What I Got For Christmas | 2013

Firstly, I hope you all had an amazing Christmas! I had a wonderful day spent with my family and I got some beautiful things! I'm not here to boast or to sit and list everything Santa brought me, but I know these posts are very popular. I won't go into details as I'll do a few more in depth posts of individual items, but in the above photo are all my beauty related gifts! 

I got a gorgeous Umberto Giannini hair set from my Grandpa, but the majority of my beauty gifts came from my parents. My Mum loves to give people shower gel as you can see! In there you'll spot a few LUSH goodies, Britney Spears Hidden Fantasy perfume, a NARS blush in Douceur and the Origins Mask Marvels gift set, which I'd asked for but I thought was totally sold out, so that was a lovely surprise! I got my Soap & Glory Yule Monty set; I ask for their big gift set every year as my parents buy it when it's on 'offer of the week' in Boots and they get a massive bargain!

I'll go into details for a few things once I've had a chance to try them. I am so so grateful for everything I was given this year, I'm a very lucky lady! Stay tuned for my Christmas sales bargains, I went a bit crazy this year!

Fiona xox

Beauty Blogger Advent Calendar Swap | December 19th - 24th

This is the final week of my beauty blogger advent calendar swap with Laura from Petit Moi - Big World! I'm so sad that it's over but I've really enjoyed swapping with Laura again and she's given me some beautiful things! So heres my final week:

December 19th: Galaxy Gift For You Chocolate and Silver Bracelet - I got this yummy white chocolate bar and this pretty silver bracelet with coloured beads!
December 20th: Benefit Stay Don't Stray sample - I've wanted to try Stay Don't Stray for ages now, it's supposed to keep eyeshadow and concealer in place, and I'm quite intrigued to try it with my concealer!
December 21st: Cadbury Dairy Milk Coins - Another yummy surprise from Laura, chocolate never goes wrong at Christmas time! 

December 22nd: Models Own Lip Stix in Very Berry - I've never tried these before and I was delighted to get this deep burgundy shade! Very wintery! 
December 23rd: Barry M Matte Nail Paint in Crush - This matches the Models Own lip crayon perfectly, and I'm delighted to own this as it's been on my wishlist for a while!
December 24th: MUA Smokin Palette - On the final day, today, I opened this beautiful palette from MUA! I love the mix of neutrals and jewel shades and I'm so happy to have it! 

Thank you so much for everything Laura, I've thoughrouly enjoyed our 2nd swap! Please go and check her blog out! http://www.petitmoi-bigworld.co.uk

I will try and get my Christmas message up, but I'm a pretty busy lady so will say now that I hope you all have a Merry Christmas if you're celebrating and if not enjoy your time off school/Uni/work! Have a wonderful time! 

Fiona xox

Last Minute Xmas Gifts | Top 5 Under £20

from left to right, clockwise:

1. Ted Baker 'Holy Smoke!' Gift Set: £15.00 from Boots - So technically not beauty related, but we all love a nice candle, right? This duo is absolutely stunning, they smell lovely and the frosted pink glass is gorgeous! Ted Baker always help bring a little luxury to Christmas. 

2. LUSH 'Ho Ho Ho' Gift Set: £9.50 from LUSH - A nice cheap gift set from the masters of all things smelly, I was actually given this as part of my goody bag from a recent LUSH event. It includes a Santa bath bomb and their Snow Globe soap, both are fresh citrus scents.

3. Soap & Glory 'The Powder Trip': £20.00 from Boots - I really want this for Christmas! This face palette contains three of S&G's best selling powders; Solar Powder, Love At First Blush and Glow All Out.

4. Soap & Glory 'Good, Butter, Best' Gift Set: £8.00 from Boots - Another great gift set from S&G, featuring three mini's of their body butters, The Righteous Butter, Sugar Crush and Butter Yourself. I think this would make an excellent secret santa or stocking filler!

5. LUSH Christmas Candy Box: £19.95 from LUSH - A very sweet offering including their famous Snow Fairy shower gel, Candy Mountain bubble bar, Rock Star soap and Popcorn lip scrub!

Fiona xox

Beauty Blogger Advent Calendar Swap | December 13th-18th

We're now on to week 3 of my beauty blogger advent calendar swap with the lovely Laura from Petit Moi - Big World! I got some absolutely fab things this week and it really is so much fun! I'd highly recommend it for you all to do this time next year! 

from left-right:

December 13th: Barry M Gelly Nail Paint in Plum - Laura sent me some of these for our first swap in the summer and I absolutely loved them. This deep purple is perfect for winter.

December 14th: Molton Brown Ylang Ylang Body Lotion - To go along with the body wash from last week, it's very posh and smells divine! 

December 15th: Dr. Lipp Nipple Balm for Lips sample - I've been dying to try this for ages, and despite the slightly dodgy name I love it! I think I might be swayed in to buying a full sized tube!

December 16th: ESPA Lift & Firm Moisturiser and Intensive Eye Serum - I've never tried anything from this brand before so I'm excited to see what these are like! They're such a handy size I may pop them in with my travel toiletries for the next time I'm away.

December 17th: Fashionista Eyeshadow in Bella - I'm probably not supposed to have favourites, but this is definitely mine for this week! Bella is the most stunning white and gold marbled shadow that when mixed together make a beautiful pale nude/gold shade. I can see myself wearing this a lot!

December 18th: Philosophy Purity 3in1 Cleanser - I love Philosophy products so I was so happy to see this on day 18! 

I can't wait to show you what I open this week! You can see what I got Laura over at www.petitmoi-bigworld.co.uk

Fiona xox

LUSH Danger! Cosmetics To Go Book Launch And Xmas Event

The lovely author, Mira Manga! (excuse the thumb in the corner).

My copy of Danger! Cosmetics To Go and the amazing goody bag contents!

I was recently lucky enough to be invited to LUSH Cosmetics on Glasgow's Buchanan Street for the launch of their first ever book: Danger! Cosmetics To Go. Myself and some other lovely Scottish bloggers were asked along to hear more about the book from it's author, Mira Manga, and to check out all their gorgeous Christmas gifts! 

Danger! Cosmetics To Go is an absolutely stunning book and definitely one for keeping out on your coffee table! Heres what LUSH have to say about it: "Danger! Cosmetics To Go is the story of the company that preceded LUSH and tells of the meteoric rise and devastating fall of the dynamic cosmetics brand that revolutionised bathing and enchanted customers with their innovative offerings, all well ahead of their time". The book includes entertaining stories and incredible images of the products that inspired LUSH, infact I would love for them to bring some back! It's so colourful and enticing, you can't help but pick it up and read it. We also got the chance to chat with the author Mira Manga (who is amazing and very funny!) and she told us about her personal connection with the book and how much fun she had writing it. 

We were treated to some lovely drinks and nibbles, and were thoroughly pampered. I got the chance to smell and test out some products I'd never seen before, and boy oh boy did I lust over some of those Christmas gifts! We were sent home with a copy of the book each and an unbelievably generous goody bag! If you're a lover of all things LUSH, or know someone who is, Danger! Cosmetics To Go would make a perfect gift for yourself or someone else! It's available at all LUSH stores and retails at £19.95.

Fiona xox

Beauty Blogger Advent Calendar Swap | December 7-12

As promised here are Days 7-12 of the beauty blogger advent calendar swap I did with Laura from Petit Moi - Big World! I am seriously having so much fun doing this. 

Day 7: Studio London Nail File & Case - I opened up a very pretty and very handy nail file case, which had a lovely glass nail file inside, the case makes it perfect for on the go!

Day 8: Miners Blush - On the 8th of December I opened up a gorgeous Miners blush, it's a very girly shimmery shade of pink!

Day 9: The Body Shop Rainforest Hair Butter Sachets - I can't wait to try these, I love trying new hair treatments s my frizzy curly hair needs so much moisture.

Day 10: Birchbox Gel Eye Mask - I absolutely love this, it's a plastic eye mask filled with a cooling gel that you pop in the fridge - I'm excited to use this along with a face mask during pamper sessions! 

Day 11: Sleek iDivine Vintage Romance Palette - This was by far the most exciting thing this week, this palette is gorgeous! It's got some amazing Christmassy shades and I'll need to take better photos with swatches at some point!

Day 12: Molton Brown Ylang Ylang Body Wash - Such a very cute and very posh body wash, thank you Laura! It smells so good too!

I'm feeling so lucky and very very grateful right now, so thank you again Laura, I'm really enjoying this! Tune in next week for days 13-18 or follow me on Instagram (beautyfiend_) for daily pictures! 

Fiona xox

Beauty Blogger Advent Calendar Swap | December 1st-6th

As some of you may remember, I did a summer beauty swap with Laura from Petit Moi - Big World after Kat from Tales of a Pale Face paired us together. Well, Kat recently did another post about creating a beauty advent calendar for yourself or a friend, and Laura suggested to me we do it as a swap! 

I haven't had an advent calendar for a few years now so this was very very exciting! Unwrapping all of the parcels all at once was tempting, but I've been good and I'll show you what I get every 6 days! 

Day 1: Barry M Textured Nail Paint in Countess - This was a wonderful surprise, as its the most beautiful nail polish ever! Thank you so much Laura! It's the perfect Christmas party shade.

Day 2: Eyelure Pre-Glued Lashes - Another thing thats perfect for Christmas! I needed some eyelashes for my work's night out and these will do the trick.

Day 3: L'Occitane Mini Shea Hand Cream - I love L'Occitane hand creams, they're so moisturising and this one is a great size for popping in my handbag.

Day 4: Katy Perry Killer Queen Sample -  I'd wanted to smell this since it came out, and now I have the chance! It's lovely and very floral and fruity it's definitely a possibility that I'll buy a bottle at some point. 

Day 5: Essie Smooth Sailing Mini - I don't normally wear a lot of blue nail polish, but this colour is stunning. It's like a darker version of Bikini So Teeny and I think it's very wintry and icy even though it's not supposed to be!

Day 6: Montagne Jeunesse and Superdrug Face Masks - You can't go wrong with a good ol' face mask, especially in the party season when I love a good pamper session! 

I am absolutely thrilled with everything so far and just wanted to thank Laura again - I'm absolutely loving this! 

You can see what I get everyday by following me on Instagram (beautyfiend_) where I'll be posting my advent calendar goodies daily!

Fiona xox