I received quite a few beauty products for Christmas, so this post might have more beauty in it than other items but…

The first products I’ve loved this month have been the M.A.C makeup brushes. I haven’t really used any makeup brushes previously, so I can’t really do a comparison, but I have been really enjoying using these brushes.

I received a set of 5 brushes containing:

I have been using the foundation brush for concealer as I don’t wear foundation, but I have found it makes such a difference with application and it lasts so much longer than applying it with my fingers. I use the blush/powder brush for powder and bronzer (which I will come on to in a minute), and I have found the eyeshadow brushes make my eye makeup look so much better and I am able to create some more complex makeup looks. Quick question for you all – is it fine to use cream shadows on an eyeshadow brush? It probably sounds quite stupid, but they’re so nice I really don’t want to ruin them and Google gave me conflicting results…

The next product I’ve loved recently, I actually received for my birthday in July, but only recently started really using. This is the Benefit Hoola bronzer. The reason I’ve only just started wearing this is because I got it in a set and the brush it came with was very small and aimed at contouring, however, I found I couldn’t wear it without ending up with big streaks on my face. Now that I have a big fluffy brush, I have found I am much more able to blend the bronzer out much more and I have been loving it. I use it both for contour and general bronzing so I don’t look too washed out and I feel like it works really well. It also blends really easily (unless you put moisturiser on beforehand…)

Something else I’ve loved using this month is the W7 ‘In The Nude’ eyeshadow palette. I actually bought this for £5 in the amazon sales, just after I put my sales haul up. This palette contains loads of gorgeous pink and gold nudes, and as it was so cheap, I knew I couldn’t really go wrong. I didn’t. The colours in this are all so gorgeous and most of them are really pigmented. I find that these last quite well on their own, but they stay on so much longer if I put them over a cream shadow – so I’d recommend that if you have this palette.  

I have also really enjoyed using the Zoella Beauty Wonder Hand moisturising hand cream. As the weather has been cold recently, and I went skiing where it was between -10 and 0 degrees, my hands have been exceedingly dry and quite sore. However, using this has really helped them throughout the month. I love the scent of this hand cream (as with all the Zoella Beauty products) and it sinks in really quickly.

This next item featured in my Sales Haul and this is the Topshop Bomber Jacket. I have been wearing this at every opportunity and I love it. It is quite a warm jacket so I am able to wear it, even though it’s been slightly colder recently. I’m really glad I chose the black one over the khaki colour as I have been wearing this with black jeans and can then wear any colour top (although my go to t-shirts are grey – very monochrome…).

Finally, I’ve really enjoyed reading The Marvels by Brian Selznick.

In this magnificent reimagining of the form he originated, two stand-alone stories – the first in nearly 400 pages of continuous pictures, the second in prose –together create a beguiling narrative puzzle.

The journey begins on a ship at sea, with a boy named Billy Marvel. He survives a devastating shipwreck and later finds work in a London theatre. There his family flourishes for generations as brilliant actors until young Leontes Marvel abandons the stage and runs away.

A century later, Joseph Jervis, another runaway, seeks refuge with an uncle in London. Stormy Uncle Albert and his strange but beautiful house, with its ships and theatre programs, haunting portraits and ghostly presences, lure Joseph on a search for clues about the house, and his own life.

This book is written in a style I have never seen before and I thought it was really cool. The first 400 or so pages of this book are graphic novel style pictures, it then moves onto 200 pages of writing, and finished with images again. I loved this style as I thought it was such a clever idea, and everyone who reads it is able to interpret the story in a way that is probably slightly different from everyone else’s, yet the story is further explained and developed with text. The two seemingly different stories slowly intertwine with each other.  I loved the story of this book and the twists and turns it took as well as the unusual style it was written in. It is also a really gorgeous book to have on the shelf!

I hope you enjoyed this post, let me know what you’ve loved this month in the comments :)

Lucy xx