30 Day Challenge: Day Seven- Favourite Beauty Products

Hello folks, it's time for Day Seven of my 30 Day Challenge x. Today's post is about my favourite beauty products, I've really been looking forward to this one as I have a bit of an obsession with makeup and beauty in general. I've sorted the products into general catagories and then selected my favourites. I've also linked a seller so if any of the products appeal to you then you can pick them up! Here we go!

Favourite Skincare; Garnier Micellar Water (RRP £4.99)

I am incredibly lazy when it comes to skincare, hence I am getting breakouts more and more regularly after taking my previously clear skin for granted. However Micellar Waters have opened up a whole new world of make-up removal to us lazy girls. I've tested both the Garnier and L'oreal versions of this product, and despite them being owned by the same company, I prefer the Garnier version. I was told by a friend previously that she preferred the Garnier one so perhaps it's a placebo favourite. Either way, this is extremely quick and effective for removing make-up!   

Favourite Lip care; Nivea Lip Tin Creme Caramel (RRP £2.99)

This entire range of lip products are amazing, with the scent being far and away their best selling point.. a smelling point, if you will? Ridiculous jokes aside, these creamy formula lip butters moisturise extremely well and smell completely divine. I'd totally forgotten about them until I found my Caramel one lately which has completely rekindled my love. They're the kind of lip product you want to eat!

Favourite Foundation; Maybelline Better Skin (RRP £8.99)/L'oreal Nude Magique Eau De Teint (RRP £9.99)

First off is my current foundation, the Maybelline Better Skin, which is a medium coverage foundation that I can really see improving my skin. The coverage is just perfect for me at the moment and there's a wide variety of shades so you should hopefully be able to find a foundation that suits you! The £8.99 price tag is about average for 'drugstore' foundation these days, which my wallet laments, but it is worth you- since you get a decent amount of foundation for your buck!

Secondly is the slightly more expensive L'oreal Nude Magique. This foundation is like nothing I've ever seen, it is so, so lightweight that it feels like water, seriously. If any of you have tried the Giorgio Armani Maestro foundation, then it is of the same vein, except much, much cheaper! The coverage is light to medium, despite being such a thin formula, but it's a touch too lightweight for me at the moment. However the powder and concealer in the same line are both quite heavy coverage so with the entire line you have a well covered face! I can't wait to switch back to this in summer!

Favourite Concealer; Collection Lasting Finish (RRP £4.19) 

This wasn't even a debate, this concealer is raved about by everyone that has ever tried it, and rightly so. Collection must be kicking themselves for having developed such a wonderful product but pricing it so low, even with the recent, not very subtle, price increases. I currently use shade 2, and shade 1 in the Winter. I would never, ever consider switching to a high-end concealer, especially since I've tried almost every one Benefit offer, and have preferred the Collection one every time.

Favourite Bronzer/Powder; Bourjois Delice de Soleil (RRP £8.99) 

My choice of favourite bronzer was a tight run competition between this and Benefit's Hoola. However, given the price, smell and quantity offered by Bourjois, and the fact that this is my everyday bronzer, the Delice de Soleil won. I have shade 14 which at times feels a little unnoticable on my skin, but equally if I get a bit over exuberant whilst building up my contouring then I can end up with bronzer stripes. It's all about the application.

Favourite Blush/Highlighter; Benefit Girl Meets Pearl or Sun Beam (RRP £24.50 and £19.50) 

Picture here with High Beam, Sun Beam and Girl Meets Pearl are my current two favourite highlighters. I'm not a huge highlighter user, I tend to use a light eyeshade under my brow arch to emphasise it, rather than a highlighter. However, since receiving a miniture GMP and Sun Beam in one of my Benefit sets, I have seen the advantages of using them. Essentially the main differences are that Sun Beam looks amazing with a tan whereas GMP is a pink based highlighter that blends out to look iridescent. Both are exceptional, however I am unlikely to purchase the full sizes of either just yet! 

Favourite Eyeliner; L'oreal Golden Black Superliner Gel (RRP £9.99)

I used to be the biggest fan of liquid liner, but in recent months my favourite liquid eyeliner, Collection's Fast Stroke liner started to hurt my eyes when I put it on. I'm still not entirely sure what caused it, but I have now switched to gel liner, with my favourite being the L'oreal Superliner Gel. This stays on all day, like ALL day, I've had serious problems getting this off in the past. The only con is that the brush needs cleaned regularly, and as I previously mentioned, I'm far too lazy for that.

Favourite Eyeshadow; Maybelline EyeStudio Color Tattoo in 'On and On Bronze'(RRP £4.99)/Mac Her Cocoa (RRP roughly £30)

My 'drugstore' favourite is by far and away the Color Tattoo's, the cream formula is amazing both as a base and on it's own and this shade is something I've been looking for for years. I finally purchased this shade, after owning Permanent Taupe, a few months ago and I've been sold ever since. For less than a fiver, you really cannot beat these for eyeshadows, and I reguarly use them over my Estee Lauder, Elizabeth Arden, or Mac eyeshadows.

This pallette is one of my babies of my make-up collection, the rose gold packaging is gorgeous and the shadows swatch stunningly. However, at first I wasn't completely sold on these, I loved the gold- which works amazingly over the Color Tattoos' incidently- but the other colours failed me slightly. Despite this, I tried it again recently (after purchasing in November) and I've fallen in love, perhaps it's with summer coming I'm looking for a slightly lighter look, or the slightly less pigmented shadows are perfect. The only downside to raving about this is that it appears that it's sold out almost everywhere. Sorry!

Favourite Mascara; Maybelline The Rocket (RRP £7.99)

I have hideously short eyelashes that refuse to do anything useful, but this mascara is the best I can possibly get. I've tried a LOT of mascara's for someone who doesn't rate them much, and I used to regularly for-go mascara as I just felt it was a waste of time. Whilst this hardly makes my lashes look spidery or voluminous, this is the best by far- and I can only imagine what I could do with it if I had long lashes! It's relatively cheap too, and comes in waterproof!

Favourite Red Lipstick; Bourjois Rouge Edition Velvet lipstick in 'Hot Pepper'(RRP £8.99)/Maybelline Color Sensational Vivids Lipstick in 'Neon Red' (RRP £7.19)

This first pick was only purchased a couple of weeks ago, and is still a relatively new release from Bourjois, but it's quickly shot to the top of my favourites lists. I wore this today and between leaving the house at half 12, shopping, consuming an entire Starbucks and a pot of Watermelon, and arriving at my Grandmother's at half 2, this hadn't budged. And without being vulgar, it was quite warm, so the rest of my makeup was on the move. Essentially, this shade is the perfect red, I could hardly fault it, except maybe that it's the closest thing I've ever seen to a casual red? It just doesn't quite have that sparkle unless worn with a gloss. 

Neon Red is a proper 'Old Hollywood' red lipstick, and considering the price it's one of the best make-up purchases I've ever made, I wear this all the time! The formula is a little drier than the likes of the Maybelline Moisture Renew lipsticks, but as long as your lips aren't flaking, that won't be a problem. I can't imagine not using this lipstick on a daily basis! 

Favourite Nude Lipstick;L'Oreal Paris Color Riche Collection Privée in 'Eva's Nude' (RRP £8.19)/YSL Golden Gloss in '2 Golden Praline'

Eva's Nude refers to the shade chosen by Eva Longoria- the actress best known for her role in Desperate Housewives. Despite Eva being of Hispanic descent, and myself being an extremely white Scottish lass, this shade is the one that works best on my skin. However the range covers literally ever base, from the palest of  pale to ebony. The formula is really creamy, and the smell is the ultimate 'mum's lipstick' smell that everyone remembers from when they were a kid. This is totally wearable and when paired with a glittery gloss [see below] it can look incredibly 'fancy.'

This lipgloss was my first foray into YSL products, and really my first high-end purchase outwith Mac and Benefit. This gloss won't be to everyone's tastes as it is extremely glittery, and a little sticky. I'm not talking about Lancome Juicy Tube levels of sticky (how much do they suck?) but it does cause havoc in the wind with your hair! However the shade is beautiful and the packaging is up to the expected beautiful standard from YSL!

Favourite Other Lipstick; Rimmel Moisture Renew in 'As You Want Victoria' (RRP £6.49)

There was a lot of hype about the release of the Moisture Renew shades, followed by a lot of debate over the formula. I've heard a million people complain that 'it just slides off your lips' and whilst it is far from matte, I cannot help but think that a combination of oily skin and lack of lip liner is the real fault there, as this lipstick is perfect. I would probably rate this as my favourite overall lipstick, but that's a rash statement from somebody who regularly finds 4 new 'favourites' a month. However, I have a few of these range and I cannot rate them highly enough. For less than £7 they are amazing value too!

Favourite Lipgloss; Rimmel Apocolips Lip Lacquer in 'Apocoliptic' (RRP £6.49)

I think I can say with pretty much total confidence that the Apocolips are the product that, in my make-up buying lifetime, have had by far and away the most hype. These were talked about for weeks before hand, and that was just amongst 13 and 14 year old girls, so the industry hype must have been massive. This tends to lead to product failure, but in the case of these sensational lip lacquers, they lived up- and more. I have 4 shades; Galaxy, Big Bang, Across the Universe, and the first and favourite- Apocoliptic. This was my first experience with extremely bright lipstick, or gloss, so this is both an exceptional lip product, but also the catalyst for my main vice. Oh dear. 

There you have it, the veritable beauty awards from yours truely. I had great fun writing this up for you guys, and I will definitely look at doing many more make-up posts, as you will have realised that I have a lot to say. Until tomorrow, Adios!