Christmas Beauty Haul

I hope everyone had a beautiful Christmas, as usual the whole affair flew by far too fast for my liking. This year I was spoilt rotten (which makes me feel extremely guilty), particularly on the beauty gift front, so I saw it as the perfect opportunity to do a little haul, as usually my budget doesn't allow for anything particularly exciting, but Christmas is obviously an exception.

Yes, this beauty is finally mine. When I opened the Naked 3 palette by Urban Decay I inwardly (and possibly outwardly) squealed in delight. The rose gold packaging makes the palette feel even more luxurious, and as soon as I opened the tin and saw the eye shadows themselves I just knew that I'm going to be obsessed with this for the foreseeable future. Unlike it's predecessors, Naked 3 is composed of mainly rosy tones, which I find really compliments my blue/green eyes, and unlike the latter Naked palettes I can see myself using every colour, which I think is a very rare but desirable trait in a palette. Though a little expensive, retailing for around £37.00, I think this palette is the perfect treat for any make up lover, and I definitely think this is going to be my new beauty staple for the next few months.

I've seen myriad recommendations for the NARS Sheer Glow Foundation, but it was watching over some of Tanya Burr's tutorials that prompted me to put this on my Christmas wish list. This foundation gives the user the illusion of vibrant, flawless skin, cancelling out any scarring or dark circles. It glides effortlessly over the skin on application, and I find it lasts me pretty much all day which is a major plus in my books.

Moving away from make up, to my delight I received various Soap and Glory products yesterday, one of my favourite brands. Firstly I got a 500ml bottle of the Clean On Me Creamy Clarifying shower gel, which smells gorgeous and I'm pretty sure this huge tub last me a long time! I also got the Scrub 'Em and Leave 'Em Body Buff, which also smells divine. My parents also treated me to a new hand cream from the range. I've previously loved Hand Food, which I mentioned in one of my Winter Essentials posts, but I wanted to expand and try something new, so I'm now using Soap and Glory's Hand Cream Super Cream. This bottle is the perfect size to slip into your handbag and the cream is absorbed super quickly, which is essential if you're like me and lack the patience to wait for ages to do anything after application.

 After an abundance of hints, my parents bought me this LUSH gift set, which goes by the adorable title 'Best Wishes'. This set includes some of the classic winter bath treats from LUSH: Snowcake Soap, a Golden Wonder Bath Ballistic and a Luxury Lush Pud Bath Ballistic. I'm really excited to try these out over the next few days, once I can force myself to open it and destroy the beautiful packaging.

I was lucky enough to be given the Groovy kind-a love! gift set by Benefit this Christmas, and I already absolutely adore it. Inside the cute little tin, perfect size to slip into a handbag, it has a mini Benetint, Porefessional and They're Real! mascara, which are all items I've used in the past and loved. It also comes with 4 eye shadows which are all quite shimmery, perfect for the party season, and a mini blush duo of Dandelion (which has been my go-to blush for as long as I can remember) and Gimme Fever, which also has a shimmery quality which I think will be really flattering and I'm excited to try it out. I love getting this type of make up giftset as it allows me to try out a range of products I wouldn't be able to afford individually, and it's a really useful way of trying out products to see if you like them before committing to a full bottle/ tub.

I hope you had a beautiful Christmas and continue to have fun over the upcoming new year, it's come around so quickly! Thanks for reading,
Kate x