Irish Beauty Bloggers Secret Santa: The Reveal 2014

Hello my beauties I hope you are well :) 

Its that time of year again :) 

I am not sure if you remember last year I did a blog post on Alot of Irish Beauty Bloggers getting involved in Secret Santa :)  To our surprise there was 40+ of us involved and it was a very exiting time for us.  Not know who got us and shopping for our receiver.  To refresh your memories check out last years post here :) 

Well as you can guess we all got together again and took part in Secret Santa again this year.  There is even more people involved in it this year which leaves it all the more exciting.  Aisling form Total Makeup Addict was brilliant again this year to organise the whole thing and I wanted to say a huge thank you to her for making this happen.  Its is brilliant that for such a small country we Beauty Bloggers have formed a brilliant little pact together and are hugely supportive of each other too.  

This year Aisling formed a questionnaire on How much we wanted to spend on each other, when the last day of postage is and of course when the big reveal of what we all got is going to be :)  As you can guess its today :)  I am so exited to see what everyone got :) 

We also had the option on weither we wanted to reveal ourselves to our receivers or not.  I chose to allow my receiver to guess who I was by A)  Delivering the parcel to the door (which was a big risk  B) to leave a clue of who I was on her card :)  I am sure she knows who I am and I cant wait to see if she guessed right :)  If she did guess I will leave a link below to her blog so you can see what I got her :) 

So Last week was when I got my Secret Santa Package through the door I was overly excited like a big baby on Christmas Day :)  I just couldnt wait to open my present and neither could my little brood :) :) 

The presents were all wrapped individually which left it all the more exciting.  I recieved 8 goodies and a card.  

First of all I just had to open the card to see did my secret santa reveal herself and I was delighted she did :) 

Awww So Sweet thank you Anita :)  I love Anita's Blog :) 

Now from the presents :) :) 

One by one we all opened the presents to reveal some amazing gifts and each one I never tried which was all the more exciting 

Anita as I know is a Oriflame Representative so it made me smile that she added 2 items from Oriflame to my gifts :)  I am guessing these are some of her favourites too :)  First of all she gave me The Love Nature Exfoliating Cleanser in Grape and I have to admit this smells absolutely beautiful :) I cannot wait to try this 
Secondly from Oriflame is the Nature Secrets Hand Cream in which I havent tried yet but am sure will have a post on it soon :) 

Next up she gave me a mini Yankee Candle in the scent Soft Blanket which I have tried burned before and I adore the scent.  Its mild yet you can smell it everywhere in your home :)  Thank you Anita :) 

Next up is makeup and the first thing I noticed was Mascara by NYC I like the sound of this one as it says its Volumizing High Definition :)  As you can tell I have never tried it before so am super excited to try this :) 

The next Makeup Items are by Wet N Wild which I am surely all of you know is one of my favourite drugstore brand :) :)  Not only that but all items got for me by Anita is items I have never tired EEEEKKKKK :) 
First up is the Wet N Wilds "Arts in the Streets" Eyeshadow palette.  This palette is surely one palette I might have passed out on buying myself because I dont normally go for these shades but I am glad she got it for me because I could be surprised with them :)  You know how it is when you go clothes shopping yu see something on the hanger, you think "gosh that would never suit me" until you actually try it on.  Well this is the hanger moment for me so I am super excited to play with this little beauty.  Not only that but all shades are matte LOVE IT :) 

Next up from Wet n Wild is the Mega Rocks Nail polis in shade "Creative Control"  Look at the chunk glitter on this I am going to apply this over black nail polish for Christmas I love it. 

Next from Wet and wild is this stunning Color Icon single glitter eyeshadow which is a cream eye shadow :)  I am going to look forward to using this for Christmas looks so be sure to check out my face book page for some pictures in the coming days ;)  Just look at that glitter :) :) 

Lastly from Wet N Wild is The Megaslicks Balm Stain in shade "Red-dy or Not" (love the name)  This is one lip product I havent tried from Wet N Wild and I love the shade Anita picked for me as Its so Christmassy :) :) I will surely be wearing this on Christmas day too After all if its a stain and it works I will need this on my lips.  Well there will be alot of eating and drinking involved ;) 

Lastly but not least is the Collection 2000 Glam Glitter :)  This looks interesting :)  One end is a Fixing Gel and the other end is loose black glitter.  According to the instructions you apply the glitter gel first and then pat on the glitter on top :)  I am excited to see how this turns out :) :) 
I did a little try out on my hand and here is what it looks like ;)  (I couldnt resist) 

I can not thank Anita enough for all of my goodies I love each and every last one :)  I am super excited to play around with them.  I really enjoyed the experience this year again thanks to Aisling fair play to her for all the organising and hopefully next year we will be doing it all over again :) 
If you are interested in seeing what everyone else got check out the twitter hashtag #irishbloggersSS14 I know my day is going to busy reading all the blog posts and watching all the videos :) :) 

Until Next Time 
Lots of Love Luck and Laughter 

I love love love hearing from you all :) I make it my duty to read each and every one of you comments and every time i get a comment from you it highlights my day thanks so so much to you all xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Irish Beauty Bloggers Secret Santa: The Reveal

What Better Way to get into the Christmas Spirit than to get involved in Secret Santa Awwww I love Secret Santa.  I used to alway get involved in school in work (when I was working).  I missed it after I left work and school that was until the wonderful Aisling from Total Makeup Addict came up with the Idea that The Irish Bloggers get together and play secret santa amonst ourselves.  Of course I jumped to the chance As I love all the mystery and secrets involved in it.  

Of course it is exciting from start to finish and I am even still excited about the reveal from everyone.  I cant wait to see who everyone got and what everyone got :) :) And of course cant wait to see what my receiver thought of her present.  

So we all agreed to spending €20 each not including postage on our receivers which was perfect and well affordable and to be honest put us to the test on what to get at that budget.  I was super excited when Aisling revealed who I was buying for as I absolutely love her blog and read it all the time :)  Dont worry I will post at the end who I sent my gift to and post a link to her so you can see what i got her.  

So the day came when the postman knocked on my door and handed me a parcel.  The poor postman nearly lost his fingers as I snatched the parcel off him (thankfully he is easy going and found it funny) 

I had all the time in the world to open my gift as my kiddies was gone to school.  My sister was beside me telling me to hurry and open as she is just as excited as I am lol 

Here is how my parcel was presented :) Now obviously I am not going to show you the front with my address lol but there was a lovely bow and all on the box 

Opeing it up I see beautiful colours and a card but I decided not to read the card until I opened up the box.  Inside was this beautiful toiletry bag with some fantastic colours which actually made me think "Africa".  Inside this beautiful bag was my lovely lovely gifts. 

 One thing I Noticed staight away was a Bandana.  In a way I was a little confused but also open minded as I always am.  Another thing I noticed was an unusual bar of chocolate one I have never seen before.  Next I noticed a small pack of worm sweets.  I love sweeties I have to admit.  Next was 4 little gifts all wrapped up for me to open awwwww I was like a little kiddie on Christmas morning my sister beside me iching to open them for me I slapped her hand and told her no.  She replied "Nina Pleeeezzzz Can I open one " I replied "No hands off their mine act you age you would think you were 5 not 25" "Speak for yourself she says"  In all fairness she was right hahahaha So I allowed her to open one.  

Each and every gift I opened Were eye openers and items I never tried which was even more excited but two items in particular caught my eyes.  Both gifts were made from the same brand which I had never heard of.  I read the back and its says its and african company Hmmmmm.  But I thought It was Irish Bloggers.  Now I was confused.  A Bandana,  A Bag with African Colours and two items from an African Brand.  This is where both myself and my sister look at each other and then the card.  

Well let me Tell you Now...... Nothing prepared me for what I was about to read on this card.  First of all my secret santa revealed herself (we had a choice to reveal ourselves to our receivers or not) I am so so so glad she did because I was absolutely overwhelmed with the thought that went into these gifts.  Everything had its own meaning I love it.  

By the time I had finished reading the card both my sister and I were in tears I could not believe how thoughtful this woman was.  

Let me show you the card and you will see why she had us in tears!!!!! Click the photo to bring it closer if you need to :) 

WOW!!!!!! Are you in tears?  I bet you feel warm inside.  What an amazing thing to do.  First of all not only did she think of me she thought of my children, buying them sweeties and also the most amazing thing buying the Bandana in which the donation goes to a charity for Cancer Suffers.  Words can not described how much that means to me and I will never ever forget it for as long as I live !!!!!!!!!! My son was very moved by it also when I told him and wanted to thank her himself and here is how he wanted to thank her :) 

So Cindy From Girl With The Skew Earring I thank you from the bottom of my heart from one of the most thoughtful amazing wonderful Christmas present ever I will never ever forget it.  My kiddies loved your sweeties and I surely loved the peppermint bar yummy.  As for all the beauty items I am already Loving the hand sanitiser and the hand lotion they smell amazing so amazing I want to try more items and was even onto the site to see if they ship to Ireland.  Expect some reviews up soon on my new items :) :) 

Cindy you have a heart of gold and You have made a life long friend in me hunny.  We are sending you Huge hugs your way :) :) :) 

For everybody else please check out Cindy's Blog.  She is a hard working mum herself who has alot of hidden talents.  She is originally from African and Living in Ireland 7 years now and as you can tell yourself has an amazing heart :) :) 

Thank you Aisling from Total Makeup Addict for arranging this because without you I wouldnt have made yet another amazing friend :) :) 

I decided to reveal myself to my receiver because I am so glad my secret santa revealed herself.  I will post up her blog post when she has it published later so you can see what I got her.   Overall as you can tell I enjoyed every last bit of this and I hope we can do it again next year there is nothing as great as making people smile after all Tis the Season to be Jolly :) 

Until next time 

Lots of Love Luck an Laughter  

I love love love hearing from you all :) I make it my duty to read each and every one of you comments and every time i get a comment from you it highlights my day thanks so so much to you all xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

What i Got From My Secret Santa aka Dyna

Hey everyone i thought i would share with you what i got from my secret santa aka the Beautiful Dyna from Dyna's Random Blog 

I took Part in doing Secret Santa with 4 Girls I met through blogging and I have to say I had so much fun doing it. 

We all had a limit on what to spend and we could sent anything so in the video i have shown you what i received off Dyna which i love every last thing. 

So keep an eye out for reviews on these very soon :) :) 

I also took the chance to do some more Essence shopping hehehe as you do!!! (well I have to for you guys dont I) 

so I have loads of Essence Makeup to review for you 

Hope you look forward to that. 

See You all soon 

Lots of Love Luck and Laughter 

Nina C.

xoxoxoxoxox