August Favourites

It's the last Monday of August so you know what that means. It's August Favourites time. This month has been a good month for finding new products and rekindling my love for some old products as well. 

My first favourite this month is a new release from Rimmel. It's one of their Nude Kate Moss Lipsticks in the shade 45. It's a pinky nude shade that looks brown toned in certain looks and pink toned in other lips. I loved wearing this on days when I want a no fuss lip and on days I want a bit more colour I add a smidge of Revlon's Colourburst Balm in Honey. It doesn't last very long on the lips but as it's a nude it's easy to reapply. I have this lipstick to thank as I'm now confident wearing nude shades instead of just red all the time. 

My next favourite is another new release lipstick that I've not been able to get enough of. It's one of the Gosh Velvet Touch Matte Lipsticks. There are eight shades in total but the shade I haven't stopped wearing is 002 Rose. It's a dusky pink shade that also has a hint of mauve in it. I didn't think I'd like it when I got it but I fell in love with it as soon as I swatched it on the back of my hand. Creamy but long wearing, I can wear this all day without it drying my lips or wearing away funny. I can guarantee that the darker shades will be appearing in my favourites as Autumn draws nearer. 

The next product I've been loving this month is the Loreal Volume Million Lashes Feline. I was a bit apprehensive about trying this as I hadn't really tried Loreal mascaras before but I loved it. With a curved brush that fits nicely against the contour of my eye and gives my lashes that extra bit of something, I've put my Maybelline Go Colossal Leather Black into retirement. My lashes very rarely hold a curl but this mascara gives my lashes beautiful definition that is still there when I get home from work. 

The next favourite I want to mention is Soap and Glory's Sugar Crush Body Scrub. For a long time I loved the Sanctuary Salt Scrub but I found the more I used it, the less effective it got.  So I decided to give Soap and Glory's scrub a go and it's so much better. It's quite jelly like in texture which may be off putting to some people but once you start moving around your skin it becomes softer and less jelly like. It is quite a harsh scrub but it leaves skin feeling ultra smooth and soft after every use. Also it smells like lime and brown sugar which fills the bathroom for ages afterwards. 

My last beauty favourite is an old favourite I rekindled my love for this month. It's the Nivea Double Effects Eye Make Up Remover. I used this for a long time but found it left my eyes feeling greasy afterwards. So I moved onto something else and that was fine until I brought a fresh bottle of Nivea. And now I remember why I loved the Nivea Eye Make Up Remover so much. A bio phase product that once shaken removes all traces of make up, I find that the new bottle I picked up leaves a slight residue but my skin doesn't feel greasy anymore. It's brilliant at removing the harder to remove mascaras like the Loreal Volume Million Lashes Feline. 

My random favourite of the month is Andie Case. If you don't know who Andie Case is, she's a singer/songwriter who creates fantastic covers of popular songs as well as writing her own songs which she posts on YouTube. A few of my favourite covers of hers are See You Again/The Scientist/Stay With Me Mix, Love Me Harder, Pills and Potions, Good For You and Want To Want Me. Her original song Your Love is also a favourite of mine. Her voice is beautiful and I love how they arrange the covers. Some of them are so well done that I prefer those over the original artists version. I recommend you go check her out over here.

So that's it for my monthly favourites. What were your favourites this month? Were any of them the same as mine. Let me know in the comments.  

Review: Garnier Ultimate Blends The Strength Restorer Shampoo And Conditioner

I don't usually talk about things hair on here because I just never had time for my hair. I had tried in the past but my hair was always untamable and a couple of days after washing it, it would always look like a birds nest. Yet I thought I'd give these a go and see if they actually made my hair stronger. 

 My first impression was no, it didn't help my hair at all but after a few uses I did notice that it was starting to help my hair. Not only did it feel softer but it felt stronger and didn't get so knotty when I washed it. This smells like heaven, a honey mixture that lingers in the hair for a couple of days after wards. It also contains Royal Jelly which my mum used religiously when I was growing up. So I knew it was good. It claims on the front to strengthen, nourish and protect. And it actually does, I have very thick hair and where it got so knotty it became weak and dry and just generally horrible. Since I've been using this though it's gotten ten times better. It doesn't feel as dry and even though it's knotty, it doesn't take forever to brush when I wash it. 

 The conditioner is just as brilliant and I especially loved this for helping ease some of the dryness that the ends of my hair had. I've had ombre in my hair for just over a year and progressively it has made my ends drier and drier. So when I started using the shampoo I started using the conditioner as well. It smells exactly like the shampoo and lingers nicely in my hair for a while. I tend to just use this through my ends as that's where a lot of the problem lies. Instead of washing it out straight away I leave it in for a minute or two and then wash it out. I find it leaves my hair feeling softer but unfortunately the dryness does reappear after a couple of days. 

As I said I didn't like this on first use but after a few I really felt like they were doing something for my hair. When I started using them I had very long, very thick and very dry hair. Now I've had a good chop off and whilst it's still thick it isn't as dry at the ends and this combo stills works like a dream after every wash. I also recommend you try out the 1 Minute Strength Restorer treatment. Your hair will feel better after the first use. 

Have you tried these? Did you like them? Did you not? Let me know in the comments. 

Available from Boots and Superdrug

L'Oréal Does Matte Lips

When it comes to high street brands and matte lips there is a distinct lack of products out there. So I thought I would start a series where I try out all the matte lip products that each brand have to offer. The first brand I'm going to go with is L'Oréal for no other reason that it was jotted down as an idea in my Blog Idea Book. 

When it comes to matte lip products L'Oréal don't have a very wide selection unlike other brands which will come later in the series. However the matte products they do have I'm impressed by and am going to talk you throw them below. 

This is my latest L'Oréal addition but it's very quickly become my favourite. It is one of the L'Oréal Color Riche Lipsticks. It's in the shade 430 Mon Jules and was a new release earlier in the year when L'Oréal did a shade shake up with their Color Riche Lipsticks. This is one of about 5 shades that they released with a matte finish. A dark burgundy red, this is very creamy and easy to apply to the lips. However it doesn't dry down to a true matte finish, at best it's a satin finish as it doesn't budge but doesn't have dryness that comes with most matte finish lipsticks. If you're looking for a new dark lipstick for autumn/winter then I recommend you swatch this when you're next at a L'Oréal stand. 

 This is one of the newer products that L'Oréal have brought out but for me it's also one of the most disappointing. The L'Oréal Infalliable Mega Gloss is a replacment for their Glam Shine Lip Glosses. Unlike the Glam Shine Glosses they had a selection of matte shades and the first thing that disappointed me was that all three shades were very similar in colour. I have the shade 407 Smoke Me Up a brilliant deep raspberry shade. The applicator really impressed me and reminded me a lot of the YSL applicators but apart from that this product really didn't impress me. As a liquid lipstick I expected it to dry down to a long wearing matte finish but it didn't and transferred at the slightest touch. It was also hard to apply and as much as I love the colour I don't find myself reaching for this as much as I hoped. 

The last matte offering L'Oréal have is their largest collection of matte lipsticks. It's the Collection Exclusive Pure Reds collection. It consists of four different matte red shades and it's truly a brilliant collection. More matte than any other product, these are still creamy and apply beautifully to the lips. It doesn't feel drying on the lips and whilst there is still a slight bit of transfer it is barely noticable unlike other lipsticks. I have two shades from the range, Blake's Red and Liya's Red. Blake's Red is that blue toned blue and reminds me a lot of MAC's Russian Red whereas Liya's Red looks like a blue toned red in the bullet but actually is more tomato red on the lips. I'll put a picture of Liya's Red underneath.  It may only have a small shade range but this collection really does have a shade to suit anyone. It's another range I recommend swatching when you're at a L'Oréal stand next.

 Overall I like the L'Oréal matte lipsticks but not as much as I do other ranges that are available on the high street. There is also a new Pink Matte Collection but I haven't tried it out so didn't think it fair to mention it. I will be doing a full review though when I've tired it. 

Have you tried any of these products? Did you like them? Or did you prefer other brands? Let me know in the comments. 

Review: Ps Love Lip Liners

Welcome back to Lip Product Week Day 6. When I saw these in Primark a few weeks back I knew I had to have them. I've already tried a couple of their existing shades and loved them so had high hopes for these new shades.

The first one I picked up is this bright pink shade which at the time I thought I didn't have anything to go with it but once I got home I found a couple.

The next one I picked up was this peachy, almost baby pink shade which when I saw it was like a life saver to me. I've had a lipstick I haven't been able to wear as it did nothing but bleed around the edges of my lips and this will hopefully help or stop it altogether.

 And the last one I picked up is a mauvey/dusky purple shade which I know will look lovely worn on it's own.

I am happy to say that I wasn't disappointed by any of these. The peachy shade and the bright pink shade did drag ever so slighlty on my lips but it is something I can overlook as it doesn't effect the end result. They do dry down to a matte finish but I find that they don't dry my lips out when worn on their own. When I wear these under a lipstick be it matte or sheen finish, it makes my lips dry out quicker and leaves them feeling uncomfortable. The two shades that drag on my lips don't feel as creamy as the mauve shade and do take some building up whereas the mauve shade is very creamy and quite easy to build.

The mauve shade is my favourite of the three as it has a nude look to it that goes brilliantly with most make up looks. It reminds me a lot of Revlon's Sultry Matte Balm but without the pink tones and I know that if I need a lip liner for Sultry then the mauve shade will be perfect. The red shade that they originally released when they brought the lip liners out is also a nice shade to wear alone or used to help line with another colour.

At only £1 a throw I didn't think they would be very good but I've been thoroughly surprised. Easy to use, opaque in one swipe and non drying on the lips, these lip liners are better than some of the other, higher priced ones I've tried. If you're in Primark I recommend that you give them a test.

Have any of you tried these? What did you think? Let me know in the comments.

Review: Ps Love Matte Lipsticks

Welcome Back to Lip Product Week Day 5. Ever since I saw Primark's Ps Love lip products mentioned on msbudgetbeauty's channel I've been itching to try all of them. I'm a matte girl at heart so I was a little bit disheartened that Primark mainly did sheen finish lipsticks but then I stumbled across a couple of beauts that just had to come home with me.

The first shade I picked up is called Femme Fatale. It's a deep raspberry pink shade that would be perfect for now or even later on in Autumn. The other shade I brought is called Whisper which is a beautiful pinky nude shade.

Both of them are very creamy to apply and don't drag on the lips unlike others I've tried. However that's the only thing that impressed me. Femme Fatale transferred very easily and left what was left on the lips looking streaky. It can be easily reapplied as they are non drying on the lips but as they transfer quickly makes me prefer taking it off or wearing a different lipstick.

Whisper on intial application I was impressed with. It was creamy, easy to apply and non drying on the lips. Yes, it transferred quickly but as it was only a nude shade it didn't bother me so much. What did bother me though were the massive chunks of glitter which weren't obvious when you look at it in the bullet but upon application stand out all over the lips and in this case my chin as well.

When I wore both of these shades I knew that out of the two it would be Whisper I would recommend to you all. However when I spotted all the glitter over my lips and chin I was beyond disappointed. If glittery lips are your thing then I would highly recommend Whisper but if they're not then I would say stay away.

I don't like giving negative reviews on products but I'm honest as it's always the best way to be and there was no way to review this in a positive light. If you're looking to try some lip products from Primark I recommend you try their Velvet Matte Lip Crayons, I reviewed them here  if you'd like to see what colours they do.

If you have a different opinion of these lipsticks then please let me know in the comments.

GRWM: Wedding Guest Edition

Hey guys, first off I'd like to apologise for this post not going up the yesterday (Thursday) but Wednesday even me and my family had to make the heartbreaking decision to put down our 15 year old cat. So as you could probably understand I wasn't really in the mood to knuckle down and finish this post. However I wanted to put this post up and decided that a day late was better than not putting it up at all.

Now onto the post. Last Saturday (the 15th) I attended the wedding of my very good friends Simone and Lee. It was a beautiful day, lots of laughs and the bride looked so beautiful I actually got a little teary eyed when she walked down the aisle. And because I don't often have the excuse to dress up a little fancier than normal I thought I would do a Get Ready With Me so you could all see the make up I wore and a few snippets of my outfit.

As I knew it would a long day I decided that it would be best to wear a primer. My primer of choice is the Rimmel Lasting Finish Primer. It's a cream consistency that smooths onto my skin easily and doesn't ball up like some other primers do. While I waited for it to sink in a bit I persued my foundations even though I already had one in mind.

Even though I have quite a few different foundations I found that I went straight to this one when choosing. It's the Gosh #Foundation Drops in 002 and I'd been saving it as this is only a sample size. I'm absolutely in love with this foundation, 002 is the perfect shade for me and it blends seamlessly on the skin. It's a light to medium coverage that doesn't go cakey as you build it and once I'd finished applying it, my skin looked in my opinion absolutely perfect. I will definitely be picking up a full size of this when my sample runs out.

Then I went in with three different concealers. I know it sounds a little bit overboard but I really didn't want my dark circles to be on show. I went in first with the Maybelline Instant Anti-Age The Eraser Eye in Light and blended it out with my Real Techniques Setting Brush. I then added a little bit of Collection's Lasting Perfection Concealer in Fair to the inner corners of my eyes to provide extra coverage and to make myself look a little more awake. And finally I went in with a little bit of the Barry M Flawless Light Reflecting Concealer in 02 in a triangle under the eyes to add a bit of highlight. All of these were blended in with my Real Techniques Setting Brush and any excess product I removed with my Beauty Blender.

I then went in with a Real Techinques Shading Brush and a little bit of Rimmel's Lasting Finish Concealer to hide a couple of blemishes that were looking a little angry through my foundation. It's a very thick formula that doesn't work brilliantly under my eyes but for concealing any blemishes works like a treat. I dab a little bit onto the blemish and blend it out with a mixture of my brush and fingers and it blurs out the appearence of any blemishes I have.

I wanted everything to last as I knew I wouldn't be able to touch up for a while so I broke out my favourite powder. It's the Bourjois Healthy Balance in the shade 52 Vanille. I did have to be extra carefull when I applied this as it unfortunately met my bedroom floor and smashed everywhere. However I did mange not to cause any more damage as I applied this. I used my favourite Primark Powder brush to do the majority of my face and then took a smaller stippling brush to make sure I'd set under my eyes properly.

When it came to mascara choices I didn't have any as I only have eyes for one at the moment. The
L'Oréal Volume Million Lashes Feline has become my favourite mascara (sorry Maybelline) since it's launch a couple of weeks ago. It's the only mascara that actually holds a curl in my lashes all day. The brush reminds me slightly of the Maybelline Lash Sensational but it is ten times better. The brush doesn't leave my lashes clumpy and the curl it gives is brilliant. If you're looking for a more indepth review I posted one the morning of the wedding here.

Finally for my make up I made sure I had a lip colour that would last all day long. I was originally going to go with Rimmel's Exaggerate Lip Liner in Eastend Snob on it's own but it was just a bit too brown toned to go with my outfit. So once I'd lined and filled my lips in with Eastend Snob I went lightly over the top of it with Gosh's new Velvet Touch Matte Lipstick in 002 Rose. It added a nice hint of pink to my lips and completed my look. 

I wasn't going to share my outift but when I look back at this picture I realised how much I actually loved it. Everything is from Primark and I know for a fact that I'll wear different parts of this outfit either on their own or all together again at some point. 

Here's a close up of the print on my trousers. They were only £12 from Primark but felt more expensive and were so comfortable. I rolled the bottom up ever so slightly in an attempt to lengthen my legs and teamed them with a simple white camisole. 

I only went for plain accessories as I thought the trousers did all the talking. This long necklace was from Primark and as soon as I saw it I knew I had to have it. To me it's simple yet elegant and I've had my eye on a few other pieces like this from higher end brands.

And my necklace tied in perfectly with a ring I owned already. I think this ring is from either New Look or Primark and came part of a set. I wore the plain circle on my left hand and a diamond shaped ring on my right hand. I was going to go for a navy polish but when I went to apply it, it just didn't want to work. So I decided to go for a neutral nail instead. This one is Barry M's Almond, it's part of the Gelly Hi Shine range so it gave a brilliant colour and shine which drew attention to my rings when spotted.

So that's it guys. Yet again I'm sorry it's late but better late than never. I hope you all enjoyed this and if you've used any of these products let me know in the comments.

Review: Collection Work The Colour Matte Lip Butters

Welcome back to Lip Product Week Day 4. Collection is a brand that I don't own too many lip products from because I'm a matte girl and they're predominatly glosses. However towards the end of last month they released a set of three Matt Lip Butters that I knew I had to try.

The two colours I picked up were 01 Marshmallow Pink and 03 Crimson Velvet. Marshmallow Pink is a very peachy pink that can come off very coral toned one certain skintones. Crimson Velvet is more a tomato red shade that looks brilliant on fairer skintones, especially in the summer. As they are in a chubby stick they are easy to apply and are opaque in one swipe. Both shades are buildable but can go streaky if you miss a patch or press your lips together too quickly after applying.

I found that while these were long wearing, they did transfer and dried my lips out. Reapplication was a no go for me as they caught all the imperfections my lips had and balled ever so slightly over dry patches. I highly recommend exfoliating lips and prepping with a lip balm before wearing these. It is definitely something I'm going to remember to do when I wear these next as they do have the potential to be very good quality lipsticks.

I always try to be honest as possible without being very negative about products I try and when it comes to these new releases I like them but I do prefer Revlon's Colourburst Matte Balms. Yes they cost five pound more but they give brillaint even colour, don't dry lips out and set down to a true matte finish. If you don't want to pay for Revlon then I would say these would suffice for a cheaper version but I do recommend sometimes paying that little bit more to get better results.

Available now from Boots and Superdrug

Review: Ps Love Velvet Matte Lip Crayons

Welcome back to Lip Product Week Day 3. When I saw these in Primark a few weeks ago I just knew I had to have them. I'd been on the look out for some more decent budget lip products from brands people wouldn't think of. And lo and behold Primark answered my prayers. There were only four shades in the range and naturally I had to pick them all up.

The first one I picked up was this purply berry toned number.

The next one I picked up was this tomato red shade.

The next one I picked up was this peachy nude shade.

The last one I picked up was this neon blue toned pink.

These were only £2 a go and for that price I didn't really expect much. However I was happily suprised when they actually turned out to be brilliant. As with all the other chubby sticks on the market they are easy to apply and give brilliant opaque colour in one swipe. They don't feel matt on the lips to begin with but give them a minute and they dry down to a long lasting, non drying matte finish that I find brilliant to wear to work on my longer days. They do transfer when you eat or drink but it doesn't go all nasty and ball like when you reapply it.

My favourites are the berry toned shade and the peachy nude shade. They don't give colour names which is my one bug bear with this product but it's not hard to work out what the colours look like. The berry toned number reminds me a lot of the Rimmel 107, I love wearing this with nothing but porcelain skin and lashings of mascara. The peachy nude shade was one I was surprised I loved as I'm not usually a fan of nude lipsticks but this one surprised me and I'm now embracing nude lipsticks like a long lost sister. This one me looks more peachy than brown and I love wearing it to work to perk up my complexion which is usually washed out by my all black uniform.

If you're looking for a inexpensive lip product to throw in your bag I highly recommend you check these beauts from Primark out. At only £2 a pop, with a finish and lasting power that rivals other more expensive brands, I couldn't think of a better way to spend a couple of quid.

Review: Gosh Matte Lipstick Collection

Welcome back to Day 2 of Lip Product week. This collection of lipsticks which were released a few weeks back were from a brand that I've never tried before. However they were matte and had a couple of cracking reds in there so I had to try them. And I've been blown away by them.

They are the Gosh Velvet Touch Matte Lipsticks and for a high street brand I'm totally impressed. Unlike some matte lipsticks in the bullet these have a high shine to them which made me wonder if they would actually be matte or if it was a spin on their older, sheen finish lipsticks. Oh how wrong was I. The initial swatches dried matte and didn't budge on the back of my hand for the rest of the day. And the same can be said when worn on the lips. I can apply these in the morning and 6/7 hours later they haven't smudged, faded or worn away at all. Unlike most these are creamy to apply and non drying on the lips, making them comfortable to wear through long days. There are a few lip liners to match most of the colours but I find wearing a liner underneath makes them drying and you end up with flaky lips at the end of the day.

There are eight shades in total and there are only 3 I don't really see suiting me which is brilliant for a new collection. My favourite shades are 008 Plum, 002 Rose and 007 Cherry. Plum is a beautiful dark purply shade that come autumn/winter will look amazing. Rose is a gorgeous mid toned pink a shade that I seemed to be finding in abundance at the moment. And Cherry is what looked like a dark almost oxblood red but really is more of a blue toned red like MAC's Russian Red but I'm not complaining. Antique, Baby Lips and Coral are the three shades I don't think will suit me as I am so fair in skintone. However Antique is one I'm willing to give a go because if it's as chocolately as it looks in the bullet may work with my skintone.

Overall I'm really impressed with these new releases from Gosh. I've never tried anything from the range before these but I have to say I'm looking forward to trying more if they're the same quality as these. Opaque, creamy, long wearing and non drying, these lipsticks are probably the best matte lipsticks on the high street at the moment. If you're near a Gosh stand I highly recommend you give these a swatch.

Available from Superdrug

Review: Lancôme L'Absolu Velours

Over the last few weeks I've been accumulating some new lip products. There is a mixture of new releases and older products that I've only gotten round to trying now. So as I'm free from work for the week I thought I'd post a review on each collection or product each day this week. So let Lip Product Week commence.

This purchase was entirely down to Anna from ViviannaDoesMakeup, she feautred this in one of her videos and I knew that I had to have one. It's slightly more higher end than I'd usually go for but when I swatched it in Boots I knew I had to have one. If you're wondering what the it is, it's the Lancôme L'Absolu Velour liquid lipstick.

The shade I went for was 197 Velours De Grenade, a brilliant blue toned red. I swatched this in the shop and was not only impressed by the shade but by how opaque it applied to my hand. A small amount of this goes a long way and one swipe leaves lips covered in an opaque coat of vibrant colour.

The doe foot applicator is big enough to help application but not too big that you get it everywhere you didn't want it. The pointed end makes it easier to create a line, whether it's drawing in your cupids bow or touching up the lip line. As well as being pointed, the applicator is very flexible and you don't have to worry about it not working with the shape of your lips. I love the flexibility of the doe foot as it makes it ten times easier to create a smooth line, especially when I'm drawing in my cupids bow. One thing to watch with the applicator is that it can sometime apply too much product but I always wipe any excess off on the inner rim of the tube so I get a smooth, non streaky colour. I'll pop in a close up of the applicator so you can see it in more detail.

It does take a few seconds to dry but doesn't smudge or go streaky if you accidentally bump it. Afterwards you're left with a vibrant, long lasting and non drying formula. And that's what I love so much about this product. It doesn't dry lips out, I've tried many a matte red lip and by the end of the day my lips feel chapped and dry but not with this one. When it dries down it dries to a velvet finish on the lips that feels comfortable to wear for long periods of time. It does transfer ever so slightly but it's barely noticable on the lips. It does feel quite slippy on the lips but doesn't go streaky if you press your lips together or smudge it by accident.

I'm not sure if it's just because I'm not really into buying high end make up or if it's the product itself but I think I expected more for the price. I have a few more less pricey products that to me give better results and are easier to work with but if you're a fan of high end make up or even of Lancôme then I suggest you look into these.

Have any of you tried this? Do you have any recommendations of similar products? Let me know in the comments.