Meeeeerrrrryyyyyyy Christmas!

Merry Christmas from the little monster and me :)!

I hope you all have a wonderful day with your loved ones! xxx

Oral-B Pink 600 Electric Toothbrush Gift Set

I think we can all agree that brushing our teeth is not the most exciting part of our beauty routine, but it is nevertheless one of the most important. Your smile is one of your best assets, so to make sure it is clean and healthy it's worth investing in an electric toothbrush. Since I purchased my Oral-B brush many years ago I have never gone back as it definitely makes a difference, especilly as an electric toothbrush can remover 100% more plaque than a manual!

The only disadvantage is that the fiance has also noticed the superiority of this brush and is constantly stealing it. Just to clarify before I get any outcries we are not sharing a toothbrush (Yuck! We are not Marshall and Lily from How I Met Your Mother). He has his own toothbrush head, but is constantly stealing the base and 'forgetting' to recharge it. Finally, I am feeling rather smug to have found the solution to this problem...

The new limited edition Oral-B Precision Clean brush has just been launched in pink! The girliest pink will not only brighten up my otherwise unisex bathroom, but I am hopeful will also ensure that it remains firmly on my side of the sink. I am tempted to wrap up my old one and give it to him for Christmas, just to make my point ;).

The new Oral-B Precision Clean 600 Electric Toothbrush Gift Set is exclusive to Boots and is available here for just £25.

Small Wonders

If you are struggling for a last minute gift or have forgotten that office Secret Santa present why not try your luck in Boots? They always have fun gift sets around Christmas and this Soap & Glory Small Wonders mini hat box is no exception.

With 5 mini products for just £10 it makes a great stocking filler too. Plus it contains some of my all time favourites from the Soap & Glory range:-

• Clean On Me
• Hand Food (great size for your bag)
• The Righteous Butter
• Scrub of Your Life
• Shower Puff

Or if, like me, you are far too greedy to give it away the minis are super useful for travel too. I have safely hidden mine away for my holiday in January! Yay! xxx

Garnier No Streaks Bronzer

Over the last few days I, along with most of the nation, have been preparing for a host of festive parties. However, after being wrapped in layers for months my skin needed a little extra help to get into the holiday spirit, courtesy of Ganier's No Streaks Bronzer (in light here).

To see how to properly apply the bronzing mist you can check out the video below:

Will you be dusting off the fake tan this Christmas?

*This is a sponsored post*

Organic Surge Nature's Winter Wonders Bundle

I am quite knew to the British brand Organic Surge so I was excited to try out their latest bundle of products designed especially for pampering your skin this season. The Organic Surge Nature’s Winter Wonders Bundle is the perfect gift for top-to-toe natural nourishment, wrapping your skin and hair in nurturing moisture to protect from the effects of cold weather and central heating.

This Gift Set contains:

• Organic Surge Moisture Boost Shampoo to boost moisture retention in hair
• Organic Surge Moisture Boost Conditioner to protect the hair’s natural oils
• Organic Surge Super-Intensive Daily Moisturiser to nourish, condition and rehydrate skin
• Organic Surge Spiced Lily Bath Foam to de-stress and revive the body and mind
• Organic Surge Sugared Almond Shower Gel to moisturise and nourish the body (my favourite)
• Organic Surge Gentle Meadow Body Lotion to leave skin soft, smooth and moisturised

…All packaged in an Organic Surge gift bag

At £29.95 for 6 products this bundle makes a lovely gift, as well as a great introduction to a natural brand free from parabens, sodium lauryl sulphate and artificial fragrances and colourants.

Neom Scent With Love: Home Scenting Gift Set

Have you ever bought a present for someone, but couldn't quite make yourself part with it? Well greedy guts over here has, and from discussions around my office it seems to be a common trait. Though the gift set below has been compiled as such, I think it would also make a lovely treat for you. After all you deserve it!

The Neom Scent With Love Home Scentig Gift Set comes in a beautiful, weighty box that bursts with fragrance even before you lift the lid. It contains a perfect mini reed diffuser in the scent Happiness (White Neroli, Mimosa and Lemon), a Complete Bliss (Moroccan Blush Rose) scented travel candle and a Pillow Mist in send-you-to-sleep Tranquillity (English Lavender, Sweet Basil and Jasmine).

With a beautiful mix of the most popular Neom scents this gift is a great introduction to the brand, letting you try out three of their most popular fragrances.

The Neom Scent With Love gift set can be purchased for £50 here.

L'Occitane Loves

While browsing the internet in search of amazing Christmas gifts to share with you all one particular brand has really stood out to me this year, which is L'Occitane. It is already a given that I love their products, but their gift sets offer such great value that I thought they deserved a post of their very own!

My pick of L'Occitane Gifts:

Delightful Almond Collection (£48)

I am a huge fan of the Almond Shower Oil and its many uses in the shower, bath and even as a shaving oil. It works like magic - cleansing while moisturising and leaving behind a delicate almond scent. This is a product that is adored by all (my mother and the fiance are even united in their love for this oil). This set comes with a very generous 500ml shower oil (usually £16.50 for 250ml), as well as Almond Milk Concentrate, Almond Delicious Paste (exfoliator), two almond soaps and a tube of Smooth Hands hand cream.

Best of L'Occitane Collection (£60)

This set really has it all and is the perfect gift for a mother, or even to impress a tricky mother in-law (to be). With a fabulous selection of seven body and skin care items it's certain to impress and cover all bases. This set includes the amazing Almond Shower Oil, the fragrant Cherry Blossom Shower Gel, Almond Milk Concentrate, Lavender Foaming Bath, Shea Butter Hand Cream, Shea Butter Foot Cream and (my mother's personal favourite) Verbena Eau de Toilette.

Precious Immortelle Collection (£60)

Having had the chance to sample a few products from the Immortelle range, as well as having discussed it with my fellow beauty bloggers who were equally impressed, I would wholeheartedly recommend this to anyone. This award winning anti-ageing line works wonderfully on sensitive skin and really infuses soothing moisture into stressed skin. The set includes Immortelle Brightening Cleansing Foam, Immortelle Essential Face Water, Immortelle Precious Cream (my personal favourite), Immortelle Precious Night Cream and Immortelle Precious Eye Balm (which is on my purchase list).

Hand Cream Trio (£20)

 

For the budget conscious this cute hand cream trio would make a lovely gift or stocking filler. L’Occitane's international best-selling Shea Butter Hand Cream is accompanied by two exclusive seasonal fragrances (Marvellous Flowers and Magic Leaves) in a gorgeous limited edition box.

Plus when you spend £35 you can purchase the Enchanting Winter Collection (originally priced £25) for just £14 in store, or by entering XPWP at the checkout on the website!

This set contains the Bonne Mere Honey Soap, Lavender Foaming Bath, Pivoine Flora Shower Gel, Verbena Shower Gel, Immortelle Essential Water for the Face and Shea Butter Hand Cream all in a handy Travel Bag. 

Will you be purchasing any L'Occitane gift sets for your loved ones this Christmas? xxx

Gift Edit: The Body Shop

The Body Shop have brought out a fantastic selection of Christmas gifts this year! From stocking fillers to luxurious sets all encased in adorable packaging there really is something for everyone! Plus with 40% OFF their entire website with the code SANTA for 10 days it's definitely worth a look!

Born Lippy Fruity Lip Balms (£10)

Apart from the amazing packaging this set is also great value as it contains five juicy, moisturising lip balms in a selection of flavours including strawberry, raspberry, satsuma, watermelon and passionberry.

 Body Butter Collection (£20)

This selection of scrumptious body butters features the nutty scents of shea and cocoa butter as well as delicious chocolate and coconut. Beautifully packaged in a reusable aluminium tin this makes a great present that doesn't even need wrapping.
 

Cranberry Joy Moisture Collection (£15)

This festive cranberry selection is not only great value, but smells absolutely delicious. The set contains Cranberry Joy Shower Gel, Body Butter, Soap and Scrub.

 Dazzling Rocks (£16) and Slanted Kabuki Brush (£16)

This limited edition tub of shimmering copper and gold beads gives an irresistible dazzle to cheeks, temples and décolletage. It's great to use as a bronzer to lift the skin and add some subtle glow.

The Slanted Kabuki is made with soft, fluffy synthetic hairs designed to sweep a fine, even dusting of powder onto face and body. Its unique slanted design makes sculpting, layering and contouring a cinch.
 
This Reindeer Washball is so completely adorable I am very tempted to order one for myself! At just £3 it makes the perfect, fun stocking filler.

Smoky Eye Palette in Smoky Moonstone (£14)

This gorgeous palette features four on-trend eyeshadows in cool shades of moonstone and espresso, a mini eyeshadow brush and mini eyeliner brush so you can touch up on the go. I love the colours in this palette as they would suit any skin tone and can be layered for a gorgeous smokey eye, or worn alone for a sweep of shimmering colour.

Coconut Butter Up Duo (£7)

This cute coconut body butter and lip butter duo comes packaged in an ornamental bauble, perfect for any tree or stocking.

I have also heard that The Body Shop will be the official headline sponsors of the Teenage Cancer Trust concert series at the Royal Albert Hall in March 2013! The line up includes fantastic acts such as Kasabian, Russell Brand, Noell Gallagher, Rizzle Kicks and Labrinth. Tickets are on sale now and can be purchased here.
Have you purchased any gifts from The Body Shop this Christmas? Do let me know your favourite! xxx

*Christmas Giveaway!*

With just two weeks left before Christmas I thought I would do a little festive geveaway featuring some gorgeous beauty products from Boots! If you haven't seen the Boots Christmas advert yet, then you can check it out below. I really do see you guys as an extension of my friends and family so wanted to spread a little love and joy to my beautiful readers!

I will be giving away three gorgeous prizes:

• No7 The Nail Collection with four nail polishes in Devils Delight, Totally Teal, Hot to Trot and Damson Dream.

•  Ted Baker The Name on Everyone's Lips. A set of four glossy lip crayons presented in a beautiful ballet print tin from Ted Baker.

• Botanics Facial Oil plus two mini Nails Inc. polishes.

All you have to do to enter is follow this blog and leave a comment below with your choice of gift set and your e-mail address. The competition will be open for a week!


If you want to check out the selection of gifts on the Boots website you can see their recommendations here.

Good luck my lovelies and I hope you are all having a wonderful festive season! xxx

Gorgeous Ted Baker Gift!

I just spotted this beautiful Ted Baker gift set on the Boots website and had to share it with you as I think it makes such a lovely gift. Plus at a fantastic price of £22 (down from £45) it really is a savvy purchase!

The Ted Baker set includes:

• Body Wash
• Bath Foam
• Body Scrub
• Body Souffle
• Body Lotion
• Hand Cream
• Purple Vanity Case lined with ballet shoe pattern, built-in mirror and jewel fastening.

I absolutely adore this Ted Baker gift set, and am pretty tempted to pick one up for myself, if only for the gorgeous travel case! xxx

Win NARS Andy Warhol Collection!

As a special Christmas treat NARS is hosting a giveaway every day up till December the 18th. For 15 minutes each day starting at 12pm EST NARS will post an Andy Warhol-inspired question on their Facebook wall here. The most sprited answer posted within 15 minutes will win all three of their gorgeous limited edition gift sets!

This is definitely a competition worth setting a daily reminder for! xxx

Lacoste Girls Night In Gift Set

The Lacoste Girls Night In Gift Set is a great present for the girlie girl. It contains all the tools you need for an evening of pampering, as well as the Lacoste Touch of Pink fragrance.

The Gift Set Contains: Eau de Toilette 50ml, body lotion, shower gel, toe dividers, cosmetic pouch, slippers, cotton headband and two nail files.

The Lacoste Touch of Pink perfume is a fruity-floral which captures the essence of a woman full of youthful sensuality. This is a really fun and wearable fragrance that is a modern take on a classically feminine, floral palette of jasmin, violet, musk, vanilla and orange.

This set usually retails at £60, but is currently on sale in Superdrug for just £29.50 here.

*Sponsored Post*

24 Days of Christmas with Liz Earle

As much as I love chocolate (and I really do) I have never been so excited about an advent calendar, and without a calorie in sight! The Liz Earle advent calendar is absolutely fantastic. With a pampering treat every day in December I can't think of a better way to prepare for the holiday season!

The calendar is quite hefty as it contains a huge selection of Liz Earle products. Whether you are a seasoned LE lover or are looking to try something new the mix of skincare, body care, haircare and fragrance there really is something for everyone.

Even though I am totally unprepared for Christmas I can't wait for December to come so I can start opening all the doors and start using the products. I will never get tired of minis, especially as I rarely spend more than a week at home so am constantly packing and unpacking, which makes these even more perfect!

The Liz Earle 24 Days of Christmas Calendar is £100 here and contains the following selection of products:

• Cleanse & Polish 30ml with 1 pure muslin cloth
• Instant Boost Skin Tonic 50ml bottle
• Skin Repair moisturiser 15ml (Normal/combination)
• Superskin Moisturiser 15ml
• Superskin Concentrate 2ml rollerball
• Daily Eye Repair 5ml
•  Smoothing Line Serum 5ml
• Eyebright Soothing Eye Lotion 50ml  
• Gentle Face Exfoliator 15ml
• Brightening Treatment Mask 15ml
• Intensive Nourishing Treatment Mask 15ml
• Orange Flower Botanical Body Wash 30ml  
• Nourishing Botanical Body Cream 30ml
• Superbalm 5g pot
• Orange Flower Hand Wash 30ml
• Hand Repair 15ml
• Foot Scrub 15ml
• Foot Repair Moisturiser 15ml
• Energising Body Scrub 15ml
• Energising Body Wash 15ml
• Botanical Shine Shampoo 50ml  
• Botanical Shine Conditioner Normal 50ml
• Botanical Essence No. 1 2ml

  Will you be treating yourself or a loved one to a beauty calendar this Christmas? xxx

Christmas with Origins

When the press release for these little Christmas gifts from Origins at Selfridges dropped into my inbox I couldn't help but squeal a little. They are just adorable! Whether you are looking for a stocking filler or a gift to hide under the tree Origins has it all wrapped up, and in cute packaging too!

My absolute favourite is the Origins Christmas baubles (£6 each or £10 for 2). Each one contains 5 best selling Origins products:

• Plantscription Anti-aging Serum 7ml
• Clear Improvement Charcoal Mask 7ml
• Modern Friction Nature’s Gentle Dermabrasion 5ml
• Ginzing ™ Refreshing Eye Cream 5 ml
• Plantscription ™ Eye treatment 5 ml

Plus with every purchase you will be entered into a prize draw to win £1000 worth of Origins products and for every bauble purchased Origins will also plant a tree!

If you get a chance to check these out in Selfridges let me know! I will definitely be picking up a few for Secret Santa presents. Shhh... 

Christmas Gift List

This is the first in the series of my Christmas Gift Guide and I think it has a little something for everyone!

Christmas Gift List

Which item would be your perfect Christmas gift? xxx

The Joy Genie

Who has brought you the most joy this year? Now with The Body Shop you can also spread some joy this festive season. You can use The Joy Genie to nominate your favourite friends to win joyful treats, including a top weekly prize worth £100!

For every entry made The Body Shop will donate 50p to Kidscape. You can enter up to 5 friends. So what are you waiting for? Let's start sharing the joy!


Enter here: http://bit.ly/TheJoyGenie

My Favourite Fragrances

Favourite Fragrances

I've recently been playing around on Beautysets to create some fun collages to be used in my latest blog posts. As much as I love blogger I feel that the layout is somewhat limiting so it's fun to try something new! Let me know what you guys think!

What perfumes are you loving recently? xxx

Murad Christmas Kits - Perfect Balance

Yes, I know it's too early to talk about Christmas, but you can't deny it is already everywhere! The shops are being stocked with stocking fillers, carols are on the radio and lights are being lit on every high street. So to begin our little Christmas round up I thought I would share with you a selection of skincare kits from Murad, which would make a perfect present for the complexion conscious!

The Perfect Balance Kit is designed to create a healthy, balanced environment on your skin by controlling oil production, maintaining clear pores and establishing an ideal level of hydration.

The kit contains the following four products:
Zone Pore Refining Gel, 60ml 
Blemish Treatment Concealer – Medium, 2.5g
Oil-Control Mattifier, 10ml
Hydro-Dynamic Ultimate Moisture for eyes, 3.5ml 

My favourite products in this kit are the mattifying moisturiser, which hydrates the skin, while controlling oil throughout the day. It also works great as a primer if your skin tends to get oily. The concealer has a really soft texture and comes in a handy stick form perfect for touch ups on the go. I love the fact that it both clears and camouflages blemishes!

The perfect balance kit can be found for £42.50 here. Other kits from Murad include Complete Renewal (£52), Shake Up Your Makeup (£36), Hydration Sensation (£73.50) and Radiance Rescue (£58.50).

Laura Mercier Signature Brush Collection

Usually I get very annoyed when people talk about Christmas in October. Perhaps purely for selfish reasons as my birthday is on the 28th (this Sunday... Yay) and it is obviously the main event of the month! However, when the press release for this beautiful Laura Mercier Brush Collection popped into my inbox this week I was swept away with thoughts of Christmas gifts.

The signature brush collection includes an essential edit of Laura Mercier's beautifully crafted wood handle brushes in an opulent case. I especially love the easel back stand which can be used to display the brushes, or removed to be used as a chic travelling case. The brushes included are:

•Finishing Brush

•Cheek Colour Brush

•Camouflage Powder Brush

•Pony Tail Brush

•Eye Colour Brsuh

•Crème Eye Colour Brush

•Smoky Eye Liner Brush

•Flat Eye Liner Brush

•Lip Colour Brush

This beautiful set is priced at £195 and is exclusive to Harrods for a limited time.

Will it be making it onto your Christmas list this year?

Win Karen Millen After Dark Elegance Accessories!

Something very exciting begins today! I have partnered with Karen Millen to accessorize their autumn collection and to give you all the chance to win my selection of accessories for their After Dark Elegance look.

The After Dark Look features the Ultimate Prom Dress (£140). I absolutely love the vibrant blue and the fifties style flare fit. I paired this dress with some fun and festive accessories to give it a more modern edge and create some contrast.

To be in with the chance of winning the first prize of an edit of coveted accessories from my After Dark Elegance look, or the second prize of a £100 Karen Millen gift card, simply enter here. For more news and competitions you can also follow Karen Millen on twitter @KarenMillen.

Check back later in the week to see the final photos of my accessories for off-duty luxe and polished workwear. I would love for you to let me know what you think of my choices!

*This is a sponsored post.*