May Favourites

It's almost Summer :)

Miss BB

Best Body Products

Beauty bloggers and vloggers often keep up with the monthly favourites trend, outlining our most used products of the moment but so often we fail to mention products which never leave our routine since they're not new or fresh. I wanted to do a little run down of my most used body products and include those that perhaps haven't made the cut to be mentioned before.

It's basically a run down of my favourite lotions and potions, notably absent is my Soap & Glory Righteous Butter which I absolutely love but is just so expensive on a cost per use scale so I switched it for the lotion equivalent which definitely provides more for your money. That being said I'm about to slather myself in the butter formula and lay on the sofa til bed. Ahhh...bliss...

Enjoy!



Miss BB

My January Favourites

It's that time again! Last year I wasn't great at putting my monthly favourites on my blog as well as my YT channel but it's a new year.. new start, those of you that don't watch my videos might appreciate my new commitment to the monthly posts. 

A lot of what I've used throughout January has been in my regular routine for a while, I haven't made many changes since it's all kinda working for me right now. I'm totally in love with my skin and hair care routines for the first time maybe ever so it's really just cosmetics that I switch out from time to time and even then.. the Garnier BB cream has had me hooked for 6 months.

Skincare

Liz Earle Cleanser 100ml £13.75 here

Clarisonic Mia £120 here

Soap & Glory Pulp Friction £8 here

Body Shop Shea Body Butter £12.50 here

I am absolutely obsessed with my Clarisonic.. I'm not convinced the Liz Earle does anything special for me but the fact I can remove my makeup in the tub is awesome!! I will be trying some drugstore variations this month. S&G Pulp Friction is fab.. keeps me as smooth as can be the only down side is that it's such a pain to clean out of the bath afterwards.. if it wasn't I'd probably use it twice a day. Lastly the Shea Body Butter... ahh the smell, it just melts in to your skin and is fantastic value for money as a little goes a really long way! Totally changed my mind about The Body Shop Body Butters, I used to think they were a total rip off but this one is great!

Haircare

Aussie Miracle Moist Shampoo & Conditioner £3.99 each here

Macadamia Natural Oil 125ml £23.95 here

The combination of these three products have totally rejuvenated my hair. I never thought I'd find a shampoo and conditioner I genuinely valued, intensive masques and treatments, yes but not run of the mill shampoo and conditioner. I tried very cheap, I tried very expensive nothing did anything special until I tried Aussie. Luckily they are very affordable as well as being super effective.

You may recall me mentioning "Project Hair" which I started at the beginning of the year, well I've had a lot of questions lately about how I've improved the condition of my dry, damaged barnet and you can look forward to a comprehensive hair post very soon!

Base

Garnier Miracle Skin Perfector (BB Cream) £7.49 here

Collection 2000 Lasting Perfection Concealer £4.19 here

My Garnier still reigns supreme as my favourite daytime "foundation" but this month made way for a brand new concealer. I've lost count of the amount of recommendations I've had to buy this so I finally caved. It's a similar consistency to YSL touche eclat and great for the money but I do think while I'm surviving on little sleep I need a touch more coverage under my eyes.

Cheeks

Miners Bronzer/Blush Blend in Sunblushed £4.99 here

Only one product this month but this has been a long time love of mine! Not many people are familiar with the brand (or at least not since they were around in the 90s) but there are some great, affordable products to be found there. This gives just enough glowy colour to do the job of a bronzer and blush in one.. I wore it at my wedding, that's how much I love it!

Eyes

Loreal Volume Million Lashes Luminizer £11.29 here

Rimmel Exhaggerate Liquid Liner £5.29 here

Rimmel Brow Pencil in Dark Brown £2.99 here

The mascara has served me well over the last three months, used almost every day it does exactly what it says on the tin. I plan to repurchase the Maybelline one bu one this month to really test which is my all time favourite. The liquid liner is back. It's been my go to look since Christmas, it's a quick way to open up my eyes and look more awake in the mornings and this particular liner has been a firm favourite for more than 5 years! The Rimmel brow pencil is the same.. I never strayed from this from the ages of maybe 15/16 to 23 when I discovered brow powders. I've recently returned to my old faithful because quite frankly.. it's easier!

Lips

Miners Matte Factor in Peach £3.99 here

Another one from Miners, my friend StyleSoCoy recently did a review of this range you can check out here. I love that these are easy to apply, long wearing and non-drying and still so inexpensive. My favourite everyday shade is peach (more pink in my opinion) but I love them all.

So that's it for January.. well this is actually February (oops)

I love these posts because in a years time I could be using something else that's not doing it for me and I can look back at my own recommendations.. plus it's always interesting to see what consistently makes the favourite lists. Sometimes you just use things for months without really thinking about how great they are or why you're repurchasing.. next month I'm bringing in shower gels and such.. an under-appreciated product in the beauty blogging world in my opinion but I love mine!

Miss BB

Wedding Countdown - Beauty Bootcamp

4 DAYS TO GO

Here's a little peek at the beauty regime I have been following in the run up to the wedding. As you know it was all booked last minute and so I had little notice to start looking after myself but I've been using most of these things for around two weeks now. Some are part of my usual routine and others have been brought in to up the anti for my "beauty bootcamp" 

Facial Skincare

I now religiously use Liz Earles Hot Cloth cleanser with my Clarisonic mia every evening. I use the original hot cloth to remove my eye makeup and my mia to polish the rest of my face. I have a full "first thoughts" post on the Clarisonic here and although I still don't feel like I've had it long enough to give it a proper review I can tell you that so far I LOVE it! It leaves my skin so soft and I honestly believe it's shrinking my pores. After I've cleansed I use S&G's Wish Upon A Jar which is sold as a 21 day collagen treatment to be used every three months but I've been using it off and on since I bought it and since the start of this month it's been firmly in my every day routine. The best thing about this cream, other than it's genuine magical powers, has to be that you can use your regular moisturiser on the top. I don't tend to need that but as and when I get a breakout I can use my Clean and Clear dual action moisturiser to neutralise is. Although I find that my skin needs a little more moisture lately the Clean and Clear remains one of my all time favourite products.. you can watch my rave review here. Lastly I use Elizabeth Arden 8 hour cream on any super dry patches but more often, my lips. It's officially winter out there now and for me this is a must have.

Bodycare

Other than my regular body lotion (Garnier 7 day Moisture - Shea Butter) I have been experimenting with the above two products over the past fortnight. The Loreal Cellulite gel is something I'm hanging a lot of hopes on because if it works it will be a staple in my bikini prep before we go to Vegas in March. My Wedding dress is short.. just above the knee and my pregnancy cellulite still lingers and is (no joke) also all the way to my knee so I'm doing the crazy lymphatic massage and all that jazz in the hope this will diminish it before the big day. Does it work, who knows? I'm not sure it would be feasible to gather accurate before and afters but I figure it only matters that you think it's worked, right? As Gok would say.. "It's all about the confidence!"

The Palmers Gradual tan is up for discussion. I used it last week in preparation for my hen do and loved the result but I'm not sure I want to be fake tanned, let alone risk it going wrong. Most of all I don't want to make Lee look even paler beside me.. he's practically translucent as it is!!

Teeth Whitening

Very briefly.. I know this works, You can see my review and results in this post. I only started using them on Monday night so I'm not sure what effect they'll have in 5 days but it's another last minute attempt at improving my overall appearance. I have pretty yellow teeth and always have, I don't drink coffee of red wine I'm not a smoker, there's no rhyme or reason but I've never had white teeth so anything that can help is something I'm willing to try.

Haircare

I'm going to do a comprehensive current haircare post very soon because I've found my perfect products but this masque is one thing I've recently added to the mix that I am totally in love with. It advises to use it a maximum of twice a week but having read and watched reviews I know that some people use it in place of their regular conditioner on a daily basis. I'm sticking to the recommended usage for two reasons, 1. I add macadamia healing oil to my regular conditioner every time I wash my hair anyway and 2. it's not cheap! I can't afford to use this as a conditioner!!! It does leave my hair soft, shiny and manageable and I will be using this the night before the wedding to give my hair an extra bridal-worthy gleam.

Phew.. that was a longer post than I anticipated and it's very much my bedtime now but I hope you enjoyed it and can get some tips for your own "beauty bootcamp"... whatever the event.

Miss BB

Best of 2011

I meant to post this at the end of December but.. ugh! I wanted to film the video to go up alongside it and only got around to that today. This had the potential to be an epic blog post but if these are the products I've loved for the a whole year you've probably heard enough about them already. These aren't necessarily my current favourites but the ones I favoured throughout 2011. There are some things I've switched out recently but the criteria was they must have been used for 4+ months of the year and I must still consider them good enough to recommend to you all. So.. here they are.. finally!

In no particular order...

GARNIER BB CREAM (LIGHT)

SIGMA BRUSHES (VARIOUS)

CLEAN & CLEAR DUAL ACTION MOISTURISER

TEA TREE CLEANSER & TONER

SOAP & GLORY WISH UPON A JAR

SOAP & GLORY RIGHTEOUS BUTTER

GARNIER INTENSIVE 7 DAY BODY LOTION SHEA BUTTER

BATISTE TROPICAL DRY SHAMPOO

MAYBELLINE ONE BY ONE

URBAN DECAY NAKED PALETTE

LEE STAFFORD HAIR GROWTH TREATMENT

RIMMEL EXAGGERATE LIQUID LINER

MINERS MATTE FACTOR IN PEACH

MAC LIPSTICK IN VIVA GLAM V

BENEFIT DALLAS POWDER

MAC PEACHES BLUSH

LIZ EARLE CLEANSE & POLISH

REVLON COLORSTAY

MAYBELLINE SUPERSTAY 24 CONCEALER

RIMMEL STAY MATTE POWDER

BOURJOIS DELICE DE POUDRE (CHOCOLATE BRONZER)

PACO RABANNE LADY MILLION

What were your stand out products of 2011?

Miss BB

My New Go-To

With a new baby you don't always have time to dedicate to making yourself up every day. I actually am blessed with the best behaved baby in the world and have as much time as I could need but with lots of visitors and lots to do I don't want to look or feel plastered with makeup. These are my new every day essentials for achieving a natural face that I think goes a long way to replacing a full nights sleep where beauty is concerned. It's quick and easy and I've already had so many comments on how well I look for Milo being just one week old. You have to fake it til you make it!

Garnier BB Cream in Light

Maybelline Superstay 24 Concealer in Light 2

Rimmel Stay Matte Powder in translucent

Gosh Natural Blush in Rose Whisper 

Bourjois Eyeshadow in 08

Benefit Silky Powde Eyeshadow in Soft Shoulder

Gosh Long Lasting Brow Pen in Dark Brown 001

2True Easyglide Khol Pencil Eyeliner

Maybelline One by One Mascara

Sigma Duo Fibre F50 Brush 

Real Techniques Base Shadow Brush

I love the eyeshadow combination, it's not the best lighting but it's they go so beautifully together, I like the subtle shading to the crease. It's my new favourite quick look that's for sure.

For baby updates remember to check out my baby blog!

Miss BB

Best Budget Brushes

After my Drugstore Starter Kit video the other day lots of people expressed an interest in a similar post/video about my favourite budget brushes.. well here it is!

The video will be up on my YouTube channel on Monday (I'm trying to schedule so I don't have weeks of dead air time when Milo arrives) so to get that as soon as it's live go SUBSCRIBE!

It was difficult to whittle it down and I rambled on about a lot of brushes in the video but here I will show you the absolute essentials of my collection that i would recommend as a good basic starter kit.

First up are the face brushes..

Sigma Duo Fibre F50 Stippling Brush (£12.99 here)
I now use this soley for powder as it dusts just the right amount over my face and doesn't leave me feeling over-made up and cakey but it is also suitable for applying liquid foundation.

ELF Powder Brush (£3.50 here)
Could be used for liquid or powder foundation, buffs in easily for an airbrushed finish and covers a large surface area.. It would be my number one for liquid foundation if I was to apply with a brush.

Benefit Slant Powder Brush (£4.85 here)
I actually purchased this from eBay a year or so ago.. I have no idea if it's genuine but it's lasted well and doesn't shed. It's the perfect shape to sculpt my cheeks with Blush/Bronzer.

Eyeshadow...

Sigma E40 Blending Brush (£7.95 here)
This is my absolute holy grail brush. If I had to pick only one eye brush it would be this! You can use it to put a wash of shadow across the lid, lightly define your crease and above all... blend blend blend!

Samantha Chapman Real Techniques Base Shadow Brush (part of the starter set £20.99 here)
This is a close second to the E40. It will lay down shadow and blend if you're in a pinch. It's the best  multitasker in the Sam Chapman starter set.

ELF Crease Brush (£1.50 here)
This is possibly my favourite crease brush and one I reach for often. For £1.50 you need this! It's just a great shaped brush that's easy to use.

Eye Definition...

Angled Eyeliner Brush (£3.50 here)
The only liner brush I've ever liked. You can use it wet to line with shadows or with gel or cream formulas. It's fine enough to get a precise line and thick enough to line quickly.

Samantha Chapman Real Techniques Brow Brush (part of the starter set £20.99 here)
This replaced my angled brush from QVS I used to use for my brows. It's short but thick so will hold a good amount of powder if you favour bold brows or quickly fill in lighter ones.

Samantha Chapman Real Techniques Accent Brush (part of the starter set £20.99 here)
Last but not least. I love this. Another great multitasker from the Sam Chapman starter set. I generally use this to define my eyes with a darker shadow or smudge my eyeliner for a smokey look.

There are so many more brushes I have and would recommend but these are my must-have-can't-live-without ones. You could definitely live with a smaller selection at first though. I'd say you need a good powder brush (this could double up as a blush brush if it's not too large), Something like the Sam Chapman Base Shadow Brush (that you can shade, define and blend with) and an brow brush (if shading in your brows is your thing). If you choose wisely you could live with a few hard working brushes.

I hope this post helps some of you looking to bulk out your collection on a budget or those of you just starting out. If you have any great budget brush recommendations please leave me a comment.

Miss BB

Fall & Festive Favourites

A lot of people have requested a "Fall Favourites" video recently with all my favourite nail polishes for this season. As we're coming to the end of Autumn and Winter is fast approaching I thought I'd combine the two in one big, picture heavy post. So here it is.. All the shades I'm drawn to at this (my personal favourite) time of year...

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Fall Favourites

L-R W7 in Khaki, Deborah Lippmann in Waking Up In Vegas, Rimmel Pro in Beige Style, Barry M in Chocolate, 2True in shade 46, MAC in Soiree and No 7 Stay Perfect in Hot to Trot.

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Festive Favourites

L-R L&B in Red, Nails Inc in Hampstead Heath, Barry M in Red Black, Barry M in Red Glitter, MAC in Bad Fairy, Miners in Dorothy's Shoes, Miners in Mulberry Shimmer and Miners in Molten.

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One of my favourite polishes for Winter/Christmas time is this shade from MAC - Bad Fairy. Unfortunately it was limited edition (from the venomous villains collection) so I don't like to use it often but I do think this Miners shade is a pretty good dupe and it's just £2.99! It doesn't quite have the same sparkly impact but I think you'll agree it's very similar.

I did of course film a video for this too.. I will post it below once it's live :)

Favourite Skincare Giveaway!!

Would you believe this is my 400th  blog post?

To celebrate that and also my just hitting 9000 subscribers on my YouTube channel I am starting a series of giveaways of my favourite products. This week... SKINCARE! 

You may have read my skincare post yesterday... well you could say I was inspired. I've wanted to do a big giveaway of all of my favourite things for a while but have put it off for several reasons. One is that I hate to have to choose just one winner when I run a giveaway and Two... it would be very expensive! This way I can split up the cost as well as the winners :)

This weeks prize...

T&Cs

You must be a subscriber to my YouTube channel or my blog

Leave me a comment letting me know your favourite drugstore skincare product

This giveaway is International

You must be allowed to give out your address if you win

You must leave me a way of contacting you in your comment

This giveaway will last for one week, closing date is 03/10/11

GOOD LUCK!

My MAC Palettes

Now I know of course that these are not MAC palettes but since I got my Unii Palettes I have found them more user-friendly so my depotted shadows are housed there instead. I have two and I've separated them into neutrals and colours. There are a couple of Urban Decay colours mixed in but the majority are MAC.

First up my neutrals...
I've tried to organise them somewhat, my favourites are my matte shades so I put them all together. 

Then my colours...
As you can see I have blues on the top, pinks/purples on the bottom and anything else in the middle.
My favourites from this selection would have to be Sumptuous Olive, Rule and Trax.

I actually don't get a whole lot of use out of my none-matte MAC shadows, I find the quality lacklustre compared to my favourites from the Naked Palette. MAC palettes are a bit of a collectors sport really and once you've started it's hard to stop but unfortunately there are definitely some duds to be found and they're not cheap so it can be disappointing. What are the hits and misses you've found at MAC?

I will swatch mine for another post and hopefully find some cheaper alternative offerings for you bargain hunters.

Talking of bargain hunting, is there a particular beauty product on your wish list right now that's just a bit more than you want to pay? Visit this post and leave me a comment, let me know what it is and how much you wish it was... who knows, maybe I'll be announcing a great deal on that very item soon! It will never work unless we get involved!

Favourite Drugstore Lipsticks

I have just filmed a video on my favourite drugstore lipsticks and thought I'd share the swatches on my blog.

I must say, Rimmel came out very well. I've always loved the smell of their lipsticks, they're not always the same but they always smell good! The only rival they may have once had was the Maybelline Watershine lipsticks that smelled of Watermelon... yum! Do they still make watershines? hmm!?

Anywho.. here are my top 7 ... odd number i know....



My Favourite Bloggers

So a little while ago I did a post on my favourite YouTubers of the moment and a few people asked me to do something similar for my favourite blogs. So here I go..

...LoveMaegan
I discovered Maegan's blog an age ago when I was searching for Morganite engagement rings... I was searching google images and found pictures of hers and opened up the world that is ...LoveMaegan.
She does mainly outfit posts but the photography makes me want to smash my camera up because my photos will never be as good. Her blog is escapism for me, I like to see beautiful things and beautiful people and if you are like me you will love this blog!

Maegan's Blog
Maegan's Twitter

Kandee Johnson
Just as on my favourite YouTubers post I am sure I don't need to introduce Kandee Johnson to you all. She is obviously a hugely popular YouTuber but I actually love her blog MORE. I loved following her pregnancy and now her baby pictures of "cupcake" and their travels.. it's personal and more journal-like than you would think. Although Kandee is a beauty "guru" she is NOT a beauty blogger! She just blogs... about whatever she wants... and I like it!

Kandee's Blog
Kandee's Twitter

Pearls & Poodles
Milly is right now, to the best of my knowledge JUST a blogger. She did make videos for a time but as far as I can understand it some mean comments drove her away... YouTube's loss for sure!
I can't actually remember how I found her blog but the products she reviews and discusses are always of interest to me and her posts and really well planned and factual. Milly is another hair changer like myself so I love seeing what she's doing with her hair and how she's treating it when it gets dry and damaged. Again Milly is an outfit poster... she's very fashion forward and although I wouldn't wear 90% of her wardrobe... she pulls it off and I'm only jealous. You can look forward to random baking blog posts in the mix here.. it's a lovely blog to dive into when you have an hour to spare.

Milly's Blog
Milly's Twitter

Jeune Marie
Danielle hasn't blogged since Februarywhich I could cry about.
I discovered Jeune Marie on the day of her last blogpost, sadly, and then lost 3 days in it reading every post from the 4 or so years she's been blogging. It starts with her engagement, her wedding planning, many events and interior design projects she's worked on, Fashion, love and life. I can't pigeon hole this blog but I was sucked in and I think you will too... and maybe if enought of us contact her she will blog again soon!

Danielle's Blog

Creature Gorgeous
Another blog I found by chance... I think I found this one because she posted a comment on my blog... I just can't quite remember. Her original blog was again a wedding planning one which I enjoy but she also has a post wedding blog which chronicled her surprise pregnancy and life since baby. She and her husband who she affectionately and anonymously refers to as 'G' are building their own house which is practically a mansion and I can't WAIT to see how they decorate it. They are foodies too and their photographs of get togethers and of course their adorable baby son are beautiful. Another really great blog that just not enough people know about.

Her Blog

There are so many I could mention but these have been my favourites over the past few months, my die hard, must read every post faves! Some are already popular and some are not but they all shoud be!
I know that without YouTube my blog would barely have been a blip on the bloggin landscape so to have any followers at all when you don't have a YouTube channel is pretty impressive.
I love to find new blogs so please name your favourites below or if you want to do your own favourite post then send me a link! We need to let others know about the fabulous blogs that are out there! People put so much of themselves into these little online spaces and some of them never even get read... let's change that!

Here are a couple of "honourable mentions" that I also like...
LittleMissNC25
CamilasCloset
Lanaindiana
DulceCandy

Revlon Colorstay - Where've you been all my life?

I know I'm soooo late to the party here but I am absolutely OBSESSED with Revlon Colorstay! I can't tell you how pleased I am to have discovered this amazing foundation that 100% knocks my NARS Sheer Glow out of the water and it's a fraction of the cost. The coverage is absolutely unparalleled for me, it's buildable to double as concealer, it really DOES last all day AND it comes in combination/oily which prevents the breakouts that usually come with a heavy, long lasting coverage. It's just unbeatable... in fact I wont be looking any further. I no longer need to try the latest ANYTHING! I've found my ultimate, holy grail foundation end of story.

I should probably also mention for all you oily prone girls like me that although it doesn't keep me matte ALL day it leaves me with a glow at worst. Who else LOVES this like I do?

My Favourite 2TRUE products

Recently the kind people at 2True sent me some items to review (ha, that rhymes!) 

They asked me to choose my favourite products and review them. I pretty much already have my favourites so the good news is that most of the items sent to me will go into a lovely giveaway for you guys!

First up is their concealer, 

I would liken it to Maybellines 24h concealer that I rave about... its great coverage, yellow based (cancels out redness) and has light reflecting particles to disguise dark circles.

Below is the 2True wand next to the maybelline (l-r) for comparison

Next up is the colour drench lipgloss

This has been likened to MAC lipglasses and I can see why. The formula is very similar, as is the applicator (but I guess so are many) The smell is vanilla... remind me A LOT of a car air freshener but I don't hate it. For the amount of product you get it's really amazing value and that is why it's made my favourites.

Below you can see the applicator compared to a MAC lipglass (l-r) for comparison

If you haven't already tried 2True eyeliner you need to rush out and buy one right NOW! They are widely raved about across the beauty community and here are a few dupe swatches I've found for you..

Urban Decay liners are swatched above and 2True below..

Black - Zero

Purple - Ransom

Blue - Electric

Next, you guys know how much I LOVE my Rimmel liquid liner.. 

well this is maybe as good if not better.

The formula is perfect, wet enough that it's easy to apply and not dragging on your lids and thick enough that you still have control over where you're applying it. The applicator is not quite as flexible as the Rimmel that I love but I feel like it will loosen up with time.

Below you can see this compared to the Rimmel (r-l) for comparison

Lastly the glossywear nail polish

How good a dupe is this?

I love this colour, is has so much depth, it's metallic, has shades of purple randing from warm to cool and a special kind of shimmer all in one perfect little bottle. It's relatively long wearing but I'm hard on my nails so I'm not great tester on that front but it DOES look glossy. You don't really need a topcoat other than to aid longevity.

I've compared it to Nails Inc "The Mall" Below

So there are a few of my faves! 

Here's the link to my video review

What are your favourite 2true products?

Topshop Top Picks 17/01/11

So I was walking around topshop on my lunch hour and a new blog segment occured to me! Topshop change their stock so often and I find it a bit hit and miss.. So I will do regular updates on my favourite in store items on my dinnertime jaunts! Here's my first.. Note... I LOVE that jumper and the aqua kind of gemstone pendant WILL be mine!

Have you seen anything fabulous in Topshop lately? Please do share!

xoxo

Miss BB