It's never too soon to write a Christmas List!

Having devoured the Boots Christmas Catalogue, been seduced by the Debenhams gift sets & had a giddy  moment with Karl Largerfeld for Shu Uemura, I thought it was time I let the big man in red know what I'd like for Christmas!

Dear Santa......

I've been a really good girl this year and would be very grateful if you would perhaps fill my stocking with some of these beautiful things. I promise to write a lovely blog post about them if you do! Many Thanks in anticipation Esme xx

Karl Largerfeld for Shu Uemura

Bordeaux

Smokey Velvet

Oh how I love a palette, especially if its full of rich, creamy deep colours that offer amazing colour pay off. The funky packaging reminds me of the Emily the Strange or Pukka bags I loved when I was a student. This palette is available in Bordeaux (rich golds and plummy wine colours) and Smokey Velvet (green and black with silver and pastel blue). They are pricey at £45 (http://www.selfridges.com/en/Beauty/Brand-rooms/Contemporary/SHU-UEMURA/Karl-Lagerfeld-for-shu-uemura) but of course they are limited edition and offer the high quality colour that Shu's eye shadows are known for. They are also very wearable colours not just for the party season but through the winter and beyond. 
 

Trish McEvoy Voyager Collection

 I've made no secret of my love for Trish products, especially her brushes. This mini set is right up my street, love the colour combinations, love the tiny pink quilted bag but I ADORE the mini double ended brushes. This is the perfect handbag friendly palette containing 2 concealers, 4 eye shadows, a lip colour and a gloss, a bronzer and blusher. The brushes include travel friendly versions of (my absolutely beloved) Tapered Blending, VaVa Voom & precise lining as well as an angled contour brush. This is available at Selfridges for £65 which I think represents good value when you consider the price of the full size products/brushes and the quality Trish offers.

Clinique Mix It Up Kisses Gift Set

I think this is really cute, I like how you could attach this to a bag (think it'd be a bit heavy for your keys) and have a selection of lip products easily to hand. I carry a massive handbag Monday to Friday and I'm always rummaging for a lip gloss in the bottom, so this would be great for me. It offers a great range of wearable shades and a variety of glosses and lipsticks. This is a lovely way to try host of Clinique colours before deciding whether you want to invest in a full size. For £25 you get 6 mini products (2 lipsticks, 2 superbalm glosses and 2 long last glosses) which I think offers good value for money. This would make a great gift for any woman.

Estee Lauder Art of Lips

It was the super gorgeous bag that first dragged this set into my attention. I love it, it reminds me of the styling used by Prada for their Candy fragrance. Housed within the colour block bag is a full sized Pure Colour  lipstick, double ended Pure Colour lip gloss and a Double Wear lip pencil. I love the Chic Pinks but there's also a nude version but the shades looked a bit too brown ish for my liking. They are available for £30 from Debenhams.

Benefit Gift Sets

How to Look the Best at Everything

Passport to Posh

Oh Benefit, how I do love you! This brand has been consistently in my top 5 for as long as I can remember so I couldn't wait to check out this years Christmas gift sets. I love giving these as much as I love to receive them! I have, after much deliberation narrowed down my 2 favourites. How To Look The Best at Everything Complexion Set (£24.50) This fabulously styled (love the book type packaging) kit contains 2 mini Boi-ing concealers, a mini Porefessional pore minimising primer, a mini Hello Flawless Oxygen Wow Foundation and a Hello Flawless cover up powder complete with brush. Its available in light, medium and dark it offers a great way of trying these products together. I love boi-ing and the wow foundation but sadly Porefessional breaks me out so I was glad of the opportunity to try it before shelling out upwards of £20 for a product I cannot use. Passport to Posh Eye Kit (£25, exclusive to Debenhams) This looks like a handy little kit, not only does it contain a couple of my Benefit favourites but it seems like it would be really usable for everyday. Along with 3 neutral suit all shades of shadow you get a mini Bad Gal mascara, a boi-ing concealer, an Eye Bright, brush and my personal favourite Creaseless Cream colour in RSVP. Creaseless Creams are similar to MAC paint pots,  versatile as colour, liner or base and last all day. I'd keep this in my handbag for post night shift make up or take it away for the weekend for lazy Sunday morning eyes. It would make a great gift as its  universally flattering.

Viktor & Rolf Flower Bomb Roll-On & Lip Gloss Duo

This is  really clever idea, a 5ml roll-on of fragrance coupled with a 5ml lip gloss in the same pen. I love to carry my fragrance with me but all too often it means taking a heavy glass bottle in my bag. This looks chic, the gloss is a neutrally pink shimmer that looks like it's be quite flattering and easy to wear everyday. The roll-on applicator would allow me to add a quick swipe of fragrance at times when you may not want to spray like in the car or staff room. I'm a fan of solid perfume but not so much the scented fingers I end up with, so to me this is a step forward from that! I now want to invent a roll on  atomiser so I can carry all my scents this way. At £19.50 it is a bit pricey for the amount of product you receive but I'd imagine you only need a tiny bit of perfume if rolling on but the lip gloss may not last too long. A great gift as its quite a natty idea and the type of thing you probably would buy for yourself but love once you owned it!

Chantecaille Elephant 

Now, you'd probably have to be extra good for Father Christmas to drop these little beauties down your chimney but I think they are so cute I just had to add them to the list. The SpackNK website says this palette (£74) combines trends from the catwalk and Kenyan Grasslands with simplicity. Each of the 4 shadows is embossed with a little elephant, the shadows look very rich (I've sadly not been able to swatch them) and although dark I think they are wearable colours that would suit most people. I love the look of Grassland (deep green) and Copper Ore (redish brown with a hint of gold). 
There's also an Elephant Cheek colour (£30), peachy pink powder that claims to make pores invisible and won't settle into lines. A very easy to wear everyday colour that would make you smile every time you looked  at it. But could you bring yourself to sweep away the beautiful baby elephant? Not sure I could!




This post could run and run, there are so many gorgeous gifts around this year, but I'm going to leave it there. I'd love to know what you guys are hoping Santa will leave by the fire for you so please leave a comment.

It's all about eye

Firstly, Apologies for my terrible, flu ravaged skin & the absolutely shocking photo quality contained in this post but I was desperate to get it published after over a week of blog silence & so tried (& some may say failed!) to photograph my own eyes.

This post is purely self indulgent. I love applying eye make, it's what I love most about doing my face. Finding myself with a rare work/child/husband free morning, I decided to play around with a few eye looks. I had no plan other than to delve deep inside my shadow box & see how the mood took me. This is what happen next!

Royal blue with flashes of emerald green. Pure silliness! My gran would say 'blue & green should never be seen except when worn by a gypsy queen' but when I see striking blue & green I think peacocks & mermaids (how girly does that sound!). I covered my upper lid Mac LiquidLast (can't find the name of this shade) taking it below my lower lashes but keeping it quite round. Next I lined below the blue underneath & my upper lash line with collection 2000 glam crystals in Pizzazz. Who knows what I was thinking but I kind of like it! Having made an unholy mess I skipped mascara as my lashes were caked in liner. Unless a fancy dress party demands it, I think this look will be going firmly back in the box!

Ombré ish Green I love the melting quality of dip dyed ombré silk & have seen a couple of great example of ombré hair over summer so thought I'd give it a whirl on my eyes. On the outer third I applied GO eyes in 577c  then used a mid green from Pixi's Muse pallet in the centre before  blending some Trish Mcevoy Kiwi into inner corner. I used a bit of L'Oreal Chrome Shine Silver Jade to blend the colours in the centre of the lid. I took all three greens underneath the eye too. I finished up by lining upper lashes & waterline with Trish Mcevoy Definer in Clover. A Quick sweep of Maybelline Great Lash Black/Brown to define lashes but not swamp the softness of the look. I do think this look is soft, despite being bright and heavy. I think it's the kind of thing I'd wear for a Saturday daytime with pale pink blush and glossy pink lips. I  think my initial vision was of something less blended with greater definition between shades but I'm happy with the outcome none the less. This is probably my favourite eye of the morning.

Squared off crease colour.Firstly, I blended a neutral from a 120 colour Prettypink palette all over my lid using a big Ms Make Up brush. Using a  bright matt blue from a FCUK gift palette I took a  Mac 266 and drew a sharp corners at the inner an outer corner of my upper eye and filled it in taking the colour across the crease. I took the same colour underneath, hoping for an arty reflection kind of effect! I added a coat of Benefit Bad Gal Blue and lined the waterline with MAC Fascinating Kohl pencil.  I've been wanted to try a squared eye for a whole after seeing picture of the Frankie Morello catwalk. I've envisioned a dark Gothic version worn with a fierce black dress & boots which I do intend to try this winter. This was so easy to achieve & I like it, perhaps not this colour on me & without the colour underneath but I'll definitely keep playing with this until I get something I really like.


Sparkly green with deep pink. I'm loving wearing L'Oreal Chrome Shine silver jade with collection 2000 Hard Candy  underneath as a weekend look at the moment & the is just a sparkly take on that look with a thick liner. I covered my lid with E5 from W7 Cabaret set then lined it with MAC Stormwatch applied with a Real Techniques brow brush so the line was fairly meaty, I didn't wing it as far as I'd usually take a colour liner so not to overwhelm the look.  I smudged some collection 2000 pixie pigment over Stormwatch then I worked some Hard Candy under the eye adding some Benefit show off in a pinky shade to 'pink it up' a bit. Finally i added a touch of Chrome Shine in rose Gold to the inner corner as a highlight. I finished off with MAC opulash mascara. I'm so sad this didn't photograph better because its a really pretty and subtly colourful look that I'm sure I'll recreate again.

All in all, I had great fun and will be spending my next qquiet morning doing exactly the same but with a plan of the looks I want to try. I will also have a husband on hand to take some decent pictures! Oh how I wish I could spend all my mornings playing in my make up box!!