New in 2016 - Favourites Haul!

The festive period leading up to 2016 brought me many happy memories with family and friends. It also gave me a great opportunity to try out some new products I have had my eye on for a looong time to see if they were worth the hype. Below are a collection of my favourites, some known cult products, others new ones I have stumbled across myself.

To start off in some sort of unified order...

Make-Up

Revlon Colorstay Foundation for Combination/Oily Skin (£12.99 - Boots)  I find this foundation works amazingly well and really helps to mattify my skin without drying it out, especially around my T-Zone where I always seem to get shiny no matter what I use. It sits nice on the skin and photographs really well (the New Year photos tell the tale!) All in all definitely a good one if you just want a decent foundation with good coverage and ticks all the boxes with a good price tag.

Revlon Colorstay Matt Balm/Balm Stains (£7.99 - Boots) These are just so lovely. At this time of year lipstick can be my worst enemy. No matter what balms or moisturisers I use 9 times out of 10 lipsticks dry my lips out, flake, or fade really weirdly especially if I find myself out in the town etc. These just do the complete opposite and if I'm being honest they are a total game changer. One of my favourite lip balms at this time of year is the Blistex Intensive Moisture as its tingly and feels awesome. These balms remind me of that but obviously with SO much more pay off. The colours are beautiful (I have two but so want to get more!) They are super easy to apply even with being the intense colour versions that I have. They are also self sharpening and like a lipstick you twist the bottom of the stick to get more product. These will definitely be a favourite for me throughout 2016 as they are long lasting, super easy wearing and three for two in Boots.. who can resist?!

Pixi Lash Line Ink (£12.00 - M&S) Now I was so hesitant on spending this much on an eyeliner. I swatched it umpteen times when I was in town on various different occasions. But the last straw for me to buy it was when I purchased the Rimmel London Scandaleyes Gel Liner, a liner I used to swear by two or three years ago, and I just thought it looked awful on me. Fair enough I'm not exactly an eyeliner pro, but this eyeliner really just did not sit well with me, it always rubbed off in parts if I needed to apply more and smudged so easily. So I caved after Christmas, ditched the Scandaleyes completely and went for this one and I am SO GLAD I DID. This eyeliner allows me to get that awesome cat flick I craved super fast and super easily. It also allows me to get a really natural thin line close to the lashes which the Scandaleyes never allowed me to do. This is just my eyeliner saviour. Can I justify the £12.00 mark? It is pricey but for the hassle free application, the pay off and the ease in which I can get it off at night, I will most definitely be repurchasing this when the time comes.

Hair Care

Pantene Expert Collection Advanced Keratin Repair Shampoo/Conditioner (£5.99 each or currently 2 for £8 - Boots) One of my new years resolutions is to take much better care of my hair, get it trimmed regularly and get it growing. Luckily my hair grows fairly fast but each time I have grown it out its basically become rats tails and been so split and dry. I am determined for that not to happen, long healthy hair is my way forward so I thought I would give this a shot. Initial reaction while lathering this on my hair mid shower.. the scent. Now we have all been in that hairdressers chair while a hairdresser lathers on and massages a sweet scented yummy shampoo onto your tresses.. This totally brought me back to that. It smells delicious and pretty much replicates that exact same scent. You also only need a tiny amount and you get such a good lather up in there! The conditioner is super nourishing and your hair just feels wonderful after using it. Now it does say that it "Repairs 2 years of damage in 2 minutes*damage to smoothness" so does it actually repair? Probably not. Does it make your hair super soft? Yes. Does it coat your hair to make it smoother? I believe so. However it does say it gives you a protective layer around the hair which I imagine cant harm you providing you cleanse your hair every so often to get away from product build up = dullness. All in all though it claims one thing*not really I do still really like this product, especially the beautiful salon at home scent and I'll probably continue using it to see if it does seem to 'repair' my hair and not just coat it to smooth it out.

Philip Kingsley Elasticizer (£29.00 - M&S) Now I must of been a very well behaved gal this year to get this under the Christmas tree! Going from my spiel above about wanting to grow strong, healthy hair etc etc I had been dying to get my mits on this for a long time, however being a just graduated poor person I could never justify spending that amount on a hair mask (thank god for Santa Clause!) Now I have only used this once... can see me rationing it forever, but I love it. Its super conditioning and beautiful and my hair just soaks it alllll up. Doesn't have much of a scent to it but you can definitely see a difference in hair texture and quality after using this (even after using only once and few washes thereafter) I just think this is such a hair treat and I'm hoping it will help my hair stay in as tip top condition as possible for optimal hair growth and health.

Skin Care 

Glamglow Youthmud Tinglexfoliate Treatment (£25 - £49.50 - M&S) You can probably tell this was also a Santa gift as it is crazy expensive for yes, another mask. But honestly hand on heart its the best face mask I have ever used (as it should be at that price!) Now when I first applied this, maybe in my air of nievety I had never been warned of the god awful sore tingling burn that this stuff gives you for the first minute. Not gonna lie, its bloody sore! However once it wears off (who says beauty is pain free) you can see it working, see the gunk in the T-Zone bla bla I wont disgust you with graphics. But once its been on for a good 20 minutes and you have then exfoliated the skin while rinsing it off, your skin feels ah-mazing. More for me I noticed on the next day.. after a Gin filled New Years Eve, I woke up the next morning and my skin looked and felt great.. which not going to lie never usually happens on a hangover! So its definitely recieved a seal of approval from me! And will also be rationed until I win the lottery.

Fragrance of the Month 

Estee Lauder Sensuous - (£37.00 - Boots) This perfume is an old favourite of mine. I remember being in Debenhams with my Gran when I was younger and this fragrance was fairly new. We were passing the counter and we both had a wee spritz of it on the way out and it has been a staple for my Gran ever since. She bought me a roller ball once of my birthday's and I have honestly just loved the fragrance since then. I was lucky to receive a little box of it under the tree this year after years of not having a bottle and it brings back many happy memories and just smells amazing. Its a happy scent of happy times and that is why it is my fragrance of the month to start off 2016.

I hope you have enjoyed reading me rambling on about overpriced products I probably couldn't afford myself right now but hey ho. They are treats and I feel super lucky to have the chance to own them and hopefully reap their benefits. I hope you all had a lovely Christmas and have a sparkling start to 2016!

X.O
JF