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

Feel Unique sale haul...

When Feel Unique  had a sale a few weeks ago there was a few things I thought I just had to pick up....

It's spring over in Australia so I thought it was time to add a bit of a glow to my skin, so I picked up my first ever St Tropez products and gave their gradual tanner a go.

I love me some lashes, and got extremely over excited when I saw the Millie Mackintosh lashes on the site, so I added the Portobello set to my basket, along with a natural, daytime pair from The Vintage Cosmetics Company.

I am missing my Lush lip scrub far too much but don't have access to a Lush where I live, so thought I'd give the Bliss Fabulips a try instead.

Lastly, my two favourite buys, The Balm's Bahama Mama and Mary Lou-Manizer... a perfect matte bronzer for contouring and adding some warmth to the face as the weather gets warmer, and a seriously shimmery highlighter that I'm now completely head over heels in love with.

Did anyone else pick anything else up in the sale?

Loves

xxx

August favourites....

Sleek Oh So Special palette (I use this daily for my brows, and almost every day to create one of my two go-to makeup looks - a pink shimmery smokey eye)

Rimmel Stay Matte powder

The Balm Big Mama blush

Revlon Nearly Naked foundation

The Balm What's Your Type volumising mascara

17 Mirror Shine lipstick in Beehive

I'm trying to save money so currently magazines are a rare treat. I picked up Cleo this month mainly because of the beautiful Blake Lively on the cover!!

Due to a lack of healthy hot chocolate in Australia, mum sent me a selection bag of my favourite Options hot chocolates in a little care package. I honestly have never received anything better in the post. It's the small things.

What's everyone else been loving this month?

Loves

xxx

The Balm review...

I love makeup, I love finding new products and reading reviews on products, and I love finding things I  enjoy using enough to make them part of my everyday makeup. But it's not all that often that I get excited over a brand like I have over The Balm. I first discovered them in Brisbane where I picked up their What's Your Type mascara on a whim and realised it was one of the best thing's I've ever applied to my face. Probably ever. 

I'd not been able to get my hands on them over the past few months when I'd moved away from Brisbane, until I popped into & Other Stories on Regent Street a couple of weeks back. I actually squealed. Of course I had to pick up another of their What's Your Type mascara's immediately. It's a thin plastic wand that holds a lot of product and creates incredible volume that you would not think you could find in a mascara tube. If you love a volumising mascara, this should be your next pick.

Being blushers number one fan, it would have been completely wrong to not pick up their Big Mama blusher, the most beautiful rose/coral/gold colour with a stunning gold shimmer through it. Not only does it eliminate the need for a highlighter (hello golden glow) it lasts on the skin all day and makes your skin look perky and fresh.

There's not really enough words to explain how much I love this, and I don't want to bore you all to tears telling you how in love with the brand I am, but honestly, one of the most exciting brands and products I've used in a very long time.

Has anyone else used any of The Balm products and can recommend any more to me?

Loves

xxx

London and Paris haul...

Of course, being in London the first stop I had to make was & Other Stories. I'd heard so much about their Fig range I decided to pick up a hand cream and a re-purchase of my favourite mascara ever, The Balm What's Your Type body builder mascara. Then, just because, I picked up another of their blushers for my collection; Big Mama! Love this, will pop a full review up soon.

Next to Camden. First up, WHY DON'T I LIVE THERE!?! I picked up a couple of scarves from the market, and a cute Pug t-shirt that I'll be styling over Disco pants with my black Dr Martens and a big gold chain. 

Then off to Paris... and of course it would be rude not to go into one of their amazing pharmacies. I picked up a replacement for my La Roche-Posay Effaclar Duo and decided to try their Effaclar Matt product as a makeup base. I also wanted to give Nuxe Reve De Miel lip balm a go, and it wouldn't be a trip to a french pharmacy without a bottle of Bioderma!

Last stop was Sephora (again, rude not to) where I picked up their daily brush cleanser, a Sephora lipstick, the UD de-slick setting spray (due to the massive hype around the original setting spray) and the Make Up Forever smokey lash mascara that I've been dying to try since there was a huge blogger hype around this not too long ago. 

Loves

xxx