Being Becca

I think beauty advent calendars are definitely the new Christmas must have. I think these advent calendars are a great way to challenge yourself to try a new product every day. However many have already sold out or are selling out very quickly so I'd get a move on if you want one! There are many more calendars floating around this year, unfortunately I couldn't post about them all or I would have been up all night! So in no particular order, here are my favourites...

The 25 Days of Beauty Wonders Advent Calendar - Boots

This calendar is a steal as for £38 you get £148 worth of products! Plus there are 25 to look forward to opening. It includes 6 full sized products which are a mixture of skincare and beauty products. The full list of products is available on the website, but why spoil the surprise?!

Tanya Burr Deck the Hauls Christmas Beauty Calendar - Superdrug

Now this one is a bit hit and miss, as the calendar includes 12 products, including two pairs of lashes, all full size I believe. So when I watched Tanya's video (the day it went up) it sounded great and I went straight to buy it online as it is currently on offer from £25 down to £15. However it was sold out already and is still sold out now. I checked in a couple of stores too but her stand had been ransacked! So if you can actually get hold of it this one does sound great. More stock next time maybe?!

Charlotte Tilbury The Book of Magic

This is definitely a luxury calendar; retailing at £150. The Book of Magic contains 12 products, which are a mixture of full size and miniatures, many of which are Charlotte Tilbury best sellers. I was sorely tempted by this advent calendar but I just couldn't justify the price! But you no doubt get your moneys worth.

Selfridges Beauty Workshop Calendar

This is the second of Selfridge's advent calendars released this year, the first one was the Cosmo calendar which was contains the same number of products only more luxury and retails at £95. However it is currently out of stock but is selling for a whopping £140 on Ebay! I opted for the £60 Beauty Workshop Calendar myself, as I thought that was pretty steep for a calendar really.. But every year I always say "I'd really like a beauty calendar this year.." but never get one, so this year I took the plunge! Plus I'm single so I thought why not spend the money I would otherwise spend on a partner on myself?! Single life perks! Anyway going off topic.. The Beauty Workshop Calendar retails at £60 and contains 24 miniatures worth £226! I thought this was a great way to try some new products and I'm excited about the challenge of using which ever one I get each day!
One thing I should add about this product though, I had to pay £5 postage which I think is pretty steep considering its £60, this was a couple of weeks ago and I was told it would arrive on the 12th but it still hasn't arrived. I know I don't need it until the 1st but some correspondence would be nice!

The Bodyshop Beauty Advent Calendar

The Bodyshop released two advent calendars this year, their premium one which was £80 and this standard one which is £60. I can't see the premium one on their website anymore but it is probably available in some stores. The standard one is still a good buy in my eyes, as the products are worth £93.50 and you get the full 24 days worth! It features a range of their best sellers in miniature form.

Benefit Part Poppers Advent Calendar - Debenhams

Retailing at £34.50 this calendar is quite a steal. It's currently sold out but I think that's because Debenhams has just finished Mega Week where all beauty was 10% off. This calendar only has 12 doors, however it sings!! And although the products are all minis, I know from experience that Benefit minis last a long time! I would have purchased this calendar but being a Benefit lover I already own a lot of the products it contains so there wasn't much point.

Lush Advent Calendar

If you're into your baths this is definitely the calendar for you. I love a good bath but don't really have time for them that often so I couldn't really justify this one! However retailing at £49.95 this calendar features 12 of their best sellers most of which are from their Christmas range. I honestly don't think you'd save an awful lot with this calendar, but then again all of their products are vegan and handmade so I think they would struggle to slash their prices.

Ciate Mini Mani Month Advent Calendar

This is currently down from £49 to £39.50 on Look Fantastic. This is one for the nail varnish lovers! I rarely paint my nails as I can't be doing with the upkeep and they take so long to dry! Lazy I know, but they chip so easily at my job. So this one isn't the one for me, but if you're a nail varnish lover it's definitely worth getting with its 24 products.

M&S Ultimate Beauty Advent Calendar

This calendar is a steal at £25 (if you spend over £25 on M&S beauty products) with the products inside worth over £200! I was very tempted to buy this calendar, there are some well known brands in there too such as Burts Bees, Stila and Rituals. It's a full 24 door calendar too.

Do you have a beauty advent calendar this year?

Firstly I apologise for these appalling quality photos! I didn't have the time or proper lighting for my Canon so iphone selfies had to do. They're alright for Instagram but once you blow them up not so good!

Anyways, this Halloween I went to a couple of parties over the weekend so I got the chance to do two looks and they were both so fun! On the Friday I did the cracked doll which I did a very similar one in 2013 (and I took better quality photos!) which you can see here. And on the Saturday I did a sort of spontaneous look, I hadn't planned it at all but I'd seen how people did a scale effect using fish net tights so I had a go at that, did some dramatic eye makeup, patted some eyeshadow on my lips, backcombed my hair and sprayed some glitter in it. I think I turned out as a sort of mermaid/fish/punk, all good fun!

I curled my hair with the Nicky Clarke Styling Wand which I love and will hopefully be reviewing soon! For my face I used my No7 Beautifully Matte Foundation, which is quite pale on me and I used more of my Collection concealer than usual in shade 1. I then powdered over it with a white powder from Amazon (which wasn't great). I filled in my eyebrows as usual, contoured with Benefit Hoola bronzer and one of the Sleek palettes on my cheeks.

I'm wearing the Urban Decay Vice Palette on my eyes with lots of Loreal Super Liner. I did the semi-circle under my eye and filled it in with white eye liner which I set with white powder, then met the line with the liner along my upper lash line. I wore two pairs of lashes on my upper lash line so that they extended right the way to the end of my eyeliner to make my eyes look bigger. The first pair were Eylure and the second were a set of two Smiffys Dolly Eyelashes which I got off Amazon. I then glued the lower lash ones to the line I had drawn underneath my eyes.

I then drew the cracks using the Super Liner, and blurred them a little using a brown eyeshadow.

Very rushed outfit shot! I bought the dress and the Petticoat off Amazon, I was impressed by the quality of both!

For this look I did the same base, then pulled some fish net tights over my head (very uncomfortable!) and used my Urban Decay Book of Shadows Volume II (which I've had a good few years!) to contour. I used a green shade at the top of my forehead and a blue shade further down. I then contoured in the hollows of my cheeks using a mixture of the blue and green. I dabbed some lip balm on my lips before patting on some eyeshadow, mostly in the middle. I did a smoky eye using the Vice Palette again and tried my hand at some dramatic eyeliner, by doing cat flicks outwards and dragging it down past my tear ducts. I used a Mac highlighter on the top of my cheekbones and cupids bow.

I just brushed the curls out of my hair and backcombed it a lot (although it didn't stay in long!) and I pinned some bits back.

Here's me and my bestie at the party (she was a mad scientist if you couldn't tell!)

Our scary faces!

Two mad scientists!

I hope you all had a fun Halloween whether you staid in and watched movies or partied all night!

What did you dress as? I need inspiration for next year ;)