My favourites so far this year..

Here they are:

Holy over saturation of colours, Batman!

I use all these products on either a daily or weekly basis which is pretty rare for me as I have so much crap.

MAC 239 brush: I really don't know how I managed to get my eye makeup looking decent before I had this (I probably didn't).  With regards to brush hair density, it does very well.  They're tightly packed but you can get away with laying down and blending too.  It's not my blending brush, simply because it's not meant for blending.  If you're lazy/doing a look with bright colours, get this brush and you won't be sorry.  You can use it for crease work too, I switch it up between the 239 and the Revlon brush.

Maybelline Colossal mascara: This is probably my all time favourite High Street mascara.  I use this every day and it has been going strong for a long long time.  I love this and my Prestige mascara but I think this slightly has the edge as it's foolproof and I get the same results regardless of how I apply it.  Thick, long, black lashes.

YSL Teint Parfait: I blab on about this foundation a lot.  It was the first thing I ever reviewed on my blog but I'll give you a quick review of it now.  It's an oil free "foundation".  I say " " because you can use it as a primer if your skin is not behaving.  I like the fact that it has a dual personality like that because once I put it on, it doesn't come off unless you take it off.  If you have oily/combo skin and want a foundation which makes you look dewy, buy this and you won't be sorry.  The single best thing about this foundation is being photographed..you look airbrushed.

I've got a swatch for you and it's clear it doesn't match the skin on my hand but it blends in seamlessly on my face.

Dove Therapy Heat Defence spray: I really like this.  I feel that it does protect my hair from heat and it leaves my hair looking shiny after I've straightened it and it smells quite nice.  It makes my hair feel softer too so I've started using it even when I keep my hair curly.  The best thing about it is that you can be heavy handed and it won't grease your hair up which is brilliant.

The Body Shop Facial Massager: I was intrigued with this when I first saw it online and decided to buy it when I saw it in store.  I use this on a weekly basis.  It smoothes my skin out a treat.  I also find that after using it, my skin absorbs moisturiser a lot better and it feels clean, like it's been drained of toxins.  It leaves my skin nice and pink after using it so I can feel that there is some massagey benefit there.  There's a full review here.

Korres Zea Mays blusher: This has fast become my "brown girl's can blush too" blush.  When I wear it, it actually looks like I'm blushing which is brilliant.  It does contain glitter but use a light hand and you're good to go.  It looks practically untouched but I've been using it more often than not..  You can buy it here and read my review here.

YSL Palette Pop: I have had this for a long long time and it's a tester. I don't know why I'm always saying that..but it is.  I think it's because I'm in shock that a tester lasts so long.  I use this on a daily basis, it's my "no effort" blush.  It looks so natural on me that you can't even tell that I'm wearing it most of the time.  People only notice that I don't look so perky when I don't have it on.

See? You wouldn't think that was WOC friendly but it is brilliant for my skintone.  It also looks pretty chalky but applies like a dream.

I haven't had these brushes for too long but they have found their way into my makeup bag.

Revlon Foundation brush: There's a full review here.  It's all good.  The brush is totally foolproof and works brilliant when the operator is functioning on around 5 hours sleep.  It costs about a tenner from Superdrug.

Revlon Blusher brush: I'm sure this brush was made just for me.  It fits the cheek area perfectly, stays soft and yet is dense enough to pick up just enough product.  The full review is here.  I think this comes in at around a fiver or so..it's less than a tenner!

What have your favourites been so far this year?

Review update

I was putting my face on today and realised that my current mascara (which is now no longer HG) wasn't really doing anything for me.  I remembered how thick my lashes were when I used my L'oreal mascara..I also remember that I said I wouldn't buy it because it made my lashes feel hard and that it smelt..so why was I reaching for it this morning?

So, with this in mind I decided to do a review of my reviews.  It' worked out pretty well because I have been using these items and my mind has changed about some as time went on..I think this kind of thing is useful for those of you, who, like me, take ages deciding whether or not to buy something and also equally useful for those who don't want to trawl through all my posts to find out about certain items.

By the way, if you click on the link it will take you to my original review.

Sleek palettes

• Still in love with these, falling more and more in love with them as the days pass.  I don't think theres an occasion where you CAN'T use them.

Benefit Badgal mascara

• Still not loving this, have tried it a few more times since the review but it has done nothing at all for me.

Maybelline Lash Stiletto mascara

• Have been teaming this up with the Maybelline Colossal and also using it alone.  I'd still buy it again as it makes my lashes longer.  No patent shine though.

Prestige My Biggest Lashes mascara

• Used this time and time again when I needed knockout lashes and it still works.  I have to remind myself that 2 coats is the magic key.  I'd still buy it again.

 Clearasil Pore Cleansing Pads and Boots Time Delay Balm

• I finished one tub of the cleansing pads and am half way through another.  I won't be buying these again, not because they don't work but because I've found something much better and also that the smell of these is VERY strong.  They're excellent if you have really oily skin and are prone to spots.
• I haven't finished a tub of the Boots balm as I have been using other cleansers but I have three backups which I will get through in time.  If I didn't have them, I'd buy it again.

Urban Decay eye shadows

• I loved these then and I still love them now.  The Illegal shade has been getting some serious love from me recently.  It's nice and matte and is my "my eyes but better" go to shade.  I'm going to incease my collection of these.

Biore Warming Blackhead Fighting Cream Wash

•  This was my lover back then and it still is now.  It's the only face scrub/wash that I've used consistently for more than a week.  I have half left and will buy it again.  The only issue I had with it was the fact that it gave me tiny whiteheads all around my nose..maybe because I used it despite having no blackheads? Anyway, if you do like me and do this, do not fear because I've found a cure..the things I do for you guys!

 MAC paint pot in Indianwood

• I wasn't too happy with how this looked in pics before but assured you guys it looked good IRL..which it did.  I tried it on many times since with varying amounts of UDPP and it just won't stick to my lids.  The colour is gorgeous but I just wish it would stay put! I won't be buying another one of these when the tub is finished.

Boots 17 Bronzed and Gorgeous palette

• Probably my all time fave freebie.  My current HG shadow has well and truly hit pan and I've been using my 17 palette for a while now and I'm loving the goldeny shade in it.  If they brought this out as perm, I'd buy it...or I'd buy £5 worth of products to get it free.

Boots No7 Eyeshadow Colour and Contour brush

• My thoughts on this brush are still exactly the same.  It's the shizz.  It's fluffy (but not too fluffy), it helps you blend like a pro and because the hairs are white, you can tell how much product you've picked up.  I'm buying it again when this one fails me.
  

Anatomicals Help the Paw hand cream and Badger Balm

• Nearly finished one "packet" of handcream and the Balm has well and truly finished.  Glad I bought backups of the hand cream, the sweet smell hasn't put me off yet!  I'd buy the Balm again too.

L'oreal Telescopic Explosion mascara

• I said I wouldn't buy it and honestly, I don't think I would.  It smells funny (this coming from a girl who has both the Colossal and Stiletto) and it made my lashes really really hard.  I wouldn't call it HG as I have Prestige for that so my opinion stays the same.
  

Review: Benefit's BadGal and Maybelline's Stiletto

Well, I went to Boots and they had a sample of the L'oreal Telescopic Explosion mascara out and I flicked it and broke it so I decided to return mine and instead get the Maybelline Stiletto instead.

I also picked up Glamour and used the BadGal mascara which came with it.

Maybelline Stiletto
The actual mascara:
This had been bigged up like no mans business after Maybelline's success with the Colossal which is my new HG mascara. Anyway, I used this and it wasn't as good as expected, it gave me really thin pin like lashes so is best for ladies who have applied another mascara but want some definition over the top. I wouldn't use it alone as it doesn't do anything for me, it is very similar to the Lash Architect from Maybelline so just buy that as it is cheaper than this..

The patent shine is practically non existent, I really struggled to see a patent coating on it and I can't see why you'd want plastic looking lashes..

The brush:
The brush itself is long and thin which leads me to believe that it's not really going to provide you with much volume..this belief was rendered true when I tried it on and all it did was make them look like black pins.

I don't curl my lashes so I can't speak about how good it is for ladies who curl but I can't imagine it taking curls out as it is a fairly light mascara.

My eye with the mascara:
I can't make the photo any bigger without scaring people but IRL the lashes were very nicely defined but to get to that stage I did get quite a lot of mess on my upper lid (some of which you can still see). I only have the mascara on my upper lashes so that's how it balances out with my natural lashes underneath. Close up the lashes were a damn sight longer than the BadGal lashes which looked stubby at best. Also, I should point out that my eye is only red because I took my contact lens out and itched it beforehand, it has nothing to do with the mascara.

Repurchase?
Based on the above, I would purchase this again. I retried it when doing this review and compared to the BadGal it gave me great length but the BadGal isn't my best friend. However, comparing it to the Colossal it falls a bit behind, I'd consider teaming them up and thus would repurchase if it builds on the Colossal.


Benefit BadGal
The mascara:
I have had this used on me before in Boots and it worked really really well, then I had it used on me and again and the results were mediocre. I heard that Glamour magazine was giving a smaller size of this away so I thought I'd give it a bash seeing as it was only £2.

My experience with this was pleasant enough but I can't see why so many people swear by it and why Benefit make such a big deal out of it. All it does is make the base of my lashes look thicker and provides no length at all. It also clumps and smudges.

The brush:
I took this photo with the super macro function and this is how chunky and cumbersome the brush is, apparently the bigger the barrel bit, the bigger lashes you get..that only works for me with the Colossal.

The brush is chunky which lead me to believe it would be like the Colossal but oh, how wrong I was, it provided no length and only makes them look a smidgen thicker..this is all.

My eye with the mascara:

I tried really hard to make this mascara look good in the shot but is honestly how my eye looked, actually, the photos make the mascara stand out a bit more than it actually did. If you compared it with the Stiletto, it looked like this eye didn't even have mascara on. It wasn't as uniform in its application as the Stiletto, that coated all lashes equally regardless of size whilst this missed out some of the smaller ones. It even only half coated the normal length lashes and then overcoated others. If there was a set routine as to which it overcoated and undercoated I could compensate
but it just does as it wishes.

Repurchase?
No way Jose. This did nothing for my lashes apart from just make them a bit blacker and I expected a lot more from this mascara. The colour is a very nice black but it doesn't translate over to the lashes in the same way and so I've given it to my mum to use as an emergency "root dye" so that she can just coat her roots with it when she's caught short. She said that it's worked very well, gives her a nice black colour and doesn't rub off on your hands when you touch your hair. So, if it doesn't work for you and you dye your hair black, use it as a mid-term treatment.