2014 Favourites Part 1 : The Beauty Bits

Hello again! Hope you've all had a lovely Christmas with family and friends.  It's time to make a cuppa, grab some of your Christmas chocolate and get comfy because it's time for my favourite beauty products of 2014...and it's a lengthy one!

Make Up

My favourite foundation has been Rimmel Match Perfection, and it is in my opinion very similar to the the L'Oreal True Match but just a little bit cheaper.  It's very light on the skin and gives a slightly dewy finish.

I have two favourite concealers this year : MAC Prolongwear Concealer and Seventeen Stay Time Concealer. I use the MAC concealer as an eyeshadow primer and undereye concealer and Seventeen as a blemish concealer.  Seventeen is also really good for undereye circles as it is very lightweight.

Another product I use under my eyes is MAC's Prep and Prime Highlighter in Light Boost.  This yellow toned cream helps to brighten the under eye area but I also use it to highlight the tops of my cheekbones and the bridge of my nose.

To softly sculpt out my cheekbones I have been using The Body Shop Honey Bronzer.  This is a flat bronzer which had no red undertones so is perfect for contouring.  I use it with a fluffy kabuki brush to give some shape to my face without being too harsh for everyday wear.

For blush I have mostly been using Rimmel's Soft Colour Blush in Santa Rose.  This peachy pink gives just the perfect colour to my cheeks whatever time of year and the little bit of shimmer inside helps to give and extra glow to my skin.

My main love of this year though has been the Hourglass Ambient Lighting Powder in Luminous Light.  I'm so in love with this I don't even know what else to say except that I wrote a post about it earlier this year - you can read it here.

My favourite brow product for this year has been the Sleek Brow Stylist in Medium.  It's very similar to the Hourglass Brow Arch - it's a waxy pencil with a spoolie brush on the other end, but in the past few days it's been taken over by a new love, more about that in the future.

I've always found liquid and gel liners a bit tricky to apply but Benefit's They're Real Push Up Liner has made my life so much brighter! I can do perfect winged line in under 3 minutes thanks to this baby - total life changer!

My mum has used Max Factor False Lash Effect Mascara for years but for some reason I never even thought about trying it out until I saw Amelia Liana's review of it.  I have fairly long dark lashes anyways so it doesn't really take much to give me longer fuller lashes but this takes them to the next level. I will be using this for years to come.

Earlier this year I found out that Marks and Spencer started selling Stila makeup and when I saw their eyeshadow in Kitten I had to have it.  I use this as all over the lid dry or apply it wet with a fixing spray to make it more intense, as well as an inner corner highlight.  Three other eyeshadows I have been loving are MAC's Wedge, Malt, and Quarry.  Wedge is the staple of the transition shades whereas Malt and Quarry are mauve hues that are perfect blended together for a soft romantic smokey eye or as single washes of colour for a more simple look.  Quarry particularly give any makeup look a grungey vibe.

I've never really been one for wearing false lashes much simply because my lashes are already fairly long but ever since I first tried Ardell's Demi Wispies I have been wearing them at any opportunity where I can be a bit more bold with my makeup.

I've really been getting back into wearing bolder lips this year and one of my favourite looks has been the classic red lip.  I have been using MAC's Cherry Lip Liner to line and fill my lips in a bright matte red.  My second favourite bold lip look comes courtesy of Bourjois and their Rouge Edition Velvet in Pink Pong.  This fuschia pink shade applies like a gloss but dries to a velvety matte that lasts for hours.

To help everything stay in place I use Urban Decay All Nighter Setting Spray which really is true to it's name.

My favourite brush is Urban Decay's Optical Blurring Foundation Brush.  This is a dense bristled brush which is quite similar to the Real Techniques Expert Face Brush but with longer softer bristles.

Hair and Body

Shampoo is something I rarely change up but something different I picked up this year was Aussie's Miracle Shine Shampoo and Conditioner.  This makes my hair super soft and shiny even if I leave it to air dry and don't style it.

In between washes I have loyal to the old reliable of Batiste Dry Shampoo.  I love the tropical scent and don't think I'd use any other one purely because of the scent.

I'm really bad for brushing my hair and it gets tangled very easily so my Tangle Teezer is a godsend.  Whenever I decide to actually style my hair the products I reach for are L'Oreal #TXT Volume Supersizing Spray for a messy casual look and Toni & Guy's Classic Shine Gloss Serum to smooth and add shine to sleek styles.

Typical blogger I know but I can't get enough of Soap and Glory's Sugar Crush range particularly the body wash.  The sweet citrus-y scent is really refreshing for early morning wake up calls.  To moisturise my skin I love using Vaseline's Spray and Go in Cocoa as it absorbs into my skin super quick making it a bit less cold on winter mornings, not to mention it smells amazing!

Something I received in a Glossybox many moons ago (when I used to be a subscriber) was the Wilkinson Sword Intuition Razor.  This is razor has four blades surrounded by soap to lather, shave and moisturise in one step.  It's made shaving my legs so much easier and much less of a chore.

As you may have guessed if you a regular reader of mine, I am a massive Essie fan and my favourite shades this year have been Lacquered Up, a bright pillar box red, and Spin The Bottle, my perfect nude nail shade which was part of the Spring 2014 collection.

Perfume wise I've worn Marks and Spencer's New York fragrance from the Autograph collection pretty much every day this year.  It's a luxurious scent that is slightly floral but also musky.

Skincare

I have a confession...I've been really lax with my skin care throughout this year and I'm paying for it again.  But the cleanser I've been loving the most is Clinique's Take The Day Off Balm.  This leaves my skin feeling so soft and fresh with every use. As you can see from the picture above it's about time I picked up a new one.  

In the summer I went to France for a couple of days and of course picked up some Bioderma Micellar Water.  This is the best makeup remover I've used and I love that even if you're a bit over zealous in how much you use to take off eye makeup it doesn't sting one jot!

Clearly I am a big fan of Hydraluron.  My skin is oily but it also get dehydrated easily from working in warm hospital wards so my skin drinks this daily serum up like theres no tomorrow.  I love using the sheet masks the night before a big even and my skin looks so much better and my makeup applies smoother and last longer the next day.

That's it for my beauty favourites for this year - well done if you made it this far!  Here's to finding lots of new favourites in 2015. 

Hope you all have a lovely New Year!