2014: January Favourites (…and my first favourites post)
31/01/2014
This is my first favourites post, which considering I’ve had my blog for over a year now, I suppose is quite significant. (Favourites Posts being significant, #BloggerProblems) I think the reason I’ve never posted a favourites before is a combination of – A) constantly comparing myself to other bloggers favourites posts and being well aware that mine will probably be utter shite in comparison. B) not wanting to remind myself of how much I’ve spent that month as my favourites tend to be new new-ish products and C) that no matter how much I try – which in all honesty isn’t too much – I’ll never be able to photograph pictures with dreamy, Pinterest, “everything in life is so white and perfect” quality. Shoved on top of a desk-chic will have to do for now. Oh and lastly for D) how on earth will I be able to narrow down my favourites into a list that doesn’t take you until 2015 to read through?
But despite all of those superficial/trivial/ridiculous reasons, I’m taking a wack at it anyway (…to quote Allie in ‘The Parent Trap’ Ohhh what a film that is, and what a complete loser I am.
Onto the favourites – and a quick word of warning, there’s a lot of them – first up, a look at what’s floating my beauty boat.
Loreal true match – I picked this up after hearing
Amelia compare it to Giorgio Armani Luminous Silk. I – and my extremely tight-wod self – get no bigger thrill than discovering a dupe, and boy have I (… well Amelia) found one here. I love Loreal True Match, in fact I’d go as far as to say that I prefer it to Luminous Silk. A semi-matte finish which means that it lasts extremely well on my combination skin whilst giving a luminous/flawless glow. Great coverage, great lasting power, great finish. Thanks Amelia you little gem!
Hourglass ambient lighting powder in Dim Light – well this purchase – I will readily admit – broke my heart (along with my purse’s) when I purchased it. At £38 it’s not cheap, but thankfully the price reflects the quality in this case. For me, I use when I’m going out, am going to be photographed, or basically when I need to fake an amazing complexion. It’s not mattifying enough for me to wear if I know I’m going to be working an 18hour day (oh yeah, you read that right. 18hour days = the life of a TV researcher!) in which case I use Rimmel stay matte with dim light over the top. Talking of the devil…
Rimmel Stay Matte translucent powder – I won’t ramble on about this product – which I could, and easily would if it wasn’t for my “try not to bore the life out of your readers” new years resolution – as every man and their dog (…and also a certain Tanya Burr) sings the praises of this product 24/7 but I will say that it is perfect for anyone with combination/oily skin that needs to keep their makeup in place all day. I don’t have extremely oily skin so I can’t say how it would hold up on you if you do, but it’s a great product to use for touch ups as layering the product doesn’t make your face look cakey, so it’s a winner all round!
Rimmel Moisture renew lipstick in Oxford St Fuschia – this isn’t a very well known – or talked about – product on the blogosphere (Oh god, there’s that poxy word again. For the thousandth time, feel free to punch me in the face for using it) but in all honesty, it should be! The new-ish formula from Rimmel is a real winner. Moisturising enough to apply amazingly and feel really comfortable on the lips, but pigmented and creamy enough to last really well too. The colour is a beautiful mid toned – bright pink that I definitely didn’t need or lack in my collection, but I am definitely glad that it is.
Urban Decay Naked 3 – Again, I am well aware that there are a ridiculous amount of reviews on this palette so I’ll leave the proper reviews to the experts that can photograph pictures in focus, get reviews up on time and not 3months later etc. 😉 but what I will say if that I ‘treated’ myself to this at the beginning of December, I haven’t used anything else on my eyes since. The perfect nude eye palette for me. Particular favourite shades being Dust, Buzz, Nooner, Liar, Limit and Factory. May as well have listed the whole palette you tit!
Sleek Blusher in Rose Gold – I don’t own the Nars orgasm (that’s the name of the blusher in case any family member who don’t have a clue what Nars is, reads this!) but I have done that extremely sad thing of swatching it in store and immediately swatching Sleek’s Rose Gold next to it (has anyone else done that or have I just confessed to being the biggest loser to have ever graced the planet?) and I have to say, it is pretty damn similar. Dupes aside, Rose Gold is a gorgeous peachy pink with gold shimmer running through it. It’s bright, it makes you look awake and alive – always a bonus in my books – and has quickly become my go-to “I look like death warmed up, help me God” blusher of choice!
I will very swiftly move onto Hair and Nail favourites before I send myself to sleep, let alone you to sleep!
John Freida Deep Repair mask – As with pretty much all of my beauty items, the process of purchasing this hair mask went something along the lines of this – Beauty blogger gives it rave reviews (this time is was Lily Pebbles and
The Sunday Girl) I buy it, I try it, I love it. Well, most of the time I’ll love it but for the sake of my purse and my heart…we’ll go with the ‘I buy, I love’ verdict. This time thankfully, I did love it.
A lot. Almost as much as nando’s and hazelnut chocolate. Yeah
… that much. Personally I find it hard to find products that are deeply nourishing for my very long hair, without weighing it down and making it look as flat as Britney Spears singing voice, but this does just that. Smoothes frizz, makes hair incredibly shiny and well conditioned. A must have for the straggly, straw like, dry hair.
Sexy!
Macadamia Healing Oil Treatment – this is sample size because quite frankly, my purse takes such a battering with beauty products that I can’t quite bring myself to spend £30 on a hair product. So when I received this in a goody bag from an event, I was over the moon. It’s something I’d always wanted to try and I’m so glad I did/really wish I didn’t. Reasons for ridiculous contradiction? This product is beautiful. So nourishing, keeps my hair in such great condition, cuts down drying time, I use let heat to style my hair as it really de-frizzes and tames my Hagrid-esque barnet…I can’t praise it enough. However a small part of me – namely my purse – wishes I hadn’t tried this as I will now without a doubt have to repurchase once it’s used up *weeps*
Barry M Matte nail colour in Vanilla – Now… – here we go – in general I’ve been loving dark nail colours this winter but I have to say, I am in love with this colour (what are you talking about, of course it’s possible to be in love with a nail polish. Duh!) Although, there’s a slight catch here. I love the colour and I love matte nails. A matte black, navy and white nail in my opinion, looks so stylish and chic, but with Vanilla? It makes my hands look, how can I put this?… dead. Yep, that’s the one, dead. Which pissed me off annoyed me an unbelievable amount as I’d just spent good money on it, however this is where Seche Vite’s top coat comes in and saves the day – as always – applied thinly on top of two coats of Vanilla, and you have yourself a perfect neutral, greige-ish, nail. It’s love. Also, special shout out to Essie Luxedo, Barry M Blue Grape and Maybelline Mint for life – yep, we give shout outs to nail varnish on this blog – who come a very close joint runner up to Barry M’s Vanilla this month.
Seche Vite Top Coat – Not much needs to be said on this – and I’m aware this is shaping up to be an extremely long post – dries your nails in seconds, and I mean seconds well of course you bloody do, that’s what you just said! – whilst making your nails extremely shiny. I must have re-purchased this at least 10 times. Nothing compares (*wacks out my best Sinead O’Connor voice* nooooothing compares, nothing compares to youuuu)
Next up is Skincare. At this present moment in time, I couldn’t be happier with my skincare routine *touches every bit of wood in sight in the hope of not waking up to a broken out, pizza face* and I put this happiness down to these little gems…
Now, for your sanity/boredom/will to live, I’m not going to go into detail with these products as I have either mentioned them in my 2013 favourites or previous posts and I’m also planning a skin care routine post coming up soon. But what I will say is that this combination has helped reduce redness, the visibility of pores, completely amped up the level of hydration – thank you Hydraluron, and Caroline Hirons for the rave review – and just generally has made my skin more awake and glowy. Basically, my skin doesn’t look like I have an Indian, Thai and Chippie takeaway at least 4/5 times a week. My arteries on the other hand…
And finally – yes there’s more, I promise you I’m nearly done – my blogger and vlogger favourites.
Lily Pebbles and Vivianna Does Makeup’s Guide to Blogging and Vlogging – Lily and Anna’s blogs/videos could quite easily be in my favourites every single month. They’re the select few blogs that I read and enjoy everyday without fail, but in this case I’m talking particularly about their tips and trick series. If you’ve been blogging for a while, you’ll pick up some helpful little tip to improve your blog, and if you’re thinking of starting one…then get over to the post now as there’s everything you need to know!
Suzi’s – Hello October – blog – From skin care to makeup looks, Zara hauls to eyebrows (yep, you read that right, I bloody
love her eyebrows) Suzi’s blog is a constant source of inspiration and must-haves. I have purchased
far too many products Suzi has raved about and she has been spot on with everyone. Her dreamy photography is also very easy on the eye. Blog crush of the month!
What Olivia Did – I will not be able to say anything about Olivia without sounding like a complete and utter loser, stalker, freak, fangirl. If Hello October is my blog crush of the month, then What Olivia Did is my blog crush of the year. Every out photo looks like she’s just stepped out of magazine. Dreamy – I promise I’m not being paid to overuse the word ‘dreamy’ – doll-like perfection. When I grow up, I wold like to be Olivia please!
Sammi’s – TheBeautyCrush – Vlog chanel (thesammimariashow) – For starters, Sammi is just ridiculously (and almost unfairly) stunning. She has that ability to be able to wear anything and make it look cool. But girl crush/fan girling aside, I adore her vlogs. I’m a nosey bitch at the best of times, and despite being a born and bred londoner, she always seems to visit trendy, new places that I’ve never heard of. Basically, she is the reason that I spend far too much money on trying to sample every single coffee shop and cake (all in the name of finding gluten free items, obviously) in London.
So that’s it for my extremely long Favourites video this month – “Thank f**k for that” screams everybody reading this post – Apologies for it being such a huge one, I’m shifting the blame onto the fact that last month we had Christmas. Christmas means presents. Presents for me, means beauty products. So totally not my fault and nothing to do with the fact that I ramble for England anyway. Nothing at all!
I hope you enjoyed this guys, please leave me links to your January Favourites, or just let me know what you’ve been loving this month in the comments below. I would love to know what tops your list!
As always, thank you so much for reading!
xx
You had a LOT of favs this month 🙂 Glad to see you have jumped onto the favourites bandwagon!! I really want to try the Loreal True Match (praying that they have my shade)
MISSY IN THE MIRROR
Haha I did have a LOT of favourites, thank you for persevering until the end 🙂
xx
Your favourites are awesome, so many of them I love! Great post and photos 🙂 Sammi (beauty crush) was the first beauty guru I subscribed to, she's lovely.
Alice | Blog | YouTube | xxx
Ahh glad to hear it Alice. Beauty Crush is an absolute babe isn't she, love her 🙂
xx
I REALLY want to try L'Oreal true match!! Xxx
Gotta try it lovely, looks so flawless on me! (and i really haven't got flawless skin)
xx
Wow you have lots of favourites 🙂 great products though! I think your photos are great but if you want to make them a bit brighter, I literally use Windows Live Photo Gallery to brighten the shadows on mine 🙂 really simple to do! xx
http://www.LaurasHaven.com
Thanks so much Laura, and thanks for the tip…I've lumbered boyf into teaching me some photoshop skills so fingers crossed 'dreamy' photos will be mine 🙂
xx