All Things Christmas

Christmas is always my favourite time of the year. People are always much more cheery, everything looks so pretty and wintery and fairy lights are scattered everywhere. The run up to Christmas always seems to last a while, and then you blink, and it's all over. Where does the time go? There are those few days for some of us between Christmas and the New Year for you to relax, watch tonnes of films and eat plenty of Christmas treats, as well as all the sale shopping. I almost don't want this lovely mid-week to end. Above are some snaps I took of all things Christmas. My Mum always decorates beautifully, and this year, she decorated twigs and branches, such an easy thing to do, yet looks so pretty and festive. I have also snapped a few of the presents I recieved, I got some lovely things! I hope you all had an amazing Christmas, and that 2012 will be a good one. I have yet to decide whether I will be making any resolutions (I never do). Let me know what the highlights of your Christmas were & what did you get?

♥

LUSH Boxing Day Sale.

As some of you may, or may not be aware, a large proportion of Lush stores across the UK & USA hold post Christmas sale's.

Last year, in the UK, the sale was simply "Spend £20, get anything free", so people were walking out with free "Lush Legend" box sets worth £97.
However this year, they have sorted out this steal, & now it's box sets within a certain date/price, or simply pick anything from a massive box full of stuff.
In my local Lush shop, the massive box was full of Xmas box sets, and bags which were stapled so you couldn't see inside, but i think most had a 500g Snow Fairy & various other Xmas items.
In the US, the sales are a lot more exciting (in my opinion anyway), & their deal is simply
"Buy one, get two free" - erm..yes please UK?
(If anyone actually knows why we don't have this promotion in the UK, let me know...I'm intrigued)

I've never been shopping on boxing day, but this year, i had nothing to do, my family were meeting with friends and doing a local pub crawl & my brother went off skiing.
So me & my cousin drove into the city (which at 11.30 i thought would be manic..it seriously wasn't..it was more quiet than an average day).
I went straight to Lush, thinking everything would be gone, but it was surprisingly quiet & lots of choice for the free gift.

This is what i brought home with me...


[3 more Star Melts (yeh, i think im obsessed), 2 So White Bath Ballistics, Medium Olive Branch showergel (my mum threw my other FULL one away because she thought it had gone funny where the two colours dont mix...urgh), Candy Cane Bubble Bar, Mr Butterball Bath Ballistic & Sex Bomb Bath Ballistic]

And i got this Stardust Christmas Box set, worth £24.95 for free :)
(It was actually the one i had in mind for getting so yay)

The box contains:
♥ 100g Snow Fairy Showergel
♥ Fairy Tail Sugar Scrub
♥ Candy Cane Bubble Bar
♥ Star Melt
♥ Snow Fairy Solid Perfume
♥ Angel's Delight Moon Soap
♥ Double Fast Luck Emotibomb
♥ 10% Discount

I'm glad i decided to get out of bed & go to Lush, i managed to get myself an absolute bargain.
I could have kept it & given it as a gift, but..that moon soap was too hard to resist...
If you haven't already been to your nearest Lush & would quite like to grab a bargain, im pretty sure they will still have stuff left...mine did & i think they will for at least a week.

What did you get in the sale & did your Lush have any other promotions?
♥

Guide to Shopping In Primark

I know that a lot of people refuse to enter Primark. Maybe it's just that you don't ever like anything they have for sale, you don't believe in the ethics or you dont have one near you, but i've come to realise the main reason, is people just don't have the patience. Shopping is supposed to be an enjoyable experience, i certainly do it to unwind, de stress, a bit of retail therapy and a lot of shops offer this. Primark however, is mostly always CHAOS. Clothes on the floor in piles, shoes scattered everywhere, people packed in like sardines and sweating like fat men. It's mostly always a very unenjoyable experience, you go in, you grab, you scuttle, you fight, you queue for 20 minutes then you run outside for a breath of fresh air.

This was until me & mum were up early one weekend, and decided to go to Primark, only to discover how to make shopping in there enjoyable. So here is my run down of the things which equate to you having a somewhat more pleasant experience in the shop.

1. Find a Primark near you which is of a relatively good size.
There is a Primark closer to me than the one i visit, but in the nicest of terms...it's absolute crud. So me and mum actually drive 30 minutes down the motorway to a flagship store in Bristol (4 storeys high). You arent going to have as much fun if you aren't spoilt for choice. We only visit once a month, as it's obviously not the most convienient to get to. I find that if you go to Primark too much, it becomes boring. You want to be able to go and see completely different stock to the time before.

2. Get there early!
Oh, trust me, i know it's hard to get out of bed at 7am on a weekend, but it is totally worth it, and you are home by midday so can have a little snooze. The Primark in Bristol opens at 8.30 on a Saturday. So we were in the car by 7.55 and on our way. The Motorway was empty, the carpark was empty (we always get the perfect spot) and there was just nobody around. The thing i like most about going early, is that everything is perfectly in it's place, and new stock is normally out. The hangers all have the correct sized clothing on it (a primark faux pas) and its even in order of smallest to largest front to back. There is no mess. You also know what getting there early means, most importantly, there is hardly anyone there. Not everybody is crazy enough to be up so early on their weekend. In fact this morning, i think it was only me, my mum and about 2 other women. Perfect.

3. Don't use your "Primark Head".

Now, the "Primark Head" is what i call grabbing things and throwing them in your basket because "EVERYTHING IS JUST SO CHEAP". Since you pretty much have open reign of the shop, chill the hell out. Think about things a bit more, Will you wear it? What will it go with? Do you really need it?

4. Try things on.

I never used to try things on in Primark. The queues were always too long, there were too many people, it was too hot and i just could not be bothered. When in a pretty much empty shop, there is not so much pressure to leave and no queues. I really do like to try on most of the items i have aquired in my basket, and normally, to my surprise, sometimes they don't fit right (the size 8's have increased slightly) or they might look pants, so i can put them back knowing i made the right decision trying it on before buying it. It's also a good oppertunity for you to envisage what you might pair it with. Obviously if you live near a Primark, you can skip this and just return everything if that suits you more.

The good - Hareem Print Trousers - £11, Black slinky jumpsuit - £15 (I absolutely love this), Jumper - £9

The Bad - Both dresses were too big for me. Purple - £15, Navy Blue - £13

5. Check the quality and the Sizing.

The quality in Primark really differs, there could be a lovely batch of dresses, but some could have wonky buttons and loose threads, and others might be okay. Make sure you have the best one available. The sizing is also a funny one, some fit bigger than they should, and others tighter. Again, another good reason for trying things on.

6. Leave Relaxed & Go For Breakfast

After you have found what you want, paid (in the non queues), and left. You will find that it is just starting to get busy. (We left around 10.30/11am) and you can either jump back in your car and go home. Or, go have yourself a delicious breakfast like we did.

Then go home for a snooze and put away all your new bits and pieces... :)

♥

If you like it then you should have put a ring on it

Old Gold Woodland Creature Rings set of 4 - £5.99 from H&M
Bee - £1.50 from Primark
Silver Bird - £1.50 from Primark
Double Finger Love Ring - £1.50 from Primark

Chanel Injection.

I think it's only right, that in every female's life, there comes a time when we need that tiny little top up of high end nice-ness. Something I like to call a "Chanel Injection". We don't need it daily, or even weekly in order to keep us going...just every now and then, to keep the smiles on our faces & to boost our retail therapy excitedness.

This is what I will continue to tell myself when I start to think "I possibly shouldn't have spent so much at the Chanel counter this month". But fear not, I don't do it often and injections are always beneficial right?

So, My first trip was purely to get a sample of the Vitalumiere Aqua Foundation, of which I ended up walking away with the Soleil De Tan Bronzer and another little sample of some Mascara. The lady was so nice though, and I had wanted it for ages. I'm enjoying using it, although, I do find it leaves me a little patchy at the end of the day as it's not your typical powder bronzer. Does anyone know how I can combat this? The colour is nice also and it looks pretty sat on my dressing table (please remember ladies, this is NOT a reason you should buy any product, but it is slightly more satisfactory than a boring revlon bronzer). I've not yet used the mascara sample, but it is a plastic brush, which aren't my favourite kind. In fact, I normally avoid all plastic applicators as I find bristles give a better effect in general, but this could change my mind.

Onto the foundation, and the reason for my second Chanel purchase. I used the sample (which was quite generous, you could get at least 3 applications from it) and I instantly fell in love with it and ran out and purchased it. I have however, since using it on a number of different occasions, come to the conclusion, that although it's a fantastic foundation and has everything I love about a foundation in it (natural coverage, great colour, sinks in fast, looks flawless yet natural, not too dewy, not too matte), I think it may be a bit on the drying side. At first it didn't seem at all drying, but as the days go on, it seems to cling to any dry patches on my face (just like pro lumiere did), I'm starting to think there is something in Chanel foundations that do this to my face. Is it just me? I find that I need to exfoliate more, and moisturise more, even though at the moment my skin isn't really all that dry. I still really love this foundation, albeit it a bit more on the pricey side, and slightly drying and i'll keep using it. Not too sure i'll repurchase though.

Do you ever have these naughty little splurges? Please reassure me. haha.

♥

Illamasqua Dystopia

I was introduced to this collection at the Illamasqua event a few weeks ago.
In all honesty, there were only a few things i really felt i would wear.
The collection is very different from the previous Sirens collection, which i would describe as "safe", something you could wear everyday for a summery, bronzed look.
This collection I would say is more vampy & smokey. Something i would probabaly be more likely to wear at night.

At the event itself, we were given 2 items to try out.
I was given the 2 lipglosses. One being a gorgeous milky pearlescent shade & the other a very scary metallic silver, which, i don't really think i will wear. Its a fab idea, but personally i think the only time i would ever rock a silver metallic lip is for a photo sesh. I've seen people dabbing it in the center of the bottom lip, and i agree that looks fab, but i think thats as far as i'd go.
The MA at Illamasqua suggested to use it on your eyes, i tried this & i hated it. I find it FAR too sticky to put anywhere near my eyes. Think of honey on your eyelids haha.
I immediately had to wash it off (and that took ages) I think if you want to achieve the mega metallic look on the eyes, stick to the liquid metals.

2 things i really did love from the Dystopia collection, were the pigments. I love that you can use these anywhere. Lips, Eyes, Cheekbones, Cupids bow, Collar bones, Clear Polish...etc etc.
And I highly rate the packaging idea, it has proved to be very tidy...pigments..as a rule...are not tidy..
The two pigments are "Static" & "Android".
Static being a gorgeous pearlescent shade. It pictures awfully but looks amazing.
Android is a dark grey with fine particles of silver glitter...again, very pretty.
With all pigments though..there is fall out...annoying but it's hard to prevent this.

I didn't have anything like this in my makeup collection. I have heard fellow bloggers compare Static to a Mac Pigment (which i can't remember what it's called - so that was a whole lot of good..)
The Illamasua MUA (who by the way, was one of the nicest most helpful people ever, which i hadn't experienced at an illamasqua counter before...) demonstrated the foiling effect of the pigments using sealing gel. It looks amazing, and since i didn't own Mac's version, i decided to buy it with the pigments so i could use it for liner and minimising fall out.

Above are swatches of the pigments. On the left side of my hand are the pigments without the sealing gel & on the right is with. It makes such a difference.

The lipglosses i find to be quite sticky, and i do not like the applicators. I find i have to stare at it, make sure some comes out, i go to put it on my lips and its sucked back down...mine also got messy very quickly. However, one plus point of the application is that you can layer it on top of a coloured lipstick and not have the colour rub off onto the applicator. I also think these last a reasonably long time!

Left: Explode sheer gloss, Right: Galactic intense gloss

Besides the fact i think they're quite sticky and a little messy, i really do love Explode gloss. Its one of those shades that will tone down a bright lipstick and give it a gorgeous pearlescent glaze on top. I have been teaming this with a lot of different bright colours and i have become a little bit addicted to it. Would reccommend this one highly :)

Overall, i wasn't blown away by the collection, but there are some gems in there that if you dont already own something similar, you should definitely check out.
Hope this has helped some of you!

♥