Christmas 2014

How is Christmas pretty much over for another year already? Rather than having a few different posts like last year on Christmas I thought I'd do a big Christmassy round up all in one post for you. The above pictures are from Lincoln Christmas market which I visited earlier this month with one of my friends, it was such a nice weekend and the market had so many cute gifts (and of course some lovely mulled wine) it really got me into the Christmas spirit.

Christmas day was wonderful as always and my brother took a turn to make Christmas dinner for the first time and it was pretty amazing too! Below are some of the Christmas presents I received, all of which I am very grateful for and I can't wait to start using them.

I noticed a lot of people talking about the post-Christmas walks they went on on boxing day this year, although we didn't get chance to go on one on boxing day, we did go for a walk yesterday instead. It was very cold but so worth it after being able to take some photographs of some of the beautiful swans and ducks we saw.

I hope you all had a fab Christmas and wish you all a very happy new year!

Abigail x

Product Empties #2

This is my second product empties post and there are quite a few more products than the first post that I've managed to accumulate (despite forgetting to save some of the bottle now and again, oops) and I've also given you a quick review on how I found each of the products, so, enjoy...

Hair: Herbal Essences Ignite my Colour Shampoo - I went through a phase of trying different shampoos to see which one worked the best for me, although I did like this one I'm now back to and sticking to vo5.

Avon's Superfruit Souffle - This smells so nice and I don't think Avon stock it anymore but I have to say it was one of my favourite conditioner's ever!

Rainforest Moisture Hair Butter - I had a bit of a love/hate relationship with this product. Before I purchased it I'd read mixed reviews, some saying that it made their hair knotty which I didn't think was possible until the first (and second) time of using it it did the same to me! I then gave it another try and since then it was fine and it smells good too.

Aussie 3 Minute Miracle - I love this product. I remember when it first came out a few months back and after seeing some before and after photos I knew I really needed this, I can't believe how well it works and I can't wait to use it again once I re-purchase it!

Face: Botanics All Bright Purifying Face Scrub - This is a product that although I liked at first I thought it was a bit too harsh as a face scrub compared to some others that I've been so I don't think I'd buy this again.

Origins Clear Improvement Face Mask - Although this is only a sample it lasted me quite a while and now that I've had a chance to try it I know how much I like it (just as I thought I would) and now I can allow myself to at some point pay for the full-size version.

Body: Avon Senses Winter Delight Shower Gel, Wilko Sweet Shower Smoothie and Grace Cole Eastern Spa Body Wash. As they're all shower gels/body washes there isn't too much I can say about these three except that they all smell so good although they're all different. The winter delight smells particularly amazing and it gets me in the mood for Christmas!

Other: Charlie Pink Body Spray - One of my favourite body sprays for almost ten years now, just smells amazing, I'm not surprised it's still being made!

Rimmel London Lash Accelerator Endless Mascara - If you want long lashes rather than volume this is a great mascara and Rimmel is a great brand to go to for mascara's too.

Have you tried or want to try any of these products?

Abigail x

Beauty Box Swap with Tania

At the beginning of the year Tania and I both tweeted that we'd like to do a Beauty Box Swap. I replied to her tweet and before you know it we were planning on how much to spend, what sorts of things to buy and how long we should have before we post them to each other. We decided on a price range of £15-£20 and to have the box posted during the last week of January which we both managed to do!

I was so excited to see the box when it came as I knew it was going to be this, (I only went to take some rubbish out) and I rushed back in to open it and see what lovely things were inside! Tania also sent a nice little note as well as notes on each little present too! So, on with some photo's of the box swap...

The box came filled with some lovely boxes and a gift bag with the items wrapped in some colourful tissue paper. The first one that I opened was the the polka dot gift bag.

Inside I found an Essie nail polish in 'All Tied Up'. I'm wearing this nail polish right now and I really like it, so keep your eyes peeled for a post on this very soon! Next up was this bath bomb which smells so so so nice that when I picked it up it took me a while to put it back down! I can't wait to try it out and then I might even need to buy some more. And last but not least from this gift bag were three candles which also smell amazing (as you can tell I really do like my scents) but I am yet to try these out too.

Next up in this box is a Calvin Klein eye shadow and a Collection 2000 lip stain which both actually match perfectly when I tried them out! I might do a FOTD using them both to show you what they're like soon. There was also this metallic silver/gold bracelet with diamante's which I love. 

And in the final box were these three Grace Cole products. A body wash, body lotion and hand and nail lotion, which also smell really nice. Tanya has also asked me to do a review on these which I will when I get around to testing these out, I already have a larger Grace Cole set of hand wash and hand lotion which I got for Christmas so I'm sure these will be just as nice to use.

You can see Tania's post on what I sent her in our box swap here. I'd also just like to say thank you again to Tanya for doing this box swap with me, I've really enjoyed it and loved picking out the items!

Have you done a box swap before or anything similar?

Abigail x

January Favourites

Now that January is over it's time for all of the first monthly favourites of the year to be posted. For a change, I don't actually think this month has gone too fast to what it usually feels like so let's hope it stays this way! I think out of all of the monthly favourites I've done before, this might be my favourite because I am absolutely loving every single one of these products so much at the moment, even more than usual.

First up, is my first ever Real Techniques brush, this is the 'Expert Face Brush' and believe me it is amazing! Looking back now I can't believe I just use to apply my foundation with my fingers before, I can't even describe how good it is (not very helpful, I know) but it makes my foundation spread much more evenly and looks quite... professional (if I do say so myself) so I highly recommend it and need to stop eyeing up the rest of the Real Technique's brushes that I want to purchase!

A perfume which I put on a wish list way back when I first started my blog was the new Killer Queen perfume by Katy Perry. I already had Meow and for Christmas I was lucky enough to not only get Purr (the first of Katy's perfumes) but also this Killer Queen perfume set which does include the shower gel too but I'm using up some others before I try that out. It has been my 'go to' perfume this month and every time I step out of the shower I just have to use this body lotion, it just smells so good!

As you may have seen in my recent Beauty Haul, I purchased the Revlon Colorstay Foundation. It has a lot more coverage than the foundation which I was previously using so I only tend to use it if I'm going out somewhere and some days at uni (depending if I'm in a hurry to get ready or not). I use it with the real techniques expert face brush which I mentioned earlier and hopefully soon I'll get a review up about this foundation!

These two Ted Baker lip crayons (which you can read more about here) were part of a gift set and I don't think they are sold individually which is quite sad because they are such great colours and formulas. At first I was using the darker plum coloured one and I didn't wear the pink one for a while until I finally tried it out (I didn't think it would suit me at first) but I really like it and now I'm usually wearing one of these during the day and carrying it around in my bag, I just love them!

I hope you enjoyed reading my monthly favourites, what have been your January favourites?

Abigail x

**100 Follower Giveaway** Soap and Glory + Barry M

If you follow me on twitter you may know that the other day I reached 100 followers on bloglovin! I am so happy about this and I wanted to say a big THANK YOU to all of you that have made this happen, following, commenting or even tweeting me.

The Giveaway:
I'll be giving away the Soap & Glory Eyes Box AND a Barry M nail polish (which I think matched the eye shadows well).

In this set you will get the:

• Thick & Fast Super volume mascara
• SIX Eye shadows
• Smoulder Kohl waterproof eyeliner
• Plus a mirror and brush (for the eye shadows)
• PLUS the Barry M Nail Polish

RULES:
This giveaway is open to the UK only, I will contact the winner by email after the giveaway has ended (4th Feb). You must have your own blog (and twitter account if you enter with your twitter), not one that you use just to enter giveaways, if you do this you will be disqualified.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Abigail x

2014 and Wish List: THE SALES!!!

I found this on pinterest (here) and thought it was a great thought to start the new year with!

I hope you all had a good time celebrating the new year last night/today, Happy New Year to all of you lovely readers! Yesterday it made it 4 months since I had written and posted my first blog post and I can't believe how well my blog has done, getting nearer and nearer to my first milestone now.. 100 followers! That itself gives me so much motivation to continue to post regularly (when I'm back at uni it does get a lot harder) but I'm going to try and post at least twice a week. Another resolution, or more of an aim is to get myself a part-time job this year so that I will be a lot better off financially. But, I can only TRY with this because I've been applying and going to job interviews for a while and I still don't have one so we'll see and hopefully it'll happen very soon!

Anyway, on with what this post was originally aimed at.. my wish list of the sales!

1. AX Paris Aztec Skater Dress £16.99

2. Bed Head Shampoo and Conditioner £20.96

3. L'Oreal self-tan mousse £7.49

4. Soap and Glory Gift Set £4.00

5. Miss Selfridge top £15.00

6. Dorothy Perkins Chain Necklace £7.50

7. No.7 Mirror £15.99

8. Macadamia Flawless Finish Set £29.35

Do you have any new years resolutions? What's on your wish list?

Abigail x