Best Beauty Discoveries 2023 | Makeup

Back again with another round up of new favourites from last year, this time in makeup! I covered my best beauty discoveries in skincare last week so don’t forget to give that a read  too if you haven’t already! I am a lip product, blush and bronzer addict so this is heavy on all of those type of products!

 

First up, the Haus Labs by Lady Gaga Powder Sculpt Velvet Bronzer in Light Level 2 RRP $55 CAD / £35. This is actually the newest bronzer in my makeup collection and I got it in November with 20% off. It gets great reviews on Sephora and I had previously swatched in store so was confident on the shade. The formula is super smooth and easy to blend. There isn’t a lot of fallout and Light Level 2 is a great neutral shade for me that adds just the right amount of colour. It seems impossible to go overboard with this formula and I have been reaching for it almost daily since I got it!

 

Before Haus Labs came along, the Pat McGrath Skin Fetish: Divine Bronzer in Nude Honey RRP $53 CAD / £40 was my go to and absolutely deserves a mention in this post as I still love it! As soon I saw this released earlier last year I waited patiently for one of the websites many sales as I am obsessed with the blush from this line and knew I would love this. The bronzer is a beautiful neutral shade like the Haus Labs so no looking muddy here! It’s another smooth formula that blends easily and I can go back in with my brush if I want to build more colour.

 

Onto blush and I couldn’t resist the NARS The Multiple Cream Blush, Lip and Eye Stick in Dolce Vita RRP $53 CAD / £33 mini which came in a set at Christmas. I believe this shade is limited edition which is strange as the powder version is part of the permanent line. It’s a dusty rose shade and blends easily whether I apply directly to my check or with a brush! The lasting power is great and it makes me look like I have a healthy glow!

 

To apply these, I have been reaching for my Rephr Brush 05 RRP $57 USD non-stop! These brushes are handmade in Japan using uncut natural hair so feel super soft and number 05 is a do it all cheek brush that like I said, have been using for bronzer. It fits perfectly into the hollow of my cheek, never picks up too much pigment and helps the bronzer blend seamlessly into my foundation.

 

Moving onto lip products now and the Fenty Skin Hydrating and Strengthening Lip Oil in Cherry RRP $33 CAD / £20 is so good I’m already on my second one this year! See my review of the first one I finished here! Definitely the best lip oil I have tried and miles ahead of the Dior and Clarins in terms of hydrating and conditioning my lips! This is long lasting, smells great and so easy to throw in my handbag!

 

I’ve also enjoyed the Lawless Forget the Filler Lip-Plumping Line-Smoothing Tinted Lip Balm in Georgie RRP $35.50 CAD. This is a warm nude shade so a little different to my usual pinky shades which I like! I didn’t realise this was so pricey but again I picked it up with 20% off and it gives me long lasting hydrating and leaves a lovely colour on my lips! I do not like the packaging though, this one is faulty and I will need to see if I can exchange it as the mechanism to wind the bullet back down stopped working!

 

Finally, the Glossier Ultralip High Shine Lipstick with Hyaluronic Acid in Villa RRP $24 CAD / £18 has been another constant in my handbag when I am going out for the day as the formula is so good and Villa is a perfect my lips but better shade for me! It’s a dusty rose colour and definitely more of a tinted lip balm than a true lipstick in my opinion. It does a great job of keeping my lips moisturised and I am definitely going to look at getting more shades! 

 

l-r: Glossier Villa, Lawless Georgie, NARS Dolce Vita, Pat McGrath Nude Honey, Haus Labs Light Level 2

Let me know if you have tried any of the products I’ve mentioned today and what you thought! If you want to check out my best beauty discoveries in makeup from previous years you can see 2022, 2021, and 2020 here!

 

*denotes a PR sample that was sent to me.

All opinions are my own. Affiliate links used.

See my full disclosure here.

 

Danielle xx

 

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Best Beauty Discoveries 2023 | Skincare

Happy New Year! I have a couple of best beauty discoveries posts to round off some new favourites from last year starting with skincare! Nothing new really stood out to me in the haircare and bodycare departments but makeup will be coming soon! 

 

Starting with cleansers and the e.l.f. Holy Hydration! Makeup Melting Cleansing Balm RRP $14 CAD / £11 really impressed me this year! It’s the only skincare product I have tried from e.l.f. but I will definitely be checking out the rest of the range! It contains sunflower seed oil, ceramides, and glycerin and the balm melts into an oil making easy work out of removing makeup! It’s lightly scented, lasted me a good amount of time and it’s super affordable! Definitely not as luxurious as my all-time favourite cleanser – the Emma Hardie Moringa cleansing balm – but for the price it’s impressive!

 

Moving onto serums and I tried a few this year that I can’t get enough of! The Biotherm Life Plankton Elixir RRP $116 CAD / £69* is a beautiful hydrating and soothing serum that contains glycerin, life plankton and Vitamin C. It’s also scented which I don’t mind but I know some people do but it’s so fresh and “blue” smelling it really adds to the experience for me. This makes my skin feel hydrated and supported and it looks brighter and feels smoother! Sticking with Biotherm and I have also been enjoying their Blue Retinol Night Serum RRP $99 CAD / £75*. It contains 0.25% retinol as well as life plankton, glycerin, HA and niacinamide. This has worked well to smooth and even my skin and target fine lines while also not causing any sensitivity or peeling due to the formula!

 

Next up is a classic that I only started using last year and I finally get the hype! The Estee Lauder Advanced Night Repair RRP $108 CAD / £65 is a restorative serum containing peptides and hyaluronic acid bifida ferment lysate (an ingredient that’s also in the Biotherm Life Plankton Elixir) which helps protect against UV damage and repair skin. It’s called night repair but can be used AM or PM though I tend to use it in the evening and I wake up with hydrated, plump and firm skin. Lastly for serums, I have the Pixi Clarity Concentrate RRP £26* which has been my go-to when I have been experiencing breakouts and it’s been a saviour over the festive season! It contains glycolic, salicylic and lactic acid as well as probiotics and aloe and really helps to gently exfoliate my skin while still keeping it hydrated and my breakouts have been healing faster!

 

For moisturisers and SPF’s, I found quite a few I fell in love with this year! The Naturium Multi-Peptide Moisturiser RRP $20 USD / £21 is a great, simple, lightweight moisturiser I used in the AM that kept my skin hydrated and worked well with SPF’s and my makeup! At night, I loved the Biotherm Blue Pro-Retinol Multi Correct Cream RRP $103 CAD*. This is a rich overnight cream that smoothed my skin leaving it plump the next morning with less visible fine lines. It felt so luxurious, and, as I mentoned, I love the scent of Biotherm products!

 

For SPF’s I really rate the older version of the Fenty Hydra Vizor – the Invisible Moisturiser Broad Spectrum SPF 30 RRP $49 CAD. This seems to have been recently reformulated to a mineral SPF and I am gutted I replaced it without realising the new one gets awful reviews. It seems to be out of stock in a lot of places but hopefully she brings it back as it’s perfect under makeup, no pilling, hydrating, protecting and smells good! Sticking with the purple theme and the Isntree Onion Newpair Sunscreen SPF40 RRP $30.64 CAD* was another stand out product. It’s lightweight, again didn’t pill with my makeup and hydrates all day. Not pictured as I used it up way earlier in the year is the Beauty of Joseon Relief Sun: Rice + Probiotics SPF 50 RRP $24.08 CAD which I couldn’t not mention as it might be my favourite SPF ever! Super lightweight, this feels like you have nothing on and like the others, doesn’t pill or react with other products or makeup. It just stands out a little more to me and I like that it’s SPF 50! Another product definitely worth the hype!

 

Did I mention any of your favourites? Let me know what your favourite skincare discovery was this year! If you want to see my previous best beauty discoveries in skincare you can check out 2020, 2021 and 2022!

 

*denotes a PR sample that was sent to me.

All opinions are my own. Affiliate links used.

See my full disclosure here.

 

Danielle xx

 

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Best Beauty Discoveries 2020 | Skin and Bodycare

 

Welcome back everyone! I hope you were able to have a nice break over the holidays! I’ve been keeping a little list over the last couple of weeks of what my favourite skin and body care products have been this year and that’s what I’m going to share today! Ideally, I would have had hair and makeup favourites in this too but as always there are just too many to mention so I’ll get that up next week! I don’t think any of these are new releases for this year but they were new to me either at the very end of 2019 when it was too early for me to know how much I loved it or has been purchased this year! 

 

Starting with body products, the Bioderma Atoderm Ultra-Nourishing Anti-Irritation Shower Oil (full review) which quickly became a favourite when I picked it up to help with my drier skin due to going on Roaccutane (this will be a theme throughout this post lol). It’s so soothing, hydrating and not greasy at all! I have a full review here but I cannot recommend this enough especially if you find you get dry patches or drier skin in the winter! I’ve recently got sent some more bits from their Atoderm body range which I have been enjoying too but too soon to say they are my best discoveries of the year :P 

Sticking with bodycare, the Bali Body Self-Tanning Mousse* (full review) is the only fake tan I have used this year! It has a guide colour so is fool proof and it leaves a beautiful medium darkness natural tan when left overnight to develop! I can get a good 4-5 days out of this when I moisturise well and even when it starts to wear of it’s so even I don’t notice! Finally, in the bodycare category, I have to mention the OUAI Melrose Place Eau de Parfum (full review). I have worn this nearly every day since I got it earlier this year! It’s the perfect subtle, rose scent and I will be so upset if they ever discontinue it (which happens to all my favourite perfumes)! 

 

Moving onto skincare now and I’m going to try and go through these quickly as I feel like they get featured a lot on my blog already so I don’t want to bore you! Starting with cleansers, I finally picked up two very hyped budget cleansers this year and loved them both! The Cerave Hydrating Cleanser is just perfect at the minute for my morning cleanse, it’s a very simple cleanser packed full of ceramides and hyaluronic acid that doesn’t foam up too much and leaves my skin feeling clean and hydrated as you would expect from the name! Similarly, The Ordinary Squalane Cleanser is another hydrating product that can be used as a first or second cleanse and I am kicking myself for not getting on this hype train sooner! It feels beautiful, breaks down makeup easily and leaves my skin feeling soft and hydrated! Will definitely be getting the big size next! 

Next up, I have fallen in love with quite a few toners this year so this was a hard one for me but the Pyunkang Yul Essence Toner (full review) is one I have fully used up, loved and repurchased! It’s gel like, cooling and most importantly for my skin at the minute - hydrating! In terms of treatments, the Paula’s Choice 2% BHA Liquid Exfoliant (full review) was a game changer for me at the start of the year. It works amazingly on congested, oily skin and my skin always looks so much clearer and brighter the morning after use! 

 

Moving onto hyaluronic acid and the Hada Labo Tokyo Lotion No1 Super Hydrator has impressed me so much – it contains 3 different types of hyaluronic acid and really helps keep moisture locked in all day for me. I was so worried going on Roaccutane about the skin dryness but I have been shocked at how well my skin is coping and this is one of the products I have been using every day! It’s also very reasonably priced for such a huge bottle! 

 

This year I have really gotten into K Beauty and I have started incorporating steps I wouldn’t normally such as using as essence and my weapon of choice is the I’m From Mugwort Essence (full review). It’s 100% mugwort and perfect for irritated skin, it absorbs quickly, adds an extra layer of hydration for me and keeps my skin feeling smooth too! 

 

The Vichy Mineral 89 Daily Booster has been my serum of choice over the last few months now and I’ll confess I have had this before a few years ago when I wasn’t blogging as much so I am cheating a bit but it has really come into its own for me this year! I was previously a fan of the Vichy Aqualia Thermal but with alcohol denat quite high up on the list in that one I made the switch to this and haven’t looked back! It’s a really cooling gel serum that hydrates my skin and makes it plump! 

 

Cerave Eye Repair Cream is another one I think I let fly under the radar. It’s a very simple lightweight cream, great for puffiness and dark circles and sits under makeup very well too, this is my backup as I repurchased straight away after finishing the first one I had! 

 

Finally, I have a couple of facemasks to share! First up, the Dermalogica Hydro Masque Exfoliant* (full review) which delivers in bucketloads on hydration and gentle exfoliation. It contains snow mushroom for hydration and bamboo to exfoliate as well as cucumber extract (which it smells like) to soothe and it’s so effective! It only needs to be left on for 5 minutes and my face feels instantly refreshed, hydrated and exfoliated! And even better, it’s fine on my currently sensitive skin! I also want to give the Huxley Secret of Sahara Sleep Mask: Good Night a mention as it’s been in constant use since I got it! It contains Pricky pear seed oil, hyaluronic acid and centella asiatica and though it’s an overnight mask it is very lightweight and absorbs quickly but somehow my skin doesn’t dry out overnight. I wake up with hydrated, smooth and plump skin so this is a winner for me! It’s also very cooling and soothing! 

 

And that’s my round up of my favourite skin and bodycare discoveries this year! I think the Dermalogica mask is the only product that was actually released this year haha! I would love to know if we share any of the same favourite’s or what some of yours were! Let me know in the comments! 

 

*denotes a PR sample that was sent to me. All opinions are my own. See my full disclosure here. 

Danielle xx

 

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