What I Got For Christmas 2016

Happy New Year!  I have had a lovely ten days off work and blogging.  I totally forgot to keep scheduling tweets because I was too busy face planting into five roast dinners, three meals out and a tub of Miniature Heroes.  But here I am, back again to kick 2017’s ass.  And to start the new year off, I thought I’d share with you what I got for Christmas.  Because I am super nosy and love reading these posts so I know you will be too!

Canon EF 50mm Camera Lens

This was number one on my Christmas wish list and luckily I was a good girl this year because Santa delivered!  I have been playing around with this lens a little bit already and I love it.  If you don’t know what this baby is, it is the answer to your product shot woes.  This little lens allows you to push your aperture to 1.8 and that means a fabulously in focus foreground and a beautifully blurry background.  Hello blogger cliché.

You can get this lens from John Lewis or Currys and it costs around £95.

ESDDI Photography Softbox Lights

Can you tell I want to up my photography game this year?  I was getting so frustrated with trying to cram weekends full of photograph taking that I begged Santa for some lights.  I had seen this set mentioned in a couple of blog Facebook groups that I am part of and they seemed reasonably priced so I put them on my wish list and crossed my fingers.

Just like the lens, I have been playing around with them and getting used to how they work but so far I LOVE them!  They deliver a the perfect amount of soft light without being overpowering and they don’t get hot.  They are easy to put up and take down and they come in a carry bag, which is ideal for storing them away.  The only slight quibble I have with them is that the power cord for the lights aren’t very long, but nothing that can’t be overcome with an extension cable.

You can get them from Amazon for £50.

FYI.  New lens and lights, great.  Trying to get pictures of them with old lens and dark room, not great.

The Million Dollar Blog by Natasha Courtenay-Smith

Hey, look, it’s another blog-related present!  I’m looking forward to getting stuck into this book for some new year inspo.  I love writing on my blog but I am naturally quite competitive and so I want to feel like I am making progress with it.  I know it’s not all about the numbers and I am developing some goals for this year that aren’t stat related, but I still like to think that people enjoy reading what I produce.

You can get The Million Dollar Blog from Amazon for about £10.

A Pick of the Rest

I was treated to some absolutely gorgeous presents for Christmas and I couldn’t possibly list them all here, so I just picked out a couple of them that I thought might look good in a photograph so I can try out my new set up.  Full disclosure here, people!

It’s not Christmas without some new pyjamas and these bad boys, with matching slippers of course, come from Next.  I don’t think you can get them anymore because of the mad Boxing Day sale but Next do brilliant pyjamas, so you should definitely check them out.

Christmas also wouldn’t be the same without a box of chocolates and I got this incredibly photogenic box from Godiva – just look at that gorgeous packaging!

The Make Up Eraser has been on my wishlist for months and I was so happy when I saw it pop into my stocking.  I love my Garnier micellar water but I can’t tell you how much cotton wool I get through and I can’t help but think there must be a less wasteful way to do it.  I haven’t yet used this because I had to photograph it first and I’ve not really been wearing make up over Christmas to give my skin a break but I will report back when I do.

So there you have it – a run down of what I got for Christmas this year.  I am particularly excited about all my new blogging gear so I can get really stuck into it in 2017.

What did you get for Christmas 2016?

♥ JH

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