What I Got For Christmas 2017

I did my first one of these posts last year which went down really well so I thought I would share again what I/We got for Christmas this year. This year, as last year we both got quite a lot of cash as part of our presents some of which I’ve already spent so I decided to include it as part of this post.

Little Update

I hope your Christmas and New Year were good ones – whilst the start of ours was lovely unfortunately the time between Christmas and New Year was hard, Ben’s Grandad has been ill for around a year now with terminal cancer and has been in hospice since the end of October, Ben and I saw him on the 28th and he was okay although a little vacant, we came home and had a call the following morning to say they’d had to sedate him and move him to a private room overnight, we headed back down on the 29th for a couple of days dropping the dogs off with my parents and spent days by his bedside with whilst he was still sedated until late on 30th when we came home.

At the point of writing this we’re not expecting there to be any recovery or even out of sedation, and we’re just waiting to hear what is unfortunately the inevitable. Jim has been an amazing loving Grandad to Ben and his sister, and has from day one of meeting Ben’s Grandparents I was welcomed into the family by them with open arms. It didn’t feel right to go to business as usual and not to say something as I’ve been especially absent from social media, whilst of course I’m wholly grateful presents have ended up feeling completely immaterial again (my Grandad died on Boxing Day 4 years ago this year) – our lives will be missing a very bright light without him in it.


Terry’s Chocolate Orange & Giant Chocolate Coin
First off, the sweet treats, both from Ben – both been consumed.

Fever Tree Ultimate G&T Taster Set & Ginger Beer
The first thing that Ben gave me to open on Christmas morning was a set of four miniature gins with four different tonics. As I’m writing this I’m tucking into my first combination of these and I’m going to enjoy trying the rest. Ben knows I’m not the hugest fans of tonics so also got me a bottle of their ginger beer to put with them.

Dorothy Perkins Grey Embellished Jumper
Ben passed me a box which inside contained a beautiful grey looser knit jumper in a nice big baggy size (he knows me well). He also knows I have a lot of problems with different wools making my skin itch and picked out one he thought would be safe for me. I have a few embellished jumpers from a few years ago and he knows they’re my favourites but they’re getting tired and a lot of them have been retired to ‘house clothes’. I wore this out shopping between Christmas and New Year and it was lovely, I’m going to get a lot of wear out of it.

A Weekend Away in Southwold, Norfolk and Gin Making Experience
Tucked underneath the jumper was a piece of paper saying we were going to a gin making experience in Southwold, which is about 2 hours from where we live and somewhere we’ve never been. Ben also said he’s booked a B&B for 2 nights – we go over my Birthday weekend at the start of February.

Tom Ford Velvet Orchid Perfume
From Ben’s Mum and Dad I got a bottle of perfume, Ben knew I had been eyeing this up and passed it on as a suggestion to his parents. I got Black Orchid from Tom Ford a few years ago from Ben for Christmas and it’s my all time favourite perfume, I use it sparingly, it’s very strong and I usually keep it for winter special occasions as it’s so deep and sultry, this is a lot sweeter in comparison but I’m hoping it will have the same potency as a spring summer option.

MAC Snowball Eye Compact in Gold
From Ben’s sister I got a palette from the MAC Christmas collection, it’s becoming a mini Christmas tradition that she gets a palette from the Christmas collection. This one is a pretty mix of golds, charcoals and muted browns. I’m still yet to play with it.

HD Brows Voucher
Also from Ben’s sister she got me a voucher to have my brows redone at Mishishi in Spalding which is where I went to have my brows done before. I’m going to see how much growth I manage to get on them this week coming and if possible I might have them done just before we go away for my Birthday.

Circulon Frying Pans
One of the very few things we’d specifically asked for was some new frying pans. Ben’s Mum and Dad gifted us this set. These are lovely quality an should last us a really long time. Our other three pans are on their way out an these are very welcome replacements.

Urban Decay Vice liquid Lipstick in Purgatory
My Mum asked for some ideas of what to get me, as well as ideas for my sister. I vaguely pointed her in the direction of the Urban Decay counter as a safe place to shop for us both, but I gave her no other hints than that. She picked well with a gorgeous metallic shades called purgatory which is a pretty plum red shade. I haven’t tried this formula before and it make a welcome addition to my liquid lip collection.

Urban Decay Aftershock Palette
Another item I was surprised to see from parents was this palette from Urban Decay. It’s in a gorgeous holographic purple oil slick kind of casing, packed with a gorgeous selection of metallics. The top row leans more neutral whilst the bottom row is a selection of pretty duochromes, greens, blues and purples. What I like about this is that it’s not too big so would travel well as an additional palette to maybe go alongside a palette with more mattes in.

Lancôme La Nuit Treson Perfume Set
This was one specific thing I suggested to my Mum, I’d been eyeing this up since it lauched over summer and I almost splurged my points on it at the time, Ben at the time didn’t like it (although now he does), but it’s one I’ve kept spritzing myself with in shops and falling in love with more and more. The set contained a body lotion and shower gel.

M&S Teal Velvet Cushions
From my Aunty and Uncle we got some gorgeous velvet cushions, I did put these on our list – we’ve actually decided to keep them aside for when we move sometime this year as we’ve decided they’re going to get og hair all over them, and they really need to go to a room that will get less dog contact rather than our living room as we originally planned.

John Lewis Scandi Tea Towels
I’ve been on the hunt for some new tea towels for a while, a lot of ours were starting to look a bit faded as many of them we had in our flats prior to buying our house. These are a nice pattern which go well with the colours in our kitchen.

John Lewis Doormat
Our old doormat was starting to look quite ratty, the pattern in it had been scuffed away over the last year and it was beginning to shed a lot. Because we’re planning on putting our house on the market in the not too distant future I wanted something that would be smart and welcoming. We’ve recently finished painting our kitchen a sage green colour (which we did start last Christmas), and the colours in this go well without being too ‘matchy matchy’. This was from my cousin and his family.


Bought with Money

We received quite a lot of money for Christmas, the most of which we have saved for when we move. Anything that was labelled as to us both we saved and anything that was labelled to us individually we spent. I had about £80 to spend which I did in the sales in Nottingham whilst visiting friends.

Urban Decay Heavy Metals Eyeshadow Palette
Now I’ll admit I ordered this online on Christmas day, before I’d received my presents from my parents. I really didn’t expect them to buy me a palette and I didn’t need both of these. But I’d toyed putting this on my Christmas list and decided against it, then had money – saw it for about 40% off and decided to get it. Would I have bought it if I knew? No. Do I regret it? No – I’m not returning it. It’s minnnnnnne. All metallics, one neutral side, one jewel toned side – this palette is all unique and new shades to this palette. I might end up comparing them side by side in a review.

Urban Decay Little Vices Lipstick Set
Alongside the liquid lip vice I hadn’t tried from Urban Decay, I haven’t tried their regular lipsticks either. This contained 5 mini lipsticks and at £16 it felt a complete bargain. A mixture of shades and formulas I can’t wait to start trying these. Especially 1993 which I know my friend Molly loves. I was almost tempted by the mini liquid lipstick set too, but one of the shades was purgatory which was the full size my Mum got me, and I felt like a couple of the other shades were less me.

Lovisa Earrings
I passed my a shop which I’d never seen before, I believe this is an Australian brand – everything in there was really cheap and discounted. I didn’t have time to look around too much as it was rammed, but I picked up two pairs for £2 each. They’re thread through hoops, one in silver and one in gold.

John Lewis Slipper Socks
I’ve been living in slipper socks over the past few weeks, a lot of my older Primark ones are starting to become really lumpy feeling on the inside and are starting to wear badly. When I spotted these pairs discounted in John Lewis I had to pick them up – one pair is slightly thicker than the other (which gives me options depending on how cold my feet are), but they’re both pretty patterns in neon wool shades. They were £6 and £6.40.


Finally Not Technically a Christmas Present

My favourite thing given to me over Christmas was a box from my sister… who put in a bunch of small things related to our Childhood and teen years – with a card asking me to be her Maid of Honour. Of course I said yes and it will give me some motivation to swap Terry’s Chocolate Oranges for Oranges. Bring on the 11th May 2019.

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18 Comments

  1. January 2, 2018 / 8:01 am

    Such cute stuff! Great post. Loving the Urban Decay palette, and those cushions <3

  2. January 2, 2018 / 8:41 am

    Sending lots of love to you and Ben, again sorry to hear about his grandad 💕

    I’ve always wanted to try Terry’s Chocolate Orange but they’re so expensive over here! The Tom Ford fragrance sounds delightful and those mini Urban Decay lipsticks look adorable x

  3. January 2, 2018 / 8:44 am

    I got my friend the little vices for part of her Christmas gift! I love your cushions 💜

  4. Sophie in Wonderland xo
    January 2, 2018 / 12:21 pm

    You got and picked up some lovely bits! Can’t wait for reviews! Xxx

  5. January 2, 2018 / 1:57 pm

    Sorry to hear about Ben’s grandfather not well. Glad you were able to be with him.
    Enjoy your goodies! We got a frying pan too. 😆 I love that John Lewis door mat!
    I saw that UD Heavy Metals palette discounted post-holidays but I only like the one side of shades. And that layout with the mirror in the middle bugs me!
    Happy New Year Rachael!

    • January 2, 2018 / 2:53 pm

      Thank you – Happy New Year to You too!
      Ben has used the frying pan and says it’s a vast improvement on it’s predecessor, I am yet to use it but I am excited too!
      Let me guess which side of the shades you liked in the UD palette? Haha – It’s definitely just a dressing table item for me and I’ll treasure it as a collectors piece like I do the NYC book of shadows one. I actually don’t surprisingly hate the layout of the palette as much as I thought I might do, it’s easy to just pop one side out over the other, if it wasn’t so chunky and fat it would be good for travel.

  6. January 2, 2018 / 3:26 pm

    Sending lots of love your way, I’m sorry for what your going through. Loss and illness is one of the hardest things to experience.

    You got some seriously cute gifts and it’s so sweet how your sister asked you!! Happy holidays ❤️

  7. January 2, 2018 / 9:20 pm

    Sorry to hear about Ben’s Grandad. Love to you both.

    You got some beautiful gifts for Christmas! I love the look of those M&S cushions especially.

    Best wishes for 2018,

    Danielle

  8. January 2, 2018 / 10:27 pm

    I’m sorry to hear about Ben’s grandad. Sending you both love💕 Love your presents. A Terrys Chocolate Orange and Chocolate Coin is a must! He chose you some lovely gifts like your jumper and weekend away😊 Both Urban Decay palettes look gorgeous x

  9. January 2, 2018 / 11:26 pm

    you received so cute stuff, can’t wait to know what you think about the urban decay palettes

  10. January 3, 2018 / 1:34 am

    So sorry to hear about Ben’s Grandad. Love those little Gin bottles and the tea towels especially!

  11. January 3, 2018 / 4:16 am

    Keeping you and Ben in my thoughts, his grandad sounds like such a wonderful, loving person.

    I love those tea towels and the cushions – your color choices are so much fun!

  12. Yasmin Rebecca (@sweetsevenfive)
    January 3, 2018 / 3:14 pm

    Very sorry to read your news about Ben’s grandad, sending love your way x

    Lovely gifts, I love the embellished jumper, and the UD palette too!

    Yasmin x

  13. January 3, 2018 / 6:29 pm

    Hope you had a great Christmas, I am loving the Urban Decay goodies X

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