Ted Baker Nails

Along with the sets featured yesterday we also received a nail set to try. L and I are both huge nail varnish addicts and love painting our nails so this as something we couldn't wait to try.

I love the cute packaging on these. Something about it reminds me of a carnival stall. That sounds weird now I've typed it. The gold and cream are a simple classic combination.

I love the names of the polishes and the fact that they have the names on the side of the packaging is helpful. I always like it when products actually have names as some things in sets don't have names on.

The Golden Girl set comes with a gorgeous champagne shimmer polish and a gold glitter polish. All the sets come with a glitter and shimmer polish. I love using a glitter polish for an accent nail.

The sets cost £8.50 so make a great gift for a friend or yourself. At £4.25 a polish they are good value as they are full size products. The packaging of the polish itself is simple in a square bottle.

L and I both really liked the Golden Girl colour. It's such an easy to wear gold shade and looks great on the nails. This is a perfect new years eve nail combination.





The gold glitter is really packed and layers up well on the nail. The colours look great together and give a really pretty combination. I'm really looking forward to using these colours. My mum has already been eyeing them up too for my brothers wedding.

L did find one nail chipped within a day but as she had worn it to work this isn't unusual for nail varnish as within our jobs are hands are washed a lot and polishes don't last well. I currently have it on but as it's on false nails I find polishes last better in general.

Will you be picking any of these up as last minute gifts?

Love M

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

Revlon PhotoReady Concealer

Hello!

Hope you're all looking forward to the big day now...I am so excited I cannot wait. Christmas is my favourite time of year. It doesn't feel quite as exciting as it used to be as this year I'll be working full time still, with only Christmas Eve and Boxing Day off. But I'll still be making full use of my time off by eating a whole tonne of food and watching cheesy Christmas tv specials!

Over the party season I've been turning to cream concealers to cover my under eye bags and blemishes.

The PhotoReady concealer from Revlon has been my go to products.

I've picked it up in my usual colour - Light. I'm assuming there must be an even lighter colour as this is 002, but luckily for me Revlon have a wide enough colour range that 002 is actually a good colour on me!
This is great news as over the winter I can get paler so I'd like to pick up 001 for those days and also for the times my undereye bags are quite unstoppable.

The packaging for the concealer is nice and simple, black twist up style container and a clear lid. I like clear lids but they never stay clean or clear, mine is dirty and cannot be cleaned inside and scratched to bits from being in my make up bag. Ah well, when will companies learn its not just about looking good in store!

I quite like twisting these type of products up and using them as a stick, its quick, easy and almost fool proof. I apply this super quick in the morning, a quick triangle under each eye and dots where my blemishes currently are and then i buff it in with my Real Techniques Expert Face brush.

As you can see on my hand above the colour match is pretty spot on and it blends in without a trace.

You can see my fave below on one morning application, triangles on the under eyes and dots on my spots!

And below shows it blended in (so much better!)

I'm so pleased i picked this up in a 3 for 2, I otherwise might not have done and wouldn't have known how lovely and easy it was to apply and the great effects it has.

This retails for £6.49 and I'd definitely recommend getting them in a 3 for 2 deal, Revlon have some great products. not only the cult Lip Butters but I'd 100% recommend the PhotoReady primer, nail polishes and Colorstay foundation.

What's your favourite Revlon product? Do you love this concealer? What's your favourite?

L xxx

Christmas Wishlist

This year Christmas is going to be a fleeting affair for me, I'll be working full time aside from Christmas Day and Boxing Day because everyone else managed to book time off before me...hurrah. I'm trying not to be Scrooge about it but 2 days off after building up to it for weeks probably isn't going to cut it; I'm probably going to end up sleeping for the majority of my time off as I'm so tired!

Moaning aside, I've managed to come up with a wishlist of gifts that if anyone would like to buy me, that would be FABULOUS.

I've gotten to the age where my parents and brother are the only people to buy me presents....it's a sad year for me indeed. I'm not materialistic obviously............but here's my wishlist if there was an unlimited budget and presents rained down on me on Christmas day:

1) I'll start off by stating the obvious. Soap and Glory. Who wouldn't want the big set for Christmas?!
It has been on my list every year and this year is no different, however I'm not quite so confident I'll get it. My mum knows how hard I've been working to get through my stash so I'm not so sure that I will be getting another 10/12 products to add to my collection! Especially as all of them are such good value and last a long time.....but rumour has it she went to Boots early to pick something up last Friday. Fingers crossed!

Image from lebeautygirl.com

2) Quite frankly I'd be ecstatic if anyone bought me the contents of Antipodes store. I drool every month at their products; even their website is a dream, the pictures are so mystical!

Image from antipodesnature.com

I've wanted to get my hands on the Juliet Brightening Cleanser, Manuka Honey Face Mask, Joyous Replenish Serum and their Kiwi Seed Oil Eye Cream.
I'm a big fan of the Divine Oil already, I can't possibly see what I wouldn't like from their products!



3) A pair of classic black heels. I'm talking Louboutins here obviously. Who on earth wouldn't want a classic black shoe which would go with absolutely everything with a flash of red on the sole?!
Here's a few ideas if anyone is feeling rich and generous:

 

(Images from Google)

Drool!


4) I'd like more clothing from Ralph Lauren and LK Bennett. I've started a (small) collection over the years from the outlet stores which is going quite well but I need more.
Whilst my cousin worked at an RL Outlet store it was great having the extra discount for family/friends but now she's gone off to uni the buying has dwindled down. I need more blazers, more jeans, and more dresses, Kate Middleton always looks good in hers and why not me too?! For example:

(Images all from Google)

Surely you can't go wrong with a bit of tailoring!


5) A bag. A black leather beautiful handbag to carry all of my worldly possessions on a daily basis would just be fabulous. Here's some bag porn:

All images from Pinterest

I'm quite a simple bag person it would seem! Any of the above would make me beam like a baby given its teddy bear.

6) Coats. I have a small obsession with coats. I hate being cold and love being all wrapped up in layers.

I'd absolutely love a cape, feeling like a chic superhero is definitely my thing!
I also think that details like the bow at the back and coloured coats with a belt at the waist are so easy but make a big difference.The ones above are all from Pinterest browsing so I've no idea how expensive they are!



7) I am a NARS virgin. I am yet to make my first ever purchase and to be totally honest I've no idea why. There's so many products they have that I NEED to own it seems a bit silly but nevertheless here are the specific ones I'm lusting after; any of those 4 blushes, any of the lip crayons and of course the amazing concealer they have, so creamy and buildable!

8) Urban Decay. Doesn't really need any introduction does it? We're all after the Naked 3 palette, I'm still after Naked 2 and Vice 2 along with all the others still available on the Debenhams website I was browsing earlier. Limited edition gets me every time, what a sucker!
Not only that but their eye crayons, primers, setting sprays and foundations are on my list too....neverending!

9) Holiday. Any where as long as it's hot! I'd like to lie on a beach drinking out of a coconut with nothing distracting my attention apart from my tan, my book and potentially my next meal/cocktail. Oh and soaking up some exquisite cultural experiences too!

 

If only.


10) Harry Potter Studios covered in snow. I've seen pictures and I've heard whisperings.....basically I'm uber jealous of anyone visiting the snow covered film sets.
I absolutely loved it when me and M went in March but I had to restrict myself when buying things and although I came out with a beautiful time turner necklace which is my pride and joy, I still want all of the additional book available in store, I want tshirts, wands etc etc. I especially want the map....HOW COOL!

 

So that's my wish list. I mean it's not too much to ask really is it?

L xxx