February: The Love List

It's time for my second Monthly Favourites of 2021! A mix of mainly Makeup this month - with one additional new Skincare love. Let's dive straight in...

BEAUTY BAY NEW ROMANTIC PALETTE - As soon as I saw Beauty Bay were coming out with another 20-pan palette in the same format as their Sunset Horizons and Book of Magic (which as you can see by my review here, I adored) - I knew I had to pick it up. Especially when I saw it was Valentines-themed and so, packed full of reds, pinks and warm rust tones! I instantly bought it and gave it a try and so far, I love it! The formula is just as brilliant as in Sunset Horizons and Book of Magic - with highly pigmented, blendable mattes and super intense, reflective shimmers - and I love the colour story too. I've been really pleased with the looks I've created using it so far - can't wait to use it even more! Cause, we all know Pink isn't just for Valentines...

BARRY M HI VIS WATER ACTIVATED COLOURS IN 'POTENCY', 'IN A FLASH', 'SHOCK' AND 'BURNT' - You may remember last Summer when Barry M launched their Hi Vis Collection - full of varying types of eyeliners, all in super bright and bold colours - and having picked a selection up, I was super impressed. One of my favourite formulas of them all was definitely the Water Activated Liners - a format of eyeliner that's really taken off in the past couple of years. Simply wet your brush with water, swirl it into the pot to emulsify the liner and then apply as you wish! It quickly dries down to a super long-lasting, matte finish and as long as you leave the pot to fully dry out afterwards, it's good to go for next time. I was really interested in trying more colours out (I've already sampled the original Pink, Blue and Purple shades they released) and in the end, I think I ended up picking up every other new shade they have come out with since! There's 'In A Flash' (a deeper orange-red), 'Potency' (a brighter, true orange), 'Shock' (a true white) and 'Burnt' (a true black) and so far, they're all just as good! Gorgeous colours, fairly easy and fool-proof to use, pigmented and opaque and lasts impeccably throughout the day!

BH COSMETICS BELGIAN WAFFLE FACE PALETTE - I've been interested in trying this face palette out for so long - MakeMeUpMissa raves about it and it's no secret that I tend to really love any products that I pick up from her recommendation! Inside here you get three bronzers and three highlighters, all in varying tones and being on the paler side, the range looks to be pretty ideal for me as it appeared as though I would be able to use a lot of the shades. And that turned out to be true - I can use all of the bronzers and two of the highlighters, which is great! Although, I would definitely love to see another version of this more geared towards Medium/Deep/Dark skintones too. I really like this palette! Formula-wise, the bronzers are well-pigmented (but not too much so as to be difficult to work with), easy to blend and they're also really good colours too. Warm, but not orangey and as I said before, ideal depth for my skin-tone too. The lightest tone I like to use around my nose as it's pretty fair, whilst I enjoy using either of the two deeper tones as my regular face bronzer as they're very similar to the likes of what I'd normally use! As for the highlighters, the fairest is my favourite, but the next shade up I can also just about make work for me too. They're super creamy, intense and glowy with such little product but not at all glittery or chunky at the same time - so really, what more could you ask for?

MAYBELLINE LIFTER GLOSS IN 'STONE' - A few months back, Maybelline launched this new gloss formula over in the US and having seen in the reviews - I knew I had to give it a try. As usual, it took a while for it to make its way over to the UK but finally, it did - and this month I picked up one of the shades to give a whirl! So far, I love it. I'm really happy with the shade I chose as it's just like the type of nude lip gloss I love - not too light, nor too deep and with a nice, neutral undertone too. And as for the formula, it's a winner in my books. Not too thick and gloopy, glides onto the lips with ease and it's glossy without being uncomfortable or sticky on the lips at all! If anything, it actually feels really nice and hydrating and it makes you lips look really juicy and a little plumper too! I think I may have to see if there's any other shades in this that take my fancy...

NYX SOFT MATTE LIP CREAMS IN 'ABU DHABI' AND 'LONDON' - I've been a fan of these NYX Soft Matte Lip Creams for years now and a while back I had to repurchase a shade as I'd used it to much - and whilst I was there, I decided to try a new colour! 'Abu Dhabi' is a great nude shade for my skin-tone so I'm super pleased to have this back in my collection again and I thought I'd also try out 'London' as it looks to be very similar - and it is! I mean they're kinda so close they're almost identical but seeing as they're both nude shades and in this super comfortable, but long-lasting matte Soft Matte Lip Cream formula - I know I'll get a lot of use out of them!

L'OREAL BROW ARTIST PLUMP AND SET BROW GEL IN 'BRUNETTE' - The L'Oreal Brow Artiste Plumper has been a favourite brow gel of mine for many years and recently, I saw it's been given a bit of an upgrade! Smaller packaging, smaller brush and it appears like more variety of shades too. So, when my last tube ran out I picked up the updated version - in what I thought looked to be the most similar shade to what I'd normally use - and so far, so good! I really like how they've made the applicator much smaller as though I could work with the larger brush, I do find this smaller one to be a lot easier and more fool-proof. I also find this shade to be pretty bang-on too - and as for the formula, I'd say that's the one thing that seems to have stayed the same. Which is good, as that's the whole reason I loved this brow gel in the first place!

REVOLUTION SKINCARE X JAKE JAMIE AVOCADO FACE MASK - Finally, a new face mask fave! I've loved a lot of these face masks Revolution Skincare have made in collaboration with Jake-Jamie and this one is certainly no exception! Not only does this small nice (like avocado, would you believe) it also works wonders on my skin too. Makes my face feel super soft and supple,  and look kinda glowy and hydrated too! What more could you ask for?

So there we have it - my February Favourite for 2021! I've definitely found some new staple faves this month. I can see some of these being go-to's of mine for a long time to come...