March Favourites

March 2014 Beauty Favourites

Urban Decay Naked 3 Palette

One of the products I have been completely loving in March is The Naked 3 palette from Urban Decay. I was actually super lucky and won it from a giveaway back in February by the lovely Daniella (thanks so much!) and I can completely understand the hype about it. It is super pigmented, the colour range is beautiful and I have loved experimenting with more rosier toned shades rather than my normal neutral eyes.

Jelly Pong Pong Duo Bronzer in Caribbean Sun
I am a big fan of blush, but find it super difficult to find bronzing products which look natural on my very pale skin. Although this blush and bronzer duo is probably aimed for the warmer Months, I really love the bronzer as it looks so natural and not muddy on my skin. The blush is also a very lovely flush of pink too.

Soap and Glory You Wont Believe Your Eyes Serum
 I suffer with dark and heavy under eye circles, and no concealer can hide them. I have actually had this for well over a year now but forgot about it in my stash and rediscovered it a few weeks back. I look a lot more awake in a Morning after I have applied this the night before. I love the cooling sensation from the roller ball applicator too!

Balance Me Radiance Face Oil
This is the first facial oil I have ever used and I am so glad I have finally jumped onto the bandwagon! I love that it is a rollerball applicator which makes it super easy and non-messy to use. My skin feels so much different since bringing this into my skin routine, its definitely become a firm favourite of mine.

Guest Post: Andrea's Twist On Skin Care

Hi everyone, today I have another great guest post from the lovely Andrea, who writes the blog No More Twist. Andrea is a fashion designer that creates beautiful clothing and does it all herself. She also has a Youtube Channel where she shares all her tips and tricks on being a fashion designer. Do check her out as her blog is interesting and a great read, and shes super lovely, too! 


Ohhh cleansing with oils....as weird as that may sound, it feels so right on my skin. I have oily/combination skin with a problematic chin area. (Curse being female for this!!) Oil cleansing has been the most beautiful way to treat my skin with some respect and gentility, finally! 

Images courtesy of:
https://www.etsy.com/uk/shop/traditionalcraftsUK?ref=l2-shopheader-name

I discovered this method through hours of Youtube trawling and was dumbfounded! At first I thought no way man! That's just zit city. I was clearly wrong. 

Using oil as a cleanser does not cause spots or acne, would you believe. Those skin ailments are usually down to bad diet, hormones and bacteria. When you cleanse with commercial face products all those nasty soaps, chemicals and preservatives actually strip your skin from its natural happy face oils. Therefore your face goes into overdrive, panics and produces an obscene amount of sebum causing your over oily skin. "Oil dissolves oil." By cleansing your skin with lovely natural oils your face doesn't freak out and over produce, it feels it simply has no need to. It will help gently remove the dirty oil and replace it with good, nourishing, healing oil which you can tailor to your skin type. 

I use a beautiful smelling oil which I got from a lovely lady at Traditional Crafts, she is on Etsy, find her here:

https://www.etsy.com/uk/shop/traditionalcraftsUK?ref=l2-shopheader-name

She has so much information written under each of her products, so you can really tailor you oil choice to your skin type. As I have Combination skin I use the Geranium and Grapefruit All Natural Cleansing Oil alongside her Beauty Sleep Serum. I also use a little Olive oil on reusable cleansing pads just to get rid of the majority of my eye make-up, you can use the cleansing oil, I just don't want to waste it because I wear so much eyeliner! 

Images courtesy of:
https://www.etsy.com/uk/shop/traditionalcraftsUK?ref=l2-shopheader-name

How beautiful is that packaging too! Traditional Crafts had my items out to me in no time and her shipping prices are really great. She makes everything herself and they smell amazing, all the cleansing oils are 100% natural and are handmade to order! I cannot describe to you how good these products smell! Just soooo very good!!! 

Anyway, how do you do it?

Simple really, I like to do mine at the end of the day, you don't need to oil cleanse too much, once a day should be fine. I get myself a nice hand hot jug of water with a lovely flannel in it. If I have stubborn eye make-up on then I will take a reusable cleansing pad with a little Olive oil on and gently wipe away as much of my eye make-up as possible.

After this, I take a small amount, like 10p sized, of my Geranium and Grapefruit cleansing oil into the palm of my hands and warm between my palms then gently massage into my face and neck in upwards motions. Do that for as long as you feel necessary, I find a minute or so is fine.

Leave it to sit there and be all natural and lovely for about 30 seconds then take your hot steamy flannel and place it over your face and let it cool. Then gently wipe away any excess oil. The steaming helps open the pores and draw out any impurities your make-up may have left behind. I then let my skin air dry for a little bit, before either patting a little bit more of the Geranium oil as a moisturiser or moving on to the Beauty Sleep Serum. This I spend a little bit of time working in, it will be absorbed overnight and you will be left with baby soft skin in the morning. I enjoy having dewy well-balanced soft skin now! 

Thanks Zoe for letting me post on your lovely site! I assume that if you like beauty, you may also like fashion! If that sounds appealing you can come see my work on my blog at:

http://andreabonnell.blogspot.co.uk/

Thanks for reading guys, I hope you enjoyed it!