Elemis Skincare Essentials Travel Collection

Hey All

Last month we were lucky enough to attend a spa day at Celtic Manor, you can read our thoughts on that here. Whilst there we were spoilt with some Elemis goodies. As a big fan of spa days I've used a few Elemis products already so was pleased to some some of my favourites in the set.

We were given the skincare essentials travel collection which contains everything you need for a break away. It costs £39 and can be purchased from the Elemis website.

With no product being over 100ml is perfect for breaks away when flying as well. I think when people go away they tend to skip on skincare products where as this kit have everything you need. 

The Pro-Radiance Cream Cleanser and the Soothing Apricot Toner are two products I'm actually using the full size of at the moment. The cleanser just melts away make up and leaves the skin feeling so soft. As it bonus it's anti ageing too. I'm a big toner fan, they make a big difference to my skin and I find when I don't use them I get spotty. This has an amazing smell to and feels so refreshing on the skin. I'm actually saving these skincare bits for when I go away hopefully in September so I've not used the exfoliater and day cream yet.

The Elemis Frangipani range was one I'd heard so much about so was so glad to get to use it. This smells amazing and sinks into the skin leaving it feeling so soft. They shower cream and scrub are also great but for me are a great luxury treat but not something I'd repurchase as full size.

This is the third of the hand cream I've had and I love it. I'm a firm hand cream promoter as I think hands age a person and are probably one of the neglected body areas. I also work in a laboratory environment so my hands end up feeling really dry.

This is a great gift, a pre holiday treat or a way to test out products. I love it when companies do a great range of decent sized minis so you can get a real feel of the product.

Have you tried any Elemis products? What's your favourite? I do also fully recommend the Pro-collagen Marine Cream.

Love M

xxx

Urban Decay Black Magic 24/7 Eye Pencil Set

It's pretty obvious that Urban Decay has claimed a good few hundred of my pretty pounds this year. Their palettes are pretty amazing and good value for quality products and their gift sets are always worth picking up.

The Black Magic 24/7 Glide on Double Ended Eye Pencil Set is one of those!

If the packaging hasn't already drawn you in with its really cool neon coloured watercolour effect in the background then the 4 double ended pencils in wearable colours will.

With 4 black ends and 4 coloured ends you are sure to find ones that will suit you. I always find these sets are the best for finding colours that you might not have tried but are actually your favourites. Having tried Smoke previously in another travel set I know now how much wear I'll get from it, and won't need to worry about it disappearing now that I've got another....

Let's be honest, if you ever wear an eyeliner it is likely to be a black one isn't it?

That was my thinking for picking up this set and knowing how much usage I'd get from it. If I'm likely to use colours in my eye make up it's green and purples, which was how i knew this set was for me.

Granted I still want the other Christmas set with Ten of the pencils with their infamous Perversion liner and Grindhouse sharpener, but this one was definitely the one for value for money for me.

So how do the colours match up?

Zero is paired with Demolition. Zero is classed as a zealous cream black and Demolition is a deep brown matte.

I have Zero from a palette I've bought previously and it's a pretty good black liner, though not the same as Perversion. Demolition is a colour I wouldn't have picked up but actually it's a really good alternative to black for those days when you're wearing nudes. It gives a much softer look and I know I'll be wearing it for work days. There are swatches at the end of the post for each pencil if you'd like to skip to them.

Perversion needs no introduction but in case you haven't used it it's the blackest of matte black liners that you will ever use. LSD is a navy shimmer with a bright turquoise micro sparkle. I wear a lot of this colour on my eyes so I'm already looking forward to getting this out during the party season.

Black Market is described as a charcoal black satin. If I'm honest I didn't realise so many liners could be created for one colour but now I've used these I can see differences in every one. Tornado is a dark eggplant pearl colour, I love wearing purples as they bring out the green in my hazel eyes and liners like this make it an easy addition. This colour is so pretty and subtle that I would consider wearing it to work with grey nudes.

Black Velvet is a rich smoky black matte and it is paired with Smoke is a deep grey matte. I've already written about it previously in a post here.
I've been wearing it to work a lot of days since I bought the mini set and will probably wear it more now I know i have a spare as back up!

The four pencils are a really good addition to anyone's make up bag but particularly if you like black liners and creating smoky eyes. I think these would also be great for adding a bit more definition to a nude eye design that you would wear to work every day. I'd take these in my handbag if I was going from work out for food or drinks as it would be an easy way to change your look along with a swipe of lipstick too.

You can see the blacks all on the left of the pairings and the colours on the right. Demolition is a lovely brown and the micro sparkle in LSD is clear to see in the centre. Tornado is the purple at the bottom which is hard to see but definitely catches in the light and Smoke is on the furthest right hand side.

This set would be great as a gift and costs £27 for the four pencils meaning they cost £6.75 each or £3.40 per colour. Seeing as a full size pencil retails at £15 each you really are getting quite a bargain if you know you won't use the full size pencils, and can always upgrade to the full size if you know it's a favourite.

I've got my eye on the TEN Christmas set now too as it has Perversion in full size plus 9 other never seen before shades with a Grindhouse sharpener that i also need as I've not found another sharpener that has the ability to sharpen the 24/7 pencil concealer.

What do you think of the double ended 24/7 pencils? Do you think it's necessary to have so many different types of black eye pencils?
Which is your favourite from the Black Magic set?

L xxx

Christmas Gift Guide

Happy Sunday morning!

I expect by now most of you have started to turn to the brochures and internet adverts that have suddenly been making its way into our inboxes and shopping baskets.

I have had loads of fun making wishlists and my own Christmas list from the Debenhams, Boots and Space NK Gift guides. So without further ado here are my picks of products that you might want to add to your wishlists or buy for fellow friends or loved ones.

Starting off with Boots, full of amazing product goodness that it would take a rather strong individual to ignore.

Smashbox always have some cracking products out for Christmas and I've always got my eye on the miniature primers. I've heard they're amazing and for £25 for the trio it's a good way to try them out.
The On The Rocks palette is also an extensive range of eye shadows for a bargainous £49 and would make a great gift.

Benefit gifts are extremely popular and it's not hard to see why, they're beautifully packaged and usually contain a great variety of their products as the perfect trial of something that may be new to you or as a travel kit. The above is the perfect pick me up for on the go make up or a cohesive travel kit, all you're missing is your base products and you're good to go! For £29.50 the Sexy and Scrumptious gift set is amazing.

Liz Earle have never sold their gift sets anywhere other than John Lewis. I think it's great they've gone more mainstream by selling at Boots and this gift set contains their infamous Cleanse and Polish followed by a skin tonic and eye cream. All have very good reviews and contain natural products so would be an ideal gift for someone new to the brand for £19.75

These pages are my favourite! It's like a perfect mix and match section; Nails Inc polishes ranging from £15/16, Benefit's Hoola bronzer, Lancome mascara and YSL Touche Eclat. All of which have rave reviews and anyone would be happy to receive. 

Ted Baker produce some amazing gift sets also and i particularly like their designs this year. I'm a fan of coral anyway but the bottles lined up in different colours as above remind me of being on holiday in Southern Italy on the Amalfi Coast as the houses are similar colours and this makes me happy.
The UpTed Abbey set above looks like a lovely gift and I would imagine it will be on offer as a star gift at Boots sometime soon.

Origins also have some great gift sets where the value can be worth around £30 more than the price it is on sale for. The set below costs £40 though is worth somewhere near £68. Ginzing is one of their most popular ranges and this gift set is the perfect range of products for someone who deserves a pamper via a skincare set packed with vitamins and minerals.

So what do Debenhams have to offer?

You can never go wrong with a bit of sparkle in the form of a piece of jewellery. Watches are a classic item and rose gold is a popular choice at the moment, although silver and gold are still the classics.

The Clarins palette contains a gorgeous selection of eyeshadows that anyone can wear, especially over the Christmas season and would be perfect in time for New Year's Eve. The ten shades are a great basic palette for £35, meaning it's only £3.50 per eyeshadow which is pretty good value for Clarins!

Lancome sets are also really good value for money and the larger set has a massive variety of trial sized products and an eyeshadow palette:

It is hard to even think about Debenhams without considering Urban Decay. They have plenty of products available year round but this year their Christmas sets are awesome. The limited edition Vice 3 palette is sure to sell out and the eyeliner and lipstick sets are musts in every beauty addicts collection. I've got Vice 3 and the Black Magic eyeliner set already, the others are sure to find their way into my life too! These products range from £27 to £42.

Lastly L'Occitane are another brand where you just cannot go wrong with gift sets, especially with scents such as Shea Butter as they're so soft and light that anyone would be happy to receive it and you just cannot go wrong, especially for £20 or £35.

I couldn't complete these Gift Guides without a mention from Space NK, my latest favourite store. Having never bought from them before until a few weeks ago I'm now a constant browser of their site and some gift sets have particularly caught my eye:

Nars Virtual Domination cheek palette; £45 but worth £117. I really need it but cannot afford it; I need to find someone who can afford to buy it for me! A lovely present for any female who loves good quality blushes.

This is nicely followed up with the Digital World Lip Coffret also from Nars featuring 5 lip pencils, 3 of which are limited edition all of £32. They also allegedly come in an acrylic style box for future storage which I always thing is a good idea.

GlamGlow have a gorgeous skincare set out containing three different mud treatments for £50. With a huge following for its tingling and cleansing muds this one is sure to make a skincare obsessive extremely happy!

In fact i imagine at this rate I will be producing another Gift Guide in a week or so with other new products that I've found!

Do you find it easy or hard to buy for fellow females are Christmas time?
I think I could quite easily do it but may come into problems when a budget is required and also stopping myself from buying one for me too!

What are on your Gift Guides?

I've got another 'product free' gift guide coming next week!

L xxx

Ted Baker at Christmas

Morning everyone!

We've got a post for you today about some really good last minute presents you can get for friends, family, colleagues and Secret Santa gifts that you may be struggling with for both males and females.

Ted Baker always have great gift sets all year around but particularly at Christmas. My aunty always used to get me the green and purple set for my birthdays and I adored the smell from the body spray, it was so fresh, not overpowering and lasted quite a long time considering it wasn't perfume.

We were lucky enough to be sent two of this years gift sets by Ted Baker* to try out.
My brother was a very willing recipient of the male Ted Baker set called the Body Maintenance Kit*.

In the Body Maintenance kit there is a Body Spray and a Hair & Body Wash. The packaging is bright and cheerful without being feminine or overly Christmassy, they'd be great for all year round.

My brother has been testing them out over the last week for me. He's a 22 year old part time student and full time worker, so was excited to be a recipient of my blog for once! He's a regular gym goer and does suffer with bad skin on his back. It hasn't flared up in a while so this was a good test.

He thought the packaging was great too, nice and bright and simple; men don't like fussy things do they!

As far as the smell goes he said it was 'really nice' and it lathered up really well.
He said it did dry his skin out but that was on his face, he obviously hasn't learnt to moisturise yet so I'll have to work on him to start that soon! Aside from that he said the hair and body wash was really good, he'd probably repurchase it especially at the price of £8 for the set.

He said the spray was the same fragrance (as you'd expect) and he's been applying it pretty generously from what I can smell, even my mum has commented that he smells nice!
(I'm painting a great picture of him aren't I?!)

I think the Body Maintenance Kit is a great gift for any male that you need to buy for. Regardless of age the kit would cater to any kind of male, the scent isn't overpowering and every male needs to wash and apply some kind of smelly product every day!

For £8 this gift is a bargain and I would suggest if you're still stuck for a stocking filler this would be the perfect option. Secret Santa's can be so hard sometimes and for £8 this makes things so easy and takes the stress out of it.

For the female in your life; friend, colleague, family member, partner etc there is the It Had To Be You* set.

First off I cannot help but make a big deal about how stunningly beautiful the packaging is; HOW AMAZING IS IT. I've actually taken a close up macro shot of the box as my new phone background, it's just that pretty. (Am I weird? Do other people do this with things?!)

The box underneath is also a beautiful bright pink which I think perfectly clashes and compliments the soft pink and pretty pattern of the lid of the box.
Inside are 4 50ml products; a body spray, bath foam, body wash and body souffle.

I used all of these the other day when I got back from the gym (apart from the bath foam). The scent is absolutely gorgeous and really girly but also not overpowering which is a big thing for me. I hate strong smells and this is a really sweet but not sickly scent that I could use daily.

The body wash foamed really easily and the body souffle moisturised the skin on the really dry skin on my shins very well. They felt quite silky smooth afterwards!

The body spray was really fresh as well, it would be great for a really wide age range.

This is a great set for £10 and I'd definitely buy this for many of my friends or a colleague for a Secret Santa.

L xxx

I always end up drawn into the Ted Baker sets. I absolutely love the packaging. The colours and the print are absolutely gorgeous. I love boxes like this and they are great to be able to be re used as storage. Definitely to pretty to put away.

The packaging of the products follows a similar theme with a rose gold/ bronze colour as well. It's pretty and feminine without looking cheap or like it's only suitable for a certain age range.

I really love the body spray. I used to think they were pointless until last year. I love to keep a body spray or small perfume in my handbag in case I pop out after work or if my perfume has just faded away.

These miniatures are perfect for me. As I live away from my parents I love to keep sets like this at their house so I don't have to bring things with me when I visit. I'm especially loving the body soufflé. It leaves my skin feeling super soft.

The Ted Baker range is also on 3 for 2 in boots making it even more purse friendly for gifts. I will definitely be picking some up after Christmas for gifts throughout the year.

Have you tried any of the Ted Baker sets? Are any on your lists? I've been eyeing up The Great and The Gorgeous and The Me and My Shadow sets.

Love M

xxx

Nails Inc: The Edit

Christmas seems like yesterday right?

I was just thinking about it the other day and couldn't believe it when I realised it was a whole 3 months ago.

It's my favourite time of year and it definitely went by in a flash, can't we have it again in July??

One of my Christmas presents was this really cute nail polish set from Nails Inc.

As you can see it's called 'The Edit' and I absolutely love the colours they've chosen.

Even though this was brought out in time for Christmas the colours can be worn all year round and I'm such a big fan!

There are five polishes in total, the names of which are shown below on the back of the box with a description next to them.

I'd had my eye on Porchester Square for a while as lots of people had raved over the colour and formula and also that the tone of it seemed to suit everyone's skin tone making it one of the perfect nudes! I couldn't wait to try this one out.

Also present was a holographic polish which was interesting to me as I'd never owned one of these nore seen any anywhere else so this was also one I wanted to try over the party season.

Tate and Richmond Terrace are both beautiful classic reds that are a must in anyone collection and I really think you can never have enough! (If you look in my collection I'd definitely say I can't...)

Lastly the one I most pleased to receive was Notting Hill Gate. I'd owned Shoreditch from Nails Inc for a few years and used it until it died a very dry death and nothing would come out of the bottle any longer.

I've since been aiming to get a replacement and this one is similar enough for my tastes. 

I absolutely love bright pinks as they're perfect for most occasions and go perfectly with my skin tone for fingers and toes.

As the nude and the pink were ones I was most excited about....here's my latest NOTD with both colours, what do you think??

My nails are a little battered as this was after work so my hands are cuts and the nails a tiny bit chipped but nevertheless you can see the idea!

Me and M both love an accent nail and i love to keep it simple with nudes and then a flash of neon colour.

Out of this set I would 100% buy these two colours again as they both fill gaps in my collection and I can see myself using them a lot.

In fact my toes are painted with the pink right now!

I don't see this small bottle lasting me very long...

Here's a picture of all the colours painted onto nails:

How gorgeous are they??

I love trying out new colours and think miniature kits like this are brilliant to try them out and also to have if you need to do your nails on the go. Taking smaller bottles with you is so much easier to change your manicure in a rush than lugging your whole collection!

Unfortunately the set seems to have been a Christmas exclusive as it is sold out everywhere I've looked. But you can pick up each shade individually and I'd recommend them all.

What other sets have you tried? What's your favourite Nails Inc colour?

Black Taxi is a personal favourite but Notting Hill Gate and Porchester Square might come in close. It's so hard to choose, so I generally just buy them all!

L xxx