Autumn/Winter Makeup Essentials

So it's now well into Autumn and Winter is fast approaching. During the colder months, my makeup changes so I thought I would share my 6 main makeup essentials for Autumn/Winter. Enjoyy!

The first item that is a must during Autumn/Winter, isn't necessarily makeup but I just had to put it in. I also mentioned this in My Daily Makeup and it's my Burts Bee's Lip Balm.

This is one of my all time favourite lip balms. I have tried everything, from Blistex to Vaseline, but none work on my very dehydrated, chapped lips. This is the only lip balm that actually does something. I apply a generous amount of this before applying lipstick/lip gloss and before I go to bed. When I take my lipstick/lip gloss off at the end of the day and when I wake up, my lips are as soft as a baby's bum (liking my metaphor there). I just don't know how it does it!! And just as you thought I couldn't praise this lip balm any more, the smell. Oh sweet lord it smells like peppermint which, if you know me well, is my favourite smell EVER. I could ramble on about this for hours but I'm going to stop and suggest that you go to your nearest Boots as soon as possible and pick one of these up, you will not regret it!

The second and third items I think are a must have are lip colours. I have chosen 2 that I have been wearing the most this season and that I think would suit everyone.

The first lip product I have chosen is my Kiko Smart Lipstick in the shade '904 Strawberry Pink'. Some people may say this is a 'summery' colour but I think it's perfect for this time of year.

Personally I love the Kiko smart lipsticks. They're creamy, pigmented and have incredible staying power. There is also a HUGE shade range and they really are not expensive at all. I picked this shade up, along with shade '905' (mentioned in My Daily Makeup), when I was in France and I will be picking up A LOT more shades when I'm in Milan next Easter.

I love this colour. It does look a bit darker on the lips than in the swatch above, but it doesn't look too 'over the top' and is perfect for school. It smells AMAZING, like white chocolate magnums is how I describe it to everyone. I would suggest that you all go and check Kiko out because they are one of my favourite brands, their products are amazing and great value for money!

The second lip product I have chosen is also from Kiko. It's the Kiko Extra Volume Lipgloss in '27 Opal Rose'. 

I purchased this at the same time as the lipstick and boy I'm glad I did. It is so so pigmented and can be worn alone, or over a lipstick (it goes really well with the lipstick I just mentioned). I don't find it to be sticky in the slightest and it also has the 'white chocolate magnum' smell which is an added bonus! The lasting power of this is also remarkable. Because it's so glossy you wouldn't expect it to last for long, but I have worn this for around 6 hours once, including eating and drinking, and even then it was only just starting to wear away. The glossiness had gone after around 2 hours and left more of a stain, but I'm not complaining. Unfortunately this shade was limited edition and is no longer available but I believe a similar shade is '19 Pearly Cranberry'.

The fourth and fifth makeup item's I have chosen are eyeshadow's. The first eyeshadow I have chosen is my Maybelline Color Tattoo in 'On and On Bronze'. 

Now I talked about this is my last post, so I'm not going to ramble on for too long, but this is my perfect colour for this time of year as I like to stick with golds/bronzes/coppers etc. This is hands down my favourite autumn/winter eyeshadow and I have a feeling that it won't be off my eyes much. It also creates the perfect base for other eyeshadows which makes it even better. For a more 'in depth' mini review, read my October Favourites post.

The second eyeshadow isn't actually just one eyeshadow, it's actually a whole palette. It's my MUA Undress Me Too Palette. This is the only eyeshadow palette I actually own but I love it.

I don't use all of the shades at this time of year but the shades I do use are;

Devotion,

Fiery,

Dreamy,

Tranquil,

Wink,

And Obsessed.

I love all of these colours but my absolute favourite has to be Wink. It's a lovely rose gold sort of colour and just looks so so nice on the eyes. Just a quick side note, the colour I have hit pan on is the one I use for my brows so that is why I haven't mentioned it. 

Below are swatches of all the eyeshadow's mentioned. 

I love this palette and even though there are some dud colours (the black one in particular) I would recommend to anyone just starting out with makeup as you can do some really nice eye looks with the good colours.

The final product that I feel is essential for Autumn/Winter is a foundation. Now up until recently, I hadn't touched foundation for about 3 months, but now it's been getting colder, I've been reaching for my Max Factor Colour Adapt foundation.

This foundation gives a medium coverage but it is buildable. I think for autumn and winter, medium to full coverage foundations are great as I find my skin goes a bit crazy and I like to cover up imperfections and blemishes etc. I'd say that this is a cream to powder formulation as it goes quite powdery, but not cakey, when it sets. I love this as it dries matte and actually helps keep me matte all day. This does tend to cling to dry patches so I do have to be careful. 

I have this in the lightest shade '40 Creamy Ivory' as I'm like a ghost in Winter and it matches perfectly. Max Factor are one of the only brands that do foundations pale enough for my skin, so I always try and use foundations from them.

This is my new favourite foundation and I would recommend to anyone with oily, combination or normal skin.

Anddd, that is it for today's post. I really hope it was helpful and you enjoyed reading it. Please comment down below if you've tried any of the products I mentioned or if you would like to try any, or even if you have any product recommendations for me as I love trying new things:)

October Favourites

So we've reached the end of October (whatttt?!) and it's time for me to share my favourite things of this month with you all. And without further ado, lets get started!

I'm going to start off with makeup, and the first product I've been really liking this month is my Seventeen Miracle Matte Pressed Powder. 

I mentioned in my 'My Daily Makeup' post that I was looking for another pressed powder that actually keeps me matte all day as I was disappointed with my Rimmel Stay Matte powder and someone tweeted me saying that this powder was their holy grail powder, so I went out and bought it.

Now this powder is better than the Rimmel Stay Matte, but it's still not amazing. I find that I get 1-2 more hours of shine control when I use this but for me it's still not enough. The reason this is in my favourites is that despite it not keeping me matte all day, I have actually really enjoyed using it, as it is way better than the Rimmel Stay Matte, and I love the packaging. 

I have this powder in the shade 'Ivory Porcelain' which I believe is the lightest shade. I don't really know why this isn't marketed as 'Translucent' because it leaves no colour on the skin and you wouldn't even know I had it on.

I love the packaging on this powder, it's really handy for taking to school as I don't need to take a separate mirror for touch ups. This powder also comes with a powder puff but I prefer applying it with a brush as the powder puff uses too much product. This isn't my holy grail powder but I have been really enjoying using it this month. I would recommend this powder to anyone who has oily-ish (not super oily, like mine), normal or combination skin. If anyone has any suggestions on mattifying powders that will keep me matte ALL DAY, and I mean all day, then please leave a comment as I am still on the search for one.

The next makeup item I have been loving is my Maybelline Colour Tattoo in 'On and On Bronze'. I actually only purchased this towards the end of the month but I love it so much that I just couldn't leave it out of my favourites/wait until my November Favourites.

I have absolutely no idea why I never tried this sooner. It's incredible! It stays on all day and the pigmentation is amazing (see photo below). Once it dries, it stays EXACTLY where it was applied and doesn't budge an inch. 

The above pictures show the product, unblended (is that even a word?) and blended. I tend to wear it blended out as I don't want to wear anything too shimmery/over the top to school.

I love love love this and I'm super glad that I picked this little gem up.

The third and final makeup product that I have been loving this month is my Max Factor Masterpiece Max mascara.

This is actually just a sample size that I got in a Max Factor gift box a while back (anyone else get one of them?), but it's lasted me for ages. It's one of those mascara's that I forget about for a while, then use it again and remember why I loved it so much in the first place. It makes my lashes so long and fluttery yet thick (does that even make sense?) and oh my word it's just amazing. I will definitely buy the full size when this runs out.

This mascara has a plastic brush, and I'm not usually a fan of plastic brushes but this one is just amazing. I would highly highly recommend this to anyone who wishes for voluminous, lengthened lashes.

This month I have only been loving one facial skincare item as it's the only thing in my routine that has changed in months. And that product is my Nivea Daily Essentials Double Effect Eye Makeup Remover.

Now I'm not going to blab too much about this as I raved about it in my 'My Bedtime Skincare Routine' post. All I can say is that this is incredible. If you want to read all my thoughts on this, click here.

My favourite nail polish and he colour I have been wearing on my nails most of this month is a polish from Barry M called 'Raspberry'.

I love this colour. To me it's the perfect autumnal colour and I've been wearing this on my nails A LOT. It lasts for a good few days, but I never have the chance to wear it for longer than a few days as I do cooking at school and I'm not allowed to wear nail polish.

Barry M nail polishes are some of my favourites. They are so cheap yet the formulation is amazing and there is a HUGE (I mean huge) shade/formulation range (matte, gelly etc), there is definitely something for everyone.

The next item I have been loving this month is my Aussie Dual Personality hair serum.

I have used this hair serum for a few months now but since the weather has been getting colder, I find that my already unruly, curly hair gets ever more unruly and curly. I don't know why this is but I do know that this keeps frizz under control and my curls look a lot more 'tamed' and defined when I use this.

This smells like peaches and oh my word I love it.  After years of testing hair mousses, gels, serums and sprays, I've finally found one that does exactly what it says and works with my hair. I would recommend this to anyone with curly/frizzy/unruly hair.

My second last favourite of this month has been my white and silver infinity bracelet. 

I picked this bracelet up whilst I was in France in Summer for around 2.50€. I wear this every day as it goes with everything and I just love it. Infinity also has a special meaning to me, so this bracelet is super special.
I'm sure you can get bracelets similar for around £1.50 on Amazon/eBay so I will try and find a link and link it at the end of this post.

My final favourite this month is a book. And that book is (from what I've seen and heard) the most famous book in existence, The Fault in our Stars.

This book is, hands down, the best book I have ever read. Yes, it made me cry like a baby, but the story it tells is just amazing. I am terrible at describing books without giving away the whole story so I'm just going to insert a photo of the blurb.

I'm not even going to say anything else about this book, just go and read it now. But a word of warning, try not to get too attached to the characters.

So that is it for my monthly favourites. There weren't actually that many this month as I haven't really tried that many new things etc but from what there was, I hope you enjoyed reading about them. 
I'd like to apologise for this post being up a day late, I had a few problems with blogger but I hope you can all forgive me.

Quick Update

So it's Saturday, but I'm not uploading my usual sort of beauty post, a strange isn't it? Well I have now decided that Sunday's will be my posting day (every Sunday a new post will go up). This is because my Sunday's are a lot more relaxed and I have way more time to blog. Also because of the very few hours of good natural light we get in Winter, Sunday's are the best days for photographing products etc as I'm usually up earlier than on a Saturday.

I really hope that this is okay for everyone and you will all continue to read my blog:)

Whilst I'm putting this tiny post up I would like to thank you all for 700 page views, incredible!!

I love you all.