This time of year means more parties, more travel and more events than the rest of the year put together. You need makeup and beauty products that are portable, that work well together and are small so they can be packed into the smallest clutch bag or carry on hand luggage, but they also need to make an impact and make you look and feel fabulous. I have picked my top 5 beauty palettes that make short work of looking sexy this season.

Cargo Plant Love Palette – Green Goddess
£22.00 from www.puresha.com

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Cargo Plant Love is the only high end brand which has been awarded an eco certificate and even the packaging is recyclable and made of plants! The palette contains four smooth, well pigmented eyeshadows perfect to create an everyday or smoky eye look. It also contains a highlighter and a blusher. The palette is very thin and would be perfect to take in a handbag or carry on bag if you are travelling. Cargo Plant Love is exclusively sold in the UK from www.puresha.com.

Jillian Dempsey for Avon – Essential Beauty Palette
£10.00 from www.avonshop.co.uk

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Avon’s Global Creative Colour Director and Hollywood make-up artist Jillian Dempsey has created the perfect Christmas beauty palette. “Glimmering, golden make-up is the perfect accent for any holiday look,” explains Jillian. Apply the mid-tone shadows on your lid, blending the darker shades into the crease to create dramatic definition, then smooth on the cheek colour with your finger and finish off with a coat of lip colour. The shades have been picked to suit all skin tones and the thin design of the palette means it is perfect to take to a party or event for touching up your makeup during the evening.

Famous by Sue Moxley Tinseltown Eyeshadow Palette
£14.00 from Superdrug  stores or www.famousbysuemoxley.com

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This classy eyeshadow palette is from a range called Famous designed by Sue Moxley who is a celebrity makeup artist.  It contains four tonal eyeshadows so you can highlight, define and colour the lid or mix it up to create many different looks. It is much more portable than carrying 4 different eyeshadow pots and comes with a handy mirror and double ended brush. The range is available exclusively from Superdrug stores.

Too Faced Palette  – Glamour to Go
£16.00 from www.asos.com

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This credit card sized beauty palette is small but perfectly formed. With an amazingly space-saving 8 eyeshadows, four lip glosses and a blusher all you need is base makeup, eyeliner and mascara and you are good to go. If you are the kind of person who totes around your entire makeup bag all the time then pick this up, you could use the same palette for days without repeating the same makeup look. If you are travelling to see relatives or going back home for Christmas then this going to be fantastically useful and is a definite must have.

Sleek Cosmetics Eyeshadow Palettes (IDivine) – Storm
Exclusive to Superdrug stores or www.superdrug.com

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Sleek Cosmetics have the most fantastic quality for a minimal price, each eyeshadow palette contains 12 gorgeous colours which are a mixture of matte and shimmery shades. The colour payoff is brilliant. Depending on which palette you purchase the prices vary but are never more than £5.00. For such an amazing price I doubt you could find anything of such good quality from any other brand. The palette in Storm is full of gorgeous neutral shades and would suit absolutely everyone from the palest skin to the darkest. The packaging is sleek and black and there is a large mirror which is  good enough to use to make up your entire face. The texture of the shadows is very creamy although I would recommend using an eyeshadow base to prevent creasing. The longevity of the shadows cannot be beaten and the palette is also very thin and portable.

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All of these palettes are under £25.00 and are readily available either online or on the UK high street. I would definitely recommend trying a palette this Christmas, I think you will be pleasantly surprised.

Did you know…?
For all the Twilight fans out there: You can now buy makeup and fragrances inspired by the books and movies. You can choose between the Luna Twilight and Volturi Twilight lines depending whose look you like better.

- Guest Blogger Sarah Smith from the iheartcosmetics Blog