Pre-Xmas beauty buys

I'm so excited to tell you that my Urban Decay Naked Palette arrived - yay!! Disappointingly i had to reorder from Boots as it was sold out at Debenhams despite them taking my order, not good customer service guys. Anyway Boots can deliver to your store free of charge and don't forget the points. I think this is possibly the most beautiful palette i own, all the colours are amazing and i love the combination of the different eyeshadow textures from shimmer to matte, perfect for day and night. I was so excited to use the palette that the following day i decided to experiment for work, but i didn't really give myself enough time and went a little crazy with the shimmer shadows that i ended redoing my eye makeup 4 times, not happy as I've wasted the primer already. I got a little frustrated so haven't got an EOTD to post but rest assured the primer i absolutely love and can't believe it's not been in my life before - this is one product that is going to become a staple of my daily make-up routine bye-bye creased eyeshadow, hello smouldering smokey eyes! I used the primer under an Avon smokey grey combo and it lasted all day, so no need for lunchtime touch-ups, although after the morning i had i was still trying to remove the amount of glitter drop-out i had all over my face from playing around with the shimmers - best left for night i think.

Urban Decay Naked Eyeshadow Palette



From L-R; Virgin, Sin, Naked, Sidecar, Buck, Half Baked, Smog, Darkhorse, Toasted, Hustle, Creep, Gunmetal.

I won't bore you with the same spiel as everyone else or the swatches as there are plenty already out there in the blog world and on eBay, but my opinion is i prefer the darker shades, my personal favourites are Darkhorse, Smog, Hustle, Creep and Gunmetal. I sometimes find bronze and golds hard to work with because of my olive skin tone so I'll be looking for some tutorials on YouTube for some tips, if anyone has any for me to try please feel free to share.

Now I've mentioned before i work in a health spa and unfortunately for my bank account we have a beauty shop (and a generous 25% discount) which just so happens to have had their latest delivery of Christmas gift sets. These usually sell out fast and with over 100 therapists at work i need to get in there first. The gift sets are amazing value for money and make great gifts for the family. My mum is always partial to an Elemis Pro-Collagen Quartz set!

I picked up some Spa Find (sometimes referred to as Finders) sets, which is a natural mineral skincare brand. Their products include Dead Sea Minerals and organic plant extracts great for re-hydrating the skin. They don't contain prabens or genetically modified organisms (GMO's) and are hypo-allergenic and importantly not tested on animals, thumbs up! Spa Find is extremely good for people who suffer from dry skin conditions such as eczema or psoriasis as their products are really gentle on the skin including their mineral exfo which is a fave of mine, also they can be used by people with an external nut allergy. I should be on commission hehe!

I got two gift sets, the first is the Lovely Glow Spa Luxury Exfoliation Set which costs £25 but worth £45 (lucky me, i get a 10% staff discount).

Spa Find Lovely Glow gift set



A peek of what's inside...

Included is:
- Radiance Anti-Ageing Cranberry Salt Brushing 500g
- Heavenly Hydration Mineralizing Bath Shower Gel 15ml
- Heavenly Hydration Mineralizing Body Lotion 15ml
- Heavenly Hydration Hand Care Cream 15ml
- Luxury Spa Candle ( smells de-lish!)

The second set is the Lovely Body & Hair Spa Body & Hair Set for deep nourishment £35 worth £92.

Spa Find Lovely Body & Hair gift set

Spa Find inside sneak peek

This set is bloody brilliant if i do say so as the products are FULL SIZE!!!
Included:
- Heavenly Hydration Mineralizing Body Lotion 400ml
- Heavenly Hydration Mineralizing Bath Shower Gel 400ml
- Heavenly Hydration Mineralizing Shampoo 400ml
- Heavenly Hydration Mineralizing Conditioning Scalp and Body Mud 500ml
- Heavenly Hydration Salt Brushing 50g
- Luxury Pumpkin Wash Puff

I bought both body sets but there are others available including face and hands. I do have duplicates of the products so i will be putting all the sample sizes in a gift set for Xmas for someone. The only downside to the sets is the packaging its a little cheap and tacky, a bit Superdrug, but I'll probably keep the smaller red bag for my ever-expanding cosmetics. Both gift sets come with  "Home Spa Regime" with instructions on how and when to use the products. Can you guess what I'll be doing tonight?

Please find the link below of details of all their gift sets for Christmas 2010,
http://www.spafindskincare.com/tradeonly/latestnews_2007.htm. It doesn't look like they've got the sets I've bought available to buy online but try emailing for stockists.


A quick NOTD to finish, i've painted my nails using the freebie Ciate nail polish from this month's Marie Claire in Dangerous Affair 013.



Ciate Dangerous Affair 013 without flash

Ciate Dangerous Affair 013 with flash


I can report it is day 2 and after a full day's work including typing there are no signs of chipping so so far so good. I did mention before that there is a 15% discount off Ciate on the box but there is also a 25% discount offered in the magazine p.131.

I wanted your opinion on FrontCover make-up from Boots, there deal of the week is a FrontCover To Go gift set complete with 20 removeable eyeshadows and interchangeable compact reduced from £35 to £16. Is it worth it and is the range any good? http://www.boots.com/en/Front-Cover-To-Go-Eye-Collection_1115227/?cm_mmc_o=HFzbkCjCWwclkwffwyCjCioviviCjC_zEEwyv&?cm_mmc_o=HFzbkCjCWwclkwffwyCjCioviviCjC%20C%20
They look ok and the price is good, it only runs until Thursday so i would love to hear from anyone on this please. To buy or not to buy?!

Much love xx

Guess who's back?

I'm really sorry guys that i've been a bit slack on the posting front but i've been making some pretty life-changing decisons! In my absence i hope you've been showing some love to other blogs - i'm addicted now, every time i'm online i can't resist a sneeky peek at other bloggers and catching up on their latest buys - me thinks this is why i've been neglecting my own! I've even gained a new follower - whoop whoop to lenka.komrskova! Maybe i should go away more often - might increase my following! Nah.

Just before i give you a quick rundown on my recent purchases, i wanted to tell you about a great magazine offer i picked up on my weekly Tesco shop (on a Saturday, i must be mad!), Marie Claire is giving away a free Ciate Nail Polish worth £9. You can choose from Dangerous Affair 013 - a deep raspberry or a bright red/orange, not sure on the name of that one as i got the first colour. I've yet to try Ciate polishes so hopefully the quality will be just a good as my fav Nails Inc, and i'll invest in some other colours courtsey of the 15% discount they're offering online with the polish (find the code on back of the nail polish bottle).The magazine is £3.50 so you might as well get both colours if you can - very on-trend colours for a/w. 

I've recently been embracing what my mama gave to me and going au naturale. Some may say i am lucky to have curly hair but throughout childhood all i ever wanted was poker straight hair, you always want what you can't have, eh! My nickname used to be candy floss - can you guess why? Oh yes, my hair was just like it, a big frizz ball - i don't think i was aware of the cardinal sin with curly hair - brushing it! Well i did discover GHD's and they say the rest is history. Now as i'm in desperate need of a cut but i'm really trying to get past the flicky out stage, i've been leaving my hair to dry naturally and just applying a little serum to define and tame the curls.

What do you think?

You'll have to excuse the curl at the front! Don't worry i pinned that back when i went out.

I'm now obsessed with hair accessories and have been trying to hunt down some cool one's - i found this gold heart hairband in Dorothy Perkins for around £7.00. It will even double up as a necklace!

My delivery of the sideways cross arrived as well! I first saw this on Lollipop26's blog and i've been lusting after ever since, she mentioned where she got her's from Etsy btw and i indulged. To be honest i thought the quality would be better but it is 14k gold filled and looks v.dainty and pretty on - my mum thinks it some sort of anti-christ thing! It's fashion darling! I paid around £30 including shipping from America.

I also picked up a heart charm necklace from Topshop that is v.cute and will go with my hairband when i'm feeling a bit girly.

Bargain - £4

As you can see i'm starting to fall in love with charm necklaces and will be wearing mine altogether for that vintage vibe.

I've also been changing my make-up look recently - channeling that 40's look and working my inner vamp with a little red. I painted my nails in Nails Inc Victoria & Albert and i've been sporting red and plum pouts.

I know i've not gone the full make-up look - i thought the lips and the nails were enough for a daytime look but i quite like the pared-down make-up look - less is more as they say!

Now i've blogged about Avon make-up before, but i just wanted to show you how much i like their eyeshadow palettes. I've three so far, Purple Haze, Smokey Eyes and Tiger's Eye (i think they're the names). I am a real palette lover, they're great for work or on-the-go and saves carrying so much make-up around. 

The Tiger's Eye is a great dupe for Chantecaille’s Limited Edition Tiger In The Wild Palette which costs £73 , Avon's palette was only £3.50 in the sale. Bonus.

Avon



Chantecialle



Chantecialle's palette may have a hefty price-tag but a proportion will be given to a save the tiger charity so it's all good! Both palette's are Limited Edition so grab them while you can.

Just a last mention that i've ordered Urban Decay's Naked palette, i know i'm a bit late on the bandwagon but it was sold out everywhere, now it's back in stock on Boots and Debenhams online so i am awaiting delivery as i type.