June Favourites

Bioderma White Objective Lightening Fluid SPF 25
I recently ran out of my Bioderma Sensibio micellar water & as Escentual had 1/3rd off all French pharmacy products, I decided to place an order with them. They exclusively stock the Bioderma White Objective range which is aimed at those with hyper pigmentation. I picked up the White Objective micellar water & also added this Lightening Fluid onto my order. The cleansing water is pretty much the same as the Sensibio version. It apparently contains a patented complex that can brighten the skin & prevent the development of further pigmentation. I can't really tell if it's working but it can't hurt to try & only cost £1 more. I've been much more impressed with the Lightening Fluid which is a really lovely day moisturiser. It's the perfect consistency for the Summer, light yet hydrating. As well as the White Objective complex, this moisturiser also boasts a high dose of vitamin C & SPF 25. It contains everything you need to keep your skin looking bright, even & youthful. I'm so glad I gave it a shot!

MAC Fix+
Fix+ is something I've been meaning to purchase for years. I've always heard so many good things about it but felt bad about paying £17 for what could just be glorified water. There are some misconceptions about this product. It is not a setting spray. Fix+ is a finishing spray that you can use after applying your makeup to prevent it from looking powdery or cakey. It makes my base look soft, dewy & fresh. I especially like to spray it over my powder highlighter as it really adds some oomph to the shimmer. I also use it with eyeshadow to intensify the colour. I had my doubts about it but this is a fab multi-tasking product that can make such a difference to the finish of your makeup.

Michael Kors White
The name White is very apt for this limited edition fragrance. White floral scents are my very favourite kind and this Michael Kors perfume delivers a delicate blend of freesia, tuberose & white musk. It is sweet & feminine with a sensual, oriental base. When first sprayed the scent is very floral & green but as it dries down the vanilla & amber base warms it up a bit. It's certainly seems a lot more glamourous & sexy than the other floral perfumes in my collection. The packaging looks really cool & chic but the spray mechanism tends to squirt me with a stream of liquid instead of misting me with the scent! Technical faults aside, I absolutely love this perfume.

Paula's Choice Skin Perfecting 2% BHA Liquid
This purchase was inspired by Wayne Goss & the good people over at /r/SkincareAddiction. I've used loads of products containing salicylic acid before, with Stridex pads being my previous BHA of choice. However the SkincareAddiction subreddit is forever inundated with rave reviews of the Paula's Choice 2% BHA Liquid & I couldn't resist trying it out any longer. There was just so many different people saying how this product had saved their skin & unearthed clogs that other acids couldn't touch. I would consider my main skin problem to be recurrent closed comedones located mainly on my forehead. Most people told me that AHAs were the answer to this problem & although they did help immensely, this BHA product is exactly what I needed all along. BHAs are better for people with oily skin because they can get through the oil that's clogging your pores. It works on all kinds of blemishes & is especially effective on sebaceous filaments. Unlike Stridex it doesn't contain menthol so it's less likely to irritate the skin. It also features butylene glycol which allows the BHA to further penetrate the skin without drying it out. This is a seriously brilliant product & a must-have for anyone with acne-prone skin.

Barry M Gelly Nail Paint in Coconut*
I used to be obsessed with the Barry M Nail Paints but I hadn't tried any of their newer formulas. The Gelly range is supposed to be a high-pigment, high-shine collection of polishes that provide a glossy, gel-like finish with a single coat. Coconut is a creamy off-white shade & I think it looks gorgeous! I'm so impressed with the formula. It wasn't quite opaque with one coat but it applies very smoothly & evenly with a super shiny finish. The polish is quick to dry & very long lasting. The colour is surprisingly flattering as the slightly warm tone compliments the skin. There's no sign of Tipp-Ex here! I love white nails in the Summer as they look so fresh & clean. Coconut would also make a great base for nail art.

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Brows On A Budget

Barry M Brow Kit / Collection Eyebrow Kit / Maybelline Color Tattoo 24hr Cream Eyeshadow in Permanent Taupe

I'm so glad that brows are currently having a bit of a renaissance. I've always had an obsession with them & must have spent loads on tools, regrowth products & cosmetics for those two furry lines. Admittedly I've always been into high-end brow products because drugstore brands never seemed to realise that not everyone has really dark warm toned eyebrows. During my teenage goth phase I used to draw on my eyebrows with a black Rimmel eyeliner. It was not a good look, especially when the pencil started to smudge! There just weren't many other options in Boots at the time. Luckily things have improved a bit these days & most brands have cottoned onto the fact that people want groom their brows to perfection. To be totally honest I don't think I'd ever give up my precious Anastasia products in favour of these but it's good to know that more makeup brands are starting to take brows seriously.





The Barry M Brow Kit comes complete with everything you need to groom & define your eyebrows. It contains a creamy brown wax, a dark brown powder, a highlighter, tweezers & a double ended applicator. It reminds me of Benefit Brow Zings with the added bonus of a highlight powder. The tweezers are okay for plucking one or two strays but I wouldn't shape your whole eyebrow with them. The brush is surprisingly good. Normally I automatically dismiss brushes in makeup kits but the angled side is perfect for shaping your brows with the tinted wax. After applying the wax you then use the blending brush to build up your brows with the dark powder. Both the wax & powder are very easy to work with. The trouble is this kit only comes in one shade which is horrendously dark & warm toned. I tried using the wax & powder alone as well as together but either way they look horrible on me. The highlight shade is incredibly subtle & I found it hard to get it show up on my skin. I wish there were a few other colours available as this has the potential to be a truly fantastic kit. Hopefully Barry M will bring out a few more versions soon.






I much prefer the Collection Eyebrow Kit. Instead of a wax & a highlight, it comes with three brow powders. Used alone none of the colours suit me but they can easily be mixed & matched to create your own custom brow shade. The colours lean slightly warm but they're nowhere near as red toned as the Barry M colours. The dark brown powder is extremely dark but the texture is creamy with absolutely no fallout. It's easy to achieve whatever eyebrow shape you desire with this kit as the formula of the powders is really lovely. I find that a mix of the light brown with a little bit of the medium brown shade works well for me. The angled brush is exactly the same as the one in the Barry M kit & applies the powders well. I love that the kit comes with it's own mini brow gel. The formula isn't the best at keeping stray hairs in place but the plastic brush helps to neaten up your brows by pushing everything in the right direction. It also includes a fab little mirror which is the exactly the right size for doing your brows.




If you've ever wanted to try the Anastasia DipBrow Pomades but don't want to shell out £15 when you have no idea which colour to get, then give the Maybelline Color Tattoo 24hr Cream Eyeshadow in Permanent Taupe a go. Everyone went mental for these last year so chances are you probably already have this in your stash. Not only is it a wonderful cream eyeshadow but applied with an angled brush it's a decent drugstore dupe for Anastasia Beverly Hills' most innovative product. The formula isn't quite as creamy or natural looking so a very light hand is needed here but otherwise it works in a fairly similar way. You can really sculpt your brows with this, creating a clean but bold look. The taupe colour is buildable & would work well for anyone with cool-toned medium or dark brown eyebrows.

What's your favourite budget brow product?

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February Favourites

Illamasqua Hydra Veil
My current primer of choice is Hourglass Veil Mineral Primer & normally that is the perfect primer for me. My skincare routine normally ensures that I have no weird dry or flaky patches on my face but sometimes it can be unavoidable. I recently had a bad cold and that always results in bad skin for me. My nose gets really dry, red & sore when I'm poorly so I needed something extra to calm that down. Illamasqua Hydra Veil is a temporary quick fix for any dry or dehydrated areas. This clear gel will instantly cool & soothe your skin leaving it feeling plump & incredibly hydrated. You only need a tiny bit to sort out your entire face. After applying it you'll be able to get a completely smooth & flawless base whatever the condition of your skin. No dry flaky patches in sight!

Bumble & Bumble Thickening Creme Contour
I got my hair did a few weeks ago & I decided to go for a centre parting again. I had my hairdresser cut in some long fringey bits so I could flick them out to the sides. I wasn't too sure what kind of product to use to keep them in place. I'm generally not a fan of crispy hairspray & didn't want anything that would dry hard like a gel. Instead I've been using this Bumble & Bumble Thickening Creme Contour. This styling cream adds shape, texture & definition to my hair without weighing it down. It's lightweight yet offers a good enough hold to keep my style in place. It also makes my hair feel thicker & more voluminous. If you like really biiiig hair, combine it with their Dryspun Finish spray. You'll get some full, volumised locks with plenty of style.

Barry M Lip Gloss in Toffee
I always think of Barry M as a nail polish brand but there are a few gems to be found in the rest of their product range. I'm especially fond of their lip glosses. Toffee (#2) is my favourite shade. It adds a beautiful nude sheen to your lips when used alone & looks lovely on top of any pink lipstick. It smells delicious too! These glosses don't last too long on the lips but they feel really comfortable to wear without any horrible stickiness. It's a must-have for fuss-free nude lips.

Anastasia Brow Wiz in Medium Ash
I absolutely love Anastasia products. If you need a new eyebrow product then Anastasia should be your first port of call. This pencil is really great because it provides the convenience of pencil application with the natural finish of a powder. The nib is retractable & very fine so you can actually draw on individual hairs with it. It's just makes it so easy to get the exact brow shape you want without looking harsh at all. It even has a spoolie on the other end to groom your brow hairs & blend the product. The colour range is one of the best I've come across. I highly recommend buying this product!

Real Techniques Silicone Liner Brush
This brush is nothing new because Japonesque have made a silicone liner brush for quite some time. Real Techniques win though because theirs is cheaper, more readily available & works in exactly the same way. The easy to clean silicone tip allows me to get the perfect cat flick every time. It doesn't drag along the eyelid like some brushes or liquid liners can do. You can get such a smooth line with it & it's so easy to vary the shape of your flick or thickness of line. Obviously as it's not an actual brush, the tip won't hold much product. You do have to keep dipping it into your gel liner pot but I don't think that affects the application process at all. It's much more hygienic than a brush & should last for years to come.

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Christmas Presents

Polar FT4 Watch
2014 is gonna be the year that I get properly fit. I know I say that every year but I actually have time to go to the gym now that Chloe's at preschool. I'll be able to do the 30 Day Shred without having a toddler trying to sit on me or pick up my hand weights! I was using my Fitbit to track my calorie burn but it broke a few months ago. So for my main present this year I asked for a Polar watch. They're a lot more accurate because they measure your heart rate. I know a lot of people rave about these so I figured it'd be a good piece of fitness equipment to get. Can't wait to get back to doing regular exercise & lose all those pesky Christmas pounds.



Smythson Places To Remember Notebook
My mum also bought me this Smythson notebook for writing down places to visit. It'll be good to take on holiday to note down all the shops & restaurants I want to go to. I remember making a mega list when we went to New York. If only we could go back again!



Nail Art Bits & Shimmer Sprays
My sister bought me some sparkly Maybelline nail polishes & Barry M nail art pens. I'm excited to try out the nail polish corrector pen because I always mess up my nails. I really like these shimmer powder sprays she got me from The Body Shop too. They puff out a fine pink glitter that you can use on your face, hair & body and have a slightly sweet scent.



Boux Avenue Lingerie
I literally always ask my boyfriend for lingerie and Boux Avenue's stuff is just the best. Everything in there is so comfortable & flattering. He got me this gorgeous hot pink underwear set & I really love what he chose. I'm still tempted to raid their sale though!



Flamingo Candles
I'm obsessed with their Cheesecake Crunch candle so I made sure I popped a few more onto my Christmas list. I got Toasted Almonds & Plum Crumble, Tropical Coconut Milk & Honey and Pink Lemonade. They all smell insanely good and they're made from soy wax so you get a nice clean burn with these.



The Legend Of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds
My pink 3DS XL is probably the best thing I've bought this year. I play on it constantly! The Legend Of Zelda series is one of my favourites so I really wanted A Link Between Worlds. It's a sequel to A Link To The Past on the SNES and it's such a good game. Link gets turned into a painting so you gain the ability to move flat along walls. It definitely makes the game mechanics more interesting & I've really enjoyed playing it so far.



Urban Decay Naked 3 Palette & MAC Goodies
I got money & gift vouchers from most of my relatives so with those I simply had to buy myself the Naked 3 Palette. I love pink eyeshadows so I thought this was a great set to buy. Plus I needed to complete my Naked Palette family of course ;) I also made a cheeky MAC order where I got Groundwork Paint Pot and a 214 brush. The shape of the 214 is really cool & perfect for smudging colour under your lashline. I got a sample tube of Strobe Cream with my order which is another product I love.







Epic Space.NK Haul
All of this was a Christmas gift to myself. Sometimes you just gotta treat yo'self! I wouldn't have spent so much but Space.NK had an amazing offer last month where if you spent £150 you got a goodie bag with loads of stuff in it including a Diptyque candle & a £50 gift voucher. Way too good to pass up, right? I decided to buy a fullsize bottle of the Hourglass Veil Mineral Primer, their Arch Eyebrow Pencil and another one of the Ambient Lighting Powders in Diffused Light. I also got the Diptyque Mimosa room spray because it smells incredible. With the £50 voucher in the goodie bag I bought the By Terry Hyaluronic Hydra Powder, Oribe Maximista Thickening Spray and some of the Bumble & Bumble Thickening products. Everything else here was in the goodie bag. The only thing I let myself play with before Christmas was the Hourglass Arch Eyebrow Pencil which took a lot of willpower. I love it all though, I'm in beauty product heaven right now. I've had to ban myself from Space.NK because this was really really naughty!

I'm so grateful for everything I received this year. I got some really lovely bits & bobs. It's more important to give than receive when you're a parent though. It was far more satisfying watching Chloe open all her new toys & seeing the joy on her face. Kids really make Christmas special again. I hope you all had a brilliant Christmas & got some nice presents too. Feel free to link me to your posts because I love seeing what other people got for Christmas!

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Glamourween

Dress - F&F* / Tights - F&F* / Backpack - F&F* / Boots - Topshop / Floral Crown - Crown & Glory
Necklace - Kukee / Bracelet - Black Tied / Rings - Topshop, The Bohemian Collective, Kukee, Regal Rose
Nails - eBay & Barry M 115 Red Black* / Lipstick - Illamasqua Magnetism*

Halloween is one of my favourite times of the year and god knows I do have some gothy dressing tendencies. So when F&F Clothing asked me to take part in their Glamourween competition, I jumped at the chance. The clothes at Tesco are surprisingly good quality and I have often bought clothes for myself & Chloe from there. Fifteen bloggers have been asked to create an 'urban witch' look. We were all given a voucher to buy some F&F clothing and a little black cauldron full of sweeties & beauty goodies.

When you think of witches you probably associate them with the pointy hatted, green & warty look that many sport at Halloween. However for my look I took inspiration from some of my favourite onscreen witches. I have a mild obsession with the awesome 90's film The Craft. Nancy Downs was such a badass crazy witch so I decided to dress how she would today if she hadn't ended up in an insane asylum. I'm also loving the outfits on American Horror Story: Coven. I love Jessica Lange and her character seems really interesting. She looked so chic in her little black peplum dress with the umbrella when she took the girls on their field trip.

I thought this F&F dress was especially witchy with it's classic shift shape, floaty sleeves and collar. I've been after a cool little leather backpack for ages and this one is perfect. It looks really nice for something that's not real leather & has lots of room inside. I paired it with my good old Topshop boots which I've always thought of as a bit witchy and my black Whole Lotta Rosie floral crown from Crown & Glory. My accidental purple & blue hair definitely adds to the look, so maybe it was a good thing?! I've also wanted to have some pointy nails ever since Rihanna had pointy lilac nails in her What's My Name video. I finally bought some off eBay and they're definitely more trouble than they're worth. I've had to take them off to type this or I would still be writing this next week! No witch outfit would be complete without a pentagram necklace. I got mine from Kukee and I think it looks cute peeking through the cut out detail in the dress. Anyway I hope you like my 'Glamourween' look! I can't wait to see all the other entries.

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New Barry M Lipsticks & Foil Polishes

The other day on twitter I saw that Barry M had 20% off all of their products. Considering that they had some new things out I decided to indulge my cosmetics addiction so I ordered their new foil nail polishes and their two new lipsticks. They also have two new blushers out but I already have more pink & peach colours than I can count so I gave them a miss. The foil polishes have been marketed under the 'Nail Effects' moniker which also includes those god awful crackle polishes. I think I read somewhere that Barry M said that these gold & silver foils are supposed to produce a proper metallic effect such as with the metallic Minx foils. But as you can see these polishes aren't anything special at all. They're bog standard gold & silver polishes. So I don't really understand why they're part of the Nail Effects line. I didn't actually have a normal silver polish in my collection so its a welcome addition but they are most definitely not like Minx at all. They are however pretty good quality, opaque in one coat & fairly quick drying.







The new lipsticks available are 154 Pale Nude & 155 Pretty Pink. I'm a lot happier with my new lippies than my polishes. I think these must be a new formula for Barry M because they actually feel quite moisturising on my lips. The nude is a bit unforgiving with any dry skin on your lips but it feels a lot silkier & glides on a lot easier than my other Barry M lipsticks. I tend not to go for overly pale nude colours but I'm happy with this purchase as I think the tone is just the right side of dead concealer lips. It reminds me of a paler version of MAC Shy Girl. The pink also reminds me of another MAC lippie, I think it looks like a slightly warmer version of Saint Germain. Both of these get a big thumbs up from me!

PS. I probably look a bit weird in these pics because I decided to try out the new Garnier BB cream, a Daniel Sandler mascara from a GlossyBox & I don't have any eyeliner on. I actually really like the BB cream for those 'no makeup' looks but the mascara is rubbish, it went straight in the bin!