Fashion Wish List - September 2014

A new season is just around the corner, which means all the shops are getting new stock in, which results in me endlessly pining over new clothes, shoes and accessories.

I went into New Look the other day and saw this top and this jacket put together and the combination made me turn into that love heart emoji. The two colours go together so nicely - the crepe blazer style jacket (£24.99) is a light grey and the top with scallop hem (£12.99) is a dusky pink, both items of clothing are simple yet really pretty, and I really do need some new short sleeve shirts. Also, both the jacket and the top are under £25, New Look is great for bargains.

I have got an obsession with checked shirts. I only own one but I adore it and I always see others I want, this white one (£17.99) from New Look is really nice and inexpensive, I love that it would go with any colour jeans too.
I also saw these shoes (£14.99), which I'm sure will be a love/hate item, but I like them and I reckon they'd be super comfortable, a great style for going from Summer to Autumn and would go with more or less every outfit.

Urban Outfitters jewellery is my favourite, can I have it all? These are the pieces I'm currently dreaming of. Two necklaces - one has a double chain with a circle and triangle pendant (£12), and the other is a shorter necklace with a crystal and a coin on it (£14). This geometric bracelet with black drawstring fastening (£6) is the sort of style I'm drawn to a lot at the moment.

ASOS is a dream, isn't it? I daren't spent too long on the site or I'll end up with 200 items in my wish-list, at the least. But I did find these two items which I adore. The first is a stripy top (£12), such a staple piece that I need in my wardrobe. The second is another checked shirt (£28), surprise surprise, I like this one a lot..the colours are right up my street, I love the oversized style and the fabric looks so soft.

This wish-list was cut down by quite a few items, but still ended up being long….so I do hope you enjoy long blog posts! I'd love to know what piece of fashion you are looking to buy for the new season. 

xxx

Sheer Red For Summer

Revlon Lip Butters are on of my all time favourite lip products, and definitely my favourite for Summer time. They're moisturising, not heavy, have a good colour pay off and the range of shades is fantastic.
For my birthday, back in March, I got the shade Wild Watermelon, which I've wanted for such a long time.

Sheer swatch
Built up swatch

Wild Watermelon is going to be my must have lip product for Summer, it's a beautiful bright red with pink undertones, it can be sheered out or built up to look rather intense. I quite like wearing it sheered out slightly, just so it's not so full on for an everyday look. However, I am going on holiday to Menorca in just over 2 weeks (eeeeek, prepare for an envy filling blogpost when I get back) and I reckon this shade will look oh so beautiful with a tan, especially when it's built up to a gorgeously bold colour.

When the weather is hot I really don't like wearing 'proper' lipsticks, you know the heavy ones, that can be quite matte, or have a thick constancy. They feel too much like they're suffocating my lips and I always have the urge to get a tissue and get rid! I always opt for the sheerer or more creamy products. Revlon Lip Butters fit the bill perfectly!

Maybelline Color Show Nail Polish | Review

I don't often buy nail varnish, and when I do I almost always go for Rimmel because they're cheap, but brilliant quality with the best brush ever. However, I was in Boots looking for some neutral shades and none from the Rimmel line took my fancy, so I went over to the Maybelline stand after hearing good things about their nail varnishes and I picked up two shades from the Color Show collection.
I'm quite fussy with nail varnish, there's lots of things I look for as I'm impatient waiting for them to dry (anyone else always suddenly find loads of things to do just as they finish painting their nails?!), the formulation has to be the perfect consistency i.e. not runny but not gloopy, and the brush can't be too thin. So, does Maybelline Color Show get the thumbs up from me?

The shades I chose were Love This Sweater, which is a pink/mauve nude shade and Cool touch which is a bluey grey. I thought these shades would be really lovely for Spring time, and they'd go with almost anything.
I really like the packaging…it's simple but there's something about it that makes it feel nice, and not cheap. I prefer it to Rimmel, but the preferences don't extend any more than that.
The brush is quite thin, it's not the thinnest I've seen but not so thick you can do your nail with 1 or 2 swipes, which is annoying.
The formulation is fairly watery, by no means do I like gloopy nail varnish but I do like it thick enough that I could get away with doing one coat if I'm in a hurry. With Maybelline I need at least two coats, but I normally opt for three, otherwise the colour looks too sheer.
Drying time, which is another thing I find important, is not terrible but not anything amazing either. I left it about 3-4 minutes between coats, and that was long enough.
The wear is better than expected considering the fairly thin consistency, normally nail varnish chips within a couple of days on me, this one lasted about 3 or 4…that's with a base coat but no top coat.

Overall I don't think I would repurchase this brand of nail varnish again…I'm glad I bought the two polishes because I really do like the shades, but the formulation doesn't cut it, however for the price of £2.99 I didn't expect anything outstanding.

What's your favourite brand of nail polish?

x

NEW Garnier Micellar Water

I always use a proper cleanser in the mornings and evenings, but when it comes to removing makeup I like to use a cleansing water before. Garnier have recently brought out a micellar water, and I love it!

Micellar waters have been absolutely everywhere. So many bloggers rave about Bioderma, but it's pretty hard to get hold of in the UK and it's quite pricey, however a lot of brands have brought out their own versions, including L'Oreal and La Roche Posay but these can still not be the cheapest and do have their faults.
Garnier's offering is the best I have tried. Firstly, the product itself is great as it just feels like water on the skin (it's not greasy in the slightest) but it removes makeup so easily, even eye makeup which I sometimes find difficult to fully remove it gets rid of with ease. The water feels calming and refreshing on the skin and would definitely be suitable for any skin type. It doesn't contain any nasty and drying alcohol either! Secondly, the packaging is by a mile better than other brands. I know so many people complain about the L'Oreal micellar water going everywhere when you try and pour it onto a cotton pad but this doesn't happen at all with Garnier. The bottle is huge….much bigger than I was expecting, you get 400ml which the brand claim will last you 200 uses, I'm not so sure about 200 but it'll definitely last a while. My last point that makes it better than the rest is the price, at £4.99 it's an absolute bargain.

I would highly recommend the Garnier Micellar Cleansing water if you're looking for a Bioderma dupe or just a brilliant makeup remover to use pre-cleanser.

Spring Blushes - NYX

Officially Spring doesn't begin for another couple of weeks, but the weather is getting a bit sunnier and there's a definite feeling of Spring in the air. I feel like Spring is the season for pink blush, I tend to go for more coral or peach in the summer but pink is the perfect transition for Spring.
NYX do some really brilliant and affordable blushes in a huge shade range, I thought I'd share two of them with you that I'll be using this season.

Cream blush in Natural

Powder blush in Peach

The first is a cream blush in the shade 'Natural' (£5.50). I nearly always opt for powder blushes, I just prefer them a lot more but this blush is really gorgeous. It's a really natural colour like the name suggests, it looks darker in the pan than it is when it's all blended into the skin, and it gives a beautiful glow. I thought this might be difficult to apply but I found it surprisingly easy - the best way is to blend it in with your fingers. As it's a cream formula it isn't super long lasting, I'd say it lasts for around 4 hours on it's on, but if you powder a bit over the top it'll last that bit longer.
The second blush is a powder in the shade 'Peach' (£6)….I have no idea what NYX were thinking when they named this product as it's not a peach shade at all, it's a cool toned medium baby pink. Normally cool toned blushes don't look good on me at all, but I find Peach really suits me and gives me a natural glow without any shimmer. It can be sheered out for a subtle wash of colour, or built up for a more intense look. The formulation of this blush is amazing, very pigmented, easy to blend, feels nice and silky and lasts a good 7 hours on the cheeks.
Both blushes are packaged well, nothing outstanding but for the price I didn't expect anything fancy.

Cream blush in Natural (LEFT)
Powder blush in Peach (RIGHT)

I'd highly recommend checking NYX blushes out! They're brilliant quality for the money and the shade range is so vast there'll be something for everyone.
Unfortunately they're a US brand but you can buy them from their UK website or Amazon.

What's your favourite Spring blush?

x

My GIVEAWAY is still running! But not for long. ENTER HERE! :)

A Pretty Pink Pairing

I've never really delved into the world of lip product pairing, I always just stick to one product on my lips at one time, but recently I tried pairing a lipstick and a lipgloss together and to my surprise I really liked it!

Whilst looking through my draw of lipsticks recently I came across one of the first lipsticks I got that had been shoved to the back of the draw and forgotten about, it's a lipstick by Avon called Pout.
Pout is a really pretty cool toned pale pink, it's a gorgeous creamy texture and I really love the packaging. Although I do like the lipstick I have found that I much prefer the look of it paired with a lipgloss, and my lipgloss of choice is from the Revlon Colorburst range, the shade is Pink Ice. 

Lipstick only

Lipstick and gloss together

 SWATCHES TOP TO BOTTOM -
Avon lipstick in Pout
Revlon lipgloss in Pink Ice
Both products together

Pink Ice is a a very pale pink with silver shimmer particles running through it, I find it makes the lipstick look a bit lighter but also adds dimension and more shine. I'm glad I've found a lipstick to wear with this lipgloss because on it's on I'm not too fond of it, purely because on pale skin like mine it can make me look a bit washed out.

Both products feel nice on the lips, the Revlon lipgloss isn't sticky and isn't gloopy like some glosses can be, they're not the longest wearing products in the world, I'd say a 2-3 hours, but I can overlook that.
The two products work together really well and I really love this combination for a pretty and subtle lip look.

Explaining My Absence And A Little Catch Up

Remember me? It's been a while!

You have or may not have noticed my absence over the last month, but I definitely have missed this site, the people that comment on my posts, and reading everyone else's posts.

The reason why I've been away is that my internet broke (hurrah…). Just before Christmas everything just went wrong at my house, first the Sky box broke so we had no TV over the Christmas period, then our telephone line went, which of course meant the internet went as well. Definitely not an ideal situation, although it did mean I got round to reading a lot of books, which was a joy!

All is okay now… internet has just been fixed, it's still rather slow but it's useable and we'll be getting a new provider very soon which I'm thankful for.

So, what have I missed? I know I've missed all the Christmas posts which I'm gutted about, and sad I didn't get to write mine as well, I was looking forward to it. But all the beauty related things I got for Christmas will be making their way onto my blog in some way I'm sure…whether it's in review form, favourites or 'What's On My Face' form, they'll be here.

As from tomorrow I'm back with beauty posts, but for todays I thought I'd just fill you in on what happened and share with you some of my photos from the last month.

The end of December was filled with DVD watching, reading, eating lots and family time. I love Christmas a lot, it was a busy one this year but I enjoyed it, if I'm honest I still feel like it's Christmas now, I don't want to let go! January has been good so far as well, I went up to London to meet my friend Suzanne who lives in Canada. It was so lovely to see her, we walked around London all day, showed her the sights and took a little trip to Winter Wonderland. 

It was also one of my best friends birthday's the other day so we had a really good night out celebrating that with her…I even wore a dress, shock horror (picture proof below).

I'll leave you with the pictures that sum up my last month..

Oh, and HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Hope you all had a wonderful Christmas

and New Year

x

Rimmel Wake Me Up Vs Rimmel Match Perfection Foundation

Rimmel foundations are, in my opinion, the best high street/drugstore foundations. I find the colour range to be good, the price to be excellent and the product you get is fantastic quality.
I own and regularly wear both their Wake Me Up foundation and the Match Perfection foundation and I thought I'd do a little comparison post about them!

Without a doubt Wake Me Up is the most popular of the two, with practically every beauty blogger raving about it, and the hype that surrounds it is deserved but I can't help but feel it's a bit exaggerated.
Wake Me Up claims to have an anti-fatigue and radiant effect on the skin, which is achieved by the dewy finish and the sparkly particles that run through the liquid….which I'm not a fan of. If you're wearing this foundation and you're under strong light, or bright sunlight you will end up looking like Edward Cullen, I just find it a bit too shimmery. The coverage is medium and buildable, and I love how smoothly it glides on. If you have dry skin though I do find this sticks a little bit, so exfoliating before is a must. The wear lasts all day on me (I have normal, sometimes dry, skin).

Match Perfection is the less talked about foundation of the two, but I prefer it. The colour range of this foundation is great, if you're super pale go check it out because they have a shade that is very very pale! I have the shade 100 Ivory. This foundation I find gives me a more anti-fatigue look than Wake Me Up, however it contains no glittery bits! The liquid goes on really smoothly and is a dream to blend, it looks lovely and natural on the skin while still giving a good coverage - I'd say this is  medium coverage foundation, but it can be sheered out or built up a bit as well. It's quite dewy but with a little bit of powder over the top it looks perfect. The wear is amazing too, lasts all day on me and my skin continues to have a healthy look about it. Another thing I adore about this is it doesn't make my skin feel clogged up, with some foundations I feel like I just want to get a cleanser and get everything off my face, but with Match Perfection that isn't the case at all. I also find you need less of this compared to WMU.

Wake Me Up is £8.99 and Match Perfection is £6.99.
Overall I'd definitely say Match Perfection is my favourite, and it's my most worn foundation.

What's your favourite highstreet

foundation?

x

Eyebrow Tips And Tricks!

Whether you believe it or not eyebrows make a massive difference to your face. Shaping and shading your brows correctly can frame your face, help balance facial features, if you're older they can give you a more youthful look by opening up the eye area, make you look more 'put together', and just generally make you look more 'done'.

I have put together some of my best eyebrow tips, from plucking to filling your brows in.

1. Before you get plucking you should brush your eyebrows upwards and trim the long hairs with brow scissors, this will determine the natural shape of your brows before plucking.

2. Determine where you need to pluck! Don't just go straight in with those tweezers or you could easily over pluck. To find out where your brow should start grab a pencil and place it parallel to the side of your nose, that's where your brow should begin.
Next find out where the arch should be, grab that pencil again and align it with the outer edge of your iris, this is where your arch in the brow should be. Finally your brow shouldn't go further than where your brow bone ends.

3. Now you're ready to pluck.  A lot of people find plucking painful, I never have but here are some tips on making plucking a bit more bearable.
 - Pluck after having a hot bath or shower, the pores will be more open.
 - Soak a flannel in hot water, wring it dry and place it over your brows for a minute or two, remove it              then pluck.

4. Don't over pluck. To maintain a natural look don't pluck more than 2 rows of hair and don't pluck too much from above the brow, but you probably will need to pluck some from outer part above to create a very subtle slope.

5. Now you've shaped your eyebrows it's time to fill them in. Decide on your method, either a pencil or a shadow. I personally like to use a shadow because it looks more natural and gives a nicer effect in my opinion.

6. Get the right colour match. Most girls I see use entirely the wrong shade when filling in their brows…it's normally too dark. A rule that often applies is the shade should be 1 or 2 shades lighter than your current hair colour.

7. When filling in your brows it's best to follow your natural brow shape, rather than drawing on a whole new shape like some girls do. But if you have very sparse brows or have a bare patch it's best to use a thin eyebrow brush or even a eyeliner brush and do soft like upwards strokes to mimic the natural hairs.

8. I always start by defining the arch of my brow, just by gently brushing the powder with a brow brush through the brow. Once that's done I move on to the rest of the brows. It's a bit like colouring, don't go outside of the lines! Only ever do this very slightly if you want more definition.

9. Brush through your brows to make sure the powder, or pencil if you decided to use that, is distributed evenly.

10. For unruly brows use some brow gel, or brow set to make sure your brows are set in place all day.

There you have it! Now you should have perfect brows.

For a great budget buy brow kit look here!

I hope you found those tips useful, 

let me know if you try them out or if

you have any more brow tips!

x

The Palette I've Loved For A Year

I love to change around my make-up, use different products, create different looks, so when a product has been reached for nearly every day for a year it makes it very special. The Stila In The Light eyeshadow palette is one of those products.

I got this palette just under a year ago and I've genuinely used at least 1 of the shades more or less every single day that I've worn makeup in that time. I love it a lot, and as you can see from the pictures I've only hit pan on 1 of the 10 shades which just goes to show how pigmented these little shadows are!

L-R bare, kitten, bliss, sunset, sandstone,
champagne, gilded gold, luster, night sky, ebony

The palette consists of 10 shades, all very wearable, all super pigmented and all are long lasting.
There are 4 matte shades (bare, bliss, sandstone and ebony) and 6 shimmery shades (kitten, sunset, champagne, gilded gold, lustre and night sky). All these eyeshadows are very creamy, soft and easy to blend. It also came with a Stila smudge stick in Damsel (brown) but I've used that up! It was lovely.
What I especially love about this palette is how many different looks you can do with it. You can create a really lovely natural look, and you can also create a very pretty smokey eye, and so many other looks in between. The shades I wear most often would probably be kitten, champagne and sandstone (in the crease and outer corner).

L-R bare, kitten, bliss, sunset, sandstone

L-R champagne, gilded gold, luster, night sky, ebony

The only complaint I have about this palette is the packaging, sure it's very pretty but definitely not practical for carrying around or travelling with. The lid is magnetic, there's no clip or anything, so what I have to do is put a hairband around it to stop it coming open if I have it in a bag.

I'd highly recommend this palette. It would make a brilliant Christmas gift!
It seems to be sold out everywhere but HERE! Purchase it for £25…bargain!

What's your most used eyeshadow palette?

x

Oreo Chocolate Cookies!

I love baking cakes, so I thought I'd branch out and make some cookies!

I saw a recipe for chocolate cookies on Tanya Burr's blog and thought they looked amazing! But I made little changes to make them more my own. Firstly I used less caster sugar than Tanya said, I used 250g rather than the suggested 300g and even then the cookies were incredibly sweet….so I'd recommend using a little less. People are far too obsessed with sugar!
I also used more than a 'little dash' of milk because I wanted to make sure they weren't dry.
Lastly instead of Daim bars I used an Oreo chocolate bar broken up, along with the plain chocolate and a bit of white chocolate too.

The recipe creates enough mixture for 10 large cookies. They're very yummy and I do want to make them again, but with less sugar and perhaps less cocoa powder so they're not so sickly sweet!

Rimmel Glam Eyes HD 5-Colour Eye Shadow in Brixton Brown

It's no secret that I'm a huge Rimmel fan. They're my favourite highstreet makeup brand, their lipsticks are my favourite, as are their foundations.
I was in Boots the other day and I saw this eyeshadow palette, the Glam Eyes HD 5 Colour Eyeshadow palette in Brixton Brown. I hadn't seen it before (it launched early October) and I thought the colours looked right up my street and super Autumnal, so I bought it.

In this 5 shadow palette you got a very dark shimmery grey, a super shimmery champagne colour, a dark brown that looks ever so slightly purply, a soft earthy green that is matte, and in the middle is a gorgeous coppery red with not too much shimmer. Beautiful.

What I love about this palette is you can create a really subtle daytime look with it, but also a super smoky nighttime look, and that red in the middle makes it perfect for this season.

The colours are well pigmented…not amazing, but good for the price, apart from the green which is shockingly badly pigmented, I can't seem to even see it once applied and is quite chalky..but the other 4 are great.

They also surprisingly didn't crease on my eyes! I wore the copper/red all over my lid and the dark grey just on the outer part of my eye for about 6 hours with no primer and they hadn't creased at all. 

L-R Top 2 shades and middle shade

Bottom 2 shades

This palette is £6.99 and there are 3 different ones in the collection.

Purchase here.

What's your favourite shade out of the 5?

The Autumn/Winter Nail

Happy November!
We're well into Autumn now and Winter is just around the corner. During these seasons I change up my nail colours, so I thought I'd share my top 5 Autumn/Winter nail varnishes with you.

L-R Avon Cherry Jubilee, Rimmel Lycra Pro Beige Babe, Studio London Cloudburst,
Studio London Mink, Eye Candy London All Night Long

Autumn/Winter nail colours tend to be a lot darker, and cold shades.

L-R Avon Cherry Jubilee, Rimmel Lycra Pro Beige Babe, Studio London Cloudburst,
Studio London Mink, Eye Candy London All Night Long

My personal favourite of the 5 is Avon's nail wear pro in Cherry Jubilee, it's a gorgeous deep red that's almost burgundy coloured. This shade is the varnish I wear most often in the colder months, and goes with the majority of my outfits. I also find it looks really lovely against paler skin tones. This varnish also lasts well, and dries super fast! You definitely need more than one coat though.
The second nail varnish is Rimmel's Lycra Pro in Beige Babe. I really love the colour of this, it's a browny beige that looks lovely on. I love the applicator because it's nice and thick. Rimmel claims this lasts up to 10 days but I found it only lasted about 3 days on my nails.
The third one along is by Studio London, it came in a set, and it's called Cloudburst. Cloudburst is a lovely navy almost black shade. Navy seems to be very 'in' on nails at the moment so this is really lovely. I also like that it looks black in some light, blue in others, and sometimes grey.
The fourth nail varnish is also by Studio London and came from the same set, this one's called Mink. I don't know quite how to describe the shade, but I'd say it's mauve. It looks very pretty on and it's a great choice if you don't like going too dark on your nails. I love the Studio London nail varnishes, they dry super fast and last a long time on the nails. Only complaint is the small brush applicator.
My last choice is a classic black. Everyone needs a black nail varnish! This one is my favourite and it's called All Night Long by Eye Candy London…I don't see much about this brand, but I got this in Sainsburys and think it's great! The colour lasts a week on my nails and it dries amazingly quickly, which is always good.

What's your favourite nail colour for 

the colder months?

La Roche Posay Effaclar Duo - Is It Worth The Hype?

Effaclar Duo by La Roche Posay is one of those skincare products everyone on the blogosphere talks about, raves about even! But is it really worth the hype?

Effaclar Duo is basically a skin treatment that's meant to correct and unclog imperfections, purify pores and reduce the appearance of imperfections or spots. It's a serum like formula that you can use all over your face, or just in problem areas, twice a day.

I'd heard so many bloggers, YouTubers and other people rave about this product but it never crossed my mind to get it because I've never had problems with my skin at all….not until a few months ago.
A few months ago, due to health issues, my skin started to get worse (only a few spots but considering my skin had always been spot and imperfection free). I started getting under the skin spots along my jawline that just wouldn't go….so when I heard Tanya Burr and Ruth Crilly say they had the exact same problem but after using La Roche Posay Effaclar Duo it went away I just had to get it.

I've been using this product for about a month and a half now and I'm so disappointed.
A few days into using it my skin got SUPER dry, even though I applied masses of moisturiser. When I say super dry I mean it, it was horrible, makeup wouldn't sit on it, moisturisers didn't seem to help and it was making the spots sore. However, I'd heard some people say this product makes the skin get worse before it gets better, so I carried on using it.
About a week after using it the dryness was still there but nowhere near as bad, but I'd got more breakouts! But I kept with it…hoping for a miracle.
Now it's been a month and a half and I'm sad to report no miracle. My skin is no longer dry (thankyou E45 and Nivea), but my under the skin spots are still there.
I'm still using this product twice a day, hoping it works….I'll keep you updated but don't hold your breath on good news.

So, the short answer to whether I think La Roche Posay Effaclar Duo is worth the hype is a big no.
It obviously worked for other people, so don't rule it out, but for me it did nothing but burn a £13 hole in my pocket.

Rimmel Lasting Finish Soft Colour Blush - Pink Rose

As it's now Autumn I'm swapping in my peach and coral blushes for more pink and mauve toned blushes, and the one I've been wearing the last week is Rimmel's Lasting Finish Soft Colour Blush in Pink Rose (what a mouthful!).

I've had this blush for about a year but haven't actually worn it that much because I wasn't at all impressed when I first got it.
Rimmel are my favourite high street/drugstore brand for makeup, they're very affordable and do brilliant lipsticks, lip glosses, foundation, concealer, I even love their nail varnishes, but I think they slack when it comes to blushes.
The packaging is shockingly bad, it's flimsy plastic, the lid always falls off yet it's hard to open and it just feels tacky!
However, the blush inside isn't as bad as the packaging (thank goodness).

Pink Rose is a rosy darkish pink (hence the name) colour, with a slight bit of silver shimmer in it - just enough to brighten up the face on these cold, dark Autumn days.
I find the texture of this blush isn't amazing, it's quite soft but still rather powdery but very pigmented! You really do only need a bit on your brush, and when applied like that it looks very natural and just brings a bit of colour and glow to your face.
Rimmel say it glides on smoothly, but I found it quite difficult to blend…maybe I've just been spoilt with Sleek.
Rimmel also claim the blush lasts 6 hours, which it might do…until it completely disappears, but it fades on me after about 3 hours.

Overall though, aside from the very poor packaging and not amazing texture, I do like this blush.
The colour is gorgeous, and it's great for an everyday look and if you don't need the makeup to last for ages!

For £3.99 I'd say this product is worth a buy, just don't carry it around loose in your handbag or it won't last long! Buy here.

Autumn blush recommendations

would be very welcome!

x

My Favourite Fake Tan - St Moriz

I'm not a big tanner, in fact I only ever really put on fake tan when I'm having a night out or it's some other special occasion, but it always makes me feel a lot more confident and brightens my mood. 

The tan I always reach for and it's never let me down is St Moriz.

St Moriz is a brilliant self tanner that isn't too dark, isn't orange and doesn't make you look green either (like St Tropez can). I use the tanning lotion in medium (it's also available in dark), but St Moriz also do a spray which I find quite difficult to apply, and a mousse which I found was quite drying.
The lotion is definitely the best in my opinion, I apply it with the St Moriz tanning glove at night then go to bed, the lotion sinks in really quickly, and I wake up looking quite dark but once you have a shower and apply some moisturiser the tan looks natural, even and doesn't smell either.

I don't know why I don't see more hype on blogs about this tan because it really is great, it's won awards and been nominated for lots as well - very deserved.
The only negative thing I have to say about it is they've changed the packaging of the lotion, it used to come with a pump and now you have to tip it upside down and squeeze it out…not ideal, and I have no idea why they changed it.
Oh and don't use this on your face, I learnt the hard way. I didn't apply much and did exfoliate and moisturise before but it goes patchy and your face soaks up more than your body so it'll end up looking very dark. It also broke me out. I use Clarins Liquid Bronze on my face, review here.

The absolute best thing about this tan though is the price, you can buy it HERE from Feel Unique for £4.99! I know they also sell this is Savers, Tesco, Wilkinsons and now Boots as well for the same price. BARGIN.

What's your favourite fake tan?