Bee Good to your skin this Christmas with these gifts from our British bees

T’is the season to be jolly, to deck the halls with Christmas decorations galore and to buy fabulously festive gifts to give to all your friends and loved ones! Bee Good has Christmas all wrapped up this festive season with five brand new Christmas skincare gifts.

These boxed delights, each revealing award-winning Bee Good products for all ages and skin types make the perfect stocking filler or Secret Santa surprise for friends, sisters, daughters, mums and nieces. Take the guesswork out of gifting, support our British bees and celebrate all things 'British' with Bee Good this Christmas. Taking inspiration from our fabulous British bees, each gift is presented in a hexagon gift box with a beautiful silver foiled honeycomb design - what beauty lover wouldn't want to discover one of these treats tucked beneath the tree on Christmas morning?

Award Winners - The perfect gift for those hard to please beauty lovers... Contains two best-selling Bee Good award-winners; Honey & Propolis 2-in-1 Cream Cleanser plus Vanilla & Honey Lip Balm. British honey, crambe oil and antibacterial propolis work hard in our luxuriously rich Cream Cleanser to sweep away makeup and grime without drying out your skin. Perfect for removing festive party makeup or waking up tired skin on Christmas morning. A trio of British plant oils and protective British beeswax are lovingly blended in Bee Good's original Lip Balm to intensively condition and repair dry or chapped lips. Price: £8 

Lip Balm Trio... For everyone from tweens and teens to mums and grandmas... Contains three Bee Good lip balms; Vanilla & Honey, Raspberry & White Chocolate and Lime Blossom & Honey. This trio of deeply replenishing lip balms is packed with hard-working, intensive and soothing ingredients. Super-moisturising British beeswax and a trio of British plant oils; crambe, echium and borage combine to deliver effective and long-lasting results. Lips will be left perfectly conditioned and kissably soft and the flavours are truly addictive! As an extra special touch this small and beautifully formed gift comes complete with hanging ribbon to adorn your tree

Youth Enhancing Travel Trio... An extra special treat for mature or ageing skin... Contains Bee Good Youth Enhancing Hydrate, Smooth & Prime Serum, Youth Enhancing Plump & Firm Moisturiser and Youth Enhancing Lift & Brighten Eye Cream. The power-packed Youth Enhancing range restores vitality to mature or ageing skin through the combined power of British bee ingredients, British botanicals and naturally derived skincare technologies. This trio of high performance, youth enhancing essentials will plump and firm, soften fine lines and wrinkles and brighten dull, tired skin. The perfect present to bring an outer glow to the skin and an inner glow to the confidence! £20 

Hand & Lip Treats... For friends, teachers or Secret Santa recipients.. Contains full sizes of Bee Good Honey & Crambe Daily Hand Cream plus Lime Blossom & Honey lip balm. The delicately scented, easily absorbed hand cream will hydrate, soften and protect hard-working hands. The refreshing lip balm is a zesty interpretation of bee-friendly lime blossom mixed with delicate notes of sweet British honey. Packed with moisturising British honey, nourishing crambe oil and skin strengthening borage oil, this skin saving duo makes the perfect present for those whose hands and lips are in need of a little extra TLC this winter. £10.

The one I have been kindly sent is Clean Sweep... For busy bees on-the-go... Contains Bee Good Honey & Wild Water Mint 3-in-1 Cleansing Water and Raspberry & White Chocolate Lip Balm. This award-winning micellar cleansing water gently dissolves makeup, cleanses and tones skin, no water required! Perfect for convenient cleansing on-the-go, it is expertly formulated with super moisturising British wildflower honey, brightening red algae and refreshing wild water mint. Repair and condition lips with this rich and deeply replenishing Raspberry & White Chocolate lip balm. Combining British beeswax with a trio of plant oils, this lip balm delivers effective and long-lasting results. Price: £11.50 

All of these gifts are really beautifully wrapped and great value for money. If you have never come across Bee Good before, they have a great story to tell. Bee Good was created in 2008 by husband and wife team, Simon and Caroline. As an expert beekeeper, Simon keeps a number of beehives in old orchards surrounding his Hampshire home. It was Caroline’s interest in harnessing the excess honey and beeswax to create natural skincare products which led to the first award-winning products; a lip balm and a hand cream; made in Caroline’s kitchen using centuries-old recipes and sold at local Hampshire farmer’s markets. Word spread, sales grew and the awards continued, so in 2013 Simon recruited a small team of skincare experts with similar beliefs and passion for natural skincare to build Bee Good into the award-winning, premium skincare brand that it is today. You can find out more about Bee Good right here.

*this post contains PR samples unless indicated otherwise

How do you book?

With family and friends living all over the UK, from time to time the mister and I have to book hotels to stay in when attending events - weddings, funerals, christenings and birthday parties to name a few. I prefer to stay in hotels rather than with relatives (assuming they are not offended) so that we get some peace and quiet and time to relax before heading out. Infact as you read this, I will have just been to a family wedding, staying in the hotel shown below.

Image Source

One site I always use for booking hotels is Booking.com a site you might recall from those controversial adverts which got people in a bit of a spin 'Booking dot yes'. Infact, looking at my account, I have used it no less than 8 times this year and it is a site that lists over 800,000 different hotels form all over the world, and you are able to make bookings via the site. Unlike booking directly with a hotel though, you can read unbiased reviews from previous guests before you decide to stay, and will be able to cancel your booking for no fee if you change your mind. There are hotels on the site that cater for every budget, from luxury hotels through to cheap hostels, and there are also new hotels being added every day.

Booking.com is a completely online company, with no high street stores. Like most online companies, they like to keep their interaction with customers online as well – meaning that finding a way to get help from customer services by phone can sometimes be quite difficult. Well not anymore with this solution, using sites such as contact number give you that phone number you need so you’ll be able to get in touch straight away.  I often find that I need to make one or two changes at the last minute, such as adding an extra day or night to my stay, requesting a late check out or if we have been delayed due to traffic, train cancellation or even a flight delay, I want the opportunity to let someone know in advance, rather than arrived all flustered, annoyed and unprepared. I also think it is a courteous too.

However you book those few days, weeks or long weekends away, that one telephone number could be the one stress you don't need!

*this post contains PR samples unless indicated otherwise

Sleek Rock Out Collection #SLEEKROCKSTARS

The new Rockstars collection from Sleek Makeup is the perfect festive makeup edition! It has everything you need from a stunning sparkly eyeshadow palette, a gorgeous strobing cream to a striking lipstick! Rock Out is a limited edition collection, so if you want it, then run to Superdrug right now and purchase it all. 

I am a huge fan of Sleek makeup and they have featured numerous times on my blog, everytime a new collection comes out I am wowed by it, so don't be too shocked that this one has totally wowed me. There are two parts to this collection Rock Out and Shine Bright, the latter will appear in another post, so look out for it because it is just as beautiful as this one! So here’s what’s in the collection:

I-LUST PALETTE IN HIDDEN GEMS £7.49

This palette is just absolutely stunning and if you are a fan of shimmer shadows, then this is the palette for you! Hidden Gems contains six gorgeous shades which have amazing pigmentation and colour payoff with an intense shimmer finish. 

These shades are bold enough to wear on their own or you can make a real statement by adding a bit of sparkle for a festive finish. Shown below, each shade is shown after one rub scross the pot so you can see just how much colour you get!  Shades such as Ruby Tuesday and Emerald City really standing out!

STROBING SOUFFLE-SMOKY-QUARTZ £7

If you love highlighting and strobing, then Sleek have a treat for you with this Strobing Souffle. With a bouncy texture that makes this so easy to apply, you can build it onto your skin to create your desired glow. 

The translucent gold shade just melts onto your skin giving you a luminous glow that stays in place throughout the day. You can apply using just your finger or with a small brush.

LIP VIP LIPSTICK IN SUPERSTAR £5.50

One product I do adore from Sleek at their Lip VIP lipsticks and to see a new one within this range is really exciting. Differing slightly due to the 3D design on th bullet, the colour payoff and pigmentation is just as amazing. . Autumn and Winter for me is all about the darker lip and I absolutely do love berry and purple toned lipsticks. Superstar has a moisturising formula doesn’t dry out your lips and the iridescent pearl flecks leave a dazzling metallic finish.

The Rockstars collection is available now on the Superdrug website and keep a look out for the second part of the collection which is coming soon.

*this post contains PR samples unless indicated otherwise

Beauty Tips for Autumn and Winter

The autumn and winter seasons are a great time to change up your look by getting new clothes for your closet, as well as new makeup for your face. Implementing the following easy beauty tips will help you make sure that you are always looking trendy, but make sure that you give your skin much-needed moisture first, especially if it tends to get dry when the temperature drops and you have to turn the heat on indoors.

Dark Lipsticks

Dark lipstick colours are definitely trendy during the autumn and winter seasons. So while you may have preferred donning a pale pink lipstick in the summer when your skin was tan, now is the time to contrast your paler skin with a deep red or purple hue instead. These colours will make your lips look full, especially when you top them off with some gloss.

Metallic Eye Shadow Colours

Shimmery, metallic eye colours are trending for the autumn and winter season. These colours are a great way to draw attention to your eyes and really glam them up for any upcoming holiday party and special event. Choose from emerald greens, plums, coppers, and more. Start by applying the colour faintly to the corners of your eyes before boldly sweeping the colour across the lids. And if you want a really sultry night time look, add some smoky eye makeup to the mix. Don’t forget to curl your lashes and use a lengthening mascara to complete the look. 

Full Eyebrows

Gone are the days when thin eyebrows were trendy, so go ahead and let your brows grow in. But even if you can’t achieve the full, thick eyebrow look naturally, you can use a simple eyebrow kit to fill in your eyebrows and make them dramatic and beautiful. If you need help, go to a professional who can properly shape your brows and teach you how to fill them in perfectly with the right makeup kit. 

Darker Hair Colours

Autumn and winter are great seasons to also change up your look by achieving a new hair colour that you will love to show off. Opt for a chocolate brown colour, or if you want to stick with blonde, just tone it down so that it is a contrast to the bright blonde that is popular in the summer. A good blonde go-to for the fall and winter is golden honey. Another great option for anyone, especially if you are hoping to really change up your look, is a bold red hue, although a more subdued auburn brown could also work perfectly. Head to your stylist to get a trim so that you can remove dried ends, and then colour your hair at the salon or at home. 

By following the beauty tips above, you can easily achieve a beautiful look this autumn and this winter. Go ahead and put on your cosy clothes for these seasons, but make sure you complete your look by bringing the colours of the season into your makeup palette as well.