July Favourites

My blog is in its third month so now I feel I can do my first monthly favourites as I think I've reviewed enough products to choose from.  July has been a good month for many reasons, I got my first staff nurse job secured for September when I finish university, my 4 year old son (yes I know I don't look old enough ha!) finished nursery and starts big boy school in Septemer which I'm excited about but also sad of the realisation he's growing up and he's not my baby anymore! I also won a 100 follower giveaway and won a MAC lipstick! So here's my July favourites and the products I've been loving this month...

 

So I think the product I've been loving the most is this Collection (Previously named Collection 2000) Lasting Perfection concealer in the shade medium. I haven't done a review about it as I'm pretty sure unless you have been living under a rock everybody in the beauty and blogging world would have at some point raved about this. I started blogging 3 months ago but actually only bought this 2 weeks ago as I was waiting until all the hype had died down, plus I still had a lot of my beloved Touche Éclat concealer left and I'm consciously trying to save money. So basically I have been using this everyday since I bought it, it's amazing for under your eyes in reducing dark lines and just generally brightening under your eyes, it doesn't leave the under eye area cakey or dry and at just £4.19 it is a beauty steal. I hope Collection never discontinue it!

 

I bought this Bourjois cream blusher in shade Healthy Glow 02 back in June and I have literally used it every time I have applied makeup.  You can read my full review of it here.  I find you can apply this with fingers and blend it in or I have been using my Real Techniques stippling brush with gives a lovely finish and I find I can blend it in much better, but be careful not to put too much on the stippling brush! I had to include this in my July favourites as it has been my only cream blush I have been reaching for throughout June and July, and still find it a gorgeous coral colour for the summer.

I absolutely love this spring water and have mentioned it a few times in the odd post I have done and again I just had to include it as last week after having two of the mini Avene bottles of this I had run out of it again so decided to buy the bigger bottle as I love it so much.  Basically this product is useful for all sorts of things including to calm down skin after shaving, sunburn, to use on cuts, after tweezing, to set makeup after application to make it last longer.  In fact, the one thing I do use it for mostly is not on their list ha, I use it as a sort of toner, I spray it onto a cotton wool pad and after doing my morning and evening face cleanse I apply this as a sort of cooling toner, which helps remove any makeup traces that the cleanser hasn't been able to remove.  It's fabulous.

One thing I'm guilty of as a blogger is not having enough make up brushes (I actually only have four, oops!) But this Ecotools brush and the real techniques stippling brush are the two brushes I reach for every time I apply makeup, and are really my go-to brushes.  I got this quite a while ago, it's a brand that's sold in Boots and is reasonably cheap.  This is actually supposed to be a blusher brush but I have quite small features on my face so I find this way too big for blusher.  If I used this to apply blusher I think I would end up looking very patchy and not blended.  I actually use this brush to apply my finishing powder and it works great when applying either my Rimmel Stay Matte powder or my MAC Fix powder.

Ok...I have something to confess.  I did a review back in June on this Bourjois foundation and lots of bloggers were raving about how brilliant it was, I went and bought it and did a full review on it which I stated lots of pros about it but also stated how I didn't like how it seemed to cling to every dry bit of my face and blemishes and make it stand out.  But this month I thought I will give it another try and this time it was much better and wasn't clinging to every blemish making it look dry and flaky, no where near as bad as when I wrote that review.  Both times I was putting on primer too, so all I can think of was that at the time of the review in June my skin must have been worse than now as I do have combination skin.  Who knows, maybe the lovely summer weather we have been having has made my skin better? So I actually really like this foundation now and use this on a day to day basis and keep my MAC and other higher end foundations for just nights outs and more special occasions.

For days when I haven't needed to wear foundation this product has been my holy grail yes that's right my HOLY GRAIL BB cream.  It looks smooth and flawless on, the colour adapts to you skin tone, it feels light and refreshing on the skin, and has SPF This is the first BB cream I actually own, to be honest I never thought I would like them as I'm a sort of full coverage kind of girl as my skin fluctuates.  Nspa products can be bought from Asda and all their products are cheap and affordable.  Definitely recommend it.  You can read my full review of this and the Nspa Hair Elixir Oil here.

I'm not going to give too much away about this product as I have been using it for the last two weeks and making sure I get a good time span to be able to write a full review of it properly which I will be putting up in the next 1-2 weeks, but I just had to include it as I have noticed a big difference in my skin from using it and my pores reduced. 

                       So there's my monthly favourites, this year is really flying by don't you think?!

 

Nspa Beauty Balm and Hair Elixir Oil

Hi everyone hope you are all well, I've just got back from a few days camping in Blackpool so just had some nice pampering in the bath and looking forward to sleeping in my own bed! Last week I kindly got sent some lovely goodies to review from the lovely people at nspa - the beauty balm and the hair elixir oil.* A few weeks before receiving these I had actually bought two products from the Nspa range for a present- the raspberry shower gel and raspberry body spray mist and they both smelt gorgeous I bought some for myself the following week whilst doing my weekly shop.

 

These products actually got sent at a perfect time for me because I was going camping and had never tried a BB cream or tinted moisturiser before and obviously didn't want a full heavy foundation when camping, and I had ran out of my beloved Moroccan oil a few months back.  I purposely tried both these products for a week before writing my review, and took them both camping with me so I feel I can give a reliable review of them both.

 

So a little bit about nspa...This brand is exclusive to Asda supermarkets, and the products all range in price from £3-£7 so they won't break the bank!  All of the products come in stages as you can see on the bottles - Stage 1-Cleanse to draw out impurities, remove make-up and clarify skin. Stage 2-Exfoliate to buff away dull skin cells, refine pores and tone skin. Stage 3 -Treat to condition and replenish tired skin and Stage 4-Moisturise to restore and nourish thirsty skin.  I think this is a great easy beauty regime that anyone can follow for a great skincare routine whether your new to skincare products are not. The beauty balm I got sent is stage 3 in a skincare routine.

 

 

 

 

Beauty balms or BB creams have been a beauty buzz word for quite a while now and are known for covering any imperfections/pores and blemishes whilst providing you with a light colour coverage.  Now personally I don't own any BB creams or tinted moisturisers (shocking I know) as my skin is sometimes combination and I have some acne scars still visible off my younger years, so for me I like to feel I have a 'good coverage' on my face even through the day.  I have swatched many BB creams when I have been in shops and I was always put off by the fact even the light shade would be so dark on my hand (yes Garnier I am looking at you!)  When I first applied this to my hand to look at the shade I was aware that it was a darker shade than my skin colour so I was a bit wary before applying it, but I was pleasantly surprised that once applied to the face it blended really well and didn't leave those awful lines of darker colour on the jaw line, it somehow adapted to my shade and blended in effortlessly.  I also stood in-front of the window to test it out and it looked very natural.  As the coverage is so light it doesn't make you feel or look like your wearing heavy makeup, and is perfect for day time wear because it has a added SPF 15.  For night time it can be worn alone and then I would just add my usual concealer and bronzer, or it could be used well for a bit of a primer to give your skin a nice base for foundation if you were choosing to have more coverage.  Overall the effect was natural and flawless so I was really pleased with this product, it hasn't broke my skin out.  Here is a few pictures of me wearing just the BB cream and no other make up to give you an idea of the coverage, I loved the feeling of having light coverage on but also knowing I was not completely 'naked' as I went to a family barbecue and camping with this on.

 

 

 

 

After recently changing my hair colour from blonde to brown my hair was in desperate need of some moisture.  I had ran out of my beloved Moroccan oil a few months back and had recently been using the Argan oil from Primark.  I would say the consistency of this oil is very similar to the Moroccan oil as it is quite thick (where as the argan oil from primark is quite runny).  I have been using this nspa oil after every hair wash, using two pumps on wet hair and one pump on dry hair after straightening o banish any frizz.  This has been a great replacement and I have really noticed a difference in the condition of my hair, it's much more soft, manageable and the ends have definitely gone smoother after being so dry when I had blonde hair. I think everyone should use oil on their hair as it not only improves the overall condition and strengthens the hair from all the heat products we use on it, I also think using oil on your hair helps it to grow too.

 

Thank you to nspa for kindly sending me these.  I have also seen on other bloggers reviews that the melting face cleanser and the hot cloth cleanser are going down well too so I will be purchasing them next, and I would recommend these two beauties aswell. Asda have currently got an offer on nspa products - 2 for £8.

 

Let me know if you have tried any nspa products or if your thinking of buying!