Dainty Doll Blusher in '004 You Are My Sunshine' | Review

I have fallen in love. As a matte lover, I never thought I could love a shimmery blush so much, but obviously a girl can change as here I am about to rave about one! 

Dainty Doll is a make up brand by Nicola Roberts from Girls Aloud. It's aimed at pale skinned girls, and since I sit somewhere in between pale and not pale, I was intrigued to try something from the range. I bought the shade 'you are my sunshine' last year in a fragrance direct haul, received it and was utterly shocked at how bright and shimmery it looked, so put it in my 'I don't use this often' make up box and that was that! 

After Christmas, I just felt like none of my blushers were doing it for me as they're mostly peachy summery colours, so before automatically buying a new one, like I'm prone to doing, I thought I'd get all my make up out and have a bit of a shake up. That's when I found 'you are my sunshine' again. 

I must admit, I'm not a huge fan of the packaging, although it looks lovely in the photo, it's actually quite cheap looking plastic. Buuut, it's what's on the inside that counts, and cheap plastic and dodgy clouded mirror aside, the product itself is beautiful! 

Without flash. 

With flash. 

Now I know what you're thinking, it's slightly reminiscent of a certain offering from Nars. And extensive researching and checking online swatches has proved that this little baby is pretty much a perfect match to the infamous Nars 'Orgasm' blush. For a £1.99 fragrance direct bargain I'd say that's pretty good going! 

Left-lightly swatched. Right-heavily swatched. 

The formula of this blush is very soft, you do need to apply with a fairly soft hand, and accept quite a bit of product fallout, but other than that, I have nothing but praise! It blends beautifully and gives a warm glow to the complexion, a perfect pick me up for those cold days and, as it's intended, a perfect match to my winter pale skin! I've been wearing it none stop over the past month and my love is still going strong into February! 

Favourites | January 2014

I don't know about you, but after all the craziness of Christmas and new year, January always leaves me feeling deflated and seems to drag like no other month. 2014 has been no exception and I'm actually glad the month of blues is reaching it's end! 

Nevertheless, I have been using this month to get well aquainted with some beauty products. Here are my January best picks! 

Soap and Glory 'Lid Stuff' Eyeshadow Quad

I've forgotten to photograph this, but you find it on the Boots website here. I bought this quad back in the summer last year and I have made a serious dent in at least two of the shades! If you're a neutral palette kinda gal, you NEED this in your life. For £10 you get four gorgeously pigmented shades, perfect for creating a variety of nude looks. The size of each colour is almost exactly the same as a Mac Pro Palette refill but for a fraction of the price, and in my opinion, it's a serious contender quality wise as well! The shades are butter like and apply like a dream, definitely one I'm glad to have in my collection. 

MAC Cremesheen Lipstick in 'Peach Blossom' 

This little baby was on my Christmas list and since excitedly opening it on Christmas morning it has been a firm favourite and has lived on my lips through the majority of this month. The perfect sheer peachy nude goes with, and has been going with EVERYTHING!  

Soap and Glory Sexy Mother Pucker XL Lip Gloss
Other than my MAC lipstick, this gloss from S&G has lived in my handbag and is perfect for a quick fix throughout the day. I'm quite partial to a gloss at the minute and this smells like caramel, and plumps your lips (Be prepared for immense tingling). The bubblegum pink shade is so cute too and has been pairing quite nicely with my cold flushed cheeks! 

REN Invisible Pores Face Mask

Oh my. When I first used this mask, I must admit me and REN had a bit I a moment, I actually thought I'd fallen in love! We all know what a clay mask does;  draws out imperfections, tightens pores, leaves your skin feeling smooth albeit a tad tight? Well this little beauty does all that except my skin doesn't feel tight, rather it feels soft and just...clean. The best part? REN is against animal testing (something I try to steer clear of as much as I can) and doesn't contain any of the nasties that were all trying to keep away from out skins! 

Sleek Zuri Brightening Night Sirum

Who knew sleek did skincare? I certainly didn't, not even when I bought it! It wasn't until I perused the labels that I noticed the brand discreetly on the back of the packaging! I'm fairly new to sirums but the 'brightening' aspect had me sold. I'm not sure if the effects actually brighten my skin, but it certainly feels plump and injects extra moisture into the skin, which makes for an overall brighter appearance! 

Barry M Nail Polish in 'Berry Cosmo' and Rimmel 60 Seconds Nail Polish in 'Caramel Cupcake'

I have worn nothing but these two shades throughout January, you know you love a shade when you remove it, just to reapply! The Barry M offering is the most gorgeous deep berry, which lived on my nails throughout the first half of January, whilst the Rimmel beige/caramel is the perfect nude, perfectly polished but barely there colour! 

Jergens Natural Aloe Soothing Moisturiser 
I got this for my birthday back in September, and had used it here and there, favouring thicker body butters, however this month with the short days and hectic schedule, I just haven't had time, so I've been reaching for this thinner cream for a quick injection of moisture, and have barely touched any other body moisturiser. It has such a clean scent and leaves me feeling thoroughly moisturised. 

Soap and Glory 'Hand Food' 
I wasn't in the market for a new handcream, however in the 'Yule Monty' set I received for Christmas, there was hand food. I have been having a slight love affair with its marshmallow scent ever since! 

Dainty Doll Blusher Shade '004'
I bought this last year from Fragrance Direct and was thoroughly disappointed when I opened the packaging as I didn't realise it would be so shimmery. It was put into a box and forgotten about. I decided after Christmas to have a make up shuffle, and came across this again. I gave it a go, and with a light hand, it has easily become my go to blush for an everyday make up look. The shimmer is actually perfect for these cold, winter days as it injects some life into my pale skin. It reminds me a lot of the Nars Orgasm blusher, which is a cult favourite, however never appealed to me. After rediscovering the Dainty Doll blush, I may have to rethink... 

They See Me Haulin' | Collective Beauty Haul

Hey there girlies! 

Today's post actually scared me a little. It's amazing how much you buy in the space of a few weeks without realising! This doesn't even include the clothes I've splurged on! Oh well, at least I'll look preened and polished when I have no money aye!? 

These are my beauty purchases from the past month... 

Batiste Dry Shampoo 'Tropical': Every girl needs a good dry shampoo at hand for those days where your hair just needs a little pick me up. I have been using Superdrugs own brand as they had a 3 for 1 offer a while back, but if I'm honest, it wasn't very good. I picked this one up, having used and loved Batiste before. I've only ever used the original scent, however this tropical version is amazing; it smells like coconuts and the smell lingers on your hair for most of the day! 

Garnier Body Hydrating Firming Lotion: If you read my blog regularly you'll know how much I LOVE Garniers body lotion offerings; especially the gradual tanner. I'm almost out of that one, and picked this up as it was on offer. It claims to make your skin look smoother in 7 days....We shall see.

No7 Beautiful Skin Hot Cloth Cleanser: I actually also picked up the Superdrug Brightening Hot Cloth Cleanser on offer for a mere £2.95 (bargain!) aswell but forgot to photograph it. The No7 hot cloth cleanser was picked up a while ago with a trusty £5 off voucher - Thankyou Boots! I've been using this for about a week so far, and haven't had to reach for my eye make up remover once. This does the job all on it's own - even with stubborn waterproof mascara! 

Superdrug Vitamin E SPF 15 Moisturising Day Cream: As the days are finally getting warmer (yay!) I've been looking for a cream with SPF in it to use in conjuction with my Good Things mattifying moisturiser. Although I tend to lean towards combination/oily skin in the summer, I do still have the odd dry patch, so the vitamin e cream provides enough moisture to combat dryness, whilst my Mattifying cream takes away any unwanted shine. 

Vitamin E SPF 15 Illuminating Eye Cream: My eye cream has gone walkabouts. I have no idea where it could have wandered off to, but either way this is my replacement. It has a slight shimmer to it, which illuminates the eye and brightens up any dark circles, and the SPF is always welcome some summertime. 

Revlon Cushion Brush: I was due to replace my trusty old Remington hair brush, and was looking for a paddle brush, however came across this Revlon one on Fragrance Direct for a mere £1.99 so thought why not. So far, so good! 

Orlando Professional Teasing Brush: As my hair is long, sometimes the weight of it can drag the hair down, making it look flat, so I occasionally backcomb my hair to add more volume at the roots. Also purchased at Fragrance Direct for £1.99, this teasing brush is just what I needed. 

Illamasqua Blusher 'Lover': You can find my full review of this blush here. It's a peachy matte finish blush which looks gorgeous when applied. 

Dainty Doll 'You Are My Sunshine' Blusher: Again from Fragrance Direct (Had a bit of a haul there alone!) is this gorgeous blusher from Nicola Roberts make up range; Dainty Doll. I'm planning a full review on this, but it's a gorgeous coral with flecks of gold running through, very similar to Nars Orgasm.

Sinful Colours Nail Polish: On a recent trip to town I found myself browsing in Boots and came across Sinful Colours. I'd heard a few bloggers rave about these so thought I'd use my advantage card points to treat myself to a few. I picked up from left to right: Be Happy, Island Coral and Orange Cream. I've only used Island Coral so far, and I love it. The colours are amazing, and I'm planning a review with swatches of them shortly! 

W7 Eye Shadow Brush: This was a rush purchase really as my eyeshadow brush from ELF had broken, so I needed a quick replacement. I'm not sure how I feel about this one yet, having only been using it for a few days, however so far, i'm not OVERLY impressed. 

MAC 187 Duo Fibre Brush: I actually found this on eBay, as I was NOT about to fork out over £30 on one brush. I bought it shortly after my 217 purchase, and was so impressed I decided I wanted more, however I have yet to find the perfect job for this. I thought it would be good for stippling in foundation, however my Real Techniques buffing brush does a better job. I did try it with cream blush yesterday and found it did a good job so maybe it will be destined for that... 

MAC 217 Blending Brush: How have I lived 23 years without owning this?! For £17, this is definitely a pricey purchase, however I do feel it's worth it as I can't see myself needing another blending brush. Ever. 

Butter London Nail Polish 'Jaffa': I found this by chance on the Debenhams website on sale for a bargainous £3.40! That's almost a £9 saving. It went into my basket faster than you can say 'Jaffa'. 'Jaffa' is a gorgeous bright orange verging on coral. I have found that the formula is quite thin, however I want to do a full post on this soon so i'll expand later. 

Essie Nail Polish 'Mojito Madness': I was looking for a minty green colour to replace my Rimmel Lycra Pro 'Peppermint', as I've lent it to my sister, which means I may never get it back, and online, Mojito Madness looked like a contender. Upon opening the package however, it's a lot darker than I had thought, so I'm not sure whether it will be a regular on my nails or not. I haven't actually tried it yet so I will hold judgement until I do. 

Rimmel Moisture Renew Lipstick 'Notting Hill Nude': I have this lipstick in the shade 'Soft Coral' and loved it, so picked it up in a lovely soft nude, only to get home and realise it's almost identical to Rimmel Lasting Finish Kate '03'. Bad times. Notting Hill Nude is very slightly lighter in tone, and I do like nude, so I imagine I'll get enough wear from them both. 

MAC Creamsheen Lipstick 'Coral Bliss': If you follow me on twitter you'll have probably seen my many tweets moaning that this was out of stock and I couldn't get hold of it but really wanted it. Well it FINALLY came back in stock on the Debenhams website so I snapped it up at the same time as my Butter nail polish. I was right to have lusted over it for so long. It is gorgeous, and it's been my most used lip product ever since I received it a week ago. The most perfect peachy coral with the right amount of moisture and shine, which doesn't cling to your dry bits too much, giving a lovely and even finish to the lips. This one will be a definite summer favourite of mine. 

Calvin Klein Delicious Truth Lipstick 'Illusion': I forgot to photograph this one, but i'm wearing it now and it's no nice I have to add it in. A very sheer peachy pink, this lipstick is almost like wearing a gloss, and it's absolutely perfect for days where you just want a slight wash of colour on your lips without having to crack out a full coverage lipstick. 

So that's all my beauty buy's over the past few weeks. 

Have you been splurging lately?