The perfect winter shades - Burberry nail polish

I've become a little obsessed with grey and khaki nail polishes and absolutely fell in love with these two shades from Burberry called Khaki (surprise, surprise!) and Storm Grey. I've been looking for the perfect shade of Khaki that didn't make my nails look as if something is seriously wrong with them and this is probably so far the best shade of khaki I tried. The grey was just an extra treat to add to my ever growing collection of grey nail polishes , I just can't get enough of grey at the moment and this shade is absolutely beautiful, it has a bit of a blueish tone to it which I really like. I never bought any Burberry Beauty products before and so far I'm really happy with the polishes. The packaging is really elegant and tempting and the nail polishes are thick and easy to apply thanks to the extra thick brush. I only needed two applications to get the perfect coverage and the nail polish dried pretty quickly and looked shiny and beautiful.

Over all I'm really excited about these nail polishes, they're not cheap (well, at least a few pounds cheaper than a certain luxury brand starting with the letter C) but absolutely gorgeous and elegant. The whole nail range has a great selection of other colours with one groups dedicated to Nudes and one for Reds as well as the Intense range where these two shades are from and there's also an eye catching Metallic Khaki shade which I didn't see in the shop but can't wait to try.

Beauty bites

It's been a long time since I treated myself to some beauty products, it was mainly because I realised that I developed a tendency to hoard beauty and make up products which I absolutely had no use for so I decided to scale down and used up all what I had and could use but this weekend I needed a little bit of a pick me-up and decided to treat myself to some products I'll actually have use for. 

It started because I decided I needed a nail polish in a very specific shade of grey and after a long search I found exactly the right shade by Models Own, I'm a little obsessed with grey nail polishes but always went for darker shades so it was time for a chance and I absolutely love this colour, it's perfect if you want to wear a grey nail polish but don't want to go for a dark shade. 

Since I was already in the beauty department I decided to try out Eyeko's famous Skinny Liquid Eyeliner. I use a black eyeliner on a daily basis and have very specific preferences to my ideal eyeliner, my biggest problem is that often the eyeliners I like the most are discontinued which means I have to try and find the next 'perfect' eyeliner. This time I decided to try out the Skinny Liquid eyeliner which everyone keeps raving about. I have to admit this one was not easy to master and I'm still trying to get used to using it, it's slightly thicker than eyeliners I used before and I still find it hard to hold the wand steady enough to keep my lines as thin as I like them but it usually takes me a while to get used to a new eyeliner until I manage to draw the perfect line (I have wto left hands!!!) .

Last but not least is the Caudalie Beauty Elixir, this was the real treat and a product which I wanted to try for a long time. This one is the 30ml bottle which is great if you just want to try it out. I've been using it for the last two days and since I hate foundation and rarely wear any I can easily take it with me everywhere and spritz a little bit when my face needs a little bit of a boost. I think it's the sort of product I would class as a 'nice to have' rather than a 'must have', it did make my skin feel fresh, especially after a long day of running around but the overall result did not make a huge difference on the appearance of my already dull and tired looking skin (it's Monday! I have a good excuse). 

I did notice however that I find myself reaching for the bottle a couple of times a day for a little bit of a 'wake up' spritz which I actually quite like so overall even though it doesn't make my skin glow and shine like I would want it too, I really like the elixir as a quick 'pick me up' solution during a long day.

My sweet little valentine

This isn't a valentines day post, it's been here and it's gone , that's pretty much what valentines day is for me . However, some things that never seems to go away are the endless valentines related marketing ploys and yours truly is here to admit her defeat and fall , like a deer caught in the headlights I've fallen for one of those tricks.

It all started when my friend who suggested we should pop into town for coffee, she had some stuff she needed and I needed a break. What she didn't tell me is that she needed to buy some over priced moisturiser which meant we ended in one of the department stores in town. While waiting for my friend I was hounded by the sales assistant probably because I strategically placed myself next to the Chanel perfume counter. within seconds I found myself being quizzed about how I spent valentines day (at home in my pyjamas, thank you) and whether I got anything nice (no, but you get where this is going ...). The minute she heard about my valentines misfortune, she started to recite a list of special offers and promotions whilst gently clutching my hand. Within seconds I fell for the oldest trick in the book , the one that was created in the name of love to empty your pockets. Since love isn't really my business at the moment, the only love I felt was for that bottle of Chanel perfume I was holding. After hearing the wonders of the latest post-valentines promotion I felt a little suffocated, the sales assistant had everything planned, she carefully checked my loyalty card points and cheerfully proclaimed that the amount of points I have along with the store's discount means I can get almost 50 percent off on my favourite perfume. What can I say? I was sold ,and to make things worse I decided to add a few extra pounds and treat myself to some nail polish, all in the name of love! Writing this I feel like an idiot, I mean, a good discount is a good discount and maybe if it wasn't for valentines day I would have had the chance to buy my favourite perfume, but then I ask myself did I really need that? Was there a way for me to avoid it? I really don't know but next year, around this time I'll remind myself to stay away from perfume counters and overly sympathetic sales assistants who are just waiting to suck me into the valentines marketing ploy.

Favourite winter budget beauty buys

I'm spending the morning at home as I'm waiting for a technician to come over to fix the heating that stopped working just as the temperatures are falling under the zero mark and since I'm sitting here wrapped in my pyjamas I've decided to dedicate today's post to my favourite budget beauty buys that are saving my skin this winter. 

Before I moved to the UK I kept the same skincare routine year round because I lived in a very warm country but when I moved to the UK and faced my first proper winter my skin was a complete mess, face looked grey,dry and dull and my lips and hands were even worse. I had to get my act together but the problem was that at the time I thought that buying the most expensive products would help my skin get better, it didn't really work and the main reason was that I really couldn't maintain a good winter skincare routine with expensive products, I had a constant fear that the products would run out and I'll have to spend more money which lead me to slack in my routine and left my skin looking sad and dull. This winter I decided that I'm not going to run after the high-end special winter beauty products and settled for good budget products that actually worked well on my skin, so here are my top 5 budget which I'm really happy to share:

Superdrug Naturally Radiant Brightening Hot Cloth Cleanser - It's the first time I used a hot cloth cleanser actually. I don't have a very strict cleansing and toning routine and read some nice reviews about this product so thought I'd give it a try. I have a normal skin but when I first used it the cleanser felt a little too oily and I was a little worried but I have to say I'm very happy with it now. Mostly because it feels great and leaves my skin feeling really soft, I also love using the warm cloth to polish it off, it feels so nice on a cold winter morning!

Blistex Raspberry Lemonade Blast - When it comes to lip balms I always choose Blistex and been doing so for years. I did try other balms but my lips can get really bad when the weather changes and the temperatures drop and so far Blistex lip balms are the only ones that keep my lips from breaking and bleeding (sorry for the TMI). I especially love this balm because it has such a strangely sweet smell that reminds me a little bit of the summer and sorbets which I love so much!  

Jergens Daily Moisture Hand and Cuticle Cream -Cold weather absolutely destroys the skin on my hands, it gets so dry to the point I find it painful to move my hands so a good hand cream is really important for me. I discovered this cream when I borrowed a tube from a friend I was visiting. I never tried Jergen's products before but I have to say I'm definitely thinking of trying their other products at some point because I love this hand cream so much. What I like about it the most is that it doesn't feel too oily (a giant pet peeve I have when it comes to skincare) and even better, it leaves my skin feeling soft for longer than most other hand creams I used in the past. After using it for a few months the skin on my hands looks so much better despite the cold weather , I really didn't expect this from a simple hand cream but it works really well for me. 

Nivea Regenerating Night Cream and Nivea Tinted Moisturising Day Cream - two products I bought on a whim when they were on offer, I didn't want to spend too much money on moisturisers and my mum recommended I just get some Nivea products as she always used Nivea and was always happy with their products. 

I really love those two moisturisers because they feel great and make my usually lifeless winter skin feel great. I find my skin to feel really dry after a shower at night so a night cream is a must for me. I usually apply serum after I shower and add a little bit of night cream before I go to bed because I sometimes wake up at night feeling as if my skin is about to burst because of the dryness, especially when I leave the heating on during the night. 

In the mornings I usually put a little bit of the tinted moisturiser, I'm not a big fan of using foundation so the tint makes my skin look a lot healthier and leaves it feeling soft for a good few hours, however I usually need to re-apply this one throughout the day and I sometimes feel the textures is a little sticky and thick for a moisturiser but it does leave my skin feeling nice and the tint does help to smooth imperfections very gently. 

So there it is , my 5 favourite budget winter skincare finds, what are your favourite winter beauty products and secrets?

Beauty bites - current favourites

I'm constantly debating with myself whether I want to write more about my favourite beauty items and discoveries. I've recently started getting a little bit more into wearing lip colours after years of avoiding trying out lipstick and balms, not sure why but I always found lip colours to be slightly more high-maintenance than other make-up products (but maybe it's just my usual laziness that made me avoid trying out!)

My recent favourites are Revlon's Just Bitten Kissable balm stains. I find the colours to be more on the natural side which makes it easier for me to wear without too much fuss. This weekend on my trip to the chemists I picked up two new colours- Honey is the one to wear during the day and Romantic a red shade that would be my 'going-out' lip colour. After testing them both I'm happy to say they're great hassle free colours and whilst I had to re-apply them, I found they last for a good few hours without drying up and looking like a mess and I and really enjoyed just having a little bit of colour on my lips.

I also decided to test Sleek makeup's Corrector and Conceal as I very noticeable black circles under my eyes. I chose to go with Sleek's concealer and correcter set after a recommendation from a friend, I never really used a three-steps concealer and correcter so wanted to try out an affordable product to see if I can make it work right and after getting some tips from my friend on how to apply the concealer and use the corrector I was quite satisfied with the result. One of my main worries before trying ii was that I'll end up with white stains under my eyes but with my friend's tips I managed to get it to look natural and it didn't require a lot of fussing and the best thing was that I didn't need to make any corrections during the day, the concealer stayed in place pretty much all day which made me really happy as I was dreading the thought of having to correct and reapply it over and over through the day.

Festive treats

I decided to treat myself to some nice new make up treats for the holiday season (yes, I know I love blaming the holiday season for my bad habits!) and went into Superdrug to have a look at the Sleek make up range which all my friends have been raving about for a while.

I usually like to keep it simple and usually don't even wear foundation so my makeup shopping is usually fairly basic , but recently I lost my favourite blush and discovered it's not being sold anymore so thought it would be a good time to try a new blush and ended up with this gorgeous one from Sleek  (appropriately called flamingo). I'm really impressed by this one as it appears to be a very bright and bold shade, however when applied it had a nice gentle rose shade which I really liked.

Next I picked up Sleek's Pout Polish which is a tinted lip condition that feels really nice and smooth, I decided to stick to a neutral colour and when I got home I tested it over a lipstick with a darker shade which I was always worry about wearing as it was a bit too much for me. To my surpirse the tint actually helped to to tone down the lipstick's shade a little which I really liked and better than that I managed to get a few good hours of wear with the tint and lipstick together which was quite impressive as I didn't really expect that.

The two nail polishes were little extras which I didn't really plan on buying but really wanted to get for a while. The Nails Inc polish is from the Graffiti range which I wanted to try , on the site it appears over a white nail polish but I wasn't really sure if I want a white nail polish so decided to go for Barry M's Rickly Pear shade (can't figure out this name but it made me laugh) and love the way the two work together.

So there, one last treat for myself for this month, a couple of items I'll definitely get a good use off.