Monthly Roundup: December

The very last monthly roundup of the year! It’s crazy to believe December is coming to an end and Christmas is over! I hope you all had a lovely Christmas and were cherished with lots of lovely gifts! I certainly had a nice quiet Christmas and got some lovely gifts, some of which I will be sharing with you at a later date! Whilst I was back at work again for Boxing Day I did pick up a few bargains here and there. I have to say though I am a little underwhelmed by the sales this year! Nevertheless I did pick up a few nice things including finally being able to access the Lush sale!  Anyone else suffer from the Lush website crash whilst trying to desperately stock up on Snow Fairy or just me!?

Over the month, I’ve got well and truly in the Christmas spirit. I am obsessed with glitter nails at the moment and I am loving the combo of Essie Sand Tropez and Essie Summit of Style as an accent nail! You just can’t beat a bit of glitter at Christmas time, I even did a little post talking about all my favourite sparkly stuff here. As well as that I also picked up a few new beauty bits over the month. I finally caved on the well hyped ABH Contour Kit! I just had to do it! I spotted a 20% off online and just couldn’t resist it! I will be speaking in more detail about it later but I have to say I am loving it! I also got super excited to see that Makeup Geek is now available in the UK via Beauty Bay! Their eyeshadows are super popular and at such an affordable price so I obviously had to start my own palette! I am just a bit too excited now about filling it up but I will let you see it all shortly!

This month has been a lot more relaxing on the whole compared to previous especially with my uni semester at an end until January. I was so relieved to get all my coursework out the way and just have a little down time! I do have an exam in the next month which I need to start preparing for very soon! Although I have been working over the festive period which is never too great although it has been nice to have some free time and also time to properly blog! I can imagine things will get busy and hectic again as soon as I return to uni so I am hoping to just enjoy my time off 🙂

Catch up on December posts: The Best Holiday Beauty Buys, Christmas Party Makeup, Nars x Steven Klein, The Highlighter Edit and Exporing NYX.

How was your Christmas?

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Sparkle and Shine

Glittery and sparkly infused makeup products are always quite like marmite in the beauty world. You either love a little sparkle or you really don’t. I for one definitely love it! Although at Christmas time it really is the excuse to drown yourself in glitter and sparkly stuff and no one will even bat an eyelid. Glitter might seem a little scary for some but there is some easy ways to add a little sparkle to your look. I’ve rounded up some of my favourite ways to add that sparkle and shine to your festive beauty routine…

Base Products 

Adding anything glittery or sparkly to your base is always a bit intimidating but there is easy ways to do it without looking like you’ve used one of those glitter roller-balls (remember those!?). Highlighters are a completely obvious one. When it comes to going out or particularly at Christmas time I always look out my most intense highlighters. I am currently loving the Mary Lou-Manizer which adds a gorgeous sheen to the cheekbones without adding large flecks of glitter. If you want to see more of my highlighter picks check out my edit here.

Blush is also a great way to add a little glimmer to your cheeks without overdoing it. Nars Orgasm is a classic, a gorgeous rose pink shade with gold shimmer running through it. A lot of people find the gold shimmer off-putting but it isn’t really detectable on the skin, it adds a beautiful glow to the cheeks. The Hourglass blushes are also another great pick as they have highlighting properties to really brighten your appearance.

Eye Products 

Eyeshadow is one of my favorite ways to add a little shimmer to my look. I am forever a shimmer over matte kinda gal when it comes to eye products so I have quite a lot of products that fit the bill. One of the best products to really get your glitter on is Pigments. They always appear like they are a right hassle although after trying a couple from Mac I am totally obsessed and don’t really find them too much bother! Mac have a great variety of shades and they look super beautiful and intense on the lid. I talked about my pigment set here. I totally now have my eye on Mac Copper Sparkle and I also so need Vanilla, what a gorgeous inner corner highlight!

I also have a couple of gorgeous sparkly shades from Nars. The first being from the Steven Klein collection, Stud, a gorgeous pewter bronze shade which is one of the most beautiful eyeshadows I have ever seen. I spoke about it here but it is definitely a must have and a fail safe option when in doubt! I also picked up one of the cream eyeshadows from Nars last year, the shade Interstellar which is a gorgeous metallic silver shade which is great if you are more into your silvery shades rather than gold tones. The formula is also super creamy and the shade is greatly pigmented too!

Nail Polish 

A completely fail safe option for adding glitter, probably my favourite too! I love a good bit of glitter on my nails whether its all over as a top coat or as an accent nail for just a subtle hint of sparkle! I spoke about the Nails Inc x Alice and Olivia set here which holds one of the most beautiful gold glitters.  The shade Gold Goddess is perfect for the festive season and can be built up to a fully opaque finish. Another great glitter option comes from Essie who have a great range of sparkly shades. I picked up Summit of Style which is from last year’s winter collection although can still be picked up from Amazon. This is one I know I will be wearing over the Christmas period as an accent nail teamed with probably something berry toned!

How do you get your glitter on?

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The NYE Look

It’s hard to believe in a couple of days time we will be counting down the seconds til the New Year. There is no better time to get dressed up and drown yourself in glitter… yes glitter. And thats exactly what I am doing.

I fell in love with this ever so sparkly patterned jumpsuit from Topshop and just had to buy it. Its very flattering and comfortable although it has covered my floor in a blanket of glitter. It was £38 from Topshop however unfortunately it has sold out.

To match my ever so glittery attire I am going for sparkly shimmery eyes using my Max Factor Excess Shimmer eyeshadow in the shade Copper, serious good stuff here! and also my Naked 2 palette. Yup I finally have my hands on the second palette and its gorgeous! *heart-eyed emoji*

I am also going to add a touch of Benefit High Beam to my cheekbones for a glowy look and to finish off with a sweep of red on my lips. I am going to use my new fave matte red Nars Cruella which I got as part of the Nars Lip Pencil Coffret that I swatched here.

What is your NYE look?

Glitter Nails

Christmas time is my favourite time of year. Except for all the obvious reasons I love Christmas for being able to coat myself in oodles of glitter, oh yes! I really do love a bit of shimmer and glitter really at anytime but during party season at Christmas and New Years its always the best. If you are someone who is a little intimated by turning into a human glitter-ball then there is easier ways to add a little sparkle to your look. The easiest of course being Glitter nails. I do love a glitter polish, its just a little bit more fun than a basic coat of colour. Here I’ve teamed Max Factor Glossfinity in the shade Raspberry Blush and a coat of Rimmel Lasting Finish in 500 Disco Ball on top.

So are you a fan of a sparkly nail?