Hi everyone! I actually cannot believe we are at the end of February this has honestly been the fastest start to the year ever! I think because I'm so busy with university time just keeps going by so quickly, I feel like before I know it, it will be the end of May and I will be done (the thought of that makes me want to cry with happiness). It's not been the best month actually just because of university stress but I've been booking lots of fun things for this year to keep me going. Alongside everything else that's been going on I've been trying a few different products this month and there is definitely some that I have been absolutely loving! I really love writing favourites posts actually and I also love reading them, so I'll share mine and I'd love to read yours too so if you want to link your favourites down below I'll give them a read!
- Noir Tease by Victoria's Secret (50ml £38.24). I already own a Victoria's Secret perfume and I did like it, however when I was in London I smelt this and seriously fell in love, it's amazing! It's a warm fragrance with notes of black vanilla, frozen pear and blooming gardenia. I definitely think it's more of a fruity fragrance which I love, quite sweet but not sweet at the same time if you get me? You can tell describing scents isn't one of my skills, I think you just need to smell it to understand how nice it is! Plus it comes with one of those really cool spritzers that you squeeze to get the perfume out, I don't know the name but I always liked these for some reason. I've been wearing this so much this month so if you love fruity perfumes like me you should definitely give this a try.
- Nars Orgasm blush (£23). I'm really not adventurous when it comes to blush shades and I will always play it safe and go for the pretty pinks/nudes, and if you're like me then this blush is honestly perfect for you. I've been wearing it everyday for the whole month really, it's such a gorgeous rose gold shade, I think it's so flattering and would work for lots of skin tones. It's not cheap at all so if anyone has any good dupes for me I'd love to know them! There will be swatches pictured below by the way so you can see how pretty this is, I wish it was Spring now because I think this is the perfect Spring blush, so it just gives me an excuse to use it more soon!
- OGX Weightless Hydration Coconut Water shampoo (£6.99). I've honestly got the driest hair ever, it's most likely my use of straighteners everyday because my hair needs taming very bad in the morning and this is such a savior. I actually bought this when I went on holiday last year and used it really quickly and I recently purchased it again and smelling it instantly made me feel like I was in Cape Verde all over again, I love how you can trigger memories like that so quickly and it made me love it even more. It's really hydrating and it honestly smells amazing, it's got such a coconutty tropical scent, plus it's only £6.99 and it's really good quality so it's one I would definitely recommend.
- The Body Shop Strawberry Body Polish (£5 75ml). Exfoliating is something I really need to do more of because my skin is so dry, especially in the Winter, I've been reaching for this strawberry body scrub from The Body Shop so much this month, it honestly smells amazing and it isn't harsh at all on the skin but it still feels like it's doing the job. I'm absolutely obsessed with all of the strawberry products from The Body Shop to be honest, I got a strawberry gift set for Christmas and it's feeding my obsession, it just smells so gorgeous! Again this is really affordable as well and if you don't like strawberries they have lots of different scents for you to try. I'm so desperate to try more Body Shop products, I really want the Bouncy Sleeping Mask!
- Vichy Dermablend Foundation* (£18). I've done a review post on this foundation if you'd like to read it here and ever since I wrote that post I've been reaching for this basically every day. It's the perfect shade for me while I'm pale and even though I normally stay away from full coverage because my skin is so dry, I find this has more of a satin finish than matte so with a moisturising primer works really well, plus the staying power is so good!
- The Body Shop Shea Body Butter (£14 200ml). Another Body Shop product but I have seriously been obsessed with them this month! I don't have the 200ml size of this I have the 50ml as I got a set of the body butters for free when I spent over a certain amount in store. I never normally go for these scents as I find them quite boring, I always go for the fruity ones however this smells absolutely amazing! I've nearly used all of it, it's so moisturising but not in a greasy way and I just love the smell, so if you get the chance I would definitely try this.
- Charlotte Tilbury Lip Cheat in Pillow Talk (£16). I'm really not a lip liner girl, I honestly rarely ever use them (I actually only own two) however I've been so obsessed with this CT one this month, I just think they're so creamy and the shade is so gorgeous, especially when paired with Bitch Perfect. It's such a nice shade for this time of year and the quality is lovely, it's pricey but since I only own two I thought I'd buy it as a treat!
- Makeup Geek Eye Shadows in Cinderella & Cupcake (£4.95 each). These two shades are honestly my new obsession! I did a haul of all the Makeup Geek eye shadows I bought which you can read here however these two shades totally stood out to me, they're my ideal shades, anything pink is an ideal eye shadow to me to be honest! The quality is so good and I love them paired together, they really make me not want to wear any other colours at the minute I'm so in love with them!
Left to right: Nars Orgasm, MUG Cupcake, MUG Cinderella, CT Pillow Talk
I also have a brand new header on my blog which I'm so happy with, it was designed by the lovely Jemma who you can find here, she was so great at designing exactly what I wanted so if you're thinking about getting a blog header designed I would definitely recommend her. I also have created a Twitter account just for my blog which I'd love for you to follow! You can find me at @LaurenAshBarden. I'm honestly so excited to have finally set one up just for my blog, it's been quite a fun blog related month actually. I was worried I would neglect my blog because I've been so busy with uni but I have found the time here and there which is great. Let me know in the comments what you've been loving this month!
* Post contains PR sample however all opinions are my own