My Festive Pamper Routine 2015

During the Christmas period, I take out a couple nights a week to de-stress and treat myself to a pamper night.
I begin by running a warm bath and in this case I am using the Magic Of Christmas Bubble Wand by Lush. By holding it under the warm running water, it creates soft bubbles and turns the water orange with small flecks of glitter.







Whilst the bath is running, I light my favourite candles to create a relaxing, spa-like atmosphere. Here I have lit Soft Blanket, Angel's Wings, Sweet Pink and Apple Spice Potpourri, all from Yankee Candle. They create just the right balance of a sweet vanillery aroma with a hint of spice that adds to the festive feeling!

I then remove my makeup with the Soap and Glory Ultimelt Hot Cloth Cleanser and the Clarins Gentle Foaming Cleanser with Tamarind. Then I apply a facemask. Recently, I am using the Lush Mask of Magnaminity, which contains peppermint to help refresh the skin and draws out any impurities. It leaves my face feeling much smoother.

With the facemask working its magic, I hop into the bubble bath and begin by using the Snow Cake soap by Lush. Its subtle sweet scent is similar to Lush's Dream Cream and it softens skin and leaves you feeling relaxed and squeaky clean. I then continue to shave using Soap and Glory's Sugar Crush Body Wash and then wash my hair using Lee Stafford Beach Blondes shampoo, Tigi Bed Head Recharging Shampoo, Lee Stafford Hair Mask ("For hair that never grows past a certain length") and the Aussi 3 Minute Miracle Shine Mask. These products soften my hair and the Lee Stafford hair mask helps grow my hair from just one use.

Whilst the hair mask is conditioning my hair, I use the Soap and Glory The Scrub Of Your Life to exfoliate. This is one of my favourite scrubs because it lathers into a slight foam and gently removes dry skin.

After rinsing off the facemask and hair mask, I get out of the bath and dry off. To moisturise, I use the Dream Cream from Lush, which is perfect for sensitive and dry skin.

Once moisturised, I put on some festive PJs and move onto my skin care routine. I am currently using; Lush Tea Tree Water toner, La Roche Posay Effaclar Duo, Garnier Moisture Soft Moisturiser, Palmers Line Smoothing Eye Cream and lastly The Body Shop Born Lippy in raspberry. After drying my hair, I make a delicious hot chocolate.  I will post the recipe soon! 

I then choose a Christmas film to watch. Last night, I chose Disney's The Santa Clause, and cuddled up in bed with my puppy, Buffy, and relaxed with my hot chocolate for the rest of the night.

I hope you enjoyed this blog post and please comment below with your must haves for a festive pamper night! Follow me for more posts and feel free to comment any feedback or requests for future posts.

October Beauty Favourites 2015

Now we have rolled into November I thought it would be appropriate, as a beauty blogger, to share with you the items I have most loved throughout October.

Essentially, I have been focusing on finding the perfect base, that is long wearing and suitable for all different genres of makeup.
Initially, I fixated on improving and protecting my skin from becoming dry as the weather is growing much colder in England.

This is the Soap and Glory Ultimelt sold at Boots for £10. I discovered this perfect cleanser that removes all traces of makeup and soothes my skin, which was specifically what I was searching for. Whenever I use this product its spa like scent comforts and relaxes me as well as making the process of removing makeup enjoyable and quick. Simply, use a grape sized amount and massage over dry, makeup ridden skin for a couple minutes. Then soak the muslin cloth, included with the cleanser, in warm water and gently wipe away the cleanser and makeup to reveal your now pampered and silky skin.

I secondly aimed to come upon a light daily moisturiser to help preserve smooth hydrated skin during the winter. Luckily a moisturiser that I bought on a whim turned out to be a perfect match for what I was hoping to find, the Garnier Moisture Soft + for normal to dry skin smells wonderfully fresh and awakening. As for how it performs underneath makeup, it is brilliant! The duration of my foundation wearing on my face has lengthened and it allows my makeup to apply smoothly and it adds a healthy glow that slightly shows through my foundation, giving a much more natural appearance. This product is available to purchase from Boots, priced at only £3.99, a bargain!

Moving onto makeup:

During a quick makeup run in, of course, Boots, I came across the Revlon stand where I had previously planned to pick up a new dark lipstick and matching lip liner for winter time. I noticed at the top of the stand there was an offer including with the purchase of two products you received a free Revlon Photo Ready Primer! I hadn't heard anything about this product but seeing as it was free I couldn't say no! With not much hope for the product I tried it beneath my foundation, in my T zone, where I usually become oily throughout the day. Once I came to remove my makeup after a busy day I was pleasantly surprised to see how well my foundation had lasted and the lack of an oily shine across my face. As I've continued to use this primer I have fallen in love with it and it is now a part of my holy grail of products! This is available to purchase from Boots for £9.99, I'm very glad I did get this for free!

This Revlon Colour Stay Foundation for Oily to Combination skin has been a very much adored item throughout October, I wear the shade Buff which perfectly matches my fair skin. Available to buy from Boots, sold at £12.99. Although I would say the price of this foundation is in fact highly priced for a drugstore foundation, in my opinion, it is completely worth the price as the item has lasted me incredibly well considering I have practically worn it everyday for a whole month! A little of this product goes a long way and applies smoothly and leaves me looking flawless.

For covering my dark circles beneath my eyes I decided to give the Collection Lasting Perfection Concealer another chance after having a disappointing trial with it a couple years ago. Whether they changed the formulation I'm not sure but Its creamy and full coverage formula will disguise any under eye bags or blemishes and will last you all day/night. it's easy to blend and I would definitely recommend you give this a try if you're in search of an affordable, long-wearing concealer. You can find this from Boots for £4.19.

During winter and autumn I prefer my makeup to look more glowing and less powdery, therefore I have been using the Rimmel London Stay Matte powder in translucent. This powder contributes to controlling the oils in my T zone without leaving a powdery or cakey finish. It allows my skin to have a healthy glow without looking oily or shiny. This powder is well raved about and at first I was quite apprehensive whether it would be worth the hype, however it is! This item is available for purchase from Boots, priced at £3.99

I was on the hunt for a bronzer that yet again adds a glow to my skin and doesn't appear orange on my pale skin. I saw the Maybelline Dream Sun Bronzer in brunette, you can buy this from Asda for £5,  and was automatically drawn to it due to the three different shades. All would be perfect for any shade of skin tone, the lightest shade would be perfect if you have extremely fair skin or as a golden highlighter on more deeper complexion. The medium shade is fabulous for a light bronze without looking orange at all and lastly the darkest section is great for a deeper skin tone or for contouring. I usually swirl my brush in all the colours and apply to my cheekbones, temples and forehead, leaving me looking incredibly bronzed and shimmery.

Previously, in summer, a lovely lady named Michelle that works on the Lancome stall at Boots in Preston, that we know well gave me and my mum some samples of the brands most popular products. Michelle gave me this blusher in Rose Paradise, and since the colour appears very intense and bright I neglected it for a couple months until I plucked up the courage to try it out one morning. Pleasantly surprised by its unexpected subtly, it added a pop of colour to my cheeks that made me look as if I was well rested and awake! This blusher is available to purchase from Lancome and online at Boots for £28.

As I have stated, I love my makeup to be more glowing in the colder months to give me a healthy shine, even if I am suffering with the common cold! One of my favourite places to visit to find beauty bargains is TKMaxx, that's where I found a luxury sample of the Mary-Lou Manizer from the Balm in a set with other samples of popular Balm items. The set only cost £9 but unfortunately I haven't seen it since or on their website however you can get your hands on it from Super Drug for £17.49. It adds the most gorgeous highlight to your skin and leaves you looking like a golden Greek Goddess all day and night!

Brows have been a main focus point in the beauty and fashion world and this Maybelline Brow Drama in medium brown creates fullness in your brows and keeps the hairs tamed. A great dupe for the Benefit Gimmie Brow, you can purchase this eyebrow volumising gel from Boots for £4.99. This gel adds the perfect volume to your brows without them looking like slugs! The unusual wand surprisingly works wonders, allowing you to reach every hair.

Lastly from the makeup items, is the new Lancome Hypnose Volume-a-porter mascara lengthens and lifts revealing lashes you didn't realise existed! Priced highly at £22.50, this amazing mascara can be purchased from Boots. This new formula lets you layer mascara to your desire without them clumping at all, you can wear this with any makeup look, whether it be a plain lid with a bold lip or smoky eyes with a subtle lip. I often wear this mascara with a smoked out lid when putting on false lashes doesn't appeal to me and I still get people asking whether my lashes are real!

My final October favourite would have to be the L'oreal Elvive Extraordinary Oil for colour protection. It assists in maintaining  my coloured hair silky, smooth and vibrant. Improving the appearance of split ends, this oil enriched with six flower oils is truly extraordinary, like it states on the bottle! This would be a definite recommendation for those of you with coloured, dry hair that needs a saviour! Invest in this incredible oil from Boots for £9.99.

Share your favourites from October in the comments and I hope you enjoyed reading my post! Follow me for more Beyond Beauty posts.

Autumn and Winter Lush Haul 2015

In October, Lush brought out their Autumn and Winter range of products. Every year I look forward to trying their new bath bombs, bubble bars and face masks. This year was no different and so I went ahead and ordered some of my most loved items. as well as some of Lush's new pieces.

The first bath bombs I added to my basket were:

 Lord of Misrule from their Halloween line, its scent is a mixture of spices and herbs. 

Frozen, a fairly new bath bomb with a fresh and floral scent, including rose oil,

So White, an apple and rose scented bomb, a classic favourite of mine,

Cinders, a small bath bomb which makes up for its size with its spicy citrus smell.

I then moved onto bubble bars, choosing the following:

Bar Humbug, a fruity scent with a hint of liquorice,

Sparkly Pumpkin, an extremely glittery bubble bar with a scent of fresh fruits,

Candy Mountain, a bubblegum and vanilla swirled treat,

The Magic of Christmas, a spicy star on a cinnamon stick.

Finally I selected a new luxury bath melt named Snow Melt, a peppermint and lemon scented ball.

Comment below your favourite Lush products!

Thank you for reading and follow me for more Beyond Beauty posts.

My Favourite Autumn Drugstore Lipsticks 2015

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When we enter the colder months of the year, a recurring trend of dark lips appears across the beauty and fashion world. As of my first blog post I am showing you my most regularly worn drugstore lipsticks during Autumn and Winter that are just as rich and pigmented as higher end brand lip products.

From left to right: Rimmel London Kate Moss 107, Rimmel London Kate Moss 01, Rimmel London Kate Moss 30
Rimmel London 180 Vintage Pink, Maybelline Matte 975 Divine Wine, Revlon 477 Black Cherry.

 Rimmel London's Kate Moss lipsticks are all extremely creamy and long wearing, they are comfortable to wear as they are not sticky nor smell. However they do tend to transfer onto teeth and can smudge onto skin.

I find that the Rimmel London Moisture Renew lipstick in Vintage Pink doesn't blur onto skin or teeth and is extremely creamy and hence the name is especially moisturising, I often wear this lipstick with a heavy smokey eye.

Maybelline's Divine Wine Matte lipstick is incredibly soft and pigmented and is very long wearing, it can smudge but once blotted it doesn't move at all.

The Revlon Super Lustrous lipstick is wonderfully opaque and rich on the lips, it can tend to smudge onto skin but if blotted it won't budge!

Lipsticks swatched from top to bottom: Rimmel to Revlon

With the more darker shades I usually wear them with a more simple eye look rather than a smokey eye otherwise it can look too heavy and bold for everyday wear. All these lipsticks are perfect for any event or just for common place wear.

The Rimmel London Kate Moss lipsticks retail for £5.49 at Boots,

Rimmel's Moisture Renew Lipstick in Vintage Pink is priced at £6.49 at Boots,

the fifth lipstick: from Maybelline in Divine Wine from their matte collection costs £6.99 from Boots,

and finally the Revlon Super Lustrous lipstick Black Cherry is retailed at £7.99 at Boots.

Thank you for reading and follow me for more Beyond Beauty posts.