January Favourites

Real Techniques Deluxe Crease Brush
I got a couple of the Real Techniques sets at the beginning of January and have been using them every day since then. I'm gonna do a post about them in full but for now lets just say I cannot recommend them enough. My favourite out of all the brushes I got is the Deluxe Crease Brush. This is the most perfect brush for applying your under eye concealer. I've never gotten on with flat concealer brushes & found that the MAC & Sigma brushes that most people recommended for blending concealer didn't work well enough & shed loads of hairs. It makes blending so easy & because the brushes are synthetic they work so incredibly well with cream products such as concealers. I'd kinda fallen out of love with my Bobbi Brown concealer, preferring to just use the Corrector instead, but this brush has breathed new life into it. Not a single hair has been shed from this brush or any of the Real Techniques brushes for that matter. It also works really well for defining your crease, making 60s style eye makeup so simple to do.

Philosophy The Present
I already raved about this in my primer overview post but this has definitely been the best product that I've discovered recently. It just makes every about applying foundation completely effortless & leaves your skin looking smooth & flawless. My face looks noticeably better whenever I use this so I don't think I could be without this primer from now on.

Philosophy Cinnamon Buns Shower Gel
I thought that nothing would ever top Lush's Snow Fairy shower gel for a bit of in shower aromatherapy but I was very very wrong. It turns out that theres a reason so many shower gel companies are copying the bottle & design style of the Philosophy bottles - its because they're frigging amazing! I adore the smell of cinnamon rolls & this shower gel captures that perfectly. Its like you've walked into a Cinnabon whilst still in the shower. They really need to open a UK store outside of bloody Picadilly Circus because the ones in Starbucks & Tesco just aren't good enough! The front of the bottle even includes a recipe so you can make your own cinnamon rolls which I'm very tempted to try out.

Origins Super Spot Remover
Despite using my Clarisonic I still get a few hormonal spots along my jawline. I've heard lots of good things about this spot treatment & when I saw that it was available on BuyaPowa for just £8.50, I snapped it up. The bottle is so cute & tiny but a little goes a long way so even paying full price for it would be justified. The smell is a little weird, like a mix between witch hazel & rosemary. The cooling gel feels very tingly which I like because to me that means you can feel it working on your skin. It really does help to get rid of spots very quickly, pretty much overnight in my case.

Kerastase Masquintense Cheveux Fins
Another bargain from BuyaPowa. I got this for just £16 including postage. Not bad considering you'd normally pay about £25 for it. I'm currently waiting for my next hair appointment (after having to cancel it twice grr...) and felt like my hair could do with some pampering before and after my next round of bleach. I've only used this a couple of times so far but the pot is pretty small for the price so I'm probably only gonna get about six more washes out of it. I've been leaving this in my hair for a couple of hours before washing it out and it leaves my hair feeling a lot stronger and softer with minimal frizz. It doesn't weigh down my hair at all and the smell is really nice too. Its a good investment to make if, like me, you do torturous things to your hair.



Sainsbury's Popping Candy & Coconut Chocolate Spreads
I'm one of those people who often resorts to eating Nutella with a spoon when in desperate need of a chocolate fix. So imagine my delight when I saw these on the shelves of Sainsburys! Both are fabulous on toast or crumpets but I think I prefer the coconut one. It tastes pretty much like melted Bounty bars. I can imagine it working brilliantly as a ready-made cupcake frosting.



Community
I prefer to watch American TV shows on my laptop than whatever is on Sky. All my fave shows finished for Christmas so I had literally nothing left to watch. I'd often seen Community mentioned on Oh No They Didn't and was always intrigued by it so I decided to download the first season. The show is kinda hard to describe but the basic plot is about a study group at a community college. They're all a bit mental really & have a penchant for clever pop culture references. Its one of the funniest shows I've watched in a long time & each character has been perfectly cast. I am so in love with Joel McHale and you might recognise one of the other main characters as the rapper Childish Gambino. I downloaded the second and third seasons too which are even better. For me & my boyfriend its become one of those shows that you mention & quote in every day life. Sadly its been put on hiatus in the middle of season three which is why we need to save the show!



Unbearable Lightness
This book was written by the actress Portia De Rossi about her struggles with being gay & eating disorders. I loved her character in Arrested Development & enjoyed Sirens & Ally McBeal but I'd never really paid much attention to her otherwise. I'm not sure why but I often find myself reading books about self-destructive behaviour & mental health issues. Maybe because I identify with it in some strange way. The book is a really sad read as you can feel her desperation. Shes so open and honest about how she felt at the time which I found quite inspirational. Its a really compelling book & I did find it hard to put down. Portia De Rossi is a wonderful writer and I think shes very brave to put all of this out there. I'm now onto reading Damned by Chuck Palahniuk who is my favourite author. I've only read about a quarter of it but its pretty good so far so I'd recommend that too.