Christmas Gift Guide- Beauty | Blogmas 2014

This is the first in a little gift guide series I'll be running throughout Blogmas. These are a couple of my favourite Christmas beauty gift sets.

Beauticology Just Desserts Macaron Patisserie

I've got to admit this is the cutest packaging I've ever seen. This set contains a strawberry Body Wash and a raspberry Body Lotion. They both smell incredible!

http://www.tesco.com/direct/baylis-harding-beauticology-just-deserts-macaron-house-gift-set/300-5659.prd

Lush 'The Night Before Christmas' Gift Box

This box Contains three products, two of my favourites and one that I haven't tried yet. The first product is their famous Christmas Eve bubble bar. This is one of my favourite bubble bars because it isn't too glittery. The next product is the Twilight bath bomb. This smells amazing, like lavender and creates the prettiest colour of purple and blue in the bath. The last product is the Father Christmas bath bomb. I have never tried this but it is described as a festive green and red bath bomb.

https://www.lush.co.uk/products/under-15/night-christmas

Anna :)

Cologne- The River Cruise | Blogmas 2014

Whilst in Cologne, I also went on a river cruise down the Rhine. It was amazing, I would highly recommend it! These are a couple of pictures of the gorgeous view.

Anna :)

Cologne- The Christmas Markets | Blogmas 2014

I recently have just come back from a trip to the Christmas markets in Cologne. It was so beautiful! The next few posts are going to be about the trip. Expect lots of pictures!

Anna :)

The Best Of ELF Cosmetics.

ELF is one of my favourite makeup brands, the quality is amazing for the prices! Today I am sharing my favourite products from ELF. 

Eyes

My favorite eye product from ELF is the Shimmer Eyeliner Pencil in the shade Iconic Ivory. I use this to highlight the browbone and the centre of the lids. It also comes with a built in sharpener so It's very easy to use.

Shimmer Eyeliner: £1.95

Lips

My favourite lipstick formula from ELF is the silver label lipsticks. My favourite shades are Nostalgic and Flirtatious. I love Nostalgic because it's a pinky nude, I can't really get away with orange toned nudes so I love this one. I love Flirtatious because it's quite a bright pink but it's not too crazy. I love the formula to these, they last a fairly long time and the pigmentation is great. My favourite thing about these lipsticks is the smell though, it smells sort of like strawberries but it's not too overwhelming.

Left: Nostalgic, Right: Flirtatious

Top: Nostalgic, Bottom: Flirtatious

Lipsticks: £1.95 each

Face

My favourite face product from ELF is definitely the Tone Correcting Concealer. I love this so much because it's formula is very smooth and easy to blend. It's quite light coverage but is very buildable and doesn't look cakey and doesn't crease. 

Tone Correcting Concealer: £1.95

Cheeks

I am a big lover of ELF blushes, they are very pigmented and have a lovely colour range. My favorite is in the shade Tickled Pink. It is a very natural light pink that is very similar to Benefit's Dandelion. The packaging is very nice too, it's so similar to the NARS ones.

Tickled Pink Blush: £3.95

I also love the contour kit in Antigua, both the blush and the bronzer are so pigmented! It also has a full sized mirror inside so it's really good for on the go use.

The picture above is just one swipe of the blush/bronzer duo.

Contouring Blush and Bronzing Powder in Antigua: £3.95

My Top Five Mascaras.

5. Rimmel Scandeleyes Retro Glam

This is definitely one of my favourite Mascaras because the end results are great. However, the application process is a little difficult (the formula is quite wet so you have to wait for it to dry for longer.

4. Maybelline The Falsies Flared

I love the wand to this mascara, it's curved so you can achieve different looks with each side of the wand. It lasts a very long time but can be a little clumpy if you try to apply more after it has dried.

3. Maybelline The Rocket Volum Express

This is one of the only waterproof mascaras that I own, I don't tend to buy the waterproof formulas because they tend to be less effective than the normal formula. However, I actually prefer the waterproof formula to the normal one with this mascara. It is a lot more volumising and holds a curl longer and better.

2. Rimmel Wonder'full 

This mascara is something special. First of all it lengthens my lashes and separates so they look very natural but if you keep building the layers up you can achieve a customisable volume effect. Secondly it contains argan oil which conditions your lashes to help them grow and stay healthy.

1. MAC Extended Play Lash

I love this one so much, I know it's more expensive than all the others but in my opinion it is definitely worth it! It's a nice formula that doesn't take ages to dry and it lasts all day. The wand seems to curl the lashes on its own without a lash curler which is awesome. The colour is very pigmented aswell, it's not grey it's definitely black.

Anna :)

August Glossybox Review.

I've been getting Glossyboxes for a few months now so I thought I'd do a review on one. For people who aren't familiar with Glossybox, it's basically a subscription service which allows you to find new products that you may not have found otherwise :)

The first product that was in the Glossybox was a limited edition highlighter from Kryolan.

It was a special edition for Glossybox in the shade 'Cashmere'. I think the packaging looks very sleek: a matte black twist lid with a clear glass container. The product itself is very pigmented and smooth when it goes on.

The next product is a mascara from Essence. Being called the 'I <3 Extreme' mascara I expected it to be very volumising. It's nice mascara but nothing special really.

A hand cream was next. It's nice but I hate rose scents so that ruined it for me but if you like rose scents this would be very good for you!

Before recieving this product I had never heard of anything like it, it's a shampoo primer. Mindblown 😂. Basically it's meant to add more volume to your hair. I haven't tried it yet but it seems like a nice concept!

The final product was a nail varnish for 'Yves Rocher'. I'd never heard of this company so I was very intrigued. This is now my new favourite nail varnish! It's in the prettiest shade: 14- Rose. It could easily be worn all year round.

 

Anna :)

Summer Sale Shopping.

I went shopping yesterday and picked up a few things. They are mainly beauty related but I also got some storagey items. 

The first place I went to was Boots, they had an offer on where if you bought the new Rimmel mascara you got a free Baby Lips. I love a good deal so how could I say no! The mascara is the Wonder'full mascara. It's very volumising and stays for quite a long time.

Mascara

Boots- £5.99 (originally £7.99)- 11ml

The Baby Lips that I got was the Cherry Velvet. It's basically just a lip balm that smells of cherry so nothing too exciting but it is very moisturising so definitely go and check those two out!

Baby Lips Lipbalm

Boots- Free (originally 2.99)

Next I went to Topshop were they are coming to the end of a sale. This is always good as everything is so cheap. I picked up three eyeshadows and a new kabuki brush.

The eyeshadows are so gorgeous and pigmented! I got the shades 'Midnight Hour' - a grape colour marbled with a khaki green/ gold eyeshadow, 'Solstice' - a baby blue colour marbled with a light silver shimmer eyeshadow and 'Backstage Whisper' - a dark navy with a dark grey shimmer eyeshadow. The best part is that they were only £1 each. WHAT?!

'Midnight Hour' 

Topshop- £1 (originally £6)- 2.5g

'Solstice'

Topshop- £1 (originally £6)- 2.5g

'Backstage Whisper'

Topshop- £1 (originally £6)- 2.5g

I needed a new kabuki brush and this one looked quite nice and it was very cheap in the sale so I picked it up. The brush itself is also really nice. It's good for loose and pressed powders and blushes. 

Kabuki Brush

Topshop- £4 (originally £8)

The last place I went to was a homeware shop. I got some lanterns which I thought would be nice to keep makeup brushes in. They are the perfect size and shape and all my brushes fit nicely. 

Lanterns

Home Sense- £1.50 each

That was all I got, I hope this was helpful! 

Anna :)