March Favourites

Before my last favourites post in January (HERE), it'd been months since I'd done a favourites post before. I didn't do one last month due to the fact that I hadn't really gained anymore new favourites, however this month I have and there's rather a lot of them if i'm honest.

Givenchy Le Rouge Lipsticks (Debenhams, £25 each) - My dad recently went on holiday and brought me back these lipsticks from duty free. Oh my gosh. They're just gorgeous. I've got the shades Rose Boudoir, Beige Plume and Rose Taffetas. I've not really worn Rose Boudoir much, i've actually probably worn Beige Plume the most because it goes literally with anything! All three colours are colours that I probably wouldn't usually go for but I love them anyway.


Real Techniques Miracle Complexion Sponge (Boots, £5.99) - If I was paid for the amount of times I've mentioned this brand on this blog, i would be ever so rich. Since buying the Real Techniques Expert Face Brush, I've not touched a sponge for foundation application once. I really like this. It works best with my Bourjois Healthy Mix Foundation, and I love it for concealer because I can really push it into the skin, making every use of the coverage of the concealer, plus no brush marks!


Bourjois Healthy Mix Foundation (Boots £9.99) - Before buying this I'd heard so much about this foundation; it's apparently a dupe of Chanel Vitalumiere, or Pro Lumiere? Which are typically quite sheer foundations, so I wasn't really too sure what I'd think of it. Well, honestly, I didn't think I'd like it at all. I'm more a fan of a fuller coverage rather than a 'barely there' sheer kind of coverage. But this is the exception. Don't get me wrong, it's not a full coverage by any means, but it covers what it needs to cover but still looks, and feels, so light on the skin. You know, I think this may even have overtaken my Rimmel Match Perfection Foundation in terms of my favourite foundation.


Clinique SuperPrimer (Boots, £20) - Clinique is a brand that I'm definitely coming to love. The first thing I tried was their cleansing balm, and since then I've tried quite a few things and I've loved everything. This range of primers have been out for a while now and I've been meaning to buy one and I'm so glad I did. Some primers, I've found, can sit too much on your skin and then after you've applied your foundation and powder you feel like your makeup is about three inches thick on your face because your primer is so heavy (and yes, this has happened with me!), but this just feels like a moisturiser, yet creates a great canvas for my makeup to grip on to, plus keeps it there all day long.

Garnier Micellar Water (Boots, £4.99) - I wrote about how I loved the L'Oreal Micellar Water for makeup removal in THIS post, but since running out of that (and trust me, it runs out fast) I picked up this Garnier equivalent. Firstly, for the Garnier one you're getting twice as much as the L'Oreal for the same price. It's no better or anything, but this lasts way longer because the dispenser is a lot smaller so you loose less. I'm a massive fan of these quick-fix makeup removers. Sometimes cleanser and water is too much.


Collection Lasting Perfection Concealer (Boots £4.19) - Okay, this is generally a favourite every month, I know, but I've loved this more than normal this month. I've been using the shade 02 on blemishes, around my nose and under my eyes, and then the shade 01 in the inner corners of my eyes and under my brow to really sharpen it  for when my brow powder is applied. This literally is the best concealer ever and it's so great because of how cheap it is!



Rimmel ScandalEyes Rockin' Curves Mascara (Boots, £6.99) - As you well may know I'm a big fan of the Maybelline Volume Express Mascaras (The Rocket especially!) but I decided to branch out and try Rimmel's new mascara. I really really like it and it may in fact have taken over The Rocket as my new mascara. We shall see.


MAC Painterly Paint Pot (Maccosmetics.co.uk, £15) -  As a lover of both cream eyeshadows and MAC, it was inevitable that I would love this. I've literally been using this non-stop as a primer for my eyeshadow since i've had it. This keeps your eyeshadow on all day long (I swear it does not budge!). It's actually also really great to wear alone with just some winged liner and mascara. I'll definitely be buying more of these soon!

 L'Oreal Elvive Colour Protect Shampoo and Conditioner (Boots, £3.99 each for 400ml) - A HAIR CARE PRODUCT - what a rarity. This shampoo and conditioner, despite how cheap it is, it literally has been a miracle worker for my hair! Plus it smells divine.


The Body Shop Indian Night Jasmine Perfume (The Body Shop, £15 for 50ml) - My friend Alice wears this perfume and the first day I saw that it was this that she was using, I needed to buy it too! I'm not even going to attempt to describe its scent because I just cannot describe fragrances to save my life, but I absolutely love this and I think it's the perfect daytime fragrance.


Alrightyyyyy. There's rather a lot there I know, but I've loved a lot this month and I just wanted to share it all with you!

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TOP 5 OF 2013

Can you believe that 2013 is over in less than 24 hours?! Crazy isn't it!

It's fair to say that this year I've trialled and tested A LOT of beauty products this year, but I've managed to cut it down to the top 5 that have stood out from the rest. So in no particular order...

CLINIQUE DRAMATICALLY DIFFERENT MOISTURISING LOTION +
Clinique.com | £17-£28.50
Firstly starting off with a skincare love. I hardly mention skincare on my blog, mainly because I'm so lazy with skincare, and I'm only just getting into a proper regime. My skin gets quite dehydrated and this is a perfect pick-me-up.
First mentioned here

RIMMEL MATCH PERFECTION FOUNDATION
Boots.com | £6.99
Being one of my most recent purchases, this is by far one of my favourite products; it's such a lovely foundation and leaves my skin looking so luminescent. You can read more about it in THIS post.
First mentioned here

MAC LIPSTICK IN LADY DANGER
Maccosmetics.com | £15
I bought this lipstick at the beginning of April shortly after my operation (needed a bit of cheering up), and its perfect for daytime, nighttime, summer, winter. It's basically just the perfect lipstick!! The bright orange-red shade is definitely not one for the faint hearted as it is super super bright, which I love. Because of it's matte finish, it stays put all day.
First mentioned here (this is from the time where I was obsessed with over using snapsneed on EVERY picture... apologies)

LADY GAGA FAME EAU DE PARFUM
Boots.com | £31 (for 50ml)
I originally got this fragrance in about March or April and I instantly loved it (that much that I'm on my second bottle). It's the perfect scent for both daytime and evening.
First mentioned here 

MAYBELLINE THE ROCKET VOLUME EXPRESS MASCARA
Boots.com | £7.99
My trusty mascara of the year. I've mentioned this countless times, as you'll know, for reasons that you'll probably know too. It's by far the best mascara I've ever used.
First mentioned here

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Illamasqua Skin Trio + Topshop Wicked | FOTN

I went to the theatre last night to see ‘Wicked’ in Manchester, and I thought that I would just do a little “face of the night” post telling you what I wore on my face and so letting you know some of my favourite products at the moment, as so to speak.

I started off by applying the Clinique Dramatically Different Moisturising Lotion + all over my face (I mentioned it in THIS haul post). I've been using this mainly as a nighttime moisturiser, however I've used it when my skin feels like it needs a little bit more moisture!

I then used my favourite skin trio of the moment, starting with the Illamasqua Hydra Veil primer - I am absolutely loving this as I have very  dehydrated skin, and this gives my skin a real boost whilst providing a great base for my makeup. Sticking with Illamasqua, I used their Skin Base Foundation in the shade 4. This applies perfectly over the Hydra Veil, using a Real Techniques Expert Face Brush. To get rid of my terrible dark circles, I used my Bourjois Healthy Mix Concealer and applied this under my eyes and across my eyelids, and also on the redness around my nose and any little blemishes.

MAC Eyeshadows; Clockwise - Omega, Brule, Handwritten, Era

At this point I then move onto my eyes, and I started off with doing my eyebrows, using Omega eyeshadow (top left) from MAC on a small angled brush.  

Using a MAC 217, I applied the shade Brule (top right), a matte skin colour shade also by MAC, all over the lid, just to set the foundation and concealer across my lids. 

I then applied MAC eyeshadow in Era (bottom left) all across the lid, again with my 217, and then I used my Real Techniques Duo Fibre Eye Brush to apply MAC Handwritten (bottom right), a gorgeous matte chocolate brown, through the crease. I also took this on a small angled brush on the lower lash line. 

I lined my top lashline with the Illamasqua Precision Gel Liner and my top waterline with the Bourjois Queen Attitude Khol Kajal Liner, finishing off the eyes with a few coats of my favourite mascara ever, the Maybelline The Rocket Mascara.

Moving back to the skin, I powdered through the centre of the face with the last of the Illamasqua face trio, the Illamasqua Powder Foundation (I think I’m using shade 135? - it’s a tad too light for me though). 

I am a huge huge fan of contouring, and recently I have been loving using my Benefit Hoola bronzer and the Real Techniques Contour Brush. 

The final touch for the face was using the gorgeous MAC Mineralize Skin Finish in Soft And Gentle on the tops of my cheekbones.

Bringing the whole look together, I finished it off by using Topshop’s Lipstick in Wicked, a lovely burgundy shade.

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The Best Mascara EVER

"The best mascara ever" is probably a very big claim to make, but I stand with my vote to say that this is the best mascara I have ever used. 

Unless this is the first post from my blog that you have read, you won't be unfamiliar with this. It is the Maybelline The Rocket Volume Express Mascara. 

Maybelline The Rocket Volume Express Mascara, £7.99

As you'll know, I'm a big fan of Maybelline's volume express mascaras; I've been using them for years, and I've tried out nearly all of them. Despite being impressed I've never ended up repurchasing the same one. I decided to try this just as a change and I noticed in the shop that the wand looked very similar to that of the Max Factor False Lash Effect mascara which I loved but haven't used in years. As this was cheaper, I decided to give it a try. WOW. 

Maybelline The Rocket Mascara wand

 

My lashes naturally are very short (weeps), this gives them SO MUCH length and volume. It is also very long lasting too. As I right this, last night I naughtily forget to take my makeup off (slaps wrist), but when I woke up the next morning, 50%, or more even, of the product was still on my lashes. I still looked like I actually had eyelashes in comparison to no mascara. 

Would I recommend this to you? Of course. Is this something I will repurchase? DEFINITELY.

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