#SotonMeetup Southampton Bloggers meet up!

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On Saturday I made the 8 hour round trip from Plymouth to Southampton, but it was all for good reason and totally worth the very long day! The trip was in aid of the #sotonmeetup which was organised by the fabulous Alice from Annie Writes Beauty and Amy from Amzy In Wonderland, they also organised the first one back in April which at the last minute I was unable to attend. So this time I was not going to let anything get in my way of attending and finally meeting some bloggers that I had been speaking to for about a year! The lovely Jessica from Chique Unique Critique picked me up from the station and we were then on our way to Orange Rooms for the meet up!

The lighting wasn't that great inside so I do apologise for the difference in quality of all the pictures! Anyway, I first clapped eyes on the Lush stand in Orange Rooms. It's always going to be a fab event when Lush are in attendance! 

They had most of their Christmas stock at the event and their new range of massage bars. The star bubble bar is the next on my list to purchase, apparently it lasts for 8 baths which is pretty good value for money!

This is 100% on my wishlist too, definitely not just for kids!! Not only can you mould shapes and snowmen with this it can be used for soap, a bubble bar or shampoo once you've finished playing with it, amazing!

Seriously, I'm going to be broke by the end of this post but the Santa lip scrubs are also a necessity. It smells of cola bottles and their lip scrubs never disappoint.

Bee Good were also at the event who are a brand local to the Hampshire area. The brand blossomed from an experienced bee keeper called Simon and it was then his wife Caroline who thought about starting their own skincare company incorporating the honey into the products.

They had such a lovely range of products ranging from lips to hand cream and to facial skincare, they also have another few products launching very soon. The packaging of the products is gorgeous and I love the ethics of this brand using all natural and British ingredients. We even got to take home a lovely lip balm in our goody bag!

There were also delicious Bee and flower shaped biscuits which were beautifully decorated and were even flavoured with honey too mmm!

Another well known brand at the event were Weleda, I've used a few of their hair products in the past but never delved into the rest of their range. I love how all of the products are coloured differently depending on their purpose.

I loved the little crackers too with products inside which make for perfect christmas presents!

Also on the day Oloves had a stand up but I didn't get any pictures of it unfortunately, they provided some lovely snack packs for the goody bags though which you'll see below!

With the lovely Jessica and Alice, this was one of the only pictures with okay quality that I got unfortunately!

At the end of the meet, it was time to be given the amazing goody bags, Alice and Amy seriously did such an amazing job getting all the different brands onboard!!

I'm sure you're all dying to have a peek inside...

So the goody bag is amazing!!! I had such an enjoyable and exciting morning yesterday going through the whole bag. I can't believe how full of amazing brands the bag was, the last goody bag from the #sotonmeetup was equally as good as this!

Super excited to try out soo many of these goodies, especially the Makeup Revolution palette, the dream dots and the nanshy blending brush!

It felt like Christmas had come early, a beauty bloggers dream!

On the day there were raffle prizes as well with all proceeds going to the British Legion for the Poppy Appeal, we all managed to raise an amazing £50 with Alice and Amy matching that which I think was such a lovely gesture! I also managed to win one of the prizes which was this Bodhi & Birch skin care set, I've never heard of the brand before but will be testing this out soon, the packaging is just gorgeous!

I want to say another big thank you to Alice and Amy for such an amazingly well organised event, it was soo nice to finally meet the bloggers that I had been speaking to for months and meet new ones too. It was a lovely day to mingle and discover some new brands. I'm now very excited about testing out some of the goodies, expect lots of upcoming reviews in the next few weeks! Also please leave your links below if you also attended, I would love to have a read!

Did you attend the #SotonMeetUp? Have you been to a blogger meet before? What do you think of the goody bag?

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Christmas Jumpers Wishlist!

Christmas is well and truly on it's way, and choosing a new Christmas jumper every year is certainly a tradition for me! Each year it has to be more outrageous or funky than the last and I always resort to wearing one on Christmas day over a smart/party outfit. The choice in the shops gets better year upon year. It was hard to whittle it down to six as I NEED all the Christmas Jumpers there are, preferably one for each day of December...But here are the special ones which made the cut!

1. Peacocks gingerbread Jumper - Gingerbread is one of my favourite festive treats and this jumper is just the cutest with the two gingerbread men holding hands, I love the use of the typical Christmas colours and it's a firm favourite of mine! They have loads of other gorgeous jumpers like this on Peacocks too for really affordable prices.

2. H&M Dear Santa Jumper - My eyes seem to be drawn to this jumper every time I pop in store, it's definitely one of the most subtle Christmas jumpers out there which is maybe why I like it, the beading is incredibly pretty and would make for such a stylish outfit, layered with blacks and greys. I definitely think we all need a subtle and an overly garish Christmas jumper in our lives!

3. New Look Jingle all the way Jumper - New Look always have a great selection each year, I really am a fan of the slogan Christmas jumpers and this one is reasonably priced at only £14.99.

4. Boohoo Penny Polar bear Jumper - I love anything with a Nordic pattern at winter time so this jumper is right up my street, although its classed as a Christmas jumper it could definitely be worn all the way through winter, it will match my hand knitted Nordic mittens too!

5. Matalan Mistletoe Jumper - Matalan is a shop I always forget about as my local one isn't in the centre. But for me they are one of the cheapest places behind Primark, the striped sleeves are so quirky, they remind me of both candy canes and the handles of the Christmas Starbucks mugs haha, this is definitely not a bad thing though!

6. Amazon Olaf Frozen Jumper - I had to pick this one out for all the Frozen lovers out there. Amazon do lots of other character jumpers like this, I would say that Ebay is just as good a place as any to look as well and probably cheaper!

Aside from these it goes without saying that Primark always come up trumps with their range of Christmas jumpers, so it's well worth a look in there too if these don't take your fancy! I think I'm going to have to buy more than one this year, ho ho ho!

Don't worry this is only the first of many Christmas posts to come!! Do you like Christmas Jumpers? Which one is your favourite? Have you bought one yet?

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OOTD | Mermaid bag

Top - Primark

Skirt - Primark

Bag - Topshop

Boots - Bank

I picked this outfit up a few weeks ago now and featured the top and skirt in my Autumn clothing haul. This Primark duo has become my favourite outfit for work, I just love the fluffy skirt so much and the fact that it cost only £7 is even better. The skirt is so comfy and warm and this outfit is perfect for outside of work too. Missguided sell the exact same fluffy two piece but almost triple the price, although I really do want a matching black fluffy cropped jumper to match this! 

It goes without saying that I am besotted with this mermaid bag that I found in Topshop last week, it was one of those moments that as soon as I laid eyes on it I had to have it!! Topshop also do this bag in silver sequins which I'm also debating getting, it is nearly party season, so it's totally justifiable!! 

What do you think of this outfit? Do you love sequins? Are you loving the mermaid tops and bags in the shops?

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Battle of the brows: Benefit vs Makeup Revolution

For almost two years now I have been using benefit brow zings to define my eyebrows, it's been the only brow kit that I have ever used. Benefit is at the high end of the drug store market and when I received the Makeup revolution brow kit in the makeup hamper that I won I thought it would be a good idea to compare both of the kits and to see if the benefit set priced a lot higher is actually any better than the Makeup Revolution one. Having statement brows is at the foresight of many girls minds and it doesn't have to be expensive or time consuming to do so!

At a glance you can see that you get a lot more for your money with the Makeup revolution set on the right, there are more colours of powder to choose from and it still includes a mirror, tweezers and a brow brush. The benefit set includes the powder and the pigmented wax, the only difference is that I already know this is the colour most suited for my brows. Apart from that they both offer the same type of powders and wax for my brows.

Benefit Browzings Medium - £24.50

The benefit set is available in three different shades, I opted for medium and the colour suits my hair perfectly. The set contains pigmented wax, powder, tweezers, hard angle brush a blending brush and a little instruction booklet on how to use the product which is incredibly useful. I have never used the tweezers in the set as I find them too fiddly but it's a great set for holiday which means you don't have to carry any extras with you. I usually use the powder and the pigmented wax together and first brush it backwards into my brows and then forwards to finish shaping my brows. There is nothing difficult about using this product at all and it really does help to achieve those power brows. To finish them off I use highlighter just below my brows to make them stand out even more. Baring in mind that I got this set for Christmas two years ago, it looks like I have barely touched the surface of it despite using it almost every day, so it definitely is value for money.

Makeup Revolution Medium brow kit - £3.99

I have been using this set for the past week now, it really doesn't differ much from the benefit set except that there is a few different colours of powder available and the wax is not pigmented. I have been using the darkest colour powder on my brows in the same way as the benefit set, I then go other it with the wax on top. I find that the wax holds the shape much better but it is also quite greasy which only becomes a problem if I rub my brows and the excess goes on my face, I don't fancy getting anymore spots! But for now it is fine and the set has really impressed me for a mere £3.99. I can assume that it will last just as long as the benefit set too so it really is a no brainer if you are purchasing a brow set for the first time which one to pick.

These are the swatches of the makeup Revolution set, what I do like is how the medium set contains three different colours as not everyone has the same coloured brows which makes this a much more versatile set. Nothing is worse than having darker brows than your natural colour.

The benefit set is slightly different as the wax is pigmented which makes it quite a dark colour overall. Luckily it does match my brows perfectly. The powder is also very similar to the lightest of the Makeup Revoution powders.

I think both sets are equally just as good, they do the exact same job and the lasting power once on the brows is brilliant. Of course it really is a no brainer as to what one i would pick in the future, the Makeup revolution set is a huge fraction of the price of the benefit brow zings. Regardless to the fact that the benefit set has lasted two years there really is no difference in the product or quality so its fair to say that makeup revolution wins this round and it can definitely be named the dupe of the benefit brow zings!

What products do you use for your brows? What do you think of these two sets and which would you choose? Would you like to see more makeup comparison posts?

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