June Favourites 2019

If you’ve been with me a while, you’ll remember I used to do a favourites list each month that would focus on the five products I favoured most of all, but I recently decided to lift that limit so I could include more of the things I love.  Today, I regret that, as my June 2019 Favourites list is huge! There have been so many great products making their way into my regular routine, so I had to share them all.  Get comfy, this is a long one…

There have been three main hair care things I’ve been reaching for, starting with the Pop Brush (£12) which I received in the Birthday Birchbox and it is fantastic for my hair – it’s so gentle, yet it pulls out all the tangles without actually pulling out any of my hair.  It quickly became my most reached for hair brush and I’m eyeing up the pink one too, because pink. Apologies for the hair in the brush, I tried to remove it pre-photo but it’s there to stay…

I wrote about the recently launched new fragrance of the Philip Kingsley Elasticizer and that night, I decided to give my hair a deep treatment with the product, applying it and leaving it on for half an hour before washing my hair as normal.  I don’t think there is anything else on the market quite like Elasticizer, as it just strengthens and adds density to hair like nothing else I’ve ever tried.  Every hair type would benefit from using this as it really is phenomenal.

I was sent the Redken Pillow Proof Blowdry Treatment Cream (around £20, depending on where you shop) absolutely ages ago, and I dug it out again recently as I’m growing my hair long again and I remember this being brilliant at speeding up the blow dry time.  It definitely speeds things up,  but it also gives hair a little bit of help in every department, giving it a bit of hold, taming any flyaways and just making any kind of styling easier.  It also plays well with other styling products.

I have a couple of skincare loves, starting with the new Murad Prebiotic 4-in-1 Multicleanser (£38), which is so light and gentle – it reminds me of the Glossier Milky Cleanser, but it’s a touch lighter and feels lovely on the skin.  I won’t go into too much detail as I’ll be reviewing it in full very soon, alongside it’s Multimist partner.

A quick read of my review here will tell you just how much I love the It’s Skin Facial Mists, and at the time of writing the review I had struggled to narrow down a favourite, but I think I can now say that the Vc Vitaful Mist (£18.95) appears to be getting more use than the rest, as I think it strikes a really good balance, leaving skin feeling nourished and with a touch of glow.  They’re all fab though and I really do rate them.

Slightly random to include this, but I’ve been trying to wean my son Teddy and I off plastic water bottles for ages, and I’ve finally managed it by picking up these Ion8 Leakproof Water Bottles (£8.99 at Amazon here – link) which are compact, easy to use, leakproof and easy to clean too.  I ended up buying three – a pink one for me, a red one for Teddy to take to school and a blue one for him to use at home, and we have kicked the plastic bottle habit!

I remember using the StylPro (£39.99) brush cleaning system close to when it launched, thinking it was great, then literally never using it again, and I genuinely don’t know why! I dug it out again recently to deal with a new foundation brush (more of that below) and I am newly blown away by how fantastic it is, what a great bit of kit that actually makes brush-cleaning fun! I’ve used it three more times since and my everyday brushes are now super clean and fabulous.

Finally on to the make-up, starting with the Beauty Pie Seamless Foundation Buffing Brush (currently £5.11 for members) which I’ve talked about quite a bit on here as it’s such a lovely brush that buffs base into skin and gets the balance just right, I find a lot of foundation brushes can either buff so much that you end up with virtually no make-up on, or doesn’t buff enough, so it all looks streaky.  Annoyingly, this needs to be washed after 2-3 uses as it stops being brilliant, but that’s what the above StylPro is for! I now have two of these and I’ll probably add another to the next order; a fiver very well spent.

The Missha M Perfect Cover BB Cream (£24)is another product that’s enjoying a second coming as part of my everyday kit, as it’s perfect if you’re lazy/in a hurry, because it provides buildable coverage (I apply all over, then use a concealer brush to touch up areas that need more help) and it also has an SPF42, so on the school run I’ll use this, a cream blusher and a brow gel and the whole lot will take less than 5 minutes.  I use colour 21, which is the second palest.  If you’re paler then me, Feel Unique have the palest shade at a discount right now.

I’ve talked quite a bit about the Burt’s Bees All Aglow Lip and Cheek Sticks (around £12, depending on where you shop) because they are just so lovely! Incredibly sheer, wonderfully dewy, they provide a natural wash of brightening colour that looks amazing on the skin.  I’m mentioning this shade in particular, Peony Pool, because I’m using this on lips and cheeks for the school run and it adds a very quick hit of pretty.  These are really gorgeous and I hope they extend the colour line.

Finally on to the last few bits of makeup, starting with an absolute steal from Avon.  The Avon Mark Epic Lip Powder Pen (£8)is a creamy powder that provides a dense, matte lip.  I don’t like lip powders and I don’t like matte lips, so you can imagine how excited I was when these arrived…but I am hugely surprised! HUGELY! These are fantastic and remind me of the Laura Mercier Velour Extreme matte lippies, as these provide that tricky-to-achieve, blotted finish that stays put for ages, then wears very evenly, so you can wear a bright lip and it’ll be (relatively) low maintenance.  I will do a full review on these very soon, but I am definitely recommending them, especially at £8 a go.

The last two bits are from Cosmetics a la Carte, who we all know I love dearly, and I really struggled to decide which one to favour, so I decided to include both as they’re both getting almost daily use.  The Matte Bronzing Powder (£40) in shade Biscuit is the perfect shade for pale girls like me, adding the gentlest hint of warmth and colour to suggest the lightest kiss from the sun – girls my shade cannot get away with deeper bronze numbers without looking grubby, sadly, so this is absolutely perfect.

The Cosmetics a la Carte Glow Highlighting Powder (£40) in shade Starlight is possibly my favourite highlighting powder ever, because it’s just so perfect for my needs; I like a highlighter that’ll add glow without glitter, add the sheerest hint of light whilst also being buildable for days when I fancy a bit more, and the shade needs to work really well with my skin tone.  This bad boy does it all, and I’m melting through it at a rapid rate.

This really was like an essay…