Origins Mask marvels gift set

I've wanted to try origins face masks for as long as i've been reading beauty blogs, but i've always shied away from the hefty price tag, and the choice! I've heard great reviews from so many people about all of the face masks that I've never known which one to get, so when I saw the Origins mask marvels gift set (£25) I was thrilled! you get three 75ml face masks for £25... what? I think it's such a great way to try some of their face masks without breaking the bank.

Origins Clear improvement active charcoal mask

This was the mask I was most excited to try when I got the set, I first tried this whilst having a bit of a pamper evening chilling in the bath, it's quite a thick clay consistency which dries solid without being uncomfortable and extremely tight like other clay masks I've tried, I left it on for about 30 minutes because I was way too comfortable watching youtube videos in the bath.... and when I washed it off afterwards my skin felt so unbelievably clean without feeling as if all the moisture had been sucked out of my face, also my pores looked really clear and had reduced in size.

Origins Intensive overnight Mask

I was always a bit skeptical about trying this mask in the past, because I imagined it to feel really uncomfortable and sticky whilst I was trying to sleep, I had images in my head of me waking up with all of my hair stuck to my face and having to make a mad dash washing my hair in the morning and being late to work or college. Wrong. I was so wrong about this product, the texture is nothing like I imagined, yes it's quite thick in consistency but It sinks into my skin fairly quickly and sits on my face really nicely without feel too heavy and uncomfortable, it just feels as if you've just applied a thick night cream... and oh my it smells amazing, I can't quite pinpoint what it is, some sort of fruit? Yum!
When I woke up the next day and washed my face it felt so smooth and soft, i've never had results like that with other hydrating masks I've tried (the body shop, NSPA) which I'm extremely impressed with.

Origins intensive 10 minute mask

This mask gives me that 'quick fix' when my skins feeling really tight and I want baby butt smooth skin. I don't think this one smells as nice as the overnight mask, it's a lot less fruity but it still has a slight smell to it, the consistency is also a lot thinner which Is fine by me as it doesn't feel extremely heavy on my face. Out of the all other moisturising masks I have tried this comes in at second, the first being the overnight mask. out of this gift set this was actually the mask I was least excited about and it's actually my least favourite from the set as well, not because it's a bad mask because it's not, but I feel as if the other two do a lot more for my skin.

Christmas day makeup look | Video

I'm free from education for two weeks now that it's christmas break, hurrah! so to start the holidays off I thought I'd do a christmas makeup look, I have some other exciting videos planned for the next couple of weeks now that I actually have some free time! This is the makeup i'm planning on wearing on christmas day, I think it's quite festive and not over the top or offensive. I would do a christmas OOTD but i'll be honest, I lounge around in Pj's eating food all day so unless you want to see what pyjamas I'm wearing on christmas day it'll be a bit pointless... hope you enjoy the video!

All  products used
Benefit porefessional primer, Nars sheer glow foundation, Bobbi brown corrector
Benefit erase paste concealer, Soap and glory one heck of a blot pressed powder, Sleek face form kit in Light, Sleek blush in flushed, Mac eyeshadows - all that glitters, charcoal brown, shroom, Maybelline eyestudio gel eyeliner, Maybelline the falsies mascara, Rimmel kate moss lipstick in 107. Brushes: Real techniques, Eco tools, MAC.

Anastasia Brow wiz

Fellow beauty lovers, I present to you the Anastasia Brow wiz, a dual ended pencil with a spoolie on one end and a fine nib eyebrow pencil on the other. You can order it online from Cult beauty for £15... I know, £15 for an eyebrow pencil... could it really be worth it? well in my opinion yes. The pencil is so fine that you can recreate the appearance of eyebrow hairs with light strokes, if you use a heavy hand with this product you can get the whole scouse brow look if you're not careful. I brought mine in the shade 'brunette' which is very ash toned, which is good if you're looking for an eyebrow pencil without any red undertones. When I first opened my parcel and saw how thin this pencil was I was shocked, which makes me think it'll be the perfect travel companion as it won't take up much room in your makeup bag. The spoolie on the other end of the pencil is also really nice, it brushes the brows out really well and helps distribute the product out evenly. I don't use this product everyday, I personally find it easier to fill in my eyebrows with my trust Mac charcoal brown eyeshadow but this is a nice alternative when I want to spend that little bit of extra time on my eyebrows making them look perfect.

What's your favourite product to tame your eyebrows?

Merry Christmas to me | Haul

So whilst i've been christmas shopping I made a few naughty purchases which I probably shouldn't have done... it all started when Aaron gave me an early christmas present, the origins mark marvels gift set (£25) which contains 3 75ml face mask (Intensive overnight mask, Intensive 10 minute mask, Clear improvement active charcoal mask) which I can report back and say they are all amazing, a full blog post will come on them soon. Winter isn't the same without a trip to lush, Baths in the winter time are amazing and so relaxing... although Aaron and my mum have brought me quite a lot of lush goodies for christmas I couldn't wait that long so I got a butterball bathbomb (£2.50) and Snowman (£2.50) which is the christmas version of butterball! I bought my first ever snow fairy shower gel (£10) and I can't get over how sugary sweet it smells, I can't wait to give it a whirl when I finish some of the many shower gels i'm currently using! I repurchased the Brazened honey face mask (£5.95) which is one of my favourite face masks I have ever tried, it leaves your skin looking smooth and radiant and I stupidly forgot to photograph it as it's in the fridge!

Next stop, boots! whilst getting some christmas presents for my good chum Jayne I made a few sneaky purchases, first up the real techniques exert face brush (£9.99) which I have heard so many good things about has now joined my collection, real techniques are also buy one get one half price at the moment!
I am the biggest fan of the Revlon just bitten kissable balm stains (£7.99), they're my favourite lip product ever and I have never seen the shade Romantic in store before so when I saw it I snatched it up and I'm so excited to try it. I also got a free glitter nail polish because I brought three revlon products (two are christmas presents and not mine, so I can't show them because they read my blog!) and finally another product which I don't think I could live without, the bobbi brown corrector (£18.50) I got mine for around £16 because of the 10% off event they had going on, which is always a nice surprise when you're about to pay!

So those are my christmas presents to myself... I lack any self restraint and shouldn't be allowed to go shopping. I'm so beyond excited for christmas and can't wait to chill out with my family and eat lots of good food!

Have you brought any christmas presents for yourself this year as a treat?

My foundation dream team

The three musketeers of my makeup bag which give me a perfect flawless base, I use these three products nearly everyday as it's fool proof and I know it'll look good when I'm done applying it. I start off by applying my Nars sheer glow foundation in dots all around my face, I then go on to spraying my Real techniques buffing brush with 1 spray of Mac Fix + and buff in the foundation. on an everyday basis I'll only use one layer of my Nars sheer glow foundation, but for an evening or night out look I will just put a little bit of extra foundation on my cheeks, nose and chin to give me a bit of extra coverage. I find that the fix + helps my foundation blend in more smoothly and gives me a more fresh faced look, and I will just point out now that even though the foundation is called 'sheer glow' the foundation isn't sheer what-so-ever, it gives a medium buildable to full coverage base without looking cakey, one of the things I love most about the foundation is that you can't feel it on your skin and it's very comfortable to wear for a long period of time. After i've applied my base, concealed, powdered and all of that jazz I will just spray my face once more with fix + to give myself a dewier finish and to set everything in place.

what products give you the perfect base? 

My Christmas list

1 - Canon 600d body only ' // 2 - Eos Smooth Lip Balm Sphere // 3 - The balm Nude'Tude palette  //  4 - The Little Mermaid Collection // 5 - Emma Hardie Amazing Face Natural Lift and Sculpt Moringa Cleansing Balm // 6 - Yankee candle 'North Pole

This is my christmas list for this year, a bit late but oh well!
I already own a canon 500D but for youtube and taking blog photos... of myself I want the canon 600D because of the handy dandy flip screen, I already own 3 canon lenses so the body only saves a lot of money! and how cute is the EOS lip balm bauble? I love my EOS lip balms and I desperately want to try the Vanilla bean one included in the bauble! The Balm Nude'Tude palette has been on my radar for months now but i've never indulged and brought it myself, so I decided to pop it on my christmas list... I may even make the cheeky purchase after christmas?

three words... the little mermaid, do I need to say anymore? this set includes three little mermaid films (I only thought there were 2?!) I adore the little mermaid and disney films so this is on my list! another product I have been dying to try, yet never brought myself is the Emma Hardie cleansing balm, this cleanser is so hyped up in the beauty community it's hard to resist, I want to know what all of the talks about and I'm running low on my faithful Clarins pure melt cleansing gel. I've been burning candles like crazy this month, i'm halfway through 'fireside treats' and want a new christmassy candle, I got christmas cookie last year from my brother and his girlfriend and it was such a beautiful scent and lasted a whole 6 months! So north pole, the US exclusive (released in the UK this year?) yankee candle which smells like candy canes is next on my candle lust list!

November favourites

So december is finally here and the countdown to christmas begins! I haven't even got an advent calendar this year which makes me a little bit sad... but anyway onto the favourites!

First up, i've been loving baths this month i've been having mini pamper evenings with bubble baths and face masks, all that jazz around four times a week at the moment, mainly because i've been feeling down and there's nothing like a good bath to make you feel better! that's where 'The comforter' from lush comes in, this little swirly bar of goodness smells like Ribena and makes your bath pink and bubbly, seriously would could be better than that? along with the whole bath theme I brought the Imperial leather sweet vanilla & Cherry blossom foamburst body wash earlier in the month and I think it's so dang cool, it's foams up like shaving foam but when you rub it onto your body is lathers up really nicely and it smells gorgeous, even Aaron's been enjoying using it this month! The cold weather has also really dried out my skin and i've been using the body shop's raspberry body butter in the evenings, it's thick and sweet smelling and leaves your skin feeling so smooth.

Trying to make my face look a little less dull this month has been a challenge, I started using the seventeen skin wow highlighter under my foundation and it just gives me that ooomph and glow I need in the colder months, it isn't greasy and makes my foundation glide on smoothly and can be used in a few different ways, I'll have a full review coming up of this soon, but for now i'll say it's an all around good product in my eyes. Instead of repurchasing my Benefit they're real! I thought I'd pick up the Maybelline falsies mascara again and i've really been enjoying it, it gives me long, voluminous lashes and it stays on all day. I thought i'd try something different on the brow front and brought the Anastasia brow wiz which really is as good as people say, the spoolie on one end is really good and not scratchy and the actual product has such a fine nib that you can create the appearance of hairs, it isn't too waxy but just looks so natural.
Last but not least a product i've raved about all month is the L'oreal volume supersizing spray, I adore this product for giving me texture and volume in my limp hair, I've used it nearly everyday and it's no where near being finished!

so those were my november favourites, what were yours?