Hello!
Today I thought I'd write a quick blog post on the products or things I've been loving throughout the month of July. I also thought I'd mention some products that disappointed me a little bit and explain why. I hope you enjoy!
Hits
St. Ives Apricot Scrub
My first hit is the St. Ives Blemish Fighting Apricot Scrub. I bought this from Superdrug and it cost me £3.99 at the time. Michelle of Ready Set Glamour claimed that this saved her skin when she was breaking out so I decided to try it and I love it!
I am an exfoliator junkie, I have more than I need but I like them all for different reasons. I love this one because of how intense it is - you feel it working! It's formulated using natural exfoliants which feel as though they're really getting under your skin to unclog pores, and afterwards my face feels so clean. As you can see there's a mixture of tiny and also larger exfoliants in the product so it can shift any dead skin cells, as well as go deep into your pores. I also love the smell. I haven't had a break out since using this product which says to me that this is clearly doing something good to my skin.
The only downside to this product if any, is that I do not know if it is tested on animals! I haven't read anything online that explicitly says that St. Ives do or do not test on animals, so I'm a bit stuck. It's made by Unilever and online I've read things that suggest that they test some products on animals but not others. If you know, please let me know! If they do test, then I probably will not buy this product again unfortunately, despite how much I love it.
Overall, I really would recommend this, especially for the price!
Make Up Revolution Ultra Contour Palette
My next hit for July is Make Up Revolution's Ultra Contour Palette. I bought this earlier on this year from Superdrug for £8.00 and for some reason stopped using it. I'm now questioning why because it's amazing!
For those wondering; Make Up Revolution do not test on animals and they are not owned by a parent company.
As you can see the palette has got you covered; it includes three highlighters, three bronze or contouring shades and two face powders.
My personal favourites are the yellow setting powder which is great for subtly covering any redness I may have, the white gold highlighter and also the middle contour shade. The middle contour shade is great for me as it's pigmented but not too pigmented, which allows me to build it up if I want a more intense contour. It's also cool toned!! Which can be impossible to find for my skin tone. I also love the white gold highlighter as it shows up on my very pale skin, and again is very buildable so I can have a subtle highlight if I so wish... which is never the case.
I would recommend this product to anyone as the quality is amazing for a very affordable price. The only downside is the packaging; it is plastic and sadly the cover of my palette has snapped off. This may not be the best face palette to travel with, despite the variety of products inside. However for £8.00 can you complain?
Colourful Eye Shadow
One thing I have been wearing a lot of this month is colourful eye shadow! I'm not sure why but the sunny weather has clearly inspired me and I have been wearing a lot of bright eye make up, instead of sticking to my usual nudes and coppers.
The products I have been using the most include:
NYX Empty 4 Shadow Pro Palette - £3.50
These brands are all cruelty free, however it is important to note that Urban Decay and NYX are owned by L'Oreal who do test on animals.
I should also probably mention that the Electric Palette is a new hit for me. I got this towards the end of July as a birthday present from my best friend and I'm obsessed! I'm thinking of writing a review for this palette so keep your eyes peeled.
I thought I'd include a few swatches of my favourite shades in particular. The top two are both from the Electric Palette; the pink/purple duo chrome shade is Jilted, and the turquoise is Fringe. The coral shade is of course the Kiko shadow, and the yellow is STFU by NYX.
You should definitely try adding more colour into your make up, it's so fun to apply and looks so creative - a definite hit for me.
The Experimenter
As it was my birthday I got a quite a few presents, one of them being The Experimenter Bath Bomb from Lush. This product is £4.25 and of course because it is hand crafted by Lush - is cruelty free. This is my all time favourite bath bomb, it's so colourful and bright and super pretty to watch.
As you can see it creates a magical, rainbow, tie-dye effect in your bath as it melts. Once all the colours mix together the water often turns a purple or teal colour for the remainder of your bath.
For some reason I'm not one to buy myself products from Lush until Christmas time, so it was really nice to receive this - it rekindled my love for it. Thank you!
Body Say
My final hit of July is the single Body Say, by Demi Lovato. She has once again blew me away with this song and it's all I have been listening to! Demi expresses a different side of her in this song with a cheeky, sexy vibe which I love.
Also, can we talk about the single artwork?! Demi, you're slaying! The other pictures from this shoot are equally as flawless.
Misses
Now I'm going to discuss some products that let me down a little bit this month.
NYX Lip Lingerie
Previously I wrote a NYX Review and I talked about how much I liked the NYX Lip Lingerie in the shade Embellishment, so I went out and bought another - this is Lace Detail, which sadly is my first miss of July.
This is a BEAUTIFUL nude - it's a genuine nude on me with my skin tone. It's so gorgeous - what lets it down is the consistency of this product.
The previous shade I bought from the Lingerie line was amazing. It glided on nice and evenly and was not streaky. With this one I have found the opposite: it doesn't apply evenly. As you can see from the swatch parts of it are streaky whilst other parts are clumpy - this was after a long, hard shake as well!
I wouldn't say to avoid this product. It's a lovely colour and is very comfortable to wear. What lets it down is the consistency - or lack of. You can apply this product evenly but you have to spend a lot of time working with it. I'm hoping I got a duff lipstick as Embellishment applies so well; otherwise NYX do not have consistency in their formula which would be disappointing. However I am not going to let that put me off buying more. If you have Lace Detail or other shades, please let me know how they work for you!
Seventeen Stay Time Concealer
I LOVE this concealer, but not so much in this shade. Usually I buy this in Extra Fair, but as I tanned a teeny bit, I thought it best to up my concealer shade so I didn't have a white face compared to my tan as I was looking a little funny.
I would recommend Extra Fair to anyone as pale as me, it's the lightest concealer I have ever used and matches me perfectly. It claims to last up to 18 hours; I haven't worn this concealer for that long but I can say that it lasts me all day. It's creamy with a lot of coverage and is super easy to apply - you literally can't go wrong. However, this changes a bit when it comes to the same concealer in Fair. 
Here you can see the two shades swatched next to each other. The top being Fair, the bottom being Extra Fair. When I swatched this, Extra Fair was half used, but swatched better than Fair which is brand new - from the swatch you wouldn't be able to tell though.
Extra Fair is creamier, easier to apply and also applies more evenly. Fair on the other hand doesn't swatch as easily. I find it a little thicker and it's also not as easy to blend out.
This is still a good concealer in Fair, but the consistency just isn't as nice as its lighter shade. Luckily the coverage and lasting power is still there. For £4.49, again you can't really complain.
It's disappointing when you fall in love with a product, try the same product in a different shade and the formula is completely different. Consistency is all that has let me down this month - there could be much worse things letting products down.
I hope my July hits and misses were helpful!
Heather ☾
