What was in your stocking?

So after weeks of anticipation and excitement, it's over :(  Here's a selection of the lovely gifts I received; what did you get? 

(Clockwise from top left: Tangle Teaser, Topshop Lip Cream, 'S' Bracelet, Nail polish stand

(Harry Potter: From Page to Screen, Benefit 'Primping with the stars' kit, Alexa Chung 'It', Kindle Fire HD, a look inside the Benefit kit)

My watch: Michael Kors Dupe

This was a Christmas present from my lovely boyfriend. I have, like most other girls/ bloggers, long lusted for a Michael Kors watch, but the price tag has long put me off. And as my boyfriend is only interning at the moment felt I definitely couldn't be so selfish and demand he spend £200+ on me. I saw this French Connection one on a few websites and loved it, and thought it looked pretty similar to a Michael Kors one

The lovely box it came in

It came beautifully packaged, and looked even nicer than on the website. At £119 it's still not exactly a bargain, but still a great deal cheaper than the original! And at least 5 people now have commented on it thinking it's a M.K. one, so seems like a good dupe to me :)

Benefit 'How to look the best at everything' kit

Another one of my little presents for Christmas was Benefit's 'How to look the best at everything' kit. I saw this a while ago when doing my usual browsing in Boots, and as it had two of my favourite beauty products (pore-fessional primer and boing councealer), as well as a mini foundation and powder inside, it went straight on my Christmas list. I'd actually forgotten I'd asked for it though, and as the Benefit kits tend to be quite expensive I wasn't expecting it so it was a lovely surprise.

Though some find Benefit a bit gimmicky, I personally always love the kitsch packaging  especially the book-look the kits tend to go for (I'm also remembering the packaging of one of my other favourite kits, Confessions of a concealer-holic- so cute). However, it does get grubby very quickly as it's sort of like cardboard, so I know this will probably be in a right state soon.

As I've said the porefessional primer and boiing concealer are two of my favourite products in general. With the kit, you actually get two shades of boiing too, so can customise to get the perfect match. I love the little 'tips and tricks' drawings too.

The 'Hello Flawless' foundation and powder I had never tried before, and so far I've been really impressed with both of them. They really do make your skin look fresh, bright and flawless. However, as it's more of a travel kit the sizes are in miniature, so I will be saving using them for special occasions or if I'm going away and don't want to take my whole make up kit with me. But I've liked the products so much I might invest in the full size foundation and powder when birthday money rolls in.

I got the set in 'Medium' and was surprised at just how well it matched my skin tone- medium can still sometimes turn out a horrid shade of orange but this was a perfect match. 

Are you a fan of Benefit?

Christmas goodies: MUA, Denman, and other beauty bits

Wow has been a while! Have been so busy over Christmas as I work in retail so little time off for blogging. And my boyfriend was back from Switzerland only for 2 weeks so I'm afraid he was the priority!

Feel like it's a bit late for a Christmas post, but what the hell. Was very impressed with how well 'Father Christmas' [ha] did this year. I got so many things that were a lovely surprise and things I had my eye on.

First off, the opening of the stocking. In here were my usual beauty bits: cute Minnie Mouse emery boards, make up wipes, fake tan mitt- all the essentials. As well as...the nail buddy! Which I had even done a post about not too long ago [lolz]. I also got the Denman dress out brush. Though it looks somewhat like a shoe or nail brush, it makes back combing a hell of a lot easier for someone who is terrible with hair i.e. me

Denman dress out brush

Nail Buddy :D

There was a little box under the tree that I was very intrigued by, as I didn't really know what I was getting this year. It was a lovely surprise and very thoughtful of my mother- a collection of nail bits and pieces such as the MUA nail constellations,which may be old hat for bloggers, but something I never got around to buying for myself. Also inside were a selection of Barry M polishes, OPI's 'Skull and Glossbones' which I've wanted forever, nail decals and two double ended nail art pens, one end a pen, the other filled with rhinestones to decorate nails with. I was really touched to realise how much my dear old mum actually puts up with me wittering on about my nail obsessions.

Assorted nail bits - cheers Ma :) 

Now I have to start thinking about a birthday wish list (only a month away!)