches haha we had to order a second plate, they were so delicious!
Afterwards we were totally food coma'd and good for nothing for the rest of the day! So we got into bed, watched Toy Story which happened to be on and fell asleep haha. We did get up for a little while just to have a drink and a snack at the bar before getting back into bed for the Xfactor final!
After a posh cooked breakfast, the next morning was spend eating champagne truffles in the big white bed and watching Jeremy Kyle, I think that one is a bit of a hotel tradition for us haha. It was a pretty amazing weekend!

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LIFESTYLE: Things Before Christmas

Friday, 8 January 2016

So I already wrote this post once, I spend the whole month adding to it like I usually do with monthly roundup posts but for some reason when I went to post it a couple of days ago, it had disappeared. What a pain. Anyway I'm going to re-write it because and I just hope this makes sense and sounds an enthusiastic this time around haha.

Work Christmas Party
I always envied people who had a work Christmas party to go to and this year, I finally had my own! It started just after lunch when the guys from The Metro turned up in reception with their prosecco cooler.
After that, we all got ready in the office toilets and cracked open a bottle of apple sourz that we found on one of the desks. After a quick pit stop at the pub - we jumped in a cab just down the road to the venue which was huge might I add! Free drinks, friends and a photobooth - what else could I have asked for?!

London Lights With Farfetch
I love being a tourist in my own city. I love driving through London and I love Christmas so when I got an invite to join the Farfetch girls and four other bloggers on night time tour of the London Christmas lights, you can imagine I was pretty excited. We all met after work and bundled onto a vintage, open top route master. It was pretty drizzly but that didn't stop us from all rushing up to the top to sit at the front -  it wouldn't be London without a bit of rain. Over two and a half hours we toured the city and saw all of the pretty lights, it definitely got me even more excited for Christmas!

And if the tour on it's own wasn't a big enough treat, they let us choose a gift for each other as a Farfetch Secret Santa ! I left with a pretty new dusty pink Michael Kors travel wallet!

 Costa Fresco
Costa have launched their new Fresco store on Tottenham Court Road and invited me down to see what it is all about! Luckily for me, this one used to be my local Costa (before a new one opened across the road from work a couple of months ago) so it was super easy for me to pop in before work.
Of course the drinks are the same, the hot chocolate (and coffee) are just as amazing but this store has a whole range of tasty food to enjoy as well! There was all sorts from mini quiches and hot sandwiches, little pots of olives and chorize to muffins, croissants, cakes, fruit pots and much more! I tried one savory cheese and sun dried tomato muffins and it was delicious - seriously, I am pleased its so close so I can go back and get some more!

Very kindly, they sent me on my way with a selection of treats to take back to the office which of course were all snapped up as soon as I'd walked through the door!


Christmas Jumpers
If you know me well (or just follow me on twitter), you will know that I love Christmas Jumper season and I spent most of December wearing one! My newest addition is this one from the mens section of F&F - how cute are the little gingerbread men!
I wore it to work for Christmas Jumper Day with a pair of black skinnies and my pretty new, leopard print flats from Jones Bootmakers - they go perfectly with the colour of the gingerbread men!All of the best Christmas jumpers come from supermarket clothing lines! My other two are from George at ASDA! Cute!

 Bob Bob Ricard
This is somewhere that Andrew and I have wanted to visit for a while so we decided to celebrate my last day at work (Andrew finished ages before me) by going for dinner! Of course the first thing I did when we sat down was push the button, I couldnt resist - and Andrew wasnt going to turn down a glass of champagne haha. That button got quite alot of use whilst we were there!
The place was so lovely and decorated with the prettiest blue and silver christmas decorations! Each course was delisious but of course dessert is always my favourite and the desserts here were a bit crazy.
It was very expensive, but something we wanted to do and can now tick off of our list! It was such a lovely night and a really perfect way to start the holidays!


How Was Your December?

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LIFESTYLE: Doddle Runner App Secret Santa

Wednesday, 30 December 2015

When the secret santa campaigns start to roll in at this time of year I always get very excited to take part! Todays one was is in collaboration with Doddle - they are little huts at stations, shopping centres and universities that you can send or collect your parcels from at a time that suits you. They have a new runner service exclusive to Londoners by which you take a photo of whatever your sending, post it on the app and a Runner will pick it up from wherever you are and send it on for you.

So what day did I pick to post my package?! I left it until Friday, the day that we decided to spend our lunch break plus the next three hours in the pub. I thought I'd made this really hard for myself but I was so shocked at how easy it was! I ordered my runner to come at 2pm, left my gift with the receptionist and that was the end of that. The runner had come to pick it up and took it off you my secret santa while I was at the pub drinking prosecco.

The next day, I got a package to my house from Doddle. My secret santa didnt stay very secret for very long and luckily for me, she asked me if there was anything in particular that I wanted! I picked out a Kate Spade notebook, some chocolate truffles and a jar of prosecco gummy bears, sadly, no one mentioned to us beforehand that they wouldnt deliver glass so I never got those in the end but my other two products arrived safely!

All in all I think it works great. I got to the post office during lunch most weeks and have to stand in a que of 20+ people every time so this is a really great alternative!
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CHRISTMAS: Giftset Guide

Wednesday, 16 December 2015

Yey It's that time again when I can start to get excited about Christmas, although in all honestly, I have been excited since October haha. I love Christmas and I love writing about it so lets get this giftset gift guide started! Have you been naughty or nice this year? If its the latter, why not treat yourself to a gift set too!

Molton Brown Gift Set
 This pretty little box is the Cruise Collection gift set which is exclusive to Boots. It costs £26 and contains four 100ml bottles in their Pink Pepperpod and White Sandalwood scents - you get a body wash and a body lotion in each scent! Aren't they just the perfect little bottles for a trip away!? I love the pretty colours together and they both have lovely winter scents.

Hotel Chocolat
I always get something from Hotel Chocolat for Christmas from Andrews family, I think it is a tradition of theirs which I am all to happy to be a part of! I eat chocolate all year round but Christmas is the perfect time to get hold of some of the more expensive higher quality stuff!

 This is a giftset gift guide after all so after hunting through their site, I came across The Everything Collection which comes all wrapped up in a black box. It costs £25 and is filled with a selection of their most popular yummy treats - Billionaire’s Shortbread truffles (currently eating); Salted Caramel Puddles (already been eaten); Chocolate Brownies; Little Cheesecakes; 40% Milk Puddles; and a three nano slab and now that I have written this post.. I can tear into the rest!

 Ghost Fragrance Gift Set
This is the Deep Night Gift Set for Ghost and it's also exclusive to Boots. The set contains at 30ml moon shape bottle of the fragrance and a 50ml of body lotion in the same Deep Night scent for £25. I love how the name of the perfume is inspired blossoms that it contains. The flower is called Belle Du Nuit which means Beauty of the night in French and means its quite fruity and floral. I also love the deep purple and sparkly silver together in the set.


 L’Occitane Cherry Blossom Collection
Next up is the Delicate Cherry Blossom Collection from L’Occitane. This costs £49 and arrived in a lovely box wrapped up with a gold ribbon as you can see. The set contains an Eau de Toilette, Shower Gel, Shimmering Lotion, Soap and a Hand Cream all in the soft, fresh and floral cherry blossom scent reminiscent of the cherry trees blossoming on first day of Spring. Lovely for a mum or anyone whos into skincare.


Aromatherapy Associates
I was only introduced to Aromatherapy Associates myself earlier this year but as soon as I was, I fell in love with their luxuriousness. They are British brand, hand-blending essential oil with the idea to create a sense of well-being and mindfulness which I like the sound of!

 Firstly, the packaging is so christmassy in red and gold, I love it! I've got the Bath Jewels set which comes in this pretty triangle casing and contains a Deep Relax Bath & Shower Oil 9ml, a Revive Morning Bath & Shower Oil 9ml and a De-Stress Mind Bath & Shower Oil 9ml - £28
Relax & Revive
This duo features two of Aromatherapy Associates' iconic blends
- See more at: http://www.aromatherapyassociates.com/gifts/collections/christmas/relax-and-revive.html#sthash.iEGVcplZ.dpuf
These smaller set is called the Relax & Revive duo and also come in the pretty red and gold packaging. They are the perfect size roller balls to throw in your handbag and get out whenever you need to feel relaxed or revived when your out and about - £18

Crabtree & Evelyn Giftsets
So I mentioned Crabtree & Evelyn in last years guide and I have some products from them again this year as they are always beautifully packaged and just make perfect gifts. 

This year, I was lucky enough to get hold of one of their foodie gifts and I can see this is the sort of thing I would buy every year because the biscuits are so delicious. This tin comes in at £18.50 and includes around 30 assorted biscuits. Again, this year, I have a hand cream set similar to the trio set from last year and again, these are perfect! The pretty Christmas keepsakes tin contains three generously sized hand creams for £12.50 and they have five different sets so you can pick the scents you like best.



 Baylis the Bear Gift Set
We all know bath products are great ideas for gifts, especailly for people you're not sure what to buy for! This kit from Baylis and Harding comes with a super cute teddy "Baylis The Bear." As well as Baylis, the set includes a spiced fruity (mandarin, grapefruit and lemon with jasmine and orange blossom) selection of body wash, lotion and bath salts.

Lush Winter Wonderland
This year, I was lucky enough to get hold of a Winter Wonderland giftset from Lush and I am so excited to use it! It comes in a big green hexagonal box and is wrapped up with a thick gold ribbon - very christmassy. This is one is for bath lovers and is full of bath bombs, melts and bubble bars. This set is massive with 20 products inside and is a huge joy to dig into, I had so much fun grabbing around to see what was going to come out next! I cant wait to try some of the ones I havent had before like Father Christmas and Cinders.

Kiehls Pocket-sized Perfection set
And the last item in this post is a cute little travel set from Kiehls with a Lip Balm #1, Ultimate Strength Hand Salve and a Creme de Corps deluxe.

Are You Ready For Christmas?


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CHRISTMAS: Gift Guide For Men

Monday, 14 December 2015

As a girl, I kinda find it hard to buy for guys, I dont know what they want - they wont be super excited to find a huge bar of chocolate or a little wrapped up bath bomb, at the bottom of a gift bag like I do (just me?) so I thought I would be proactive this year and actually take a month or two to start searchng for whats out there for men!

Wash bag and product sets
These sorts of gifts for guys seem really popular! I came across loads of them and found the right one for the each of the guys in my life. This skincare one from Man Cave at Superdrug. You get a brown wash bag which comes filled with a face scrub, face wash, moisturiser and a flannel, its going to be perfect for my youngest brother who is 16 and starting to really care about keeping his skin looking fresh and spot free.
This next one is hair based and is a 3-step Grooming Kit from Label M (£22.45) - featuring the GQ award-winning Scalp Purifying Shampoo, the everyday Grooming Cream and best-selling Deconstructor all presented in a stylish wash bag - perfect for my other brother who is a little bit emo (like I was haha) and has long annoying hair that needs to be in the right place at all times.
What other vanity kits did I find? Well there is this one from Bulldog. This one doesnt come with a bag but it's some of Andrews favourite stuff so a few products to top up his collection is perfect. As you can see, its called The Kennel and it's £12 from Boots.
and the last one I found was the Black Pepper and Ginsing set from Baylis & Harding which again, comes in a wash bag and is my favourite wash bag of the three. Inside are four mini products - a hair and body wash, aftershave balm, shower gel and face wash in the Black Pepper and Ginseng scent which is very musky and manly. This one seems that bit more grown up and classy - perfect for a weekend away!
Moving on to a different sort of bathroom product, I have this trio from Molton Brown which I think is a really lovely gift. The bottles are full sized and come in a smart silver box with a grey ribbon. The collection of three are all very manly scents - I think these will go down very well with the more sophisticated man!
Moving on to shaving gadgets and I have a couple! Firstly is this Gillette kit in collaboration with Spectre from Boots. Remember I was talking about my younger brother before? Well he's starting to need to shave and a kit like this is perfect because it looks great and contains everything he needs to get started (1 x FlexBall Manual Razor, 2 x ProGlide Razor Blades & 1 x ProGlide Shave Gel 75ml).
The next one is an electric razor from Braun Series 3.This is the kind of thing my grandad would love. It has been designed with MicroComb Technology, helping to get the closest shave and leave skin is less irritated. It's a little bit pricey but the perfect, useful gift!
Now we move away from bathroom based gifts on to some other bits and pieces. 

First is a new wallet - Yes! Men use wallets right? I know Andrew does, although he is super fussy and will only use it if it has a coin pocket so this one from Ralph Lauren's holiday shop is pretty perfect really. Its brown, soft leather and it has their logo embossed in the corner and it has a coin pocket.  Perfect.
and to finish off? Alcohol. I have two brothers and almost all of my friends are boys and do you know what boys like? They like alcohol. My brothers are going through their alcopop phase, my dad loves a cheeky beer in the evening and Andrew and his friends will drink anything from spirits to a bottle of rose. So it's really the perfect, fail safe gift.

My family love diet coke so around Christmas, the house is full of the stuff with and extra stash in the garage for backup so Disaronno and Tia Maria are the perfect bottles to leave out in the kitchen incase anyone fancies some in their drinks. Both of the bottles I have here are special edition - I went along to the Tia Maria X Grazia launch party a couple weeks ago and ended up with a bottle from the new collection in a lovely monochrome gift tin and the Disaronno is designed with Roberto Cavalli.

Whisky is one for my dad, so this bottle of Grants is perfect for him! He's not a huge drinker but has a garage full of bottles so whether he drinks this straight away or not, it'll be great for the collection.

When it comes to vodka, I just love Absolut. I love the writing on the frosted bottles and all the crazy flavours you can get it in. For my gift guide, I have a couple bottles of Absolut Peppar which is great for drinks like a Bloody Mary or anything with a bit of a spicy kick.

The wine is new in from Echo Falls and combines in some fruity flavours - I'm sure the boys would love these and as for the Babycham, it's always nice to have something sparkling.
Apart from the alcohol itself I also picked up some bits and pieces from funkin cocktails. Whats a boy to do with all this alcohol? Well in my brothers case, make cocktails - hes just started at uni and loves mixing things up to make something that tastes good and showing off to his friends so some bits and pieces from Funkin are great! They sell all sorts utensils and mixers to make the perfect cocktails.
Lastly - Aftershave! Guys often dont buy this sort of stuff for themselves so they make great christmas gifts! Here I have Hugo Boss and CK Eternity Now which is juicy with nectarine, succulent lychee, peach blossoms, and soft cashmere.
Still struggling which gift ideas? One last thing to think about could be a gift experience?
Recently I have realised that I much prefer an experience over an item and I think Andrew does too!

Have You Done Your Christmas Shopping Yet?

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