January Favourites

So here we are, a whole month into 2014 already, now that went fast... I hope this is not too late for a favourites post but I've been almighty busy with all sorts of bits and bobs.

TOPSHOP NAILS// BOY NEXT DOOR
This is a beautiful pastel mint colour from topshop that I have been loving recently. Pastel's like this are my favourite colours for my nails. Some people only wear pastels in summer but, quite frankly, I love them far too much for that, so its all year round for me!

TOPSHOP LIPS// MACAROON
Firm favourite of the month; I really am loving this at the moment! For a full review look HERE!

RIMMEL SCANDALEYES// NUDE 
At the moment I'm loving wearing this in my water line to really brighten up my eyes! I would thoroughly recommend this as it does make a great difference to a simple everyday look. To make it even better it was an absolute bargain -I found it in the bargain bucket at superdrug!

BOURJOIS HEALTHY MIX FOUNDATION// 51 LIGHT VANILLA
I am absolutely and completely in love with this foundation, its such a lovely formula, easily blended, natural looking but great bendable coverage. I take the shade 51 and its the perfect match! I recently purchased the L'oreal True Match but I've reverted back to this as overall I think it gives a much more natural finish. Big recommendations!

SEVENTEEN BROW'S THAT BROW KIT//
I'm afraid I think this was limited edition as it was part of a 17 offer on around Christmas but I couldn't leave it out because my, oh my, I love it! I find it really hard to find the perfect matte brown to fill in my brows so this is a real gem. The colour is just perfect and gives a lovely natural effect.
The kit comes with a wax and highlight also, but I don't use the wax as, honestly, I'm too lazy -Bad I know... Mostly I don't use the highlighter either as I much prefer the one from my sleek contour kit but it seems like a pretty decent highlight. Nothing special, but nice.

DRAWING & DOODLING//
Recently I've rediscovered my love for doodling. I think there's nothing nicer than sitting down and having a little doodle to relax. I've also decided that I have way too many notebooks!

TOPSHOP CRUSHED VELVET SKATER SKIRT// SILVER
I am in love with this skater skirt, I am a great lover of velvet as it is but this is just beautiful. The silver isn't something I would usually go for but I think that's the reason I love this so much! It can easily be dressed up or dressed down for any occasion, so basically its perfect!

Well there we have it; my favourite things of the month of January. Lets see what February brings us!

Topshop Macaroon Lipstick

I've decided i have an unhealthy addiction to lip products, mainly lipsticks... I popped out for a little shopping trip with my dear friend and well, I returned with two new lipsticks and one of the Rimmel Apocalips in the shade Apocaliptic the jury's still out on that as I can decide if I love or hate it... Probably the latter... I digress.

One of the lipsticks I bought was the topshop lipstick in macaroon.

Macaroon is a beautiful coral, peach pink shade perfect for everyday where. In my opinion it looks similar to the YSL Peach Passion lipstick that Zoella wears in her everyday make up routine video, I think its a little brighter but near enough. That's just my idea, as I don't own that YSL lipstick, dammit, I cant be sure.

So for packaging. Topshop hit the nail on the head for this every time. I am such a sucker for beautiful things and all of the topshop make up is presented so beautifully I want to buy it all simply to look at it and its BEAUTIFUL-NESS... I'll stop now, I'm sounding like a crazy woman. But anyway, I give ten out of ten for packaging as the swatch on the bottom is an accurate representation of the colour and it looks stunning; not cheap or overdone.

Now for the product, it applies nicely straight to the lips, I do find it can accentuate any lines in your lips slightly so make sure your lips are well moisturised before applying this as it has a matte/velvet finish. The lipstick is well pigmented giving good colour pay off and I would say its fairly long lasting, touch ups throughout the day are needed but most lipsticks are the same. Overall thumbs up for this lipstick I would give it a 9/10!

I wear this lipstick everyday as part of a natural makeup routine and love it! With a bit of gloss over the top its the perfect everyday lip, i think this will be perfect for summer but for now I'm happy wearing it in winter!

I am loving this lipstick and cant recommend the topshop make up line enough, I need to try some of their other shades but in the mean time this is fast becoming my favourite lipstick! Get your self down there and give it a go.

Bargain Haul

Well recently I discovered something wonderful, and wonderfully cheap too. Make up from Poundland! Now don't scoff and tell me it'll be cheap crap, it's not their own make up it's high street brands only sold in Poundland. I think it must be end of rail items or re-branded products. So you can find things that would ordinarily be sold for much more at only a pound: bargain!

I've been looking for a grey nail varnish for quite some time now, I'm lusting after the matte shade from Topshop, so when I spotted Sally Hansen Wet Cement for just a pound I just simply had to buy it, I needed to buy it. It isn't matte, but I hadn't expected it to be. But to make things even better, after a little research I've realised that it was sold at around £7 so that means I've saved like £6!!

I found a Rimmel Eye Crayon in 700 flaunt so bagged that also. But was slightly disappointed with the actual shade as I found it much more orange than the packaging suggests. I don't really know if I will use it, as orange eye shadows tend to wash me out and look like one of the walking dead; generally not a look I go for...

Whilst shopping I also picked up one of the Maybelline Baby Lips in shade Peach Kiss. It is wonderful, lovely and moisturising, and my god, it smells so good I could eat it! But bullet does show it to be slightly tinted and I didn't find it showed up aside from a slight shimmer which was a shame but it's a good balm so I'm loving it.

I also bought a couple of items from the MUA stall as there products are normally OK and they are such bargains that you can afford to risk it. I bought another grey nail varnish (before I went  into Poundland) called Koala. But after testing I've discovered that it is ridiculously watery and in order to get a decent colour you'd be there for days painting coats, so I don't think I'll be getting any more of their nail varnishes but it was worth a try. I also got a matte brown eye shadow because I only have shimmery ones and decided I needed to expand my neutrals range (OK, I admit it was a spur of the moment purchase...).

So get your purse down to Poundland and check out their make up because you've got to love a bit of cheap!

-alex x