Laura Pearson-Smith: Festive beauty

Festive products at Lush. Picture: Laura Pearson-Smith

Stylish Happenings

Lush Cosmetics is a staple for most beauty-lovers at Christmas. Their prized Snow Fairy scent has made an appearance again this year in several different forms. I went along to their Christmas press launch at the Buchanan Street store in Glasgow to try out their new seasonal releases and have a go at making my own Butterbear. The reincarnated Luxury Lush Pud (£3.95) will be my bath bomb of choice throughout December, as it’s basically a colourful version of my beloved Twilight.

I also popped along to the launch of Arran Aromatics’ festive collections at their new Buchanan Galleries store in Glasgow. Everything is red, yellow and green-themed, with toy soldiers adorning all the packaging. Their Christmas gifts sets are fantastic value and a great way to try a lot of their products in miniature. They have sold out of their spectacular beauty product Cherish Advent Calendar (£40) at the store, but if you want to get your hands on one, John Lewis is your best bet.

Christmas gift sets at Arran Aromatics. Picture: Laura Pearson-Smith

What to Buy On a Shopping Spree

The Real Techniques holiday gift sets this year all come with a cute clutch bag. If you haven’t tried applying your makeup with this brush brand yet, you’re really missing out. You get superb quality for a great price and it’ll get you looking flawless in half the time it normally takes. This limited edition Deluxe Holiday Set (£30 from Superdrug) contains all the basics you’ll need to do your full face.

Fake tan brand Fake Bake has branched out into other beauty and makeup areas with the launch of some new Fake Bake Beauty at Home brand off-shoots. Their bath and body collection Dolce Dreams smells incredible. It has a sweet shop theme and everything smells like cakes and candy. My favourite is the Coconut Macaroon Body Scrub (£14), which I have to constantly remind myself isn’t for eating. It’s a natural sugar scrub that will give your body a winter glow.

For all you Frozen fans out there, Sleek MakeUP have launched a highlighting palette that’ll give you a real Queen Elsa look. Their limited edition sparkling Midas Touch palette (£9.99 from Boots) has a selection of cool-toned cream and powder highlighters to add a shimmery irWidescent look to your skin.

Winter beauty must-haves. Picture: Laura Pearson-Smith

Instagram of the Week (@LPearsonSmith)

I had the pleasure of sitting down to chat with YouTube’s Pixiwoo sisters at their Glasgow hotel ahead of their appearance at Boots St. Enoch Centre. The pair (Sam Chapman & Nic Haste) were in town to launch the new festive gift sets from their renowned makeup brush brand Real Techniques and were lovely. We talked about all things Christmas and they wanted a full rundown of all the products I’d used on my face that day.

• Laura Pearson-Smith is a fashion, beauty and lifestyle blogger at A Life With Frills. You can drop her a tweet at @LPearsonSmith