Christmas Haul 2013 - Beauty

I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas and received lots of goodies! I wanted to share some new beauty products I received and absolutely love!

Avon

Right, let's get started! Firstly, I'm going to talk about some lovely products from Avon my Nanna got me, a brand which I have never tried any of their make up, apart from some nail polishes. I got a mascara, eye shadow primer, concealer and an eye make up remover cream. 

Secret Santa 2013

HAPPY CHRISTMAS!

I hope everyone had a lovely Christmas and got what they'd hoped for! Not to mention being full to the brim with food - I know I am haha!

I'm going to do a Christmas style haul post soon, maybe including the beauty related things I received this year! So look out for that in the next couple of days!

I haven't really seen many secret santa posts this year (no doubt after posting this I will come across dozens of them already posted!), but I thought I'd share with you what I received in my stocking. Back in November me and my friends at school picked each out each others names at random for who we would be buying presents for. On the Tuesday before we broke up for Christmas, we exchanged our presents from "santa" - although practically everyone had slipped and blurted their person! I received lovely presents from my friend Katie, including some unicorn themed gifts - I love unicorns!

Christmas List 2013

Today I thought I'd share some things that I have asked for Christmas this year, seeing as December is flying by - I can't believe it's 8 days until Christmas Day!!

Quite a lot of what I have asked for this year is beauty related, but also includes some fashion and books.

November Favourites

Hello! I'm sorry that it may seem my blog has been abandoned, but I promise it hasn't!

I've been desperate to post for ages, but school work, coursework and the event of mocks has meant that when I wasn't eating or sleeping I was revising, and when I wasn't revising I was eating or sleeping!

Here is my November Favourites post (again, I apologise for the delayed post)

As it is now December (I can't quite believe that!) this favourites consists of wintery and even some Christmas themed products!

Yankee Candle

On a recent shopping trip I picked up three Christmassy small jar candles from the Yankee Candle shop, Christmas Tree, Christmas Cupcake and Cherries On Snow and the sampler of Snowflake Cookie.

Everyday make up

Wow, it's already December!! I can't believe the year is almost over! December is undoubtably my favourite month of the year, with gorgeous winter fashion and the festive run up to Christmas. I am in the process of blogging about my November favourites which will be up some time this week, so look out for that!

So, this is my "essential" basic make up products that I use and always wear - this isn't all my make up products that I use daily, but these 4 products get my by day in and day out without fail. I plan to do a full daily make up routine, complete with brushes etc. soon so watch out for that!

Rimmel Lasting Finish Foundation

The Pink Coat

Much to my enjoyment, one huge, unmissable, key part of this winter's fashion is the pink coat. Wool, fur, as long as it's pink, it's good. Here are 4 lovely coats I have seen this winter...

1. Topshop  2. Topshop 3. Topshop 4. River Island

(1 is currently sold out, but who knows, it might come back?)

Christmas Jumpers 2013

"It's the most wonderful time of the year!"

The festive season has already began with the launch of the wonderful Christmas adverts such as John Lewis and Marks and Spencer, and what better way to get in the mood for this season with shopping... especially for Christmas jumpers!

I found a selection of brilliant jumpers perfect for this time of year, with styles suitable for everyone - some are really "in your face" while others take the more subtle look. There's hundreds of Christmas jumpers around, and here I've selected 9...

Magazine Haul

As much as I love blogging, which is a lot, I do love to scan for the latest trends through the traditional printed media of magazines. One magazine that I will always get each month, without fail is Company, and I often get the odd ELLE or Vogue (although it's the cover star that often makes me buy it), but I still love browsing through them looking at the fashion, beauty products - to even the graphics used!

Topshop Wishlist

I am constantly browsing topshop.com (often drooling), and thought I'd share some pieces that I absolutely love and I've added to my wishlist!

October Favourites 2013

Hello! Can you believe it's November already?! Before it gets too far into the month I thought I'd share with you some of my favourites from October.

Tartan Dress

So, the tartan trend is well on its way and I just love how wintery and warm it looks. I'm a big fan of both the classic red and green styles, from skirts to coats. I recently got this beautiful dress from Primark! And at £15 - what a bargain! I absolutely love the fit and I think the colour makes it even more adorable. I imagine these are still in stock, but I know they are very popular!

Travel the World necklace

I want to travel the world. I know a couple of people that have have taken a year out and experienced the world, and I would love to do the same.

I love travelling and going to new places, so when I saw this adorable necklace in Accessorize, it summed my dream up!

MAC Pink Plaid

For quite a long time, I wanted to try MAC Cosmetics, after reading brilliant reviews on a range of products, and heard many people gushing about them. One thing I particularly wanted to try was the lipsticks, although having no idea on what shade would suit me, I was a bit stuck and overwhelmed by the range of colours.

That was until I tried some of my friend's MAC lipsticks, and discovered "Pink Plaid", a gorgeous pink that is from the Matte range. I felt that this shade was perfect for everyday, not too 'in your face' and quite neutral.

Rimmel London Haul

Ok, so before I begin, don't be fooled by the word "haul" as this post only consists of 3 items, haha. However, as this is my blog I am going to call this post a haul.

Today I popped into my local town high street with a mission to purchase a foundation and have a long and deep stare at the various make-up counters. I have been using No7's Instant Radiance foundation for the last couple of months, and with only a fraction left, I wanted to take an adventure and try a new brand.

I have read great reviews about a variety of Rimmel London's foundations, with my eye on the Stay Matte foundation, however I couldn't find the right shade for me.

Dogtooth Treggings

When the houndstooth/dogtooth print trend hit the shops, I was determined to get my hands on an item, although wasn't sure what to get.

Topshop did some gorgeous houndstooth leggings, which sold out in a flash, and you know the saying "you always want what you can't have"? well this fit the situation. However, despite looking longingly at them, I did question how much wear I would get out of them, as I literally live in my Topshop Joni jeans. (Isn't it annoying when you think sensibly like that?!)

With more and more shops creating different pieces of clothing in the print, there still wasn't anything that caught my eye and made me think "I'd wear that a LOT". Plus, there were so many varities; large print, small print, I didn't know what to choose from!

So, while still admiring the print greatly, I had pretty much given up hope of owning something with it on.

Benefit They're Real Mascara

It has only been in the last year or so my make up knowledge has really blossomed, as apart from the odd bit of lipgloss and mascara, and occasional foundation, I never really had a flare for it. But since encountering new experiences and people, and just growing up, I have developed a love for the cosmetic world. I have been watching YouTube videos of beauty hauls and reading reviews on a whole range of products.

I had little experience with Benefit make up in the past, my mum having the odd face product, and it wasn't until towards the end of last year I found the brand appearing more and more frequently on Instagram. One product that I saw repeatedly, and had many people gushing over was the mascara, They're Real. I had always admired the beautiful packaging and branding used for the products, but due to my lack of interest, I had viewed it all a bit out of my price range for make up.

Things changed, however, when I bought the November 2012 issue of ELLE magazine, where it came with a free Benefit They're Real sample mascara. It seemed a bit of a double whammy, there was an interview with Miley Cyrus (on the cover) AND I was able to try the much-talked-about-and-loved mascara!

I instantly saw what the craze was about, it was brilliant! I had been very pleased with my previous mascaras, but this, for me, blew them out of the water. The wand has plastic bristles as opposed to the more natural, brush bristles, which I have always favoured in mascaras.

Stay at Nanna's

Last week I returned home from spending a week with my Nanna, who lives in a lovely quiet village. We had a lovely couple of days together; shopping, popping out, visiting people and having some relaxed days. While staying with her, she showed me her school satchel, with beautiful worn leather, which held her school books. It was lovely to see her elegant handwriting and to see what books and other topics they studied, all before the days of computers and advanced technology. It made me realise how different our schooling was, considering it is less than 60 years ago, and made me wonder how different technology will be in the next 60 years... scary, huh?