2013’s Top 10 Favourites

Image taken from weheartit.com

Well I can’t believe 2013 has come and gone, and boy what a year it has been! I’m glad to be starting a New Year and with that I thought I would share my top 10 favourites from 2013! I probably couldn’t have picked any favourites from December itself as due to Christmas and such I was so busy trying to get everything sorted, as well as working and being with my boyfriend, my family and my friends.

So here are my top 10 favourites!

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  • Sure Maximum Protection Anti-Perspirant Deodorant Cream in Sensitive.

Since buying this deodorant in the summer time, it’s by far one of the best things I’ve EVER bought and since getting it, I don’t think I’ll ever be able to live without it. I sweat terribly during the winter time so when the summer comes upon us I panic like crazy about if I’ll leave patches on clothes or smell really bad. However since buying this stuff I’ve not had an problems at all! You’re meant to apply this before you go to bed and even if you shower it off in the morning, it’ll still work. However I just apply it when I’m getting ready after a shower and it works for me that way. I’ve only recently started my second one of these, so it lasts a long time as you really don’t need a lot of product, it goes a long way. I have this in sensitive due to my sensitive skin. This isn’t cheap and costs just over £5.00 but it’s definitely worth it if you suffer with terrible sweating like myself. I was close to going to my doctor for help, but this stuff has saved me the embarrassment!

  • Diesel Loverdose EDP.

I’ve owned this perfume for quite a while now, since it came out in 2011 to be exact and since November time it’s been running out and I desperately need another bottle! My boyfriend loves when I wear this perfume and I do too as it smells gorgeous and nothing like I’ve smelt before. It contains various notes such as liquorice, vanilla, mandarin, star anise and dry woods. This is a scent I wear all year around, but more so during the colder months as it has a lovely warming scent to it. I was going to try and pick another 30ml bottle up in the sales but I really need to save money right now. Hopefully I can get a bottle in the near future, as when this runs out I’ll be rather sad.

  • Dettol Honey Nourishing Hand Wash with E45.

I LOVE this hand wash and although I’ve been using it more towards the end of the year it has fast become one of the best hand washes I’ve ever used. As regular readers will know, I suffer from eczema on my hands and most hand washes can irritate it and make it worse, however this hand wash helps it and keeps my hands lovely and soft. This is because of the E45 and after you wash your hands with this you can feel how soft it leaves your hands afterwards too, which is great. As well as that it smells of honey and the Dettol inside makes sure to wash off any bacteria, thus leaving your hands smelling lovely, feeling soft and being germ free. What more could you want from a hand wash?!

  • Aqueous Cream.

As well as the steroid cream I get from my doctor for my eczema, my aqueous cream is amazing stuff and seems to be the only thing that keeps my hands soft and smooth. I use various different hand creams and more during December than any other month, so I didn’t feel I could really include those in my top 10 for 2013, but I’m sure they will feature in a post in the near future! However aqueous cream is an amazing invention and my boyfriend bought me this massive tub a few months ago as something to use alongside my eczema cream. I use this alongside that, as well as on its own but it’s also amazing to use on any dry patches on skin, which I sometimes get on my face. You don’t need a lot of this and it goes a long way and I always apply it after washing my hands to ensure that my hands stay lovely and soft. This huge tub cost £2 and for the new year I’m going to be finding a little pump tub or tube to keep this on for when I’m at work. I recommend this stuff to anyone, it’s especially lovely to use in the bath if you’re suffering from dry skin, as well as using it in place of a shower gel. Amazing product for not much money!

  • Philip Kingsley Body Building Shampoo.

Over the year I’ve owned this shampoo a couple of times and the first time I owned it, I really couldn’t get on with it and if anything I hated it. I felt that it was making my hair thin, not thick like it is supposed to. You need to ensure your hair is soaking wet to ensure you get a lather with this otherwise it won’t give you any lather, I learnt this after months of usage. This shampoo smells amazing and I love sniffing my hair after I use it (didn’t just sniff my hair!) and I don’t really know if it’s making my hair thicker, but my hair feels and smells lovely and clean, as well as leaving it feeling soft and gorgeous looking. Over the past month or two I’ve only just started to enjoy this shampoo and use it once a week, alongside my tea tree shampoo which I use once or twice a week. I would love to try more of the Philip Kingsley shampoos, as they seem like amazing products and well worth the money!

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  • Soap & Glory Smoothie Star Body Lotion.

I bought this lotion back around the start of 2013 and around the end of spring I sadly stopped using this due to work and being too busy to apply it due to needing to leave the house in a rush. This being said this lotion is amazing and is the most used one of  2013! Since getting loads of Soap & Glory products in the Yule Monty gift set I have realised I do really need to keep my body moisturised and it’s something that a lot of us seem to neglect due to lack of time or laziness, mine being the latter. Since Christmas Day I have been moisturising more, only not doing it on the odd occasion due to not feeling too well. Smoothie Star is one of my favourite lotions as it smells of vanilla and honey, which is of course a smell enjoyed by many, including myself. I will be using this body lotion before work as it’s a very nourishing lotion but it’s rather thin so as soon as you rub this onto the skin it will begin to sink in and get to work, which is good! It only takes me 5-10 minutes to apply this to the skin and doesn’t feel sticky or take ages to dry! I can’t wait to start using this again and probably will for my birthday in a couple of days!

  • Montagne Jeunesse various face masks.

I love Montagne Jeunesse face masks, usually clay or sheet ones as the peel off masks really irritate my sensitive skin and causes break outs to happen. But this being said the clay and sheet masks leave my skin feeling clean, soft and fresh and usually something I use at night-time during a hot bath or whilst I do some blog writing. My favourite this year is probably the Tea Tree and Dead Sea sheet masks, alongside the Chocolate clay mask. The Tea Tree mask helps when I have break outs as it calms them down and stops any redness too, this one proved to be amazing during the summer as the tingling and cooling feeling the mask left behind on my skin really helped to cool me down during the hot summer nights. The Dead Sea mask is just lovely to have as a treat if my skin is feeling and looking a little dull and needs some perking up, I use this one at least once a month, maybe once every two months depending. Like the Tea Tree mask, it leaves my skin feeling tingly and a little cold which is lovely during the summer too. Finally the Chocolate mask is a winner and one I pick up whenever I know I’m running out! It’s a very thick mask and smells just like Cadbury’s chocolate! This mask helps to soften your skin and leave it feeling clean too, which is what I always look for in a mask. Some of the masks I’ve tried by Montagne Jeunesse have left me with break outs days later, but as of yet I’ve never had a problem with the Chocolate mask… Well apart from wanting to eat it off of my face, of course! I recommend these face masks as whilst they aren’t the cheapest out there, they are by far the best and worth every penny! You can pick these up in Home Bargains at 3 for £2, which is pretty good. Primark also sell these at 99p each and Body Care sell them at around that price too. Also check out Montagne Jeunesse’s Facebook page as they have some great offers on there and competitions where you can win loads of their face masks.

  • MAC Archie’s Girls Lipstick in Daddy’s Little Girl..

I couldn’t pick one MAC lipstick but I finally came to one choice and it was Daddy’s Little Girl, which came out in March for the Archie’s Girls collection. I debated for ages which lipstick to buy from this collection and Daddy’s Little Girl was at the bottom of my list, as swatches of this lipstick online were completely wrong and made the lipstick look bright purple! Instead it is a subtle purple pink that can be worn all year around, which is why it has won a place in my top 10 favourites for 2013! I wore this lipstick loads during the year and most people I know really love this lipstick. I wear this for work quite a lot too as it lasts ages and looks lovely over the end of summer, during autumn and throughout winter so far. Most of my MAC lipsticks can be worn throughout the year but this is the one I seemed to reach for the most. I don’t know if it’s due to its purple pink colour, or because of the limited edition packaging shouting out at me, but either way I love this lipstick and the day it comes to an end, is the day I’ll probably pay a lot to get a new tube of this lipstick. If you wish to read more about it, please check out my review!

  • Nails Inc Nail Polish in South Molton Street.

Since I got these at the start of 2013, I have discovered that I have never EVER used a nail polish as much as I have with this one, as you’ll see from the image above. This is a gorgeous pink manicure pink and I used to wear this in my old job to try and make my nails looks healthier than they probably are, even though I wasn’t allowed to wear nail polish, sneaky Nat! It dries with a slight gel feel to it and with two coats it looks beautiful on the nails. I wear this for work now and I’ve had many compliments on it! As well as that, I wore it for New Years as I really couldn’t be bothered to paint my nails all special and such and I had lots of compliments on how healthy my nails looked, if only they knew! I kid, I told them it was nail polish! My Mom bought me South Molton Street in a two pack set for about £20 which is good considering Nails Inc nail polishes sell for £12-£12.50. So I’m glad I have a back up of this polish as I know I’ll probably be finishing this bottle off during 2014! I will be writing up a review for South Molton Street early 2014, so keep your eyes peeled for that!

  • The Body Shop Shower Gel in Strawberry.

Last of all we have the amazing Strawberry shower gel by The Body Shop. It is by far my favourite shower gel EVER so the fact I own a huge 750ml bottle, as well as a cute little 250ml bottle makes me very happy! I got the little bottle for just a £1, thanks to the £3 gift card I got from Glamour Magazine in November and I picked up the massive bottle for less than £6.00, bargain huh? They’re selling for £8 at the moment in The Body Shop and as tempted as I’ve been to buy another, I’m being good and not doing that, however I did pick up a Satsuma one too so I have plenty of shower gel to last me until the end of 2014! Anyway, a story about this shower gel. When I was little my Mom would take me to The Body Shop once and month and buy me a bottle of the Strawberry and the Satsuma shower gels to use before school, as well as in the bath after school and over the weekends. I would be so excited to use them and as soon as they ran out she would take me back to The Body Shop to buy more bottles. The scent of them both just reminds me of my childhood, the Strawberry one more so than the Satsuma one. Sadly after a while she stopped taking me to The Body Shop and therefore I stopped having the lovely shower gels in my shower. I’m so glad to have picked these us up and both at bargain prices too! I’m going to have a lovely smelling 2014 me thinks.

So that’s my top 10 for 2013! It was hard to pick all those items, but I’m rather pleased with what I chose.

So, what top 10 products did you love during 2013? Do you like any of the ones I mentioned? Let me know in the comments down below!

Happy New Year everyone! I hope you’re not feeling too hungover and if you’re a Sherlock fan, make sure to watch the first episode for series 3 tonight! I know me and my boyfriend will be eating yummy food, playing Beyond Two Souls and watching Sherlock all day!

Here’s to 2014! Take care all and have a great New Years Day.

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November Favourites

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I’ve said it every month and I’ll say it for the last time for 2013, I can’t believe where the months have gone and how we’ve got to December so quickly.

I guess since May I’ve had lots of fun as they say time goes fast when you’re having fun! This being said I’m somewhat glad to see 2013 soon coming to an end, as I just want 2014 to come along now to create some new resolutions as well as some happy memories, as although this year has brought some amazing people as well as memories into my life, it also had some crappy moments.

This being said, November was a mix and match of stressed and even more stressed, but that was mostly down to NaNoWriMo. Other than that, I managed to find some time to have myself some favourites, so as I do every month, I thought I’d share them with you!

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  • Superdrug Aqueous Cream.

Throughout November I suffered really badly with my eczema to the point it was bringing me a lot of discomfort. My boyfriend is quite knowledgeable about things like this and was able to help and buy me some creams and ointments that would help my eczema alongside my steroid cream from my doctor. One of these was my aqueous cream and this stuff is amazing! From memory it was £2 for this tub and it’s a huge 500ml tub! I use this alongside my steroid cream as well as after I wash my hands and if my hands are feeling a little dry. Plus a little of this goes a long way so this tub will last me ages!

  • Dettol with E45 in Honey Nourishing Hand Wash.

I’d seen this hand wash for sale in Asda for a couple of weeks and this is a fairly new product to come out in the shops during November. I’d been after a hand wash by E45 but they only had cream versions of hand wash, which I already have from my doctor so when they brought this out I was keen to get my hands on it. NOW I KNOW that I have said in the past how all sorts of hand washes have been amazing but this one is just wonderful and perfect. This leaves my hands feeling lovely and soft, smells amazing, as well as protecting them from germs. This is all I look for in a hand wash and I already know I’ll be re-purchasing this. Thank you Dettol and E45 for teaming up to create this product!

  • N Spa Lime Hair & Body Wash.

I swear to God, this stuff is amazing! I spotted this in Asda (Asda again!) and had a sniff of it to see if it was nice, was it nice? Hell yeah! It’s very zesty and refreshing, something that is great all year around, especially in the mornings due to the zesty fragrance, it wakes you up. It’s a gorgeous neon green gel that can be used as a hair and a body wash. Personally I wouldn’t use this on my hair but so far I’ve used this as a shower gel as well as a bubble bath and it’s amazing! It leaves my skin feeling beautiful and soft as well as leaving it smells fresh and gorgeous! This is a definite must before I go to work if I’m feeling a bit glum and tired. I’ve heard there is a scrub to go with this too, which I really want!

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  • La Petite Robe Noire EDP by Guerlain.

This perfume was brought back off of my Mom’s holiday at the start of November. I’d asked if she could pick me up a new perfume over there as it would be cheap and it was either this one or Envy Me by Gucci. This  perfume is amazing and other than Alien and Envy Me this is pretty much all I’ve been wearing throughout November. It’s a very fruity, yet warm smell and it’s gorgeous for the late autumn and winter season. The smell of this actually reminds me of Lush’s Space Girl Bath Bomb! Is that weird? 😛 Either way this perfume lasts ages and as it’s a huge 100ml bottle it’s going to last me a while! I’ll soon be writing up a post about this as it’s just too good to NOT write about!

  • Nails Inc Nail Polish in South Molton Street.

I’ve had this nail polish for a while, well over a year and I really do love it. I have a back up bottle of this ready for when this one runs out and in all honesty it’s my most used nail polish ever, yes, ever! It’s a gorgeous French manicure pink and as it’s only light and a pretty natural shade of pink, I can wear it for work and it’ll make my nails look healthier than they already are. As well as that it just looks nice all the time. I need to really review this polish as even without a top coat this has lasted at work without chipping for nearly a week! That’s good if you ask me, seeing as I do all sorts at work that would probably chip most if not all polishes, with out without a top coat.

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  • Philosophy Lip Shine in Candy Cane.

I’ve owned this lip shine for a while now (review here) and I have used it on and off since then. I used it throughout November alongside my Viva Glam Nicki lipstick by MAC (review here) for work and they both looked beautiful together! As well as that I found that wearing this on its own for work was quiet nice and made a change to just a lip balm or a tinted lip gloss. It moisturises as well as tastes amazing and even plumps your lips due to the menthol that the Candy Cane leaves behind. There’s more about this on my review if you wish to know more. I love this though and I can see me using it loads over December due to Christmas time!

  • MAC Lipstick in Speak Louder.

Oh my God, this was by far one of my favourite things that I bought during November! I’m not going to talk too much about it here as I’m going to writing a review to be scheduled at some point this month, exciting eh? Anyhoo this lipstick is beautiful! It’s a cremesheen so it leaves the lips feeling creamy and moisturised as you wear the lipstick itself. I’ve been wearing this loads, for work, when popping to the shops, as well as when I see my boyfriend over the weekend. It’s amazing and will look great anytime of year. I’m so glad I finally have this lipstick, I can’t wait to review it!

  • Palmer’s Cocoa Butter Lip Balm.

This always seems to creep into my favourites when autumn and winter are upon us. My lips don’t get chapped too badly as I just smoother them in lip balm but when they do, this stuff usually saves my lips! This being said my lips are beautiful and soft at the moment and it’s thanks to this for keeping them that way. I have a tube of this at home by my bed as well as one in my handbag for when I’m out and about. As well as using this whenever my lips need some care, I always use this as a base for my MAC lipsticks, so since Speak Louder coming into my life, this has also made more of an appearance too. I love this stuff and the bonus fact that it smells of chocolate just makes me realise how much I love it after spring and summer.

So those were my monthly favourite! Which products did you enjoy during November? Let me know in the comments down below!

I hope everyone had an amazing November and here’s to a festive December!

Until next time take care all and enjoy the rest of your weekend.

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