the christmas gift guide: for the party girl

YSL Black Opium Nuit Blanche - £64

Chambord - £6.50

Bobbi Brown Cool Dusk Eyes Palette - £37.50

Real Techniques Bold Metals Spotlight Essentials - £40

Rodial Heroes Collection - £59

St Tropez Instant Tan Cracker - £5

St Tropez Classic Cracker - £8

That special time of year is back again and the first of my Christmas gift guides has finally arrived. I've decided to theme them all this year (shoutout to twitter polls, forever helping me make crucial decisions) and thought I'd kick things off with the most sparkly gift guide of them all, dedicated to party girls and socialites. 

Nights out and fake tan come hand in hand. I absolutely love these St Tropez crackers as the packaging is incredibly festive, and because they're minis they make for perfect stocking fillers too. Before heading out, I always spend an hour or so in the bath having a pamper session whilst overloading on skincare. Rodial have nailed it with their hero collection gift set and I would certainly be thrilled to be retrieving this from under the tree.

There isn't a girl I know that doesn't own at least a couple of Real Techniques brushes, making this collection of bold metals brushes a wonderful idea for any make-up lover. If you're after a failsafe option in terms of perfume, YSL Black Opium is both sweet yet sexy and is among my top picks for most wearable scents. If all else fails, a sparkly eyeshadow palette is yet another safe bet, Bobbi Brown being the hero brand for beautiful Christmas make-up collections. 

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real techniques duo-fiber collection

My love from Real Techniques brushes has been growing at a rapid pace as of late, they have such a luxury feel but are set at just the right price-point meaning it's easy to quickly build up a collection of great brushes. The duo-fiber versions are perfect to gently buff powders into the skin with, I much prefer using these over regular powder brushes as I find they give a much more natural finish and don't cake the skin in product. The eye brush does a great job at blending harsh lines if you are creating a smokey eye, the contour brush allows you to create a chiseled cheekbone effect without the fear of applying too much product and finally the face brush which is ideal for a adding a sweep of face powder. I also find the contour brush really good for applying highlighter too as it ensures you don't end up looking like a glittery disco ball. If you are a fan of gently blended and soft looking make up (who isn't?) these are well worth adding to your brush collection.

REAL TECHNIQUES DUO-FIBER COLLECTION - £23.99 

the christmas gift guide | part one

My favourite perk of running a beauty blog has always been when Christmas time rolls around and I get to feature lots of lovely gift ideas, I'm one of those people who absolutely loves giving gifts so putting together gift guides is always so exciting for me. This year I've been a busy bee sourcing lots of fancy gifts for all different budgets and tastes, hopefully if you are stuck for ideas this should help you out! 

Nuxe Christmas Prodigieuse Gift Set - £24: This set definitely wins the prize for the best packaging, I get a real Christmassy feel just looking at it. Nuxe is one of my favourite skincare brands and this set is filled with some fab products totalling to a value worth double what the set actually costs.

Real Techniques Duo-Fiber Collection £23.99 & Expert Face Brush - £9.99: These brush sets are perfect stocking fillers, I'm such a fan of all the Real Techniques brushes that I've tried to far and love that they are much for affordable than Mac.

Ted Baker Holy Smoke Candle Set - £15: Who doesn't love candles to warm up the house in the Winter time? I really like the girly yet sophisticated feel to these and think they easily look like a much more expensive pair.

Korres Fig Showergel - £6.40, Bobbi Brown High Shimmer Lipgloss - £18, & Tweezerman Magnifying Mirror - £16: These are all great additions to fill up a stocking or gift box. I love the Korres shower gel as it has such a warming sweet scent, the lipglosses are great too as they just look so Christmassy and glittery, and for a gift that you know will get a whole lot of use then check out the Tweezerman mirror. 

Lush The Christmas Penguin - £2.95, Candy Mountain - £2.65 & The Melting Snowman - £2.25: Lush bath bombs and bubble bars are a fail-safe option when it comes to gift giving, they are fairly inexpensive meaning you can pop a couple in a gift box to fill empty space or even just treat yourself with a few. Warm bubbly baths are by far my favourite thing around Christmas time!

Estee Lauder Zodiac Powder Compact - £38.50: I'm utterly in love with this precious little powder compact, even more so due to the fact it has a different design depending on your star sign. It feels so expensive and luxurious that I don't think I can ever bring myself to use it, but if you are a collector of make up then it's a must-have.

There are probably going to be around three more gift guides so keep a lookout for them all!