Collective Christmas shopping haul: decor, fashion & beauty

Would you believe me if I told you I had never had proper Christmas decorations before this year? Well, it’s true. I never used to be home much around Christmas time, spending time with family and friends mostly. And if you’re hardly home, what’s the point of decking out your living space in trees and baubles? This year I decided to finally change that. And while I was shopping for Christmas decorations, I also found a few other festive bits and bops in the fashion and beauty department. In other words, grab a cup of tea and enjoy this huge Christmas inspired shoplog.

Holographic heart bauble (HEMA)
Silver glitter candles (H&M)
Embellished snowflake ornament (H&M)
Silver beaded baubles (H&M)

So this entire post was instigated because I decided I wanted to have proper Christmas decorations this year. I found a ton of these as early as October, so everything you see here was picked up over a period of 2 – 2.5 months. I bought stuff online and also went on a few physical shopping trips. One of those trips was to Amsterdam. I needed a new Lush cleanser and Lush is nowhere to be found where I live. I had to go to Amsterdam anyway because I was going to see Bombay Bicycle club and I found myself inside H&M. That’s where I picked up most bigger baubles you’ll see in this blog post. Except for the one in the left hand top corner in the picture above. That one I found at Hema. I mean, who can resist holographic hearts?

50 cm Christmas tree (HEMA)
Silver star window stickers (Hoogvliet)
Red satin, red glitter and silver glitter ribbon (Flying Tiger)

Christmas is incomplete without a Christmas tree. I found this itty bitty fake Christmas tree and bought two. Last year I did buy some Christmas decoration, but it wasn’t much. One thing I got were window stickers in the shape of snowflakes. My supermarket stocked a different kind this year: glittery stars. So I plan on using these alongside the snowflakes. Flying Tiger also does Christmas decorations and I bought a few things there last year. This year I didn’t find too many interesting things apart from ribbon.

Red sequined baubles (H&M)
Silver metal stars (H&M)
Copper metal stars (H&M)
Rounded pine cone ornaments (H&M)

Many of the baubles I got from H&M have sold out by now. The red sequined ones and the stars are still available online and can be found in their H&M home section. I had to go to a physical store to pick all of these up as I was afraid that some of the things that look nice online may not look so great in real life. Which is why the Amsterdam trip came right on time as that’s one of the few places where they sell H&M home in stores and even there stocks were limited. So I don’t know if you’d still be able to get these anywhere.

Red & bronze colored mini baubles (Wibra)
Mini silver & gold star ornaments (HEMA)
Mini silver & red ornaments (HEMA)
Knitted heart & star ornaments (Flying Tiger & Xenos)

I also picked up some baubles and ornaments for my little Christmas trees. Hema luckily also does ornaments to go into their miniature trees so these weren’t too expensive. They’re plastic too which is handy as glass would be too heavy for the tiny plastic tree. I also found even smaller baubles at budget store Wibra and 2 bigger ornaments from Tiger and Xenos. If you’d like to see how I put it all together to decorate my home, then please leave a comment below. I could do a video to show you what I’ve done, as you’ve probably realized that none of the bigger baubles will fit into the trees.

Warm white led lights with ornaments attached (HEMA)
Snowflake lights (Ikea)
Bell lights & star lights (Kruidvat)
Small star lights (Xenos)

Lights! Of course you need to put some lights around your house for Christmas. I have plenty of candle holders, but actual Christmas lights were pretty much absent from my life. Until now. I bought two packs of the 20 led lights: to go into the Christmas trees. The snowflake lights I just couldn’t pass up when I was at Ikea last week and the smaller lights in the bottom two pictures are sure to come of good use.

Red lace long sleeved dress with circle skirt (H&M)
Dark blue skater dress (Forever 21)

From home decoration to personal decoration, i.e. fashion. While in Amsterdam, I also picked up some clothes from H&M and Forever 21. And you should know by now that I love a good dress. I posted the red lace dress in my wishlist already and now I picked it up. You’ll see that I bought 2 other items from that wishlist. The blue dress I found on a whim at Forever 21 and was surprised at how well it fit me. At only 20 euros, I had to snag it up.

Silver snake print brogues (ASOS)
Cow print plimsoles (ASOS)

Can we pause for a minute? I think you have to. Just scroll back up and have a good look at these pairs of shoes. Yep, I bought cow print and silver snake print shoes. No worries, I also bought a more normal pair of shoes. So I haven’t gone completely off my rocker. I have been wanting a pair of plimsoles for a while, but I hadn’t seen any that I like the style of. Until I spotted these. They are faux fur/ cow skin with a cow print and super soft. I used to have a silver pair of sneakers, but I wanted something a bit classier and more in line with my current style. Then I saw these on ASOS AND they were on sale (both pairs were actually).

Crushed velvet skater skirt (H&M)

Finally, I have myself a velvet skirt. I am slowly building the velvet items in my wardrobe. I now own a dress, a biker jacket, a shirt and a skirt. Now all I need is a pair of pants or a pair of shoes and I could leave the house all decked out in velvet. I used to have a velvet sweatshirt and sweat pants, which I wore to death. It’s one of my favorite winter style fabrics.

Aviator jacket (Forever 21)
Grey sweetheart neckline t-shirt (H&M)

A few months ago I had to throw out my favorite faux leather jacket. I had had it for years but it was pretty much falling apart. So it had to go. I hadn’t found anything to replace it yet and then I saw this at Forever 21. It’s super thin, so something I won’t be able to wear until spring, but I thought that faux shearling collar made this a much more fun take on a biker jacket.

Chain necklace (Forever 21)
Low Chelsea boots (New Look via ASOS)

Lately, I haven’t been wearing many accessories, but with this necklace that will hopefully change. This can give an edgy vibe to any outfit. It had been a while since I found any cool necklaces, everything is either too in your face or just not my cup of tea. The shoes (see, I also buy normal pairs!) I saw in London, but they had sold out in my size. Then I saw ASOS do them and since they have free shipping I knew I had to have these. They are lower than your average Chelsea boot, which is why I like them. They go even better with jeans than a standard pair.

MAC Object of Affection in Pink & rose pigments & glitter
Maybelline Brow Drama in dark blond
Maybelline Color Tattoo in Metallic PommegranateMax Factor Excess Shimmer in Bronze and Copper

On to make up! I already reviewed the MAC pigments & glitter set from this year’s holiday collection (click here), so I am not going to say too much about it. Drugstores are also doing some good discounts on the more expensive items and when I saw Maybelline doing some new products as well as Max Factor and it was buy 1 get 1 free on those brands, I took home a few bits.

HEMA metallic eyemousse in Nude
HEMA smooth smokey eyeliner
(no names, but they’re a charcoal grey, bronzy brown and reddish purple)

Apart from Christmas decoration, HEMA is doing some cool holiday make up this year. I was especially taken with their metallic eyemousse. Which I think used to be around way back in the day. In any case, this reminds me of the little eyeshadow stacks they used to do when I was a teen. Let me know in a comment below if you remember those! With the eyemousse I also found they are now doing some new eyeliners and I was very impressed with the swatches of the testers in store. Of course, reviews of all the products in this post are coming up in due time.

Catrice Liquid Metal eyeliner pencils in Blingo Star & Leaf the World Behind
Essence eyeliner pencils in Steel Smurf, Berry Merry, Naughty or Nice (LE)

Are you noticing a theme here? Yep, I was on a complete eyeliner kick all of a sudden. The liquid metal eyeliners by Catrice are A+amazing. I already have two but wanted to have some more before I write a full review on these. Then I saw that Essence has a few interesting ones as well, so I bought those just to give them a shot.

Catrice Viennart lipsticks in Nude Nouveau & Klimmt’s Ardent Kiss
Catrice Ultimate Stay lipstick in All That She WantsNYC Expert Last Lip Lacquer in Central Park Passion
Essence Come to Town Limited Edition The Most Wonderful Tree
Catrice Viennart nail polish in LilART Lily
Lush Bûche de Noël & Hot Toddy

Last but not least, I got some lip products, some limited edition nail polish and some stuff from Lush’ holiday collection. I bought two lipsticks from the Viennart collection by Catrice. They have shimmer, which is new for me as I usually where creams or mattes and steer clear from shimmery lip products at all costs. But these were just so pretty. I already reviewed Lush’ Bûche de Noël (click here) and I can’t wait to start using Hot Toddy.

Have you bought anything to get into the Christmas spirit?