June favourites

I'm not going to do that annoying blogger/vlogger thing where I talk about how fast the month has gone, is it just me who finds that annoying? Am I just bitter? Unappealing personality traits aside, I have a bunch of beauty favourites to tell you about, and if you watch the video you'll hear about non-beauty favourites too - it's almost like an incentive to go watch my YouTube channel, y'know you might want to watch it.

Max Factor Glossfinity Nail Polish in 119 Forever Glam | An extremely odd choice for someone who isn't a fan of loud colours in general, like my nails generally don't stray too far from black and red with maybe a glitter top coat around the festive season, but I really love this nail polish. The formula is ahmayzing, it claims to last up to 7 days and that's not a lie. I use two coats of this sans base coat or top coat, and it lasts me 7 days with minor chips - so if you did use a top coat or a base coat, it would probably last even longer. It also dries really quickly and you get a pretty smooth application, I think the formula's probably comparable to Essie, Essie's that tiny bit better, but then Essie is a couple of pounds more expensive. This colour is a bright raspberry sort of pink, which I like because I generally stray far from pink but this isn't a Dolly Parton kinda pink so it's definitely one to try if you want to venture into more bright nail colours.

Essence Long Lasting Lipstick in Natural Beauty | I've actually owned this for a while but honestly I've been worried to use it because, like I said earlier I generally don't do pink in my makeup, but this is a really nice pinky nude sort of colour. It's a balmy consistency and it's sort of a MLBB lipstick deal, it doesn't last more than a few hours so you have to reapply but I've been wearing it nearly everyday this month.

InstaNatural Advanced Repair Scar Gel* | I honestly didn't think I would get any sort of major results from this scar gel when I received it, but it's actually managed to fade the few acne scars I've had on my face for a few years. My skin's pretty good but these few scars have always been there, however within a few days of using this day and night I noticed them fading and they're barely visible now which is almost unbelievable, but it works. It doesn't work on stretch marks though I might add, or at least not to the same effect it does on acne scars.

Soap & Glory Butter Yourself Moisture Lotion | I've finally finished my tub of the Righteous Butter from Soap & Glory, it's taken me about a year and a half to finish this! Although. I think I might prefer this moisture lotion which I've finally been able to give a proper go. It smells sort of tropical so it just feels more summery, I also feel like it moisturises me a lot more than the Righteous Butter and I like the pump application, even though I think this might lead to be wasting more money.

Rimmel 25hr Lasting Finish Nude Foundation | The first time I used this was actually in my first GRWM video on my YouTube channel (now unlisted, you can find it if you go all Sherlock though) and I hated it on first impression. To be fair, I was a bit paler because it was winter and I don't think using a brush to apply it was the best idea. However, I've been using this a lot now that my skin's getting a bit more tanned with the summer weather (don't let this delude you into thinking we get good summer weather in London, I just tan very easily) and I've been loving it. I'm still not a massive fan of the pinky undertones but if I blend it with my fingers it really meshes with my skin, and leaves a very nice looking base.

*PR sample

What have been your favourites this month?

Bloglovin | YouTube | Tumblr | Twitter | Instagram

If you've literally only got 10 minutes to spare. . .

Pictured are the shades: Forever Glam, and Snow White

. . . then you need to try out the Max Factor Glossfinity nail polishes. I'm not very good with nail polish whatsoever, so I need a quick drying, opaque, long lasting kinda deal when it comes to nail polishes otherwise they tend to get on my nerves, I'm sure you can imagine the struggle. The Max Factor Glossfinity nail polishes fulfil all my requirements and are quite possibly some of the best nail polish formulas I have ever tried. They claim to take 10 minutes to dry, and I verified this as I was about to film a makeup tutorial but I realised I had forgotten to paint my nails, so I decided to paint them and it lived up to the claim and was properly dry within 10 minutes. Super glossy nails that last 5-7 days, dry quickly and to an even finish? It's a winner from me, and it's going to take a lot of restraint not to buy the rest of the collection.

What's your favourite nail polish formula?

Bloglovin | YouTube | Tumblr | Twitter | Instagram

Drugstore/High Street Starter Makeup Kit

When I was about 12 and started building up my makeup collection, I had a massive eyeshadow palette from Claire's Accessories, one mascara and a few lip glosses. This probably wasn't the best set for a rambunctious tween to start with, this resulted in heavy black eyeshadow to try and represent my adoration for My Chemical Romance (no mascara, no blending, yep I'm talking straight up panda eyes). So, here I am now telling you my favourite drugstore and high street makeup options to start up your own kit. If you're well experienced in the world of makeup, this is essentially just my best picks if you will.

FOUNDATION:

First of all, the low coverage low budget option is Makeup Revolution's The Matte Effect foundation. This costs a mere £2 and gives you a tiny bit of coverage, and it works as a nice base to put makeup on top of. This doesn't live up to the claim of being matte  and it actually applies very much like a moisturiser (so do not fear my dry skinned chums) - so it doesn't live up to its claim of being matte but this isn't a problem if you use a powder.

Second of all, the medium-high coverage which is slightly more expensive but well worth the price is L'Oreal's True Match foundation which pretty much everyone in the bloggersphere loves, and for good reason. There's such a wide shade range suiting all undertones which was important for me, I find it ridiculously hard to find a match for my peculiarly undertoned mixed race skin but this fits the bill pretty darn well. It blends really nicely but gives you a fair bit of coverage, this is £9.99 but that's pretty average for a foundation and for a foundation this good it is well worth it.

CONCEALER:

I really struggled picking just one for this one because there are some that I like that I know a lot of people will hate or the shade range is really bad, and frankly I don't want to recommend to anyone who, like me, isn't white or orange a concealer that won't work for them. So a nice creamy, medium coverage concealer with a pretty decent shade range is the Maybelline Fit Me Concealer, I think this is just a good all rounder.

POWDER:

My absolute favourite powder, which is probably not a complete surprise given how many people love it, is the Rimmel Stay Matte powder. This doesn't mattify you to the point where you're 2D but it does help to keep your makeup in place and keep your skin looking like skin, I use the transparent shade because I only use it to set my makeup but they do other shades so you can use it for a light coverage.

Another powder I quite like is the Collection Sheer Loose Powder, this is good if you have to majorly mattify your face. I stopped using this because I felt like I was looking 2D but if you have oily skin this is definitely one to give a go because it really helps keep oil at bay.

BROWS:
Very politician-like of me, I have a tendency to flip flop regarding my brow routine. When I want to go for a pencil, I love the P.S Love Brow Pencil which I own in both Medium and Dark (depending on whether I want a strong Delevigne-esque brow or just a nice natural look). This has the perfect degree of waxiness so it's not so pigmented to the point where your brows are heavier than my sense of shame (and that's pretty heavy bro), but it's also not at all scratchy.

For powder, at the moment I'm been loving using Makeup Revolution's mono eyeshadow in the shade Delicious - this is a lovely ashy, almost grey-brown-taupe shade that blends in with my eyebrows really well. Although, I also love Makeup Revolution's mono eyeshadow in the shade Mmmm although this is a little bit more warm toned than Delicious. Basically, the Makeup Revolution mono eyeshadows are pretty good anyway so you should have a look and see if you can find a shade to suit your brows.

EYESHADOWS:
My favourite eyeshadows ever are the Maybelline Colour Tattoos, they're super pigmented, long lasting, work as a base, work alone - generally the dog's bollocks.

If you prefer powdered eyeshadow, I love Makeup Revolution's Iconic 2 Palette as it offers cool-toned brownish-neutral-you-get-the-drill shades and when I'm not using the Colour Tattoos, I'm using this. The other palettes and mono eyeshadows by Makeup Revolution are great too, but I just think this specific palette is the most wearable of them all.

EYELINER:
I don't think I've gone a makeup-wearing day without liquid eyeliner in the past two years, so I've tried out a fair few, but my favourite without a doubt is the Collection Fast Stroke Liquid Liner - this is super super black, I'm talking black hole black, I'm talking the prospect of my future black... Okay, you get the point. It's also super long lasting and fairly easy to use, and although it's not waterproof, it generally doesn't budge.

Without a doubt, the Rimmel Scandaleyes kohl pencils are the best pencils on the market. They're creamy, pigmented and fairly long lasting. I've found that they do fade if you use them in the waterline but it's barely noticable and they're just generally good pencils, and very affordable too.

MASCARA:
My favourite mascara is L'Oreal's Miss Manga Mascara. It lengthens, volumizes and doesn't flake off throughout the day. It's just a darn amazing all rounder.

LIPS:
If you're not sure what kind of colour lipstick you want, I would definitely recommend Makeup Revolution's range. There's a massive shade range, plus they're only £1 so you can find out what kind of shades suit you.

For lip gloss, I would recommend the Max Factor Colour Elixir Lip Gloss. These aren't the cheapest, but I do really like them despite the fact I don't really wear lip gloss anymore. These aren't at all sticky but in spite of that, they're fairly long lasting, plus there's a nice range of shades from nude to bright.

BLUSH:
I'm not a massive blush wearer and this isn't strictly a blush, but the Maybelline Baby Lips range work really nicely as a subtle blush/highlighter combination. I remember reading that Lily Melrose saw that behind the scenes at a runway, baby lips was being used as a highlighter and blush behind the scenes, and it does help create a very subtle blush which is great if you're starting out and don't want anything too harsh.

BRONZER:
Okay this isn't technically a bronzer, but I love the Makeup Revolution eyeshadows in the shade Delicious and Mmmm (yes, the ones I mentioned in the Brows section) but these are fairly cool toned and work for contouring or warming up the face, plus they're only £1 so they're very good at least to start out on.

HIGHLIGHTER:
My favourite highlighter currently is the Makeup Revolution Baked Highlighter, these come in a few different shades, they're so pigmented and only cost £3, plus they double up as eyeshadows, so if you're starting out on contouring and highlighting and all that face-sculpting jazz, this is a nice inexpensive one.

What are your favourite makeup bits from the drugstore?

Bloglovin | YouTube | Tumblr | Twitter | Instagram