Danielle's Beauty Blog

After last week’s look at my favourite skin and body care discoveries of 2020, this week is all about makeup and haircare! Again, a lot of this stuff wasn’t actually released specifically in 2020 but it was the year I finally got around to trying it! 

Starting with makeup, I lusted after the Charlotte Tilbury Airbrush Bronzer in Medium 2 (full review) for ages before finally picking it up when Space NK did their £15 off a £60 spend and let me tell you – it was worth the wait! Aside from the fact it is absolutely massive, this is a beautiful, finely milled powder that is easy to build up without ever becoming cakey! It adds a lovely warmth to my face, it very smooth to apply (no harsh lines here!) and blends super easily! It is a matte bronzer but the finish is just gorgeous, it never looks flat! Expensive but worth it but I would always recommend waiting for a sale!

Next up, my only real lipstick purchase this year was the Fenty Beauty Slip Shine Sheer Shiny Lipstick in 06 Retro Rose (full review) which is a lipstick/balm hybrid! Retro Rose is a dusty pink shade which is very my lips but better on me. It’s creamy to apply, very comfortable on the lips as it’s so moisturising and though it’s sheer it’s buildable to a deeper shade. It also lasts a good amount of time on my lips despite being a sheer/nourishing lipstick and made a recent post on my favourite mask proof lip balms!

Something a bit more budget now and the Collection Primed and Ready Invisible Setting Powder blew me away earlier in the year and I have finally got round to repurchasing! I originally bought it as I hate wasting my Laura Mercier loose powder if I’m not going anywhere or if I have a mask on and you can’t see my makeup but I still wanted a powder I could trust to mattify my skin and not make me look cakey and I found it with this! It’s a very finely milled mattifying powder that doesn’t cling to dry patches and does a very good job of keeping my oils at bay! And it’s under £4! I’ve only used it a couple of times since I started Roaccutane but again I haven’t noticed any caking with my drier than normal skin! 

I wasn’t sure whether to put this with skincare or makeup but here we are! The Sol de Janeiro Brazilian Kiss Lip Butter was my favourite lip balm discovery of last year! It’s jumbo sized, leaves a gorgeous hydrating sheen behind and it lasts so long between top ups! It contains cupuaçu, acai and coconut oil and makes my lips feel so soft. I know the bum bum cream from the same brand is love or hate but the scent of the lip butter is not overpowering at all and once it’s on you can barely smell it! I recently finished this and couldn’t believe how much was left in the casing! Thank God I was at home and able to dig it out with a cotton bud lol. 

The NARS Soft Matte Complete Concealer in Light 2 Vanilla is the most recent addition to my collection from the ones I am mentioning today but I couldn’t leave it out! I resisted this for the longest time because the packaging reminded me of an old NYX pot concealer I had and hated – it was cakey, felt sticky and was not enjoyable to use! I can safely say this is the complete opposite! It’s matte but not drying and it has great coverage! I don’t experience any flaking with this and the colour match is great! 

I am a huge fan of Anastasia Beverly Hills brow products and the Brow Powder Duo in Dark Brown has been my go to since I got it for myself for Christmas 2019! It has the perfect shades for my, you guessed it, dark brown hair and it’s got great pigmentation too – not too much or too little! It doesn’t fade or move throughout the day and it’s so dinky and sturdy it will be great for travel when its allowed again! 

Moving onto hair, around May last year I was going through Olaplex way too quickly for my bank balance so I decided to pick up the Phyto Joba Moisturising Mask to use in between my weekly Olaplex sessions and it’s love! This is so hydrating so perfect for my damaged, dry ends and it gives such a beautiful shine to my hair while making it more manageable! I found it a bit harder to find a link so I’m paranoid it’s discontinued but I would be so disappointed if it was! 

I got a Cult Beauty GWP in the middle of the year after buying some hair products and found some absolute gems in there! One of the hair products I bought to get the GWP was the NatureLab Tokyo Perfect Shine Clarifying Scalp Scrub (US affiliate link here, 10% off with Danielle10), which I had previously tried a mini of and knew after one use I would need the full size. It’s sulphate free yet gives a good lather, the scrub actually reaches my scalp leaving it refreshed and it really does clarify it while making my hair so shiny after use! I think if you had a flaky scalp this would work wonders too! 

In the actual Cult Beauty GWP was the Color Wow Dream Cocktail - Kale Infused for Breakage and I am in love with this! Like I said, I have very damaged ends due to straightening and I get breakage too. This is a leave in conditioning treatment that doesn’t weigh my hair down at all, it strengthens brittle hair and leaves it feeling soft and healthy! I feel like my hair is in really great condition at the minute though I did get a haircut early December too but this and Olaplex No.3 in particular are amazing! 

Finally, another item I was introduced to through the GWP and one I repurchased after using as I knew I needed more, the Slip Skinny Scrunchie! I am a huge fan of my silk pillowcase so love the benefits for my hair and this scrunchie is the perfect thickness and so soft while minimising breakage to my hair when using! They are expensive but I know I will get so much use out of them! 

You will find a full review of the lip butter, hair mask, powder and scalp scrub here if you want to read some more about them! 

And that concludes my best makeup and haircare discoveries of 2020! Did you see any of your favourites? Let me know what yours were! 

*denotes a PR sample that was sent to me. All opinions are my own. See my full disclosure here. 

Danielle xx

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Morning all! I thought today I would do a run-down of my favourite Christmas beauty sets and products for this year! Now I’m not going to lie, these are all for moi. With my birthday in November and obviously Christmas in December along with some Black Friday sales, I have taken “treat yo self” to a whole new level (actually probably just the same level as every other year lol). I don’t get beauty presents from my family especially my mum as apparently I already have enough (no idea where she gets that impression…) so I like to pick up a few things for myself as you will see here and I’ve kindly been sent a few too so hopefully if you have any last minute gift giving to do you will get some ideas! 

First up, the Rituals Ritual of Sakura Renewing Ritual set and this is actually one I gifted to my aunt last year! I have only tried the shower foam before but have went through a few bottles of it so thought I would grab this bigger set when it was on offer as I really like the scent, it’s lightweight and non-offensive and the products are so luxurious! Sticking with bodycare, I couldn’t resist the OUAI Melrose Place bodycare set. I am completely in love with this scent and have almost made my way through the full size perfume. It’s the same scent as the scalp and body scrub and it’s all I wear these days so it was a no brainer to get the matching body cream! Another one perfect for someone who enjoys their scents! I was also recently sent the Dermalogica Body Glow To Go* which is a mini roll on of their phyto replenish body oil. It’s a blend of antioxidant rich and nourishing skin oils and has a really lovely subtle citrus scent. The roll on makes it so easy to apply and the oil sinks in so quickly and feels beautiful, I think it’s the perfect gift to encourage some pampering! 

I’ve been loving my Lanolips 101 ointment recently and my mum is a big fan of their Everywhere Multi Cream so I thought I would grab this Lanolips Winter Skin Essentials set to try a bit more from the brand. I haven’t given them a go yet but they are great sizes and whose skin doesn’t need some extra TLC in the winter? For the last few years I have also taken the opportunity to stock up on my beloved Dr Jart Ceramidin cream with the All Thanks to Cera set! This is probably my favourite face moisturiser out of all the ones I have tried and I talked about it a bit more here but again I think if you know anyone struggling with dry winter skin this would be a lifesaver! 

Last year I got the Olaplex Holiday Hair Fix Set (big red bow – you know the one!) and whilst I enjoyed it, No 3 is where it’s at for me. When I saw they were releasing a companion primer in the form of Olaplex No 0 I treated myself to the Intensive Bond Building Hair Treatment Kit to make sure my hair gets the attention it needs! I’ve only used it a few times but so far so good and if you know anyone with damaged hair either of these would make the perfect gift! I am obsessed with my silk pillowcases but I’ve only got a couple and whilst I could sleep on  a “normal” pillowcase while they are in the wash I don’t want to! The Kitsch Satin Pillowcase is a lot more affordable than silk so I am excited to see if they feel just as cooling and leave me with frizz free hair and hopefully less wrinkles too! I got a Slip silk scrunchie quite a few months back in a GWP with Cult Beauty and I became obsessed. I don’t ever want to use another bobble ever again so I snagged this cute Slip Scrunchie Bauble to ensure I don’t have to! It comes in and out of stock all the time but is well worth looking out for and if buying as a gift, you could split the four scrunchies up and gift to multiple people! One of my friends also bought a set a few months ago after hearing me talk so much about how much I love mine and she is a big fan too!

Another beauty tool I was excited to receive was the Tweezerman Winter Wonderland Micro Mini Tweezer Set*! As a huge fan of Tweezerman (I’ve had my OG pair for over five years – check out this post from the archives!) I was excited to see their Christmas sets of which they have nine for this year! This Winter Wonderland set is perfect for on the go and I am excited to finally have a pair of the pointed tweezers for stubborn, fine hair! They are just as good as the full size and pull from the root! I am a sucker for a practical present and these are just that but super cute too! They would make the best stocking filler! Around Black Friday, I like to do my yearly stock up of Beautyblenders as the price for one of these could make your eyes water. They are however my favourite foundation application tool and I can’t be without one. I think they are 100% worth the investment especially if you look after them as they can last a long time. I do like to snag them when there is a discount though and I thought I’d go ahead and pick up the three pack Rosie Posie set this year in these cute colours! My mum is a big fan of Beautyblender too and I’ve picked her up a different set for Christmas! 

Lastly, I decided I would finally buy a full size Becca Backlight Priming Filter Value Kit. I always seem to have this in my makeup stash and have been through about 3 or 4 minis over the years as it’s a regular in GWP’s and I really like it! When my skin was oily it never made it look greasy but always gave it a little somthin’ somethin’ as I do love a matte foundation and they can tend to look a little flat and I am hoping it will work its magic now my skin is a lot drier than normal! I love that it’s got a mini in there too so I will see if I can find a new home for that too!

I hope that’s given you some inspiration if you are doing any last minute shopping for a beauty obsessed individual! I could write posts and posts about the gift sets out this year and I just love seeing what brands come up with! Saying that though, I will be glad when the madness of Christmas calms down and I can get back on my try not to buy as I find it so hard at this time of year with so much temptation! Do you have any beauty products or gift sets on your Christmas list? Let me know which ones! 

*denotes a PR sample that was sent to me. All opinions are my own. See my full disclosure here. 

Danielle xx

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