June and July Favourites

I hope everybody has had a good month and I can't believe that it has gone so quickly and got to the part where I sit down and decide my favourite products from the past month. Sorry that I neglected the favourites tradition in June, I just honestly couldn't think of any products that were any different from the last months as I'd been wearing either no makeup or my very repetitive everyday makeup. I have however discovered/ re-discovered some products in the past few months, some new and some old, which I have been loving. I have been going for a more natural daily makeup look lately in an attempt to achieve the perfect "no makeup makeup" look for when I start my job in September. So without further ado (I feel so cool saying that) I'll just crack on with it...

My first favourites have been the MUA sweet sheen lip balms. I picked up my first one at Superdrug in the shade 'coral reef' before my holiday.  I like it because it means I can go for a brighter lip without feeling like I've gone too OTT, I can apply it without a mirror and don't have to worry about it going on my teeth (ugh that is just awful.) Similar balms with a hint of colour seem to be everywhere lately - the Bareminerals pop of passion, the Clarins instant light perfector balm and the Max factor colour intensifying balm -but the best thing about this is that it is only £3 *shocked monkey emoji*. The fact that I can have pretty much every colour in the MUA balm range for the price of the Bareminerals one was just a no brainer. So obviously once I tried it loved it, I went and bought another... in the shade peach dream, a subtle light natural pinky colour which is just perfect for my 'no makeup makeup days'. So yes I absolutely love these and I'm just wondering when I'm going to go and buy another - because when they're only £3 I can actually afford to do that.

My second favourite is the Yves Saint Laurent touche eclat, which I have in the shade 2, a rediscovery. In the past I really didn't like it because I was trying to use it to cover my under eye bags/ dark circles/ disaster zone. But I found that it never really covered them and just put it aside thinking that I'd wasted my money. Until I saw Michelle use it on her youtube channel as a highlight along the cheek bone and on the brow bone, which made me think that I was probably just using it wrong all that time. Now I just dab it on and it just brightens my eye area perfectly and acts a really natural dewy highlight - perfect for the natural look I've been going for lately, although I imagine it could be used as part of a more dramatic contour look as well. It's run out now and I'm desperate to go and buy another. (Side note: I now use the Maybelline eye eraser concealer to cover the eyebags then the touche eclat just to brighten the area.)

Now for my official duty free purchase of the year... the Mac extra dimension eyeshadow in the shade 'Sweet heat' which I've swatched below. I'll admit that I was mostly drawn to the swirly patter and embossed (if that's the right word) Mac lettering (which soon disappeared.) The colour is perfect though it looks different in different lighting, it's so pigmented and can be used for a natural look or built up as part of a smokier eye.

Then I have two products which have travelled with me, as if you read my blog regularly you would have seen that I recently went to Paris and Corfu. The sleek contour trio palette (it's called something like that) is one that I reach for most days and ALWAYS take with me on my travels as it's everything I need in a compact. Even if I do tend to use a different blusher generally, but the one in the palette will do when space in the travel makeup bag is tight.

  My last favourite is a fragrance: the Body shop Love etc solid parfum. This was a birthday present about a year ago which was missing in action/forgotten about for a very long time. But when I couldn't take much liquid to Paris as we only took hand luggage, I suddenly remembered this and it was great for dabbing on whilst I was out and about in Disney. 

So those were my favourites this month. Let me know if you like any of the same ones or have any recommendations for me to try. Thank You for reading,

Ells xx