Birthday presents, Christmas presents . . . and a belated 'Happy New Year!' :)

I hope everyone had a lovely new year! Any nice NYE or Christmas stories to share? :)
I thought today I'd do a post about all the lovely presents I got for my birthday and Christmas... one of which was yellow roses from my boyfriend, a very unexpected surprise!...But a lovely one. AND I somehow managed to capture the image above with my simplest of the simple canons, good one camera :)

So, in my last post you may have noticed that I rambled slightly about how I was definitely going to fit in a few more posts before December was up...however the excitement of Christmas got the better of me (just as bad as a little kid). With my boyfriend also visiting (woo :p), plus new years eve (and the subsequent day or three of recovery), it brings me to where I'm sitting right now, writing this post.... Hence, one of my new years resolutions I've decided must be to write more freqeuntly and stick to this! With this in mind I'd love to hear from anyone about what you might like to see more of. I was thinking about maybe having a regular feature, such as a beauty tip, or perhaps a personal post once a week. I'd love to hear what you guys think.

For me, the past few weeks have flown by and I turned 22 (eek) at the beginning of December. With Christmas in tow, there were quite a few gifts received, probably a reason I've always loved this time of the year since I was little haha. I did request a couple of beauty items I'd wanted for a while and received a few unexpected things from family and friends that were really lovely. Of course I got non-beauty related presents, but I won't bore you with those :p If you'd like to have a quick peek, then keep reading...
 

Christmas Present No.1. . .

Yankee candles Christmas set!

This was on my wishlist and I decided to subtly suggest to my boyfriend that it would make a very nice present. There are 12 candles to try out, all feature Yankee Candles classic wintery scents, from Christmas Cookie to Mulled Wine. Needless to say, I am very exited to try these out, and a little concerned I may now being turning into a bit of a candle addict.

  Christmas Present No. 2. . . 
Vintage Nail Set and Compact Mirror

This was a very sweet present from my sister that she probably took one look at and knew I'd love. We have very similar tastes, and the vintage look of the case and the print is lovely. I also have been in desperate need for a while for a nice compact mirror to take with me when I travel, so I'm really looking forward to using this.

 Christmas Present No. 3. . .

Boots Body Butter Collection

Another present from my sister...I definitely have to give her credit with getting another cute set. This includes a collection of five mini body butters. They come in a range of scents and I'm definitely looking forward to trying out the cocoa butter and mango in particular (a scent I absolutely love). For winter these are perfect, with my skin being a little dehydrated. If they really help then I'll definitely post a review soon :)

Birthday Present No.1 . . . 

Naked Palette!!

Finally I've got Urban Decays' Naked Palette!..Just when they bring out Naked Palette 2. But ah well, I'm still thrilled to bits with this as I've wanted it for so long and really can't wait to try out all the shades! I won't bother to do a review as it must be one of the most written about makeup items on beauty blogs, however if anyone wants to see swatches then I will happily post some.

Birthday Present No.2. . .

Decleor Gift Set

Another present from my wishlist was this completely gorgeous set from Decleor. It was a gift from my mum and I actually went with her to get this, just so I could be sure it was worth spending the money (the set is a tad pricey!) When we went to the counter the woman was pretty persuasive, telling us the how the ingredients are naturally sourced, contain no chemicals and would be perfect for my dry/sensitive skin. Convinced these products were the answer to my winter skin problems I gave the go ahead to my mum to get the Hydration gift set. I've now been using these products for two weeks and I will have a review up very soon!

Birthday Presesnt No.3. . . 

Sanctuary Spa Vouchers

This was an amazing present from my housemates who all clubbed together to get me Sanctuary Spa vouchers. I don't actually use Sanctuary products, so I'm really interested to try them out. The voucher entitles me to a treatment or I can spend it on their products, but I've pretty much decided that whilst a treatment would be lovely and is definitely needed...I can get a quite a few products from this voucher!

The trouble is that I have no idea what to spend it on! I definitely need your help...

If anyone has any recommendations or has ever been curious about some of their products, then I will happily try some of your suggestions and post a big review of everything I buy :) Their website is here if you want to have a quick peek, and I'll be doing this in a couple of weeks (once the dreaded exams are over).

 So that's all of my presents, I'm really excited to try everything out and I'm sure there will be a few ensuing reviews to come. Hope you all are having a lovely weekend and don't forget to have quick glance at the Sanctuary website and bring back suggestions! :p