What I Got For Christmas: Beauty Edition

Hello everyone and happy 2017! It's weird to say that but it's also exciting to be at the start of another year. In this post, I thought I'd reflect on and share with you some of the items I received for Christmas. This isn't everything - certain things I'm going to leave for reviews / focused posts but it's most of the beauty type gifts I was lucky enough to receive from friends and family members. 

Whilst I'd like to hope most people would already know this, this post isn't to brag about the things I received. I'm an inherently nosey individual and I love seeing the lovely things people buy and receive be it at Christmas, birthdays or as part of a haul, so I thought I'd also create my own "What I Got for Christmas" post too. Needless to say I'm so grateful for receiving the presents that I did and even more importantly than that, I feel blessed to have such wonderful, caring and loving people in my life. Soppiness over with, let's jump right in!

I received three perfumes in total this year from my friends and family - a fact a perfume junkie like me is more than excited about. I've really been getting into fragrance this past year so it's safe to say I was really happy to receive some this year for Christmas. The scents I got were Olympea by Paco Robanne, Bon Bon by Viktor & Rolf and finally Gucci Bamboo by Gucci. I'll list the scent notes in the captions of the perfumes' photo just incase you're interested too! I'd been lusting over all three of these scents for quite a while - particularly Bon Bon so I'm really excited to start wearing them all.

Scent Notes:
Gucci Bamboo by Gucci: Top - Bergamot, Heart - Ylang-Ylang & Orange Blossom, Base - Amber & Sandalwood
Bon Bon by Viktor & Rolf: Top - Mandarin & Peach, Heart - Caramel, Base - Amber, Sandalwood & Cedar
Olympea by Paco Roxanne: Top - Green Mandarin & Jasmine, Heart - Vanilla, Base - Cashmere Wood & Sandalwood

Next off I got these stunning brushes from Zoeva. As a makeup lover and wearer, new beauty tools always come in handy and it's a bonus when they're as pretty as these ones are. I loved the Zoeva brushes I had previously but had never delved much into their facial brushes and had only really tried their eye ones. I'm really excited to have a play around with all of the brushes in this collection - I can see all of them being staples that I'll be using regularly.

Zoeva Rose Gold Collection Brush Set Volume 2

Let's also just take a moment to appreciate the beautiful design of these brushes as well as that gorgeous rose gold bag too!

Next off I got this MAC palette - it features 9 purple toned shades and I absolutely love it. Purple is my favourite colour and I love how it looks on my blue eyes. I've never tried any MAC shadows before so I'll be looking forward to testing out this palette.

This palette also has a great range of light to dark shades so I feel as if there's a lot of opportunity for a multitude of different looks. As you can see there is also a lot of different finishes in these shadows from mattes, to shimmers to satins.

MAC Purple x 9 Palette

The final beauty item I received for Christmas that I wanted to share with you is this Natural Eyes palette from TooFaced. I am a massive TooFaced fan - especially when it comes to their palettes. I think they have amazing pigmentation and such buttery formulas. I'd been eyeing up this palette for quite a while mainly for it's beautiful shimmer shades. I think a neutral palette is always so versatile in a makeup collection and I can't wait to use this one.

TooFaced Natural Eyes Palette

And there you have my Christmas beauty haul featuring most of the beauty products I was lucky to get for Christmas this year. As I mentioned before, there are some beauty products I got that aren't included in this post and that's because I wanted to feature them in posts of their own. I also got some fashion pieces that I'll be showcasing in some upcoming posts soon too so please do stay tuned for that if you're interested.

I hope you all had a lovely Christmas and a Happy New Year and I'd to see your Christmas haul posts if you've written any too so please do send the link for them my way! As always, thanks so much for reading and have a happy Monday.

Levinia,
 xo

Birthday Haul

Hey everyone! I hope you're all doing well, I swear I'll actually get into a consistent swing of blogging at some point..

My birthday was last week and in this post I thought I'd share wth you a few of the awesome presents I received from family and loved ones. I'm a nosey person at heart and so hauls of any kind are posts that I personally love to read - enjoy! I love perfume and so any kind of gift giving scenario concerning me usually involves a fragrance.. or two!

 Gwen Stefani's range of perfumes are called "Harajuku Lovers" and they were fragrances that I was pretty obsessed with a few years a go. I decided that for my birthday I wanted to get one of my favourite scents from the collection; "Love".

I just love the designs of these perfumes too!

Beauty | TooFaced Natural Matte Palette

You can never have too many neutral palettes, never! 

At least that is what I tell myself as a new one is eventually added to my online shopping basket. They're just so versatile and wearable for everyone - whether it's a smokey look or a subtle addition of depth to make your eyes pop, neutral shades have got your back.

The latest addition to my neutral palette collection is Too Faced's Natural Matte Palette. Whilst I haven't quite played around with it enough to give you a full review just yet, I thought I'd instead give you a first impressions and a little run through of the palette's shades!

What TooFaced Say:

"Go from soft and pretty to slightly sexy with nine gorgeous neutral matte shadows that pair perfectly, blend beautifully, and are so versatile you can wear them before breakfast or after dark. Includes our signature Glamour Guide with three looks to get you started."

The Shades:

Row 1

Heaven (Yellow-beige)
Cashmere Bunny (Medium taupe) 

Sexpresso (Dark, warm brown)

Row 2

Lace Teddy (Muted peach)

Strapless (Medium, rose brown)

Risque (Dark, neutral brown)

Row 3

Nudie (Light, medium taupe)

Honey Butter (Muted burnt orange)

Chocolate Cookie (Medium-dark, warm brown)

From initially using this palette, I can definitely say that I like it so far. I really like the good variety of neutral, warm and cool shades ranging from light to dark. There's a great variation for an assortment of different looks and as always in these kind of palettes, TooFaced also provide a handy little look-book for eyeshadow looks you can do with each row!

Let me know if you'd like to see an more in-depth review of this palette in the future! Thanks for reading! xo

BUY IT:

TooFaced Natural Matte Palette | £32.00

First Impressions: Too Faced Chocolate Bar Palette!

Hi everyone! Today I'm pretty excited as I'm going to be sharing with you a palette that I have been lusting over for the longest time - yes, it's Too Faced's Chocolate Bar palette! I am so happy to finally have this palette and in todays post, I thought I'd tell you more about it as well share my first impressions. 

Now, this palette is highly coveted in the beauty world so I'm sure you've heard of it before. If not, here's a few facts about it:

1. The Chocolate Bar Palette contains 16 shadows ranging in both matte and shimmer finishes.

2. The shadows are made with the 'anti-oxidant rich' cocoa powder which you can smell as soon as opening the palette.

3. As with every palette, this one comes with Too Faced's Glamour Guide highlighting 3 looks of many that you can create.

4. All shades were completely new to this palette and to Too Faced's shadow collection.

The Shades:

Guilded Ganache: A dark chocolate brown with warm undertones. Shimmer finish.

White Chocolate: Warm, pale beige highlight colour. Matte finish.

Milk Chocolate: Mid, chocolate brown. Matte finish.

Black Forest Truffle: Burgungy-brown with burgundy & bronze shimmer. 

Triple Fudge: Deep brown shade with warm(ish) undertones. Matte finish.

Salted Caramel: Medium orange with brown running through it. Matte finish.

Marzipan: Warm, peachy orange. Frost finish.

Semi-Sweet: Medium dark brown with red undertones. Matte finish.

Strawberry Bon Bon: Cool toned, soft light pink. Matte finish.

Candied Violet: Smokey, cool toned violet shade with multi coloured shimmer.

Amaretto: Warm, medium brown with red tones and frost finish.

Hazlenut: Medium, golden bronze shade. Frost finish.

Creme Brûlée: Darkened gold with warm undertones. Metallic finish.

Haute Chocolate: Dark chocolate brown. Frost finish.

Cherry Cordial: Warm, plum-brown with flecks of sparkle. Shimmer/Matte finish.

Champagne Truffle: Bright, pinkish-white shade with a golden sheen. Metallic finish.

First Impressions:

The very first thing that I noticed about this palette is it's packaging. I love Too Faced packaging because I think it's creative, very cute and very girly - this palette is no exception and I think it's really nice to look at and have on display. Keeping to it's chocolate theme, the palette itself is shaped like a chocolate bar and I just think this is a cute, novel touch to it's overall design. One thing that I find a little annoying about the packaging however, is that the shadow names are not printed onto the palette itself and you get instead, a plastic transparent sheet with them on. For a more expensive palette, I would have liked them to be on the palette itself - (something Too Faced did take into consideration with the second, 'Semi Sweet' Chocolate Bar palette).

When you open the palette, you can definitely smell the cocoa - it's not overpowering though in my opinion and I find it to be really pleasant. The smell stays during application, but you cannot smell it once it's on the eyes from my experience. The shadows I have used so far blend beautifully, many of them are soft and buttery and remind me of Urban Decay shadows. There's little to no fallout from these shadows and they aren't powdery or dry. 

Overall, I think this is a beautiful palette with some really versatile, wearable shades. 

There are plenty of neutral palettes on the market and I definitely have my fair share - however, this palette is a little edgier with darker browns and deeper shades and I therefore think depending on your collection, this could definitely have a place in it. I think this would be great for the girl who likes everyday looks but perhaps wants to be a little more adventurous. Either way, there's a lot you can do with this palette alone and in conjunction with others so I'd definitely recommend it.

 And of course, it smells great!

You can get the Too Faced Chocolate Bar palette from Debenhams in the UK for £39.00!

REVIEW: Too Faced Melted Liquified Lipstick in Melted Violet!

Hey guys! Today I bring to you a lip product review and the product in question today is... (drum roll please) Too Faced Melted Liquified Long Wear Lipsticks! In this review, I'm also going to be adopting a more framed, ordered review approach and layout so please tell me what you think of it!

About the Product:

As described by Too Faced themselves, the Melted Lipsticks are described as a 'revoluntiary' product that provide you with the staying power of a stain, the intense pigmentation of a liquid lipstick and high shine of a gloss all in one formula. They say that this product will comfortably coat lips maintaining that intense colour as well as lasting all day.

Packaging and Application:

So, the Melted Lipsticks come in packaging reminiscent of a squeezable lipgloss tube with an applicator on the end that's kind of a like a sponge tip. I have found that this really helps to diffuse the amount of product you squeeze out when applying it. The shape of the applicator also means that it's actually really easy to get a precise, fine application all over the lips meaning you don't really need to use a lip pencil unless you want to. 

Shade and Pigmentation:

There are an array of shades available in the Melted Lipsticks and the one that I currently have is called 'Melted Violet'. It's a gorgeous cool-toned bright violet shade and I absolutely love it. Though I have my eye on a few other shades, this instantly caught my eye simply because it was purple and the most unique colour of the bunch. It's seriously pigmented with instant coverage in only one layer of application.

These are the other available shades swatched.

(Photo credit: Toofaced.com)

Formula and Wear:

The formula of this product feels creamy and super moisturising. They're not sticky and certainly don't feel drying either which is something that always puts me off a lip product. They do have a glossy, cream finish but can be blotted or powdered a little to give you that more matte look. In terms of staying power, this product last for hours - easily around 4-6 hours without a touch up in my experience. When it does start to fade, it's usually around the inner rim of the lip but with a quick touch up you're good to go again - and that's including when you're eating and drinking!

Price and Value for Money:

These lipsticks retail at £19.00 in the UK which at first glance seems a little pricey. Bearing in mind Too Faced is definitely a higher end brand, it's actually not as expensive as it seems because at the same time, you're getting a lot of product. There is some serious pigmentation in this product which means you don't need much for a full application so I actually think this is good value for money - especially if there's a shade in the range that you particularly love.

Overall, I really love this lip product and as one of my first ever Too Faced products, I'm really impressed. I love the intense pigmentation and the bright, bold colour of this particular and I think I'll definitely be trying out more in the future! 

I got my lipstick from ASOS for £19.00.