The Best Of 2012

Finally, it's here! My beauty favourites of 2012. I attempted to upload this post yesterday but blogger and I were having issues adding my photographs, and we all know a post isn't as fun without something nice to look at!

I'll start with my hair favourites first. I've been loving this for a few years now, so it's definitely making an appearance. It's the Batiste Dry Shampoo in Blush. I do like some of the other scents, and I usually stand and sniff them all to see which one I fancy, but recently I've always been going for this scent. I'd really like to try a few other brands of dry shampoo this year, just so I can see which is best, so I'd love for you all to let me know which is your favourite!

Next is another firm favourite in the beauty world, Moroccan Oil. I purchased this from BuyaPowa during the Summer and have used it every single time I've washed my hair and I love it. It makes my hair so silky smooth  and it smells delicious.

Although not featured in my photograph, you're all probably wondering where my Lush shampoo is. That's because I currently have no shampoo bars as I'm using my bottle of Fair Trade Honey from Lush. It's another shampoo I love, but the solid shampoo bars are my favourite, and it's a toss up between Karma and Jumping Juniper.

Shock horror! It's Urban Decay's Naked Palette. I absolutely adore this and I think I'll probably repurchase it once I finish up my favourite colours. I used this every day for months, and it's worked it's way back into my daily routine again.

Urban Decay's Ink For Eyes has been my favourite eyeliner for the year, and I don't actually think they sell it anymore as I haven't seen it in a while. This is a gel eyeliner which comes with a little brush to apply it to your eyes, and it's literally lasted me all year.

This mascara has it's own post because I love it so much, and you can read it by clicking here. FAIRYDROPS has been my favourite mascara since I got the little trial size version in my LashStash collection from Sephora last Christmas. It makes my short, invisible eyelashes super long and it's perfect for me.

One of my absolute favourites of the whole year has been my Mac Pro Longwear Concealer. I thought I'd already written a review on this, but a quick skim through my blog suggests otherwise. I will definitely put one of these up! I'm currently on my third bottle of this since discovering it during the Summer. It gives excellent coverage and I almost use it as a foundation.

Speaking of foundation, after trying a few throughout the year, my favourite has been Chanel's Perfection Lumiere. I had been wanting to try one of the Chanel foundations for months before I finally decided to give it a chance and this is my second bottle. It's the exact same colour as my skin and gives great buildable coverage. If anyone wants a review on this, just let me know!

I literally finished this last week and loved it. It's my Maybelline Dream Fresh BB Cream. I got this as a present during the Summer and have used it every day, and it lasted me such a long time for such a small bottle. This helped smooth my skin before applying my foundation and after using it once, I couldn't go back to applying make up without it.

Another item I loved so much, it got it's own review which you can read here. I don't know how I ever applied my make up without my Real Techniques Stippling Brush. I really could never go back to not using it as it applies my foundation so well and leaves such a nice finish.

I was very careful to keep my lip favourites down, as I could really go overboard with this.

Firstly is my Lush Bubblegum Lip Scrub. I think I'm currently on my third tub of this, and I love it so much that sometimes I just like to eat it. Obviously it has it's own blog post if you want a proper review. Click here!

The Revlon Lip Butter's where a huge hit this year, and I got my hands on quite a few, especially with numerous visits into Boots waiting patiently for them to appear on the shelves. I love all of them, but my favourite has to be Berry Smoothie. They're super moisturising and come in some lovely colours.

This was a hard choice with the EOS lipbalms giving some stiff competition, but I decided that the Maybelline Baby Lips Lip Balm's where my favourite lip balms of the year. Pictured is a brand new one which I haven't tried yet, but I'm currently on my third one and I still can't decide which colour I like best.

For lipstick, I'm choosing Mac Creme Cup which is another product I've reviewed separately. You can read that by clicking here. It's such a nice nude/peachy pink colour and it's also quite moisturising too which is a big bonus!

None of you will be surprised when you see my top three choices in nail polishes, and of course they're American brands.

Firstly is my Jag-u-are nail polish from Essie. This was used largely in the winter months, and you'll have seen it in a few of my Nail of the Day posts around Christmas time.

Another Essie polish, and this time it's Fun in the Gondola. I think I would choose this as my number one nail polish for the year, and I actually have it on my nails right now. It's the exact same colour in the bottle as my Creme Cup lipstick!

Finally, it's Rainbow in the S-Kylie from OPI's Kardashian Collection. I bought this at the start of last year and ended up buying a second bottle during the year just in case I ran out because I loved it that much. I said in a previous post I loved it that much I would give it it's own post, and that is still to come!

That's it for my 2012 favourites, 21 days late, but it's finally up! I'm so excited to try lots of new products throughout this year so if you have any recommendations for me please, please let me know!

August Favourites

Hi everyone! Finally, it's time for my August favourites. I wanted to upload this at the weekend but I didn't have time to take the photographs and then upload them. I still don't really tonight as I should be in bed since I'm up at 5am for work, but I didn't want to leave this too long!

Firstly we'll start with my make up favourites. There's been a few things I've been really loving this month.

I would say my top favourite has been my MAC Pro Longwear Concealer (I wear NC15), paired with my Real Techniques Stippling Brush. This has been my favourite face product in such a long time. It does an amazing job with coverage, and I love the finish the brush leaves. I have a review on the brush itself if you click here. Does anyone want one on the Pro Longwear Concealer? Whether you do or not, I'd highly, highly recommend this!

Lip-wise, I decided to choose just one and I've decided to go with my Revlon Just Bitten Kissable Balm Stain in Lovesick. I got this for my birthday and I love it. It feels like you're putting a marker on your lips, and it has very good staying power. It's also very, very similar to Passionate from the Lush Emotional Brilliance line, but half the price.

My choice of nail polish this month has been from Essie and it's called 'Fun in the Gondola'. I got it in a set of 3 from TKMaxx and I choose the set because of this colour alone. It really doesn't look that pretty in the photograph, but it's a gorgeous pale rose colour. I'm going to post a review of it this week so you can see better photographs, but it looks almost exactly the same colour as the MAC lipstick Creme Cup (the actual lipstick, not when it's on your lips). I didn't even notice this until I was taking photographs of the lipstick to upload a review on and I was wearing the polish.

I've been using Aveeno moisturiser this month and I'd read good things about it. I have pretty dry skin so I need to use a moisturiser on my face at night. If you decide to use this, you only need the tiniest amount or else your face will end up too greasy. It can also be used anywhere else, not just your face!

Another birthday present I got was Angel by Thierry Mugler. I had been wanting this for such a long time, but as it's so expensive I never actually bought it. I was absolutely delighted to receive it from my nanny in a refillable bottle with a lotion and shower gel with it. I used to spray myself with this every single time I went into Debenhams and now I don't have to (but I probably still will anyway!).

Some random favourites now, and again, more birthday presents! I had both of these on my Amazon wish lists so I was so happy to get them. I haven't finished the book yet, but White Girl Problems by Babe Walker is absolutely hilarious so far. I've laughed out loud a few times whilst reading it. If you don't know what it is, it's based on the life of Babe Walker, a rich, spoilt, white girl who lives in LA and believes her life is full of problems. It all started on her twitter page, which I'll link here.

I also got the complete collection so far of The Big Bang Theory. I started watching this on the plane in June and got a bit hooked, so I'm happy that one of my friends bought them all for me, and so excited to start watching it!

I can't even believe it's September already! Not long until Christmas now! My favourite time of year. These are my favourites for the month, and I know it won't be long until I'm doing my September favourites. Is there anything you think I should try? Or is there anything you want to know more about?

Real Techniques - Stippling Brush

I posted last week sometime asking for some advice on which foundation brush I should get and I had a few replies saying I should try one from the Real Techniques range, in particular the Stippling Brush. I had a quick look online to see if I would have to order it, or if there were any stores that sold them. It said that Boots was a stockist and since there's quite a large one in Belfast I decided to try it.

At £11.99, this was less than half the price of the MAC brush I had been considering buying. Considering the price, I wasn't expecting too much from it, but thought I would give it a try anyway.

I use this to apply my MAC Pro Longwear Concealer as I had heard it was good for applying concealer. I put one pump on to the back of my hand and tapped the brush into it. I then applied it to my face in a swirling motion. I was surprised straight away at how well it went on to my skin, because it was actually perfect. It gave me amazing coverage straight away and quite a natural look. I'm not really one for using brushes when it comes to applying foundation/concealer so I can't believe how well it worked, and I'm so pleased that I tried it because I fell in love straight away and won't be able to go back. The only downside that I can see is that when applying without a brush, I only needed one pump of product to get pretty good coverage. If I want to achieve the same coverage, I need two pumps, but one is still adequate, so this isn't really a problem!

I highly recommend everyone to try this if you're looking for a new brush, and I thank Jessica and Ellie for recommending this brand to me!