Hello Lovelies! We are a week into March now so what better time to write about all my February Favourites! February has been an amazing month. I travelled to Paris with my mum and celebrated my 22nd birthday in Disneyland Paris. In today's blogpost, I am including my beauty and lifestyle favourites. To find out what my favourites are, make sure to keep reading! :) Also, make sure to grab a cuppa, it's quite a long one! :P
Beauty Favourites
From the end of January and throughout the month of February, my goal was to clear my skin. Thankfully, I have never had seriously bad skin with spots. With stress or my time of the month, my skin can have small break outs. The texture of my skin isn't the greatest either and I really want to perfect this so my makeup looks smooth. The Clarisonic is an amazing investment in anyones skincare routine. I was very kindly gifted this by Santa at Christmas and I absolutely love this. It takes 1 minute to cleanse your entire face using this device, 20 seconds on your forehead, 20 seconds on the middle of your face (nose & chin) and 10 seconds on each cheek. It cleanses 6x better than a manual cleanse. It gets the dirt that is deep in your pores and seriously helps clearing your skin. You can use any foaming cleanser with the Clarisonic, I like to use the Lancome Gel Eclat. When I use this, I feel my makeup sits better and my skin has been clearer.
With the process of aging and life in general, your skin can become dull and tired. I love using this combo of the Lancome Advanced Genefique Yeux Pearl and the Lancome Advanced Genefique Serum. The Eye Pearl has been an amazing addition to my skincare routine. The applicator itself is super refreshing. The product itself has anti-aging benefits but also brightening benefits. If you are someone who has a concern of dark undereyes, you really do need to give this product a go. I like to apply this product under my eye but also on my brow bone. The Advanced Genefitque Serum has been a favourite of mine since I started working in Cara almost 2 years ago! It brightens my face, making me look brighter and fresh. The serum has amazing anti-aging properties too. Both products are serums, it requires you to apply a moisturiser afterwards.
One of my besties, Lauren ;) told me she used Bio-Oil every night as part of her skincare night routine and I was super intrigued. I was aware of using Bio-Oil to correct and prevent stretch marks but I was never aware of it's other benefits. Bio-Oil contains a patented PurCellin Oil which allows the Bio-Oil to be absorbed into the skin within seconds. It contains vitamins A & E which are your age fighters. It works amazing at hydrating my skin, evening my skin tone and clearing acne scars that I have on my cheek and chin. I like to apply Bio-Oil in circular motions after I have cleansed and while my skin is still damp. Bio-Oil absorbs WAY better when you apply to damp skin and not dry skin.
Carmex has been a favourite of mine for years now. I honestly don't use another lip balm ever. Carmex does an amazing job at healing those chapped lips. As we all know, Ireland's weather is notorious for being cold and yuck. Cold weather can make your lips sore and dry so this is your magical remedy to cure that.
My preferences with my makeup has been changing over the past couple of months. I used to love a full coverage base with a matte finish but lately I have been obsessed with having dewy natural looking skin. Don't get me wrong, I still love my Clarins Everlasting Foundation for special occasions but for day-to-day, I have been enjoying giving my skin a break from heavy makeup. I think this is all down to my current goal of clearing my skin, I don't want to apply too much product that will block my skin and not allow it to breath. To give me that dewy base, I have been loving the Seventeen WOW! Skin Primer. I picked this one up in Boots a few months ago and have been reaching for it daily without fail. It gives the ultimate dewy finish to your skin but also helps your makeup last longer. When you blend it into your face, the consistency becomes tacky which will help your makeup adhere and last longer. You can use this product 3 ways; 1- as your primer, 2-add to your foundation and 3-apply to your cheekbones after your foundation has been applied.
The NYX Tame & Frame is an INCREDIBLE drugstore/pharmacy product. I highly recommend purchasing one of these if you see it because they are one of their best sellers. I picked this product up about a year and a half ago, and believe it or not, it is still going strong! I am coming to the end of it now so I will need to pick up a new one but I absolutely love this product. Brow Pomades have become a popular product in the beauty industry. It allows you to create a precise and defined brow with very little effort and this product is no excuse. I use the shade 02 Auburn which is the perfect shade for all my ginger ladies.
My. Life. Has. Been. Made. This highlighter by Makeup Revolution is my favourite highlight I have ever tried. It gives an amazing highlight which definitely channels my inner mermaid. I have two of these, I can honestly never have enough. It's long wearing and works wonderful when you're wearing a tan. It comes in two shades; a golden shade and a pink one. My favourite is definitely the golden shade. It works wonders as a cheekbone highlight but also a browbone and inner corner highlight.
Matte & Bold Colour = Match made in heaven. One can never have enough bold lipsticks especially ones that are matte. I only wear matte lipsticks, they are longer wearing and their colour pay off is insane. MAC'S Ruby Woo is an incredible lipstick and one for everyone's collection. The smell of MAC lipticks are amazing too. Bold lipsticks are amazing worn with a simple makeup look or with a dramatic makeup look. Honestly the choice is endless with Ruby Woo.
Something a little odd to be adding to my beauty favourites but I need to include this. I have been using this toothpaste for about a year now and it is incredible. It has had an incredible broadcast on social media over the past year and it deserves it. I have gone through 3 tubes of this and I can notice the difference when I don't use this. It is incredible at whitening your teeth and removing stains. I pick mine up in Cara for only a few euros but I know some places sell it for up to ten euros!!
Lifestyle Favourites
I used to love going to the gym but I started becoming very unmotivated and unsure of what I was supposed to do. I was finding a hard time at finding my balance between losing weight and gaining muscle. I wasn't used to the new muscle I was building and honestly, going to the gym can be quite intimidating by yourself. I started Jump & Fit about 6 months ago when I was looking for the motivation to get back into fitness. Since then, I have never looked back. The classes are amazing and I absolutely love them. I have never sweated so much in my life haha.
We have a new addition to the Alexander household; Thumper. He is an adorable little bunny who has stolen my heart. He's such a cutie. Expect to see plenty of pictures of Thumper on here and over on my snapchat.
Another strange favourite, but my latest piercing has become a recent favourite. I recently got my septum pierced. I had first wanted to get my tongue pierced but I was told that I couldn't get it pierced due to veins in my tongue. I opted to get my septum pierced with a banana bar. After it was healed I returned to the piercers and got the banana bar changed into a black ring. I can still push the ring up and hide the piercing from the world haha.
Before I went to Paris, I decided to make a splurge and purchase the Canon 700D. I was told that it wasn't going to arrive until after I came back from Paris so I got a great surprise when it arrived the day before we left. I took this camera with me to Paris and it took amazing pictures and videos. It also has a flip out screen which will allow me to see myself when I film videos for my youtube. I shot my entire Paris vlog with this camera.
If you would like to see my footage from Paris with this camera, check out the video below! :)
Another odd one to the list but I have been loving Peppermint tea. I have 3-5 cups of this a day and I absolutely love it. Some benefits of Peppermint tea include; relieves stomach pains, aid digestion, boost your immune system, relieve stress and nausea. I don't drink regular tea anymore, just this.
Finally, that is the end of today's blogpost. I hope you enjoyed it and if you have any skincare favourites that you think I should try, please let me know.
If you would like to check out my previous makeup tutorial, check out the video below! :)
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Thank you so much for stopping by!
See you in my next blogpost!
XO, Siobhán
