After sharing my ideas for Gifts For Her Over £30, next up in my Christmas Gift Guide series, we have stocking fillers. With everything costing under £15, these smaller gifts have got every interest covered, whether your loved one is a bookworm, chocoholic or beauty-addict.
Seeing as we're around ONE MONTH (yes, that needed capitals) away from Christmas and now is the time that everyone begins to get into a frenzy when shopping for presents, I thought it was time for me to share my set of gift guides. My first of three includes more premium gifts ideal for the lovely ladies in your life.
Family genetics have blessed me with some persistent, dark circles under my eyes. Even when I've had those crucial, eight hours of sleep and I'm hangover-free, those eye bags still linger. It can be difficult to banish shadows for good, considering they're caused by blood vessels showing through the thin skin, but I've discovered a collection of products that have really helped to reduce the look of them, both short and longer-term.
At the end of October, I was very kindly invited to the launch of the latest addition to La Roche-Posay's Effaclar range, the Effaclar K+. Aimed at blemish-prone skin, this correcting moisturiser is designed to treat recurrent blackheads and uneven skin texture. La Roche-Posay are one of my favourite, high-street brands and their skincare products have really helped to clear my sensitive skin over the years. Although I'm fortunate in that my skin is relatively well-behaved nowadays, blackheads remain a skin concern of mine so I jumped at the chance to try this new release.
For the most part, I prefer to use light to medium-coverage foundations as a base and heavier concealers in small areas. Sometimes, though, there are occasions when only a full-on foundation will do. If my skin is having a meltdown, I'm feeling rubbish or I just fancy going all out with my glam routine after watching a few episodes of KUWTK, I'll reach for a foundation with a bit more oomph.
Gone are the days when high-coverage formulas meant a cement-like, cakey finish that was so obviously unnatural and felt suffocating to wear. Now, the market is flooded with countless options that can hide a multitude of skin issues, without feeling like a mask. Here are my top three must-haves.
Some months I struggle with cobbling together a post full of favourites and then others, my picks are glaringly obvious and it's a complete doddle. This time around, it's the latter. The past month was one of the busiest I've had for a while and it felt like I was away more than I was at home. With all that travelling, my makeup bag was stuffed with the same line-up for the whole month and, the new products that I did try, happened to make the cut into my monthly edit immediately after giving them a go.
With the constant stream of new releases in the beauty world, it's easy to neglect former favourites. They may have hit the market a couple of years ago, but I still adore the Rimmel Apocalips Lip Lacquers, especially during the latter half of the year. I'm not one for buying whole ranges straight away in case I'm not a fan of the formula, but over time, I've amassed quite a collection of these lip gloss/lipstick hybrids.
