Are Beauty Advent Calendar’s Worth The Hype?

Beauty Advent Calendar’s have been raved about for years now but especially more popular these past 2/3 years. I’ve had my eye on the benefit ones for a while now and this year I finally caved and got it. However, what happened to the usual chocolate advent calendars? Are we just too advanced for the simple things in life?

The Benefit calendar isn’t the only one available, there are so many from ASOS, Soap and Glory, Makeup Revolution and so many more. Generally the calendars do range, I paid £34.50 for the Benefit calendar and it has 12 days of luxury sized products. For the price you do receive some decent sized products and a lot of them are some of the best sellers.

Do I think they’re worth it though? I do think some of them are most definitely worth the money. Although some, such as the Zoella Advent calendar is high priced and you receive a pen as one of the items. I think a calendar that is above drugstore pricing shouldn’t be giving out pens unless it has some form of cool advanced action like it doubles up as a sword. Same again for the ASOS calendar, how can they expect customers to be happy with a 20% discount?! We get them all the time.

Don’t get me wrong, I like my calendar but I don’t think  I’ll be repurchasing one go Christmas 2018. I like the simplicity and novelty of a chocolate advent calendar.

Twitter: @bethdaviesblog

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With love, Beth x

The Great Brownanza

Benefit have released a lot of products across the year but they’re famously popular for their incredible brow range. I’m a huge fan of the goof proof brow pencil but since the products are expensive I’ve never managed to purchase them and test out whether they’re genuinely worth buying. 

So, recently on a trip to my local Debenhams, I come across some of the Christmas releases that let’s be fair, look incredible. However, the one that really caught my eye is The Great Brownanza. This is a box of 5 full size brow products and 2 brow tools for £49.50. To buy these products out of the set it would cost around £120 so you’re saving an absolute fortune of £70! This is the ideal gift in my eyes. It has enough brow products to last you at least 6 months and as well allows you to try and test products that have caught your eye but you’ve been anxious about buying them because of the price range. 

What do you get? In this set you’re given 5 full size products which are the Benefit Gimme Brow, Benefit Brow Zings, Benefit Goof Proof Pencil, Benefit Ka-Brow and the Benefit High Brow Pencil. You’re also given an angled brow brush with a spoolie attached and a brow mapping tool. Essentially, you receive 7 products at an incredible price so can you really not consider this as a purchase? 

The prices of each product individually are: 

Benefit Gimme Brow – £20

Benefit Goof Proof Pencil – £20

Benefit Brow Zings – £26.50

Benefits Ka-Brow – £20

Benefit High Brow – £18.50

We all know by now that Benefit have 5 shade ranges in their brow products. Going from 1 to 5, from light to dark. Now, I purchased mine in shade 3 and usually I mix between shade 3 and 4 but now I’m blonde again I’ll happily use shade 3 so this is perfect for me. You can also buy this set in shade 5 but it does not come in any other shade ranges. This is definitely the only fault with the set that it doesn’t come in the lighter shade which means for those who are light blondes with blonde eyebrows, this isn’t catering for you guys. If you like a strong, dark brow then these are the ideal set for you really. 

Honestly, this has been my favourite release of 2017 so far and I haven’t even tried all the products. I totally urge you guys to go out and get one, order it online and indulge on

Twitter: @bethdavieblog 

Instagram: @_bbbbethan 

With love, Beth x 

Book Review: Bridget Jones’s Baby The Diaries

Book review day, wahoo! Bloody love Fridays on my blog. This weeks book review is dedicate to the lady herself, Miss Bridget Jones. In September I posted my review on the newly released film Bridget Jones’s Baby and then several weeks later the book was finally released. I’ve loved Bridget Jones since I was a teenager, in fact she reminds me of myself. She’s utterly fantastic, humorous, real and just generally a brilliant lady. The previous books and films have portrayed Bridget as none other than a common English woman with bad habits and awful language. The book was as brilliant as I thought it would be. 

Bridget Jones, 43, single, mother-to-be. Still living in her tiny flat, Bridget had to plan a whole life around a tiny baby with no idea who the father was. It could be either of the two loves of her life, Mark Darcy or Daniel Cleaver. After two spontaneous nights of thrilling sex with both of her previous lovers Bridget finds herself in a pickle when she discovers she is pregnant with no idea who the father is. Along the way she finds herself discovering who her heart truly lies with. 

Now, if you’ve seen the film already you’ll be aware of the ending. The book and the film are definitely different, which was predictable as the film isn’t based off the book. I personally loved both the book and film. However, the book was such a good part of the collection by Helen Fielding that I couldn’t help but become totally captivated with the love triangle between Bridget, Mark and Daniel all over again. It was so funny, I laughed and cried and remembered all over why I loved Bridget in the first place. Blood fantastic.

Let me know what you thought in the comments, or come over to my social media and chat with me!

Twitter: _bbbethan

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With love, B X 

Book Review: Girl on the Train

This weeks review is well overdue, the film was released in October and if I’m honest I only read the book because of the film. The Girl on the Train by Paula Hawkins was surprisingly good but slightly predictable. Continue reading for this weeks book review. 

Rachel has been separated from her husband for several years and well before their separation her life began to crash down. Her trouble with alcoholism seems to be taking away her memories and now she has to discover what really happened the night her ex-husbands neighbour went missing. 

Honestly, I didn’t enjoy this book as much as I wanted too. It was massively raved about and so many were saying how brilliant and captivating it was but I didn’t feel it at all. In fact I was slightly disappointed with it. It took a long time to read and get into and it wasn’t really until I reached the last 150 pages of the book that I was enjoying it. The book felt slightly dragged out and the chapters were the most confusing part. The book is sectioned out between Rachel, Megan and Anna. The three women in Tom’s life. It was just so confusing to read between different views every chapter especially when I didn’t care for Anna at all so I was least interested in her chapters. I personally preferred Gone Girl and Behind Closed Doors. 

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With love, Beth x

Book Review: Behind Closed Doors

This weeks book review is so exciting, this book was absolutely brilliant. It’s the novel Behind Closed Doors by B.A Paris. For more book reviews look back at my previous ones or check them out every Friday at 1pm.

Jack and Grace seemed to live the perfect happy wife. Jack, the ideal husband with the most loving and kind heart and perfect Grace, the devoted Wife. On the outside they look like they live the most normal and happy life but behind closed doors, their lives are far from normal and happy. Jack has hidden his urges for so long and once he met Grace he knew she was the one to make his dreams come true. If someone doesn’t stop him, who knows how far he’ll go to get what he wants. 

Its utterly fantastic and brilliantly written. This thriller kept me wanting more and more, it was almost impossible for me to put it down. Parts of it was heartbreaking but it was totally captivating. The best thriller I’ve read this year, in fact for a long time. I recommend it if you enjoy a mystery, thriller that will be make you want more. Grace’s Sister was truly delightful and her part in the book was devastating and really broke my heart. By the end of the book you’ll become more aware and saddened by those who have to deal with abuse in real life. It’s excellent, truly fantastic and by far one of the best books I have read this year, and I’ve read a lot.

If you liked this one, I recommend:

Gone Girl- Gillian Flynn

Girl on the Train- Paula Hawkins

with love, B x

Autumnal Look // Makeup

Throughout the Autumn season I love those burgundy lips and the browns smokey eye but each year I definitely mix up my make up. This year I have had this go to makeup look throughout the whole season and just had to share it with you all. I’ll even show you all the products I use and I’ll also add in a dupe of the Naked 3 palette which cost only £4! I’m totally in love with this makeup look and I think it’s so fitting for the season and can work with so many outfits for day or nightwear.

BASE

I started by priming my face with the NYX Photo Loving Primer. I personally love a full coverage foundation, I have so much redness and freckles on my face I just prefer to cover it up. I used the Urban Decay All Nighter Foundation for this look, in the shade 1.0. It’s so lightweight and absolutely full coverage, I used 1 pump for my whole face and it sits beautifully and all day long.

I then used the Maybelline Fit Me concealer in 10 Fair to cover those dark circles and topped it with the Collection Perfection concealer in 1 to highlight my under eye.

To bronze my face and bring some dimension to it, I used the Benefit Hoola Bronzer and a bit of the Revolution Iconic Lights and Contour Pro palette to do so.

Topping it off, I then used the Kate Moss Sculpting Palette in Coral Glow 002 and used the blush to add colour to my cheeks.

To finally complete the base, I used the Sleek Highlight Palette in solstice,  for that extra glow to the high points of my face including my cheek bones, cupids bow and bridge of my nose.

EYE

I used the Iconic 3 palette by Revolution to make this eye look, it’s a cheap £4 and is absolutely a dupe of the Naked 3 palette. It’s super pigmented and long lasting, the shimmery colours are so sparkly and pretty on the eye and I just love it. If you’re looking for a dupe of the Naked palettes, head to Superdrug or online for the Revolution Iconic palettes. They’re fab! I took the palette and used the orange shimmery colour all over my lid, this is the dupe for the colour ‘trick’ and then I used the brown shade next to it in my crease, the dupe for ‘nooner’.

I then put a thin line and flick for eyeliner using the Rimmel Glam’ Eyes liquid liner.

I curled my lashes and then coated them in the Kiko Extra Sculpt Volume Mascara on my upper lashes and then the Benefit Roller Lash on my lower lashes.

I usually put a bit of the brown shade from the palette underneath my lower lashes too but this is entirely your choice. I then used the lightest shade from the palette underneath my brow bow and inner corner. I used the Maybelline Brow Drama on my brows and then I was finished!

 

LIP

I coated my lips in a gloss by Sephora, it doesn’t have a name but it’s a nude pink and I think it looks beautiful with the eyes. However, to complete this look you can use any nude lipstick with this look.

The lip gloss I used is from the Sephora collection brand and is in a limited edition palette which includes 96 x eyeshadows, 84 x lip glosses, 1 bronzer, 1 x mascara, 6 x cream eyeliners and 2 x eyeliners.

There is the finished look! I’m not a professional makeup artist and nor will I ever claim to be. It’s simply an interest and hobby for me and I love to experiment with new products and keep up with the seasonal trends. If you liked this post let me know and I’ll do more in the future.

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with love, B x