
Well, we’ve managed to survive the first month of the year! Just! Obviously i’ve been at home all month, so these favourites are all beauty and reading/viewing material based! There’s very little makeup as i’ve not been anywhere. Lots of pampering skincare, haircare & wellness; alongside some novels and TV shows you need to get you through lockdown. The Good Brow Club Overnight Brow Oil* – £12.95 from The Good Brow Club
This is exactly what it says on the tin and it’s glorious. It’s a thick and luscious overnight brow oil. I don’t use this nightly as I have my brows laminated and using oils breaks the ‘lamination’ down, but it’s great for me for once or twice per week for a real conditioning boost. The texture is just dreamy and it’s so enjoyable to use. It hydrates, nourishes and boosts growth. The only downside to this product is the bottle it’s in – the screw-on lid/dropper just isn’t a great design and I find the product drips out after you put the lid back on. Nothing major but it’s just a bit irritating.Aveeno Skin Relief Moisturising Hand Cream* – £3.66 from Boots
We are all going through hand cream in the past year like never before! One that i’ve been really enjoying, when my hands are particularly dry from all that washing and gel application, is this ultra rich shea butter one from Aveeno. It’s very basic, so great for sensitive skin. It contains an oat complex, which makes it incredibly soothing. It also helps to strengthen the skin’s protective barrier too. It absorbs really well, isn’t greasy and is such a bargain price!
Indeed Labs Hydraluron+ Moisture Mist* – £24.99 from Boots
This is pricey for a mist and, whilst it’s a fantastic mist, it isn’t worth £25. I love it, so it’s in my favourites, but there are so many other more affordable mists that would do you just fine if you are looking to save a bit of cash. How cute is the pink packaging though?! This is a scentless mist and have a lovely fine and even spray. It uses Hyaluronic Acid to hydrate the skin and powerful antioxidants to protect the skin from environmental aggressors. It also helps shield the skin from the harmful blue light our phones, laptops and tablet devices emit. Lovely and effective, but just with too high a price point I think.Laura Mercier Creme Brûlée Hand Creme* – £16 from SpaceNK
This hand cream (made from grape oil and olive oil) is just dreamy and it feels like such a boujie treat to apply, which makes all that hand moisturising a bit more enjoyable. It smells incredible, which isn’t doing my sugar cravings any good as it makes me just want to go and eat dessert. It smells exactly like creme brulee, with the rich vanilla and burnt sugar depth. The texture of the cream is quite light but it does a fantastic job of moisturising and softening your hands. It absorbs really easily and doesn’t leave any greasy residue. I actually have all four of the gourmand Laura Mercier hand creams and I can’t wait to smell the other three!Laura Mercier Caviar Stick Eyeshadow in Orchid* – £25 from Cult Beauty
All cream eyeshadow addicts will already know about how great the Laura Mercier Caviar Sticks are. So creamy, beautifully pigmented, super easy to blend and long-lasting. You need this colour though! It’s stunning and perfect for spring coming up. I’m going to be sharing a look to my Instagram soon, where I am wearing this shade on my eyes. Just draw it on, give it a quick smudge with your finger and you are good to go. Totally effortless!NYK1 Secrets Lashforce Eyelash & Brow Growth Serum* – £39.95 from NYK1
Use my code LAURAPS for 10% off this fantastic lash and brow hair growth booster and conditioner. When that “beauty therapist” waxed off half of both my brows last autumn, this is what I used to really quicken and boost the growth of them back again. One look on my Instagram and you can see how much they have grown. I also used this to really boost the length of my lashes too. If it wasn’t for my job of having to test new products constantly, i’d have stuck with this as it worked wonders. I’ll definitely return to it again! It’s dermatologically and Opthamologist tested and is suitable for contact lens wearers. This one tube lasts so long too – literally months.
Zitsticka Killa Kit Microdart Patches* – £27 from ZitSticka
You’ll know by now that i’m a big fan of a pimple patch and I have many in my arsenal. One of my latest discoveries is these from ZitSticka. I use these at a different stage than I would use a hydrocolloid patch and on a different type of spot than I would use one of the ‘micro-needling’ patches I love. These are designed for early stage spots that don’t have a white head and aren’t a sore, cystic lump. These are to stop spots in their tracks before they get to either of these stages. They essentially ‘fire a dart’ of targeted ingredients (such as Niacinamide and Salicylic Acid) into the spot to kill it early. So effective and worth every penny!Aroma Active Laboratories Sleep Pulsepoint Rollerball – £8 from Boots
This brand is the new little, less expensive sister, to cult luxury aromatherapy brand Aromatherapy Associates. I love that their soothing blends are available to people of all budgets now. I love anything that aids my sleep and this little rollerball is fabulous. I apply it before bed to my temples, wrist pulse points, behind my ears and on the back of my neck. It smells so relaxing and is very calming. This contains proven relaxing and sleep-inducing essential oils of lavender, valerian, ylang ylang and buddhawood.
Aroma Active Laboratories Soothing Universal Repair Cream Rich – £7.50 from Boots
This rich, but non-greasy cream has similar relaxing and soothing essential oils such as lavender and patchouli. It also has two botanical ingredients known to calm and soothe the skin – blue tansy and immortelle flower. It’s a heavy duty cream that I use on dry areas of my body – in particular one very dry elbow (as I lean on it constantly)! This is great at really keeping the area moisturised and I don’t need to reapply more than a couple of times per day. Due to the amount of fragrance in this, I wouldn’t use it on my face or on broken skin when I have plenty of other options. However on the body’s very dry areas it’s perfect and the tube is huge too. A winter skin saviour!Our Remedy Pretty Peaceful CBD Oil 500mg* – £26.99 from Our Remedy
I really don’t know what i’d do without CBD oil now. It works wonders for my Fibromyalgia pain a night and in the mornings, which can stop me sleeping and functioning. This is my favourite I have tried so far as it also contains lavender essential oil, which increases its relaxation effects. I keep this by my bed at night and I use it probably once per week. I add a few drops (of this 500mg CBD oil) under my tongue, wait a minute and then have a drink of water to rinse the oil and taste away. It’s not unpleasant, but I just don’t like the oily texture in my mouth. Within 10 minutes it has relaxed me, dulled the pain and sent me to sleep. Magic.L’Oreal Professionel Series Expert Gold Quinoa + Protein Absolut Repair Masque – £14.06 from Feel Unique
I’m a hair mask addict and my hair loves this one. It has a beautiful ‘hairdressers-like’ scent too, if you get what I mean. I like to apply it to damp hair, tie my hair in a bun and leave it on overnight to really work its magic. This conditioning mask is infused with strenghtening gold quinoa and protein to fortify, smooth and soften your hair. It really boosts shine too. This is the perfect weekly mask to keep your hair in the best condition, especially if it is hair that has been coloured or bleached.Jo Malone Nectarine Blossom & Honey Body Creme* – £56 from Jo Malone
This body cream was gifted to me by Jo Malone for my wedding last year (that still hasn’t happened due to Covid)! As I received it 15 months ago and i’m not going to be getting married in the first half of this year, I decided to open it and use it. I’ve kept the Red Roses fragrance tucked away that I was supposed to layer it with and i’ll just re-buy this Nectarine Blossom & Honey body cream once we have proper new arrangements in place. It smells glorious – delicate, light, sweet and floral. The perfect scent to be going into spring with. It’s very moisturising, absorbs into the skin really well and leaves skin feeling soft and fresh. I’m definitely going to be getting a Red Roses one too as this formula is fantastic.Lumity Morning & Night Female Supplements* – £65 per month from Lumity
These are expensive supplements, so i’m not going to say that you need these, because you don’t. If you can afford them however, it’s such a boujie treat to open these heavy, luxe glass jars – it makes the process of takin vitamins so much more enjoyable. What you are paying for here though, is the exact science behind the formulations of ingredients – formulated for the most optimal morning and night boost and support for your body and mind – for everything from sleep to energy. If you are a beauty addict like me, these supplements also have a fantastic effect on the condition of your hair and nails. They are full of nutrients, minerals, omegas and amino acids – an exact blend to deliver exactly what you need when you need it. The twice daily supplement works at a cellular level in conjunction with your body’s circadian rhythm for maximum absorbtion and effect. The night ones smell foul though, so you’ll have to get past the smell of opening that jar!The Other Wife by Claire McGowan – £4.99 from Amazon
I have loved this novel and another of hers – The Push – this year! A fantastic writer who writes a brilliant psychological crime thriller and doesn’t get enough recognition. I read both of these novels so quickly as I just couldn’t put them down. Such cleverly woven stories with superb twists and endings. The Push is about a pre-natal group of expectant new mothers and what happens at a reunion they attend after the births of their babies. The group leader falls from the balcony of the house and dies. Was she pushed? Why was she up there anyway? The Other Wife tells the story of two women. One has just relocated to the countryside at the insistence of her husband as she has just had an affair and he wants to keep her isolated so she doesn’t do it again. The second woman moves to the remote cottage next door to hers, but it’s not a coincidence. Who is she and what does she want?Living With Coco Chanel by Caroline Young* – £14.60 from Amazon
This now sits on my coffee table. It’s such a beautiful book and is a must-have for any fans of Chanel or luxury fashion in general. It tells the story of Coco Chanel’s life and how it influenced her work. It’s full of stunning images and is the sort of book you can just dip in and out of, if you don’t want to read it cover to cover. It’s been great to find out where some of her inspiration has come from.Netflix’s Bridgerton – via Netflix subscription
This is Shonda Rhimes’ latest masterpiece. It’s an early 19th century tale of love, relationships and scandal but it’s completely relatable to us now. It has great humour, some incredibly raunchy scenes, some loveable characters and a bit of thrilling scandal and mystery. I was hooked within ten minutes and binged the whole series in one day. Even if you think period dramas aren’t your bag, you need to at least try this. It will surprise you!ITV’s Downton Abbey – via Britbox subscription
Obviously I knew this programme existed a long time ago, but it just never appealed to me. Then I saw Bridgerton and became addicted to period dramas. I think it’s because i’m old now and my tastes have changed! I decided to take a gamble on this series and became instantly hooked. I watched it all, plus the film, in just a couple of weeks. Now my heart is very sad that it’s all over! It’s the life, loves, tragedies and dramas of the aristocratic Crawford family of Downton Abbey in the late 1910s-1920s; running parallel and often intertwining with the servants downstairs. It’s totally loveable and I really hope they bring it back!
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