MARCH FAVOURITES

March has been a pretty exciting month for me as I started my new job and it also marked my 6 year anniversary with my boyfriend. Even so,I'm quite glad March is over now as I couldn't be more ready for the weather to start getting warmer, although ironically as I type this, I've just got in from nearly being blown away by the crazy wind. 

The Body Shop Camomile Cleansing Butter

I've had this cleansing butter for a while now and use it now and again, mostly when my skin is feeling like it needs a bit more nourishment when removing my make up. The next morning my skin felt so much better and this was the only product that I'd changed in my routine. I still don't use it everyday but I have been using it a lot this month. 

L'oreal True Match Foundation 

There is nothing that I don't like about this foundation. It applies well, it's the right amount of medium coverage to still look natural but flawless, it lasts really well throughout the day and you don't need much of it at all.  The shade is still slightly dark for me and it's N2 and I don't exactly have pale skin, so I'm not sure how it works for those with really fair skin but I know there are a lot of shades. 

Urban Decay Naked Skin Concealer

I had high expectations for this concealer as I had heard a lot of good things about it yet when I first tried it, it didn't wow me. I liked it but it didn't seem anything special. I carried on using it here and there and on one of those days when I looked in the mirror, I thought how well concealed and brightened my under eyes looked. I'm thinking of doing a separate post about this concealer so I wont say too much now! 

Clarins Hydra Quench Intensive Serum

I got this a while ago as a free gift with some other Clarins purchases and was excited to use it, I just hadn't got round to trying it for one reason or another. Since starting my new job I've found a use for it in my routine. I now work in an office, which for the first couple of weeks had the heating cranked up, which  left my skin feeling very dehydrated. I've gone from being freezing cold in my old job, to overly hot, but thankfully I think that's sorted now. I loved the Clarins serum as it's really lightweight but feels so hydrating on the skin. It's perfect for people with normal and oily skin types, like myself who need the hydration but don't want the heavy feel. Although I loved it, Clarin's serums are expensive, so I'm not sure I want to purchase the full size just yet. 

Urban Decay Perversion Mascara

I've been using this mascara everyday for the last month maybe and have really enjoyed using it. I particularly love the brush as it's big enough to catch all the lashes easily, yet not too big that you can't control it and it ends up going everywhere. It builds up length and volume pretty quickly too. It does definitely work better with the Subversion primer, but it's still more than good enough for everyday wear alone. It's supposed to contain ultra black pigments, which really do show. When I use the mascara my lashes look so dark, which I really like as I feel like it makes my eyes look more awake and defined. It lasts all day and I've never had a problem with smudging and it also removes easily when I use a cleanser. I would probably repurchase this mascara! 

Urban Decay Perversion 24/7 Glide on Eye Pencil 

If you've read my 'Everyday Make up' post you'll have seen this eye liner mentioned. I don't normally wear pencil liner and prefer to line my upper lash line with gel liner, yet since toning down my make up, as I mentioned in my 'Everyday Make up' post, I've been really liking using this eye liner and smudging it out across my upper lash line as it's really quick and easy. I can't use this eye liner on my water line as it makes my eyes water, but it's great anywhere else. 

Barry M Olive Nail Paint 

I think I bought this last year and never got around to using it as the green tone slightly scares me on the nails. I finally applied it last week and I really love it. It's a lovely shade, perfect for this time of year, as it's not quite a spring pastel shade, but a kind of just before the spring nails shade... if that makes any sense at all?! I like it because it's a really unique shade and moreover, it lasted on my nails amazingly well, in comparison to my normal nail varnishes. 

L'oreal Eva's Nude

Recently I've been reaching for this lipstick a lot as it's a really pretty and easy to wear nude shade. I like it as I often forget to put anything on my lips, so just having this in my bag is handy as it instantly completes the look and perks up your make up look, yet still looks really pretty and natural. 

There we have another bunch of favourites, all of which I think I'll be enjoying for a long time. 

What products have you been loving this month?

SHOPPING MY STASH

Isn't it funny how we get so excited about buying new make up and then often, not too many weeks or months later, we've sentenced it to a life of just sitting in our draws with all of our other neglected make up. We anticipate the arrival of bigger and better things and often forget about our once loved products.

After months of claiming that I need more blusher, as I don't own many (clearly owning nearly every Benefit blush doesn't qualify), I remembered that in actual fact, I have two Sleek blush palettes with a total of six different shades, surely that's more than enough?! A similar train of thought followed about neutral lip colours, somehow I forgot I have tonnes of lip glosses that fit the bill. 

Over the past week I've decided to start using more of these forgotten products and I'm really enjoying rediscovering items that I once loved. A couple of these products are ones that I never really used much but want to make more of an effort to use. So far I've been really enjoying using Tanya Burr's lip gloss in Chic as an everyday shade. I want to keep trying to use more of my lip glosses as they complete your look and are so quick and easy to use. Another that I used to love is the Bare Minerals lip gloss in Rebel; a natural 'your lips but better' colour.  I've said in previous posts that I'm not the biggest  pencil eye liner wearer, yet obviously I had to buy the Urban Decay eye liner set last Christmas (you can read my post here) I've recently started using Urban Decay's Perversion eye pencil, which you can see in my 'everyday make up post', but I still want to try and use more of the other colours that I got in the set. These three browns should be easy to use for everyday natural looks. The Bare Minerals Warmth is absolutely gorgeous as a bronzer; it's the perfect product to warm up the complexion, for so many skin tones. Even if you are really fair you just need a tiny amount of product and it makes your skin look so naturally fresh, radiant and bronzed. The only reason I don't use it much is because it's a little more time consuming, tipping out the required amount than your ordinary solid pan bronzer. Another Bare Minerals product that I want to use more of is the loose mineral eye shadows. Surprisingly they're really quick and easy to use and not at all messy. I used to just pat on  the shadows all over the lid and then blend a matte shade or the Bare Minerals Warmth through the crease. My favourite Bare Minerals loose shadows are Queen Tiffany, Tan Lines, Bare Skin and Queen Phyllis. Another eye shadow product that I need to make more use of are the Naked palettes, especially Naked 3. There was so much hype about this palette when it first came out that I just bought it because you feel like I should and when you've got 1 and 2, you obviously need 3... I really love the shades when I do use them, it's just one I forget to make use of. The LUSH Lip Scrubs are one of those things that seem cool, but rarely actually get used. I want to use it more often to exfoliate my lips, especially as I'll be applying more lip gloss now, so I need them to be smooth and a better base for lip products. The final product I have is the REN Clarimate Invisible Pores Detox Mask. I'm pretty good with my skincare but useless with masks, I can never be bothered. I think I may have to set myself a target of using a mask once a week.

What products have you rediscovered and love or which ones do you not use enough?

MY EVERYDAY MAKE UP

Since leaving my make up counter job, where it was actually written in my contract that I must wear a full face of make up, I've made some big changes to my make up routine. This probably still seems a lot for the everyday woman, but for us beauty obsessed this is pretty tame. I've been really enjoying not feeling like I need to layer every product I can onto my face and think up new and exciting eye looks everyday, in a minimal time. It's strange but I'm actually feeling a lot more confident with my face...? since cutting down on the products. I still wear more make up than pretty much everyone in the office, but it's a start. 

 First up for my base, I use the L'oreal True Match foundation in N2, which is still a little dark for my light, un-fake tanned skin. I use Urban Decay's new Naked Skin concealer under the eyes and set it with my trusty MAC Emphasize powder, which I will be repurchasing very soon by the looks of it. I did include Rimmel's Stay Matte powder in my 'Hyped products that I'm not in  love with' post, but I don't actually have many powders in my collection, so I'm just using it to set my foundation and use it up. I use MAC's Give me sun bronzer, as it's so pigmented that it takes no time at all to apply and gives a gorgeous warmth to the skin. I like to use Bare Minerals 'The One' blush, as it's a soft pink shade that gives a healthy flush to the cheeks, topped with MAC's Soft & Gentle on the cheekbones. For my eyes I still like to define my eyes, yet not so dark and the winged liner has definitely been got rid of. I use MAC's Wedge in the crease, Sable on the lid as it's a light slightly shimmery brown and Swiss Chocolate to slightly darken  up the outer corner and on the lower lash line. I use a little bit of Urban Decay's Perversion eye liner along my top lash line and smudge it out to give the definition and extra thickness to my lashes, but so it's quite soft. I then finish off with Urban Decay's Perversion mascara and a little bit of Soft & Gentle on the brow bone and inner corner. I fill in my brows slightly with the Urban Decay Naked Basics palette. To finish off my look, I use L'oreal's Eva's Nude lipstick, as it's a gorgeous natural shade that you can just put on to complete the look. 

I'm really enjoying my new everyday make up routine as it's so much quicker and when I look in the mirror I feel more myself, instead of just looking at make up. Don't get me wrong, I haven't ditched the intense smokey eye for good, but it'll probably now just be a special occasion thing, like normal people do! What are your favourite products to use everyday?

Barry M Chisel Cheeks Contour Kit

Not too many months ago I naively thought that maybe, just maybe this whole contour craze had died down a little. Clearly I couldn't have been more wrong as  lately there seems to have been a new contour kit released every other week. While I was working on a make up counter I consistently had people come and ask me if we sold contour kits. I can't really be bothered with cream contouring, unless for a special occasion and I'm trying to save money so I can't justify the Anastasia Beverly Hills price, so I was very excited when I saw the Barry M contour kit in one of Amelia Liana's videos. 

Prior to hearing about Barry M's Chisel Cheeks Contour Kit, I'd been using Benefit's Hoola bronzer. It did a good job but I still felt like I needed more. Barry M's contour kit was so affordable that I just had to try it. Initially I thought the dark brown contour shade, furthest to the right would be quite scary to use, but it's not, it's just the right shade for fair to medium complexions. It's great for just a quick stroke of colour but can also be built up if you want a darker, more contoured look. It's cool undertone helps to really sculpt the cheek bones, It's quite rare to find a good contouring shade, that's affordable and isn't too warm. All of the shades are really pigmented and blend really well. They feel quite smooth, creamy/buttery, like good eye shadows do and seem to last well throughout the day. I like the light highlight shade, but I'm still not sure that it beats my beloved MAC Emphasize powder. The medium brown, middle shade is more like a bronzer to blend out the contour and add warmth to the complexion. All three shades work really well together and I think they are great shades that will suit a lot of skin tones. I would definitely recommend this contour kit, as a great value and more travel friendly option. 
You can purchase Barry M's contour kit from Boots or Superdrug for £6.49. 

HIGH END BEAUTY HAUL

I've been making the most of my staff discount before I leave my current job which is on a make up counter in a Department store. I couldn't be more excited to get weekends, bank holidays, Boxing Day and New Year's Day off, to not have to spend my day being bored out of my mind or dealing with rude and annoying customers... So yeah I'm pretty excited about leaving. One thing that I will be missing is my staff discount! I decided to stock up on things that I needed and some things that I just fancied treating myself to. I was slightly tame, well maybe that's not the word but I definitely could have bought more, but at the end of the day it's just make up and skincare *cries inside at calling makeup and skincare, 'just' makeup and skincare*. I've got another post coming from my haul, featuring just one brands worth of products as it was just too much to include with this one. 

First up, Urban Decay. I'd been eyeing up the Pulp Fiction palette since it was released last year, but come on, did I really need more neutral eyeshadows!? Obviously I did. Luckily, it was hugely reduced in a recent sale and with staff discount on top, it was only £9, which I could definitely justify. I've also loved Zodiac moondust eyeshadow for ages, I was just about convinced that although it's absolutely gorgeous, I wouldn't get much wear out of it. I then watched a recent tutorial by Pin up Beauty and knew that I needed it. It's a gorgeous shimmery green shade, with so much pigmentation and strong, but classy shimmer. I also had to pick up one of the new Naked Skin concealers. I've heard quite a lot of good things about this concealer lately and as my current collection actually only holds one concealer - my MAC Pro Longwear, I felt that it would be okay to purchase this one... like that really made a huge difference to this decision.  I also picked up a back up of my absolute favourite foundation ever, the Bare Minerals Ready foundation. I think I may even own a back up of this already, but it's the most amazing foundation, especially for the summer as the shade I wear (R330), is so warm and looks so fresh, radiant and glowy. I can't wear this until the summer as it's a good tanned shade and right now I'm pretty pasty, but it will sit patiently with it's other foundation friends in the mean time. 

 Like I said in my previous Clinique skincare post I haven't used much from the brand before. The foundation caught my eye as soon as I heard about its full coverage and long wear and then I saw it on one of the girls and liked the look of it and finally I read a review on Laura's blog, which was also very positive so I obviously had to get it. I've only used it once so far and on first impressions I really liked it. I will probably do a full review on it when I've had the chance to try it out a few more times. My second Clinique purchase was the Superdefense eye cream. I thought it would be a good lightweight eye cream to use daily under my make up, as it included spf 20, which seemed like a good idea, as the eye area is already sensitive enough to ageing. It's also quite brightening which can never be a bad thing. 

 As I write this my first day of my new job is tomorrow, so I'm currently having a little taster of what a weekend off is like, starting with just a Sunday and I'm already loving it. I'm happy with my purchases but can't help still wanting more but I know my bank is kind of thanking me for not putting it under any more pressure! 

Hope you've all had a good weekend and that you have a great week! 

LUSH AFRICAN PARADISE REVIEW

I love how unique and interesting Lush's products are, but I rarely buy them as although they're not overly expensive, they're also not completely budget friendly. I was really happy when I received Lush's 'Celebrate' set, which contained smaller sizes of 5 of Lush's most popular items. One of those items was the African Paradise Body Conditioner. 

You apply African Paradise at the end of your shower, all over your body as you would a moisturiser and then rinse off. It contains moringa oil, shea butter, fresh mango juice, cocoa butter and aloe gel, which all help to soften and soothe the skin.It was really easy to apply and felt really soothing on the skin. It quickly filled the room with it's strong but pleasant aroma - Lush describe it as "Sweet, spicy and floral", which is a very good description.  After using the product my skin felt really soft and hydrated, a lot smoother and well nourished. I did find that I could still feel that something was on my skin after washing it off, but it wasn't too bad at all and almost felt like it was locking in the moisture more.  I noticed that I didn't need to use a moisturiser like I normally would and it seemed to keep my skin well hydrated for the next day too. The product that I have is 45g, which I don't think will last you too many uses. I think the full size product is 225g for £19.95, which isn't too bad but it would definitely be a more, use when necessary product, rather than an essential product for every shower. 

I really want to try out more of Lush's products now, so would love to hear your recommendations! 

FEBRUARY FAVOURITES

It's about time that I wrote a favourites post; I often feel like there isn't any products that I haven't already spoke about or any that I have particularly liked that month also I haven't bought many new products (until now), so there isn't anything new and exciting to share.

As February was passing by I was noticing that I was particularly liking some of the products  that I was using and I had enough to mention. 

First, my mum bought me The Body Shop Glazed Apple body scrub and body butter for Christmas and I just started using them around the beginning of February. Unfortunately they were a Christmas fragrance, so no longer available but all of The Body Shop scents are amazing anyway! I love the smell of these, I think it's a bit more on the melon smelling side than apple but still just as good. The body butter feels so hydrating and the scrub is just the right consistency to use regularly. The smell of both definitely lingers on the skin and in the room which you apply the products. 

Two products that I rediscovered in February were the MUA Undress  palette and the Revlon Photo ready foundation. I've had the MUA palette for a while now and used to use it all of the time but then it kind of got kicked to the side when I started using MAC and Make up Geek shadows more. I forgot how much I loved the colours in the palette as it's so everyday appropriate and for the price it is pretty darn good! 

My sister gave me the Revlon Photo ready foundation as she hated it. I started using it as I knew it was one of the lighter coloured foundations that I own and as I've been ditching fake tan recently, I needed my light shades! I find that it applies really well, lasts a good amount of time on the skin and doesn't feel heavy or cakey. It's a light medium coverage and pretty lightweight, it gives a natural, to slightly dewy/radiant finish. 

I spoke about the Hoola bronzer by Benefit in my 2014 favourites, as I really like it for contouring. It stayed as my go to contouring product throughout February and I really enjoyed using it. I've just found another product that may have replaced it though, so keep your eyes peeled to find out what that is soon! 

I've had the Make up Geek Immortal black gel liner for quite some time now but I don't religiously use black liner. It's an amazing gel liner when I do use it, but It's not always in my routine. In February however, I noticed how much I enjoy using it and how I prefer my eyes when I do use it. I've been loving using it to create a nice winged out look, by also blended black eye shadow into the liner to make it more of a smoky line, instead of a stark black line. I've included the Sigma E05 as it's my favourite brush to apply the gel liner with, as it makes eye liner really easy to apply. 

February was a pretty good month, that seemed to just fly by. I'm excited and also a little apprensive about March, as I have something new happening which I will probably mention in one of my next posts. I hope you all had a great February and have a happy March!

What products have you been loving?