February 2015 Favourites | Makeup, Skincare, Haircare & Body

When I was considering writing a favourites post for this month, I honestly didn’t think that there would be many products worth mentioning. It wasn’t until I sat at my dressing table and was looking through my drawers that I realised that this month was a great beauty month for me – I even got more into hair products! Who would have thought? This month’s favourites is a nice mix of all things makeup, skincare, haircare and bodycare…

Makeup

I had a bit of a rediscovery this month in the form of the Bourjous 123 Perfect CC Cream which I actually have a full post on here. This has been collecting dust in my collection and I forgot how much I love it. Despite it being a CC cream, the coverage is incredible and I love this for days when I’m in a hurry as this blends seamlessly and quickly. I’ve also been loving a glowy cheek this month, and two products that stand out are the Milani Baked Blush in Luminoso and the Bobbi Brown Shimmer Brick in Beige. The blush is a gorgeous peachy coral shade (can you tell I’m excited for summer) and surprising the Shimmer Brick is not the most shimmery highlighter I own – it gives a stunning glowy highlight without looking like a disco ball. Love. The final makeup products I want to share today are all to do with eyes. If you read my last post, you’ll know that I recently got the Too Faced Chocolate Bar Palette and this has been my go-to for eyeshadow recently. It’s great for the more natural everyday looks I want to achieve and also has some smokey and colourful shades to take me through to the night. Finally, the Mac Tan Pigment had to get a mention. If I had a perfect eyeshadow colour, this would be it. It is a highly shimmery, rose gold-esque shade, and it is beautiful. 

Hair
Usually when it comes to hair, I don’t really bother doing much with it. I have naturally straight hair and while I don’t love the flatness of it, it looks good enough for me to get away with its natural texture. A product I used to use all the time was the Charles Worthington Volume and Bounce Body Booster Mousse (post on the whole line here) and since I have recently been craving some more volume in my hair, I pulled this out of my stash and started using it again. I have been using this every time I blow dry my hair and I have fallen back in love with it. It provides a lift at the roots but doesn’t leave my hair feeling gunked up with product which is something that I hate when it comes to mousses. This is some great, and affordable, stuff. I have also got into using the Phillip Kingsley Elasticizer as a hair mask about once a week. This leaves my hair looking so full and healthy, and my hair honestly looks at its best just after I have used this on it. 

Skincare/Body
This month seems to be filled with rediscoveries – I recently repurchased the balance Me Radiance Face Oil (full review here) and it has been doing my skin wonders. For those of you who have oily/blemish-prone skin and are scared of putting oils on the skin, don’t be. This really helps to clear any blemishes I have without drying them out. It nourishes and balances my skin and is overall a great product. For the body, I have been loving the Rituals Fortune Scrub. It is a really effective exfoliator without been too harsh and scratchy on the skin. It has a citrus scent which is very invigorating and fresh in the shower which I love. A rather random favourite this month has been the LaVanilla The Healthy Deodorant in Pure Vanilla. I picked this up while I was in New York as I was looking for a more natural deodorant and I have to say this stuff actually works wonders. It keeps my underarms dry all day and it smells really sweet but isn’t so strong that it competes with your perfume. Speaking of, my favourite scent of the month has definitely been Yves Saint Laurent Black Opium. I received this a christmas present and it is one of the most unique and interesting perfumes I own. It has a combination of vanilla and coffee notes which results in a sweet, rich yet dark and sultry scent.

I feel like favourites posts are meant to be fairly text heavy, so I hope you find these mini reviews useful! I didn’t include any lip products in this post as I always have so many favourites that this may have turned into a dissertation… Let me know your current favourite products below!

RachelElizabeth

What’s in my Travel Haircare and Body Bag | Blogmas Day #17

Today is the third instalment of my travel bag series, and today I bring you my body and haircare goodies. Now compared to the previous posts, these are far smaller categories for me. I’m not big into hair, and I tried to keep it quite simple when it came to body…


Hair
I love the Bumble and Bumble travel sets – I have bought the Surf one quite a few times now, as you get to try out three travel sized products for the price of one full size. This time, I decided to try out the Invisible Oil Set which includes a shampoo, a conditioner and the hair primer, which was something I’ve wanted to try for a long time now. It is essentially a heat protectant and a leave in conditioner – I will let you know my thoughts once I’ve tried. The other two products I have bought and two staples in my hair care routine. First we have the Charles Worthington Style Setter Dry Shampoo, which is one of my favourites – it is perfect for second (or third) day hair to soak up any oil, but its also great to freshen up and volumise the hair. I’m also bringing the Charles Worthington Volume and Bounce Texturising Spray, which I love to add extra volume and texture to the hair, to give a more lived in look. Finally, I am bringing my Tangle Teezer Compact which is perfect for travelling because it’s so small, and it’s really great at getting out tangles.  






















Body
I’m actually only bringing two products with me on this trip, both of which I received in my You Beauty Advent Calendar. First is the Molton Brown Orange and Bergamot Shower Gel, which smells divine so I’m super excited to use this in the shower. Next up for a moisturiser I’ve packed the Caudalie Nourishing Body Lotion. This also feels great when I tried it on my hand, so I’m sure this will be a winner – again, I will definitely give my thoughts on this. 

For some reason, these are the two categories I get a bit lazy on whenever I go away – I am bringing my straighteners, but whether or not I’ll actually use them is a different story. Are any of you like that? Or do you still go all out with hair and body on your travels?

RachelElizabeth

Hair Care Routine | Charles Worthington Volume and Bounce Review

I am no expert when it comes to hair – I prefer to be low maintenance when it comes to styling on an everyday basis, so I tend to look for products that can create nice textured hair without having to use much heat. A little background on my hair: it is relatively thick, it is naturally quite straight, and is very flat. Since I cut my hair shorter, I have paid more attention to adding more volume to my hair, as it is more likely to hold now I have less hair. There is a lot of hype around Charles Worthington products, and I have managed to make my whole routine full of them.

I love volumising shampoos – I have relatively greasy hair, and if I use anything too moisturising at the scalp, it builds up and I’d need to wash my hair again the next day. This shampoo is great for keeping my scalp clean – I usually wash my hair every other day, but with this one I could even leave it to the day after (with the help of dry shampoo, of course). This one is particularly good at creating voluminous styles as it very lightweight. The only downside perhaps is the scent. To me it smells a lot like Calpol… 
The conditioner is also really lightweight, which is also great for not weighing down the hair. I only apply conditioner from the middle to the tips of my hair, and I find this moisturising enough for everyday use. If you have dry hair this may not be enough for you. It has a similar scent to the shampoo.


This has often been deemed as the dupe for the Oribe Dry Texturising Spray. I do agree that it is similar, but this has a much more hairspray-feel to it. To use this, I apply it on dry hair on the underneath sections of the hair near the roots. I find that this gives instant volume much like the Oribe offering, but has much more lasting power. This is probably my favourite product of the range – it gives lots of volume without having to tease or put that much effort in.























I admit, I’m a bit scared of mousse. Ever since the days that I used to use it to create those infamous crunchy wet-looking curls that everyone rocked in the Noughties, I have been quite put off the idea of it. However, I use this in the roots and through the lengths of the hair, brush through and then blow dry, and it creates great results. I find that mousse is the best product to use for true volume, and I find that the volume does last for a few days (with the help of the texturising spray of course). This product has made me want to try more volumising mousses – I am very interested in the Oribe mousse…

I thought it was mandatory to include an awkward selfie so I could show off my hair after having used all these products. Above is first day hair, where I blow dry it upside down until it is roughly 70% dry and leave the rest to dry naturally. I like that these products give my hair an effortless look, but still is nicely voluminous (at least compared to my incredibly flat hair anyway). I definitely recommend these products if you are on a budget and are looking to add some volume to your hair – I personally would much rather spend my money on makeup rather than haircare… 

RachelElizabeth