June Favourites

It's that time of the month again where I round up all of my favourites that I've been using in the last month. June has seen the end of my first year of university, moving back home and rather a lot of chilling out. July is to be the month of a trip away with my boyfriend, exam results and new home prep, so exciting things to come! 

I'm going to crack right on with my favourites and kick it off with my favourite nail polish of the month which has been Essie's Fishnet Stockings. It's my perfect red- a deep blue toned red, rather than anything really bright. It's classic and elegant and just goes with everything. The formula, as is expected with Essie polishes, is great and lasts ages on the nails. 

My next favourite is Soap and Glory's Clean On Me. The smell is what really gets me with this product, it just smells so good I could cover myself in it all day long. The formula is super thick and nourishing and creates a beautifully thick foamy lather. Great for in the bath or shower and the fragrance lingers throughout the day. Totally dreamy. 

Lush's Ocean Salt Scrub has been amazing this month. I've been using it in the shower on my face just to get rid of the uneven texture that can occur sometimes if you're like me and your skin has a tendency to be dry. Just make sure you moisturise well after you've used this!

Another skincare favourite this month has been a rediscovery in the form of Clinique's Dramatically Different Moisturising Lotion +. This is a classic product that is a total fail safe for me, Whenever my skin care is stuck in a rut or my moisturiser just isn't cutting it, I know I can turn to this and it will sort my face out. 

My final beauty favourite this month is the YSL Rouge Volupte Lipstick in 01 Nude Beige. It's my perfect nude lipstick. It's really comfortable on the lips, has great colour pay off and lasts really well for a nude lipstick (Which have a tendency to disappear super quickly!)

My fashion favourite this month is my new bag, which I picked up in the sale at Dorothy Perkins. It's the perfect shoulder bag to just pop in your essentials and go, rather than lugging the kitchen sink around with you!  I have a What's In My Bag post coming soon...

A food/health favourite would be green smoothies. Since I've been home and away from the horror that is the food in catered student accommodation I've really been enjoying super healthy green smoothies. They're great for breakfast or even as a pick me up throughout the day. I have a recipe for one of my favourite combinations right here.

And finally, my un-favourite for this month has to be the terrible weather we're currently having in the UK! It's supposedly summer yet it's rained nearly every day! I'm hoping the weather will pick up in July so I can actually spend some time in my garden!

That's it for this month's favourites. What have you been loving this past month?

May Favourites

I'm back from my brief break for exams (which means my first year of uni is over!) which also means it's time for my May favourites as we have already reached June!

This month has been pretty boring for me as it's basically just consisted of me washing my hair as little as often, hardly getting dressed, eating and revising. Such a glamorous life I lead...Hence the lack of loads and loads of beauty products. However the bits and bobs that I have been enjoying must be good if they've made the cut when it's been a very non-beauty month. So here they are:

Let's get the most boring thing out of the way, the Barry M Basecoat, Topcoat and Nail Hardener All in One. Yep, literally a clear nail polish. Now I know this sounds very yawn, but I've been giving my nails a break recently from coloured polish and false nails to get them nice and strong again. So instead of colour I've been slapping a layer of clear polish on my tip every day to keep them shiny and strong. This one was only about £2.99, but honestly who wants to pay any more for no colour? Works a treat and I have actually noticed a difference in the strength of my nails.

Next up is the Le Blush in Rose Pastel by L'Oreal (Who seem to be featuring a lot on my blog right now, I'm having a bit of a love affair with their products!). It's the perfect cool toned light pink blush which just gives me the right amount of colour on my cheeks. If I've bothered at all with makeup this last month it's usually been a few blobs of concealer, this blush, something light on the brows and a swipe of mascara. Super simple but just about enough to make me look slightly human. 

That "something light on the brows" I just mentioned comes in the form of the Rimmel Brow This Way tinted brow gel in 001 Blonde. This comes in four shades: a clear gel, the Blonde one, a light brown and a dark brown. So this hasn't had the greatest reviews from other people as the brush is quite large and seems to dispense a bit too much product, but honestly it's not too much of an issue. I'm okay with the size of the brush and just find if I wipe of the excess product I'm good to go. It sets the brows in place without them feeling crispy and gives just the right amount of tint so you can layer it with other brow products or just use on it's own. Ooo, also, it's the perfect ashy blonde, no red tones in sight!

My next favourite is a body product which comes in the shape of the Soap and Glory Sugar Crush Body Scrub. Mmmmm, it smells SO good! It's the prefect consistency for a body scrub and is packed full of brown sugar, lime, almond and macadamia oil. It gets rid of dry skin really well and leaves skin feeling moisturised after. And the smell....I could go on forever about the smell. So zesty and fresh. Yum!

The final product I've been loving this month has been the Schwarzkopf got2b Oil-licious Styling Oil. Finally a decent hair oil that doesn't come with a hefty price tag. I picked this up from Boots for £3 when it was on offer but the usually retail price is still only about £4.99 which is a total bargain. This one contains argan oil which we all know is good for out hair and it comes in a handy 50ml which makes it great for travelling/chucking in your handbag for on the go. I've been using this on wet hair pre-blow drying and on day between washing to nourish my ends. I really like it!

No fashion favourite this month as I've just been living in pjs, but hooray for pjs, they're the best.

A TV favourite this month has to be Pretty Little Liars. I've heard people rave about it for years, but never really got round to watching it. So as soon as I'd finished my exams I got home and cracked on with season one. I'm already half way through season two and really enjoying it- I'm totally hooked!!

That's all from me for this monthly favourites, I'll speak to you soon....

September Beauty Favourites

I CAN'T BELIEVE SEPTEMBER IS ALREADY OVER!! Okay, so dramatic intro, but seriously, where is 2014 going?!? This month in the main has been a bit of a non event for me, I've just been counting down the days to going to uni (I moved yesterday). One thing I did do a lot of during the back end of August however was shopping. Of course whilst I was shopping for university necessities I became the owner of several items that definitely weren't necessities, but I really wanted to try!

So naturally I have loads of news favourites (and some old ones too) to chat to you about today...Without further a do, let's get into it!

First up is the Maybelline The Falsies mascara. I'd heard everyone raving about this and finally decided to give it a go. Honestly, I don't think there's anything particularly special about the formula, it's the wand that makes this a great mascara. It's curved in a sort of banana shape. One side is great for building volume and length on the top lashes and the smaller side is perfect for getting to your bottom lashes. It's super black and doesn't smudge, I get why people love it so much!

Next is something I've reviewed recently so I won't go on about it, but it's the Revlon Lacquer Balm in Demure. It's the perfect peachy pink nude, it moisturises the lips and lasts well too. It's been pretty much the only thing on my lips this month.

As the weather is cooling down I've pulled out the 17 Blush in Plum Puff to go with the cooler tones I'm reincorporating into my makeup. This is a matte powder blush with quite a creamy texture. It blends seamlessly and gives just the right amount of colour to the cheeks.

I've really been enjoying using the Natural Collection eyeshadow in Chocolate Brown. The name would suggest a warm tone brown but it's actually more of a cool taupey brown, actually pretty similar to Naked by Urban Decay. It's the perfect crease colour when you just want a super simple eye.

And finally...it's Autumn now that means dark shades on the nails. As ever I'm returning to my all time favourite deep purple shade, William Tell Me About OPI by OPI. I always say this about OPI polishes; the staying power on me is rubbish, but I just can't find the exact shade from any other brand and I love the colour so much I'm happy to top it up every few days.

So there we have it, the best of September! 

Blogust Day 21- Charlie's Chatter #4- August Favoruites

Okay so first things first, I'M SORRY! This post is a few days late, but unfortunately it couldn't be avoided. Secondly, I can't believe August is already over and September is here! Before I dive into my favourites of August I just wanted to say a big thank you to those that contributed to Blogust here on my blog and a big thank you to my readers that have been coming back day after day to see what I've been offering up for your reading pleasure! Soppy bits aside, let's dive into my faves!

First up in the beauty favourites is an old love; the Rimmel Match Perfection foundation. I've actually had a little bit of colour to my face this month so I've been having to mix it with a slightly darker foundation to get the colour that's right for me. This is such a fab base for the summer days when you need more coverage than a BB cream but you still want to feel like you're wearing nothing. It just gives my skin that super healthy glowy look, and I love it!

Next up is the Dior Diorshow Brow Fixing Gel in number 541, which is a sort of cool toned taupey golden tinted brow gel. I've been using this to set my brows no matter what I've been using to fill them in and it's been working really well. I know it's pricey for a brow gel, but it's a great colour, doesn't make my brows feel crispy and I really enjoy using it.

The Estee Lauder Lash Primer Plus has been gracing my lashes every day that I've worn make up this month. For some reason as soon as the weather gets a little warm pretty much every mascara I use decides to melt onto my brown bone. Not a good look! A thin coating of the primer, pre-mascara, ensures that everything stays on my lashes, rather than spreading all over my face.

Finally for the beauty products I've discovered a three product nude lip love. First off I start with The Body Shop Lip Liner in the shade Pink Brown. I then use the Estee Lauder Pure Color Lipstick in the shade Pink Parfait(for some reason this looks super bright in the photo, I assure you it isn't!). You could leave it there but I personally like to pop the Clinique Long Last Glosswear in Air Kiss over the top. It just blends the lip pencil and lipstick together nicely and adds a subtle sheen. 

I have two more favourites this month that aren't beauty related...This first one is of course Blogust! A lot of planning had to go into it as I was stepping up from 1 post a week to 5, but I thoroughly enjoyed it! I'm also really grateful to Rebecca, Bethany, Erika and Liz who contributed guest posts, I'm sure we'll be seeing them around here again in the future!

My final favourite comes in the form of a big life change for me. I got into University! After two gruelling years of the nightmare that is A Levels it's finally all over and I'm heading to Uni to study Law at the end of September. I'm totally chuffed to bits.

So, that was my August! What have you guys been enjoying over the last month? 

July Favourites

Hello you lovely people and welcome to my July Favourites.. Yet again another month has flown by without me realising and it's that time of the month when I bunch together my favourites from the past 4 weeks and tell you what I've been enjoying!

First up is a base product in the form of the Clinique Moisture Surge CC Cream SPF 30. This little one is described as a hydrating colour corrector..I use the shade "Medium" and find that it actually works very well on my pale skin. It looks a little scary when first dispensed on the back of the hand (it's reaaally dark) but as soon as it's smoothed onto the skin it perfectly matches my skintone whilst adding just a hint of warmth. I find this goes on best with fingers, rather than a brush. What I really love about this product is the way it makes my skin look; it evens everything out without making me looking ill, it reduces the look of pores AND it actually looks better and better the longer it's been on the skin. Love it.

Next up is the Mega Plush Volum' Express mascara from Maybelline. I used this for a while last summer and then stopped for a while, but recently rediscovered it. It really does give me HUGE lashes; it gives masses of volume and adds to the length and looks super black. I'm not really sure why I stopped using it!

Moving on to lips, this month I've really been enjoying quite sheer pink hues. I've got to mention the Clinique Long Last Glosswear in Kissy Fit and the Clinique Butter Shine Lipstick in the shade Pink-a-boo. Kissy Fit is quite a hot pink that looks very juicy and bright on it's own, but it also really amps up a lipstick if you choose to wear one underneath. Pink-a-boo is sort of that perfect nudey-pink with a very subtle shimmer running through it, it's really pretty and is very comfortable and moisturising on the lips.

My next favourite is the VO5 Smoothly Does It Tame & Shine Spray. I love wearing my hair is loose beachy waves, but when the summer comes around as does the frizz. This light mist tames the frizz, restores the shine that can sometimes be difficult to maintain in blonde hair and has a built in heat protectant. I spritz a little through my hair before heat styling and then a little after as a finishing spray. It doesn't weigh my hair down and has a nice light fragrance to it.

My final favourite is a brush..Unfortunately I don't have an exact name for it but, it's the double ended synthetic brush that comes with the Urban Decay Naked 2 palette. Specifically, I've been really enjoying the domed end of the brush. All this month I've been using it to apply my concealer and I've completely fallen in love. It blends the product into the skin seamlessly and allows my to build up thin layers when I need to. Great for under eyes and any pesky blemishes. It's fab.

So that's it for July. What have your favourites been?

Just to let you know my scheduling is going to be completely different in August so keep your eyes peeled for tons of new posts!

Enjoy the rest of your week and I'll speak to you all soon.