The Lo Down - January/February Favourites

Hey Guys and Dolls,

I've decided to do a favourites post every two months cause I may not have too many products to talk about within the space of a month. During January and February I've come across alot of products which are now my favourites that I just had to share with you all.

Too Faced Sweet Peach Palette

I don't think a day has really gone by that I haven't pulled out this palette. It's so beautiful and the range of shades is amazing. I actually did a review on this that you can find here.

Benefit Dew the Hoola & Dandelion Dew

Benefit Cosmetics is one of those brands I always go back to. I just love their products and these two products are no different. Both are liquid products and they are just so easy to use. Just look at that packaging it's gorgeous. You can find the review for both products here and here!

Charlotte Tilbury Instant Look in a Palette - Seductive Beauty
I love Charlotte Tilbury, it's one of my favourite luxury brands they have so many beautiful products that I always reach for. Their latest product I got to try is their Instant Look in a Palette, it's all you need to create a day or night time look. It's perfect it may be pricey but I love it. You can find the review for this lovely product here.

Max Factor Fusion Mascara
Even if I don't have a full face of makeup on I love putting on lashings of mascara. Max Factor Fusion mascara is my current fave. It leaves my eyelashes looking phenomenal, loads of volume which is just what I want. I haven't reviewed this mascara yet but a review will be coming soon.

Urban Decay Vice Liquid Lipstick
As you all know I've always been a fan of Urban Decay so of course I was excited to hear about their latest launch, the Urban Decay Vice Liquid Lipsticks. This product comes in many shades and I love the shade 22 which is a gorgeous pinky mauve shade which looks perfect with any makeup look. As there are so many other shades to choose from I'm definitely going to pick up some more soon. You can find the review for this product here.

Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them
I loved all the Harry Potter books so I was really excited when I found out JK Rowling was writing a screenplay for Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them. I got this as a birthday present off my Aunty Val two weeks ago and I'm just about half way through it. I really like it so far, I haven't saw the movie yet but my favourite actor Eddie Redmayne plays the lead so it's sure going to be good. I'll definitely be doing a review on this book soon once I've read it.

I hope you enjoyed my favourites, I'll be doing another one in April so stay tuned for that.

Laura<3

January Favourites

We're finished with January and now into February, which mean it's time for my first favourites of 2013. February is one of my favourite months of the year because in twelve days time it will be my birthday. YAY! I'm going to be 23 so I have nothing wild planned for this year, I'm going to take it easy and maybe go on a weekend away. Yes it you haven't noticed my birthday is also the day after Valentines Day, the most romantic day of the year! Just kidding! My boyfriend already has a good chunk of my present bought. I know what it is already, cause he had to make sure I'd like it before he forked out the money for it. Needless to say I'm over the moon with the gift, I can't have it until my actual birthday, that itself is making me looking forward to getting it even more. In the coming weeks I'll probably do a What I Got For my Birthday post like last year so stay tuned for that.

Back to my favourite products for this month, of which I have quite a few. Having a look over my list, all the products (par two) were new finds which is a bit of a change as the majority are usually rediscoveries for me. I'm going to start off with some of with my old favourites and continue on to my new favoured acquisitions.

First off is the Liz Earle's Eyebright Sooting Eye Lotion. This is my third bottle of this stuff and I can't get enough of it. In the mornings I soak two cotton pads with this stuff and sweep them over my eyes. They are usually tired and puffy, so the lotion itself wakes them up and leaves them refreshed. I really like the scent of this product too. It has a light herbal smell that I don't think would be offensive at all. The packaging is great on this product aswell, the lid is secure so I wouldn't worried about spillage if you had this in your bag. It also comes in a travel sized which I'm tempted to pick up for my holidays the next time I'm in Wilde & Green. Last month I featured the Naked Basics palette in my favourites and it's squeezed its way in this time too. I've always used shimmer eyeshadows on my eyes as I think they look so pretty. Since I bought this palette I've been using it a hell of a lot. It contains all the shades you'd need to create a natural eye look and they're so pigmented! I'm in the love with the packaging as it's nice and dainty, it literally fits into the palm of my hand. I do have the other two Naked palettes but this is something different for me. I don't have two many matte eyeshadows in my collection so it's nice to have them all in the one place. Being travel friendly is a major positive for this palette as I found that the Naked palettes were a bit too big. This however would fit into my everyday makeup bag nicely and I'd still have plently of room for all my other products. It's also much more affordable compared to the other Naked palettes so it's a good one to start off with.

Now onto my new discoveries from the month of January. You all know by now I'm a huge Soap & Glory fan, I love their products. When I was in Boots I noticed they released some new goodies into their range. I picked up a few which I'm sure will make it into my future favourites but one instant stand out for me was their Sugar Crush shower gel. I'm not blessed to have a bath in my house so I'm always on the look out for nice shower products and this definitely falls into that category. This stuff smells absolutely amazing, basically it smells like limes/sugar, lovely and sweet.  It's one of those scents that stays in your bathroom for a while after you shower. I've already used quite a bit already so I'll definitely be repurchasing it again. I just hope my family doesn't realise how nice it is or it may run out sooner than I think. If you like the  , you're bound to like this. They brought out a body butter in the same scent which I bought too but I've yet to try it. I'll let you know my thoughts when I do. Late last year I ran out of all my cleansing waters, instead of rushing out to buy more I decided to use up the cream cleanser I already had. I hate being wasteful so if I know I have some products in my collection for a while I like to finish them up. When I went through the few that I had lying around I popped into Boots; I had no particular micellar solution in mind as I wanted to try something different for a change. I finally went for La Roche Posay's  Effaclar Purifying Micellar Water for Oily Sensitive Skin. The name itself is a bit of a mouthful! I'm so glad I bought this stuff as it's such a lovely product. At present there's a lot of hype out about the Effaclar range among bloggers, I'm currently trying out their Effaclar Duo which I'm going to bring you a review on soon. This micellar solution is a product I haven't heard talked about that much which is odd as it's brilliant. This takes off all my makeup like a dream whilst not drying my skin out. I've used it to take off stubborn eye makeup and it hasn't irritated my eyes in the slightest. I can't say this about some other cleansing waters I've tried in the past. Price wise this comes in at €13.75 which I can't argue with as the majority of cleansing waters come in at the same price or even more for that matter. The size of the bottle is the only niggle I have with this product. I always fly through bottles of cleansing waters like there's no tomorrow and I've already used up a quarter of this in a week. I don't think the size of the bottle should take away from the quality of the product though so this is only a small issue. This month I finally caved and bought a eyelash curlers. I have a love/hate relationship with them and I haven't used one for a while now. I bought the Kevyn Aucoin eyelash curlers in Harvey Nichols, at €18 I can't say it was the cheapest. It was the right choice in the end to fork out on it though, this opens up my eyes completely. I can't believe I hadn't used curlers for so long. Even if I'm not in the mood to apply eyeshadow, I use this and lash on a few coats  f mascara.

I've only been using this lipstick for a bit over a week now but it definitely deserved its place in this months favourites. Rose Tweed is one of the many shades from the new Bourjois Rouge Edition Collection. I contemplated buying quite a few shades before I finally settled on this beauty. This is just the perfect lipstick for everyday, it's a gorgeous pinky nude which I can see myself wearing alot over the coming months. One key factor that also influenced my purchase was the gorgeous packaging. It's nice and sleek, I'll be happy taking this out of  my makeup bag that's for sure. It was the first lipstick I chose to use in my 28 Kisses tag post which you can see here. If I want a bit more of a wow factor I've been using MAC's Glamourdaze lipstick which comes in their Cremesheen formula. This particular lipstick is limited edition and was a part of their Christmas collection last year. As per usual when I bought this I was trying to save money but I couldn't help myself as it just looked so pretty in the bullet. It's a gorgeous wearable plummy red shade. If you know me you'll know that I don't wear reds at all so this is definitely more on the plum side of things. It's definitely different to shades that I'd usually go for but this works! This will be my second lipstick in my 28 Kisses tag so keep an eye out for that post later today.  Before applying these lipsticks I've been using my EOS Sweet Vanilla Nonsense lip balm. Chie sent this over to me from the States for Christmas and I love it. It's from the brands limited edition Alice in Wonderland trio set First off I love Alice in Wonderland so I love the product names, they're so cute. Alot of bloggers say the packaging reminds them as Kinder Surprises, now that I look at it again I certainly agree. After using this lip balm my lips are left feeling smooth and moisturised, perfect for applying my favourite lipsticks.

I've had this fragrance for a while but it's the first time I've featured it in one of my favourites posts. I love Taylor Swift, I've seen her in concert twice which you will hear a bit more about in my 50 Random Fact post. When I heard she was bringing a fragrance out I knew I had to have it.   This one was out in the States for ages before it was released over here in Ireland and it was definitely worth the wait. This smells amazing, it has a gorgeous fruity floral scent which I've been using everyday for the past while. I love the packaging, my favourite colour is purple so it's a complete given that I'd like this. The charms are so pretty too.

A random favourite for me this month is my Pretty Puzzles book. I got this in the January Sales and if I'm waiting for someone or something I'll whip this out. Look at the cover definitely a step up from the puzzle books you'd get in a newsagent, not that I would of paid the full €7 for this. I actually love puzzles and have done for year, I could just never get the hang of crosswords. Jeez not even 23 and spending my time doing wordsearches what's the world coming to. Saying that I got this at the start of January and I've only finished three puzzles, yes THREE!

Do you do monthly favourites? What made it into yours?

Laura<3

December/January Empties

I can't believe it has been almost a week since my last blog post. The past few days were hectic with work and then I had minor surgery yesterday. It just didn't seem like the right time to be writing blog posts as I had other things on my mind. The surgery went fine and I'm at home now so over the next while I'll have plenty of spare time on my hands to write regular blog posts. I was planning on watching some of my favourite TV series too but it seems most of them are on hiatus in the States, I'm so disappointed. I've decided to start watching Pretty Little Liars, I never really got into it before but I've decided to give it another go. I really like the books so I'm surprised I never liked the series from the start, hopefully I'll manage to get through a couple of episodes this time around. So if I'm not writing posts on here you'll know what I'm doing. When I'm not blogging I actually really miss it alot, I have a couple of ideas jotted down in my notebook. Let's just say I'm not short on topics I want to discuss in the coming weeks. Today's post is going to be my January Empties, I didn't do one last month as I hardly had anything to show you guys. Surprisingly I only finished one product during December so I didn't think there was really any point on doing a post centred around one empty. It just wouldn't make sense at all but this time around is different as I have quite a few products.

I'm going to start off with the haircare and shower bits that I finished up this month. I feel like I fly through shower gels regularly. I can't take full credit because if I leave it in my shower someone else is bound to use it. Not going to lie it drives me mad, looking for my favourite shower gel and finding it half empty. My shower gel empties this month are from Lush and Bath &Body Works. The latter is a Secret Wonderland travel mini that Chie sent me over in one of our swaps. I adore the light floral fruity scent and I'd definitely repurchase this if we had a Bath & Body Works store here in Ireland. The travel minis are the perfect size for the gym and travelling, I actually got a lot of use out of this small bottle. The other shower gel I used up is Lush's Snow Fairy. I bought this ginormous bottle before Christmas and I can't get enough of this scent. My Mom loves it too as it's  nice, sweet and of course pink! It's definitely one of my favourites from their range of shower gels available. Unfortunately this is a limited edition scent that  is only released at Christmas time and I didn't stock up on it this year. I have one or two minis that will last me a month or two at the most. When I finish them off I'll have to wait til the end of the year to pick them up again. The haircare duo I finished this month is from Ojon. This is a one of those brand that I'd heard a lot about but never tried myself. Last year they had a one day Trade In event in their stockists where if you brought in a empty shampoo bottle they gave you the Damage Reverse Shampoo and Conditioner. This was a deal that I'm glad I took advantage of as I really enjoyed using these two products.  I have quite damaged hair after years of straightening it. I've laid off using heat styling tools on my hair in favour of the natural look but the damage had already been done. After using this for a while I did see a big different in the condition of my hair, it seems a lot more nourished and glossier. I can see myself buy these again in the future when I finish some of the haircare products I already have. I know Ojon products can be expensive but I feel if you find a range that works you may as well splash out on it a little. I've seen quite a few amazing reviews on their Rare Blend Oil, I'm really tempted to give it a try too. Hair Oils are being talked about all over the blogosphere lately so I'm hoping to find a good one for my locks, if you have any suggestions let me know.

I finished numerous makeup products this month which usually never happens. My favourite out of the bunch is Rimmel's Stay Matte powder in Transparent. I've lost count of how many of these I've gone through. There super affordable and keeps shine at bay which is exactly what I look for in a face powder. A foundation that has made it into a couple of my monthly favourites posts is Urban Decay's Naked Skin (2.0). I love this stuff, it a nice light formula that's quite buildable. I used my Real Techniques buffing brush to apply this and it leaves my skin looking flawless. I can see myself repurchasing this again, it was a bit on the pricey side but it did last for ages so I can't complain. Another product that was influenced by other bloggers' reviews is Bobbi Brown's Corrector. I bought this and the creamy concealer as a birthday gift with a Brown Thomas gift card I received last February. I got the shade Light Bisque which the ideal match for my skintone. It's the perfect size for my makeup bag, has a small mirror in the lid and it's great for hiding those pesky dark circles I get under my eyes. How I wish I got more sleep! I do like this product but I want to try the Laura Mercier Undercover Pot. I've wanted to purchase this for a while but never got around to it and it's that little bit pricey. Seeing as February is my birthday month who knows I may treat myself. I want to use up the Bobbi Brown Creamy Concealer Kit first though. A primer that I used up is Too Faced Primed & Poreless. I've had this for ages and bought it after I finished a sample size from a Too Faced gift set. It does remind me of Benefit's Porefessional which I also got on with well but both are on expensive. Since I finishing up my Primed & Poreless, I've started using Clarins Instant Smooth Perfecting Touch primer which I love. Again this comes in at the €26 mark but one tube of this has been lasting me ages and I'm extremely happy with it. Next up I have a Kiehl's #1 lip balm. I love these a lot and I find they work great on my super dry lips during this time of year. I already repurchased three in a cute tin before Christmas as I knew I was running out. This particular scent reminds me of holidays as it smells like coconuts. If the scents aren't your thing you can buy the original version which is scentless. There's also a tinted version available which would be perfect for those days when your not in the mood for lipsticks. I always throw one of mine in my bag for if I need them on the go.

Lastly I have some skincare empties. Liz Earle came out with this special edition Cleanse & Polish *last year in aid of the Prince's Trust. A young entrepreneur Rebecca Taylor put a twist on the original version and added rose and lavendar essential oils to the mix. The end product was a success and I myself loved it. I used this to remove my makeup at night as I found the scent really relaxing. The packaging is also gorgeous, it was a nice change to the duck egg green packaging. I'm going to keep this on my new desk which I'm getting for my birthday in a few weeks as I think it looks so pretty. £2 from each Cleanse & Polish sold went to the Prince's Trust work with young people. It was nice to know you were making a difference in someone elses life when you purchased this product. From what I know of this isn't available anymore but hopefully Liz Earle may do a campaign like this again in the future. I've never been too fond of MAC's skincare, I used it before I started blogging over two years ago and I never really got on with it. When they brought out their travel sizes a while back, I decided to give their Cleanse Off Oil and Fix+ a go. They weren't too pricey and I knew they'd be great for travelling. I used Fix+ none stop and even bought a full sized bottle. However I quickly forgot about the Cleanse Off Oil until last month. This removes every last trace of my eye makeup amazingly well and I absolutely loved the stuff. This small bottle did last me a good while but I have a feeling I'll purchase the full sized product the next time I'm at MAC. I'm just not too sure how much it is but I'm guessing roughly under the €20 mark I hope. Last but not least I used up all my Beauty Fixation Makeup Removers. This box contains 24 applicatiors which are basically cotton buds that have makeup remover in them. You snap the end with the blue line on it which releases the formula inside the tube. I thought these were really great if I made a mistake with a particular eye look for a night out. I didn't have to wreck the whole look using a cotton pad soaked with makeup remover. Saying that I think these cost around €8 and think you could just buy cotton buds and soak them in some eye makeup remover to get the same results. It may take a little bit longer but it would indeed be a much cheaper alternative.

Do you do monthly empties on your blog?

Laura<3

January Favourites

It's hard to believe this is my first monthly favourites post of 2012! January went by so quickly because I've been so busy lately. Now February is upon us, one of my favourite months of the year as it's my birthday! I'm not celebrating a big birthday this year as I was the big 21 last year. I don't have anything too extravagant planned, I'm just happy with the time off. I have quite a few products this month I've been impressed by.

Soap & Glory Pulp Friction Scrub

I got this gorgeous product in the Soap & Glory Big Splendour Christmas set. Pulp Friction is a great scrub, I like the way it not only gets rid of dry skin, leaving my skin lovely and smooth but also gives a great lather. Almost like a shower gel and scrub in one as it foams up. I just love the fruity scent.

Nars Duo Eyeshadow in Kalahari

I bought this duo from Asos along with Silk Road in early January. I'm not a big fan of Silk Road as it has a lot of glitter in it which I wasn't expecting. Basically it leaves me with bits of sparkle all over my face. Definitely not a look I was going for. On the other hand I love Kalahari, I use both shades on the lid with darker browns in the crease. I find both shadows in this duo work way better on their own as opposed to together. You can see swatches here.

Bourjois Sweet Kiss Lipstick in Rose Corset

Rose Corset is my first ever Bourjois lipstick. This is such a gorgeous everyday shade, it is a bit on the bright side but I love it. I also think the purple packaging is really pretty!!

Revlon Lip Butter in Cotton Candy
I got some Revlon Lip Butters as a christmas gift from Chie (you can check out her amazing beauty channel here!). We can't get them yet in Ireland, so I was thrilled when she sent me these. When I haven't been wearing my Bourjois Sweet Kiss Lipstick I've been wearing Cotton Candy. My lips tend to get dry, so aswell as moisturising this lip butter gives a great pop of colour. I'm almost out of Cotton Candy so I can't wait to get another when there released here. You can check out my review with swatches here.

MAC Studio Careblend Powder in Medium

I bought MAC Studio Careblend Powder in Duty Free at Dublin Airport in September. As you can see I've hit pan on it. This powder gives a natural even finish to my skin (no cakiness in sight). If your looking for a full coverage powder this isn't it. Studio Careblend has sheer/medium coverage.

Marshmallow Blends Coconut Ice Scrub Bar

I ordered alot of products from Marshmallow Blends at the start of the month and this was one of them. I love this scrub, it smells amazing and lasts for ages. I'm definitely going to repurchase it soon.

Origins Ginzing Eye Cream

I use Origins Ginzing Eye Cream every morning before work. It brightens up my undereye area which makes me happy, as I don't look like I have dark blue bags going to work. I thought this eye cream was quite expensive when I bought it but I've been using it for over a month now and I still have loads left.

Loreal Super Liner Carbon Gloss Eyeliner & Loreal Voluminous Carbon Black Mascara

I bought these two products straight after Christmas and I've been using them none stop ever since. I don't know how I didn't have both products already. I've been using Loreal's Super Liner everyday since I purchased it. I like how it doesn't budge one bit all day, it's now my new go to eyeliner. I have so many mascaras at the minute I always switch them around. Loreal Voluminous Mascara is the one I've been using the most out of them all over the past few weeks. I have pretty long lashes, so I love how this adds a lot of volume to them without the clumps.

What has made it into your favourites this month?

Laura<3

January Empties

I've come to the conclusion that I'll always finish skincare products. For some reason they seem to have taken over my last few empties post. My mission for February is to finish more makeup products. I have so much makeup I feel like I'm cheating when I buy more after I finish skincare products. That said this month has been good as I've finished thirteen products in total.

The Body Shop Strawberry Shop

A free gift with purchase in The Body Shop, I'm glad I was given this as I probably would of never tried it otherwise. Strawberry Shower Gel smells yummy!! I liked this product alot and I'd consider buying another bottle the next time I'm in The Body Shop.

Liz Earle Cleanse & Polish Hot Cloth Cleanser

I think all my monthly empties post so far have contained Liz Earle products. I must fly through the stuff. My favourite cleanser at the moment I can't rave about this enough. I wish Wilde & Green was closer to me as I'll have to make another trip there very soon to stock up. If you want to see my review you can check it out here.

Molton Brown Skinboost Nourishing Tonic

Another skincare product I use on a daily basis is the Molton Brown Skinboost Nourishing Tonic. More like a serum, I apply this before my moisturiser. This product is full of nutrients which gives my tired skin a boost in the mornings. Sadly this skincare range is being discontinued so I'm hoping to find something a product like this. Any suggestions?

Montagne Jeunesse Dark Chocolate Deep Cleansing Mud Masque
I've heard such good things about Montagne Jeunesse face masks. I'm saddened to say I didn't see much of a difference after using it. I'm going to try another one soon, maybe this mask didn't agree with my skin.

Garnier Simply Essentials 2 in 1 Makeup Remover

I don't like this eye make up remover one bit. I just don't like the oils that are in it. My eyes are left feeling uncomfortable after taking my makeup off with this. I much prefer Garnier's Simply Essentials Gentle Eye makeup remover. It may come in a smaller bottle but it's a much better product.

Clean & Clear Morning Energy Skin Brightening Daily Facial Scrub

This is definitely not the best facial scrub I've ever used. Saying that I do think it's a nice product, Morning Energy Skin Brightening Daily Facial Scrub was gentle on my skin and got rid of all the dry patches around my nose. I also love the citrusy scent.

No7 Quick Thinking 4 in 1 Wipes

My favourite wipes ever, I always stock up on these with No7 vouchers. If your looking for these wipes at counters, they don't look like this anymore. When No7 released their new skincare range, they changed the other products packaging to fit in with the new stuff.

Sure Clear Aqua Anti Perspirant Spray & Impulse Tease Body Spray

You'll be able to find both these sprays in my bag all the time. I do change up the scents a little bit now and again. Tease and Goddess are my favourite Impulse body spray scents, so I'll always have either one of them.

Lush Creamed Almond & Coconut Shower Smoothie

Creamed Almond & Coconut Shower Smoothie was one of the products I got in  Lush's Seasons Greetings gift set . I was so sad to finish this stuff as it smells amazing. If you like vanilla scented products you'll love this. Luckily my mom got me a replacement during the sale.

Nars Pro Prime Multi-Protect Primer SPF30

I really got a feel for this product as the deluxe sample lasted a long time. This was a great base for my makeup and it contains a SPF. The only thing stopping me from buying Pro Prime Multi-Protect Primer is the price. Wow this is expensive!!

Benefit Speed Brow Quick Set Brow Gel

I've had this product for quite a while and it was a splurge on my half. I remember the sales assistant telling me about it and instantly thinking it was going to be the best thing in the work. Definitely not the case and you can get cheaper alternatives in other shops.

Soap & Glory The Daily Smooth Body Butter

I loved The Daily Smooth so much I bought the full sized bottle as soon as I finished this one. Aswell as being so moisturising, this product smells amazing!!

Have you tried any of these products??

Laura<3