Christmas Presents 2012

A very belated post showing you all the gorgeous gifts I received from my loved ones at Christmas. I didn't get back to London until late last Sunday and this week has been a bit manic at work! Hence the delay in getting this post up - I hope you're not bored of seeing people's festive gifts by now. This is a very photo-heavy post, as you'd expect!

Soap & Glory love! The set of minis was from my boyfriend's Mum, and my own lovely Mum treated me to the Best of All set! Reviews coming soon!

A cute Bright Side receipts tin that I've been lusting after for over a year - and a balti dish and spices set!

 

Looking forward to seeing this chalkboard hanging up in my kitchen.

My Mum bought me this beautiful recipe journal as she knows how much I love to bake and make up my own vegan twists of old classics. And I bought Emma this 5 year diary for Secret Santa - my boyfriend must've actually been listening when I was raving about it to him!

I'm using this little notebook from my sister for a new blog series - watch this space! And can you believe I didn't already own Toy Story?!

I needed some new slippers and these are gorgeous! And a cute thoughtful pressie from my boyfriend - OUCH! cream for all my aches and pains.

My aunt thought this adorable cat sellotape dispenser would cheer up drab Monday mornings at work!

After tulips, irises are my all time favourite bulb, I think they are beautiful. Excited to grow these in the cute ceramic dish!

A lovely quote plaque from my sister - and so true!

I adore this penguin jumper so much! I've finally got a festive jumper (but more importantly, one that I can wear in months other than December) - yay!

I feel completely spoilt by my beau who indulged me with this set of two festive Yankee Candles - of course I'm going to burn them all year round!

I must confess I picked out this LOVE sign myself, but my sister surprised me with this lush Hotel Chocolat Liquid Chocolate drink (vegan friendly of course!)

....and a couple of outtakes from my photographing session featuring my photobombing cat - daft thing.

What was your favourite Christmas present? Do you have a blog post showing them all off? - I'd love to see it!

xx

24 Days of Ciaté - Mini Mani Month

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

I hope you have followed and enjoyed my daily posts on what's been hiding behind the doors of my Ciaté Mini Mani Month Advent Calendar! I thought what better post to have on Christmas Day but one with the complete month of polishes!

How pretty are all the little pots with their bows on?

I got 4 different pots of nail caviar...

An assortment of bold colours..

Some stunning metallic shades...

Some more sophisticated colours...

And some absolutely gorgeous glitter polishes!

I am so happy I decided to treat myself to this advent calendar - it's been the best December ever!

I hope you've enjoyed seeing my Mini Mani Month every day this month, and I hope you have a wonderful Christmas Day!

xx

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas..

As I am well and truly in the Christmas spirit, I thought it would be a nice idea to share my festive decorations with you! I put up my Christmas tree a little earlier than usual this year because I'll be heading home to Leeds on the 22nd and to be perfectly honest, I was having a bad day at the time and needed a little cheering up! So here's a few pics of my festive flat!

Have you put up your decorations yet?

xx

Christmas with Hotel Chocolat

Are you struggling to find the perfect Christmas present for a friend, or stuck with a Secret Santa you have no clue what to buy for? Hopefully this little post will help you figure that out!

There's a Hotel Chocolat store right by where I work (we're talking less than 20m away!) and I have caught myself wistfully gazing into their windows one too many times! I decided to take a look at the full range of chocolatey delights available on their website and share my favourites ideas for presents with you!

...oh and you get a FREE BOX OF CHOCOLATE for yourself when you spend over £60!

£5 Secret Santa Gift

How adorable are these teensy weensy reindeer? My Secret Santa bought me some dark choc ones last year, they're delicious and a perfect present idea if you've drawn someone you don't know very well!

£10 Secret Santa Gift

This keepsake tin full of festive chocolate delights is a gorgeous gift and really good value for money as it's only £10!

£15 Secret Santa Gift

Cracker gifts are all over the place at the moment but I adore these tiny Christmas crackers as a Secret Santa present! 

Must-Have Advent Calendar

At £22 this is a pretty pricey advent calendar (well, not compared to some of the beauty advent calendars out there!) but can you imagine opening a door and munching a yummy deluxe chocolate treat every day for 24 days?! I'm tempted to surprise my boyfriend with this!

Special Box of Chocs

If you're after a really good box of delicious chocs, perhaps for your other halves' family or to treat a grandparent, these boxes are really big for only £22, and are currently on offer 3 for £60! Ideal if you've got a few people you need to tick off the Christmas present list!

The Big Beast

Now I don't have a spare £300 but if I did.... how absolutely incredible is this massive hamper?! It has literally everything a chocolate (and booze!) lover could ever possibly want! Yes it may be on the pricey side, but you get an awful lot of bang for your buck. I'd love to be able to afford to buy this and treat my Mum this Christmas as I know she'd love it!

Have you got any favourite treats from Hotel Chocolat? Which gift would you like to receive yourself?

xx

Christmas Presents #2

As promised, here's the second of my Christmas pressie posts! I have been truly spoilt rotten this Christmas and I am blessed to have such amazing people in my life that know me so well! There's a distinct baking/cooking theme to this post...!

 Couple of perfect cooking/baking books from my bestie and my sis!

 From my uncle, will save my wrists from whisking!

 To replace my crappy £5 knives I've had since starting Uni, from my wonderful papa.

Gorgeous cups from assorted peeps; I love the Rob Ryan one from my boyfriend, its spot on!

Selection of yummy teas from my sister's girlfriend.

Needed some decent scales for years, thanks mum!

Cookie cutters and icing bag, also from mama bear..

As is this ridiculously cute pot of strawberry jam! Nom!

Giant cupcake cake tin and brick-shaped mould from my mum and sis!

How adorable is this bear-shaped cake tin? So excited to try it!

You probably don't know this about me but I'm a massive baker - I love trying new recipes and making baked goods for no reason. I'm considering starting a baking-orientated blog to run alongside Bee's Knees, what do you reckon? I'll probably only post every so often.. not sure!

xx