February Favourites

Hello lovely people, I hope you're having a great start to the weekend so far. Today I'm going to be sharing the products I loved during the month of February, a real mix of skincare and makeup. I definitely got back into eyeshadow this month, thanks to my giftcard and new additions which have been very exciting, so lets get started!

NARS Pure Radiant Tinted Moisturiser in St. Moritz | £29.50

This has been my go-to base of choice in February, mainly because its so quick to apply with just the tips of my fingers and it works really well at evening out the skin-tone too. For an everyday base this is ideal, it covers up discolouration, brightens and leaves a dewy and radiant finish to the skin. Although at first St. Moritz looks a little dark, I find the colour lightens slightly once I'm done applying my makeup. I will say however that as my skin is normal/combo now, with an oily nose, I do always have to apply powder to my nose area if I don't want to look super shiny a few hours later! So for oily skinned girls I feel like face powder would be necessary if you use this as it'll increase  longevity too. I love that this base contains SPF of 30, it means I can skip that step in the morning, so if you're usually in a rush when doing makeup and you want a dewy base which evens out the skin, you should definitely try this out!

L.A Girl Pro Conceal Concealer in Creamy Beige | £2.98

I have definitely re-discovered the L.A girl concealer which took the makeup world by storm last year and I am so glad that I have! It is one of my all time favourites and this particular shade is so perfect for my under-eyes. I find that the slight orange tone when you first apply it, really brightens up the area when blended out. I always have to go in with a corrector shade first (I'll link the review to my current favourite below), however this is one of the only concealers that doesn't crease, shade wise it matches really well and best of all is really affordable! Most of you will know that I love beautyjoint.com for U.S beauty, however you can now order them for a similar price from Amazon which I've linked above, so if you don't want to order internationally there are more options available which is great.

Benefit Hoola Bronzer | £23.50

I've owned this bronzer for months now, but it's never really been one I've reached for on a daily basis. At first I was obsessed with the Too Faced chocolate soleil, then NARS Laguna and then of course the Kat Von D contour kit. You may be able to tell I love me some bronzer! Of course all of those mentioned products are much loved, but this month I wanted less of a focus on proper contouring and a product which would add warmth and a subtle amount of definition. I totally forgot that Hoola is quite unique, although it looks almost orange in the pan, it actually applies slightly grey toned and it's also buildable! Especially for adding a natural looking nose contour, but also a great all rounder - Hoola is brilliant and works great for light to medium skintones.

Topshop Beauty Highlighter in Horizon | £10.00

If there is one thing Topshop do fantastically, it's highlighters! You may know that I adore their glow pots, one of the best cream highlighers I have ever tried (reviewed already). I have had Horizon for a few months, but I was saving it for the summer time as it looks super bronzy in the pan. However it's quite deceiving because although it appears as if it could be a bronzer, it's the most gorgeous rose gold tone highlight with a silver/bronzy mix too. Wow, that has to be the worst description I have ever written of a product ._. If you're Stromboli or darker in skintone, you need to try this out! Don't be alarmed that it isn't the typical champagne/brighter gold colour, because on olive/medium skintones this looks gorgeous and when the light hits there is a slight silver tone which is super flattering. At the same time it's not an in your face kind of highlighter which means I've been wearing it every single day that I've applied makeup and it is BEAUTIFUL.

Inglot Freedom System Eyeshadow Palette | Review

I made this eyeshadow palette months ago and since ordering some MUG shades I have really gotten back into experimenting with shadows again! If you read my haul you will know that I ordered a lot of crease and transition shades, as well as a few base shades. I didn't pick up a highlight/ base colour or my absolute favourite shade of eyeshadows (gold tones) because I already have the perfect ones in this Inglot palette ^_^ The light yellow shadow (313) is literally perfection for every single day because I use a concealer to cover the darkness on my eyelids and I need a bright powder to set it in place. The cooler gold shadow in 155 is probably my most favourite gold I own, it is beautiful and the formula of these shadows are wonderful. They last all day long, the pigmentation doesn't fade and I am so glad that I've put this back into my daily rotation again.

Make Up Geek Eyeshadow in Creme Brulee | £4.95

I have been enjoying many of these beautiful eyeshadows, yes they are totally worth the hype! However the shade Creme Brulee has been my all time favourite and the one I opted for everyday, along side Inglot's 313. I have heard countless beauty gurus rave about this shade and I always wondered why...well, let me share this wisdom with you all today!  It is a MAGICAL shade, sure it looks pretty boring in the pan, but it literally pulls together any eyeshadow look you create. Adding this to the crease, then popping a couple of other shades on, then using this shade again to blend the whole crease area together...et voila you have an eyeshadow look which appears to have taken a lot longer than it seemed!

Zoeva Cocoa Blend Eyeshadow Palette | £15.50

THIS PALETTE IS WORTH ALL THE HYPE IT GETS. It is officially my favourite neutrals palette, you only need one swipe because the pigmentation is so fantastic. The formula is creamy and each shade is super blendable too. I've swatched a couple of my favourite shades below to show how beautiful they are ^_^ If you've been umming and ahhing about this, trust me and just pick it up, you'll thank me later because the hype is totally real.

Essence I Love Extreme Volume Mascara | £2.80

I cannot sing this mascara's praises enough, it is ahhhhhmazing. Pretty much the perfect voluminising mascara and it costs less than £3 which makes it even more brilliant. Granted it does give slightly clumpy lashes, but that's nothing a decent lengthening mascara can't sort out. I've said before that I'm not really a mascara kind of girl, because it is such a hassle to remove. However I've had this particular one for a good couple of weeks now and it's showing no signs of drying out...so I thought I should get a couple more uses out of it before I throw it away - and this month I've fallen for it all over again. A real must have in my collection for sure.

L-R: Inglot 313, Inglot 155, Zoeva cocoa blend 4 swatches, one swipe of creme brulee at the end!

Alpha H Liquid Gold | £33.50

I purchased a duo pack of this back in the X-mas sales for an insane price, literally 2for1 and after hearing about this for a few months I couldn't resist that deal! Liquid gold is a chemical exfoliator which has been designed for the treatment and reduction of skin issues such as hyper-pigmentation, age spots, sun damage and scarring. The magic ingredients are the glycolic acid and the liquorice root extract. The very next morning after I apply this, my skin looks brighter and feels smoother too. It also dries out spots considerably and I have noticed a difference in the hyper-pigmentation around my mouth. I need to continue using it consistently for a few more weeks before I write an in-depth review, but I simply had to give it a mention in this post because it has evened out my skintone more than I had expected. (Not quite as much as I want, but I shall keep using it regularly!). Also two weeks ago I discovered a great budget product which has SIMILAR results..watch this space, I may have stumbled across a wonderful alternative!

Nuxe Creme Fraiche Serum | £27.50

Another bargain from the sales, this serum by one of my favourite skincare brands ever has been a skincare game changer. To be honest for the full price, I would expect nothing less because almost £30 for a serum is pricey for my student budget. The serum claims to provide 24 hour moisturisation, as well as soothe the skin. It is super lightweight, absorbs into my skin easily and it really does make my moisturiser sink deeper/better into my skin, rather than sit on the surface. The weather has been so much colder in February than December/January (so typical *rolls eyes*) and with that my skin has been freaking out a little. This serum went a long way in balancing it out and taking away that horrid tight dehydrated feeling almost instantly. I'm not sure if I would repurchase unless it was on a similar sale, but whilst it's in my collection I will be using it daily.

Antipodes Moisture Boost Minis | £12.99

Antipodes is another skincare brand favourite of mine, so when I saw this duo I simply had to pick it up. Like I mentioned in the above paragraph, my skin has been pretty dehydrated so I started using the Divine Face Oil  from the start of February. The blend of avocado oil and rosehip oil really do work to hydrate the skin without making it feel greasy at all. I have also been using it now and again to mix with the EX1 foundation which is just a little too thick for my liking. A tiny bit of this oil makes the absolute world of difference, it helps the base blend so much easier and takes away any cakeyness as well as adding a subtle glow! The Vanilla Pod hyrating day cream smells wonderful and a little bit goes a long way too. Again like the oil, it feels light on the skin yet still manages to add a boost of hydration. The size of the products are great too, so I'd highly recommend picking up this kit as the full sized products can be rather expensive.

Phew, that post felt like it took an age to write! I'm sure I'm the last person to share my February favourites, so please link your post below if you've written one OR let me know you favourite product from the last month!

Thank-you for reading ♥

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February Favourites

Hello lovely people, I hope you're having a great start to the weekend so far. Today I'm going to be sharing the products I loved during the month of February, a real mix of skincare and makeup. I definitely got back into eyeshadow this month, thanks to my giftcard and new additions which have been very exciting, so lets get started!

My Inglot Freedom System Palette

Since I first saw the custom Inglot palettes I knew that one day I had to make my own. With a HUGE selection of colours to choose from, the possibilities were endless and to create your own palette with colours you know you’ll actually use is perfect. The trouble is the nearest Inglot store to me is...well not all that near, so when I did finally get the chance to visit one, years later (sounds dramatic but its true lol) I jumped at the chance to create my own! Actually seeing all the shadows in-front of me was both exciting and slightly overwhelming, it took a good half an hour to settle on the shades I wanted. I knew I was going to put together a neutrals palette because lets be honest, they’re the shades I reach for the most and I have to say I’m over the moon with my final palette. From the beautiful, sturdy, magnetic design to the fantastic quality of the shadows, I would buy it again in a heartbeat.

There are a variety of palettes that you can create from a full 40 pan, 20 pan, 10 pan, 5 pan, 4 pan, duo and single pans. There are also other mix and match sizes and you can see the whole selection here. I didn’t want to invest in a 10 pan because it was rather a large amount to spent (the palette itself costs £12.00 and then each shadow cost £5.00 each making the total amount of a 10 pan adding up to £62!). Instead I opted for the 5 pan, which costs £8 and they had a deal on in store where they charge £30 in total for the palette and shadows - you only save £3 but hey that’s still something. The whole idea of the freedom system is that you can mix and match eyeshadows, blushers, concealers and essentially have the freedom to create a custom palette which works best for you. Each of the freedom system palettes are sleek, matte and look so good! I like the fact that the lid of the palette is made of frosted glass, making it easy to see the colours if you have several in your collection. They can also be easily stacked due to the magnetic design which is a great feature for makeup artists and it shows real thought has been put behind the design. The shadows come separately packaged and you can slot them in whatever order you prefer. The single shadows cost £5 and you can also purchase the ‘rainbow’ range which cost £6.50 and have an ombre of one colour (eg. deep orange, mid tone orange and light orange).

The palettes are reusable, making them environmentally friendly, although its a little bit of a mission to actually get the pans out! I got home and quickly tore the packaging off, putting the pans in the order I wanted....only to realise I hadn’t written out the numbers of the shadows .___. which was a silly mistake. I then had to try and gently prise the pans out from the palette, without damaging the shadows and it took a couple of YouTube videos and a lot of patience to finally get them out. Won’t be making that mistake again! The eyeshadows are all numbered which is a shame, they could have come up with creative names instead, but they matched each to a number (and they don’t exactly seem to be ordered in any way??). Each eyeshadow pan contains 2.3g which is almost double the size of MAC’s and they cost half the price! Most of you will know I’m boycotting MAC anyway, but even before I started boycotting them I despised the amount they charged for their shadows. The quality of Inglot shadows are just as, if not better than MAC’s and you are given a huge array of choice.

On to MY eyeshadow palette (finally) - from left to right we have 313, 155, 357, 42 and 327.
Although these shadows are all decently pigmented alone - I never wear eyeshadow without a concealer/base first so I decided to swatch each shadow alone once and then over a base right next to it (the essence I heart stage base was the one was used here).

313 - The perfect base colour, I always dust some shadow over my eyelids no matter what as I conceal the darkness and this shadow does is great for setting it in place. It is a light yellow/ cream colour, a few shades lighter than my skintone and it brightens up my eyes when worn alone. It also makes any colour over the top stand out brighter too. As you can see the base really makes this pop, so a little goes a long way. It’ll probably be the first shadow I repurchase as I use it almost every day. Also it makes a superb brow bone highlight.

155 - I am a huge fan of gold eyeshadows, they compliment brown eyes beautifully and the moment I swatched this I knew I had to have it. 155 is a ‘shine’ type of shadow and its again a yellow/warm based gold colour which is flattering all over the lid, yet also not too dark on my olive skintone to add a pop of colour on the inner-corner. Though its a gold shadow it’s not too striking, which means its more versatile and wearable than a more true-golden shade. My favourite way to wear it is in the inner third of the eye, it adds just enough shimmer and glitz without going over-board for a day-to-day look.

357 - This is the shade I picked up as my go-to crease shade. It is a medium toned brown which has a slight coolness to it. Interestingly, though this is also a matte shade it does seem to change in colour over a base, so you can certainly build it up. I like how the grey in the shade adds a shadow like effect without losing the warmth. Though quite different from the shade salted caramel (too faced chocolate bar palette) which is a wonderful crease shade too, this is a firm favourite. On a standard day I’ll run a little of this through the crease, with 313 as the base and voila I have a perfect matte eye, with no effort at all. It does what I wanted it to do, with a little going a long way so I’ve barely made a dent in it at all.

42 - I wanted to get a shimmery/shine brown shade and 42 is absolutely beautiful. A rich, earthy brown with a bronzy undertone. It is the perfect shade to accompany 155, these two were made for each other! I love this shade for adding more warmth and a touch of darkness, or packed over most of the lid as it’s so versatile. It’s actually appearing lighter in the swatch then it does on my eyelids but it is buildable so it has many uses. Sometimes I like to add a tiny bit and smoke out my bottom lashline and because its not too dark, it doesn’t look super intense!

327 - The final shade I picked up is a dark matte brown, with a pinch of coolness to it. It is perfect for turning a day look to a night look. Highly buildable, so a little can add some great definition to the crease, or you can build a full on smoky eye with this shade. Applied under the lower lash line, it adds more depth and definition and I also like to use this instead of eyeliner for a softer look. When travelling with this palette, I had to use this shade as a brow powder and it looked, surprisingly, really great as it’s not too warm, yet you still only need a little to fill in the sparseness. So its great to know that, if I leave the ABH pomade at home, my brows can still have some structure! Overall another fantastic versatile, deeply pigmented shade.

This post is super super long, but I hope it has been useful for you! I believe the Inglot freedom system palette is one of the best custom palettes/ranges around. You get real bang for your buck as they say, with almost double the amount of product from other companies, for such a cheap price. The range of shades available is phenomenal, and there is a great consistency across the range in terms of quality. They blend together with ease and a little goes a long way meaning these will last me for ages. With a base each of these shades are highly pigmented and I must say the colours I put together work wonderfully. I’ve been using it consistency since I bought it and though I have enough palettes in my collection to keep me satisfied, when I next want to make a custom palette Inglot is the place I will be visiting!

They also have a pretty cool feature where you can do a virtual make over where you can pick a model (or upload your own face) and then choose colours and see how they look on the virtual model, which is vaguely like playing one of those strange makeover games but it’s pretty accurate! I wish there were more Inglot stores widely available though, as I do think swatching the shadows in person is an important part of making your own palette, so when you next get the chance be prepared to spend a good half an hour or so indulging yourself in the huge selection!

Have you tried the Inglot Freedom Palette Range?

Thank-you for reading ♥

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My Inglot Freedom System Palette

Since I first saw the custom Inglot palettes I knew that one day I had to make my own. With a HUGE selection of colours to choose from, the possibilities were endless and to create your own palette with colours you know you’ll actually use is perfect. The trouble is the nearest Inglot store to me is...well not all that near, so when I did finally get the chance to visit one, years later (sounds dramatic but its true lol) I jumped at the chance to create my own! Actually seeing all the shadows in-front of me was both exciting and slightly overwhelming, it took a good half an hour to settle on the shades I wanted. I knew I was going to put together a neutrals palette because lets be honest, they’re the shades I reach for the most and I have to say I’m over the moon with my final palette. From the beautiful, sturdy, magnetic design to the fantastic quality of the shadows, I would buy it again in a heartbeat.

March Favourites 2015

March has been a stressful month uni wise and I found myself questioning ‘why are we paying 9k a year to have pretty much 5 months of the year off???’ BUT it has been a good one in terms of discovering new skincare and beauty from my stash ^_^

Starting with my absolute favourites of the month, its all about the ‘Good Things’ skincare range here on The Blushing Giraffe! The best thing about the brand in my opinion is that they’re free from parabens and mineral oil - but I’ve not had any negative or ‘ehhh’ experiences with anything I’ve tried so far, not only is it good for your skin but it really does work.



The Good Things Argan Oil Moisture Boost Facial Serum (£7.99 £5.33)  has been a welcome addition to my skincare routine. I had previously been using the hydraluron serum which didn’t work very well for me so I didn’t bother picking up any others because I thought it was a pretty useless step. However using this one after toning really does help whatever moisturiser I am using to sink into the skin a lot better and my skin feels plumper too. Another benefit of using this serum is I need to use less moisturiser and for everyone with dry/dehydrated skin I highly recommend it!

The second and final skincare product I’ve been really enjoying this month is the Good Things Manuka Honey Creamy Cleanser (£4.99 £3.33) which is the most hydrating cleanser I have ever used! I use a micellar water to remove my makeup and then use a dollop of cleanser, give my face a lovely massage and then soak a flannel and wipe it off my face. The only downside for me is that essentially it becomes a hot cloth cleanser and is not easy to properly remove with just water - however I don’t mind doing this in the evening times as it’s a mini pamper for myself and my skin afterwards looks much cleaner, brighter and feels super soft. I wish there was a facial wash version of this for the morning too when you don’t want to be faffing about with flannels!



My favourite eyeliner of the month has been a rediscovery - the Rimmel Scandaleyes waterproof khol liner in 012 bronze (£3.99) which I’ve been using on both the upper lashline for subtle definition and on the lower lashline to add a little smokey without going all out with pencil brushes and eyeshadows and fall out! Such a beautiful brown with an undertone of bronze/copper glimmering through, a must try for anyone as I think it’s universally flattering!

The Rimmel Scandaleyes shadow stick in bullet-proof beige (£4.49) has also been used time and time again throughout march, mainly because it is so perfect for quickly adding an inner-corner highlight! It literally takes 2 seconds to swipe this jumbo creamy pencil into the inner corner and extend it slightly and voila, my eyes look brighter and any darkness is almost disguised because it brightens up the eyes so much! This shade is gorgeous for springtime especially as it really is quite nude so it doesn’t look quite as intense as a gold or silver would.



Another eyes item this month! I’ve really been enjoying my Inglot freedom eyeshadow palette which I am planning to do a post on at some point this month. Anyways the neutral shades are all beautifully pigmented and blend like a dream. I love this palette, the magnetic packaging and how quick and easy it is to do a base and definition in the crease - well worth the monies for the quality!
My final favourite of March is the L.A Girl Pro Conceal in Creamy Beige ($2.99) I did a LITTLE order from beautyjoint to pick up some new Wet’n’Wild lipsticks and I also bought this shade of the concealer...let me tell you, I’m gonna place another order and pick up at least 5 more because it is such a perfect highlighting shade for my skintone as well as an all round brilliant concealer. (oh and the price is unbelievable!)  I’ve been looking for something not pink toned, with a high enough coverage to hide pigmentation but also so it’s not like a thick foundation y’know? This is IT! When swatched on my hand it weirdly looked a little orange ._. which left me feeling very disheartened, but under my eyes it blends beautifully and doesn’t come off as orange at all! Seriously need to stock up on this good stuff! ^_^

What have you been loving throughout March?

Thank-you for reading ♥
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March Favourites 2015

March has been a stressful month uni wise and I found myself questioning ‘why are we paying 9k a year to have pretty much 5 months of the year off???’ BUT it has been a good one in terms of discovering new skincare and beauty from my stash ^_^

Haul | A quick blip in the makeup-ban (Inglot and Kiko)

Hey guys I hope you’re all doing well. I’ve been pretty unwell since my last post, but today was the first day I’ve started to feel my normal self, so here is a cheeky little haul. Loyal readers of this blog will remember the post titled ‘its not a spending ban it’s called appreciating what I already have’ which you can read here if you like. I have to say I’m pretty proud of myself because I really have refrained from buying makeup in the past two months. I mean that’s a pretty big deal, and if you read January’s update post you’ll know I have been thoroughly enjoying shopping my stash. However on my lovely catchup trip to London with my bestie, I realised when in Rome you gotta take advantage of what you don’t have when at home. *alright not quite the saying but y’know* AKA: When you see an Inglot and a Kiko, you shop them, even if it is just a little bit!

Starting with Kiko, I wanted to dabble in their lip products and the shade range available to swatch was awesome.  I did restrain myself and only picked up on lipliner and a lipgloss stick. The Precision Lip Pencil in the shade 311 (£4.20) looks gorgeous, and it was the only shade that totally captivated me in that crowded and over-heated store. It is described as a long wear lip pencil and it’s not quite as creamy as I had hoped, but the shade remains just a lovely as it was on my hand. I hadn’t heard or read anything about the Kiko Lipgloss Pencils (£3.90) so it was a bit of a risk, however swatching shade 10 on the back of my hand and seeing the pencil transform into a creamy glossy opaque nude colour meant I had to try it out. Plus at just under £4 it was worth a shot!

The nude shade is not one I would usually opt for, very light with a hint of pink, It reminds me of the makeup looks Kim K would wear a few years back, and I will probably use this with a warmer lip pencil, but from first try I’m glad I did pick this up. Its creamy, easy to apply and doesn’t need lots of layers for the colour to cover up my pigmented lips.

The final thing I picked up from Kiko was again on a whim, but when I spotted the yellow tone I instantly thought that the Soft Focus Concealer in shade 1 (£7.50) looked like a good alternative for the MAC prep and prime in light boost. I’ve tried this once and sadly it is not as yellow nor as opaque as the unethical MAC version, so here is hoping the wonderful Makeup Rev come up with a dupe for that eh! All is not lost with this though, as it still brightens in less of a WOAH way than the P&P, making it much more appropriate for daily use. Whether it is worth the pretty high price tag is yet to be decided though.

Moving on to Inglot now, the store is truly beautiful and it was SO exciting to finally visit one and swatch their powders and lipsticks. As I’ve had a good ramble on about Kiko already I shall try to keep this brief! I’ve known for a long time that I wanted an Inglot palette from the lovely Pauline’s (addicted to makeup) reviews and when I swatched the shades it sealed the deal for me. I opted for a 5 palette which cost £8 as I knew I wouldn’t make use of all the shades in a larger one, not to mention how expensive it would end up being!

I will dedicate a whole post to my Inglot palette with full details and shade numbers too, but can I just say I am completely swooning over my selection of neutrals!

 

That is about it ladies, a bit of a cheeky splurge, but as the title says a little blip and that is all, now back to no buying makeup hehe! ;D

Have you tried anything from Kiko or Inglot? Any favourites?

Thank-you for reading ♥

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Haul | A quick blip in the makeup-ban (Inglot and Kiko)

Hey guys I hope you’re all doing well. I’ve been pretty unwell since my last post, but today was the first day I’ve started to feel my normal self, so here is a cheeky little haul. Loyal readers of this blog will remember the post titled ‘its not a spending ban it’s called appreciating what I already have’ which you can read here if you like. I have to say I’m pretty proud of myself because I really have refrained from buying makeup in the past two months. I mean that’s a pretty big deal, and if you read January’s update post you’ll know I have been thoroughly enjoying shopping my stash. However on my lovely catchup trip to London with my bestie, I realised when in Rome you gotta take advantage of what you don’t have when at home. *alright not quite the saying but y’know* AKA: When you see an Inglot and a Kiko, you shop them, even if it is just a little bit!