"And the day came when the risk to remain tight in a bud was more painful than the risk it took to blossom."
- Anais Nin
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MyHouseWifeLife (also TheBusyBeeBuzz & OrganizedLikeJen) – Jen was the first youtuber I ever really followed and I still get excited when I see her videos popping up in my subscription box. My favourite of her channels is ‘My Housewife Life’, because I love seeing how she spends her days. I’ve never really wanted to be a housewife, but she sure does make it seem fun. She doesn’t do vlogs as regularly as she used to, due to a troll infestation in the comments section of every video. This is a real shame, because I miss the way that her videos used to be, but I still go back and watch her old vlog series, because I’m a loser like that.
EssieButtonVlogs (also EssieButton) – Watching Estee’s vlogs is one of my favourite ways to waste time. I think she’s absolutely stunning, but she has a very laid back attitude, and isn’t afraid to make fun of herself, so I can bear how pretty she is without getting too jealous. Her dog Reggie has become one of the animals that I (creepily) obsess over from afar, and she has inspired me to switch up my daily coffee for a nice big cup of tea. I tend to watch her Vlogs more than the videos on her regular channel, but those are always top quality when I tune into EssieButton.
ViviannaDoesMakeup – Anna recently started doing vlogs, and they’ve become one of my favourite videos to watch each week. I find her utterly gorgeous, and therefore lemming any beauty product she puts on her face (because obviously they’ll make ME just as gorgeous, right?!). I really love watching Anna’s videos, I think she seems like one of the loveliest people on youtube. Also, I want her hair. And wardrobe. And face.
Michele1218 – Michele was one of the first Youtube “gurus” I subscribed to, and I still watch her videos on a regular basis. Her vibe has changed quite a bit over the past couple of years, as she’s become a new mom and has a different focus now. Regardless of this change, I still love the content of her videos, and she remains one of my youtube style icons. Yet another youtube who I have massive hair envy for. Sigh.
Kimmmberleyy (also KimberleyReads) – Kimberley is one of the few Australian Youtubers that I watch. She has two channels, and I watch both pretty religiously. Her dog Luca is another animal that I obsess over from afar, and his cameos in Kimberley’s videos never fail to make me laugh. If you need some inspiration to read a book, her book channel is one of the things I watch to motivate myself to pick something up and READ.
evo normal persons Shampoo & Conditioner – I’ve loved every single product I’ve tried from the evo hair care range, and the ‘normal persons’ shampoo and conditioner duo is no exception. It also happens to be a new favourite of mine, and I’ve been washing my hair with it every week for a couple of months now. These products are aimed at people with normal to oily hair (bingo), are nice and lightweight, and feel like they’re gently clarifying my hair with every wash.
LUSH Big Shampoo – I tend to make more of an effort to style my hair in the cooler months of the year (mostly because it’s not as much of a living hell to use heat styling tools on my hair as it is in summer), which means I use more products. I use LUSH’s Big Shampoo once a week to help strip all the excess product from my roots. I’ve repurchased ‘Big’ three or four times now, and it’s firmly cemented it’s place as my all-time favourite clarifying shampoo.
Unico Protein Treatment – I let it go far too long between hair cuts recently, and my hair was in dire need of some hard-core conditioning. I use this once a week as a deep conditioning treatment, and also on the ends of my hair every couple of days to help keep my split ends in check. I really like this treatment because it gives a heavy-duty moisture boost without weighing down my hair.
Tresemme Heat Protectant Spray – Lets face it people. Nobody likes getting out of bed in the morning. Let alone when it’s 2 degrees and pitch black outside. The fastest way for me to ‘style’ my hair is to straighten it, which I’ve been doing a lot lately. I use this bad boy before blow drying my hair on days that I know I’m going to be straightening it afterwards.
Kerastase Nectar Thermique – This is one of my all-time favourite hair products, a ‘holy grail’ if you will. I use this every day before blow drying my hair (except for times like right now, where I’m running out and I’m too scared to finish up the tube without having a back up in my cupboard). This does such a great job of smoothing down the frizziness of my hair. I couldn’t live without it.
01) Real Techniques Powder Brush – I rarely include makeup brushes in my favourites because so few of them have much of an impact on me. This is one of the better brushes that I’ve come across, it’s soft to the touch, applies powder well, and does not shed. At all. This is such a joy, because I’d grown accustomed to picking random black brush hairs off of my face before leaving the house.
02) Tarte Amazonian Blush in Dollface – This is the longest lasting blush that I own, which makes it perfect for the days where I know I’m going to walk into the bathroom after a long day at work and stare at my corpse-like reflection and wish that I still had some blush on.
03) Nivea Caramel Cream Lip Butter – I’ve been using this as my morning lip balm, I apply it before putting my makeup on and then by the time I reach the stage where I’m applying my lipstick for the day my lips are prepped and ready. I find that I can’t wear this on it’s own because it leaves a white sheen on my lips, but under lipstick it works just fine.
04) Revlon Lip Butter in Berry Smoothie – This was my go-to lip colour for June and I really enjoyed using it. Just an FYI – out of the shades that I own, this seems to be the most hydrating of the Revlon Lip Butter bunch but I still had to wear a lip balm underneath it. These aren’t the most moisturising of lip products, that’s for sure.
05) Paula’s Choice Hydralight Cleanser – This cleanser is pretty much perfection. It’s a lightweight gel formula, it cleans my face well without leaving my skin feeling stripped. and it’s fragrance free. I bought the JUMBO size of this and I never want it to run out. Ever. I LOVE IT OK.
01)Clarisonic Mia – For a long time I was on the fence as to whether I wanted to buy one of these for myself, but as luck would have it (and I do realize how lucky I am) I was sent one of these beauties for review at the beginning of May.
02) Chanel Rouge Coco Shine in Adventure – This was my go-to lip colour for May and before I stumbled across it in my makeup collection I’d completely forgotten that it existed. This is an easy to wear day to day lip colour and I enjoyed using it throughout the month.
03) Serge Lutens Un Bois Vanille Fragrance – This has probably popped up in my favourites quite often, as it is my all time favourite perfume. Like, the best perfume I’ve ever smelled. It’s amazing and I wore it throughout all of May and it made me so happy and I smelt so good.
04) Covergirl Outlast Stay Brilliant Nail Polish in Wine Stain – I was pleasantly surprised by the quality of the new Covergirl nail polishes. I wore this for a whole week before the first chip appeared, and even then it was on a fragile part of my nail so I wasn’t even surprised that it had chipped. I’m excited to try the other shades in the collection to see if they match up to the quality of this one.
05) Sephora Fresh Gloss – One of my best friends brought a ‘pick & mix’ bag of Sephora goodies back from Singapore earlier this year, and this was the little treat I pulled out for myself. This is a fairly basic clear gloss but it smells (and tastes) like sweet peppermint, which makes it a real joy to use.
01)Burberry Light Glow Blush in Peony Blush – I reviewed this last month and I have to say it’s probably the best makeup product that I’ve stumbled across in quite a while.
02) Dove Go Fresh Deodorant in Nectarine & White Ginger – It might seem a bit strange to include a deodorant in my favourites, but I am in love with this product. The smell is amazing, it works well with my sensitive skin, and it works well for me as an antiperspirant.
03)Origins Zero Oil Moisturizer – Another product that I got around to reviewing within the month. This is a great day time moisturizer for people who don’t require a lot of additional moisture for their skin.
04)Firebird Brown Sugar Perfume – This was my go-to perfume for the month, and I wrote a full review of it last week. A gorgeous, rich, wintery scent.
05) Origins Checks & Balances Face Wash – I started out using this cleanser in the evenings but found that it didn’t do a great job of keeping breakouts in check, so I now use it as a morning cleanser and it’s lovely and gentle and a nice way to start the day.
01) Bloom Super Glossy Lips in Sheen – I discovered quite a few new lip product favourites after my lip week feature recently, one of which was this gloss. It’s a lovely nude shaded milky gloss and I’ll be featuring a full review of it soon.
02) Fresh Sugar Lip Treatment in Petal – As I mentioned in my review, I love this product. It’s the perfect no-fuss lip shade for days where I really can’t be bothered putting in a lot of effort (read: every single god damn day). Also, I’m still not sick of the strong sweet-lemon scent yet, which is good.
03) Bloom Lipstick in Tangerine – This is such a gorgeous shade, and was the perfect colour to wear as a farewell the warmer weather (although summer seems to want to stick around – piss off summer, you’re not welcome anymore!).
04) Terax Crema Conditioner – I’d forgotten how much I loved this conditioner until I started using it again recently. It’s one of the best hair products I’ve ever found and it’s firmly cemented it’s place on my ‘holy grail’ list, after many years of use.
05) Pure Fiji Coconut Infusion Body Lotion – I’ve mentioned quite a few times how much I love subtle-sweet smelling body lotions and this is now right up there with my favourites. It’s a lightweight lotion but as my skin isn’t dry that isn’t much of an issue for me.
the belle lumiere 