Yankee Candle's Christmas Collection 2017

Hey beaut's!

Oh look another blog post about candles he he, well I warned you I'm a crazy candle lady lol! I popped into my local garden centre recently and to my surprise they already had all of the Christmas Yankee Candles out including their brand new collection called 'The Perfect Christmas', and obviously me being me had to buy them all. The Perfect Christmas Collection contains four brand new scents all of which are super festive, I think they've got this years collection so right, theres a scent for everyone ranging for traditional, warming, sweet and cosy!

Spiced White Cocoa kicks the collection off on a sweet note and oh my shes a beauty, I get white hot chocolate, whipped cream and the warmth of spicy nutmeg from this one, it's so nice and well balanced and reminds me of going into a coffee shop during December for a festive drink! 

Next up is Crackling Wood Fire, doesn't that just sound amazing! This one is quite a warm and cosy scent and includes notes of nutmeg, myrrh, cinnamon, which combine with vanilla, amber, sandalwood and cedarwood. It can give off quite a masculine vibe but the nutmeg and cinnamon make it really warming, perfect for cold winter evenings!

The Perfect Tree literally smells like you have a freshly cut Christmas Tree in your lounge making it one very festive scent, it is quite on the strong side so it's not one I have burning for long but if your into your very fresh, balsam and fir tree scents then your going to love this one!

Finally we have Christmas Magic, this one is again super festive and has a fresh Christmas Tree vibe to it mixed with mandarin and a hit of something very spicy! This is another strong one which only needs minimal burn time for me personally!

Overall I do really like this years collection but my favourite is Spiced White Cocoa quickly followed by Crackling Wood Fire, I'm such a sucker for anything sweet, warm and cosy and those two for me are perfect! Each Yankee Candle wax tart melt claims to provides up to 8 hours of fragrance but personally I find they last sooooo much longer, I can literally have the wax tarts burning in my tart burner for weeks and they still fragrance the entire house which is amazing and such great value for money considering they only set you back £1.79 each.

You can find The Perfect Christmas Collection in all variations HERE.

nopin

My Favourite Autumnal Lippies!

 Hey beaut's!

Autumn is here which basically means I'm as happy as a pig playing in mud right now he he, I embrace Autumn so much and switch things up with my home, baking, cooking, fashion and even my makeup and one thing I love embracing the most is an Autumnal lip. I love nothing more than rocking a berry toned lip at this time of the year but... I've also been leaning towards more 90's neutral tones too recently so I thought I'd share my favourites today!  
From left to right...
1. Revlon's Black Cherry Lipstick is probably my all time favourite berry lip colour, it's a rich burgundy-wine colour which is stunning for Autumn/Winter. It has such a creamy and moisturising feel on the lips too and lasts for hours on my lips, I hardly ever have to top up when wearing Black Cherry which I love! This is actually my second bullet as I used this shade so much last year that I needed to repurchase again this year, as you can tell I'm a fan he he!
2. MAC Whirl is such a 90's throwback shade for me and I love wearing it at this time of year, its a muted, medium-dark rosy brown with warm undertones and a matte finish, I think of it as my autumnal nude he he.
3. MAC's Twig is my fail safe lipstick, if I'm having one of those days when I just cant decide what lippie goes with my makeup or outfit I know Twig is always a winner all year round, I couldn't be without this mauve beauty!
4. Tanya Burr's Pink Cocoa lippie is another gorgeous autumnal pinky brown toned nude, what I love about this one is how nourishing and creamy it is, perfect for when my lips get dry in the colder months, it honestly acts like a lip balm with the colour pay off of a lipstick, it's fab! 
5. Revlon's Parisian Passion is a sultry plummy/berry shade that I love to wear on days when I want a berry lip but have awfully dry lips, the formula is super moisturising you see - because it's actually a moisturising stain, it goes on like a liquid lipstick but had a non-sticky gloss shine that feels really comfortable to wear!
6. Tanya Burr's Martha Moo is basically a matte version of Tanya's Pink Cocoa lipstick but in a liquid lipstick form, it has equal amounts of pink and muted brown within it making it the perfect autumnal 90's matte lip!

What are your favourite Autumnal lipsticks beaut's? I'd love to know!

nopin

20 Things To Do In Autumn

Hey beaut's!

It's finally my favourite time of the year... Autumn!! Yayyyyyy! As you can probably tell I get stupidly exciting for this time of year, I just love the cold crisp days, autumn leaves, hot chocolates, knitwear, boots, fairy lights, spicy/warming candles, pumpkin carving, I mean the list could go on and on but you get the gist he he! So today I thought I would share with you all a few must have things to do during this awesome season. I'm going to make sure I do every single thing on this list this year!

1. Bake some pumpkin spiced cupcakes!
2. Have a cosy movie night and watch Hocus Pocus, obvs!
3. Go to a pumpkin patch and pick your very own pumpkins.
4. Carve pumpkins.
5. Go for a forest walk and capture the beauty of autumn on your camera, such a blogger thing to do I know he he.
6. Pimp up your house with Autumnal decor. 
7. Hit the shops and stock up on cosy knits!
8. Collect fallen leaves, pine cones and conkers and make an autumn garland/wreath.
9. Start cooking huge pots of stew.
10. Make some toffee apples.
11. Go to a maize maze!
12. Run through crunchy leaves until your hearts content, this is one my favourites!
13. Go candle shopping and stock up on those spicy, warming scents!
14. Pull out your best berry lippies and nail polishes.
15. Get creative with your hot chocolate making skills adding in new cosy flavours.
16. Have lots of Lush baths.
17. Have a go at home made smores.
18. Go to a fireworks display.
19. Go ice skating.
20. Make LOADS of gingerbread men.

What are your favourite things to do in Autumn beaut's? I'd love to know!

nopin

Technic Mega Mattes Eyeshadow Palette Review + Swatches

Hey beaut's!

Recently I've been giving some of Technic Cosmetics makeup a whirl and I've been super impressed so far, you may have seen I reviewed their Mega Nudes Eyeshadow Palette a couple of weeks back and was blown away by the quality considering the palette is a mere £1.50.... Yup that's right £1.50 for 12 shades, say whatttttt!!! Because of my love for that palette I really wanted to try another so I've been giving their Mega Mattes Eyeshadow Palette a whirl this time!
The Mega Mattes Palette* comes in a thin, compact plastic container which contains 12 neutral shades all in a matte finish ranging from light creams, taupe's and chocolaty browns. The formula of these shadows is super nice considering the palette is so affordable, I never thought I'd see much pigment in an all matte palette that costs a tiny £1.50 but hey theres certainly a good amount of pigment going on, some shades are a little lack luster but most look exactly like they look in the pan and they can all be built up easily! When working with these shades I found that they all blended well with only a small amount of fallout and they lasted really well on oily eyelids too which is a bonus. They also feel so silky to swatch and don't feel chalky at all which is amazing for such affordable shadows!
Overall I really cant recommend this palette enough if your looking for lots of mattes all in one place, I mean the shades are lovely and right up my street (I'm such a sucker for a neutral or two), they perform really well and the fact the palette only costs £1.50 is just pure craziness, who doesn't like a beauty bargain, I know I do!

You can find the Technic Mega Mattes Eyeshadow Palette HERE.

nopin

Soap & Glory 'The Mighty Make-up Bag' Reviewed!

Hey beaut's!

It's no secret that I absolutely LOVE Soap & Glory, their bath and body products are always re-purchased by me ( put your hands up if you cant live without a bit of Sugar Crush in your life he he) and I have a slight addiction to their Supercat Liquid Liner and their Smoulder Kohl Pencil too, I always have to have them in my makeup bag! Speaking of makeup bags Soap and Glory have just launched five gorgeous makeup/toiletry bags and I absolutely adore mine! 

 I have The Mighty Make-Up Bag* (£13.00)  from the new range and isn't she a beauty, it's a medium to large size and super roomy, I can fit everything in there for a full face of makeup and theres still room left for extra pretties...I love that I can fit my Urban Decay Naked Palettes in there too, most makeup bags I own wont fit any of my larger eyeshadow palettes or contour/blush palettes within them but this one does which is super handy. The fabric of the makeup bag has a really soft, metallic, faux leather effect and is really easy to wipe/rinse clean if you have an spillages during everyday use or travelling, it also has a sturdy silver Soap & Glory zipper too which keeps everything safe and secure. 

The design and colours of the makeup bag are so cute too, I absolutely LOVE that shade of metallic pink with the black and white stripes and stars, and fun fact here... each Soap & Glory bag has a secret quote or message hidden inside which I think is such a fun, quirky idea!

Overall I'm really impressed with my new Soap & Glory makeup bag, it's super cute, roomy, sturdy and secure and the rest of the collection is pretty epic too, theres a clear bag that comes as a trio set that I've got my eye on next he he.

You can find the Soap & Glory Mighty Make-up Bag at Boots for £13.00 HERE along with the rest of the toiletry bag collection! 

nopin

American Sweets Haul - Halloween Edition

Hey beaut's!

A couple of my many loves in life are American sweets and Halloween so when the two come together it's like a match made in heaven for me, unfortunately here in the UK it's pretty hard for us to get American food however, when I was searching online recently I came across a website which is based in the UK that sell LOADS of American food, drink and sweeties! After taking a look at the website I actually found quite a lot of Halloween sweets that I had been searching for last year, and actually the prices weren't that harsh, of course there where certain things on the site that where expensive but there was also quite a few bits that I thought where pretty reasonable so I placed a cheeky order!

The first thing I knew I wanted to search for was some M&M's, theres soooo many cool flavours too choose from in America, I'm so jealous! I decided to pick up 2 bags of White Chocolate Candy Corn M&M's to try and I couldn't resist a giant bag of  White Pumpkin Pie M&M's either he he, I have some cool Halloween baking plans with these!
I then picked up a few mini bits and pieces to try as they where so cheap, I got a couple of the Hershey's Candy Corn bars, these where just 30p each and are made up of white chocolate and mini candy corn pieces. I then grabbed a few bags of the Trick or Treat Reese's Pieces for my boyfriend which where 30p each and finally the Caramel Apple Milky Way bites sounded too yummy to scroll past and at 20p each I couldn't resist!
The Branch's Autumn Mix (£1.99) was just what I was looking for to decorate my autumn and Halloween bakes and treats with so I grabbed a bag, they also have other variations of candy corn and some of the bags are huge too!
Now I know Haribo is pretty easy to find in the UK but I loved the idea of these Ghostly Gummies (£1.24), the pack is crammed with pumpkins, skulls, bats and mummy's, cute! I also picked up a couple of boxes of Pop Tarts for my boyfriend, a tin of pumpkin for some pumpkin pie making and a bag of Jolly Ranchers for me because I bloody love them! 

Overall I spent £18.13 for 19 things which I think is pretty good and I'm so pleased with what I picked up! If your interested in treating yourself to any of these I'd be pretty quick, last year I added loads to my basket and then clicked off the site, then when I went back a couple of days later to buy everything 90% of the stuff had sold out so it does go pretty quickly!

You can find the American Sweets website HERE.

nopin

Makeup Geek 'Grandstand' Foiled Eyeshadow Reviewed


Hey beaut's!

Back in July I got my very first Makeup Geek eye shadows and after giving them a whirl it was fair to say I got the Makeup Geek bug and was desperate to try more shades, lucky for me my best friend Kate bought me another shade for my birthday which I had been eyeing for months which was always out of stock - Grandstand!
Grandstand is actually from Makeup Geek's foil eyeshadow range and is the most stunning warm toned rose gold/copper shade, it's so versatile and can either be worn alone, with a subtle matte shade blended through the crease during the day or for an evening look I just add a dark smokey shade blended in at the outer corners, it's just so easy to wear. The foil formula has such a creamy texture and is a hybrid between a powder shadow and a cream shadow, the colour payoff and the sheen is so intense its literally like I'm wearing foil on my eyes, its absolutely stunning! I've not yet experienced any fall out from Grandstand and it picks up really well on a flat packing brush and even better on my finger and lasts all day on my eyes, the quality really is super impressive.
Overall I'm so impressed with this shade, I've been wearing it more or less everyday since I've had it and I cant see me slowing down anytime soon, it's such a perfect autumnal shade too. The quality of these foil formula's from Makeup Geek is pretty incredible and I definitely want to add more into my Z Palette now!

What are your favourite Makeup Geek shades beaut's? I'd love to know!

You can find the Makeup Geek 'Grandstand' Foiled Eyeshadow Pan for £7.95 HERE.

nopin

B&M Autumnal Candles Reviewed!

Hey beaut's!

Its no surprise that I like a candle or 50 at this time of the year, however being in the UK I feel like we sometimes miss out on some of the amazing candle scents that you can get from places such as Bath and Body Works, however trusty ole B&M make some pretty epic and affordable Bath and Body Works candle dupes so when I was in store recently I decided to pick a couple up to try. There was a few differences I noticed this year, firstly I'm pretty sure all three I bought are new scents as I never saw them last year (correct me if I'm wrong lol), secondly they now have gorgeous hammered copper lids and thirdly they where £2.99 last year and this year they £3.99 so theres been a slight increase in the price. Anywhoooo onto the scents...
Cinnamon Sugared Doughnut is definitely my favourite out of the three I bought, the scent throw is really good and it smells exactly like what it says on the jar, subtle cinnamon, sugary sweetness and vanilla doughnuts, its pretty immense and although theres a lot of sweetness going on it isn't sickly at all, I love it!
Spiced Pomegranate Cider is more subtle that I imaged, the scent throw is very minimal in fact it smells a lot stronger if you just sit sniffing the wax when it's not alight. When it is lit I do get light spicy scents and warm berry vibes but as I said this one isn't as strong as I hoped.
Pumpkin Waffles....arhhh doesn't that just sound amazing! This one has a good scent throw, it's not strong or overpowering but it does fill the house with its scent, I get pumpkin, vanilla, maple syrup and nutmeg fragrances from this one which make me feel so cosy and autumnal, its lovely!

For £3.99 each you really cant fault these candles, they look cute, smell great without being too overpowering, their double wicked and burn evenly so theres no wasted wax and have up to 25 hours burn time, their such good value for money.

Have you picked up any of the B&M Bath and Body Works candle dupes beaut's? Which would you recommend? I'd love to know.

nopin

Technic Cosmetics Review #2 - Beauty Bargains Alert!

Hey beaut's!

You may have seen back in August I tried a few makeup bits and pieces by Technic Cosmetics after hearing such good things about them, to my surprise everything I tried was actually pretty good and most of them made their way into my everyday makeup bag pretty sharpish. After having such fab results last time it left me itching to try more, well you cant whack affordable makeup that actually does the trick can you!
I'd had my eye on the Technic Metalix Eyeshadow Creams* for such a long time, metallic eyeshadow creams and glitters seem to be huge right now but I couldn't seem to find any at high street prices until now. Technic's Metalix are just £1.99 each and they are bloody brilliant, I have the shades are Taupe Be - a golden bronze, Plum Pudding - a deep plum/purple and Champagne For Everybody - a bright gold/champagne, each one applies with a little doe foot applicator and they blend like and dream, they're super pigmented too and wont budge once their set. These are by far my favourites out of all the Technic makeup I own, their gorgeous! 
I wear liquid liner pretty much every day and the thing that has impressed me the most about this Technic Chunky Liner in Black* (£1.99) is that it stays put like nothing else, I'm surprised it isn't labelled as a waterproof liner  because it literally doesn't fade, smudge or run throughout an entire day, I can even touch my eye area and it wont transfer, I'm very impressed with it and for £1.99 you cant go wrong! The Ultimate Brow Kit* (£2.50) pretty much has everything covered when it comes to brows, theres 3 brow powders, a brow wax, two mini brow brushes and the cutest mini tweezers I've ever seen. It's an amazing little kit if your travelling or going on holiday as theres everything you need to keep those brows on fleek in one tiny palette, the lid even has a decent size mirror inside it too which is always appreciated!
I'm obsessed with makeup sprays at the moment so I couldn't wait to see how Technics Primer Spray* (£1.49) held up. To be honest I didn't see much difference in the longevity of my makeup but the spray definitely helped my base makeup blend better on my skin and my foundation seemed to sit flawlessly on my skin too. The way I like to use the spray is by drenching my face in the spray first the I go straight in with my foundation whilst my face is still wet and it does something magical when the two mix. Finally can we all just appreciate how stunning the Colour Max Matte Lipstick in Kiss Catch* (99p)  is... wow this shade is right up my street and the formula is lovely, despite being matte it isn't super drying and my lips still have movement when rubbed together which gives this lippie lots of sparkly points from me!
Overall I'm loving every single thing I've been road testing, especially those gorgeous Metalix Cream Eyeshadows. All of the Technic products are cruelty free, suitable for vegans and vegetarians too which is a major bonus for me and the fact their so ruddy cheap is such a winner, my bank card now has no excuse to keep yelling at me he he.


What are your favourite Technic products beaut's? I'd love to know.

nopin

Zoella Beauty and Lifestyle Christmas Collection Reviewed

Hey beaut's!

You may have seen that recently myself and my friend Kate got the chance to go down to London to visit Zoella's Winter Wonderland! We had an hour to explore and look at all of Zoella's new beauty and lifestyle Christmas collections - which where amazing by the way - and on the way out we was given a lovely goodie bag with four of the new launches inside so I thought I'd share my thoughts on them all now that I've had the chance to use them quite a bit.

Zoella's Christmas beauty collection is available in Superdrug and Feel Unique this year and theres quite a few things within the range that I think will be fast sellers, the Snow'ella Body Mist being one of them! The scent of the mist is super fresh, bright, clean and snow like with a flurry of stunning notes such as peony, refreshing mint and pink pepper. Can we all just appreciate how gorgeous the bottle is too, it's a whopping new 100ml size and the pom pom detail is mega cute, I love it! The Winter Wonder Hand Cream carries the same scent as the body mist and the same formula as last years gingerbread hand cream so I knew I'd love this as I went through tubes of last years hand cream. It's super nourishing, non sticky, soaks into my hands quickly and the scent lingers for hours, it's such a Autumn/Winter staple for me!

The Cosy Vibes Mug is part of Zoe's lifestyle range which is exclusive to Boots and is in their fab 3 for 2 offer which I love, you cant beat a bit of Boot's 3 for 2 at Christmas can you! The mug itself is a decent size for all those hot chocolates, teas and coffees and the design is super cute and so Instagram-able! The lifestyle range actually has a forest green/copper theme which I think work so well together, and even though everything has a festive feel it's not too in your face and you can definitely use everything all year round! 

Finally the Bento Box Stationery Set has all of your stationary basics covered, theres  
two pencils, a rubber, a ruler, cute arrow shaped paperclips, washi tape and of course and notepad to quickly jot things down. I love this set, not only is it pleasing on the eye but super practical too.

You can find the Lifestyle range exclusively in Boots HERE and the Beauty range is available in Superdrug HERE!

What have you got your eye on from the Christmas Collections this year beaut's? I'd love to know!

nopin

Anastasia Beverly Hills Subculture Palette Review & Swatches!

Hey beaut's!

The Anastasia Beverly Hills Subculture Eyeshadow Palette has been hitting the beauty headlines recently and not really in a good way, theres been lots of controversy about the shades being overly powdery and hitting pan pretty much instantly, so when I won a palette for myself on a twitter giveaway a few weeks back I couldn't wait to put the palette to the test myself!
The palette itself contains 14 eyeshadows in total and is mostly made up of matte shades, theres 11 mattes and 3 metallic shimmers, all of which are in earthy, underground colours which I think are perfect for the Autumn/Winter season! The palette also comes complete with a dual-ended blending and eyeshadow brush which I've used a few times and it's pretty good, although the blending end has shed slightly, theres also a decant sized mirror within the flip up lid which I always find really useful!
As I was completely new to Anastasia Beverly Hills makeup I had no idea what to expect from the formula of these shadows, of course I'd heard some negative things about the Subculture Palette but I tried to put those at the back of my mind because I wanted my own fresh opinion on the palette. Firstly the pigmentation is crazy good, in all my years of collecting makeup and eyeshadow palettes I have never come across a palette so pigmented in all of my life, the pigment of the matte shades is seriously mind blowing, I mean just look at those swatches below, wowza! I just have to add that none of these swatches where built up, I literally pressed my finger into the pan and done one swipe on my arm, WOW!
I found all of the shades pretty easy to blend and merge together, I would suggest using a VERY light hand when picking up the shades on your brush because the pigment is just so intense. All of the shades lasted really well of my oily eyelids too and didn't crease which is a major plus for me! Now are these shadows powdery... in a word YUP! They do kick up quite a lot of shadow when dipping my brush back and forth, they're certainly more powdery than any other shadows I've used before, I think it's because their just super soft eyeshadows, even the mattes feel buttery soft to swatch, it's quite bizarre really. To be honest the powdery kick up doesn't bother me too much, obviously it slightly annoying and a tad wasteful but for me personally it's not a huge deal.
Overall I do really like this palette, yes the shadows are super powdery but for me that doesn't hinder the quality or how the shadows perform, the shade range is right up my street and I'll be getting so much use out of the shadows during the Autumn and Winter months.

You can find the Anastasia Beverly Hills Subculture Palette for £41.00 HERE.

Have you tried the Subculture Palette yet beaut's? What are your thoughts on it? I'd love to know!

nopin

Perfect Brows With Benefit!

 Hey beaut's!

I'm really into perfecting my brows at the minute, I used to hate doing them but now I find it so satisfying getting them perfect and on point, no makeup look is complete without a pair of gorgeous brows after all is it he he. Recently I've been giving some of Benefits brow products a whirl, they have so many brow products to choose from in Debenhams which has us beauty lovers literally spoilt for choice, they've certainly catered to all of our brow needs that's for sure. I'm already a huge fan of the Gimme Brow by Benefit so I had high hopes for Benefit's other brow goodies, and I've definitely found a couple of new favourites here.
 The Foolproof Brow Powder is so easy to use and I'd highly recommend it for beginners, it helps you create a natural looking full brow in just two simple steps. The little palette has the cutest eyebrow-shaped pan which is split into two going from light to dark which helps mimic the look of a natural brow, because you always want to start off lighter at the beginning of your brow and then darken up the tail of the brow so the split pan helps you out a lot. The formula of the brow powder within the palette is lovely, it picks up on the brush well and blends into my brows with ease, definitely one to try if your prefer a softer, natural brow.

Precisely, My Brow Pencil* £20.00

Brow pencils are something I don't really reach for often because I have a tendency to be slightly heavy handed with them, but Precisely, My Brow has totally erased my brow pencil fear. Precisely, My Brow is my new favourite brow product (say whatttt), it has a twist up, ultra fine tip which draws on incredibly natural looking and precise hair like strokes and the handy spoolie on the other end of the pencil is the perfect size to brush through my brows before or after application. The texture is really nice too, it's creamy enough to give good colour payoff without added too much pressure which was always my downfall, but waxy enough to stay in place all day, it's even smudge proof and waterproof, I LOVE this little pencil so much.

Ka-Brow!* £20.00

Benefit's Ka-Brow is a cream-gel brow pomade which comes in a little pot with a 'not half bad' built in brush which is super handy for when your on the go. The formula itself is really nice and easy to work with, it creamy enough to blend well with my brows but still pigmented enough to do individual brush strokes creating natural looking brow hairs, it's also waterproof too which make it super long lasting without going hard or flakey, and I can confirm that once this stuff has set it isn't budging all day, I can promise you that!

3D Browtones Eyebrow Enhancer* £20.00

Benefits 3D Browtones is a totally new kind of brow product for me, I've never tried anything like it before and to be honest I never knew something like this even existed for brows until now. 3D Browtones is a slightly shimmering/metallic brow gel that allows you to either soften the look of dark brows, or add dimension to paler brows, whilst holding them in place at the same time. It's such a clever product which I absolutely love and has become a staple in my brow routine now, it really does make my brow hairs look like brow hairs and not overly filled in, and fear not even though it has a metallic formula your brows don't actually look sparkly thank goodness he he.

You can find the complete Benefit Brow Collection In Debenhams HERE

nopin