April 2014 Favorites

by - May 05, 2014

Since I've been such a makeup slacker this month, but have been focusing so much on my skin care, this is definitely the month of the skin. And my first favorite of the month is undoubtedly my current skin care routine.


My Current Evening Skincare Routine:
STEP ONE: Julep Bare Face Cleansing Oil (Not Pictured): I use this product to take my make-up off and to get a good portion of the surface dirt off my face. I've had my bottle of this since last fall when it was released with Maven boxes and it has lasted this long with fairly regular use. I love the feel and smell of this product, but more than that I love the way it breaks down my makeup and seems to leave my skin supple and balanced. Admittedly, after a few long nights out I've skipped everything else and just used this as my entire before bed skincare routine - It'll do in a pinch.

STEP TWO: Fresh Soy Face Cleanser with QUO Konjac Sponge (Not Pictured): This is a fairly new addition to my skincare routine this month and I'm really liking it. I have to be very careful with what cleansers I use on my skin because if they're too intense they can make my skin feel dry and tight (or worse, trust me) so I decided to give this one a try and it's working brilliantly. Generally, I lather it on my skin gently with my fingers and then use the wet sponge in circles to work against the skin. The combination feels incredible and leaves my skin feeling thoroughly clean.

ONCE or TWICE A WEEK: Queen Helene Mint Julep Face Mask (Not Pictured): Honestly, I've tried more masks than I can even count in my adult life and this is the one that never fails me. If I have an event to go to or I just need my skin to look amazing the next day, I always use this the night before to just ensure that I'm going to have a good skin day. I give it a good thick layer on my skin and wait until it completely dries before washing it off and my skin always looks balanced and my pores have nearly vanished. It's not a lasting treatment, but it definitely improves the appearance of skin in the short term.

STEP THREE & FOUR: Benton Snail Bee High Content Essence & Steam Cream: These two are this month's absolute wonders. It's actually really amazing to me how much of a difference I've seen in my skin since I started using these. I'm really finding the texture and appearance of my skin to be much improved, particularly my pores. Also, I'm feeling like my skin just looks more luminous and healthy since I've started using these two products. These are definitely the biggest winners of the month.

Click below to see the rest of my April favorites...



The Body Shop Brazil Nut Body Scrub: Not gonna lie... It's all about the smell of this for me. Don't get me wrong, it gets the job done as a nice creamy body scrub and has been keeping good care of my terminally dry thigh skin, but I'm so in love with the warm, cozy smell of this that I'm considering popping into The Body Shop and picking up the Body Mist and the Body Butter in this scent to form a showertime trifecta of mmmmmsmell. Yum.

LUSH Feeling Younger Skin Tint: I've actually had this product for quite a while and haven't really used it much other than to occasionally mix it with my foundation when I wanted a little bit more luminosity to my face. When I got talked into this by the woman at LUSH, she told me that she uses it on those mornings when she's not feeling so fresh and she taps it right below her eyes to look a little brighter. I had literally never used it that way until recently and... wow. Something about the way that this product reflects the light really helps to reduce the look of my dark circles, particularly when I'm wearing my glasses. I think I'm going to play more with this to figure out the best way to use it, but I am definitely a fan.

Hanae Mori Butterfly Eau De Toilette: I've actually had this fragrance for over a year and a half and I've always loved it, but like so many things in my collection it just got forgotten amongst the crowd until I pulled it out randomly a couple of weeks ago and remembered how much I love it. I'm shit at describing scents, so I'll let the Sephora website do it for me: "The fragrance is a rare blend of berries and flowers with a distinctive tone of strawberries and almond, and a lingering impression of vanilla." I'm telling you, it's just beautiful. And my boyfriend definitely agrees, which is always a plus.

JULEP Nail Polish in Flora: I knew as soon as I looked at the April Maven reveal that I needed to have this polish and that it was going to be a favourite, and that was confirmed when I opened the box, but now I'm pretty sure that I'm going to have to order a backup of this colour. I love the formula, I love the colour, and I feel like this is going to be my signature polish this summer. It's already been on my nails twice and is currently on my toes. Absolutely love it.

Blinc Mascara: Tube mascara was definitely a bit of a hard sell to me, but I'll admit that I'm won over. This was included in Sephora's Lash Stash, which I'm slowly making my way through, but it wasn't  necessarily one of the ones that jumped out at me. Now, however, I am a believer. This mascara isn't necessarily super dramatic, but I think that's exactly what I like about it. It adds an incredible amount of length to my lashes and separates them beautifully, so that it really just looks like I have long, natural lashes. Normally I like a more volumizing formula, but with the simply natural looks I've been leaning towards this month, this is definitely the leader of the pack at the moment. 

NON BEAUTY FAVORITES


History Channel's VIKINGS
In March, we tore through Spartacus and when we finished it left us with a big, fat hole where our TV show obsession used to be, so we needed something new. Enter Vikings, which I actually like even better than Spartacus. We've only just finished the first season and last night started on Season 2, but I absolutely love this show. I love the cinematography and the beautiful locations where it's filmed. I love the way that it never goes the way I expect it to. I love that the characters feel real and flawed and that, even though it's set well over 1000 years ago, I feel like I can understand the humanity of the characters. And most of all, I love that one of the main characters of the show is a distinctly strong and feminist character, Lagertha. More please!!! I'm already bummed that we only have 9 episodes left.


Harry Potter - All 8 Films
Impossibly, my boyfriend had never seen any of these movies. It took me 6 months to talk him into watching them and 4 movies  until he admitted that he really liked them, we only have the last two to go now. I was due for a rewatch anyway, so we've been sitting down to these whenever we have enough time to devote to watching them - I'm hoping that by the end of the week, we'll be done and he'll officially be a convert.

Now, my new Memebox just arrived in the mail and I absolutely need to go open it.

XO!

You May Also Like

0 comments