April favourites….

Unsurprisingly, my April favourites is fairly lip product heavy. April also saw some resurrections from makeup favourites past…. one good thing about being on a budget is being more aware of raiding old makeup and digging into the long forgotten stash!

Bright lips have been the order of the day, particularly in shades of orange. First up is the Mac Pro Longwear lip pencil in What A Blast…I love this under almost every orange lip I wear, it makes it super long wearing and the colour so vivid. On top of this I've either been wearing my Napolian Perdis Set lipstick in Noosa. I don't actually think this is available in the UK but for any Aussie readers I have on here…..if you don't own this then WHY NOT? If I want something less matte and with a bit of sheen for the day time I'll pop on the Rimmel Moisture Renew lipstick in In Love With Ginger. If you saw my last post you'll see my other favourite lip colour is purple, so of course my favourite (and cheapest!) purple lipstick of the month has to be the Collection Little Mix lipstick in the shade Perrie. Lastly for lips, my neutral lip shade of choice has been the Benefit lip gloss in Sugarbomb, a beautiful pink with some shimmer running through it. 

Eye favourites have been all about the old faithfuls. You'll almost definitely have seen me talk about The Balm What's Your Type Volumising mascara over the past 18 months and it's still up there as one of the best mascara's I've ever used. I've been going back to basics on eyes with just a sweep of the Rimmel Scandaleyes eyeshadow stick in Bulletproof Beige over my eyes with loads of mascara, or a sweep of neutral shadow from my very old and very faithful Sleek Oh So Special palette. I love the pink shades in here for spring/summer, and the black is one of the best I've tried. As my eyelids are, and will forever be, particularly oily, I've re-discovered Benefit Stay Don't Stray eyelid primer which, I'll admit, I was not a fan of to start with. I still think the pump dispenser is wasteful but I've learnt that less is more with this one and I've really been loving it. 

Just a couple of face products, both from one of my favourite brands, NYX. First off is something that I'm sure has been in the last 3 months favourites and I'm almost certain everyone is fed up of hearing me harp on about; the NYX matte bronzing powder in light. And for a splash of colour I've been loving the NYX Rouge Cream Blush in Hot Pink blended (VERY lightly….this product has some serious pigment to it) into the apples of my cheeks and up lightly onto the cheekbones.

What are everyone else's favourites from April?

Loves

xxx

NYX natural palette...

So far, everything I've tried from NYX I've fallen in love with, most of the products making their way into my everyday makeup routine. This palette kept popping up on Pinterest (come follow me if you don't already!) and I'd never tried any of their shadows before so thought, for such great value for money I'd give it a go. My initial thoughts were, what a great range of shades! I thought this would be perfect to create light, shimmery day looks, and then the darker shades in the crease smoked out for a more dramatic night look. It's got two matte shades so great for subtle highlights, and the rest all have varying amounts of shimmer throughout them. 

My first thought on these was they were really hard to blend. I used the glitter champagne shade (second in from left) all over the lid, with the taupe satin shadow through the crease, and they just kid of sat there. I also really didn't think much to the consistency of them. Very powdery and chalky...when I wiped a clean finger over my lid the shadow just came away. Slightly better with a lid primer but still nothing to write home about. 

Pigmentation was pretty poor, the swatches above were done without a primer which, as I said, did help matters along a bit but they were no Urban Decay! The last thing was the glitter....the champaign shade was so glittery it took me back to my 15 year old self when I was glitter obsessed!

All in all, not great from NYX in my opinion; there are definitely better budget eyeshadow brands on the market (Rimmel and L'Oreal etc). I still love NYX for their cheek, base and lip products but I don't think I'll be reaching for the eye section any time soon!

Am I on my own with this?

Loves

xxx

January favourites...

(insert generic 'I can't believe it's the end of January!' exclamation here)

So aside from the usual comments about how fast the years going already, I also wanted to say that this is the last favourites post coming to you from over in Aus! I'm writing this on the 1st of February which means this month I'll be heading back to the UK for the foreseeable future! So let's get cracking...

Kicking off with hair, my poor locks have been so de-hydrated that the only thing I've managed to get them to do is sit in a top-knot until next wash day. Roll on a mop chop. And for this I've been loving the Garnier Fructis Volume Flex and Hold hairspray to keep strays in place. 

Just one skincare product this month but it's completely revolutionised my skin care routine, and that's my much loved Rosehip Oil which you can read my review on here. 

My Bourjois Healthy Mix Serum has made it into yet another favourites post. I've been trying to use up almost empty products so I don't have to lug them home with me and it's made me fall back in love with this yet again. Follow that with my new Nars Creamy Concealer blended in with the Real Techniques contour brush and I have the perfect base. To add a bit of lift and glow to my skin I've been reaching for the NYX Illuminator for face and body which I reviewed here. 

It's been a month of no effort when it comes to makeup (it's too hot) so my lips have been fairly neutral...just a quick layer of my Nivea lip butter in vanilla and macadamia and I'm good to go. On the days where I need a splash of colour, I've picked up my Illamasqua Colouring Pencil in Indecent (review coming soon). 

Eyes have been kept simple too....a slick of the new Maybelline Hyper Glossy liquid liner, followed by lashings of Rimmel Lash Accelerator which I raved about in a post earlier in January. If I have needed some colour on the lids of I've felt like experimenting with some neutral tones for day-time smokey looks, I've gone straight to my Urban Decay Naked 3. Predictable, but for good reason!

What's everyone else been loving in the month of January?

Loves

xxx

NYX takes on Illuminators....

My last makeup purchases in Australia (I promise) was, quite predictably, from the NYX stand in my local Target. I've heard on the grape vine that you can buy NYX in some Next stores in the UK but as I'm unsure how true this is I'm taking no chances and stocking up while I can! I've only really got into highlighter and illuminators in the past 6 months but now even my usual oily skin is loving it!

Usually one for powder highlighters I picked the Born To Glow Illuminator (mine is shade 01 Sunbeam) up a bit unsure what to expect. It's very glittery so calls for a matte face to begin with, and I would recommend to keep this one purely on the tops of the cheek bones to avoid the dreaded disco-ball face. It blends to a beautiful pink sheen on the cheeks which is my preferred illuminator/cheek colour so I love pairing this with Sleek Pixie Pink type shades. I would say this is a soft highlight that doesn't really build to well but for something sheeny and pretty on the cheek bones this one is your winner.

I picked the powder Illuminator for Face and Body up in the shade Narcissistic after seeing a few reviews floating around on the blogs, and immediately fell for it. It's a powder, which I prefer, despite it being a peachy golden colour which is a bit of an unusual pick in my collection. It can be applied lightly all over the high points of the face and on the body (as the name suggests) with a duo fibre brush   or built up for a more obvious, stronger highlight for the evening. It has some glitters in this but most of them seem to disappear when blended. 

Personally I think I'll be getting more use out of the powder illuminator but I think, for dryer skin, the liquid illuminator is still absolutely beautiful. All in all...NYX can do highlighters!

Has anyone else tried these? 

Loves

xxx

NYX haul....

Words can't describe my excitement when I first saw the NYX stand in my local Target, and I whipped my 'Things I Need From NYX If I Ever Get Around To Placing An Order' list sharpish. 

I admit I've since been back and bought heaps more lip products and their famous Milk pencil (how have I called myself a beauty blogger and not owned this until now??)

Stand out products for me were their Matte Lipsticks (I'm now the proud owner of over half their collection), the Butter Gloss (not too keen on the darker shades of these but the pinks and peach's are incredible) and their Rouge Cream Blush in Boho Chic. The only disappointing product was the eyebrow pencil....nice consistency but far to red toned to look anything near natural on me.

What else should I try from NYX? I really want to get involved in some of their shadows but not sure on the quality of the palettes?

Loves

xxx