Hola Munchkins!
This month's faves were easier to decide than normal, and here they are in all their technicolor glory!
As you may have noticed, this month's faves revolve around skincare with a little make-up thrown in for good measure and a dose of prettiness!  Let's have a little look!
Clarins Instant Eye Make Up Remover has reached OMG holy grail status here.  I am somewhat of an eye make up remover connoisseur - I almost always will use a separate eye make up remover, due in part to my heavy usage of eyeliner, and due in other part to my wearing of contact lenses.  I can't really rub a dub dub my eyes to get my eye make up off as this would cause my contacts to pop out.  I have been using Simple for a very, very long time, but found it to be less and less effective.  I picked up this little Clarins gem at the Professional Beauty Show and am quite literally amazed at it's powers.  Magical powers.  First of all, it looks pretty much like a potion and you need to shake it to activate it's bi-phase-ness.  Ooohhh errrrr.  Pretty fancy.  Shove a little on a cotton wool pad, and the lightest of touches takes of my ridiculous panda eyes, caused by aforementioned penchant for eyeliner.  Brilliant.  I have already worked my way through one 30ml bottle, and now have my sister's one to use. Yay!
Ok next up we have the Clarins Cleansing Milk for combination and oily skin - again picked up at Professional Beauty.  This is a lovely, simple, effective and comforting part of my skincare routine.  Thick but still slippy, and with a smell that I could not place for the longest time: a grown up version of baby lotion!  Utterly comforting, and really adds pleasure to the whole taking-off-the-old-make-up-at-1-am-when-you-really-should-have-done-it-when-you-came-home-at-7 kind of times!
Ok, second cleanser of the month - the L'oreal Skin Perfection 15 Second Cleansing Oil.  Ahhhhhh this is a gem of a product.  It covers ALL bases.  I love a cleansing oil or balm, they leave the skin ridiculously clean, but at the same time balance the skin, leaving it super soft.  This particular oil is lovely and thin, massages in well, and, for days when I am lazy about my eye make up, emulsifies to take off every little scrap of my painted face.  If I have already removed my eye make up I tend to just massage and massage, then use a hot flannel to take off the oil.  I super recommend this!
Right, mask time! This month has been another month of masks, and I have selected my two faves for this post - the Good Things Five Minute Facial Face Mask, and the Elemis Tri-Enzyme Face Mask.  The Good Things, which I have mentioned before, is a beautiful clay-based mask that works in 5minutes flat, but can be used for longer, and which leaves the face clarified and nurtured.  The Elemis is one that I have been using regularly for about a month.  It is a very mild 'peel' type mask, that is a beautiful loose jelly texture that spreads very nicely over the skin.  A little bit sticky in feel, it seems innocuous enough until after about 10 minutes the skin starts tingling, not in an alarming way, but in a slightly disconcerting way - as if a very strong minty toothpaste has been smeared on your skin!  I love a tingle - makes it seem that it's working!  Used together, the skin is clarified and then brightened!
Ah, a new discovery comes next - the Ginvera Green Tea Whitening Marvel Gel.  Slightly worrying name, buttttt beautiful, un-worrying product.  In essence, this is what I would call an 'almost-exfoliator'.  You spread the gel on your face, and then continue to work it in - watch as the product peels of the skin as you rub, and marvel at the fact that that is your dead skin!  Both ewwww and wow!  This really, really helps to clear the skin of dead cells, and of blackheads.
The Kevyn Aucoin Sculpting Powder in Medium is my OMG what have I done I didn't have enough money to buy that type purchase.  The guilt wore off soon.  Within an hour!  Mostly because this is a truly beautiful, truly usable product.  I love everything about it from the deep red, sleek packaging, to the lovely cool tone of the actual powder.  It is just amazing, and I have used it every day since purchasing.
NYC Expert Last Lip Colour in Blue Rose was something I had seen on the internet as being a dupe for Mac Show Orchid.  Now, Mac Lipsticks are hardly ever on my purchase list anymore, the prices just seem to rise and rise, and I would much rather pay a cheaper price for a budget product, or a higher price for a more luxurious product. So when I heard of this dupe,, I set out to buy it straight away, and basically I LOVE IT.  Pink is my favourite colour, and this fuchsia shot through with blue is the colour I feel I have always been looking for!
Last, but not least,m we have two of my essentials - the Kleenex Shine Absorbing Blotting Sheets which are the best I've ever tried (when I remember to use them), and my Bobbi Brown Kabuki Brush.  Brilliant products, which I generally use every day!
And that is all!
I hope you found a little inspiration from here!
Love A.x