Pre-Holiday Beauty Essentials

Less than three weeks until our holiday! 

These are my pre holiday beauty essentials to make sure I look and feel my best!

 

 Soap & Glory The Breakfast Scrub £9.45/300ml

 I've been using this twice a week on my legs and upper arms to buff away dry/dead skin. One day I'm going to lose control and just eat it as it smells sooo good! Just an amazing product, it leaves no greasy residue on my skin and it gives a great exfoliation without being harsh on my skin.

 

 Palmers Cocoa Butter Formula £3.77/250ml

Another amazing smelling product! I've been using this every morning after my shower mainly on my legs and they have never been softer! I've got a few marks on the bottoms of my legs from some mosquito bites I scratched a bit too much and this has actually worked on fading them - they are much less noticeable and I'm a lot happier to get my legs out now!

Botanics Detox Brush £5.72

I'm quite lucky that I don't suffer from the dreaded cellulite (yet!) but prevention is better than cure and I've been using this brush every morning for the past two weeks to get my circulation going! I don't know if these have actually been proven to work, but it feels nice to give my legs a five minute brush before my shower every morning!

 VO5 Treat Me Right Hair Mask £4.97/300ml

My hair gets a bit frazzled from using too much heat so I though a hair mask might sort it out. I've only used this twice so far - its lovely and thick, smells very summery and has left my hair feeling nice and soft. I'm going to keep using this two or three time a week and hopefully my hair will be in better condition come holiday time. I've also decided to have a good inch chopped off the ends before we go, eek!

Seaweed Deep Cleansing Facial Wash £7.00/100ml & Seaweed Pore Cleansing Facial Exfoliator £8.00/75ml

My skin was in a terrible state last week, I think the humidity paired with my heavy foundation caused a breakout and left me pretty depressed. I had a 50% discount code from the Body Shop website so I bought these products to sort it out! 

I also bought a Seaweed Clay Mask but in the five days between placing my order and it being dispatched (five days!) it sold out and I never received it. In the few days I've been using these products though my skin has seen a massive improvement so all is well!

Do you have any pre-holiday beauty recommendations?

Current Favourites

I've been neglecting my blog a bit the last couple of weeks! 

First I had a week off from work and the sun decided to come out so I spent a few days in the garden sunbathing, I had a day out shopping and eating Yo! Sushi and Krispy Kreme doughnuts in Birmingham, then I upped my gym regime as we've only got four weeks till our holiday to Turkey so I've been pretty busy!

I ran 13km this morning, burning over 1000(!) calories in the process so now I'm back in my pj's resting myself for tomorrow's interval cycling session. 

I thought I'd do a quick post of my current favourite items in my makeup bag while I'm snuggled down and cosy!

MAC Mineralize Skinfinish in Medium Plus and Avon Blush in Heavenly Nude

I've heard so many great things about the MAC Skinfinish so while I was in Birmingham I visited the MAC store and picked one up. The SA recommended me Medium Plus which I thought would be a tad dark but it's actually perfect! I only use a tiny bit over my foundation but it makes my skin look lovely; it's quite expensive but I'm glad I splashed out as I love it!

I won this Avon blush in BeautyH2T's giveaway and I've found myself reaching for it every morning. If you have a heavy hand (like me) then this blush is perfect! It gives a lovely subtle rosy glow to my cheeks and the colour lasts all day. If this was still on the Avon website/in the book I would definitely repurchase.

MUA Heaven and Earth Palette

After searching many Superdrug stores and waiting for it to become available online I finally got my hands on this during Superdrug's free delivery promotion. It's a lot smaller than I thought it would be but I love it!

I've mainly been using the left side of the palette for my everyday work makeup and so far all the shadows have been soft, easy to apply and well pigmented. I plan on taking this on holiday in place of my Naked Palette as I'm terrible when it comes to losing/damaging things in transit and £4 is nothing if I need to replace it!

Avon All Over Face Brush and Sigma Flat Top Kabuki Brush

I currently own two of these Avon brushes as they are just perfect! I use one for my powder and one for my blusher. They are the softest brushes I have had the pleasure of using and they just do not shed! They are £6 each on the Avon website but their sleek black appearance makes them look a lot more expensive. It picks up a good amount of powder and the size of the head means a really good all over coverage.

I won the Sigma brush in Miss Lori Loves giveaway and I couldn't have been happier! I had been lusting over this brush for ages and kept almost buying it so when I found that I had won it I was so pleased! It definitely lives up to all the positive hype it gets. I usually use a heavy, full coverage foundation and when applied with my fingers it looks nice, but after applying with this brush - my skin honestly looked airbrushed, the difference was just amazing. The bristles and soft and dense and so far I have experienced no shedding. I will not be going back to regular foundation brushes after using this one!

Do you use any of these products?

What are your current favourites?

Saturday Night Face

The boy and I went for a country pub dinner on Saturday night as the weather seems to be perking up a bit and we just really enjoy going out for meals! The pub was lovely and rustic with cute little dogs roaming around and we both ate good old steak and chips, lovely!

I felt I earned a good meal after running 11km on Saturday morning - definitely a good way to work up an appetite!

Face: 

MAC Prep & Prime Skin Base Visage

Vichy Dermablend Corrective Foundation in Opal

17 Hide and Chic Eye Brightening Concealer in Light Rose

17 Shine Control Loose Powder

Collection 2000 Shimmer Shades in Blushalicious

Eyes:

Urban Decay Primer Potion

Sleek Eyeshadow from Mediterranean Palette - Aquamarine over the lid, Hummingbird in the crease and under they eye, Bamboo on the brow bone

Benefit Bad Girl Eye Pencil

2True Voluptulash Mascara in Black

Benefit Brow-zings in Light

I hope you've all had a lovely weekend and maybe seen a bit of sunshine!

Accessorize 70% Off Sale Bargains

I love Accessorize jewellery and I love a good bargain, so when I saw they had a massive 70% off sale, well, what's a girl to do?

I picked up four pairs of earrings for a mere £12 rather than the £40+ they should have cost me!

Unfortunately the selection of bracelets and necklaces wasn't very exciting, but who needs them when you have dangly earrings? Nothing beats a good ol' pair of ear chandeliers.

I Won A Giveaway!

I was lucky enough to win BeautyH2T's giveaway and when the postman arrived this morning it was like Christmas had come early! So many lovely goodies to open, it really brightened up my Monday!

This is what I won:

 Colourworks Glitter Eyeliner, Revlon Bedroom Eyes in Mink Wink, Revlon Bedroom Eyes in Smokin', Eyeko Magic Liquid Eyeliner.

 

Marks & Spencer Creamy Eye Colour in Platinum, Marks & Spencer Creamy Eye Colour in Light, Avon True Colour Eyeshadow Due in Retro Glamour, No7 Stay Perfect Eyeshadow in Comet, GOSH Eyeshadow in Violet, W7 Carnival Dust in Papaya.

Avon Blush in Heavenly Nude, Stila Palette.

Bourjois Nail Enamel in Dangereusement Rouge, Olay 3 Point Super Serum Sample, Olay 30 Second Wrinkle Filler Sample, Lancome Mousse Confort Sample, Oribe Shampoo and Conditioner Sample.

Collection 2000 Extreme Coloured Lengthening Mascara in Teal, Max Factor Vibrant Curve Effect Lip Gloss in Fashion Leader, Ruby and Millie I-Powder Pen, 2True Voluptulash Mascara in Black, 2True Plumptuous Lip Gloss, GOSH Cool Lip Jam.

Phew, so much stuff! I can't wait to properly play with it all, thank you so much!

Tuesday Night Face

Last night I got together with two friends I sadly don't see very often due to Uni, distance and babies. Armed with a 50% off voucher for Pizza Express we had a lovely evening of catching up and gossiping!

My skin doesn't look great in this photo, I definitely need to start moisturising a bit more regularly!

Face:

MAC Prep & Prime Skin Base Visage

Vichy Dermablend Corrective Foundation in Opal

17 Hide & Chic Eye Brightening Concealer in Light Rose

17 Shine Control Loose Powder

Sleek Blush in Rose Gold

Bourjois Blush in Rose D'or

Eyes:

Urban Decay Primer Potion

Urban Decay Eyeshadow in Half Baked, Toasted and Virgin

Avon Big Colour Pencil in Frosted Ice

Benefit Bad Girl Eye Pencil

17 Wild Curls Mascara in Wildest Black

Clinique Bottom Lash Mascara in Black

Benefit Brow-zings in Light

Lips:

Topshop Lipstick in Show Off

I had a massive latte for desert which was lovely but as a result I ended up having a terrible nights sleep!

In The Nude

 As my lipstick collection has been growing I've been finding myself becoming more fond of nude lipsticks. They are great for work and the times when you want to wear something on your lips without attracting too much attention to them.

These are the nude lipsticks I've found myself reaching for the most:

Sleek True Colour Lipstick in Barely There £3.99

 

Avon Ultra Colour Rich Lipstick in Pout £3.00

17 Mirror Shine Lipstick in Beehive £4.59

They do all look quite similar in the tubes but once they have been applied you can notice the differences straight away. Sleek 'Barely There' is the darkest of the three, Avon 'Pout' edges more towards a pinkish hue and 17 'Beehive' is the sheerest hint of colour. 

All three are incredibly creamy and moisturising and last me from breakfast till lunch without needing another application.

None of these lipsticks give the dreaded 'concealer lips' effect and they are all under a fiver!

What do you think of nude lipsticks?

Do you use any of these? 

Can you recommend me any other good ones?