What I got for Christmas 2013 (Plus some Sale bits too!)

Hello!

So this is a little belated because I've been mad at work/super tired after and haven't had the blogging bug recently so I've been spending my time chilling, knitting and having a mega sort out of my room! It's been very good for my soul and my room now reflects my happy brain instead of the old depressed one from last year (I tried not to be cheesy there but it's very difficult not to be when you're happy...who knew?! I've literally become one of those "half full" type of people....what the hell??? Haha!) I also managed to find a use finally for the worst Christmas present from 2012 that was "ordered from Spain" (a massive photo frame from the ex (who clearly got his Dad to use his discount in Dunlum Mill....just because it says "made in Spain" on the back doesn't mean you imported it yourself dude..), which would've looked hideous for it's intended use and didn't go with my room at all...I'm going to paint the frame but it's holding all my favourite postcards that I've collected over the years and looks awesome!) Anyway, I'm going to do a post on that later because I think it's pretty damn cool! So that was another little present to myself this year really! So people always start these things with the whole "I'm not bragging" thing...and the same is true for me too. I'm not bragging about the stuff I got, but I love seeing what other people got and therefore I love sharing what I got too! On with the pictures....

This is my collective Christmas day haul. No makeup at all! My family don't buy me makeup because a) I work for a company so they don't want to buy me something I can't wear and b) they all know I'll get annoyed that I could've gotten them discount! Haha! 

So I got: 2 hot water bottles,

lots of chocolate, some Sally Hansen Insta-Dri drops and top coat, A cat scarf, a water bottle, a Lego Superman alarm clock, Tequila!, cotton pads, Wool for scarf making, a knit your own penguin and penguin socks! Love this selection and it shows how well my family/friends know me (one of my friends dropped over presents later and gave me a Lush Santa Scrub bar, a super pretty bauble, a candle and a body butter - all things that I love!) I know it might not seem like much to some people but I love everything in there! (The note that says "To Robyn Love John ox" is from my Step-Dad as I was having a moral crisis over eating the selection box that my Bio-Dad had given to my Sister to give to me (FYI he got her a designer bag...) so John took it out of the room popped some on a plate with the others round it and wrote that note so that it was technically from him so I could eat it without feeling dirty for accepting chocolate from a massive twat! Haha! This is why I love him more than my "real" Dad!)

I also got a penguin hat, jumper, gloves and phone case! I'm gutted that I had already taken my penguin nails off by this point. So that's it for the Christmas stuff....onto the sale bits I got myself...

Henry Holland Cat T-Shirt. Well I just had to didn't I?! Plus the black bits are all in velvet...awesome! The Bourjois set I got in TKMaxx for £5!!! The bareMinerals set is the Bright and Beautiful set that is just £29 but contains all full size products and one double sized product! (which add up to £162!)  I literally couldn't pass this up! 

Ah, the reason for getting this Bourjois kit is for that little green round pot of eyeshadow. I've had my eye on it since it came out and to get it for £5 with everything else?! BARGAIN!!

Just after Christmas my moisturiser ran out. Now then, I could've waited and got it on my super discount but I didn't want to use something else before then. These sets are £29 again but contain all full size items (worth £65!) and with my staff discount and £5 beauty card reward, was actually cheaper than my super discount! The cleanser and eye cream can just stay in the drawer until I need them too. 

Boots always have an amazing sale on after Christmas. I had been saving up my Boot Points for this occasion and managed to nab a few great sets! I got my Mum a present for next year that she had been eyeing up and I got John (henceforth known as my Dad ok?) a whiskey set as he didn't get any for Christmas! For myself I nabbed a Katy Perry Killer Queen 30ml fragrance set (it smells really nice despite being a "celebrity fragrance") I'd tried it from a magazine thingy and fell in love so for £11.25 you can't complain for a 30ml EDP! The No7 highlighter I'd been eyeing up for weeks and hoped that it would still be in there for the sale. I went in at 9.30am as I was working at 10am so I had first pick almost! I was so happy to see this for 50% off (I went back later to pick up some slippers that I obviously forgot to photograph because I as wearing them....) and there were none left at all! I also picked up the Seventeen lip crayons for £5. I gave the orange one to my friend at work who looks lovely in orange. They are nice but not as nice as Chubby sticks to be honest...

I picked up 3 Fragrance sets at work....oops.... Two Lancome ones (Tresor Midnight Rose and La Vie Est Belle) and a Paul Smith Optimistic set too. I justified buying the sets because they were SO cheap with my discount on top...and well....I needed them right?! I grabbed the Clarins All about Lips set too as an extra treat (because I clearly needed an extra treat right....) I shouldn't be allowed to work on Boxing Day again.

Around about the end of November bareMinerals staff get a list of bits that they can order at trade price that have been damaged or were "one time only"'s throughout the year. I wasn't super impressed with this years list to be honest but there were still 3 things that I decided to pick up (along with a few presents for others)

This was a whim purchase really. I love highlighters so thought I'd add another to my collection....turns out the real gold in this makes it SUPER shiny! It didn't cost much so I'm not that fussed as I love the brush and will come in handy in March when I go away.

This is The September Palette....from September (shocker I know...) It was a limited edition and I kept looking at it every time I went to the Covent Garden Boutique....but I'm so glad I didn't get it last time as it was much cheaper on the staff discount list but just as pretty as i imagined! It's really pigmented and totally my colours! Look at the gorgeous purple and teal!! Ugh. Love it.

These two are from the Obsessed With Pink set. i kept looking at it when I had it on counter but couldn't justify buying it.....and then as i sold the last one, I had total remorse at not buying it! Haha! So seeing it on the list made me very happy! The eyeshadows are a beautiful pale and deep pink and the blush is my new favourite for anytime I'm wearing any pink at all on my face! It also came with an eyeliner that I already have and a lipgloss that I already have. The lipgloss went to my lovely Mum and the eyeliner is in a little package for a certain friend...

So that's my Christmas lot! I'm very pleased with everything that I got this year as it's all stuff that I wanted but kept putting off for one reason or another. I also love that I can almost completely dress in penguin related stuff now if I want...

What did you guys get for Christmas??

Until next time,
xoxo

Christmas Presents to Myself...

Hello!

So this month marks one year since I became so depressed that I was actually pretty sure that I wouldn't see the New Year. I was in the middle of a breakdown fuelled by too much work, an emotionally and mentally abusive relationship (as told to me by various friends/therapists) with someone who either didn't care or couldn't care about how I was feeling which made me feel worthless and unlovable and by me constantly putting myself down because of these feelings. This year I'm feeling SO much better about life and myself and consequently I have been treating myself a lot more than I did last year. This is also helped by the fact that I am single for the first Christmas in 3 years so have much more money to myself too! I'm not saying that I spent loads of money on my ex but I'm a pretty thoughtful gift giver (and I'm pretty bad at sticking to budgets I set myself for people!) and spent a lot of money on things like building him his own Zombie Survival box from scratch (the one gift I thought about asking for back as it was damn cool! Haha!) and his very own manly beauty box full of 40 items of manly skincare etc. When you factor in how much I used to spend on him I now have lots of extra money to spend on awesome things for myself! (not the only reason I'm glad to be single I promise....although it's a pretty big bonus! Haha!) The last few months have been a pretty big change around for me too....not only have I finally managed to let go of any feelings (love, anger, hate etc) to do with my ex (it's weird to be talking to a friend one day and realise that you feel nothing anymore!) but I've also started flirting with lots of men because I can and I want to! It's not led to any grand romances yet or anything but it's nice to feel like someone likes you for you and that they find you attractive too! A nice ego boost for me after the last few years that's for sure! I've also been able to focus on my work to really make my counter my own little baby but I've also been able to balance work and home life. I may have overtime to take but that doesn't mean I should push myself and work 10 days in a row. Everyone deserves a day off to chill out and you should take it when you can!! Anyway, let's get on with the gifts I've given myself over the last couple of months.....(I'm going to point out right now that not all of these were paid for by me. Some were gifts but I've included them because they're all things I would've brought anyway! Also included are the samples that I've had from work too....it's like buying new things without having to actually buy anything!)

So as you can tell by the socks poking out at the bottom of the photo, I had to stand up to take a picture of everything! Oops....

So first up is this Soap and Glory Girl O'Whirl set. I brought this when it was the Boots star gift and was £19.99. I've been lusting after the S&G highlighter for ages and for some reason thought that buying this would be a good idea instead of buying the highlighter by itself.....I mean....£8 extra and you get all of this?! Great offer!....except I probably won't use the rest of it really...I love the teal blue eyeshadow and the bronzer highlighter too but the rest probably won't get much use...hmm...probably not the best investment but I love it none the less! It's handy to have it in such big packaging too because I'm always putting my highlighters somewhere safe and then forgetting where I've put them! So this is going to be quite tough to lose this one somewhere safe!

Next up is the Lancome Christmas Beauty Box. I literally brought this for the blush trio. I'll be doing a full post on this soon so you can see it in full! This is £50 when you spend over £30 on your local Lancome counter (if they have any left...) and as I was buying my Sister her main Christmas gift on the counter in store my friend on Lancome convinced me to get this! I'd been eyeing it up for ages any way so it wasn't exactly tough to get me to buy it...plus it was 15% off....then I had my staff discount on top of that...and then I had £5 on my beauty card too so it only cost me £29!!! That's cheaper than buying the blush trio on it's own. I must admit that I won't use the skincare because I have my BM stuff and I gave the lovely eye shadow palette to a friend at work BUT....I will use the rest and it's always handy to have a back up eye makeup remover! Plus the red vanity case is beautiful! Justified right??

Here is my Lancome Highlighter (don't judge me...) and the freebies that I got with various purchases on Lancome. The makeup bags were from the gift with purchase a while back and contain 2 eyeshadow brushes of beautiful quality. The full size color fever lipgloss was awarded to me at work for helping out on an unmanned counter (at the time) which isn't my job, but it wasn't exactly busy so I didn't mind putting out their Christmas stuff....and then to be given a full size ex-free gift lipgloss for the trouble was a bonus and a half!  

Perfume wise, my neighbour gave me the full size Superdrug Precious Woman 50ml EDT as a gift for helping her out. It smells almost identical to Dior's Hypnotic Poison! The Armani Si was a gift from a woman at work. It came with the free gift of the two mini bottles, each 4ml, and it smells amazing! I love it!

Ah nail polish...my greatest weakness! Sally Hansen Insta-Dri is a repurchase and a backup in case my current one runs out over Christmas. The Clinique set I brought a while ago because I love Clinique nail polishes....and because they had a free gift at the time too! I'm easily swayed! I went a bit mad with No7's new nail polish range recently as you can see! Again, GWP swayed me when buying a few of them... The Barry M one was just too pretty to pass up and the Nails Inc one was free with a magazine last month (I have a free Orly one too but couldn't find it in time for taking photos)

I brought the Clinique brush cleaner because apparently that's my new obsession...my Dior one hasn't even run out yet! It's really good though and will last ages...so there's that... All the bits next to it are bits that were in the two GWP that I got....and a few samples that I signed out too (thanks Clinique ladies for being so lovely!) I was excited to try a Chubby Stick and the blush (in the silver palette) looks pretty too!

Ah Dior Lipsticks....my favourite! When Rouge Dior were relaunched I was excited for the new colours and wasn't disappointed! I went straight for 671 as it's stunning....and bright pink obviously! The formula is much better than the old one and they last longer too. I also have 999 which is a bright red, gifted to me by a friend....along with the lip liner and a mini version of the lipstick too! I also got a mini version of one of the Addict lipglosses too when I brought the lipstick a while back.

The Estee Lauder eyeshadow trio is so so pretty! I'll be doing a full post on it soon too! The other bits are from the GWP but without the skincare as I'm allergic to it so passed it on to a friend.

All these Clarins bits are samples. A couple were in a goody bag from our Gala night that my Mum came to and the other 4 were given to me by the girl who works on Clarins when I brought the Lancome stuff. The bronzing duo is so cute!!

Ah....Seventeen! How I've fallen in love with you all over again! I had some vouchers to get a few bits half price and went a bit crazy with the Seventeen stand (plus Boots had a points offer on at the time too so that helped!) The 2 Stay Pout lipsticks and the Lip Lustre gloss are still sealed whilst I decide if I want to keep them or if I want to give them as gifts! It's a tough choice!! The Brow's That was a free gift when you brought 2 items and I'm almost at the end of my old brow kit so that was handy! It's a really nice set and a full review will be coming soon (so many reviews to do!!) I may have picked up another one for a giveaway I may or may not be having in the future....

I've been looking at the Rouge Edition lipsticks by Bourjois for a while now and, yet again, I grabbed the bright pink when they were on GWP. I picked up the eyeliner with the eraser bit on the end because it looked interesting and I don't have that kind of liquid liner in my ridiculous stash of eyeliners! The GWP is so pretty but again, a few bits might be popped into my up coming giveaway...

Here's my random stash....The Mac highlighter was a gift from a friend. She used to work for Estee Lauder and went on training in London and to the staff store....I asked her to pick me up the Lightscapade if it happened to be in there but it wasn't....but she asked a guy who she was on training with and he suggested this instead. It's beautiful!!! I haven't used it yet because I'm waiting for a special occasion (I'll be using it this Thursday!) The bareMinerals palette was my Christmas gift from them. I was very excited to see this in the jiffy bag from them as it's my favourite palette from this year! The Lauder brush was a gift from my friend who now doesn't work for them. It was to say thank you for all my help over the last year and a half. Such a lovely lady! (She now works on fragrance so is even closer to my counter so we can chat lots!) L'Occitane hand cream was free with a magazine and the No7 stuff was in GWP's, except the lash glue which I thought I'd try.

Perfume samples of my two favourite Marc Jacobs perfumes are always handy to have. A beautiful ring i spotted in Boots whilst in the queue...can anyone say "impulse purchase"?! I have brought lots of earrings too but I don't know which ones so I haven't included them. On the subject of earrings does anyone know of any good storage for earrings? I currently have them in a small drawer and they're a mess!

And last but not least, my favourite gift to myself this year! My Man of Steel limited edition numbered Blu-Ray set. It cost me a bit more than I would have paid normally for this film as I really disliked it and will most likely never watch the film again....buuuut...I bloody love Superman and this is the coolest limited edition case I've ever come across! I mean, my Dark Knight Rises one was pretty epic but this one is just.....well it's just beautiful.

So how bad am I for buying gifts for myself at this time of year?? Anything there that you're interested in or want a full review on? Let me know in the comments!

Until next time,

xoxo

P.S With all the Boots purchases I've racked up a fair few points (helped with their £12 points bonus a while back...) but is it just me who is saving them up for after Christmas to pick up a bunch of bargains in the sale?? Can't wait!!

Blog Swap Goodies!!

Hello!

So a while back I entered a little blog swap that Jasmine over at Sweetaholic Beauty was organising and after all the hassle that I assume Jasmine had to go through to pair people up, I got a lovely email saying that I was paired up with Neeka from NikaBeauty who lives in Australia. After a fair few emails back and forth to determine what to buy each other, the hunt for some brilliant presents was on! Now then, I'm the kind of person who absolutely LOVES buying presents for people....but then get super nervous that said person will absolutely hate what I've gotten them and I spend a lot of time checking they liked it all/explaining my reasoning behind why I brought them those items.... So the thought of blog swap was both fun and terrifying at the same time! (This was probably obvious to Neeka when she opened her box and found a ridiculously long note explaining ever single product choice to her! Haha! Even when I'm half a world away, I will stick with my bad habits!)

Anyway, we both posted our parcels on the same day and then there was the waiting period....Mine actually arrived about 3 or 4 days after Neeka had posted it to me, which was super fast and super exciting! I arrived home after a terrible day at work to find this box of goodies sat waiting for me. Now then. Neeka had already emailed me to apologise for the fact that she'd had to take the nail polishes that she'd brought out of the packet at the post office, so I was expecting it to be a fairly light parcel.....this was not the case at all and when I opened it, it was totally packed with goodies!!! Everything was wrapped in tissue paper too so it really did feel like Christmas had come early!

Everything neatly packed into bubble wrap...obviously I paid more attention to the super cute jelly lolly to start with!

Everything still wrapped (it took a lot of effort to stop and take this picture!) The chocolate was very quickly consumed by myself....and my Mum and Dad too! The Marvellous Creations Cadbury Chocolate was SO good!! I'm totally going to have to search for some of that in the UK as now the normal Cadbury stuff seems so boring! (The Marvellous Creations one had smarties, popping candy and bits of cherry flavoured jelly in it! Sounds weird I know but it tasted so so good!!)

So the one nail item that got through customs was this set of nail stickers. I don't tend to buy these myself because I always feel like I have tonnes of nail varnish that I should be using instead but I'm always so thrilled when I receive them as a gift (this means I don't have to feel guilty right?) I'm excited to use these and love the design too!

This hand cream smells so good!! It sinks in well and is now a staple before bed to keep my hands soft! The soap also smells good and I will be trying this out next time I have a bath as we have no soap dish in our shower!

I've been using the primer before putting my makeup on for work as my skin had been having a bit of a flair up due to the temperature changes and it's really good! More like a moisturiser than a heavy primer, which I like! The ointment might seem like an odd one to find in a beauty swap but I've been using this on my very dry skin and it's really helped a lot I think! Plus I scolded my foot when my hot water bottle burst today so this was super handy for that too!!

I'd tried a bronzer that looked fairly similar to this on Dior the day the parcel arrived...and I'd been seriously thinking about getting the Dior one....so obviously I was super hyped to see this in there! I've really gotten into bronzers recently so this is a great addition to my stash!

The shimmer eyeshadows are so pretty!! And as a bonus to me, loose eyeshadows can be used as nail polish too, so you know these colours will be used for that at some point soon! The neutral palette is SO pigmented! I absolutely love it!

The lip products are all amazing and exactly my kind of colours! The pink lip colours on the left of the picture are all so pretty and feel nice too. The sheer gloss ones are perfect for a quick bit of colour but feel really moisturising too (perfect for my normal winter chapped lips!) and that penguin secretly houses some lip balm in it! This is now constantly in my handbag....and not just because it's super cute and I bloody love penguins (although that does help!)

All the goodies in one picture.

I honestly don't think I could've been happier. I know Neeka was disappointed that she couldn't send the nail polishes, and although we all know I would've loved some more nail polish, it's not like this parcel was in anyway a disappointment because it was missing nail polish! I think I would've picked out everything here for myself so it's amazing how a stranger  halfway across the world can a present so right!(I say stranger...we've emailed so much that I don't think I can call Neeka that anymore!) I'm so utterly thrilled with this blog swap and would definitely participate in more as I had so much fun buying the presents for Neeka and then so much fun opening the presents from her too! If you'd like to see what I got for Neeka then click here to view her blog post on the swap. The only downside to this swap is the fact that, considering how much I love everything, once I run out of something I'm going to have to send Neeka some money so I can re-purchase stuff! Haha!

I'd like to say a huge thank you to Jasmine for her time and effort in organising this swap and to Neeka for the nice chats via email and the amazing haul of goodies!!

What do you guys think? Anything in there that you'd like a full review on?

Until next time,

xoxo

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