April Favourites

This is a much delayed post as I had problems with uploading to my laptop but it's here now. I haven't done a proper beauty post before but these days my make up and skincare collection seems to be growing rapidly and I have become more interested in beauty. I read as many beauty blogs as I do fashion ones and love monthly favourites posts/videos so I thought I would try my own. Let know what you think and If you want to see more beauty related posts. 

Benefit Do The Bright Thing - £26.50

For my birthday this year I was truly spoiled and two of my friends both got me a Benefit kit! This month I have been loving the Dandelion blusher, High Beam and BadGal Waterproof Eye Liner in this kit. I have looked at Dandelion many times before but never bought it. It really brights up the skin with the natural sheer pink colour. The plus for me is that it is pretty hard to over do it, something I am prone to with stronger blushers. I have used High Beam before but was unwilling to pay for the full size as it is not something I would use often enough to justify. I dot it along my cheekbones and on my cupid's bow. I have never been that fussed about eyeliner pencils, if it applies easily then it gets a thumbs up from me. I was going to save using the BadGal eyeliner until I used up my current mini Lancome one up, this was first to hand when I was in a rush to get ready and although it faded a little by the time I removed my make up a good 6 hours later it was still on my waterline! I wish I had discovered this back in my heavy eyeliner phase at 15/16 and after a sweaty gig would have eyeliner all down my face. I am glad I am lighter handed with the liner these days!

Stila In The Light Eyeshadow Palette - £25 

I am not quite sure why but this palette appealed to me much more than any of the Urban Decay Naked palettes. I had saved up a lot of Boots points and couldn't decided if I should save up more and get a high end foundation with them. Every time I went into boots this was always sold out, when it was finally in stock I grabbed it. I'm glad I did! The shadows are so buttery soft with good pigmentation on the lids.I have seen complains about fallout but if you pat the brush into instead of swirling around along with a little tap on the side minimises fallout. My most used shades are Bare, Kitten and Bubbly and are the perfect daytime colours. I do get use out of all the shades but I tend to go for the ones that require the least blending out. I tend to be a bit heavy handed with the darker shades which I end up looking too much for daytime on me. 

Nails Inc Caviar Base Coat and Caviar Top Coat - £12 

Revlon Colorburst Matte Balm in Sultry - £7.99

Revlon Just Bitten Kissable Balm Stain in Lovesick - £7.99

I was buying a base coat and top coat separately for years and keep looking at the Nails Inc offering thinking it was too much. It suddenly clicked one day that I had been spending the same amount on base and top coats as the price of the Nails Inc Duo and that weren't making my polish last any longer. I can now keep a colour on my nails for over a week before the chips start to look really awful, which is a very long time for me or when I fancy a change. I have seen improvement in the condition on my nails, they don't break or split much anymore.

The Revlon Balm stains are firm favourites of mine. I have the Honey shade as well and could easily buy every colour. As you can tell Lovesick is well loved as I've had it since they first came out. It's a bold pink that brings some much needed brightness to my face. I can easily wear it all day without topping up as it fades evenly. I will be repurchasing this when it eventually runs out. I was excited about the launch of the Matte Balms for a long time and I wasn't disappointed. It applies very smoothly and doesn't dry my lips out. Sultry is a mauve pink and along the lines of my lips but better kinda colour.

Clairns Ever Matte Skin Balancing Foundation SPF 15 in 105 Nude - £27

Clairns Gentle Exfoliator Brightening Toner - £25 

Super Facialist Vitamin C+ Skin Renew Cleansing Oil - £10.99 

When it comes to foundations I don't change them much at all but I found myself needing a new one and wanted to try something new and after a long search of trails and errors found this Clairns one. There is good range of 11 shades with different undertones which is where I struggle to find matches as most have too much yellow or pink. The shade Nude matches my skin and adds just a little warmth to my complexion while still being a natural finish. It feels light on my skin and doesn't have me desperate to take it off at the end of a long day. I had £5 off with my Debenhams beauty card when I bought it but I would repurchase at full price. 

I came across the Gentle Exfoliator Brightening toner by chance as I was offered some free samples. I gave it a try when my skin had broken out due to too many lazy days using face wipes (learned my lesson, never again!). The night before my skin was very uneven, red and angry but in the morning it was evened out and slightly less angry, it hadn't made my blemishes vanish but it did make a vast improvement on my skin. That was me sold and had to get the full size version. It is pricey for a toner but it does last a very long time and actually makes a difference to my skin.

I kept reading about cleansing oils and I was skeptical about using oil but this Super Facialist Cleansing Oil is the perfect thing for us lazy girls making removing make-up an under 5 minute job. There is no need to use a separate eye make up remover as the dissolves mascara very quickly. It doesn't require a double cleanse, I follow with a face wash and then toner which is enough. The bonus is that this is often on offer so if you are unsure about trying cleansing oils then keep an eye out.

 

Have you tried any of these products?