What I Got For Christmas 2014

Firstly, I am not trying to show off, I just love reading these kinds of posts. I definitely got spoilt this year and I am grateful for all of my wonderful gifts.

Firstly I got these candles. I got Citrus Tango from Yankee Candle and a Yankee Candle Christmas set of 12 sample sized candles. I also got some little Love Heart Tealights.

From Benefit, I got a Christmas Set which included a full-sized Hoola Bronzer and High Beam and then mini-sized They're Real, The PoreFessional and Hoola lipgloss.

From MAC, I got 4 eyeshadows: Woodwinked, Naked Lunch, Amber Lights and Paradisco. I also got the 217 brush. I got Creme Cup Lipstick and another cream blush in the shade 'Something Special'.

I got a Snow Fairy gift set from Lush as well as a Japanese Cherry Blossom set from Bath and Body Works. I also got Daisy Dream perfume by Marc Jacobs.

I got Nume's 5-in-1 Hair set which I will be reviewing in the New Year once I have used it a few times.

I got 3 board games: The Logo Game, The Cube and Dragons Den.

I got One Direction's Who We Are book and the DVD of their concert which I went to see this year. I then got and I'm A Celebrity… Get Me Out Of Here The Insider book and a diary as well as The Fault In Our Stars on DVD.

I love chocolate and I got a large Dairy Milk bar, some chocolate buttons, Hotel Chocolat's Santas and a Chocolate mousse snowman.

I also got two nice ball-point pens.

I then got a full sized Snow Fairy from Lush, a locket, a lokai bracelet and some sweets.

I also got a Snow Fairy Bath Bomb, music trivia game, a portable speaker and two joke presents from my Dad: A build your own rubber band car and Build your own snowman.

I got 5 Seconds Of Summer's calendar and two vinyl records: Adele 19 and Ed Sheeran X.

As far as clothes go, my sister got me a top from River Island that says "Me? Sarcastic? Never". I also got a topshop jumper and a grey top from Aerie that says "Amour".

I got a t-shirt from Superdry, a snood and a grey top from Kendall and Kylie's collection at PacSun.

I got two tops from Hollister which I love.

My Mum made me a grey jumper and I also got a grey jumper from PacSun.

I got a pair of leggings and some joggers from Aerie.

I got a lovely gilet from Superdry and a floral, floaty top from American Eagle.

Finally, I got some thermal gloves.

Once I have used some of these products, there will be reviews on them. What did you get for Christmas?

xoxo

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What I Got For Christmas from My Best Friends 2014

I hope you had a good Christmas! Obviously in this post I'm not trying to brag about my lovely gifts in any way, this is just an interesting post to write and to read hopefully.

Firstly from my best friends I got lovely gifts. I got a £10 MAC voucher, Urban Outfitters bracelet and a Barry M Christmas nail polish.

From my other friend I got a Memory box which I have wanted for a while and inside it was filled with lots of little bits. It had a pack of earrings, a necklace, some rings, a Pink body spray, Sleek Natural eyeshadow palette and a Barry M Gelly Poilsh. 

I definitely got spoilt by my friends this year! I got one of them a pandora bracelet with a good luck charm on it and the other a perfume and the other present I can't mention because she hasn't opened it yet! 

xoxo

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Christmas Day Outfit Ideas

This year on Christmas Day, my family and I are going out for Christmas Dinner so I wanted to wear a dressy outfit. I have two options, I am wearing the dress but I'm wearing the other outfit tomorrow to a meal out. 

Firstly these are my Christmas nails and I used Ciaté polishes. 

This is the outfit I will be wearing. My tartan dress is from New Look and was around £22 which is a great price I think. I paired it with black thicker tights and some little black ankle boots from New Look also. 

I am in love with this outfit! My top, bandeau/bralette and necklace is from Brandy Melville and the quality is amazing. They were quite cheap but they are so soft and this is my favourite outfit at the minute. 

My leggings are from New Look and I love them, you can't see it well on the photo but they are patterned grey and black, they were also quite cheap. Finally my heeled shoe-boots are from Payless. 

Xoxo

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London at Christmas

Recently, I've been to London a couple of  times and I wanted to show some pictures of how lovely it looks at Christmas.

For those of you that haven't been to London before, it has such a nice feel to it especially at this time of the year. This is the Marble Arch at around 4pm in the day, I loved the colours of the sky and Christmas lights above the streets.

Obviously with the amount of people and traffic, it was difficult getting a good picture but this is the best I could do. 

Another thing I loved was this ice skating rink with a large Christmas tree in the middle outside of the Natural History Museum. This reminded me of the one in New York which is something that I've always wanted to do. I had to take a photo of it although it isn't very clear as I was on a moving bus when I took it... Sorry! 

Another aspect of London is Hyde park. At Christmas, this is set up as 'Winter Wonderland' and has some fun activities to do. It is a lot like a fair with a large Ferris wheel (not as big as the London eye though) and several rides for both children and adults. I didn't manage to get any photographs of this but I'm sure there will be somewhere on the Internet. 

The final thing I experienced was "The Making of Harry Potter" at Warner Brother Studios which is slightly different at Christmas. Other than the Christmas trees in the great hall, the hogwarts mod used to film the outside of the school is covered in snow. It looks so festive and magical. 

That's it for today's post but I'm thinking about doing a series whereby I say my favourite things to do in my favourite cities such as London and Chicago. I'll probably be doing that sometime in the New Year now but let me know what ou think. 

xoxo

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Christmas Day Makeup Look

Whether  you are going to a Christmas party or out for a meal on Christmas Day, makeup will be a big part of your look and I was trying out some looks for Christmas Day and this is the one I decided on.

1. Firstly, I took Benefit's The PoreFessional and smoothed it all over my face with my fingers.

2. Next I used a buffing brush to buff Rimmel's True Match Foundation into my skin. This foundation provides a medium-higher coverage which is more ideal for Christmas Day as there will probably be lots of photos being taken.

3. I left my face makeup for now and went to my eyes as we will use pigments and they can be quite messy. I used a Real Techniques Base Shadow Brush and smeared Maybelline's Colour Tattoo in Bad to the Bronze across my lids. I took it slightly higher than I usually would.

4. I then used a MAC Limited Edition palette from last year and took Amber Lights and applied that on top of the Colour Tattoo. If you are on a budget, a good alternative to these MAC shadows is Sleek's Neutral palette, it has similar colours.

5. I then used the colour Mulch and a flat eyeshadow brush and applied this in the crease of my lid and also to the outer-v.

6. This part of the look is optional but on Christmas Day I wanted to use it, I took MAC's Melon pigment and pressed it onto my lid.

7. Next I took the colour Nougat from the Sleek Palette and put it in the inner corner of my lid.

8. Since I am not the best at eyeliner on my upper lash line, I decided to take the safer option and use the black called Noir in the Sleek Palette on a Real Techniques angled brush and took it on my upper lash line. I then blended it out slightly.

9. Now I took Urban Decay's 24/7 eyeliner in Lucky and applied it messily on my lower lash line and then smudged it out with an eyeshadow brush. I also applied a Rimmel black eyeliner on my waterline.

10. I used two mascaras to create extra volume. I like these two mascaras as the don't look too dramatic and are still quite natural. I took Model Co's Fibre Lash Xtend on my upper and lower lashes and then applied Bourjois' Ultra Volume Mascara on my upper lashes. I also filled in my brows with the MAC 266 and Milani's Brow Kit.

11. Now I went back to my face makeup and applied Collecions Lasting Perfection Concealer under my eyes and MAC's Pro-Longwear concealer on any blemishes. I used Real Techniques Contour Brush to blend it out.

12. Now I bronzed up my face and contoured slightly using NYC's Sunny Bronzer with a Real Techniques Blush Brush. I applied it heavily in the hollows of my cheeks, temples and jawline.

13. Instead of blush, I used Benefit's 10 bronzer and highlight combined.

14. I went with a red lip so I used my Maybelline Red Lip Liner and then Rimmel's Kate Moss Lipstick in 01.

I hope you try out and enjoy this look!

xoxo

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Clearasil Rapid Action Treatment Pads and Cream Review

After forgetting to bring my skincare products to Florida with me, I had to go out and buy some new items. I spotted these on the shelf and decided to give them a try.

My skin hasn't been in the best condition recently because I've really been neglecting my skincare routine. I needed something to really sort it out and get it back to usual and these products are a new staple makeup bag item for me.

I only wash my face with a cleanser and Clarisonic once a day because otherwise its too harsh on my sensitive skin. Usually I wash it at night so in the morning I use a Clearasil Rapid Action Treatment Pad all over my face instead. I follow it up with some of the cream as well as using the cream after cleansing at night too.

The treatment pads are very highly concentrated in Alcohol which some skin may find extremely irritating and it may even sting a little. Although I didn't find this, I did find that they really stung my eyes and I have to close my eyes whilst wiping my face. These treatment pads are supposed to unclog your pores causing you to breakout less and reduce redness of current blemishes within 4 hours. I really did see major improvements in my skin overnight with this product. My blemishes hadn't cleared completely but I definitely saw a difference in my skin and a spot that I could feel coming had cleared completely.

Obviously I used the cream alongside the treatment pads so its difficult to tell which product really helped my skin the most but I would definitely say that this duo really does help to reduce blemishes. I have bought the product again to take back to England with me because it really is great.

For $6.97 for the treatment pads and $8.97 for the cream, this is definitely worth the purchase.

xoxo

Clearasil Rapid Action Treatment Pads - http://www.clearasil.co.uk/rapid-action-treatment-pads
Clearasil Rapid Action Treatment Cream - http://www.clearasil.co.uk/rapid-action-treatment-cream

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Nars Blush in Orgasm: Worth the hype?

Today I'm going to be talking about a very talked about product in the beauty world: Nars Blush in Orgasm.  This blush is raved about so much that when I received it in a beauty bag, I was excited to try it out for myself and ask myself 'Is is worth the hype?'

This blush is Nars' most popular shade and is used by many beauty lovers. It is a rosy pink shade with tiny gold glimmers in it. I thought that the gold flecks would make this more unwearable as I prefer natural blushes but it doesn't show as gold sparkles, it just gives you a 'lit from within' look.

This is a very pigmented blush and so a little goes a long way in terms of applying it. I do really like wearing it as it feels very fancy in its black iconic Nars packaging but personally, I don't see the major hype. Don't get me wrong, this is a great product but I think that there are lots of drugstore versions that compete very strongly with it. 

I do love reaching in my collection for this Nars blush but for $30.00 I wouldn't repurchase it on its own. I got is as part of a set containing 6 Sephora products for just $39.00 so it was well worth the money on that front but I would not purchase it separately just for the fact that I think you could get a similar blush for a lot cheaper.

xoxo

Nars Orgasm Blush - http://www.narscosmetics.com/USA/makeup-iconic-nars-orgasm-collection/0607845040132.html?gclid=CjwKEAjw2reiBRCaobK3udOj-Q4SJACXWyYmww7ML-_OSTrIaGEdSvqaYthV7gKvXulQBkmK4ImyJBoC7g7w_wcB&cm_mmc=SEM-_-Google-_-Branded%20Brand-_-%7Bkeyword%7D

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Favourite Blogs Of The Month

Last month, I explained that I would be doing a post like this monthly recommending blogs to you that I've loved reading. I've been doing some searching around for good blogs and some of you have commented yours as well and have put together this post about them. I hope you enjoy it and feel free to comment your blog below to be featured in next months post.

I've decided that because I have quite a few of you that have left comments or that I have loved, I'm just going to talk about my few favourites and then list other favourites this month so the post doesn't become long and boring.

1. Leigh-Belle
Leigh-Belle's posts have some lovely outfit ideas in them. She often puts together collages of different clothing that would make a great outfit. She also did the Favourite Tag that I did last month which was great to read her answers.

2. Alana Wise
Alana's blog has been one of my favourites to read this month because it is so professional. She has so many great reviews that contain lots of photos and swatches. She also has a giveaway open now for the Naked 3 palette as a thank you for hitting 350 followers on bloglovin. Help her to hit 10,000 pageviews!

3. Lauren's Looks
Lauren does lots of inspiration posts and face of the day which I find quite different and interesting to read. Recently, I've been clicking on her blog on bloglovin a lot more often to find inspiration for my own makeup looks.

4. Emdigo

Emdigo is such a lovely person and I loved reading the Favourites Tag that she has recently done! Go over and look at her blog and maybe give her a follow on bloglovin?

Little Thoughts From Little People

Dominos Diary

Style on the Side

Harriet Jackson

Beauty By Eden

Claudine Converses

Laura's Wardrobe

These are all my favourites from October, remember to leave links to your blog below!

xoxo

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Maybelline Dream Pure BB Cream Review

Firstly,  I just want to say that the reply button on my blog doesn't seem to be working but I do reply to all of your comments by email or leave a comment over on your blog. Just wanted to say sorry for that.

It feels like a while since I've done a real review on a product so today I thought I'd review this new purchase of mine: Maybelline's Dream Pure BB Cream.

What it claims:

Our Dream Pure BB Cream is a 1-step wonder for healthy-looking skin today and clearer skin tomorrow.

• Clears acne
• Conceals imperfections
• Minimizes look of pores
• Reduces appearance of redness
• Adjusts to skin tone
• Hydrates and smoothes
• Enhances and clarifies skin
• Is oil-free, with a lightweight feel

2% salicylic acid is one of the highest percentages of this powerful blemish-fighter that you can get without a prescription, yet it's gentle enough to use every day. 

Maybellines Dream Pure BB cream is a twist on their original Dream BB Cream. It's purpose is to treat acne using salicylic acid whilst still giving your skin some coverage whilst looking natural and fresh.

I've found that this BB cream gives a lovely natural coverage which is perfect for everyday use. It looks lovely layered too if you want it to have a higher coverage as its extremely sheer. It is very lightweight as it claims.

This is a very watery bb cream, it remind me of MAC's Face and Body Foundation but I feel better about wearing it as it is good for your skin. 

This BB Cream comes in a squeeze tube which is great to get just the right amount of product you want. It contains 30ml of product which is average for a foundation. 

The downside to this product is the colour selection. There are only five shades ranging from Light to Deep. I don't struggle with a colour because Medium seems to match my skin great but some might struggle with the lack of selection. 

Price

This BB cream is one of the cheapest you'll find at just £6.99. I think this is a great price as I seem to reach more for this than my Smashbox BB Cream, mostly because I feel like its better to be putting on my skin and I like the natural coverage. 

I really would recommend this BB Cream, I will definitely be repurchasing it when I run out.

xoxo

Maybelline Dream Pure BB Cream - http://www.maybelline.com/Products/Face-Makeup/BB-Cream/Dream-Pure-BB.aspx

MAC Face and Body - http://www.maccosmetics.com/product/shaded/158/393/Face-And-Body-Foundation/index.tmpl

Smashbox BB Cream - http://www.smashbox.com/product/6035/21835/Face/Foundation/SMASHBOX-CAMERA-READY-BB-CREAM-BROAD-SPECTRUM-SPF-35/Studio-Artist-Favorite/index.tmpl

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