Christmas Haul!

Morning all! Hope you have all had a wonderful Christmas, and Santa bought you everything you wanted. Christmas has been fun for us, with lots of great presents received, including some fab beauty pressies which I wanted to share with you in a quick Christmas haul! I also was lucky enough to get a light box for Christmas, and have just very quickly started to test it out to take these photos. I have a lot of learning to do, but straight away I am happy with the quality of these pictures, let me know what you think!

So, what did I find in my stocking???

This cute Vaseline set comes in a  big Vaseline tin with normal, rose and almond oil, cocoa butter and Aloe Vera, well handy for sticking in your bag in the cold weather!

These cute cupcake lip glosses, in the flavour of the cake! Cream tart, strawberry cream, wild berry tart and raspberry cream. They may be to cute to actually use!!

Estee Lauder Sensuous Nude, I love this scent for Winter, very understated and musky. Plus the bottle is beautiful!

Three Cath Kidson shower gels, perfect for taking on holidays.

Soap and Glory hand wash and moisturiser, perfect for my bathroom.

This Heathcote and Ivory tin, with hand wash, hand cream and nail files in it. The tin is lovely and I may be using this as a lunch box!

Hope you enjoyed this Christmas haul! I am looking forward to getting to grips with the light box and learning how to take some beautiful pictures in 2012!

What did you get from Santa? Lots of beauty products we hope, let us know, we love hearing what other people got for Christmas!

Stay Beautiful!

Stace x

And the winner is...

Thank you to everyone who entered our Christmas and 50 followers giveaway! We were unsure about doing a giveaway at first, but we had such kind advice from the blogging community that we decided it would be a lovely way to thank our loyal readers at the end of the year, and share a few of our favourite products with you.

We were overwhelmed with the response, with 14 of you entering, this really did make us feel special so thank you all for reading and we hope you enjoy Beautiful You in the New Year.

So, the winner of the Sleek palette is...

Herewegoagain (GFC name)

And runner up who will win the MUA palette is...

Georgina Evans (GFC name)

Thank you again for reading our blog and entering our giveaway. We will email both winners to get your address and will aim to post the goodies after Christmas.

If you celebrate Christmas, have a lovely time, enjoy the relaxing holiday period, and we cannot wait to bring you lots of beauty posts in 2012!

Lot of love

Stace & Mags xxx

And because it's Christmas... a few Christmas pics for you...

Christmas party face and outfit of the night!!

Hello and a big festive, christmassy morning to you all!

Last night was my works Christmas party, and I wanted to share with you the look I went for! I have also been lucky not to have a hangover this morning! Yay!

So firstly what did I wear?

This dress came from Debenhams Red Herring. I really like how simple it is, but also looks quite dressy. I didn't like the original belt that came with it so I bought some cream ribbon and fashioned my own belt. At only £35 I was very pleased with this dress!

And what look did I go for with my make-up? I tried to keep it quite simple and 'English rose' with some bronzer applied over my neck and shoulders, and I concentrated on highlighting eyes and lips. I also had my hair done yesterday as well, so was pleased with my final look for the party!

With Flash

Without flash

Finally the tools I used to achieve this look:

• Bare Vitamins skin rev-er upper for a base under foundation
• Estee Lauder Double wear light
• Bare Minerals prime time for eyes
• Bare Minerals Flaunt eye shadow
• Bare Minerals Volumising mascara
• Bare Minerals eyeliner
• Vivo Gold Dust bronzer
• Bare Minerals Lip Gloss from the Cocktail Party set

I would love to know what you think about my Christmas party look!

If you're off to  Christmas party tonight have fun and stay beautiful!

Stace x

17th December 2011



Christmas Wish List!

Dear Santa, Lapland, North Pole,

For Christmas this year I would really like some of the following beauty products please:

• OPI Muppets nail collection. My friend has bought this recently and it is out of stock every where I look!

• A bath bomb from Lush, I particularly like the little Christmas pudding one, so cute.

• Collection 2000 concealer, I keep reading fab reviews about this product, and it's so cheap!

• Soap and Glory make-up, have not tried this brands make-up collection and am desperate to!
• Elemis bath time treats, I love anything Elemis to indulge myself in the bath, so some of their bath range would be fab!

•  Liz Earle face pampering treats. The exfoliator and mask especially are currently missing from my bathroom and I could do with these being stocked up!

• No 7 Poppy King limited edition lipstick, beautiful and the perfect stocking filler!
• L'occitane hand cream, in this cold weather I can never have enough tubes of this miracle cream!
• A Nails Inc collection, I found this great one in TK Maxx earlier:

Estee Lauder Sensuous Nude perfume, a great smell for the Winter and coming into the Spring.

And finally, Philip Kingsley elasticizer, seeing the reviews when this was in GlossyBox this year reminded me how much I love this hair treatment, but the price is too high to buy every month.

Thanks Santa!
I will be sure to leave a mince pie, sherry and some carrots out for you on Christmas Eve, so please stop by, and I would be delighted to find any of the above items under my Christmas tree!

Merry Christmas!

Love Stace x


14th December 2011

Mineral make-up with Lumiere

A few weeks ago, Stace and I received some samples from Lumiere cosmetics, an American mineral make-up company. As Stace mentioned, we both love our mineral make-up that we’ve used for some times now so I was very excited to try this one to compare! 

I was very impressed with the packaging, especially that these were free samples. The containers reminded me of Bobbi Brown eye liner packaging but in plastic edition. Instead of going through all the colours separately, I decided to divide my samples into two different looks. 

In the first look I’ve used:

From the top left: Medium Beige Cashmere foundation, Earth blush, The bottom left: Intrigued eye colour and Bon Bon eye colour

From the left: Medium Beige Cashmere foundation, Earth blush, Intrigued eye colour and Bon Bon eye colour

Finished look, using Lumiere cosmetics products: Medium Beige Cashmere foundation, Earth blush, Intrigued eye colour and Bon Bon eye colour

The foundation is a bit powdery on the skin to my liking, even my husband commented on the way it sat on my skin and wasn’t as natural looking as the other mineral products I normally use. The blush is nice; its matte finishing makes it very versatile, perfect for autumn/winter season! I’ll definitely use that blush again. 

Eye colours used: Intrigued eye colour as a base and Bon Bon eye colour on the top

Both of the eye colours are great - very wearable both to work and in the evening. I’d definitely use both of them again!

The only product from the first look that I’m not too keen on is the foundation.

For the second look I’ve used:

From the top left: Medium Beige Luminesse foundation, Terra Cotta blush, The bottom left: Violet eye colour and Bittersweet eye colour.

From the left: Medium Beige Luminesse foundation, Terra Cotta blush, Violet eye colour and Bittersweet eye colour.

Look two, using Lumiere cosmetics products: Medium Beige Luminesse foundation, Terra Cotta blush, Violet eye colour and Bittersweet eye colour.

The foundation is a bit better here, as it has a luminescent finishing, making my skin a bit more glowy and healthy. The colour of the blush was great in the box, however, once applied onto the skin it was a bit too pale and almost blending in with the foundation so didn’t give me as much definition as I’d like; however, it's still a great product for the spring/summer season!

The eye colours used: Violet eye colour as a base and Bittersweet eye colour in the outer corner.

The pigment of the Violet eye colour was so deep in the box that I couldn’t wait to try! However, I needed to apply a fair amount of the product to actually see the colour. Even though, the colour ended up being pretty much transparent so I wouldn’t use that again. Whereas the Bittersweet eye colour looks really good in the box and on the eye! Definitely something I’ll use again!

Overall, the foundation creates a good cover so no need for concealer; however, I do like my foundation to look very natural on the skin. Both of the blushers have a good finishing so will use them again as both are great for different times of the year. The eye colours are good, not the best I’ve used before, but am eager to use them more in the future.

Have a great evening! 

Stay beautiful!

Mags xx

11 December 2011

Christmas gift ideas!

There are some amazing gift ideas in the shops, and I should know as I have spent a lot of time browsing trying to find that perfect gift! Some of my fave beauty sets I have stumbled upon in the department stores have been:

L'occitanne, Elemis, Lancome, Bare Minerals, No7, Soap and Glory... the list could go on!

But the problem with all these sets is they are just one brand. So imagine how excited I was yesterday, when I was Christmas shopping in Bath and found these little beauties for sale in Debenhams:

This collection contains: Benefit Dr Feelgood Complexion Balm 1.8g, Burt's Bees Radiance Day Creme 7g, Dead Sea Spa Magik Boosting Mask 5ml, Dead Sea Spa Magik Moisturiser 5ml, Elemis Pro Collagen Marine Cream 15ml, L'OCCITANE Shea Butter Hand Cream 10ml and Natio Ageless Illuminating Primer 20ml.

This collection is currently available on Debenhams online and some stores. When I was in store yesterday it was only £13.50! What a bargain! It is worth buying this for the Elemis Pro Collagen Marine Cream alone which is worth around £22!

I personally thought this was a great gift idea for my beauty mad friends, and have now added it to my own Christmas wish list as well! But I think at this price it won't hang around for long!!

I also found this set in store, which unsurprisingly is out of stock online, but there were some in the Bath store. Luscious lashes contains:

Eylure Individual Lashes Set, Eylure Naturalites Lashes Set, bareMinerals Flawless Definition Travel Size Mascara, Benefit BAD gal Brown Mascara and Urban Decay Skyscrapper Multi Benefit Travel size Mascara.

Good luck trying to find this one!

Hopefully that has given you some ideas for Christmas presents. The other thing I love to do is make up my own packs similar to the above out of my own products which I don't use. I often buy packs of beauty products as it's cheaper, and there will always be the odd product I don't use. And then you can package them as you wish!

What Christmas present ideas have you got this year? Please let us know!

Stay Beautiful!

Stace x

Christmas and 50 followers giveaway!!

Christmas and 50 followers giveaway!!

We are so excited - we have reached 50 followers!! The fact that each and everyone of you take the time to read our blog means so much to us. So, as it's Christmas we wanted to say a big 'thank you' by running our first ever giveaway!

We wanted to giveaway products from brands we have discovered in the last couple of months and now love. There will be a first and second prize.

First prize:

Sleek 'The Original' eye shadow palette.

Second prize:

MUA starry night eye shadow palette.

Hope you like the prizes! They are both brand new, never used products. And now the important bit, how to enter...

• Firstly, if you don't already, please follow our blog on GFC (we hope you enjoy reading!)
• Comment on this post with what beauty product you hope to find in your stocking this Christmas. Please leave us your GFC name, and your email or twitter name so we can let you know if you have won!

It's that simple!

To comment on the post if you are on the home page of our blog, please click on the 'giveaway' blog in the archive section at the left hand side.

Closing date will be 23rd December 22:00 GMT. We will announce the winners on Christmas Eve!!! And we will then post prizes after Christmas.

And now the technical bit...a few rules:

1. Winners will be drawn at random, first entry drawn will win Sleek palette, Second winner drawn will win MUA palette.

2. If under 16, we will ask for parental consent if you were to win.

3. This giveaway is open internationally.

Thanks for reading and good luck!

Stay beautiful!

Stace & Mags x

7th December 2011

Let’s Minx it a Little this Christmas!

The January issue of Harper’s Bazaar is already out(!) and this issue comes with a free Leighton Denny’s nail polishes! Well actually, each issue comes with one colour however, there are six season’s coolest colours to choose from… or collect them all!

You should see my excitement when I saw that offer at my local Sainsbury’s! And as I’m a big fan of Leighton’s polishes, I bought three magazines with three different colours!

Leighton Denny nail polishes - from left: Crushed Grape, Sensual Glam and Little Minx

Crushed Grape – which I think I’ll keep for the spring/summer season

Sensual Glam – which goes really well with my tanned hands now (just got back from hols!) it’s natural white colour with gold shimmer (sorry, as not sure if it’s visible on the photos)

And…  the colour that I’m going to use during the Christmas season – Little Minx

This colour is perfect for Xmas parties and all the season’s celebrations! It’s a metallic grey with plum undertone and high shine finish! It’s perfect for my Xmas Party’s Winter Wonderland theme and will go with lots of gowns and colours! I’m so excited!

There are three other colours that come with the magazine; however, as I haven’t bought more mags I can only tell you the colours, which look like: orangey red, burgundy purple and teal green. 

If you’re LD’s fan go and get the fab colours! If you’re not a fan as yet, treat yourself to a magazine with a free nail polish, as they don’t come cheap - £11 per bottle! The magazine is £4.20!

Stay beautiful!

Mags xx

Nivea - The Kate Middleton effect

Our monthly guest blogger Sam is back to tell us her views on the Nivea moisturisers!


In one way or another I’m sure you would have all seen the royal wedding earlier in the year and fallen in love with our new English princess, Kate Middleton. She captured the nation’s hearts with her natural elegance, decorum and fairy tale wedding. What also followed from this was a nation that watched her every move – what Kate wears sells out the minute she is seen out in public, places she visits become the most popular holiday destinations and the day she nipped into Boots sparked nationwide interest in a budget day cream; Nivea Visage – pure and natural.

Well needless to say I also followed in her foot steps (who wouldn’t kill for a complexion like hers?!) My thoughts? Well I wasn’t overly impressed with the pure and natural range soothing day cream – I found it sort of sat on top of my skin and then disappeared, not really soaking in or moisturising (perhaps Kate had better luck than me?) However, in its defence, a cream is very dependent on a person’s skin type so whilst I purchased one from the ‘pure and natural’ range I also got a rich moisturising day cream from the Nivea Visage range (that was even cheaper). Bingo this one works beautifully with my skin.

My skin is soft without being greasy and the cream really soaks in. I have always been an advocate for the ‘high street’ beauty products – especially as you can find yourself trying out a few different creams until you find the right one for your skin type (this can be costly if you are using high end products). Although I may be changing my opinion as I get a bit older and my skin starts to wrinkle and lose its firmness!

But for now the best advice I can give when looking for day creams, which may not be what you want to hear, is to try a few out until you find your perfect match. For some this may happen first time (lucky!)and others could get through quite a few. I believe the cheaper face creams are just as good and therefore not such an expensive trial to find the right product. Just to throw another spanner in the works ... once you’ve found the right one this will most definitely not be for life! I can tell you now I think I’ve been through every brand on the high street, partly because I’m a brand switcher and will go with what offers I can find, but mainly because my skin seems to be constantly changing and what used to be effective is no longer offering the same results!

Stay Beautiful!

Sam x

Pro hands for Christmas!

During the winter season, hands are the part of our body that is mostly exposed to the cold, wet, windy conditions outside, hence it’s really important to take a special care to avoid parching. 

As I love hand creams and as an Elemis fan I was really pleased with my latest purchase of Pro-Collagen Hand and Nail Cream from the Sp@Home range. The rich, creamy texture is perfect for this time of year, and the silicone-free formula allows this product to sink in in no time so the hands become hydrated and no oily residue is left on the palms or backs of hands. The hands are left with a matte look that I really like.

The smell is very noticeable and it might be overpowering to some people. It’s a nice smell of a combination of white flowers, blend of milk protein, avellana seed oil, camellia, virgin plum and macadamia. However, I enjoy the smell and it brings that luxury to this product.

One of the product’s promises is to strengthen and condition cuticles and nails, which I’m looking forward to. Need to use the product for some time but will let you know how I get on.

The packaging is sleek and the additional seal under the lid makes it even more hygienic when received as there is no box.  It’s available to purchase from the www.timetospa.co.uk and Elemis counters across the UK for £29.70 for 100ml of product.

Stay warm this winter and stay beautiful!

Mags xx

My first ever Face of the Day!

My first ever Face of the Day!

Ok so I have finally braved it and done my first FOTD!!

I love reading all your FOTD's so thought it was time I did one. We have been trying out lots of products over the last few weeks and we thought it was about time to show you them put into practice!

So firstly here are the tools for the job!!

• Liz Earle Superskin moisturiser as base before foundation application.
• Bare Minerals Foundation and bisque concealer.
• Vivo Cosmetics baked blusher.
• Lumiere cosmetics amethyst eye pigment.
• Bare Minerals volumizing mascara.
• Make Up Academy lipstick.
• All the brushes are from my own collection of Bare Minerals and Body Shop.

And here is my finished face:

A close up for you of the eyes:

And a closer look at the lips:

I have really enjoyed using all these products, and most are now part of my everyday routine!

I am hoping to do some more of these now I have done the first one, and will hopefully bringing you some Christmas party FOTD's!! I am getting excited about Christmas already and will be getting the decs down from the lost this week!

Stay Beautiful!

Stace x

p.s. Mags has just returned from holiday, all tanned and relaxed, and will be back blogging soon!

28th November 2011