Living for the Good Life: must-have

Showing posts with label must-have. Show all posts

So I finally did it, I finally bought some of the magic made by the make-up Queen, and boy I wasn't disappointed. Spurred in part by my moment (or should I say days) of mourning after I realised I had somehow lost my new Mac Whirl the day before (I know, I'm still crying inside a bit), I was drawn towards the lip products.

I'd heard much about Pillow Talk lipliner, and so repeatedly swatched it, moving on to other products, but always coming back for one more look. I caved and asked the sales assistant if she could put it on me, but not before eyeing up the lipsticks. Mostly, but not entirely (okay fully) swayed by the name, I drooled over Bond Girl, and asked for that to be applied on top of Pillow Talk. It was instant love. Though a pairing not usually recommended by the Tilbs, I was happy with the way the two worked, knowing that they would be just as good on their own as they were together.

Pillowtalk on the lips

Bond Girl lipstick on top of Pillowtalk

As you can see, both are very wearable shades and could easily be worn day-to-day if you're looking to make yourself look a bit more put together. I suppose I should have done a picture with Bond Girl on its own, but I didn't, sorry! Anyway, I'm so in love with both of them and I think Pillowtalk is going to be my everyday go-to, with Bond Girl being my go-to when I want to add a little something-something. After getting these, all I can say of Charlotte Tilbury is...I wantttt moooorrreeeee!

I'm not sure if I've told you before or not, but my favourite everyday lipliner is Subculture by MAC, or it was at least until I bought Whirl the other day, aka 'the Kylie Jenner one'. I fancied a new lipliner as I had the excuse that there are a few nights out coming up in February, and instantly knew I wanted a new nude. Whirl came to mind, but I wasn't sure whether or not it was still going through it's catch me if you can sold out phase. I headed to MAC anyway, fought my way through the overly done up 14 year olds and swatched some shades. A few seemed nice but weren't quite 'it', and then I swatched Whirl and well, it was the one. Not going to lie, felt a bit embarrassed for not only myself but also for the sales assistant when I had to ask for it, as I'm sure they're sick of people desperately hunting for the Kylie Jenner look, but, well, Whirl's nice okay! Once I got home and took it for a whirl (sorry, not sorry) I fell in love. It's so natural but also so "I've got awesome lips, I feel like a sex bomb, can't stop pouting, take more pictures of me", can you tell?

I decided to share with you my main presents from L, as I'm so in love with them and they're too gorgeous not to share. I knew I was getting some things from Mulberry, but wasn't 100% sure what. I had an inkling it would be these items, and I was super pleased when I opened the bags to find it was.

The purse is made of the butteriest, softest leather, and has so much room for your things inside. I have a lot of loyalty cards and such, and so the extra spaces are brilliant.

I've been wanting a proper cardholder for some time now, and so I'm delighted to finally have one. My intention is to use it when I go out for a nice meal or drinks, kept inside my clutch to keep things organised. I'd like to use it on nights out but I don't trust myself to keep it in good condition, or to keep it at all!

They are both lovely neutral shades, but the camera is not showing the justice. The purse is showing up much more yellow toned in the pictures than it actually is, and the cardholder is much more of a soft, powdery pink, described as 'oatmeal' on the tag. I apologise for the poor picture quality, my camera seems to be getting worse by the day! I hope you all got as lovely presents, and enjoyed giving presents just as much as you enjoyed receiving them, because I sure know I did.

As you've seen, I'm seriously loving skincare at the moment, and so when I was browsing Marks and Spencers sometime around Black Friday and saw this set from REN for half price, I was ecstatic.

I've been eyeing up REN skincare for a while now, after using the little samples from Space NK, but could never decide which product I actually wanted to take the leap and buy a full size of. So, when I saw this trio set of full size products for the amazing price of £49 (RRP £100!), I jumped at the chance. The selection sounded ideal for what I was looking for and I decided there and then on the spot to buy it immediately.

As you can see, the products come in a cute box (which I've already recycled as a nail varnish container), and the set includes the Glycolactic Radiance Renewal Mask (50ml) - you know how much I love my glycolic!, the Flash Rinse 1 Minute Facial (75ml), and the Keep Young and Beautiful Instant Firming Beauty Shot (30ml).

I've used all three products now and can easily say I love all of them. The glycolic mask is only to be used once or week or so, and leaves your skin feeling so cleansed, so long as you wash it off properly. The flash rinse facial is to be used every 3 days and is a rougher texture mask that leaves your skin feeling ever so exfoliated. I used the keep young serum every night and apply it as the first product, so the base layer. Even when my skin has been playing up because of bad eating, I can see the blemish-free areas are clear, bright and glowing.

Even for the full £100, this set isn't a bad deal, and I'd definitely recommend getting your hands on it if your skincare routine needs a refresh.

The set's exclusive to M&S and is currently unavailable to buy online, but definitely check your nearest large store.

As I said in my last post, I've recently fallen in love with Nars during my multiple Space NK trips. One of the things I had been eyeing up was the Steven Klein One Shocking Moment Cheek Studio Palette, swatching it and swooning over it time and time again, but never actually buying it. The perfect excuse/opportunity came up a week or so ago when I received an N.dulge N.centive via email, and on top of that I was feeling a little ill so L wanted to treat me, and I finally got my hands on it.

The box it comes in matches the actual packaging, and although I'm slightly unsure of the image, it's nowhere near as creepy as the Tearjerker eye set.

The packaging is beautiful though, and feels wonderfully luxurious - weighty, but not too heavy. When you open it up, it's even more of a beauty.

As you can see it comes with 7 products: A highlight, contour, bronzer and four blushes.

For some reason they don't name the highlighter on the back of the product, but the contour is Paloma and the bronzer Laguna. The blushes from left to right are Robotic, Blasphemy, Luster and Dolce Vita.

I've used all but two blushes so far, and can confidently say it is an amazing palette.

I'm particularly taken with the Dolce Vita blush, which gives a gorgeous deep flush to the cheeks, perfect for this time of year.

I have to say I am marginally disappointed with the highlight, having expected it to have some kind of sheen or shimmer. Instead it is more of a matte powder, which offers little highlighting properties, for me anyway. I've been using it to powder under my eyes so at least I've found another function for it I guess.

I tried to do swatches for you but they seemed to payoff lightly on my fingers and the lighting was poor to say the least, but here's my best efforts. Ever so inconveniently it's in reverse order, starting from Dolce Vita on the left and going backwards through the blushes and then through to the bronzer, contour and finally the highlight.

I'd highly recommend getting your hands on this palette if you're as much into face products as I am at the moment. It's brilliant value but it's also limited edition, so get it whilst you still can!

I don't know what's going on or what's causing it but lately I've been getting extremely itchy in random places like the back of my knees, my ankles, and even the top of my bum cheeks of all places! (sorry if thats TMI). It particularly plagues me at night, which, naturally, I find highly annoying and discomforting - anything that comes between me and sleep spells disaster...

Anyway, I was given this in a goody bag when Holland & Barrett opened in Chester a couple of months back and it's been an absolute skin saviour ever since. It's made using 100% pure aloe vera and claims to help soothe, moisturise and soften dry skin. It also states that it can be applied to strecth marks, dry or chapped skin and skin irritations. I can attest to these claims and so can the boyfriend.

Whenever late night random un-welcomed itching makes its appearance I leap out of bed and slather this stuff on, leading to instant relief. It's a clear gel consistency that is instantly cooling to the skin and leaves no real residue, only a mild tackiness on the skin if applied generously. I always panic that I will wake up with scratches and red rashes from where I itch myself but if I apply this I wake up with no evidence and no more itching (for the rest of the day anyway...).

The boyfriend has also found this extremely handy as he gets eczema on his face and when he doesn't have his normal eczema cream to hand he uses this and it provides relief for not only the redness, but also the dry, flakiness that eczema brings to his skin.

My tube is 100ml and that size will cost you only £3.99 at Holland & Barrett, and for 200ml it's £6.99. So, at such a good price I really don't think you can wrong. It's a wonderfully multipurpose product that I will definitely be re-purchasing when my tube runs out.

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