March Favourites 2013

Hello...wow almost April!

I kept my favourites short and sweet this month so decided to feature them all, rather than top 5.

As always you can watch my faves instead if you prefer...(When it's uploaded I'll link you up!)

1. Soap & Glory's Heel Genius. A god-send to my over-exercised, dry, itchy feet! I apply a small blob to my heel area and work across the entire surface of my 'under' foot. It gives a nice cooling sensation and really feels like it's doing something! Leaves my feet soft as a babies bum :)

2. Rimmel's Metal Rush nail polishes. Featured here and here, I've really been enjoying using these beauties. The metallic effect is truly lovely and in different light you have a different nail colour...especially the Blue shade: that can appear blue, purple and green. They apply really easily too and are fast-drying.

3. Baremineral's Matte mineral foundation. I have really come to love this recently, with the shade Fairly Light matching my now slightly tanned skin perfectly. The product provides a light to medium buildable coverage and it buffs really easily into the skin. I like this foundation for days when I can't be bothered to apply a heavy liquid foundation...This looks and feels like normal skin so you can't even feel that you are wearing it.

4. Urban Decay's Naked Basics Palette. Amazing. I did a quick review along with a eye look I like to create using this palette here, but if I had to choose just one fave this month it would be this! I love how the shades all compliment each other so well and as always with UD's eye shadows, they apply and blend really well. There are 5 matte shades and 1 shimmer which is a nice change from the the other Naked Palettes that heavily feature shimmers. I love it and it's super cute size means it can go along with you anywhere :)

5. Urban Decay's Naked Flushed Palette. Again a great buy. I love how all three products: blusher, highlighter and bronzer all feature in one compact and convenient palette. The blusher is truly amazing. It's very heavily pigmented so a little bit will go a long way. It will last years I tell you! The highlight is really pretty, nothing out of the ordinary but nice all the same. The bronzer is a great builder so if you have pale skin you'll be fine with a dab of this. As for the darker skin tones you will also be good to go with this as you can build it up really well. I like that it is more subtle and not over-kill though. I've been using the palette almost everyday since I opened it. Brill!

6. Rimmel's Apocolips Lip Lacquer in Celestial. I'm sure you're sick of hearing about these but I'm  indeed a fan. I would say they are a cross between a nourishing lipstick and a lipgloss. Not sticky like some glosses but they keep that moisture without drying out like a lot of lipsticks tend to do. I want more shades!...I forgot to mention this in my video but the downside for me is the scent/smell. They remind me of something I'm not keen on...plastic-y, waxy? Not sure but I wish they smelt/tasted like Mac lipsticks <3

7. Lastly, Body Shop's Born To Be Lippy Lip Balm in Pomegranate. Delicious smell and makes your lips soft and moisturized. What more could you want!? My lips have been incredibly dry lately so this has been taking some hammer but it seems to be lasting a long time :) For £3, bargain!

Thanks for reading. Please link me your monthly favourites, I love hearing about them all :)

February Favourites 2013

Wow, is it March already?!

So, February was a pretty average month for me and to be honest I haven't been trying many new products. Poor student and all! I've pretty much been loving the same things from my January favourites, so have a look at those if you haven't already!

However a few things did stand out from the crowd this past month...

As always you can watch my favourites on YouTube if you prefer!

...

I love my Paper Plane make-up bag! I think the design is so cute and the material feels of good quality. However, it is on the rather small side, especially if you don't travel light like me, so I keep my pills and potions in there instead :) I use it all the time when I'm 'to-ing and fro-ing' between my home and student digs.

One of the things I keep inside the "make-up" bag is a prescription gel I got from the doctor for my recent bout of acne. It's called Duac and I've found it's working wonders on my skin.

I've been reaching for my bareMinerals Matte foundation a lot lately. I did a full product review here, in case you're interested. Definitely a favourite over the past month though!

As for February lips, I've been liking the bolder choices and reaching for L'Oreal Paris' Caresse lipstick in Impulsive Fuchsia quite a bit. The pigmentation in this lipstick is great, whilst doing a grand old job in moisturising your lips and making them feel all nourished and soft! Love it!

Keeping with the bright fuchsias, I've been wearing my Miss Sporty nail polish a lot lately. I can't seem to find the shade's name but it's a hot pink all the same. I have a few of their polishes and I've always been impressed with their application. They're cheap too at £1.99!

I've probably spoken about this before but I love Lady GaGa's Fame perfume. It has a sweet fruity scent about it and the I think the bottle is just lovely. True to Lady Gaga, it has a touch of difference in that the fluid is actually black...but this turns clear when sprayed...luckily! :)

Bobbi Brown's Slopes has been my go to blush of choice this past month. It has great pigmentation so a little dab goes a long way and the dusty rose pink colour looks really nice on the apples of your cheeks. Lovely.

Last, but by no means least, is Urban Decay's 24/7 Glide on eye pencil in Perversion. This has everything you'd want in a black eyeliner! It's smooth and easy to apply, it's the blackest of black, and it has some serious staying power- pretty much lasting all day even on the waterline. Well worth the money!

There we go...they're my beauty favourites for Feb but I'd like to hear yours! Please leave a comment with a link to your Feb faves if you've done a post or alternatively list a few in your message :) I love reading/hearing about what everyone else has been enjoying.

Travel home make-up

Hello lovelies :)

So, last week was half term in Nottingham which meant I got to go home...see my mum & dad and all that :P

Above is what I call travelling light. In fact, I did take more makeup home but I decided to only include what I actually used whilst there!

I love my Paper Planes by Disaster Designs Wash Bag...it's not only cute in the form of a parcel but it's rather large so it can hold a lot. I bought mine here. 

I'll start with essential brushes. 

From the left is my Mac 129se which I love for applying blusher; 

my Sigma f82 rounded top kabuki great for foundation; 

another Mac 129se to apply my face powder; 

a cheap angled-eye brush for my brow kit; 

and finally the brilliant Mac 217 blending brush for eye shadow.

Face stuff.

From the left... No More Shine Setting Spray by Skindinavia. This is one of my holy grail products. A must have to keep my makeup in place and take away that powdery finish. I ordered mine from the Skindinavia site but it's cheaper here.

Pressed powder by 17. It does the job and it's pretty compact :)

Enzymion moisturizer from Lush. I love the citrus-y scent, it's brill for oily skin and helps prep my face for makeup. 

A Bobbi Brown blush in Slopes. Pretty colour.

bareMinerals Matte foundation. I used this the most whilst home...on those days when I wanted a lighter finish.

Benefit's Porefessional. This is a brill foundation primer...however I only used it once as I find it doesn't work too well with mineral foundation.

Chanel Perfection Lumiere...I love this foundation A LOT. However I only needed this heavier duty foundation on the one occasion whilst home.

Lastly, Mac's Studio Finish concealer. Very important for me, especially with my recent acne outbreak!

Eyes.

The Naked palette by Urban Decay. Enough said. 

Max factor's Clump Defy mascara. I'm enjoying using this purple tube atm!

Urban Decay's 24/7 glide on eye pencil. I'm all about the black eyeliner and this one is a beauty. It has serious staying power. Next to it, I also took home my liquid eyeliner by Rimmel which I used on the same occasion as my Chanel foundation (I went pubbing it :P)

Benefit's Brow Zings has been a part of my essential makeup for over a year now and I can't imagine ever not using it!

Liiiips!

As you can see I was quite strict with myself in terms of lip products. 

Generally I just used Lush's lip scrub in Popcorn flavour. This is simply delicious and it helps keep my lips nicely exfoliated. 

Afterwards I'd put on a bit of my Pomegranate lippy lip balm, from The Body Shop, to moisturise my lips and keep them nice and soft.

Finally, on more special occasions, I applied my Revlon Just Bitten Kissable balm stain on top to add a pop of colour. I love the build-able red colour that the shade Romantic gives!

...And that's a wrap!

bareMinerals Matte foundation

Hi everyone. Hope you all had a good Valentine's Day?! Personally I've never been one to do anything special for it...it's just another day in my opinion...but this year I went speed dating with a few friends. 

Yep, over 40 dates in one night...I reckon that might be me done for the year?! Haha. Anyway it was a good laugh, but no...I definitely didn't meet the love of my life, nowhere even close! :)

Sticking with the sickly theme...I thought I'd add a little love to my photo and include a couple of roses! They are mine, but no, I didn't get them for Valentine's...they were weirdly just kicking around! 

I've been a bareMinerals fan for a couple of years now, with my first foundation purchase in 2011. Being an oily skinned gal, I opted for the Matte version...which came on the scene that year I believe? So at the time I remember quite a bit of hype around it.

I was ever so excited when I got it for Christmas that year and couldn't wait to try it. Sadly, on first use of the product I was really disappointed. Back then, I wasn't as beauty obsessed and didn't have a good skincare regime going on. I had never moisturized! I know, crazy!

So on first using the bareMinerals foundation I found that by buffing the product onto my skin, using the Sigma F82 (love love love this brush), all it did was cling to the drier areas on my face, like nobody's business!

Anyway, after using a facial scrub and picking up a moisturizer, I found the product to apply much easier and it gave a nice complexion.

Then, for some reason I went off this foundation...possibly when summer hit. I don't particularly think this is the best option for those hot, sweaty days. Whilst using the Matte version, it does an OK job at keeping oils at bay for a few hours but generally I've found liquid foundations are a lot better at this.

I like the light-feel to this foundation and I get why it might seem like a good idea for summer days, but for me it doesn't have the staying power. I mean after all, it's basically powder.

However, I've recently got back into using this foundation on days where I don't want to apply my fuller coverage Chanel Perfection Lumiere. BareMineral's gives a nice light build-able coverage and generally can get your skin looking pretty flawless....

...But note that I said CAN. At the moment my skin troubles; spots, acne, seem to be clearing thanks to some prescribed medication...so I'm enjoying using the foundation. However, when my spots and acne was at its worst...I personally wouldn't have even considered using bareMinerals- simply because it wouldn't provide enough coverage and it doesn't have overly great staying power.

In my opinion bareMinerals is a great foundation for those that have pretty flawless skin to begin with. It'll do a fab job of evening out skin tone, covering a little redness and maybe even dark circles...but if you have much more to cover, then this wouldn't be advisable.

Like I say, I'm loving this product at the moment, but we do have a love-hate relationship. I love it and it loves me when my skin is behaving, but throw outbreaks into the mix and it remains firmly in my makeup storage!

Let me know it you have tried this/use bareMinerals? What do you think?