Diva Desle: Christmas

Christmas Eve Rituals 2020

Christmas Eve Rituals 2020

Hi Divas

What an absolutely strange year this has been. I can only thank God and give my Lord Jesus all the praise for carrying me and my family through these turbulent times. I am grateful for so many things but most importantly, that I can celebrate Christmas with my loved ones. Many people around the world have experienced great loss, and if you have, I send my biggest hugs to you. This time of year, always reminds us that the treasures of life lies in the love and fellowship of those most close to us. Even though Christmas will be a bit different this year, some traditions shall remain the same in my house. Firstly, I decorated the Christmas tree and lounge, which was a workout of note. Secondly, I will be helping my mom bake some delicious festive cookies and cook up a storm for the huge Christmas lunch. Thirdly, I will be enjoying my Christmas Eve pamper rituals that I love to do every year. I will be sharing these with you in this post. Christmas Eve is a wonderful day that is always filled with joy and excitement for things to come. These are my relaxing diva traditions that ushers me into the festive spirit.

Christmas Bedding

One thing that truly gets me into the holiday cheer is stripping my bed and placing new clean sheets with decorative duvet covers. It gives a wonderful atmosphere into my room. It exudes happiness and brings hope. Letting go of the drab year and ushering in a brightness of new beginnings. Whenever I walk into my room, I feel lighter and uplifted when I see my ornate bedding. Decor can truly change the ambiance in a room. This year I opted for crisp white sheets with a beige and gold ornate duvet design and my sleeping pillows in a touch of light pink! I am a pink fanatic so I cannot leave it out no matter what the colour scheme. LOL. Getting into my bed every night has been such a relaxing treat. I love it.

Christmas Pampering

On Christmas Eve, after all the cooking, I love to do a big pamper session. I wash my hair, scrub my body head to toe and do my manicure plus pedicures. Even though I am not going anywhere on Christmas day due to the pandemic, I will still go ahead with my beauty session. I want to look and feel good while having Christmas service online too, LOL. I love to lather my body in beautifully scented body washes and creams. I have particularly enjoyed Bath and Body Works Beach collection. It has a gorgeous Summer and coconut fragrance which puts me into the holiday mood. Plus, the scent lasts a really long time on the body. I purchased it when I could still travel and go to Sephora. Sigh, I don't know if I will ever get it again therefore, I will indulge in it while I can.

Christmas Sweet Treats

As I mentioned above, I help my mom with the majority of the Christmas baking. She makes a variety of decorative cookies and the best part is that we get to feast on them with a cup of hot milk with cinnamon, Milo or Karak tea on Christmas Eve. We love to sit in the lounge with scented candles and the Christmas lights flashing, while watching movies or a Christmas show. It's always fun as we laugh and relax together. We do not open presents during this time as we do that the next morning. This year there actually won't be any presents as we decided to rather forego that tradition in light of what is happening around the world. Honestly spending time with my family is the greatest gift for me.

Christmas Pyjamas

After munching on way too many Christmas cookies, I make my way to bed. I love to sleep in pretty holiday PJ's as they give me comfort and a joyful sleep. Since I live in South Africa, we experience Christmas in the Summer time. I usually wear cute pyjama shorts and tank tops to keep cool at night. How adorable are these PJ's below from Mr Price. They are perfect for me as I am a coffee addict and the heart print is just so pretty. They are very comfortable to wear and combined with the Christmas bedding and cookie munching, I have the best sleep. It is truly the little things that bring me the most excitement and pleasure.

*****

I want to wish everyone a very Merry Christmas and Happy New Year. May God bless you and shine His love on you. I want to thank you for your continuous support throughout this year on my blog and my social media accounts @divadesle as It is greatly appreciated. I too want to send out a special thank you to my blogger friend Kim form A Very Sweet Blog. Thank you for your amazing kindness throughout the year. Lastly, I want to thank my family for all their love and support.

Thank you so much for reading.

See you all next year!

Divalicious Kisses.

Xxxx

3 comments

, by Diva Desle

Christmas

Essence Ho Ho Ho Christmas Collection 2018

Essence Ho Ho Ho Christmas Collection 2018

Hi Divas

This will be my last post for 2018. Can you believe that the year is practically over? My goodness, what a horrible year it has been, well for me at least. 2018 was not my best year, but God has carried me through it in one piece and I am very grateful for that. Christmas and the New Year are honestly my favourite holidays because they always bring festive cheer and the feeling of new beginnings. I just love seeing all the decorations wherever I go and everyone has that joyful glow. Brands too get into the holiday spirit and release gorgeous Christmas collections every year. My absolute favourite festive collection that has been released in South Africa has to be the Essence Ho Ho Ho! Christmas Edition. Besides the fact that the brand is super affordable, they truly nailed it this time with cute, merry and innovative packaging. I have four products from the holiday edition to share with you. There are eight products within the range including Christmas nail art stickers, nail art stamping set, a highlighter brush and a body and hair shimmer mist.

Essence Oh My Deer Bath Bomb Greeting Card
The bath bomb greeting card is honestly the cutest and most innovative little gift you could have. I love that Essence combined a Christmas card with a lovely scented strawberry bath bomb. It would be a truly thoughtful present to give to someone has you can write a personalized message in the card and give it to any one as the greeting card is unisex and appropriate for any age group. Who does not love a beautiful smelling pamper product? Not to mention the card is so festive and bright you won't need extra trimmings to jazz it up.

Essence Ho Ho Ho! Lip Balm
Essence did really well with the jolly packaging on the lip balm too, as it resembles a Christmas tree bauble. You could totally hang these on your tree and have a fun present hunt. Or you could gift them as secret Santa presents and place them in stocking stuffers. The lip balms are cherry scented and have a slight tint to them. They are quite soft in texture and would be great to whip out at the Christmas table after dinner to touch up your lips.

Essence Ho Ho Ho! Iridescent Powder Highlighter in 01 Twinkle Twinkle
I was quite surprised at the colour choice of this highlighter. Usually brands tend to put out gold and champagne highlighters as these are the common shades that most of us makeup lovers like to wear. Instead Essence went totally out the box and did a full-on pink highlighter instead. I honestly did not think I would like it but I was so wrong! This highlighter is a beautiful holographic pink shade with slight gold and purple shimmers. It reminds me of the Too Faced unicorn highlighters. I actually feel like a unicorn when I wear it. It looks so unique and flattering on me. You can use it as an eyeshadow or blush topper too. It is so pretty, I have been wearing it everyday to work so far.

Essence Ho Ho Ho! Eyeshadow Palette in 01Jingle All The Way
The Piece de Resistance of the whole collection has to be this gorgeous palette. Essence have never released such gorgeous and vibrant eyeshadows before. Theses shades are so pigmented and bright. I love the colour scheme and the size of the pans are much larger than usual. There are 3 mattes, 3 creamy shimmers, 2 creamy satin finishes and one bold glitter eyeshadow. The shades are very pigmented and opaque. The shadows are quite soft therefore, be careful when dipping your brush into the palette. Most of the creamy eyeshadows work better when applied on your lid with your finger as the texture glides on the eyes. The mattes take some work to blend out but with a little patience it would look great, especially in the crease. The glitter eyeshadow is very soft but has some grip to it. It would work best with a glitter eyeshadow primer and applied with your finger. This palette is beautiful and the shadows have the quality of high end brands. The actual palette is made out of cardboard though and comes with a plastic protective sheet for the eyeshadows.

As you can see above the eyeshadows swatch beautifully and are very pigmented. They look amazing on the eyes. There is some fallout with certain shades hence it would be best to do your eye makeup first and your foundation application afterwards. The very top swatch is the pink highlighter. The shade is truly unicorn inspired and I love it so much. Below is a full face with the palette and highlighter applied. I placed a matte terracotta shade in my crease and the dark deep plum satin shade across my lid. For the inner corners I placed the creamy satin gold shade and topped off the outer corner of my eyes with the festive glitter. I placed the highlighter on my brow bone, cheekbones and the centre of my nose. I truly love the way the makeup look turned out. It's so glam and can be worn for any special holiday party.

Essence truly did an amazing job with their Christmas collection this year. The eyeshadow palette was the absolute show stopper. I do wish they came out with some new nail polishes though but they do have nail stickers and a nail stamping set for the manicure fanatics out there. The makeup collection is quite versatile and can be used throughout the next year too. What do you think of this collection? Have you purchased anything and what would you like to see in your stocking stuffer this year? Let me know below!

****

If you made it this far in the post, I would like to take this opportunity to thank each and everyone of you who have visited, read and commented on my blog and social media pages. I appreciate your support so much. I want to send you so much love and blessings for this festive season and for the new year. May you have a blessed and wonderful holiday wherever you are in the world.

See you all in 2019!!!!

Divalicious Kisses

Xxxx

13 comments

, by Diva Desle

Bath and Body Works

A Merry Diva Christmas!

Hi Divas!
It is the most wonderful time of the year indeed. I love Christmas and all the good vibes and festive cheer it brings. This year my family and I are very prepared for the upcoming day. We have done all our Christmas cleaning, hung up new golden curtains, finished all our crazy Christmas shopping and decorated the house. The only thing left to do is cook up a storm on Christmas Eve. In this blog post I decided to do a post on my top 5 favourite things for Christmas this year. And if you are wondering whether I was naughty or nice in 2016, then keeping on reading below.... ;-)

1. Favourite Christmas Decorations

To start off, my favourite Christmas decoration for 2016 it would have to be Christmas cards. Thanks to technology, no one ever really gives a written card any more. We are usually too lazy to write or take a trip to the post office and end up sending emails and social messages instead. Christmas cards are always so personal and heartwarming. You take your time choosing the perfect one and write a heartfelt message inside. I love that about Christmas time because we go back to being sincere and thoughtful. Most Christmas cards are so adorable and beautiful. They really brighten up a room. When you look at it, you are reminded of the lovely person who took the time to give it to you.

2. Favourite Christmas Beauty Products

I love getting all glammed up on Christmas day! I usually start with a gorgeous smelling body wash and lotion so the scent lingers on. I love the Bath and Body Works Warm Vanilla Sugar range. It smells like Christmas indeed. For my face I love to wear my absolute favourite makeup to make me feel special. This year I will wear my number one foundation right now which is Too Faced Born This Way. For the eyes I will use the pretty Too Faced Bon Bons palette for some sparkle and shimmer. On my cheeks I will be warming them up with my Too Faced Sweethearts Peach Beach blush. I love wearing bright red lipsticks on Christmas day. My most loved is the Etude House Etoinette red lipstick. To top it off I will be spritzing the sultry Victoria's Secret Angel Gold fragrance all over my neck and decollete.

3. Favourite Christmas Gift Collections

Every year The Body Shop always steals my heart when it comes to Christmas collections. I usually end up getting everything in every scent. This year was no exception. Frosted Berries, Vanilla Chai and Spiced Apple all come in body washes, body butters, hand creams, candles and more. My favourite scent for 2016 is Spiced Apple. This smells just like Christmas too. It is so divine and heart warming. The Body Shop rocks!!!

4. Favourite Christmas Treats

My favourite treats for 2016 would have to be chocolates! From the gorgeous and cute packaging to the different mouth watering flavours and caramel or nougat centres. They make excellent Christmas gifts for loved ones, great for Secret Santa games and just pure indulgence to eat on your own. Big Yessss! ;-)

5. Favourite Christmas Music

Christmas music always reminds me of my late grandfather because he had a Nat King Cole carols tape (back in the day when we still had cassette tapes) that he would play and sing along with. That memory will always be a favourite of mine. Like her father, my mom adores Christmas carols too. We play an array of different Christmas songs in our house. We love rocking to Elvis, feel playful with Bing Crosby, get all cozy with Buble and feel sentimental and blessed with Il Divo. My most loved Christmas song is O holy Night.

6. Was I NAUGHTY Or Nice This Year?

I was plain blank NAUGHTY! LOL ;-D

*****
I want to wish you all a blessed and wonderful Christmas and Festive Season. Thank you so much for supporting me and being true Divas this year! I love you lots. Let me know below what some of your favourite Christmas things are and if you were Naughty or Nice this year? ;-)
Divalicious Kisses

Xxxx

10 comments

, by Diva Desle

Blog tag

Christmas 2015 Holly Jolly Holiday Tag, Manicure and Makeup

Christmas 2015 Holly Jolly Holiday Tag,

Manicure and Makeup

Hello gorgeous Divas

Christmas is finally upon us. It really is my most favourite time of the year. I hope that you are as excited as I am for this very special day. Are your Christmas decorations up yet and have you finished all your gift shopping? The only thing that I hate about this festive time is the Christmas rush. I prefer doing things earlier in the month so that I have no stress about crazy holiday shopping and trying to find parking at busy malls. The worst! This week on the blog I wanted to share my Christmas makeup and manicure with you. Plus I did a fun festive tag to get us in the Christmas mood. For my makeup I used my Urban Decay Naked 2 palette and my Nude Dude palette by The Balm on my eyelids. These palettes have beautiful glittery gold shades that are great for a festive look. I lined my eyes with a Maybelline Studio Fix gel liner and topped off my lashes with my favourite Hypnose Drama Mascara by Lancome. For my blush I used the gorgeous Clarins Blush prodige product in Miami pink. For my highlight I used The famous Mary Lou Manizer by The Balm for that extra golden twinkle on my cheeks. To top everything off I used Cinnamon Spice by Wet 'n Wild for a deep red lip. This makeup is great for a Christmas dinner as it is super glam and golden.

Holly Jolly Holiday Tag Questions:

-Favourite Christmas movie?
I love watching The Family Stone and The Holiday.

-Are you on the Naughty list or the Nice list?
Always Naughty, lol.

-Show us an embarrassing Christmas Card photo!
I shared one of me and my sister on Instagram last year. My hair was whack in that photo. You can view it here ;-)

-Have you ever had a White Christmas?
Never, but I am dreaming of one.

-Where do you usually spend your holiday?
Sadly in my home town. I would love to take a trip overseas but times are tough people!

-Play or sing your favourite Christmas song!

I'll add a YouTube link instead. O Holy Night by Mariah Carey and Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas by Bing Crosby. So beautiful!

-Do you open any presents on Christmas Eve?
No. My mother was always very strict about opening presents on Christmas day after church. The torture was real! So I have it ingrained in me now to only open presents on Christmas day. I find that it is more exciting that way.

-Can you name all of Santa's reindeer?

Hell no. I only know Rudolph ;-D

-What holiday tradition are you looking forward to most this year?
Eating and more eating. No jokes!

-Is your Christmas tree real or fake?

It is fake. We used to have real ones when I was a child.

-Hands down, what's your all-time favourite holiday food and holiday sweet treat?

I absolutely love my mom's homemade roast lamb and chocolate mousse. My mouth is watering just thinking about it.

-Be honest: do you like giving gifts or receiving gifts better?

I love giving gifts. I especially love wrapping gifts and making them look pretty. It is so much fun.

-Show us your tackiest Christmas attire!

Hahaha, I don't have one.

-What would be your dream place to visit for the holiday season?

I would love to visit the Christmas markets in Germany. They look so stunning in pictures online. As I said above I have never had a white Christmas, so I would love to be in the snow.

-Does your family have a special holiday recipe you like to help make?

Yes. I love helping my mom make the desserts. Like the chocolate mousse and cheesecakes. Yum!

-Are you a pro-present wrapper, or do you fail miserably?

I am definitely a pro! I wrap up those prezzies with precision. No peek a booing allowed ;-)

-Most memorable Holiday moment?

When my dad almost set the Christmas table alight when he knocked over the candle and it landed on a serviette. All you saw was flames! Hahaha

-What made you realise the truth about Santa?

When I had to say thank you to my mom and dad for the gifts. I couldn't understand why I had to thank them and not Santa Claus. Something clicked inside me and realised they were somehow involved in the gift giving.

-Do you make New Year's resolutions? Do you stick to them?

Never! I don't believe in making New Year's Resolutions.

-What makes the Holidays special for you?
Family always makes the holidays special. I love spending time with them. We have so much fun together.

For my nails I used glittery red Nails Inc nail polish in Marylebone and Nails Inc Foil in Kings Road as a base. I drew on my funny Santa Claus with some Tip Top nail polishes with my dotting tools. I used silver nail trips for my thumb and pinky fingers. I then topped up four of my nails with Christmas nail stickers. Super easy manicure and super fun too ;-) I really hope I have inspired you for this Christmas day and that you enjoyed this post.

Wishing all you lovely Divas a Beautiful and Blessed Christmas and a Happy New Year!!!!
Thank you for all your support on the Diva Desle blog this year. See you in 2016 ;-)
Lots of Love
Xxxx

10 comments

, by Diva Desle

Body Wash

My Favourite Christmas 2015 Collections: The Body Shop and Essence

My Favourite Christmas 2015 Collections:

The Body Shop, Essence and Clarins

Hi Divas!

It is the most wonderful time of the year!!! The festive season is surely upon us and I am super excited. I just love the holidays and all the happiness and joy that it brings. I hope you have all completed your Santa shoe boxes or gifts for those less fortunate than yourself. You know it is more blessed to give than to receive. This year I teamed up with my local church and we made some Santa shoe boxes filled with goodies for an orphanage close by to our area. I cannot wait to see the surprise and happiness on the children's faces. Speaking of giving, are you done with you Christmas shopping yet? I sure am! I hate leaving Christmas shopping to the last minute. It really stresses me out. I thought I would do a post on my favourite beauty Christmas collections for those of you who are still struggling to find the perfect gift. Hope you enjoy!

The Body Shop Frosted Plum, Glazed Apple and Frosted Cranberry Collection:

Each Christmas season The Body Shop comes out with a limited edition scent filled with body washes, body butters, room sprays and candles. For the past two years I really enjoyed the Glazed Apple (fruity, sweet and fresh scent) and Frosted Cranberry (fruity and spicy scent) range. These two scents are my absolute favourite and I cannot resist buying a few items when the festive season comes along. This year I bought body washes, body butters and a delicious Glazed Apple candle that just delights all my senses. It seriously smells like heaven! The Body Shop added a new scent to their 2015 Christmas collection too called Frosted Plum. I am not a huge fan of this scent so I only bought the shower gel. If you love deep plum scents then you will surely love this range. These products would make excellent gifts for your best friend, sister, mom and granny. You can buy them individually or in a lovely gift set.

The Essence Merry Berry Collection:

I reviewed this collection last week. You can read it here. These products would make perfect stocking stuffers for the beauty and makeup lover in our life. Or you can be like me and just buy the collection as a Christmas present to yourself. After all you know you deserve it! Hahaha ;-) My favourite products from the Merry Berry collection are the lipsticks, nail polishes and the gorgeous starry highlighter powder. Don't you just love the packaging? It is so pretty and everything is under a R100 ($11). Score!!!

Clarins Christmas Collection:

Clarins is my holy grail skincare brand. Every year they come out with various Christmas gifts packaged according to your skin care needs and age. Each gift comes with a free toiletry/ makeup bag along with two or more skincare samples. I bought the Clarins Multi-Active range as I am not getting any younger and need some anti wrinkle ingredients in my life. These gifts are on the higher end side of your beauty budget. They would make excellent gifts for the ladies in your life who appreciate skin care products and love to pamper themselves. You can visit the Clarins website here for more information of the gifts on offer.

Thank you so much for reading Beauties.
Happy Shopping!!!
Xxxx

7 comments

, by Diva Desle

Christmas

Essence Merry Berry 2015 Christmas Collection

Essence Merry Berry

Christmas Collection

Hello beautiful ladies!

I am so excited to do this post for you as it is all about makeup and Christmas! One of my favourite holiday collections this year has to be from the drugstore brand Essence. They came out with an array of new makeup, hair and nail polish products for their 2015 holiday collection called Merry Berry. When I saw pictures of the collection online I just knew I had to rush to the stores when it hit the shelves in my area as soon as possible. These products were selling out fast and I managed to grab all that I wanted on one of my morning shopping trips. I was most excited to purchase the gorgeous highlighter powder as it is embossed in the prettiest gold stars. The packaging just made me so excited for Christmas and the festive season. Along with the highlighter I bought two eyeshadows, two nail polishes and two lipsticks. There are also hair fragrance mists and gold shimmer body powders packaged in vintage perfume bottles which I did not get. Below are reviews of the makeup and nail polishes I did buy! ;-)

*Essence Merry Berry Nail Polish in 04 Red Rocks: A lovely bright red shade with slight pink undertones

*Essence Merry Berry Nail Polish in 02 Purple With Purpose: A stunning satin finish deep royal purple shade.

*Essence Merry Berry Eyeshadow in 02 The Masked Ball: A purple eyeshadow with taupe shades and glitter undertones. The eyeshadow is pretty powdery and you get a lot of fall out.

*Essence Merry Berry Eyeshadow in 01 The Perfect Dress: A shimmery beige eyeshadow with glitter undertones. It looks beautiful and natural on the eyelids.

*Essence Merry Berry Highlighter in 01 I love My Golden Pumps: A glowing gold highlighter that gives a natural luminous glow on the cheeks.

*Essence Merry Berry Lipstick in 01 Let's The Berry Tales Begin: A plum lipstick shade with berry undertones. It looks very sultry on the lips and great for a romantic night out.

*Essence Merry Berry Lipstick in 02 Pink and Perfect: A bright pink and berry shade which is very festive and playful. You could wear it any time of the day and it would transform any makeup look into a pretty whimsical feel.

I am absolutely in love with the highlight powder, shimmery beige eyeshadow shade in The Perfect Dress, Let's The Berry Tales Begin plum lipstick and the nail polish in Purple With Purpose. In my opinion these are the best products out of the collection. The highlighter is very natural. I love to use it on my cheekbones and under my brow bone. You can really build up the shine and there are no glitter chunks which I love. The beige eyeshadow makes the eyelids pop without being over the top. The plum lipstick and purple nail polish are unique shades that I do not own in my makeup collection. The other red berry lipstick and nail polish are pretty but they are not unique in shades. So if you have something similar in your makeup kit you honestly don't need it. The purple eyeshadow in The Masked Ball is my least favourite product I bought. The eyeshadow has a lot of fall out and you truly need an excellent sticky primer to make the eyeshadow stick to the eyes. You can definitely skip that eyeshadow if you are looking to pick up only a few pieces from the Merry Berry range.

In the photo above I painted my nails with the Red Rocks and Purple With Purpose nail polishes. The nail varnishes are very opaque and have a beautiful shine after applying a top coat. They dry quite quickly which makes nail painting a breeze. I really love how this manicure turned out. I think it looks very pretty. On my face I applied the eyeshadows, highlight powder and lipsticks. I think both lipstick shades compliments the eye look so well. Look at the magnificent highlighter on my cheeks too! I just love it ;-) If you only want to pick up one thing from the range you have to buy the highlight powder. The stunning starry packaging alone makes my heart skip several beats.

Hope you found this review helpful.
Much love!
Xxxx