THE MINT GREEN LOVE

I think the first time I ever fell in love with a nail polish was when GOSH Miss Minty* dropped through my letter box back in the days when I had my nail blog. I wore it almost every time I painted my nails, and due to that I needed a replacement as this one was getting a little gloopy.

The one I love the most, and is a new love is the Barry M Gelly Hi Shine in Sugar Apple, one from their latest pastel collection for Spring. It's the perfect mint, not too blue, not too green, and the glossy finish wins it for me. Definitely one to add to your shopping list.

One which I forgot about until having a hunt through my (overflowing) nail polish drawer was the Rimmel Salon Pro Lycra in Peppermint. This one is a little darker than the rest, but nothing to stop it fitting in the mint category. Also, the brush on this one is great, just a swipe over each nail is all you need, and only a couple of coats.

Last but not least is Ciaté Pepperminty, which is slightly more green than the rest, but nothing dramatic. I quite like the finish of this one too, as it doesn't seem to chip. My one peeve with this one is that it's pretty sheer and you have to build up the coats to get that perfect mint colour.

I think it is very 'blogger' of me to do a post entirely dedicated to mint green paints, and perhaps this has made me realise that I don't really need any more...

A WEARABLE SMOKEY

The whole smokey eye look is something I tend to avoid, especially when it comes to the grey, silver and black looks because they basically make me look like a panda. But, I have recently been experimenting with browns and found a few shades which still give you the sultry effect but a little more neutral.

This MUA Pearl Shadow in Shade 11 gives an amazing sheen to the lids, making them almost look wet in some lights. But, I would say to watch out for quite a bit of fall down and do the eyes first with this one, but for £1 it's hardly going to be MAC quality.

Another shadow I really like to warm things up a little more is the Kiko Eye Shadow in 133 because it has that red/burgundy tint to it which looks amazing in the outer area of the eye when you have used some cooler toned shadows.

For a matte offering, the Maybelline Eye Studio Mono in Chocolate Chic is slowly becoming a favourite of mine for crease work. It blends well, defines the eye, and doesn't really crease either. It's a winner for this one.

To get some of that brown smokey-ness on the lower lashline, or even smudged along the top lashes, the Stila Smude Stick in Oscar Fish is incredible. Its creamy, but once set stays put on the eye all day, and the coppery shimmer in it makes it a perfect partner for the warmer Kiko Shadow.

Do you have any smokey-eye hacks?

FAKING THE CHEEKBONES

Cheekbones. Something I wish I had, but am far from getting, although makeup makes everything a little easier when pretending that I do, and in particular, the Sleek Face Form does a pretty good job. I have already reviewed this before I believe, but my rediscovered love makes it worthy of a revisit.

You can tell by the severe pan-hitting going on here that I adore the highlight and contour, not so much the blush and although it is a stunning colour I haven't been able to make it work for me yet, but it definitely is growing on me.

The real winner here is the contour powder, matte, not too red and gives the effect of natural chiseled cheeks. I stopped using this for a while, but once my Real Techniques Contour Brush made its way back into the powder, I haven't stopped using it.

I do love the slightly pink toned champagne sheeny highlight, but after a new love to the Soap & Glory Glow All Out Powder, it may be getting a little less use from now on, but it certainly won't go forgotten about.

On a side note though, how stunning is that model's skin? *cries in the corner*, I'll be buying whatever she is wearing...

STILA SMUDGESTICKS REVISITED

It's been a while since I have done a full review of a product, and even longer since I have revisited a product and done another review. I forgot about the Stila Smudgestick Liners for a while, and after having a route around in my eye drawer a few weeks ago I rediscovered them and thought they deserved a feature.

The one I rekindled my love for first was the one you see on the far end of the swatches - Angelfish. Its a champagne, slightly lilac-grey toned colour and I love this all over the lid and sheered out along with a slick of liner and lashings of mascara.

Another one which I have been loving smudged along the upper and lower lashline is Oscar Fish, a warm deep brown with coppery shimmer through it which just seems to glow. I seriously love this one.

The final one that I have been enjoying is Moray, a golden olive colour. I actually went a little cray and did a large winged liner look with this one, and it was so easy and quick because this is so creamy, and it didn't budge once set. I had never, ever done coloured liner before this and it's definitely something I want to continue in the future.

I can tell that I will be getting a lot more use out of these in the upcoming weeks, and hopefully for the other two colours aswell (Tetra and Stargazer).

Have you rediscovered an old love recently?

A PERFECTED COMPLEXION

I talk about my bad skin quite frequently on my blog, but all seems to be getting a little better, and hopefully after a recent prescription of some antibiotic treatments, things are looking good, which I thought was the perfect time to be showing what I use when my skin is looking better and how I achieve the perfect base.

Starting on the skincare front, I have started to branch out to more expensive brands because I feel like if your skin looks good, your makeup is almost guaranteed to look good as well. The Origins Clear Improvement Mask gets a use almost every Sunday, and although some people find it tight and drying, I love the effect it gives the next day when I wake up. The La Roche Posay Effaclar Duo [+] has been getting a lot of use from me as a corrective serum product and I have been seeing improvements.

A new love for me is the Rimmel Match Perfection Foundation, and although the colour is a touch too dark for me, I think with blending it looks pretty good because of its natural finish. Blended with the Real Techniques Buffing Brush, it gives such a lovely finish - somewhat dewy without the shine.

I have indeed rekindled my love with the Collection Lasting Perfection Concealer. In the winter this is a little drying but now the weather is slightly improving I am in love all over again. I think I could do with repurchasing this again, I'm struggling to get any product out. A slightly less heavy offering (but one that still brings coverage to the table) is the Bourjois Healthy Mix Concealer, which has a satin finish and looks really natural on the skin.

For powder, I'm sure most of us hate the stuff because no-one likes a cake face, but I have discovered that using a light dusting of the Rimmel Stay Matte Powder with a the Contour Brush in precise areas just banishes the shine without looking flat.

What are your secrets to the perfect complexion?

GARNIER ULTIMATE BLENDS

After finishing my previous shampoo and conditioner recently, I sent my mum on a mission to scour the aisles of Boots and get something new for my locks. I'll give you the quick back story of my hair so you know what we're dealing with. It's very thick, and the under layer can sometimes get a little frizzy with some dry ends, but then gets fairly oily and greasy (I wash it every other day due to this).

A lot of people have been telling me that they like the smell of my hair when I use this, so it automatically gets extra credit from me. I have The Marvellous Transformer duo, which is targeted towards dry, dull hair.

When washing, I actually (on first impressions) have really been enjoying this. The shampoo cleans my hair really well and doesn't leave me feeling stripped or dry, just the right amount of nourishment. But, the conditioner is the one on the podium for me - I have never had to use such little conditioner in my life. I probably use the same amount of this as people with normal hair would, but mine is thick and dry, so this is really surprising for me. I am literally wowed with this stuff.

On the Garnier website you can actually answer a few questions to find out 'what your blend' is, so I really recommend you do that and give the range a go.

AN ODE TO SOAP AND GLORY

When it comes to pampering, Lush and Soap & Glory are my favourite brands to amp up the bath treats, and today I thought I would share some of my favourites from the 'original' line... I'm not sure that's correct, but what I mean is the products that share the typical Soap & Glory scent.

One that everyone and their mother adores is the Hand Food hand cream. This is a firm favourite for me too, a little goes a long way, its nourishing, and yet sinks in really quickly so no greasy hands here. I could tell how much of a cult this was when I saw people grabbing multiple of this and the hand wash duo in the Boxing Day sales - it must be a good'un.

The Righteous Butter currently sits at the top of the list when it comes to an evening body butter. In the same breath as the Hand Food, it is quick to sink in, leaves my limbs feeling baby soft, and what I like is that the smell stays with you for a while after application. My mum really likes the smell of this one too, so perhaps I'll persuade her to buy one for herself.

I have been more into scrubs at the moment, and after reaching for this one whilst in the bath the other day, I rekindled my love for The Scrub Of Your Life. I think somehow I love the novelty of how darn thick the consistency of this is (I am a child at heart), but honestly, it really gets any dryness off without feeling irritating or sore.

Finally, is the Clean On Me shower gel. I think this was the first thing I ever fell in love with from the brand a coupe of birthdays ago, when I bought a mini of it and ended up savouring the stuff. It foams well, leaves you feeling clean, and smells incredible - what more could you want?

Soap & Glory, you do serve me well...

PASTEL PAINTS FROM BARRY M

If there was one thing I had to say about Spring beauty, I would probably express my love for the pretty pastel nail polishes, but when routing through my collection, I noticed that I was lacking in a powder blue colour, and so I was straight to the Barry M counter after hearing about their new pastels in the Gelly Hi-Shine collection.

In Boots there was a buy one get one half price offer on, and I picked Huckleberry and Sugar Apple from the collection. There is also Rose Hip in the collection which is a pale pink, but they didn't have any left of those.

Huckleberry is literally my perfect powder blue shade, and is just what I was looking for. Something which was literally a slightly darker than off-white colour (you can barely see the swatch on the nail wheel), and this is that. As always with the Gelly Hi Shine Range, the formulation is incredible, thick and glossy which makes for the perfect speedy manicure.

Sugar Apple is a mint green, which a lot of people say is a good substitute for Essie Mint Candy Apple. This one looks like it'll be replacing my (rather stodgy, well loved) GOSH Miss Minty now, which I am very happy about as that one needed a replacement anyway.

I can tell that the two of these polishes will be ruling my collection in the upcoming months, so expect them to feature a few more times here...