Pamper Night In - Essentials

Pamper Night In - Essentials

Hi everyone, today's post is a little different, I like to change it up and do something other than reviews once in a while and today I thought i'd talk about my favorite pampering night treats. I'm a massive girly girl as you may know and I like nothing better than having a pampering night where I can just have a bath, treat myself and it's one of the best ways I can think off too really relax and chill out. I think everyone should try and make sure that they have some 'me' time and look after yourself a bit so I thought i'd dedicate a whole post to it.
Firstly I always start off my pamper night by having a really hot bubble bath, I was stupid enough to forget to photograph my bubble bath which is the Soap and Glory 'Calm one, calm all' bubble bath, as the name suggests it leaves me feeling ridiculously calm and relaxed and is so creamy that it just makes me want to fall asleep. Alternatively if I really want to treat myself I will crack out my Lush collection and use one of their products to make my bath something special, the one photographed is the Lush Massage Bar in 112 Dream time, it contains ingredients such as jasmine, sandalwood, chamomile and lavender and is housed in a bar with the scent of cocoa butter which you all probably know is my favorite scent. This is a really relaxing scent and you can use a massage bar as a shampoo, a conditioner and also a bubble bath so a real star of a product. Depending on whether i'm having a relaxing bath or a relaxing shower I will also use Soap and Glory's 'Sugar Scrub' this is a scrub that contains brown sugar and sweet lime and it smells really good. You just scrub it all over yourself and it leaves you feeling ridiculously soft and refreshed and gets rid of all those dry skin cells.
I also like to try and look after my hair whilst i'm bathing or showering, the first thing I would do is use my normal shampoo and conditioner, probably my favorite one I've discovered recently would be the Aussie 3 minute miracle conditioner, I can't get enough of this product, it nourishes my hair, gets rid of knots and leaves it silky soft and shiny without weighing my hair down, it's fast become my holy grail hair care item. Also if i'm really trying to treat myself I will use an overnight mask or balm, the one i'm using at the moment is the Umberto Giannini 'Overnight Beauty Moisturizer Balm'.
Once I get out of the bath I really look forward to treating my skin and doing all my body care. I have quite a lot of choice in terms of body moisturizers, I have way too many in all honesty, I really like to use my Boots Extracts Cocoa Butter if I just want to really moisturize all my skin and feel soft and silky but I also like to use the Dove Summer Glow if I want to have moisture but also add a bit of a glow to my skin because this has a hint of self tanning ingredients in it which means you're left with a subtle tan and a bit of a glow if you use it frequently. The next thing I like to do is lather my feet in Soap and Glory's Heel Genius and put on a pair of thick socks so I can let it sink in over night and end up with silky, soft feet the next day.
The next thing I do is take care of my face and my skin care, during the most part of the week I like to use Simple Skincare, I use the cleanser, toner and moisturizer from that range simply due to the fact that I have really sensitive skin and this really works for me. On my pamper days though I like to use a cleanser that lathers up more and the Peaches and Clean cleanser from Soap and Glory which is a lovely face scrub that just clears impurities from my skin. Another step I will often take is to use my facial sauna which is a really good at home treatment, you fill the base with water wait for it to warm up and put your face over it for as long as you want, it's really relaxing and makes me super tired but it is also amazing for clearing out your pores, making your skin soft and making your skin glow, it's lovely. After I've done that I will often just spread some Blistex treatment over my lips to add extra moisture.
The last thing I like to pamper is my nails, I remove my nail varnish with the quickies nail varnish pads they remove nail varnish in one swipe and then I just a nail varnish of my choice and paint my nails in it. The one I've chosen in this post is the Revlon Nail Varnish in 185 Sweet Tart.
Last but not least there are a few more ingredients you need to make a perfect girly pampering/treat night, firstly you need chocolate (it's an essential), then some DVD's, my picks range from Ugly Betty to the Kardashians, to Gossip Girl and confessions of a shopaholic. I also like to chuck a book into the range 'You had me at hello' is new in the book charts and really cheap too! And lastly you need this weeks copy of Heat Magazine to fill you in on all the celeb gossip!
Hope you enjoy this post and gained some tips! Let me know your essentials for a pamper night! xx

Beauty Favourite's 2012

 

 

 

 

 

Real Techniques Brushes/Juicy Couture Perfume/L'Oreal Telescopic/Benefit they're real/Palmers Cocoa Butter/Rimmel Wake me up concealer & foundation/ Soap and Glory you won't believe your eyes/ Rimmel Fix and Perfect Pro Primer/ Mac Studio Fix fluid/ Lancôme hyponose star mascara/ Kate Moss Lipsticks (Rimmel)/Mac Studio Fix Powder/ Mac Mineralize Skinfinish Natural/ Mac Studio Finish Concealer/ Bourjois Bronzer/ Maybelline Colour Tattoo's/ Mac Lipsticks - Angel and Outrageously fun/ Topshop Crescent Moon highlighter

Beauty Favourites 2012

Today I wanted to show you all my fav products of 2012, firstly I want to say sorry for the rubbish photo's, winter is making it really hard to get a decent photo! the lighting was crappy all day today so I just had to try and do the best I could with what lighting we did have.

Anyway, I have discovered so many new products this year, a lot of them I found through the blogging scene, reading blogs and watching beauty video's has really helped me to discover some amazing products and all of the products I've featured within this post are definitely the best products I've found throughout the year and the products that I would continue to repurchase in the future. Sometimes I find it quite hard to do monthly favourites on my blog simply because I find it hard to pick amazing stand out products that I've only discovered for a few weeks but the fact that I've loved the majority of these products for months and months makes them stand out to me way more. Anyway on to the post.

Firstly I thought I would talk to you about my stand out face products of the year, firstly the Palmers Cocoa Butter has kind of become my must have moisturiser, I LOVE the smell of this product so much, it's simply gorgeous and it's the best moisturiser ever, it leaves my skin feeling really smooth and soft and keeps it from drying out for hours, you can use this moisturiser all over your body but I find that it's perfect for my face.
Something else that has really transformed my morning makeup regime this year would be the Soap and Glory 'You won't believe your eyes' this is such a great product, I have a really hard time sleeping and i'm therefore left with really puffy under eye circles and very red and sore eyes, the one thing that combats all of these problems for me is this S&G product. Within minutes it helps to de-puff the area and it makes my eyes look much more awake and normal. God send I tell ya!

Another product that I've loved since about August this year would be Rimmel's Fix and Perfect Primer, i'm not going to go on about it to much because I've mentioned it in various posts since I began blogging but I just find it to be incredible for the price that it is, it smooth's my face like nothing else and means that my foundation goes on really flawlessly, I haven't strayed to another primer since and am now on my 3rd bottle, it's an absolute fav of mine.
There were two foundations that really reached out to me this year and have stood the test of time, firstly was Rimmel Wake me up foundation, this is the most fantastic foundation ever, it's so cheap and definitely the best foundation from the drugstore, it smells nice and really does 'wake you up' and help make you look lest tired with all of its light luminizing properties, it never fails to make me look more awake in the morning and has a really good coverage and also lasts all day. I've been completely impressed with all of Rimmel's new releases this year and this one is top of the chart! Also the wake me up concealer is exactly like the foundation but perfect for the under eye area and really helps to make your eyes look more awake so comes first place as my favourite drug store concealer.
This year was also a year that I decided to go on my quest for a more expensive foundation, I came to the assumption that the more expensive foundations were probably worth spending the money on and that I would probably get better results, I purchased a few since I started blogging some from Benefit and then I got the Mac studio fix fluid (NC15) and I love it, it gives me the most flawless face ever, it is a foundation with full coverage but it doesn't look too cakey and its lasting power is amazing. I think this is such a great product and is perfect for evening wear, in all fairness I happily wear this in the day sometimes too but I feel like my skin can breathe better if I wear my Rimmel wake me up so therefore i'm going to be keeping this foundation for special occasions, it's just simply gorgeous.
Towards the end of this year  I began to experiment much more with mac products and in the short time I've been trying them out and using them I've fell in love with them and three of their products are literally so amazing that they had to make some of my favourites of the year. Firstly Mac powders have really won me over this year, the Studio Fix Powder is amazing when paired with the Studio Fix Fluid for a really flawless night look, this powder actually has so much coverage that you could wear it by itself or pair it with a foundation to make your skin look amazing! Another powder that has really impressed me this year would be the Mac Mineralize Skinfinish Natural in Medium, this is the perfect powder for everyday due to the fact its got minerals in it so it's good for the skin and it's a baked product so it is really finely milled and soft, I feel like my skin can breathe when I wear this product but also that I have enough coverage for everyday, it's a great addition to my makeup bag and unlike any powder I've ever tried before.
Another product that easily made my yearly favourites this year would be the Mac studio finish concealer, for bad skin days and those days where you've had no sleep this bad boy works wonders, it literally covers everything but is creamy enough that you can blend it in and it won't look too cakey, a must have Mac product for me.
The Topshop highlighter in 'Crescent Moon' was another stand out product for me this year, it helped to divine my cheekbones but also make my skin look much more glowing and lovely, plus it just gave my face a lovely golden sheen which was beautiful when my face hit the light. Lastly my fav product for my face this year was one that would probably have been in my favourite products for the last 4-5 years, it is the Bourjois Bronzing powder, this is a product that I've had for ever, it lasts so long and its great for contouring your cheekbones and also just adding some colour all over the face.

This year I actually only found a few eye products that I actually really enjoyed. Firstly I've been loving Urban decay as a brand and I think their eye shadow palettes are amazing! I currently have Naked 2, Smoked and now the UD Vice palette that I got for Christmas and love. I think they have some of the best and most pigmented eye shadow shades and I love them all and get so much use out of them, hopefully they have more lovely palettes to release in 2013.
My favourite eyeliner of the year would have to be L'Oreal's super liners simply because they are so easy to use and don't dry out really quickly, they just give a really professional line and also are so easy to use. I also loved L'Oreal's telescopic mascara this year and would say it was my fav drugstore mascara of the year, it has a plastic brush that grabs the lashes and really lengthens them and I find it does the job really quickly.
I've also featured 2 high end mascara's in my 2012 fav's, up until Christmas my fav high end mascara would be Benefit's 'They're Real' Mascara, I loved how it lengthened my lashes and help a curl in my straight lashes all day and I felt that it really performed for me. But my mum got me the Lancôme Star Mascara for Christmas and I personally think this beats this product hands down! The reason I like it so much is because the Lancôme mascara is of a much wetter consistency and I felt that the Benefit Mascara dried out very quickly and therefore was much harder to work with, especially as it was a dry formula mascara in the first place. Other than that they basically did the same thing but because I've only been using the Lancôme one for just over a week I thought it was only fair to give a shout out to Benefit as well.
The last eye product that I've been loving throughout this year would be the Maybelline colour tattoo's, I've spoken about these a lot on my blog as well but I think these are just great eye bases and also work well all over the lid for everyday, they're such great products and are meant to be great dupes for the Mac Paint pots.

The last products I want to talk about in my 2012 favourites is lip products, I have found two sets of lipsticks that have really impressed me this year and these are such great lipsticks that I am hoping to purchase more within 2013.
Firstly from the drugstore I love the Rimmel Kate Moss Lipsticks, these have a fantastic formula, are lovely and creamy on the lips and best of all are developed by a true British icon, I find that the shade selection in these lipsticks are great because they're all colours I don't see all the time and I've really been enjoying trying them out so fingers crossed for more being developed in the future.
Secondly this year I finally decided to try Mac Lipsticks, before this I always felt that they were crazily expensive and I couldn't really justify the price because I'm not a massive lipstick wearer, but since I've had these two lipsticks in Angel and Outrageously Fun, I've been wearing lipsticks every single day. These are the creamiest lipsticks I've ever felt and they also smell and wear amazing, I will definitely be expanding my mac lipstick collection in 2013.

Some random products I've been loving this year are Aussie hair care products in particular the 3 minute miracle conditioner, nearly all of the Soap and Glory body care products, all of the Real Techniques Brushes and also my favourite perfume of the year Viva La Juicy by Juicy Couture.

Sorry for the humongous post guys, if you're still reading then thank you & let me know what your favourites of 2012 were!

♥