July Favourites

Sleek Precious Metals Highlighting Palette*
Highlighting is my favourite step in the makeup application process. It instantly brings life to dull, tired skin & generally makes your face look more beautiful. I don't think anything will ever come close to theBalm's Mary-Lou Manizer but I have been loving the Precious Metals Highlighting Palette from Sleek. I received this in my Cohorted Beauty Box & I think it's a fantastic piece of kit. It contains three cream highlighting shades & golden shimmery powder bronzer. Creams tend to look a bit more natural than powders so they're a better choice if you're after that 'lit from within' look. The creams blend in beautifully & add a gorgeous sheen to the skin. I'm a little bit obsessed with the Renaissance Gold shade, it's just so pretty!

Nivea Men Sensitive Post Shave Balm
This might seem like an odd product for a woman to like but hear me out. One of my favourite YouTubers to watch is NikkieTutorials & she mentioned that she uses this aftershave balm as a primer. It has a high glycerin content which is something that is often used as the main ingredient in many primers. Glycerin is a humectant meaning that it draws moisture from the air onto your skin. It is also makes whatever you apply on top of it stay in place all day long. My makeup tends to slide off my face in the Summer so I needed something that could make it stick around longer. A lot of the primers I already own are pore filling or smoothing ones & don't make a huge difference to the longevity of my makeup. I tried this stuff out & I think it's utterly fantastic as a primer! The product itself is a very thin & watery liquid but it dries down quite quickly. It feels cooling & refreshing on the skin. It does have a strong manly scent but this soon goes away after application so you don't have to worry about smelling like a guy. Since I started using this as a primer I've noticed that my foundation goes on a lot smoother & looks really seamless on the skin. My base actually stays put in the heat & looks flawless for hours on end. It gets extra points for being incredibly cheap too!

Bioré UV Aqua Rich Watery Gel SPF 50+ PA++++
At long last I have finally found my holy grail sunscreen! I'm a bit of a Japanophile so it was only a matter of time before I started using Asian beauty products. Although we do have Bioré in the UK, we only get a select few of their products. Over here they're probably best known for those godawful nose pore strips that you should avoid like the plague. This sunscreen is part of a line made specifically for their Japanese market. Asian sunscreens are generally acknowledged to be superior to the ones we get over here. They're lower in price & better in quality. They tend to have higher SPF & PA ratings without the greasiness or white cast. After reading many glowing reviews on /r/AsianBeauty I decided to order the Aqua Rich Watery Gel from eBay. I've linked the seller I used as I had no problems at all with my order. Delivery from Japan took two weeks but it was totally worth the wait! This sunscreen is simply amazing. It uses a combination of chemical & physical UV filters to provide unrivalled daily UVA & UVB protection. The milky liquid feels so light & comfortable to wear. This product is ideal to use under your makeup as it gives a silky feel to the skin & doesn't pill at all. It absorbs super fast & dries to an invisible finish without any shine or white cast. Alcohol is one of the main ingredients but the addition of royal jelly & hyaluronic acid prevent it from drying out the skin. It's not heavy, greasy or sticky plus it has a lovely fresh lemony scent. It's perfection in a bottle!

Jeffree Star Velour Liquid Lipstick in Celebrity Skin
I've been wanting to try the Jeffree Star Velour Liquid Lipsticks for so long! A little while ago Cocktail Cosmetics starting stocking them in the UK so I'm glad that I waited patiently instead of ordering them from America. These liquid lipsticks are extremely pigmented & matte but they don't dry out your lips. They're so long lasting & you can even eat or kiss with them on without wrecking your lippie. The colour range is definitely a little more out there than most lipsticks but they're such good quality that they make it easy to pull off such bold shades. I kinda want to buy them all, even the black & blue ones! The shade that I was most looking forward to trying is Celebrity Skin & I really love this colour even though it looks very different to what I was expecting. On most people this looks like a nude lipstick but because I'm so pale it leans very brown & dark. It literally looks different on everyone! The lipstick formula is everything I could've hoped for & I definitely need to add a few more of these to my collection.

Claudia Louch Concealer Trio*
Sometimes concealer alone just isn't enough to cover all of my imperfections. If you struggle with hyperpigmentation or dark circles underneath your eyes then colour correcting those areas beforehand can make all the difference. This concealer palette is a fab little product that allows you to mix & match the shades to create your own custom colour. By layering the different shades you can hide a multitude of sins. I really struggle with dark circles & no amount of eye cream or beauty sleep will ever work quite as well as correcting & concealing. The medium shade is slightly orange toned & works well to correct any discolouration. Then I like to apply the lightest shade over the top to match the rest of my foundation. They also cover any active spots or post-blemish scarring really well. The creamy consistency of these concealers makes them easy to blend & layer without looking cakey. This product is very similar to the Bobbi Brown Corrector & Concealer but this palette works out to be much better value for money.

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