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.

My Bedtime Skincare Routine

Whoaaaa, 2 posts in one weekend, what's going on? Well in all honesty I wasn't really happy with yesterday's post and I was itching to write a blog post with my own pictures etc so I thought, why not treat everyone to two posts in the space of 2 days? And that is exactly what I'm doing. I also thought that this could be a little '600 page views' surprise post.

As you can probably already guess, today's post is going to be about my bedtime skincare routine (the routine I do every single night). I don't know about you, but I personally love reading blog posts and watching YouTube videos about people's skincare routines so I'm hoping you'll enjoy this post.

Firstly before I do anything else, I remove all my eye makeup using my Nivea Daily Essentials Double Effect Eye Makeup Remover (wow that was a mouthful).

This is actually a relatively new addition to my skincare routine as when I went into Boots a couple of weeks back to get my usual Garnier one, they didn't have it so I picked this one up, and oh boy I'm glad I did.

This is one of those eye makeup removers that you have to shake to mix the 2 solutions together. 

I have 1 word to describe this; incredible. I seriously couldn't believe how quickly and effectively this took my eye makeup off the first time I tried it. I wear a lot of eye makeup, mascara, eyeliner, eye shadow and all the other shibazz (new word there oooh), but this just removes it all like a dream without leaving an oily residue (as some have done for me in the past). A little really does go a long way as I've had this for 2 weeks, I use it every night and there's hardly any product gone. I am so impressed with this and it will continue to be a staple in my routine. I would recommend this to anyone who wants an affordable, really effective eye makeup remover.

After removing my eye makeup I remove my face makeup. For this is use my Simple Kind to Skin Purifying Cleansing Lotion.

I have used this cleansing lotion for about 3 years now and I don't plan on changing any time soon. It's just so soothing and calming on my skin, doesn't irritate it and removes all makeup fantastically. I used to use this on my eyes but it wouldn't always remove all my mascara and I would usually wake up with panda eyes, it would also irritate my eyes a little bit. 

This is, as the name suggests a lotion. It has no scent and as Simple products are suitable for all skin types, I would recommend this to anyone who wants an affordable, gentle, effective face makeup remover.

Next, I wash my face. On a Wednesday and a Sunday night I use an exfoliator and on every other night, I use a regular face wash.

The exfoliator I use is the Tea Tree Exfoliating Cream Wash. 

This face wash has tea tree and peppermint in it and is an absolute joy to use. It also has added aloe vera in it so after use you're not left with stiff, tight skin, but soft, smooth skin. 

The crushed walnut shell (as you can see in the photo above) exfoliates my skin really well without scratching my face and without making my face feel like I'm rubbing sandpaper all over it. I much prefer this to any other exfoliators I've ever used. The morning after using this I also notice a huge reduction in the number of spots I can see forming under the skin (them little bumps). I have also noticed a reduction in blackheads on my nose, I'm seriously impressed by this and I would recommend this over any other exfoliator I've tried, and believe me, I've tried A LOT. Also it smells amazing, so that makes me love it even more.

The face wash I use every other night is Clean and Clear Fast Action Daily Wash. This is my favourite daily wash ever and I don't plan on changing any time in the foreseeable future.

This is just my holy grail face wash. It does everything it says on the tube and I just can't praise it highly enough. It definitely helps keep spots away and helps clear them fast, and it most definitely doesn't dry out my skin. It's seriously amazing. 

The face wash comes out as a gel like consistency but it lathers up to a foam on your face. I would highly, highly recommend this to anyone that has spot prone skin or is suffering from acne. This is the best product I have ever tried from Clean and Clear. 

Once I've washed my face I pat it dry with a clean towel and move on to toning my face. 

For this I use my Simple Kind to Skin Soothing Facial Toner. I love this toner. It leaves my skin feeling really refreshed and removes any dirt or anything that may have been left on my face, even after washing.

I don't exactly know what a toner does, but I do know it makes my skin feel really nice and clarified. I've been using this for about 3 years and I don't think I'll stop using it as it's served me well and it's just a great addition to my skincare routine. As it's Simple it has no unnecessary perfumes, no alcohol or anything to irritate your skin and is perfect for all skin types.

I then move onto moisturising my face, because everyone wants baby soft skin right?

For moisturising I use my Clean and Clear Dual Action Moisturiser. This moisturiser is meant to prevent spots and blemishes but I really don't know if it does or not. The main reason I use this is because it is oil free and is amazing at moisturising. 

This moisturiser has something like 0.2% salycilic acid in it (don't quote me on that) which is one of the best spot fighting ingredients you can find. As it has such a small concentration I don't know how effective it is but I certainly don't experience any irritation when I use this. I've been using this for about a year and I've been loving it ever since I got it. If you have very dry skin though, I would look for a more moisturising moisturiser as this does moisturise just not as well as some.

If you have oily, combination, normal, or spot prone skin I would recommend this moisturiser as it's oil free and it does make you feel a little better that it does have something in it that helps fight spots, even if maybe it actually doesn't, it's nice to have that there.

Finally I use my Witch Blemish Stick. This is just my favourite thing ever ever ever and oh my word I just love it so much. I love it so much that I actually did a full blog post on it here.

This little savoir has literally changed my life. No more foundation, and only concealer under my eyes. I seriously can't believe I never found this sooner. I just dab it over any spots that are appearing/have appeared and by the morning, you usually would never have known they were even there. I could ramble on about this for ages but just check out the whole post where I declared my love for it;)

Once I have done all of this, I jump into bed and watch YouTube videos, why not?

I hope this post has been helpful and has maybe encouraged you to buy some new products to add into your skincare routine? I hope everything was explained clearly and I'd like to thank you all again for 600 page views, it means the world.