Blogmas: Christmas Makeup for Work

One thing I love about Christmas is being able to do my makeup more often and more festive. I always use some kind of bright metallic colours throughout the year but I have to go overboard at Christmas. Recently for work I've been getting a little festive, so I thought I'd share it with you.

Details

Base; Bobbi Brown Face Base, Too Faced Born This Way Foundation (Porcelain), Urban Decay Naked Skin Concealer (Neutral Fair), ELF Translucent powder, Revlon Colorstay Translucent Powder, Becca x Jaclyn Hill Face Palette (Rosé Spritz and mix of Champagne Pop and Prosecco Pop), Rimmel Natural Bronze Bronzer.

Eyes; Tarte Tartelette in Bloom palette (Charmer as a base, Flower Child and Smarty Pants through the crease, Sweet Heart and Rebel on the outer crease and lower lashline and Leader in the very outer corner),  NYX Jumbo Pen (Gold), Colourpop Amaze and Paradox Super Shock Shadows, Covergirl Clump Crusher Mascara, NYX Eyebrow Pencil.

Lips; Nivea Peach Lip Balm, Revlon Colourburst Lipstick (Petal).

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Blogmas: Recent Beauty Purchases

If you follow me on Instagram, you may have already seen most of these products that I bought in the recent Cyber Weekend sales, I didn't go crazy but I got what I wanted. For Blogmas Day 9, here are my recent beauty purchases!

Firstly, I went a little Sephora crazy. I bought the ABH Modern Renaissance as I do believe it's the most talked about product of 2016. I've used it a few times and I'm loving it. The shades are absolutely beautiful and I'm sure I'll be purchasing another one soon.

The IT Cosmetics CC+ cream has been on my wishlist for a while and during their Black Friday sale I had to grab it. It's perfect for an everyday foundation as it provides good coverage but doesn't feel heavy on the skin, plus I don't need to powder with this foundation which makes it super easy in the mornings.

I've been a bit Tarte obsessed lately so I wanted to try out the Tarteist gel eyeliner. I've got a few mixed feelings on this product at the moment but I'm still trying to work on it so hopefully I can get the hag of it and end up loving it.

I also got a deluxe size of the Tarte Lights, Camera, Lashes mascara to try out. So far I'm loving it and will probably get the full size in the new year.

Next up, a mini Colourpop haul. I have a few of their liquid lipsticks so I thought I'd try out their matte stick formulas. I do love the formula so far. I got the shades Lumiere and Goldie - which I'm sure will come in handy over the Christmas celebrations.

Another product from Colourpop that I managed to pick up was the Super Shock shadow in Amaze. I really like their eyeshadow formulas, they are really creamy and super pigmented.

All the online shopping was followed by a little stop by Mecca to pick up this Too Faced Melted Matte lipstick in Cool Girl. A nice brown, nude shade that I am absolutely loving! Plus this formula doesn't dry out your lips and provides a stunning finish.

The last lip product I managed to pick up was this Jeffree Star Velour Liquid Lipstick in Celebrity Skin, a shade I've been wanting to try for months. I got this from Princess Polly and the shipping was super fast so I think I'll be ordering J-Star from them more often.

That was my recent little beauty haul, that I'm a bit late on sharing but hopefully you see some products that you'd like to try.

Let me know if any of these are your favourites in the comments below!

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Blogmas: Favourite Palettes

I can't believe how well I have stuck to Blogmas! I'm going to be taking a little break after this I think, even though I'm really loving these posts. Welcome to Blogmas Day 8 - today I want to show you all some of my favourite makeup palettes, that hopefully you love too!

Both high end palettes here; the Kat Von D Shade and Light Eye Palette and Too Faced Sweet Peach palette. The Shade and Light palette is perfect for neutral eyeshadow looks, it also has the perfect black eyeshadow that I think every eye palette needs.

The Sweet Peach palette is so beautiful. I love all Too Faced palettes but this is an all time favourite for me. I love the matte shades and the ones that have a glitter reflect are also gorgeous. I know a lot of bloggers have a bit of a love hate relationship with this palette but I think it's perfect.

I feel as though I'm a little bias here as I have included all high end palettes. The Tarte Tartelette palette and the Becca x Jaclyn Hill face palette - again both are amazing. If you are only going to buy one eyeshadow palette, this is the one to get. Perfect base shades, transition colours and even the dark shades in this palette are gorgeous. All the shades are super blendable and it's incredibly easy to create a simple day-time look and to also add those darker shades for a night-time or formal event.

Lastly, the Becca x Jaclyn Hill face palette. If you love Champagne Pop then you need this palette - it's limited edition so definitely try to pick this one up. I love the blush shades in this palette as well, they can be subtle or you can build them up to get a nice pop of colour. As for the highlight shades, well they are amazing. Champagne Pop is a definite favourite that I would consider buying in singularly as well - I just think this was more value for money at the time.


Well, that's it! It's quite a short list but these have been my go to's for 2016. What palettes have you been loving this year? Let me know below and I'll see you back here tomorrow for another blogmas post!

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Blogmas: 2016 Favourites

The countdown to Christmas is getting smaller! There's only 5 days until Christmas! This blogmas post is slightly late as I just got a terrible cold and was in bed all day so I didn't have time to post this so today I'm going to share with you my favourite beauty products of 2016.

Jeffree Star Velour Liquid Lipstick in Mannequin

Urban Decay Naked Skin concealer

Nivea Fruity Shine Lip Balm

Anastasia Beverly Hills Dip Brow Pomade in Light Brown

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I've been loving this Jeffree Star liquid lipstick formula, it was the first I tried and it isn't too drying on the lips, plus this colour is a perfect nude. Before applying liquid lipstick I always moisturise with this Nivea lip balm, it's perfect. My all time favourite high-end concealer - everyone needs this in their makeup bag. Eyebrows have been a big thing this year, and this dip brow from ABH is actually amazing, and it lasts all day.

ELF Blush Palette

Too Faced Sweet Peach Palette

Revlon Colorstay Translucent Powder

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There's been so many mixed reviews on this Too Faced eyeshadow palette, but honestly it's been my go to palette for the better half of this year. I love the orange and brown shades, also the subtle pink shades are great too. I've been loving this ELF blush palette too, for an affordable palette it is great quality. I find it really hard to find a drugstore setting powder that doesn't make my high-end foundations oxidise or seperate, however this powder is amazing! I love it.

Too Faced Born This Way foundation in Porcelain

Too Faced Better Than Sex mascara

Kat Von D Tattoo Liner in Trooper

Covergirl Clump Crusher mascara

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My top two mascaras - one high-end, the other drugstore both are great. If you are in need of a great eyeliner, this tattoo liner from Kat Von D is amazing. It is also very longlasting and is perfect for beginners. Lastly, the Too Faced foundation is probably my holy grail foundation. It is a perfect match to my skin tone and can be very buildable, I love it.

Once again, I'm super sorry this post is late. Hopefully the others are out on time too.

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Blogmas: Summer Skincare

Welcome back to blogmas! Hopefully you are enjoying these posts so far. Today I'm going to give you an updated skincare routine, since my last one was two years ago!

I've been using three different cleansers lately, they include the Drunk Elephant Pekee Bar, Lush Let The Good Times Roll and Swisse Olive Leaf cleanser. I tend to reach for the Pekee bar a lot more than the others as I've noticed my skin looking a lot more brighter and hydrated, I absolutely love it. I use it twice daily, once when I wake up and then at night after removing my makeup.

The Swisse Olive Leaf cleanser is another great product, I use this maybe one to two days a week for when I want a really deep cleanse. It leaves my skin feeling brighter and also reduces any blemishes that may suddenly appear.

I'm absolutely in love with the Lush Let The Good Times Roll cleanser. It is a solid cleanser and it does gently exfoliate as well. Did I mention it smells like caramel popcorn - it's fantastic! I use it rarely, and as you can see I'm almost out, so only once a week. Plus it makes my face feel so smooth and buttery (I'm not sure how that's possible!).

I don't use masks often but when I do, I reach for the Palmer's Purifying Enzyme mask. It is a clay mask so it dries pretty quickly and I've noticed it does lightly cleanse my skin, plus it also works as a gentle exfoliant which is great! Like I said, I don't use masks often so I probably reach for this once a fortnight.

I'm not a huge moisturiser fan as my daily moisturiser is my primer (oops!), I do however use a nightly moisturiser. The one I currently use is the Neutrogena Hydra-Boost Night Concentrate. It gives me heaps of hydration through the night and I love waking up without any dry patches. It has Vitamin E beads to really boost moisture and provide a nice glow to the skin.

Lastly, a holy grail product, that was also mentioned in my previous skincare post the Garnier Micellar Cleansing Water. I live for this product - it makes my skincare routine so much simplier and easier. It's great at removing makeup and cleanses as well. Before I cleanse I use this on a cotton pad and it takes all the makeup off with ease.

That's a simple run-down of my current skincare products that I love!

How are you enjoying Blogmas? Link me to your Christmas posts below!

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Blogmas: Gingerbread Cookies

Yes! I am actually going to bake gingerbread cookies. No, I didn't make gingerbread men (I'm a little sad about this). Yes, it's Blogmas Day 5!

If you follow me on Twitter you would've probably seen that I am trying to transition to a vegan diet, so today I'm going to show you how to make Vegan Gingerbread Cookies. I got the recipe from Veggieful and it seems super easy so let's jump right to it!

I got all my ingredients out and ready, preheated the oven to 180 degrees Celcius and lined a baking tray with baking paper.

2 1/4 Cups of Plain Flour
3/4 Cups of Brown Sugar
1 Tbsp of Ground Ginger
1 Tsp of Cinnamon
1/2 Tsp of Baking Powder
3/4 Cups of Coconut Oil (the original recipe used melted vegan butter, but I opted for this.)
1/4 Cup of Golden Syrup

I combined all the ingredients in a large bowl until it formed a dough and then used a round cookie cutter to cut out the cookies.

I baked them for around 15 minutes, and they were golden. While they are baking they smell so good!! It made my apartment smell like Christmas.

Once they were cooled I drizzled over melted vegan chocolate. They actually taste really good, so I suggest testing these out.

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Blogmas: What I Love About Christmas

We are already up to Blogmas Day 4! Just over a week until Christmas, can you believe it? This year has gone incredibly fast and I'm actually super excited for Christmas and to see what the New Year brings.

As you can probably tell by the title, today I thought I'd talk about what I love about Christmas. I'm not really sure how long this post is going to be as I think I'm just going to ramble on a bit, but who needs structure? A long winded chat is good right?

As someone who works in retail I both love and absolutely loathe Christmas. I really do think Christmas is the silly season as it tends to bring out the worst in some people, I can tell you I have seen it all. Anyways, this post isn't about that so I'm going to avoid that topic altogether now.

The main thing that I love about Christmas is that in genuinely brings people together. As someone who lives far away from my Family I really enjoy the time I get to spend with them. I may not get to go home for Christmas but at least I have friends here who are just like family to me. It definitely makes the day a lot more enjoyable when you can be surrounded by good company.

I love that during the lead up to Christmas, everyone is a lot more happier and joyous. I also enjoy all the Christmas baking that comes with it and being able to share it with friends and family.

I wasn't sure if I wanted to include this or not but I think it is kind of important and that is gift giving. When I was younger I don't think I fully understood it but now that I am older I see that it is definitely a sign of love. I don't expect any gifts during Christmas but for those who I do receive gifts from I'm super greatful. 

I really love giving gifts to my family and friends. I love wrapping presents, I love being creative and just being able to show my appreciation for everyone is what I love. May sounda little strange but buying gifts for people is so fun and it really shows what you think about them.

Did someone say Christmas movies? I'm literally a sucker for Christmas movies, especially Romance type ones. Also, Christmas music really pumps me up! I love watching Carols By Candlelight that's broadcasted on the TV a few days before Christmas, seeing all the musicians perform classic Christmas carols is what I live for.

I know this post was a little all over the place, but thank you for reading! I will see you tomorrow for Blogmas Day 5!

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Blogmas: Favourite Christmas Releases

Welcome back to Blogmas! For Day 3 I thought I'd talk about some of my favourite Christmas beauty releases for this year.

Lush

One of my favourite brands and it has some of my favourite Christmas releases. Starting with Snow Fairy. I love this scent so much and now they have a Body Conditioner as well as the shower gel. I definitely need to stock up on this one.

They also do some awesome bubble bars and bath bombs, which I'd love to use but I don't actually have a bath.

This year I have noticed that they released a new lip scrub Sugar Plum Fairy Scrub and it is delicious! I will be getting some of that as well.

Too Faced

Another brand that has awesome Christmas releases. This year Mecca got the Grande Hotel Cafe, Merry Kissmas Melted Liquid Lipsticks, Let It Glow kit and the Merry Macaroons palette as well as some little deluxe size products as Christmas ornaments.

Lancome

Also on the Mecca site, Lancome released a few Christmas items including the Divine Look Set, Hypnose Volume set and a Christmas Bauble. 

Zoeva

Zoeva released 3 eyeshadow palettes in the Plaisir Box, it includes the Blanc Fusion eyeshadow palette, the Caramel Malange palette and the Cocoa Blend palette. They are all so gorgeous, it's definitely worth picking up this set.

Jeffree Star Cosmetics

Whether you love him or hate him, the Jeffree Star Christmas release is amazing! The Holiday bundle shades are a little out there but who doesn't love his cool and crazy colours. The colours that were released include; Checkmate, Chrysanthemum, Designer Blood, Crocodile Tears, Sagittarius, Deceased and Pumpkin Pie.

Kylie Cosmetics

Lastly, I have to mention Kylie Cosmetics. They went crazy with their Christmas releases and hopefully you were lucky enough to get your hands on some. There is way too many to list but there's a few different bundles and lipkit sets that are worth picking up if you haven't gotten them already.

What are your favourite Christmas releases this year? Let me know below and I will see you tomorrow for Blogmas Day 4!

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Blogmas: The Christmas Tag

Welcome back to Blogmas day 2! Today I thought I'd do the Christmas Tag that I found on Makeup Savvy to get into the Christmas spirit. I love doing these kind of themed tag posts and I love Christmas so why not combine the two!

 If you wish to take part, I've left the questions down the bottom for you to copy to your blog post.

1. What is your favourite Christmas Movie/s?
What better way to get hyped up for Christmas than to watch Christmas movies! A few of my favourites include The Santa Clause, Home Alone, Nightmare Before Christmas and Elf. 

2. Do you open your presents on Christmas Eve or Christmas morning?
For me it's always been Christmas morning! Isn't that the excitement of it all and getting up super early to see what was left under the tree?

3. Do you have a favourite Christmas memory?
Spending Christmas (2012) in England is probably my favourite. To be able to experience a (kinda) white Christmas was amazing, plus I really love the atmosphere on England around Christmas time.

4. Favourite festive food?
My grandparents make the best plum pudding ever and I look forward to it every year. Also, who doesn't love a good rum ball!

5. Favourite Christmas gift?
I don't think I necessarily have a favourite. I just really value being able to spend time with my family now that I live away from home. My Macbook was a pretty great gift though and it's lasted me ages!

6. Favourite Christmas scent?
Cinnamon. I love the smell of cinnamon around Christmas time. When it gets close to Christmas I love stocking up on Lush Snow Fairy it always reminds of Christmas and that amazing candy store scent is to die for.

7. Do you have any Christmas Eve traditions?
How un-festive of me, but I actually don't. When I lived at home we used to go to the midnight service and it used to be my favourite part of Christmas.

8. What tops your tree?
Mmm, the big debate. Angel or Star...
I definitely top my tree with a Star.

9. As a kid what was the one (crazy, extravagant) give you always asked for but never received?
I have a feeling this is super generic but a pony. Everyone wants a pony when you're a kid, right?

10. What's the best part about Christmas for you?
Getting together with family and friends in the lead up to Christmas day is probably the best part. Also being able to spend a day being super chill and laid back is great, especially considering I work in retail and I don't get a chance to just relax over the Christmas period.

Questions

1. What is your favourite Christmas Movie/s?

2. Do you open your presents on Christmas Eve or Christmas morning?

3. Do you have a favourite Christmas memory?

4. Favourite festive food?

5. Favourite Christmas gift?

6. Favourite Christmas scent?

7. Do you have any Christmas Eve traditions?
8. What tops your tree?
9. As a kid what was the one (crazy, wild, extravagant) gift you always asked for but never received?
10. What's the best part about Christmas for you?

If you take part in this Christmas tag be sure to leave a comment below. Also feel free to link me to your Blogmas posts.

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