Loving Lately #2

Halfway through another month, where is all this time going?! I'll be married and popping out kids before you know it at this rate...

Just like last month, I've decided to do another Loving Lately post, just to bridge the gap between monthly favourites, and show you what products have been in my rotation.

Vichy Pureté Thermale Cleanser: I picked up this cleanser at the beginning of the month, as I needed something to suit a more 'normal' skin type, which my skin seems to have become. It's hydrating, and quite refreshing considering it's a milk. It hasn't broken my skin out at all, my skin is actually pretty clear at the moment. It's also paraben free which is a bonus.

Tresemmé Platinum Strength Deep Conditioning Treatment: My go to hair mask at the moment. My hair is pretty damaged so I use this every time I wash my hair (every two days) to help strengthen it. I've definitely noticed an improvement, my hair is a lot healthier these days! 

Organic Argan Oil with Liquid Gold: A little drop of this rubbed into the ends of hair after blow drying, helps keep my hair soft, and is strengthening it too. Every now and then I coat my hair in this for twenty minutes before I get in the shower, like a quick treatment, and it seems to be working!

Rimmel Scandaleyes Eyeshadow Paints: In this boiling hot weather, my makeup is just melting off my face, but not these bad boys. These stay put all day, and I've been reaching for them every morning. Read my full review here.

Urban Fudge Iced Raspberry and Vanilla Hair Spray: The best hold of any hair spray I've ever used. I've been wearing my hair up a lot because of the heat and this ensures my hair stays put all day (and all night if I forget to take the 4000 grips out). If I'm wearing my hair down, I spritz my brush with this and then brush my hair through with it, to prevent static and frizz, and to make my hair smell good, because this stuff smells heavenly. 

Real Techniques Expert Face Brush: I've been using this to apply my base, since it gives better coverage than the buffing brush, and I've been using lighter coverage foundations. This brush is also great for blending in concealer, and using bronzer to contour your face, since the shape of the brush means it sits perfectly in the hollows of my cheeks. I could probably go away and take just this brush for base, bronzer, concealer, blush & highlighter. Yes I know it needs a wash.

Avene Eau Thermale: Since going on the underground these days is like getting into a bath with Satan, this has been my best friend. My boyfriend thinks I'm ridiculous but I honestly wouldn't get on the tube without this at the moment. It's instant cool refreshment and it doesn't ruin your makeup. Perfect.

Sleek Sweet Cheeks Blush By 3: I haven't been wearing a ton of makeup, but this has made the cut quite a lot. I really love this blush palette, you can read my full ramblings on it here.

Revenge Wears Prada - Lauren Weisberger: Lastly, I love nothing more than a trashy chic lit book to read when it's hot, and this ticks all my boxes. Fashion, drama, relationships, the lot. Anyone who loved the first book should pick this up.

That was longer than I expected it to be! What have you been loving recently?

Haul - The Birthday Beauty Edition

So here's the deal. Stop a shopaholic from shopping for a month, and when they do, it'll be bad. Add birthday presents and birthday money into the mix and it all gets a little messy.

I wanted to show you guys what I got for my birthday yesterday, but I got a fair bit since my relatives and friends are way too generous. So I thought I'd split it into beauty & other, you can see the beauty stuff today, and later on in the week I'll show you the rest! So here goes nothing...

First up, the Quick Fix Facials Mega Moisture Gel Mask for dry and thirsty skin. I picked this up on a complete whim, purely because I wanted to try it out. It's got Vitamin E and Marine Collagen to rehydrate your skin. I'm gonna give it a whirl in the bath tonight, so I'll let you know how that goes. I've run out of foundation, so I picked up the Rimmel Match Perfection foundation in 100 ivory. I really liked the Wake Me Up foundation, but it wasn't quite light enough for my skin tone, so I thought I'd give this a whirl! The Percy and Reed Colour Shine conditioner came free with this months Glamour, I've used their styling creme before and really liked it, so I'm looking forward to using this! It smells lovely and fresh! My lovely little sister got me Vera Wang Lovestruck for my birthday, and I love it! I'm rubbish at describing fragrances, but this is a very light, floral scent, that is perfect for summer and wearing in the day! It literally has the worlds biggest lid though so I don't think it'll be in my handbag often! 

I picked up the Maybelline Fit Me powder when I got the Foundation, since they were on 3 for 2. I've heard really good reviews of this powder it's in a really cute compact with a mirror and a sponge, which I will probably never use, but it was a nice thought! I still picked up the Rimmel Stay Matte powder though, because it's just brilliant, and I've hit the pan on my last one! I think that's the first time I've ever hit the pan on anything! I did pick it up in Peach Glow 003 instead of Transulscent 001 this time, and now I'm really not sure why, it looks really pinky and my skins got more yellow undertones...so we'll see! 

Under the guidance of my boyfriend, my mum picked me up the YSL Shocking Volume Effect mascara, which I nearly peed my pants with excitement on opening. I got a sample of this mascara with my Touche Eclat last year and have been lusting after it ever since. THIS IS LITERALLY THE BEST MASCARA EVER. NO SERIOUSLY. HANDS DOWN. YSL are really screwing me over though, since the mascara came with a sample of foundation, and now I really want that too... I feel myself following a gold brick road of YSL love...

I've run out of Seche Vite and can't find it in Bournemouth any where, so I picked up the Maybelline Super Stay Gel Nail colour top coat. I've wanted to try a gel topcoat for a while so I'll let you know if it's any good after I've done my nails tonight! 

Next up is my naughty NARS purchase. I knew going into Space NK was a bad decision. When I've come to terms with that purchase, I'll tell you more. I feel a very long blog post coming up! 

Then there are two more hair products, The Living Proof hair primer which I got for free from Space NK since it was my birthday! And I picked up the V05 Give Me Texture Tousle spray, to see if I can make my hair look nice without extensions. Fingers crossed. 

Finally got my hands on the Real Techniques Face brush set courtesy of mummy dearest. Can't believe how long I lasted without them, these are amazing! I picked up another Collection Lasting Perfection Concealer, because I ran out and it's another, I can't live without product! I picked up this months Look magazine, purely to try out the Jergens Ultra Healing Body Moisturiser that came with it, I love Jergens moisturisers, and I'm keen to try this out. 

Estée from Essiebutton has been going on about the Maybelline colour tattoos for so long that I just had to pick one up in the 3 for 2 deal, so I got On and On Bronze. It's a gorgeous colour which I can see myself wearing everyday! I picked up the L'Oreal Nude Magique BB Blush out of curiosity, since it's a really, well, weird product. I actually really like it and will be doing a post on it soon so keep your eyes peeled!

And lastly, not only did my naughty boyfriend pick me up the MAC Mineralize Lipstick in All Out Gorgeous, which I have been lusting after for ages, but he also got me a giant bottle of Police Woman, which is an amazing fragrance, in a seriously cool bottle!

After I took all these pictures, I actually went into Lush and I figured it would be rude not to mention these bits too! I actually went in to buy more Let The Good Times Roll but it's been discontinued, I nearly cried. I'm so gutted, it was my favourite cleanser! 

I'm embracing having a bath for the next month, so I picked up two bath bombs, Phoenix Rising (left) and Avabath (right). Phoenix Rising is my favourite, it's deep purple with gold glitter and I think it smells like coca-cola. Either way it's very pretty! Avabath is made from Avocado and Lemongrass, and it smells beautiful! Whilst I was queuing to pay I saw the A Million Kisses Lip tint, and picked it up to keep in my handbag. It looks super deep red in the pot, but you can wear it to just lightly stain your lips pink, or for a full flash of colour. This is going in my handbag for sure!

Phew, so there you have it!

What do you think of the products I picked up?

What's on my Face: The Birthday Edition!

Happy birthday to me! Gah, I'm nineteen, I feel so old! 

I've had a great day, done a fair bit of shopping and had lots of lovely presents, so at some point this week I'll show you what I got, but for today, just a quick my daily face post! 

This is kinda my go to look at the moment for day to day stuff!

So I start off with Benefit Porefessional and That Gal primers mixed together to create a dewy, yet long wearing base. I mix the two on my hand and then use my fingers to smooth it over my skin. I'm currently testing out the YSL Teint Touche Eclat foundation, in shade B10. This is a great gel based foundation that's got medium coverage and stays put all day. I use the Real Techniques Pointed foundation brush to apply this, I'm currently in love with this brush! 

Concealer wise, I use the Illamasqua Under Eye Concealer to mask those tell-tale bags from a sleepless night. I use the Real Tech. Detailer brush to apply it, and then blend it out with my fingers. It's a great concealer for brightening up the area, it doesn't give much coverage though! I'm still loving the MAC Studio Finish concealer for any blemishes, and around my nose area.

After that, I dust Rimmel's Stay Matte Powder in Translucent over my face to set, with the Real Tech Buffing brush. Love this stuff. Nothing else to say!

I did a little contouring today, using the Real Tech Contour brush to blend Elf's Warm Bronzer and MAC Archie's Girls Pearlmatte Face Powder in Flatter Me into my cheeks. Are you picking up a love for Real Tech yet?

Face done and I move onto the eyes. Using Benefit's Stay Don't Stray as a base, I cover my lid in NARS Frosted Ginger with my MAC 215 brush. This is a limited edition brush so I don't know if it's still available, but I love it! I then use the Real Tech Deluxe Crease brush to blend Shimmering Copper into the crease. Finish with lashings of my new YSL Shocking mascara (review coming soon).

Then, out comes the scary looking MAC Mineralize Lipstick in All Out Gorgeous. For a night out I'd swish this all around my lips nice and heavy, but for a day look I pat it gently into my lips, and use my Body Shop lip brush to even out the colour. 

Finish with a spritz of MAC Fix+!

What's your go to daily makeup routine?