May Favourites

Due to revision and birthday goings on I haven't actually many favourites this month, apart from red velvet brownies, which I have completely gorged myself on in the past two weeks, I only have three, the first being my new blusher, Dallas, by Benefit which was a birthday present from my class.

It's actually the best blusher I own, and has knocked Coralista and Dandelion (coincidentally both Benefit) off of the top spot and works with Hoola (I promise this wasn't going to be a Benefit post!) in an attempt to make me look more human.

Describing colours, tones and especially scents really isn't my forte, but i'll give it a whirl.
It's a plummy toned blush with shimmer, unlike Hoola, and I think the darker colours within the blush help you look more tanned.
And with all Benefit blushes and bronzers, it smells really good.
Always a bonus to have sweet smelling cheeks!

The second is a beautiful bracelet from my one of my oldest pals, L. She had already got me a humongous bottle of champagne but she also gave me this,

It's a bracelet with skulls threaded onto it and I love it, I think it's based on a Links Of London design a few years ago but I adore it!

Last but certainly not least is my beautiful necklace from my godmother, Jill.

There are three charms, a turquoise heart (a colour that always makes me think of her and one of my favourite colours), a little heart with a pearl and a heart tag which she had sweetly got engraved, on one side was my name, and on the other the date of my 18th birthday, I love it so much and have been wearing it non stop!

Make up Bag

My make-up bag is pretty minimal, seeing as I'm at school/college/sixth form, whatever you want to call it, I don't really make an effort, so it's just BB cream and concealer for me on a weekday.

I do realise I am slightly contradicting myself, I relatively recently reviewed Laura Mercier's tinted moisturiser and while I think that it is great, I want something lighter for school and work, meet Garnier's BB cream.




I really like this, the thickness of it makes it feel like you're just putting on a moisturiser but with added coverage, I find that I don't really want to overload my skin to much on a regular basis and so this is perfect, I got a shade medium and I'm normally quite pale but I thought this would give me that "healthy glow" and I've had compliments on my skin since using this.

For my concealer I am a big fan of Maybelline's coverstick (similar) in Ivory for any redness or other blemishes and then I use the blogger famous Collection 2000 Lasting Perfection concealer in 2. I have been through numerous tubes of these and I find them to be so great on pesky under eye circles.




















Blusher wise I only have eyes for Coralista by Benefit, it looks great with a tan and instantly brightens.
Benefit's Hoola is my bronzer of choice and I find it to be really natural looking as it has no shimmer, it basically is a really dark powder and the benefit with these Benefit (sorry... accidental!) boxed blushes/bronzers is that they seem to last for forever, so you get your money's worth.

 


I occasionally use eyeliner and I have found the best to be Colorstay eyeliner by Revlon in Brown as it doesn't come off until you want it off.
I also like to "brighten" my eyes using two eyeliners I found while on holiday in Italy by a brand called KIKO, they were so inexpensive and just as I was running out, they opened up a shop in Westfield Stratford, luckily they have now got an online store for the UK, the blue eyeliner is here, shade 809 and I like to put this on the outer corners of my lower lash line. The pearly white eyeliner is this, which I put along my inner lower lash line.

The eyeshadow is by Natural Collection and is in the colour Barley, I couldn't find it online, but they should have it in a local Boots. The gold is really flattering on my green/blue eyes and looks great with a tan and black liquid eyeliner.

 

 After curling my eyelashes I use Estee Lauder's mascara which lengthens and stays put until I want to take it off, which is perfect!

For my lips I just use Benefit's Benetint Lipbalm which I reviewed here in my January Favourites.

A Couple of January Favourites

I am not the biggest fan of spicy food, this could be down to my mother thinking she had roasted a sweet pepper, me wolfing it down and realising that it was not a sweet pepper at all, it was, in fact, a yellow chilli and I wrongly drank so much water that I felt ill.

These, on the other hand are delicious, they are peanuts that have been coated in something with nori or other and then rolled in wasabi powder and they are incredibly morish, hence why the packet is only half full as I had already tucked in.
 

I got mine from the local food hall, but these are the closest that Amazon have.
 

Next up is my favourite lipbalm from Benefit which is half price in their sale!

The balm is sheer so it's great for those who, like me, aren't bold enough to wear a full red lip, and when you know its SPF 15, moisturising and smells of roses, you can't really go wrong, especially for the sale price of £7.

 The fact that both products are by Benefit is completely accidental but "That Gal" is great, again, and I think this is the same with most Benefit products, it smells delish, like raspberries.

It's marketed as an illuminating primer, but I also like to put it on my cheek and brow bones for extra "light"

 

This could be seen as an odd favourite, but this is about both the brand and the jumper.

Beyond Retro is a company who sell vintage clothes and accessories, now I'm a huge fan of thick, warm jumpers, and I get them from these guys. Nearly all of their jumpers are 100% wool and for the quality, they are so inexpensive (mine was £25).

After buying my boyfriend a cream cable knit jumper from them for Christmas, and when it arrived it provoked a great deal of jealousy on my part, I thought I had better get my own.

 

 

 

Apologies for the less than flattering picture, but I wanted to show how it fitted and self-timer really wasn't working out for me!