12 Days of Giftmas - What's still live

Yesterday was the last entry into the 12 Days of Giftmas series but seven of the giveaways are still up and running. I thought I'd just pop up a quick masterpost so you can get your entries in before the rest close!

Happy Christmas!

Caudalie (Micellar Water and Divine Oil) - Closes the 13th of December 2015 at midnight.
Willow (€20 gift voucher) - Closes the 14th of December 2015 at midnight.
MyLadyBug (3 Month Subscription) - Closes the 15th of December 2015 at midnight.
OPSH (Howlite Urban Outfitters Bracelet) - Closes the 16th of December 2015 at midnight.
VOYA (Angelicus Serratus Nourishing Body and Massage Oil) - Closes the 17th of December 2015 at midnight.
The Zipyard (€30 gift voucher) - Closes the 18th of December 2015.
Flormar (2 Lipsticks, 1 Lipgloss, 1 Nail Polish and 1 Blush) - Closes the 19th of December 2015.

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12 Days of Giftmas - Flormar ¦ Giveaway

And, finally, on the 12th day of Giftmas, my true love gave to me, professional make-up made easy...

One of my posts which has been most well-received, and garnered some of the most attention and engagement this year, was about the relaunch of Flormar in Ireland. Flormar is an Italian make-up brand which is now made in Turkey and which used to be sold in Ireland in the past. However, it was relaunched into the Irish market this year after being absent for some time. It is a professional make-up brand which retails at highstreet prices, ranging from €2.95 to €12.95, which means it offers some serious quality at a really affordable price point.

Currently, it is available in over 140 locations across Ireland (pharmacies, stores etc) with a free-standing store that exclusively sells the entire line in the works and a projection that it will be available in 200 locations by February. I actually even wrote a separate post about where it is being sold at the moment because I got so many inquiries about, and interest in, it.

The real testament to a brand, however, isn't the carefully worded press samples, expansion and buzz but in the actual products themselves. And, I have to say, they live up to the hype. Some of their products have even become make-up bag staples for me, alongside brands such as Urban Decay, Benefit, Miisha, Etude House and Tony Moly.

All of which is why they are closing out my first ever 12 Days of Giftmas.

"But what, pray tell, might this 12 Days of Giftmas be?" you're probably asking.

If you didn't read yesterday's post about The Zipyard, let me explain it again!

The 12 Days of Giftmas is a project that occurred to me last week. An idea that I ambitiously decided to go through with very last minute - I must be a lunatic. It's a sort of advent calendar for me and my readers, a way of saying thank you for reading and rewarding you in a small way. For the first 12 days of December, I will be writing a post every day on a shop, brand or item that would make good gifts. This is instead of the long gift ideas posts I've done in the past and offers a more in-depth look at some amazing companies and things. To complement each post, I've also teamed up with these fantastic brands and will be giving something away each day! So, the 12 Days of Giftmas will give you some gift ideas and the potential to win something for a loved one (or yourself!).

I could recommend all of the range as potential gift ideas, particularly for the make-up addicts in your life as a smaller budget is going to go a lot further here than it might at other professional brands. However, I think it will suffice to just suggest a few of my favourites and let you do some of your own swatching and playing around at the counters for yourself.

The first item that has to be included here is probably my most-used product from Flormar, their eyeshadow palette (€9.95) in the shade 04. Containing five shades from cream to beige to brown tones, it's a slim, compact palette that is literally the perfect size for popping in an everyday make-up pouch. It's also got all the shades necessary to add definition to your eye sockets, line your eyes, add light to the inner corners and brow bone and, potentially, fill in your brows if you're stuck.

Another highlight of the line is the Illuminating Primer Make Up Base (€9.95), literally. This crap pumps out which is great for getting the right amount and being hygienic and makes you look all glowy and alive to boot.

Their Revolution Lipsticks (€6.95) are long-wearing, creamy, look like a Mod sixties dream and come in an array of gorgeous colours. And their Terracotta Blush-Ons (€11.95) are the most dreamy beautiful marbled blushes in pretty shades with flecks of metallics and glitter throughout which makes the application gorgeous.

These really are beautiful products and the prices are unbeatable. So, if you want to give this amazing brand a try for yourself, enter my giveaway of two lipsticks, a lipgloss, a nail polish and one of the Terracotta blushes.

1. Sadly, I can only keep my giveaways open to Ireland this time around. I apologise to those who might disappointed but I have to keep the generous brands that I'm working with in mind!

2. The prize is two lipsticks, a lipgloss, a nail polish and one of the Terracotta blushes from Flormar.

3. All you need to do is comment below here or on Facebook with who you'd give it to - or if you want it for yourself! However, you must be following me on at least one platform (Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Google Friend Connect, Bloglovin', Tumblr), let me know which one in the comment if it's not obvious!

4. Competition closes a week from now on the 19th of December 2015 at midnight Irish time.

5. Winners will be chosen at random.

6. I will then comment below the winner's comment and ask you to email my official blog email address.

And that's that! Good luck and thanks for reading. This has been the 12 Days of Giftmas.

(Thanks to Flormar for everything!)

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5 Years of Beauty at Topshop

The fact that Beauty at Topshop is celebrating its fifth birthday this year makes me feel really old. When it was released, I was in second year of college and living with a best friend rather than in university accommodation for the first time. My other best friend and I had made the annual student night at Topshop a tradition and when I saw the lipsticks that newly graced the store displays, I went a little mental. I only bought two but considering I barely wore make-up even to dressy events back then, it seems rather a unique incident.

Since day one, I have loved the range of colours, the quality, packaging and price point. A Topshop lipstick feels expensive, even though it is not. The nail polishes have regularly offered my colour of the season. And the rainbow of eyeliners have allowed me to mimic catwalk looks as I learned about make-up and how to use it.

The capsule collection to celebrate 5 Years of Topshop Beauty is a gorgeous collection of their most iconic and in-demand pieces. It is made up of five essentials: the Matte Lips, Cream Blush, Magic Liner, Glow Pot and Nails. The lips come in five of the best-selling shades, Rio Rio, Innocent, Beguiled, Nevada and Ohh La La, offering a range of tones from nude to pink, peach to orange-red and vampy blood-red. The Nails come in five shades also (sensing a theme here?) with one glitter (Adrenalin), one metallic (Heart of Gold) and three opaques (Green Room, Boy Next Door and Parma Violet). The blush, highlighter and eyeliner only come in one shade each but all of the products are sold in special rose-gold packaging that immediately suckered me in.

While none of the products were new or new to me, I hadn't tried some of the shades so I grabbed a Glow Pot, Cream Blush, nail polish (Parma Violet) and lipstick (Rio Rio).

The Glow Pot (Polished, £9.00) was the first I had owned rather than borrowed and it has become my go-to highlighter since purchasing it. I don't wear highlighter often, only when wearing make-up for an event, but I do pop a bit on the tip of my nose and in my cupid's bow now and then with minimal make-up. It's not too in-your-face, which I like. The consistency is great too. The only really issue is that it can be a wee bit tricky to get out of the pot.

The Cream Blush (Head Over Heels, £7.00) is the perfect pop of colour for daily make-up. It's very  pretty and light and only needs fingers for application - though you can blend it out with a brush if you like. Again, consistency is smooth and it's a really nice size for popping in a bag.

As I said, I've always been a fan of the Nails polishes. Parma Violet (£6.00) is a really pretty pastel purple and I really like it but I've been wearing polishes with better formulas for so long now that I had forgotten that these can be a little tricky to apply. Bonus though: they smell like nineties nostalgia in a bottle.

Again, the Lips are products I've loyally enjoyed for years. Generally the matte finish can be difficult for me with my habit of biting and destroying my lips but with a layer of balm underneath, the colour actually spreads quite nicely. I've been after a shade like Rio Rio (£8.00) for a while now and really like how it looks - I feel like it makes my eyes look very blue.

But, really, it's all about that packaging! So, so gorgeous. For those of us more obsessed with design than make-up, it's a real draw.

At the end of the day, these products are great value, pretty, good quality and cruelty free. They appeal to girls and women of all ages alike and are totally accessible. All major bonuses and reasons to support the brand in my eyes.

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Brand Overview: IsaDora

In a new series, I'm going to start reviewing brands as a whole, taking several products from them and giving you a better idea of what to expect and where their strengths and weaknesses lie. Today I'm talking IsaDora, a Swedish drugstore beauty brand. The price-range is the higher end of drugstore products but the quality is impressive, the packaging is neat and unfussy and the brand as a whole has a grown-up feel to it. The formulations are targeted towards sensitive skin and an extra bonus is that they don't test on animals - always a good thing!

On a personal note, some of the first make-up I ever used was from IsaDora. I still use a neutral eyeshadow quad my mother bought for me before a disco or a party or something when I was fifteen! That I'm reaching for it after all these years has to say something (not to mention how little I actually wear make-up).

Basically, I had enough of a range of their products to do a whole face (almost) exclusively with items from the brand. I did forget about eyebrows so I used the eyeliner really, really lightly to fill in the gaps in my brows just a little.

I was perhaps most impressed with their Moisturizing Lip Gloss. I normally never wear gloss as I cannot bear the consistency but this applies and dries almost matte, leaving a shine to the lip but not slickness. The shade I got was 21 Red Carpet which is a gorgeous classic true red. I also liked that it felt nice on the lips, like that Jojoba oil was actually doing something and leaving my lips feeling moisturised rather than stripped and tired. On several occasions now, it's been the first product I've reached for - even over my Coco Rouge Shine.

Admittedly, this blush scared me a little at first. It looks normal enough above but in person it looks like a dark, old-fashioned peachy-purple shade. However, the colour (22 Frosty Bordeaux) applies rather sheer with just a nice, pretty pink glow and a touch of sparkle. The applicator brush in the pack is okay but probably could have just been left out in favour of more of the product. I can't say I can rave about this item as much but that's more to do with my lacking in knowledge on blush. Again, however, it is currently the first blush I reach for so that has to say something.

Similarly with the Perfect Shade Eyeliner (in 01 Soft Black), it's not that I have an issue with the product per se but I tend to use felt eyeliners and am now bad at using pencils. However, this is nice and soft on the eyes which is really important to me. It doesn't drag and, while it can be blended, it doesn't smudge the second you go anywhere near it if you want a cleaner line. It's also a lovely rich black shade.

The BB Cream (in 01 Fair) is another stand-out product for me. The packaging reminds me of Asian beauty brands (which can only be a good thing). But the best thing about it is that it's BB cream coverage. I find that many BB creams have very high coverage, closer to foundations, and I'm just not into that. It's why I'm not choosing a foundation in the first place. I just want a light layer to pat on my skin. This one applies really smoothly, doesn't catch on dry patches overly and was really true to shade for me.

I already was a fan of their shadows but this little trio (in the shade 84 Forest) made me squeal with joy when I saw it. I'm a neutrals gal (I know, I know - so obvious and expected) true and true so the two outer shades (a sandy copper and a metallic chocolatey brown) are pretty normal ones for me but the middle shade is reminiscent of a gorgeous green Chanel had in a quad a few seasons back. Except it's richer and with slightly better colour pay-off. Admittedly, you have to work the brown a bit to get the same richness on the lid that the shadow makes you expect but it's well worth it. These shades are stunning.

Lastly, we have the Mineral Compact Powder in 21 Light Opal. It's a pretty basic compact powder and ticks all the boxes. It's not messy, it has a workable applicator included and a handy mirror inside - which is a surprise because it looks like a clear plastic lid with the applicator visible through it at first glance. For me, personally, it offers slightly too heavy coverage but it still feels nice on the skin.

Packaging: 8/10

Prettiness of Shades: 9/10

Application: 8/10

Durability: 7/10

Value for Money: 8/10

Cruelty Free

Good for sensitive skin

Have you guys tried anything by the brand? What did you think?

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