A few Christmas gift ideas

 

Christmas time is approaching us rapidly so I thought that an article with a few gift ideas is just perfect for this occasion; there are 15 days left (yay!) so be sure to find your presents in time to avoid the mayhem from the Christmas Eve. I know I used to search for the perfect presents on the day before Christmas Eve and it was simply chaotic.

I absolutely adore the idea of tiny gifts hidden in globes, I think they are just perfect for this holiday, so how about this adorable one I found in H&M that contains...socks! But not any socks, Christmassy ones with penguins with glittery hats? They are lovely and also, only $6 !

Next one contains a few eye makeup products, some eyeshadows, a black eyeliner and a black mascara - both in mini versions - they are great for travel especially! I found these in Douglas (this beauty retailer has the moooost amazing holiday offers) and you can get it for about $10.

The Benefit Frisky Six mini set is one of the many options they offer. All the products are in miniature version and they are great to offer to someone for a first try or just for yourself to keep. This box costs about $38 which is the price of one item only in full size! Available in Sephora.

This box includes:

Sun Beam Highlighter

Lolli Lip Balm

Lolli Tint - works for lips and also as a blush

Sugabomb Blush

They're Real Mascara -  one of their most famous mascaras

I mentioned about Onecklace before, they create personalized jewelry, you know, name necklaces, earrings and bracelets, but they also have other type of jewelry including the popular chokers! A little glow on our skin can make us look so glamorous and well, Christmas is all about glow right?

I don't know how many of you know about Yves Rocher but they are one of my favorite skin care brands! Especially during the holidays, they offer limited edition Christmas shower gels, hand creams and body lotions, they also have them available in gift boxes at a special price.

Pictured here is the Cranberry and Almond hand cream and the Clementine and Spices shower gel -  the scents are simply delicious!

Back to Douglas, I told you they have amazing holiday offers - this one is from Les Delices, a set of body care products with a scent of Rasberry Macarons - yes, it is as delicious as it sounds! The set comes in a cute pink house shaped box and it includes a shower gel, a shower sponge, body lotion and a bath foam.

Last but not least, how about some tea? For all you tea lovers, Basilur is a brand that offers the most delicious tea ever created. Black or green with so many different sublte flavors, but not only is the tea that is amazing, but also the packaging! Just look at that brilliant box. This one is from their holiday edition, they also have other adorable collections, based on a theme or by season. I really can't recommend them enough!

I hope you like my ideas, I'll leave you on that note and wish you Happy Shopping!

A few favorites

I treated myself in the past month with some makeup and cosmetics and I wanted to show you my reviews of some of my favorite products, maybe you're interested.

First things first: I received this gorgeous necklace from a place called Happiness Boutique that specializes in statement jewelry. They ship worldwide from Europe all sorts of beautiful necklaces, earrings, and get this: the shipping is free!

I loved the packaging. It came in this little white box with a card and a personal note which made me feel like I was receiving a gift from a good old friend. Very cool, I loved that!

Oh..this lipstick. I spent so much time searching and testing so many shades of burgundy lipsticks but I couldn't find the perfect one, until last week. They all seemed to be too purple or too red or even too brown. Others where too sheer and they just didn't had that deep color that I was looking for.

So I tested my luck, ordering this one online from Aoro and I was so pleased with the result!

It's from Artdeco, the "Majestic Beauty" collection, I believe it was launched last Fall, and the shade is #29, Black Cherry Queen.

I fell in love with this eye shadow pallette when I saw the colors, not too bright, but dark and just perfect for this season. What made me buy it was the very reasonable price and the fact that it came in both sparkly and matte shades.  

The first six shades from the left are shimmery and the others are matte, and they are really pigmented and look very nice on the eyelids.

This one is from Makeup Revolution and it's called "Romantic Smoked"

Ever since Revlon stopped selling in Romania, I searched online for the only foundation I feel it's perfect for my skin, which is the "Colorstay" line and finally I managed to find the concealer from the same line. I bought the one in shade number #02 and somehow I feel it's a bit too yellow for my skin and maybe too dense, but it still covers perfectly and I love that, especially under the eyes.

I believe most of you are sick of this review, since this product has been all over the blogosphere and on Youtube reviews, but I had to give it a go as well.

The "Take the day off" cleansing balm from Clinique is the best makeup remover I have tried so far because it really leaves my skin hydrated and not dry or irritated. It feels soft and almost feel like I don't need to add another face cream to end my skin care routine for the day (but I do add the cream because there is nothing wrong with adding more hydration to your skin, right?)

I honestly wanted to try the cleansing oil from the same collection, because I knew it was recommended to combination/oily skin, like mine is, but I really didn't find it anywhere - maybe it's not selling in Romania? But still, the cleansing balm is awesome and I really recommend it!

I recently changed my hair care products and I opted for Joico because from what I have heard and saw, it seems to be the best brand for hair care. A friend of mine had one of the shampoos (there are for so many types of hair!) and I simply read the ingredient list which blew me away!

It contains peptides, aminoacids and so many other hydrating ingredients that I really have not seen written on any other bottle of shampoo/conditioner/hair mask's ingredient list.

So I decided to try them and so far I am pleased with them. I had the shampoo for colored hair and now I have one for frizzy hair - thought I give it a go since my hair does get frizzy during the cold season. Plus it's sulfate free, so it's more gentle for your scalp.

I also have a hair mask to boost the moisturizing process and I like it so far, it leaves my hair really soft and not heavy (some hair masks do that) and it smells divine!

I got all these from Aoro -  they have discounted prices on EVERYTHING - who doesn't like that?