Glossybox "All I Want" Advent Calendar - Part 1 - Days 1 - 12

Now I know that some people don't like them but personally I love a luxury advent calendar. I've always had an advent calendar ever since was a child, and even though we've now come a long way since the cardboard and glitter calendars of my childhood, opening a box or a door every morning in the run up to Christmas still gives me that hint of childhood excitement.

We're well advented out in the house, between 2 people and 3 cats, we seem to have acquired 6 advent calendars. The cats have one with kitty heart shaped treats inside, my mum has a Lindt chocolate one, and a NEXT home fragrance calendar, and somehow I've ended up with 3. I have a traditional Cadbury's one, a lovely Moo Free chocolate one which was a gift from a friends parents and I also have a luxury beauty advent calendar, which this year is from Glossybox.

Pretty much every brand and store this seemed to be doing their own advent calendar this year, and there were so many that I could have chosen or gone for, but after receiving a press release, I decided to go for the Glossybox UK All I Want Advent Calendar. This to the best of my knowledge is Glossybox UK's first advent calendar, and as expected it proved to be extremely successful and it did in fact sell out. I'm super grateful that Mummy Lou ordered it for me as part of my Christmas present, the retail price was originally £99 for non subscribers, but subscribers like me got the chance to pre order it for just £75. I also had some Glossy Credits which you could redeem against it, so we paid a little bit less in the end.

The designs itself is beautiful, wrapped in a pink ribbon, it's predominately in shades of pink, rose gold, and grey. Open the door and you're greeted with 24 different sized boxes all filled with goodies and shred, the boxes themselves are stacked on 4 little shelves within the box. That's not all though adhered to the inside of the left hand door is another box, with a 25 on it which is just the icing on the cake in my opinion, it's really nice to have an extra gift on Christmas Day itself.

Unlike the calendar that I got last year, this one probably isn't quite as reusable, but I'm definitely going to think of a way to reuse it, obviously you could refill it as it is, or you can use the individual boxes either for gift wrapping or for storing decorations. I'm definitely going to try and resuse it even if I just put something on the little shelves, we'll see, but it's definitely too pretty to just recycle.

Even though I had a few hints (okay a full contents list!) it's still exciting opening the boxes every morning and seeing what's inside! I've been posting day by day pics on Instagram but like in previous years I thought I'd share some initial impressions about the products inside on the blog, some of them will be full reviews with swatches and so on and with some products I'll just be telling you about more about what it is, what does, and an idea of the retail price so you make your own mind up as to whether or this calendar was worth the money - so a little but here are days 1 - 12.

Day 1 - NARS Velvet Lip Glide - 3.4ml - Immoral

Ah, NARS, who doesn't love a bit of NARS. They're one of those brands that I would happily buy everything from, providing I had unlimited funds that is,  I love their products, and thanks to the Glossbox All I Want Advent Calendar I've been able to try another one.

Lip colours are the one area where NARS and I haven't really got on, but this one thankfully was a winner. NARS Velvet Lip Glide is the perfect mix of a lipstick and a gloss, they apply with the smoothness of a gloss but with the intensity and pigmentation of a lipstick. Containing waterlily and white tea they are moisturising on the lips and have a smooth satin to semi matte finish.

Immoral is a beautiful creamy, cool fuchsia pink shade, it's extremely pigmented and it feels smooth and nourishing on the lips. I am officially in love with both this colour and this formulation. You can see a quick pic of it below and I am also wearing it in upcoming December 2018 Glossybox Unboxing Video x The one pity is that this shade appears to be a limited edition and quite hard to find, if you're in the USA though you can be this shade in this deluxe mini size as part of duo for around $16. Glossybox estimate this deluxe mini size at around £13.72 - a full 5.7ml Velvet Lip Glide retails at around £23. Although it might be quite difficult to get your hands on this particular shade, there are lots and lots of other shades to try, and I'm definitely going to be splashing out on a few more of these in the future x

Day 2 - Nip + Fab Hydrate Dragon's Blood Fix Plumping Serum - 30ml

I've tried a few products from Nip + Fab, mainly from the Glycolic and Kale ranges but I've never tried anything from their Dragon's Blood range before. A few people have told me how much they like this product and apparently Kylie Jenner is a fan too.

The idea of dragons blood sounds a little bit scary, but no komodo dragons, Smaugs, or Drogons have been harmed in the making of this product, dragons blood is in fact the sap from the Croton Lechleri tree, which when teamed up with velvet flower extract and hyaluronic acid provides intense moisture, plumpness  and comfort to all skin types but especially dehydrated and sensitive skin that is prone to redness. My skin is strange at the moment I have a few hormonal spots on my chin but at the same time, it feels quite dry, so I might give this ago in the run up to Christmas to see if it can perform a festive miracle or two x This is a good 30ml size which Glossybox value at around £11.97, the regular 50ml size retails at around £19.85

Day 3 - Yankee Candle Small Jar Candle - Berry Trifle 104g

I do love a candle especially when it's cold and dark outside, there is something so warming and soothing about candlelight, especially when it smells as good as this one does. Apparently there were two different scents but the one I got was Berry Trifle. I love food and fruit scents so this one is right up my street. It has a mouthwatering warm, fruity, berry scent with just a hint of vanilla and creaminess. Between us, me and Mummy Lou could probably own our own candle store and we I first smelled this I thought we already owned this one, but the one we actually have is the similar smelling Berry Jam, so Berry Trifle is a welcome addition to our extensive candle library. This is a Yankee Candle Small Jar Candle, which burns for 20-30 hours, they retail at £8.99 so this was a nice item to receive.

Day 4 - Philip Kingsley Body Building Conditioner - 60ml

Now, I'm a huge Philip Kingsley fan, Elasticizer is a must have and I regularly use the brands shampoos and conditioners and I have a few other bits to try. I've tried a couple of their conditioners before but I've never tried this one before. I've reviewed the corresponding shampoo before (read my review here) but this is new to me. I haven't had a chance to try it yet but once I've cleared a few more products out of the shower I'll be giving this ago.

According to Philip Kingsley (who are a professional trichology brand) this is an ultra lightweight conditioner that's ideal for fine hair types, it's designed to add moisture without weight, and it's designed to thicken the appearance of each individual hair strange, and detangling the hair as well as combating frizz and fly aways. Sounds good? I'll probably let you know what I think in a future empties post x This 60ml size is quite hard to find but it retails at around £7.00, the 75ml size retails at £10 if you fancy giving this a go.

Day 5 - MDM Flow Greater Than Mascara - 6.5ml

I've tried a couple of lip products from this UK, cruelty free brand before, but I've never tried any of their eye or face products. Now I haven't opened this that because I've already got a couple of mascaras on the go but it sounds pretty promising. According to everything that I've read this is a highly pigmented black volumising mascara, with a indented brush designed for increased volume and clump free application. It's also apparently long wearing but it contains a unique Easy-Off formulation that makes it easy to remove with either water or a water based eye make up remover. Sounds good and I can't wait to give it ago - I'll let you in a future post what I think about it if you're interested. This full 6.5ml size of the MDM Flow Greater Than Mascara retails at around £18.

Day 6 - 3INA The Lip Primer - 10ml

I've used a few bits from 3INA in the past but this is new to me x I've never much of a fan of lip primers if I'm honest - the majority either seem to dry your lips out or they just look like you've covered your lips in concealer, this is a little bit different. As well as being paraben free, vegan, and cruelty free, it's also water based. It's basically just a slightly iridescent pink, liquid cream. It matiffies the lips without making them dry or sore. I've mainly be using this under both lipsticks and glosses and it definitely makes the majority of them that I've tried last a little bit longer. You can also use it as a lip nourishing produce and on top of lipstick to give a more mattifying effect. This is a full size and retails at around £9.95.

Day 7 - Patisserie De Bain Strawberry Cupcake Bath & Shower Creme - 50ml

I was a little bit excited when I saw this, I do love fruity smelling shower products and this is the scent of summer in a tube just what you want when it's freezing outside! Patisserie De Bain are the sister brand of Yorkshire based company Rose & Co. I've tried a few Rose & Co products, and my mum is already a huge fan of Patisserie De Bain's Sugared Violet range, but this is a new scent to us both. This vegan friendly shower product apparently smells exactly like strawberries and cream, yummy! I'm in a wintry and warming mood at the moment when it comes to shower products so I'm going to hang on to this one and keep for when it quite so vile outside x This product has an estimated RRP of £2.99.

Day 8 - Real Techniques 200 Expert Foundation / Face Brush

I do love a make up brush and I was thrilled to open one of my little boxes, and see a make up brush from Real Techniques. If you haven't heard of Real Techniques where have you been?? It is an excellent, and affordable make up brush for make up artists and You Tuber's Sam and Nic aka Pixiwoo. I love their brushes and this is a limited edition version of one of their most popular brushes, their foundation / face brush. Their brushes are cruelty free, soft, durable and silky, and in this case in particular they look amazing. This brush which perfect for applying both cream and liquid foundations has super soft, densely packed duo fibre hairs. The body of the brush in a gorgeous almost rose gold, pink metal, and a almost rubberised feel plastic. I can't actually find this brush for sale on it's own so it's definitely a limited edition, a comparable brush would retail for around £9.99 but if this one has taken your fancy then it is available as part of the newly released Everyday Essentials Set which retails at around £19.99 and contains 4 brushes including this one and a Miracle Complexion Sponge.

Day 9 - Charles Worthington Take Aways Volume & Bounce Body Booster Mousse - 50ml

Now I've got to be honest I don't really use hair mousse, my hairdressers occasionally uses it before she blow drys my hair but it isn't something that I use at home. My mam on the other hand has crazy curly hair, and as a result she loves her mousse, so she's already nabbed this, and fingers crossed she likes it. From celebrity hairdresser Charles Worthington's line this mousse contains collagen is designed to boost volume, and give body, bounce, and lasting volume x This is a travel sized mini and has a retail price of around £2.49.

Day 10 - Bare Minerals Skinlongevity Vital Power Infusion - 7.5ml 

I actually have a tube or two of this but as yet I haven't tried it. You may be familiar with bare minerals as a make up brand but did you know that they've now branched out into skincare. It's a natural progression I guess for a natural brand that already produced make up with so many skincare benefits. This sounds amazing and I'm actually going to try it out tonight. Containing Bare Minerals patented Long Life Herb Extract. this is basically an all round skin replenisher, which is designed to promote a more youthful appearance, by adding moisture, and diminishing the appearance of fine lines, pores, wrinkles and uneven skin texture. You simply apply it to the face and neck after cleansing both morning and evening. You can either use on it's own or under your normal moisturiser for extra boost. According to Glossybox this 7.5ml size retails at around £7.29.

Day 11 - Bellapierre Cosmetics Kiss Proof Lip Finish - 3.8g

Bellapierre are another mineral based make up brand, all of their products are toxin, paraben free, and cruelty free, and contain only naturally derived ingredients, I own a few of their products already including some of their pigments and I've been pretty impressed with the things that I have tried but this is something new!

Now this product has flummoxed me a bit - At first I wasn't sure exactly what it was - was it a lip gloss or was it a lip sealer like Lipcote, designed to keep your lipstick in place no matter who many people you kiss under the mistletoe, it turns out it's probably a combination of the two. Kiss Proof Lip Finish is a hydrating clear lip gloss that is designed specifically to be worn on top of Bellapierre's Kiss Proof Lips Cremes, transfer what is in essence a matte product to a long lasting glossy one

Obviously you can use over any lip colour and I actually tried it over NARS Immoral and wow the difference in appearance was phenomenal, for a pretty satin finish to a full on almost mirror like gloss finish in one sweep. The gloss is a bit runny but it gave a fabulous almost mirror like finish to the lips and believe it or not it improved the wear time of something that was already pretty long lasting. This is a full size and retails at £15.

Day 12 - MUA Make Up Academy Eyeshadow Palette - Cosmic Vixen 

and on day 12 my true love, or Glossybox in this case, gave to me a full size MUA Make Up Academy Eyeshadow Palette. Although they are definitely at the lower end of the price spectrum, Make Up Academy Eyeshadow Palettes are pretty amazing and I already own quite a few of them but I didn't have thankfully I didn't have this one.

This palette is both talc and cruelty free and contains 15 fabulous shades in a mixture of textures, mattes, shimmers and high pearl finishes, this palette isn't for the faint hearted, there are some pretty out there shades in it. From pinks, almost reds and corals, to mauve's, purples and plums, there are some bright colours in this palette. Fear not that because it also has a few gold, taupe's and bronzes so it isn't all scary. If you like the idea of Urban Decay Naked Cherry with just a touch of Naked Heat thrown in then this palette is a fab budget alternative.

All of the shades feel soft and silly and the shimmers and pearls almost have a creamy feel to them. As you would expect pigmentation wise it's the shimmers and pearls that will blow your socks off, smooth shimmery, buttery and delicious colour payoff. The mattes on the other hand whilst feeling soft and silky vary slightly, the pay off on the darker colours in fine, but some of the paler shades are a bit chalky.

In reality I probably wouldn't have bought this palette, a lot of the colours are just slightly too bold for me but even though I've just managed to swatch it I'm really thinking that I could make more of the colours work for me than what I first thought. It's definitely going to be one that I'm to experiment with in the new year. This is a full size palette and retails at a pretty fabulous £5.

So 12 days down, (well more like 16 now) and a week and a bit to go before the big day - Verdict? So far, so good - A good assortment of products, full sizes and prices, and a few fabulous new discoveries - Highlights? too many but NARS, 3INA, Yankee Candles, and Real Techniques are the things that excited my most, we'll see though when I've had a proper play. Don't forget you can keep track of the days and the boxes on my Instagram and I'll be posting days 13 - 24, hopefully on Christmas Eve. In the meantime if you have any questions on any of the products in the calendar so far, I'd love to hear them so leave me a comment below xx

A Budget Home, Lifestyle And Stationery Haul

I know that you guys all love a haul so as a special treat I'm sharing a bit of exclusive content with you. I don't know if you aware of it but I have a You Tube channel, where I mainly post unboxings, and haul videos. A lot of the time I make videos to accompany blog posts and vice versa, but every now and then I shoot a haul video exclusively for my You Tube followers. When I do that I sometimes feel a little bit guilty that some of my blog followers may be missing out so today I thought I'd one of my You Tube channel exclusive hauls with you.

Today it's a bargaintastic home, lifestyle and stationery haul from a variety of stores including Poundland, Tiger and Aldi, and the good news is that the most expensive item was just £5

If you're on a mobile device and you can't see this video please check it out via this link x If you have questions on any of the items that I bought then leave me a comment either below or on my You Tube channel and I'll get back to you x 

A Small Home And Home Fragrance Haul - B&M, Yankee Candles And More

After a lovely weekend, and a bright, and sunny Monday, it's safe to say that Spring has now officially arrived in my little corner of County Durham. Okay we might have some rainy days, and maybe even a little bit of frost and snow to come but the warmer and sunnier weather is definitely on it's way. Spring is often seen as a time of new beginnings, and fresh starts, and nowhere is that truer than within the home itself, it is called Spring cleaning after all. Even if you're not planning any major home renovations, or cleaning sprees this spring, it doesn't hurt to refresh your surroundings, and switch things up a bit, with a couple of purchases and new additions.

The first buy that I'm going to show you, is all about freshening up your home for Spring. This is the final instalment of my QVC UK, Yankee Candle Hamper Auto Delivery, and this is the Yankee Candle 39 Piece Spring Hamper.  Like the previous instalments, this one also comes in a sturdy canvas hamper, with an attached faux leather tassel bag charm.

The hamper contains a wide variety of fresh, and floral scented candles that are perfect for spring. It contains 12 of Yankee Candle's votive candles, in 6 fragrances, Aloe Water, Shea Butter, Cherry Blossom, Verbena, Wild Mint and Linden Tree.

It also contains 2 boxes of 12 tea lights, in both the Cherry Blossom, and Wild Mint fragrances, and two clear glass, Yankee Candle branded bucket holders.

As I say this is the perfect Spring selection, all of the fragrances are very clean, and fresh, you have a couple of zingy ones like the Verbena, and the Wild Mint, then you some softer and more powdery fragrances like the Shea Butter and fragrances like the Aloe Water, and the Cherry Blossom that are lot more floral and almost perfume like. I've really enjoyed receiving these sets over the last 12 months or so - they've given me the chance to try lots of new fragrances, some of which I would have never of thought of trying. Admittedly some of the fragrances just aren't me but I have found quite a few new favourites, including Aloe Water which has really surprised me. This kit is actually still available on the QVC UK website, all be it a higher price than what I paid, but at just £33.96 and £5.95 postage I think it's well worth it if you think that your home needs a Spring fragrance boost x

If like my mam you're not quite ready to embrace Spring just yet, then you can also still get the Winter / Christmas version on the QVC UK website. As ready as I am for the warmer weather, I'm still a big fan of spicy and foodie scents, and following on from a few reader and viewer recommendations I decided to pick up a more autumn and wintry themed candle from B&M.

I love my candles but one brand that I've never tried is Woodwick, I honestly don't know why I haven't tried them before, they are really pleasing on the eye, every one that I've sniffed smells amazing, and they crackle! I love the idea of them but they can be a little bit pricey, which is why I think I've never succumbed to the Woodwick love in. Thankfully though B&M have come up trumps with a cheaper, dupe Woodland Wick Crackling Natural Wooden Wick Candles. Instead of having a traditional style, cotton wick, these candles, have a slim sliver of wood, that supposedly crackles like a real log fire when you burn the candle.

I'm not sure whether it does what it claims to yet because I haven't lit it, but  so far this one was worth every penny of the £3.99 that I paid purely based on the scent. This one is in the Spiced Berry scent, and to me it smells exactly like mulled wine, you get a slight spiciness, and all the fruitiness that you'd expect from your Christmas tipple. If mulled wine isn't to your taste they also have several other fragrances to choose from, and they even have multi layered, multi fragranced candles as well. If you've tried any of the other scents, or if you've tried any Woodwick candles I'd love to hear your recommendations x

I love a good scrat around B&M, and I can always find something to buy, on a bad day it might just be some peanut butter cups, or some Butterfingers, buy on a good day, I could be something useful, or something nice for the home. On my last trip I couldn't resist picking up a couple of packs of these curtain tie backs. I have these really quirky, slightly trippy 1970's floral curtains, in shades of lilac, purple, and white, up in my bedroom, and I desperately needed some new tie backs. Note to self, rope tie backs and cats don't mix! These ones though are made of faceted smokey, lilac crystals, and to be honest they look a lot more expensive then the £4.99 that I paid for each one. I haven't managed to put them up yet but when I do I'll share some pictures on my Instagram account .

Like B&M, Poundland is another one of those shops that I've never seem to leave empty handed. On my most recent trip I managed to bag 3 Nails Inc, nail polishes, and this..

I am a huge fan of Poundland's faux regency, shabby chic, style frames, and this cute square one, was part of their selection of Mother's Day gifts. Personally I frame a lot of postcards and note cards so this isn't the most practical frame for that, but I'm sure I'll find something to put in it even if it's just an Instagram pic or a family photo.

I went through a bit of a phase of buying photo frames, without ever having a place in my bedroom to put them so I think I'm going to move a few into my office come craft room. It seems as though I've been sorting out that room since the beginning of time and I'm still no closer to getting it how I want it. I should really be working on improving my storage solutions but instead I still keep buying pretties i.e. photo frames, and letter and word art.

I'm really loving my letter L's at the moment, and I'm building up a nice collection, of both lights and plaques.This black letter L, was only £1.50 in the NEXT sale, it's has a really chunky feel. You can either hang it on the wall, or you can do what I'm going to do, and leave it freestanding.

Speaking of letters, it wouldn't be a home haul on LouLouLand, without a little bit of stationery, and I'm ending this haul with a couple of notebooks, that in all honesty I probably didn't need but hey pretty stationery is pretty stationery, first up this pretty piece from AVON.

Annoyingly I can't actually find this online anymore , but keep an eye on your brochures if you like the look of it. It's just a plain spiral bound, lined notebook, but what really makes this one for me is the beautiful lilac toned, marbleised floral patterns. I love the colour and the design and even though it's not that relevant and I can't think of anyone who matches their stationery with their bedroom, it matches the colours in my bedroom perfectly. It also features the words "Happy Thoughts" on the front in gold foil, so I'm going to try and use this one to record things that make me happy and positive thoughts.

From happy thoughts, to getting things done, and getting organised - the last thing that I picked up was a journal, from Paperchases fabulous No Probllama range.

Featuring a cute, and quirky Llama design, this is the No Probllama Ideas Journal. It's a hardback notebook, that contains a mixture of pages for notes, ideas, to do lists, pros and cons, and brainstorms, all teamed up with little llama illustrations. I'm so bad at planning and organising things, and I keep having ideas and brainwaves and then forgetting them. I hope that this will give me somewhere to write my ideas and thoughts down and I'm hoping that this will make me a bit more productive in the rest of 2017. This particular book was £8 and it's part of a wider range of Llama themed bits and pieces that you can find in Paperchase at the moment.



I hope you've found this small home, stationery and home fragrancing haul useful, don't forget to leave me a comment and let me know if you have any questions, and of course don't forget to watch the accompanying You Tube video which you can watch by clicking on the image above or by clicking on this link x

Home And Festive Home Fragrance Haul

Hi Guys x Happy Friday x I hope you've all had a lovely week x It's been a hectic one here in LouLouLand culminating in a trip to the hairdressers to get my shetland pony like locks trimmed and today. I've been so busy this week that blogging has definitely taken a back seat so I'm only going to manage to squeeze in a couple of posts before Christmas including this one, an overdue home and fragrance haul.

If you're a new reader, then you'll soon learn that I'm slightly obsessed with candles and home fragrancing. I love wearing fragrance and smelling nice so I guess it's only natural that I want my home to smell as good as I do, and when your a pet owner sometimes a bit of room spray isn't a luxury, it's a necessity!

Whilst I have my favourite all year round scents at Christmas time, if it's even the slightest bit festive then bring it on. One of my favourite places to buy Christmas home fragrancing products is NEXT. I'm absolutely in love with their Fesitive Spice fragrance, it's full of fruit and Christmas spices, and it makes the house smell fabulous. As soon as the Christmas catalohue comes out - I stock up and this year I may have gone gone slightly daft.

Something that I always buy are the Festive Spice Reed Diffusers. We usually have one in the landing, one in my room, one in the dinning room, and one in the lounge, so I've bought quite a few. They are available in a couple of sizes this year including the absolutely huge, Christmas Tree shaped one that you can see above which is £16, and the smaller one below which is £6.50.

I know not everybody likes candles, so diffusers are a great alternative, and their great for continuous home fragrancing. Another good alternative to candles, and something that is a real essential in my house is room spray. There are room sprays though and their are room sprays. Some are pretty horrid and synthetic but NEXT's Festive Spice Room Spray  is a good one  and you can really smell all of the fruity and spicy notes. Sorry I don't have a picture but it was just £5. It comes in a pump action, glass bottle, and a little goes a long way, a couple of squirts are more than enough to fragrance a large room in an instant.

I still a little bit of last years Festive Spice candle left but I couldn't resist picking this one up.

Based on previous experience NEXT candles are pretty decent and this is a soy based, 3 wick candle that has the same beautiful Festive Spice fragrance which I love. What really sold this candle to me though was the packagaing. Packaged in a beautiful red glass holder, the holder iteself comes with a gorgeous cut out, Rob Ryan style, silver tone metal design overlay.

I do love my Festive Spice, but this year NEXT have really spoilt us when it comes to holiday home fragrancing. One of their newest scents is Mulled Wine. In one of my previous home hauls (read it here)  I got one of the Mulled Wine candles in a mini set and I loved it so I had to buy the full size.

Packaged in beautiful and so on trend, red mercury glass jar, this candle has a fruity, spicy, sweet scent that reminds you of Christmas with just one sniff. As I said previously this was very similar to Yankee Candles Mulled Wine scent and at just £7 it was a bargain to boot.

I must admit I automatically lean towards more foodie, spicy and fruity scents at Christmas but some people I know love fresher and greener scents. Well if that is more to your taste then Next definitely have something for you.

This small diffuser which was just £5 comes in their Festive Spruce scent. If you prefer these greener, pine scents, this is definitely the one to try/ We have a fake Christmas tree so I'm planning to put this diffuser behind the tree so you get that real tree scent without the mess and the hassle.

As well as home fragrancing bits I've also a couple of other home things from NEXT recently including this super cute graphic alphabet cushion x

I love alphabet and text related things and I love cushions so this is a great combo, the letter L is printed on to a white cotton / canvas feel fabric, and the reverse of the cushion is in plain, short pile, black velvet. It was just £12 and it also includes the cushion pad.

As well as the cushion I also couldn't resist getting one of these little cute, wooden Monogram LED lights. Unfortunately these don't appear in the video towards the end of this post but I couldn't resist showing you them anyway. These letters are just £6 and they come with batteries and a hanging loop, in case you want to hang it on the wall or on the Christmas tree. I think these are really cute and I may have got a couple for some friends from Santa ;)

Although I keep trying to branch out, one candle brand that I just keep coming back to is Yankee Candles, and I've got yet another Yankee Candles haul to show you know.

First up is the festive addition of the Yankee Candle Seasonal Hamper that I got from QVC UK. This was my third auto delivery of four and this was the one that i was really looking forward to.

The hamper itself has almost a creamy, cable knit type of finish and it comes complete with a little pom pom key ring or bag charm.

The hamper contains 12 Yankee Candle votives, in 6 different fragranced In this particular set you get 2 in Red Apple Wreath, 2 in Macaron Treats, 2 In Winter Glow, 2 in Festive Cocktail, 2 in Star Anise and Orange and 2 in All Is Bright.

You also get two boxes of 12 tea lights, in both the Festive Cocktail and the All Is Bright Fragrances as well as 2 red glass bucket holders to burn your candles in.

I've loved receiving these hampers over the last few months, and I've really enjoyed trying all of the new fragrances, and I'm already looking forward to the last shipment in January. I'm really hoping that QVC and Yankee Candles do something similar next year. In the meantime though I think that this particular hamper is still available on the QVC UK website if your interested in trying it out for yourself x

As you might, if you've read my Royal Quays beauty haul post (see it here) then you'll know that I also visited Boundary Mill in nearby Shiremoor. Boundary Mill stocks pretty much everything from clothes and kitchen wear, to dried fruit and candles, and since they have an amazing Yankee Candle selection, I ended up buying a few bits including a rare double wick tumbler in Australian Eucalyptus and a couple of wax melts in Mango Peach Salas and in Vanilla Chai.

Melts or tarts are a really quick way of giving the room a real fragrance hit. In a small room like my bedroom, I normally only leave them on for about 5 minutes but you can melt them for as long as you like. You just need either a specific melt warmer or oil burner and a unscented tea light, and now if you aren't a fan of naked flames you can even get electric melt warmers which are probably a little bit safer.

Speaking of electric I'd wanted the next item that I'm going to show you for the longest time. They make look like a normal plug in air freshener but these are Yankee Candle plug ins. You basically buy the plug in unit and then you can buy a whole range of refills which come in some of your favourite Yankee scents. I went for this lilac, blue plug in and I also bought a duo pack of refills in my favourite Lemon Lavender scent. Basically you just plug, them in switch them on and leave them to gradually fragrance your home, while your at work, or even sound asleep. There are 3 different setting strengths to choose from so you can have as much or as little fragrance as you like.

If you're a fan of the fragrance of Yankee Candles but again you don't like the idea of a naked flame, then you could try one of their latest innovations, Fragrance Spheres.

I picked these up in both the Lemon Lavender, Red Raspberry which you can see here and in the Cranberry Pear fragrances.

What they are, are little plastic pots which are filled with fragranced gel like spheres, all do is unscrew the lid, peel back the foil and screw the lid back on and voila up to a month or so of fragrance, wherever and whenever you want it. They are basically just posh gel air fresheners that come in all of your favourite Yankee scents, and if you have a cat little tray, or a shoe cupboard or a cloakroom, then these are a must.

I know this has been a pretty long post but hopefully you're still with me, anyways I only have a couple more things to show you including this lovely, mercury and frosted glass candle.

I picked this up from a local garden centre, and although it was in with their Christmas bits, this is something that I will be keeping out all year round. The silvers and lilacs go perfectly with my room, and I love the star detail. I think it's too pretty to use it with real candles so I'll probably be using it with battery operated tea lights. The final thing that I got was this metal hanging plaque from Boohoo.

I know a lot of people find inspirational quotes quite cheesy but personally I'm a huge fan, what can i say sometimes I just need a bit of positive reinforcement. This is one favourite quotes and I really helps me to remind myself that there is always a light at the end of the tunnel and there is always something to be positive about x

I've made a little (okay a very long!) video to accompany this haul which you can either see below or via this link.



If you have any questions on anything in this haul then please leave me a comment and let me know.