Beauties That I Continue To Love

I thought I would share will all some of the beauty products that I continually love and some of them I've been using for quite some time and others are fairly new into my routine. But when you when you love a product, you just know, right?!

The Body Shop is somewhere I'd only really considered going for skincare until a a year or so ago, and boy was I wrong! I always knew they did make up, but I kind of assumed it wasn't the best, and I can say I'm truly thankful to whoever swayed the decision on me trying out some of their beauty products! Both of the products from here are pretty well known within the beauty blogging world, just because they were so highly talked about at one point, and the first is the Instablur which I guess can be considered a spin off for a product such as Benefit's Porefessional! I have a few reasons why I prefers Instablur, but the main is because it doesn't dry out my skin anywhere near as much as the Porefessional, and I honestly think the consistency is so much better for filling in things such as pores and so I love using this as a primer! 

And the second product that I use a lot, is the Honey Bronzer, and the reason I constantly go back to this bronzer is for the simple fact that it is so light, and for a pale girl like me, the muddy look isn't the way forwards and so the lighter the bronzer, the better! They do have this bronzer in darker colours and I honestly think it's an all round great bronzer and I'd highly recommend it if you haven't already tried it!

For anyone who reads my posts or follows me on my twitter or instagram it will come as no surprise that I cannot live without these next two products, I think I use these every single time I do my make up (and then wonder why I run out so quickly)... The first of these two is the Collection Lasting Perfection Concealer which has been used by pretty much everyone, and for the price of this concealer, you really can't go wrong! It's coverage is amazing without being the slightest bit cakey, and the although the shade range isn't great, the lightest shade works for me and so that's all I'm really asking for!

The other highly loved product in my collection is the Soap & Glory Archery Brow Pencil and the reason I know that I can't live without this from now on, is that I recently used the last of it up without having any back ups (rookie error)! But when I went to buy another one, it was sold out, and I was without my beloved beloved brow pencil for a good three weeks and until I managed to find it in stock, my brows did not look like they usually would! They do only have two shades in their range but I find that they are pretty universal as far as one for brown haired girls and one for fairer and blonde haired girls go!

I put off buying this next product for a long time, just for thinking that I didn't need to buy a lip balm that was almost £10 because is a lip balm really that good? But yes, yes it is and I was proven wrong! I am of course talking about the Nuxe Reve De Miel and even in the not so cold months, this is a lip saviour especially for those who like to wear lipstick a lot! I tend to stick this on once I'm at the end of my skin care routine both in the morning and at night, and it keeps my lips hydrated for a long time! And I've not had a lip balm that can deal with seriously chapped lips like this once can! 

Too Faced Chocolate Bar palette, the product that all beauty bloggers either own or consider owning (and will probably end up owning at some point) but who needs another eyeshadow palette, right? You do! This has the nicest variety of shades so you can make it work for day time and night time looks, and I also think  the shades would work for pretty much every skin tone because there's something in there to suit everyone's likings! And who doesn't want an eyeshadow palette that literally smells like chocolate?! I really want to try more from this brand and have so many things sat on a never ending wishlist! 

Powders are something that I really tend to struggle with because I have a t-zone that tends to get super oily and so as the weather gets warmer, I feel like I have to a billion powders on standby because I'll go through them super quick! And one that I have been loving for a while now is the MAC Mineralise Skin Finish Natural because it's one that seems to hold off letting the oil come through for quite some time before I feel like I need to touch up! And this powder, is one that is very light on the skin, doesn't transfer too much colour and doesn't look at all cakey on top of foundations and so I think this will probably be my go to during the warmer months to fight off that oil!

The last product that I use to death is the Nars Pro Prime Smudge Proof Eyesahdow Base and I'm going to need to get a back up soon, because I feel like this will run out, and I just won't know what to do with my eyelids! But this keeps eyeshadow in place so much longer than any other primer I have used, and when it says smudge proof, it really does mean it! Sometimes I can come home from work looking like a right mess (I regret nothing) and if there's one thing that I know will still be in place, it's my eyeshadow and I'm someone who was always pretty dubious about wearing eyeshadow and liquid liners for long periods of time for the fear of it all creasing, fading and just looking generally disgusting but I don't have to worry about any of that any more and I don't think 'll ever change from this primer - which is a pretty bold statement!

Let me know if you have tried any of these products and agree (or disagree) with me because I'd love to know! Also share what you love in your make up stash, I'm always on the hunt for new things!

Abigail

xo

A Neutral Love

To celebrate the new year, I made a new beauty purchase because whilst many were out spending the last night of the year surrounded by music and alcohol, I spent mine surrounded with fast food aka at work! So why not make an online purchase? I decided that after weeks of having the Too Faced Chocolate Bar palette sat in my basket, I would finally take the plunge and buy it, and along with this I also decided to try out a palette by Zoeva, and decided on the Naturally Yours palette which is another neutral palette.. Can you see a trend?

Too Faced is a brand that I have become a lot more aware about during 2014 and I think that this is because it is a brand that blew up in the bloggersphere for whatever reasons but I am so glad I finally took the plunge and made a purchase because I will definitely be buying more from this brand! After reading a lot of reviews about the Chocolate Bar palette, and having it sat in an online basket for ages, I thought the ‘why not?’ This is such a beautiful palette and for those of you who don't know already, yes it smells like chocolate so what more could want?! What I like about this palette is that much like the Naked palettes there's a mix of shimmer and matte shades but due to this palette housing three more shades there is two larger shades for highlighting and also a pop of colour in the palette in terms of the pink, blue and cranberry shades! 

Zoeva is a brand that also made a grand appearance last year in terms of their brushes and I must admit, for the eyes, their brushes are all I seem to use now! But I really wanted to branch into the makeup side of this brand and thought I would do so with a palette.. No surprises over here! But on serious note, if you haven't tried anything from the brand, do so right now because you're missing out! The first thing to note about this palette is that there is a matte white and a matte black which in my opinion is great because I'm someone who prefers matte shades but a white and black always come in handy! And then there are eight neutral shades, some shimmer and some matte and the size of these eyeshadows is larger than the average and so for £15 you really are getting your money's worth with this!

The one major difference with these palettes is their packaging and this is because the Zoeva palette is housed by cardboard with a beautiful pattern on and it and although it is cardboard there is a magnetic closing with this so its not the worst packaging in the world but you can tell that the Too Faced have spent more on theirs! The Chocolate Bar palette is a metal case also with a magnetic closing but this palette is in the shape of a chocolate bar and just feels more expensive and more sturdy in comparison to the Zoeva one.

Both of these palettes have great qualities about them and I would recommend both however the Zoeva palette is a lot more affordable than the Too Faced one so it just depends on what kind of palette you are looking for! I feel that both of these hold a high pigmentation, with Too Faced perhaps being slightly better and more buttery in texture so these are easily blended but the Zoeva eyeshadows are far from difficult to blend and I have been using both of these palettes since they first arrived!

Have any of you tried anything from either of these brands, or wanting to try products from them?

January Favourites

Most of my favourites for this month are either completely new products to my routine or stuff that I have loved throughout 2014 and so I've kept them as part of what I do pretty much every day!

The two new products that I have been using a lot are the Too Faced Chocolate Bar Palette which I have been talking about way too much but it's just too good of a plate to not rave about! Although I don't do many ‘evening looks’ this palette can be used for daytime and evening because there is so much colour choice with darker and lighter shades available! And it smells like chocolate when you're using it, what more could you want? And the other is the Nuxe Rêve De Miel which is like heaven for your lips – especially in the cold winter weather! But I just slap some of this on my lips when I need it and just before I go to bed and it lasts so long that I barely feel like I'm thinking about having chapped lips!

I haven't had a particular foundation that I've been going to back to this month as I feel like my skin has been all over the place and I've been using whatever feels best for my skin on the day! But no matter what foundation I've been wearing, you can guarantee that I've been using The Body Shop Instablur primer underneath because this is a primer that managers to smooth over everything and just creates an even base for foundation to be applied on! I've also been using the Honey Bronzer from TBS as well because I'm fairly pale in the summer and so the winter is terrible, I somewhat resemble Caspar the Friendly Ghost and so the lightest shade of this bronzer is nothing too in your face or orange as others would call it! Perfect for all those pale skinned girls out there!

Speaking of being pale, I've also been using the MAC Mineralise Skinfinish Natural as my setting powder because I find that the shade Light is pale enough for me to not have to use a translucent powder as the MSF does give the smallest amount of coverage without altering the colour of my foundation! However if you are more tanned, the same shade is great for an under eye setting powder! 

A skincare product I've been using for a while now is the L’Oreal Skin Perfection Advanced Correcting Serum which is a serum that claims to perfect the look of skin by minissmising the look of pores and hydrating the skin to make it look more youthful. And I can say that I have felt a difference in my skin since using this and I'm now on my second bottle so it can't be half bad! I've always been conscious of my pores and I find that the combination of this and the Instablur primer, I'm not worrying anywhere near as much which I'm happy about!

The last favourite for this month has to be the song Real Love by Clean Bandit and Jess Glynne, and I know this isn't a new song but it's one I have been listening to non stop, I just love Jess’ voice so much!