Top 5 Beauty Products of February

Hi everyone, I hope your week is going well. I thought I would switch up my beauty favourites this year! Instead of posts with lots of products, I’m going to pick the top 5 beauty products of the month. This will mean I’m only sharing the absolute best and nothing less will make it!

I’m also going to be making short videos to show you the products and swatches in more detail than I can in one image. I’ve just got a new phone which has an amazing camera, so I’m looking forward to putting it to work! Today’s video was filmed on my previous phone though!

So, without further ado, let’s get into my Top 5 Beauty Products of February!

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NARS LIGHT REFLECTING FOUNDATION – £37.50 FROM NARS COSMETICS

When am I not excited about a new foundation, let’s be honest?! They’re one of my favourite things to test and try!

I do find Nars base products a little hit and miss. Their Sheer Glow foundation is a cult favourite for people, but it doesn’t wear the best on me. It’s alright, it looks pretty, it just doesn’t last long on my combination skin.

However, when I read that this foundation was following the trend of a lot of foundations and is a skincare/foundation hybrid, I knew I wanted to try it.

Let me tell you, it’s stunning! It’s a solid medium coverage with just one layer. I use two pumps for my whole face as the pump doesn’t dispense that much. Something it has over Sheer Glow too – it comes with a pump! I’ll still never understand why you have to buy a separate pump for Sheer Glow.

Anyway, I have the shade Mont Blanc, which is the lightest neutral shade. I find Nars foundations always lean a little yellow, but I can make it work.

This foundation doesn’t settle in pores, blends seamlessly with the skin, never looks heavy or cakey. It almost has a blurring quality to it as well. Light reflecting is definitely the correct way of describing this foundation. It’s a natural finish, but it does reflect light and make your skin look so healthy. There’s no bits of glitter or noticeable shimmer in it, it just looks like skin. The only way I can describe it, is when you bake cookies and the top looks matte with a slight sheen in the oven light… that’s what this foundation looks like.

There are 36 shades and they’ve balanced the light, medium, medium/deep shades well. There are less truly deep shades, but the deepest shade is really quite deep. As I said, I do find they can run a little yellow, but hopefully you will be able to find a match.

I don’t find that I need to set this foundation with powder and it lasts a good 12 hours on me. It manages to keep my oils at bay pretty well and only starts to look slightly noticeable on the skin after 10 1/2 hours. I’ve tried this with a few different primers; the Dior Forever Skin Veil, the Revlon Smoothing and Perfecting and my beloved Estée Lauder Futurist Aqua Brilliance.

There wasn’t a huge difference between the Dior and the Revlon. They both performed well and my skin looked so smooth. Obviously these are two smoothing primers, so with the smoothing foundation too, my pores were minimised and my skin looked fab. I first tried it with the Estée Lauder as I wanted to see what the foundation could do on its own when it comes to blurring. Still good, I went out and didn’t feel like my skin looked bad. My skin still looked great! All in all, this definitely earned its spot on my Top 5 Beauty Products of February, I’ve been wearing it non stop and love it!

ROSE INC BLUSH DIVINE RADIANT LIP AND CHEEK COLOUR – £23 FROM SPACE NK

Why did I keep these on my wishlist for ages before buying them? They are so gorgeous and easy to work with. At the time of writing this I have two shades; Heliotrope and Ophelia. However, I have two more shades on the way – Foxglove and Anemone. When I opened the blushes for the first time I was like “wow” at their texture. They almost look like a sponge? And they feel dry on top. This is just a top layer though, as underneath is a creamy, blendable blush.

They stay put all day, work great with a beauty blender or brush and look seamless on the skin. Heliotrope is a nude pink and Ophelia a brighter pink with a hint of peach. I wear Heliotrope a lot at the moment, but coming into spring Ophelia will be getting her moment to shine!

When you see the sponge like texture on top of these blushes, you might notice they look a bit like the blush from the Natasha Denona Glam Face Palette. That’s where the similarities end though. I find the Natasha Denona to be a drier formula and it it’s pretty matte too. The Rose Inc blushes are still a thicker formula than some, but they reflect light beautifully and stay dewy. They’re also easier to work with and not as dry.

The packaging is minimalist and sleek. A magnetic closure with a pale pink compact and mirror inside. You can also buy the pans on their own for £14 and then switch out which blushes you put in the compacts. I’ve bought refill pans Foxglove and Anemone and will put them in a small magnetic palette I’ve got. If I were to travel with them, I’d put whichever one I wanted in the Rose Inc packaging.

My favourite way to apply these is with an angled, dense brush. I dab it into the blush to pick up a little colour then stipple across my cheekbones. You don’t need much, but the formula is buildable. Rose Inc do sell their own blush brush, which I may try at some point, but any angled denser brush will be similar.

I love how these look on my skin, they don’t go patchy or pick up foundation, my highlighter blends into them well, they look dewy and healthy on the skin. They are just beautiful!

RARE BEAUTY SOFT PINCH LIQUID BLUSH – £19 FROM SPACE NK

Rare Beauty has FINALLY landed in the UK! I’ve wanted to try the brand since it launched, so when I saw it was coming exclusively to Space NK, I did what any beauty addict would do and got my card right out to purchase!

I bought the foundation (only tried it once, need to test more to make my mind up), a highlighter (little bit hit and miss, find it lifts foundation/blush underneath it if you apply with finger), the concealer brush (love it), one of the melting blush (looks beautiful on skin, but not buildable. You need to apply what you want first time or it lifts) and I got a free sample of their dewy primer… WOAH shimmer. It’s very fine shimmer, but still you see it all over your face. When foundation goes on top, it’s not too noticeable, but I didn’t notice it really making my skin look more illuminated. It seems to be just pure shimmer.

Anyway, we’re not here to talk about all the other products, without doubt the star of all the products I tried is the Liquid Blush formula. There are matte and dewy shades. I have one matte shade in Bliss and three of the dewy formula; Happy, Hope and Encourage.

Now, before we go any further, let me warn you, these are INCREDIBLY pigmented. You can go from zero to clown cheeks in 0.5 seconds. You need one dab of the doe foot for each cheek. I put two dots, spaced out, on my hand, spread each one out with my finger and gently dip a dense brush into the dot. Then I stipple onto my cheeks.

The formula is very lightweight, it doesn’t lift the products underneath and it blends easily into the skin. It’s so thin, it’s like you’re wearing nothing and your cheeks are naturally flushed. I find both formulas the same to work with, but I think I prefer the finish of the dewy. That’s just because my cheeks can be dry, if you’re really oily, you’ll probably love the matte formula.

There’s no fading throughout the day with this formula, but it will transfer ever so slightly to masks. This is one of those formulas where I want to buy every shade, I just love it!

GUCCI ROUGE DE BEAUTÉ BRILLIANT LIPSTICKS – £35 FROM JOHN LEWIS

When Gucci relaunched their beauty range, I wasn’t really enamoured with it. I thought about trying the foundation, but other things came out and it got pushed down my wishlist. However, one of my favourite Youtuber’s had one of these lipsticks in the shade Sally Soft Honey and when I heard her explain it and saw the colour I had to try it!

It’s a super glossy formula, quite sheer, but buildable. I bought Sally Soft Honey first and it’s the perfect your lips, but better pinky nude. I loved the formula so much, I then went and purchased Julie Blush. Julie Blush looks a little orangey in the tube, but on me it pulls peachy pink. These are not long wearing formulas by any stretch of the imagination. However, they’re so comfortable to wear, easy to apply and make your lips looks amazing. No settling into lines and they wear off nicely too.

I’ve never really been a fan of matte lipstick, but would still go for thicker, creamy formulas. However, for the past year or so, I’ve been really into sheer, glossy formulas. You can just throw them on, sometimes even without a mirror making them easy and quick to apply.

The packaging feels luxe with these; the pattern may not be to my taste, but there’s no denying that your holding a heavy, well made product. Just a word of warning though – these are scented. Not a sweet vanilla scent like most lipsticks, it’s sort of a floral/slightly perfume-y scent. It’s not overly strong or overpowering and it doesn’t translate to the lips.

CHANTECAILLE LIP CHIC – £38 FROM CHANTECAILLE

The final product in my Top 5 Beauty Products of February is the Lip Chic formulas by Chantecaille. I have a couple of other shades of this, so already knew I enjoyed the formula. However, these particular shades are part of their new Giraffe Collection.

There are three shades included in this launch and I bought two shades; Jasmine and Freesia. I may still buy Willow because, honestly, all of the shades look like shades I’ll love. Jasmine is a light peach, Freesia is a slightly mauve toned nude pink. The Lip Chic formula is one of my favourites. It’s another one where it’s so effortless to apply. They’re lightweight, moisturising and easy to wear.

The packaging of this collection is gorgeous too; each shade has a different coloured holder with a little giraffe on. So cute and it feels nice in the hand. The closure is magnetic. Chantecaille is one of those brands I really trust, everything I’ve tried from them has been excellent. They’re a pricey brand, but their quality is second to none.

Although you could argue that the finish of these and the Gucci lipsticks are similar, I have worn both formulas so much over the last month, I just couldn’t choose between them!

There we have it! My Top 5 Beauty Products of February, see the video below to see swatches of the products!