January Favorites

Monthly Favorites - Angelica Nail Polish, Lancome Mascara, Juicy Couture Perfume, Elf blush and bronzing duo, Rimmel Wake me up foundation, Simple Cleanser, Topshop Innocence, Mac Angel, Naked 2 and Mac MSF natural.

Hi! Today I thought i'd share with you all my January Favorites, this is just a round up off all the products i've been loving in January. I can't believe January is over already! It doesn't seem like 5 minutes since Christmas - crazy times. Anyway before I get on with it I just wanted to say thank you for all the support this month, I hope my blog can continue with this success next month too.
First for my favorites this month is the gorgeous blue Angelica glitter nail polish, they are a nail varnish brand that sell their polishes at Primark for £2.50 or on their website, I won't ramble too much about it because you can read a whole post dedicated to it here but it's just a really gorgeous nail polish which gives pretty opaque coverage and is great quality for the small price tag.
Secondly we have the Lancome Hypnose Star Mascara, I reviewed this in the last post on my blog after falling in love with it when I received it for Christmas. It creates a huge amount of length and holds the curl of my lashes and really does make them look like 'hollywood lashes' which was the idea behind the ad campaign, you can read more information here.
The third thing I've been loving this month is the Juicy Couture Viva La Juicy Perfume, (more information here) I recieved this as a gift at the very start of December for my birthday and i've been loving wearing it, it is a very strong scent and therefore a little bit goes a long way. I love that it's a sweet and strong perfume because that's my preference and the bottle is sooo cute too! It's just a really good perfume and it's become my signature scent!
The next thing I have been loving this month was a rediscovery, I have owned the Elf Blush and Bronzing Kit for well over 6 months and I found it in my blush drawer the other week when I was looking for something a bit different and I've really been enjoying it. It comes with a bronzer and a light pink blush with subtle shimmer running through it. I just really love it, both the bronzer and blush are really pigmented and blend well, and it's perfect for travelling because it's a duo in a good compact with a massive mirror so you can just chuck it in your bag if you like to top your makeup up through the day. Also this was a massive bargain, at the time I picked it up I think it was like £3.50? Which is pretty crazy for the quality, I've heard some people even compare this to the Nars Laguna & Orgasm blush and bronzing duo!
The next thing I've been loving this month and will probably love for many months in the future is the Rimmel Wake Me Up Foundation, I've been buying and using this foundation for over a year now and every time it runs out i don't even think about it but i just go and pick up a new one. I use it every single day and I actually don't think there is a better alternative on the high street in terms of a cheaper foundation, I even prefer this to higher end alternatives which is crazy considering you can pick this up for under £10.00, this product has had a huge amount of coverage on my blog and I can bet you're sick of hearing about it but if you want too you can find a full review here.
Simple Skincare has been the next thing I've been loving this month, my skin has become really sensitive recently which is strange because before I could pretty much slap anything on my face and it would work out fine for me. But anyway the savoir for my face over the last few months has been simple skin care, in particular the cleanser that helps remove my makeup every day as well as the toner. They are just brilliant products that do the job well and don't irritate, or sting or dry the skin out in anyway. I know that I've mentioned these on my blog before so I won't go into too much detail but there is more information here.
Next are two lipsticks, you may have seen me raving about Mac Angel here, when I say it is the best lipstick I've ever tried i'm really not lying, I really do love it so much, it's gorgeous and the perfect color for every single day, I received this for Christmas and you can see I've really used it, I don't actually think there's been a day this month where this hasn't been on my lips. Next is the Topshop Lipstick in Innocence, I've had this for a while and at first I just couldn't get on with it, but recently I've tried it again and it's so creamy and nice that I've been enjoying it, it's a similar sort of color to Angel just without the glaze formula and I like applying this on days where I need a bit of extra moisture on my lips, in all fairness I pretty much wear Innocence and Angel together as an everyday combination and I find it works really well.
The next product was probably hands down the most favorite products of my favorites this month, I loveeee it! It's the Naked 2 Palette by Urban Decay, I love Urban Decay and this and the Vice Palette have been my go to eyeshadow Palettes for the month. I love this one so much because it's so easy to wear, I can't believe after owning this for about 6 months I've only given it the time of day this month, it's amazing! I love it, it provides a really nice selection of neutral eye colors and I've been loving creating looks with it! It's seriously so good and i'll be popping up reviews of this and the Vice Palette over the next month for you.
Lastly is my beloved Mac MSF natural, I did a review on this not along ago and I would definitely say that it wins my award for my holy grail powder, it's perfect in every single way, gives you great coverage without making you look powdery, it doesn't make you look matte but holds your oil really well and is just such a natural powder that makes your skin glow! I love it, you can read more about it here here.
Anyway, I hope you liked this post, let me know the products you've been loving this month! 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!

♥