Monthly Favourites | March

Beauty

Hello, apologies for being so absent on the blog lately, work and other thing literally took over my life all of March. I was just too busy to have time for anything else so I decided to use my free days to catch up on some needed sleep and also just to sort of detox my system.
Anyway, today I'm sharing my March favourites, they're all beauty bits and I just noticed that one or two of these products had also been featured in the January favs post as well - guess that shows you just how much I love them right?

January Favourites

Beauty
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It's hard to even think and reflect on the fact that we're onto the 2nd month in such a short period of time. I literally have no clue where January went, I feel as if I didn't do much last month aside from stressing about what's to come...


On a more positive note, today I'm sharing with you a few beauty related items that I've been absolutely loving this past month. Most of these products have already made their debut on the blog - except for my relatively new foundation, which is from MAC and I've been using it for a little over a month. Plus I'm going to share with you another product that I'm certain will stay a favourite of mine for quite some time.


GOSH GIANT SUN POWDER

Beauty
GOSH Giant Sun Powder (001)













Lately I've really been loving to highlight the heck out of my face, it's come to the point whereby I feel slightly naked without a dash of this gorgeous golden bronze on my cheekbones. I wear it to work, on my casual days and of course on the nights out too. It makes my skin look and feel extra beautiful even though I suffer from very bad breakouts and scarring. I've used this product almost every single day since purchasing it, that's how much I love it.

The product gives a very nice healthy glow plus it's suitable for all skin tones, although I think it looks even extra pretty on fair skin. It's versatile and can be used both as a bronzing powder or highlight. I like to highlight my face with it and so far it's worked out fine. I use the Real Techniques pointed foundation brush to get a smooth and finer looking glow, I always start small and build the glow by slightly adding more product. If you're feeling bold you could simply brush it on your eyelids to look more awake without doing too much.

As you can see this is a pretty enormous product which will last you years and years to come (unless you're a make-up artist or use it almost daily like me). It wasn't too pricey and you definitely get more than you're paying for so it's well worth the money! 

Esther. x

What's In My Bag?

Beauty

I've come to realise that in my 4 years of blogging I have never written a 'What's in my bag?' post, that changes today because I'm here to show you some of the things that I carry around with me. Do keep in mind that I change my bags quite often so what I carry varies on which bag is in use and how big/small it is. You might have seen this bag before, it's from H&M and was only £19.99, I talked about the bag here.

Beauty | Smoked to the Gods

Beauty
Products used:
Urban Decay Naked 3 palette
YSL Ecré de peau foundation
Ebay lashes
Gosh liquid eyeliner
MAC studio fix fluid concealer

It's been a while since I posted anything beauty related and that's why today I'm coming to you with this smokey eye I created back in June for the Secret Solstice festival. I was so impressed with how it turned out because this look definitely wasn't planned and I just went from my brows to the eyes and this was the outcome. The dramatic lashes livened the look even more and I received quite a lot of compliments, which we all love. I used only the NAKED 3 palette and I cannot wait to show you some Autumn inspired looks. 

Esther x

Stripy French Tips Nail Art

Gosh
Gosh base/top coat // O.P.I Planks A Lot // Kiss nail-art pens

I wanted to share with you guys my current manicure, it's a different spin on the french manicure instead of using a solid colour I opted on trying out stripes in different shades and I'm in love with the outcome. You can use any colours you want and it'd look good on short nails as well, just make sure to use shorter strokes. Let me know if you try this nail art design below or tweet me @estherni1.

Nails | Sparrow Me The Drama

Gosh
Nail polishes used:
Maybelline Color Show - 197 Chalk Dust
GOSH - 569 Flamingo
O.P.I - Sparrow me the drama

I haven't posted anything nail related on here for quite a while so I decided to show you guys these three polishes that are currently my favvourites and also the way I like combining them for a cute and quirky look. If you have been following my blog long enough then you know that one of my favourite ways of painting my nails is have solid colours on all my nails apart from the ring finger; otherwise know as the 'accent nail' where I usually paint a totally different color and will probably add some glitter as well, but in this case I added the Maybelline black and white polish.
What is your favourite way of painting your finger nails? Let me know below.xo

Monthly Favourites | June

Beauty
BOBBI BROWN Foundation Stick in Walnut (8): this is my summer go-to foundation for quick yet effective coverage without feeling heavy faces compared to if I were using a liquid foundation, which is normally what I opt for during the winter season.

Gosh Velvet lipstick in Kitch (86): I cannot put this lipstick away, I've  been adding a few more to my collection but this one still remains my favourite. It's a great 'get me up' product and putting this one on always leaves me feeling good.

FM Make up concealer in Dark Caramel: FM is a distribution business thingy like Herbalife and I saw that they had some women of colour friendly products thus I went ahead and tried their concealer. It works for me, the coverage ins't all that but it's quite light and I usually just apply it to my problematic areas and add a bit of powder then I'm out the door.
Atrix intensive hand cream: there's no arguing that this is the best hand cream our there, at least from what I've tried and I can sure tell you that I've been around when it comes to hand creams. It's rich and thick, perfect for dry and brittle hands + nails.

Maybelline the Rocket volum' express mascara: I've talked about this mascara before, here and here. It's literally the best mascara I've tried too. It gives great length and doesn't get sticky and thick like some mascaras do.

Blistex: I used to hate this lip product mostly because of it's strong scent and the tingly feeling it left me with after application but once I had an allergic reaction and had swollen lips which left me with very dry lips and I decided to give the blistex another try, it's all I've been using since winter!
Lavender essential oil: very relaxing scent that I both apply to parts of my body that hurt or feel swollen but mostly I use it for sleeping. I dab a few drops on my pillow and the rest of the night I sleep like a baby.

Gosh eye liner pen: Doing the winged liner is like the best thing for me right now, been rocking it for work, school, shopping and dinners. Pretty much any occasion and I feel this eyeliner gives me the best results.

O.P.I - SPARROW ME THE DRAMA: a beautiful baby pink polish that's perfect on both toe nails and finger nails. It goes well with any outfit and perfect for everyday.


Those are my favourite products of the month of June, the mascara's been featured in three monthly favourites posts so that just goes to show how much I really love it. Also I've started to go to the gym recently and I feel much better, will update you guys on that later :)
xoxo

New In | [VOGUE x GOSH]

Clean&Clear
April VOGUE | GOSH eyeliner in Stone | Aztec phonecase
Happy Sunday! Today's a holiday here so I spent the whole day sleeping and later in the afternoon I made some really good waffles with chocolate. Man they were so yummy! Last night the girls and I went out for the first time in a looong time, everyone's been so busy with work that we barely had time to even meet for coffee or anything, but finally yesterday we made something of our free day and went out on the night and we had a great time. The weather was really good this time, no rain or wind and it was even sunny so you know the legs went bare.
Garnier pore purifying toner: leaves your skin feeling fresh and tingles a bit on sensitive spots.

Clean & Clear blackhead clearing daily scrub: works well and has microbeads that help scrub away the dead skin. I feel even though it's a daily scrub it's a bit too rough on the skin to use every day so maybe every other day and alternate with just a clear face wash to be good to your skin. 
I'm slowly but surely becoming a lipstick junkie, in my last blog post which was my favourites post, I showed you guys my favourite nude lipstick called '86 kitch' by Gosh. I've been using that lipstick so much in the past 2 months or so that I had to go get myself two more lipsticks in a kitten pink and a coral one. The Kitten Pink one is a definite dupe for the Viva Glam lipstick from MAC. I've still got to use Shocking Coral and I plan on reviewing these two products after further more use.

Wishing you all a very peaceful and joyful Sunday with your loved ones and don't forget to bring the positive thoughts into the coming week. Now imma grab myself a cup of tea and socialise for a little bit :)
xx

New In | Maybelline, Gosh & O.P.I

Beauty
Keeping Suzi at bay - O.P.I
 Aloe Vera lip balm 
Lip liner in 'wild cherry' - Gosh 
'Kitch 86' lipstick - Gosh 
'904 vivid rose' lipstick - Maybelline

Here are a couple of beauty related items that I want to share with you all. I'd purchased them a while back but somehow my silly self managed to forget about them and go about my life without even posting about them on here, even though I'd taken these pictures a long time ago. That's the reason I'm showing them to you guys now. For the longest time I've been dying to get my hands on a bright pink lipstick that didn't make me look like a drag queen but like a natural looking version of a barbie doll and I think I might have just found what I've been searching for. It's the color sensational vivid rose (904) one from Maybelline. It's already been used twice and I love it, it doesn't at all wash me out and it's perfect. The gosh lipstick was also something I needed wanted, a nude lipstick, every girl's got to own one right? I've not worn it yet but the swatch convinced me so it came home with me. The lip liner was to replace my old one that I'd lost and the nail polish... well it was an impulse buy.


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New In | L´oréal, Gosh, MAC & Topshop

Gosh
L´oréal color riche S3 Disco Smoking: This eyeshadow palette was a gift from mommy, it was 50% off which was good. The colours are very vibrant and out there; might seem a bit scary at first but once applied and blended well they look amazing. I tried the black colour last weekend for a subtle smokey eye which turned out great. Will probably show you a picture or two as I happened to take a few photos just to see the outcome.

Gosh velvet touch lipliner (waterproof): A while back I had purchased a berry lip liner from Gosh called 'wild cherry' which later became my all time favourite liner. I used it almost every day and it suited any occasion whether it be school or on the night out. It lasted forever on my lips and I only needed to reapply once or twice depending or what I was eating. Unfortunately it got lost a few weeks back so I decided to buy another one, this time I opted for the red one as I wear a lot of red lipsticks. It's a vibrant red which I think will look good with anything and also against my skin tone. It's called 'simply red'.
MAC's studio fix powder plus foundation: My Smashbox powder broke so I needed to replace it with a new one and I opted for this one by MAC. It's in the shade NW48. At first I was going to purchase the NW50 one but it was out of stock and so instead I just went for this one as there isn't too much of a difference between the two. It fits me perfectly and I'm very content with my purchase, totally worth the money.

Topshop ankle socks: I've for the longest time been a fan of Samantha or otherwise known as Beauty Crush on YouTube and she also runs a beauty and fashion blog under the same name. I really like her style which is very laid back and grunge-y and just carefree. It always has a hobo twist to it as well which I adore. Most of the times you'll find Sammi wearing goofy and cute socks with her heels/boots which will be peeking at the ankles which is something I've grown fond of as of late and since I was in need of a few new pairs of socks I decided to try out the trend of socks with heels. It's not something new, many bloggers have been doing it.
Sammi's blog ---> http://www.beautycrush.co.uk/.



Just a couple of things I've bought this month, I will also be starting my Christmas shopping soon to avoid the crazyness that follows during that time and also so I don't end up broke by the end of November and in early December. Today's my last day of my autumn break so I will be doing my nails, studying and enjoying some tea. What are you up to today?
xxx

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