April Favourites

Although it seems like a lifetime ago, April was a pretty exciting month for me. However, exciting as it was, I was fully burning the candle at both ends, and the tube strikes were my breaking point - I was so exhausted that I thought it best to take a few weeks off from the blog, as something had to give. Exhaustion rant aside, let's talk about the best beauty bits of April.

Blink//Nourishing Brow Oil

Last month, I was introduced to the world of threading. A revelation, I was super pleased with how clean and sharp my brows looked after my appointment at Blink Brow Bar (At The Bluebird in Chelsea, FYI, I would highly recommend). Whilst there, I spoke to the technician about how unhappy I was with my uneven brows. One is less arched than the other and, although it's probably only noticeable to me and brow professionals, I was keen to get them sorted. She told me to use Blink's Nourishing Brow Oil every night and come back to have the shape altered to the way I wanted it. I was a little sceptical, assuming she was after commission, but I thought I'd give it a go anyway. I must say, it's really been working. The blend of natural ingredients have really been helping my brows to grow at break neck speed, and on top of that, I find them a lot easier to tame in the mornings. Now there's an added bonus!

Burt's Bees//Replenishing Lip Balm

In terms of lip care, I've never really strayed from Lanolips. It does it's job wonderfully, as well as tasting and smelling pretty divine. It is, however, around the £10 mark and, being a gal on a budget, I just don't really have the money to be throwing at beauty products at the moment. Enter Burt's Bees. These beautiful little balms are just over £3, and are my new weapon of choice for keeping my peckers moisturised, beautified and healthy. With 100% natural ingredients, I keep thinking that it would be a great idea to get one for my desk, one for my bag, one for work etc, but I think bulk buying might defeat the thrifty mission I am currently on. We shall see.

Marc Jacobs//Daisy Sunshine

I bought this in Singapore at the end of last Summer, and adored it. Unfortunately, before I could get much use out of it, it was Autumn and I had to put it aside in favour of something a little less summery. As soon as the sun came out for more than two days in a row, this baby came straight out of retirement and I've been loving using it ever since. It reminds me of a limited edition Impulse Shakers spray called Melon Madness from my early teens that I adored, so has the added benefit of being a bit of a nostalgia kick for me. I will definitely be wearing this for the duration of Summer, although knowing England, it's been and gone, and we'll be dusting off our parkas again before May is out.

The Body Shop//Vitamin E Moisture Cream

Another beaut of a product that's been getting a lot of use recently is The Body Shop's Vitamin E Moisture Cream. I won't harp on about it too much, as I gave it a full review here. I will say that it's been exactly what the doctor ordered in terms of restoring and maintaining a healthy, glowing complexion.

Colour Club//Goldstruck

This one of my April favourites was a Birchbox discovery. This gem of a polish is a neutral, understated soft gold, and looks so beautiful and summery on my tips. I don't think it's a colour I would have picked out for myself, but it's definitely going to be a summer staple for me. That's the beauty of Birchbox people, who, coincidentally, this shade is exclusive to, so they've pretty much ensured I remain a loyal customer. Clever trick there, Birchbox! I also really like its mini size. It's not often I say that about a product, but I can never manage to finish a full size polish before it gets gloopy, so this petite bottle is perfect for me.

Jurlique//Citrus Hand Cream

I love Jurlique products, and I've been having a bit of a moment with their hand cream for the past few months. I love using the lavender one before bed, but it's the Citrus Hand Cream that I've gone a little crazy for. I can't get enough of the scent, it's so delicious! On top of that, its rich, creamy texture feels so luxurious and nourishing, that I just can't stop slathering it on my mitts! A little tube of heaven, right there.

Allure Magazine//April 2014

My final favourite from April - my first ever copy of Allure Magazine. I feel like a real beauty blogger now.

As I'm so behind, I'm not going to ask what your April Favourites were. Instead, what products are you coveting for these sunnier days? Let me know!

S.

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Singapore Spree: Sephora Haul

Due to some kind of colossal oversight, there are no Sephora's in England. Tragic but true. So, whenever I go on holiday, I make a point of seeking out the mothership and going a little crazy with my credit card. Some might call it unnecessary, but hey, if you can't splurge on holiday, when can you, eh? Naively, I thought that the store was more a western thing, but on my recent trip to Singapore, I saw them dotted around all over the place! Needless to say, I returned to England with a severely depleted bank balance, and beauty products coming out my ears. As excited as a kid at Christmas to have a play around with all my new purchases, I couldn't wait to share them with you either. So, here is a summary of all the cosmetic treats I picked up.

Firstly, I'll tell you about what is arguably my favourite buy: Fishwife by Butter London. I've been lusting after this beauty for rather a while now, so you can imagine my squeal of delight when I saw it perched atop the Butter London display. Unavailable in the UK for reasons I can't quite fathom, this is possibly the most beautiful polish I've ever owned. A stunning holographic sea foam green with flecks of gold and all sorts in it, I have worn this solidly for about 3 weeks now. It also seems to be immune to chipping and is so easy to apply - the Wonder Woman of the nail varnish world! I'll do a full review on this at a later date, but it's definitely replaced my previous favourite, Fiver, at the top of the nail art hierarchy.

The other contender for favourite purchase is a Too Faced palette, aptly named Pretty Rebel. It is packed with some magnificent metallic shades, perfect for either dolled up or grunged down looks, as well as a couple of matte neutral shades, one of which has become a staple part of my everyday make up, and a questionable pink shade. Not sure why they thought that was a good idea, but hey, I'll try anything once. I've never bought anything from Too Faced, so I wasn't really sure what to expect, but the palette is very similar in quality, design and pigmentation to it's Urban Decay counterparts. I actually only got it because of one magnificent shade, Girly, which is an iridescent brown with shots of green in it. I spent a long while umming and ahhing about whether it was a good idea to spend a considerable amount of money for 10 shadows when I only really wanted one of them. I'm so glad I took the plunge though, because I absolutely love it! Again, I will do a more detailed post on this wonderful palette another day. It's just so much fun to play around with!

Sorry about the photo quality! I have yet to find anywhere in my house where the lighting is decent enough to get a good photo!

Next on my list are the Fresh Sugar Advanced Therapy Lip Treatment, and the standard Tinted Lip Treatment in the shade, Coral. I love these products, and have been wanting to replenish my dwindling collection for a while now, so of course I had to pick up a couple! I had never tried the Advanced Therapy product before, but I have to say, it has worked wonders on my dry, flaky lips as an overnight treatment. As for the Coral Lip Treatment, the colour pay off is fantastic for a tinted balm, and, as always, I love that it contains SPF 15.

I then got the Bliss FatGirlSlim Skin Firming Cream. A while ago, my friend recommended this to me, along with it's partner product, FatGirlSleep, as one of the best anti-cellulite products she had ever tried. Cellulite is one of my biggest insecurities, so I was really keen to give it a go! Now, I know that it is no substitute for a balanced diet and good old fashioned exercise, but sometimes it's nice to have that extra kick of confidence that a caffeine based product like this one can give, be it on a night out, or a special occasion, when you're desperate to wear that new skirt, but are worried about the dreaded orange peel. I didn't get both products, as it is quite a lot of money to part with for a product that I had never tried before, plus, I had a weight allowance to worry about. So far, I'm really getting on with it though. Although not drastic, I can see a difference when I've put it on, and, weird as it sounds, it's one of those products that you can feel working, which I really like. I think I'll give FatGirlSleep a try at some point soon. Maybe when my bank balance has had a little more time to recuperate.

The next was a bit of an impulse buy. I hate it when they put stuff near the tills. Disaster waiting to happen! It's a Philosophy Lip Shine in the flavour, Melon Daiquiri, and as well as providing a beautiful peachy shimmer for the lips, it's delicious!! I can see myself reapplying this rather too often on the days I miss lunch. Yum!

I also bought a NYX Jumbo Eye Pencil in the shade, Cashmere. If I'm being perfectly honest, I only bought this because I have never owned an NYX product, as they aren't readily available in the UK, and I wasn't going to leave having not bought something from the brand. But actually, I'm loving this pencil! It's been getting most of its use as an inner corner highlighter, but I really like it as an eyeshadow base or on its own, scribbled across my lids. It's a really beautiful pale gold colour, and it only cost S$9! (£4.50) Such a steal! I'm really glad I picked this up.

Finally, I got myself a travel brush set. I'm a firm believer that you can never have too many brushes. I really like the Sephora brush collection, but can't get past how long the handles are. Honestly, they're like chopsticks for giants. Can't be working with those. But the travel sets are a much better size, easy to travel with (clearly), as well as being quite a lot cheaper. I got the Face and Eye Travel Tool Kit, and I've gotten quite a lot of use out of them already.

I also got a couple of things in duty free on the way there, the first being Benefit's Porefessional. Now, I'll be honest, I heard rave reviews about this product, and although it does happen on occasion (cough cough, Philosophy Lip Gloss), I rarely buy something unless I'm pretty sure I'm going to like it. But I used this primer for the two weeks that I was away, and it didn't really do it for me. I don't know whether it's aimed at more oily skin, but it didn't really minimise my pores at all, although it did make my skin look a bit smoother. As for staying power, it was OK, but nothing amazing. Granted, it might have has something to do with the humidity and heat of Singapore, so I'm going to give it a second chance now that I'm home, but honestly, I'm not holding out much hope for this one. It's such a shame, because I was really excited about this product. I'll just stick to my trusty bareMinerals Prime Time from now on I think.

Last, but not least, I bought the essential duty free purchase, a new perfume! It's Daisy Sunshine by Marc Jacobs. A deliciously fruity scent, I knew I had to have it the moment my nose caught a whiff. I'm not too enamoured with the somewhat garish bottle, much preferring the more subtle original version, but with a smell this delectable, who really cares. I only wish that I could have found a 100ml size.

So there you have it, my Sephora haul. It's quite a long post, but then again, I bought quite a lot of stuff! And, let's be serious, when do I ever manage to write short blog posts? Condensed is not my thing, and for that, I can only apologise.

Do you have any of the products I have recently purchased? What do you think of them? Like me, do you suffer from a distinct lack of Sephora's near you? Let me know!

S.

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