So today is Christmas Day. Or Christmas Evening to be precise. Granddad has nodded off in front of the telly, Mum's on the Baileys and my little sister (who isn't even eighteen yet) has wandered off to the pub leaving me to eat my body weight in Cadbury's chocolate boxes. You'd think by twenty two I'd know when to put a box down but no. But that's the beauty of Christmas, normal rules are abandoned and everyone gets involved. If you wore reindeer antlers at any other time of year and wound some tinsel round your ponytail you'd be stared at on the bus, but in December (or November if you're an eager elf) you can do what you like.
So down to the important stuff-what did we all get in our stockings? Aside from the usual Santa shaped chocolates, bath stuff and socks there's the things we all hope and pray will find their way down our chimneys and mine are nearly always high end beauty products I can't justify buying myself.
First up was the Urban Decay Naked 2 pallette which I had researched for months trying to decide between the first and the second. Most people's reviews seemed to lean more towards the original pallette but my theory is if it was good enough the first time round they wouldn't have tried to improve on it by bringing out a second and to be honest I was loving 'Black out' as opposed to the original darker shades 'Creep' and 'Gunmetal'. Now I know this came out quite a few months back but I have so many brown shimmer eyeshadow pallettes by Bobbi Brown and Benefit that I refused to invest in another before I had really done my research. A more realistic reason was that I was living in Devon for the year and trying to find somewhere that stocked Urban Decay was a mission and a half!
So the task was given to Santa and as per usual he delivered the goods.
From left to right: Foxy, Half Baked, Bootycall, Chopper, Tease, Snakebite, Suspect, Pistol, Verve, Ydk, Busted and Blackout.
I did a few swatches and tried out a 'Christmas Smokey Eye' on my Sister which turned out surprisingly well and I've promised to recreate the look for her eighteenth birthday party. Like most people I wish they'd included a few matte browns rather than shimmers but I have enough in my own make up bag to make up for that. I'm also a bit flummoxed as to why they included a lipgloss rather than the original 'Primer Potion' but I guess the primer is raved about so much people would probably buy it on its own anyway. The lipgloss is in the colour 'Naked' which you'd think would be a nude colour but no, it's a dark rosy pink and very sticky although it does have a lovely taste and smell of mints.
'Naked' Lipgloss
I also recieved two presents from my Dad's girlfriend which was a pleasant surprise and she had clearly been listening to my beauty rambles at the dinner table. First up were 'Stila' lipglosses that came in a set of eight and are colours that are right up my street. They range from my favourite all time shades of peachy pink to coral to nudes to a dark cherry shade- pretty much every colour you could want! Now I'm not a huge lipgloss fan, I'll throw a nude lipstick on every now and again but I mostly stick to tinted lip balms on dressier days and good old 'Nivea lip butter' on more casual days, which is most of the time. However, I've been wearing these all day and I have to say I'm pretty happy with them! I'll be trying more 'Stila' goodies as soon as Boots sends me my fifth points card!
'Stila' Lipglosses
'Bomb Cosmetics' is a really lovely, fun brand that I have a few lip balms from already but hadn't found many shops that sold it (maybe I haven't been looking properly) so I was happy to find she'd got me a set of soap paints, although I had no idea what they were! After some careful investigating I realised they're like shower gels but coloured in blue, pink and green and smell deliciously fruity. My Gran pointed out I'd need to take someone in the shower to paint me...Right. Anyhoo, I love an odd gift that gets you trying something new so I will certainly be giving these a splash.
Soap paints by 'Bomb Cosmetics'
Next up was my favourite brand 'Essie'. I typically wear cherry red's or deep dark red's all year round with the occasional break of black for nights out and lilac and mint pastel shades dotted throughout Spring and Summer. Fingers and toes always matching, always cut short and filed to perfection with a glossy top coat. What can I say? I like what I like! Unfortunately I had managed to leave all of my nail polishes behind in Devon during the big move up North. Thankfully Santa had heard my sobs and knew I was a red girl at heart so dropped these two lovelies off for me.
'Lollipop' and 'Fishnet Stocking' polishes by 'Essie'
I went for 'Lollipop'which was the more Christmassy of the two and it will be the first in a whole new collection of red nail polishes, this time safely in the North. Ignore the scratches, it's been a busy week in work!
Then there was the Marc Jacobs 'Dot' perfume which I had smelt once before when my beloved 'Daisy' ran out although admittedly I had been pretty stingy and gone for the handbag sized mini version at 20ml whereas this is 1 fl oz. I'd passed 'Dot' up and gone for my usual Juicy Couture number but after having a good old squirt of this here, there and everywhere I'm definitely a fan and starting to thinking Mr Jacobs can do no wrong. It's hard to describe the scent but I'd say it's similar to 'Daisy' but more fruity rather than fresh and light, probably something you'd wear more at night. When I first smelt it it reminded me of DKNY's red apple.
'Dot' by Marc Jacobs
My sister always wins at giving presents with the best present she ever got me being a canvas print of my favourite picture of Marilyn Monroe in a bright pink dress that cost her just a couple of pounds. She never spends a huge amount but they're always really thoughtful and somehow she knows exactly what I've been looking for without me having to say. She also wraps absolutely everything in Disney Princess paper, makes hand made Christmas cards and labels and buys and wraps all her presents by at least the end of November putting me well and truly to shame.
This year she bought me a 'Cath Kidston' key chain, compact mirror and card holder. Like most girls I adore 'Cath Kidston' but I refuse to buy one of her bags on the basis that every Mum in Devon had one within a week of the store opening up so I'm sticking to accessories! Our spending limit was ten pounds but we may have gone slightly over as I got her a 'Topshop' make up bag, two mini 'Yankee' candles in 'Pink Sands' and 'Buttercream' and 'Loreal's' Telescopic mascara.
'Cath Kidston' key chain, compact mirror and card holder
Last but not least was the sequel to 'Meet me at the Cupcake Cafe' by Jenny Colgan following a woman called Issy who is fired from her corporate job and opens up her own bakery in London taking on two single mums to help her out and of course, finding love along the way after leaving her love rat ex boyfriend. This one is Christmas themed and titled 'Christmas at the Cupcake Cafe' and as far as I can tell it's about the love of Issy's life moving to New York to pursue her career leaving her cupcake shop and relationship in limbo. It's definitely a light and fluffy book but as I don't normally like them I was surprised to find Jenny's books are written with so much personality the fluffiness of them is forgotten. A pretty nice touch is that Ms Colgan is clearly into her baking and each chapter starts with a new recipe which has got me, who absolutely hates cooking, into making the odd few trays of cupcakes that haven't gone too badly wrong yet.
'Jenny Colgan'
So that was Christmas.
I have to admit I was pretty spoilt and as it's my birthday in January I try not to get my hopes up as I know Winter is an expensive time for Ma and Pa but they/Santa certainly did me proud this year.
And here's my happy little face to prove it!
Bella
x
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