My Christmas Tree Decorations

Merry Christmas Everyone!! I hope you are all having an absolutely amazing day, however you celebrate it! As I promised in yesterday's post (it's all about The Nightmare Before Christmas blind boxes, and you can check it out here), here I am with a post all about my Christmas Tree. Every year I always get a mini tree for my bedroom, and each time I decorate it in a rather eclectic way :D I basically just add anything that I like the look of, and don't really stick to a theme. I hadn't been able to get a white tree for a few years and I was really glad that I finally got one for this Christmas. I found a 3ft pre-lit one at ASDA on offer. I was super happy with the finished product once I'd decorated, and I wanted to show you all :) This post is going to more of a photo diary! No one is going to want to read a huge post today when they're enjoying the festivities anyhow! :D 

Even though I didn't particularly have a theme in mind, I did want to have a little bit of a colour scheme as a base. I thought silver would be perfect for a white tree as it makes me think of frost, so I used some silver tinsel that I picked up last year and bought a pack of tiny matt and glitter silver baubles. As I am a fan of Japanese kawaii culture, I wanted to add some Disney Tsum Tsums into my tree, after being inspired by Sanrio trees and such that I've seen in the past, which have been filled with plushies! I decided to put Santa Jack towards the top of my tree in place of the typical star or angel/fairy topper :) Then I dotted some of my other The Nightmare Before Christmas Tsum Tsums around the tree, and Olaf from Disney's Frozen too! 

How adorable is my Pusheen Christmas ornament!? I was recently sent it as a free gift with an order I made on the Gund website. I blogged all about the order earlier this month (here's a link if you're interested). :) I love how well the pastel shades of it goes with the white Christmas tree. My tree also features another Pusheen decoration this year, which I got from inside one of the Gund tree decoration plush blind boxes. It's one of Stormy, Pusheen's little sister and is so super cute! 

As well as these decorations, I also added some more traditional European style decorations, some were from Aldi supermarket and the others are from the stalls at the Manchester Christmas Markets. I love wooden decorations and the traditional Christmas colour scheme. Another reason why I really like these iconic European decorations is because a lot of them depict Nordic animals, and in my opinion, they look beautiful on any tree, whether it's black, silver, green or white like mine. 

Another traditional European decoration that I add to my tree every year is a Yule Goat. I have decorated my tree with one ever since my penpal first sent me a Yule Goat several years ago now :) They are originally a Scandinavian tradition which has pagan roots, and some towns across Sweden, and other Nordic countries put up a giant goat each Christmas in their town centres during the Winter Solstice and Advent period. I think this is such a unique and interesting tradition and I am reminded of it each time I see my Yule Goat. Plus I just think they look really rustic because they're made of straw and string. 

The Toy Box decoration was a childhood favourite of mine. We've had it since before I was born and I was really happy when my mom gave it to me :) It makes me reminisce about all of the wonderful Christmas Times I had as a kid, and also about the magic of Christmas from back when I believed in Santa and his buddies in the North Pole. I love the tiny pieces of straw inside it, and well as an adult, I still love toys so it's perfect for me! I got several toys this year for Christmas presents :D LOOK AT MY FESTIVE PENGUIN!! I love him so much! I found him at my local pound shop and I'm seriously considering keeping him on display in my bedroom throughout 2019! 

It's really awesome that some of the smaller plushies by Japanese company Amuse come with a loop on them so that you can attach them to your bag, etc., but this also means that they can double as a Christmas decoration! When I have my own place some day and a full size tree, I'm going to buy a load to them to cover my tree :3 I like decorations that aren't garishly festive, or are completely not Christmassy at all! Stores like Paperchase sell a lot of these types of tree ornaments and I'm definitely going to invest in some next year :) 

The final decorations that I have to show you before I go to enjoy my Christmas Dinner *nom* I cannot wait for it!! I'm so hungry and I can smell it cooking and its amazing... hahaha but anyway, yeah, so I have a few standing decorations dotted about the base of my tree. I put down a piece of silver tissue paper decorated with snowflakes, and scattered some fake snow all over it. I've been using fake snow this year for my festive toy photography, since we barely ever get a white Christmas T_T I put a few chocolate coins under my tree too. The gorgeous little unicorn above is from a TokiDoki Unicorno Blind Box (Series 4) and her name is Yuki. She reminds me think of Disney 's Frozen. Wouldn't you agree? :D 

I wasn't able to get a gingerbread house making kit this year; I left everything until last minute and thought I'd still be able to get one in my little town centre, but the store I was hoping would have them again this year, didn't. But instead my mom found me this super sweet candy land esque festive house, and I really love it! It looks like it's made of mint things and I love mint! The candle is one that I bought either last year or the previous one, I can't remember now, from The Range, and I think the Winter Wonderland scene inside it is super pretty so I keep it out on my shelves all year round. The other candle is one that I've had for a long while now; it was sent to me by another of my penpals and is too lovely to ever burn! Novelty shaped candles are really fantastic, aren't they? 

Finally, I thought my Christmas display wouldn't be complete without one of my favourite festive characters, Krampus! My regular readers will know that I'm a big fan of horror movies and I had to give my special red chase version Funko Pop! of Krampus a place in my Christmas display, because he's so cute and eye-catching! 

So, there are all of my decorations this year, other than a piece of red Christmas ribbon I put up on my wall behind my tree to hang my Christmas cards up and my advent calendars! If you follow me over on Instagram, you'll have likely seen that I purchased the Funko Pocket Pop! Harry Potter advent calendar this year; it's been so fun to open each day and I'm going to share a separate blog post all about it for my fellow potterheads and those of you who are curious to see what it's like :p I hope you've enjoyed reading my post and that it's brought some extra Christmas cheer to your day! I'm going to end my post now because as I'm typing now I'm hearing that dinner is now ready! Yay!

Thankyou for reading! 

♥

What theme is your Christmas Tree this year? 

Do you have a specifically colour scheme?

I'd love to hear all about your favourite decoration, too!

Manchester Christmas Markets 2018 | Photo Diary & Haul

Hello guys! I'm sure I am not the only one who's having a super hectic start to the weekend, with all the last minute preparations for Christmas. I've been so busy and I haven't even wrapped a single present yet!! It's going to be a lonnnnggg weekend! Who else is a member of Team Leave Everything Until the Last Minute, this year? I'm usually a lot more organised than this! It's the curse of 2018, I cannot wait until its over with, haha! Anyhow, today I thought I'd share with you all some photographs from my annual visit to the Manchester Christmas Markets! I've gone every year for the last several years and have blogged about it each time (well expect in 2016, but let's ignore dreadful December!), so why break the little tradition I have going on :) Hopefully no one is sick of reading about it yet! I usually do a separate haul post showing you guys what I picked up at the markets, but this time round I'm going to include my haul in this post too. Have a wonderful weekend everyone, and try not to pressure yourself too much in the run up to Christmas! Make sure you take breaks from the present wrapping mayhem to look after yourselves too :) 

One of my favourite things to do during the festive season is to visit Christmas Markets! I always missed out on these when I was younger because I don't live in a city and my local town doesn't host everything like this around Christmas. Well for the last couple of years, they've made an attempt to dot five or six random cabins around the town centre and called it a market :D The closest big city to me is Manchester, and ever since I've moved back home after university, I have made it a tradition to mine to hop onto the train and go to the markets! 

There's just something so appealing to me about markets, of any kind. I love how you can find all sorts of things there! There's always the most random stalls next to one another, from candle makers to fancy bakeries, et cetera. There is just something new to see around every corner! Christmas markets are especially lovely because of all of the festive goodness thrown in amongst the other stalls. They are almost like a little piece of winter wonderland to me, like walking into Santa's workshop, especially with the stall I photographed above. It's actually part of a collection of stalls grouped together that all sell decorations, and I love to have a nosey around it each year. I'm such a fan of over the top/in your face Christmas décor, and love the traditional red and green theme :) 

The Manchester Christmas Markets, like so many markets set up across the UK, are made to resemble the stunning market stalls of Germany, Belgium and The Netherlands, and lots of other places across Europe of course. I have dreamt of visiting one of the famous European festive markets for a long time, so getting to visit these markets in the meantime is super fun for me! I love all of the wooden cabins and huts as they reminds me so much of log cabins and at night when they are covered in lights, the glow makes me think of an open fire blazing away in a cabin somewhere. It's kinda magical! I have a vivid imagination and my mind likes to romanticise everything, haha, but I don't care, it makes me happy and so do Christmas markets :) 

Something that I love about Christmas Markets are all of the decorations on display! Not only are there the jolly and fun kind like these fabulous albeit garish elves from the North Pole, but there are lots of more traditional, almost rustic, wooden tree ornaments, which I just adore so much! I think they are really beautiful & I keep coming home with more and more each year! I love how intricate so many of the designs look and they usually feature animals that I associate with Nordic countries. I have forever wanted to visit Finland in wintertime and so I'm lovin' these decorations. You can bet that I picked up some more! 

I don't know what it is about things made of wood in general but I just love them, anything from wooden ornaments like the ones above to wooden instrument toys made for children. I just think they are super cute! Are any of you guys the same? I really wanted one of these adorable little owls but they were so pricey! That's the only downside to Christmas markets, they charge a lot for things! Sometimes the items you find there are just so unique that you can't resist the mighty need and spend half your budget on something that you could probably get for much cheaper online. Everything just looks so fancy and shiny and eye-catching nestled into their displays, surrounded by fairy lights and the festive cheer that's in the air!

I didn't take as many photos as I usually do this year because me & my best friend had so much Christmas shopping to do in the Arndale shopping centre that we were exhausted by the time we visited the markets! However I'll link my previous posts at the end of this one so you can see more of the markets if you're interested :) Another of my favourite things that you'll find at Christmas Markets are the food stalls. There's usually lots of European traditional foods on offer, as well as mulled wine and beer. There's whole cabins that are like mini bars dedicated to German beer! Me with my sweet tooth however always hunts for the Dutch Sugar Waffle stall.... they are so delicious! If you haven't tried one then I cannot recommend them enough :) 

Okay, so now it's time for me to show you what I bought on my day out in Manchester earlier this month, both from the markets and also just from shopping around the city. Enjoy! 

I only picked up a few things from the actual Markets themselves this year, and they are the same things that I purchase each time I go because I'm a creature of habit! :D As promised, there are more wooden decorations! I always find the stalls that sell them 3 for £5 because I think that's a great price! I picked up one of them for one of my friends for Christmas so I can't show it in case they are reading this post. I love the colourful one and I've never seen it before, so I just had to get it :) The other one I chose (top right) is actually layered so it's 3D in person, it looks really cool! 

The third decoration in the photo is actually from one of the stalls around the one in my second photo (with decorations galore!), and it's a very traditional Northern European handmade decoration. I keep buying one every year and somehow managing to loose it before next Christmas, but I am determined to keep this one safe! I have loved this type of decoration ever since I was sent one by one of my penpals. If you didn't know already, it's a Yule Goat! It is a Christmas symbol from Scandinavian countries, and has some origins in ancient pagan traditions. They are always made of straw and I would love to make my own some day! Maybe I will have a go in 2019 :) Until then, I'll keep picking one up from the markets because they are only a quid. 

The final thing that I bought at the Manchester Christmas Markets, just before we headed to the train station to go home, was this official mug. They are available at several café stalls dotted about the markets, which are found on multiple streets all over the city centre, and you can either get one with your hot drink of choice, or just buy one on its own. They have a different design each year and even though I have enough mugs to open a small café myself, I just can't stop buying them! Is there anything that you buy every Christmas that you don't need but can't resist? 

Along with visiting the markets, the highlight of my day out was discovering the most fantastic little store called Kenji! It is a Japanese shop that sells all sorts of products, from kitchenware and useful household items, to stationery and accessories. It was like I'd found paradise and I got so over excited in this store, hahaha! I must have literally looked like a child in a candy store, I bet my bestie found it hilarious! I was 'AWWWW!' and 'oh my god, look at this!' at pretty much everything I saw! I was very good though and didn't buy too much because I had a budget to stick to and I hadn't gotten many Christmas presents up until this part of our trip. Most of the things I bought are cat-related because we all know how much I love them :D 

I also couldn't resist these super bright coloured bobble things... they are made out of something that reminds me of telephone cords! Gosh, it's been so long since we had a telephone that wasn't wireless. Most kids today won't even know how much these bobbles resemble those cords. Saying that makes me feel my age for once XD I picked up a few more bits and bobs from Kenji as presents for my loved ones. This store is awesome and I'm hoping that there's another store closer to my hometown! The products were really cheap too, everything I bought was either £1 or £2, and the adorable cat ornament above was £2.50. 

I also included in this photo a little bee pin that I bought for my dad because he doesn't know how to use a computer so there's no risk of him seeing it! It is too cute not to show you guys, and it only cost me £1.30 from a telegraph shop inside the Arndale. He's wanted a Manchester bee pin for a while and they are usually pricey, so I was really happy to come across this one :) 

If you're a regular reader of my blog, you'll know that I am a fan of vinyl figures and that I have a bit of an obsession (who am I trying to kid? A lot of an obsession*) with those that come in blind boxes. I watch a lot of YouTube channels dedicated to toy collecting and I have really wanted to get my hands on some of the TY Mini Boos Collectibles ever since I watched unboxing videos of them! It's been so long and I didn't think they were sold here in the UK, until I found them in the toy store, The Entertainer, on my trip to Manchester! 

It was seriously such a challenge not to buy loads of boxes! I have always been a massive fan of TY, I collected the beanie babies throughout my childhood and I just love all of their plushies! The newer varieties have these big eyes that make them irresistible to me because they are just too cute. Well, these figures also have those eyes and I just needed some in my life. Keep scrolling to find out which ones I found inside my boxes :) Oh and before I forget to mention, they were only £3 each in The Entertainer, and they stocked all three series! 

*Apologies for the lighting quality, I love Autumn/Winter time but it sucks for photography! 

In my Series 2 TY Mini Boos blind box, I got Blueberry!! He's super cute! I have to admit though that he was my least favourite character available in this collection, but I would love to collect them all some day so I need him. Plus he's flocked (flurry textured) so that's awesome! I love the colour of his eyes and his name is so sweet :) My favourite figures in this collection are Tabitha, Tundra, Skylar and Glitter. Which one(s) would you most like to get? Now onto my Series 3 box...

How gorgeous is this little leopard figure!? Before I opened this blind box, I wished to get Speckles, Cracker, Muffin or Bubblegum, and I was so surprised that I got one of the ones I wanted! Speckles isn't flocked like Blueberry, but I love him so much! His eyes remind me of the amber that is found on trees, they're gorgeous :) I think they will look so pretty in the sunshine so I can't wait to take these out and about, and get some photos of them. Something that I really adore about these figures is that they have included the iconic TY heart tags on their ears! Let me know in the comments which of these figures you would like to receive most. I'm super happy that I found out where I could get these blind boxes from, but goodbye money XD

Every year I try to get a decent close-up photo of the fan? windmill? thing (whatever it's called) on this fabulous tower that is on top of one of the traditional German stalls, and without fail it always blurs because I cannot keep my hands still :D Nevermind, I think this one turned out pretty cool! I had an awesome time visiting the Christmas Markets and I can't wait to go again next December! To top off a great day, my best friend and I went to Frankie & Benny's and enjoyed a scrumptious meal. I arrived home exhausted and my fibromyalgia was flared up for days, but it was worth it and next year I am determined to be more organised with present shopping so I don't have to do everything in one day! Someday I will learn! I hope this post wasn't too rambley and that you enjoyed reading all about my little adventure to the Christmas Markets. 

Thankyou for reading! 

♥

Have you ever been to the Manchester Christmas Markets?

How about any others? Do you go each year like me?

What's your favourite thing from my haul? 

Wanna read about my previous visits to the markets? Check out these posts:

| Manchester Markets 2017 | Haul 2017 | Manchester Markets 2015 | Haul 2015 | 

My New Build A Bear Bulbasaur Plush | Blogmas #31

Yay! It's really not long now until it's New Year! So, Happy New Year guys! I hope you all have a wonderful night, whether you're out celebrating at a party with your friends and family, or like me you're snuggled up at home, watching movies and staying snug :) Bring on 2018! I hope that it's an amazing year for all of you! For today's post, I thought I'd share a post all about the latest addition to my Build A Bear Pokémon collection. I was so happy when the store finally revealed that their next plushie in the Pokémon collection would be Bulbasaur. He's always been my favourite of the starter Pokémon; he's just so adorable. This is a post for my fellow Pokéfans and lovers of all things cute & cuddly! 

One of my favourite things about the Build A Bear Workshop's Pokémon plushies, besides the fact that they are such good quality and super cute, is that they each come with their own Pokémon card! It takes me back to my primary school days everytime I see one, to the times when all my friends played with the Pokémon trading cards on the playground :) They've done a great job on the design of these, and it's just a really nice little addition! I have all of mine up on my art wall in my bedroom and they look so cool lined up side-by-side. 

Last time I was at the Build A Bear store, buying my Vulpix plushie, there was an awesome offer on gift cards that I just couldn't resist. It was only £5 for a gift card worth a tenner! I'd been saving it for when the next plushie was released so of course, I used it for my new Bulbasaur. With it being Christmas time, everyone has been busy and so I couldn't visit the store to get my plushie this time around. I was a little disappointed about this because I enjoy the experience of choosing the plushie myself, and watching it get put together. I'm such a big kid! However, the advantage of buying it online was that I got to get the exclusive outfit for once :) For most of the other plushies, there has been another version of the outfit that is sold in the store, but with the unique shape of the Bulbasaur plush, there isn't a hoodie or a t-shirt available. Instead, the online exclusive outfit is a hat and scarf set, which is such an awesome choice considering the plushie was released in Autumn-Winter. 

So without further ado, here's my new Bulbasaur...

Omgosh seriously though, how adorable is this Bulbasaur plush!? I love how eye-catching he is! His eyes especially just stand out so well against the green colouration of the rest of the plushie. I love how Bulbasaur's bulb on his back looks! It's squishy too and made of a different material to the body of the plush. It sort of has a felt like texture, whereas the rest of Bulbasaur is super smooth and soft. It's a really cuddly plush! I love his big smile too :) 

As part of the online deal, you have to get both the outfit and the Pokémon's specific sound and I have to admit that I wasn't happy about this at first, because I prefer to have my plushies without a sound in them. Just because I hug them and sometimes use them as cushions when I'm watching movies in bed, etc., so I don't like the idea that a sound might go off each time I move or something, haha! However, I was very happy to discover that they put the sound box thingie into Bulbasaur's foot so I can still hug him without pressing it. To be honest though, I actually really like his sound because it's one of my favourite Pokémon voices!  As any other Pokémon fan will tell you, it's very common for us to intimate a Pokémon's sound whenever we see it, or don't in my case XD I make random Pokémon sounds all the time, because I'm just so cool, hahaha! It's very cute, and I'm definitely happy it came with a sound now. 

I absolutely adore his hat & scarf set!! It has the sweetest leaf and Pokéball print! It looks really good on him, and I think they did a fantastic job in coming up with this unique outfit perfect for his body shape, considering he can't have a hoodie or whatever :) What do you all think of it? 

I think the entire plushie set, including the outfit & the sound was around £40, however I got £10 off with my voucher card. It came with the house box that you get if you buy them in store, which is what you can keep your plushie in if you want :) I use them for storing my magazines in though haha because they are great boxes! I did say that I wanted a 'birth' certificate with my plushie like I usually get in the store, but they didn't put it with my order so that was a little annoying. I named him Leafy, because I'm so original XD (And my Charmander is called Flamey, haha!). If you had your own Bulbasaur, what would you name him/her? 

Overall, I am very happy with my new plushie, and he's definitely one of my favourites that they've made. If Eevee & Vulpix weren't in my top five favourite Pokémon of all time, then he'd definitely be my favourite! I just love his design and he's larger than the others too. Meaning more surface area to hug! Let me know if you want me to share an update post, showcasing all of my Pokémon Build A Bear collection so far? I'm really hoping that they release more. I would love to see a Mew one! 

Wow, I can't believe that I actually made it to the end of Blogmas (and a few extra days too! Because I'm now sure that everyone else stops at Christmas Day, oops!). I'm definitely a little proud of myself for managing to blog every single day of the month. It's been a challenge and I don't know how some people do this all year round! Go you if you do; you're amazing! I'm certainly in need of a rest now, but I'll definitely have one or two posts up this coming week. I hope you've enjoyed reading today's post, and all of my other Blogmas 2017 posts. Please show them some love if you haven't already, it would make my day! :) 

Thankyou for reading! 

♥

Are you a Pokémon fan? If so, who's your favourite? 

Do you have a plushie from the Build A Bear Workshop?

I'd love to hear all about it! 

Lush Wishlist | Blogmas #30

Hello guys! I have literally done nothing but sleep for most of the day, oops! In the early hours of the morning when I couldn't get to sleep, I decided that I wanted to watch one of the Netflix series I've had on my watch list for ages, which is never a sensible idea for me! If I enjoy a show, I don't want to stop watching it and before I know it the sun has come out and the birds are tweeting and I've heard my family have gotten up. I look at my clock to discover that it's in fact 11:30am XD So I guess you can say that I really enjoyed watching The OA, and I'll definitely be mentioning it in my What I've Been Watching post next month, haha!

Over the last few days, I've been seeing a lot of photos of Lush products, mostly what everyone has been gifted for Christmas, and it's made me feel like I'm in serious need of a Lush haul myself considering there's only one bath bomb left in my designated bathtime drawer. Yesterday my best friend blogged all about her recent festive Lush haul (you can check out her post here), and it just made want to have a good spending spree there even more. There are so many products that I'm yet to try! So for today's post, I was inspired to share a wishlist of the products that sound most appealing to me right now :) Enjoy! 

Dashing Santa Bath Bomb I have tried almost all of the Christmassy bathbombs that Lush have released over the last few years, however I still haven't bought myself this one! It has a really cute design and is made with a mix of bergamot & mandarin oils, so it's perfect for me since I am a lover of citrus scents. I neeed to buy it before it goes! 

Pink Peppermint Foot Lotion Anyone who knows me well will know that I spend most of my life barefoot. I just hate having to wear shoes and socks, and since I spend the majority of my time at home, there's no reason why I have to wear them so I just don't. My parents think that I'm a bit of a wild child, especially since I don't usually wear shoes when I'm outside in the garden either :D The only downside to this is that my feet are always exposed to all sorts of surfaces, etc and I need to get into the habit of looking after them a little more! The fact that this one is peppermint makes me want it straight away, however I think it's awesome that it's pink too! People have mentioned in the reviews on the Lush website that it has helped with their circulation too, and I am very intrigued about how this might impact the pain that I get in my feet thanks to fibromyalgia.  

Love Body Spray I have been curious about trying out Lush body sprays for a while now, and none of the fragrances that I've spotted when visiting the store have appealed to my tastes. I don't like spraying my perfumes or deodorant all over myself; I find that the smell can get a little overpowering for me and give me a headache. However, I still wanna smell yummy, so I thought I'd give the Lush spray's a go. Love is an online exclusive, and contains two of my favourite floral fragrances, Ylang Ylang and Lemongrass. 

Secret Arts Jelly Bomb Earlier this month, I shared a review of the Snow Fairy jelly bomb, and this was my first time using one of these new kinds of bath bombs by Lush. I mentioned in this post how afterwards I was encouraged to try more, and this one is the next best sounding one to me! I love the name, which is inspired by Harry Potter! I really enjoyed having black bath water when I used the Black as Your Soul bathbomb by Hex Bomb, so it would be cool to see how this one compares as well!

Lord of Misrule Shower Cream Everyone loves the Lush shower creams & I really want to find out for myself what all the fuss is about! I really love the Lord of Misrule bathbomb, the smell of it is amazing! So, I am very much looking forward to finding out how similar the shower cream's scent is. The ingredients include black pepper, vanilla & patchouli, all of which I enjoy. The dark green colour of the shower cream is something that I like too, as it reminds me of forests (my favourite places in the world!). 

Dirty Dusting Powder I was really sad when I discovered that Lush had stopped selling their bottles of Fairy Dust dusting powder, because I really really wanted to try it! I decided to just try another instead, called Silky Underwear. When I opened it, I actually hated the scent because I'm not a big fan of Jasmine, and it was such a shame. I have been looking after for a scent that I might like ever since but couldn't find one. Lately though, I learnt about Dirty and it sounds right up my street fragrance-wise. It is a blend of spearmint, rosemary, thyme and rosewood. I love mint so I'm hoping that this one will be a hit with me!

Sweetest Thing Gift Box In her recent haul post, my best friend talked about one of the Lush gift boxes and after seeing the items that she got inside hers, it's made me want one for myself :) I love the packaging of Lush gift boxes, with their themed pretty wrapping paper and bows. This one in particular grabbed my attention because of all of the sweets in the design of the wrapping, but also the fact that the products inside have ingredients that is sugary, sweet and definitely my preferred type of scents :) It just looks like such a cute box!

The Christmas Penguin Bubble Bar I haven't used a Lush bubble bar in what feels like forever! I don't have bubble bars very often, so when I do they feel sort of like a special treat. The lovely smell of Lush bubble baths and that they often make the water a different colour too make them so awesome! This festive penguin not only looks super adorable, it's almost filled with citrus oils! I need to hurry up and get my hands on one before they are gone until next year! 

Mint Julips Lip Scrub I've been telling myself to get a lip scrub already for so long now, and I don't know why I still haven't! I am feeling just that little more tempted now though since my lips have been suffering from the weather lately, and they even split yesterday :( ouch! I need to invest in some nice lip care products, and the ingredients in this one sound fabulous. It contains of course peppermint, but also jojoba, marigold flowers (which we grow in our garden every year already) and vanilla. It sounds good enough to eat! The website describes it as mint chocolate (without the chip!) so that has be interested!

Sacred Lotus Bath Bomb Okay firstly how cool does this bathbomb look!? And the name is awesome too! On the little video on the Lush website, the bathart that it creates looks fabulous and I have a mighty need to try it! I might be my favourite item on this entire wishlist. It does contain jasmine which as I've mentioned is not something that I like, but it has neroli oil which I do like so hopefully the jasmine is not too strong. Have you ever used this bathbomb guys? If so, I'd love to hear what you think about it :) 

Thankyou for reading!

♥

 Do you have any bath products on your wishlist right now?

Also, do you have an absolute favourite product from Lush?

 I'd love some recommendations! 

 

My Favourite Autumn/Winter Yankee Candles | Blogmas #29

Happy Friday guys! I hope you've all had a fabulous day, even though it's been absolutely freezing! What have you all got planned for the weekend? Today, me & my awesome friend Aaron went into town to do a little shopping, and I had a lovely day catching up with him :) We went to Costa first & had a delicious hot chocolate with whipped cream each. We popped into a few shops and had a nosey around, and I also got my Norman Reedus calendar that I mentioned in yesterday's post. It was reduced from £8.99 to just over £5, so that was great! As well as that, I picked up a few presents for upcoming birthdays and an adorable Bomb Cosmetics bath blaster with plastic frog sitting on top (it's called 'It's Not Easy Being Green'). We finished up our day by heading to KFC, so that was the icing on top of a brilliant day! When we were shopping today, we popped into a few stores that sell candles and I was inspired with this post idea for Blogmas Day 29. Today I'm going to be sharing with you my favourite candle scents from the Autumn & Winter collections by Yankee Candle. I hope that you all enjoy reading! 

I definitely think that the Autumn & Winter range are my absolute favourite of all the candles that are made by Yankee Candle. They just always bring out such lovely fragrances, so many of them with a food, or more so dessert, theme, and those are my best loved scents because they remind me of yummy treats and I'm a big fan of sweet smells. I'll include a link with each candle that I include on this post so that you can try it for yourself if you're interested :) 

Snowflake Cookie

Since I've used this awesome candle as my photograph for today's post, I thought I'd talk about it first. The Snowflake Cookie candle is in my top five favourite candles by the brand, because it's just such a wonderful scent. I can tell instantly that it contains vanilla, which makes me happy! Vanilla is my absolute favourite scent of candle of all time, so I love candles that are a combination of vanilla and other sweet fragrances. The notes in Snowflake Cookie include: fluffy marshmallow, cinnamon, nutmeg, whipped vanilla icing, sugar cookie & buttercream. That sounds good enough to eat! How pretty is the pale pink shade of this candle too!? I really like both the shade and the imagery on the label of the candle.

Black Cherry

Cherry is one of those classic fragrances and tastes that are iconic when it comes to Autumn and Winter time. We include cherries in lots of festive recipes, and the colour of cherries is popular for Autumn fashion. I was drawn to this candle in the first place because black cherry flavoured yogurts are my favourite, but also because I love the dark red shade of the candle! It's a colour perfect for both seasons, and the fragrance itself is a lovely blend of cherry, almond, cinnamon and candy. All of these scents remind me of Christmas. Are you a fan of fruity fragrances, or is floral more your thing? You can find some Black Cherry candles here.

Fireside Treats

If you love toasted marshmallows or smores, then this is the candle for you! It smells so much like the real thing, of the smokey burning wood smell and of course, of gooey melting marshmallows :) Fireside Treats is just a very delicious-smelling candle, and I especially like to burn one on Bonfire Night (usually to make up for the fact that any of my family haven't remember to stock up on real marshmallows, oops!).  According to the Yankee Candle website, the notes for this candle are: cedar wood, firewood, glowing embers, sugar, marshmallow and vanilla fluff. *nom* I love that vanilla fluff stuff!

Macaron Treats

Macaron Treats is a candle from the 2016 festive Yankee candle collection called 'Holiday Party' and it was such a pleasant surprise to see among the other scents, because it doesn't scream Christmas when you look at it. It's a lovely pale green coloured candle, and has a very nice sweet nutty smell. I use all of the candles that I've included today all year round because they are my preferred scents, however this candle is actually perfect for using in any season because there's never not a good time for macarons. This candle has made me want to try actual macarons even more... can you actually believe that I haven't!? I like how the macarons on the label are red and green, because it adds that little Christmassy touch to the design of the candle. Oh, and the notes in the Macaron Treats candle include: raw sugar, confectioner's sugar, vanilla, cookie & almond.

Christmas Cookie

I'm sure that this is one of the candles from the 2015 Autumn/Winter collection, but I can't remember. It's a popular one so it's still easily available, and it's no wonder why because it smells great! It is a very similar scent to the Snowflake Cookie candle, however whereas that one smells very sweet, like you can certainly smell the marshmallow and vanilla icing, the Christmas Cookie focuses more of the actual biscuity scent. It reminds me of baking at Christmas time, of the cookies actually baking in the oven or just baked fresh, warm cookies.  The fragrance ingredients are: creamy vanilla bean, cinnamon, sugar, baked notes (I'm assuming that Yankee Candle mean by this that there's baked cookie scents in the candle), butter and nutmeg. Whenever I burn this candle, it makes me want to do some baking! I definitely recommend this candle for those of you who love sweet scents, but not when they are too overpowering. This one is a pretty cream shade too, so it will go well displayed alongside any Christmas decoration colour scheme.

Berry Trifle 

This candle makes it into my top five Yankee Candles as well! I adore the colour of it so much, it's a crimson, wine red shade that is so much like my preferred shade of lipsticks. The berry theme makes it fabulous for Autumn, but then trifles are a traditional dessert enjoyed around Christmas here in the UK so it's a candle for Winter too! The label also shows snowflakes on top of the trifle :) It just has such a scrumptious scent, created by a mix of different fruity and sweet fragrances (raspberry, blueberry, lemon and strawberry, plus vanilla, sugar & cream). I'm not really an artificial floral scent fan. I really love the scent of real flowers, but floral scented things are usually too overpowering for me. The Berry Trifle candle though has a mix of both super sweet and fruit scents which are right up my street. I very much like the various strawberry scented Yankee candles, so having strawberry as a top note is probably another reason why this candle is one of my favourites.

Amber Moon  

I used this scent of Yankee Candle for the first time when I was at university back in 2015, so I'm thinking it's probably from the previous year's Autumn/Winter range. It's unlike all of the other scents that make up my favourites, as it is not a food-based fragrance. Amber Moon contains sandalwood, amber of course and patchouli. Amber is usually a mix of various resins from trees as well as bark such as Benzoin, mixed with the flowers of citrus trees and vanilla and much more. It has an earthy scent to it that makes me feel relaxed, and it also reminds me of the smell of spices and herbs. It's almost reminiscent to me of the scent of my favourite German festive cookies, Lebkuchen, but of the more faint spices underneath the strong ginger & cinnamon smell. Amber Moon is a very pretty name for a candle too, and it would be a very nice aroma to smell in the evening to help you feel cosy. It's not available on the Yankee Candle website anymore, but I found this one on Amazon for you guys :)

Candy Cane Lane

I first discovered this candle when I was researching the Yankee Candle advent calendar in Autumn 2015, which I shared a short post about during Blogmas of that year. I bought one before getting the calendar itself because I was so intrigued. I am a lover of all things mint flavoured and scented, so I couldn't wait to find out what this one was like! It has notes of both peppermint and spearmint, along with sugar cane, malt, candied caramel, vanilla mint (that sounds amazing!), tonka & vanilla bean. All these ingredients sound like a dessert made in heaven to me, haha! I was definitely not disappointed by the fragrance of this candle; it smells so so lovely! The mint is strong enough to make the candle live up to it's name, but with the other scents intertwined, it's just a nice, sweet smell :) I love it! It's definitely a great candle for Christmas time, with the vibrant red colouration and also the label featuring a gingerbread house decorated with a white & red candy cane theme. It's a 10 out of 10 from me for sure! I love the name of the candle too because it makes me picture a road lined with candy canes leading up to Santa's grotto or something! This candle seems to be out of stock everywhere, but I finally found the candle on eBay!

Well I hope that you've all enjoyed reading about my favourite Yankee Candles from their Autumn/Winter collections. I'd love to know if you guys have used any of these candle before and what you thought of them, so please leave a comment if you have! It would be great to know if I've made any of you want to try a particular candle for yourselves. With it being just after Christmas, there should be some sales on with Christmas collections too. Have a lovely weekend everyone!

Thankyou for reading!

♥

Do you have a go-to Autumn-Winter candle?  

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