A Rustic Christmas

It's coming! The adverts have started, the weather's got colder and there seems to be an influx of Christmas jumpers appearing in the shops!  With this in mind, it's got me thinking about changing up our Christmas decorations.  When we first moved in together 5 years ago we went for a 'more is more' approach on our silver and purple colour theme.

Obviously my tastes have totally changed in those 5 years and I kind of want a more rustic, Nordic type of Christmas theme this year so it got me thinking about starting again with some new decorations. Here's some of my inspiration:

I definitely want a new christmas tree as well and I think the one above looks really natural.

What theme are you going for with your decorations this year? Do you like the rustic Christmas look?

Madam Glam Nail Polish Review and EXCLUSIVE Black Friday Discount

I was recently sent these gorgeous polishes by Madam Glam to review. The colours I was sent were:

• Fun in a Bottle - white polish with multicoloured confetti shapes
• Pretty As Hell - pink base with black and white confetti shapes
• My Precious - classic black glitter, densely packed with sparkle
• Rockstar - glittery, pink, OTT

All of these polishes were really easy to work with and dried pretty quickly. Obviously with the confetti ones there needed to be a bit of placement for the confetti but that's always the case. The bottles and brushes were great to use.I was massively impressed with these polishes and will definitely look into buying more in future - they were actually really well packaged too, great for a gift (hint hint).

I'm also pleased to let you know that Madam Glam have given me a code which will entitle the first 10 buyers who use it with 40% off and then 30% off for the buyers after that. It can be used up until the 27th November 2015.  To take advantage of the discount just click here and use the coupon code BFbeautyandtheblogger at checkout.

Let me know if you buy anything and don't forget to send some pics!

Winter Wedding Make Up Look

If it wasn't for my husbands work schedule, I would definitely have got married in winter - I love the thought of a really crisp winters day, a nice fur bolero and some nice glam crystal touches in the day. I know my wedding day has been and gone but I did my make up earlier and thought it would look lovely as a winter bridal look, you don't want to look washed out or too made up for the day.

I decided to create a winter wedding look here:

I went for a natural contour, netural metallic eyes with a touch of liner and some white to highlight the inner corners of my eye. I have lash extensions on at the moment but I think false lashes are a must for wedding make up as they look great in photos (remember, those photos will be around for a LONG time) - I'd probably use quite a fluffy style like Ardell Demi Wispies. Rather than using gold highlighters, I used ones with a pinky tone as I feel like that works a bit better in harsh winter light and looks a little bit softer. I've also finished off with a pink lip as I think it works better than a nude one in winter.

Here's a little out-take of me mid-contouring (I used normal Rimmel Concealer and Illamasqua Gel Sculpt) too ha ha:

Here's what I used:

FACE

• TooFaced Born This Way Foundation
• Rimmel Concealer
• Illamasqua Gel Sculpt
• Sleek Face Form Contour and Blush Palette
• Jelly Pong Pong All Over Glow

EYES

• Topshop Smokey Eye Palettes
• MAC Penultimate Eye Liner
• Rimmel Scandalyse Mascara

LIPS

• MAC Chatterbox Lipstick (blotted to mute)

I think this type of winter wedding look is really easy to recreate and would look gorgeous with a statement hairpiece/tiara, something crystal and ice-like maybe. I love these beautiful hairpieces from Rosie Willett Designs:

Rosie Willett Designs - Zara 1 - £388

Rosie Willett Designs - Amaris - £195

I spotted a bridal make up tutorial on her website too from Carley Musleh from Beauty Sauce which is fab.

For more of my wedding related posts (including my actual wedding make up) click here.

Check out more wedding products and bridal hair pieces on Amazon.*

Blossoming Gifts Autumn Sunset Bouquet Review and 33% discount code!

You must know by now how much I love cut flowers right? Here's the latest bouquet I've kindly been sent from Blossoming Gifts - it's their Autumn Sunset bouquet that consists of cerise germini, pink sweet avalanche roses (my faves!), orange lilies (another fave) and sugar flair hypericum berries.

I absolutely love how bright this bouquet is! When it first arrived the lilies were closed but over a week they've all opened up and the delicate pink roses are still looking good. It doesn't smell overpowering or anything, I know some people who don't like roses or lilies because they find them too scented....not me.

The bouquet was well packaged, the flower delivery arrived on time and even came with a little box of chocolates which was a lovely touch - especially as they were my favourite chocolates...pralines!

The lovely people at Blossoming Gifts have kindly given my readers a 33% off discount code to enter at checkout, so if you're looking for flowers by post or some nice Cheap Flowers, just enter: BGIFTS33

Xen Tan Luminous Gold Gel False Tan Review

I was sent this to review a while ago and finally got round to using it before I went to November wedding on a bit of a grey day where I definitely felt like tan was a must!

When I first opened this up to use it I was really surprised - I know it's called luminous gold but it literally is a gold, glittery gel that out of context you'd never guess was a fake tan, especially as it doesn't have that biscuity smell at all.

I actually felt quite worried applying this, usually I prefer a guide colour so I can work out if I've missed any spots, and I found it a bit difficult to work out where I'd put it but you can kind of see it, glossy and glittery. There's no colour to it at all so I was just hoping it actually developed overnight - when I came downstairs from applying it my husband was like "I thought you were doing your tan?" as you couldn't tell at all. It dries pretty quickly too, so not hanging around in your pants for hours.

I was so happy when I got up and it had developed into a proper tan, not orange at all, more olive-y.  Unfortunately there were a couple of areas that I'd missed as suspected (all on my feet and ankles) but as it only takes 3 hours to develop I just filled in the blanks as I had about 5 hours until I needed to be ready and it sorted out.

I actually preferred the colour the day after, after I'd had another shower, as it was a bit more subtle for November. I liked this tan and found it really easy to use for the most part, it would be perfect if you were going somewhere and didn't want to have that streaky/dirty "just-in-the-middle-of-tanning" look. Saying that though I'd probably prefer to buy a tan with a guide colour next time as I usually do it just before bed anyway.

Find out more about Xen Tan Luminous Gold Gel self tanner here.

Want some customised Tweezerman tweezers engraved with a message of your choice? Head to the Trafford Centre tomorrow!

Who doesn't love a bit of customisation?

Beauty tools experts Tweezerman are going to be in store in Selfridges Manchester Trafford Centre tomorrow ready to engrave any purchased Tweezerman make up brush or tweezer with a message of your choice.

Head down to Selfridges tomorrow (4th November 2015) between 10am-10pm to get your message on any Tweezerman purchase. I've actually lost my trusty zebra print tweezers (they're about 10 years old from Boots and to be honest they were a bit worse for wear) - I'm going to pop down tomorrow as I feel like there's a set of pink Tweezerman tweezers literally with my name on them.

Microdermabrasion Facial at Pure Clinic Manchester Review

I recently visited Pure Clinic Manchester for a microdermabrasion facial at their salon just off Albert Square in Manchester City Centre. I'm having typical winter skin problems at the moment - dry, tired looking with some congestion. Sorry for TMI as well but I am absolute terrible for not leaving blemishes alone which doesn't help my skin at all.

The clinic is in a fairly anonymous office building in Manchester up a few flights of stairs, it didn't wow me from the outside but on the inside it was much better - light, airy, relaxing and fresh feeling. There isn't any signage on the ground floor so just keep going until you see the clinic!

I was introduced to my therapist Nadia (BeautyGuruNadia) who did an analysis of my skin and lifestyle. She was absolutely spot on with her observations and customised the microdermabrasion treatment to match what my skin needed, giving me plenty of tips. She was even really careful to work around my lash extensions which she mentioned before I even asked.

In my head I expected microdermabrasion to be quite intense and not that relaxing but actually I was totally wrong! I thought I would effectively have my face sanded but that wasn't right at all.  It was basically a really relaxing and refreshing facial using Dermaquest products, the main difference being that they use very light suction (again, not unpleasant) to remove dead skin cells from the exfoliation - again, this is a chemical exfoliation rather than a scrub which I prefer as it feels a bit less harsh.

My skin felt amazing afterwards, it looked really smooth and hydrated, I actually felt like my skin was glowing. I didn't have any redness or discomfort after the treatment at all and actually left my make up off for the rest of the weekend which isn't the norm at all.

Here's a before and after (the after is the next day at my in-laws house and in all fairness is probably in more flattering lighting but there was still a huge improvement in my skin) - please excuse the absolute state of me on the first one, that's my make up free skin in all its glory usually.

I really enjoyed my visit to Pure Clinic and would happily return in future, I found Nadia really professional and definitely saw the benefits of microdermabrasion to my skin (I'll be having it again). They do a lot of different treatments so I might check some of those out. For more information please visit the Pure Clinic website.

Cryotherapy Treatment at Nicky Clarke Manchester

I recently had a beauty treatment which I was really excited about - celeb fave cryotherapy! Most people I've told about it are like "er, what's cryotherapy?" so I'll try and explain it here.

It basically exposes selected body parts (or your face) to extreme cold temperatures using liquid nitrogen to tighten, firm and lift. It also burns between 500-800 calories per 40 minute session which is a nice bonus. The treatment gives instant results and it's recommended that you have a course for better results. Cryotherapy UK focus on individual areas for treatment rather than the full body and it can have really good effects on sports injuries too.

As my stomach is my total problem area I chose to have cryotherapy on it in the hope of inch reduction and just a general firming. Even when I've been skinny in the past (er, I'm not now at all) I've still always had a little tummy which is annoying.

I was a bit nervous but Kelly, the cryotherapist(?) who carried out my treatment was lovely. She was really friendly, knew the treatment inside out and made me feel really comfortable - no mean feat when I'm hanging around in my pants waiting to freeze. I expected it to be uncomfortable but far from it, it was actually pretty relaxing.  You lay down on the bed and one side at a time, cold air is drifted over your stomach from a tube attached to this fairly industrial-looking, impressive piece of kit.

You feel the air getting colder but at no point did it feel too cold or I felt like I couldn't handle it. The time passed really quickly as I chatted to Kelly about this and that. She did my right side first and you can actually see the difference between the side that has been done and the side that hasn't.

Afterwards I felt like I was holding my stomach in all the time (I wasn't) which actually felt a bit odd but it definitely felt firmer. I found it quite funny that my tummy stayed cold to the touch for a few hours afterwards but I suppose that's to be expected when the temperature on it's been -160 degrees! Kelly measured me before and after and I lost two inches overall from my stomach.  I actually can't believe I'm posting photos of my stomach online but the results are pretty impressive so here we go, these pics were taken 40 minutes apart:

I actually really want to try this on my face as I think the results would be amazing and would really lift your face. I'd definitely have this on my stomach again, probably before an event (maybe Christmas parties?) or something so that the results were visible.  I wish I'd had this before my wedding and I've actually recommended it to my husband as he's had some ongoing issues with his shoulder for the last couple of years. I just had one treatment but a course is more beneficial.

The Manchester clinic is located above Nicky Clarke in Spinningfields, just off Deansgate and is really easy to find. For more information visit Cryotherapy UK.