Countdown to Christmas - Day 7: Korres Wild Rose sleeping mask

Hi Sparkles! 

Torres Advanced Repair Sleeping Facial
(M&S Beauty Advent Calendar 2017)

Well, after an evening of dinner, dancing and frivolity I for one shall be aiming to race home to slather on some of today's advent offering and hit the hay early! 

Smelling like something you might find on your granny's nightstand (in a lovely, nostalgic way) the scent isn't too overpowering. Slightly powdery in the scent, the texture of the cream absorbs well on the back of my hand at least and feels like it's going to be deliciously moisturising. I'd describe it more as an intensive moisturiser than an actual mask texture - for example the Origins overnight treatment mask I sometimes use. 

At 16ml, this is a fairly standard size for the facial products and should offer enough applications to see if it really gets on with your skin. I am getting totally baffled by the differing sizes of all of these 15ml(-ish) samples though! 

Coming in at under £25 for the full sized 40ml product, this is something that could realistically be added to the nightstand if I really love it. 

How are you enjoying Advent so far? It's almost no time until the Christmas holidays will kick off with gusto - cooking, wrapping last minute presents and seeing all manner of family. Can't wait! 

Christmas kisses and wishes

xx Josephine xx

Countdown to Christmas - Day 6: Stila Stay All Day Lipstick (Perla)

Still Stay All Day Liquid lipstick - Perla
(M&S Beauty Advent Calendar 2017)

Hi Sparkles!

Party day has arrived, and with it I've been able to rummage to the back of the Advent Calendar once more and retrieve a tissue wrapped Stila Stay All Day lipstick from under the tree picture. What a treat!

This mini size of 1.5ml is a soft rosy nude (per the Stila site), which I think will suit most paler skin tones - particularly if you chose to top it off with a sheer lipstick or gloss in a slightly darker colour. I think this would also look great on a super dark skin tone, but it's very cool toned on some swatches I've seen online, so medium or warmer skin tones might struggle.

My concern is that, even with my Irish skin, it's a lot lighter than I would normally wear, and with the chances that a long lasting lipstick will dry my lips out I would be concerned with lines and possibly looking a little bit older, not to mention the risk of highlighting any yellow on the gnashers. I definitely will pop a less pink gloss on the top of this to counteract the teeth effect.

The inclusion of avocado oil and vitamin E should mean that the drying effect is somewhat offset - but I'm always slightly dubious of a claim for both long lasting performance and moisture. Almost self-contradictory!

Full size is £16 for 3ml so actually the tester size is quite generous. Makes me question the amount of superfluous packaging on the full sizes...

How have you found this little one?

Christmas kisses and wishes

xx Josephine xx

Countdown to Christmas - Day 5: Rodial Dragon's Blood sculpting gel

Hi Sparkles!

Rodial Dragon's Blood sculpting gel
(M&S Beauty Advent Calendar 2017)

For me, I feel like Tuesday is sometimes the hardest day of the week! We have our Christmas party tomorrow so there'll be lots to finish off today to ensure a timely departure tomorrow in order to enjoy all the festivities.

I've not used much of Rodial's range, but the enzyme peel included in last year's calendar was really good I thought, so it's definitely a brand which I'll pay more attention to in 2018.

The Dragon's Blood sculpting gel is recommended to be used twice daily on cleansed skin, it aims to plump out facial contours and the online reviews seem to be pretty impressive. Maybe this will be sample that makes it over to the "purchased" list.

The sample is 15ml, which is fairly standard for a facial travel sized product but might not last me too long if I'm slathering it on twice a day. The full price gel is about £60 for 50ml at John Lewis, but I'm sure there might be some cheaper options to be found online.

Plumped, primed and ready to party!!

Christmas kisses and wishes,

xx Josephine xx

Countdown to Christmas - Day 4: Gatineau Melatogenine Aox Probiotics

Hi Sparkles!

Gatineau Meltogenine Aox Probiotics
(M&S Beauty Advent Calendar 2017)

Happy Monday - shouldn't every week start off with a little present you have to unwrap! Today's offering is one of the medium sized boxes, tucked in at the back of the Christmas town. Under this tree is Gatineau's Melatogenine Aox Probiotics cream.

This cream feels lovely and rich, the 15ml size is generous and Gatineau is an excellent brand. From reviews I've looked at online it seems that this one might be a little unctuous for some less dry skin types and prove a bit too slippy to be a good make-up base. That said, I'm going to slather it on, as my skin has turned increasingly dry as I get older - a challenge for someone who grew up with an oil slick and I still sometimes get a little stuck as to remedies for flakies!!

For me, there's little smell to this and the feel left on the skin is beautifully silky. I think I'll be a fan but will leave this to be a bit of a special treat otherwise I'll get addicted to a £70 face cream - eep!

What have you thought of the gifts so far? Definitely trying to help us fend off the dull skin caused by central heating, under sleeping and over indulging so far in my mind - most appreciated :)

Christmas kisses and wishes

xx Josephine xx