It’s Christmas Eve! I can’t believe it’s Christmas Day tomorrow, not sure why but maybe it’s not cold enough or something but I haven’t been feeling as Christmassy today as I have before. The two advent calendars are kind of duplicates of previous days, the BB Cream in the Holland and Barrett beauty calendar is one I’m happy about though. The Harry Potter one less so, though it’s a different figure there are multiples of this character already.
first impressions
Blogmas Day 22 & 23: 2 Days in 1!
I didn’t manage to write a proper advent calendar Blogmas post yesterday but I did post something so I’m counting that! For some reason today I’ve felt like it’s Christmas Eve all day, I’m already getting too excited for Christmas! Also today was a fun day until my phone screen pretty much shattered, though stayed in place, so it’s all taped up and I’m crossing my fingers it’ll last till February, or maybe longer, before I need to get a new phone as my contract will definitely go up as I’m sim only at the moment and I need to save everything I can in January!
Anyway, onto the advent calendars. And the Harry Potter figures are so appropriate together and I’ve really been looking forward to the day I got the creature that came in today’s window so I’m so happy with these two. I kind of wish one of them could have been on Christmas Eve as I have a feeling I know what’s coming and it’s not as exciting. The Holland and Barrett beauty goodies were so good too. It’s got to the point where I’ve forgotten what was even meant to be in here so they’re all surprises again. Another essential oil and some deodorant may not sound that interesting but I think the deodorant may become a favourite from the calendar. Is that weird?
Review: Harry Potter Eyeshadow Palettes (Part 2)
Having got the Gryffindor and Ravenclaw palettes (you can see the review for them here), I had to get the Slytherin and Hufflepuff eyeshadow palettes that Boots released and complete the Harry Potter set. I wasn’t sure what to expect with these two as the other two seem to work quite differently to each other. Hufflepuff definitely looked the more wearable for me everyday but as I’m a Slytherin I had to get that one too. All four palettes cost £12.50 each and are in the three for two Christmas gifts offer, along with the rest of the Harry Potter range.
Each palette has six eyeshadows, with the Slytherin one being the only one with a true matte shade, though there is one in Hufflepuff that actually looks more matte than shimmery. Each palette has four colours that are linked to the house colours and two that would be considered more everyday colours so you can do either an all out house colours look or a more neutral look with a pop of colour.
Blogmas 2018, Day 21: Tired Legs and Neville Longbottom
I haven’t tried anything from the brand in the Holland and Barrett beauty advent calendar, I’ve never even heard of them before, but that’s what I love about these beauty advent calendars and why I buy them in the first place. This time a year a revitalising leg gel seems a great idea, especially for anyone working in any of the kinds of jobs that everyone wants in the festive season and there’s a lot of standing around! I’d already seen the Funko Pop character after having to dig in this door for Hedwig yesterday but I’m still happy to have a Neville, at least I think he’s Neville!
I’m sure we were supposed to have had snow at some point this winter, I think it’s the weather that’s making me not feel as Christmassy as normal considering it’s only four days away! This time last year we’d had quite a bit of snow, Google helpfully showed me the photos on the 10th and made me want it even more! Oh well, I hope it stays away for everyone to get home over Christmas but it would have been nice to have had some in December! As I write this it’s pouring with rain and so windy the birds had to make several attempts to land on the feeders.
Blogmas 2018, Day 20: Christmas Food!
Today was the turn of the second face mask in the Holland and Barrett beauty advent calendar, I think this is the only duplicate product in the calendar. The Harry Potter Funko Pop figure was Hedwig, the second pet and another that I have in the blind box Funko version.
It feels quite appropriate that today’s Blogmas question was about food, we went food shopping today and came back with what looked like enough to last a month! I have a feeling the Christmas food will still be being eaten in January. We always think that we’re getting less than last year but it still seems to be way too much. At least we have a lot less chocolate this year, I think the extras are different fruit and nuts so at least that’s better, right?
Also, I think I have a new favourite Christmas drink. I might have to go to Ikea each year to get the Glögg, though I might see if I can find somewhere else that sells it near me as I don’t want to have to deal with those crowds and I know I’ll just end up buying things I don’t need every year if I do go!
Blogmas 2018, Day 19: Wreaths, Colds and a Weasley
We finally made our wreath today! It’s a bit late with less than a week to go but I do love how festive it makes the house look. We’ve made wreaths for as long as I can remember but we’ve never used the fir we have this time. We still have the fake tree left to decorate but then all decorations will be done!
The Holland and Barrett advent calendar today had a great gift for how we’ve been feeling lately with some Eucalyptus essential oil, great for when you’ve got a cold. The Harry Potter Funko Pop advent calendar had the second Weasley twin to add to the family.
Blogmas 2018, Day 18: Crackers, Makeup and Hagrid
One of our family traditions is to make our own crackers, though they look a bit different as they use party poppers for the bang and are quite a bit bigger than your standard cracker. We often end up rushing to make them a couple of days before Christmas, but this year we actually got them done a week before so I’m feeling very organised. I also watched Bed-knobs and Broomsticks because I realised I don’t think I’ve seen it since I was small and couldn’t really remember what it was about, apart from the magic bed bit. After watching it I realised why we haven’t seen it since! Do you ever see a movie you thought was good and realise that actually it was better not to rewatch it after all?
Today’s advent calendar presents were definitely good, especially after yesterday’s slightly more disappointing ones. The first proper makeup, and I think maybe the only makeup if I remember correctly, in the Holland and Barrett beauty advent calendar with a B.B. Cream, and a nicely detailed Hagrid in the Funko Pop Harry Potter advent calendar.
Blogmas Days 15 to 17: 3 days in 1!
This weekend was more exhausting than I thought and I was still catching up from the weekend before energy wise during the week so I wants as prepared and that means a bumper Blogmas blog post with three days worth of advent goodies in one! It was a great weekend visiting family and it was great catching up and seeing people from the other side of the family than last week but two weekends in a row and all that travelling really drained me. I’ll try to be more organised for the rest of Blogmas.
In the Holland and Barrett beauty advent calendar there were three very different gifts. One is something I’ve been needing to get to replace an old one, another is something that I’m looking forward to trying and the third is probably the first flop for me from this calendar so it’ll be passed on. The Harry Potter Funko Pop advent calendar had two figures in that are characters that already appeared in the advent calendar. I can get why Harry, Ron and Hermione would have duplicate figures but I’d still rather have some extras like Bellatrix or something.
Blogmas 2018, Day 14: Real vs Artificial Christmas Trees and my Advent Calendars!
I am so happy with today’s Funko Pop figure. Dobby is so cute and is pretty much the perfect character for the Pop proportions, he’s almost the right shape anyway without them distorting him as much as other characters. Plus he has his sock! Also loving the fact there’s another lip balm in the Holland and Barrett beauty advent calendar. This time of year I can never have too many of them and I was starting to run out.
Blogmas 2018, Day 13: My Favourite Christmas Book and Advent Calendars!
In the Funko Pop advent calendar today I added one of the twins to the Weasley clan, I do like how the family is building up. The Holland and Barrett beauty advent calendar is helping increase my essential oils with a base product to add them to. I feel like I need to do some research into this, find out the best combinations, but until then I’ll have fun playing around!
How are we over half way to Christmas in advent? I started wrapping presents today and may have got a bit carried away with it. I always think that Instagram worthy presents look amazing but it would be a waste to buy all the ribbons and things, but then I remembered all of the ribbons I have from various Lush gifts over the years and now my floor may be a mess of ribbons, paper and tape. Also, would it be too much to add spare mini baubles? Asking for a friend 😉
