Top Winter Skincare Products

Coming into the Winter months can be quite harsh on your skin, and here in Northern Ireland, it is very cold and wet and just horrible at this time of the year - so I need products that can help reduce my dry skin, hydrate my skin and add a bit of radiance - and with these products I achieve that.

No7 Beautiful Skin Radiance Exfoliator 
 I have only been trying this product for maybe 2 weeks now maybe every other day and I really like it. Everytime I use it my skin feels so much softer and looks so much healthier adding a really like natural glow to my skin - it's also quite gentle on my skin so it doesn'y affect my sensitivity and there is little to no fragrance.
Soap and Glory Scrub Your Nose In It
I've been using this product for a good few months now, maybe 2 or 3 just as a more intensive exfoliating treatment as compared to the No7 one - it is quite strong and almost has a tingling sensation to the skin - but I've noticed that when I do leave it on for a few minutes it really helps to clean out my pores, especially around my nose and leaves my skin feeling baby soft and clean. On the downside though, it does leave my skin feeling quite tight but once I moisturise my skin is back to normal.
No7 Beautiful Skin Hydration Mask
I've has this mask for a good few months now and it's still going strong - I really love this product, it's probably the best facial mask I've used. Its quite thick and creamy in texture and it has almost a cooling effect which really helps to tone down on my redness and it leaves my skin feeling and looking so soft, healthy and hydrated - especially coming into these winter months this is exactly what I need, I would highly recommend it!
No7 Beautiful Skin Overnight Radiance Boost
I would use this product only maybe once or twice or week, it really depends on how my skin is looking and feeling, but I would apply this before I go to bed and a few minutes after I have moisturised just to ensure that I don't layer it over and it can't be absorbed properly into my skin. I really love how this product makes my skin look in the morning - its really radiant and fresh and exactly what I need for my skin.

No7 Advent Calender

For Christmas, I decided to give myself an extra wee treat and when the No7 Advent Calender came out in my local Boots store - I decided to snatch it right up and so far it has not disappointed!

The packaging itself is gorgeous, with pink and purple and with gorgeous gold and silver detailing - it has that special Christmas feeling.

When you open it up, you have quite an impressive sight - with three panels each with different sized numbered doors on each, you are sure to be excited! The colour theme is consitent throughout which I love, with the gold and silver accentuated to give even more of that Christmas feel.
There are a total of 25 doors which is amazing and super exciting.

If you are interested in seeing what I get each day, I am doing a #25daysofchristmas on my instagram where I post a picture of each of the items I get each day :)
 Instagram

No7 Ultimate Eye Palette

No7 for me, has some of the best Christmas presents on the market - with a wide range of items for both men and women and varying prices, everyone can afford to get someone something they'll truely love and along with Boots' amazing 3 for 2 Mix and Match across their Christmas range - you're spoilt for choice and you can even get yourself something as well!

So with that being said, I decided to treat myself to something when I was buying presents for other people and I decided to pick up the Ultimate Eye Palette which retails at £20 and as it was the cheapest, I got it for free!

This palette is absoloutely gorgeous! With 20 shades mixed between mattes, shimmers and satins - there is so much versatility within this palette, not to mention how gorgeous and versatile the shades are themselves - you can go daytime glam, evening glam or full on glam on the rocks.
If you are looking for a lovely affordable present for someone or something for yourself - you should definitely check out No7's range

My Favourite Mascaras

Mascara for me, isn't that big of an ordeal, I do tend to like each mascara that I buy because my lashes are pretty decent, they don't tend clump easily and have a natural curve which means less hassel with curlers etc. But there are two mascaras - drugstore ones - which I really love and these are... 

Rimmels Extreme Black Wonder'full Mascara with Argan Oil & No7 Dramatic Lift Mascara
Both of these mascaras are amazing, the length and volume they both give is amazing. Neither of them smudge, they don't weigh my lashes down and are both easily removed - so if your looking for a good, inexpensive mascara that gives everything you could want from a mascara, then I highly recommend these two :)

Retails for £7.99

Retails for £13.50

Make-up Items I got for Christmas

I thought I would do an individual post on the make-up items I received at Christmas :)

These are all of the beauty items I received, as you can see, I did get some new brushes from realTechniques and ecotools - which I adore.

I also got the Naked palette from Urban Decay - I had to get it, I have the second and third so it was a must for this one - I love it

I got the Naked Illuminated highlighter from Urban Decay - it is absolutely gorgeous, by far my favourite highlighter 

I then got the Smash Box Photo Finish Primer - I love this, I used on Christmas Day, Boxing Day and New Year's Eve and it is wonderful 

Finally I got a mini eye shadow palette from No7, the colours in this palette are gorgeous and so it shte packaging. In the picture it looks pink but it is more rose gold - beautiful.

I will be going more in depth with all of these products along with my thoughts so keep an eye out :)

Product Reviews - No7 Colour Calming Primer & No7 Beautifully Matte Foundation

For once I have decided to do a photo step by step guide on this kind of review - foundations and primers etc. I may look a bit scary so I apologise.. but lets get into it!

So this is me with no make up one - foundation, concealer, primer etc. I did decide to leave my brows and eyeliner on etc as this review is just about the two products mentioned above in the title.

But as you can see, I am very pale, I have quite a lot of freckles, quite a bit of reddness of my cheeks, a few spots and what not. Beautiful

I then used the No7 Colour Calming Primer in Green, as it conteracts and corrects any redness that is on the skin, and after one layer, there is a huge difference! My skin doesn't look as red, it looks brighter and much more healthier.

 

I then applied my No7 Beautifully Matte foundation in Cool Beige and after one layer, my skin looks flawless! It has completely evened out my skin tone and has given me excellent coverage - there is no redness, no freckles, no spots - my skin looks wonderful and matte which I also love.

Excuse the fact my face is lighter than my neck, the flash washed the colour out quite a bit - it matches in real life :)

I then just finished my make up as I normally would and this is the finished look :)

 Overall, I think these products are amazing! They're really affordable, excellent quality and by far my favourite pair of products to use together as they work wonderfully.

MIA and Shopping

I'm going to apologise for being so MIA lately, I've been so busy with tech everyday and working nights that I haven't had time to properly sit down and do a post - granted I don't really have the time at the minute to either, but I don't want to leave you guys hanging.

Plus... I have been doing quite a bit of shopping this past month - like, a lot. Especially in Boots and Superdrug... I'm addicted. So I thought I would share with you the items I have purchsed in the past few weeks, beauty and non beauty. 

 I intend to do a blog post about the make-up items quite soon and I'll obviously be going into a lot more detail as well so keep an eye out :)