The Best of 2014

Dare I say it the year of 2014 absolutely flew in (although some parts did drag a little), something I realise is becoming more common as I'm getting older unfortunately and there were plenty of ups and downs so I'm happy to have a restart in 2015. If you read my blogiversary post (link here) you'll know 2015 is a big year in terms of things happening and I couldn't be more excited for them to play out. 2014 was a massive year beauty and skincare wise as I branched out a heck of a lot more than usual so I thought I'd share a few of my favourite things. 

Skincare is something I hold my hands up about, until last year I didn't have a proper routine and I didn't know how bad my skin was so at the start of 2014 I told myself that would be fixed, and it was!

The Body Shop has some amazing products and between their Camomile Sumptuous Cleansing Butter and their Tea Tree Facial Wash my skin has improved and then some! Both are incredible and well loved for a reason, the tea tree fights blemishes and spots (which everybody gets) and the cleanser makes my skin silky smooth - what a duo! I also invested in more face masks and I now have a whole drawer full to get through so I'm well set for this year and this Quick Fix mask was one of the first I'd tried, one of the cheapest and one of the best so I thought it needed a mention. Soap & Glory is another brand that I've been loving this year and not just for its unique smell, the products actually work and smell gorgeous as well, plus the pink packaging definitely makes everything more fun.

2014 was also the year that Babylips and the Revlon Colourburst Balms arrived and I'm ever so glad that they did, I always have my trusted Cherry Me in my handbag for on the move and my Revlon matte balm in Sultry which is probably my most used lip colour ever and you're probably all sick of hearing me raving about it but its gorgeous! I also discovered The Body Shop's Honey Bronzer which I wrote a post about a long time ago now (link here) but basically it caters for paler gals as well which is so hard to find in the drugstore these days.

Also I had to give a shout out to my Collection concealer which will probably be with me until I'm old and grey - its incredible and I still haven't find a concealer up to par with this and trust me I've tried a fair few. I also tried a few bases cause you know its all about that base and the Bourjois Healthy Mix Serum (the gel version, not the foundation) really stood out in the drugstore. I'm usually a Rimmel foundation gal so this was definitely a bit of a change up but a good one at that, I always wear it to work and know it won't fade.

I also took the plunge this year and bought things higher end a few times as a little treat, one of them being a YSL lipstick. I'd wanted one for ages but couldn't justify the price but in the end I gave myself one final pep talk and pressed 'add to basket' and I'm so glad I did - the formula is amazing and it looks stunning. My absolute gem of a beauty favourite of this year has to be the Estee Lauder Double Wear Foundation though, I know its a bit of a love / hate depending on your preference on coverage but for me I absolutely love the fact that it won't budge for 12+ hours plus and its pale enough for my pale skin! A tad pricey (as are most foundations) but I will definitely keep repurchasing it! That's them all, hope you enjoyed it!

Thanks for reading, Jenny xo
P.s what are your absolute favourites of 2014?

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September Favourites

September has been and gone so quickly and Octobers right around the corner, that and with being on a spending ban (you can read about it here) I've had more time this month to have a good old hoke around in my room and use things that I would have previously forgotten about. Now I'm usually all for two favourite posts: beauty & non beauty but this month I'm combining them, I just haven't loved that much, plus I've been enjoying a few days away from blogging and finding new inspiration for posts but next month, I promise two posts.

The first favourite and probably the best of the month is The Maze Runner by James Dashner, I really wanted to read this before the movie comes out, nine times out of ten I can't read the book after I've seen the movie because then it sort of spoils the book, I like reading everything for the first time and getting lost in it all. I'm about halfway through at the minute and then I'll be on to book two, The Scorch Trails but I'm really liking it so far and its making me more excited for the movie which comes out next week I think, starring Dylan O'Brien (Teen Wolf fans will relate, what a cutie), Kaya Scodelario, Will Poulter and Thomas Sangster - fab casting!

Also on the non beauty front I've been using the Soap and Glory Flake Away travel sized tub to use it all up, it smells amazing, S&G know their scents and the product works wonders as an exfoliator. In fact when its used up completely (theres a little bit left atm) I might just have to pick up the bigger sized tub from Boots. My everyday go to perfume has been One Direction's Our Moment, I have too many perfumes to be normal and I'm trying to use them all up and this I've discovered is one of my favourites. It's the cutest bottle and has a fruity scent which I can't stop spritzing everywhere and I'm sure once I smell it their latest perfume You and I will be on the Christmas list ;) Another favourite of the month related to One Direction is their two newest songs released this month from their upcoming album FOUR, Fireproof and Steal My Girl, they're both a bit folky but I love them and if you haven't heard them, have a listen on Youtube :)

As for Beauty favorites I've been loving pink, can you tell? The Revlon kissable balm stain in Honey is so well loved all the packaging has rubbed off, I simply apply this right before I leave the house and I don't have to worry about it ending up all over the place, it stays put all day, isn't drying and is just an all round nice nude-y colour. My second lipstick is more of a coral-ly, its Crosswires by MAC, it has the classic mac smell which makes it amazing in itsef and although I wasn't too sure about the colour originally I absolutely love it once its applied and it hasn't been off my lips since, well worth a swatch. From MAC I've also been using their prep+prime skin visage sample and I've noticed a massive difference in my makeup, my opinion on primers has changed thanks to this little one and lastly on my nails I've had MUA's nail polish in Ameretto Crush and for a £1 I can't fault this, it hasn't chipped and I've had it on for a good few days and its a nice colour, I just don't feel like its time to crack out the purples and blacks yet - hopefully this sunshine lasts a bit longer, anyways thats all my favourites for this month :)

Thanks for reading, Jenny xo
P.s What have you been loving through September, beauty, books, tv shows, new songs?

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Revisit: Revlon Lip Butters

Whenever these little lip butters were released last year I wasn't all that fussed to say the least, I mean I picked up two just to see what all the hype was but they didn't really do much for me. Several months later and you're lucky if the darker shade Macarroon is ever out of my handbag and my opinions on them have changed entirely. Shocking, I know! 

I'm not really a pink or coral coloured kind of lip girl and until now so long ago, I loved darker berry and purple shades (just not TOO dark), yes that's a thing. Originally I picked up the Macarroon shade as I thought a lot of the colours wouldn't really show up and since I have quite minimalist makeup usually I tend to count on my lip colour for that bold statement and after trying it a couple of times I set it in my makeup drawer and it was forgotten about. 

Then one day I reached in as I'd run out of lip balm and thought this might work and low and behold it was perfect, I didn't want a dramatic look and this is simply a slightly darker than your lips but extra moisturising and glossy (without being sticky)... I didn't think it was possible. Now its more or less my go to if I'm just popping out for a bit and want something simple, so when I went shopping a few weeks ago I decided to expand my collection and pick up Tutti Frutti. As I said coral or orange are not my colours and I never really had the confidence to try them out BUT I picked it up anyways and surprisingly its lovely - my housemate picked this up and it didn't look too scary on her so I thought what the heck I might as well give it a go. 

The other shade in my collection, the pinkier option Strawberry Shortcake was a blogger and youtube favourite for ages and on their recommendation I picked it up, bearing in mind this was months ago. This however doesn't really do anything for me, as its so pale I feel like it just washes me out but I'll be sure to give it another chance during the Spring and Summer months if I ever manage to get a bit of colour. All three are super moisturisig as I already mentioned and provide that perfect glossy look and therefore are perfect for the upcoming months when you want a little bit of colour on your lips but not too much. 

Thanks for reading, Jenny xo      

Tag // I heart drugstore makeup

I think I may have mentioned in a post before how often I'm drawn to tag videos on YouTube and the same goes for blog posts, I see the word tag and I'm a goner. This being said, I shock horror, haven't wrote any tag posts of my own in the whole 4 odd months of blogging which is crazy. Since it's so overdue and I'm midst revision stress I thought it seemed fitting. The one for today as you may have guessed from the title is the 'I heart makeup' tag.
  

1. What is your favourite high street brand over all? 
This is a tough one, my favourite brands usually depend on who has the best releases and how much I've fallen in love with their new products which ranges from practically anyone but overall I'd have to say Rimmel, everything I own of theirs is wonderful.

2. What are your favourite face, cheeky and lip products? 

My go to foundations would surprise surprise be either the Rimmel Match Perfection or the Rimmel Wake Me Up Foundation, just depending on what type of coverage I'm in the mood for or more importantly how generous my skin is being that day. Any drugstore makeup for your face wouldn't be complete without the use of the famous Collection concealer as well.

For cheeks I'm not really the biggest fan, I could easily go out with just foundation or concealer on but lately I've been making a conscious effort to try and my blush collection has seriously expanded! The MUA mosaic blush on one end of the drugstore scale is lovely and poses as a shimmery highlight too.

As for lips, I'm soo torn between the Rimmel Kate Moss lipsticks both matte and normal and the new Revlon Matte colourburst balms, can you tell I like matte? and crayons? Both are unbelievable and if I had to narrow it down even further the Revlon crayon Sultry is my absolute favourite.

3. What is your least favourite high street product? 

In general lipglosses, I'm just not a lipgloss kind of girl, I have a couple that I've purchased from different brands but again none of them have seemed to change my opinion.

4. What is your favourite makeup bargain?

Although I rarely venture into Superdrug anymore, curse my lack of free time MUA is still the cheapest and has the most surprising quality products. Overall my favourite would be the mua eyeshadow palettes or my trusty eyebrow pencil which is only £1, crazy I know! Also it'd be silly of me not to mention my baby lips in cherry me, I feel lost if I leave the house without it.

5. What is your favourite underdog product? something you love that often gets overlooked

I know that they were released absolute years ago but the Collection cream puff is a firm favourite of mine in the shade Fairy Cake, its matte and a little drying but if you prep your lips with some vaseline just before its not a problem. Its the absolute perfect colour and rarely needs a top up, even after eating.

6. What product do you find overpriced? 

Mascaras! In the drugstore you're lucky if you find one under £7 that actually does what its meant to do, its frustrating really because I don't have dark lashes and can't get away without wearing it. That and I haven't found my perfect mascara yet so please feel free to leave recommendations.

7. Your best bargain dupe? 
Either the MUA eyeshadow palette in heaven and earth for the naked palette or else the Rimmel Kate Moss Matte lipstick in 107 for Macs Rebel. Both amazing dupes!

8. What high street beauty product do you think isn't worth the hype? 

This is probably going to be an unpopular one but the Barry M Gelly nail polishes did absolutely nothing for me at all, there was so much hype that I left it a while and when Boots had a cheeky 3 for 2 on I picked one up. I thought they would be amazing but it was probably one of the worst polishes for staying on my nails, I think it chipped within 2 days and it had like 3 coats or something. Dissappointing because I'd tried their normal range of polishes and loved them, weird!

Thanks for reading, Jenny xo
p.s feel free to do this tag yourselves or let me know what your drugstore favourites are! 

April Favourites

At first I didn't think I'd had that many favourites this month and that I would be able to combine my beauty and non beauty faves instead of doing two separate posts as usual. Therefore this is going to be a pretty long one, I'm sorry, you might want to pop the kettle on and have a cuppa at the ready before you start. 

As you know if you read my other posts I went on a University fieldtrip to 

Cyprus two weeks ago and so I had to pack some beauty essentials, read: half my case full. Whenever I'm on holiday I barely wear any makeup but since I was going with my friends it was a bit different, I found myself reaching for my Maybelline BB Cream all the time as it gave me just the right amount of coverage, was surprisingly a really good colour match for me and the best part it had an SPF of 15. Therefore hand in hand with this was my 17 concealer with was perfect for covering the odd blemish or two and those dark circles after a late night. 

The entirety of the trip I had my nails painted in the new Barry M Aquarium polish in Mediterranean and considering the work we were doing I was surprised that they didn't even chip once - thats a first and in fact when I came home if I hadn't of taken the nail polish off myself goodness knows how long it would have lasted. Talking about space earlier I decided to cut down a little and brought my sleek face form with me instead of individual bronzers, blushes and highlighter - this little trio is definitely a life saver and I was constantly reaching for it, more so than normal.

As for my lip product of choice I wanted a pop of colour as my base makeup and usually eyes were kept quite neutral and so my trusted and favourite Revlon lip crayon in Unapologetic was constantly in my bag. The last beauty related product that I've been loving is the L'oreal Tangle Teaser for kids, this may be a bit of an odd choice but when I go on holiday the heat destroys my hair and especially after a day in the pool its all ratty and horrible which I hate so I bought this to save my hair and it did just that making my life a heck of a lot easier.   

For non beauty favourites for the month of April I had to include Malteaser bunnies, their my all time favourite Easter treat and I don't even want to think about how many I've consumed this past month, I have a weakness for chocolate and they taste superb. The last favourite is the Amazing Spiderman 2 Movie, I couldn't wait for this to come out as I've always been a Spiderman fan from way back when Toby M'Guire had the role but I love Andrew Garfield and Emma Stone just as much therefore I was an emotional wreck. I don't want to spoil it for those who haven't seen it but the ending killed me, bring tissues with you, just saying. Anyways its super :) 

I hope you enjoyed my monthly faves for April, thanks for reading, Jenny xo  

March Favourites;

Every month I tell myself that I'll have my favourites post up before the new month but let's be serious, its very unlikely. The past two weeks have been absolutely nuts with university deadlines and I haven't had a life at all, let alone time for eating and sleeping, I'm like a walking zombie therefore I apologise for the lack of posting. The lack of sleep does look as if its paying off though so far as I'm extremely proud of the marks I've been getting back in my assignments. Again totally off topic and a bunch of rambling before my post (note to self: stop doing this) but alas heres my favourites for March.  

For this month I didn't purchase too many new things but rather rekindled my love for old makeup items in my collection. Usually I would do a beauty favourites and non beauty favourites but this month as I said I haven't had time to do anything which is really annoying. The only non beauty item included in this is my necklace, I picked this up a few weeks ago in Primark (Primark are seriously doing it for me for S/S 2014) I saw it and automatically knew I had to have it, its girly but not too girly and the pastel flowers mean that I can jazz up a plain pastel tshirt or wear it with a dress if I'm going out. Multi-tasker or what! 

As for skincare I've been loving the Soap and Glory Flake Away Body Scrub, it is amazing! It leaves my skin feeling fresh and slightly scented with the original soap and glory smell - what more could you want. I also repurchased my Maybelline The Falsies Mascara, its a bit confusing having about 4 different variations nowadays so I just picked up the original formula as usual but if anyone does know the difference could they please let me know? 

Lipsticks are a serious weakness of mine, I can't go out of the house without applying a lip balm, stick or crayon with gloss being a no go. For class I opt for a nude lip, with a my lips but better look going on and this month I've been loving both the Kate Moss Matte Lipstick in shade 101 which unfortunately had gotten lost for a period of time in my room and one of the new Revlon Colourburst Matte Balms in Sultry. Both are so easy to wear, apply like a dream, are super pigmented and last forever! The smell is also an added bonus for the two of them, Revlon has a slighty minty smell and Rimmel I'm not too sure what it smells like, but nice nonetheless. They're easy to chuck into my handbag and I can see them definitely getting their use in the next couple of months.   

So thats my favourites for March over and done with, if anyone else had some products they just loved be sure to let me know? I love getting product recommendations whether it be skincare, makeup, haircare or beauty related. Also feel free to leave a comment or say hi, I don't bite :)

Thanks for reading, Jenny xo

Mad About Matte

This reviews definitely been a long time coming, I'm sorry! When I first got these little wonders I wanted to wait a while until I'd tried them all out numerous times and either fell in love with them or not. I kind of went a tad crazy with the photos as well but what can I say, the packaging is gorgeous.

When these first came out in the UK I wasn't that excited about the lacquer balms and to this day almost a month and a half later I'm ashamed to say there still isn't one in my collection. As a result when I saw the 3 for 2 in Boots I might have just went ahead and picked up 3 of the matte colour burst balms from Revlon in the nicest colours I could find (and there's a lot, lets just say I took my time in Boots swatching away). I didn't want shades that were that similar so out of the three, I picked a bright  blue based pink in the shade "Showy", a coral in the shade "Unapologetic" and a browny plum shade in "Sultry" - all of which are beautiful on the lips. The packaging of these little balms are great, complete with a twist up bottom aka no stressing over not carrying a sharpener with you at all times which is always a plus if you have an ever expanding makeup case weighing your handbag down. 

Normally I find matte lipsticks quite drying or needing a good bit of work before applying but these don't need anything of the sort - the formula is actually creamy and a safe go to in the mornings when your rushing around. The pigmentation is fabulous as with all other Revlon lip products and often only one application is needed and it keeps in place for hours and hours. Another real bonus is that is has a light peppermint smell, not too noticeable for those who aren't keen on the smell but noticeable enough if you do. I definitely think that everyone should have at least one of these as I've fallen in love with this product and will most likely be purchasing a fair few more from the range, plus with the colour choices there's something for everyone :)

Has anyone else tried any of the matte balms? Or the laquer? Should I finally take the plunge and pick one up? 

Thanks for reading, Jenny xo 

January Beauty Favourites;

Where has the month of January gone? It feels like yesterday that we were celebrating New Years and soon enough it'll be Easter! Throughout the month I've loved using so many products - old and new and had a hard time narrowing them down but I eventually managed to for you lovely readers.

With all this cold weather I've found myself reaching for my Baby Lips Hydrate in the morning to keep my lips in good condition because let's be honest chapped lips are not attractive. I've been using this along with my Revlon Lip Butters and these two lip products together work like a dream, out of the ones I own my favourite shade is Macaroon as it gives colour to the lips but not too much and is super moisturising.

For my face I've found an incredible duo in my Bourjois Healthy Mix Foundation and Wake Me Up Foundation - usually I wouldn't mix my foundations but on a whim I tried it and well it's definitely a winner. As for eye products about halfway through the month I decided to purchase the L'oreal Miss Manga Mascara whilst on offer and I can safely say since then it has been my trusty go to mascara in the morning. It makes my lashes look long and volumized which always helps in the morning when I need to look more awake.

For most of the month I ditched the eyeshadow that I've ever so fond of and decided to bare all wearing just mascara and then eyeliner. This was mainly due to finding my collection eyeliner in a drawer after being thrown in and forgotten about and I felt like I should give it another chance. For being so inexpensive it really does the trick, it creates a lovely look perfect for everyday wear and I seriously love it.

The last thing I've been properly loving is my perfume of the month Taylor Swifts Wonderstruck Enchanted - last Christmas I received Taylor's original perfume Enchanted and loved it so I felt like asking for her second for Christmas was ideal. At first I thought they smelt quite similar but after smelling them again I realised Wonderstruck Enchanted has more of a floral and sweeter smell whereas Enchanted is quite musky - both however smell amazing and I would definitely recommend them! They are such nice everyday perfumes to spritz on and they last throughout the entire day.

These types of my posts (excuse the irony) are one of my favourites to read so I hope you all enjoy reading mine as well. Have you tried anything in January that you've really loved? Let me know :) 

Thanks for reading, Jenny xo 

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