My beauty January favourites

Mac Lipstick in 'Brave' - Throughout January I have been religiously reaching for this lipstick due to its natural, 'your lips but better' finish. This month I have enjoyed keeping my make-up looking healthy and radiant and this lipstick really ties in well with this particular look as it gives my lips a lovely pop of colour, whilst still looking very natural. This Mac lipstick is in the formula 'satin',  which is a matte texture, yet still nourishing on the lips. This lipstick retails for £15.00. 

Garnier BB Miracle skin perfecter cream in 'Light' - Recently I have been really disliking wearing a foundation on my skin, as I often feel suffocated and heavy wearing such a thick product on my skin on a daily basis. So in January I was set out to invest in the likes of a BB cream or tinted moisturiser, which is what I did. This particular BB cream was advertised and came with a packet sample in one of my favourite magazines 'Glamour'- I tried and tested this BB cream sample and instantly fell in love, so obviously the next day I just had to go and buy the full product myself. The cream feels smooth and light on the skin, and doesn't feel tacky or wet like some foundations do (my pet hate). It glides on super well like a day cream/moisturiser and I use my hands to blend it in all the way down onto my neck- as although the shade I purchased was a 'light' it was still a tad darker than my bare skin, however this did not bother me as I love looking tad tanned. This cream retails for £7.49.

L'Oreal Kids sweet pear tangle tamer- Firstly this stuff just smells like heaven! It has a strong but refreshing fruity scent to it leaving your hair smell like summer! This tangle tamer does the job brilliantly, I spray this all over my hair when it's damp after the shower and simply brush through my hair after with a standard hairbrush and it makes my hair so easy and pain free to brush, which is exactly what I was looking for. Retails for £2.19. 

Rimmel scandaleyes eyeliner in 'Nude'- This was a random and recent purchase of mine yet I have fallen in love with it already. It's a nude based eyeliner which you apply in your lower waterline to widen and waken your eyes. As soon as applied your eyes look instantly 10X bigger and more awake. The formula of this eyeliner is creamy and smooth which means it is very easy and quick to apply. Which is perfect for me as I don't particularly have very much time to get ready in the mornings! This  eyeliner retails for £2.99 

The Body shop Tea tree pore minimiser - Although this has been in my collection for nearly a year now, I have only this month started reusing it again. After months of not bothering with any form of primer, I decided to try this out and see how it works with my skin during this season. I was pleasantly surprised at how great this product is, and why I seemed to of forgotten it in my collection. I wear it beneath my BB cream and it makes my pore's disappear in an instant and keeps any recurring blemishes at bay with its 'tea tree' extracts. Despite 'tea tree' being mostly aimed at combination to oily skin types, I found this worked really well on my dry skin type and left me feeling hydrated. It has a mild but calming minty scent to it which is very pleasant to wear on the 

skin. Retails for £8.00 

Mac's skin finish in Soft & Gentle- This is my all time holy grail product, which will be forever loved and lives in my make-up bag every day. I use this product as a highlighter on my brow bone, nose, cheeks and inner eye corner daily. It gives the most gorgeous glowy but subtle sheen on the area's applied and really makes a big difference to your make-up. Making you appear healthier, more dewy, tanned and highlights the areas you want to emphasise the most. Suitable for ALL skin types and ALL skin colours.  Since having this highlighter I simply could not wear make-up without it. It's a winner! Retails for £22.00 

To summarise these are all my beloved favourites of the month January 2014, all of which I have tried and worn often and given my full honest review :) 

Aussome Volume

I have never really been big into hair, normally just wearing my hair up or down, so as you could imagine my hair product 'collection' is limited. So I thought it was about time to take better care of my hair by treating it to some products. My hair is very fine so I was looking for something that would give my hair volume and a bounce, so that I would feel more confident and happy when trying new styles or just letting my hair loose. I've heard a lot about Aussie products before so I was interested in finding out myself whether the hype was worth it or not, and it truly was! This particular product does more than the job. You spray it all over your hair either damp or dry then brush it through and it'll leave you with the most fabulous bounce to your hair. I truly love this hair and recommend it to anyone :) 

L'Oreal Paris triple active fresh ultra-hydrating gel-cream

           I purchased this moisturizer just 2 weeks ago and I have already seen such a big difference in my skin. Firstly I have currently been using lotions and potions equipped to combination to oily skin as I wanted to prevent and spots and blemishes that would've appeared however the problem is, is that I have quite dry and dehydrated skin, so these products have been drying my skin out completely and making my skin almost UN-bearable to wear any foundation. So I' decided to take the plunge and treat my skin with the correct products I should be feeding it. At the time I bought this moisturizer, I was in Boots (English drugstore) for about 30 mins deciding which moisturizer would have the best qualities I was looking for, but because there are thousands of brands and types to choose from I found it very hard knowing which was the best one to get. This L'Oreal diamond caught my eye; claiming to 'consist of the vitamins C.E and B5 and to leave the skin feeling fresh and hydrated throughout the day '  and this described perfectly exactly what I was looking for. 
         I have worn this moisturizer every day since I bought this and so far I can honestly say it does the job rather fantastically! It gives my skin instant hydration and prepares my skin for any make up I apply to my skin after. Unlike other moisturizes I have tried in the past, this sinks into my skin instantly and doesn't leave my skin feeling wet and tacky but leaving it fresh and smooth. Another point, I also really favor the packaging- the fact it is a tub/pot rather than a tube, as I find that when a product comes in a tube you can never get the last of the product left when you you hit nearly empty. Considering that it is only around £6 or so, it's deffo worth the buy if you have dry-normal skin like myself. 

You can find this product in almost any drugstore and supermarket :) 

The Naked Basics eye palette

My sister very kindly brought me this exquisite little palette for Christmas, as she most likely saw that I eyed it up possibly every time I browsed the Urban Decay stand in the department stores. To which I am very grateful indeed. This palette is very true to it's name 'The Basics'-  you get six all matte shades ranging from light to dark, which are all very wearable day to day 'basic' shades. I would personally wear all six of these colors, however the shades that I tend to wear the most are; 'Venus'- as an inner corner & brow highlight,  'Foxy and WOS' as all over lid base colors as they are very similar to my foundation shade so it just creates a really even, clean and pretty eye look, I also use 'Crave' to give my eyeliner a smoked edgy effect. I will definitely plan to experiment with 'Naked 2' and 'Faint' soon. I find that the formula of these eye shadows are perfect, they apply so creamy and effortlessly to the lid and are very blend-able too. The packaging of this product is very travel efficient, as the outside palette material is rubber like so it feels pleasant to hold and it will also be very durable being bashed about in handbags and so on. The size of the palette is just right, able to fit in make-up bags, handbags and is also very light too- which is a bonus. Inside the palette opposite the eye-shadows you get a large high quality mirror- which is perfect for those times you are doing your make-up on the go. For £20.00 I believe this product is well worth it, for six high quality shadows for a reasonable price. 

Dior Skin Forever Flawless Foundation

I've been using this foundation for a good year or so now, so I feel I am able to write a complete honest review on this product. Firstly the texture of this foundation works a treat with my skin type (normal-dry), it gives my skin a flawless, full coverage look without appearing or feeling heavy or cakey. The finish of this product claims to be a 'Matte finish', however I don't personally find it particularly 'matte' nor 'dewy' either- which actually makes the skin look more natural. This foundation tends to last on my skin type for a good 8 or so hours, although I personally like to powder once or twice just to keep all my make- up set and looking flawless. To apply this foundation I favor my 'Real Techniques Expert face brush' as the two combined leave my skin with an all round even and blended finish. I do also recommend simply using your hands to blend if you are after a more natural light finish to the skin. In contrast to these pro's- I do have one con that really sticks out like a sore thumb- which is how incredibly fast it oxidizes. I use shade (010), which is in fact the lightest shade they provide, so when I first apply the foundation it matches my color perfectly, but then 10-15 minutes later, the shade of the foundation has dramatically darkened and turned quite orangery. This does bug me tremendously as I do prefer my foundation to exactly match my bare skin color, so consequently you do have to super blend in the foundation all the way onto your neck- to make sure you avoid the 'tell tale' line. To summarize I do like this product but not enough to repurchase again, due to the oxidizing fault, also because for £35.00 (30ml) you expect the best of the best . 

Mac Studio Care Blend Pressed Powder

         If you haven't tried this powder, then I urge you to pick one up the next time you are at  MAC counter or in a MAC store as soon as. I can't recommend this powder enough for people with dry to combination skin, since the formula leaves the skin with a gorgeous healthy glow appearance,as well as creating an incredible air brushed finished look, without looking powdery or chalky. This powder is a sheer-to medium coverage, perfect for setting foundation or even worn on a bare fresh face. What I love most about this powder is that it doesn't feel cakey or heavy on the skin, but feels light and silky. I find that this powder keeps skin shine free for a good 10 hours, which is ideal for someone that has a very busy schedule and doesn't have the time to top up on make-up. 

My favourite winter lipstick

If I had to pick my most worn and favourite lipstick of the winter season, I'd normally say 'Plumful' by  MAC, however this year there is a new winner. 'Plum Dandy'- obviously due to both lipstick names, you can probably tell that I'm a big fan of 'Plum'. I believe that there is nothing more sophisticated and Autumn/wintery than a good berry or plum shade. They are totally wearable colours and suit almost everyone! Although 'Plum Dandy' is still somewhat a plummy colour, it is not the 'typical' plum lipstick. It is a very muted pale plum (if that is even possible), with gorgeous hints of lilac and pink creating the most glowing frosty sheen on the lips. It is a totally flattering colour, and as it is a muted plum shade, it is perfect as an every day stain of colour too. This particular MAC lipstick is a frost formula, which explains the 'frosty sheen'. I'd totally recommend swatching this lipstick when you next pop in to a MAC store.