2012 Favourites! | Face & Tools

I decided to do my favourites in two parts this year, one Face & Tools and a second, Eyes, Lips and Nails. So, heres the first part!

from l-r, clockwise: Real Techniques brushes, Sigma F82, E25, Rimmel Wake Me Up! Foundation, The Body Shop Tea Tree Pore Minimiser, Illamasqua Disobey, Vivo Baked Bronzer in Healthy Glow, MAC The Perfect Cheek.

 

These Real Techniques brushes have taken over my brush collection this year. My collection is slowly growing and I can see myself buying more RT brushes in 2013! The blush brush is so soft, the stippling brush gives a great finish and the setting brush is so good for soft contours, highlighting and applying powder under the eye. My Sigma F82 has become another of my favourite brushes for applying foundation! The mini Sigma E25 brush is my absolute favourite for blending out the crease.



MAC The Perfect Cheek blush from their Marilyn Monroe collection really was my perfect cheek in 2012, so simple but goes with any eye/lip look. Vivo's Baked Bronzer in Healthy Glow was my favourite highlighter of the year. I've made a good dent in it, and its a dupe for MAC's Soft & Gentle! The Illamasqua powder blush in Disobey has been my favourite product for contouring. Completely cool toned and not orange at all, its great for defining my barely there cheekbones and disguising my double chin!

Rimmel's Wake Me Up Foundation in 103 True Ivory has been my most used foundation this year, I've gone through several bottles! It doesn't have the best staying power on oily skin like mine, but it gives the skin a gorgeous glow and with a good setting powder it can last quite a while.

The Body Shop Tea Tree Pore Minimiser is my favourite primer from 2012, a new release, it primes the skin, minimises the look of pores and truthfully I think the tea tree helps keep spots at bay! Its great for those with oily skin and visible pores.

Fiona xox

Xmas Sales Haul

I went out the other day to Glasgow with my mum, and picked up a few things from the Christmas sales!

 

Not technically from the sales, but I bought these two products from Sleek! There isn't a Sleek stand in any of my local Superdrugs, so I picked up the Face Form Palette in Light and the Corrector and Concealer palette in the second lightest shade.

 

As always, almost all of the Soap & Glory gift sets in Boots were gone. They were all half price, and this 'Wowed Mouth' set was the only thing left at £6, so I snapped it up. It contains 6 shades of lipstick with a double ended lip brush. I normally hate lip palettes but I think I might like this!

 

In Boots I also grabbed this Umberto Giannini Party Glamour mini kit, reduced to £8. It has 3 mini hair products and an eyeliner pen. And the bag is gorgeous!

 

 I bought this Per Una Rose Originale perfume for £2 at the M&S beauty hall. In Debenhams I bought this gorgeous rollerball by Juicy Couture, which is half Viva La Juicy and half Viva La Juicy La Fleur which wasn't on sale but was only £9.99.

 

The Body Shop sales are some of the best, so I stocked up on some Cranberry Joy goodies. Some refills for the hand wash/cream stand my parents got me, a body spray and two home fragrance oils!

 

I hope you all got some bargains in the sales this year!

 

Fiona xox

Xmas 2012 | Beauty Presents

Hello everyone! I hope you all had an amazing Christmas if you were celebrating. I had a lovely day, my parents and I opened our presents and then helped Bailey open his! We went out for dinner with the rest of my family, as there are too many of us for a regular dining table! I had an amazing meal, Monkfish with pancetta and vegetables (my mum made us a proper turkey dinner on the 23rd so I didn't miss out!). We had a really great day.

As always, my family were far too generous and I received some amazing gifts. I am so so grateful for everything I was given. So many people don't get to celebrate Christmas the way we do so I'm really thankful.

These posts seem to be quite popular, so I thought I'd show you the beauty related presents. I'm in no way bragging. I didn't really ask for anything this year so a lot of my pressies were toiletries, so be prepared!

My parents always get me stockings stuffed with toiletries, I think they try to set me up for the year ahead! These Olay and Kleenex goodies won't go wrong, I love the shine sheets.

I also got lots of beauty goodies from Primark, the TOWIE lashes are gorgeous, although I'm not a TOWIE fan! I got some face masks too.

 

My lovely wee Grandpa got me this beautiful No.7 skincare set.

 

 

Make up! Woo. My parents got me this Victorias Secret eyeliner, and my first NARS blusher in the shade Sin. I love it. 

 

Frizz Ease products for my super curly frizzy hair, and some Avon hair oil from my Aunty and Uncle.

I also got lots of amazing toiletries, The Body Shop Cranberry Joy is my absolute favourite Christmas scent and the hand wash/cream set is lovely. The mango wash and scrub smell exactly the same as The Body Shop one, and I think you get them in ASDA. The Beauticology set is so pretty, and of course my Mum didn't forget to add some Lush goodies!

One of my favourite presents, the Dita Von Teese perfume and shower gel! I absolutely adore Dita, and my parents know this. It smells amazing!

I told you this was coming! As always I was given some good quality razors, which keeps my legs smooth and me happy!

 

My lovely Godmother got me these Soap & Glory goodies! I've tried the shampoo and conditioner before and absolutely love them. 

This was an amazing extra from my parents! Its the massive Soap & Glory gift set that they reduce from £60 to £27 the week before Christmas. I did know I was getting this as me and my Mum stalked the Boots website for weeks then sent my Dad out at 9am to get it. Is brilliant and all the products last me ageeesss. Such good value for money.

I'm so so grateful for everything I got this year, my parents know me so well and everyone else was so generous, I'm so lucky. I hope you all had a lovely Xmas and got lovely presents as well!

Fiona xox

Merry Christmas!

Just a quick message to say Merry Christmas to you all! Whether or not you celebrate Christmas, I hope you all have a fab day and enjoy your time off school, Uni or work!

 

 

I'll try my best to get some posts up after Christmas day, perhaps a Christmas FOTD and things like that. But I'll be back full force after New Year (or Hogmanay if you're Scottish like me!), as my 1st blogging anniversary is coming up.

 

I hope you all have a wonderful Christmas and get all the beauty goodies you asked Santa for!

 

Merry Christmas!

Fiona xox



Real Techniques | Powder Brush

I've had the same powder brush for yonks, so decided it was time to get rid and buy a new one. So naturally, I went for the Real Techniques Powder Brush - £12.99:

 

At £12.99, this is pretty pricey for a powder brush. However, its huge so applies powder pretty well and evenly, and is incredibly soft.

 

Admittedly, in hindsight I probably wouldn't have bought this brush. My advice to you is that if you're looking for a powder brush, go for something cheaper as powder brushes are really basic. If you'd like to extend your Real Techniques collection, I'd pick something more exciting! But if you feel like splashing out or just want all the Real Techniques brushes, this is definitely a good powder brush. 

I Won! | Laurzrah's Christmas Giveaway

I just wanted to write this post to say thank you to the wonderful Laura over at http://laurzrah.blogspot.co.uk as I was the winner of her Christmas giveaway.

 

I've been a follower of her blog for just about as long as I've been blogging, and I can't reccommend her enough! Laura always posts regularly and I've been tempted to buy quite a few things thanks to her! She also makes YouTube videos over at http://www.youtube.com/channel/UC-2V1hj-bcJ9c9yiPC9exlw

 

I'll quickly show you the lovely prize she sent me, which came beautifully presented with a lovely message on the lid:

 

 

I recieved a Soap & Glory The Righteous Butter mini, Lush Ponche Shower gel (which smells amazing!), Revlon Super Lustrous Lipstick in Revlon Red, an Essie nail polish in Leading Lady, a Nivea Caramel Cream lip butter, a Carmex lime lip balm, and some chocolate coins!

 

Everything I recieved is amazing and I'm so grateful, its all right up my street. I've already decided that Leading Lady is going to be my Christmas Day nail polish! So thank you Laura and a happy Christmas to you too! :)

 

Go check Laura out, she's an amazing and very generous blogger, and I think you'll all love her if you're not already following her!

 

Fiona xox

Urban Decay | Naked Basics Palette

I cracked. I completely fell for the hype, ignored my spending ban and purchased the Urban Decay Naked Basics palette. I've slapped myself on the wrist for breaking my spending ban, but I don't regret buying this at all!

Urban Decay Naked Basics Palette - £20.00 (currently £18.00) at Debenhams.com:

 

I'd heard the palette was tiny, but I had no idea. Even the box fools you into thinking its bigger, but the palette is cleverly suspended inside the box and is about a 1/4 smaller! It fits on my flat hand easily, with room to spare. It really seems like the perfect palette for popping in your hand bag or holdall if you're travelling light.

 

The palette contains six eyeshadows, 5 matte and one with slight shimmer. Venus is a lovely white shimmer, Foxy is a yellow toned nude, Walk Of Shame is a pinkier nude, Naked 2 is a nude taupe, Faint is a medium brown and Crave is a brown/black. All of the colours are really creamy and pigmented, apart from Crave which seems slightly harder to swatch and blend.

 

At £20, you can't really complain. There's more than one dupe for MAC eyeshadows which are £10-£12 each, so technically you're saving money by buying the UD palette!

 

I definitely think I'm going to get a lot of use from this palette, I wear neutral eyes a lot, especially mattes, so for me really, Urban Decay couldn't have brought out a better product!

 

Fiona xox

Scottish Beauty Fans | We Have Inglot!

I'm sorry to all my other British and international followers, but I've just discovered something very exciting! If you're from Scotland, or even the North of England, you may be excited to find out we have two Inglot stores here in Scotland!

Inglot are a fantastic looking brand which I've been dying to try for so long, but they have no decent swatches on their website so I always wanted to see their products in person.

One store is in Aberdeen, which is too far away for me to get to, but there's a second store in Stirling! Still quite far away from where I live but definitely worth a visit after Christmas!

Fiona xox

Xmas 2012 | Stocking Stuffer Ideas



Hello everyone! I really enjoyed putting together my Christmas wishlist so I thought I'd do a stocking stuffer post. I think these would all make amazing stuffing stockers for beauty addicts!



from l-r, clockwise: Models Own Wonderland Collection, The Body Shop Lip Balm Lollipop, LUSH Snow Fairy, Gilette Venus, Impulse Body Spray, Batiste Dry Shampoo, Scottish Fine Soaps, Yankee Candle

 

Models Own Wonderland Collection - £5.00 each or £20.00 for set: Models Own's winter collection of nail polishes are absolutely gorgeous and one would make a perfect stocking stuffer, or you could go for the whole set!

 

The Body Shop Lip Balm Lollipop - £10.00: This lovely set contains The Body Shop's Born Lippy balms, which smell absolutely amazing.

 

LUSH Snow Fairy Shower Gel - £3.25 for 100g: Although they sell bigger bottles of shampoo, I feel like this little bottle makes a perfect stocking stuffer! Snow Fairy is limited edition for Christmas, and smells of peardrops and candyfloss, its so sweet without being sickly.

 

Yankee Candle Sampler Votives - £1.90 each: Yankee Candle samplers are great for stocking stuffers! You could also buy their wax tarts instead if your loved one uses a wax burner.

 

Scottish Fine Soaps Tinned Soap - £4.95 each: Well, I am Scottish so there was going to be mention of a Scottish product eventually, although you get these all over the UK. These gorgeous tinned soaps come in all sorts of fragrances including the limited edition Christmassy ones I've shown here!

 

Impulse Body Sprays - £1.00 - £2.00: Impulse body sprays make great stocking stuffers, I've had many over the years in stockings and they never go wrong, I always pop them in my handbag.

 

Batiste Dry Shampoo: Another thing that never goes wrong, every girl needs some dry shampoo!

 

Gilette Venus Razor: This might seem like a strange one, but every year my Mum puts a good quality razor in my stocking. Its an essential and a really useful beauty gift to get!

 

 

Fiona xox



Xmas 2012 | Beauty Wishlist

Hello all! I wanted to share with you my beauty wishlist for Xmas 2012. I don't expect to get all of this, I would never ask for all of this! I know I'm getting a couple of the things here, but I just wanted to show you my dream wishlist and some great Christmas gifts!

 

from l-r, clockwise: MAC Lavish Rose lip set, The Body Shop Cranberry Joy Set, NARS Sin, Urban Decay Naked Basics palette, John Freida Frizz Ease products, MAC Mineralize Skinfinish Natural, Illamasqua Christmas Gifts, LUSH Cool Christmas gift set.

MAC Lavish Rose Lip Gloss Set - £25.50: This set is absolutely gorgeous, and not too pricey considering its MAC! It contains four different lipglosses ranging from light pink to a glittery purple.

The Body Shop Cranberry Joy Set - £15.50: Cranberry Joy is my absolute favourite limited edition scent from The Body Shop at Christmas. I don't like the sweet vanilla or the gingerbread scents. This set is really lovely and a really good price, though I'm hoping to get a hold of it in the post-xmas sales.

NARS Blush in Sin - £21.00: Although this is a bit pricey for a blush, I think that makes it a great thing to ask for at Xmas, and I'm pretty sure my lovely parents have hidden it away for me in the loft. Its the perfect wintry blush colour.

John Frieda Frizz Ease Products: My super curly frizzy hair loves what John Frieda products do to it, and there always seems to be at least some Frizz Ease serum in my stocking every year.

Urban Decay Naked Basics Palette - £20.00: Ok, I cheated. I've already cracked, broken my spending ban and bought this palette for myself. Because I know no one in their right mind would buy me more eyeshadows. I haven't got it yet and I won't be opening it until after all my Univeristy assessments are done. But I think its an amazing new palette from UD, everyone needs matte shades and at £20 it would make a lovely Christmas gift for someone!

MAC Mineralize Skinfinish Natural - £21.00: I don't know why this is in here, I'm not getting it for Xmas and I've never owned one, but I really want to try it! Along with MAC's Rebel Lipstick, it might be my first port of call after Christmas.

Illamasqua Christmas Gift Sets: I think the Illamasqua gift sets this year are great. They've got a wide range of products and price ranges, and I'd be more than happy to recieve one of their sets from Santa!

LUSH Cool Christmas Gift Set - £8.95: This is a fantastic wee set from Lush containing their limited edition Snow Globe soap and Whoosh shower jelly from the permenant range. It comes beautifully wrapped and both the products are really refreshing.

 

Fiona xox

ELF Haul

Hello again everyone! Last week, before I went on my spending ban, ELF were doing a 50% off deal on all their products. I bought a few things for Christmas pressies, and more than a few things for myself! So I thought I'd show you what I bought:

I ended up buying a lot of things I've never tried before, and a few of their new products. As always ELF delivered pretty quickly even though they must have been so busy with orders.

ELF Hypershine Lipgloss - £1.50 each.

I bought two of the hypershine glosses for myself in the shades Sugar Plum and Joy. Technically I paid 75p each for these so I can't complaing about much. I'm not a big fan of the whole 'twist brush' thing, but the colours are lovely and the gloss isn't too sticky.

ELF Studio Baked Eyeshadow in Burnt Plum - £3.75

These baked eyeshadows are some of ELF's newest products. They also have some baked blushes and bronzers which I'm dying to get my hands on but they haven't been released in the UK yet.

This is a beautiful purple/red plum colour, its amazing. It really makes my green eyes pop but I do apply some nude eyeliner to my waterline to avoid that 'junkie' red rimmed eyes look. Its so pigmented and really perfect for a winter eye look.

 

 

ELF Studio Single Eyshadow in Pebble - £3.95

 

I love love love this colour. It's like a cross between MAC's Copperplate and NARS' Lhaza. Its a lovely grey taupe. Its not as pigmented as the baked shadow but a few sweeps will do the trick.

 

 

ELF Studio Blushes in Blushing Rose and Berry Merry - £3.75 each.

 

I wanted to try some darker blushes for winter, and as I know my lovely Mummy has bought me NARS Sin for my Christmas, I didn't want to splash out. Blushing Rose and Berry Merry are similar shades, but Berry Merry is more pink toned than Blushing Rose. Berry Merry is also more pigmented.

 

 

ELF Studio High Definition Powder - £6.00

 

I'd been eyeing this up for a while as I was curious to see if/how it worked. So far, I'm not too sure but I'm going to keep trying with different brushes to see what effect I get.

 

 

ELF Studio Small Stipple Brush - £3.75

 

What can I say about this? Its a lovely soft small stipple brush, perfect for highlighting, blush and possibly contouring. I'll definitely get good use out of this!

 

Thanks for reading, bye for now!

 

Fiona xox



The Body Shop | Strawberry Deluxe Gift Set

Hello everyone! Before you all scold me, I bought this a long time before my spending ban! The Body Shop were having a 50% off everything online, so I got a few Christmas pressies sorted as well as buying this Deluxe Strawberry Gift Set as a gift to myself - cheeky!

 

The Body Shop Deluxe Strawberry Gift Set - £25.00 down to £12.50

 

The products came in this beautiful presentation box, which I'll be re-using for Xmas pressies as its so gorgeous.

 



 

The set includes a full sized Strawberry body oil, body polish, shower gel, lip balm, a mini body butter and some bath/exfoliation gloves! For £12.50 that was a pretty amazing bargain.

 

I've used Body Shop shower gels and body butters before, and they get a thumbs up from me. I've yet to try the body polish and the oil. The lip balm is lovely, the packaging is really up my street, it smells fantastic and its moisturising. I'll definitely be buying more of those when I need more lip balm. 

If you're looking for a Christmas gift I'd definitely recommend this for anyone who likes sweet fruity scents. Keep an eye out as The Body Shop are always doing discounts and offers!

Fiona xox