On the 3rd Day of Christmas...Bath & Shower Gifts!

Twelve Days Of Christmas

Day 3: Bath & Shower

Stocking filler: I love Soap & Glory and their miniatures are so cute! Clean On Me is a shower gel with built in body lotion (I'm not quite sure how that works, but it sounds good!) to keep skin clean & soft, and is scented with their ever popular Original Pink fragrance.

Soap & Glory Clean On Me Body Wash (75ml) is available from Boots for £2.35.

On a budget: Everyone loves a bit of Body Shop and their bath and shower products are divine! This beautifully presented box of goodies includes shower gel, body scrub, body butter, soap and a bath lily, all with a delicious mango scent. If your friends aren't into mango, don't worry - they have plenty of other fragrances to keep them happy.
The Body Shop Mango Gift Box is available from The Body Shop for £25.00.

Blow the budget: This gift set from Champneys, the renowned spa brand, includes full size shower gel, body scrub and body lotion from their Citrus Blush range - uplifting lemon and orange scents with vitamin E to keep skin luxuriously soft. All this comes packaged in a gorgeous vanity case along with a bath lily (is it just me that gets about 5 bath lilys every Christmas? They're in everything!).
Champneys Spa Citrus Blush Body Care Vanity Case is availabe from Boots for £40.00.

See you tomorrow for Day 4!

All opinions expressed are my own and I have not been paid to promote these items.

On the 2nd Day of Christmas...Make-Up!

Twelve Days of Christmas
Day 2: Make-Up

Stocking filler: Barry M have a bright, exciting range of make up, perfect for parties. Their lip lacquer crayons are highly pigmented with a creamy texture, so they won't dry lips out. Available in 5 shades, from pale Barbie pink to daring red.
Barry M Lip Lacquer Crayons are available from Boots for £4.99.

On a budget: Perfect for the girl who is constantly trying new looks - the 100 piece eyeshadow set from ELF. Every shade under the sun and an undeniable bargain. Pro tip: Use eye primer and apply these shadows with a wet brush to make the colour really pop.
ELF 100-piece Eyeshadow Collection is available from eyeslipsface.com for £15.00.

Blow the budget: I've never met anyone who doesn't love a MAC eyeshadow, and these gorgeous compacts from their holiday collection make the perfect gift! Available in Cool, Warm & Sultry, each compact contains 6 shadows and is topped with a glitter filled snowglobe - so cute!
MAC Snowglobe Eyeshadows are available from House of Fraser for £31.00.

So what's on your wishlist? Let me know in the comments, and look out for Day 3!

All opinions expressed are my own and I have not been paid to promote these items.

12 Days of Christmas - Day 1: Tan

For those of you who still struggling to find the perfect Christmas gifts, this is for you! Everyday from now until Christmas Eve I will be posting some of my favourite picks for this year's Christmas presents - all beauty related of course! - with a different theme each day.

Day 1: Tan

Stocking filler: NYC have a great range of cheap and cheerful (and generally damn good for the price too!) cosmetics - lately I've been drooling over their Color Wheels, a gorgeous collection of mosaic powders to bronze, brighten and highlight. The bronze shades are perfect for those who want a bit of colour, but don't have time to tan.

NYC Color Wheel Face Mosaic is available in 6 shades (shown here is Bronze Glow) from Superdrug for £3.99.

On a budget: Lauren's Way is the famous TOWIE tan - I've been hearing so much buzz about this lately! Apparantly this gradual tan can give you a dark bronze with one application. Great for your tantastic friends (we all have one)! Pair it with a couple other bits and bobs from the range and you'll have a DIY gift set.

Lauren's Way Gradual Tan (250ml) is available from the Lauren's Way website for £13.95.

Blow the budget: Fake Bake Original is a modern classic - it gives a great, flawless, professional looking tan. This set includes a bottle of the Original lotion (with applicator gloves) plus their amazing Passion Fruit Body Scrub and Skin Smoothie, a luxurious, sweet scented, dry oil spray. I have to admit, I don't tan very often, but I love Fake Bake's scrub and smoothie, and I think anyone would love to see this under their tree on Christmas day!

Fake Bake Original Self-Tanner Kit is available for £44.10 from FeelUnique.com and select salons (mine included!).

Let me know if you have any other suggestions! And keep your eyes peeled tomorrow for Day 2!

All opinions expressed are my own and I have not been paid to promote these items.

MeMeMe Beat The Blues Sunbeam - more Benefit dupes!

MeMeMe’s Beat The Blues illuminators are another of their infamous Benefit dupes. MeMeMe’s Moonbeam is a dupe of Benefit’s High Beam and MeMeMe’s Sunbeam is a dupe of Benefit’s Moonbeam. Confused? So was I – and I ended up ordering the wrong one!

For a while I’ve been searching for a cheap alternative to High Beam, a gorgeous pearly pink highlighter. When I heard some murmurings about Beat The Blues I immediately got onto Superdrug and ordered a bottle. Thinking that MeMeMe’s Moonbeam MUST be the dupe of Benefit’s Moonbeam, I ordered a bottle of Sunbeam – oops. So instead of my pink highlighter, I got this:

Left: Sunbeam blended. Right: dabbed straight on, unblended. Click for bigger picture.

I really wish I had someone with a good tan around to model this for me, because it just does not work with my pale skin! Sunbeam is a very shimmery, golden shade and I’m sure it would look much better as a highlighter for more tanned skin tones. On me…not so great.

There’s not much I can really say about this product. It seems to be good quality, with my favourite nail polish bottle style packaging and applicator, like the Benefit originals and MeMeMe's Poppytint, however the brush was already a little mangled when it arrived and has been in an utter state since. Sunbeam is very shimmery, so if you’re not into your glitter, stay away! And, sorry to repeat myself, but again, this is not for pale skin tones!

MeMeMe Beat The Blues illuminators are available from Superdrug for £5.25, and on the MeMeMe website.

PS: I've dropped some heavy hints that I'd quite like the High Beam dupe for Christmas, so expect a review of that in the New Year!

All opinions expressed in this review are my own and all products were purchased by myself.

NYX Doll Eye Mascara Review

The nevernding search for my HG mascara continues! This time, I think I've gotten pretty close. I recently bought NYX Doll Eye Mascara in Extreme Black Waterproof, and here are the results:




Doll Eye Mascara provided my lashes with some extreme length - in the last week I've had 3 clients ask if I'm wearing extensions! I was expecting, as the name suggests, more of a 'doll' look - very long and seperated - but I do find you have to be careful when applying this as it does seem prone to clumping, giving your lashes that nasty spidery look.

But the big selling point for me is the staying power. This mascara lasts all day, it does not budge. On Tuesdays my make up is applied at 4am, just before I leave the house. I got home at 10pm this Tuesday and my mascara was flawless, looking freshly applied, despite having absolutely no touch ups throughout the day!

Doll Eye Mascara is available from the NYX online store for £8.00. Let me know if you try it!

Edit 30/11: NOT waterproof! Not one bit, I am so disappointed. They seriously should not even be allowed to claim this is waterproof. Still pretty when it's dry, but don't waste your time getting the waterproof version.


All opinions expressed in this review are my own and all products were purchased by myself.