Danielle's Beauty Blog

Happy New Year! I have a couple of best beauty discoveries posts to round off some new favourites from last year starting with skincare! Nothing new really stood out to me in the haircare and bodycare departments but makeup will be coming soon! 

Starting with cleansers and the e.l.f. Holy Hydration! Makeup Melting Cleansing Balm RRP $14 CAD / £11 really impressed me this year! It’s the only skincare product I have tried from e.l.f. but I will definitely be checking out the rest of the range! It contains sunflower seed oil, ceramides, and glycerin and the balm melts into an oil making easy work out of removing makeup! It’s lightly scented, lasted me a good amount of time and it’s super affordable! Definitely not as luxurious as my all-time favourite cleanser – the Emma Hardie Moringa cleansing balm – but for the price it’s impressive!

Moving onto serums and I tried a few this year that I can’t get enough of! The Biotherm Life Plankton Elixir RRP $116 CAD / £69* is a beautiful hydrating and soothing serum that contains glycerin, life plankton and Vitamin C. It’s also scented which I don’t mind but I know some people do but it’s so fresh and “blue” smelling it really adds to the experience for me. This makes my skin feel hydrated and supported and it looks brighter and feels smoother! Sticking with Biotherm and I have also been enjoying their Blue Retinol Night Serum RRP $99 CAD / £75*. It contains 0.25% retinol as well as life plankton, glycerin, HA and niacinamide. This has worked well to smooth and even my skin and target fine lines while also not causing any sensitivity or peeling due to the formula!

Next up is a classic that I only started using last year and I finally get the hype! The Estee Lauder Advanced Night Repair RRP $108 CAD / £65 is a restorative serum containing peptides and hyaluronic acid bifida ferment lysate (an ingredient that’s also in the Biotherm Life Plankton Elixir) which helps protect against UV damage and repair skin. It’s called night repair but can be used AM or PM though I tend to use it in the evening and I wake up with hydrated, plump and firm skin. Lastly for serums, I have the Pixi Clarity Concentrate RRP £26* which has been my go-to when I have been experiencing breakouts and it’s been a saviour over the festive season! It contains glycolic, salicylic and lactic acid as well as probiotics and aloe and really helps to gently exfoliate my skin while still keeping it hydrated and my breakouts have been healing faster!

For moisturisers and SPF’s, I found quite a few I fell in love with this year! The Naturium Multi-Peptide Moisturiser RRP $20 USD / £21 is a great, simple, lightweight moisturiser I used in the AM that kept my skin hydrated and worked well with SPF’s and my makeup! At night, I loved the Biotherm Blue Pro-Retinol Multi Correct Cream RRP $103 CAD*. This is a rich overnight cream that smoothed my skin leaving it plump the next morning with less visible fine lines. It felt so luxurious, and, as I mentoned, I love the scent of Biotherm products!

For SPF’s I really rate the older version of the Fenty Hydra Vizor – the Invisible Moisturiser Broad Spectrum SPF 30 RRP $49 CAD. This seems to have been recently reformulated to a mineral SPF and I am gutted I replaced it without realising the new one gets awful reviews. It seems to be out of stock in a lot of places but hopefully she brings it back as it’s perfect under makeup, no pilling, hydrating, protecting and smells good! Sticking with the purple theme and the Isntree Onion Newpair Sunscreen SPF40 RRP $30.64 CAD* was another stand out product. It’s lightweight, again didn’t pill with my makeup and hydrates all day. Not pictured as I used it up way earlier in the year is the Beauty of Joseon Relief Sun: Rice + Probiotics SPF 50 RRP $24.08 CAD which I couldn’t not mention as it might be my favourite SPF ever! Super lightweight, this feels like you have nothing on and like the others, doesn’t pill or react with other products or makeup. It just stands out a little more to me and I like that it’s SPF 50! Another product definitely worth the hype!

Did I mention any of your favourites? Let me know what your favourite skincare discovery was this year! If you want to see my previous best beauty discoveries in skincare you can check out 2020, 2021 and 2022!

*denotes a PR sample that was sent to me.

All opinions are my own. Affiliate links used.

See my full disclosure here.

Danielle xx

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Is it really bad that this is the first of three wishlist purchase posts I have coming up in the next few weeks? I have definitely been feeling a bit spendy over the last few weeks in particular but as you will see, all the products have been in my wishlist for quite a while and what can I say, I like to treat myself! 

There are two bases here so I’ll give you a little context about my skin for reference first – it’s scarred from acne when I was younger and I still get a few hormonal breakouts, it’s extremely oily around my nose, forehead and chin but also dehydrated and my nose eats foundation for a living! I always look for full coverage, oil free foundation and to be honest I’m not sure why I still try bother buying new ones to try because nothing ever matches up to my beloved Estee Lauder Double Wear!

NARS Velvet Matte Skin Tint
I bought this back before the summer as part of the Modern Minimalist box Space NK do and I managed to snag it with £15 off when they had an offer on. I definitely got swept up a little in the hype with this one and after reading a lot of positive reviews and being impressed with how the coverage looked in YouTube videos I took the plunge. I was really happy with the contents of the box as I had also wanted to try out the Orgasm blush and Rikugien lip pencil for ages too. 

I do have to say that for a tint this really does have impressive coverage. It’s a creamy liquid that blends in well on my skin (I like using a Beauty Blender with it) and it has SPF 30 so I loved having it on holiday with me in the summer when I was going out during the day and wanted some coverage and extra sun protection. In terms of lasting power, it’s not the best base I've ever had and I tend to need to powder it around lunchtime and by about 3 it starts to look patchy round my nose (nothing new there) and steadily wears off after that. It has quite a strong sort of SPF scent when you first apply it but I don’t mind it and the shade Finland is a good match for me. Overall, while I won’t be buying this again I can see myself finishing the tube and am looking forward to taking it on a mini sun break in November but it’s definitely one for short days when I don’t need my base to last all day.
 
Urban Decay All Nighter Foundation
Urban Decay is probably my favourite make up brand and being a huge fan of their eye shadows and lipsticks I was really excited to see they were adding a full coverage foundation to their lineup! Well not anymore haha, this has been the biggest makeup disappointment for me this year and I absolutely hate it! I got matched to shade 2.0 and while yes it does oxidise slightly it doesn’t go orange and the shade works well for me. The formula however is a different story! I have no idea what I’m doing wrong with this foundation – I’ve tried different primers, different application methods and it still looks like shite on my skin! 

It’s such a weird one for me because I wanted to love this foundation; it claims to be everything I look for when I try a new base – long lasting, oil free, matte, I could go on. I don’t find the pigmentation that impressive, it goes patchy and separates so quickly on my skin, and not just on my nose, we’re talking all over my face here. I will say that the matte claim is true, as awful as my skin looks with it on at least it’s not shining like a beacon like with other foundations I've tried but that and the pretty packaging are really the only positive things I can say about this. Do let me know if you have found a way to make it work, I thought I’d made it work better by using more silicone based primers but it’s still wearing off too easily! I made an account on Depop a few weeks ago (I’m @daniellebeautyblog on there) and this will definitely be going up once I’ve sorted out packaging etc.! Think I’ll just stick to the eye shadows and lipsticks from UD from now on!

Swatches l-r: NARS Velvet Matte Tint in Finland, Urban Decay All Nighter Foundation in 2.0

Beauty Blender Liner.Designer
This is a totally unnecessary product but one I was intrigued by after seeing it on Cult Beauty! I have hooded eyes so eyeliner is always a problem for me and while I have used the tape trick in the past, I prefer doing my eyes after my base so it always took some makeup off or didn’t stick properly because I took too much tackiness off! To be honest I've only played about with this and tried it before taking my makeup off but it does what it says on the box and gives you three edges to use as a guide when doing your eyeliner. It’s really thin silicone and comes in a handy little plastic box to keep it safe, will be helpful next time I attempt liner but definitely not an essential item for most!  

Stila Perfect Me, Perfect Hue palette in Light/Medium
I already have a post on this here but in short it’s a really handy little palette that includes five eye shadows and two blushes. The palette itself comes in four shades and I have light/medium which has a nice mix of bronze/brown eye shades and a bright and more muted blush. The blushers last well on my skin and are very pigmented but I would say the eye shadows wear off quicker and do tend to fade a little on me but I love the shades included in this palette and do reach for it often!

Huda Beauty Lip Contour in Bombshell
I was on a bit of a lip liner kick recently after getting on so well with Charlotte Tilbury Pillowtalk that when I heard how amazing these supposedly were I thought I would try one for myself! It is so pigmented, easy to apply and doesn’t drag the lips at all but I would say that the shade I picked for myself looks a little off on me. It’s quite red/orange toned on me and I was hoping for something a little more muted and pinker (basically another Pillowtalk lol). It really is a beautiful formulation though and I’m sure once I find a lipstick I like for over the top of it I’ll love it as much as Pillowtalk!

Urban Decay Vice Lipstick in Backtalk
Every time I was at an Urban Decay counter having a swatch of the new lipsticks, Backtalk would be the one I picked out first so when Feel Unique did one of their 10% off deals I took the opportunity to pick it up! Backtalk is in the cream formula and it is beautiful! The shade is a gorgeous mauvey pink and the formula is of course creamy and very comfortable to wear as well as being quite long lasting. As a serial lip balm applier, I don’t feel the need to put anything over the top of this for a good four hours which is usually unheard of for me! I also picked up a sheer shade in Wrong Number and can see myself getting a few more of these at some stage!

Swatches l-r: Urban Decay Vice Lipstick in Backtalk, Huda Beauty Lip Contour in Bombshell

Pixi Glow Mud Cleanser
I have been wanting to get my hands on this for absolutely ages but it was always out of stock! I was excited to finally get my hands on it and see what all the hype was about a few weeks ago when I got it on Cult Beauty! It’s a huge bottle and you only need a tiny amount of product, I usually use it as a second cleanse at night so will wet my face then massage it into my skin for 30 seconds avoiding the eye area. My skin instantly feels cleaner and smoother, looks clearer and it’s so gentle, I’m loving it already!

Congratulations if you made it through that and apologies in advance for what will probably be haul spam over the next few weeks but I did buy the Kat Von D Shade + Light Contour and Eye Contour palettes and the Naked Ultimate Basics Palette so will have reviews and swatches of those coming up! Previous posts are linked below and if you want to see the Kat Von D and Urban Decay ones I have coming up don't forget to follow me on Bloglovin! 

See my last wishlist purchases posts here:

Wishlist Purchases 1

Wishlist Purchases 2

 

See my wishlists here:

Wishlist 1

Wishlist 2

Wishlist 3

Wishlist 4

 

Danielle xx

 

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