Sunday 27 November 2016

Christmas Gift Ideas: Makeup Revolution

If you’re trying to compose your Christmas List or looking for gifts to buy others, one of my favourite brands this year, TAM BEAUTY (Makeup Revolution), have released a lorry load of gifts and treats that are perfect for Christmas! If you’re a beauty lover or a lover of the brand too, take a look at some of my top picks this Christmas... 


If you’re looking for stocking fillers or a Secret Santa gift then try one of the Lip Trend kits that are just £4.50 and include 3 lip glosses - 1 gloss, 1 creme and 1 Amplified creme and comes in the Nudes or the Vamp collection. These kits mean that you don’t need to worry about getting the right colour for someone as you get a choice of 3 and chances are, 1 out of 3 is better than 0 out of 1! 

If you don’t think they’re much of a lipstick or lip gloss wearer, then try one of the new Chocolate eyeshadow palettes (no, not real chocolate unfortunately) but with 6 to choose from including: Pink Fizz, Salted Caramel, Naked Chocolate, Chocolate, Death by Chocolate and the newest Chocolate and Peaches - there will be a shadow palette for everyone. They all come with 14 eyeshadow shades and 2 brow highlights plus a double ended brush! For £7.99 you could get a couple of different palettes and still be on budget! These are some of the best palettes I’ve tried, especially for the price! 



If you’re looking for something a little more specific, Makeup Revolution have released 5 different gift sets that have a mixture of products and accessories in them to target a certain area or makeup style. This HD Pro correct and perfect set is the perfect base gift for everyone! For just £12.00 it comes with a correcting and concealing palette, 2x correct and conceal brushes and then a setting spray for the finishing touch, it’s the perfect collection to gift without worrying about whether each product will compliment each other. Along with this set there are 4 others including HD Pro brows, HD Pro Eyes and Brows, HD Pro Sculpt and Contour and HD Pro Strobe - all have brushes and accessories included along with a full sized palette. 


And last but definitely not least, a gift that keeps on giving... Makeup Revolution have released their very own Beauty Advent Calendar which has 25 doors - one for each day leading up to Christmas and all with full sized items behind each one! With over £50+ worth of products for just £30.00! Even if you’re gifting this after christmas, it’s a great way to try out lots of new products or you could  gift it early so that they have a new gift every day! Who wouldn’t want an early christmas present?! Not to mention one with 25 smaller gifts inside it!! 

Hopefully these beauty gifts have given you some ideas as to what you may want for Christmas or what you could get everyone else - whether you’re on a budget, shopping for friends, family or yourself, you’re bound to find something over at Makeup Revolution. Go and take a look at what they have on offer - and don’t miss their Black Friday deals too with up to 80% off some of their products! 



*Pr samples included

Thursday 24 November 2016

Letters To Santa & Giveaway

No, it's not my letter to Santa, before you all start wondering! It's Millie's letter to Santa with a little help from Peppa Pig! This year, LadyBird have an activity online in which you can download and/or print the letter and fill it in with your little one and send it off to Santa! It's got a tick box for whether they've been Naughty or Nice (because we all know that he's gonna find out!) and they can write a few of their Christmas requests too!
Image source: https://www.penguin.co.uk/ladybird/articles/2016/nov/send-a-peppa-pig-santa-letter/
 
 
Peppa Pig's Post Book is a Christmas story about how Peppa and George help Mummy and Daddy pig at Christmas time and getting ready for the big day - but the story also includes six envelopes containing a Christmas card to fill in, decorations to make and a little book of Christmas recipes so you can be sure to have lots of fun getting ready for Christmas with your children too!
Ladybird Books are also giving one lucky person the chance to win a Peppa's Post Book and all you need to do is simply complete the Christmas list available here and tweet a photo of your little ones holding their Christmas lists with the hashtag #LadybirdChristmas!
 
Millie's Christmas list has already been sent to Santa but we've agreed that we're going to put this one out on Christmas eve, just to remind him what she wants in-case he forgets!
 
If you tweet a picture, make sure you tag me too as I'd love to see what your little ones want for Christmas! @EmmaLouB_
 
 

Sunday 20 November 2016

Urban Decay Basic Picks

I’m not one to change my makeup as the seasons change, if I want to rock a berry lip in summer then I will but I do love the fact that all the sparkle and smokey eyes can make an appearance throughout the ‘Party’ season and Winter is very well known for browns and neutral colours with perhaps a bit more of a focus on lips! 

I’m a massive fan of Urban Decay and have all 3 Naked palettes so when the new Naked Ultimate Basics palette came out, I just knew that I had to add it to my collection and as for what I said about the smokey eyes, it’s the best selection of colours to give you that! With 12 Matte shades including a gorgeous burnt orange and plum colour, you can be sure that you can go from Office dread to Party Glam in a matter of swift brush stokes! 

Urban Decay Ultimate Basics

Urban Decay Basics


Unlike the other Naked palettes, there are no shimmer shades in the Ultimate Basics which I kinda like but I kinda wish there was one or two, perhaps highlighting shimmers which would completely finish the entire look off. What I usually do, however, is apply a tiny it of shimmer glitter from the Charlotte Tilbury Dolce Vita palette which can give it a bit of glam rather than matte smokiness and I’m good to go! If you know an Urban Decay lover, this palette will be on their Christmas list, guaranteed! 

Along with eyes, comes lashes! I love trying new mascara’s but what I was yet to try was a lash primer... I think I had a dual ended one years and years ago which just clumped my lashes together (of course that was the going trend back in 2002!) so when I saw this Subversion lash primer, the baby to the Perversion mascara, I just had to try it! If you’re a lover of big lashes but don’t want the fuss of falsies, then maybe primer is the way forward... A few strokes of this white primer makes your lashes longer and prepped for the coating of mascara. I used my Rollerlash Mascara from Benefit after applying just one coat of Subversion and I was very impressed with the results! The Perversion mascara is next on my list to try and buy, to see how they work as a duo. 


With any makeup look, especially if it’s going to get you through 6 hours of Christmas partying, dinners and cocktails and numerous games of Pie Face or even a trip to the garden centre battling wind, rain and snow, you’re going to need something that ensures your face doesn’t melt like the chocolate on the pudding! I’ve heard such good things about the UD ‘Chill’ setting spray so knew that it was going to be a saviour throughout winter and Christmas. The oil free setting spray is perfect for anyone with oily skin and is used in a few simple spritz’ once your makeup has been applied. The Temperature control technology actually chills your makeup helping it stay in place for up to 12 hours! 

So if you’re either looking for some new bits of makeup to try out this season or you’re on the hunt for some gifts for a makeup loving friend, then head over to Urban Decay and take a look at what else they have on offer! 

*Features PR Samples

Saturday 12 November 2016

Pregnancy: First Trimester


I feel a massive sigh of relief writing this post, for a number of reasons! These first 14/15 weeks have been super tough, mentally and physically and I am so pleased that we've reached the second trimester and are well on our way to the half way mark. Working 38 hours a week in a very demanding job, out of the house at 7:15am each morning and not getting back until 6pm at night would drain anyone, but try adding a 3 year old into the mix and on top of that 24/7 Nausea and pregnancy symptoms. Not. Nice.

When I was pregnant with Millie back in 2012, I was only working part time and had a lot of spare time to relax at home, do what I wanted, when I wanted and the whole first trimester passed a lot more smoothly than what it has this time round. The tiredness, the nausea, the stomach cramps have all been horrendous and up until this point, I have really hated being pregnant but I'm hoping that's going to change now I'm past the 12 week mark.

I am 16 weeks pregnant this weekend and am extremely happy to say that the nausea has gone (however certain smells and foods still make me want to vom!), I'm not going to bed at 8pm anymore (well, not all the time!) and I've finally got a bump! But we do have a lot coming up and a lot to think about still as we have a consultant appointment in a few weeks to chat about what birth option I'm going to go for as Millie's Birth was an Emergency C-Section and so VBAC is an option but so is an elected section. It's a tough call but I'm sure that meeting with the consultant will help me to make my mind up.

The nice thing about the whole pregnancy so far is that Millie is interested in everything. She likes to see how big my belly has got each day, she asks whether the baby is moving and whether she will be able to read books to baby when it's here and how long it's going to be too! It's sweet and the main reason we actually decided to have a second child, was more for her sake. We wanted her to have a friend for life, we wanted her to be supported for when we're not around anymore and most of all, we wanted the family unit that we both had when we grew up.

Just 24 more weeks and I guess we’ll be having just that...