January Favourites

I hardly ever do my monthly favourites posts simply because it takes so much time to get round to doing them that the subsequent month is usually gone by the time I finish writing. Now I'm enjoying my winter holidays so I thought I could actually do my favourites.

1. Bourjois Happy light Matte Serum Primer is a lovely moisturising pimer that doesn't feel like silicone, yet smoothes my skin and keeps it shine-free.

2. Rimmel Stay Matte foundation is a great surprise for me. It's full coverage and really keeps me matte for a really long time. And then, even when my oilies break through, my face never looks like melting mess. 

3. and 4. Illamasqua Cream Pigment in Hollow, applied with one of the blush brushes that come with Benefit blushes does the contouring job amazingly well.

5.  Laura Mercier Loose Setting Powder is back in use. After years of disregard, I finally discovered its potential. It's kind of moist and sets my make-up without turning my face into dry crust. Excellent stuff for a very natural finish.

On my cheeks I enjoyed pink matte blushes like The Balm Instain in Lace (6.) and Bobbi Brown in Peony (7.). The reason I went for mostly matte blushes is that I've started experimenting with highlighting products and didn't want to go over board with shimmer. My favourite highlighters were The Balm Mary-Lou Maniser (8.), offering almost metallic kind of glow, Flormar Terracota Blush-on (9.) which is less shiny and thus more appropriate for everyday purposes and Becca shimmering Perfector in Rose Gold (10.) which matches my warmer-toned blushes better than the other two.  

In January I used a variety of my favourite palettes in constant rotation, but what I remained loyal to were my crease and brow bone eyeshadows. I accentuated my crease with Inglot #337(11.), which is a light milky brown shade, and used MAC(12.) and Emite Nect (13.) interchangeably or in conjunction to highlight my brown bone and inner corner.

I'm not a lip gloss kind of girl, as I normally ecpect long-lasting results, but since I'm on holiday and my outings mostly are connected with walking the boys to and from school, I've been wearing my NYX Mega Shine Lip Gloss in African Queen(14.). Nobody ever mentions this gloss in their favourites for reasons I cannot explain. It's a gorgeous duochromatic pink with purple or even holographic sheen. 

And now on to some skincare items:

Most of my January favourites are related to cleansing. I really love my Etude House Real Art Cleansing Balm (4.). Yes, it does have mineral oil among its ingredients, but so does Eve Lom Cleanser. Real Art does its job really well, doesn't break me out, smells nice and costs a fraction of the price of the acclaimed cleansers.

When I don't use my cleansing balm I reach for the new micallar solution by Garnier (2.). I absolutely love this stuff. It's like the Bioderma, but it's cheaper and available in every drugstore and supermarket.

To fully prepare my skin for the application of face creams etc. I like to tone my face with Tony Moly Dr. Tony AC control toner (1.). I don't have any acne problems, but I do have oily skin and I feel this toner helps me refresh my skin and is a step towards oil control. 

And finally, my favourite face cream turns out to be Eve Lom TLC Radiance cream (3.). I seem to have a love and hate relationship with the brand, but this cream is a winner for me. It moisturises my skin and leaves it glowy, but without any kind of  greasy residue.