Wednesday, 27 December 2017

BLOGMAS | What I Received for Christmas 2017



Hello my lovelies and welcome to Blogmas day 27! As you can see by the title I'm going to be sharing with you what I kindly got for Christmas this year. 

*DISCLAIMER*

I'm not bragging in any way, I am extremely thankful and grateful for everything I was kindly gifted this Christmas. I just enjoy sharing these with you guys as I really enjoy watching/ reading what other people got for Christmas. 






This was all I asked for from my mum and dad this Christmas and they kindly managed to get me one. I have been pining over this ever since it came out in the summer earlier this year and you guys do not know how happy I am to finally have this! These shades are me all in one palette, the best colours to make my eyes stand out are pinks, golds, coppers, browns, and burgundies and that has all of these in one palette. All the colours swatch so well and are so pigmented! I cannot wait to play with this on my eyes. 


Carrying on with presents from mum and dad, they also got me this River Island perfume in the fragrance Milan. Now honestly, I can't fully tell you what the smell is because it doesn't have a distinctive note that stands out to me. But it's quite sweet and light and really sinks into the skin; I really like it. 


Got some pretty makeup brushes! These are from the brand MASQD and I've never really heard of this brand before. But the name of this set is the 'full face set' so I guess the whole idea is these are the only brushes you need to be able to do your full face of makeup. But, I can tell you now, that is a lie in my case. But the brushes are so lovely. I really love the metallic shine and colours with the matte end. They're a lot smaller than they appear in this photo but they feel really nice to hold. Also they're so soft. I can't wait to use them, especially on my eyes as the skin on my eyes is quite sensitive and they hate scratchy bristle brushes. So I'm quite excited to give these a go. 





Always get at least one DVD every year for Christmas. I've already seen Fifty Shades Darker but I've gotta get the whole collection of films so this one was next on my list. Bad Moms, I've heard so much about this film and heard how good it is but I've never actually watched it. So I'm really looking forward to seeing it. Olaf's Frozen Adventure, love a bit of Disney. Can't wait to watch it!


Love a Christmas book! I probably wont read this until this time next year so I'm reading it during December on the countdown to Christmas but I'm really looking forward to it. 


I'm so intrigued to see what this gift does. So the whole idea of this is that it has a wider lens so you can fit more people etc in one photo. Which is such a cool idea as on nights out and things my friends and I always wanna take photos all together and half the time we can never fit us all in, so I'm excited to give this a try and see what it does. 


Can't beat cosy socks! I feel like as I've got older I adore being given things like socks, slippers, and pyjamas so much. Honestly cannot wait to wear these on the cold wintery days. 


Can never have enough top coat! This is my favourite one, the Sally Hansen Insta-Dry - dries my nails so fast, helps keep their gorgeous shine, and keeps the polish on my nails through any task and weather. Love it! 


Got a prosecco key ring! I also got Em this same key ring for her birthday, so now we can be key ring twins. 


One thing I was gifted a lot this year is bath products and skincare products which I'm so grateful for as I really need get into pampering my skin better. So these are bath fizzers from the brand Along Came Betty, which is apparently a dupe for Soap and Glory but I don't know how true that is so don't quote me on it. But I'm so excited to use these because they smell incredible. The fragrance is ripe peach, fresh citrus, and juicy raspberries - it's like a cocktail for your bath. I really hope they smell as gorgeous in the bath as they do in the box! 


Bare essentials for me. Really needed a new charging cable as mine is well and truly had it's last day and it's always handy to have new headphones as I use mine so often that they usually die out after a few months. 


Baylis and Harding are classic gift sets at Christmas. Everyone gets one somewhere don't they. Even though this was from both mum and dad I know that my dad actually bought me this and I am so excited to use this because the scent is sweet mandarin and grape fruit and as I've said so many times, I love fresh fruity citrus scents. In this set you get a luxury bath cream, hand and body lotion, balancing body wash, nourishing conditioner, and revitalising shampoo. Again another gift for me to pamper myself with. 


Always get some form of nail varnish at Christmas as it's a classic gift to get me at Christmas and on my birthday because I love doing my nails. I hate it when I don't have time to paint them as wearing nail varnish keeps them looking fab, long and luscious, and stay strong. This set is from Technic and I've never tried their nail varnishes before. I had a play with the colours the other day and they're stunning. Such a nice mix of bright's, dark's, and metallic's, and glitter's. Really looking forward to giving these ago but what colour first? Any suggestions guys? 


Mum, dad, and I always buy these for each other. Whether it's Christmas, one of our birthdays, or any other special occasion. We really like to collect them all and play them in the car. Become a bit of a tradition really. 


From one of my aunties, every Christmas for the last five Christmas' I've asked for the latest series of The Vampire Diaries. It's my favourite show, absolutely love it. But as you can see from the image, season eight is sadly the last season and no spoilers because I've not finished season seven or even started season eight yet! I need to get round to that before I go back to uni. But I'm so content that I now have the whole collection. 






Also from my auntie, uncle, and cousins I was kindly gifted the Lovely perfume by Sarah Jessica Parker as well as a candle to match. I feel like this is a really old classic perfume and surprisingly I've never tried it before. 

Carrying on with the makeup theme, I was gifted the Sleek Surprise set which includes one full size i-Divine palette, a full fat lash mascara, and two eyeliners: one in 'midnight' and the other in 'aubergine'. I'm really looking forward to using these because I've never actually used any Sleek makeup apart from one lipstick that I still have now. Either way, can't wait to see what these guys do. 


From another auntie and uncle of mine I was kindly gifted some more Sleek makeup. This is called the essentials set and comes with a mini eye shadow palette with really pretty everyday neutral shades, the I'm conditional mascara, a mini 'matte me' matte lip cream in a nude pink shade, and a pretty gold makeup bag. I guess the whole idea of this little collection is that this makeup is all you need to carry with you every day in your bag. I'm super excited to try the 'matte me' lip product as they've been highly raved about for the past couple of years. As well as; the 'matte me' lip creams are definitely one of the products Sleek are most known for these days. I'll let you guys know what I think. 


Also from my auntie and uncle I got some lovely unicorn and rainbow slipper socks! Adore slipper socks, can't wait to wear them. 



From a family friend of ours I got a cocktail shaker! Which is so cool as myself and Chloe were talking about making cocktails the other day for New Years Eve and now we properly can! It includes four straws, three mixers: cranberry, lime, and peach, and (what I think is the coolest bit of all) it includes popular cocktail recipes on the sides of the shaker such as Pina Colada and Margarita. I'm honestly so excited to use this!


From the same family friend, was also gifted some flavoured lip balms!


Got a cute little 2018 diary which is actually really handy, not just because I like to try to keep on top of things, but also because even though I have a Filofax, I really don't know how I want my planner to be at the minute. I'm not sure what the best way for me to plan really is so until I figured that out at least I've got a little diary where I can keep my life in order. Plus, it's one page to a day which I really like. 





So my loves, from Chloe I always receive the most lovely and thoughtful presents. And not to mention we always go overboard when it comes to gift giving, whether that is Christmas or birthdays. I think it's because we're very similar people and because we've been friends for so long that we pretty much know one another inside and out. 

Firstly, I was kindly given these gorgeous Beauty and The Beast Mrs Potts and Chip footlets, which I also bought my friend Katie for Christmas. They're absolutely beautiful, so soft, and I can't wait to wear them. And to go with the footlets I was given this dainty Cogsworth, Mrs Potts, Chip, and Lumiere bracelet. I knew Primark had brought out Disney jewellery as I bought both Em and Meg a Mrs Potts and Chip necklace. But I didn't know they were doing bracelets! This is honestly so beautiful and precious, I cannot wait to wear it. 




Firstly, apologies for this weird pink toned colour on these two photos. I tried so hard to adjust the brightness and the position of the products to keep that cool toned look like all of the other photos. But this one just didn't want to budge and I think it's because of the bright blue and pink/coral colour. 

Anyway, Chloe also gifted me these and I am honestly really excited to try these as I've seen this range in Sainsbury's for so long but I have never thought to pick any up. So we've got a bath bomb but I can't tell what it smells of because it's got plastic wrap around it as well as this packaging. She also got me a trio of treats which includes bath salts, buttery salt scrub, and body butter. I cannot wait to try these and they really remind me of Soap and Glory. I might do a review in the new year once I get round to trying them, let me know if you guys would like that. 


She also got me a candle and I adore candles. This is that same fruity citrus scent like the Baylis and Harding set my dad bought me. Honestly, the products smell insane but this smells even more incredible. I just hope when it burns it smells as refreshing and rich as it does within the candle wax. Plus the candle is plain glass with gold lettering around the front that says Baylis and Harding and then the scent. It looks so simple and classy, can't wait for this to sit on my bedside table looking classy. 



Chloe also got me a gorgeous rose gold copper bag! It's a clutch bag with a little rose pink wrist handle. This bag is so roomy for a clutch bag, there's so much space which is perfect for a night out to fit all your bare essentials in, which for me is a lot of things. I think I'm going to use this on New Years Eve and I cannot wait for it to sparkle in the disco lights. I absolutely love it, Chloe knows me so well. 


And finally from Chloe, she got me some lovely products from The Body Shop in my favourite scent of all time. The smell of roses is one of my favourite scents anyway but British Rose from The Body Shop captures it perfectly. The products included in this set are the 100ml eau de toilette spray, 250ml of the exfoliating gel body scrub, and 200ml of the instant glow body butter. As I've mentioned to you guys before my skin just adores rose infused products and rose scented perfumes and products so my skin is going to bathe in this completely. I really do need to take better care of my skin in terms of exfoliating and moisturising etc, Chloe couldn't of gifted me this at a better time of year to be honest.


I was also kindly gifted some clothes, pyjamas, boots, chocolate, vouchers, and some money from my mum and dad as well as friends and family which I am also extremely grateful for. 

And that is everything I've received for Christmas this year! I honestly love everything, my mum, dad, friends, and family all know me so well. I cannot wait to use it all, some I've already started using/ used as you guys are reading this post. 

Let me know down below what you guys got for Christmas this year.


Thank you guys so much for reading and I will see you all again tomorrow for another one. 

Love,

Katie















Monday, 25 December 2017

BLOGMAS | The Last Three Days Before Christmas - What Have I Been Doing?


Hello my lovelies and welcome to Blogmas day 22, 23, and 24. As these last 3 days have been so hectic and busy in the run up to Christmas Day, I thought I'd just share with you what I've been getting up to in the last few days before Christmas. 


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On Friday I went into town to meet my friend Charlie to exchange Christmas gifts and have some lunch. We went to Pinto Lounge and had very delicious paninis and chips. I had tomato and mozzarella and Charlie had something with chicken in, I can't remember what it was called though. Either way, lunch was absolutely delicious and we had a lovely time sat in there. Whilst we were waiting for the food, we decided to exchange Christmas presents. I didn't take any pictures from exchanging them at the time, I took them when I got home. 


























The first gift I kindly received was the Snow Fairy box from Lush. Snow Fairy is honestly one of my favourite scents; that's when you know Christmas is coming, when this gorgeous sweet and fresh smell comes out of hibernation. 


























The box is absolutely gorgeous, just like it's products inside. The first product included in the box is probably one of the top if not the top Christmas exclusive that the scent Snow Fairy is known for and that is the Magic Wand Bubble Bar. I love this, it's so beautiful, smells insane, and lasts for absolutely ages. Charlie kindly gifted me one of these either last Christmas or the Christmas before and it lasted me till at least Easter. So it was a good chunk of time to enjoy this. Can't wait to use it again!




The second product in this box of goodies is the body conditioner. I've never really tried much of Lush's skincare products, simply because I just never gravitate towards them. I'm too obsessed with the pretty bath bombs to want to buy anything else. But this smells just as strong as all of the other products and look at that gorgeous iridescent glow on that butter. Can't wait to give this a go. 


The next pressie is a more recent range of products that have come into Lush and that is their jelly bombs. I feel like everyone can't make up their mind whether or not they like them or whether they're just a bit too much for a bath bomb. I've been really meaning to try one of these and now I can. I'll have to let you guys know my thoughts once I get round to it. 


You can't have a Lush gift set without the shower gel. I know so many people that rave about this shower gel and love it. That includes my friend Em. I'm so excited to finally use this and to try out a shower gel as I've never had a shower gel from Lush. 




This next beautiful present, I actually picked out and it's one of Makeup Revolution's new palettes. They've been bringing out makeup left, right, and centre at the minute and I just can't keep up. But they brought out a range of 'glitter palettes' (I'm only calling them that because the lids are gold, silver, and rose gold). I loved all of the palettes in this little range they've got going on but the gold one is my personal favourite because of the shades in it. They're a good mix of warm tone colours from light to dark. I also love all of the names of these shades. I'm honestly so excited to play with this palette. After Christmas I might just do a post where I play with a whole bunch of new makeup. If that's something you guys want to see then let me know down below. 


And finally, this is also something I picked out too. Charlie has quite a few of Zoe's beauty products simply because he likes them, he quite enjoys using them. Every year since she started her range he always gets her handcreams, so I decided I'd get him one for Christmas. Then I really fancied trying it myself, so he got me one for Christmas too. I absolutely adore the scent of this range and maybe in the sales I'll buy a little bit more from this range because the smell is so fresh and crisp and I love that. Plus, the packaging of this range is my absolute fave. 

I adore all of my presents from Charlie, I'm honestly so grateful. But the best part of all was seeing him open his presents and he loved them all which I'm so happy about! I absolutely love gift giving, it's my favourite part of Christmas. 

Once we finished our lunch and exchanging presents, Charlie actually needed to get a few more Christmas presents for his boyfriend, so that's what we did. And along the way, I took loads of photos of all of the Christmas bits and pieces in every shop going which now means my phone storage is almost full. But worth it, hope you guys enjoy these as much as I do. 



















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So on Saturday my parents and I kind of just got things done that needed to be done. For example delivering gifts to family, going to the cemetery to put wreaths down, doing some last minute shopping just before Christmas, and doing the last few bits of wrapping. I have no pictures for this day but we got everything done that we needed to so that was good. 

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A more exciting day for you now! So on Christmas Eve Chloe and I always meet up. It has become a tradition since I don't know when, but we always meet on Christmas Eve without fail to exchange Christmas gifts and catch up. As she's been working a lot lately I haven't been able to see her until Christmas Eve anyway; she had the whole day off which was nice so we had the chance to spend the entire day together, which we did. 

So in the morning my parents and I went and saw the last couple of people around the village to deliver gifts to and to deliver some cards and then we were officially done for Christmas! 

Chloe and I decided to go to Costa for a lunch date, of course. Would we go anywhere else? 


We both had a hot chocolate (how can you not on Christmas Eve?) but as you can see I had a standard hot chocolate with cream and chocolate dusting and Chloe had a black forest hot chocolate and we both had a brownie. It was such a nice afternoon, we just had a proper chat and a catch up which is what we 100% needed. It always surprises me how Chloe and I never run out of things to talk about and I'm really not exaggerating. We can talk for hours and hours and not get bored. 




We took a little trip into Primark, which is sort of another general tradition whenever we go out together. Luckily we didn't go too overboard; there were a lot of things already reduced in there, Christmas and non-Christmas products so you guys should go into Primark soon and treat yourself in those sales. 

So the first thing that caught my eye were these gorgeous boots! They're black soft sort of velvet material with beautiful embroidered gold butterflies all over. So I tried them on, I'm a size 5, and they fitted my feet perfectly but they were a little bit tight on my ankle when I was zipping them up. But I got them on and had a little walk around the shop with them on and they sort of eased into my feet. Plus, they're so comfy to walk in and not too high! If that wasn't already good enough, the price of them was an absolute steal! They were supposed to be £16 and they went down to £6! I would've bought these regardless but Chloe kindly said she would get me them as an extra and early Christmas present which was honestly so lovely and thoughtful of her. I am entirely grateful so thank you Chloe!

As for the rest of the bits, some of these were essentials and some were just general early Christmas treats for myself! So the essentials; I needed some more Hydrating Mist simply because I've ran out. I'm honestly obsessed with this stuff and I've only been using it since end of September/ start of October. I even convinced Chloe to try it so I'll have to update you guys on her thoughts. It just makes my skin feel fresh and awake and I make sure I put it on every day, you know, when I haven't ran out of it. Would highly recommend guys! 

I needed some new tweezers because I really need to pluck/ re-shape my eyebrows because they're getting out of control at the min. But I have no idea where my other tweezers have gone, I've checked everywhere I could think of. All of my handbags, makeup bags, big makeup bag that I brought all my beauty things home in. Absolutely no where to be found, so I decided to buy some more because they were only £1.00. And something else I had to get because some how within a day I've lost mine when I'm certain I put it back in my makeup brush pot. So I decided to get a new beauty blender because I've lost my Real Techniques miracle sponge - the pink one. I'm so annoyed because it's my favourite, I might see if I can buy a single one out of Boots as they had some within their Christmas gifting range as a single mini present. But until I have the time to do that, I got a new one. I didn't want to get one of those packs for a £1.00 though because after using a better quality one whenever I go back to a cheap one I see the difference when I apply my makeup. Primark's PS Pro range has been quite successful, so I thought I'd pay that extra pound to get a slightly better blender. I'll let you guys know what I think of it when I get round to using it. 

And for the fun stuff that I purchased, as you can see it is literally all lipsticks, I bought these just because I wanted a treat and they were all in the sale! The majority of these were £2.00 and under. Firstly, this nail varnish is from their peach range and it's like a nude peach. I already have one of these but I left it at uni and it's one of my new favourite colours. Even though the one at uni I didn't buy very long ago; I'll still use both, plus all the nail varnishes from this range are only 50p at the moment! 

Secondly, I bought a grey lipstick because I've always wanted to try one. I feel like cool toned colours can be quite a harsh look because there's always the risk of looking like you've got drag makeup on. There's nothing wrong if that's the look you're going for but if you're not there is a chance it could be a disaster. But I think it will be fine if I do really simple eyes. I was thinking really white fine glitter (that Tanya Burr one I got last year) as it's really soft and pretty. So I was thinking that might look quite nice with that. And, this lippy is in the shade 'insta glam' and was in the sale for £1.00!

Our next one along is the lip lacquer liquid lipstick, a really pretty pink nude shade, which I can't tell you the shade of because something has been printed over the name on the barcode. My friend Katie actually bought me one of these liquid lipsticks for Christmas in the shade 'obsession' which is a deep burgundy/ purple shade. I really like it, I love it when lipsticks dry but don't feel dry on your lips which is how these lip lacquers feel. I'm really excited to use this pinky nude and this was also £1.00!

Finally in the lip product squad is this beautiful crushed metallic lipstick. It doesn't actually have a shade name but it's just a really pretty neutral pink with a beautiful golden copper shimmer in it. I had a play around when I swatched them all when I got home and this looks really pretty on top of the pink nude lip lacquer shade - so I can't wait to wear those properly on my lips together. But I love, love, love this packaging the clear plastic with the gold metallic writing on and the textured looking outer packaging of the wand. There was also a purple one which I thought was so pretty but I didn't get it as I didn't think I'd get much wear out of it, but now I've seen the pink one I wanna go and buy the purple one. These lipsticks remind me of something from the Kardashian beauty ranges; but the best part about this one, it was only £2.50. 

Now I also included this spray as I got it very recently, like 4 days ago if that. This was not from Primark, this was actually from Body Care. I didn't know that the brand So...? had recently brought out some new and pretty packaged body mists. If you know me well then you'll know that I love rose scented products and my skin adores rose scented and infused products. Side tracking a little, Chloe is my favourite perfume and I was given it last Christmas from Charlie which was so nice of him. But I'm slowly running out as it's a little bottle, but not even joking, this body mist smells exactly the same as the Chloe perfume. Which is so good that I've found the perfume in a body mist. It smells so beautiful, I'm already obsessed.


After our lunch date and then a spot of shopping, Chloe and I eventually went home and came back to mine to exchange Christmas gifts before going to her boyfriends to exchange presents with him. But we don't open each other's presents until actual Christmas day. 

Well my lovelies, that's it, everything is done and dusted and ready all in time for Christmas. It has all flown by once again, don't know where December has gone really. But I hope you guys have an amazing Christmas Day filled with love, happiness, laughter, and joy, and of course lots of special goodies. 

I will see you guys all again soon, I am going to blog every day still until the end of the year, apart from Christmas Day. So I will see you guys back here on Boxing Day, not fully sure what I'm gonna upload. Will either be my what I got for Christmas post or me playing around with new bits of makeup that I've bought recently/ been gifted for Christmas. 

Thank you guys so much for reading and I hope you have a very Merry Christmas! 

Love,

Katie