first impressions

First Impressions: Limited Edition Smashbox Cosmic Party Kit

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The Smashbox Cosmic Party Kit title image. Behind the text box is a photo of the gift set unopened, showing the products in a red box with dots and star doodles on it in white

It’s November so it’s OK to talk about Christmas now right? I’ve started on the Christmas shopping and all the gifts are appearing in stores. I’m not sure if this is going to be a thing that comes out every year but last Christmas I bought a Smashbox set that’s sort of a taster set with a mix of travel sizes and full sizes of some of their best selling products and a full size Cover Shot palette. This year it’s the Cosmic Party Kit and cost £30 but contains over £90 worth of products. It says limited edition and I think it’s a limited number available rather than meaning just limited to Christmas.

I love sets like this that contain full sized products so you can tell exactly what it would be worth and you basically get some of the products for free. In this one a Cover Shot palette would cost £25 so if that’s the product you’re most interested in you get the rest for £5. The Cover Shot palette this time is the Major Metals one so it’s all metallic. The other products included are full sized Full Exposure Mascara, Always On Gel Liner in Fishnet (black) and Gloss Angeles Lip Gloss in 72 & Honey alongside a travel sized tube of their Photo Finish Primer.

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Debenhams Beauty Discovery Box

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Debenhams Beauty Discovery Box title image. Behind the text is a photo of the drawer style box open with the products inside it.

I do love a good beauty box, they can be a great way to try new products in a way that’s larger than the tiny samples you get for free. Debenhams have a Beauty Discovery Box, with seven travel sized products in it, for £35. At the moment there is an offer where if you buy a beauty of fragrance product then it’s half price. I can’t find anywhere that says that it’s got a minimum spend and I spent just over £20 and got the offer.

The seven products included cover hair, skin and makeup and include products from Too Faced, Kat Von D, Clarins, Clinique, Smashbox, Murad and Aveda. I have to say that the Too Faced mascara and the Smashbox primer are the two that I wanted the most, and pretty much cover the cost of the box at half price, but I am looking forward to trying the others. As with any of these beauty box posts I do, this is pretty much first impressions, unless I’ve already used the product in the past, and I’ll add up the total of what everything would be worth separately to see if it’s worth the money.

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Getting Ready for Holidays Haul Part 1: Boots

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The Summer Haul Part 1: Boots title image. Behind the text box is a photo of everything bought in the haul

It feels like it’s been a while since I last posted, it’s probably not been all that long but I think I needed to step back and life sort of took over. I’ll do more of a post about it soon but blogging was getting stressful, which is not what I ever want it to be, and this break means I’m actually looking forward to posting and have all these ideas. Anyway, onto the post itself.

I recently decided that I wasn’t really going to do many hauls, but as I’m going away to Fuerteventura in April I had so many things I wanted to get ready for that or that were on my list to buy after the no-buy February and my general decluttering that I felt like I wanted to share with you guys what I was getting. This is all from Boots and most of it is actually Soap and Glory but I am so ready for these summer products that I got a bit excited and may have bought almost everything in their new scent that they released in February. It did help that almost everything that I bought was in a mix and match three for two at the time so I got a few of these things free.

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After Christmas Shopping and Sales Haul

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After Christmas Sales SHopping Haul title image. Behind the text is a photo of different products bought after the sales

Last week was a bit of an odd week, I started out with one of the bugs going around and ended up with sinusitis so sorry for a lack of posts last week. I’m hoping the antibiotics will kick in and everything will go back to normal this week as I actually have the next four weeks worth of posts planned and some of them photographed. Starting to feel organised finally! And with the final deliveries from my post Christmas orders arriving last week I thought it was time to do a post on everything I got.

I think it’s about a month from my first order but some of them took a while to get here and I thought I’d put everything in one big post. It’s a big mix of everything from home and beauty to nerdy figures and some are full price but I wanted to get them with Christmas money from relatives. If anything is still available I’ll put a link to it and I’m pretty sure that most of these will be getting their own review posts so if there’s anything in here you want to see first then please comment and I’ll move them up the list.

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Blogmas 2018, Day 24: Christmas Eve!

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The Blogmas title with a photo of a ‘Night Before Christmas’ moose candle holderIt’s Christmas Eve! I can’t believe it’s Christmas Day tomorrow, not sure why but maybe it’s not cold enough or something but I haven’t been feeling as Christmassy today as I have before. The two advent calendars are kind of duplicates of previous days, the BB Cream in the Holland and Barrett beauty calendar is one I’m happy about though. The Harry Potter one less so, though it’s a different figure there are multiples of this character already.

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Blogmas Day 22 & 23: 2 Days in 1!

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The Blogmas title image. It is split in two with two Christmas Costa coffee paper cups, one on each sideI didn’t manage to write a proper advent calendar Blogmas post yesterday but I did post something so I’m counting that! For some reason today I’ve felt like it’s Christmas Eve all day, I’m already getting too excited for Christmas! Also today was a fun day until my phone screen pretty much shattered, though stayed in place, so it’s all taped up and I’m crossing my fingers it’ll last till February, or maybe longer, before I need to get a new phone as my contract will definitely go up as I’m sim only at the moment and I need to save everything I can in January!

Anyway, onto the advent calendars. And the Harry Potter figures are so appropriate together and I’ve really been looking forward to the day I got the creature that came in today’s window so I’m so happy with these two. I kind of wish one of them could have been on Christmas Eve as I have a feeling I know what’s coming and it’s not as exciting. The Holland and Barrett beauty goodies were so good too. It’s got to the point where I’ve forgotten what was even meant to be in here so they’re all surprises again. Another essential oil and some deodorant may not sound that interesting but I think the deodorant may become a favourite from the calendar. Is that weird?

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Review: Harry Potter Eyeshadow Palettes (Part 2)

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The closed eyeshadow palettes, showing the house artwork on the front. Slytherin has a metallic green snake and Hufflepuff a metallic gold badgerHaving got the Gryffindor and Ravenclaw palettes (you can see the review for them here), I had to get the Slytherin and Hufflepuff eyeshadow palettes that Boots released and complete the Harry Potter set. I wasn’t sure what to expect with these two as the other two seem to work quite differently to each other. Hufflepuff definitely looked the more wearable for me everyday but as I’m a Slytherin I had to get that one too. All four palettes cost £12.50 each and are in the three for two Christmas gifts offer, along with the rest of the Harry Potter range.

Each palette has six eyeshadows, with the Slytherin one being the only one with a true matte shade, though there is one in Hufflepuff that actually looks more matte than shimmery. Each palette has four colours that are linked to the house colours and two that would be considered more everyday colours so you can do either an all out house colours look or a more neutral look with a pop of colour.

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Blogmas 2018, Day 21: Tired Legs and Neville Longbottom

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Blogmas title image. The photo behind has presents wrapped in red and white patterned paper and tied with red or white ribbonsI haven’t tried anything from the brand in the Holland and Barrett beauty advent calendar, I’ve never even heard of them before, but that’s what I love about these beauty advent calendars and why I buy them in the first place. This time a year a revitalising leg gel seems a great idea, especially for anyone working in any of the kinds of jobs that everyone wants in the festive season and there’s a lot of standing around! I’d already seen the Funko Pop character after having to dig in this door for Hedwig yesterday but I’m still happy to have a Neville, at least I think he’s Neville!

I’m sure we were supposed to have had snow at some point this winter, I think it’s the weather that’s making me not feel as Christmassy as normal considering it’s only four days away! This time last year we’d had quite a bit of snow, Google helpfully showed me the photos on the 10th and made me want it even more! Oh well, I hope it stays away for everyone to get home over Christmas but it would have been nice to have had some in December! As I write this it’s pouring with rain and so windy the birds had to make several attempts to land on the feeders.

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Blogmas 2018, Day 20: Christmas Food!

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The Blogmas title image. It has a bottle of glögg with a glass full of it next to itToday was the turn of the second face mask in the Holland and Barrett beauty advent calendar, I think this is the only duplicate product in the calendar. The Harry Potter Funko Pop figure was Hedwig, the second pet and another that I have in the blind box Funko version.

It feels quite appropriate that today’s Blogmas question was about food, we went food shopping today and came back with what looked like enough to last a month! I have a feeling the Christmas food will still be being eaten in January. We always think that we’re getting less than last year but it still seems to be way too much. At least we have a lot less chocolate this year, I think the extras are different fruit and nuts so at least that’s better, right?

Also, I think I have a new favourite Christmas drink. I might have to go to Ikea each year to get the Glögg, though I might see if I can find somewhere else that sells it near me as I don’t want to have to deal with those crowds and I know I’ll just end up buying things I don’t need every year if I do go!

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Blogmas 2018, Day 19: Wreaths, Colds and a Weasley

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The Blogmas title image. It has a homemade wreath hanging on a door.

We finally made our wreath today! It’s a bit late with less than a week to go but I do love how festive it makes the house look. We’ve made wreaths for as long as I can remember but we’ve never used the fir we have this time. We still have the fake tree left to decorate but then all decorations will be done!

The Holland and Barrett advent calendar today had a great gift for how we’ve been feeling lately with some Eucalyptus essential oil, great for when you’ve got a cold. The Harry Potter Funko Pop advent calendar had the second Weasley twin to add to the family.

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