April Beauty Favourites

I know I say things like this every month in my favourites, but I can't believe May starts this week. I feel like it's still the Christmas holidays. April has been a great month, especially when we finally got to see the sun make an appearance! About bloody time too if you ask me.

I've been trying to break away from my wintery staples this month, and edge myself into Spring, even if we've only had a day and a half resembling Spring.

The only beauty thing that really stood out to me this month was Bioderma's Créaline H20, the best micellar water on the (french) market. I like the B. and L'Oreal micellar solutions, but this one really is a cut above the rest. Removes makeup with ease, without drying out your skin like the others, this really is holy grail if you ask me. 

Two new brushes have worked their way into my collection, and heart this month. First up is YSL's foundation brush, which I had to have in my life once I'd felt it. It's so incredibly soft. I know a lot of people like to apply the YSL Teint Touche Eclat foundation with their fingers, but a) you honestly lose 50% of the foundation to your fingers, and b) they probably haven't tried applying it with this bad boy. Flawless application every time. The other brush is one I mentioned in my & Other Stories haul. It's the Universal Shadow brush, and it's fantastic. I use this for everything, packing shadow onto my lids, defining the crease, I even use it to add a bit of highlight under my brow bone. At seven pounds a pop, not only is it crazy cheap, but I actually prefer it to my MAC 217. Definitely need to pick up another one of these! 

An oldie but goodie, I don't really know why I stopped using Benefit's Boi-ing industrial strength concealer, but I plucked this out of the back of my stash (which is getting further and further away) at the beginning of the month, and I haven't stopped using it since. This is a great concealer, super creamy and high coverage. You can read my thoughts on it here.

MAC's Paint Pot in Painterly is something I have worn every day this month. I can't believe I went so long without it! It's a great base for my new MAC palette, which is a combination of my favourite neutrals, Hush, a pink toned neutral shimmer, Quarry, a grey toned taupe, Mulch, a sparkly midtoned copper brown, and Courdoroy, a deep matte brown that also works to fill in my brows. It's love guys, it really is.

Primerwise, I've been loving the Laura Mercier Radiance Foundation primer. I'm dreading when this runs out because it's crazy expensive, but it's so good. It's probably the best primer I've ever used. And that's saying something.

The last MAC product, I know there's been a few, is the Studio Sculpt foundation in NC15. This is a great high coverage foundation that isn't too heavy on the skin, and mixes well with other foundations to give higher coverage. I think I've used this everyday this month!

My lip pick of choice this month has to be Chanel's Rouge Allure Velvet in the shade 37, a bright matte pink which looks amazing on, and isn't too drying. It's so luxurious and smooth, and it applies like velvet. I love this so much.

Last up, two polish picks. First up H&M's Blue My Mind which you all know I've loved, but also Essie's Orange It's Obvious, which I didn't expect to love as much as I do.

So those are my beauty picks of the month, there's quite a few, I know, and this was the whittled down list! It's been a looooong month of makeup lovin'! 

What have been your favourites this month?

The Spring Summer Edit: The Skincare Edition

So the french goodies featured here were what was holding up this post! Some friends have visited from France today and kindly replenished my Bioderma and Caudalie stocks! I apologise for the lighting, I wanted to get this post up today, but didn't get home til it was dark!

Your skin, the tricky little devil that it is, needs to be treated differently in the Summer than in the winter. It's no longer so much about hydration, as it is sun protection. So here is what I use to get my skin in tip top summer condition, so I can go out of the house in a lighter foundation, or heaven forbid, a tinted moisturiser.

You'll never have good skin unless you take care of it properly, and piling on the makeup doesn't count, so it's important to have a great makeup removal scheme in place. I like to start with a swish of Bioderma Micellar Solution, nothing removes makeup without drying your skin out quite like it. Then it's onto a gel cleanser to remove anything left, and as you guys know, I'm loving this one from & Other Stories, which you can read more about here. I never really used to understand the purpose of toner, that was until I cut it out of my routine. I use the This Works Fresh Skin toner on a daily basis, which is great once you get past the herby smell. If my skin's feeling a little sensitive however, I'll switch it out for the Premae Skincare Balance Rescue face tonique. I can't rave about this stuff enough guys, if you have a breakout, look no further! You can read a full review of that here. A new addition to my skincare routine is the Bioderma Pore Refiner, which I apply thinly to my T-Zone. I'll report on that fully when I've had more of a play! Swiftly onto the moisturisers. In the day, it's gotta have SPF, and I'm loving the Garnier Moisture Match for normal skin, with SPF 20. If you haven't checked out this range yet, do, there really is something for everyone. Top this off with the Body Shop Vitamin C Eye Cream Duo to make me look awake! At night, I switch for something heavier, and my favourite ever has to be Nivea Daily Essentials Regenerating night cream. It's cheap, it doesn't breakout my skin, or leave it feeling greasy, and it hydrates my skin a treat.

A special mention to the Caudalie Beauty Elixir too, which keeps me feeling fresh faced and calm, all year long.