Soap & Glory - Crazy Sexy Kohl - £9 reduced from £18

Who doesn't love a good bargain? Mum and I hit Exeter for some Christmas sales recently. I had a browse online for makeup, bath products and clothes. I have to say nothing really caught my eye. Even on Boxing Day the Lush sale wasn't impressive as it usually is and a lot of the Soap and Glory sets from Boots were sold out online.

Luckily, I managed to pick up a few bits in store a few days later. The first item I picked up was the Soap and Glory Crazy Sexy Kohl:

This kit was originally £18 but I picked it up from Boots for £9 which made me very excited. For £9 I got five waterproof kohl eyeliners as well as three eyeshadows.

Look how pigmented these liners are, simply stunning. The one which caught my eye and made me want to buy this kit is the bright teal. The eyeliners themselves have pretty good names: Cocoa Bean which is a chocolate brown, Superblack which is your standard black liner, Aquabeat is the gorgeous teal on the end, Blue My Mind is the deep navy blue shade and Grapevine is the purple colour.

The eyeshadows are called Aubersheen, Smokin and Dandy Plum. If I am honest, I bought this kit more for the liners rather than the shadows.

The liners are super creamy and apply with so little effort which is a major plus. They are also very long lasting which is great for a night out or long day at work.  The only thing I am not so keen on is the black plastic packaging in the tray. I am going to have to try and depot these somehow.

I love Soap and Glory but up until now I only bought their bath and shower products. These items are the first makeup products I own from the brand. I am very impressed so will definitely be picking some more bits and bobs up soon.

Have you tried Soap and Glory makeup before? 

Body Shop Lip Scuff - lip exfoliator

I hope everyone had a brilliant Christmas, ate too much, drank too much and spent time with friends and family. I have been on earlies for the past week at work and was on call all day yesterday. The paper I work for is usually printed on Wednesday mornings, but because of the festivities we had a much earlier print deadline. Things have been very hectic but I still had a lovely Christmas with mum, dad, my husband and the cats.

Here is a new product I wanted to share with you seeing as the good old UK is in full grips of winter now. This is the Lip Scruff from The Body Shop.

This a lip stick exfoliator, which banishes dry flaky lips, costs £8 from The Body Shop but I picked it up for £4 as my work had a half price deal at our local branch. If you find the Lush lip scrubs too harsh then this one will be perfect for you. 

Lip Scuff is not as exfoliating as Lush lip scrubs but it does smell of peppermint and also adds moisture to your lips. 

You apply it as if it were a lipstick, then blot with a tissue to remove any excess. 

I like the product, but I don't love it. I certainly would not pay full price for it. I much prefer Lush lip scrubs which are around the £5 mark, come in a whole range of scents and, in my opinion, do a far better job at banishing any nasty flakes on your lips.

Have you tried the Body Shop's Lip Scuff before? If so, what did you think?

Vivienne Westwood - Celebrate Body Lotion - Lush

I am not a massive body lotion or body butter girl. Lazy of forgetful, or perhaps a bit of both, I just don't use it as much as I probably should. However, I don't think I am the only one. How often do you use lotion - truthfully.

Anyways, something I have been using is the Celebrate body lotion from Lush. I was sent this to try and review through work and got to keep it afterwards, one of the perks of being a reporter. The product came wrapped in this pretty pink and white scarf designed by Vivienne Westward.

Celebrate is a limited edition body lotion which is part of their Christmas range and it smells very spicy and festive. It contains orange, almond oil and lime as well as some cognac. Cognac is a type of brandy which, if I am honest, I can't detect. However, it does smell divine, fresh but also spicy - it shares the same fragrance as the Golden Wonder bath bomb.

The product itself isn't greasy which is great, I hate that feeling some thicker lotions can leave, I grimace trying to put clothes on when my skin is feeling greasy from an overloaded lotion.

This 225g pot costs £12.95.

I love Lush for their Christmas products, I am still working my way through bits and bobs I picked up after the South West Bloggers Meet a few weeks ago. Do you shop in Lush? If so, what are your most loved products?

Jewel Candle - A piece of jewellery inside every candle.....

I am a huge candle fan, without fail I always have candles burning in the house. Colour changing, scented, cute holders. Today I have something very exciting to share with you. Jewel Candle is a company which produces a range of scented candles with a twist. Inside each candle is a piece of jewellery which is worth between £10 and £250. I was kindly send a candle to try.

This scent is cupcake and these big candles contain a ring and the smaller candles contain a pair of earrings.

After a few hours of burning the tin foil is revealed. I as a bit impatient and dug mine out. After peeling the foil off I removed my ring from the plastic bag. Unfortunately the bag must have split because the ring was covered in wax but it cleaned up easily enough.

Not sure what sterling silber is..... I know it is meant to say sterling silver, but basic spelling checks were skipped that day.

I really like my ring, I have no idea how much it is worth, I would guess £10. On their website the company states they are not allowed to indicate how much each item is worth but recommends you take it for a valuation. However, I like the quirkiness of the style and it fits perfectly on my middle finger.

The candles with a ring inside them cost £24.95 while the earring based candles are £16.95. Scents include cookies and cream, candy floss and lemon grass. I have to say the scent on my candle was very subtle. 

I think these candles would make a great present, the idea behind the company is something quirky and fun. The surprise of waiting and unwrapping an extra treat is something I think most ladies would enjoy.

Jewel Candle has given me a code for my readers to get 10% off their order. Use the code Nicole10. Click here to go to their website - Jewel Candle

What do you think of the concept?

Babyliss Curl Secret - The best hair tool

Perfect curls with little effort? Yes please! When I saw the Babyliss Curl Secret on numerous Youtube videos I knew it was something special. My love husband bought it for me for Christmas...

Now I know it isn't Christmas but it was my work's Christmas party last week and hubby let me have my present early. Getting hold of this was a mission in itself, it was sold out everywhere he tried but managed to order it from Tesco.

I am terrible at curling my own hair, I used to use GHDs to curl my hair but it just didn't come quite right. I moved onto a curling wand with a clamp, again the curls just dropped out almost instantly, even with hair spray.

If you are as cack-handed as I am with curling your hair then I cannot recommend this tool enough! It was incredibly easy to use and produced the perfectly formed curl.

The Babyliss Curl Secret does look like a tool of torture, but I promise you if you use it correctly it will work wonders. Starting from the top of your hair, section off a few inches of hair, clamp down the machine and hair is automatically drawn into the ceramic chamber.

It is held there for a few seconds, wait for the beeps and release, you are left with a perfectly formed tumbling curl. 

A few great features to note are that the machine automatically changes the direction of the curl for a more natural finish. There are two heat settings and three timer settings, I love that it beeps to let you know when the curl is ready.

There is also a setting so you can choose what style of curl you are after, natural waves of tighter defined curls.

The only downside is the price, this costs £120. 

What do you think of the Babyliss Curl Secret?  

Lucky Streak

There was a raffle during the South West Bloggers Meet event last month with some gorgeous prizes. Liza and Kerry, who organised the event, managed to get some brilliant goodies for the raffle including makeup, jewellery and hair tools.

All money raised from the raffle went to Talia Joy Costellos Charity.

I was lucky enough to win two prizes and I chose two pieces of jewellery:

The necklace isn't something I would normally wear but was really drawn to this design. I need to be more adventurous with my jewellery. I love the idea of plain jumpers and a statement necklace over the top. Jewellery can really change an outfit.

What a lovely thank you

As I have mentioned before my job is a reporter for a local newspaper. A while back my colleague and I wrote a feature piece for the You're Gorgeous beauty section. We featured makeup and clothes from Banburys in Barnstaple which is our local department store. 

As a thank you for our feature the manager gave each of us a goodie bag packed with products.

In my goodie bag I was given: A pink Dior nail varnish in 483, Benefit's Stay Don't Stray eyeshadow primer, Benefit lip shine in  Life on the A list, Benefit's smile brightening lip shine in California kissin', Dior Skinflash radiance booster pen, Dior Black Out waterproof mascara, Benefit's Hello Flawless Oxygen Wow foundation sample and Benefit's Triple Performing facial emulsion. 

A big thank you to Banburys in Barnstaple for a gorgeous goodie bag.

Master Kajal Khol Liner - Maybelline

Black eyeliners are a staple makeup product in most of our makeup by bags. Pencils, liquids and gels, I have tried so many black eyeliners over the years but have never found one I was 100% happy with - until now.

I have been using the Master Kajal Khol liner from Maybelline.

This is hands down the best black eyeliner I have come across. 

For starters you don't need to sharpen it thanks to the cone shaped tip. The product itself is very creamy and easy to use. It doesn't drag over the skin which is great and I didn't have to pull or tug at my eyelids to get the product to transfer onto my upper lash line.

I have heard there are gold and blue shades in this line but I haven't seen them yet. I think the blue would be a lovely shade to work with. This liner came in under the £6 mark which is a bargain.

What is your fav eye liner?

Easily influenced

After reading through my blog list I always find new goodies to try out. Do you find that too? Makeup, jewellery, clothing and even food posts from other #bbloggers and #fbloggers makes me want to try the items out - easily influenced.

I never normally wear statement necklaces, however Zoe was wearning this amazing piece during the #southwestbloggersmeet and I knew I had to hunt it down for myself. This stunning piece only cost £5 from Primark.

Another item I picked up in Primark was a two pack of Christmas cat slipper socks. As a cat lover, how could I resist? These cost £2.

Next up I grabbed a new lipstick, a brighter more vibrate shade, ideal for the festive season. This is Hot Plum from Maybelline's Colorsensational line. This cost around £7. I also picked up some of the Rimmel Scandaleyes eye shadow paints which you can see in the top picture. I am going to do another post on those, they are pretty amazing.

Are you easily influenced\/ Do you often buy something after seeing something amazing on another blog?

180ft Abseil - Devon Dangle - Don't look down

What do you do for a job? I am a reporter for a local newspaper which gives me the chance to do some pretty amazing things. Abseiling 180ft down a sheer cliff face was one of them.

I took part in the Great Devon Dangle, which was a terrifying 180ft abseil down Berry Head cliffs in Hartland, North Devon. This was the most petrifying thing I have ever done. I had never abseiled before so had no clue what to expect.

It was the strangest feeling leaning back off a cliff with nothing but jagged rocks below. I also didn't feel very secure with the rope which was quite thin - but I was assured all would be find - and it was.

As I made my way down the cliff face my instructor shouted at me to try and enjoy it and take in the views. The surroundings were fantastic but to be honest I was just concentrating on getting to the bottom in one piece.

A small group of people completed the Great Devon Dangle and all money raised from it goes to North Devon Hospice - a charity which cares for people with life threatening illnesses.

I am pleased I finished the challenge - but my legs felt like jelly for days afterwards.

Here are some more pictures and write up on thehttp://www.northdevonjournal.co.uk/Journal-reporter-Nicole-Travers-Wakeford-finishes/story-19911061-detail/story.html North Devon Journal website.