FESTIVE REDS

I love wearing red in December, there's something so festive about painting your nails with a sparkly red nail polish or wearing a bold red lipstick. Here's a few of my favourites:

Lips

L'Oreal Color Riche Exclusives Lipstick in Blake: I love Blake Lively, she has such amazing taste and this sophisticated matte cool toned red fits in perfectly with her style. The formula feels slightly more powdery than I normally like in a lipstick but it contains jojoba oil and so keeps lips soft. It's long lasting and a stunning pure matte red.

Sleek Matte Me in Rioja Red*: Supposedly a dupe for the Hourglass Opaque Rouge lipsticks this liquid lipstick is long lasting, super pigmented and really affordable. It dries to a pretty, velvet matte finish and is a beautiful true red. This can be tricky to apply but once dry on the lips it stays put for hours. It's one of longest lasting lipstick's that I've tried and so it is perfect for Christmas parties.

Rimmel Apocalips in Big Bang: This is a creamy, bold red that leaves a satin sheen finish on the lips. I have to prep my lips well before using this as it shows up any imperfections but then it looks so pretty on the lips, is long lasting and fades to a stain. I've written a full review here.

Nails

Nails Inc Tate: A beautiful sophisticated cherry red nail polish which is great if you want something festive without the glitter. Opaque in 1-2 coats Nails Inc nail polish has a great formula that lasts well on my nails.

Barry M Ruby Slippers Red Glitter: Great for fingers or toes this classic glittery red nail polish is a staple for me at Christmas. This is my favourite ruby glittery red nail polish to wear on Christmas day.

Essie Leading Lady: This is a deep red nail polish with flecks of raspberry micro glitter running through it. It's a stunning nail polish and great to wear for the lead up to Christmas.

Which are your favourites?

DATE NIGHT MAKE UP

Me and Alex rarely go on date nights, instead if we want to spend time together then we normally put our jammies on, make some chocolate covered popcorn and watch films, play lego games on his Xbox the or bake! When we do go out on a date night I like to make a bit of an effort, using luxurious items and some of my favourite products:

For my nails I love wearing Nails Inc Tate as it's such a lovely dark cherry red, it gives a touch of sophistication and lasts well on my nails.

For blusher, I'm normally drawn to Nars Orgasm. Probably one of the most well known blushers in the blogosphere, it's such a pretty golden peachy pink that gives a lovely flush of colour to your cheeks.

My favourite lipstick at the moment is Revlon Sultry Samba which is a bright cool toned matte pink. I like to pat a small amount of this onto my lips and rub it in to make a stain so that it's long lasting and a bit more subtle on the lips.

For highlighter I love MAC Soft & Gentle, it's probably my all time favourite champagne highlighter. It gives such a beautiful glow and you only need a small amount brushed on the top of your cheekbones and on the brow bone to really make your skin look luminous and glowing.

I always reach for MAC eyeshadows to wear on evenings out and I love to use my MAC Quad when I want to create a subtle date night look. I use Naked Lunch all over the eyelid and then Sable blended into the outer corner and under the eye to give a subtle smokey eye. The plum pearl in sable really helps to bring out the brown in my eyes whilst Naked lunch (a pretty champagne pink) really helps to brighten and open my eyes.

I then add some winged liner, my accessorize statement necklace and I'm ready to go!

What are your favourite date night products?

THREE REDS

Whenever I can't decide on a colour to wear on my nails, I choose red. I prefer darker shades of reds as I feel they add a touch of sophistication, these are my three current favourites.

'The Bright Red' - Rita Ora for Rimmel in 'Raw as night'* is the perfect fire engine red. Touch dry in 60 seconds and opaque in just one swipe, this is perfect for on the go, no fuss nails. I own a few other 60 second colours and I love the formula, I can never be bothered to wait for my nails to dry and these are great if you need to do your nails in a hurry!

'The Sophisticated Red' - Nails inc Tate nail polish is a classic dark red. It looks great with gold midi rings and is a great transitional colour from Summer to Autumn.

'The Shimmery Red' - 17's fast finish nail polish in 'Garnet' is a deep warm shimmery red. It has just enough shimmer to show on the nails but it's subtle enough not to look sparkly. I normally wear this on my toes as it's a little streaky to apply but it dries quickly on the nails.

xx