Mom & Dad - Urban Decay Moondust Eyeshadow Palette
In all honesty, this purchase was made by me, and paid for by my parents. They gave my sister and I each a $100 budget for Christmas gifts this year, and I asked them to reimburse me for a couple of choice items from Sephora. I'm so happy they said yes! This was purchased during the VIB sale, so I was able to make that money go a long way.
This palette is so gorgeous, and includes eight sparkle-packed eyeshadows that are smooth, buttery, and intensely pigmented. I love that I can experiment with these dazzling shadows and rock a low-maintenance glitter look any time I want now!
Mom & Dad - Huda Beauty Lip Contour Set in Trendsetter
As far as liquid lipsticks go, I'm not a ride or die fanatic, but I like finding new gems to add to my collection. I've found that I never like liquid lipsticks on their own - they look too flat for me. Instead, I like using different combinations, primarily using a lighter nude in the center of my lips and then "contouring" with a darker shade, so I was very intrigued by this product by Huda Beauty. Still deciding how I like it.
Mom & Dad - Hourglass Ambient Light Bronzing Powder
I'm so glad that Hourglass started making travel sizes of their powder products. $22 is so much more reasonable than the price of a standard pan, and it's a great value all things considered. The packaging is sleek and stylish, and I've been interested in experimenting with a more glowy bronzer, just to change things up.
Maureen - Funny story, I made a very misleading pinterest board called Top Gifts 2016, and my sister saw it and thought it was a board of gifts I wanted, despite sending her a specific, tailored wishlist. I think she thought she stumbled upon my full, unrbidled wishlist, and felt she hit the motherlode. In reality, this was an inspiration board of top gifts I was thinking of giving to my friends and family. So she shared the pinterest board with her girlfriend Maureen, who then got me this, which I was actually considering for my cousin Hannah haha. It's a cute pouch from Papyrus, and I now use it to hold my planner supplies day-to-day.
Maureen - Once Diana realized the board wasn't a wishlist for me, she told Maureen, who then went to buy me something on my actual board, poor girl! Thank you so much Maureen. This is a cult product, Laura Geller's Baked Gelato Swirl Illuminator in Golden Honey. I love it! It leaves this gorgeous golden glow.
Diana - My sister gave me Angela's Ashes last Christmas, and I loved it so much she got me 'Tis this Christmas. I was truly touched because I'd been wanting to read 'Tis for literally the entire year after I read Angela's Ashes but never found time to go to the library. I'm so surprised she remembered :')
Nick - Nick has been a force in my life for about six years now, and he has always been an amazing gift giver. I wanted this gorgeous earring set from Anthropologie and dropped it into a conversation, and of course he remembered and bought it for me :D
Nick - He also bought this earring trio I was deliberating getting. I kind of expected him to get me this, since Anthropologie had a 30% off everything sale which made this trinket relatively affordable, and I know his gift giving style lol. But I didn't know he'd get me both! Too generous. This is so much more beautiful in person then photographed.
Diana - Woohoo! Planner supplies galore :D There was one night when I literally went from page to page on Amazon, admiring and cataloging an abundance of planner supplies that I wanted for the coming year. I added a few to my wishlist board and my sister came through. Love you Kermie!
Erin Condren
Mom & Dad - My parents always get me this tin of cookies come Holiday time because I love them so much :D For the past few years they've taken to wrapping it and putting it under the tree for me.
Diana - I fell in looove with this purse one night when I was at Aldo and I added it to my wishlist board. My sister got it for me! It's so beautiful, I can't wait to style it in the summer and showcase its true beauty. It looks a little eh here but it is actually very nice.
Christina - I shared my wishlist board with my older cousin Christina, and she went to Lulu's to get me a couple of the items I wanted. While browsing, she selected this for me on a whim. It's really nice! Beautiful color, nice texture. It's just so big, I wonder how practical it will be to clutch it in my hand all night.
Christina, Nick, & Myself - This is hilarious. I put this hat on my wishlist board and two other people got it for me. I forgot that I had put it on my wishlist board, and bought it for myself. It'd be too expensive for me to ship it back and get a couple dollars leftover, so I'm saving it for next Christmas.
Diana - I asked my sister to get me some socks this Christmas and she gave me the mother-lode. She got me literally every pair of socks ever made. These are mostly from American Eagle and Aerie, with one pair from J. Crew :)
My favorite!
Diana - So I'm the worst person at shaving in the world. I always give myself microcuts, and usually in the most sensitive areas. So my sister, knowing this, decided to get me this little thingamajig that lets you remove hair! It was a great idea, but it's not very powerful and can snag on coarser hair so I mostly use it for light maintenance.
Diana - My sister got me two cozy knits from Abercrombie & Fitch! They both happen to be navy, and the lower one (a blanket cardigan) was on my wishlist board, and the top one (a henley) my sister picked out herself. Love them!
Aunt Carol - Ooh lala, so this was a fancy and unexpected gift. My Aunt Carol gave me this gorgeous Coach Wallet! I love that it's so simple and sleek. The design is just gorgeous and overall, it makes me feel very sophisticated when I take it out. It's my first designer wallet!
Erica - My friend and coworker Erica is so sweet. I came in the last day before Christmas and found an Erin Condren care package with a big bow on top waiting on my desk. :'D Eeeeeh! I won't lie, I felt like crying. Anyway, she gave me this gorgeous sticker book that I wanted to purchase during Black Friday but was all sold out. She told me that certain Staples locations now carry Erin Condren, and that's where she got this.
Here's a peek at the stickers.
Nick - Nick came through and ordered me markers to replace my dried out Erin Condren Markers. I was on a mission for a very long time to find adequate replacements for my Erin Condren Markers, which I absolutely loved but were no longer sold on the Erin Condren website. It was actually very difficult to find a hybrid pen that was a cross between a pen and a marker, but Nick came through. He found these on this specialty pen website! I rejoiced. However, I noticed that the ink is very fluid and inky (released a lot of ink once the tip is pressed down, and unfortunately, with Erin Condren's thinner pages this year, they bleed through to the other side :( But I still use them for writing bold headers and such. I'm going to see if they bleed on my coloring book pages, which are thicker.
Erica - My coworker Erica also purchased Erin Condren Do-it-All dots for me! I love them so much and I can never get enough of them.
Dad - This is a real interesting one. Apparently my dad was at Cosco and saw these gloves which have touch screen fingertips, and he thought to give it to me. The thing is, they actually work! It's a bit weird that they're running gloves, but two thumbs up for practicality and originality :D
Nick - I had this gorgeous gray scarf pinned to my wishlist board, and Nick got them for me :) I stumbled upon this scarf by wandering into an Aldo's store in Times Square and trying it on. I was surprised that I liked it so much! It's insanely warm, soft, and stylish. It's the perfect cozy add-on for any outfit.
Christina - Christina got me this scarf from Lulu's that I pinned on my wishlist board. I loved how it looked on the model, but because this isn't a blanket scarf or a particularly long scarf, I don't think I'm wearing it right. I need to look up how to wrap more square scarves.
Ian - Finally, my coworker Ian got me this Game of Thrones figure of Ser Jorah Mormont from Game of Thrones in an office Secret Santa! Too cute! We're always talking about Game of Thrones, and Jorah is one of my baes.
An instagram snap I took of the package waiting on my desk from my coworker (and friend) Erica.
So to conclude, I was very blessed this holiday season! Thanks so much for reading this post, and I hope you're having an amazing 2017.
