Day 11 of Blogmas - Happy Christmas Eve

In many countries, today is the day to open presents; not tomorrow.

Every year my mum lets me open one present on Christmas Eve; she picks and I open it. To extend on this tradition, I let Dad open his jellybabies. I thought about giving mum a present, but that would leave her with one thing to open, which is due. This year I got her a calendar that she picked and a Laura Geller gift set. While moving, I accidentally smashed her Brighten and Glow by the brand; she was annoyed, so thought it would be nice to replace with some other great products.

Dad tried to say I was too young for this tradition, but like an advent calendar, I refuse to let my mum stop doing it. Total mummy's girl here!

Last night, I had a great Skype conversation with two of my friends, and got to open my presents. We usually meet, have a lovely meal, catch up and open presents. Not this year. It makes me sad, but I'm hopeful we will do it next year when I have more money.

One friend got me a balloon lamp and Body Shop gift set:

I've already tried some of the body lotion since my legs have blistered from chaffing (that's something nobody tells you about putting on weight). I found this lovely, cooling and just what was needed. I'm really happy with this as feel I look after my skin well, but body is actually very dry and neglected.

Another got me two packs of bath salts from Oliver Bonas, book: What would Audrey do? by Pamela Keogh and book: Ultimate Travelist: The Best Places on the planet...ranked by Lonely Planet:

As you know, I love Audrey and she's utterly my idol!

One of the places I wish to visit most!

Back to my Christmas Eve tradition, this year my mum let me open this:

I love a good pair of PJs as of late, so I'm excited to wake up wearing these.

Here are some funny conversations and things to happen on the lead-up to Christmas to end on:

Conversation 1:
A: I hate it when he screws up his wrapping year every year at Christmas.
B: (laughing) why? Everyone does that!
A: It makes it hard to recycle, it needs to be folded. I will just have to do it after he's done because he just won't.

Event 1:
Have you ever tried wrapping presents with pets? They are fascinated by wrapping paper. I was clever to do mine in my room, and away from animals. My mum not so much. One dog got tangled in sellotape and the other managed to trample on the wrapping paper.

Event 2:
As I might have previously mentioned in my post about Santa here, I believed in Santa until I was 11, which is probably quite old. I even believed when friends said they'd seen their parents putting out the presents. I even believed when I saw Santas at department stores or garden centres, that they were fake but help Santa. I fell for every lie my family gave me. The funniest excuse my mum came up with for why kids had seen their parents giving presents...they are naughty children, and the parents didn't want them to be upset.

That leaves me to wish you a merry Christmas. There will be one short post tomorrow, so I won't wish you a "Merry Christmas" just yet!  Not decided whether there will be anymore December posts, or whether it will be in the new year...

First Blogmas Post - My Wishlist

My 12 days of Blogmas posts has finally began! I can't believe it. The month is already flying by; not surprising as the year has \zoomed past. So much things have happened - good and bad. However, spreading a lot of positivity, here is a list of things I want for Christmas:

1. Foundations

I'm still to find the perfect foundation for my skin. Truthfully my skin is really difficult to deal with. Recently I've discovered I'm allergic to an ingredient called which is nearly every item (in fact, I dare you to grab your household items and see how many have it in? It's often in toothpaste, washing powder, washing-up liquid, makeup and beauty/toiletry items). Being very pale and with no pink undertones, I really struggle to find a foundation that suits me and doesn't make me look bad. However I have recently started to blend my neck with bronzer which looks a lot better!

If I'm not struggling with that, I also have acne scarring which only covers with high-coverage foundations, which don't seem to be as popular. Every girl wants to look natural. Don't get me wrong, I'm not the girl to top-up during the day, or to paste it on but I wouldn't like to be seen without it! I find because I'm prone to acne, I try to avoid some oil-based products however, oil-free items can totally dry out my skin. It often feels like I can't win!

However I've heard good things about a few different brands so here are a few I'd love to try:

• Urban Decay "Naked Skin" Weightless Ultra Definition Liquid Foundation, £27 - I have heard so many good things about this one.I love that it is vegan (as I'm looking to use more natural and vegan friendly products). Although it is a lightweight foundation, I adore their concealer (I can almost use it without foundation); I love that it says it goes on like moisturiser as I hate the almost "caked-effect" you get with a lot of foundations.
• Bobbi Brown Foundation Stick, £29.50 - Looking online it has really light shades, I might even be the second along for once! I like that it is meant to last a long time and provide full coverage. Most of all, I've been wanting to try Bobbi Brown for a very long time!
• Tarte Rainforest for the Sea Foundation, £28 - This is another vegan brand that I've used. They do amazing eyeshadow palettes and I have tried one of their foundations before. I tried the Tarte Amazonian Clay 12-hour full coverage foundation and loved it in many ways. It provided great coverage and lasted the full day. The colour seems a bit lighter too
• Charlotte Tilbury Magic Foundation, £29.50 - Again this is a brand I've wanted to try for a long while. I also like that it's meant to provide full coverage, but is lightweight for the skin.
• Estee Lauder Double Wear Foundation, £27.90 - I always hear such good things about this foundation, and really want to try it!
• Too Faced - Born This Way Undetectable Foundation, £28 - Again this is a brand I really want to try. The name reminds me of a Lady Gaga though! 

Who knew I could write a post mostly on foundation there!

2. Money for driving lessons 

I'll be upset if a koala can sit behind a wheel!

My main goal for next year is to pass my driving test, and before the 26th November (when theory test runs out). I really struggled with my theory, so will be gutted if I need to do it again.I knew driving was a long process, but having started over two years ago, I just want to get to it!

3. Films

I'm a big lover of films, so always love to see a new film added to Netflix, getting a fun second-hand DVD or a film I've not seen (especially if it's off my film list).

4. Books

There are a few books I want to get, as I hope to start reading more again. I did start to but haven't found anything I've been really into for a while. Here are a few I like the sound of though:

• Audrey Hepburn, An Elegant Spirit: written by Sean Hepburn Ferrer - I love Audrey Hepburn as she is beautiful, talented and admire all her charity work. I could waffle on for days about her, but won't. I already did a little during a recent blogtober post.
• A Street Cat Named Bob: written by James Bowen- I love unique stories like this. I don't want to say too much as I feel I won't do it justice, but I heard about it on the news recently and was instantly drawn to the tale.

5. Gift Cards

I always ask family members for this. I love to get specific gift cards because I find January to be such a long month, and feel you can't treat yourself to nice things as you're saving from spending so much. I'm also really bad for not having warm clothes this time of year, so desperately need to buy myself new things this time of year. I am loving stuff in New Look, H&M and Next at the moment.

6. Organiser

I bought a diary from Urban Outfitters the start of last year, where I could fill out entries for every day for five years. I liked the idea of seeing how things had changed. However I'm known to forget appointments so love a little book to jot these in. Having recently visited Paperchase, I saw fab organisers where you can fill a to-do list, budget plan, meal-planner and much more. I think all these will help me a lot to keep me focused, help me save more for driving and help my healthy eating. Shopping with my mother, I know I got this one!

7. Clip-on Earrings

My ear piercings have totally sealed up. The last time I got them done, the woman said I couldn't get them done again. Therefore when I stupidly left them out for maybe a week and it hurt to put them in, it's safe to say I gave up. I have not seen any nice clip-on earrings and miss them as jewellery. I am like a magpie attracted to all glitter and sparkle so would love ones like this!

8. Flat Shoes

I love to wear flats most of the year, and at the moment only have two pairs. One is quite formal and the other is very bright and I don't wear often. I hate shoe shopping (I know - I must be the woman exception), so love it when I get them for presents.

9. Chocolate

I love getting a Terry's Chocolate Orange every year at Christmas. I also just love Giant Chocolate buttons at the moment, so would be grateful of a bag of them!

10. Something personal

I feel the best presents are lots of little things that show how much you care and have thought about the person. It could be a treasured memory, an "in" joke or merchandise related to an interest, hobby or a favourite film/TV programme. These are the presents you don't know you want!

Anyway, that's me - my list is longer than I thought! Hope you enjoyed reading.

What do you want from Santa? I would love to hear it.