October Favourites 2013

I honestly can't believe how quickly October has gone, I think because I was quite ill at the beginning of the month, and was pretty much tucked up in bed for ten days, the month feels super short. As a result, it was pretty difficult to pick my favourites for this month. In the end, I went about doing my makeup and my getting ready process, and just put aside each product I knew I had reached for more days than not, and came up with this bunch for you.

First up skincare. For the body I have been loving the Soap and Glory Sugar Crush Body Scrub. The scent is slightly unseasonal for this time of year, but I had wanted to try this for ages, but I needed to get through all my backups of The Breakfast Scrub first. It's a gorgeous brown sugar and lime scent which is super sickly sweet but I love it. It's not as gritty as The Breakfast Scrub, so that combined with the scent means that once I've used this up, I probably won't repurchase this til next summer. My skin needs something a little harsher in the winter, but I like this a lot.

Back in September I purchased a full size of the Origins Clear Improvement mask, after I had a tiny sample of it and was impressed with how far it went. It's a clay based mask which really drags out any nasty stuff in your skin and clears it up massively. It's an expensive product, (£23) but based on how many masks I got out of my previous sample size, I'm paying less than 30p for each use, which to me is a bargain.

Two products from Lush, although to be honest Lush in general is definitely a favourite. I'm really happy with my current skincare routine at the moment (not to mention my bathtime routine) and a large portion of the products I use are from Lush. I did pick out two to share with you though, Santa's Lip Scrub and Let The Good Times Roll. I won't say any more about these because I just did a massive post on Lush, but if you want to hear more about this product click here.

Onto makeup and the base I have been consistently reaching for this month is the L'Oreal Nude Magique Eau De Teint. I absolutely love this foundation, it might just be one of my favourite drugstore releases this year. It's super super lightweight on your skin, it honestly feels like you've just dusted a little powder on your skin. It evens out any redness, whilst looking so natural, nobody will ever believe you're wearing foundation. 

To go with that base, I've been reaching for the NARS Radiant Creamy Concealer, which definitely lives up to the hype around it the last few months. This is a super creamy concealer (as the name would suggest) which is high enough coverage to disguise no sleep, and the pizza induced breakout on your chin, whilst again looking really natural. This has become a staple in my makeup routine, and I can't see myself without it. 

For eyes, I have been going for a darker, more autumnal look, and the star of the show for me has been this MAC Quad. I have two MAC quads and I'm going to be doing a post on them both soon, but this one holds the darker, more wintery colours of the two. In here is Cranberry, Sketch, Blackberry and Satin Taupe, and pretty much every day my eyes have been sporting two of these colours.

Lastly for eyes, I've been trying to get back into liner again. When I was in college, I don't think I ever left the house without cat flicks and kohl rimmed waterlines, but it's been a while since I've sported that look recently. I repurchased the Soap and Glory Supercat Liner again last month and have been making an effort to use it again, I think black liquid liner really finishes off a dark smokey eye look, and I like this pen since it takes all the difficulty out of winged liner! 

The last thing I want to mention is not a beauty product, but my new Yankee Candle Tart Burner. There's a new Yankee Candle store in Westfield, which is conveniently located about thirty seconds from my uni campus, so needless to say, I headed in there pretty excitedly with paycheck in hand at the end of last month. My plan had been to buy a large jar of Christmas Cookie to get in the Christmas Spirit, but this Tart Burner was reduced and the tarts were on offer, so I ended up getting this instead. I like that this means I can change up scents more often (large jars have a burn time of 150 hours, whereas the tarts are 8) and because of the deal on, this worked out cheaper in terms of burn time. Anyway, I've been loving having this burning whilst I'm working in the house, particularly with Christmas Cookie and the Vanilla Lime scent (which my boyfriend likes too!).

So that's it, October is over! Are you getting excited for Christmas yet? What products have you been loving this month? 

Loving Lately #3

 As you can probably tell, I've fallen out of the blogging swing, it's been a few weeks since my regular posting went down the drain, and as well as being ill/internet problems, I've been struggling to find the motivation and the inspiration to keep going with the blog. After a weekend up the bum I've given myself a stern talking to and a metaphorical kick up the bum, and I thought, what better way to get back into the swing of things, than some mini reviews of products I've been loving recently.

First up, two skincare products from Origins. Emerging from some very spotty teenage years, I now start to panic at the slightest sign of congestion in my skin. It's taken me years to get my skin better and the idea of going backwards terrifies me. However, I've taken to using the Origins Clear Improvement mask when I feel like my skin is getting a little iffy, and sure enough there has been a clear improvement (sorry, couldn't resist!). I use a hot flannel to open up my pores and then pop a little bit of this on my skin (you don't need much at all). Yes it's pricey, but when I bought this, the lady in the shop gave me a little sample to try first, so if I didn't like it I could exchange it for something else, and that tiny little 7ml sample gave me four and a bit uses, so I can't see me running out of this 100ml bottle any time soon. Also from Origins, I finally caved and bought the matching eye cream to my beloved day cream. The Ginzing Eye Cream is definitely more of a cream product than it's sister day cream which is more of a gel, but it's still super light in texture, and it really brightens up the under eyes.

After seeing lots of hype in the States around the L'Oreal Nude Magique foundation, when I saw it in Boots I had to snap it up and it's safe to say, it's love. If your poison is high coverage, then this is not for you, but I find that this evens out my skintone enough that I just need a little touch of concealer around the nose, on my undereyes and on any blemishes.  I love the way it feels on my skin, it looks totally natural, honestly like there's nothing there, but your skin feels ever so soft and almost matte wearing it. I haven't used anything else since I got this!

Being ill for the last few weeks has left me looking a little, well, dead, so I've been relying on makeup to perk up my complexion and leave me looking less like an extra from a Halloween Movie. The Bourjois Bronzing Primer has been a godsend in mousse form for this. I've just been taking a tiny amount of this on my Real Techniques Expert Face Brush and popping it on my temples, and under my cheekbones, for a little colour.

If you follow me on Twitter of Instagram, you may have seen my excitement last week as Lush finally bought back my beloved Let The Good Times Roll Cleanser! You can read my original ramblings here, but really what you need to know is that this will keep your skin clear and glowy, and it smells amazing too.

Two nail things, firstly I picked up the Stylefile nail file after breaking my nail and not being able to find a nail file in my room back home. It comes in at around the five pound mark but is worth every penny. It's much more resiliant than your average file, the curved shape makes getting an even nail shape easier, and it has two sides, a rougher side for shaping and a smoother side for finishing. My nail polish pick of late has been from the new Barry M Texture polishes that are somewhat Reminiscent of OPI Liquid Sands. I'm not really a fan of Barry M Nail polishes but I love this, a sparkly polish that is easy to remove, long lasting and so pretty! It makes me feel all wintery! This is the shade Countess which is my favourite, but I've been loving Duchess too.

And lastly, my Maybelline Baby Lips in Intense Care has been getting hourly love from me this week. When I have a cold I always get super dry lips, and as much as I love my Nuxe Reve De Miel, it's more of a nighttime thing, and not massively practical for in the day, so I've been reaching for this. I find this way more hydrating than Cherry Me, Pink Punch and Peach Kiss. It's apparently got a Cherry Almond scent but to me it just smells just like Battenburg Cake. I tend to go into a bit of a daze when applying this since it smells so good!

And that's it! If you've made it to the end of this post, I salute you! 

What have you been loving recently? 

Don't forget to enter my giveaway to win an Urban Decay Lipstick here!