Everyday makeup routine // current favourites

It's been a while since I've had a proper chat about my current makeup routine and my favourites, so I decided to combine the two and discuss what I've been loving so much, that I've been using them all on the regular. It is officially the summer holidays!! So I've spent the last couple of days either shopping for my first ever classroom, or just lounging about and relaxing at long last. So this makeup routine is more what I was doing in the final weeks of term, whist I was supply teaching (more on that in an update post!).

Starting with the base, I have been LOVING using the Charlotte Tilbury Wonder Glow (£38.50) after applying my favourite moisturiser. As I have been so exhausted since way Easter time - really there has been SO much going on, I feel like my skin really has suffered the consequences 😪. Late nights, stress, dehydration, you all know the drill and my skin will need a good amount of pampering this summer to get back on track. As a little cheat, I've been using the wonder glow to add some glow and not only does my foundation look better over the top, but it just adds a gorgeous sheen to the skin. On no makeup days I like mixing a little in with my moisturiser too. I think there are better liquid lighters out there in terms of intensity, but this is a beautiful before foundation step. The base of choice, has been the Wet'n'wild photo foundation in golden beige ($5.99) . I've linked the site where I purchased mine from, and if you don't spend over £15 you won't be charged customs. Anyways this foundation is gorgeous, I love it and I can't believe it's so incredibly affordable! I definitely will be repurchasing it - the shade match is amaaaazing, the coverage is medium and the finish is pretty natural. Let me know if you'd like a full review.

Also it's not often that I talk about foundation brushes, because I am a HUGE beauty blender fan...but I have just gone about 3 months without using one. I really couldn't justify picking another one up whilst I was training and not earning a penny, so I decided to use face brushes and fingers. Don't get me wrong, beauty blenders are still the one and only tool for me if I HAD to pick, but actually the Morphe E6 brush (£15.00) is brilliant. I felt like I was using less product with this brush and with a stippling motion, the size of the brush meant my face was blended in next to no time - perfect for anyone with a busy morning routine. I used to adore the RT buffing brush, but I've literally chucked those out since I've had this in my collection, cause they just do not compare!

Moving on to concealer, old habits die hard here! Well, actually in the last couple of months I did try this phase of going for a lighter coverage undereye, but nothing would work as well as my beloved Kevyn Aucoin Sensual skin enhancer in SX07 (£38.00) reviewed here.  And what I love most about this pot of goodness is that you can actually adjust the coverage if need be. It's my tried and tested and has definitely earned the title of H.G. And to set it, as you can tell from the photo I have been loving yet another U.S drugtore product - the wet'n'wild contouring powder in caramel toffee ($5.99). Majorly hit pan and I will be ordering another one soon, because I love it, the yellow powder is so brightening and its really comparable to more high end powders. I also still do my 'light bake' with whatever loose powder I am using, I don't have a particular favourite at the moment, but just search loose powder in the side bar if you want to know my thoughts on the ones I've used.

Brows...really not much has changed here either! I am still smitten with the ABH dip brow in chocolate (£15.00) and in total shock that it has lasted this long. I have often added a couple of drops of the kiko mixing solution (not on the website for some strange reason!) which works really well at reviving it. The brush I've been obsessed with for the last few months is actually the primark brow brush (£2.50), it honestly rivals brushes that are 4-5X the price, I highly recommend you picking it up.

The eyeshadow palette of choice has been the Zoeva Cocoa blend (£18.00), which is genuinely one of the best palette out there right now. The mattes are creamy enough and have good pigment and the shimmer shades are beautiful on the lid. Colourwise, it is just perfection - with all the shades I need for a basic look. Don't get me wrong, my single shadows palette is still my all time favourite because of the amazing variety and formula - but I wholeheartedly recommend this to anyone looking for a daily palette with the basics you need if you're a warm toned lover! The mascara of choice has been the Essence rock n doll (£2.80) because it adds a lovely amount of volume - not the most length, but its a goodie!

Moving on to the face powders, it has been a bit of a Narssist party! The laguna-orgasm duo (which you can get an adorable mini version of for just £15!!), is something I kept with my throughout my time in Pakistan, partly for the mirror but also because laguna is a must have for me. As for that iconic blush shade, I certainly don't mind it, but its not something I would purchase the full size of. That mini size is literally perfection, I mean I've not had the chance to see it in person yet, but what an affordable and great way to try some NARS iconics! The second NARS product is the One shocking moment palette (limited edition). I have loved using the various shades in this and I'm so pleased I picked it up, because again it was a very affordable way to try several of their products in one go! To be honest it was tucked away, for far too long, so I've ensured I'm using it on a regular basis and I've got a really good feel for those, so keep an eye out. And finally a non-nars product! The Anastasia Beverly Hills Glow Kit in that glow (£40) reviewed here is just my favourite for everyday, its beautiful and if you don't own a glow kit yet....YA NEED ONE OKAY.

And finally on to the lips, I have been obsessed with my oldschool jordana lip liner in tawny ($),which I saw years ago on Carli Bybel's channel. It is perfect, the ideal MLBB shade and great for slightly over lining. The formula is fantastic too, so much so that I had to pick up a back up last month. The Huda Beauty Liquid Lipstick in bombshell (£18.00) and The Balm Meet Matte Hughes in committed (£15.00) reviewed here are the two liquid lippies that have been used the most recently. They're both beautiful pink shades, with fairly similar formulas actually - neither are too thick or heavy and to be honest they don't have the best longevity, but they're lovely! That colourpop lippie is actually their ultra glossy lip in weho (I think!), because I've been loving to switch it up with a different finish. YES, colourpop is a pain in the butt to ship over, but I am soooo impressed with weho, because it's such a comfortable creamy, non-sticky gloss - big big fan.


And that is just about it everybody! Those are my current favourites and go-to products, a mix of high end and low, U.S and UK.

What have you been loving recently? 

Thank-you for reading ♥

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Everyday makeup routine // current favourites

Review | Zoeva En Taupe Brush Set

Hello everyone, I hope you're doing really well. Due to lack of lighting and zero time I've posted a little later than I had planned, but hey I am back and with a review of a beautiful brush set that I've hardly heard of on the net! Zoeva brushes are very well known to be great cheaper alternatives to brands like MAC and Sigma. I had wanted to pick up some decent eyeshadow brushes for the longest time, but felt like with the amount of brushes in my collection I really couldn't justify a £50+ brush kit. Then one day I randomly stumbled across the En Taupe Brush Set (£40), and I was instantly drawn to it. The price is decent, because its a 7 piece kit with 6 full size brushes and a really nice brush case/pouch...so each costing around £5.71. You can buy a single zoeva eyeshadow brush for almost a tenner, so thats why the brush kits are really popular and well worth the money. I'm going to be reviewing each brush in detail and then summing it all up at the end, enjoy!

Starting with one of their most popular brush, the 227 soft definer (£9.00 individually) is well known to be a dupe for the MAC 217. I love it too, just as much as everyone else because it really is a 'one-brush-wonder'. You can do a basic or even slightly intricate eyeshadow look with just this brush, it is just flat enough to be good at applying a shade all over the lid, whilst also being fluffy enough to blend shadows out. I don't have the biggest lids, so I really appreciate the size of this. It's one of those brushes that I could do with having a couple in my collection, I've used this the most from all six and I really do think everyone should have a 227 in their life!

Moving on to another favourite, the 238 Luxe precise shader brush (£9.00 individually) is another brush I think everyone needs and one that isn't talked about much, but its made such a huge difference to my makeup routine! This cute little brush is fantastic for adding colour along the lower lashline, which has been a big game changing step in my eyeshadow application. It also makes a great inner-corner highlight brush, as well as a good one to use for smudging darker shadows along the upper lashline, if i'm not going for a crisp wing. Another thing I love it for, is adding a darker shade into my eye shadow look. We've all been there where we've used a fluffy crease brush, dipped it into a dark shadow and then ruined everything because thats just TOO MUCH shadow. The precise shader is the perfect way to introduce a tiny bit of shadow into the crease, to the further blend out with a different brush. Oh AND of courseeeee its excellent for adding glitter or a pop of colour in a small area. I mean I thin the amount I've written for such a tiny brush says it all, love love love it.

Another brush that I adore is the 230 luxe pencil brush (£9.00 individually), it's basically the perfect size for blending out shadow along the lower lashline, you can apply AND blend shadow in small areas with this unlike the one above - although I still love that one but we've already discussed that haha. I also like this for adding deeper shades in the crease, and for very detailed blending of small areas. Though I'm not sure I'd spent almost a tenner on it, I'm very glad that it is included in this kit!

The 317 wing liner brush (£8.00 individually) is another dupe for an unethical brand that I shall (and have) only mentioned once in this post lol. It has a very prominent slant, which makes it fantastic for both winged liner and the brows too. I hardly used it when I first go the kit, however I really do enjoy it with the ABH dip brow and the colourpop alternative too. Whilst I don't have the time to do a wing with a brush and a gel liner pot on the day to day, when I do have more time to play with makeup this is THE brush to use. It's a good one, not a total must have but I'm pleased to have it.

Moving on to the 322 brow line (£8.00 individually), this is by far the most unusual brush in my collection and I wasn't sure what to do with it at first! I've kind of discovered that it works beautifully with the dip brow again, especially if you have thicker brows or want to go for more of a bolder look. I think some people also use this to clean up their brows. I tried this once and it worked well but its was just quite time consuming...for a special occasion sure, for everyday? No chance! Haha. Again its a good brush, would I pay £8 for it alone? No. However it works well for the brows and the brows are such an important feature of the face, I ain't mad about having another brush specifically for them.

And finally the second blending brush in this kit, which is also very well known and loved is the 228 luxe crease brush (£9.00 individually). This is great, I usually opt for this when I apply a wash of colour over the lid, or add some warmth into the crease. The bristles of this brush are quite a bit longer that the 227, which means doesn't pack on as much colour and thats also why I think they're both like sister and go so well together, especially when doing a lot of blending! I appreciate that its still quite long and streamlined, so although you can blend out shadows quickly, you can still be pretty precise.

A little photo to show you the difference between the 227 and 228 (on the right). If you're looking for some decent blending brushes that'll last you a good few years, but you don't want a whole brush kit, these two are your best bet!

Round Up:

Rating: 10/10

Pros: Affordable and fantastic value for money, it includes brushes that I can't see my collection being without now! But also the brushes that I'm not crazy over, I still use frequently, so there really aren't any dud brushes at all. They're comfortable to hold and very well made brushes which'll last a good few years. I really like the case you get with it, I'll often travel with it and finally I have a place to keep my beauty sponges too haha. The quality is definitely on par with more expensive brushes, so having it in a value set makes it even better. Also having a brush set means I've been able to try out brushes that I wouldn't usually even considering buying individually.

Cons: Although the brushes do retain their shape just fine, sometimes they get a lil stained. Since taking these photos I have washed them a few times and it tends to depend on the kinds of shades I'm using. However thats really my only con!

Overall: I honestly think this is the best eyeshadow brush kit they offer in terms of price and variety of brushes too! It definitely deserves more recognition which is why it had to be my first review of 2017 - if you've been umming and ahhing over zoeva eyeshadow brushes, I really don't think you'd regret picking this up. Also it'd make a fantastic gift for any lady in your life, if she has a lot of brushes already she won't be mad at more and if she's just getting into makeup, this'll be SO useful and she will love you.

Have you got any Zoeva brush kits? Any fave brushes?

Thank-you for reading ♥

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Review | Zoeva En Taupe Brush Set

Hello everyone, I hope you're doing really well. Due to lack of lighting and zero time I've posted a little later than I had planned, but hey I am back and with a review of a beautiful brush set that I've hardly heard of on the net! Zoeva brushes are very well known to be great cheaper alternatives to brands like MAC and Sigma. I had wanted to pick up some decent eyeshadow brushes for the longest time, but felt like with the amount of brushes in my collection I really couldn't justify a £50+ brush kit. Then one day I randomly stumbled across the En Taupe Brush Set (£40), and I was instantly drawn to it. The price is decent, because its a 7 piece kit with 6 full size brushes and a really nice brush case/pouch...so each costing around £5.71. You can buy a single zoeva eyeshadow brush for almost a tenner, so thats why the brush kits are really popular and well worth the money. I'm going to be reviewing each brush in detail and then summing it all up at the end, enjoy!

Haul & First Impressions | Charlotte Tilbury and Zoeva

Hello everyone, I hope you're all well. Again I've been so slow with the blog posts, life has just been going at an extremely fast pace and I am very grateful to have a few spare minutes to type this up! Todays post is a haul as you can see from the title, and it is one that I have been wanting to purchase for months and months. Both the brands Charlotte Tilbury and Zoeva are rather pricy and most definitely a splurge, so I had to wait for a worthy enough occasion before I treated myself. When graduation rolled around and I found out my grades it was pretty much the perfect reason to pick up some goodies I have wanted for quite some time. Some of these items I've been using and some are still brand new and I have no comment to make...yet!

Starting off with cheeky repurchase (cheeky because I haven't even finished the first one tut) the Charlotte Tilbury Air-brush flawless finish skin-perfecting micro-powder (£33.00). I had to pick up another one of these powders, in the shade medium, because it is the BEST powder I have ever used in my life. I used to be anti-powder, I hate my skin looking powdery, cakey and thick so I avoided powder at all cost. Plus I used to have dry skin, so I had no need for the stuff. However this powder really does airbrush the skin, I use a little of it to set the T-Zone when I'm wearing a dewy base, but my primary use for this is to touch up makeup. It pretty much lives in my floral makeup bag and comes around with me wherever I go. Using a small eco-tools powder brush, I gently pat a little of this powder where my skin starts looking shiny OR where I can see visible pores and it literally blurs the skin. Expensive, but well worth the price for sure.

Something I am yet to properly try, but have lusted after for months and months and months is the Charlotte Tilbury Colour Coded Eye Shadow in The Dolce Vita (£38.00). I know, that price tag is extremely eye-watering and I don't drop a lot of money of makeup like that without careful thought. The reason I did pick this palette up was because I KNOW it contains shades that are unique (mostly that stunning bronze/copper shade which seems to be un-dupeable) and shades that I will definitely wear. I have to a certain extent slowed down on buying eyeshadows because I have a gorgeous MUG collection, as well as quite a few high-end palettes too. Dolce Vita was always on the wishlist and it is such a treat to own this at last...although I have to say I expected the packaging to feel a little more expensive...when you pay so much money for eyeshadows I don't think thats an unreasonable expectation! I am really excited to start using this palette and will probably be recreating this look first ^_^

Another eye product (which is rare for me, I don't usually splurge on eye products ever!) is the Legendary Lashes Mascara (£25.00), which again is pretty pricy I KNOW. However my favourite mascara for the longest time was They're Real by Benefit and that was around the same price point so not too bad. I have been getting back into wearing mascara of late and I have to say I'm not very impressed with the ethical drugstore offerings...I don't have the time or patience for three coats! Legendary lashes is the newest offering in the mascara department from Charlotte Tilbury and I have heard nothing but amazing things, so I'm very excited to start using it. There is actually another highend mascara that will be featured on za blog in an upcoming favourites post..who would have though eh?

Two base products that I have wanted for the longest time are the Light Wonder Foundation (£32.00) and the Wonder glow skin illuminator (£38.50). I have been using both for about a fortnight and I have to say I don't understand why the illuminator is so pricy, it is BEAUTIFUL and really does give any base you apply over the top an extra glow, plus it can be used as a highlighter alone too. However why it is quite so pricy I'm not so sure...on the plus side you do get 40ml of product so hopefully it'll last a decent amount of time. When reading the product description there is a lot of techno-babble like 'Fluorescent Core Light Diffuser' and 'Collagen-boosting peptides and patented wrinkle-preventing ingredients' which is quite typical of the brand...I'm not sure how much boosting it does but I have enjoyed using it so far.

The foundation is GORGEOUS, in the shade 7 which is a little deeper than my skintone but it blends in so well I can hardly tell. In-fact it gives my skin more of a sunkissed healthy glow and I'd say this foundation is the slightly better version of the NARS Radiant Tinted Moisturiser (£29.00), it lasts better throughout the day but has a similar coverage - light and buildable and offers a similar dewy look. The biggest difference for me is that with the NARS TM, sometimes I feel like my face looks a tad shiny rather than glowy...not a big deal at all as a little air-brush powder can fix it up..but yeah there is not a lot between them from what I have tried so far.

Moving on to the brushes, Zoeva has been a brand that I have had my eye on for YEARS. Before that I briefly looked at Sigma but the brush sets were £200 and that was far out of my budget! Zoeva used to be a little more affordable...I know they're a business but I did think it was a little unnecessary for them to increases prices by such a large amount (each of the sets are at least £15 more). I totally regretted not buying a brush set back then, but hey ho thats just how the cookie crumbles sometimes. We've all seen and swooned over the rose gold brush sets, they are beyond beautiful! But I knew I didn't want either of the eyebrushes sets because they didn't have the brushes I needed. Since getting more into eyeshadows I've understood how important it is to have a good set of brushes, because the tools themselves do half the work.

I already have a decent collection of Morphe and ELF eyeshadow brushes, but I'm definitely missing a few. After watching Katy's video of must have brushes (here) I noted down the zoeva brushes she mentioned and amazingly I found almost all of them in this Zoeva En Taupe Brush Set (£40.00)! This is a brush set I've not heard of on any other blog, because the rose gold hype is still so real haha. However I'm really glad I didn't dismiss this, six eyeshadow brushes for £40 is a great deal as each brush is around £9 each, so you do save a fair bit of money. I am almost too excited to take them out of the plastic wrap and use them after saving up and lusting after these brushes for so long!

I also purchased two final brushes to add to my collection, the Zoeva 114 Luxe Face Focus brush (£13.00) which was heavily recommended by Onika beauty (post here!). I've been using this to set my under eye and then remove the quick bit of bake and it is just the perfect size! Its a very versatile brush and I totally get why Oni has more than one. Well worth the price tag too. The last brush I purchased was the Zoeva 234 Luxe Smoky Shader (£9.00) another recommendation from Katy. Its the perfect size for packing colour on and although it was expensive I know these brushes will last me for years as they're very well made.

And that is the end of my most splurgy haul in a while...the gradation gift to me which I am SUPER excited to start using properly #bloggerprobz!!!

Have you tried anything in this haul?

Thank-you for reading ♥

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Haul & First Impressions | Charlotte Tilbury and Zoeva

Hello everyone, I hope you're all well. Again I've been so slow with the blog posts, life has just been going at an extremely fast pace and I am very grateful to have a few spare minutes to type this up! Todays post is a haul as you can see from the title, and it is one that I have been wanting to purchase for months and months. Both the brands Charlotte Tilbury and Zoeva are rather pricy and most definitely a splurge, so I had to wait for a worthy enough occasion before I treated myself. When graduation rolled around and I found out my grades it was pretty much the perfect reason to pick up some goodies I have wanted for quite some time. Some of these items I've been using and some are still brand new and I have no comment to make...yet!

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!

Beauty Bay Haul | Zoeva, Morphe & Makeup Geek!

Hello everyone! I have a very exciting post to share with you all today…it is my haul! After over 140 days of not buying makeup, this is the haul that I purchased with my gift card from work (which I talked about in my January update!). So just to clarify, I am still on my no-makeup-buying challenge till my 21st, which is exactly 90 days away now so just three months to go. Anyway I was very grateful to get a £50 voucher of my choice, it was like a little reward 5 months later for sticking at the challenge ^_^ and of course I had to pick beauty bay as they have so many wonderful things that are on my wishlist. 

I must say here that I am extremely impressed with beauty bay’s delivery, I placed this order at 7pm on a Thursday and it arrived at 12pm the following day! Normally I don’t have much luck with hermes delivery, but for some (great) reason my order arrived extremely quickly and everything was in tact, yay!

So starting with the much lusted after Zoeva Cocoa Blend Palette (£15.50) the moment I saw this popping up on blogs everywhere, I knew it had to be mine. Although it is (yet another) neutrals palette, most of the colours are useable on a regular basis and I know there are a couple of shades in particular that I’ll be gravitating towards the most! The first shades to catch my eye were ‘substitute for love’ and ‘freshly toasted’ which are both gorgeous crease and transition shades. ‘Bitter start’ is the perfect brow bone highlight and of course ‘pure canache’ is my ideal base shade - gotta have some gold! The quality of these eyeshadows are second to none, they’re so pigmented, soft and bendable and I love how the palette has it’s own sleeve too! The size of the pans are pretty decent too so overall this is a great value palette.

One of the best things about owning a palette which is ‘hyped up’ or much loved, is that there are a lot of youtube tutorials focusing on this palette alone. I really appreciate that because I do tend to stick to my comfort zone when it comes to eyeshadows looks, doing the same thing over and over. So having a range of videos to draw inspiration from is super useful. 

I also purchased my first morphe eyeshadow brush, the M330 blending crease brush (£4.75). The main reason why I went for this one over the others was because I was determined to keep my spending total to just under £50 so I didn’t break my ban (#dedication). I also really needed another blending brush that wasn’t too big. My eyes are slightly deep-set which means I don’t have the most lid space and I find that large brushes kind of mess up the whole look! This brush is so useful and it really has met my expectations. The elongated shape and tapered tip means I can use this to apply my transition shade and crease shade and then blend it all out in a few quick strokes. It also works well for adding concentrated colour to the outer corner and in general is a fantastic addition to my collection! 

And finally, probably the most exciting part of my haul I present to you my MakeUp Geek Eyeshadows! (£4.95). Every single beauty lover will have heard of these beauties and most likely seen them in action, used by some of the biggest beauty gurus. Just in case you haven’t though, let me give you a quick introduction! MUG shadows are extremely high quality, often described as better than MAC but they’re a much more affordable (and ethical) option. I opted for 6 of the regular shadows, however there are more options on beautybay, which are a little more pricy. Each eyeshadow pan contains 1.8g which is fantastic value for money and of course the best thing about these shadows being sold on beauty bay is the fact that now those of us who don’t live in the U.S can get our hands on the whole range without being hit by dreaded customs! 

So I had the budget for 6 shadows and of course I had already watched a lot of videos and noted down the MUST have shades. I also used the lovely Jasmine’s post (here) to help me decide what my first 6 shades should be. Admittedly they don’t look exciting, however I know MUG are known for their gorgeous transition and crease shades so I had to pick up some of the ones I have been lusting after for years! From Top left I bought Creme Brûlée which is a shade I’ll be using every single time I wear eyeshadow, because it is PERFECTION at making your eyeshadow game go from a 2-8 I kid you not. You just need to use a fluffy brush to sweep this all over the crease area and it pulls together whatever you’re going to be putting on next. Frappe which is several shades deep and more brown, works in a similar way but adds depth and definition. I purchased the shades Cocoa Bear and Bitten because they are two of the most loved shades out there and they’re wonderful for the crease and for the lower lash line too. I am SO excited to play around with these because the pigmentation and quality are just wonderful! Finally the shades Homecoming and Pretentious are my ideal all over the lid kind of shades. I do love me a good gold shade too but these two stood out more to me first over the golden ones. 

Honestly I cannot describe the excitement I felt when getting this parcel, not only because it contains items I have wanted for months and months (if not YEARS!) but also because it was such a treat after 5 months of not buying any new makeup items! I know for a fact that I was a lot more grateful for every single item because of my challenge and I truly appreciated that excitement which definitely goes once you become a bit of a hoarder!!

P.S I've just seen that beautybay have the new MUG contour shades and they're less than a tenner each - such a bargain! You must check out the video on youtube because there are shades for EVERY single skintones, for real it's amazing! I cannot wait to pick up a shade or two after my birthday ^_^

Have you tried anything in this haul? Any MUG recommendations? Please let me know in the comments!

Thank-you for reading ♥

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Beauty Bay Haul | Zoeva, Morphe & Makeup Geek!

Hello everyone! I have a very exciting post to share with you all today…it is my haul! After over 140 days of not buying makeup, this is the haul that I purchased with my gift card from work (which I talked about in my January update!). So just to clarify, I am still on my no-makeup-buying challenge till my 21st, which is exactly 90 days away now so just three months to go. Anyway I was very grateful to get a £50 voucher of my choice, it was like a little reward 5 months later for sticking at the challenge ^_^ and of course I had to pick beauty bay as they have so many wonderful things that are on my wishlist. 

I must say here that I am extremely impressed with beauty bay’s delivery, I placed this order at 7pm on a Thursday and it arrived at 12pm the following day! Normally I don’t have much luck with hermes delivery, but for some (great) reason my order arrived extremely quickly and everything was in tact, yay!

Huge 2016 Beauty Wishlist | Halfway Through My 8 Month Ban!

Hello everyone, I hope you’re doing very well! Today marks 126 days since I started my ‘no buying makeup challenge’ and I am kind of in shock myself! To read about this challenge if you are new to my blog, click HERE. To get this far makes me so proud and honestly I am not exaggerating when I say this challenge has been life changing for me. Saving money properly for the first time ever and then being able to pay for my car insurance independenly and even putting in a good amount of cash for a new sparkly laptop (more on that in the update post tomorrow) felt SO good! I don’t earn a tonne of money as I only work around 8-12 hours a week and running a car is pretty bank-balance draining as it is. However by stopping spontaneously buying makeup left, right and centre I have managed to save a decent amount AND really use up all the stuff I already own which is wondefully satisfying. 

So as it has been exactly four months since I have not purchased any makeup, we are at the half way point now! My challenge ends on the 25th of May (my 21st birthday) and if I make it that far without buying makeup I’m treating myself to a Sephora haul yaaaaay! There are always makeup items that I really want to check out, partly because I’m always reading blogs and partly thanks to YouTube, so I thought it would be fun to write up a wishlist post. I managed to miss out a couple of things in my picture down below, but never mind I’ll mention everything that I can think of (with links too of course). 

By the way, these are all things I would LIKE to get in the next year but I probably won’t be adding it all to my stash. We’ll see how much makeup I use up too ^_^

Sephora

So starting off with Sephora, I really want to get my hands on Becca’s Champagne pop which I have a feeling will still be in-stock, as its making them so much money! The gorgeous highlighter created by Jacqueline Hill looks stunning on so many different skin tones and I would love to add a Becca highlight to my stash. Before I pick that up from Sephora though I will be checking Cult beauty who sometimes have it in stock.  I have wanted to get the Tarte Blush in Exposed it looks like a beautiful everyday shade and I cannot wait to try the amazonian clay formula! Sticking with Tarte I’m excited to pick up their CC Corrector which looks ideal for banishing the dark tones under my eyes. I love my Rimmel one (reviewed here) but to find more of a peachy tone would be awesome! Finally from Tarte, my heart is set on the Tartlet in Bloom eyeshadow palette, the colours look stunning and I have enjoyed the formula of Tarte shadows in the past so I am excited to pick that up! I totally forgot to add this brand, but I definitely want to pick up the Marc Jacobs Re(marc)able Full Cover Foundation it looks right up my alley for more of a special event, as its light weight on the skin but provides a solid full coverage according to reviews. AND of course the Sephora beauty insider birthday gift this year is a mini Marc Jacobs makeup item, so I am super excited for that! Finally I definitely want to pick up some of Kat Von D's liquid lipsticks, I just haven't quite decided which shades yet. 

Debenhams

I want some much from this department store, oh so much. Starting off with the MUFE Pro Bronze Fusion this was in SO many YouTuber’s 2015 beauty favourites and the unique texture and how beautifully natural it looks has landed it on this list! I also love the look of the MUFE Ultra HD concealers which come as both concealers and correctors - exciting stuff! I want to be able to swatch these in person first, so in the summer at some point I’ll be making a trip to Oxford street and figuring out my shades. I love how you can purchase Too Faced from Debenhams now, so on my list is the shadow insurance eye primer, hangover face primer and the love flush long-lasting blushers..I actually kind of want the palette which is available on the TooFaced website so if that’s available in the summer time I’ll be picking that up! The smaller sized pans and the wide range of colours are really appealing. 

Selfridges/ Hourglass

Starting off with Charlotte Tilbury, I have wanted to pick up the Light Wonder foundation for the longest time and looking back, I regret purchasing the concealer over that base back in the summer! Light wonder ticks so many of my boxes, its light weight, dewy on the skin and the colour match is great from the swatch. Plus it contains 40ml over the standard 30 so I think it’s worth the money! I can’t wait to purchase the lip cheat in Iconic nude as it’s a shade I envision myself wearing on a daily basis. The one area of makeup that I’m pretty stingy with are lipsticks, I own hardly any that cost over £10 but this year I’d love to add one of the matte revolution lipsticks to my stash. Moving on to my all time favourite brand, NARS, I have quite a few things on my wishlist! Starting with the NARS All day luminous weightless foundation which has intrigued me for quite some time, but since I was (and still am) so obsessed with Sheer Glow I didn’t feel like picking it up in 2015. This year however I really want to try it out, along with the brand new NARS Velvet matte Skin Tint which isn’t even out yet, but it sounds DEVINE! I own the tinted moisturiser and I only really like using it during the summer time because it is SUPER dewy. This new tint has more coverage as is apparently between a dewy and matte finish, it sounds like absolute perfection! This year I will also hopefully be picking up the NARS Audacious Lipstick in Barbara, it is the shade that has always caught my eye and I have heard so many wonderful things about this line! The Velvet Matte Lip Pencils are a line I would like more of, the formula is so comfortable yet long-lasting on the lips, in particular I want Dolce Vita. Finally in this catergory, I only really want ONE thing from Hourglass and that is their Mood Exposure Blush, the lovely Jasmine (blog here) raves about it all the time and she has the perfect taste in blush tones, so I am sold! 

U.K Drugstore + U.S Drugstore

As you can see the majority of things I want to try are higher end, as i’ll be saving money before purchasing I like to reward myself with higher-end items because the quality 9/10 times speak for itself. However there are a couple of things that I would like to try this year from boots, with the Soap&Glory Kick Ass powder at the top of my list. The yellow tone looks great for brightening the under-eyes and although i adore my Kat Von D shade, I only use that on special occasions because I’m so afraid of running out! I also want to try the Soap and Glory Once Heck Of A Blot primer since my skin has definitely become more normal/combo and I would like to have a bit of oil control around the nose (this is all so new to me!). I also really want to see if the Seventeen stay time concealer comes in my shade as I’ve heard so many good things about it. I will also be doing another beauty joint haul because I love me some U.S drugstore makeup. I need to stock up on a few wet’n’wild lipsticks and I also want to purchase one of the beautiful Milani rose blushers. The L.A Girl Endless lipliners are also on my wishlist because I have heard so many good things! And finally I’ll be stocking up on the L.A Girl Pro Concealer in Creamy Beige because it is soo good for under the eyes and really brightening too. It’s a staple in my cream highlight and contour routine!

OTHER

So I’m going to group the other things into my last category because I have written a LOT already! I really want to add a Morphe eyeshadow palette to my stash this year, of course i’ll be after the 35O but as it’s usually out of stock (i'm on the waitlist but knowing my luck it'll be in and out of stock before May). I don’t mind really, I just want to try one of their palettes as I’ve heard a lot of good things! I also want to pick up the Zoeva cocoa blends eyeshadow palette because it is STUNNING, the shade selection is right up my street and getting this over the 35O would kind of satisfy my cravings y’know? I will definitely be replacing at least one of my beauty blenders  this year and I’ve heard the black one is better than the others, so i’m going for that. I know I have a bunch of eyeshadows as it is, but I simply HAVE to get some Makeup Geek Shadows from beautybay for my Z palette, because there are so many I have wanted for the longest time. I also want to pick up some liquid lipsticks from the brands Stila, Dose of Colours, Girlactik, Anastasia Beverly Hills and Colourpop. Half of those are U.S brands so I’m planning on using a courier service again which’ll package a bunch of them together and calculate taxes and shipping there and then. I have a few YouTubers who I’m going to turn to when I go through this process and of course I will be blogging about it when the time comes! and FINALLY last but not least, I would love to get a Zoeva brush set this year, mainly one of the eye ones. I have lusted over these for the longest time, and I am seriously lacking in the decent eye brushes which is a shame since I have so many eyeshadow palettes.  

THATS A LOOOONG WISHLIST RIGHT THERE! See if I had not been on this ban at least half of these products would be in my stash and my bank balance would hate me. Lets be honest, none of this is stuff I NEED so it would be awesome if I could try out some of these in 2016 but I don't aspire to get every single thing here! I think I'm over the whole 'blowing most of your wage on makeup and then not being able to buy much else' phase and I find it much more rewarding thinking about a purchase for a while, before splashing out. 

I also want to have a one-in-one-out system with my bases after my challenge is over because I hate hoarding so many foundations/TMs when I only have one face AND they all have expiration date! This'll mean that there will be more base reviews on my blog because I really want to try some new stuff in May. YAAAY for making the halfway point, and heres to the remaining 4 *chinks glass filled with your favourite beverage* Also if you have been thinking of going on a makeup ban for a while, I hope this post gave you the inspiration to do so! (although I totally understand if it had the opposite effect D:)

Are any of these items on your wishlist? 

Thank-you for reading ♥

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