So as promised I thought I would share with you all of the goodies that I picked up on my trip to Nottingham on Saturday. Have you got a cup of tea? If not go and get one... Im not going to lie we may be here a while!

First up when the meet up finished the Make up Mafia headed over to the Body shop to spend the lovely voucher we were given. I went with the girls because to be honest I had NO clue where I was going. We were greeted at the shop by the lovely Sophie and Autumn who were the lovely ladies who had been at the Meet up.
I was glad they were there as it gave me chance to chat to them a bit more about the products we had seen.

Sophie had mentioned a few of the products which I was keen to pick up so I got chance to discuss a little bit more about these. I was keen to chat about their Vitamin C Microdermabrasion scrub. Sophie has said how much she loved this scrub and I was keen to have a look at it because I am always on the hunt for a good scrub. When Sophie tried this on the back of my hand I was amazed by how it felt! Definitely something I needed as part of my routine. The scrub itself was £12 (although the website says £13) and then I spotted this set was £16 which contained a skin reviver from their Vitamin C range. According to the website this is £14 so I got myself a good bargain here. I also picked up another set which was from their Vitamin E range. I know there were a lot of us at the event who were excited about this Facial oil. I have been looking for something like this for a while. My mum uses the sanctuary one but it didn't agree with my skin so to pick this up for £16 (again for the set) was a bargain. The set should have contained a moisturiser but they were all out so the lovely Sophie put together a set with the night cream instead.
The final thing I wanted to pick up was their Camomille Cleansing Butter. I have read lots about cleansing butters recently and I was interested to try them. A lot of the ones I had read about were high end in the market so when I saw this was £12 it fell straight into my basket!


When I got to the till, Sophie told me about the Rewards card. She explained that it was £5 for the year to join and that I would get 10% off my purchases for 12 months. I signed up and was greeted by the added bonus that because it was still the month of my birthday I would get £5 off so in effect I paid nothing for the card. Also I got a few free gifts for signing up too which is always a lovely bonus!



Next stop was the Mac shop. I knew I wanted to head to the Mac shop and pick myself up a Pro Palette in the 15 size. I also wanted to get a few new shades - I had my eye on Cranberry for a while so I picked up that. I also wanted a nice neutral shade so I picked up Phloof and Vanilla.



Next I was drawn in by Cath Kidston. I try and be restrained when I go there but I just cannnnnt! Everything is so pretty and my birthday money was burning a whole in my purse! I fell in love with this bag as soon as I saw it, I had wanted one of their satchel bags for a while and this is perfect as it fits my filofax and all my things in I lug about with me everyday.


On my way to the till I noticed this gorgeous purse. I love my red Cath Kidston purse but when I spotted this and how many card pockets (why do purses never seem to have enough for all the reward cards you have - just me??). This one has a flap with card slots and also the inside part has card slots too.


I then spotted some lovely make up bags which popped together! Cute!!



I then hot footed off to John Lewis. I wanted to pick up Nails Inc in Porchester Square in a full size. I got this in the Boots Advent Calendar and fell in love. While there I also wanted to head to the Bobbi Brown stand as I wanted to have a look at their Corrector. I know this is loved by a lot of beauty bloggers around. The lovely beauty assistant sat me down and matched my shade and then she tested it on me. She also showed me their Concealer on top. Again I had heard fantastic things about it So decided to pick up the both of them.




 Finally on my way back to the station I spotted H&M and I love to have a mooch as we don't have one in Stoke.

I picked up this gorgeous spotty top and this peach star scarf.

Ah don't you love a good wish list!

As you know I am off to Nottingham for the Mids Blogger Meet up on the 22nd of this month and I have already made a cheeky look at the shops they have to offer and left a bit of shopping time when booking my train tickets! So I thought I would put together a wish list of things I am keeping my eyes peeled for while I am there.

Do you have any Mac eye shadow shades? What are your favourites?? Any I should keep my eye out for?


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While over the year of 2013, despite being one of the mosts I wanted to get done every month, I havent managed to keep you updated over the months as to what my monthly favourites are! In fact I think I have only done a couple of these posts this year! I love reading these posts so I have decided for 2014 I will be sharing my monthly favourites with you!

Anyway today I thought I would do a run down of the products I have been loving over 2013 as a whole! This year I have discovered a lot of beauty loves and tried a lot of new things! Heres a run down of some of my favourites.


 I cant believe that this year was the first year I dabbled into the world of Urban Decay and Naked Palettes! I picked up the original naked palette as a treat to myself for hitting my 2 stone and I jumped at the change to get the Naked 3 when I saw online how beautiful the colours were. I have been loving using the colours in both of these palettes! They are perfect for day time when I am at work but also there are some beautiful colours in there too to create a gorgeous smokey eye!



You may remember I picked up this little beauty on my trip to Birmingham with my bestie in October (and another one in December when I went to Trafford) - I love this palette and seriously wish I had picked one up before now. I can definatly see more of these little beauties in my life. In fact I may even pick up one of the 15 palettes next time I am passing a Mac stand as I already have 8 mac shadows now. When we go away in May I am hoooooping and praying that the Mac stand will be open!

I could go on and on as I have discovered some pretty good beauty finds this year! I think though that these have got to be my top products which I love! What products have you been loving for 2013?? Have you made some discoveries which you are loving and taking into 2014???

Wow how is it nearly the end of the year already! It doesn't seem like 5 minutes since I was blogging about London trips and booking holidays and now its nearly Christmas? Woahh!
November has been a pretty funny month for me owning to the fact I have spent the last 2 weeks of it recovering from surgery and haven't really left the house. Even so I want to share with you a favourites post today - I am determined to make these a regular monthly thing - because I am nosey and I like to read them so I am going to assume you all do too! When I just looked back the last one I did was August which I couldnt believe! So make note, these will now be coming your way every month!!!

 I picked this product up around January in the sale in boots in a gift set and although it doesnt often get a lot of love from me, I have been using it the past couple of weeks. As I have said, I have spent the last couple of weeks cooped up recovering from my op but when I have left the house briefly I have done so wearing little if any make up (which I would NEVER normally do but it is one of the perks of being ill) - I have been putting this little beauty which is an instant radiance balm on which is designed to give your skin and instant lift and pick me up. Perfect for when your not wearing any make up but you want that 'i feel like crap but dont want to look like it' glow!
FYI they have changed the packaging of this now - it now comings in a while tube.

 I had this in my hand around this time last year in John Lewis in London and put it back. I picked it up when I went to Manchester with mum at the start of October after I continued to read such good things about it on the blogesphere. I seriously regret not picking this up sooner! Although I am quite blessed that I dont get many spots or blemishes - occasionally I get a little blighter that pops up from nowhere! A dab of this before I go to bed and 9 times out of 10 it is either gone or unnoticable the next morning!

 This face mask from lush has become a favourite of mine as a pick me up for my skin when it has been feeling crappy! There is nothing like sitting round the house feeling poopy to do that to you is there? Although this mask is labelled as a mask which helps with spots I find that the peppermint flavouring in this is perfect for making your skin feel fresh as a daisy!


 If you have been with me a while you will know that I am on the constant hunt for a good cleanser/make up remover! I picked this up in lush and decided to give it a try to see if it compared to my beloved Liz Earle Cleanse and Polish and I have to say - so far so good!!!

 Not really much to say about this product - got the recommendation from a friend to try and and am enjoying using it and how it makes my skin feel!

 I instantly fell in love with this beauty as soon as I used it for the first time! It has had some serious loving during the first 2 weeks in November and I am sure as Christmas rolls around will continue to get some!

I held off and held off on this rose gold beauty and resisted it after reading so much about it online but when I passed the Benefit counter one day and swatched it for myself I couldnt hold off any longer!

And that rounds up my favourites for November! I am sure there will be a lot of discoveries and new favourites in December what with functions and Christmas events it gives me chance to crack out the glitter and different make up that I normally use so I am sure you will see some of that come the end of December! Also any products on here that I havent yet done a proper review on, I will be doing them over the next couple of weeks so keep your eyes out for those! :)

Cast your minds back and you may remember when I went to Birmingham for a girly weekend with my bestie, I mentioned that I had made a cheeky little purchase in the Mac shop. I have been giving my purchase a test and I thought it was about time I told you all about it!

I have lusted over the Mac Palettes for a long time. I know that they are a favourite amongst beauty bloggers and make up artists and I can see the appeal - I mean you get to build your own palette and include whatever colours you will wear because lets face it - we all have palettes where there is colours that go unloved. I think there are a couple of colours in my beloved Naked palette which have never seen the love of a brush.
Me and my friend had been saving for this weekend away for a while - she has a little boy and is saving for a house and with me working, we dont get to do things like this very often. So we saved and we went and I decided since I had wanted one for SO long that I would treat myself.

Now as I mentioned and you will have seen, I already have a Naked Palette which tends to be my go to eyeshadow for everyday wearing. However I do wear quite a lot of purple for work and fancied finding some easy to wear colours. I spent a lot of time before we went looking at different shades online and swatches that other bloggers had done.


This palette has seriously seen some love since I brought it. I wanted some purply colours but I picked up Satin Taupe because I know it is much loved and when I saw it - I just couldnt leave it in the shop! This is probably the one which I have worn the most since buying this palette. I love to wear this with a bit of Naked Lunch blended in and find the 2 go together really easily to make a simple look. I also find these to be really pigmented too which I love in a shadow!


The Mac Pro Palettes are avaliable from Mac stockists or online - in 2, 4, 6 and 15s which obviously means you can build them up as much as you want. The advantage of the 2 and 4 palette is you just pay for the palette as is which is £6.50 where as with the 6 and 15 you have to buy the palette and then the respective insert which obviously pushes up your price ( The palette is £14 and the insert is £6.50).

For me I found that the 4 was the perfect size as it is a nice size to fit in your make up bag without taking over it. Also it means you can customise it for different colours. I know a lot of bloggers have the 15 palette, one with nudes, one with colours but obviously this is very costly. Each of the shadows for this palette is individually priced at £10 and there are over 100 shades you can choose to customise you palette with.

Do you have a Mac Palette or do you lust over one? What are your favourite Mac shadowss???