Nails Inc 2013 Autumn Winter Collection

It's getting cold now; the knitwear has come out, my coats are out at least once a week, my boots are firmly on and I've got out my fat socks for in the house.  Alongside all of this, I've been shunning my pastel and coral polishes in favour of darker, richer shades.  Whilst browsing through my collection, I came across this unopened gift set from Nails Inc!

I actually won this on a Twitter giveaway last year, but for some reason or another never got round to using it, but I really love the shades!  Inside there are four full sized nail polishes which are; Old Bond Street, St Martins Lane, Oxford Street and Regent Street.  

From top of the swatches to the bottom; Regent Street is a dark wine shade with brown undertones to it.  I think it has that quality to it where in some lights you can really see the red tones within, but in other lights you can see the browns.  I really love this shade, and it is definitely one that matches this seasons trend of Oxblood!  St Martins Lane is the shade I have had most use from, and is a bold purple grape shade.  Oxford Street is a more unusual shade, and has a real toffee tone to it.  Old Bond Street is a gorgeous deep blue with almost a purple tone to it.    

The formula has been really easy to apply - two coats for a completely even finish, but you could probably get away with doing one on all except Old Bond Street!  I think it's just habit to do the second for me to be honest.  The finish is very glossy, and just looks so perfect for the new season.  I always feel more glammed up with a high gloss nail.  The wear time is pretty good too!  I managed four days before I got my first chip.

I'd definitely recommend picking this up whilst you still can.  It's currently on sale on Beauty Bay for a bargain of £15, which is just £3.75 per polish!  This years 2014 collection looks just as nice, but with lighter shades, in the new Nails Inc packaging and you only get three but with 14ml instead of 10ml a bottle.  (Still a shame to be a shade down, but I love the dusky pink!)

Which shade is your go to shade for Autumn/Winter?

Benefit It's A Love Fest

Hello again everybody, and a belated Happy New Year!  You might have been wondering where I had gone off to, well you probably weren't, but all has been quiet on the blog since before Christmas.  I haven't done anything in particular, but I've felt so busy!  I have a LOT of things to share with you, including some gorgeous goodies I got for Christmas, as well as some bits that I've had stored for a while.  I am on a blogging mission in this new year, so expect more regular posts!

It was my birthday yesterday, and one of the things I bought with my Christmas money was this Benefit set using a discount voucher ASOS sent as a birthday present!  It arrived some time last week, but I saved it to get my first uses of it on my birthday weekend!

A few Benefit tins had been released as their Christmas gift sets, but the Benefit It's A Love Fest tin has always been on my radar as it was the only set that contained two full size products.  It was more expensive than the other tins, but what's inside, and the fact I had a 20% discount voucher to use, meant that it was definitely going to be mine.

Inside there are four different products to try; a full size Porefessional, a full size They're Real mascara, a mini Sun Beam and a mini Coralista Lip Gloss.  I have tried, and loved the Porefessional, and the mini that I already had has only just ran out so I was always going to be spending £25 to repurchase a full size Porefessional.  The They're Real mascara was always something that I'd wanted to try aswell as everybody is always telling me how amazing it is.  With my 20% discount code, this gift set cost me just over £31 so I couldn't at all say no.  

I have used everything, and everything as you would expect is gorgeous, so I will post individual, more in depth reviews of each product at a later date!  I don't quite know what I will be doing with the tin just yet, but I don't want to throw it away!  Maybe a flannel storage tin or something...

If you'd like to bag a bargain, or try a selection of Benefit make up, then definitely get this!  I have looked all over for this set, and the only place that I have found to still stock it is ASOS, and you can get it here for £39.50!  For my birthday, I also got a £30 gift voucher for a local department store which stocks Benefit...any recommendations for what I need to try?

Did you manage to grab this in the sale?  What Benefit products are your favourite?