Christmas Home Haul

Christmas is literally my favourite time of year; I love the cold, dark evenings, being able to burn candles all day long and of course the whole festive feeling of the next couple months. With this, I love decorating my room with Christmas decor and over the past couple of weeks I've picked up a few bits and pieces. It probably seems a bit early buying Christmas decorations already, but I always find that they sell out really quickly so it's good to stock up when you see bits you like!

Little Dears Duvet Set | £12.00 (double) | LINK

Every year I like to treat myself to some new Christmas bedding. I usually go for a set from Primark as they're always so cheap but I've actually found that Asda also do some lovely designs at similar prices! I spotted this cute deer and little girl duvet set on the Asda website and knew straight away I had to get it - it's so sweet! As you only use Christmas bedding for such a short time every year, you don't want to be spending loads of money on a duvet set, but I think £12 for a double is amazing and there are so many designs to choose from.

Red Deer Cushion | £7.00 | LINK

To go with my new bedding I also picked up the matching cushion that goes with it. I bought one of these cushions last year as well so I thought they would make my bed look really nice and Christmasy. This cushion has a lovely velvet finish and of course has the cute fawn print on the front. There's also a smaller one with a similar pattern, but I thought I would restrain myself so that my bedding wasn't "deer overload"!

Fawn Ornament | £4.00

The final Christmas item I picked up from Asda was a little fawn ornament and again, it matches my lovely new bedding! I love the look of this ornament as it's so vintage and retro looking and it's just a nice way to add a bit of character to your room. If you see this little fella I would definitely say pick him up because I had a bit of trouble finding him as he was always sold out!

White Polar Bear Ornament | £4.00 | LINK

Another cheap place to pick up some lovely Christmas decorations is Wilko's. I usually get my wrapping paper and ribbons from there as they're really good value for money and they have some lovely designs to choose from. I picked up this cute polar bear ornament as I loved the simplicity of it and thought it would look lovely sitting by my window. You can also get a range of sizes and positions of these polar bears which would make a lovely statement piece above your fireplace!

Polar Bear Tree Decorations | £1.50 each | LINK

Me and my mum went a bit "polar bear mad" in Wilko's as I also picked up some smaller tree decorations that would look lovely on the tree (obviously) or just hanging around the house. I love white decorations for the Christmas tree and thought these little bears would just look super cute!

 Yankee Candle Christmas Cookie Tea Lights | £6.75 | LINK

I can't seem to go shopping recently without picking up some form of candle - it's becoming a slight obsession! I had a Boots voucher that gave me 25% off a gift item so I decided to pick up some little Yankee Candle tea lights in Christmas Cookie which is one of my favourite Christmas scents! I haven't tried the Yankee tea lights before but I thought they would be nice to give my room a quick burst of fragrance. If you love sweet Christmasy scents then you should definitely try out the Christmas Cookie a try!

Yankee Candle Cranberry Ice Medium Jar | £18.99 | LINK

The final thing I picked up was a medium jar of the Cranberry Ice scent from Yankee Candle. This is a different kind of scent to Christmas Cookie as it's very fresh and fruity but still super Christmasy at the same time. I've wanted to get this lovely scent in a jar form as I go through so many sampler sizes of it. Luckily I spotted that this fragrance was 25% off in the Yankee shop (however this jar is 33% off online!) so I was super happy about that! I find that the medium jars last me ages so they're definitely worth investing into, especially if it's a scent that you love!

That's everything Christmas related that I've bought recently! I can't wait to start decorating my room, it feels such a shame keeping all these lovely things cooped up in bags! I've decided that I'm going to go all out and start decorating at the beginning of November as I'm just too excited! Be sure to give me a follow on Instagram (@amiehaffenden) as I'm bound to be snapping pictures of these Christmas pieces in action.

 Have you bought any Christmas home decor recently?

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Collection Illuminating Touch Foundation

Collection Illuminating Touch Foundation | £5.99 | LINK

Hello everyone! I just want to say sorry for not blogging for a couple of weeks, I've been super busy and haven't had a chance to sit down and type! However I did finally get my brand new laptop at the weekend - yay! Which finally means I can easily blog and edit photos whenever I please rather than waiting hours for my laptop to start up and getting my photo editor to finally start working (honestly it was the bane of my life!).

I thought I would share my thoughts on a new foundation that I have been trying out for the past couple weeks. Collection is a brand that I find has some real beauty gems - the obvious one being their Lasting Perfection Concealer. On a recent shopping trip I spotted the new Illuminating Touch Foundation for just a mere £3.99 and thought I would give it a try. I have quite dry skin so I'm always on the hunt to find cheap products that can give me that healthy dewy glow back to my skin.

The first thing that struck my about this foundation was the really lovely packaging. The Collection Illuminating Touch Foundation comes in a sleek mattified glass bottle which you wouldn't really expect for a foundation that you paid just under £4 for! I also love the fact that is has a good sturdy pump that feels really good quality - plus pumps are great for making sure you don't use too much product in one go.

The shade that I picked up was Ivory 2 which is the second lightest shade in the range. I'll be honest and say the colour selection wasn't that great from the shop that I bought mine from as Ivory 2 seemed to be the lightest shade they offered. As I do have quite pale skin I was sceptical as to whether this shade would match me well, but I'm glad to say it does and that I think the lightest shade would be far too light for me! This is great that there is a very light shade (Porcelain) available as I am aware that many fair skinned girls find it hard to match a foundation to their skin colour.

The product itself is much thicker than I thought it would be. If you have tried Rimmel's Match Perfection Foundation then that's the sort of consistency that I thought that it would be like. Despite being a thicker formula the foundation is still very light on the skin yet offers a nice light to medium coverage that is definitely build-able. I like my foundations to look like "my skin but better" rather than super heavy and thick and I find that this one does offer that lovely natural look that I love!

The staying power of this foundation is quite good but towards the end of the day I can definitely see that I need a bit of a touch up as it can start to wear off. I would say this is more of a day time foundation as the coverage is quite light and it does give you that lovely dewy finish. I have been very impressed with how well this foundation lasts, considering it's currently on offer for just £3.99 it's very good value for money!

So far I've been really enjoying using this foundation and will definitely continue using it. I'm not sure whether I would repurchase this again (maybe if I found it on another offer) as I do enjoy using my Rimmel foundations more, but it was nice to swap things up and try something new. If you are on the hunt for a nice everyday foundation then definitely give this try whist it's on offer!

Have you tried the new Collection Illuminating Touch Foundation?
What's your favourite foundation?

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Miss Selfridge Haul

Hello everyone! Right now as I'm typing the weather outside is super gloomy and rainy, so I thought it would be a perfect excuse to snuggle up on the sofa and write a little blog post! I've recently placed a few orders with Miss Selfridge so I thought I would put together a small fashion haul for you all. Miss Selfridge is definitely one of my favourite clothes shops on the high street as I always find their clothes fit really well and are great value for money. Obviously it's a bit more pricey than your Primark or New Look but they always have discount codes and offers floating around which do help out!

I like to buy my fashion staples from Miss Selfridge, things that will last me a long time and that I know I'll get tonnes of wear out of. So this haul does contain a few Autumn fashion basics that will definitely last me right through Autumn and Winter!

Gold Triangle Necklace | £4.00 | LINK

Starting with jewellery I've recently picked up some gorgeous pieces from Miss Selfridge's new (ish) cheaper range. These pieces come on brown cardboard packaging and are so lovely, plus they're much cheaper than their normal Diva range - win win! The first piece I picked up was this dainty little gold triangle necklace that I thought would look amazing when you want to wear something more discreet. My favourite way to wear this is with a shirt and jumper and wearing it just under the collar. It looks really pretty and for £4 it was definitely well worth picking up!

Gold Flower Cutout Collar | £8.00 | LINK

The other necklace I picked up is more of a statement necklace and I literally couldn't leave it behind! This beautiful daisy necklace is really simple yet would easily dress up a simple outfit. I love pairing this with plain jumpers and dresses to give them an instant glam look! Again I couldn't get over the price of just £8 - these are prices I'd happily pay in the sale! Definitely can't wait to pick up some more pieces from this range.

Blue Checked Shirt | £30.00 | LINK

Checked shirts are everywhere at the moment and I decided to pick up this lovely blue, white and red patterned one with pearl poppers. I'm not a huge fan of the red checked shirts as they feel very "lumber jack" looking to me haha! So I've been on the hunt for a nice blue coloured one and was very happy to stumble across this one. I think these look so cute worn undone with a simple plain top on underneath paired with jeans and boots - the perfect Autumn outfit! The material is really lovely plus I find it fits really well both worn undone and buttoned up.

Pale Blue Faux Fur Collar Button Coat | £69.00 | LINK

I remember seeing these coats last year and thought they were so cute and classy! During the Autumn/ Winter I always tend to stick with my parkas but when it comes to going to a nice event or out for a meal, I always feel a bit frumpy wearing one! So when an email came through saying these coats were half price I thought I would snap one up straight away! I think this coat will be perfect for going out as it's definitely quite dressy and not something I would wear on a day to day basis. The fur around the collar is so soft and the baby blue colour is really pretty and will help make this a coat that's perfect right through to Spring! These coats do seem to come up a bit big but as I'll be living in jumpers and wearing lots of layers in the cold months, it's probably for the best so that it actually fits!

Black Sleeveless Duster Jacket | £28.00 | LINK

The final piece in my haul is this simple black sleeveless duster jacket that's great for layering up over t-shirts. I'm a bit late to this whole duster jacket business but I always found that ones I tried on came up super long and made my legs look really stumpy! This duster jacket however is a really flattering length plus is made from a thicker material so will (sort of) help keep you warm during the Autumn. I think these paired with long sleeve tops looks really nice and with a statement necklace they're great day to night outfits!

So that's everything I've picked up from Miss Selfridge over the past few weeks! I absolutely love everything I've bought and can't wait to start wearing it all over Autumn and Winter!

Thanks for reading!

What is your favourite fashion store to shop at?

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