Christmas shopping - love it or loathe it?

Christmas shopping is like marmite. You either love it or you hate it. Seeing the shops all full of glitter, baubles and Christmas cheer is on one hand quite exciting but on the other hand there are The Crowds. Tidal waves of panicking people - aware of the ticking time bomb that is Christmas - elbowing you out of the way. I witnessed this first hand at the weekend when I braved a local shopping centre. A stupid move.

 Source: this london.co.uk

So fellow bloggers… have you finished your Christmas shopping yet? And does anyone else find that with Christmas shopping comes temptation??? You are supposed to be looking for your friends and family and then find, say, a gorgeous dress. You try talking yourself out of it in various different ways. I can’t afford it. I don’t need it. This isn’t what I came for. Wait until Christmas. Wait until the sales. But then comes the need to try it on. It fits like a glove. The colour goes beautifully with your complexion. It makes you look thinner. And then you worry that you won’t unwrap it at Christmas. That it’ll sell out and never be in the sales. It’s then that you lose the fight and hand over your credit card. You tell yourself it’s a one-off but it’s not. Other things materialise and you lose focus of who you’re actually Christmas shopping for. Does this sound familiar? I can certainly relate! Here are my recent purchases in collage form:

Now that I have finished my Christmas shopping, I am avoiding all shops and going cold turkey from the usual culprits… online sites. 

Well trying to...

Sod chocolate and tradition!

Both today and yesterday I have been flicking through this week’s Stylist and as ever, have been lusting over many pretty things out of my price range. What really took my breath away were these alternatives to our traditional advent calendars:

All images: Stylist magazine

 I am loving the design of the Fortnum & Mason’s one but all in honesty, it’d be a total waste of money on my part - I wouldn’t want to eat the sugar mice! And I think £125 is a bit excessive for purely a piece of eye candy. Don’t even get me started on the Porsche calendar. Now the Selfridges one on the other hand, is right up my street. Twenty-four new beauty products? It would be Christmas way before literal Christmas, if you know what I mean.

I also fell in love with these 2 Lulu Guinness fan clutches which were originally on the scene in 1995 and have been re-designed especially for A/W 2010:

Both are equally as fabulous but based on my magpie tendencies of loving all that is shiny, I prefer the left. It would totally make your outfit “pop” and that extra little bit special on a night out. The right fan is brilliantly classic and a little more understated meaning it’d be more versatile - the perfect accompaniment to an outfit for both day and night.

Here are another two sparkly things from Stylist which caught my eye:

Nails Inc nail polish

It’s terrible I know, but I can’t decide if I like the studded lid or the colour more! It’s a close call. This nail polish would be the pride of anyone’s dressing table. 

A purple like this is amazing and works really well with sandy / beige tones. I figured this out by accident one day when I teamed my beige trousers with a top in this sort of purple. Never thought it would work, but it did.

Siam stone earrings

These earrings scream elegance. The red and gold just complement each other so well.  I love how intricate the gems are – it’s like they’re forming little airborne mosaics. Too expensive for me personally, but earrings like these would be an investment for any woman. They could be worn day and night. 

So in conclusion, not a cheap lust list! Now all I need is £1,555…