Christmas Make-Up Review.

Whether it be brushes, nail varnish, palettes, etc., there's no denying I was very lucky and got a lot of make-up for Christmas. My love of all things beauty related is only growing, so I'd like to feature a bit more beauty on my blog, starting with this small review on the make-up I got for Christmas! I've been progessively testing it out throughout the past two months and - good news - it's basically all positive.

• KIKO Eyeshadow, Lipstick, Nail Lacquer. Whether you've been reading my blog since the beginning, for a month or for a day, you probably already know about the love I have for KIKO. Thanks to the make-up I got for Christmas, that love has actually grown, something even I didn't think was possible. The eyeshadow is a great base colour and also looks great as a browbone and inner-eye highlighter. As the lipstick is more suited to Spring (it's the perfect orange colour!), I haven't got as much wear out of it, but I am so ready for it to become a daily make-up staple. As for the nail varnish - it's honestly one of the best nail varnishes I have ever used. Not only am I completely in love with the colour, but I can easily have this on my nails for an entire week before the slighest chip even appears. 

• Real Techniques Nic's Picks: I am an avid lover of the Real Techniques Core Collection, so was obviously more than excited to find this under the tree. I'm yet to really use the duo-fibre face brush and the eyeliner brush, but the other three are absolutely perfect. They're incredibly soft and though I don't really use them for exactly what they're for, they really make applying make-up easier, especially eye-shadow. 

• Marks and Spencer Brush Collection: Something that I've learnt since Christmas is that you can never have too many brushes. I've gone from only owning the core collection to having a whole box full. Though these aren't as soft as the Real Techniques ones, I've still found them easy to use and I've been lucky in the fact that both collections don't include the same type of brush.

• Deliplus Eyeshadow Palette, Shadowstick and Eyeliner: I do love a good dupe. This palette is great if you can't afford any of the Urban Decay Naked Palettes (me) or the By Terry Ombré Blackstar Shadowsticks (me). I'd like to include the Tom Ford eyeliner in there, but the one I was given definitely doesn't live up to that. The shades of the palette are easy to blend and you can easily create a variety of looks with them; the shadowstick can be used as both an eyeliner, to create a smoky eye or even all over the lid. Don't get me wrong, it's good, but I do find it quite hard to blend unless adding a good primer or moisturiser beforehand. I'm rubbish at eyeliner - I don't know whether it's because I'm just not very good at it or if I haven't found the perfect one - but the woman in the shop assured me this would be the perfect one, despite the thickness. She was wrong. Again, this could be my fault, but when you're short sighted in one eye and long sided in both, applying make-up can be quite hard, especially when you're doing something as fiddly as eyeliner. Here's hoping I soon find the perfect one.

• Tanya Burr Lipgloss (Shade: ): To begin with, I originally thought the reason everyone was saying Tanya's lipglosses were so good is simply because the people saying it were friends of hers. After all, all of her friends talk about how good her eyelashes are, yet people outside her friendship group are perhaps not such big fans, but I was pleasantly surprised with her lipglosses. The pigmentation is good, they're not too sticky, the applicator is perfect and they even smell amazing! I'd love to try some of the other shades to see if they're just as good.

• Marks and Spencer Lipgloss: This didn't come with a label, a box, a shade name - nothing! All I can tell you is that it came with a reindeer head on it and that it's amazing. It's more of a deeper pink colour than the one featured above, which, in my opinion, makes it great for all year round. 

• No.7 Limited Edition Duck Egg Blue Nail Varnish: On a car journey to Scotland this past August, I mentioned to a family friend that one of my favourite colours was a duck egg blue. Fast forward a few months later and she'd bought me a nail varnish in that exact colour. Though it doesn't last as long as the KIKO one when it comes to chipping, I'm still a big fan. It's also made me want to try more make-up from No.7 as I haven't had the best experiences with some of their other stuff.

Did you get any make-up for Christmas and, if so, have you been trying it out?

Let me know in the comments below!