The M&S Beauty Advent Calendar - Round 2

Just a quick post today to remind my readers that the M&S Beauty Advent Calendar launches today!

(Photo included is last years calendar - this year's wont be delivered in time for photos sadly)

I did a range of posts on the contents of last year's calendar and I loved it. This years version is a little more expensive (£35, as opposed to last year's £25) and the same catch applies from last year (you need to spend £35 on other products in the clothing/beauty range to be able to purchase the calendar). Even with the slight price increase I still think that this is an absolute steal when you look at what you get.

If you're wanting this calendar I'd move quickly to avoid disappointment, as I'm confident that last year they'd sold out online by lunchtime. here's a link for you:

http://www.marksandspencer.com/the-ultimate-beauty-advent-calendar/p/P22488891?intid=CORP_Beautyadventcalendar_SubCategory_9129262_LP_hero_static_1_txt

People who like surprises may want to stop reading here as this is just a list of what the calendar contains:


1. Leighton Denny Expert Nails Mini Crystal Nail File

2. Look Good Feel Better Mini Powder Brush

3. Alpha-H Liquid Gold 50ml

4. Eyeko Skinny Mini Liquid Eyeliner Black 1.2g

5. Percy & Reed Perfectly Perfecting Wonder Balm 30ml

6. Philip Kingsley Elasticizer 40ml

7. Shay & Blue Atropa Belladonna Natural Spray Fragrance 10ml
8. Josh Wood Radiant Shine Hair Treatment Oil 28ml

9. Ultrasun Face 30 SPF 25ml

10. Pür Correcting Primer Prep & Perfect 10ml

11. Filorga Time-Filler 15ml

12. Burts Bees Beeswax Lip Balm with Vitamin E Peppermint 4.25g

13. Pixi Brow Tamer 4.5ml

14. Neal's Yard Remedies Be Lovely Hand Cream 50ml

15. Rodial Super Acid X-treme Acid Rush Peel 20ml

16. Nails Inc Gel One Coat Nail Polish - Piccadilly Court 10ml
17. Rosie for Autograph Lip glossy - Supermodel Smile

18. Rituals - The Ritual of Sakura Body Cream 70ml

19. Autograph All-in-one Nail Colour - Cranberry 11ml

20. Emma Hardie Moringa Cleansing Balm 15ml

21. REN Evercalm™ Global Protection Day Cream 15ml

22. Nuxe Huile Prodigieuse® 30ml

23. Skyn Iceland Icelandic Relief Eye Cream 5ml/0.169oz

24. Formula Absolute Ultimate Sleep Cream 15ml

25. Studio 10 Miracle Effect Priming Serum 5ml

No Money March: The Affordable Brand Overview - LOC Cosmetics

I've spoken a lot about Birchbox lately (although rest assured that I have no sponsorship or affiliations with them, they're just doing some cool things lately) and I've been waiting for this UK launch since I saw Tati's video about her collaboration with them (here). Birchbox recently started up there first in-house brand LOC (Love of Colour) and I managed to get my hands on the whole collection, so lets have a look.

So firstly, when I say "the whole collection" I should be clear that the whole collection currently consists of just 5 products. They have 2 eye shadow sticks and 3 lip crayons available at the moment and if the US line is anything to go by I feel like it won't be long until the range expands a little.

The first thing I picked up were the eye shadow sticks. I have both shades but of the two I personally find "Champagne Problems" to be the more wearable shade, it's a nice cool silvery-taupe shade with shimmer and it makes a great lid shade and also works nicely on the lid. The other shade available is "Perfect Cents" which is a warm golden shade with shimmer. Both shades are really pretty, I just find that really warm shades don't sit as nicely on my skin tone.

The formulas on these are amazing. They apply nice and creamily to the lids and you have a decent amount of time to work with them so they blend out really effortlessly. Once you've blended them in they set down on the skin and are pretty much budge-proof. I don't experience any creasing with these at all.

I also really like the matte lip crayons. These are currently available in 3 shades: "Skinny Dip" (a warm nude), "Trouble" (a vibrant slightly warm red) and "Uncorked" (a bright berry). I find the formula on these to be comparable to the Nars Velvet Matte Lip Pencils, they're not quite the same but they have that almost powdery feeling finish on the lips and the staying power on them is really good.

They're super affordable products at £8 each for the eye pencils and £6.50 each for the lip crayons. They're also available in value sets which makes them an even better deal, you can get all 3 lip crayons in a set for £14 or if you want the whole collection thats available for £25 so definitely high street pricing. Being an in-house brand these products are currently only available to purchase via Birchbox's website.

My one gripe with these is the amount of product you get. The shadow sticks contain 1.35g of product and the lip crayons are a mere 0.6g a piece. Now for the shadow sticks it's not too bad as I find the standard amount of product for an eyeshadow pencil to be around 1.6g a piece. The lipsticks however, not so much. I compared these to the Nars pencils before and Nars give you 2.4g of product for £19, so LOC give you a quarter of the amount of product for around a 3rd of the price. I do really like the LOC lip crayons but I can't honestly say I feel they give you value for money.

No Money March: New Revlon Mascara Marathon - Ultimate All-In-One

So we're having a theme within a theme this week. We're on a month of high street beauty bits and I'm devoting this week to a pretty big launch from Revlon. I've liked a few of Revlon's mascaras in the past but they recently pulled the plug on every single mascara they had on offer and replaced them with a new line of 5 new ones, all targeted at a different lash concern.

Today we're looking at the Ultimate All-In-One Mascara, which is the one with the red lid, and after looking at the marketing behind these mascaras, this was the one I wanted to try the most. Revlon market this as "the holy grail of mascaras" and claims that it features

"5 lash transforming benefits leaving no lash behind, allowing you to achieve:

- Volume

- Length

- Definition

- Lift

- Intense Colour

It’s all about the brush:

The revolutionary small but mighty Revlon Power Mini Brush has a hollow core, designed to maximise the amount of formula to the lashes, as well as a unique mini oval shape for easy application, which reaches and covers every lash to create an intense and unbelievable length lash look."

If those aren't bold claims, I don't know what are. Honestly? I was really disappointed with this one. I find that while the hollow sections are intended to hold product to create an "unbelievable length lash" actually make it near impossible to build any length at all. As I applied the mascara volume built up very quickly and as I applied more coats to try to build length I found my lashes started to look clumpy.

The formula also has little lash fibres in the formula but the teeth on the wand aren't long enough to comb through the lashes so any fibres that are deposited onto the lashes aren't necessarily straight. In terms of the formula I got the non-waterproof and I didn't notice massive amounts of smudging or flaking and it was easily removed at the end of the day with a cleansing oil.