Christmas Presents!

Hello!

Ok ok...so this post is a little late really...it's almost the end of January and I'm only just putting up my Christmas present post! This post is only a month late....which is...urm...well anyway, I know some people don't like these posts but I'm really nosey and LOVE seeing what other people got so I figure "Why not do one for other people who are nosey like me??" I won't include all my presents (not because there were loads or anything but because I got some money and my sister is also still working on one for me so it's kinda difficult to show those off!) but here's a few of them...

This is the ridiculously cute paper my sister used to wrap my present! I didn't really want to rip it really!

So...I've never mentioned this to my sister so I was genuinely really surprised that she got this for me! When I opened it and saw that she'd got me the Urban Decay Naked Palette. I won't bang on about it too much because I know practically everyone in the beauty blogging world has either got this palette or has read 50 reviews on it. All I can say is I wouldn't have paid £36 for this (I'm too poor for that!) but was SO happy to get it for Christmas! It's pretty much been my "go to" palette for nights out and for fancy day time looks.

Ooooh! Look at how pretty it is! I'm so impressed with how good the pigmantation is of all the colours. I really love the colours "Smog", "Sidecar", "Virgin"....to be honest, I bloody love them all! I'm so happy to have this palette and will savour it for as long as I can! (FYI because I've read about people getting annoyed with how the outer case doesn't fair too well...I may have maybe kept it in the plastic case....what a nerd right?)

I got a free sample of this AGES ago when myself and the lovely Leanne went on a bit of a mission round town to collect as many free samples as possible. I absolutely fell in love with it and have been keeping an eye out everywhere just in case it miraculously went down in price...but alas, it stayed expensive and I just couldn't afford it. Apparently my mum happened to find it on offer and decided to treat me and get it for me as my one big present. I've been wearing this quite a bit and I really do just love it. It's really fresh and light and just sits really well on me. It lasts all day as well which is really nice - a lot of perfumes sort of fade away within a few hours on me. I'm trying to rotate my perfumes so I don't use them all up at once. I'll probably do a perfume post soon because I just love them all so much! (I also really love the bottle top of this perfume! So cute!)

My mum also got me these candle holders. I really love scented candles and she saw these at a craft fair at her work and brought them immediately. I love how you can have tea lights in them (left in the picture) or flip them over and use them to hold stick candles but still see the decoration (right in the picture) The candles are apple scented too and smell delicious! Such a cute little set, I just need to find a place to put them that does them justice.

My mum also got me some socks (standard) and technically I got these ones a few days ago as a sort of extended gift but I thought these ones were more awesome to put on here, rather than the brown ones that aren't quite as photogenic... The set I got on Christmas was a 3 pack of Bamboo socks. If you haven't heard of these I highly suggest investing in some. They are amazingly soft and also stop your feet from smelling bad too (which will probably come in handy in Summer!) The ones in the photo are from a 3 pack of comic inspired socks from peacocks. I've been eyeing them up for ages but have resisted until I popped in with mum and she insisted on getting them for me because she "felt like she didn't get me as much as everyone else for Christmas" Ridiculous I know. These are men's socks but they are so comfy I just don't care!

Again, another belated Christmas gift was this lovely new purse. I've been needing a new one for ages, as mine is literally falling apart, but just haven't found one that was quite right (I'm very picky) When I went for my audition at Benefit I had a whole 45 minutes to spare beforehand (I got there SUPER early for some reason...I think I expected more traffic) so my mum and I had a little look round the House of Fraser and found this beautiful purse. I knew it was exactly what I was looking for as soon as I opened it up. It's got enough spaces for all my cards, a space for my ID (handily removed for this picture...for ID theft reasons but also because the picture makes me look like a serial killer. Not cool.) and enough space if I ever happen to actually have money to carry round... I really love how colourful it is on the inside too.

Another treat from House of Fraser were these Yankee Candles. They had a HUGE display on the top floor and I was overwhelmed with the choices! They had some that were discounted too so I decided to go with just a few and just the tester ones so I didn't spend loads of money on a giant candle that would give me a headache every time I lit it. I went with 5 (I've used 2 since getting them and forgot to take pictures. What a fool!) Pictured are Baby Powder - I just weirdly love the smell of this one. I hope I'm not getting broody. Bleugh! Island Guava - this is quite subtle but still quite fruity and Pink Lady Slipper - I'll be honest I first picked this up because the name made me smile but it's got a really gorgeous subtle smell to it and I love it! I also had Cherry Blossom which was beautiful and Fresh Cotton which gave me a massive headache and I had to blow out about 15 minutes after lighting it. Sad times but at least I know for next time.

Ah! The staple of my Christmas morning...CHOCOLATE! This is my main tradition on Christmas, chocolate for breakfast! Chocolate coins (because they're awesome and always taste a little weird...also that massive one has a penguin on it and I <3 penguins!), Snow Bites (because they're like Christmas mini eggs) and Chocolate Orange (because my mum ALWAYS gets us all chocolate oranges for Christmas. She once said she wasn't going to because we were "all old enough to not have them anymore" and I've never been more upset. She eventually caved and got use all some! Kinda handy that there's 3 of use and they're almost always on 3 for 2 at Christmas! The popping candy one is my favourite for sure. SO good! I have one piece left and I'm waiting until I'm REALLY craving it so it tastes all that much better...I'm officially still 11....)

One of my friends got me these and I love them! I had a scratch on me the other day that just wouldn't stop bleeding and, as I was at work and had these in my bag (handy tin is very handbag friendly), I got to use one! I felt so nerdy yet awesome wearing my "POW!" plaster with pride!

My friend also got me this Superman mug. I love both Superman and mugs so this is the ultimate combo win. I've got so many cool mugs already and this one just fits right in (next to the other Superman mug and the Vegas one "Who knows?" got me when he went on a business trip to Vegas. I've gotta get me a real job that has Vegas business trips!) I love that this one has retro comic front covers on it as my other Superman mug has 3 panels of a comic on it...and I just realised I have two Superman coasters on my bedside table...Have I mentioned I like Superman??

I also like penguins. I really want to just have a day where I get to chill with some and become friends with them....There's actually a sanctuary in South Africa where you can go and help rescue penguins and feed baby penguins and also look after cats. It's literally my dream job...except in a country where it's usually really hot. I do not fair well in warm weather! Anyway, the little penguin and the penguin snow globe (double winner for the snow globe and penguin combo) are from my mum who knows my obsession very well (On holiday as a child I once went to a bird sanctuary somewhere down south with my family and my mum did the old "Robyn...we're leaving now..." trick to make me panic and go with everyone, but apparently I just didn't care. I had my hat from Legoland on and was crouched in front of the penguin section and would've stayed there forever if I could've. I was a bit of a special child...) The big penguin at the back waddles and squeaks when you actually manage to find a screwdriver so you can put batteries in him. "Who knows?" got him for me and he is SO cute. It's almost as good as having an actual penguin as a friend.

Another gift from "Who Knows" I love the Jurassic Park trilogy (even number 3, which most people hate. How can you hate a film that has a dream sequence involving a velociraptor on a plane??) I've been eyeing up this boxset since it came out in October (I think...) and man....I really wanted it. I don't really remember saying this to him but...the boy did good! Not only is it pretty nerdy (the model is an exact mini scale replica that is guaranteed to scare the crap out of me at night) but it's also the Jurassic Park trilogy on bluray...shiny shiny bluray! Naturally this was my Christmas viewing sorted (even though it's always on "itv something" at the moment) It really does look pretty damn awesome in HD and it still amazes me how well Jurassic Park 1 still looks! I love how there's some films that have come out recently that look absolutely crap compared to the special effects in JP1. I won't get started on that now...I could talk forever about these films. Really can't wait for JP4 to FINALLY get made! I will nerd it up in the cinema so badly!

I love getting books for Christmas, especially when they are ones that I didn't ask for but people have brought me thinking "Yeah...Robyn might like this." Last year my sister got me a zombie love story book called "Warm Bodies" that I HIGHLY recommend. (Side note: it really bums me out that Stephanie Meyer is the first person quoted on the book...ugh....but then cheers me up that Simon Pegg is second!) This year "Who knows?" got me "The Islanders". Apparently he was having a look through a Sci-Fi magazine that I'd left at his when he came across the review of it (5 stars) and thought it might be something I'd quite like. I've only read the first 20 pages or so and wasn't super hyped but according to the review it does take a little getting into...so I did my tried and tested "Robyn Technique" (open book, read random paragraph, if I like what I've read halfway through the book then I'll like the rest of it. This has genuinely never failed me yet!) and found the bit that I read so amazing that I'm going to settle down at the weekend and have a good old read of it I think! I did think this was a really thoughtful gift and was genuinely surprised by it (usually I can pretty much guess what every present is going to be...)

The final gift from "Who Knows?" was this. Now then, last year he got me this Oliver Jeffers print (scroll down to the Lost and Found book and it's just below that) which I absolutely love. I'd made him a zombie survival kit and basically we'd both said that we'd really done it wrong and done so amazingly well with our first Christmas that this year we were screwed. (I did him his very own beauty box this year (46 products!) and also got him some carb/calorie/sugar free stuff including bbq sauce. That boy loves bbq sauce but also likes to do low carb diets every now and then. I think I did pretty well again this year....he seemed to like them anyway.) This is the one present he was panicking about the most I think. The penguin, blurays and book were all fairly safe as I love all of those items but this perfume was a wild card. He wears the men's version of Black XS and I love it so much! So he decided to get me the women's version. He said "if you don't like it, I can take it back and get you something else" and I said "...well...I've never smelt it...I'm going to open it!" I've never seen someone look so scared in all my life. He clearly thought I was going to hate it and then not be able to take it back! Haha! Lucky for him, I really love it! It's got quite a sweet, fruity smell to it which is exactly what I like in a perfume. Again, it really lasts on me and I get whiffs of it all day long whenever I wear it. The bonus with this gift is that...well.....a boy got me perfume! Cliche I know but, even now, it puts a huge smile on my face! I'm one of the most cynical people ever but I swear, a man buying me perfume is right up there with "getting flowers delivered to me, being brought underwear and getting a box of chocolates" Super cliched but I love it! The boy did very good this year I think.

This little penguin is hiding a whole host of Thornton's treats in its belly! My boss got me this after Christmas to say thank you for all my hard work on sale prep. I basically spent 2 weeks in a cold room with a space heater stickering hundreds of bits of underwear, so that come Christmas eve, they could put everything out and it would be easy. We closed at 3pm on Christmas eve and they got out at 6pm. Most floor moves take that long anyway but if they'd had to sticker as they went...well...they wouldn't have left until 2am like some stores. Ridiculous! Anyway, my boss got me this to say thanks and it had milk and white buttons, small bits of fudge, chocolate covered raisins and a fondant mouse in it! Most importantly though....it's another penguin! So damn cute!

And finally....my Grandad got me a Christmas jumper! Here is me looking ridiculous in it. Enjoy the face I'm making there...I'm not big on posing for photos like this (well..not when I'm sober anyway!) This is the first Christmas jumper I ever remember having so I was so excited! Unfortunately it's a little short and clearly the turtle neck does nothing for me but still....it's a bonafide Christmas jumper!! Awesome. He also gave me £20, which I spent on the last 3 magnetic nail polishes in the 17 range in Boots! Awesome. (Bonus points go to those who spotted the penguin plate in the background! Also the fact that my glasses seem wonky...what the..?? I love Christmas!)

So that's pretty much it. I'm looking forward to seeing what my sister has made for my last gift, I know it's for nail polish storage and she's painting on it (she's a fab artist!) so I'm very excited. I know she just needs to find the time to actually finish it and she's really busy with work at the moment. Hope this hasn't been too waffly (I know it has...I just really love talking to be honest!) and I hope you've enjoyed nosing at what I got for Christmas!

Did you get anything good for Christmas this year? Or do you have any opinions about my gifts? I love reading/replying to comments so feel free to leave some love :) (Unless it's "Robyn, you waffle too much" I already know this and really am trying to work on it! Promise! Haha!)

Until next time,

xoxo