The Beginnings of Christmas - My First Festive Haul of 2012!

I know some of you will think this is probably about a month premature, but boy oh boy am I excited for Christmas already! 

You can really identify a grinch by their frequent exclamations of horror and annoyance such as "Whaaaaat?! Christmas decorations are up already... but it's only August/September/October!?"

Well I'm here to tell you, WHO CARES IF IT'S ONLY AUGUST/SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER IT'S CHRISTMAS DAMN IT! WHO ARE YOU... THE FUN POLICE!?

Whewww. Glad I got that out of my system.

So anyway, I am excited and already feeling so festive as you can probably tell. Over the course of this week, during many a lunch break from work, I checked out all of the new Christmas product ranges just released this week from many of my favourite brands. And I bought a fair bit for myself too...

So I wanted to show you some of the goodies I bought, and hopefully they will give you some gift buying ideas for your family/friends, or even just for yourself (like these were for me!).


First up we have the most incredible smelling Christmas candle I've ever encountered. It's by the iconic candle brand Glasshouse, who have just released three Christmas candles for the festive season.

I purchased one candle, which was my favourite of the three. It's called Christmas Party, and the scent is described as a "celebratory blend of ground nutmeg, orange and shaved ginger to capture the party spirit". To me it smells like a fresh, sweet, light mix of tangy orange, which is beautifully balanced by the smell of Christmas spices and cooking. It's simply amazing, and not too heavy or laden with deep spices or headache inducing. It lifts the spirits and is a pleasure to smell.

Also how cute is the jar, which you can continue to use long after the last wax has burned out.

They don't come cheap, at a whopping $40 (sadly they don't come in the cheaper smaller size that retails for around $16). But the smell of Christmas and the memories and emotion that evokes... I feel that's pretty priceless :P Also they last for absolutely ages. My last one served me at least a good year of sporadic burning (lasts over 80 hours). And the scent is so strong then even when it isn't burning the whole room smells like the candle, so it's almost unnecessary to burn it lots. I just love the scent so much I'd be happy to use it any time of the year. I purchased this candle from David Jones.



Next up I checked out the Christmas offerings from the gorgeous brand Philosophy. Their new gift packs were so adorable! The one I ended up purchased was called 'The Bake Shoppe'.  The products come in the cutest box, and inside are two of the yummiest sounding body products I've ever seen!

The first body product is a shampoo/shower gel/bubble bath called Christmas Cookie. It actually is like going to a Mrs Fields store, biting into a freshly made vanillary cookie and smelling the delicious smell wafting out of the crumbley goodness. It froths up so well as a shower gel, and it is the most luxurious experience to lather yourself with the foamy cookie bubbles. In the bath it's like being in a hot oven of baking Christmas cookies, with lots of bubbles and froth. I haven't used it as a shampoo yet (have any of you used these type of products as shampoos? Thoughts?).

The second body product is a body lotion called 'Sweet Creamy Frosting'. It smells exactly like vanilla or caramel frosting on a cupcake, and the delicious smell lingers on your body for hours after application. I especially love this lotion because Philopsophy don't seem to offer complementary lotion options of their shower gel type scents. So I had to snap this up while it was available.

This gift pack cost $30, which is the same price as a full bottle of their regular sized shower gels (each of the bottles in this pack is half the size of the big ones). Philosophy is sold in Melbourne only at David Jones on Bourke Street. I think this would make a great gift/Kris Kringle for Christmas, or just a must grab item for yourself :P 
They've also brought out a Candy Cane full size shower gel which would also make a great gift! I just would prefer to bathe in cakes in preference to mint.

Although not technically created for Christmas, I'm also in love with another of Philosophy's products I picked up this week - their Cinnamon Buns shower gel! This is my favourite product by them. It smells exactly like a vanilla chai latte. The lather and foam it creates is like bathing in a mug of chai. I can't adequately convey to you how genius and luxurious and wonderful this product is, only that you must get it. Now.

It's $30 and would make an excellent present for anyone who is as much of a sweet tooth and a stickler for indulgent sweet bath and body products as I am. I just love how each of their products has a recipe on the front of them too!



Next we have a festive foodie item. My sister brought home with her a surprise for us the other day... one of my favourite Christmas snacks! 

They are German Glazed Lebkuchen which you can buy here from Aldi shops. Basically they are soft gingerbread covered with a sugar glaze with a chocolate base and they come in different colours and shapes. They are delicious and very festive and cheap! Get your hands on some if you get the chance.


To finish off on a Christmassy high, check out these festive nails of my sisters:

They remind me of Christmas holly or mistletoe! 

This is how she created them:

-Painted a white base with OPI's Alpine Snow
-Blobbed Essie's Fiesta on the nails for the berries/flowers
-Added dimension to the blobs using Essie's Bahama Mama on a toothpick
-Used Essie's Mint Candy Apple for the leaves
-Added dimension to the leaves using OPI's Fly (Nicki Minaj collection)


So that's it guys! Hope this post got you thinking about some good Christmas ideas and started to get you pumped about the festive season. I had fun typing it and thinking about Christmas!

Which brands Christmas ranges are you most excited about? I'm looking forward to checking out Lush and The Body Shop next. Do you get excited about Christmas as early as me, or do you think I'm crazy? :P

P.S. There are only 58 days until Christmas!!