November 2012 Favourites

I am so happy to be doing my November favourites because that means IT'S NEARLY CHRISTMAS.  So here we go..

Burt's Bees lip Balm- Since I first posted about this here, I have burned my way through it and even bought a second one. I am never using another lip balm again. It applies beautifully and smoothly and seems to melt a little on contact with your skin. It doesn't feel heavy or sticky and after a couple of minutes you can't feel it on your lips at all, but they feel moiturised and nourished. I cannot recommend this enough. They're a bit pricier than your average lip balm at £3.69, but I cannot urge you enough to get this. Skip lunch, rob your Granny, become a drug dealer to buy this if you think it's too much to pay. (OK, please don't do these things, I want to say it's worth doing those things for, but I think your Granny would disagree) HG FO' SHO!

Soap & Glory kick ass concealer- I was bit 'hmmm' about this for a while. I bought it about six months ago, but never used it much. I don' know what changed, but in November I decided to give it another go and WOW. I use the salmony side to conceal dark circles (obviously) and I use the yellowy colour to do my brows. This is such a great colour match for me. Lining this around my brows makes them look so much neater than they really are and my dark circles are GONE. Another HG? Perhaps. (I just noticed while uploading the pics that it looks like I've hit pan on the salmony shade)

St. Moriz tanning mousse in 'Medium'-  I rocked this in the colour 'Dark' during summer, but I thought I'd tone it down a little for winter. I don't actually usually tan in winter, and just rock my natrual ghostly appearance. I'M AN ENGLISH ROSE, DAMMIT. Buuut, the weather's been a bit poopy and I had an urge to inject some colour into my skin (not literally 'inject' like those disturbing tanning injections you can buy online). So I did. I was soo happy with the results of this. It looked natural and faded evenly. It perked me up during the winter blues. LOVE!

L'Oreal night cream-  I love a couple of things about this. One, the packaging is glass. How sophisticated I feel getting my moisturiser out of a glass jar. Luckily I haven't had to travel, but when I fly next week, I'll probably be hating the packaging. And 2, how his makes my skin feel when I wake up. It's very rich, thick heavy. Perfect for a night cream, and you certainly don't want to mistake this for a day cream because you will look like a greasy mess. But by morning my skin has drunk it all up an my skin feels plump and moisturised. I will be sad when this runs out.

Nails Inc. 'James St.'- This is one of the colours which was free in this months Glamour. Shockingly I do not own a classic red, and this is has filled the void very efficiently. What is more elegant than a red nail? I have worn this a couple of times throughout the month, and even if I've been in a jumper and jeans, I've felt a bit classier than usual.

Charles Worthington Intense Rescue Melting Balm- There was a lot of hype around this after Fleur de Force mentioned it a couple of times, so I thought why not give it a go. I like that the first ingredients are ACTUAL OILS. In so many products, the first ingredients are water, silicones, sulphates etc. and that is going to do NOTHING for your hair, except maybe damage it further. I usually use pure oils (Argan, Macadamia, Coconut) over night before I wash, but they've been replaced with this in November. Because it has a selection of different oils, I figure they can all offer my hair different things, rather than just using the one oil. There are some chemical nasties near the end of the ingredients though, so it's not a 100% amazing product. However, this smells delicious and makes my skin feel soft and smooth. 

Miscellaneous favourite:

CHRISTMAS DECORATIONS. IS IT TOO SOON? I DON'T CARE!!

Primark Angelica Nail Colour in 'Tantrum' | Review

Pictures taken two days after application, with two coats. Excuse my cuticles.

I'm no nail polish snob. But I did once try one from Primark and it was absolutely vile.

The other day though a stand caught my eye, which in my peripheral vision looked like an Essie stand. 

I wanted something a little different and 'Tantrum' stood out to me amongst the billions of other beautiful colours.

I would describe it as a purple/gold oil spill with fine glitter.. If that's an adequate description.

Packaging: 

Really nice. The white top looks a little cheap and I think if it was black it would look a lot nicer. But it still looks good. The writing is directly on the bottle and not just on some cheap sticker so I think it feels and looks like it came from somewhere a bit posher than Primarni.

Formula: 

Very nice. Two coats and it was opaque. It also dried in a reasonably good amount of time.

Brush:

 HORRIBLE! This is the only thing which lets the product down. It's too big and .. 'Floppy' so it's a bit tricky to apply. But it's not unusable.

Colour: 

Luuurve it. I think it's quite unique. It reminds me a little of O.P.I.'s 'The World is Not Enough' but, you know, purple. I've also layered a coat of this on top of some dark nail polishes and it looks rather lovely.

Longevity: 

The same as usual for me. 2-3 days without chipping. So not bad.

Colour selection: 

Brilliant. They had a great selection of glitters, duochromes etc. and lots of dupes of much expensive brands (I spotted a dupe for Model's Own 'Indian Ocean')

I'm really pleased I picked this up and think I'll be donning my nails with it a lot this Autumn/Winter. Have you tried anything from this line?

Price: £2.50

October 2012 Favourites

L-R: MAC Rubenesque, Revlon 'Crush', Chanel Tan de Soleil.. and a club stamp

My first ever favourites post. I'm so excited. But sad that it's late. I've had quite a few favourites recently, but thought I'd keep it short and sweet to my ABSO FAVES.

-Chanel Tan De Soleil Bronzing Makeup Base: I never really liked the look of this, I'd swatched it a few times at the counter and gasped (gasped!) at how orange it was. For some unknown reason I was possessed to buy it one day. I wanted to use it as a cream contour which it's OK for, but it really does excel at making you looked sun kissed.. and not orange. Perfect for the winter when I can't be bothered to fake tan but don't want to look like I have some sort of deficiency going on. Obviously I don't think it would be ideal for summer in the heat, when I prefer to use a powder (NARS Laguna), but I'm not a huge fan of powders in the colder months, so I think that's when Chanel can step in. Above pictures show it when I initially bought it, and after about 8 uses. INTERESTING FACT: You know the brand UNE in Superdrug and Boots? They are apparently owned by Bourjois (who I believe either own, or are owned by Chanel). UNE do a BB Cream Bronzer for £15 for 7.5g. Chanel's Bronzing make up base is £30 for 30g. Meaning that gram for gram, UNE are charging twice as much as Chanel.

-Revlon Colorstay Foundation in 'Buff' for Dry Skin: First of all, it is just totally ingenious that they do this foundation for different skin types. Every other brand should follow Revlon's lead on this. Secondly, this is my PERFECT COLOUR MATCH. I'm a big blender and bronzer, so I'm never too persnickety (btw, that's my favourite word of the month) about colour match, but it's nice to have an exact match! I was expecting this to feel mask-like and look cakey but I actually find it's perfect for every day use for me. The lack of pump is annoying, but I work my way around it just fine.

-MAC Rubenesque Paint Pot: My first Paint Pot (***cheer***). Probably should have gone for Bare Study, Soft Ochre or Painterly, but they're going on my Christmas list instead. LOVE this colour, but only in a light wash. An opaque layer of this looks like I have pink eye or some other kind of gross eye infection. How ever this simply does not crease on me. After using this and the Mayebelline Color Tattoos, I don't think I'm ever going to go back to eye primers, because cream eyeshadows (not the Illamasqua ones- CREASE CITY) work perfectly for me as a base, and can be used on their own as an eye colour.

-Zara Rose Gold Perfume: I did a review on this little beauty HERE.

-Real Techniques Expert Face Brush: Didn't really need this but it was 3 for 2 in Boots. I use it for my Chanel Bronzing blah blah and I think it's perfect for that. I prefer it to the buffing brush if truth be told, which has no been neglected. Sorry buffing brush.

-Revlon Just Bitten Kissable Balm Stain in 'Crush': Since buying this in September, it's been the only thing on my lips (other than lip balm). However, I don't think it lasts all day, and I do find it drying. So.. I guess as a moisturising stain, it's a fail for me. But I love the colour and it lasts longer than other lip products, I can also just apply my lip balm over the top of it without worrying about ruining it.

Miscellaneous favourite: HALLOWEEN. I have had too much fun doing my makeup this halloween.