What did you get for Christmas?

Hi guys

 

Its New Years Eve and I hope you are all doing well and had a fantastic Christmas. Ive had a few requests and emails asking what I received for Christmas... Well I was a  very lucky girl and got quite a few gifts from my beauty wishlist from my wonderful hubby, so today I want to show you a few of my pressies, the Urban Decay products were on my wishlist and there were also a couple of presents from family and friends which were highly unexpected - they are all beauty and nail products - they know me so well ha ha,  I will show you these in more details during January but speaking of January - I am going on a beauty diet. Thats right I am going on a strict no beauty products buying policy but I have lots of exciting posts planned so keep an eye out for those.  Ive had a little splurge in the sales as well, so I have a few hauls coming up to show you and I also plan to do my beauty favourites of 2012 in January which will have lots of reviews and top picks for beauty, hair and nail products.
I will also be starting a beauty clinic where you will be able to pose your beauty questions to me, whether it be about nails, skin or well being, or anything else beauty related - I am a trained beautician so I would love to be able to help you with any burning questions you have. I would also love to know what was on your beauty wishlist and what lovely pressies you got so feel free to share.

Lots of Love
Lipstick Fridays

xx

 

Happy Christmas

Hi everyone

 

I wanted to check in to say Happy Christmas to you all. I also wanted to take this opportunity to thank you for your support,  I really, really appreciate it - sometimes I have to pinch myself because I cant believe people are actually reading my blog - eh !! How did that happen ?!

I hope Santa was very good to you all and I hope that your dreams came true this Christmas morning, now on a lighter note Im off to Chrimbo lunch - I have my fat pants on today so Im off to stuff myself stupid !! Ha xx

 

Eat, drink and be merry everyone.

 

Lots of Love

Lipstick Fridays

xx

 

Ciate Enchanted Rose

Hi everyone

 

Happy Christmas Eve.

Well Im sad to say  its the last day of the Ciate Mani Month Calendar and I dont think there could have been a more perfect choice for todays polish - Enchanted Rose, a very Christmas appropriate red glitter. Today I am simply going to let the pictures speak for themself !

 

Have a great day tomorrow everyone, I hope Santa is good to you all.

 

Lots of Love

Lipstick Fridays

xx

 

 

 

 

Ciate Mojito

Hi guys

The pre Christmas pandemonium continues today - anyone, can I please have more hours in the day ? So I have just another quick check in with todays Ciate colour - Mojito !! Love the name, love the cocktail but really not sure about the colour - what do you think ??

Lots of Love
Lipstick Fridays
xx

Ciate Caviar Pearls Sundance

Good morning lovelies

 

Thank goodness its the weekend !! Just a quick post today to check in and show you todays Ciate - Its day twenty two woop woop and we have the special edition caviar pearls in Sundance, I think this one is really pretty and it also has little bitty micro sequins in shades of gold and turquoise. I have paired it with Ladylike Luxe and think they really compliment each other - mmmh this caviar mani just might be growing on me.

 

Lots of Love

Lipstick Fridays

xx

 

Stila In The Light Eye Shadow Palette Review

Stila has created quite a following amongst celebrities and make up artists since the cosmetics company burst on to the scene in 1994. The brand prides itself on creating products which are innovative and boast multi-tasking formulas and if you havent tried Stila before then where have you been? Stila's goal is "To help every woman celebrate her own unique beauty, to look and feel like the best version of herself, and to have fun doing it."

I recently purchased the Stila In The Light Natural Eye Shadow Palette which is a gorgeous little palette of ten natural looking eye shadows including the best-selling shade Kitten and a full-sized limited edition waterproof Smudge Stick in Damsel, a matte dark brown, at the moment if you purchase this palette online in the UK you will also receive a complimentary sample(1.5ml) of Stila's amazing award winning lip glaze.

The eye shadow packaging is minimalist and natural hinting at the contents inside and the palette is constructed out of hard wearing cardboard which makes it really nice and light - perfect for popping in your handbag. Inside of the lid there is a lovely quote from the Global Director of Education for Stila and professional make up artist Sarah Lucero - "Believe in the beauty of the future"

This palette contains eye shadows from both the cool and warm colour spectrums which is fantastic as this means it will suit any skintone meaning you cant really go wrong if you invest in this palette for yourself or for someone else. The eye shadows come in a range of finishes from Matte to frost and a little bit of glitter so this palette will literally take you from day to evening, the shadows can also be used dry or wet so you can really build up the intensity of each shade. The shadows are long wearing - I got a full days wear (with primer) and the pigmentation is fantastic, each shade is true to pan with great colour pay off except Bare which I find is a little chalky, the rest of the shades are creamy and butter soft which makes them easy to blend with little fall out. 

Colours bottom to top : Bare (matte ivory), Kitten (shimmering nude pink), Bliss (matte nude), Sunset (copper shimmer) & Sandstone (matte neutral brown) 

Colours bottom to top :- Ebony (matte black), Night Sky (slate blue with silver shimmer) Luster (deep gray with gold shimmer),Gilded Gold (bronze with gold shimmer), Champagne (pale gold shimmer) & Smudge Stick Waterproof Eye Liner in Damsel (matte chocolate brown)

The waterproof Smudge Stick in Damsel is a godsend because its retractable - a fantastic addition to any girls make up bag or handbag because it doesnt need sharpened so will always be ready to use - the formula is great, nice and soft which means you can precision apply or blend it and you can also use it on your waterline.

Overall I think this is an amazing palette which would suit anyone and has quickly become my most favourite eye shadow palette - EVER !!! Also included is a Stila Lookbook to help you creat six different looks from your palette - keep a look out on my blog for some looks coming soon. 

 The lipglaze which came with the palette was a great little treat - I love it, cant fault it, great formulation, lovely to wear, gorgeous smell - absolute thumbs up !!! 

Stila In the Light can be purchased from StilaUK for £25 or Stila.com for $39 - you will not be disappointed !!

Lots of Love

Lipstick Fridays

xx

Ciate Fade To Greige

Continuing with my "Ciate a day" pledge, todays colour is Fade To Greige, a grey polish with a hint of violet. This is a great neutral colour which would go with any outfit over the festive season. Ciate polish is quick to dry which means you can paint your nails in a hurry without having to wait twenty minutes for them to be touch dry !! You will also achieve great results with this polish because it has such a  great consistency which makes it easy to paint with, it has great pigmentation which means no streaks or uneven colour and because it dries so quickly you will have gorgeous, glossy smudge free nails.  This is Fade To Greige with two coats, it is a permanent polish in Ciates collection so you will be able to purchase this from Ciate for £9.

 

Lots of Love

Lipstick Fridays

xx

 

Ciate Magic Carpet

Its day 20 in my Ciate Mini Mani Month calendar and can I just say "Hello beautiful". Todays colour is Magic Carpet and it combines my two favourite things glitter (I have terrible magpie tendancies) and pink. As far as glitter polish goes I think this is one of the nicest ones Ive seen, with different sized flecks of magenta glitter suspended in a sheer polish I find that its rather gloopy in texture but I actually think that this helps the glitter stick to your nails rather having a thinner consistency which can sometimes just slides straight off the nails during application and making it a tad difficult to get a great effect with the glitter, this is Magic Carpet with three coats and to be honest the pictures just dont do it justice. This polish is quick to dry, has great pigmentation and if you havent tried Ciate yet then you need to give their polish a go !!! Magic Carpet is one of the calendars special editions and isnt released at the moment however Im hoping that Ciate might make this a permanent edition to their collection.

 

Lots of Love

Lipstick Fridays

xx

 

 

Urban Decay Naked Basics

If you are a fan of neutral eyeshadow then this is the palette for you. The new Urban Decay Naked Basics Eyeshadow Palette is the latest release in the "Naked" family. A dinky little palette which is great for travel and is much smaller than Naked or Naked2 is home to six generous full size eyeshadows raging from Venus a soft off white to Crave a deep dark brown. Ever since the release of the Naked Palettes everyone seems to have been waiting with baited breath to see if Urban Decay would answer our prayers and release a matte version of the Naked Palette and they have answered us with Naked Basics.
These eyeshadows are pretty amazing ! They are highly pigmented, true to pan with great colour pay off and are so smooth and silky to apply, my only gripe with the palette is that it features Foxy - a colour which has already featured in the Naked2 palette, other than that the colours are fab, you have Venus a demi-matte soft white which makes me think of candelight for some reason when I see it, Foxy a matte warm yellow/cream colour, Walk of Shame a matte pale pink beige, Naked2 a matte taupe colour, Faint a very light chocolate colour and Crave a matte dark brown/black. Overall Im really glad I purchased this - its a good addition to your collection even if you have both Naked palettes, I love the packaging and I love the quality of the product. You can purchase the Urban Decay Naked Basics palette in Debenhams for £20 plus p+p.

What do you guys think - Will you be adding the Naked Basics to your Christmas list?

Lots of Love
Lipstick Fridays
xx

 

Ciate Cookies and Cream

Hi everyone

Got a little excited when I opened door nineteen to find Cookies and Cream behind it because at first glance I thought I might have just found a dupe for Chanel Frenzy. The excitement was short lived however because when applied it looks nothing like Chanel Frenzy. They are very similar but as you can see from the pictures Frenzy is a little darker and more of a grey putty colour where as Cookies and Cream is more of a fleshy nude colour. I gotta say Im quite liking Cookies and Cream however it took four coats to get decent coverage so it did take a little longer to dry, I do feel very chic today with nudey coloured nails though ha ha.

If you would like some nudey nails Cookies and Cream can be purchased from Ciate for £9.

Lots of Love

Lipstick Fridays

xx

Cookies and Cream on the left and Chanel Frenzy on the right