Christmas Makeup Haul 2018

A makeup haul will always fill me with joy no matter how old school it may get nowadays. Below is a mixture of makeup, some that I received as gifts and others that i bought myself.

Top left : Nars ‘Loaded’ Eyeshadow Pallet 

It’s a beautiful neutral pallet with a mixture of matte and shimmer shades. 

I’ve found every colour to be day-time wearable. The shades are well pigmented and easy to blend.

Top middle : Nars ‘Laguna’ Bronzer

This is a cult classic. I’ve had a couple of these before and highly recommend, it’s one of my all time favourite bronzers and I’m glad to have a back up!

It’s the perfect shade between a contour and bronzer - not too warm but not too cool. It’s easy to create contoured cheek bones but can also be brought up and on the cheek bone as a bronzer.

Top right : Mac ‘Oh Darling’ Highlighter 

This is a limited edition highlighter from Macs ‘Shiny Pretty Things’ collection that I believe launched just before Winter. 

It has a gold warm base so looks create with a bronzy makeup look. It’s not too intense as some highlighters can be. 

Middle left : Mac ‘Beet’ Lipliner 

A winter must have is a berry toned lip liner. I’ve heard a lot about this shade from Mac so really wanted to get my hands on it. 

Middle : Mac Bronzing Powder

This is very similar to Nars Laguna. The only difference I personally notice is this one seems slightly less pigmented. But the shades are very similar. 

Middle right : Mac ‘Babetown’ Lipstick 

Another limited edition lipstick from Mac. This finis is cremesheen so it’s a very glossy finish. It’s really comfortable and moisturising to wear, however this finish isn’t the most long lasting. This shade is a light pink - very girly and feminin. 

Bottom left : Mac ‘Lightscapade’ Highlighter 

I’m yet to test this product. But i was drawn to this highlighter as it’s not like any others I own. I have heard a lot about this shade so wanted to try it out. 

I can imagine it’s fairly intense and pearly. 

Bottom middle : Nars ‘Apoline’ Lipstick

I’ve been using this a lot recently and I’m really enjoying it. It’s very pigmented and actually applies more pink than it looks in the tube. It’s a stunning shade that I like to wear with a darker eye to brighten things up! 

Bottom right : Urban Decay ‘Cherry’ palette

Last but certainly not least! This absolute beauty of a palette is new from Urban Decay. It’s berry toned which isn’t like any of their palettes before. I love all Urban Decay palettes and have quiet a collection, so I definitely needed to get my hands on this one.

Day 51 - 58 Christmas on the Gold Coast

Day 51 - 21st December

We left the camp site and had a day of aimless driving around little towns to find places to stop and chill. After this we headed back to New Italy rest area where we've been a few times before already. This was a couple of hours drive and is near Byron Bay again so we may spend the day there tomorrow. 

The rest area has a small museum which we had a look around, and a cafe where I got a coffee. I really miss my coffee machine back home and the costa I would buy almost every shift at work! 

^Kangaroos at Darlington Beach Holiday Park this morning. 

Day 52 - 22nd December

We spent the day at Byron Bay again. It was raining this morning so we weren't sure where to go. But I'm glad we went here as it was really lovely and sunny as the day went on. The forecast said it was supposed to rain with a thunder storm so I'm relieve that didn't happen!

I think we will spent the next couple of nights at New Italy again as it's just over an hour away from where we need to be fore Christmas at our Airbnb. 

We are planning on doing a food shop Christmas Eve to get all the supplies we need across the Christmas period. I'm planning on cooking a roast to take advantage of actually having an oven to use! 

We will get lots of treats as well to enjoy the festivities and forget the budget for a couple of days!

^Street graffiti in Byron Bay town centre 

Day 53 - 23rd December

We spent another day at Byron Bay. There were barely any waves again as there was no wind at all it was completely still. But the sea was crystal clear which was lovely. 

We are staying at sleepy hollow rest area tonight which I'm feeling a bit apprehensive about as we avoided it on the way down south because there were lots of comments saying watch out for the snakes and spiders! We haven't seen any so far which is good. Im quite comfortably sat outside on the camp chairs now and not too worried about it, which means I've definitely came a long way since the start of this trip as I would never of done this 2 months ago! Just goes to show it's mind over matter (besides the fact that it's too hot to sit in the campervan anyway!)

We did a spring clean of the camper as stones and LOTS of sand seems to get everywhere as the cushions on the bed are in 4 sections (see picture below) 

and underneath these are wooden slates that we slot into place to create the bed. So sand and dirt gets in all the nooks and crannies!! I'm glad we have a semi-clean camper ready for our return into it after Christmas. 

We are both excited to check into our Airbnb tomorrow morning. It will be so nice to sleep in a proper bed, electricity, and have showers and baths until our hearts content !! It's the small things...

^Byron Bay

Day 54 - 24th December.  Christmas Eve!

We got ready for the day slowly to kill some time before headed to the Airbnb. We got the directions from the app and no one appeared to be home. I then noticed that the lady didn't actually give us a house number and just a road name so i presume that google maps was just taking us to the middle of the road! We stopped to ask a man to help us and it appears he was acy the one meeting us there because the lady who owns the house is on holiday for the Christmas period. I'm glad we found the right place eventually but it's also frustrating that we wasted some time no knowing where to go. 

The house is lovely it's one level but detached so there's lots of privacy and a lovely garden at the back with decking. 

We went to Woolworths to do a shop for Christmas supplies then spent the rest of the day inside making the most of air conditioning and showers! 

Mince pie?

Day 55 - 25th December. Merry Christmas! 

What a lovely day. We had a very chilled morning pottering around the house, laying in the hammock, drinking coffee, and cooking fry-ups! Perfect. 

We got ready and headed to the beach for a little while, we wanted to go to the beach on Christmas Day but we didn't want to spend too long there as we have just today as our last full day in the Airbnb before we go back to the campervan. 

After getting back I warmed up some camernbert, French stick and cut up some carrots for lunch. 

We had a couple of beers and watched stranger things 2. 

I'm currently cooking a roast for this evening as it's tradition! So we couldn't not!  

I don't want this time to end in the Airbnb it's been sooo lovely!!

^Tugun Beach on the Gold Coast

^Our breakfast 🍳 

Day 56 - 26th December

We left the lovely home and got back on the road. We weren't sure whether to go back up or down the coast. We need to drop the camper back in Brisbane in a few weeks and we've definitely seen more down the coast so we decided to head up again. 

We are back at Sanford Showgrounds where we have been once before at the start of our travels. It's very peaceful and relaxing here so we should get a good nights sleep. 

Day 57 - 27th December

We are back into the swing of things in the campervan. It was bitter sweet coming back in here after staying in a beautiful home, but it wasn't long before we were used to it again! 

We drove for a couple of hours to Alexandra Headland near Mooloolaba on the Sunshine Coast. The journey was only supposed to take an hour but there were massive traffic jams all along the M1. 

It drizzled with rain on-off throughout the day but once arriving on the Sunshine Cost it was fairly warm and sunny. We had a little chill before heading to Belli Creek rest area. 

Hopefully we will be heading back to Hervey Bay tomorrow as we really liked it there before and are lucky enough to have the time to go back to the places that we enjoyed at the start- that was our plan and it's worked so far :)

^Alexandra Headland

Day 58 - 28th December

We made our way back to Hervey Bay where we stayed for 2 nights previously. 

Where we are staying has a pool and jucuzzi so we have spent loads of time in there today. We've been trying to book into another site around here for the next couple of day to cover new year, but everywhere is so full I'm not sure we will find somewhere. I'd love to be here for New Years because it's such a nice town, it's peaceful and isn't overcrowded and not too big. 

We walked into town from the site which was longer than I thought, I regret being the one saying 'come on, let's walk!'. I got a smoothie which we shared (it was more like a milkshake as it had ice cream in it, so much for a healthy smoothie!!)

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/

Red sparkly Christmas nails

Two very festive things are the colour red, and lots of sparkles. Combining these together I have created a nail look that looks so Christmassy. Its so easy to do and is nothing out of the ordinary but still looks amazing. Only two nail polishes are needed to create this look - a red and a sparkle or glitter nail polish.

1.  Simply paint your nails red, 
2. Wait for them to dry,
3.  And use the sparkle polish as a top coat.

The pictures do not pick up how lovely the nails look when the light hits the top coat. I used two shade from Barry M. The red shade is called 'blood orange' and is from their 'Gelly' range. And the glittery top coat is called 'Jingle Bells' and is limited edition. (Jingle Bells is available in Superdrug right now and you can get it for free when you spend £6 or more on Barry M products)

I will be wearing these nails up until Christmas and probably until the New Year as well!

x