Selfridges Beauty Advent Calendar 2016

Im so excited to have my first ever beauty advent calendar. Ive wanted one for so many years, but i always left it too late and they would be sold out, or they would be so far out of my budget. Although my always in awe my the Liberty, Jo Malone and Diptyque advent calendars i just can't justify spending that much money on them, especially when Christmas is fast approaching and it can be such an expensive time of year. 

I did a lot of research and tried to compare advent calendars to see which one i would enjoy the most. There were two that stood out to me and i was left comparing and choosing between. One of them was the 'Luxury Beauty Your Beauty Fairytale Come True Advent Calendar 2016' (yes, what a mouthful) advent calendar which is exclusive to boots. The Calendar is £85 and includes the brands; Lancome, Viktor and Rolf, Ralph Lauren and YSL. There are only a few differences in the products between this calendar and the Selfridges calendar. 

The second calendar that i was deciding between was the Selfridges 'Eclectic Little Luxuries' calendar that retails at £95 and includes the brands; Lancome, YSL, Kiehls, Urban Decay and Viktor and Rolf. Although there are only a few different products in these two calendars and a £10 price difference i decided to go for this one because i analysed and compared them very closely and this advent calendar had more products in that i wanted to try and would suit me. 

All of the brands in the Selfridges calendar are brands that i use and love. However in the Boots calendar i just found the calendar to be a bit miss-match and random. I wasn't sure why they put 16 products in the calendar from Lancome, but then just 1 product from Ralph Lauren!



Boots; Fairytale Come True

Selfridges; Eclectic Little Luxuries

Im so, so excited to start opening this. Im glad i was organised enough this year to sort one out well in advance, but now it means I've got to look at it everyday and resist temptation!


For more information on the Boots advent calendar click
 here: http://www.boots.com/en/Luxury-Beauty-Your-Beauty-Fairytale-Come-True-Advent-Calendar-2016-EXCLUSIVE-TO-BOOTS_1902818/

For more information on the Selfridges advent calendar click here: http://www.selfridges.com/GB/en/cat/selfridges-eclectic-little-luxuries-advent-calendar-2016_340-84010339-TGB05236/

Monthly Makeup Bag Rotation

Every few weeks or so i like to go through my everyday makeup bag and change a few things to ensure i use everything in my makeup collection.

In my everyday makeup bag i keep one of each product and my makeup brushes. This ensures i can grab my makeup bag each morning before work. I wouldn't have time to go through my makeup drawers and choose a different foundation, eyeshadow, blusher etc everyday.

I chose this Naked 2 palette to start using everyday again. This has some beautiful neutral colours. The shades in this palette are mostly cool toned which i like to use in autumn/winter. During the spring/summer i reach for more warm toned eyeshadow shades. This palette is very wearable for everyday because of the neutral colours.

I have had this hourglass palette for a while, but hadn't used it for a while. I love that you have a blusher, bronzer, highlighter and face powder all in one palette with a good sized mirror which is always so handy.

This Chanel blusher is one i have found myself savouring. Its such a beautiful colour and very precious to me as its the only product i own from Chanel and was a gift for my 18th birthday. Although I've convinced myself that in order to enjoy it even more i do need to use it occasionally!

Some other products in my makeup bag that I've recently rotated are; benefit brow zings, benefit hoola bronzer, and mac cream colour base in pearl.

I usually have one mascara 'on the go' at any one time to ensure i can use the product up rather than use 3 or 4 at once and wasting them because they dry up. 

With lipsticks and other lip products i usually use a different one everyday. I have Mac Plumful in my makeup bag at the moment which i apply at the start of the day, but i usually apply different lip products throughout the day depending on which one i have in my work bag or jacket pocket for example.

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Anastasia // Contour Kit review

Ive had my Anastasia Beverly Hills Contour Kit for probably over 6 months now and i haven't got round to doing a review before now. This product retails at £39 and is the powder formula - theres also a cream version which i believe is the same price. 



PackagingThis contour kit comes in black packaging that reminds me of cardboard! The packaging isn't actually very durable at all. The corners of the packaging are showing a lot of wear and tare already, and mine has been kept in my makeup bag or in my makeup drawers. The packaging shows a lot of finger prints and has stains from foundation and concealer which is why i don't think black is the best colour for this products packaging. In some pictures below you'll be able to see the marks around the pans of the powders (i purposely haven't cleaned it so you can see what it can really get like!)The top of the product flips up and is held in place once together by a magnet. Inside the product is a plain black area on the back of the lid, this looks very plain. A decent size mirror could of been placed here which would encourage me to take this product out on the go. You can actually take the pans out of the packaging and i guess place them in your own packaging if you would rather do that. However this product isn't cheap, so i would of expected a higher quality of packaging for this price. The pans are securely in place in the palette and I'm convinced they wouldn't fall out unexpectedly. The cut out on the packaging of each of the pans actually makes it really easy to remove the pans if you did want to take them out, which i like about this product because some palettes who claim to have this function are really difficult to remove and you end up chipping the powder with your nail!



FormulaThe formula of the powders is high quality. Each of the powders are highly pigmented and powdery enough so that you can get enough product on your brush without having to sweep your brush around much. When getting product on your brush you do need to be careful of fall out. When applying they are very easy to blend once on the skin. 
The product allows you to go for a subtle look or a more intense contour depending on what you're after which is good to have options in one palette. The products are versatile as I've also used some of these powders as eyeshadows and brow highlights which is also why this product would be great if it had a mirror as it would mean you could take this one palette and use it for your cheeks and eyes as apposed to taking a couple of palettes out and about.



Overall/ProductAlthough I'm sure the dimensions of the product are online, i didn't see them! And even if i did i wouldn't of got a tape measure to see the exact size of them! So although i was disappointed with the size of the palette, its probably my own fault! I would say this is a mid-range product, as its definitely not cheap, but there are other brands and contour palettes which are more expensive. For this price of this product i thought the size and quality of the packaging was very poor. £39 is a lot of money to spend on a palette that is small, even if the quality of the actual product is good. Packaging is a selling point for a lot of people. I will continue to use the product to ensure i can get as much out of it as possible, but i also believe there are much cheaper contour kits in the drugstore which are a similar quality. However if you have the budget to spend on this contour kit and don't think £39 is too much money, then by all means go ahead as its a good quality product and a well known and loved brand.

Kylie Jenner // Kylie Cosmetics

Recently a lovely work colleague gave me her Kylie Gloss after using it a couple of times and deciding the shade wasn't for her. 

The Gloss is in the shade Posie K which is a rose/plum shade. 

The gloss comes in a standard tube with a screw lid. The applicator is a brush which is fairly easy to use, however id recommend wiping some of the excess product off the brush as quite a lot comes out. 

The  length of the wand is just right - its short enough that you feel you have enough control of the application as some liquid lipsticks I've used before have been hard to apply as the wand has been far to long making it hard to get that precise lip line!

Although the product is called a gloss, its very pigmented making the colour pay off very similar to a liquid lipstick. 

The formula stays as a pigmented gloss on the lips. This makes eating and drinking a little bit difficult as I'm always being careful not to smudge the gloss. 

The colour pay off is good and its a very pigmented product. After the gloss has been applied for a while and you decide to wipe the product off, the lips will be slightly stained leaving a quite nice effect. 

The product definitely doesn't have as much durability and its not as long wearing as a matte lipstick or liquid lipstick as after eating or drinking i feel the need to reapply so that it doesn't go patchy and come off in certain areas. 

Although its fairly comfortable to wear, i can't forget that its on my lips when i wear it, as i can always feel that its there.

The fragrance of the gloss is nice, its quite sweetly scented but isn't too intense.

As you can see from some of my swatches below, i couldn't seem to find a lip product with a similar colour pay off. Some of my lip products looked very similar in the tube but when swatched next to Posie K, nothing matched at all which makes me think that its quite an unusual and unique shade.

Fragrance // Wish List

Even if my hair, makeup and outfit is looking good, i never feel complete without a spritz of perfume before i leave the house. 
I usually go for a sweet scented perfume, but recently I've been fancying something (still along a same line but) slightly different. Perfumes, especially designer perfumes can be so expensive but usually worth it as the fragrance normally lasts much longer on your clothes. I always have just one perfume on the go as i can't afford to purchase a new designer perfume as soon as i smell one that i like! My current fragrance at home is Lancome La Vie Est Belle, which is very sweet smelling. Ive used about 3/4 of the bottle so I've been thinking about which perfume i would like to purchase next, and to be honest I feel I'm in need of a change of perfume as I'm getting a bit bored of this one now. 
Ive narrowed it down to three perfumes that are on my current wish list.

Tom Ford // Orchid Soleil
I believe this is a fairly new fragrance. Aside from the bottle being absolutely beautiful, the fragrance is also lovely. I haven't heard many people talk about this perfume so far, so if i end up purchasing this one ill give a detailed review.

Escentric Molecules // Molecule 01
I feel like this is a blogger staple! I remember Zoe Sugg talking about this in a youtube video ages and ages ago, and since then many more bloggers have bought it. I believe its a fragrance that smells slightly different on everyone, which i find so interesting.

Giorgio Armani // Sì Intense
This perfume kind of reminded me of a fragrance by Lady GaGa with the black liquid inside the bottle. (Don't worry it doesn't come out black on your clothes or skin!) This perfume is very sophisticated and sexy, and again fairly sweet. It lasts a long time. My friend wears this a lot and i can always tell when she is wearing it, because like the name suggests its fairly intense but without being too over powering.

Let me know if you would recommend any perfumes and what your favourites are.

Carvela // Kurt Geiger

Theres always been something about me that can't seem to resist a good ol' clothing and accessories sale...

Once i have my heart set on a piece of clothing or a handbag for example, i will eat, sleep and breath thinking about it!

Before i know it I've purchased the item (or item's !...)

After not having the particular item for long, the novelty tends to wear off.

So when i saw the Kurt Geiger sale conveniently pop up in an AD on my FaceBook page, i thought i would have a little scroll and later that evening i had 100% convinced myself that i absolutely needed a new handbag. So all that night, all the next day and all the next evening i was thinking about these gorgeous bags that i seemed to love SO much. Before i knew it i had chosen two (yes not just one but TWO) and the confirmation of purchase email had just made it to my inbox.

For now, the novelty hasn't worn off and I'm thoroughly enjoying my new handbags, and pretty impressed that i got good deals on both handbags on the Kurt Geiger website. So i thought i would share some pictures of my new purchases with you, which may in turn persuade you that you definitely need a new handbag. You've been warned.