February Favorites :: 2013

Alrighty time for some monthly favorites! February went by quick and I have far less favorites to share this month because I was sick most of the month and my skin was in terrible shape. I had breakouts, dry flakiness and general irritation going on. So most of my standout products center around natural, gentle skincare and blemish fighting power. So let's get started shall we?

 

 First off I've really liked this Expert Sensitive Gentle Refreshing Toner from Boots (supplied by Target). I'm loving the partnership with Boots that Target has going on. Boots is England's go to drugstore similar to a Walgreen's here in the states I believe but they seem to have a bit higher quality beauty and skincare lines than what we find at drugstores here in the States. Anywho about the toner... I haven't worn much in the way of face makeup this month just because my skin has been so crazy so since I haven't needed heavy cleansing I've been using this in the evenings and in the morning to freshen up and gently remove dirt and oil. This doesn't irritate my skin at all and doesn't leave it feeling stripped or tight like other toners can. I highly recommend it for gentle cleansing or even an extra step after cleansing a face full of makeup.

And to help fight my blemishes I've been using this awesome charcoal mask from Origins. The activated charcoal works like a sponge to extract impurities from your skin and help to prevent blemishes. I use it about once a week and as a nighttime spot treatment for especially troublesome spots. It helps dry out the pimple and clear it up. Because of that though it can be a bit drying on skin and my skin this past month has been especially dry and flaky. So to combat that see the next product.

 Another Boots/Target buy is this Botanics Organic Face Hydrating Day Cream. Gotta love something that is Organic and kicks ass! This moisturizer is just awesome. It's full of good nourishing botanical oils and extracts most notably Almond Oil. It does have nice light scent of almond which some may not like but I happen to LOVE! It's nice and thick but goes on smoothly and sinks in super quick. I've been applying this night and day and it has really helped a lot to bring my skin back under control. At $14 its not a bad price too, I've tried way more expensive creams (check out this $225 from a Glossybox!) and this one just beats them all! Another thing to note is that this soothes my blemishes and doesn't aggravate them at all or more importantly add too them. Good stuff, go buy it!

 Yup I'm loving the Botanics line. This is their Organic Lip Balm. Has a grand total of four ingredients: Olive Oil, Shea Butter, Beeswax, and Lanolin. Nothing to complain about there. It moisturizes my lips nicely and doesn't feel sticky or greasy. It has a light scent of honey probably due to the beeswax. Maybe not the absolute best I've ever tried but lately I've been trying to go for more naturally derived and organic products. Like the food we eat its I believe the stuff we put on our skin is just as important. Now I'm sure plenty of the products I use currently are full of tons of crap but it's baby steps for me. I'm going to make the effort to slowly replace those bad for me things I love with better for me things that I love just as much!

 On with that note, I've still been loving the Bare Minerals Blemish Therapy Concealer that I talked about last month. Bare Minerals is all about natural minerals and good for skin ingredients and this concealer features natural blemish fighters such as sulfur, willow bark, and tea tree oil. you can smell the sulfur but that doesn't bother me too much I think sulfur smell is one of those thing people either can't stand or don't mind at all. Since I haven't been wearing any kind of foundation or BB cream I've been relying on this to give me some coverage so I'm not too scary when I leave the house.

 And for brightening up my sallow sick face skin I've been relying on this Dream Lumi Touch Highlighting Concealer from Maybelline in the color Nude. I sweep this under my eyes to cover dark circles and just to brighten up my face. There is a bit of shimmer but not much, its barely noticeable. It's creamy to apply, non-drying, blends well, and doesn't settle into creases.

When I have worn makeup I've been reaching for my sample of Estee Lauder Sumptuous Extreme Lash Multiplying Volume Mascara that I got out of a Glossybox. It's a really nice mascara. It's not clumpy, defines each lash, gives me length and volume, doesn't smudge and is easy to remove. Still not sure if I will purchase this as I do have lots of sample mascaras to get through but it's on my radar that's for sure.

 I love getting use out of my beauty box subscription samples and along with the Estee Mascara I've been using this Coastal Scents sampler from my Ipsy bag. I particularly like the shimmering gold and the olive color together. Nice and springlike and fun to play around with some different colors.

 Now this was my favorite splurge/purchase of the month. Its the newest eyeshadow palette from Nars called And God Created The Woman set. Sheesh Nars you have some crazy people in your naming department. Anywayz...I had leftover store credit from some returns I made and it was enough to purchase this palette set. I love my Naked Palette but for traveling this slim compact will make it that much easier.

The shades are some lovely natural taupe and browns and easily everything you need for a variety of natural eye or smokey eye looks. The two middle shades are matter and go well together. The top shades on sides are shimmering and so pretty on the eyes. And the bottom outside shades are matte with super fine gold flecks. The darkest shades I use for soft eyeliner looks. the lightest shimmery shade is a great inner corner and brow bone highlight. The top matte shade is a great crease color....I could go on and on about the versatility of this compact. Just awesome, I'm a happy camper with this purchase :) The set did come with a brush and a sample of the Nars eye primer but I don't really use either of those. Any eye priming I do I use my Mac Paintpot in Groundwork not to say that this Nars primer is good its just I'm happy with what I got.

While I haven't been wearing much makeup I have made up for it with my nail polishes. I loved my Julep colors this month featured in the bottom right. I also played around with the nail strips I received in my Glossybox. My favorite though has been the new nail polish french manicure strips from Sally Hansen. I am crap at DIY  French Manicures and these are so AWESOME! I'm wearing gold glittery ones in the top right picture over Peach Daiquiri by Essie. The other cool thing about the french mani strips is that it comes with full clear polish strips to lay over the top of the entire nail. I'm so excited about them I'm thinking I'll do a little tutorial on them soon. Regardless I'm going to be stocking up on some different colors and some plain old white ones. Nail art is just so much fun for me right now, I swear half my Instagram pics are of my nails!

Finally, last but not least to go along with all my manicures I've been utilizing this simple hand cream from Bliss. Bliss has a few different scents but this is there most basic one which I like. It has a fresh clean scent that is just a bit citrusy. It's a thicker cream but not as thick as some creams I've tried from L'occitane but it absorbs quickly and is not greasy like L'occitane can be. I like the Bliss brand in general. They have a great blemish clearing mask as well cleverly name No Zit Sherlock which I've used and love in the past. The only reason I haven't used it lately is because I want to use up the Origins mask first. I don't know though, now that I think about it the Bliss mask isn't as drying so maybe I should get a new box. Who know maybe you'll see it in my March Favorites ;)

And that's all I have for this month! Lot's of good stuff, my skin has been clearing up and improving slowly but surely. Getting sick can really mess you up! Drink lots of fluids everyone and wash those hands!

Until next time, share your favorites with me and let's be friends! See ya later :D