Candle and Jewellery Advent Calendar Round Up Christmas 2015

Following on from last week's round-up of this year's beauty advent calendars, today, I've compiled a list of all of the candle and jewellery filled advent calendars that I could find to make your life a little easier. I hope you find it helpful!

Let's start with the candle advent calendars...

Candle Advent Calendars

Diptyque Candle Advent Calendar £250 

One of the most luxurious advent calendars this year comes from Parisian brand Diptyque. Inside you'll find a selection of their high quality candles and cosmetics in a variety of fragrances, which includes 16 candles, 7 eau de toilettes, a body butter and precious oils. If you really want to spoil yourself or a loved one this Christmas, Diptyque's advent calendar is the ultimate luxury treat, and it's sure to put you in the good books with the lucky lady in your life. Available now for  a cool £250.

Yankee Candle Reindeer Carousel £31.99

Yankee Candle have brought out not just one but three candle advent calendars this year. The most expensive of the three is the Reindeer Carousel calendar, which in my opinion is also the prettiest- just look at that lovely packaging! Behind each window you'll find a votive or tea light candle in one of eight seasonal Yankee Candle fragrances, including Candy Cane Lane, Snowflake Cookie, Spiced Orange, and the new fragrance Berry Trifle. Available now for just £31.99.

Yankee Candle Advent In The Snow £27.99

The second of Yankee Candle's advent calendars is Advent In The Snow, a beautifully illustrated house-shaped calendar featuring a festive snow scene. You'll find a tea light in one of seven seasonal scents behind every window, and a festive votive candle as an extra treat on Christmas Eve. With all of those festive candles, your home will be so cosy and inviting right through 'til Christmas, and the best part is, it will only cost you £27.99

Yankee Candle Calendar £24.99

The third and most affordable calendar from Yankee Candle, is their Christmas advent calendar which features a snowglobe design with silhouettes of fashionable ladies shopping at Yankee Candle inside it. Behind the cardboard windows you'll find 23 festive Yankee Candle tea lights, and a festive votive on Christmas Eve. Available now for only £24.99.

Wax Lyrical Colony Candle Advent Calendar £22.88

Colony's Wax Lyrical advent calendar is filled with twenty four of their best-selling, festive-scented tea lights, and a tea light holder to light them in each day. This calendar retails for £22.88, which isn't bad considering its contents give approximately forty-four hours burn time.

Busy Bee Candles Calendar £19.95

Busy Bee Candles' advent calendar is made up of twenty-four of their handmade, high-strength wax melts in a variety of their most popular Christmas fragrances. Available now for £19.95.

Jewellery Advent Calendars

Echtschmuck Jewellery Advent Calendar £110

If you really want to treat yourself or the special lady in your life this Advent, then the Echtschmuck jewellery advent calendar might be the calendar for you. Presented in twenty-four red satin pouches are twenty-four pieces of high quality jewellery, including a necklace, adjustable bracelet, and twenty-two festive-themed charms. The pieces are made from high-quality sterling silver, Swarovski crystal, cubic zirconia, lapis lazuli, and / or rose quartz gemstones, and will set you back an indulgent £110.

Johnny Loves Rosie Jewellery Advent Calendar £55

The Johnny Loves Rosie advent calendar features a different jewellery treat behind every scallop-trimmed window. Inside you'll find gold and silver plated necklaces, earrings, rings, bracelets, and charms. (You can see a few examples of the contents via the link). It's available now for a reasonable £55, and would make a lovely gift for any jewellery fan.

Topshop Jewellery Advent Calendar £28

Topshop have returned with two jewellery advent calendar this year. In the Christmas tree calendar, you'll find a different piece of jewellery from their Freedom at Topshop collection behind each of the twenty-four windows, including 13 pairs of earrings, 8 ditsy necklaces, and 3 ditsy fine bracelets. It's reasonably priced at just £28, and the Christmas-tree-shaped packaging is really cute, too.

Topshop Jewellery Advent Calendar £25

The second of Topshop's advent calendars for 2015 is priced a little lower than the first, and has a completely different design, too. Behind the monochrome and gold, postage-stamp style doors are 12 pairs of stud earrings, 4 ditsy bracelets, and 8 ditsy charm necklaces from Freedom at Topshop. At only £25 it's one of the most affordable calendars this year, and is sure to be popular with fans of Topshop's accessories.

Charm and Bead Christmas Bracelet Advent Calendar £20

The charm and bead advent calendar from Amazon, features 3 flexible wrap around bracelets, and a selection of charms and beads in silver, rose-gold, and yellow-gold colours, with imitation pearls and crystals. Available now for £20.

Meri Meri The Nutcracker Charm Bracelet Advent Calendar £19.99

Meri Meri, a brand which is known for its gorgeous party supplies and stationery, has created a charm bracelet advent calendar in the style of a jewellery box. Forget the jewellery, the beautiful Nutcracker packaging and pop-up theatre have won me over! Inside the pretty packaging are two trays each with twelve compartments, where you'll find a silver bracelet and 23 festive charms, which I'm sure will appeal to many adults as well as the children it's aimed at. Available now for £19.99.

Jewellery Advent Calendar With Charm Bracelets £16.76

This festive advent calendar includes two extendible bracelets, and twenty two enamel and crystal charms which can be mixed and matched to create your own Pandora-style charm bracelets. Available via Amazon for just £16.76.

Smart Jewel Merry Christmas Jewellery Advent Calendar £14.09

Smart Jewel's "Merry Christmas" jewellery advent calendar features two faux leather bracelets in black and brown, and twenty-two jewels that can be mixed and matched to create your own unique bracelets. Available through Amazon for just £14.09.

Smart Jewel Merry Christmas Jewellery Advent Calendar £10.69

And last but not least is a another advent calendar from Smart Jewel. It's a few pounds cheaper than the other, and appears to have prettier jewellery inside, too. The product description doesn't give much away, but it appears to include two charm bracelets, a charm necklace, at least eighteen charms, and possibly a ring, too. You can find it on Amazon for just £10.69.

How will you be counting down to Christmas this year?

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Haul of Randomness

It's been a while since my last haul post, so I think it's time for a new one. I do love a good haul! I love reading them on other blogs even more. (I guess that's because I'm just plain nosey!) Instead of doing a fashion and beauty haul, I'm going to share some of the random bits and bobs I've been buying lately. So, I give you my haul of randomness...

I've been looking forward to showing you these awesome brooches for ages because I know some of you would love them as much as I do. Aren't they amazing? I bought them about a month ago from a little shop in Cheltenham's Regent Arcade called the Cheltenham Collective, which sells homeware, accessories, and art from local artists and small businesses. I wandered in for a browse with the sister, and got a little over-excited when I discovered a basket full of these quirky brooches. I had to buy these five immediately, although I would've happily bought one of each design if money grew on trees. They were all amazing. I think my favourite is the bespectacled French bulldog, closely followed by the deer, but I'm smitten with all of them. They're hand crafted from acrylic and wood, and I'm impressed with how well made and sturdy they are; the quality is fantastic! The best part is they were only £6.50 each, (except for the deer which was only £5), which is very reasonable, and far more affordable than the similar Erstwilder brooches every fashion blogger seems to be wearing or coveting right now. I'm hoping to pick up some more designs if they're still available next time I'm in Cheltenham, and I want to find out who made them because the packaging doesn't reveal a thing. I was hoping there would be info to lead me to an online shop, but even after a few Google and Etsy searches I got nothing. If I do find out, I'll let you know, but if you're in Cheltenham, you should still be able to find them in the Cheltenham Collective opposite The Body Shop in the arcade. It's well worth a visit!

I also picked up a couple of small votive Yankee Candles in Sweet Strawberry and Pain Au Raisin to make those cold, dark Autumn evenings a bit cosier. And yes, they both smell as good as they sound! The scents are pretty spot on, too. 

I bought this lovely box of Nordic Nights sticky notes from Paperchase last month, which will come in handy for jotting down blog ideas, journaling, and writing notes. I have a real weakness for pretty stationery, and Paperchase is one of my favourite places to find it. At the moment, I'm loving the entire Nordic Nights collection, which features lots of cute woodland critters, brown paper packaging, and a good dose of colour.

One of my favourite purchases of late is this metal Alice in Wonderland sign, which I found on Truffle Shuffle here. Alice in Wonderland has been my favourite Disney film since I was little, so I just had to have it. It's not often that I come across Wonderland things from the Disney cartoon, so finding it made my day. Yeah... I don't get out much! 

I also came across this vintage (reproduction) movie poster (here) on Amazon the day I found the metal sign. I wasn't sure if the quality would be any good, but I decided to chance it, and just ordered it in A4 to be safe. I think that was for the best, as the saturation of the picture isn't quite right, but you win some, you lose some. I don't think I'll ever get it framed and hung up on the wall, but I still think it's kinda awesome.

And the final thing in my haul of randomness? This lovely cross stitch kit from Riverdrift House. I've never seen such a pretty, colourful 'Home Sweet Home' sampler before; they're usually so ugly and frumpy. I love its modern spin on a classic craft that people have been making for generations; centuries, even. I won't be embarrassed to hang it on my wall when it's done. I'm working on a Christmas sampler from the same company (this one), so I probably won't start it until the new year, but I'm looking forward to getting started- if only to play with all of those colourful threads!

Have you bought anything exciting lately?

Candle and Jewellery Advent Calendars Christmas 2014

You're probably all getting sick of me talking about advent calendars, but this is the last one, I promise!

Advent calendars come in many shapes and forms these days. Chocolate; illustrated; ornaments to fill yourself; and even ones filled with beauty products. What you may not know is that there are also advent calendars containing candles and jewellery! How fun is that?! 

Candle advent calendars started appearing a year or two ago, but this is the first year I've seen jewellery calendars. There are only a couple I know of, but I can see the idea taking off over the next couple of years. You'll understand what I mean when you see them, so let's take a look... 

Meri Meri Charm Bracelet Advent Calendar: Amazon- £19.54 // Selfridges £27.95

The Meri Meri Nutcracker Charm Bracelet Advent Calendar is quite easily one of the loveliest and most unique advent calendars I've ever seen. This jewellery box style calendar features two colourful trays, each with twelve compartments, and waiting behind the doors are twenty-three Christmas-themed charms and a bracelet! How amazing is that?!

Every day you can add a new festive charm to your bracelet, wear it  and watch it grow throughout the Christmas season. By Christmas Day you'll have a full festive charm bracelet to wear again and again over future Christmases! The idea is brilliant!

If the concept wasn't enough, the packaging is also gorgeous. It's so colourful and even has a pop-up Nutcracker theatre at the back! You can always count on Meri Meri for the cutest designs.

This calendar is available through Selfridges for £27.95, but I also found it through Amazon here for just £19.54! The difference in price is shocking!

Jewellery Advent Calendar With Charm Bracelets £16.75

I'm unsure of the brand of this Jewellery Advent Calendar, but what I do know is that this calendar enables you to create your own Pandora-style charm bracelets! Each calendar includes two extendable bracelets and twenty-two enamel and crystal charms. It's available on Amazon now for £16.75.

On to the candle calendars...

Yankee Candle Advent Calendar £21.99

With the Yankee Candle Advent Calendar, you can count down to Christmas by lighting a festive scented candle every day! Behind each door you will find a tea light in one of six seasonal scents, with an extra special surprise behind door twenty-four. At £21.99 it's reasonably priced, and it's a great alternative to pampering yourself with chocolate or beauty products during advent. Who doesn't love burning a Yankee candle or two at the end of a hectic day of Christmas shopping and partying? Just add a glass of wine, a Christmas movie, and a face mask and you've got a relaxing evening sorted!

Yankee Candle Advent House £24.99

Yankee Candle have also brought out a second advent calendar the 'Advent House', which has the loveliest festive packaging. Like the Advent Calendar, the Advent House features a seasonal Yankee tea light behind each window, and a votive on Christmas Eve. Six seasonal scents are included in the House, with a slightly different combination to the Advent Calendar. It retails for £24.99 and is available now.

Counting down to Christmas is becoming more and more fun and indulgent these days, and oh how I love it! I wonder what they'll think of next!

Will you be treating yourself or a loved one to a jewellery or candle advent calendar this Christmas?

Christmas Decorations From The Christmas Boutique

With just five weeks 'til December and less than nine 'til Christmas, it's swiftly coming up to the greatest time of the year. (At least in my eyes, anyway. I'm a bit of a Christmas enthusiast!) I love everything about Christmas from the decorations to the festive cheer, and I've been busy planning and preparing since September to make it the best one ever. Don't judge, the lead up is my favourite part!

I particularly look forward to decorating the house for Christmas every year, so you can imagine my excitement when The Christmas Boutique got in touch recently, and invited me to review some of their decorations. I was a bit like a kid in a sweet shop at Disneyland. Of course I said "yes!" 

A box full of decorations soon turned up on my doorstep, and unpacking them all felt a bit like Christmas morning!

I was sent a variety of decorations- most in my favourite festive colours red, green, and white- and I instantly loved the selection.

The Nutcracker soldiers were so beautifully wrapped in cellophane and red ribbon bows that I was almost sorry to unwrap them. Or I would have been if I hadn't been so eager to get a closer look at them! At first they look just like your run-of-the-mill Nutcracker ornaments, but they're not- they're actually candles, too! How fun is that?!

After Santa and Rudolph, The Nutcracker is one of the most recognised of Christmas characters so few candles come more festive than these. They feature all of the recognisable little details that make the Nutcracker soldiers iconic from the white beards to the gold trimmed uniforms, and they also have a charming hand-painted quality to them. At £7.99 for the pair, they're fantastic value, and I think they're great quality for their price tag. You can use them as candles or ornaments, and they'd look so festive on the Christmas dinner table!

I love Scandinavian style Christmas decorations with a capital L, so I instantly fell in love with this wooden painted tea light holder. I just can't resist fairisle patterns, traditional red and white decorations, and lighting candles on dark December evenings. Candle light is the perfect way to relax and de-stress after a busy day, and let's face it- that's every day during the festive season!

The tea light holder features a pretty fairisle design and star cut out to the front, and it's also decorated with little gingham bows, beads, and jingle bells. The attention to detail makes it such a lovely little decoration, and it's very well made, too. The best part is, the tea light holder is so inexpensive at just £3.99, so it won't break the bank. It also comes in reverse red and white, which I'm planning to snap up soon.

My favourite decorations from The Christmas Boutique are probably these honeycomb pom-poms. I was absolutely thrilled to be sent some because I've been coveting honeycomb decorations for years! 

The 10cm pom-poms are sold in sets of four, and I was sent a packet each of red and green; my two favourite festive colours. At 10cm in diameter, the decorations are small, but what they lack in size they make up for in design. The colours are striking, and the retro design is lovely, tasteful and on trend for Christmas 2014, Of course they're only made from paper and card, so they are delicate, but if they're handled carefully, they should last a few Christmases. 

I like these honeycomb pom-poms so much I've since purchased another two packs, and I'm considering going back for some in white to decorate my bedroom with! They also come in several other colours and sizes, and will look perfect hanging from the tree, ceiling, or fire place. You could even pop a few in a bowl or vase for a pretty centre piece for the dinner table.

I'm a fan of traditional Christmas colours at heart, but when I opened the box to find these three metallic glass frog queens inside, I couldn't help but smile; they're so quirky and fun! I've never seen anything like them before.

These frog queens come in a set of three and are perfect if you want to add some vibrant colour to your decor this year. After all, Christmas doesn't have to be all about the traditional colours; jewel tones can look super festive, too! I think they'd look particularly eye-catching on a white tree, with plenty of fairy lights. I'm planning to keep these three on my dressing table this Christmas. I think they'll fit in perfectly amongst my perfume bottles and jewellery stands!

The last decoration I have to show you is the stag's head. Yes, it's an unusual Christmas decoration, but it's perfect if you're looking for something a little bit different. It would look fantastic hanging on the wall above a roaring fire, especially if the mantle has been dressed with natural decorations like fir branches and pine cones. You could even hang baubles from its antlers to make an even bolder statement!

The antlers are detachable, so storing it away after Christmas is a piece of cake- although you could just leave it up all year round! It won't look like a Christmas decoration once the tree and fairly lights have been packed away. It's a great-quality and sturdy trophy, made from coloured-resin, and comes in a tasteful antique-white finish.

I'm really impressed with all of these decorations from The Christmas Boutique and I can't wait to decorate the house with them this Christmas. Keep an eye out for my Christmas home tour in December to see how I incorporate them all in to my home for the festive season!

You can find all these decorations and much, much more online at The Christmas Boutique. They're a wonderful online company who specialise in Christmas decorations, candles, and festive homeware in a variety of styles. Everything is very reasonably priced, and there's sure to be something to suit your tastes and budget.

Why not pop on over to the website for a browse? It's never too early to start shopping for Christmas!

Which of these decorations do you like best?

*These Christmas decorations were gifted to me by The Christmas Boutique in exchange for review. As always, all words, opinions and photos are my own.

I ♥ Fall Tag

I saw this Autumn inspired tag on Sarah's blog and decided to steal the post idea as I was having a bit of writer's block. This tagged post is all to do with Autumn and Halloween. Well, technically, the questions are titled with 'Fall', but I'm English and in England this season is more commonly known as Autumn, so forgive me for answering a Fall question with the word Autumn in my sentences.

1. Favourite Fall lip product?

I have a new found love for Benefit's Benetint lip and cheek stain after getting a small pot of it free with a magazine recently. One coat of it gives a subtle, natural look, but it can also be built up to create a more intense pout. It makes my small lips look so much fuller, and it gets extra points for being versatile and giving my cheeks an English Rose glow, too.

2. Favourite Fall nail polish?

This Autumn I'm really loving Barry M's Raspberry, Racing Green, and Ruby Glitter polishes, and also NYC Backstage Brown. Each colour works so well with my Autumn wardrobe, and even though they're all inexpensive polishes (which are fab as they don't break the bank), they all dry wonderfully smooth, and can remain chip free for days.

Ruby Glitter (Centre), Raspberry (Right)

Racing Green (Right)

Backstage Brown

3. Favourite Starbucks Fall drink?

I'm not much of a Starbucks drinker. I don't drink tea or coffee, and I personally prefer to head to Costa for a sweet treat. On the rare occasion I visit either, it tends to be for a hot chocolate when I'm out shopping and freezing because the temperature is below zero. I do remember loving the hazelnut hot chocolate I once had in Starbucks in Covent Garden, though.

4. Favourite Fall candle?

It's technically designed for the festive season, but during both Autumn and Winter I love the scent of the Christmas Cupcake and Vanilla Cupcake Yankee Candles. They smell like a mixture of vanilla cupcakes and shortbread, and smell delicious. The aroma of cakes baking in the kitchen reminds me of cold dark Sunday afternoons when my Mum would often be baking something delicious in the kitchen, so they give a really comforting, nostalgic smell.

[Source]

 5. Favourite fall scarf or accessory?

I've just purchased myself a new knitted teal snood, and it's so warm and cosy. It's definitely my new favourite accessory, and it's in one of my favourite Autumn colours.

I also adore my navy polka dot scarf, and my cut off crochet Accessorize gloves, which I have in two different colour themes.

[Source]

6. Haunted house, haunted hay ride, or haunted corn maze?

I can't say I've ever experienced any of the above. Halloween was never much of a big deal in England when I was growing up. People are beginning to get in to it more these days, but I've never stumbled up on a 'haunted' social event.

7. Favourite Halloween movie?

Hocus Pocus! I grew up watching it every Halloween, and over the years it's become a tradition to watch it every year. Childish, maybe, but it brings back good memories, and let's face it, nineties kids, it really can't be beat! When I was little, I wanted to be Sarah Jessica Parker's character... what was I thinking?

I love to dig out the Scream saga, and Labyrinth, too.

8. Favourite candy to eat on Halloween?

I don't have a preference or any traditions, as I don't usually make much of a deal out of Halloween, apart from watching movies and occasionally carving a pumpkin... I'm not a big fan of sweets, but you can never go wrong with some Haribo Star Mix or a bar of chocolate.

9. What are you dressing up as for Halloween?

I haven't dressed up for Halloween since I was eleven. If I had somewhere to go and celebrate, I like the idea of dressing up as Amy Ferrah Fowler from The Big Bang Theory. There was a photo of a girl who did just that on Tumblr last year, and I thought the idea was brilliant!

When I was younger, I was usually dressed as a ghost.

My pumpkin from last year.

10. What is your favourite thing about Fall?

I love crunching through dead leaves, buying new clothes, layering, keeping warm in cute gloves and scarves, and knowing Christmas isn't far away. I love how pretty everything looks with a backdrop of colourful leaves, and feeling the frost on my skin on cold mornings. Oh, and ordinarily, I get excited for bonfire night.

 Halloween 2011

What do you love about Autumn/Fall?

Feel free to give this challenge a go, too!