3 New Tries

I love it when I buy new things to try and end up absolutely loving them! I thought I would share 3 of the products I have recently bought and am enjoying.

First is The Body Shop camomile cleansing oil. I have never tried a cleaning oil and due to my skin being on the oily side I've tried to steer clear of oily facial products! However, I really wanted to start double cleansing in my night time routine and lots of people have said an oil and a cream cleanser are the best combination. This cleanser has had some really good reviews so I thought I would try it out! The cleanser removes make up so well and upon removal didn't leave any oily residue, and left my face feeling super soft! It also has a really nice, subtle scent. The only thing I wouldn't recommend is rubbing it into your eyes to remove eye make up, trust me, I did and my eyes ended up stinging alll evening. However, it has definitely changed my opinion on oil based cleansers and I would definitely repurchase!

The next product is the Sleek highlighting palette in 'Solstice'. These highlighting palettes are a new release from Sleek and seeing as good highlighters are something I lack I thought I would try it out. The packaging of this product is stunning and is going to look so pretty in my makeup drawer! It also has a magnetic close which I love! There are 3 powder highlighters in the palette and 1 cream highlighter, they all are really pigmented and give a lovely glow. My favourite has to be 'Equinox' (the bottom right) it's so lovely for highlighting cheekbones and the cupids bow! I love how on the back of the box the palette comes it that it tells you where each one can be put for the best results, so helpful!  

My last product is the Rituals yogi flow, foaming shower gel. This is my first Rituals product and now I am desperate for more! I've never had a foaming shower gel before so using this was a new and exciting experience! With this product a little goes a long way, and one squirt gives you way too much product in my opinion, so be careful with that! The scent is really relaxing, slightly floral and lasts a long time when you get out of the shower. This is definitely one of the nicest shower gels I have used.

My Beauty Advent Calendars for 2015

This year I decided to buy some beauty advent calendars for myself. Last year I saw Zoe Sugg had some really lovely ones and by the time I got round to buying a few they had all sold out! This year I decided to get them early. 
I have been waiting patiently for the M&S beauty advent calendar to be released for ages after it started to be advertised. I finally picked it up last Monday on its release. 
The advent calendar is originally £200. However, M&S are currently doing a deal where if you spend £25 on beauty then you can get the calendar for £25. This gave me an excuse to treat myself and try out new brands! I decided to purchase some Christmas presents for my friends and got the calendar. 
The back of the calendar tells you all the products that are contained in the calendar. The products from Rituals, L'occitane, and Ren are the one's I'm most excited about!

I also picked up and advent calendar from the Tanya Burr Christmas range. I am a big fan of Tanya's collection, and this calendar was a bargain for £15! It's originally £25 but Superdrug have an offer on it at the moment for £15. It contains limited edition lipglosses, nail polishes, lashes and shimmer pots! Tanya's calendar has 12 door so I've decided to open a door every other day in the lead up to Christmas. 

I think that beauty advent calendars are such a good way of trying out new products and discovering new brands. They're also much more exciting than a chocolate advent calendar and make the build up to Christmas that bit more exciting!
Do you have any beauty advent calendars? :-)

Forest of Dean Weekend Getaway

Last weekend I went for a long weekend away with my boyfriend to the Forest of Dean. We stayed with Forest Holidays in a Silver Birch log cabin and it was such a lovely trip.
Our log cabin had a kitchen, lounge, master bedroom with ensuite, a twin room, bathroom and a hot tub on the decking. It was so open with huge windows in every room and so nice to wake up to the view of the meadow outside each day. The floor was heated which made it so warm and cosy! 

While we were there the weather was dreary so we spent a lot of time in the hot tub and in the cabin watching sky movies with our entertainment package. We did go on some lovely walks, one of them being to a place called Symonds Yat which had stunning views. We had the most amazing meal on Sunday in The White Horse Inn in Coleford, it was probably the best meal I've ever had!  

It was such a nice relaxing getaway for the weekend and the staff were so helpful and friendly! I couldn't fault our stay! I'm so sad that it's over i'm back to uni and Adam's gone back to London :(

Drugstore haul

I love a good drugstore haul. I only went into Boots for a new cleanser I swear!

I've been waiting for the new Collection palettes to be released in my local Boots for a few weeks and when I finally saw them I had to pick them up! I picked up the blush palette and the eye shadow palette. The blush palette contains two blushes, a bronzer and a highlighter. They are all very pigmented and blendable. The blushes don't appear chalky and have great staying power. I'm not a fan of the cardboard packaging but then what do you expect for £4.99!
The eyeshadow palette is amazing. I have two of the other collection eye shadow palettes that were absolutely raved about a while back and I can safely say that this one is of the same good quality. The shades are so pigmented and nice to blend. I love how the palette is laid out into the choice of two looks of natural or romantic. Again, an absolute bargain for £5.99!

Boots are currently doing a 3 for 2 on all their make up so I also picked up the Collection Lasting perfection foundation. I am so so impressed with this foundation. Usually cheaper foundations make my skin look really dry and dull but this one does neither, it has great staying power and is quite dewy! I love the glass bottle packaging with the pump and the fact that it's only £5.99 is cray!

Next are my new favourite lip combo. I picked up the Max Factor lipstick in 'Rosewood' after hearing Gabby (Gabriella Lindley) say how much she loved the colour. Gabby was right, it is amazing! it's such anice colour and is really creamy and moisturising. I then tried to find a lip liner to pair it with as I find this type of colour look so much nicer with properly lined lips. The colour I found that most matched with it was the Rimmel Exaggerate lipliner in 'Eastend Snob'.

I also picked up a new Supercat eyeliner from Soap and Glory and the Archery 2 in 1 brow.

I've been testing the archery 2 in 1 for a few days and i'm not totally convinced I like it! The sculpting crayon is very hard to work with and requires force to actually draw. The setting gel however I do quite like as it dries really quick and keeps my eyebrows in shape all day. I probably wouldn't purchase it again though.

Lastly, I picked up a new Liz Earle hot cloth cleanser and a new Batiste brown dry shampoo. Both are staples in my day to day life! 

New Skincare Discoveries

Superdrug have recently released a new naturally radiant skincare range. I've been looking for a dupe for my Liz Earle hot cloth cleanser as I go through them so quickly! 

In the naturally radiant range there is a hot cloth cleanser, and included in a muslin cloth. I've been using this for about a week and I can safely say it is such a good dupe for £5.99! I find that it has a nicer smell than my Liz Earle one. It didn't sting when I used it to remove my eye make up and made my skin feel really soft.

When I bought the cleanser there was an offer on the natural radiant range for buy one get one free, so I also picked up the 2 in 1 serum and moisturiser. I don't actually own a serum so I don't have anything to compare this to. However, it has a nice texture and the same nice smell as the cleanser. I've been applying this after my nightly cleanse and tone. I found this made my forehead slightly oily after a few uses, so I haven't been putting it there since, just on the other areas of my face!

I also picked up the Nip and Fab dragon's blood cleansing pads. These contain hyaluronic acid to hydrate and plump skin, salicylic acid to deeply cleanse pores and dragons blood to hydrate the skin even more. I'm all about products that deeply cleanse pores! I'm suffering with my pores becoming more blocked at the moment so I'm trying to buy more products with salicylic acid in them.The scent of the pads is lovely and fresh and these have definitely helped with hydrating my skin. 

Lastly, I picked up the Nuxe Reve de Miel lip balm. I've seen so many good reviews about this balm that I had to try it for myself! It's one of the more pricey balms I own at £9.50 but I've heard that Nuxe is such a good brand so I wanted to try something from them! The balm is pretty thick and a little goes a long way. It has definitely lived up to my expectations, this stuff stays on my lips for hours and is deeply moisturisng. Perfect for the colder weather :-)