August Favourites ’17

YAY SEPTEMBER! Oh my I have been so excited for this month to roll around. Apart from the holiday this is always my month of the year where I try to get a fresh start in order. I’ll try and do a blog post about this before I go on holiday.

This past months favourites has been so hard to do as I really had to have a good think about what products I was loving. Obviously I came up with my 5 items for the month but it wasn’t easy!

• Australian Bodycare Tea Tree Oil Skin Wash.

This is a shower gel I’ve started using again and I always forget how amazing it is! It’s a massive bottle that my mom gave me not long before me and Dane moved into the house. I stopped using it because I wanted to save it for whenever I fancied using it again. Of course tea tree is antibacterial and due to that I love using this shower gel to help me feel lovely and clean. My anxiety can sometimes make me worry I smell and I’m dirty, even if I’ve just got out of the shower. Bless my mom she recently gave me ANOTHER bottle of this and as you can see from the picture, it’s huge. A 1000ml bottle in fact. So I’ve started using it again. I forgot how refreshing this shower gel is and I love it so damn much!

• Benefit Gogotint Cheek & Lip Stain (review here).

This was one of my new purchases in July/August and it’s the main lip product I’ve worn throughout the month. It’s so easy to apply and in so many different ways! I love wearing it at work at the moment as it adds a pop of colour in the mornings and I can apply my Vaseline over the top of it without any colour being ruined. This will definitely be worn loads throughout September and especially on holiday. You can read my review to understand more of why it’s on my favourites this month.

• Lush Snow Fairy Shower Gel.

You know Lush Christmas is looming when I get the Snow Fairy out! I still have a massive 1kg bottle left to break out and use when we’re back from holiday, but for now me and Dane have really been enjoying this one and have used nearly all of it! I forgot how sickly sweet it is and I fucking love it! It’s been a shower gel I’ve used on days off as well as in the bath alongside some of my Lush bubble bars and bath bombs. I’m excited to find out what we’ll be getting for Christmas with Lush!

• Rimmel London Insta Fix & Matte Powder.

I bought this powder as I needed a new one and this has been everywhere on blogs the past month or two. I’m glad I picked it up as it’s a great powder for the price. All the same however it’s not the best in the world, but it definitely does the job whenever I’m getting ready and popping out. I’ve been using it loads this month and I’m probably going to take it with me on holiday too as it’ll be great to use in the evenings to keep shine away. This doesn’t keep shine away all day, but it will for at least 6 hours.

• DIOR Addict EDP.

I’ve owned this perfume since I went to Fuerteventura in 2015 and it’s still got loads left in the bottle! I started using this mid August and I actually forgot how much I love the scent. I can’t really describe it to be honest with you. It’s sweet but not a girly, teenage, Britney Spears type scent but more of a mature woman smell. It’s the sort of fragrance that if you will see a business woman wear. 😛 This is a classic and has been around for over 10 years now.

So now my beauty favourites are done, time to talk about the miscellaneous favourites of the month!

Image taken from weheartit.com

Favourite TV Show – This Is England 86, 88 and 90.

To say I love This Is England is a massive understatement. I don’t know why but recently I felt the need to watch the TV series from the start to finish. I watched all 11 episodes in probably a day if not two and I fell in love all over again. I didn’t watch the film however. I do have a feeling I felt the urge to watch them due to watching Joseph Gilgun in Preacher recently. Which I am still loving from last month by the way! If you’ve never watched the This Is England series then I seriously suggest you do so asap! You’ll love it more than the film, I guarantee. I just love LOL and Woody so damn much. I wish I had them both as friends.

Favourite Film – Swiss Army Man and To The Bone.

I recently watched these two films thanks to both Amazon and Netflix. Me and Dane have wanted to watch Swiss Army Man for ages but we just never got around to it until we saw it recently being advertised on Amazon Prime. It was all that I could imagine it to be and even more, quite honestly it was weird and amazing and I recommend it for everyone to watch! I’ve had to put a trailer above because I’m pretty sure many haven’t even heard of this film before.

I also recently watched To The Bone, which is about a girl dealing with an eating disorder. It reminds me of a John Green novel and I just fell in love with all of the characters. The film ended and I was left wanting to find out more of what happened! I recommend you watch it if you love films, TV shows and books like this. Something to watch out for is if you have or are currently dealing with an eating disorder then this could trigger you, so please be cautious before watching.

Image taken from weheartit.com

Favourite Book – Erm…

I haven’t read anything this month sadly. I don’t know what it is at the moment but I just haven’t really been reading anything, not even manga. I’m kind of waiting to go on holiday to catch up on reading all my manga at the moment. But I can see me just taking two Bridget Jones books to read.

Favourite Song/Album – K-ON! Soundtrack.

Dane recently bought the soundtrack to K-ON! and that’s pretty much most of what we’ve both been listening to and I actually love it! I can’t wait to listen to these songs when we’re on holiday as they’re just some really happy and go lucky feeling songs. The song I’ve added above is one of the last songs the band create together and it’s the last one we hear on the anime too. It’s the girls goodbye song to the youngest member of the band, Azusa. They’re all leaving to go to college and she’s staying at school for her final year. It’s a very sad song but it’s lovely all the same and is definitely my favourite.

Image taken from weheartit.com

Favourite Game – Persona 5… YES IT STILL IS, GET OVER IT! 😛

Yes I am STILL playing Persona 5 and I don’t give a fuck! Sadly due to how bad my mental health has been throughout August I haven’t been reading nor have I been playing games and it’s purely because I just haven’t had the patience or thought behind doing either of them. Watching films and TV shows has been fine though.

Image taken from weheartit.com

This being said I have been playing Minecraft with Dane quite a lot lately. We both craved a game we could just chill out and play together and Minecraft was the perfect game for this. We’ve played it loads and I forgot how much I love it. We haven’t played it as much though lately, sadly. I’m sure we will again soon.

So those are my favourites from August! It went by really quickly and a part of me is so pleased. I fucking hated August. It was full of stress for me and mind fucks and I’m really hoping that September will bring better things.

I’ll be writing a blog post about that soon. 🙂

What were your favourites throughout August? Make sure to let me know in the comments down below!

Until next time, take care all and I hope you had a great month.

Benefit Gogotint Cheek & Lip Stain – Review

Don’t you just love when you have enough Boots Advantage points to treat yourself to something fancy? I noticed recently that Benefit Cosmetics had added a new lip stain to their ever growing collection and it’s definitely one of the nicest I’ve seen! I was going to be good and wait until me and Dane go on holiday, as I could have picked it up in the airport but I fancied a treat now… 😛 I had nearly £90 worth of points on my Boots card so I decided to treat myself before payday.

I’ve owned this stain for a week now and I am in love with it! I knew I had to review it for you all and compare it to Posie Tint, which I own the mini version of.

If you didn’t know Benefit have a lip stain line which you can use on the cheeks and lips. Before adding the new Gogo shade they had 4 shades in the collection, Gogo makes it 5.

There’s Benetint which is a rose colour and from swatching it in the past on my hand it’s actually my least favourite of all the tints. It’s a water like consistency is really awkward and annoying to work with and due to that I also feel that the colour doesn’t built up much and isn’t very pigmented due to it. I know it’s just a stain and isn’t meant to be pigmented but for the price I don’t feel that Benetint is worth it.

Rant over! 😛 The rest of the lip stains have a gel like texture to them, which is what I love! It’s easy to apply and feels really comfortable on the lips. The other shades include Chachatint which is a mango shade, Lollitint which is a candy-orchid shade and Posietint which is a poppy pink shade.

Of course we have the new shade Gogotint which is a bright cherry shade. Of course this will be the shade I’ll be reviewing today. I found this chart on the official Benefit website so thought I would pop it into this post. I don’t personally feel like it’s accurate though. I wish I had all the shades to swatch for you guys. As I own Posietint I’ll be swatching that alongside Gogotint so you can compare. I’ll probably review it in the future though as I’m hoping to pick it up in the airport before we go on holiday. I currently only own a mini version of Posietint so I’ll take pictures next to my full size of Gogotint for comparison.

Image taken from benefitcosmetics.com

Posietint mini next to full sized Gogotint

The full size of all the Benefit lip stains is 10ml, and the minis which you can buy or get in gift sets are usually 4ml. I got my 4ml mini lip stain from Boots about a year ago for £5.00, which was a complete bargain in my opinion! I don’t think Boots do the lip stain minis anymore, but they do do other minis as well.

ANYWAY! I want to talk about the packaging first. It’s got the typical Benefit retro pin up style to it that they’re so well known for. I love the bottle for Gogotint so damn much! It’s a gorgeous metallic glass bottle in a cherry pink colour to match the colour of the shade itself and a white lid with some detailing on it. I’m sure the detailing on the lid has only been introduced recently. The fact that it’s a glass bottle makes me a little wary and nervous, but I’m sure I wouldn’t damage it in anyway, unless I threw it. 😛

I love the bottle so much as it looks simple, yet expensive and pretty at the same time. However, the one thing I don’t like is not being able to see how much product you have left. It’s kind of a guessing game with these. The only lip stain to be in a clear bottle is Benetint. All the others are in the metallic coloured bottles.

Gogotint brush with product

Gogotint brush without product

Posietint brush

The brush for the Benefit lip stains remind me nail polish brushes. It’s really weird to be honest due to how flexible it is but how fiddly it is at the same time! I’ve struggled a little at times to use it when lining my cupids bow. It’s not too bad really as you can wipe away any mistakes you make, but all in all it is a pain in the arse if you’re in a rush. I find with my mini Posietint that due to the size the brush is a little thicker and therefore easier to use. I do wonder if a lip brush might be worth using when trying to be precise with the full size bottles. Either way I manage. 😛

Now I’ve spoken about the basics of Gogotint, I’ll FINALLY talk about the product itself!

I found a bit about it on the official website and Boots website too:

Brighten up with cherry red lips & cheeks!

Gogotint is the wildest flush you can get from a bottle! Our see-through bright cherry red lip & cheek stain is vibrant, juicy & pops till you drop. You gogo, girl!

• Cherry red lips & cheeks
• Kiss-proof & smudge-proof
• Longwear cheek & lip stain
• Instant pop of color
• Bright, see-through flush of color

Gogo-getter! Too busy for beauty? Never! Brush gogotint cherry red tint on cheeks and lips then blend for a vibrant flush. It only takes 5 seconds! BEAUTY TIP: Thank you CHERRY much! Gogotint’s flush will get you lots of flattery. Not used to all the attention? Just respond “thank you cherry much”…they’ll get the hint!

I had a look around Instagram and YouTube for ages of people swatching and showing off the colour of this so that I could get an idea of whether I would like this colour or not. When I heard it was a cherry red/pink shade I KNEW I would love it. These sorts of pinks are right up my street. I can’t be dealing with light colours. 😛

Dark heart – Gogotint, light heart – Posietint and circle beneath is Gogotint blended out

This really is a bright colour and would actually be a great lip colour for anyone who is wanting to venture over to the dark side of the none nude variety! This in my opinion is the most vibrant and pigmented shade that Benefit have brought out in their lip stain collection to date. I love it!

Wearing Gogotint

Wearing Gogotint

As I’ve already mentioned this has a gel consistency to it and isn’t too thick and isn’t too thin, so it’s perfect for applying. It’s especially great for applying to the centre of your lips for a just bitten look. This is something I have tried somewhat with Gogotint and it looks gorgeous with this shade.

The one thing I really like about this shade is that it’s buildable so you can dab a little on with your finger to create a soft pink shade and look, or apply a couple of coats to really pack a punch with that gorgeous cherry red colour for an alternative pin up girl look.

Wearing Posietint and Gogotint

Wearing Posietint and Gogotint

Wearing Posietint and Gogotint

I have tried both and love them both just as much as the other. I also applied this in the inside of  my lips and then applied Posietint on the outside for a gradient and just bitten look.

I’ve worn both of these at work and they last really well to be honest! I’ll have to top them up when I go for my break (4-6 hours into my shift) but that’s kind of normal to me for something like this. I also use my Vaseline before applying this and making sure to wipe away most of the excess when applying the lip stain. I also use it over the top of the stain throughout the day to keep my lips soft. It doesn’t dry out the lips though and if anything feels comfortable and not like you’re wearing anything on your lips.

I can’t really put my finger on what the scent of this is and it smells exactly the same as Posietint. I don’t want to say a chemical smell because it doesn’t smell like that at all… But it doesn’t smell of anything either… It’s scentless! 😛 It doesn’t smell disgusting, let’s put it that way and it doesn’t smell when you apply it to the lips, which is good.

Of course as the name states, you don’t have to just use this on the lips, you can also use it on your cheeks as a blush. I won’t be doing this but it looks so pretty when blended out!

I tried to test if you can remove this with my Garnier micellar cleansing water and it removed really easily which I was surprised about. This is a little disappointing but at the same time I can’t complain! I’d be moaning about it staining if it didn’t come off. 😛

Wearing Gogotint with a blue highlighter on top

Wearing Gogotint with a blue highlighter on top

Another little thing I like to do with Gogotint is I like to apply a highlight onto my lips to give it a pop of colour! I never thought of doing this before and I’m so chuffed with the outcome, which I’ll show on here of course!

As I always do, here are some picture of me wearing Gogotint alone, with Posietint and of course with the highlighter. Loads of pictures await you!

My overall feelings on Gogotint is that it’s an amazing lip stain and one that I don’t regret buying. If anything it will become one of my go to lipsticks now! I’m definitely going to take it on holiday with me as it’ll be lovely to wear both in the daytime and the evening when going out.

All 5 of the lip stains by Benefit cost £25.50 from both the official Benefit Cosmetics website and Boots. As I mentioned before you get 10ml of product for this price and right now I feel it’s well worth the money as a little bit of the lip stains really does go a long way and of course it’s a 2 in 1 product, you can also use this on your cheeks as a blush!

What do you think of the new lip stain? You like it, or are you not sure? Do you own any of the Benefit lip stains? Make sure to let me know in the comments!

Until next time all, take care and I hope you’ve had a lovely week so far.