Korres 'Quince' lip butter

I'm all for a good tinted lip balm especially for those days where you want to spruce up your look a little without going through the effort of applying and maintaining a lipstick throughout the day. A couple of months back I purchased the Korres jasmine lip balm and fell in love, it gave a perfect nude glossy-ish finish which which hydrates your lips throughout the day - sounds perfect, right? 

Since getting my first Korres lip butter I have had my eye on the shade 'Quince' which is a deep mid toned pink colour and gives sheer tint to your lips once applied. Although the product doesn't contain any ingredients that will heal your lips the shea butter and rice wax help moisturise your lips throughout the day giving them a boost of hydration. one of the perks about these lip balms is that they don't contain silicone, mineral oil or petroleum so they're really skin friendly and don't have ingredients to bulk up the product. what I love most about these lip butters is how buttery smooth they are once applied, they literally melt into your lips and sit comfortably without feeling heavy and sticky. for a tinted lip balm the colour pay-off is good, don't expect an opaque balm because it's certainly not that, instead they give a sheer light wash of colour to the lips. I know some people aren't fans of lip balms in pots so you'll be happy to know that they also sell this in stick form, they just have slightly different names. I know i'm a bit late on the bandwagon with these lip butters but they're really lovely and are budget friendly at just £7 which I think's good for a great lip product. 

Antipodes hallelujah lime and patchouli cleanser

It was just the other day when I was writing up post ideas that I realised that I haven't spoken about my current cleanser which I have been loving, I featured it in my last favourites post but that's it and it certainly deserves to be spoken about more. for the past couple of months I have been using the antipodes hallelujah lime and patchouli cleanser which contains pure organic avocado oil, lime and macadamia nut so as you can imagine it's very hydrating but it doesn't leave the skin feeling greasy or leave an oily residue behind in the slightest.

this is a simple cream cleanser that I use morning and night, it even removes all traces of mascara and eyeliner which means that I can just use one product instead of using a separate makeup remover. after using this product my skin feels clean and refreshed and not tight at all, this is the first cleanser I have used that hasn't left my skin feeling even the slightest bit dry or tight. one thing that put me off this product when I first tried it was the scent, it smells strongly of patchouli and generally very herbally but I have grown to like it and it doesn't bother my anymore, considering I haven't broken out and my skin looks healthy since using this it's worth it in my opinion. what drew me into purchasing this product was the all natural ingredients that are friendly towards all skin types, I must say I haven't had any drastic break outs since using this and my skin looks healthy especially when used first thing in the morning.

Another thing i'm not too keen on is the glass packaging, I absolutely love that this has a pump and it's easy to dispense but it's just not great for travelling and i'm constantly scared that it's going to smash. I don't know if I'm getting too pump-happy with the dispenser but I also feel like I'm burning through this cleanser really quickly, I don't feel as if I'm using too much product but for £20.99 I don't feel as if it's going to last for as long as I'd hoped. Would I repurchase it? Yes it's a lovely cleanser but I do want to branch out and try other products. considering this was the first product I have tried from antipodes I'm very impressed.

Bourjois rouge edition velvet's new shades

It's no secret that I'm a big fan of my bourjois rouge edition velvet lipstick in 'frambourjoise', whilst browsing the boots website to order a new shade and expand my collection I noticed that bourjois have recently launched two new shades in the UK called 'nude-ist' and 'grand cru' so they went straight into my online basket, I also picked up the shade 'personne ne rouge' which is a vibrant true red as boots had a three for two offer on as well as getting a free pair of bourjois sunglasses! these can be seen in my haul (link).

Nude-ist is as the name suggests a nude but verging on more of a pinky brown, it's the only nude in the collection so of course I had to pick it up. I love matte formulas but don't own any matte nude shades so I figured that this would be the perfect new addition to my lipstick family. As soon as I applied this I fell in love - it's the perfect nude for my complexion!

Grand cru is a deep burgundy and the darkest shade in the rouge edition velvet line which is why it appealed to me so much, I love a dark lip and I'm looking forward to wearing this in the colder months. I noticed that this shade isn't opaque with one coat but the lipsticks layer easily and two coats is enough to make it completely opaque.

Nude-ist and Grand cru have to be my two favourite colours from the entire range, there are a lot of reds in the collection so I was surprised to see that they had released yet another red but then that could be seen as a good thing as there's a red shade for everyone because they all have different undertones and are varying shades of red - it's all down to personal preference. The formula is creamy and opaque but then dries down to a velvet-y matte formula that doesn't sink into the fine lines of my lips and doesn't feel heavy or uncomfortable at all. I have worn the shade 'frambourjois' through a 9.5 hour shift and and only reapplying it once and it didn't even need touching up, these are the longest lasting lipsticks I have come across and are perfect for lazy girls like me that can't be dealing with constant touch ups!

Have you tried any of the rouge edition velvets - what's your favourite shade? 

We're expecting puppies!

If you follow me on instagram you probably would have seen this beautiful face grace 99.9% of the photos I upload maybe that's an exaggeration... I actually have 4 chihuahuas but Peppa the little beauty photographed above is mine, my petite chien and has become severely attached to me since the day she was born. we have a little family tree in my home we have Ami and Badger who are the parents of Peppa, and Peppa has recently become pregnant by our newest edition Rio who's fourteen months old. we have always thought it's good for our chihuahuas to experience pregnancy once in their life, Ami had one litter of two puppies and we're allowing peppa to have one litter too, at first I was a little aprehensive because she's so tiny and I still see her as a puppy even though she's now four years old, but we have been given the o-k by our vets, maybe that's me being an over protective mother and not wanting her to become a mother herself? I don't know. we're deciding whether or not to get a scan done so we can see just how many puppies we're expecting as doing so saved Ami's life four years ago when Peppa was born - Ami was expecting five puppies but she only birthed two but she had extreme difficulty delivering one of the placentas, which we thought was a puppy and rushed her to the vets... what happened to the other three puppies we don't know it's still a mystery to us and the vets. Peppas little bundles of joy are due on the 28th of August, I'll be updating you guys on Peppas pregnancy when she's nearly due and once the puppies are born, we're excited for little baby chihuahuas running around the house!

5 lip products in 2 days | Haul

I think it's time to admit that I have a problem, I'm a lip product addict. I was having a rather emotional week as I passed my second year or uni with a 2:1 hoorah! and I was going through phases of feeling high and low, and what's the best way to conquer a low? retail therapy!

I was looking at the boots website and noticed that the bourjois rouge edition velvet line had been extended and two new shades were added and they looked gorgeous and considering it was 3 for 2 I just couldn't refuse, right? the two new shades are nude-ist which is a pinky nude shade that I couldn't refuse as it's the only nude in the line and grand cru which is a deep burgundy which I'm looking forward to wearing during autumn and on nights out. I also picked up personne ne rouge which is a glamorous true red which I have had my eye on for a while. I also managed to buy these products during the offer where you get a free pair of sunglasses which are actually really lovely, so I only paid for two products and got a lipstick and a pair of sunglasses free!

I was guildford which is the closest mac store to where I live and I don't get to go there too often, so I popped in and picked up the lipstick in 'please me' which has been on my wish list forever and it's a beautiful mid toned pink. I also found a shop that stocked korres in guildford and i've been in love with my jasmine lip butter recently so I got the shade 'quince' which is also a mid-tone sheer pink.

Have you picked up any new lip products recently?

Battle of the lilac gel nail polishes

A couple of weeks ago I went through a phase were I needed a lilac nail polish in my life, I was obsessing over swatches online and I ordered the models own lilac sheen hyper gel nail polish but that just wasn't enough, I had to wait 3-5 days for it to be delivered and that just wasn't going to happen so I popped into boots and picked up the Barry M gelly hi-shine polish in prickly pear.

So, how do they compare? i'll be completely honest and say that when comparing the two Barry M's prickly pear comes out on top, the colour is much more flattering on my nails as I found that the models own lilac sheen was too pastel for my nails and didn't look too great. also formula wise and longevity Barry M won again, the models own hyper gel polish had tip wear the day after I applied it and the colour was fading and looked patchy. you know when you have a polish on your nails and you can't stop staring at how pretty it is? that's what I was like with prickly pear. I'm in love.

Summer beauty haul

I have actually used all of the products that I'm showing in this haul apart from one of the nail polishes because I have zero self control. I've seen the Dove summer glow gradual tanner floating around the blogosphere a lot recently and thought I would pick it up and give it a go as my legs have been looking extremely pale, I do like this product but the shimmer is extremely noticeable when you first apply it, I find the shimmer is less intense once I have showered and it leaves my skin the most beautiful colour! Rimmel had on an offer where if you spend so much money you get the Rimmel natural bronze for free, so I picked up the stay matte powder and lash accelerator endless mascara which is now my new favourite mascara! as I was running extremely low on mascara and powder. Barry M had on a similar offer where If you spend £6 or more you get a free limited edition nail paint so I picked up the shade elderberry which is a muted bluey grey and prickly pear which is a beautiful lilac, I've become obsessed with the shade prickly pear and I'm itching to paint my nails with it again. I also picked up another Lilac nail polish because a girl can never have too many, right? this one was from Models own and it's the shade lilac sheen from their hyper gel collection and I can honestly say that I prefer the colour and formula of the Barry M Gelly hi-shine in prickly pear it's much more flattering on the nails. 

June favourites

I needed a new cleanser around the start of June and decided to pick up the Antipodes hallelujah lime and patchouli cleanser, it has a cream formula that's really delicate on the skin, it leaves my skin feeling super smooth and moisturised but what I love the most is that it's amazing at taking off makeup even mascara and eyeliners, it's a beautiful cleanser. June was a skincare month for me as I decided to take more interest in what I was using on my face, I had extremely dry eyes and heard rave reviews about how moisturising the Origins eye doctor eye cream (review) and it certainly lives up to the reviews, it's the best eye cream I have ever used and it's such a pleasant product to use as it instantly relieves the under eye area of any tightness. My parents got me the body shop's instablur makeup primer for my birthday and it has become a staple in my makeup bag for the past couple of months, it keeps my face from getting oily and blurs out any imperfections without feeling heavy on the skin. Another birthday present from my brother and his fiancé was Benefit's world famous neutrals palette in most glamorous nudes ever (review) and I haven't touched another palette since using this, the shades are right up my street and I can't get enough of it! 

What have you been loving lately?