Blogmas

With winter well and truly here I thought it would be a good time to talk about my winter essentials that aren't books. I think winter is the only season where I have a list of 'essentials' that I have with me pretty much everyday. It seems to be the time of the year where you just have to be prepared for anything and everything the weather will throw at you. Which is usually rain, wind and occasionally some snow!

First thing on my list is scarves. I really like wearing scarves throughout the year and I have some thinner scarves to wear in the spring and summer but in winter you can't beat a thick, snuggly scarf and this year I am obsessed with this one. I got this in Primark at the end of the summer this year and it is so warm it's unreal! At the time I bought this, they did the same scarf in red but I thought this one was a little more unusual with the cream and grey. I have been wearing this pretty much non-stop the past couple of weeks and I feel like I'm definitely going to get my wear out of it this winter.

I think the other staple in everyone's winter wardrobe is a jumper. You can't beat a good jumper when it's cold, especially if it's fluffy! I've had this jumper for a few years now (again I got it from Primark) and I really love it. It is slightly festive with the snowflakes on it, but you can definitely wear it throughout winter without anyone thinking you've completely lost your mind. On another note, I've never really been big on the Christmas jumper thing. You know the really OTT Christmas jumpers? I know some people are obsessed with them but I've never really been a fan. Anyway, I do save this for really cold days because the fluff does come off a little bit (though I think this is a problem with all fluffy jumpers) and covers me in little bits but it is amazing when the temperature outside is falling.

Despite being a big fan of scarves, I don't normally wear gloves. I have a few pairs of fingerless gloves that I do wear sometimes but actually, I tend to use these more, especially because my coat is quite thick and has quite big pockets so I normally just keep my hands in my pockets. These are hand warmers and I have about ten stashed away. These were really big a few years ago and it seemed like everywhere sold them. They are the most ingenious little devices. There is a small metal disk inside that you 'snap' and it activates the gel surrounding it, heating it up. All of mine are reusable so when you've used it once, simply put the gel pack in to a saucepan of boiling water and heat it up again according to the instructions that come with them and they're good to go. I love putting a couple of these in my coat pocket, especially if I know I'm going to be outside a lot and they're not very expensive at all.

Winter is also the time of year to really break out the moisturiser. My favourite is the Simple Kind to Skin Hydrating Light Moisturiser. I use this all year round but especially during winter when the cold sucks all the moisture out of my skin. I really like this light moisturiser because I have quite oily skin and this just sinks right in, is really hydrating but doesn't leave my skin feeling oily at all.

Winter is also the time for parties, and these next two essentials are definitely more geared towards the party season. First up is fragrance. I'm not a huge perfume wearer, I definitely don't have a huge collection (all my money goes on books!) but I really do love the ones that I have. I've picked two fragrances out of my limited collection, one for the day and one for the night. For the day I love wearing Taylor Swift's Wonderstruck perfume. I adore this scent. It's quite a light, sweet fragrance that is perfect for the day because it's so light. For the evening I like to wear Kylie Minogue's Dazzling Darling fragrance. This is still a fairly light perfume (I don't like my perfume's to overwhelm me) but is a bit more 'grown up' than the Taylor one.

Finally we have nail varnishes. I am a nail varnish fiend. I love painting my nails and the box in my room that is full to bursting with nail varnishes can definitely attest to that! Because it is the party season, I love wearing glittery nail varnish and, to me, you can't get much more festive than wearing red. Below are the four nail varnishes that match at least one of these criteria. All of the red polishes are amazing over a plain red polish to add some festive sparkle. The OPI and China Glaze polishes give a bit more of a subtle shimmer and the Rimmel London polish is a lot more obvious. The Essie polish you can just wear as it is. Two coats of it on your nails and you're good to go!

L-R: OPI 'Underneath the Mistletoe', Essie 'Ignite the Night'
Rimmel London 'Ruby Crush', China Glaze 'Ruby Pumps'

 I hope you guys enjoyed this post. Let me know what your winter essentials are and I'll see you tomorrow!