May Favourites

Whilst being in the blogging mood and on my last day off until I'm back at college, I thought I would sit down and tell you what my favourite products have been throughout May. I haven't got too many favourites this month as I felt I was constantly talking about the same products but here are the few things I have been enjoying using.

L'Oreal Colour Riche Nail Polish - Nouvelle Vague LINK

This is definitely going to be one of my favourite products for Spring this year and I feel like it's almost a purple version of the blogger favourite polish; Essie 'Fiji'. The shade is a perfect pastel, pale lilac and you only need two coats to get a good reflection of the true colour. I have it on my nails at the moment and it has only chipped slightly on one nail after roughly 6 days.

Benefit POREfessional Primer LINK

I have always wanted to try this but couldn't justify the price if I didn't like it. I got a sample with ELLE magazine recently and I was surprised how much I have been enjoying using it. It does have an unusual texture but is something I have got used to and in the tube it is a skintone shade but applies clear on the skin. I only apply this on my nose and just onto my cheeks where my makeup tends to wear off first and this has definitely made an improvement! My makeup lasts longer on those areas and doesn't go as shiny as quick.

NARS Pro Prime Smudge Proof Eyeshadow Base LINK

I kind of have a love/hate relationship with this primer. One day it keeps my eyeshadow in place perfectly, another day it will still slightly crease where I have blended the darker shade of eyeshadow. I do really like this primer though as unlike my previous £1.50 primer from e.l.f. it keeps my eyeshadow in place for more than a couple of hours. You just need to control how much you apply as that can make a vast difference!

NARS Eyeshadow Duo - Isolde LINK

These are definitely two of the nicest bronze/copper eyeshadows I have seen and this duo has been on my wishlist for as long as I can remember. Bronze eye makeup is one of the main 'go-to' makeup trends at the moment and this duo is perfect for that. They both have excellent pigmentation and have a really soft texture so they are very easy to blend.

Tanya Burr Lipgloss - Chic LINK

Finally a lip product that isn't the Bourjois Peach On The Beach Lip Crayon has made it into my favourites! Tanya Burr's Cosmetics made it into my local Superdrug a bit later than they were originally released and finally chose a shade to try out first. 'Chic' is the perfect nude gloss that isn't too pale or too dark for me and really does seem like a 'my lips but better' shade. If you're eating/drinking then this won't last as long as it would if you're just popping out for an hour or so but it will still last a good few hours. Excellent pigmentation and formula plus it smells like strawberry laces!

Have you tried any of Tanya Burr's cosmetics? What is your favourite shade?

♥

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Collective Haul

I've done quite a lot of beauty and fashion shopping recently so I thought I would share with you all what I have been buying over roughly the last month or so. Thought I would say that I am not bragging in anyway! I got a few of these in the sale and with student discount codes, I have been selling old clothes recently and used that money to put towards the NARS products. Just to warn you, this will be quite long but I have included links for everything inside the text in case you want to buy anything I have included.

As you can see the fashion items I have purchased a primarily monochrome with a tiny bit of blue. The ASOS Spot Print Playsuit LINK is a very dark navy blue but looks black with white polka dots and it also has the sides cut out so you could wear any top underneath or one with a collar have it poking out the top of the playsuit. The ASOS Petite Blue Structured Top LINK was something I wanted for a while and had just come back in stock in my size so grabbed the last one. It has short sleeves with a small mesh panel.

It seems like beauty and fashion bloggers have been going a bit crazy over the Topshop Frill Shell Top LINK and the Topshop MOTO Tile Print Leigh Jeans LINK recently, especially after Zoe (Zoella) wore them together in a vlog recently. The top has some frill detailing on the sleeves, scalloping on the neckline with some crochet stripes along the bottom. The jeans are perfect for spring with a tile print which looks a little floral and looking at it, slightly reminds me of the film Frozen (hope I'm not alone on this!) In the sale I found the Topshop Daisy Spot Dress which I had my eye on for a while but was never able to get hold of it and finally found it in the Outfit store in Brookfield. 

I saw the Miss Selfridge Petite Black and White Slip Dress LINK a while back when it was new but didn't want to spend £35 on something so basic. I saw a dress in Primark for £10 which looked almost identical but with a slightly higher neck but I wasn't as fond of it. Finally I managed to pick up the Miss Selfridge dress in the sale for only £12. It is a basic dress but I feel that you could style it together with other pieces to make it more perfect for summer.

I have had the same purse since about year 8 or 9 when I was 13 maybe 14 and thought I was time to get a new one. I can be quite fussy with purses and want it to have a coin section split in two (if that makes sense!). I found the ASOS Brown Scallop Edge Purse LINK in the sale and although I normally go for black purses, I really liked this one and thought it was a bargain, especially for the quality!

Midi rings have become quite popular recently and I wasn't too interested in joining the hype until I found the Topshop Green Vintage Midi Ring LINK a while back. It has a really nice design with the coloured stone in the middle. Nice way to accessorize for summer and seems perfect for the festival season also. 

I really needed a brown bag but wasn't interested in paying too much money and never found anything I really liked enough. I found a vintage print bag in Primark and I also find that they are excellent quality and size for the price. I really liked the design on this one because I felt like it was different to anything you would normally see and I had already seen it on a few fashion blogs so I knew it was going to be popular.

Every year I pick up some new sandals and Primark is always the place I go to for the price especially but the styles and designs are again so different to other shops. I got some brown sandals with a cut out design and some plain black sandals with a gold bar and gold on the tip which adds some extra detail.

As normal, the Collection Lasting Perfection Concealer LINK always seems to make an appearance in my haul posts and it is my favourite concealer and always go for this one again when I'm in Boots and need some more concealer. It has excellent coverage but like with all concealers I try it tends to crease a little just under my eyes but apart from that I can't find any more problems.

It's taken me a while to try out the Rimmel Scandaleyes Eyeliners LINK simply because I used to just used liquid liner or more recently, no eyeliner at all. I wanted a brown eyeliner but wasn't willing to pay £14 on one from MAC and other drugstore eyeliners that I have tried in the past have always disappointed me. I picked up the Rimmel eyeliner instead in the shade 'Bronze' which is a really nice shade but I'm quite disappointed with the formula. It is quite difficult use it as an eyeliner on my upper lids and if I use it on the waterline it disappears in about an hour or two, might have to cave for the MAC one! :)

Two products I really wanted to try out were the L'Oreal Liquid Lipstick - Rose Symphony LINK and the L'Oreal Color Riche Nail Polish - Nouvelle Vague LINK because they are the perfect shades for summer. The lipstick is a gorgeous pink shade which is a bit brighter but not too in your face. It leaves a stain on your lips as it starts to fade throughout the day but isn't too drying on the lips, especially if you use a good lip balm first. The nail polish is a really nice pale lilac shade with excellent pigmentation and being fussy with purple shades, I'm happy I found this one! The bottle is quite small with only 5ml of nail polish inside and the price seems quite steep for the amount you get but they are perfect for travelling or if you only want a colour for a few months and don't want the rest to dry up before you get to use it again the following year.

Another nail polish I wanted is by Essie and in the shade 'Bikini So Teeny' LINK and this has been on my wishlist for almost two years. I put off buying it last year until I went to the Olympia Beauty Show to find it wasn't there and read somewhere this year that it had been discontinued. I was ready to order it on eBay until I found it in Superdrug in Kingston and grabbed it whilst I could. It is a nice powdery blue shade with some very subtle shimmer which you can see in the bottle but unfortunately not so much when on the nails.

I included this in my last post talking about my April favourites and it is the Maybelline The Falsies Mascara LINK which I do have a slight love-hate relationship with but take a look at my last post to read what I really think about it :)

NARS is a brand I have also wanted to try and their Eyeshadow Duo and the shade 'Isolde' LINK has been on my wishlist for months! ASOS had a limited time 25% student discount offer and thought I would get it then and save myself some money. It has a really nice gold/copper shade and a bronze shade inside which really compliment each other. My eyeshadow primer wasn't working and all my eyeshadow was disappearing and creasing half way through the day. I thought it was pointless to buy new eyeshadow if it wasn't going to stay on my eyes so I got the NARS Pro Prime Smudge Proof Eyeshadow Base LINK after multiple reviews and other bloggers on twitter told me it was the best one and after only two days of using it, I am really happy and it was definitely worth paying the more expensive price tag!

As much as I hate using them I picked up some of the Simple Makeup Wipes LINK because I was going to be staying over my friends for the night and didn't want to spend ages taking my makeup off. I always end up swatching things when makeup shopping so these are perfect to keep in your bag to wipe it off of your hand afterwards!

To properly take my makeup off, I got the Soap & Glory Peaches & Clean Cleanser LINK which works really well to both remove makeup and cleanse your skin. Smells incredible and leaves your skin really soft, read more about what I think of this in my last post.

After many reviews and adverts I caved when when both my shampoo and conditioner were running out and got the Garnier Ultimate Blends The Sleek Restorer Shampoo & Conditioner LINK LINK which were both half price in Boots as they are still fairly new. They have different formulas for different types of hair so you will definitely find something that will work for you. If you like the smell of the Chocomania shower gel from The Body Shop then you will love these as they have the same scent and of course smell amazing. I haven't used them much yet but I'm impressed so far!

If you read the whole post well done, sorry for the length!

Let me know what you've been buying or if you have anything I have included here :)

♥

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April Favourites

You may have noticed that I didn't do a favourites post for March and it was simply for the fact that I didn't have enough products to write about. I also haven't uploaded the lookbook and hair tutorial posts that I mentioned in my last post, I'm quite busy at the moment with college and my friend who I asked to take the photos is coming up to her A2 exams so I don't want to make her take time away from revising to just take some photos. Anyway here are my favourites :)

Maybelline The Falsies Volum' Express Mascara - Black Drama LINK

I started using this at the end of March after I had been scraping out what was left in my mini Esteé Lauder mascara. I had never really been too interested in trying this but when Tanya Burr is always using it in her tutorials I caved. It is a really good mascara, lengths and volumises but I wouldn't say it lives up to the Benefit They're Real which I had a mini of in a magazine last year. Nevertheless, perfect for someone on a budget.

Rimmel Mono Blush - Santa Rose and Mii Blush - Kissed LINK LINK

These have both been my 'go to' blushes for this time of year. Really natural but both give a nice flush of colour to the cheeks. The Mii blush is slightly more high-end than the Rimmel blush price wise but are both blushes that I would repurchase.

Blank Canvas Cosmetics Brushes - E26 LINK

This is a much cheaper dupe for the MAC 217 brush which trust me I still have my eyes on and will eventually buy. For now however, this blends eyeshadow into the crease of the eye really well. I do find however that it doesn't always dry back into the same shape as when I first purchased it and bristles stick out in different directions. Excellent budget choice but reading reviews, I personally don't think it works out to be as good as the 217.

Garnier Micellar Cleansing Water LINK

Bloggers seemed to go crazy when L'Oreal released their version of the Bioderma Micellar Water but I always felt like it left a sticky residue on my skin even if I was only using it to remove my eye makeup. In the amount of time that I have had the Garnier version, I haven't yet used half the bottle and I definitely prefer it to the L'Oreal one but compared to the Taaj Micellar Water I loved, I'm not so sure if this beats it. The Garnier Water is also much better value, double the amount as L'Oreal at the same price and you need less product to remove your makeup.

Soap & Glory Peaches and Clean Deep Purifying Cleanser LINK

This is a product that definitely lives up to its claims and I'm happy I finally decided to give it a go. It removes my makeup really well whilst also cleansing my skin. I have found that it leaves my skin feeling so soft that on many occasions I have almost forgotten to apply my moisturiser..woops.

Percy & Reed Wonder Balm LINK

To receive a full size product worth £18 in a magazine is pretty rare. Percy & Reed has been added, removed and again added to my list of brands to try out but I never knew what to start with or heard enough people raving about something so much. I thought this was the perfect opportunity to give the brand a go so I picked up ELLE magazine. It is a really nice balm which seems as though it acts as a primer for your hair before you apply any other products to keep them in place. The Wonder Balm really helps to keep my TIGI Smoothing Lusterizer on my hair for much longer than normal seeing as all the very small glitter particles end on my hands when doing anything to my hair. However, I'm not sure whether or not I will venture into the brand any further.

Russell Howard Wonderbox Tour TICKETS

I have been a fan of Russell Howard for years now and loved his Good News programme and finally was able to see one of his shows whilst on tour. Wasn't a disappointment at all, we had an incredible view and it was overall a hilarious night. If you are a fan of Russell Howard, definitely think about going to one of his tour shows!

Let me know what you've been loving, if you have used any of these products or went to the Russell Howard tour!

♥

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