A-Z Of My Favourite Beauty Brands!

A is for: Avene - one of the first french skincare brands I tried and I find their gentle cleanser to be amazing when my eczema breaks out!

B is for: Benefit and Bourjois - great foundations, nice packaging, widely available.

C is for: Caudalie! I adore Caudalie as none of their skincare products irritate my skin. I also love the brand Clarisonic and I do love my Clarisonic Mia.

D is for: Dior! I have been hooked on Dior since I bought my first Dior Mascara (Diorshow waterproof) and I have since bought a couple of large Dior travel exclusive palettes. Also Dove has to be included here as it is one of my favourite body/bath brands.

E is for: Eucerin - I love their 10% urea lotion for when my skin gets flaky and very dry and of course I have to metion ELF here as they make some great, cheap makeup although there are some awful products too.

F is for:.....

G is for: GHD - I have a pair of GHD straighteners which I used to use a lot but I prefer to embrace the curls, although they are the best straighteners I have used and the GHD Opulence Hair Mask is fantastic.

H is for:.....

I is for: Illamasqua - a great brand that produces high quality (and slightly quirky) products; I love the Illamasqua Light Liquid Foundation in the shade LF120 which is the only match for my paler than paler skin right now!

J is for:.....

K is for: Kiko, since I spent 40 euros in one Kiko store (in about ten minutes) I have been addicted to the brand Kiko - it is an Italian brand but they do ship to the UK - I love their lip pencils, eye shadows, nail polish etc.

L is for: Lush, of course! I adore Lush - I have a Lush draw...

 (L'Occitane and Lancome have to be included here too)

M is for: MAC, I have quite a few things from MAC on my beauty wish list and I only have few things from MAC but I love my MAC Moisture Cover Concealer (shade NW15).

N is for: Nars; I love my Nars Velvet Lip Pencil in the shade Dolce Vita, my Nars Pro-Prime Eyelid Primer, my Nars Bellissima Eyeshadow Duo and my Nars Bronzer in the shade, you guessed it, Laguna!

O is for: Original Source - they make great (and great smelling) shower gels that are so cheap!

P is for: Prada, in particular their Prada Infusion D'Iris which is my joint favourite perfume of all time - along with L'Occitane Cherry Blossom.

Q is for:.....

R is for: Rimmel, the essential brand for secondary school girls - all of my friends had Rimmel makeup while at secondary school and I still use some of their products now such as the Stay Matte Powder.

S is for: Simple - I have been using Simple skincare products for at least three years now and I will continue to use them - some products are amazing but others can irritate my skin (Soap & Glory also have to be included in this one!)

T is for: Tweezerman; I have three items from Tweezerman that I adore. Firstly, the amazing Tweezerman Browmousse which is the only product that keeps my brows from being mistaken as a jungle. The other two product are the 10x magnification mirror which is great for tweezing and the Tweezerman Tweezers themselves (mine have ladybugs on!)

U is for:.....

V is for: Vichy - the Vichy 3 in 1 Calming Cleansing Micellar Solution - it is just as amazing as Bioderma, in my opinion.

W is for: Wella - in particular their Clear Scalp Mask which is the only product I have used that gets rid of dandruff completely!

X is for:.....

Y is for: Yves Rocher; they make gorgeous bath, body and fragrance products! Although I wish the products were more available in the UK. I also love my YSL Parisienne perfume.

Z is for:.....

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Selfridges Lucky Bag!

I remember as a child being obsessed with the Clarie's Accessorises goody bag which was about £5 and it contained a range of unknown products - this is the adult beauty version! I was really excited about this product and when I saw it on the Selfridges website I ordered one almost immediately. 

The lucky bag contains at least five beauty must haves and it is priced at £15 (£4.95 UK delivery). The delivery time for Selfridges is great from my experience; although I think the delivery price is too high!

The first item that was in my Selfridges lucky bag is: Inner Me Lustrous Locks Vitamin Complex (RRP: £15, 28 tablets). I have a problem with swallowing tablets of any kind and I have tried one of these and I don't like them - I hate tablets. So I will not be using these and if anyone wants to buy them you can email me at: heathernixon4@hotmail.co.uk. 

The other items I received include: St. Tropez Everyday Body Moisturiser, Medium to Dark (50ml travel size, RRP £10-14). I have another bottle of this that I am not using because it is too dark for my pale skin (I received the first bottle with Elle magazine). So this lucky bag is looking very disappointing with two products now that I cannot use! The other two items in my bag include a pack of tissue and a duck lip balm - a £15 bag and they give me tissues and a duck lip balm! The duck lip balm is ridiculous as the actual balm is in the ducks...arse, and you cannot get to the lip balm without using a lip balm or cotton bud. 

The last two items in my bag where a bit better than the awful products before. Firstly, a Blink Gift Card for an Eyebrow Shape which sounds great but there is no indication as to how much the gift card is worth! The last products is the only product I was excited about and it is the Dermalogica Daily Microfoliant (£20-38) which sounds great and I am looking forward to using it. 

Overall, I love the idea of a beauty lucky bag but I am disappointed with this bag as there are only two products that I like - and I cannot believe that they included a pack of tissues and a ridiculous duck lip balm in the bag! 

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Magazine Freebies: December Issues

The first magaine I bought this month is Glamour UK which contains four free Nails Inc polishes (10ml) each which is full size! I bought the pale pink shade called 'Elizabeth Street'. I tried this polish today and it did look streaky as it was applied and after it had dried it was a little bit streak. Also with just one coat it was really sheer and I could clearly see my nails through the polish - a bit disappointing. 

The second magazine is Marie Claire Uk which isn't a magazine I buy normally unless there is a a good freebie in it - like this month. This months Marie Claire freebie is the Jemma Kidd Instant Lift Skin Perfecting Primer which I haven't tried yet but it looks good.

The last magazine is Elle UK which I didn't buy for the freebie as I do not shop at Dune but the freebie is a £20 gift card for Dune - but on boots only. Not a freebie I will use but I always buy Elle magazine. 

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Recent Bargain Buys #1

I have been loving the recent bargains online over the past three or so weeks; so naturally I had to get some of the deals on offer! Some are from Debenhams, Cheapsmells.co.uk, Urban Outfitters, Superdrug, Topshop and latestinbeauty.co.uk.

I found an amazing offer on Debenhams (which isn't running now unfortunately) where: if you bought anything from Rodial you would automatically get a FREE FULL SIZE DRAGONS BLOOD EYE GEL! how could I pass on this amazing offer, especially as I have been wanting to try the Rodial Dragons Blood range for a while now. I bought a set of mini Rodial products in order to get the eye gel which should have been around £40 on its own! The set is labelled at £35 but I only paid £20 which was great!

A few other little bargains where from Urban outfitters (photograph on the left). Urban Outfitters are having a sale on now and I bought a couple of patriotic items (I am not very patriotic though but they look great). I bought a pack of hand wipes (very interesting I know!) which are cherry scented and they where only £1.50. The limited edition chapstick was also only £1.50 (free delivery too). I also bought a couple of new lip balms (because I need more to add to my collection...) I bought the new raspberry lemonade blistex lip balm, a softlips french vanilla lip balm and I finally bought a Korres Lip Butter Stick in the shade 'rose'.

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September & October Favorites!

Today is a bit of an unusual post as it is a september and october favourites post - and a cheeky August favourites at the end too as firstly, I have been busy and a bit lazy because of university and secondly, I have been using a lot of the same products for the past three months! For example, I have been using the same foundation (almost constantly) for the past three months and the same mascara, foundation brush, moisturiser and eyeshadow quad!

Firstly, base products; I have been loving the Real Techniques Expert Face Brush (£9.99) for the past three or so months - I took this brush on holiday with me in August too. I love the brush because it is incredibly smooth and soft on the skin and it applies/blends the majority of my foundations like a dream! The foundation that I have been using the most over the past three months has been my Illamasqua Light Liquid Foundation; I bought this foundation in the Illamasqua sale back in July for only £10. I wear the shade LF120 which is a fantastic match for my skin as I am really quite pale at the moment. I took this foundation with me on holiday too back in August and it worked well, although I had to set it with a fair amount of powder to stop it from running off my face! The foundation has light coverage, it makes my skin tone more even and it has a gorgeous finish - it makes my skin look luminous and 'lit from within' but it doesn't make my skin look dewy or greasy! 

Now onto some skincare (and haircare) favourites of mine for the past three months. Firstly, Nuxe Reve De Miel Stick Lip balm (£5.50). During the month of August I was using my Caudalie lip balm then in September I ran out of the Caudalie balm and I started using my Nuxe lip balm - and I have to say it is not as good as the Caudalie version. I like the Nuxe lip balm, it is one of my favourites, but the caudalie balm is richer and more hydrating. A new favourite product which I received at the beginning of October is a lip balm from Rodial - Rodial Glam Balm Lip which is a sample size that I received as part of a kit. This lip balm is just gorgeous and so intensive; I only use it at night because it is a small sample and I don't want to got through it so quickly as the full size is priced at £19! The lip balm is great as a kind of night treatment for my lips and in the morning my lips will be incredibly smooth and soft - ready for lipstick and liner! 

The second favourite skincare product is the Mama Mio Mighty Moisture Moisturiser which is a 15ml sample I received (using a code during August) with a feelunique order. I took this on holiday with me in August and I have been using it on and off ever since! This moisturiser is smooth, rich and it leaves my skin feeling very smooth, soft and hydrated - it doesn't irritate my skin either, even though it does smell of lavender. I have nearly finished this moisturiser and I am considering buying the full size although it is very expensive, I will have to seen if it is on offer anywhere.

Two of the final favourites are from the month of October and include my Lancome Cleansing fluid (£34, 400ml) which is just incredible! The cleansing fluid smells heavily of mens aftershave/cologne but it doesn't irritate my skin at all! In fact when I have a tiny outbreak of eczema I use this and the next day the eczema is so much better (although this works only with my very minor eczema breakouts). So I am very surprised with the results from the Lancome cleansing milk and when this bottle is finished I WILL have to buy another! 

My last favourite product is from my September Jolie Box and it is...Twistbands! Twistbands are hair bands/hair ties/bobbles and they are supposed to be gentle on the hair and not create a kink in the hair. I have been using mine only while in the house as I wouldn't wear those colours outside! With my hair the twistbands actually stay in really well (in a pony or a bun) and they do feel really gentle on my hair - but they don't stay in all day and they can create a kink/line in my hair. 

....and a very late August favourites which may be useful to those of you lucky enough to be somewhere warm now - unlike England where it is freezing and raining with the possibility of snow!

The products that I was using on holiday and through out the month of august have been almost the same as the products that I have been using for the months of September and October - expect the Caudalie body lotion (empty), the Kiko highlighter (£5.20, sale) and the Tweezerman brow mousse (empty). Although the majority of the products have been the same for the past three months but while on holiday I did have to set my Illamasqua Light Liquid foundation with a good amount of powder otherwise it would look really shiny. The Soap and Glory quad in the shade 'Whats nude' has been a favourite product of mine since I bought it early last year! 

What are your favourite products for October/Autumn?

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October Empties: Candles & Fragrance Samples

As the nights have been getting darker sooner, the leaves are falling from the trees like autumnal hued confetti I have been using a lot more candles as at this time of year it is nice and homely to have candles burning, in my opinion anyway. I have five Yankee Candle Samplers that I have burned fully to share with you and I also have a couple of perfume/fragrance samples that I have used up too. Firstly, the Yankee candle samplers:

 

I have been loving candles right now, especially Yankee candle samplers but some of them have been a lot better than others. The first scent is ‘Greek Fig and Blackcurrant’ which is not very widely available and I bought this scent some time last year. I like the scent but it is far too subtle! The scent is almost undetectable and in turn the scent throw/dispersion is very poor also. Another Yankee candle scent that I have been disappointed with is ‘Autumn Leaves’ which sounds nice but to me this sampler just smells like generic potpourri and the scent strength/dispersion are quite average. Yet another Yankee Candle disappointment is the scent ‘Country Lemonade’ which again sounds nice but the scent is really subtle, it is not noticeable at all really which is really quite disappointing. The scent strength/dispersion is really poor, in my opinion, although it does looking nice when it is burning.

Now onto the two Yankee candle samplers that I was very impressed with; first is the Yankee Candle sampler in the scent ‘Creamy Caramel’. This scent is just gorgeous, it smells like toffee, butterscotch and caramel and it smells really quite similar to the Yankee Candle Danish Butter Cookie candle that I love. Overall, this scent is divine; the scent strength is good and it has a great scent dispersion/throw. The second candle from Yankee candle that was quite impressive is ‘Café Au Lait’ which I didn’t know if I was going to like as I do like the scent of coffee but not bitter coffee. This scent is not bitter at all though, it smells like a creamy latte with a sprinkling of chocolate onto. The scent is amazing, the scent strength/dispersion is good but it could be better – overall a great candle!

Now onto the two fragrance/perfume samples I have used up include: Taylor Swifts Wonderstruck perfume and the new fragrance from Hugo Boss ‘Boss Nuit’. Firstly, wonderstruck by Taylor swift is not a fragrance I would have wanted to try given the disgusting bottle design and the fact that I don’t  like her music (disgusted faces from some people right now at aimed at me I know). Although I really like her perfume; it is a lot more unique than I thought it was going to be and it is quite sweet but musky as well. Overall, it is really nice but the longevity on me was not great; it lasted about four to five hours on me. Secondly, Hugo Boss Nuit; I received this as a free sample with and online order and I have mixed opinions about this fragrance. I like it because it is a sophisticated evening fragrance but I find that it is too musky for me personally and as with the wonderstruck perfume, this didn’t last very long on me either – this fragrance lasted three to four hours on my skin.

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