2014s Best Beauty Discoveries

Hello beauts!

 

I feel like I have blinked, and now 2014 is almost over. How I don't know! Oh this year has been a year for a definite lot of new discoveries. I have to admit there has been a heck of a lot of amazing releases this year and a lot of spending has been done.

 

Skincare -

 

2014 has been a year of clearing up the skin which meant clearing up the skincare routine and creating a whole new one. Lush was a big help in this department and one product in particular that has really helped clear up my skin is the Lush Let The Good Times Roll facial cleanser. I have gone through three large pots of this and I am currently on my fourth at the moment. This was highly raved about, in the end I joined the bandwagon and got it too!

 

Makeup -

 

So many new makeup discoveries happened this year. Ranging from eye shadows to bronzers. One discovery I am completely head over heels for is the Hoola Bronzer by Benefit. Oh wow, how I contoured without this little beauty I don't know. I have already mentioned this so many times on my blog but  I am so glad I discovered the Maybelline Pure Dream BB Cream and in all honesty this has been an absolute life saver! This makes my skin look stunning, if I do say so myself!

NYC is a brand that doesn't interest me and doesn't seem that appealing if I'm honest, however one of my friends got me their lipstick in  Candy Cake and it has been my staple lipstick of the year.  It's a your lips but better colour and I have been wearing it pretty much everyday! I'm not one to step out of my comfort zone and try new concealers but this year I did. I saw quite a few people talking about the Rimmel London Match Perfection Concealer(which has a built in highlighter too argh), this is so amazing! Its the perfect under eye concealer and brightens up my eyes so much!

 

Body and Hair -

 

I'm one for long baths, pampers and making my hair look pretty. A bath product that has really stood out to me has been the Hot Toddy Shower Gel from Lush, I've almost used my mini up which makes me sad as it is only around for Christmas time! Hint hint Lush, make it available for the whole year please! I've really been trying to make an effort with my hair this year whether or not its worked I don't know! I've adored the L'Oreal Matt & Messy salt spray, I know I moan about my hair not being glossy but sometimes when I want my hair to look really messy and not like I've made an effort(when I have) this is so handy! My last hair product is a new one and its the S&G Glad Hair Day conditioner, this makes my hair feel so soft and gives it such a lovely finish!

 

There my absolute favourites for this year, I did have a lot more but I didn't want to talk for to long!

 

 

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What I got for Christmas | 2014

Hello lovelies! I am back blogging again, it was so nice to take some time away from the internet and spend some time with all my family, some whom I haven't seen in a fair while. I contemplated not doing this post just because I didn't want to come across spoilt or like I am trying to brag. However so many of you asked me to do it and I have decided to bite the bullet and do it! I was very lucky once again this year and received a lot of lovely gifts. So to shorten this post up a bit I am only going to show you a few that I think you guys would be interesting in, as a lot of them were things personal to me and I didn't know if you would like to see them or not.. Ramble over, finally!

 

This is probably one of my new favourite things in life. I am forever going on that I have nothing to wear when in fact I have a wardrobe full of clothes that all fit me fine and look lovely on, but when it comes to deciding what to wear apparently I don't. When my mum gave this to me she said when she saw it she thought of me straight away. I don't blame her though haha!

 

 

I feel like perfume is just a thing at Christmas, right?. Everyone receives perfume, well I always do! This year I received Cheryl Coles Storm Flower and Kelly Brooks Audition. These both smell so beautiful and are such me scents. Both of these came with matching body lotions which I usually am not a fan off, but the two that came with these are so nice!

 

*GRINS* This year my mum was so lovely and I cant thank her enough as she got me an iPhone 5, I actually have wanted an iPhone for ages. I didn't put one on my Christmas list so when I opened this I was not expecting it. My mum got me two lovely phone cases. A little Mermaid one because lets be real this is me and I'm obsessed with that film and a adorable owl one which I love too! I must admit the Ariel one hasn't been removed yet!

I have wanted a pair of  leather white converses for god knows how long now, when I opened these on Christmas day I actually tried on them straight away! I have been living in them since and I will not ruin these ones.. hopefully!

 



I love Soap and Glory makeup but it has never appealed to me to go out and buy myself some, I'd rather just use other peoples but this year my sister Mad got me this lovely set and I have been obsessed. It contains all of their top raved products.. can I just say the Supercat eyeliner is amazing! Review soon!

 



 

 Ever since Zoe announced her book, I instantly knew I wanted to read it! I used to read so much when I was younger but lately I haven't been and even my mum has noticed it. In year 6 I was the girl who would get a book and stay up late to finish a chapter but lately I haven't been bothered. So hopefully this will get me into reading more. Currently on page six, go me!

 

 

 

 

Okay, yeah that's Little Mermaid shampoo and conditioner with a detangling spray. I'm sorry but when you love a Disney movie so much you need everything with it on. The shampoo and stuff is amazing though. Anyway my mum had wrapped this up all together and also inside was a hair appointment slip. Not any old hair appointment slip but my mum has booked me to have any four different treatments when I want. I could have these all together or separate this includes, 1)a cut & blow dry, 2) Styling, 3) Colour treatment and lastly a facial which I am very excited about!

 

 

There's a few things I got for Christmas, what did you get for Christmas? Let me know in the comments down below!

 

Once again thank you to everyone for all my lovely gifts - I love them all so much and I wasn't trying to brag or show off in this post!

 

 

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Pamper Routine | Chrismas Eve Special♥

Hello lovelies!

 

Firstly I just want to say I hope you all have a lovely Christmas and a happy new year as this is my last post until then as I'm taking a break to spend time with family!

 

The big day is approaching so why not pamper yourself?

On Christmas eve I am bouncing off the walls so much and I literally cannot wait for Christmas to come! Me and my family always get together on Christmas eve and watch a good few films! I've already chose my options for this year : Home Alone, Miracle on 34th Street and the good old Elf! Whilst we watch all these of course my mum hands out our Christmas jim jams served with a wintery drink!

Once all the family have left its time to burn a Christmas candle(this year I chose Christmas Garland) and ran a bath using a lush bath bomb, I opted for golden wonder today! As its Christmas time I religiously have to listen to my Christmas playlist whilst bathing in my own filth!   I usually can hear my mum singing along too.

 

 

Obviously Christmas is a great excuse to whack out all the glittery nail polishes! I sometimes forget to paint my nails or lose my patience with waiting for them to dry so this one is a real hit or miss for me! I try my best though! This year I got my nails done but I went for a burgundy with glitter on the accent nail.

 

One thing I always have time for is a face mask! Me, my mum and my sister actually all like to do face masks together on Christmas eve and lately we've been loving the Dirty Works detox mask! Whilst we wait for our masks to dry we usually discuss our plans for Christmas day and listen to some more Christmas music!

 

 Of course we have to leave out Santas cookies and milk too!

The mask is off and it's time for bed! I am a very big kid  at Christmas so  I do download the Santa tracker app so before I go to sleep I check where he is haha, its an old tradition! Me and my sister both climb into my bed on Christmas eve and before we drift of we always hang up our stockings at the end of my bed - how cute are we?!

 

Nu-night!

 Merry Christmas beauts!

♥

 

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Christmas Tag

Hey beauts! Christmas is what two days away now? and I still haven't done the Christmas tag which is very unlike me!

 

1. What is your favourite Christmas film?

 

ELF.. I also love Miracle On 34th  Street.

 

2. Do you open your presents on Christmas Eve or Christmas morning?

 

Christmas morning! However we do open our Christmas pjs on Christmas Eve.

 

3. Do you have a favourite Christmas memory?

 

Everything about Christmas is my favourite and so are all the memories!

 

4. Favourite festive food?

 

 Christmas dinner!

 

5. Favourite gift?

 

Favourite gift I've ever received? Probably my baby born when I was younger haha!

 

6. Favourite Christmas Scent?

 

Any sort of spicey or cinnamon scent! This year I've really been loving the Christmas memories scent from Yankee!

 7. Do you have any Christmas Eve traditions?

 

Yes! Christmas eve pjs and of course the last minute shopping that has to be done!

8. What tops your tree?

A little angel.

9. As a kid what was the one (crazy, wild, extravagant) gift you always asked for but never received?

My very own husky, still waiting on that one! I know have two dogs but a third wouldn't hurt!

10. What's the best part about Christmas for you?
 

Probably when we visit the family, we're quite a close knit family so we see a lot of each other however we don't all get together at the same time a lot due to the fact that there is so many of us!

 

I tag all of you to do this tag! Sorry it's up so late, Christmas has just came around so fast this year!

 

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Festive Favourites | Beauty 2014

 

Hello lovelies!

 

As its a few days until Christmas I thought I would share with you lovelies my festive favourites. This year I've been even more in the Christmas spirit than ever and every chance I've got to feel even more festive I've taken it!

 

 

 

MUA Eye Trio - With the party season at its fullest a glittery eye-shadow trio is just what every girl needs. This one is so gorgeous, it creates the most beautiful eye look. I've been experimenting with this for a good few hours in one sitting, this allows you to create so many different looks and I'm in love with it!

 

 

 

Soap and Glory glad hair day conditioner - I suffer with quite dull hair, which around this time of year doesn't look good! This conditioner makes my hair look so glossy and it feels so smooth! 

 

 

 

Avon Gel Nail in Very Berry - Gel nails in my opinion are an essential around Christmas time for the simple fact that there's so much wrapping and gift opening going on. So you want your nails to last for longer! This gel nail polish lasts so long and is so much cheaper than getting them done at a shop!

 

 

 

Yankee Candle Spiced Orange - There's no better scent at this time of year than a real spicey scent. I especially love this Spiced Orange one from Yankee. I've been lighting this all most every night lately and such a lovely scent lingers around the room.

 

 

Rimmel London Kate Moss lipstick - You cant go wrong with a red/purple lip at Christmas. This ones matte which does us all a huge favour. Mainly due to the fact that when I'm tucking into my Christmas dinner I would rather not end up with this lipstick al over my face.

 

 

 

Avon Mr Frosty Bubble Bath - This is so frickin' cute! My mum actually bought this for me, its the spiced apple bubble bath from Avon. Using this puts me in the most festive mood, I do feel like such a big kid but I love it!

 

Lush Hot Toddy Shower Gel - My friend got me this for secret Santa, it's so glittery and smells so Christmasy! It has so much glitter in it and is such a beautiful colour. I used this last night and I can still smell it at the moment!

 

There a few of my festive favourites!

 

 

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SNOW | #BloggersGroupHug

taken from google images - not my own photo

Hey beauts! Today I am back with another word from Bloggers Group Hug and with 5 days till Christmas the word is snow. Which I highly doubt we will be seeing anytime soon.. Which is not cool because I'd love it to snow on Christmas day!

 

Today I'd thought I would share with you my favourite memory from when it last snowed!

 

Last time it snowed was about a year or two ago, right? Well I remember waking up and seeing the snow after my sister had jumped up and down on me for about half n hour. I didn't believe her at first however once I had looked out the window and saw the snow I immediately got ready!

 

Me and my family love to go sledging, so guess what, we went sledging. Surprise, surprise. I remember my dad going down the hill and falling off his sledge and just sliding down his bum. I cry laughed for so long it hurt. 

 

Then me and my sister went down together and it was such a cute day! We had snowball fights and went sledging a little bit more. We then got in and had chocolate and my mum made beef stew which is my absolute favourite!

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My Makeup History

Hello lovelies!

 

 Today my mum and I were talking about my old beauty habits and how I once thought smacking on bright eye shadow with no blending was cool. I think you'll agree with me when I say that when we were younger we all thought we looked great in our makeup and all assumed we were born makeup artists. Right?

 

When I was about nine years old I was given a mobile phone containing lip-gloss, eye shadow and blusher, remember them? Well not only did I think I was sassy with my little flip up phone I also adored applying the makeup in my mums room sitting up at her dresser. I would 'apply' the eye shadow on my lids and sometimes I even went right up to my brow bone.. I would often wear pink and green together, not blended in the slightest might I add!

 

In all fairness my lip-gloss never went as bad as the rest did. I loved using the little lip brushes to apply my lip-gloss. I once loved a bright pink containing glitter, how the glitter didn't irate me I will not know!

 

I still laugh whenever I think about how much blusher I'd apply to my face, rosy cheeks..no a rosy face! I would apply blusher with my mums brushes and spread it all over my face.. imagine.  There was no limit to the amount of blusher I applied. I put as much on until I thought I looked like a princess*much later than you're all thinking*

 

When I was around eleven, obviously make-ups getting serious! I eventually started blending my eye shadow and ditched the bright colours. However I went for white all over the lid.. I thought this bought out my eyes.. I don't think so Kiera.

 

I soon started playing around with foundation.. big mistake. Now luckily this only happened as I was so mortified afterwards! My friend and I were getting ready for a 'party' at her neighbours house and the neighbours nephews were coming over. They were twelve and of course we wanted to impress! I panicked and my friend gave me her mums foundation and told me to put it on. So I did, blended perfectly however I had not thought to blend it down my neck.  Luckily it was dark inside so it wasn't obvious.. we got talking to the boys and they wanted to have their picture taken with us. So we took the picture and as we looked at it afterwards.. well my neck was so white and I had a very bright orange face. The boys found this hilarious and I ran off.. Ever since I hadn't used any face products until a two years ago..

 

 

There you go, a little insight to my makeup history!

 

 

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Gift Guide | Beauty Edition

Hello lovelies! Today I am doing a collab with the lovely Gemma from Touch Of Belle. We decided to do a beauty gift guide because we both know how hard finding the perfect beauty gift is! I chose a few of my favourite gifts I've found to include today and they are all under £20!

Zoella Soap Opera £5. The gift for the girl that has everything lush and is in need of something new to try. Zoes range is all great and it all smells beautiful!

 

Essie Icons Mini Kit £12.99. You cant go wrong with the Essie sets - every girl would love one of these in my opinion, they'd make the cutest stocking filler or Secret Santa gift!

 

Real Techniques Nic's Picks £30 £20. If you know a girl who loves makeup but has never treated herself to a decent set of brushes then this is the gift for her!

 

S&G Sexy Mother Pucker lip set £16. She loves lipstick - but you cant decide which shade she'd like the most so why not go for the Soap and Glory sexy mother pucker lip set!

 

 S&G All The Right Smoothies £8. Again like the lush girl this would be a great gift and also such a cute stocking filler!

 

Mac Velvet Teddy £15.50.  If you're looking to get into a certain girls good books this year then treating her to a mac lipstick will definitely earn you a few brownie points!

 

Glazed Apple Set £15 I couldn't find this online but the Frosted Cranberry one is the same price!. I feel like I have included a lot of bath stuff in this post but who doesn't love a good bath. If you're buying for an older woman this would be the more appropriate gift set for them!

 

 

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Best of L'Oreal | Drugstore Beauty

 

Hey beauts! Today I am back with another Best Of post.. this is a series I have actually been able to keep up, so far, touch wood.

 

Today I chose to do L'Oreal because I own quite a few bits from there and its one of mine and my mums favourite brands in Superdrug/Boots!

 

 

True Match Foundation - Due to my horrid paleness I can very rarely find a foundation that is the right shade for me and isn't too orange for my skin tone. When I heard about this foundation I didn't believe any shade would suit my skin as hardly any do. The lady in boots tested me and picked out a shade for me and I was surprised at how well it matched my skin! Let alone the coverage and how well it lasted. I wore this to school on Thursday and we had Cross Country and it didn't budge a bit which I was super impressed with!

 

True Match Powder - I'm that girl that if I have the foundation and there's a powder to go with it well I have to try it!  This was definitely the case here too! The powders usually don't impress me as much as I expect them too whereas this one did. It has gorgeous coverage and again the lasting power is amazing. If you're not a foundation lover you could  most definitely get away with wearing this alone.

 

 Nude Eau De Teint - Now I will put this out there this is a super light foundation, if you're looking for a high coverage product this one is not for you. Whilst the coverage is still of good quality its not as good as the True Match Foundation. If I'm having a good skin day then I often choose this foundation as its light and doesn't feel heavy or cakey on this skin.

 

Glam Bronze Bronzer  - As mentioned before I have pale skin so I often cant wear bronzers without my skin looking well dirty or grubby. This is my mums bronzer but I loved the look of it on her so I decided to try it out for myself and this didn't make me look dirty or grubby at all! This is a duo product so it comes with a highlighter too which I'm okay with but I very rarely wear them both together!

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Introducing Woody!

Hello lovelies! So back in November about two weeks ago now a new family member was introduced to the Murrell house hold after a lot of paperwork and visits Woody was bought home.

 

A lot of you will know we already have a dog called Lady who is a miniature schnauzer and Woody is a labradoodle so he's a much bigger dog and something we would have to adjust too!

 

Woody is a rescue dog from foal farm, he was only in there for about a month so he wasn't there too long! He is three years old the same age as Lady. Him and Lady get on so well its adorable, they love playing together and have both adapted to sleeping in my bed giving me barely any room to sleep myself!

 

Quite a few life adjustments had to be made in order for us to get Woody, we now have all had to give up more time to take both dogs for over an hour walk twice a day. Lady is able to go out during the night through our dog flap with her being such a small dog whereas Woody is much bigger so we all take it in turns to wake up earlier and let Woody out for his business!

 

Woody absolutely loves to jump up and wrap his paws around our neck and give us cuddles!

 

 

 

 

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Resolution Fail!

Hi lovelies!

So back in January I set myself a few resolutions as I imagined they didn't go too well..  I didn't stick to a lot of them!

I did lose some weight this year however not anywhere near as much as I wanted too so that one will definitely be an ongoing one for 2015 too! Confidence was one I really wanted to complete however again... no. I haven't got my confidence levels up about my body and looks just yet!

Blogging - now in January I had only been blogging for about three months so my blog needed improving a lot! I'm so happy with how my blog has turned out! I've been putting so much effort in to it!

Organisation - I wish I could say yes.. I really do but if anything my organizational skills have gotten worse! I've lost so much this past year! My room has been a state all year too and I just cant seem to keep it clean!!

Dog- Since January I have actually gotten another dog Woody, we actually only got Woody at the end of November this year so he is a new addition to the family - post on him soon! My resolution was to give my dog more walks and this one I have completed! Both my dogs get an hours walk twice a day! I've found myself benefiting from this so much as well!

WOODYYYYY

 

Family! This was a bit of a weird one as I wanted to go up north more and I have been up a few times this year. Still not as near as much I hoped however that cant be helped!

They were a few of my new years resolutions! Did you complete yours?

 

 

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GIFT | #BloggersGroupHug

 

Hey beauts! This weeks word is GIFT. As we're very quickly approaching Christmas this word fits great with this time of year!

 

Lately I've been helping my mum choose and buy a lot of my families gifts and I've been loving it!

A gift is something given to somebody else without payment, you chose to give it to that person.

 

Receiving gifts is lovely and we all love a good gift but I find it just as much fun giving them out! Especially around Christmas time, I absolutely adore going out and choosing out special presents for certain people and then wrapping them up super cute!

 

Me and my mum have definitely gone over board with gifts this year though however it cant be helped! We just get so excited!

 

Have you bought any GIFTs for anyone yet? What's your interpretation of the word GIFT?

 

 

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MAC Foundation Review | Highend Beauty

Mac studio tech foundation - £25

 

Hey beauts! This post has been a long time coming. I bought this foundation a couple of months ago and I've used it a good couple of times since!

 

For a mac foundation I've not been as impressed as I hoped I would, it's no better than a few of my drugstore foundations. That being said it does last a lot longer! I apply this is morning and I don't have to worry about it sinking into my skin.

Coverage wise I wouldn't say its flawless - its probably just my skin however you can still see a few imperfections after applying this, nothing a little concealer wont hide.

 

This foundation is mainly aimed at dry skin, I have oily skin so I was a little bit on edge when I read that after buying it. However this didn't affect the foundation at all and I'd highly recommend it to all skin types!

 

This is a cream foundation so I struggled with finding the perfect brush, I started of using a buffing brush but it didn't collect enough product - fail. I then went on to use a beauty blender, this didn't work either - fail. I eventually gave in to using my fingers and this actually worked!! I hate using my fingers for anything other than concealer otherwise I get afraid it will look to streaky. Using my fingers for this worked perfectly fine and it wasn't streaky at all.

 

 

I still have quite a mixed opinion on this product! Have you tried this foundation?

 

Beauty Deprived ♥

 

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Best of Rimmel London | Drugstore Beauty!

 

Hey lovelies! Today I am back with another Drugstore Beauty post! Today I'm going to be talking about Rimmel! I feel like every girl starts off with Rimmel when they're first getting into make-up. I own a fair few items from Rimmel and they've never disappointed me!

 

First up the 'Rimmel London Wake Me Up Foundation' this is my favourite foundation from any drugstore brands. This gives of the most amazing coverage and has such a beautiful finish, this is around £8. I highly recommend this if you have quite dull skin and want to brighten it up!

 

Brow This Way - brow gel. This was in my top 3 brow products and I'm still loving it! This was recommended to me by a friend and I'm so glad I listened to them about this product!

 

Wonderful mascara, this contains argon oil so I was instantly drawn in! I've been searching for a mascara that gives volume and lengthens them!

 

Rimmel London lip products are the best in my opinion! I own about 8 lip products from Rimmel however the Apocalips and Kate Moss! My two favourites at the moment are 107 by Kate Moss and the nude by Apocalips!

 

These are a few of my favourite products from Rimmel! What are yours?

 

Beauty Deprived ♥