Glossybox- Limited Edition December Box

Surprisingly, I'm pretty new to Glossybox, but after attending a rather spectacular dinner with them last week at The Ivy, I was introduced to their company values and history and actually, have been pretty drawn into the now, glossier than ever Glossyboxes. 

This is Decembers limited edition box* and on opening the delicately packaged box, I was very pleasantly surprised. Slightly different to other subscription boxes, Glossybox likes to use only beauty products in their boxes as opposed to lifestyle etc and the six luxe sized samples that were homed in this delightful limited edition Black box make up the perfect variety.

The six products included are:

Butter London Nail Polish

So Susan Water-based Pure Luminizer

EuPhidra Pearly Lip Gloss

Philip B African Shea Butter Shampoo

Nicka K New York Absolute Perfume Stick

Be a Bombshell Cosmetics Bronzer

Although I'm very aware of a couple of the brands in the box, including Butter London and Philip B, the rest are new to me, which is something I really do love about subscription boxes. Since receiving this box, I've absolutely fallen for the So Susan Water-based Pure Luminizer in particular, so much so that it's potentially a new favourite product of mine.

Glossybox subscriptions have a standard price of £10 (plus p&p) per month, but this limited edition box has a combined value of £80 and costs £25 for subscribers and £30 for non-subscribers, available to order on the Glossybox website here.

Are you a fan of Glossybox? Do limited edition boxes appeal to you?

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Kiko Satin Nail Lacquer Set

This year I've been a bit of a sucker for a gift set and one that stood out to me was this Kiko Satin Nail Lacquer Set* that is home to eight gorgeous limited edition Satin finish shades.

A dusky Pink, a beautiful Coral, a true Red, a deep Plum Aubergine, a Fuchsia, a true Blue, an ocean Green and the most perfect of Aqua Blue shade makes up the eight piece set and there's truly a shade to keep you going throughout all four seasons.

Currently loving wearing two coats of the deep Aubergine shade- 446, I've received so many compliments and I think I've found my perfect Winter tone. They each dry in really reasonable time and present a really beautiful shade and finish.

All packaged together in a box, this limited edition Micro Pearl infused polish set costs £19.90 and is available to buy on Kikos online store.

What do you think of these shades? Does this Kiko Satin Nail Lacquer Set appeal to you and your nail needs?

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Umberto Giannini 7 Days 7 Ways- Modern Up-do

The seventh and final look for the Umberto Giannini 7 Days 7 Ways campaign is one that I must admit I was a little bit weary of. In the style of a slicked back up-do, I was slightly concerned that it may turn out a little bit reminiscent of a face-lift hair style, similar to what I would have worn to school a fair few years ago, but actually, with a few slight tweaks, I'm really quite pleased with how it looks and more so, how quick it was to achieve.

By simply tipping my head forward and finding the most complimentary place for my ponytail to sit closest to my crown, I secured a ponytail with a tight band and made sure my hair was all pulled back as neatly as possible. I personally chose not to make it too tight or slick, but did brush out the majority of kinks and frizz with a brush and a spray of Backcomb In A Bottle for hold. Once the basis of the style was ready, I then went on to backcomb my ponytail in three sections, following with a little bit of Backcomb In A Bottle and then arranged sections of the backcombed hair around the band, pinning them all into place with kirby grips. I personally like the messy look, but if you wanted to achieve something a little neater, that's also really easy to do and would just need a little more attention when placing the hair around the band.

The 7 Days 7 Ways campaign has shown me how versatile the Glam Hair range is, in particular Backcomb In A Bottle and I can't wait to create some of my own styles, which will probably be similar to my favourite of the seven looks- Free Flowing Texture.

Have you been following 7 Days 7 Ways? What's been your favourite style?

The Umberto Giannini Glam Hair range is available to buy now in Boots.

*This post is in collaboration with Umberto Giannini 

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Boss Jour Pour Femme

Back in June, I posted about Boss Jour Pour Femme and "The day starts at dawn campaign" and noted how much of a fresh and lovely scent it was. Following my first opinion on the Citrus and Floral blended fragrance, it's no surprise that up until now, I've been wearing it alot, so much so, that it's been pretty much my handbag fragrance for a good part of the past six months.

With Christmas pretty much around the corner now and with just two weeks left to Christmas shop, if you're on the market for a bright, beautiful and fresh day to night fragrance for a woman, then I really can't recommend this enough. Gwyneth Paltrow, Boss Jour Pour Femmes ambassador, spoke in a Christmas interview and recommended fragrance as a gift as it's quite personal and gives someone the opportunity to try something they may not pick out for themselves as well as showing the recipient that you know them and their taste and I couldn't agree more. I always have a little difficulty choosing a fragrance for someone else, without getting carried away and choosing what I like, but I personally think Boss Jour Pour Femme is the perfect fragrance for so many women and coming from a very particular girl when it comes to scents, I'd be ever so happy for this clean looking bottle to be sat under my tree come Christmas day.

Available in a gift set which is even more perfect for Christmas, the Boss Jour Pour Femme Collection is available to buy in Boots.

*This is a sponsored post

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Too Faced Jingle All The Way Palette

When I first received this Too Faced palette, I must be honest in the fact that I thought the concept was a step too far when it comes to gimmicks. iPhone 5 case turned palette? The perfect stocking filler it may be, but a pretty bizarre concept for the beauty world if I do say so myself. As bizarre as I find the iPhone case design, there's no taking away from the fact that the pop out Jingle All The Way* palette itself is pretty incredible and is made up of some fabulous shades.

All extremely wearable, the Jingle All The Way Palette is made up of 11 eyeshadows, a Pink blusher and a really nice bronzer, which I love. Although I do prefer the seven neutral shades in the palette when it comes to eyeshadows, the coloured tones are just as lovely and all extremely pigmented they make for the perfect shimmering look over the festive period. I've included swatches of all the shades, but the colours I'm wearing on my eyes are the Bone shade, both Browns and the beautiful reflecting Bronze.

The Bronzer and Blusher duo is quite small which is a shame as I quite often get the blusher on my bronzer brush, but with the right brush it would be the perfect handbag sized palette. I particularly love the Bronzer and its subtle tone and although I'm not really one for Pink blushes, when I do want more of a hot Pink flush, I'll definitely be reaching for this.

Available on ASOS, Beauty Bay, Boots and Debenhams, this Too Faced Jingle All The Way palette costs £20.

What do you think of this palette? What shades stand out to you the most?

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Umberto Giannini 7 Days 7 Ways- Casual Bunch

Coming up to the end of the Umberto Giannini 7 Days 7 Ways campaign is a look that's a lot more casual than the previous five looks- a casual bunch which is really easy to wear and is also incredibly easy to create.

Backcombed and loose, I created this look by simply backcombing the majority of my hair backwards off of my face, gathering my hair at the back into an untied loose ponytail. From there, I began to braid my hair towards the side to about half the length of my ponytail and then used a tight hairband to secure the hair. With a few spritzes of Backcomb In A Bottle to both add hold to the plait and add more of a textured look to the backcombed section of hair, I then went in with my backcombing brush, to backcomb like crazy the remaining hair left on my ponytail. This created a really rough, messy look- far from the conventional pretty side braid/ponytail look. I continued to backcomb, adding in a few sprays of Backcomb In A Bottle for further hold and texture and then played around with my hair until it sat how I wanted it to.

Loose, casual and really easy to wear, it's a style that could be worn day to day but also neatened up ever so slightly for a night time look and although I wasn't too sure it was a very me look, I like it.

Backcomb In A Bottle as well as the rest of Umberto Gianninis Glam Hair range is available to buy now in Boots.

What do you think of this look? Is a casual bunch your style?

*This post is in collaboration with Umberto Giannini

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The Body Shop Christmas Giveaway- Cranberry Joy & Vanilla Bliss

The very lovely people at The Body Shop are all about spreading the Christmas joy and have kindly given me the opportunity to give two of my readers the opportunity to win some of their best selling, super smelling Christmas products. 

The two sets up for grabs are:

A sweet scented Cranberry Joy Shimmer Lotion along with a Cranberry Joy Hand Lotion and the cutest Cranberry Joy Heart Soap and the second set, a rich scented Vanilla Bliss Hand Cream with a matching Vanilla Bliss Shimmer Lotion and a delightful Vanilla Bliss Heart Soap.

Both sets being lusciously festive and the perfect products for a sensory pamper, you really couldn't wish for a better trio for over the Christmas period and it couldn't be easier to enter.

Simply enter via the Rafflecopter entry system below and two winners will be picked at random on the 17th December 2013. 

Winners will be contacted via email and should you be under 16 years old, please have permission to enter.

Merry Christmas & Good luck! 

a Rafflecopter giveaway

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Umberto Giannini 7 Days 7 Ways- Hollywood Siren

Of all of the Umberto Giannini 7 Days 7 Ways looks, this Hollywood Siren look has probably been the most the most difficult for me to adapt to my hairstyle. Best suited to layered hair in opinion, it aims to give you the look of shorter hair in a sophisticated fashion, but after having a go myself, I found I had to adapt it slightly, as my hairs pretty much one length at the moment.

To recreate this look, I started by loosely taking hold of my hair and twisting it at the nape of my neck into a simple yet effective pleat. I didn't take too much control of the rest of my hair, as realistically, I wanted as many loose bits to fall down naturally as possible. With my hair doing that on a good and bad day, I then took the sections that were loose and had fallen out and ran a curl through them with as small a tong as I could find. This created small barrel curls, which appear shorter and suit the look alot better. After all my loose hair was curled, I then sprayed a generous amount of Backcomb In A Bottle and finished the look by going in with my backcomb brush to give some lift around my face from my side parting.

Although it took slightly more work than I had first anticipated, I do think if I had a few more layers in my hair, I would have been able to recreate the look a lot more sufficiently. My hair didn't have as many loose bits at the back, which in turn didn't allow me to curl my hair all around to create a short haired look but I'm quite pleased with how it turned down nonetheless. 

I would definitely recreate this look for more of an elegant occasion, what do you think? Will you be rocking short hair in the style of Hollywood Siren?

All of Umberto Giannini products are available to buy now in Boots.

*This post is in collaboration with Umberto Giannini

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