I will warn you I am an overpacker and bring more than I need as I'd rather have it and not need it than not have it and need it. You might find not all products I mention are essential for you.

I bring my usual skin care products. if your interested in my everyday skin care routine I've done a post previously going in the detail. 

I always bring a body butter such as soap and glory's sugar crush and Johnson's baby oil as the spas and swimming pool dries my skin out.

I bring my usual shampoo and conditioner and a deep conditioner such as a Aussie 3 minute miracle pouch as like my skin, my hair gets dried out in the pool. I also bring an elvive hair anti frizz serum to apply to my hair when it's damp for added moisture. 

I end up with many miniature shower gels and creams from Christmas and my birthday.If I'm just away for the weekend I tend to take those with me as there the perfect size when your for a couple of nights.  The one I'm taking with me this time is soap and glory's clean on me. you can purchase various mini products in boots or superdrug. 

A few random bits I bring with me are Vaseline and paw paw which are great for dry lips and hands, nail polish and soap and glory's heal genius. 

I obviously bring the real essentials like toothpaste etc but I won't bore you those too much. 

Those are my holiday essentials for when I'm holidaying in the uk. if your interested what I take with me when I go abroad please comment below!  

 

           

After I did my last post it left me wanting to buy more nail polish ( a shocker i know). After talking about the Higher end drug store polishes and salon polishes I thought I'd try something a bit more affordable, I'm forever looking for those hidden gems in Superdrug or Boots.

I came across MUA's nail polishes, the packaging is almost identical to Essie the only difference is MUA's polishes are slightly smaller. There only a pound each and they were 3 for 2  so I got three polishes for two pounds! For a pound each I'm so Impressed. The polish went on lovely and I've had it on for 2 days and it's yet to chip. I didn't have high hopes as the polish was so cheap but I was so Impressed. 

Some of the colours were very close to colour of the Essie polishes. There's Great dupes at such a low price. For example MUAs lavender is very similar to Essie's Fiji. 

Overall their great polishes if your trying to build a collection on a budget or if your new to nail art and don't want to spend a fortune.  I'm defiantly going to purchase more MUA polishes ( not that I need anymore nail polish haha)  

I have quite a collection of polishes after a recent clear out I've got around 80 polishes and I have tried a lot of different brands in my time. So I thought I'd share with you which nail polishes I like the most.

Barrym nail polishes make up a big part of my collection. Barrym have a huge range of colours and types of nail polish. These include Matt, crackle affect and Gelly shine. You really can find the colour to match any outfit. They retail at around £3.99 which is such a bargain. My only con with Barrym is there not very long lasting they chip quite easily with or without a top coat. My favorite polishes by Barrym include Mushroom, berry ice cream and shocking pink.

Another brand I love is Essie. Again Essie have a large range of colours but I also love this brush on Essie nail polishes. The brush is quite large and so easy to paint with my nails always come out so neat when I've used Essie polishes. Essie retail at around £7.99 slightly more than Barrym but personally I think the formula and brush of Essie polishes are better quality than Barrym and worth the bit extra. My favouite Essie polishes include Bikini so teeny, knockout pout and Berry Naughty

whatever paint you are using you need a decent top and base coat. My favorite top and base coat are by OPI which is a salon used brand. There Slightly more expensive than the drugstore brands i have mentioned but if you want a professional finish there defiantly the polishes to use.

There's a few of my favorite polishes please comment and tell me yours

I try to buy different bath bombs each time I go to lush, I picked up sex bomb on my last visit and wow I would defiantly buy it again. The name might be off putting or might lure you in but it didn't really bother me. 

The bath bomb it self is pink and purple with a rose in the middle, When placed in the bath it turns the water bright pink and the petals disperse into the water. the scent is very floral and is just gorgeous!

The sex bomb bath bomb retails at £3.50 It's such a lovely treat and I'd rather have one lush bath bomb than a cheap set of them.

I absolutely love lush bath bombs, I can't wait to try more especially the Christmas range. 

This is second in the series of my Arbonne reviews. Today I'm going to reviewing some of there cosmetics in there Christmas line.  I'm going to be reviewing the "Kiss at midnight lip conditioner trio", the "Sugar plum baked eyeshadow palette" and the "Its a long story royal purple mascara". These products are perfect for the festive season whether it be as a gift or as a treat to yourself. I would say other than the lip glosses they are most suited for festive parties and evening events depending on how dramatic you go with your everyday look.

It's a long story mascara is a vibrant purple mascara and if I'm completely honest I'm not a fan of coloured mascaras. Don't get me wrong the mascara itself is brilliant. The wand gets to every lash and makes my lashes look voluminous,long and in black I'd buy it again In flash. Overall if your a fan of coloured mascaras or fancy a change I would highly recommend it. The mascara retails at £27 slightly more than I would usually pay for a mascara but the quality of the mascara is amazing and worth paying extra for.

The baked eyeshadow palette comes in a beautiful purple box and contains 4 shadows. The shades included are Icing, Gingersnap, Plumberry and Ganache. There all very pigmented and can be applied with a damp brush to give an even more intense colour. They apply like a dream and are very Long lasting. The palette itself is gorgeous and would make a lovely gift or is simply great for yourself for the Christmas and New Years parties ahead. 

The Kiss at midnight lip conditioner trio comes with 3 lip conditioner's they come in the shades peach, pink and berry. My favourite was the pink. I'm someone who really suffers with dry chapped lips and these lip glosses are perfect to rescue them. The gloss is so moisturising without being sticky or greasy. This lip conditioner set retails at £30.00 which works out at £10.00 each which for an Arbonne product is really reasonable. The one downside is that the lip glosses arnt sold separately but there are other very similar shades available. 

Overall the Arbonne Festive cosmetics were of lovely quality and I really enjoyed using them. 

If you wish to purchase anything for Arbonne please visit www.rachelspink.arbonne.com 

 The wand is very similar to the mascara and evenly coats each lash even the tiny ones. The primer gave a lovely base for my mascara and could be used under any mascara but for the best finish with they're real. If you were going for a natural look the primer could even be used on it own as its brown tinted.

I really like that the lash primer is tinted so you don't have to over do the mascara. I'm sure you've all have tried those 2 step mascaras back in the day which left your lashes so white and resembling an ice queen or something out of frozen and it took coats and coats of the mascara to cover it over. Thank goodness lash primer has evolved.

Overall I was really Impressed with the primer it made the they're real mascara work even better and I didn't think that was possible! I would definitely buy again!