What I Got For My Birthday | 2016

So a few weeks ago, I celebrated my 23rd birthday. As I've got older, I've become much more relaxed with celebrating and with what gifts to ask my family for. When I was a teenager, I used to write a rather lengthy and comprehensive list of gifts and then I'd delegate them to different family members. It was my sure-fire way of getting everything I wanted. As I typed that last sentence, I realised how much of a brat that made me sound. I'm not, I promise! Now that I'm in my twenties, I get very lazy about my birthday and this year was no different. I had no list and no ideas about what I wanted. All I really wanted was to spend time with my family and boyfriend and go out for nice meals.

However, my chilled out vibes were not appreciated by my family and boyfriend. As I didn't have a list or express any desire for anything for my birthday, they had no idea what to get me. Nevertheless, they didn't disappoint; I was still extremely spoilt by them and I'm very grateful for everything they got me. 

A few days before my birthday I was talking to my brother on Whatsapp and he asked me if I had any ideas. I was also scrolling through some of the blogs that I read and it sparked an idea of some books that I wanted to read. I reeled off a few of the titles in a message to him and he replied saying he had placed an order on Amazon. These were Tyler Oakleys book 'Binge', Amy Poehler's book 'Yes Please' and Sophia Amoruso's '#Girlboss'. I didn't think anything more of it until the Amazon parcel came to my house and it was extremely heavy! When I came to open it, he had ordered all of the books I had suggested! I was gobsmacked. I was only expecting to receive one or two of them at most! So needless to say, my reading list is looking rather well stocked for quite a while! 

Most of my family and friends know that I am a make-up obsessive so I usually get something beauty-related for my birthday (and Christmas, too!) which is never a bad thing in my books. I actually got quite a variety of beauty goodies for my birthday this year. In addition to the books, my brother also got me the Sleek Solstice Highlighter Palette. This absolutely gorgeous highlighter quad has been doing the rounds of both beauty blogs and beauty YT channels. I'm obsessed with highlighting my skin at the moment so when I saw this amongst my books, I was extremely excited and used it straight away. Spoiler alert: this highlighter is so bright, I'm sure Tim Peake can see it all the way from the International Space Station. 

I am also waiting for another gift to arrive from my Mum. She usually always knows what to get me for my birthday but this year she was really stuck. However this was only until we were watching QVC beauty (which we do quite regularly) and the presenters were talking about some Tarte products. I piped up and said I really liked the look of the new Tartelette in Bloom 2 eyeshadow palette that I've seen a few of my favourite YouTubers rave about. There and then she ordered it from the QVC website but it is currently on a wait list so it could be anything up to 3 months until this beauty arrives on my doorstep. My Dad gifted me a MAC gift card because I've been banging on for months about how I want to buy myself some MAC make-up. It seems whenever I go into a MAC store, I have every intention to buy something but I get so intimated by the selection of products and the staff never really seem too willing to help at all. Does anyone else feel like that? I'm going to do the smart thing and save my gift card for when I have a good list of products that I've researched and feel confident in going in and buying in one fair swoop. If you are well-versed in MAC, what are your favourite products? Let me know!

Whilst I was in London celebrating my actual birthday with my boyfriend, I did also treat myself to some Soap & Glory goodies. I picked up the Thick & Fast Flash Extensions Effect Mascara, Kick Ass Concealer Crayon and the Sexy Mother Pucker Extreme Lip Plumper. I am still giving them a good road test but they will definitely feature on my blog soon. 

Now I'm not going to be talking about every single gift I was given because this post would be very long and potentially very boring for some of you. So I will finish off this post with some of the gifts that my boyfriend got me. He said that he really struggled with what to get me but I think he did a great job and I loved every single one. I'm a big Kardashian/Jenner fan and I had often mentioned that I wanted a Lumee phone case that they all have. However, I didn't think I'd mentioned it enough that he thought to get it for me and when I unwrapped it, I screamed and instantly sent a picture of it to my friend Emily. She's also a Kardashian fan. I'm so happy with it and I love being able to take good selfies when its dark. He also got me Cards Against Humanity which is a seriously offensive but hilarious game that I have been desperate to get my hands on and play for MONTHS. I've even watched game plays of it on YouTube just to feel part of a game! I'm so excited to play this with my friends because we all have a similar dark sense of humour. However, I don't think this will be making an appearance at Christmas as I don't think my Nan & Grandad would approve. 

I hope you have enjoyed this post and seeing some of the things I got for my birthday. I'm so grateful to my family and boyfriend for all of my lovely gifts- I'm a very lucky girl. If it was your birthday recently, leave a comment and let me know what you were gifted!

P x