My current beauty favourites

current beauty favourites

current beauty favourites

I’m not in the habit of doing a blog post on monthly favourites because, 1) I am a fickle creature who chop and change all the time, 2) I am also quite hard to please and it takes a lot for a product to grab my attention and become my holy grail. After six months into the year (where has the time gone by the way?) I’ve managed to round up a few items that I have absolutely been enjoyed using, some are recent discoveries that I’ve very quickly grown to love, and some are slowly but surely working towards a holy grail status.

Hourglass Ambient Lighting Edit Palette in Surreal Light. Althought this palette was brought out way back last Christmas, I’ve only just acquired it a few months ago. I’ve already done a full review of this palette here if you would like to have a read. But in short it’s one of those versatile palettes that you can get full use out of every single item. This is a super handy palette that I can chuck in my travel bag and it will take care of  all my makeup needs.

Nars Soft Matte Complete Concealer. This is a heavy duty concealer in terms of coverage and lasting power. I absolutely love this concealer because it’s just so effective and everything I need in a good concealer. If you have dry skin, don’t let the word ‘matte’ throws you off, because if used correctly it is not at all drying. I use a damp mini complexion sponge to dip into the pot to gather the product and then bounce it under my eyes, and I get a full coverage that lasts all day, plus my undereyes remain hydrated without any creases.

Chantecaille Just Skin Tinted Moisturiser. I had been holding out for so long to buy this much hyped tinted moisturiser because the price really threw me off. It now retails at £61, which has increased from £55 when it was first launched a few years back. I did a full review here if you want to find out more details. Despite the staggering price tag, I hate to say I’ve fallen in love with it. It transforms my skin into a natural, radiant, healthy-looking complexion, and been absolutely perfect for sping and summer, when I want my skin to look like my natural skin but more perfected.

Ouai Texturising Hair Spray.
I used to be an Oribe Dry Texturising Spray girl through and through. I was completely faithful to the product and never thought anything else could sway me. But I’m afraid to say I have been swayed, and for justifiable reasons. Although Oribe does give me volume and texture, it doesn’t seem to last very long on my hair and by midday my hair is in need of oomphing up again. It also makes my hair greasy and sticky, and need washing the next day. Ouai texturising spray on the other hand feels really weightless, gives beautiful texture and volume, but most important of all it holds my curls and style for days, up until my hairwash day.

Real Technique Mini Miracle Complexion Sponges. As someone who has dry skin, I always struggle with my under eye concealer and constantly trying to find new ways to prevent creasing and dry patches under my eyes. These mini complexion sponges have been a godsend and an answer to my under eye concealer woes. The mini version is a perfect size to use around under eye area, and the hydrating sponge is so cooling and soothing and keep my concealer fresh as well as counteracting any dryness.

Heliocare Oral Capsules.  I’ve always struggled with the idea that applying sunscreen to my face in the morning is hardly a guarantee that my skin will be protected from the sun throughout the entire day. Almost all topical sunscreens need to be reapplied every couple of hours, especially if you have prolonged exposure to the sun. And what can a girl do if she has a full face of makeup on? Reapplying sunscreen on top of makeup is out of the question.  Removing makeup to reapply sunscreen and then redo the makeup again is even more unthinkable. These oral capsules by Heliocare solves the problem for me completely since it protects your skin from inside out against the sun. In the summer or when I’m on a holiday I take two capsules in the morning, and if I’m going to have prolonged exposure to the sun I will take a third one around lunch time or early afternoon, and that takes care of my sun protection needs. So easy and effective!

Byredo ‘Blanche’ perfume. This beautiful scent by Byredo really needs no introduction. ‘Blanche’ is a sweet and floral scent with a hint of musk, which makes it so sophisticated and seductive. I always feel really confident when I wear this scent and love carrying a 12ml travel-size with me in my makeup bag to freshen up with a few spritzes during the day. I will definitely be exploring more scents by Byredo since I love this one so much.

What have been your beauty favourites so far this year?

My current go-to summer bases

summer foundation

Summer is all about dewy, glowing, radiant skin, and lets face it, I’m not that lucky to have such a complexion without the need of some extra help. At the same time summer is also about letting your skin breath and keeping your skin looking like skin as much as possible. So today I am going to show you my current go-to bases for the summer months, which allow me to kill two birds with one stone i.e. giving me beautiful radiant complexion while keeping my skin looking fresh and natural at the same time.

The Body Shop All-in-One BB cream. A moisturising cream with pigment beads that burst and turn into your skin colour as you massage it on to you face. Gives light to medium coverage and surprisingly does a decent job at even out my complexion and covers minor blemishes. I love using this on days when I’m not doing anything special but still want to look decent and put together. I love that it is hydrating, looks very natural, stays fresh all day, and affordable.

BareMinerals Complexion Rescue. I absolutely ‘adore’ the cooling and hydrating formula, with a unique beautiful gel-like consistency, which is such a joy to apply especially on warm summer days. It gives a very beautiful dewy effect to the skin, and a light to medium coverage. Also gives SPF 30 PA+++ protection, which definitely comes in handy during the summer months.

Chantecaille Just Skin Tinted Moisturiser. If you follow me on Instagram you will know that I waffle on about this tinted moisturiser almost on a daily basis just because I love it so much and can’t get enough of it. As the name suggests, it makes your skin looks beautifully natural, like it’s ‘just your skin’ but more radiant, more polished, and basically the best version of yourself. Despite being labeled as a tinted moisturiser, it gives a decent medium coverage and has a thick but lightweight texture. I love that it makes my skin look incredible while feeling like I barely have anything on.

Summer foundation

IT Cosmetics CC Cream. This is something I gravitate to on days when I need more coverage from my foundation. It gives a very decent medium to high coverage, and an extremely beautiful ‘glow’ to the skin. Has a thick but not at all heavy texture, and a noticeable citrus scent (which I’m not such a fan of but some people seem to like it). Also has a very high SPF protection of 50+, which again is great for summer.

Guerlain Lingerie de Peau. This is a really beautiful ‘perfecting’ foundation that feels like second skin. I adore this because it feels incredibly lightweight for a foundation and does an amazing job at making my complexion appear super perfected and polished. It gives medium coverage and is a great foundation option in the summer because it’s very comfortable to wear and looks and feels undetectable on the skin.

What are your favourite bases to wear in the summer?

Chantecaille Just Skin Review

Chantecaille Just Skin

Today’s product is something I’d been coveted for the longest time. Chantecaille is one of the premium makeup brands with a price tag to prove, and the product in question today is Chantecaille Just Skin Tinted Moisturiser SPF 15, which retails at a whopping price of £61 (price seems to have gone up from when it was first launched a few years ago at £55). The rather ridiculous price tag was the main reason why I held out from buying this product for so long; I just couldn’t justified spending that kind of money on a tinted moisturiser. Despite the steep price everybody seems to be raving endlessly about it, so recently I decided to bite the bullet and find out once and for all what the fuss was all about.

What I notice immediately is that Chantecaille Just Skin definitely offers more coverage than your standard tinted moisturiser. I would say the coverage is medium and buildable. But the beauty of Chantecaille Just Skin, as the name suggests, is that despite the amount of coverage it can give, it still feels very lightweight as if it is just your skin and hardly anything else. Chantecaille Just Skin has a slightly thicker, gel-like texture that can be easily applied and blended with your hand (like a moisturiser). It’s the thicker and more pigmented consistency that gives greater coverage and also makes your skin appear more polished. Another thing I notice immediately is the amount of luminosity and glow that Just Skin can give, and it is this beautiful finish of a naturally healthy radiant skin that truly reflects its worth in my opinion. Just Skin is definitely catered for people who prefer a natural look. It doesn’t come in a massive range of shades but it seems to colour adapt really well to the skin. I’m in the shade ‘Glow’, which seems to go on too light at first but once I blend it in to the skin the shade really adapts perfectly to my skin tone.

Chantecaille Just Skin comes packaged in a handy and travel-friendly tube, but very well-designed, sturdy, and not prone to uncontrollable spillage (unlike most tube packaged products that tend to spill and get messy easily). I think personally this product is unique and beautiful enough for me to cough up £61 for it (but again I am a crazy lady when it comes to beauty and makeup!) Something else similar that I can think of would be Nars’ and Laura Mercier’s tinted moisturisers, if you feel the Chantecaille’s price point is too high for your budget. But if you really crave a unique formula that will give you a beautiful healthy skin-like effect, then I promise that Chantecaille Just Skin will be worth your while.