PHP's Beloved Beauty Bits (January)

There will be no 'Monster High Monday' this week as I was late getting up and showered today, so won't be going out! I have for you though, January's 'Beloved Beauty Bits'. I struggled a little bit as I'd been using the Rimmel mascara (which I liked but didn't love) and trialling the 'mystery' foundation (again I liked but didn't love), so I haven't used any other mascara/foundation for the past month. Plus I think I must be sticking with products that have been BBB before, so there's not many 'new' products to feature. That said, I do have a small selection of items that I've really loved using over the past few weeks.

Best one first, which is this Good Glowing powder blush (pictured above and below). Before you all fall head over heels for it, I'll warn you it is by a US brand, Mark (like Avon) and I think the Good Glowing blushes are discontinued now and this was possibly a limited edition shade at the time anyway! You may still find it in a swap on Makeup Alley or get it on eBay. Years ago when I had time for Makeup Alley (before my blogging days), I swapped for a bunch of new Mark stuff including this blush which I think I'm correct in naming Love Glo (it definitely is, I checked last night). The blushes (and their eyeshadows) were designed to be purchased in the pan so you could make your own custom palettes. My four mark powder blushes are in a magnetic palette and the name rather unhelpfully is hidden on the underside which you can't view without fiddling around and getting the pan back out (which I didn't feel like doing).

Anyway the blush has no shimmer in it and is a bright coral. It looks quite scary as it's very bold, but I've really been favouring it for a bright flush on the cheeks lately. I love blusher and this just makes me look so healthy and really brightens my pale skin. I love it so much that I've barely used any other blusher since New Year! It's a really good quality powder and applies nicely too, which is fantastic considering it's a 'drugstore' product. Here's another couple of FOTD's with me wearing the blush, but the majority of looks on The Shoe Girl Diaries over the past few weeks feature this blusher!

Another product I've really got my wear out of this month has been this little Too Faced eyeshadow duo and in particular the lighter shade. I got this in a GWP, but I believe it's the regular eyeshadow duo in Ooh & Aah, just in different packaging. I think the whole line has been repackaged recently (haven't been in Boots for ages), so this may also be discontinued (not helping you much here am I?). The silver shade has a metallic and iridescent finish, an eyeshadow brush picks up the colour very easily, you only need a tiny amount for a good shimmery finish. It looks beautiful on the lids as it has this slightly 'wet' looking appearance. It's definitely my new favourite silver/grey and that's saying something because I have tonnes of those shades. I've used the black side sometimes in the crease or along the lower lash line and it's definitely been my most used eyeshadow this month. Below are just a few times I've worn it and I think my cheeks in a couple are the Mark blush!

Going back a few years, my older sister took a gamble and got me Ghost perfume for Christmas. I've never really understood why people insist on gifting fragrance without knowing if the recipient likes it or not. It's an extremely personal thing and you'll either love or hate it, so it's always going to be a risk in my book! At this point I'd never even tried it before and the bottle wasn't particularly appealing, so I didn't know what to expect. Thankfully I fell in love with it. It's got a really unusual subtle scent that is quite powdery and light. It's distinctive but not overpowering. It's maybe even a little old-fashioned. I've not been feeling particularly drawn to any of my other perfumes lately, so this understated scent has been exactly what I've needed. I think I'm on my third bottle now and there isn't much left in this one.

I mentioned last time my skin has been a complete nightmare with bad breakouts. I've gone through another three batteries in my Clearlight device (!) and still haven't found the Oxy Seaweed range locally. I had a jar of Dr Nick Lowe Oil Control Day Cream (Anti-Blemish), so have started using that during the day again. I first used it a couple of years ago and had stocked up during a 3 for 2 or similar offer (you can find the range in Boots). It's not the most exciting product, but I think it's a reasonably good healer for my skin without causing breakouts. It feels light and is absorbed quickly, which is great when I'm wearing makeup. The cream itself has a strange consistency that I can't quite describe and is a rather unattractive yellowy shade (eugh), but I'm almost finished this jar now, so it's time to move onto something else. I'm still using Clarins Multi-Active at night but don't think I can afford to buy another Multi-Active day cream at this point (nor justify it). I think I have a gazillion GWP sized moisturisers, it's just whether or not I want to risk causing a spotty face by trialling them all!

This next eyeshadow could really be a BBB any month of the year! It's one of my most used eye colours and I'm surprised because I'm not much of a neutral eye person and steer away from browns especially. Everyone raved about this Miss Canada duo from Pout at the time and I'm so glad I bought into the hype and took a risk (for me) and bought it. It's simply beautiful. I don't think I've ever used this and thought, 'meh that doesn't look nice'. It looks fabulous every time. The lighter shade is a pale shimmering beige and the darker leans more towards taupe than brown, which is good for me. I love using them together, alone, with other shades, anything works! My only regret is not picking up another one at the time...because Pout of course is no longer....I'll stop with the discontinued products....!

Actually I won't because this is another hard to find item, sorry! It just squeezed into this months BBB after I rediscovered it. I was bored one night, didn't feel sleepy and decided at 1am to start sharpening old lip pencils, as you do! This one is Victoria Beckham V Sculpt Lipliner in 702 Cool, you may recall I featured one of her eyeshadows in a MHM not so long ago. I picked up several VB things from an online discount cosmetics site years ago (can't remember which one) and actually ended up liking them all! I think the line was Japan based and never really available in the UK. I'm fussy with lip liner colours and this one has a nice dusky, subtle tone to it, even if it is quite dark pink. It's not a lip shade I tend to wear, so I usually team it with a much lighter lipstick and it completely revitalises the colour. Last week when I was wearing YSL Rose Deesse, which is an extremely pale, barely there nude-I wore this underneath a couple of days (shown below, top image just lip liner and lipstick, bottom with Pout Plump over the top) and it created this beautiful medium pink with a bit of body to it.