I know these posts are a little controversial and can be seen as bragging, but I like to read them and I'm also so thankful for everything that I got that I do want to show people :) Also with Christmas coming up, you might get some last minute gift ideas.

So yesterday it was my birthday and I turned 23...I am absolutely terrified at how quickly time is going and how much I don't feel like an adult. I was spoilt rotten by my family and friends so here is some of what I got...

I always have cold hands so my friends got me some gloves that you can plug in and there are little heat pads inside of them that heat up! I had no idea they existed but I now feel lost (freezing) without them. I love the colours and the cute little button on them.

You can never have enough cosy pyjamas, especially at this time of year so I was over the moon to get two this year. The top ones I picked out and are from House of Fraser. I am a sucker for owls and stags.

And then Tom got me these ones from Fat Face which is one of my favourite shops but often out of my price range. The stars give them a festive feel without being so Christmassy that I can't wear them all year round - which I will be!

This gorgeous scarf is off one of my gorgeous friends :) It's from Accessorize which is also another favourite shop of mine. Patterns like this are timeless so I'm sure I'll get plenty of use out of it.

I was actually looking to buy one of these for one of my friends so I know you can get them from Paperchase but also online. I've tried writing diaries in the past but then worried about being too open and people reading it so I like how this one only requires you to write one sentence every day. I guess then I can say enough to trigger my own memory without giving too much away if anyone else had a nosey. It'll be nice to look back at over the years and I love the shade of blue it is. 

I'm at an age where I've realised a quick going over with a wet wipe is just not enough skincare wise. I love getting skincare products so I was over the moon to get this box from my brother and girlfriend. I've only every tried the hot cloth and polish cleanser from Liz Earle and I loved the smell so I'm excited to try out some of her other products. 

Black XS is a scent I always find myself going back to . I'm rubbish at describing smells so I'm not even going to attempt to but if you spot this in a shop, have a spray because it really does smell sooooo goooood!

I've never tried anything from The Balm Cosmetics but I've always loved their packaging and found myself picking their stuff up and then reluctantly putting it back on the shelf. All the shades look very wearable so I'll have fun playing with different looks with this. 

 You may have seen in my last post that I bought myself the Soap and Glory "whole she-bang" box, but one thing it didn't include was this body spray. It's a nice size to pop in my handbag for a quick spray throughout the day so I can stay smelling lovely :)

This French Connection nail varnish and lip-gloss set has a good range of shades for all occasions and I'll definitely be using the sparkly ones over Christmas! I've only just started to wear stuff on my lips so I'm excited to try all of these out.

I think people know me far too well! More skincare goodies yay :) I'm going to keep this set for a pamper night in I think. It contains everything to be able to do your own facial!

I LOVE all things Kinder, especially if it's hippo shaped. I used to always get these after school and scoop out all the filling before eating the shell mmmm....

This mascara has been my favourite of 2015 and will probably stay that way next year too! 

And finally, I just wanted to share this cute Nutella recipe book I got. I have been known to eat the stuff straight from the jar with a spoon...and I mean eating like half of it at a time, not a few mouthfuls. I'll post some of my favourite recipes on here as I work my way through it :) My first attempt is already chilling in the fridge and I've not even had this 24 hours!!!

I'd just like to say a massive thank you for all of these kind gifts and to everyone involved in my birthday in any way. I am very lucky to have the friends and family I do :)

A few gift ideas plus a cheeky discount code for you all

It's getting to that time of year where we're all starting to think about starting our Christmas shopping and if you're like me, you'll also have a lot of friends that have their birthdays around this time. As  I've spent a fair few weeks looking for the ideal gifts, I thought I'd make a post with a few nice suggestions!

I was very lucky to be contacted by Debenhams and asked to review a bouquet* from their new Autumn range which you can view here. They are all beautiful and it took me a while to choose one but in the end, I went for ' Designer Delicious'.

I've always thought of fresh flowers as more of a Summer thing, but this range was well thought out with lots of orange/golden shades and berries which were a lovely touch.

They lasted a good two weeks and I'm pretty sure that if I knew how to look after flowers properly, they would have lasted even longer!!  (I'm a bad flower mummy!)

Flowers are a classic gift and I personally would be over the moon to receive another gorgeous bouquet like this (hint hint Tom if you're reading)...

I did get a little snap happy but I wanted to capture the flowers as they all opened. It was great that they hadn't when they arrived as it meant I could get the most out of them :)

If you'd like to order some for a loved one (or yourself!!) then you can get 25% off your flowers with this code: DFBLOG25... This is valid across all of their flowers except for the flowers by post.

HERE IS THE LINK

There's so many different colours and flower types that you're bound to find one that suits your loved one best. I am so OCD about stuff matching my room (which is blue and red) so I was delighted to have found this bouquet that met my fussy needs!

I have lots of lovely jewellery that I never wear because a) I can't find it and am too lazy to look for it  or b) I've lost it. This is why I looked into jewellery boxes to find something nice and simple where I could keep all my jewellery in one place!Speaking to people, this seems to be a common problem which is why I think this would be such a fab but practical present!

Utility is my 'go to' place for present ideas and I chose this sleek and simple jewellery box*. It tucks in very neatly when it is closed but when you pull the drawer, it extends out and has a handy mirror on the top that means you can check out how glamorous you look with all your bling on! (Did I actually just type bling....oh dear)

So here it is all filled up and I have actually been wearing jewellery much more often since getting this!

At £35, I think it fits a lot of people's budgets and if not then you could always get some jewellery instead :)

I am in love with Estella Bartlett jewellery! They usually cost around £15-20 and are so simple and pretty. I always play it safe when buying people jewellery because you can so easily get it wrong!!

How lovely are these hearts please?! 

I also wrote a post about making your own birthday box which will fit any budget so have a peek! 

What do you think? If you have any gift guides, I'd love to read them so drop a link in the comments :)

Make your own...girls night in box!

When it comes to birthday presents and cards, I really don't think you can beat something homemade. Time means a lot more than money and you can make something super special and personal for your favourite friend :)

Me and Rachel decided to organise a girly night in for our friend Sophie not so long ago. We used to always decorate shoe boxes when we were little and make things from trinket boxes to full on doll houses! So, whilst reminiscing over then cute times, we decided to make Sophie her very own Girls Night in Kit!

You can make the box as simple or as crazy as you want. We just glued some white paper on all of the sides to give us a bit of a blank canvas to work with, gathered as many stickers and crafty bits as we could find and got cutting and sticking.

For the inside of the box, we tried to think of some traditional girly sleepover type presents as well as tailoring this to things Sophie likes...

Sophie is a lover of candles and painting her nails so this fit in with the theme perfectly!

If anyone can suggest any shops that sell big bags of flying saucers, let me know in the comments as it took ages to find a bag of these...but we couldn't leave them out, they're her favourite you see!

We also snuck in a keyring with her favourite animal on it...just lots of nice, personal little things basically.

We had so much fun making this box and I think Sophie really liked it :)

You could tailor these boxes for any special occasion and make it as cheap or as pricey as you like. These boxes meet any budget!

What kind of box would you make?

Something Special for Someone Special

Can you believe that Valentine's day is almost here!? One minute it's Christmas, New Year...you blink and then before you know it, it's the middle of February! 

Even though I'm without a significant other *sob*, I still think Valentine's day is a time to share with your loved ones, whether that's romantically or not, and spoil them with chocolate, cards and flowers. Or how about with pearls?! They're a timeless classic that give any outfit that touch of elegance and will be a gift your person can keep forever.

I was delighted to receive these gorgeous gorgeous earrings* from absolute pearls. They arrived beautifully wrapped in white paper and a black ribbon..in fact it was so nicely wrapped that I was a bad blogger and didn't take a photo as excitement took over and I'd torn into it..sorry! But trust me that it was pretty :)

The red box is a lovely touch!

I've never owned real pearls before, I usually wear fake stud ones, but I can really tell the difference with these beauties! You can read about how to tell if your pearls are real right here!

Isn't it crazy that they come out of Oysters!! 

I can't decide if they look like little cherries or if it's a bow on the top, but they are very girly and sparkly! 

How will you be celebrating Valentine's Day? 

And.... if you absolutely hate the day.....fear not. February 17th is PANCAKE DAY!!!

Christmas Gifts

This was me trying out my new camera more than anything, but here's a few things I was spoilt with on Christmas :) I'm so grateful for everything I got!

Essie nail varnish in 'Tea and Crumpets' and 'Bahama Mama.' I've got Tea and Crumpets on now, it's the light pink one which is the type of colour I love to wear for everyday, mainly because it's nice and subtle and matches most outfits and I'm terrible at painting nails, so when they're done, I like to try and keep a varnish on for as long as possible!!

My brother and his girlfriend got me this beautiful Fiorelli bag! I love the colours and as well as being pretty, it's got lots of practical pockets and zips inside. 

I have a photo of me holding this exact same bear in a shop a few posts back and my mum surprised me with her on Christmas day!

 Emily is a Silver Tag bear. Every so often they release a collection of a few bears and make only 1,500 of each. I love how they have tags with their names on, a little message and telling you which number they are. It makes them feel that bit more special! She's soooo soft, I've been carrying her around like a young child since I got her, just to snuggle and watch TV with..

Well you can never go wrong with a Yankee Candle. This one smells delicious - I could eat it! I've got so many candles (but you can never have too many!) at the moment but I light them literally every night when I go to bed and read. So relaxing!

I hope everyone had a lovely Christmas and that the celebrations keep going till New Year! I'm already starting to think about what I want to achieve in 2015!

Recent Purchases

 It was my birthday a few days ago, which meant I had a little extra spending money. 

I actually got the framed owl picture from my best friend, but it's that cute that I just had to include it in this post! I'd eyed it up when we were out shopping months ago, it's so sweet that she remembered!

So surprise surprise, I'm an owl fan - wouldn't guess would you!? haha. With my room all white, pale pink and blue, I thought this white owl mug would sit perfectly on my chest of drawers when I spotted it in John Lewis. It's also the perfect size for a hot chocolate with the full works! You can buy the mug here for £5! I also really like this one!

Candles are also up there in my favourite things and I've wanted this Lily Flame Fairy Dust candle for a while now. It smells absolutely gorgeous and girly and is presented very nicely in its jar! You can buy it here for £12. I did spend a while umming and ahhhing over the Neom Tranquility candle. It literally smells like a spa! But it was just too much out of my price range. Ever had it?

The day after my birthday, I had a Topshop Personal Shopper experience which I highly recommend!! (I'll blog about it soon) This is the coat I got from it, which I would have never picked up myself but I just love how smart it looks on and it's very soft :) Perfect for wearing over any party outfits over the festive season and I also think the light blue colour will be great in Spring!

Gift Guide: A Point in the Right Direction

Buying gifts for our nearest and dearest can be so fun and exciting, especially when you find something you know they'll absolutely love! That said, it can also be stressful and frustrating when you just don't know where to start. Here's a little helping hand if you're stuck..

Scratch Map: I think this would be perfect for anyone who loves to travel and will likely encourage them to see more sights as they long to scratch off another section!!

Literature Tote Bag: I love the idea of having the words of your favourite book made into something you can have with you all the time. The website offers posters and tshirts too! 

Smash Book: I actually own one of these and absolutely love it - especially on days where I feel creative. Each book has patterned pages for different themes and a really handy half sharpie/ half gluestick pen which lets you easily whack in your memories in a fun way! The brand also do lots of stickers and other accessories that can be used in the books.

Owl Chalk Board: I also have this chalkboard as you may have already noticed in some older posts! It's so cute and would be perfect for anyone who likes to jot reminders down. I actually use mine to write little cheesy feel good quotes...

Whittard's Hot Chocolate Set: This set gives the classic hot chocolate a twist, offering flavours such as Rocky Road, Creme Brulee White Hot Chocolate (WOW!!!) and Chilli!!!!