14 Favourites of 2014!

Hello beautiful people, I hope you’re all doing well! Today I’m going to share my 14 favourites from 2014. There are not necessarily the bestest products out there ever - but my personal favourites,  and I’m going to try my hardest to keep this relatively brief as I could probably write a novel on my favourite things! so we had best get going ^_^

This year I have fallen in love with Benefit’s Erase Paste in 3. I have stubborn, hereditary dark circles and I don’t make my life easier with my sleeping routine! The erase paste is super pigmented and very very creamy so I apply a little at a time, or using the RT detailer brush to put the corrector exactly where I need it. It’s the product in my stash  that I can rely on to transform the dark shades under my eyes into relatively normal under-eye skin and with little effort! My favourite base of the year has without a doubt been the Bourjois CC Cream. I reviewed it here and in one sentence; it feels like nothing on the skin, yet the coverage is phenomenal for a ‘CC cream’ type of product, quick and easy to apply, doesn't accentuate dry patches, evens out the skintone perfectly and it has a super natural finish! The BEST base in the whole drugstore and perfect for every day.

Another base I have LOVED in 2014 has been the bareMineral bare skin serum foundation (review). Its light weight, medium coverage, free from a tonne of nasties and has half the number of ingredients a standard foundation has. To be fair - it can be difficult to work with at first. However the glowing finish I can achieve with this and the perfect colour match had me singing its praises! Another product I haven't been able to get enough of is the Bourjois bronzing primer. I LOVE THIS SO MUCH! It warms up the face beautifully, sorts out any foundation or base that is too light and I can even achieve a decent contour when I use my E.L.F small stippling brush! Basically if you’re of NC30 you neeeed to try this beauty, I would pay twice the price for this, I laaaave it that much!

Brows this year have been dominated by the one and only Anastasia Beverly Hills. I mentioned the Brow Wiz in Brunette in my December favourites a thin pencil, twists up with the perfect spoolie on the end. It mimics brow hairs like no other, and is phenomenal for filling in sparseness and creating the brows you always dreamed of - or as close to as possible.  The Brow Pomade has also gotten a lot of love throughout 2014, and not without good reason. It’s long lasting, sculpting and as long as you have a spoolie and a light touch you can transform your eyebrows. Pricy? Yes. Worth every penny? Double yes. (Plus the pomade will last you ages!)

The eyeshadow palette of the year for me is the I heart Chocolate palette by makeup revolution. Reviewed here so I won’t go on too much about it, but its the perfect neutral palette from the drugstore. A dupe for the Too Faced Chocolate Bar palette, with a huge nude/base shade and a gorgeous crease shade too. Oh and just marvel at that packaging!

Cheeks in 2014 have been dominated by two brands - NARS (Deep Throat - the perfect pink laced with gold reviewed and Torrid - the must have coral, with a little gold running through it, for medium skintones) and Illamasqua  (Hussy - matte peachy pink perfect for medium skintones too reviewed here ). Illamasqua produce the softest and most pigmented blushers EVER, and NARS have their formulation nailed - long lasting and buildable - love love love!

The Real Techniques duo-fibre contour brush - reviewed has been the BEST brush discovery of the whole 365 days. I have been able to use every single sleek blush in my vast collection, because of it’s bristles. It distributes colour lightly and allows you to spread the pigmentation over the cheeks perfectly. I also fell head over heals with the Beauty Blender (PLEASE EXCUSE HOW STAINED MINE IS). If you’re looking for a flawless finish with thicker foundations and want to blend concealer in seamlessly this is a MUST have. The only skincare favourite I have of this whole year is the Sweet Almond Oil. I adore this stuff and it’s become a daily part of my routine. I apply a little under each eyes and everywhere else I have uneven skintone and my under-eyes have slowly become a little less dark, and brighter! It’s not an over night miracle, but it’s made a big difference to my skin and even helped me to embrace those pesky circles somewhat.

And finally, my favourite lip product of the whole year has been Rimmel’s lip liners and more specifically the one in Spice - reviewed here. They’re affordable, a huge colour range and of course they’re wonderfully long lasting. Sure they’re a little bit drying, but that’s totally worth the colour pay off and no fuss.

There are my 14 favourites of the past year! What were yours?

Thank-you for reading ♥

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14 Favourites of 2014!

Hello beautiful people, I hope you’re all doing well! Today I’m going to share my 14 favourites from 2014. There are not necessarily the bestest products out there ever - but my personal favourites,  and I’m going to try my hardest to keep this relatively brief as I could probably write a novel on my favourite things! so we had best get going ^_^

September 2014 Favourites

Hello! I hope you’re all doing well. September has been the month of new beginnings for everyone aside from University students. Does anyone else feel like our holidays are too long? I have to say despite having a load of work already, I am pretty happy to be back at Uni. (Having said that it’s only been two days, but still lets start off on a positive note!)

This month I started somewhat of a rota again with my stash. In an effort to use up unethical products and also try out new products, I had a strict list to work with for two weeks and then a one week break to just wear whatever I wanted. I’ve really enjoyed doing this rota because it’s meant I have had to use products in my collection that I normally wouldn’t be too fussed about. E.G Sleek Pumpkin Blush-By-3! (Reviewed here).

Essence I <3 Extreme Crazy Volume Mascara | £2.80

This is the first mascara that has ever made it into a monthly favourites of mine *applause*. The reason why is because it really does what it says on the tube, and boy does it do it well. Those who dislike clumpy lashes, this might not be for you, I feel like it has some sort of fibres to it because my lashes look a great deal thicker, and it’s almost like a fake lash effect. Definitely not one for everyday but used with a lengthening mascara first, this one is amazing and at such a fantastic price too!

Essence XXXL Lipgloss Matt effect 06  | £2.30

This has been my go-to lip colour as of late, a gorgeous brown nude which looks so wonderful on olive skintones. It is similar to that famous Kylie Jenner brown but perhaps a little warmer. As for the matt effect, I would describe it as more of a velvetish texture, it’s not glossy and its not drying. With the lipliner it lasts a good 6ish hours, it does fade but I’m really not one to keep checking, so if a product is still on my lips after 3 hours and looks semi-decent I’m happy!

 

Rimmel Exaggerate Lip Liner - Addiction | £3.99

From Rimmel’s new retractable lip liner range, and this shade is a wonderful mauvey pink. It does a great job at making lips look defined and larger, and the shape of the liner helps a lot too! I always apply this before I wear the above ‘matt gloss’, but I enjoy wearing it on it’s on too. A sophisticated neutral shade that is a must for every girl!

 

Face wise this month Bourjois has been running the show for me!

Bourjois Healthy Balance Powder | £8.99

The first powder I ever truly loved, this compact with it’s slight coverage and amazing ability to not matteify but still set my base has blown me away. For the past week and a half I’ve been testing out the brand new BareMinerals Bareskin foundation, and with the warmer weather we have randomly been experiencing and it’s dewy finish I have found myself reaching for this quite often. It prolongs my base time by at least 3 hours and if I apply my bareskin foundation at 10am and don’t set it, but then around 5pm I apply a little of this powder, my face looks fresh and almost as if I’ve just done my makeup. I cannot express how much love I have for this pot, thank-you Bourjois!!

 

Bourjois Delice De Poudre Bronzer Duo | £6.75 from lookfantastic

The second has been this duo, which surprised me more than anything. At first glance you can see little shimmers in the pan, nat cool, but when applied on the skin I don’t notice it at all. What I do see is a great mix between cool and warm, thus very suitable for contouring the cheekbones whilst adding a wee bit of warmth! The highlight is subtle and slightly yellow toned, it’s not my favourite (we all know Mary-Lou has had that spot for well over a year!) but it’s great for work/Uni when perhaps one does not always want to shine bright like a diamond.

 

Sweet Almond Oil | £5.65

The only skincare favourite from this month has been this 100% pure sweet almond oil. I purchased this from iherb and the reason was because I was watching HudaBeauty talk about concealing dark circles, and she mentioned a product that contained this. I knew it would be relatively cheap and why buy a £50+ product when you can buy a possibly amazing part of it alone for a fraction of that price! I have been using this every single night for 3 weeks running, and I have noticed a slight reduction in my dark circles. Unfortunately I’ve had a couple of bad nights recently and so they’re playing havoc again, but I think with some dedication and constant use over a long period of time this oil will work better than slices of cucumbers ever did for me!

And that is about it for the month of September! Keep an eye out later today because I have a very excited product to share with you, from Benefit! Until then, have a lovely weekend ^_^

What were some of your favourites from September? If you’re a blogger please link your favourites below, I’d love to have a read when I get the time :)

Thanks for reading!

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September 2014 Favourites

Hello! I hope you’re all doing well. September has been the month of new beginnings for everyone aside from University students. Does anyone else feel like our holidays are too long? I have to say despite having a load of work already, I am pretty happy to be back at Uni. (Having said that it’s only been two days, but still lets start off on a positive note!)

This month I started somewhat of a rota again with my stash. In an effort to use up unethical products and also try out new products, I had a strict list to work with for two weeks and then a one week break to just wear whatever I wanted. I’ve really enjoyed doing this rota because it’s meant I have had to use products in my collection that I normally wouldn’t be too fussed about. E.G Sleek Pumpkin Blush-By-3! (Reviewed here).