March 2014 Favourites

First of all could I please get an applause for writing a favourites post in time rather than a couple of weeks late. Let's hope this is a regular occurrence!

I have had a good month makeup-wise. I have finally gotten really regular at using my original Naked palette which I love for it's warm hued neutral shadows that blend like a dream and stay put and true all day. I especially love Half Baked, Buck & Darkhorse. I will be posting a look that I created yesterday with the those three shades. If you haven't tried any Urban Decay eyeshadows, you are missing out. The 3 Naked Palettes are excellent value and with Sephora's chic week in April, it might be a good time to pick one up.

My new base obsession is the Too Faced Tinted Beauty Balm (shade - Nude Glow) which contains SPF 20. This tinted moisturiser is so perfect for me, firstly the shade is just right, it is thick in consistency without being heavy or difficult to blend, it contains a slight micro shimmer which brings on a noticeable glow to the skin and it lasts on me for 6 hours after which I can see it breaking down around my lips and a little around my nose.

An oldie but a goodie, I have been trying to amp up the spring colours on my nails as well as in my daily makeup. The Rimmel Apocalips (or Showoff's in the States) in the shade Nova is a sure fire way to add some bright lips to my work face.

I don't mean to bang on about the NUDE Skincare line in this post as I recently dedicated an entire blog post to some of their products. However, this month my favourite has been the Cellular Renewal Moisturiser (now called the Advanced Cellular Renewal Moisturiser, they have assured me it's the same product and the same formula).

As with the NUDE Skincare line, I have also recently published a post about my favourite brow products and the two stand out items this month have been the Anastasia Beverly Hills Clear Brow Gel and the Sumita Eyebrow Pencil.

This past month, I have been using bright lip colours and to balance it off I have been into using muted blushes. My absolute favourite is Mood Exposure from the new Hourglass Ambient Lighting Blushes line. These blushes are  beautifully formulated, they glide onto the cheeks with a whisper and can be built up or blended out. Each blush is made by hand and is a mixture of the blush colour pigment and the corresponding Hourglass Ambient Powder, in this case it's the Mood Light Hourglass Ambient Powder. Since these are hand made, you could get a blush with lots of colour pigment or one with lots of the Hourglass Ambient Powder! Which is a little annoying if you are ordering online, as I did. When I first opened my blush I was like, that is way to light for my skintone, but decided to try it on my face any way and OMG, I was dumbstruck at how much colour was showing on my face. So the moral of the story is that these blushes are crazy pigmented and I adore the Mood Exposure shade.

Now for all the swatches :

L to R : Hourglass Ambient Blushes Mood Exposure / Rimmel Acopolips in  Nova / Too Faced Tinted Beauty Balm in Nude Glow / Sumita Eyebrow pencil in Dark

I have a couple of other favourites this month. The first is the True Blue Spa Cracked Heel Treatment. Now let me assure you I am not going to show you my cracked heels, but since we are nearly into Spring, it's soon going to be time for flip flops and sandals and it's important to have good looking feet. I do exfoliate the rough skin on my feet (when I remember) but it's not enough to ensure that I heels that are smooth and soft. So I decided to give this magic stuff a go, the True Blue Spa Cracked Heel Treatment contains glycolic acid which is probably why it works so well. I used this body butter like cream on my feet then pulled on some cotton socks, every night for a week and I am astonished at the results. My heels look baby soft and are smooth to touch. If you are looking for a heel treatment, I strongly recommend this stuff. Oh and you need a nice dollop every night but this 4 oz tub has lasted me over 2 months! The only downside is this sutff smells foul, but since my feet are the furthest body part from my nose, I'll live with it.

The absolute last favourite that I almost forgot to pop in is a nail polish. If you follow me on Instagram (@missyinthemirror) you would have seen this picture. It's Dive In by Sally Hansen, it's part of their Triple Shine line and I was shocked at the number of compliments I received. Even one from my doorman!!