2013 Favourites

We have landed in the year 2014, and I thought I'd take this opportunity to blog after feeling a little uninspired towards the end of last year. First thing I wanted to say was that I hope everyone had an amazing Christmas and New Year, no matter where you were, or what you were doing!

Second thing is that I decided before the new year started that I wasn’t going to have a resolution because I knew that I wouldn’t stick it, but it wasn’t till I was having a conversation with a friend a couple of days ago that I realised what I needed my resolution for this year to be. And so, I have decided that my resolution is to be happier in myself by the end of the year, because right now I feel as though I could do a lot more to improve my self-confidence and to just feel happy as I am. But I suppose another one of my resolutions should be to update my blog more regularly because I have found that I am awful at updating, apologies for being such a procrastinator.

Thirdly, I have decided that this year, I want to do a jar full of memories, much like a lot of people did in 2013. I have seen the idea on Tumblr a few times and thought I’d jump on the bandwagon this year. And here’s to good year because I already have a few good things to put into it!

I wanted to make a mini favourites from 2013 including a few beauty products that I fell in love with during the past year and I will also include some random favourites, because you can never get enough of those. To start with beauty products, 2013 was a year that saw me trying a lot of new products whether it be skin care or make up, and this was a scary thing for me because I was always one of these people that didn’t like step outside the comfort zone of certain products and brands. But alas, I divulged in new products and found some that have become holy grails and I’m wondering how I coped without them before.

As far as my skincare regime goes, I tried a couple of new things last year and I have used nothing but them throughout the year and these were the TAAJ Himalaya Micellar water which is incredible for removing make up and it just makes my skin feel so refreshed before cleansing or moisturising. The only other product that I have used religiously is the Liz Earle Cleanse and Polish hot cloth cleanser which I use after the micellar water and this product just makes the skin feels so fresh and clean (as silly as that sounds) but it is a staple product in my regime and without using it, I don’t feel fully ready.

I wanted to narrow down my makeup favourites because this is literally my weakness and I could just buy a lot of make up and say they're all my favourites. However, I have managed to do it and decided that as far as foundation goes my favourites were Rimmel Wake Me Upfoundation but I will say that this foundation is one that should be mainly used in the summer because while it does do what it says and makes you look more "awake" it can make you look too shimmery and shiny for the colder months. This meant that I had to find another foundation to use in the winter and one that I consistently went back to was Clinique Anti Blemish Solutions which is an incredible foundation, especially when my skin is prone to break out and has a lot of uneven skin tone and redness which this foundation just manages to cover amazingly. So well done Clinique, I don't know how you manage to do it, but please continue. Something that I find myself using a lot of is concealer - damn those blemishes - and so I do like to try out a few different ones to find out which covers my blemishes for me in the most effective way. I wouldn't say that I have a favourite one because I find that the ones I've tried, don't always cover what I'm trying to hide particularly well but the one I have found most effective is Maybelline Dream Mousse Concealer - but I do believe the version I have has now been discontinued. This concealer just has a great consistency, with it being thick it does manage to cover a lot but I do find that I have to top it up because it does seem to disappear during the day but that might just be my skin!

There's only been one powder I have used this year and it has been Rimmel Stay Matte Pressed Powder in the shade transparent and oh my, it's my holy grail! If you don't want to look shiny, go get it. If you want to set your foundation, go get it. Just go get it! I didn’t really have a staple blusher that I used all year round but I did use the Bourjois Delice De Poudre, not only is the pigmentation in this great for all the seasons but it also smells like chocolate, so that made it a must have!

The mascara that was my favourite for 2013 has been my favourite for a few years now and that is the Maybelline Colossal Volume which I do believe makes me lashes fuller and longer than they truly are, so I will continue to use this mascara in the hopes it doesn’t get discontinued. However, I was introduced to the Benefit They’re Real! mascara last year and this is also an amazing mascara but the only thing I find is that it is difficult to take off and so I tend not to use it as often as my other mascara. It was really hard for me to pick a favourite eyeshadow and so I decided on a few that I used all the time and these were MAC Satin Taupe, MAC Naked Lunch and also MAC Sable. There is just something about MAC’s eyeshadows that I love and I think part of it is the incredible pigmentation in them and they do last all day which is something to look for in an eyeshadow! I have also found the MAC Pigment in Vanilla which I use for the inner corner of my eye and it just brightens the eye and gives it that finishing touch which I like.

As far as random favourites go, this year a new band have entered my life and become an obsession of mine, I first saw 5 Seconds of Summer as One Direction’s support act and I thought they were incredible! Since then I have seen them perform five times and I will continue to tweet them until they know of my existence. Another random favourite of mine is One Direction’s Midnight Memories CD which I know only came out towards the end of the year, but I still fell in love with it before the year was up and so it deserved a mention in my favourites. I think the songs on the new album are a lot mature than the previous albums and I love love love the rocky sound they are going for at the minute, but to be fair, that band could do anything and I think I would still adore them..! The last favourite of the previous year is The Fault in Our Stars and I know that 2013 was the year for this book but I can see why, it’s so heart wrenching you can’t not fall in love with it, I read it too many times and I can’t wait for the movie to come out this year so I can fall in love with the story all over again.