Fortnum & Mason Beauty Advent Calendar AVAILABLE ON PRE-ORDER NOW: Spoilers, Contents

Fortnum & Mason Beauty Advent Calendar AVAILABLE ON PRE-ORDER NOW: Spoilers, Contents

Makeup Cosmetopia Digest   Monday, August 26, 2019

They've started coming in. The first to hit that checkout button is Fortnum & Mason. Last year, they did their first beauty advent calendar, which yours truly foolishly did NOT buy, and then Mum offered to sponsor it (she HATES buying Christmas presents for anyone, because apparently people ought to choose their own gifts, and send her the bill), by which time it had sold out.
This year, I promised myself I would make no such mistake, and it is indeed my first 2019 beauty advent calendar - though it will probably be the last one to arrive.
Details first. £195. Net worth of more than £750. 25 products inside, of which 13 are full-sized. Pre-order is open now, from here. Shipping commences only from October 25. Boo! How on EARTH are people expected to wait that long? I swear I'll have worn out half my teeth by then.
Fortnum & Mason ship to most countries around the world. HOWEVER. Some exclusions apply, depending on where you live, so given that this advent calendar contains perfumes and a candle, it may not ship out where you live, so do check that out first.

Other Beauty Advent Calendar 2019 news:

• LookFantastic Beauty Advent Calendar 2019
• Space NK Beauty Advent Calendar 2019
• 40+ Beauty Advent Calendar Spoilers 2019

The Fortnum & Mason Beauty Advent Calendar 2019 is available for pre-order now from here. 

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LookFantastic Beauty Advent Calendar 2019 FULL SPOILERS AND CONTENTS

LookFantastic Beauty Advent Calendar 2019 FULL SPOILERS AND CONTENTS

Makeup Cosmetopia Digest   Thursday, August 15, 2019

It is Advent Calendar season again - my favourite time of the year, and when you'll see my dour expression replaced by excitement and animation.
Over the coming weekend, I will have full spoilers and contents of more than 40 beauty advent calendars up for you, both here as well as on my YouTube channel. But because this one is always a sell-out, and because it was my own first-ever beauty advent calendar (I haven't missed one in four whole years), I thought I'd tell you about the LookFantastic Beauty Advent Calendar for 2019 rightaway.
Like last year (see here), the price is £79. Like last year, there are 25 products. However, the worth of the contents inside is £420! It was only 300 last year.
Unlike last year, the packaging is a gorgeous navy blue and gold. Stop it and tell us what's inside, you say? Coming right up.

Scroll down for the FULL SPOILERS AND CONTENTS of the LOOKFANTASTIC BEAUTY ADVENT CALENDAR 2019.

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Space NK x Coach Summer 2019 Destination Beauty Edit Contents: Available Worldwide

Space NK x Coach Summer 2019 Destination Beauty Edit Contents: Available Worldwide

SpaceNK Cosmetopia Digest   Tuesday, May 07, 2019

Long time, no GWP! Space NK are kicking off the flurry of Summer 2019 goody bags with an amazing selection - this is the Destination Beauty Edit, containing a curation to keep you beautiful through this Summer, no matter where you are. This GWP is in collaboration with Coach, and features a neat wristlet purse from the brand, in addition to 27 beauty products. The whole thing is worth more than £400, and is yours if you buy for £185 on Space NK here, and check out with code BEAUTYGIFT. They ship worldwide, and this GWP is available internationally as well - hurry, as stocks are limited.

Scroll down for the contents of the Space NK x Coach Summer 2019 Destination Beauty Edit GWP.

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Space.NK Summer Edition Gift With Purchase Available Worldwide

Space.NK Summer Edition Gift With Purchase Available Worldwide

Summer Cosmetopia Digest   Wednesday, May 10, 2017

Space.NK UK's Summer Edition GWP is available worldwide! The US edition of the Spring Beauty Edit was out recently, and their UK counterpart had no GWP, which made us GWP addicts more than a tad jealous.
The Summer Edition for 2017 contains 15 restorative essentials, with a total worth of over £250, to restore your skin - and makeup - in time for the warm weather. There is also an Aspinal of London card holder in misty blue kaviar. I cannot count the number of times I've drooled over Aspinal goods. 
Moreover, there are three full-sized products and 12 deluxe-sizes in here, with brand names ranging from Chantecaille to Kevyn Aucoin and Sunday Riley. The set is free when you spend £150 on site, and use the code SUMMER17. International shipping (tracked) is included. Go get yours here before they run out.

Scroll for the contents of the Space.NK 2017 Summer Edition Gift With Purchase.

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Holiday 2016: Decleor's Advent Calendar Looks Beautiful

Holiday 2016: Decleor's Advent Calendar Looks Beautiful

Skin care Cosmetopia Digest   Tuesday, September 27, 2016

Over the last week, I mentioned the LookFantastic Beauty Secret Advent Calendar and Asos Beauty Advent Calendar for 2016. Click on the names for details and to order. Both contain a mix of various brands, and are still available.
Of late, many brands have been coming out with their exclusive Advent Calendars. This year, French skincare brand Decleor has debuted their Advent Calendar, and the packaging is certainly the prettiest Advent Calendar I've posted about so far! The colour scheme is a stunning gold and black.
The Decleor Advent Calendar contains 25 products. Price, how to order, and contents (of which 19 are face products) are further below.
SPOILER ALERT: Avoid reading further if you do not wish to see what this calendar contains.

Scroll down for more details about the Decleor Advent Calendar for Holiday 2016. 

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Holiday 2016: ASOS Beauty Advent Calendar Ships Worldwide

Holiday 2016: ASOS Beauty Advent Calendar Ships Worldwide

Holidays Cosmetopia Digest   Friday, September 23, 2016

Here's a new Advent Calendar for us beauty box cannibals to feast on. Asos has brought one out - it contains 24 beauty products, ships worldwide FREE and costs a mere £50. The calendar contains products worth £175 and is available here - until it sells out, of course.
It comes in a reusable gift box and contains a nice mix of makeup and skincare.

Scroll down to check out the contents of the ASOS Beauty Advent Calendar for 2016.

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Beauty Products Emptied In May 2016 and Link-up

Beauty Products Emptied In May 2016 and Link-up

Soap and Glory Cosmetopia Digest   Monday, May 30, 2016

That time of the month again - when I show you the trash take stock of the products I finished up. There are fewer products than usual this month, because I have been rotating through several products. Quite a few samples in here, though, mostly from beauty boxes. Take a look, and share your own empties' post in the link-up!

Scroll down for details on the beauty products I used up in May 2016 and for my thoughts on each.

May Makeup Madness International Beauty Giveaway

May Makeup Madness International Beauty Giveaway

Skin care Cosmetopia Digest   Sunday, May 08, 2016

As promised, here is the giveaway for May 2016. Because it began late by a week, this giveaway will run for an extra week and close only on June 16, 2016. Open worldwide. Two prizes. Rules, entry form and other deets about prizes are further below.

Scroll down to enter the May Makeup Madness International Beauty Giveaway.

Birthday Beauty Haul 2016

Birthday Beauty Haul 2016

Shoes Cosmetopia Digest   Saturday, April 16, 2016

It was my birthday yesterday. Despite having made up my mind - and convinced family and friends - to avoid cake this year, the lovely chef at Le Meridien MADE one very quickly once he found out what was going on, and I cut it at 10:30p.m. with complete strangers joining in. Sadly, I only have iPhone photos from the celebrations. Will show you my purple EOTD once I'm energetic enough to resize those photos.

Scroll down to check out the beauty products to which I treated myself this year.

iPhone Skins For Beauty Lovers

iPhone Skins For Beauty Lovers

Urban Decay Cosmetopia Digest   Sunday, April 10, 2016

My Dad gave me an iPhone 6S in rose gold for Christmas, thereby marking the end of a decade's association with Sony [Ericsson], which had started with the T610 and gone on through a couple of Xperias. In fairness, my Xperia was on its last legs after all the abuse it suffered at my rough hands.
It took me a while to warm to the iPhone. The Xperias, I felt, looked way cooler. "Get a skin," suggested Dad, showing me his Charles Bronson - in The Evil That Men Do - skin. I picked these up in the local mobile accessories mart.

Mad Beauty Vintage Kellogg's Nail and Lip Care Products

Mad Beauty Vintage Kellogg's Nail and Lip Care Products

Skin care Cosmetopia Digest   Saturday, February 06, 2016

Mad Beauty is a UK-based brand that specialises in making cosmetics fun. They have the cutest foot files, glosses, makeup brushes, pretty nail polishes, bags, lip balms, bath and body products and nail art supplies. Whatever I have tried so far is good quality, and the prices are reasonable.
I picked up a few of their products from Notting Hill way back last July, and thought I would show you their Kellogg's range first.

The Mad Beauty Kellogg's range displays a series of vintage Kellogg's advertisements.

Third Blogiversary Beauty Giveaway: Open Worldwide

Third Blogiversary Beauty Giveaway: Open Worldwide

Giveaway Cosmetopia Digest   Wednesday, January 20, 2016

This blog turned three years old on January 15. I did a special post on vintage compact collecting - see here.
To thank you for your support over the last three years, here is the first of three multi-prize makeup and skincare giveaways that will be held on this blog until April.
There will be two winners, and the prizes are open worldwide. To enter, and for more deets about the prizes, scroll down.

Third Blogiversary Special: Collecting Vintage Powder Compacts

Third Blogiversary Special: Collecting Vintage Powder Compacts

Powder Cosmetopia Digest   Sunday, January 17, 2016

I cannot believe I have actually stuck to this blog for three years now! When I started it on January 15, 2013, I thought I would walk away in a few weeks. If I have stuck to it, it is only because of support from readers and fellow-bloggers. Thank you!
Each year for my blogiversary, I do a history-of-beauty post. Last year, it was Beauty Trends over 100 years - see here. In 2014, it was Vintage Beauty Advertisements - see here.
This year, I was going to show you vintage vanities and dressing tables I had spotted around the world but my recuperation from antibiotics at my parents' meant I spied my Mum's powder compact collection.
She has been collecting them for ages and now has about 80-ish vintage compacts, including an ivory one that was owned by HER grandmother (Neither I nor my living family members support buying ivory in any form).
She flatly refused to take out the oldest, mother-of-pearl, ivory and jewel-encrusted ones, but agreed to share her tips and thoughts on collecting vintage compacts, and allowed me to "photograph, from a safe distance only", half a dozen of them. 

Scroll down for tips on collecting vintage powder compacts, where to find them, pricing and photographs. 

Home Facials With Mira-Skin Ultrasound Skincare Device and Hyaluronic Serum

Home Facials With Mira-Skin Ultrasound Skincare Device and Hyaluronic Serum

Treatment Cosmetopia Digest   Wednesday, November 11, 2015

After being involved in a motorbike accident four years ago (was in neuro-intensive care and don't really remember a couple of weeks of my life), I was put on ultrasound therapy for a few weeks. My torn back and hip muscles were massaged two or three times a week with an ultrasound device after topical painkillers and muscle relaxants were applied. If that could help heal deep, complex muscular tissues and get me back to leading as active a lifestyle as I am doing now, imagine what ultrasound can do for damaged skin. Ultrasound facials are all the rage now, for skin tightening and repair.
It turns out that mitochondrial repair begins to slow down at 20, and hyaluronic acid in the skin begins to degrade after teenage - not at 30 as I had originally thought. Which means I should have begun anti-ageing treatment a few years AGO and not a few years later as I had intended.
Salon owner Anni Valentine had the genius idea of designing an ultrasound device for home use, to deliver treatment products more effectively to the skin, to rejuvenate it and to help heal wrinkles. Made by Swiss firm Mira of Mira-Water fame, the hand-held, wireless device comes along with a conducive ultrasound gel and a hyaluronic serum, though you can use the device with your favourite skin serum.

Scroll down for more about the Mira-Skin Ultrasound Skincare Starter Kit.

Holiday 2015 Gift Ideas: 30 Cutest Beauty Products Ever

Holiday 2015 Gift Ideas: 30 Cutest Beauty Products Ever

Soaps Cosmetopia Digest   Friday, November 06, 2015

A guaranteed way of bringing a smile to someone's face is by slipping a cutely packaged gift into their Christmas stocking. Who, irrespective of age, would not love finding cute lip balms, bath bombs, loofahs, hand creams, sanitisers, mists and other everyday products on December 25th?  
Here is your one-stop source for the cutest beauty gifts ever - and they are all affordable and ship worldwide! A comprehensive list detailing prices and websites along with a pinnable reference image.

Scroll down for the lowdown on the 30 cutest beauty products ever and where to buy them.

Linziclip Claw Hair Clip Accessories Intl Giveaway

Linziclip Claw Hair Clip Accessories Intl Giveaway

Tools Cosmetopia Digest   Monday, October 12, 2015

My favourite hair accessories are the revolutionary cylindrical and flat-backed Linziclips, reviewed here. I am willing to shout this out from the rooftops. These are comfortable and sturdy and come with hidden springs, so no danger of getting my already-tangly hair caught. Best of all, I can lean back without the clip digging right into my brain. And, they come in beautiful designs, and in three sizes. They are must-haves and they make great stocking stuffers. 

Here is your chance to win these gorgeous clips for yourself. You can choose sizes and also if you want subtle or bright designs. Exact designs may not be chosen, and photographs in this post are for illustrative purposes only and may not depict the actual prize.
I bet the winners will LOVE these - if you win, do share photos of yourself wearing your clips.
Now, I know there can only be a few winners, so what you can do is, you can head over and enter my Instagram giveaway of these as well (live now)! Double the winners; double the Linziclips! What are you waiting for?

Scroll down for more on Linziclips, eye-candy photographs of the clips, and to enter the giveaway!

Beautyblender Blotterazzi Oil Blotting Sponge

Beautyblender Blotterazzi Oil Blotting Sponge

Reviews Cosmetopia Digest   Saturday, October 03, 2015

The quantity of sebum produced by my face once led a colleague to remark that I ought to fear invasions from oil-seeking countries. I do my best to touch up whenever I can or mop it up with blotting paper. But there are times when you cannot... um... be seen pressing an increasingly transparent square of paper to your nose and look dignified at the same time. Or dispose of now-oily square.
Being a huge fan of the Beautyblender - review here,  comparison of pink and black Beautyblender here - I was intrigued when I heard they launched a product called Blotterazzi, which was supposed to replace blotting papers. I bought a set and it has replaced blotting paper in my handbag. Find out why.

Scroll down for the review of the Beautyblender Blotterazzi Sponge.

Beauty Products Emptied in September 2015

Beauty Products Emptied in September 2015

Skin care Cosmetopia Digest   Wednesday, September 30, 2015

I am often asked how I manage to finish so many products. Answer: 1. All-over-body moisturising two times a day. That guarantees at least one jar of body butter and one jar of body lotion each month. 2. My hair is very long and I deep-condition it once a week, so that's a couple of hair care products there. 3. I try to use a face mask once a week, so that is four sheet masks OR 1-2 face mask tubes (depending on the size) a month. The rest of the products are sundries that vary each month. 4. I also have targets and rewards; e.g. I will treat myself to a lipstick if I use up two extra products this month (yes, I keep count).
It was not always like this. I was a Hoarder with a capital H. Until a couple of products separated. Had I used those up, I would at least have had the pleasure of using them. That was the start of my "use-up" mission.

Scroll down for the deets on the beauty products I used up in September 2015.

Mid-year Makeup Haul from Selfridges, Boots, Sephora Italy and more

Mid-year Makeup Haul from Selfridges, Boots, Sephora Italy and more

Travel Cosmetopia Digest   Monday, August 10, 2015

Two lessons I learnt last month:

1. The time you spend away from your stash is directly proportionate to the quantity of makeup you buy. The longer your trip, the more you buy.
2. The quantity of makeup you pack on a trip (see what I packed here) is inversely proportionate to the quantity of makeup you buy. So the less you pack, the more you will buy.

Call them Cosmetopia's Universal Makeup Haul Laws.
I swear I did not mean to buy so much. In fact, I believed most of my shopping was completed after one trip to Oxford St. and two to Boots (four palettes, four foundations and nine lipsticks).
But Sephora in Rome had a whopping 20% flat discount sale for three days. The equivalent of the VIB sale - my bill only came up to three digits. What makeup addict would not want to plunge in?
To top it all, many high-end makeup brands are cheaper in Europe than elsewhere...

Here is my mid-year makeup haul - excluding hair/skincare and nail polish - from the UK and Europe.

Beauty trends 1880s-1980s: Second Blogiversary Special

Beauty trends 1880s-1980s: Second Blogiversary Special

Tutorials Cosmetopia Digest   Friday, January 16, 2015

 

A century of beauty trends, tips, tutorials and perceptions from 1880s-1980s magazines. 

 

The word "trend" implies something modern and not 130 years old, but more on the semantics in a minute.
I cannot believe it is two whole years since this blog began - I feel like a complete noob most of the time. I would like to thank everyone who has read this blog for their support and hope you have liked it here at least for an infinitesimal second, at some point... Thanks also go to ANYONE who has advised, helped and shared knowledge and posts with and for me. I have more colleagues now than I have ever had at any workplace and love that about blogging.
Last year, I celebrated my first blogiversary by showing you some beautiful vintage beauty advertisements - check the post here. It is my all-time favourite post.
This year, I am sharing article-excerpts from women-centric magazines from the 1880s to the 1980s, containing beauty trends (i.e., whatever was trendy at the time), tips, tutorials, and perceptions. All of these are from my Gran's and Mum's collections, carefully scanned under heavy scrutiny after months of begging, bribing, pleading, coaxing and emotional blackmailing, and returned amid many mutterings. Warning: Picture-heavy.

Enjoy the old-world beauty tips, tutorials and perceptions!