2017 FAVOURITE FAVOURITES | PART 2

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If we can all just overlook my New Year 'announcements' about my posting schedule and indeed the lack of any posts since that very announcement and instead dive into Part 2 of my yearly favourites. Yes it may be woefully overdue but it is (April!) favourites time.

Once again my review of 2017 favourites features items that were very much staples throughout the year. Everyone approaches their yearly favourites different whether only speaking of new releases from that year or items that featured in monthly favourites. For my review I like to reference the products that were picked up repeatedly, not just over one or two months but over the course of that year.

All that said my first two favourites were a 2017 release, They're Real Double The Lip from Benefit*. A quirky innovative product that features a teardrop shaped bullet in two complimenting shades. The darker tip provides your liner and the fuller end fills in your lip. Admittedly I haven't paid much attention to the application process and it's been the shades Revved Up Red and Nude Scandal that I've enjoyed. Revved Up Red is the perfect everyday red shade, not too bright but enough pigment to have my favoured red lip in evidence. The 'USP' of this release was it's method of tilting the lip bullet to apply your lip liner and then using the fuller part to fill the lip. For me I tend to just apply in one go and find it works well enough although as wear has applied the teardrop shaped has rounded so even if I were to use the application method (and indeed my application is reason enough for the shape to change) it wouldn't quite work. And more sadly as I reached for Revved Up Red last week the bullet, which is thinner than your regular lipstick actually snapped leaving me devastated. Now I'm slightly torn with whether to replace or rely on the other 3973729576 red lipsticks I own!

Another favourite which is reached for when the Autumn season arrives but is still being reached for as recently as last week is Milani Color Statement Lipstick in Plum Rose. This Milani lipstick feels oddly nostalgic in so much as it feels like the traditional lipsticks I knew and loved in my younger years. The packaging isn't anything special and the lipstick formula is rich and creamy. Not matte, not a liquid lipstick just a good old lipstick. The shade Plum Rose is described as a rich mauve but on the pink end of the scale. You're wearing lipstick but its an obvious subtle shade which I find more wearable than a nude.

When I did want a nude it was Burts Bees Lip Shimmer in Peony I'd reach for. I think I saw this on Alessandra Steinherr and was instantly taken with it as if I'm wearing a nude lip I like a pink tone. On that note Mac Syrup has been another and longterm favourite and recently repurchased. Both shades are easy wearable Pinks. The cliched 'your lips but better'  and really I'm inclined to abandon any other nude shades and stick with these. Burts Bees as the name suggests has a shimmer whereas Mac Syrup whilst a lustre is more subtle. Both these shades compliment the rare occasions I wear a heavier eye look or more likely the days I wanted to wear lipstick but didn't want the full impact of a red or similar.

The final in the lip pick for 2017 is a strange one because its a favourite on one hand and troublesome on the other. To explain the Clarins Lip Comfort Oil hit the beauty scene and everyone was in raptures and I was somewhat bemused at 'how good could it really be'. I then received a sample and first couple of uses I felt that it was nice but still didn't join the bandwagon. As I'm in the continued state of wanting to use what I have before I'm able to purchase others I had this sitting atop my dressing table and would apply as part of my morning and evening skincare regimes and watched my lips transform from a dry mess that I finally saw what everyone was raving about.

So impressed was I that I decided to purchase in it's full size, picking Red Berry to add a tint to my lips and I once again swayed from loving and hating the product in equal measure. I certainly found Red Berry stickier than the one I'd previously used and in part due to my lip colour found it didn't so much as add any colour apart from some pooling around my lip line. I also wasn't a fan of the large sized applicator, prefer a more traditional size, the larger seeming to make far too much mess and cause wastage. I still found the quality of the product itself and the benefits to my lips outweighed any of my gripes and I would buy again, just perhaps in the traditional 'shade'.

Perhaps my stand out product of 2017 and even into 2018 has been Milani's Luminiso Blush. A cult blogger favourite that I've myself mentioned many times on these pages it's a fail safe blush which accompanies any make up look. On appearance it's a peach shade but leans enough to the pink to make it a colour I enjoy to wear. There is a shimmer but not sparkle that suit my mature skin and it's pigmented enough to make a statement without being overbearing. On my trip to the US last year I picked up a replacement as unfortunately the product outlasted the packaging and it was making transporting it cumbersome and I didn't want to find myself in a situation where it became damaged and I was left without.

Finally it's my mascara favourite, all from L'Oreal who have become, if not always been my go to brand for mascara and last years picks were; Volume Million So Couture, False Lash Sculpt and Lash Paradise. Volume Million and False Lash Sculpt were a duo I enjoyed together, the former a fave alone for simple looks. The favourite for long volumised lashes was Lash Paradise and I agree with all the rave reviews but for the fact on me it does have some fall out but there are few mascaras that I don't suffer that fate with.

Sorry this post took so long for me to hit publish on and indeed I do hope I can pick up with some more regularly blogging in coming weeks - I've missed it.

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