A Little Late......Christmas Gifts!

Happy Wednesday!

I have wanted to do this post since Christmas Day but time has absolutely flown by since then! I can't believe it's the 8th of January already! 2014 feels like it's taken off and isn't set to slow down. One major thing i'm looking forward to is getting the lovely other half of Twice Upon a Blonde back. She's still working her little socks off in Guildford on the costumes in Cinderella! So we've been separated for most of the festive season! Orla will be heading home a few days before I jet off to (hopefully) sunny skies! So our next encounter is set to be brief, but SO overdue! Cannot wait!

Anyway, enough of the life story and more about CHRISTMAS PRESENTS! This year I was well and truly spoilt by everyone, and these are just a selection of my presents. I chose the most relevant to our beauty blog, meaning i'm leaving out anything non beauty related that I was lucky enough to receive!

Finding Mr Bright - Benefit 

This is a gorgeous gift set of miniature sized items I actually already use. The minis are perfect to pop in your handbag if you're like me and cherish those extra 10 minutes in bed in the morning and tend to do your make up on the go! This set includes an erase paste under eye concealer, Girl Meets Pearl night time primer, High Beam highlighter and Posie Tint lip and cheek stain. This includes some of my favourite products, so definitely a huge Christmas present win!

I also had these two Benefit lip glosses as a stocking filler. These are two really pretty colours that are really easy to wear! They last for a good amount of time before needing to reapply and are a really nice consistency. They are not at all sticky and I'll definitely be checking out the other colours in the range! 

 Owl Design Sleep Mask

 Another stocking filler was this super cute eye mask with lavender seeds inside. It's a really relaxing and soothing scent and I can't wait to take this on the plane with me to Florida so that I can try and get 40 winks on the way home! The design is very sweet and the underside has a fleece feel that rests against the eyelids, which feel really comfy when this is on. 

Real Techniques - Travel Brush Set

I have been SO excited to try these and can confirm that I've not been disappointed! This set includes a domed foundation brush, multi task brush and the domed eye shadow brush. I am so excited to have these in my collection, especially now right before my holiday! Trying to put together a condensed make up kit is not the easiest thing to do! This has sorted out my brush choices! 

Body Shop Lip and Concealer Brush (not pictured)

This was one of my gifts from Orla......now I can stop borrowing hers! I love this brush! It makes lipstick application so much easier and makes the lines much cleaner. I have quite full lips but sometimes find it difficult to apply make up without it looking like a toddler has gone at me with my lip stick! This brush allows me to create a really defined cupid bow and generally finish off my lips perfectly!

Lovely Vintage Gift Set

This is a stunning gift set consisting of body lotion, body wash and bath salts. I adore the packaging, it looks like it's taken inspiration from Soap and Glory but with a little more attention to detail. These products smell great and you get a really good amount of product in each, especially considering it's part of a gift set.  

Aussie Hair Care Gift Set

Another stocking filler that couldn't have come at a better time! I totally ran out of my Aussie shampoo and conditioner before Christmas, so was over the moon to open this! I love this brand, it the three minute miracle conditioner does wonders for my split ends and I really do notice a huge difference when I use these. They also came in the cute bag you can see in the background!

Body Shop White Musk body lotion and wash 

This little set was another stocking filler with one of Body Shops signature scents. This set comes with a body sponge and a good sized bottle of each of these products. I was also given a travel nail kit. This is something that I have wanted for a really long time! It comes in this perfect little carry case and has already had lots of use!  

So that's everything beauty related that I was given this year! I hope you enjoyed this post, let me know if you want to see reviews of anything! 

Thanks for checking this out! 

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We're Back......

Hello Lovelies!

We hope you all had a wonderful festive season! We're so sorry to have abandoned you during the most wonderful time of the year. Unfortunately, Christmas for us didn't quite pan out as we had hoped and we didn't get to blog as much as we had wanted or planned to.

Christmas is such a great time to spend with family and friends. I have such a huge family, that Orla is very much a part of. She has been my baby sister for as long as I can remember - and in fact, one of my earliest memories is sitting on the sofa and being allowed to hold a two day old Orla while every adult in the room stood by terrified! Usually Orla and I will get together as often as possible to wrap presents, watch Christmas films and eat our weight in chocolate.

This year we knew things would be a little different because Orla was working on Panto in Guildford while I was staying in London. I also had some devastating news on 30th November that really threw Christmas into complete turmoil for my entire family. My dear Uncle died very suddenly and unexpectedly of hypothermia. We used to see him every few weeks and he always came to stay with us at Christmas. Things really didn't feel very merry at all and as a result, I didn't much feel like writing blog posts whilst feeling so down in the dumps. If this had happened at any other time of year, Orla would have been manning the blog, but due to a really heavy work schedule, this wasn't going to work at all.

So, here we are in 2014. I'm feeling more positive but to be totally honest, still not myself. There are only a few very select number of people that can tell that i'm still not quite back to normal. When someone has been such an important part of your life for as long as you can remember, it's hard to adjust. I hope that one day soon i'll be able to think about happy times spent with my uncle without getting emotional. Currently, that's not really possible. 

This year has a lot of potential and we're certainly going to the make the most of it, whatever we chose to do and wherever the the choices lead us, we hope you'll come along for the ride.

How ever we choose to travel.....

.....with cake

...and lots of giggles!

xx 

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