The Beauty At Tesco Advent Calendar - The First 12 Days

Despite the fact that I'm now in my mid 30's, Christmas wouldn't be Christmas without an advent calendar. From my earliest memories of glittery calendars with pretty pictures behind the doors, to the modern day incarnations featuring chocolate shapes and sweeties , forcing open those badly perforated doors on a daily basis is a ritual that I revel in.

This year we have four advent calendars, one for the cats, one for my mum, and two for me. I know I'm greedy but I have one chocolate one and one beauty one. I can't really remember when the beauty advent calendar thing started but over the past few years I've had a couple of Ciate Mini Mani Months. and last year I had the generic Boots Beauty Calendar.

I was quite torn this year over whether or not to get one, and whether or not I could justify the £40 + cost this year. As a result I dithered and by the time I decided I did want one, several of them including the Selfridges and Benefit offerings had already sold out. Thankfully though the Beauty At Tesco Advent Calendar was still available - I'd already had a couple of press releases on it and it looked pretty impressive but despite the fact that the total contents would retail at around £125 I still wasn't keen on paying £50 for it, come Black Friday though it was reduced to £25 so I couldn't resist and placed an order.

I *think* Tesco took a lot of orders on Black Friday, and as result I didn't get my order till the 5th December.Never mind it was worth the wait - it was beautifully packaged and I really enjoyed opening so many of the doors at once.

I really don't think that my pictures are doing the size of this thing justice. It is huge, so big in fact that I can't actually find anywhere permanent for it to live.

I initially intended to show the contents on a weekly basis but instead I'm going to show you it 2 parts. In this post I'm going to show you briefly what the calendar contained on days 1-12 and give you an idea of the value where I can.

Days 1 - 6

Eylure Naturalites Lengthening False Lashes - £5.00
Tanya Burr For Eye Candy Nail Polish - Midnight Sparkle - Full Size - £4.99
Paul Smith Extreme EDT - 5ml - £4.79
Sue Moxley Spot Light Lipgloss - Babe - 8ml  Full Size - £1.99
Meow By Katy Perry Solid Perfume Locket - 1.5g. -Full Size - £4.99
Little Soap Company Mini Soap - 17g - 65p - £6.50 For 10

Days 6-12

Candy Kitten EDT Spray - 20ml
Elizabeth Arden Red Door Parfume - 5ml - £4.99
Tesco Pro Formula Purifying Thermal Face Mask - 15ml - £1.00
Nip + Fab Viper Venom Eye Fix 15ml - Full Size - £14.95!
Korres Citrus Shower Gel - 50ml - £2.70
So Eco Foundation Brush - Full Size - £6.50

I have to say so far so good, the first 12 days contained a nice mix of products most of which I'll use. The only thing I'm not sure about it is the Candy Kitten fragrance, but the lovely Tanya Burr polish, the Nip + Fab, the Katy Perry locket and the foundation brush certainly make up for that 1 disappointment. If you would like to see reviews of any of these items then please leave me a comment and let me know, and on Christmas Eve, I'll post the items behind the rest of the doors x  Did you invest in a beauty advent calendar this year? Let me know if you did x

I'm Going Bearfaced For Children In Need

I know charity is a personal thing but if you're in the UK, Children In Need is something that you just can't ignore. Since 1980, this yearly event had raised over £600 million for disadvantaged and disabled children and young people throughout the UK. This years event will be live on BBC 1 from 7pm and as per usual you can expect all kinds of comedy, music and mayhem, and stories that are bound to make you cry.

Like every year Children In Need has teamed up with several retailers including Greggs, Asda, and Boots to produce a wide range of fund raising merchandise from Pudsey ears, to wristbands, and for the third year running paw print transfers.

This year as part of their 11 year partnership with Boots, Children In Need are encouraging women to go #BearFaced and to sacrifice make up for one day, and instead wear a Pudsey paw print. 

In support of the campaign several famous women including Sophie Ellis Bextor, Rochelle Humes, Michelle Keegan, and You Tube's very own Tanya Burr have gone bear faced for a photo shoot with renowned photographer Rankin.

My selfie was taken by me, not Rankin, but I'm taking part and I've uploaded my #bearfaced picture to the BBC website.

I know it's a little bit late but you might still be able to get your hands on a fab, glittery paw print transfer of your own from Boots They're just £1 and at least 75p goes to Children In Need, if you don't manage to get one you can still text BEAR to 70701 to donate £1. To find out more about Children In Need, the work that they do, and other ways to donate please check out the official BBC Children In Need website. Thanks for reading x 

(Images Were Provided By PR, I Purchased My Own Paw Print And Was Not Given Any Form Of Compensation For Writing This Post)