Ciara Sims

The big day is finally here. New Year's Eve. One more night filled with as much glitz and glamour as possible before we welcome in the new year. A new year of fresh starts all round. Yesterday I shared with you some beauty inspiration from Pinterest and I think I have finally decided on my nails for the big night later - *Ciaté Ladylike Luxe (£9).

Gold is a nail polish colour that I have never actually tried before. Gold glitter, yeah. But not full gold. I'm not that adventurous either so gold would have probably never graced my nails if it wasn't for the gorgeous *Ciaté Mini Mani Manor. However, gold is bang on trend at the moment so I thought I would take New Year's Eve as an opportunity to try the trend out for myself.

*Ciaté Ladylike Luxe is a warm iridescent gold with a subtle layer of shimmer which captures the light beautifully. I have to admit that when I first applied it I didn't like it at all. I thought it was too yellow, didn't go with my skin tone and just wasn't flattering. I wanted to take it off straight away. But I didn't want to give up. I've now been wearing it for the past couple of days and it has grown on me a lot. I think there is something quite elegant about it and is perfect for a special occasion.

To get *Ladylike Luxe opaque I applied 2 generous coats. It was so easy to apply, the brush is the perfect size for my nails and I didn't have to do any cleaning up. It also didn't streak and dried really quickly with an almost foil finish. It also hasn't chipped at all!

I don't know if I am completely in love with *Ladylike Luxe yet but I do think it would look really pretty layered over/under other colours and I think you could make some seriously beautiful nail art with this colour. If only I was more talented...

What do you think of gold nail varnish?

Ciara x

*This post contains items which were gifted to me. Full disclaimer.

Red lips, long fluttery eyelashes and loads of glitter - sounds like a recipe for a New Year's Eve look, am I right? Anything goes on the last night of the year. You can go all out with glitter everywhere or play it cool with only a subtle shimmer. However, there is always pressure to have the perfecttt party look. So to guarantee your most flawless look of 2014, I'm sharing with you 10 stand out looks that I found on Pinterest to inspire your New Years Eve makeover.

Well it's no secret that I have a little obsession with Lush. So when I got the beautiful Lush Merry Christmas Gift Box  (£19.95) for Christmas, I was so excited. Even just that beautiful ribbon excited me and I continued to wear it in my hair all day.

The Merry Christmas Gift Box contains 5 festive bath bombs/bubble bars. I was so happy as I haven't had the chance to get to Lush and try out any of there Christmas offerings this year as I've been so busy buying for other people. Karma eh? I haven't had the chance to try any of these out yet so this is more of a first impressions post and I've included links to full reviews so you can see all the bath goodies in action.

Lord Of Misrule:

Christmas Eve:

Father Christmas:

 

Cinders:

Golden Wonder:

Recently I've found that my skin has been looking a bit tired and dull so I bought the Body Shop Vitamin C Microdermabrasion Sachet (£2) to see if it could give me bright and radiant looking skin as it promised.

The Body Shop Vitamin C Microdermabrasion Sachet contains fine exfoliating micro particles and crushed garnet stones to remove dead skin cells and hopefully reveal a brighter more radiant complexion, as well as leaving skin soft and smooth and improving tone. That's a lot for 1 little sachet.

The way this works is you wet your face just as if you were washing it and then you massage the scrub into your skin in little circular motions and then rinse it off. The texture is quite rough so if you do have sensitive skin I would advise that you're really gentle with it or just stay away from it completely. I also thought that it smelt exactly like the orange flavoured Vitamin C tablets that you dissolve in water. (If you have to take them then you will understand!)

Immediately after using the scrub I did find that my skin felt quite tight as if it had been stripped however this feeling was gone after putting on my moisturiser. My skin was left feeling really soft however I didn't notice any brightening effect or improvement in the tone of my skin.

The value of this sachet is fantastic, you get a lot of the scrub and if you're clever, you'll be able to find a way of making it last for more than 1 wash. I didn't really realise this and just stuck it all on in one go.

I don't think I will be repurchasing the Body Shop Vitamin C Microdermabrasion Sachet as it didn't really work for me.

Have you tried the Body Shop Vitamin C Microdermabrasion Sachet? Did it work for you?

Ciara x

I know strictly speaking this is supposed to be an advent calendar but my wonderful mother gifted me the *Ciate Mini Mani Manor (£49) for Christmas and I was absolutely over the moon. I wouldn't have been able to cope with only being allowed to open 1 door a day. No I would much rather open the whole thing and see the wonderful collection all before my very own eyes.

If you manage to get your hands on this wonderful piece of kit, then it really does make the perfect gift at any time of the year for any nail varnish addicts out there. It's also great if you are new to Ciate nail varnishes like myself, as you get a really wide range of colours, some glitter, pearls and nail transfers, so you can try a bit of everything.

I think the packaging is so cute, the little bottles are adorable and Ciate have even put little messages on the inside of the doors for you to read which makes it just feel so personal. The colour range is perfect and there are even some colours in there that I have never seen before or would think to buy for myself. You also get one full size shade that is completely unique to the *Mini Mani Manor!

This is worth every single penny and more. I love it!

What do you think of Ciate nail varnishes?

Ciara x

*This post contains items which were gifted to me. Full disclaimer.

My boyfriend picked me up this cute little bath melt on the way back from his recent trip to Center Parcs. I'd never heard of Bomb Cosmetics before, but this bath melt smelt absolutely gorgeous  and was cute as a button, so I couldn't wait to try it out.

The Bomb Cosmetics Ginger Love Mallow (£2.25) smells amazingly of gingerbread. It's such a comforting scent and one that fits perfectly into this festive season.

When first put into the bath it doesn't really look like anything special. There are no bubbles, not really any fizzing and it sort of turns the bath water murky. However, the room is taken over by the sweet scent and you get out of the bath feeling as soft as a baby's bottom.

The Ginger Love Mallow contains shea and cocoa butter which fills the bath with rich, nourishing, creamy moisturising goodness. It feels really luxurious. However, it does take quite a long time to sink into the skin which is a pain.

Mixed reviews for this little bath melt. What are your experiences with Bomb Cosmetics?

Ciara x

I hope everyone has had a great day and got everything they wished for. I'm not putting this post up to brag in anyway at all, I just thought it would be nice to share with you what I got for Christmas in case any of you where interested.









What did you get for Christmas? I would love to know, so leave me a comment below :)

Ciara x

Merry Christmas everybody! I hope you all have a fantastic day and get everything you hoped for. I plan to stuff my face with chocolate and pigs in blankets and watch as many Christmas specials on telly as possible.

What have you got planned?

Ciara x

There are two things that I love most around Christmas, and no they're not the gifts or cheesy Christmas films.They're baking and gingerbread. I thought I would share with you the recipe I always use for gingerbread perfection.

• 350g/12oz plain flour, plus extra for rolling out
• 1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
• 2 tsp ground ginger
• 1 tsp ground cinnamon
• 125g/4½oz butter
• 175g/6oz light soft brown sugar
• 1 free-range egg
• 4 tbsp golden syrup

Method:

1. Sift the flour, bicarbonate of soda, ginger and cinnamon and stick them into a bowl. Add the butter and mix until it all looks like breadcrumbs. Then stir in the sugar.

2. Beat the egg and golden syrup together in a separate little bowl then, add to the big bowl and mix until the mixture clumps together. Tip the dough out, knead quickly until smooth, wrap in cling film and stick it in the fridge for 15 minutes.

3. Preheat the oven to 180C/350F/Gas 4 and line two baking trays with greaseproof paper.

4. Roll the dough out to about 1/2 cm thickness on a lightly floured surface. Using cutters, cut out the gingerbread shapes and place on the baking tray, leaving a gap between them.

5. Bake for 12-15 minutes, or until lightly golden-brown. Leave your gingerbread on the tray for 10 minutes and then move to a wire rack to finish cooling. When cooled decorate however you would like and get eating!

Get baking and let me know how it goes when you're finished, I'd love to know!

Ciara x

Not all Christmas songs are completely naff, but the best ones are.



Ciara x

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I hope you're all as excited for Christmas as I am! I've been thinking about my Christmas wish list for ages now and I think I finally have it decided so in case you're a little bit stuck with what to ask for, here is my Christmas wish list.

What's on your Christmas wish list this year?

Ciara x

Hi, my name is Ciara and I'm a lip product addict. I always have been, since I was little I loved to look through my mums endless stash of pretty lipsticks. I found everything about them, from the buttery rich colours, to the cool metal casings that surrounded them, utterly beautiful. So it only made sense that I too one day would have my own endless stash of lip products. Balms, butters, glosses, stains, lacquers, lipsticks, I've got the lot. Yet something has always been missing. I was yet to find the perfect matte winter shade.

I'm not that adventurous when it comes to colours. Red's have always been my favourite. I wanted something a bit deeper for the winter but couldn't bring my self to go full on vampy. Maybe next year! I first met *Mac Chili (£15.50) on a trip to Selfridges back in the summer and as soon as I laid eyes on it, I knew I had to have it in my collection. So I whipped out my phone and stuck in on the top of my Birthday list. So now thanks to my wonderful friend, I finally have it!


I do find it a little bit hard to apply so I would suggest using it with a lip liner to make it a little bit easier, however I am yet to find a lip liner which matches this gorgeous lipstick. If you know one that would work, please let me know in the comments. Once it is on I blot it with tissue a couple of times and reapply to increase the intensity and the wear time. I have found that if I don't blot it, then this does transfer onto things like glasses quite quickly and needs a lot of reapplying throughout the day. But with blotting it becomes almost like a stain and lasts for absolutely hours! Although it is a matte lipstick, I don't really find it that drying at all, it's really comfortable to wear. Not what I was expecting at all.

This has become a firm favourite in my collection, I love it to pieces and always get complimented when I wear it. It's also really versatile, for the evening I go all out and applying it fully. But during the day it's easy to take a bit onto the finger and rub it on to create a subtle muted stain that lasts all day. Perfect!

What do you think of *Mac Chili? Are there any more unsung heroes of the lipstick world that I should look into?

Ciara x

*This post contains items which were gifted to me. Full disclaimer.