Christmas 'Stocking' Treats

This weekend a couple of lovely ladies came down to visit for my birthday, in order to thank them for their long drive and as a little pre-Christmas treat (I will be away over the festive period and won't see them) I wanted to put together a selection of beauty products for them, many of which I have seen on the blogs that I read with good reviews. 

From left to right

Lindt Balls  - these are AMAZING and any Christmas stocking is incomplete without a little sugary goodness.

Superdrug Calming Mud Mask

Balmi Lipbalms - in coconut and strawberry

Lush Sunnyside Bubble Bath Bars - these smell so good and foam up to create a luxurious bubbly glitter bath. Girl heaven!

Accessorize Bag Hooks

Kleenex Shine Absorbing Sheets

Natural Collection Polish - cosmic crush and red robin

Cath Kidston Notebooks - stationery of course

The girls were so excited to receive their little gift bags and loved all of the products. We had such a fun girly night doing our face masks and nails!  

 What would you put in a Christmas stocking for your friends this year? 

 

Getting to know me - 5 post challenge

Hhmmmm films, this is also quite difficult. I love love love going to the cinema. Getting all warm and cosy (as you must take extra layers and slipper socks), some popcorn and just becoming totally ensconced in a complete make believe world. 

I have wracked my brain for this one. On the one hand I want to appear educated and like I know what I'm talking about, but on the other hand I am a rom com kind of girl. The shi***r the film, the more likely I am going to love it. I don't really do black and white and I definitely don't do foreign. 

So rather than my three most favourite films, I'm just going to tell you about three of my favourite films in the last year.

1. One Day

Adapted from the novel of the same name written by David Nicholls (also my husbands name) this is the tragically ending love story of Emma and Dexter. They first meet at Grad Ball, on their last night in Edinburgh and it documents their lifes, by visiting them on the same day every year. As with the rest of the films on my list I had read the book before watching the film, and so was excited to see the film adaptation and the characters brought to life. I wasn't disappointed, the actors clearly felt a resonance with the characters so deeply depicted by David Nicholls and it is a film I've watched time and time again. 

2. My week with Marilyn

Who isn't obsessed with the blonde bombshell? Like most girls I'm intrigued by this clearly disturbed women who made the search for happiness her lifes purpose. The story is based in England, when Marilyn at the height of her fame visits England to film at Elstree Studios in North London. She takes a liking to one of the film hands, who carefully noted down the roller coaster of a week that he had with her. Michelle Williams is totally amazing, and the likeness for the starlet is unbelievable. Also cue lots of 50's fashion lusting. 

3. The Hunger Games

OK like everyone else I was totally obsessed with these books, and devoured them one after the other in less than 2 weeks. I couldn't wait for the film adaptation, and seeing how the 'Capital' and its colourful inhabitants would be shown. I was also intrigued to see how they would deal with the quite brutal and bloody deaths that make the hunger games what it is. As it is teen lit, they did have to dumb down the killings and I actually like Katniss in the film, while after reading the books I wasn't quite sure if I did like her or not. It's set up perfectly for the next installment which I can't wait for.

Avon Glimmersticks

So I'm back I've had a little bit of a whirlwind couple of weeks and I've been thinking long and hard about what to do with this little bit of cyberspace to call my own. So there are posts planned and I am hoping to get into a bit more of a routine to make this work.

Anyho today I wanted to write about the Avon Glimmersticks Diamonds Eyeliners and them recently making their way into my daily make up routine and a little place in my product heart. Found in the back of my mothers make up draw was the twilight sparkle, I liked the colour and the outfit I was wearing that day meant that I could get away with a little trial. From this day I loved loved loved this colour. The eyeliner found its way into my make up bag and back down the M4 to Bristol.

I started wearing it almost daily even to work, as I wear a lot of navy blue. To make it work proof I kept my make up very plain with just a slick of the eyeliner. For weekends I oomphed it up a bit and used it just as successfully on a smokey eye. I had so many great compliments about it.

So off I went to the Avon website to see if there were any other colours that might be worth a purchase. There are 8 colours to choose from and I went for Black Ice and Emerald Glow. There is a beautiful looking purple colour but my experience of purple eyeliners is bad as they seem to make my eyes seem redder. Green eyeliners instead tend to compliment my eyes and I chose the black as a trial to move away from the tried and tested Rimmel khol that has adorned my make up bag for many years.

I believe they were a bit of a billy bargain down from £6 to £2.99 although can see they are on offer at £3 currently. They are in black plastic packaging which is not particularly exciting with a twisty nib to dispense the product. I like this feature, it means that I don't need a pencil sharpener and avoids all those horrible black bits from getting all over my make up and brushes whilst in my bag.

The colours are vibrant and soft enough to blend and smudge if you so choose. But with out a doubt the best thing about these bad boys is their staying power. When it gets to 10 at night and I'm taking my make up off this is 100% still in place unlike the rest of my make up which has usually worn off by that point in the day given that during the week I usually have make up on by half 7 in the morning.

I would buy all three if these again when they run out and I would definitely try other Avon products if they are all of this quality.




Until next time...

Posted with Blogsy

My Favourite ... Fragrance

"A woman's perfume tells more about her than her handwriting" - Christian Dior

My fragrance and I met thorugh an old housemate. Calvin Klein Euphoria was on her dressing table and whenever she wore it I always thought it smelt beautiful. After the housemate and I went our seperate ways, I went and brought some of my own (I thought it was a bit wierd to buy it before that point) and therefore my relationship with this fragrance has lasted longer than with the ex-housemate and now ex-friend (a story for another time) and I hope our special relationship will continue for many years to come!

In a typical Calvin Klein style the bottle is relatively simple with no fussy bottle top or bright colours. A modern and simple cuved shaped with a metallic silver front, back and cap, the side are glass which beautifully show off the deep lilac colour of the fragrance. An understated addition to my beauty shelf! I love the minimal flash of colour, and it is actually one of the colours I used as inspiration when decorating our master bedroom. 

I am not a huge fan of light or flowery scents and this is neither of those things. It is quite strong, and actually a little masculine when you get the intial smell, and I love it!

The fragrance experts tell me that it has top notes of pomegranate and a heart of black orchid with woody undertones that make it a relatively musky smell with the masculine edige that I have mentioned. 

This is definitely an unforgettable fragrance, and I can always tell when other people are wearing it as they walk past me. It has it's place on long balmy summer nights and is strong enough for the winter months when you might like something with a little more depth. 

My little 30ml bottle was down to its last few spritzes and I decided to treat myself to another bottle as I can't wait until the usual birthday/christmas haul. 

I've used Fragrance Direct a few times and have always been impressed with the good prices (this is still one of the cheapest prices for this fragrance that I have found) and very quick delivery. I ordered this on Thursday lunchtime, paying for standard delivery and it arrived on Friday morning. To boot, I got 7% cashback by accessing the site via Quidco (a whole other post). 

So next time our out shopping go and have a little sniff and tell me what you think. Link to your blog and let me know what your favourite fragrance is?