December Favourites

2016 may be so last year but before we get too focused on the excitement of the new year, it is time to go back and look at my favourites from the month of December. From a month of constant festivities, expect a lot of glitter…

Starting with the more sparkly additions in my stash lately that have been the front of my makeup routine in December, Mac pigments are always my favourite products to bring out for any sort of party season! I am always super excited about the limited edition Mac holiday pigment sets that are released each year and this year was no different. this time around I picked up the Bronze set. The set includes three pigments and one glitter in a range of gorgeous bronze-y shades. They create such an impact on the eyes and have such a gorgeous finish. My favourites are Stardream, and Handsome Prince. For Christmas, I also I added to my pigment collection with the addition of Kitschmas which is totally different to anything else I own. It is a gorgeous pearly shimmering pink! Only a recent addition but still one I am already loving!

Continuing with eye makeup, there has also been a new mascara love recently! To help achieve thick voluminous lashes perfect for the party season, Charlotte Tilbury Legendary Lashes has proved to be a winner. This mascara is responsible for creating a full on look of thickened and lengthened lashes! The only issue with this mascara is that as the formula is pretty wet it does smudge easy which is a pain but the impact it creates makes it worth it!

To create the ultimate party look, I can’t be without a good highlight. Becca is my go-to highlighter brand and I knew before trying the Moonstone Shimmering Skin Perfector that I would love it and of course I did! I love liquid highlighters as they create such a gorgeous natural but glowy look. This shade works perfectly too with my pale skin!

On to lip products, I was super excited to see that Jeffree Star is now stocked on Beauty Bay making it really accessible in the UK! I picked up two of the liquid lipsticks in the shades Doll Parts and Gemini. The two shades are so gorgeous and super wearable, Doll Parts in particular is a shade I’ve wanted for so long. The formula is also easy and comfortable to wear! The shade range for the collection is impressive so these definitely won’t be my last liquid lipsticks from the brand!

Lastly, I mentioned this in my Beauty discoveries from 2016 post here, which already says a lot about this product! It is of course the By Terry Baume De Rose Lip Gloss. I wanted to try this for the longest time and I am now so happy I have. It is such a lovely moisturising balm with a pretty light pink sheen. The perfect no-makeup makeup!

What beauty products have you been loving lately?

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The Christmas Party Makeup

It’s the season of red lips and glitter, my favourite! I had a Christmas party last weekend so thought I was the perfect excuse to show some of my top picks for the party season. Expect the standard cliché red lips, glitter and lots of highlighter!

In terms of base, I like to go for something I can trust to be long wearing and provide the coverage! Of course I opted for my trusty Nars Sheer Glow along with my usual concealer combo of the Nars Radiant Creamy Concealer and Mac Prep + Prime highlighter in Light Boost. To top it off, I applied a light layer of the Chanel Les Beiges powder to keep things in place!

To add more warmth to my skin, I bronzed up with the Too Faced Sweethearts bronzer which I love! I then added more definition with the Kevin Aucoin sculpting powder and topped it off with a lot of the Becca Shimmering Skin Perfector Pressed highlighter in Pearl because if you can’t have go overboard with highlighter at Christmas, when can you!?

For eyes, the Mac pigments came out to play! I picked up the Bronze set from holiday collection, using the a combination of both Stardream and Handsome Prince. Of course I added some liner using my favourite Kat Von D Tattoo Liner. I finished my eyes with the Make Up For Ever Smoky Extravagant mascara.

Finally, I obviously finished with some red lips for the ultimate Christmas party look using Mac Russian Red.

What are your party picks?

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Nars Sarah Moon Holiday 2016 Collection

Nars is without a doubt one of, if not, my favourite makeup brand. Everything I try from the brand excels in quality with a great shade range and selection to chose from as well as the uber sleek packaging. When it comes round to Christmas, Nars are always on top form with their amazing holiday collections and this year was no exception. This year’s collection was based around Sarah Moon, a French photographer with packaging inspired by her work. Instead of the usual gift sets that I am always going for, this year the colour collection appealed to me again.

I picked up two products from the colour collection, an eyeshadow duo and a lipstick. Starting with the eyeshadow pick, I have always had my eye on some of the Nars eyeshadow duos but never picked one up. When I caught my eye on Quai Des Brumes, I just had to pick it up, isn’t limited edition products such a great marketing trick! The duo features two grey toned shades, one a silvery mauve lilac shimmer shade and the other a charcoal grey with specks of gold shimmer. The shades are super unique, particularly the shimmer shade and they both work so beautifully together. They are both amazingly pigmented too however one problem I have with the duo is the longevity. These shadows seem to disappear in no time on my lids! I may have to try out a few different primers because the shades are too beautiful to not use!

The other product I picked up was a lipstick (of course!). The collection features a selection of the slim Nars lipsticks which I had not previously tried. Named the Moon Matte lipsticks, I picked up the nude shade Indecent Proposal. The colour is my perfect shade, a gorgeous warm rosy nude brown which a matte finish. What I love the most about this lipstick however is the incredible formula. For being a matte lipstick, it is incredibly creamy and comfortable. Probably one of the best matte formulas I’ve came across!

Are you a fan of this collection?

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Too Faced Sweet Peach Palette

If there was one beauty release I’ve been the most excited about, it is without a doubt the Too Faced Sweet Peach eyeshadow palette. When this beauty of a palette was first revealed by Too Faced, I just knew I had to get my hands on it! I even sat refreshing the Debenhams website every couple of minutes waiting for it to grace the screen and finally when it did I was lucky enough to snap it up! It was released as a limited edition palette back in Spring but luckily it is to be re-released for the upcoming holiday season! So, if you like what you see then you don’t want to miss this when it’s back in stock!

If you are familiar with the Too Faced Chocolate Bar palettes then it is a very similar idea and set-up. Except obviously this palette has a peach-y theme with a pretty peach-y pink outer casing and instead of the eye shadows having a chocolate scent it has a dreamy scent of peach! It also retails for the same price at £39 which is just a little higher in price than the Urban Decay Naked palettes however it contains a larger quantity of product so makes it worth the splurge.

The palette contains 18 different shades similarly to the other large Too Faced palettes and offers a mixture of shimmery and matte shades. It is a very versatile palette with a varied shade range from summery corals and pinks to bronze-y shades as well as a selection of deep purple tones, rich browns and even a gorgeous olive green that would work well particularly at this time of year. I am particularly fond of the gorgeous light peachy and bronze-y shades that make for a golden-y eye look that wouldn’t look out of place on a Victoria Secret model! Not that shimmery eye makeup will turn me into a model but still it is worth it for that gorgeous effect!

From my experience with Too Faced eyeshadows, I have always been impressed by the formula and there is no exception with this palette. The shadows are buttery smooth, easy to blend and work with and also have great pigmentation. They also have a great lasting power too keeping in place from early morning til evening! Basically an all round good palette with a good formula and also a selection of shadows that are that little more unique than the usual neutral palette.

 

What do you think of this palette?

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