May favourites

This month has definitely been one of trying new products and getting to grips with older ones or testing new combinations.

T-B- NYX cream blush in "Natural", Beauty UK blush in Royal Rose.

My NYX cream blush has become an everyday staple for a dewy finish to an everyday face. It adds a healthy tint whilst remaining in place pretty much all day. I've been using one of the new baked blushes by Beauty UK which I'm a big fan of, it's very pigmented with some fine shimmer to it, and it complements the NYX blush well enough to use on top just to add a bit of extra kick to the colour or keep it on for longer.

Ooh la la Naked is a wonderfully creamy moisturising body wash with a heavenly scent that makes me want to eat it and produces mountains of creamy lather when used with a shower scrunchie (buff puff/ mesh-thingy... Everyone calls them a different thing!) 


Naked's Perfect Getaway cream cleanser is something I've been using everyday for the last week and a bit and so far it's pretty much perfect. I don't use it quite as the directions suggest (smoothing on and removing with a cotton pad) but use it like a hot cloth cleanser which seems to be working well. Full review on this to come once I've been using it for longer! 

Max Factor Experience Weightless Foundation - I'd seen Fee @ Makeup Savvy rave about this foundation and I love, love, love it! The coverage is amazing, for general blemishes I don't need anything extra but spots do require either a tiny bit extra foundation (which can be built up without looking at all cakey) or a dab of concealer. It visibly perks up my skin leaving it looking smooth and perfect whilst not looking like I'm wearing a heavy foundation or feeling as though I'm wearing anything on my skin at all! It lasts all day, doesn't need any powder on my normal-combination skin and is what I'd describe as a satin finish. This is definitely a must have and something I'll be sticking with. I actually got hold of this for £6 including postage on ebay instead of the Boots £10 price after swatching instore for a colour match.

elf Studio cream eyeliner- after quite a number of months of this being my only used eyeliner the top of this started to dry up and made application difficult and a bit messy. Having started to burrow down past the top layer of drier eyeliner it's got a new lease of life and I'm back to using it every single day without fail. Such an amazing product for the tiny £3.50 price tag. 

elf Studio stipple brush- perfect for cream blushes and for a quick swirl in pigmented powder blushes too. 

Bourjois Delice de Poudre bronzer- a tiny price for a lot of bronzer! This smells delicately of chocolate which in my books can only be a good thing, it's just about totally matte though there is the odd bit of shimmer thrown in. It's great for evening out my chest and neck if my fake tan is starting to fade or for a bit of all over colour on my face, this is a really buildable powder ideal for us paler girls (mine's number 51 which is the lighter colour I believe). 

Nivea Daily Essentials oil free moisturising day cream is another new product, I was running low on my Simple oil balancing moisturiser and this was on offer in Tesco for £1.50 (usually £3) so I thought it was worth a try. If anything I prefer it to my Simple moisturiser, it's scented, which I like, and it's possibly a little more moisturising too, the formula is more creamy and less gel-like. Does a great job of keeping my skin from getting oily through the day and moisturises too!

17 Wild Curls is definitely my favourite everyday mascara (and that's not to say it doesn't deliver fierce curled lashes!) but with No7's exquisite curl mascara layered over it I'm left with even bigger lashes that are both volumised and lengthened. 

A long favourites post this month! Anything outstanding that you've used this month? Let me know!

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Mapril favourites

Since we're now half way into April and I've still not done March favourites I thought I'd squish them together (hence the oh-so-clever title) and maybe do a mini favourites at the beginning of May if anything's changed..

So, Mapril favourites...

Soap and Glory's Scrub Your Nose In It. Love this! Great for an oil-free face all day and can be used as a mask as well, lovely minty scent and feel to it, this will be great especially as the weather gets warmer. Full review to come.

Topshop blush in Flush remains a firm favourite, because of the cream-to-powder finish I've been using it over powder mineral foundation (shock!) without any disastrous results too.

Please excuse the ridiculously grubby packaging, although pretty it seems to be like a magnet for staining! I've been using my Lily Lolo mineral foundation with my Liz Earle Skin Tonic for better, more flawless coverage and extra staying power.

L-R Mac Laugh a Lot and No7's Power.

 Mac's Laugh a Lot is a Lustre finish and on my lips doesn't look that much different than my normal lip colour, except with a lovely glossy finish that generally makes a simple face of make up look much more polished. Power is a gorgeous raspberry colour that I tend to blot down to leave a pretty stain, it's perfect for spring and it's not drying either! 

NYX cream blush in Natural. I have finally worked out how to make this work for me. A very, very light hand and my ELF stipple brush, I buff it in and it leaves a wonderful fresh finish and a perfect natural colour, just as the name suggests! 

What are your new spring favourites?

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Poppy King Lipstick- Power

If I'm honest, the only thing that excited me about the Poppy King range when I first heard about it was the beautiful packaging I was expecting. Sadly this only extends to the cardboard box that houses the lipstick however it does do something to satisfy my craving for pretty packaging!

Take a look at the promotional video for an idea of the other shades on offer...

  

Power is described as raspberry in colour and I totally agree. For a range that's supposed to be sheer I actually don't think that Power is that sheer, sure one swipe leaves less colour than the bullet would have you expect but still it's not all that sheer. The colour also doesn't particularly match the colour in the video, but it's still pretty and not a colour I have already.

I personally like it blotted which leaves a beautiful raspberry stain, that is so perfect for spring. It leaves an even stain as it wears off which sticks around for hours.

swatched 2/3 times

£12 seems a little on the expensive side for such a teeny lipstick (3.5g of product in a tiny lilac-y silver tube) however with a £5 No7 voucher the £6 is so much more reasonable.

Definitely something I feel I'll be getting a lot of wear out of this spring/summer!

Disclosure: I was sent this free lipstick to review. All views and opinions expressed are my own.

Fabulous February's Favourites!

I can't believe it's the end of February already! 

This month's favourites include....

Topshop blush in "Flush", No7 Exquisite Curl, Lily Lolo Flawless Silk Finishing Powder, ELF's cover up stick, ELF's Candid Coral blush, Distilled Witch Hazel and ELF Mist and Set spray.

Topshop Cream Blush in "Flush" and No7 Exquisite Curl mascara

After many months of seeing "Flush" on other blogs I finally popped this in my basket when Topshop had their recent free delivery offer, it's gorgeous and I love it.. full post of love to come!

I wrote about No7's mascara here and since then I've used it just about every time I've worn mascara. It's great for everyday and layered with 17's Wild Curls for more drama! 

ELF's studio line blush in Candid Coral

This was my first blusher from ELF and it's perfect, it's subtle but buildable and the fine gold shimmer works even with my pale skintone adding a very natural sheen to the skin. Total bargain too, as with all things ELF!

Lily Lolo's Flawless Silk Finishing Powder and ELF's all over cover stick

Flawless Silk is great for using all over the skin to keep oil at bay without taking your fact to a totally matte level, it adds a flattering glow and a very slight peachy colour that add to that flawless finish. 

I'm still using ELF's cover stick under foundation or alone just about every day, it stays put, lasts and matches my skintone. Definitely one of my essentials.

Distilled Witch Hazel and ELF's mist and set

Once again Witch Hazel makes the line up, see my full post here for more raving about it. Tightens pores, evens skintone, balances moisture levels and banishes oil. 

ELF's mist and set has been hailed as the poor man's fix plus.. I've never tried it, nor do I intend to! This is great for freezing make up where it's meant to be whilst leaving skin looking healthy and hydrated. 

Last but not least, Neal's Yard Chamomile Cleanser

I managed to leave this one out of the photo (there's always one) but this has become an everyday staple over the last few weeks after a rocky start! Full post on this to come but it's doing a wonderful job! 

Review: No7 Exquisite Curl

No7 mascaras have impressed me in the past, however I've not picked up any of their newer ones from the past few seasons as I've been relatively happy with my lower-end drugstore mascaras. This one was sent to me for review.


The newest offering from No7 is their "Exquisite Curl" mascara which claims to coax your lashes "to a more beautifully curved and volumised look, with long lasting curl", sounds good to me! I always used to curl my lashes until my eyelash curlers broke and the replacements just didn't cut it, ever since then I've demanded more from my mascaras; I want them to curl, lengthen, add volume and for all of this to STAY PUT for the whole day... Not much then ;)

The Exquisite Curl wand itself is curved to help curl lashes and has bristles which are quite densely packed, with one side having longer bristles than the other.


Application is easy enough, although I do seem to be having some issues with getting mascara on my eyelid which isn't normally a problem.. I'm putting this down to the brush shape which is a little unusual for me and bound to take a bit of getting used to!


Before...

After....

It definitely lengthens and curls, doesn't add a whole lot of volume but it's pretty rare to get everything in one! I really, really like this mascara and think it's well worth it's current £10 price tag- which is valid until the 23rd of Feb, after that it'll be £13.50 (or £8.50 with the £5 off vouchers that are regularly around). 

No7 also have a competition to win an exquisite pampering weekend including a make-over by none other than Lisa Eldridge! There are also 9 goodie bags to be won every week. For your chance to win all you need to do is upload a wink via picture or video to the No7 facebook page here! You've got until the 15th of February to get your entries in. 

Have you tried No7 mascara's before? Like the look of this one? 

x

Skincare routine: Cleansing

After I ran out of my beloved Liz Earle Cleanse and Polish a couple of months ago I decided I'd not go back for it straight away, simply because I get bored easily and fancied playing about with some other cleansers for a bit.

I received the Neal's Yard Chamomile Cleanser (I plan to do a proper review of this very soon.) as a gift for Christmas and got on with it relatively well, it's taken some getting used to as it doesn't massage into the skin as easily as some cleansers but it does leave my skin soft and smooth. I don't think it's the best at deep cleansing though so I was needing something more suited to that to add to my routine.


So with my £5 off No7 voucher in hand I went in search for the No7 Radiance Boosting hot cloth cleanser. I've only been using it for a few days but I'm really liking it, after use my face feels clean and soft without any hint of tightness. It is missing the scent of the Liz Earle one- the No7 one smells more.. soapy? and it's not quite as luxurious feeling, but then it's normally £9 for 200ml instead of £11 for 100ml, and with a voucher a bargainous £4 for 200ml!


Soap and Glory's Greatest Scrub of All is my current exfoliator and has been for a while. It's the perfect amount of scrubbiness but I just don't feel it's working for me anymore, so any suggestions are most welcome!

I'm using deep cleansing sponges as well as a muslin cloth to remove my cleansers at the moment, I find it's quicker and easier and something I can see myself sticking with. They seem to do their deep cleansing job well whilst still being really gentle too, they're from the Botanics range and they were around £3 for two.


The Body Shop's facial brush is another favourite accessory, it's great for transforming a normal cleanse to a really thorough exfoliation, it is something that's likely to make you break out at first though, as everything gets settled down and your skin gets a really good deep cleanse, so not one to start using right before a big event!


The rest of my skincare routine will be coming up soon!


What are you using for cleansing at the moment?


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