SLEEK "EYEBROW STYLIST" EYEBROW PENCIL!

Hello lovelies!
So another recent purchase of mine is the SLEEK "Eyebrow Stylist" eyebrow pencil which can be purchased for £6.49.

Top: SLEEK Brow Stylist
Bottom: Soap & Glory Brow Archery

I initially went to BOOTS to pick up either my regular brow pencil, the Soap & Glory Archery (Brow Tint and Pencil) which is £10.00 or the Soap & Glory Brow Archery which is £8.00, both in the shade "Brownie points". However, when

I got there both were sold out in my shade and I was in desperate need of a brow pencil so went on the hunt around the other brands.
That's how I ended up at the SLEEK stand, which is a brand I really do like, looking at their brow products. I was surprised to see the "Eyebrow stylist" pencil which looked extremely similar to the NO7 Eyebrow Sculpting Pencil, but cheaper! On the one end there is the pencil which is slanted at an angle to help with precision and the other end has an eyebrow brush which is extremely helpful to have alongside the pencil. The packaging is extremely plain with the SLEEK logo barely visible on the one end of the product but this doesn't bother me too much, as long as the product itself is good then I can look past the packaging.

The product comes in three different shades ("light", "medium" and "dark") but there was not a tester for "medium" so I went to the "dark" to test the texture. I found it was a lot less stiff than the NO7 product which I liked and the shade definitely wasn't as dark as I had expected looking at the swatch on my hand. This put me in a dilemma of which shade to get. 
I asked one of the sales assistant if she had another "medium" tester but she simply replied she hadn't which wasn't very helpful. Worried that the "medium" wouldn't be as cool-toned as the "dark", I ended up going for "dark".

When I got home, I tested the pencil on my eyebrows. If you plan to get this product I do suggest you use a very light hand as it can be extremely pigmented - this isn't a bad thing at all! It may just take a little getting used to since I used to press quite hard with my S&G pencil. The colour wasn't too bad towards the end of my eyebrow where I fill them in fuller but I do find it too much for the front so I'll probably use a lighter eyebrow pencil there.

Overall I think this product is brilliant considering the price you pay! Some may not like the very small range of shades on offer or the packaging, but the texture of the product and design with the eyebrow brush at the opposite end is great. I am definitely impressed!
Thank you for reading, you lovely people!

Holly Amber X

BODY & BEAUTY STOCKING-FILLER GIFT GUIDE! £20 AND UNDER X

Belle of the Ball, photo taken
from BOOTS website.

One of the things that brings me the most joy is giving people gifts and I must hold my hands up to starting my Christmas shopping the first week of November - you could say I was a bit eager, oops. It's usually easier to buy the more expensive 'main' presents and some may struggle to fill up those stockings with smaller gifts. So I have some suggestions!

I think I speak for all women when I say a Soap and Glory gift-set would look wonderful under the Christmas tree of Christmas morning. The display in the BOOTS stores for Soap and Glory at the moment is so exciting and to make it even better, you can find most of the sets in the 3 for 2 offer as well!

The first I'd suggest is the BELLE OF THE BALL gift-set which is £12.00 at BOOTS. The packaging for all of the S&G products is beautiful for starters. This set includes the "Smoothie Star" body wash, body smoother, hand cream and a body polisher.

Gloss it girl, photo taken
from the BOOTS website.

The Righteous butter drum, photo taken
from BOOTS website.

The second is the GLOSS IT GIRL set of 5 sexy mother-pucker lip glosses for £14.00 at BOOTS. In its cracker-shaped packaging, I think this is such a lovely present! Considering the lip glosses are usually £9.00 each on the S&G website, how wonderful is this set for the price!?

One more S&G set I'd suggest buying as a gift is the RIGHTEOUS BUTTER DRUM which is only £5.00 at BOOTS. Any one who has tried out this body butter will believe me when I say it is wonderful and for £5.00 I think it'd make a lovely little gift to add to someone's present pile!

TED BAKER "Shine On" set, photo taken
from BOOTS website.

TED BAKER have had some lovely small and big gifts for Christmas this year. One of those is the "Little Luxuries" set which is £14.00. 

This comes with a hand cream, body spray and lip balm which are have a soft floral scent - all packed into a lovely little bag. Products such as hand creams are nice gifts as I personally think a person doesn't think to buy themselves one, so getting one as a gift is perfect.

Another TED BAKER set is the "Shine On" set which includes a pair of tweezers, a mascara, an eyeliner and two eyeshadow trios with a mirror in each for £16.00. My favourite thing about this set is that it comes with everything you need for the eye-section of your makeup routine.

Sparkle and Shine Set, photo
taken from BOOTS website.

A smaller, cheaper TED BAKER gift is the Sparkle and Shine set which comes with a nail polish and a lip/cheek tint for £8.00. There are two versions, one of which come with a nude toned nail polish and a golden-toned tint and another which comes with a deep pink nail polish and pink-toned tint.

Sparkle and Shine Set, photo
taken from BOOTS website.

Eye-shadow palettes can be a wonderful gift for someone either just starting to experiment with make-up or for those who purely love make-up and trying out new looks. 

Travel-sized, Full Exposure
Palette, picture taken from
the SMASHBOX website.

One palette which would be perfect for somebody who doesn't have much experience with makeup is the SMASHBOX "Full Exposure palette" (which is £17.50 in the travel-sized version). This has all the shades needed to create an everyday look or a more dramatic smokey-eye with both matte and shimmery shades. The travel-sized version includes 8 shades (the best shades from the full-sized palette in my opinion). 

One of my favourite drug-store make-up brands is definitely SLEEK. This SLEEK Make-up palatte gift set which includes a make-up bag, the Vintage Romance i-Divine Palette, the Antique blush and two lipsticks in the shades Liquer which has a sheen finish and Vamp which has a matte finish (my favourite shade of the SLEEK lipsticks) is only £19.99!

SLEEK Make-up gift set, photo taken from
BOOTS website.

 I find SLEEK products to be such good quality, I  particularly love their eye-shadow palettes and the shades  they put together in them. The palette included in this set is probably for a person who already has some experience with make-up in my opinion as the shades are darker and maybe a little more complicated to work with as a newbie. 

LUSH is amazing all year round and for someone who only has a shower in their house (like myself) it's painful seeing everyone else with the gorgeous bath bombs. Still, some of their Christmas gift-sets don't include bath bombs! My absolute favourite scent at this time of year is "Snow Fairy" from lush which is a very sweet scent (I'm pretty sure it's described to smell like pear drops). In the "Little Snow Fairy" gift-set which is £8.50, you get the Snow Fairy shower gel and some pink FUN! 

Magic Wand Bubble Bar from LUSH.

The LUSH website has wonderful little videos at the top of the page for their products so you can see how they are used and how their bath-bombs look when fizzing in the water. For someone who does have a bath, the Magic Wand bubble bar has the same snow-fairy scent and turns to water sparkly, bubbly and pink. You can purchase it for £5.25 which may seem a little expensive to some people but I'm pretty sure this will last for 3/4 baths!

I hope this has helped anyone struggling for gift ideas! Over the next few days I will be uploading a couple more gift guides of different sorts for all of you last-minute shoppers!

Thank you for reading!

Holly Amber X