February Favourites

Another month down and it's been a good one for new discoveries. I have quite a few things to talk about this month so lets get right down to it.

I'll start with one that's possibly a bit obvious: in my post about the new releases to the Urban Decay Gwen Stefani line, I made my feelings towards the Lipsticks in that collection pretty clear (click here if you missed it!). I have gone back and picked up the shade "Rock Steady" (resisting hard on the other shades - surely buying them all is a little extreme?) but it's the shade "Firebird" that really has my heart. It's an awesome deeper bright pink and it's super comfortable and so unique and my other lipsticks have barely had a look in this month. Seriously, love.

With a bold lip I've been going for something a little less in-your-face on the eyes and I've been gravitating to the Love of Colour One and Done Shadow Stick in the shade "Champagne Problems". I got this in my Birchbox this month and LOC is an in-house brand at Birchbox and let me tell you, these shadow sticks aren't messing around. They're £8 each and they're pigmented, long lasting, creamy eyeshadow sticks and you'll be hearing more about this brand in an upcoming post. My only complaint? There's only 2 shades available in the UK right now - LOC, please release more!

Another Birchbox win this month was the Spectrum Collections Tapered Finishing Brush. This brush retails for £7.99 and it's a really lovely brush for contouring the cheek bones. I love that it's so colourful and even though it's only £7.99 full price it feels really sturdy and nicely made. For those of you that want vegan friendly, cruelty free brushes these are also synthetic bristle brushes.

Ive been getting back into using setting sprays. I went off them because the only ones on the market were a bit up there in price and for me they didn't do an awful lot - Ive had the Urban Decay De-Slick Setting Spray in my collection for years. On a recent trip to Boots I saw that the L'Oreal Infallible Fixing Mist had come over to the UK and it was in my basket before you could say "setting spray". I'm still not sure if it's doing much for the longevity of my makeup but it does make my base apply a little nicer as it gives some slip and I've been using it every day since I got it.

And finally? Hair masks. I've not been into hair for ages but I'd been wearing it up off my face a lot for a few weeks and noticed the ends were feeling a bit brittle and not as soft as they normally are. Depending on how much time I have in the shower I've either been reaching for the Swell Ultimate Volume Masque or the Philip Kingsley Elasticizer in the "Geranium & Neroli" scent. I personally prefer the effect of the Philip K option, it's a bit of a faff having to dampen the hair, put the mask in and then leave for 5-10 minutes before shampooing but the effect is great.