Beauty Gift Guide: £15 and under

As my last couple of gift guides were fairly bulky (if you missed them catch up with luxe beauty and mid-range gifts here), I thought I would whittle through these ones a little quicker.

Makeup:
Ted Baker Sparkle And Shine (£8) - lip/cheek stain & nail varnish in bauble
Ciate Paint Pot Pair (£10) - 2 mini nail varnishes in bauble
Topshop Christmas Lip Bullet Duo (£10) - 2 festive shades of the Topshop Lip Bullets
Ciate Oh Christmas Tree (£15) - 2 mini nail varnishes

Skincare:
Liz Earle Sweet Orange & Mint Cleanse & Polish (£9.75) - 50ml Cleanse & Polish + cloth
Emma Hardie Moringa Cleansing Balm Decoration (£10) - 15ml cleansing balm + cloth
Caudalie Beauty Elixir Bauble (£11.50) - the Beauty Elixir in a bauble
Decleor Instant Glow Mask Collection (£12) - 2 mini face masks (1 use each)

Clinique Little Holiday Helpers (£15) - 3 mini skincare items (15-30ml) & a mini chubby stick

Hair:
Philip Kingsley Geranium & Neroli Elasticizer Duo (£12) - 2 40ml Elasticizers
Toni & Guy Create The Tousled Waves Look (£15) - 250ml shampoo & conditioner + salt spray

Bath/Body:
Soap & Glory The Righteous Butter Drum (£5) - 200ml body butter bauble
Bayliss & Harding Midnight Fig & Pomegranate Cracker (£8) - 500ml shower gel
Sanctuary Little Tin Of Treats (£8) - 3 mini shower gels + body polisher
Soap & Glory Three Times Butter (£8) - 3 50ml body butters
Soap & Glory Winter Wonderhand (£8) - 3 50ml hand creams
Molton Brown Eucalyptus Festive Bauble (£10) - 75ml shower gel bauble
Soap & Glory Once Upon A Lime (£10) - collection of Sugar Crush minis
Aromatherapy Associates The Star (£10) - 9ml Revive bath oil in bauble

Other:
This Works Dream Team (£10) - Stress Less rollerball & mini Deep Sleep spray
Seventeen Makeup Brush Explosion (£12) - 3 eye brushes, 1 lip brush & a cheek brush.

Beauty Gift Guide: £15 - £35

It's time for part 2 of my beauty gift guide! Catch up on Part 1: Luxury Beauty here if you haven't already, and lets get started.

Starting with body care, Soap and Glory always do amazing gift sets in this price range. I think my favourite this year has to be the Poptastic (£18) as the box it comes in as so cute, and is a gift in it's own right. I love it when packaging is good enough to be used once the products have been finished up. So this set contains 6 of their best-selling products: Clean On Me shower gel, Hand Food hand cream, The Scrub Of Your Life body scrub, The Righteous Butter body butter, Heel Genius foot cream and the original pink body spray. Amazing value for money, and would be a great gift for people of any age, plus it's included in the Boots 3 for 2 so you can save even more.

Luxe Beauty Gift Guide: Over £35

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas, meaning it's beauty gift guide season! Advent is here so it's less than 4 weeks until the big day, and I am surprisingly organised. We are giving all our wider family gifts out this weekend, as it's the last time we'll see some of them before Christmas, so everything is bought, wrapped and ready to go. Because of this I have been in present shopping mode for quite so time so, big congrats to me for holding out and not posting this at the beginning of November, but I thought that was a little excessive. Anyway, less rambling and lets get into the over £35 gift guide for her. 

Saving Pennies: Space NK Freebies, Samples & Voucher Code Haul

There is little I like more than finding voucher codes for discounts off something I was already going to buy, or getting to the checkout and being offered free samples. So when I received my latest Space NK order (for the Narsissist palette, full review here) I was ecstatic with how many 'freebies' there were in it, costing no more than I would have spent on just the palette! I thought I would combine them into a haul and mini reviews as there are some pretty good products in there.

Saving Pennies: Glamour Magazine Clinique Freebies

In case you hadn't already heard Glamour magazine are giving away some amazing Clinique freebies this month and it's definitely worth trying to hunt them down! There are four to chose from: Lip Pops in Cherry Pop and Nude Pop, a High Impact mascara and a dramatically different moisturising lotion. Naturally I picked up the two lipsticks, as well as two for my sister and two for my best friend, because who doesn't want to share the freebie love! So I thought I would give you a mini review and a shout out that they are in shops now.

October Favourites

It's that time of the month again, and seriously where has October gone! So many exciting things have happened this month I haven't had a great deal of time to try out new products, but some oldies have definitely become firm favourites.

Maybelline Colour Tattoo in Metallic Pomegranate (£4.99):

Anyone who has ever read my blog before must know how much I love these cream shadows. They last for ages on the lid, come it a great range of shades and are so affordable! I wear berry shades all year round, but at this time of year there is nothing better than a red-toned eye with lashings of liquid liner. Metallic Pomegranate is such a pigmented yet wearable shade which really compliments my green eyes.

Payday Wishlist

It's pay day this week! I am so excited! As it's my first paycheck from my new job I feel a spend coming on! So I've complied a wishlist and hopefully at least a few of these will be making their way into my stash throughout the month.

1. This Zara Scarf (£19.99) is just stunningly simplistic and would go with my entire monochrome wardrobe. Zara always do amazing scarves this time of year, from traditional checks to full on blanket scarves there is always some good ones in stock. But if you see one you like, get it, it won't still be there by the time you go back (talking from experience I'm afraid). 

MAC Lipstick Collection

I haven't done a MAC lipstick collection before, because well, I am not sure you could call four a collection. But there are a couple of shades that don't get talked about much online, and I have just bought a fifth, so I thought I would compile a mini collection post.

Empties #2

As blogger traditions/clichés/common posts go, I always find routing through rubbish a bit of bizarre one, but I love reading them. So here's a quick look at the products I have finished up in the past few months.

Skincare

Garnier Micellar Cleansing Water (£4.99):

I absolutely love this cleansing water, as it removes all traces of makeup and leaves skin feeling clean and fresh ready for a second cleanse. Even my sister, who's idea of skincare is a face wipe and maybe moisturiser if she could be bothered has been converted to this Micellar Water instead of wipes. It is so quick and easy to use, and although it will never replace a traditional skin cleanser, it is a perfect first cleanse and helps my white flannels to stay white.

If I could only pick one...

I've been asked 'if you could only choose one' by friends quite a lot recently, so I thought I would collate a list of scenarios and see if I could chose just one. And honestly, it has been so difficult.

Foundation:

This was a tough one for me as although I am completely in love with the bareMinerals Complexion Rescue, it's not a versatile base. It is sheer-light coverage, which I love at the moment, but if I could only choose one I would want something more versatile, so I have chosen the Bobbi Brown Skin Foundation. It's lovely and lightweight, but can be built up to a medium coverage if desired. And most importantly for me, it comes in a wide range of colours and porcelain matches my skin perfectly.

Transitioning Into Autumn: Makeup

Outside the rain ins pouring down and the leaves on the trees are beginning to turn a gorgeous orangey-red shade; I am wrapped in so many blankets as is still feels too early to put the heating on. The seasons have definitely changed, Autumn is here and I am so excited that coat weather is upon us. The season changing is also the perfect time to switch up your makeup, so here are my top picks for transitioning into colder weather.

The Review: Too Faced Semi-Sweet Chocolate Bar Palette

Anything to do with chocolate and I am in, but when Too Faced released the Chocolate Bar Eyeshadow Palette I wasn't convinced. However, it has quickly become a firm favourite in my collection and when they announced a Semi-Sweet version (£39) I couldn't wait to get my hands on it. After multiple tweets and emails to Debenhams, and six months after the US release, I finally managed to get my hands on this beauty, and it is truly stunning.

September Favourites

Where on earth has September gone?! I know everyone says this every month, but wow, that one has just flown by. Honestly, this has been a really hard favourites to write, as I have settled into a good skincare routine and haven't overly experimented with my makeup. But here are a few things I have been loving throughout the month of September.

First up is the The Body Shop Honey Bronzer in 01 because it may be Autumn but I am not ready to give up the summer glow/not-quite-a-tan-but-an-extra-bit-of-colour just yet. It comes in 5 or 6 shades, so it doesn't look too dark on my pale skin, and there will be one to suit everybody. The powder itself is finely milled and buttery and an all round good product. I use it with the Real Techniques Blush Brush as it is tapered enough to apply product into the hollows of my cheeks, but large and fluffy enough to really blend the bronzer well. I would definitely recommend this one if you struggle to find a bronzer that suits your skin tone.

Shop My Stash

I am not quite on a spending ban, but with less money than I can shake a stick at I am just not spending. As a beauty addict who thrives off trying new products this is so hard, but after watching this Lily Pebbles video I decided to 'shop my stash' and rediscover some old favourites. And it's almost as good as going to Boots, right?

First up has to be the Avon True Colour Eyeshadow Quad in Mocha Latte which I rediscovered when collected eyeshadow palettes for my Weekend Road Trips post. This is such a beautiful quad and at only £9 you can't go wrong. The quality rivals some of my high-end eyeshadows as they are so creamy and buttery they can be easily built up and blended in. Shade 3 is the most beautiful coppery bronze shade which looks stunning as a one-wash-wonder but can be easily turned into a neutral smoky eye using the matte shades 2 and 4.

Weekend Road Trips: Travel Eyeshadow Palettes

Finishing the sad goodbyes with friends going back to uni is the one and only time of year I seriously regret not going. It always feels so strange in my hometown with all my friends scattered across the country. But on the plus side, it means weekend road trips are back on, yay! So I thought would take you through the eyeshadow palettes that are small enough to justify packing for a weekend.

Splurge or Save: Berry Lip Crayons

It may only be the start of September, but in my eyes that is 100% Autumn. And I am so excited! Being able to wear a coat again is definitely the best thing about the colder weather, but the second best is berry lipsticks. Nothing says Autumn more than a good plum-toned lip and nail combo, but when it comes to lip crayons, should you splurge or save?

The Review: Bare Minerals Complexion Rescue

It took me aaagggeessss to finally cave and buy the bareMinerals Complexion Rescue (£26), despit the shear amount of rave reviews this product was getting I still wasn't convinced. Maybe it was the fact I had never tried anything from the brand before and always subconsciously linked them with the type of powder foundation that disagrees with my skin. Or maybe it was just that I really didn't need another base. But I finally succumbed and I am so so glad I did, this has definitely knocked the Bobbi Brown BB Cream off it's top spot for lightweight bases.

Interview Makeup Tips

As some of you may know I am currently job hunting and have been to a couple of interviews lately. One where the job wasn't right for me, and the other I wasn't right for the job, and that is absolutely fine! Trying to keep a positive outlook is definitely making the whole thing a lot easier, Anyway, I digress, I thought I would share with you a few of my interview makeup tips in case any of you were in the same position. Obviously these are not rules, there is no right or wrong, just a few things I like to follow.

Build Your Own - Bobbi Brown Palette

For years I have wanted to build my own eyeshadow palette, a travel friendly, do-it-all palette filled with shades that all suit my skin tone. Not much to ask for. After a lot of deliberation I decided to go for a Bobbi Brown 6 Pan Palette as I am a huge fan of all of the range and the formulation is so buttery and easy to blend. Also, I felt like the MAC quads weren't enough shades to be versatile and the 15 pan would get too expensive.

As a quick run down of the prices before I get into the shades, the palette was £7 and the shades I chose were £17.50 each, however Bobbi Brown does have Sparkle Eye Shadows which are £23.50 each. Until now I hadn't realised how expensive it was to actually build this palette as I did it slowly and used vouchers I received for Christmas and my Birthday to cover some of it, however I still love this palette and for me it is totally worth it as it has some really unique shades that I love and get a lot of use out of. This being said I am definitely not rushing to build another one.

August Favourites

This is a little over-due, but seriously, where did August go?! One day I was sunning myself in July and now it is a rainy afternoon in September. I found it really difficult to chose just beauty favourites this month as I haven't been switching products up much, so there's a few random ones in there too.

bareMinerals Complexion Rescue

It took a while for me to be persuaded to jump on this bandwagon, but after so many positive reviews I couldn't resist, and I am so glad I picked one up. This is such a light-weight dewy product which can be built up when used with a brush, or sheered out with fingers whilst still giving a decent amount of coverage. This is my perfect light base as it packs some serious glow and sticks around all day. Be prepared for a serious rave review coming soon.