Monthly Favourites - June

I'm really late with this Monthly Favourites but I suppose it is better late than never!  I have quite a strange collection of favourites this month but hopefully you find them interesting.

I think I'll begin with the face product, a new collection to my skincare stash. I never ever thought that I would run out of moisturiser because being a beauty blogger it seemed to be coming out of my ears, but lo and behold, it happened. I had no idea what I wanted to try so I ended up going with what was on special, which happened to be Garnier's Moisture Match Illuminating light lotion. I quite liked the sound of a moisturiser that would make me look more awake however I was a little worried it would be packed with shimmer. Fortunately that is not the case and this has easily been my face favourite for the month of June.

Next is lips, another basic product. I have had so much trouble with dry lips of late and the only thing that has been helping is my Blistex lip conditioner. I've spoken a little bit about my strange relationship with this product before, but basically it is very much a love-hate kind of thing!

Then we have the eye category and this was so easy to choose! After having read so much about the Maybelline Colour Tattoos, I really wanted to try them out but was too stingy to pay full price. When Chemist Warehouse had a half price sale I grabbed two shades and Barely Branded has taken over as my favourite eye product for the month. It is a beautiful shimmery champagne shade and works perfectly as a bright base. I love it and will be doing a review soon!

Then comes the nail favourite which has undoubtedly been my first Essie polish in the shade Mamba. It's just a gorgeous flattering nude shade that I haven't stopped wearing since I bought it!

Last but definitely not least is the other category which might seem to be a little strange this month. For as long as I can remember I have hated poetry with a passion and then something really strange happened this year. Some of you may not know that I struggle with depression, and it's been really, really awful this year. Anyhow, I have found literature to be the most therapeutic thing to help, in particular poetry. It's so ironic that I have gone from hating it to loving it, but I guess that just shows how people change! My favourite poet of late has been Seamus Heaney, a poet we've been studying at school who I think is just wonderful!

Well, there are my favourites for June! It feels so good to be back blogging again after a long break. Thanks for sticking around!

Monthly Favourites - October

Can you believe that it is the end of October, which means that it is now November, which means that it is nearly the end of the year. How did that happen?

This month I've tried out a couple of new products which has been exciting!

Face: We shall begin with a face product, which has without a doubt been the Garnier BB cream for oily skin. I've been a loyal user of the originall BB cream by Garnier however I was never 100% thrilled with it, finding that it left my skin feeling a little greasy. The oily skin version, however, is awesome.

Eyes: For eyes I have a product that I picked up for $6 when it was on sale, and it is the Max Factor Wild Shadow Pencil in Caramel Rage. I think this is the first Max Factor product I have ever tried, and my goodness I just love it! I love my lip crayons and now I've come to the conclusion that eye crayons are the best too! A review on this should be coming up soon.

Nails: I adore my red polishes, so for October I've used the Revlon Top speed polish in Fire over and over and over.

Lips: I've been having so much trouble with chapped lips lately, and the only product that has been able to fix it is the Blistex lip conditioner. I hate how this feels on my lips, I hate the smell, I hate the fact that it is in a pot, however this is like magic and solves every chapped lip problem I have ever had.

Other: Last but not least is my Real Techniques Stippling Brush. Since purchasing this I've used only cream blushes because this honestly makes everything look incredible. Could not recommend this enough!

So, there are my October favourites. I have been a little quiet on the blogging front and if I'm honest with you, it will probably remain like that for the whole of November too until I've finished my exams. What have you been using lately?

Monthly Favourites - May

It's the end of May. MAY! I swear this year just started!

I bought a lot of new products this month (as shown in this haul post) but if I'm really honest with you, I haven't had much time to try them all out because my life has been absolutely crazy. With assignments literally coming out of my ears and exams looming, trialing new makeup has kind of been last on the agenda, and I have been sticking to what I know works best.

My favourites for this month aren't really all that exciting but I guess are long time staples in my collection.

Face: The Maybelline Dream Matte Powder is the first makeup product I have ever hit pan on (crazy right?) and I hit pan on it this month. I guess that in itself explains how regularly I use this, it is a life saver.

Eyes: With the absolutely miserable cold weather (had a rant about it here) I have been changing my makeup to suit, and one of those changes was my eyeshadows, switching from lighter golden toned shades to darker more chocolate based browns. Arbonne eyeshadow in Smoke is one that I have been wearing regularly.

Lips: I have had this Blistex Lip Conditioner for ages and I absolutely hate it. Not even kidding. It is literally painful to apply - my lips sting burn- and it smells awful but my lord it works so well. My lips will never be the blistering, flaky, cracked mess they once were because of this product. I force myself to apply it before bed every night and it is saving my life, though I shall still continue to whinge about how much it hurts and how awful it smells.

Nails: I only wore one polish this month, the FOA Glitterati polish in Heart of Glass and my oh my it is pretty.

Other: For the last category this month it is my new watch. It is from nowhere special, just some random little shop in my local shopping centre, but I picked it up for $20 and I think it is beautiful! It had the most hideous band but my lovely Auntie made me a new one in about ten minutes and it has stuck by my side (or wrist) ever since.

All up this has been a crazy busy, painfully cold month! How was your May?

Blistex Lip Conditioner

We've all heard the phrase 'Beauty is pain.' Well this fits that phrase perfectly, it is such a painful product.

Much like Carmex, which I struggle to get along with, this is one of those lipbalms that claims to 'tingle' when applied on the lips. What they mean by 'tingle' is actually burn, because I find that my lips are literally in pain as a result of this lip conditioner.

Blistex is a brand that I haven't heard much about or seen many reviews on but it has always taken my interest. I only have one other product from the brand, a strawberry lipbalm, but I do quite like it. This product, however, was not a favourite of mine.

The first thing I noticed when opening this was the incredibly strong smell of menthol mixed with sunscreen. It smells very...medical, if that makes sense. It is certainly not a nice scent. You can tell that this product is going to burn by just getting a whiff of it!

The product itself is quite waxy and gets very dry and hard in the pot. It is an off-yellow colour which is really not all that appealing. It takes a lot of swirling my fingers around in it to soften it enough for decent application. As always, I find pots a pain as I must get my fingers grubby.

There are however, some good points about this. On my lips it is very glossy and gives off a lovely sheen. Along with the tingling burning sensation, I find my lips go red in colour which, as it is achieved without tinted product, looks very natural (because it is!). The lip conditioner has an SPF 20 and is classified as 'High protection sunscreen' on the little tub.

I have been forcing myself to use it as I was interested in whether it really was more of a heavy duty lip balm and would give me lovely, moisturised lips. It turns out that yes, it is pretty good when it comes to doing what it is supposed to do.

Because this product works, I do use it even though I really, really don't like how 'tingly' it is. I apply it before bed so that I don't have that smell following me around during the day.

I would give this product 6 out of 10.

Blistex - Strawberry Lip Balm

I didn't know much about Blistex lip balms, and I stumbled across it through a friend, which I am very glad about.

This lipbalm is great. It has a yummy strawberry smell that makes you just want to eat the whole thing. In fact, when you have it on your lips and you lick them, you realise that not only does it smell amazing, but it tastes great too. The only bad thing about this is that I spent so much time licking my lips that it didn't last long enough for me to see the results of it! I had to control myself to stop from licking my lips!

 It is almost colourless so it is great when you want a natural look. It does have a dry kind of feel to it at first, but I layered it up a bit which made it a little more moisturising (and didn't come off your lips as easily). If I stored it in a place that was a little cold, it got dry and waxy, so I would recommend avoiding making it cold.

It also has a SPF of 16 which is a plus. I would give this lipbalm a 7 out of 10.