Shopping My Stash | The Festive Edit

Since Christmas is just around the corner (quite literally! How quick does time fly?!), I decided to have a little route through my makeup drawers the other day in search of some festive makeup inspiration.  As I'm on a bit of a budget this year and haven't really got an excuse to splurge on a selection of new products - I thought it would be perfect timing for my first ever 'shopping my stash' themed post. I always love reading these on other blogs but I've never done one myself.  As a fickle bunch, us bloggers do have a tendency to forget about the fabulous goodies we already own in favour of treating ourselves to a new little luxury or two (guilty as charged)...but sometimes, it's much better to re-discover old favourites.  As a family, we always go out for dinner and drinks on Christmas Day.  It's basically a fabulous excuse to get done up like a dog's dinner and for me, a good time to experiment a little bit with my makeup - if ever you're going to break the rules and get away with the smokey eye/bright red lip combo (with a dash of extra glitter for good measure) it's on Christmas Day! Here's what I picked out...

First up is a blogger classic, Mac's Cranberry. I love this shade in the autumn/winter and it's just perfect for this time of year.  It puts a nice little twist on a classic smokey eye and is surprisingly easy to wear - it looks lovely on the centre of the lid if you're not brave enough to go full-on with it.  I also picked out Urban Decay's 'Zodiac' - a beautiful shimmery deep forest green.  I've only ever worn this once on New Year's Eve last year but it looked absolutely stunning and I'm determined to make it work again for me this year.  The shimmer is perfect for creating a festive themed smokey eye and the consistency is simply divine.  Urban Decay always get it right when it comes to texture and this shade in particular is so soft, creamy and pigmented. I adore it. I reckon I might wear this Christmas Day...

I also picked out a smokey eye favourite - Nars Mekong.  This stuff is seriously rich and I reserve it purely for nights out and special occasions simply because it can be a little too much at times - but I adore it nonetheless.   It's a beautiful deep brown shade with tiny flecks of gold running through it. It looks gorgeous worn on it's own, blended out and concentrated on the lid - it gives your eyes so much definition and it's such a good shade for creating a more sultry look.  It's probably the most pigmented, richest brown shade I own. Last up, my favourite gold is Look Beauty's Shade 13 'Luxe' Eyeshadow.  I spoke about this in a recent post here if you want to read up about why I love it so much, but it's one of my faves.  It's akin to a pressed pigment in my opinion as it's so rich and creamy - it gives your lids an almost foiled look.

Next, I headed straight for the statement red lipsticks. I have a couple of favourites that I always use around this time of year - some happen to be drugstore cheapys (MUA Shade 1 is a winner) but when it comes to Christmas, I always feel a little more inspired to reach for some of my more luxurious lippies. The festive season calls for a bit of luxe, doesn't it?!  Mac's MAC Red has to be my ultimate pillar box red.  It's a fairly neutral, cherry sort of shade and the satin finish provides opaque colour without being overly drying.  It featured in my Mac Lipstick Collection post here, and also in my Top 5 Autumn/Winter Reds post - it's very well loved.  I also fell head over heels for Bobbi Brown's 'Old Hollywood' last year.  It certainly lives up to it's name and simply screams glamour.  It's a little more bright in tone than MAC Red - I wouldn't say it's orange toned but it's definitely a little more warm - it looks beautiful both day or night.  The creamy formula applies like a dream and provides full colour pay off. The packaging is also perfect for the season - the weighty gold bullet and satisfying 'clicky' lid is right up my street. I wore it in this post if you want to see more of it.

Swatches L-R // Look 'Shade 13' // Mac 'Cranberry' // UD 'Zodiac' // Nars 'Mekong' // Mac 'MAC Red' // Bobbi Brown 'Old Hollywood' 

Lastly, I picked out a couple of Barry M polishes that I always make a beeline for around this time of year.  'Raspberry' is a gorgeous deep maroon shade with a super glossy finish - I've been wearing this non-stop just recently.  Glitter polishes are also a bit of a guilty pleasure when it gets to Christmas time and Barry M's Gold Glitter is a stunner.  I'm not the biggest fan of the full-on glittered nails look if I'm honest so I tend to paint my nails with a red colour first, and then concentrate the glitter towards the base or the tip of my nails to create a more subtle gradient finish.

Which products have you got lined up for Christmas Day?