SOAP et Ciate Mini Mani Month Advent Calendar

Being an avid beauty blog reader, I quickly discovered that advent calendars can be even more awesome than they used to be. When I came across this Ciate advent calendar, I KNEW I had to have it! Even so, I couldn't bring myself to spend £38 on it. Lucky for me I have the best girlfriend in the world, and she decided to buy it for me :D. This retailed at £38 at Selfridges, but I then read on someone's blog that QVC were also stocking it and at the much more wallet-friendly price of £31.50! So she bought it for me and here it is! Unfortunately it is no longer available, unless you have a look on eBay.

I had a bit of trouble with the delivery from QVC (they use Hermes - the same company used by ASOS). I was able to track the delivery and after a few days it says that the item had been signed for and was delivered. No one in my flat had signed for it so I asked my neighbours and they hadn't signed for it either. QVC were great about it, they didn't have any left at the time but luckily the team leader who was dealing with the issue found one and sent it to me straight away with a different delivery company! And here it is! The original one still hasn't been found, QVC are opening a case with the delivery company and hopefully they'll be able to sort something out.

It's not the first time I've had trouble with Hermes, they've left items on my doorstep a few times, in broad daylight, so I am going to avoid buying things from websites that use them.

I can't wait to start it on Saturday :D.

Have you got an exciting advent calendar this year?

SOAP et le NOTD | Nail Girls Silver Polish

A few weeks ago I wore my Nail Girls silver nail polish as an accent nail with Nails Inc Motcomb Street. Ever since then I've wanted to wear it on all my fingers but kept buying other colours which I had to wear! So, finally, this week I decided to test out this beauty on my hands and I am in love! It is so easy to apply, it doesn't streak at all and the end result is this gorgeous, foil-like silver on my nails. I have no idea what this colour is called as I got it in my October Joliebox and it has no name. However, I know Nail Girls released some metallic polishes in honour of the Olympics, so i assume this is a mini version of one of those.
I will definitely look into splurging on the Bronze and Gold versions in the future?

Have you tried any Nail Girls polishes?

SOAP et un giveaway

Robyn Mayday is currently holding a giveaway in honour of getting to 500 followers on GFC. I have been following her blog for a few months now and I'm so glad I do! One thing I loved about her blog the first time I cam across it is her blog design (I'm petty like that!). It just looks so cute.

I love her sense of style and her style and shopping tips. I know there aren't many of you here but if you happen to come by this post then you should definitely go and check her blog out :).

SOAP et le MUA Haul

MUA recently held a very short promotion in celebration of reaching 35,000 likes on their facebook page. The promotion was 35% off everything (for about 6 hours!) on their website plus free shipping. I've wanted to buy their Heaven and Earth eyeshadow palette for ages so I thought this would be the perfect opportunity to pick it up! The minimum spend was £10, so I filled my basket with products that cost exactly £10 altogether and spent a total of £6.50!
PS - excuse the crap quality of the photos, I had to use my iPhone camera.

The first 2 things I chose were 2 lipsticks in shade 10 (left) and shade 13 (right). Shade 10 is a nice dark, browny red with very subtle shimmer in it. I thought it was going to be more of a plum colour but nonetheless I really like the colour. It's also quite sheer which makes it easy to wear during the day time.
Shade 13, on the other hand, is a very creamy bright red lipstick. I wouldn't have bought this lipstick if it wasn't for the sale and I probably won't wear it until it starts getting warmer again but I'm glad I bought it. I wore it round the house when it arrived today and really like how it looks on me!

I also bought a lipliner in brooding plum. I love plum lip products at the moment, my favourite one being the Kate Moss Rimmel Matte Lipstick in 107, and I thought this lipliner would go perfectly with it. The lipliner is really creamy and I'm really looking forward to trying it out.

I also bought this gold glitter liquid eyeliner. I'm really excited to use this over Christmas! Its gold glitter in a clear eyeliner gel. It's packed full of glitter so it shouldn't be too patchy on the eye lid. I am a sucker for a sparkly party eye!

The one product which I might be disappointed in is this concealer. My concealer finished and I haven't bothered to buy a new one, so I decided to try one of the MUA ones. The colour is 'Radiance'. I'm not too sure what to think of it yet, I haven't tried it on my face. When I tried it on my arm it came out really thick and the colour was a bit wrong against my skin tone. Not going to say too much else as I haven't properly tried it yet!

Finally, the Heaven and Earth eyeshadow palette. I haven't swatched it as everyone and their dog has swatched this on the internet. The colours are gorgeous and I can't wait to try them all!


Did you buy anything in the MUA 35% off promotion?

SOAP et le NOTD | Nails Inc Motcomb Street and Nailgirls unnamed Silver

I picked up Nails Inc Motcomb Street free with this month's Glamour magazine. It's such a great A/W shade and such a bargain as Glamour magazine is only £2! It's a really really dark blue (which looks black in these photos cos of my crap lighting) which I decided to pair with this amazing silver from Nailgirls. I got this sample size polish in my first Joliebox last month and doesn't have a name, but it's a gorgeous bright, metallic silver and I think the two of them look really great together.

I love the formula of Nails Inc polishes. I used 2 coats for this but only out of habit. I could have easily stopped at one because over a good base coat this comes out exactly as it does with 2 coats. I've never used a Nailgirls polish before but I love the formula of this one so might have to pick up a couple more in the future!

SOAP et Instagram | Instagram Half Term

This week has been half term and as I'm a teacher, I've had a great time relaxing and having a week off. I've had lots of work too, but it's so great to be able to sit up in bed and do my work and not have to be at work by half 7! So I thought I would jump on the instagram bandwagon, and here are my photos from this week!

 Autumn shoes, nails and leaves | Revlon Just Bitten Kissable Balm Stain Loves | Matching Christmas sheets and PJs :)

Wearing Revlon Just Bitten Balm Stain in 005 Crush | Stormtrooper keychain I bought for Jodie :) | Starbucks and Hotel Chocolat <3

 My beautiful Girlfriend and me | Jumping on the Lush Bubble Bar bandwagon | Wearing Kate Moss for Rimmel Matte Lipstick in 107

 First Gingerbread Latte of the year | Getting excited about Christmas like a saddo | Bought some photos from Prinstagram that I'm going to hang up somewhere

SOAP et le lips | My current Favourite Lip Products

This post is going to be divided into - Lip Sticks/Colour and Lip balms. I love lip products, and have started to develop a little collection, so I thought it would be a good time to post some of my current favourites!

Favourite Lipsticks/Colours

L-R: Revlon Kate Moss Matte Lipstick in 107; Topshop Lips in Rumour Has It; Poppy King for No7 Lipstick in No.5 Intrigue; Revlon Just Bitten Kissable Balm Stain in 001 Honey.

Rimmel Kate Moss Matte Lipstick in 107
This lipstick was an impulse buy a couple of weeks ago. I was in my local tiny Boots, I needed a new cleanser and a new top coat and EVERYTHING was (and still is!) on 3 for 2, so I turned around, saw the Rimmel stand and grabbed it before I could think twice. And I am so glad i did! It's a beautiful dark, almost wine red, which is a colour I would not usually go for (as you can see from the other 3 products). To my surprise this colour really compliments my skin tone and colouring, the formula is great, it's really long-wearing, it doesn't smudge easily and it doesn't dry the lips out. Perf. This lipstick is £5.49 and available from Boots.

Poppy King for No7 Lipstick in No.5 Intrigue
This lipstick was another 3 for 2 bargain from Boots a few months ago. This is in my favourites because the colour is almost identical to my natural lip colour, so it's great for daytime because it just gives my lips a little extra oomph. However, it doesn't last very long and, compared to the other products in the line up, you don't get very much product for your money. It's quite sheer, though I don't mind too much as I only tend to wear this lipstick during the day. This lipstick is £10.95, it's currently unavailable on the Boots website.

Topshop Lips in Rumour Has It
I really enjoy wearing this Topshop lipstick. The formula is quite creamy and doesn't dry my lips out. It's not the most long-wearing lipstick, though it's easy to apply so i don't mind that too much. I wanted a brown toned neutral colour when I bought this, which was towards the end of the summer when I still had a decent tan. I don't wear this colour as much now, but I still love how it looks with a simple lined eye on a night out. This lipstick is £8 and available from Topshop.

Revlon Just Bitten Kissable Balm Stain in 001 Honey
I talked about this in my previous post, so I won't ramble on about how much I love this, again.

Favourite Lip Balms

L-R: Cath Kidston Almond Lip Balm; Nivea Pure & Natural Milk & Honey Lip Balm; JASON Lips Bee Healthier Natural Lip Balm.

I absolutely love lip balms. I usually have about 2 or 3 on the go and loads of others running around. These are my three current favourites of the lot.

Cath Kidston Almond Lip Balm
Let me be clear, the main reasons I like this lip balm is because it's Cath Kidston, it smells devine, and a good friend of mine gave it to me for my birthday with a few other Cath Kidston treats. It's not the best lip balm in the world, it doesn't last on the lips very long, and I for one HATE lip balms in tins (don't like greasy fingers - ew) but, like I said earlier, the almondy smell/taste is just incredible. This lip balm is £5 and you can get it from Amazon.

Nivea Pure and Natural Milk and Honey Lip Balm
I stumbled upon this lip balm when I was pulling my hair out in Boots one day as they didn't have my all time favourite lip balm (Vaseline cocoa butter - in a tube, hate the tins) and I desperately needed something to keep me going. I'm so glad I picked this up, it's a really nourishing lip balm and it makes the lips feel instantly moisturised. It smells quite sweet and worked wonders on my lips. I don't use it as much now I've got my Jason lip balm, but I still carry it around with me just in case. This fabulous lip balm is only £1.99 and you can get it from Boots, though I get it from my local Sainsbury's.

JASON Lips Bee Healthier Natural Bees Wax Lip Balm
I got this lip balm in this month's Joliebox, I won't talk too much about it here as I spoke about it in my last post. I love it. Done!

So those are my favourite lip products at the moment. What are your favourites?