Birthday wish list // gift guide

My birthday is less than a week away and as people keep asking me for birthday ideas, I thought it was high time I made a wishlist!

Anything Alice in Wonderland - I particularly love these framed book prints

Wall art in general - framed posters of inspirational quotes. I'm constantly pinning them on Pinterest

Bangles ....which leads me on to bangles with inspirational quotes. Can't get enough of them, as you may have noticed before...

Flowers - I adore sunflowers, birds of paradise and dyed flowers like dendrobium orchids and rainbow roses

Diptyque candle - the ultimate. And once it burns down, perfect for storing make-up brushes

The White Company - Orange Grove reed diffuser and candles - the nicest scent, so fresh and natural and summery

Yankee Candles - everyone has their favourites, but mine is mango peach salsa

Tea cups and saucers - as well as drinking vessels, also great for desserts and a novel way of storing your jewellery

Satchels - I bloody love satchels. Particularly tan ones. My tan Primark satchel broke and I've been left broken hearted ever since. I'm after a decent sized one because I always carry so much crap stuff around with me.

With mere days to go (5th May, if you're curious!), I've been enjoying meals out, spending time with friends and the odd cocktail here and there. I'm looking forward to catching up with more people over the next few days - roll on the weekend!

Yankee Candle advent calendar

Remember my advent calendar post the other week? I decided to treat myself to the Yankee Candle advent calendar as this was more "me". I love most of the beauty ones but could not justify spending £50-80 on an advent calendar - what if you have an allergic reaction to a product? You've then just paid a fortune to be red skinned and puffy faced at Christmas, eek.

The calendar itself was much bigger than I expected when it arrived. Every day you receive a tea light sized candle. This seemed a bit stingy to me, but if you think about it, tea lights are designed to burn for a few hours. And seeing as the whole premise of this calendar would be to have a candle a day, a few hours burn time constitutes an evening. So it works.

My one disappointment was that there are six candles you receive in rotation - so you don't get unique candles for those 20 odd days. I know that Yankee Candle has a wide range of other festive candles - such as Christmas Eve, Christmas Memories and Cranberry Ice - so they should have had enough in their range to have a bit more variety within their advent calendar.

Also I'm finding that three of the six candles they've supplied are very similarly scented - all very sweet with vanilla tones. So for the first few days I was checking the back of the box in confusion and was still none the wiser. Was it "Christmas cookie"? Or was it "Merry Marshmallow"? I think the calendar itself could be improved if when you opened each door, it told you what candle you have that day.

The last few nights, I have been transported away to my own personal Winter Wonderland where the air is filled with spices, maple, apples, cedar wood and juniper berries. Oh I bloody love this time of the year.

7 alternatives to chocolate advent calendars

We're mere days away from December. Then the count down begins. Oh my.

Have you got to that age where although chocolate is still awesome, you feel like chocolate advent calendars are a little done? There was a time where eating chocolate first thing in the morning was exciting. It felt naughty. Now it seems to have lost its novelty. Each year more and more brands are jumping on the advent calendar band wagon. Admittedly mostly beauty brands / products. But as you will see below, there are some lovely other little surprises to be found behind each door:

Body Shop advent calendar: I've seen this featured on some blogs lately and the selection looks amazing. I haven't managed to locate any online or in my local store though. Not sure if it sold out, or if it was just a blogger promo / sample type dealio.

Yankee Candle advent calendar: Fill your house with the smell of Christmas on the days leading up to the holiday - to me, this feels like the most festive of all the advent calendars I've seen. But then I have major candle bias. Love 'em.

Benefit advent calendar: A great way of trying out new beauty products

Boots advent calendar: A more affordable version of the Selfridges one (below)

Whisky advent calendar: If you like whisky and you've got more money to spare, this would be a very merry count down!

Ciaté nail polish advent calendar: A nail polish a day. Genius.

Selfridges beauty advent calendar: Always sells out in record time. But with daily delights from Lancome, Yves Saint Laurent, etc, this is hardly surprising. Each year I um and ah over the price - trust me, it's a LOT. I decide to give it a try and what... it's sold out? Well I guess that answers that then.

What would your ideal advent calendar contain?

Christmas wish list - in association with The Watch Hut

ASOS cable knitted knee highs  //  L'Occitane hand cream  //  Whittard's white hot chocolate  //   River Island fur collar

Yankee candles  //   M&S slippers //   Urban Outfitters "L" mug //  Michael Kors watch via Watch Hut  // ASOS party dress 

The Watch Hut have joined forces with e-tail PR and are inviting bloggers to create a Christmas wish list for a chance to win £100-300 worth of vouchers from ASOS [competition now closed]. All you need to do is pick out a watch from their website and feature it in your wish list. I have been longing for a Michael Kors watch for ages now so knew I wanted to center my wish list around this. I used to wear a Baby-G watch when I was younger but it broke and I haven't owned a new watch since :'( I love rose gold jewellery so I was instantly drawn to the rose gold watches Michael Kors has to offer. And what better way to count down the hours until Christmas day than with a Michael Kors watch from The Watch Hut? ;) The rest of my wish list is based around the things I love most about Christmas. Festive scented candles, chunky knits, hot chocolate, moisturising beauty products, the perfect Christmas party dress, and cosy faux fur collars to instantly update last season's coat.

What's on your wish list this year?

A peek inside my room #1

Operation Tidy is going well but I still have a long way to go before I achieve my dream bedroom as fantasised about here. As Operation Tidy progresses, I will gradually be revealing parts of my room so you have more of an insight into how I live and where I blog from. My first room related post is also a little bit of a haul post based on two purchases I made recently. The first being this rather gorgeous circular plate:

TK Maxx - £9.99

I love nothing more than a good candle, but candle wax can be a devilish little sod. I’d been searching high and low for something to rest my candles on and TK Maxx came to the rescue. £9.99 was nothing for such a generously sized plate. Plus with all the blues, swirls and glitter, it was by far the prettiest design I’d seen. The chest at the foot of my bed is now designated as “candle area” and I’ve tried to keep things quite minimal with just this plate, the remains of my Valentine’s flowers and my leftover Yankee Candle mango tea lights:

My second mission of late was to find some new bedding as I’d become bored of purple. And what happened? I find bedding on the one day I wasn’t actively looking for it!

 Asda - £11 (no joke!)

The mocha coloured print almost looks gold when viewed in a certain light. And as and when I fancy a change, I can flip the pillow cases and peel the duvet back to reveal the reverse side:

So last weekend, as well as enjoying my born again bed with candles flickering in the background, I also made that cake I spoke of. But I improvised and used chocolate frosting instead of cream cheese:

Also, I discovered that I may need to go to Porridge Eaters Anonymous:

Sales: a summary

The January sales. What did you make of them? I’ve spotted some pretty sweet buys on all your blogs :) Did anyone else feel that they were a bit a shambles this year? The savings weren’t even that great. £5 off a skirt? Oh why thank you. How very generous of you. And I recognised so much old stock. Last year’s rejects no doubt.

I dedicated one day to get my sales fix. The day was executed with military precision. Up at silly o’clock, there at silly o’clock and done late morning before all the crowds and craziness. Here’s a summary of my January purchases:

Primark:

Still in possession of many Primark vouchers (incentive for doing a Primark survey), I couldn’t resist this bed throw - a total steal at £3!

Plus a couple of pairs of wellie socks – a nudge to book up for a festival this year!

They’re perfect for lining boots in this cold snap we’re having at the moment.

River Island:

I bought this River Island skirt and it’s a few sizes too big. Like on a drastic scale. Why do we do this to ourselves? Crazy low prices can inspire such madness sometimes! 

But it was only £5 and I can easily sew it in.

Topshop:

This Topshop coat and boots had to be returned. LOVED the wedges but they were pointed and far too narrow. Think they would’ve crippled me. The coat had really annoying hook and eye fastenings and was way too much hassle to deal with. I did however keep a black mini skirt which I can’t find *rubbish blogger* It’s a size smaller than I usually take (oh the joys of sale stock…) but it fits like a glove. It’s so refreshing to be able to wear a non-flippy skirt that doesn’t everyone give everyone an eyeful when it’s windy out!

French Connection:

Originally £180, I paid next to nothing for these in the sale thanks to a generous reduction and a French Connection voucher I already had. I do like Chelsea boots but was after something a little bit different to the ones you see on everyone. I love the strap detailing – an added quirk that satisfies the rock chick in me. If you like them, they’re still selling them on ASOS.com - but for £126. Silly.

Yankee:

As much as I love Yankee candles, I can’t justify spending that much on candles. I jumped at the chance to buy their mango and peach scented candles for £3.22 

And I was lusting after this gift set before Christmas - but I was never going to spend £20 for a pack of sampler sizes:

I was ecstatic to find them reduced down to half price in the sale. Christmas cookie, Mountain pine… I’m all set for Christmas next year. WIN.

Boots:

I don’t really go to Boots for jewellery but I couldn’t resist this ring. I love the design so much. I think this is the sort of ring I’d choose out if I ever got married / engaged. Except with nicer stones instead of these cheapo ones that keep falling off!

I also feel the need to share the late Christmas presents I received from friends:

Very cute mug and hot chocolate set

Another mug which sums me up well

Check out my friend’s awesome knitting skills! 

Such a cute and alternative way to decorate a gift!

Last but not least... this cookery book which I 

have been experimenting with this weekend:

Raspberry and white chocolate cupcakes.

They just melt in your mouth. NOM.