February 2014 Favourites

Can you believe it's March already? Well as February is over I can now share my favourites for February.  I've not done one of these posts before on here (I did do a big 2013 beauty favourites post over on my food blog a while back though) but I love reading them on other blogs / watching favourites videos on youtube, so here's mine.

No 7 Instant Radiance Foundation - £12.50 from Boots (CV)

I've been loving this lately for my everyday foundation. It has SPF 15 and it gives a lovely finish. The coverage is not too much so you can still see your skin through it but it evens out any redness etc. Also, I've found it lasts pretty well even without a primer, on my dryish skin.  I like to apply this with a Real Techniques Buffing Brush, as I think that gives the best finish - even better than my beloved Sigma P80!  One thing I would add, this might possibly flash back in flash photography - not 100% sure on that. I need to test it (SPF can do that!)

Eyeko Brow Gel - £18.00 from Eyeko (V)

OK it's pricey but I think it's gonna last ages and it's awesome! It has just a tiny bit of colour so it should suit everyone and just helps keep my brows in place.  I use it over my Anastasia Brow Wiz Pencil. I also have their Skinny Brush mascara which I LOVE as well - I'll be posting about a bunch of vegan mascaras in the next week or so, so stay tuned for that!

MUA Undressed Palette - £4.00 from MUA (or Superdrug) (AV)

So this is basically an awesome £4, vegan dupe of Urban Decay's Naked Palette. (I never bought the original Naked Palette but I did get Naked 2 as a gift before the whole L'Oreal takeover debacle.) I've been reaching for this a lot lately as the colours are great for blending and finishing off all types of looks from neutral to really colourful. The shadows are surprisingly good quality for such a cheap palette.  Also, the good news is if you don't have Naked 2, they have a dupe for that too, called Undress Me Too. Now if only they'd do an Undress Me 3....!  

ELF High Definition Undereye Setting Powder - £3.95 from ELF (V).

OK so when I first got this after seeing a few youtubers rave about it, I thought it was rubbish. It looks super glittery in the pot and I am not a fan of glitter around the eyes because I have loads of fine lines there!  But I gave it another go and I've really grown to love it. Yes it is a bit glittery but not in a tradition BAM! Glitter kind of way. The sparkles just make your undereye area look brightened and it it's very fine, so it doesn't crease or go cakey. LOVE! I like to apply this with my Real Techniques Setting Brush.

Too Faced La Creme Lipstick - £18 from Beauty Bay (although they're currently showing as £16.20 with free delivery!!) (CV)

I got 2 of these when I was in London (in Debenhams) a while ago and as they were £18 I restrained myself to 2, even though they were a few more that I liked. I love the formula of these and the shine and the packaging - gorgeous. My favourite is Juicy Melons, pictured below, which is a gorgeous corally colour. I also got Marshmallow Bunny which is a lovely baby pink. I will definitely be picking up more of these in the future.

GOSH Velvet Touch Eyeliners - £4.99 from Superdrug (CV)

So I posted the recently published GOSH vegan list in my last post and I couldn't wait to try some stuff out. I bought the Renaissance Gold liner first because I love gold in the waterline and I LOVE it. It's really pigmented and very creamy and because they're waterproof they last. I've been looking for a replacement for my NYX Gold Slide on liner because I've been asking them for almost 3 months about what colours are vegan and they just ignore emails, tweets, facebook messages..... bad customer services, NYX! BAD! Anyway I digress.  These liners are great, so I picked up 2 more in Superdrug the other day, because they had an offer on GOSH eye products (2 for a tenner).

Here's a swatch of the ones I have. L-R are Purple Stain, I Sea You and Renaissance Gold. Gorgeous right, definitely gonna have to get more!

Autograph Perfume in Inspire - Full size is 100ml and £16 from Marks and Spencer (CV)

I only have the baby 10ml bottle of this and that was a fiver. I like that you can buy just a purse sized amount of most of M&S' perfumes because sometimes smelling it in store isn't enough; you need to wear it for a few days. And after wearing this for a week or so I definitely will buy the full-size one. It's lovely.  I suck at describing perfumes, so I won't try and instead will cut/paste what M&S say about it:
This modern women's fragrance comes in a contemporary styled bottle. This scintillating fragrance combines top notes of pepper and purple freesia accords. In the middle white heliotrope and jasmine accords go beautifully with hibiscus blossom and rose. Precious cedarwood and sandalwood create a delicate base fragrance, which expresses the essence of feminine beauty

Yeah I know, a bit wanky! But fragrance descriptions usually are. It's lovely anyway. 

Merumaya Melting Cleansing Balm - £14.50 from Merumaya. (AV)

I saw this on a few blogs and was interested as I like the idea of a cleansing balm, but usually they are ridiculously over-priced and not vegan. So when I saw this one was £14.50, had good reviews and checked the ingredients and didn't see anything that appears to be animal based, I decided to give it a go and I love it.  I debated whether or not to include this in my favourites as I've only had it a week or so and skincare products need to be tested a good few weeks. But I love how it melts off all my makeup, including eyeliner, it smells nice and it leaves my skin feeling really clean and very soft. I use a different cleanser in the morning, this one is my current night-time cleanser to remove all that makeup.

Naked Bodycare Rescue Reparing Hair Treatment - £7.99 from Naked (or Boots) (V)

Yes yes I know the picture is a completely different product, to the one linked above, but the tub is the same and I binned the empty Rescue pot before taking a pic as I totally finished it.  The one pictured, I'm not sure they still make it, it's been in our cupboard a while so once I've used it I'll be buying another Rescue Treatment.  But anyway, I try not to wash my hair more than 1-2 times a week as it's colour treated and it just gets even more dry! So I like this to really condition the ends of my hair. It smells lovely and unlike some other 'natural' conditioners, it actually works on my dry hair!  I also love Naked's shampoos and just bought a new one, so maybe that'll be in next month's faves if I like it!

That's all for my February Favourites.  What's been your favourite products this month?

Love & Stuff
Sal xXx

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