March Beauty Favourites

I am way behind with my posts for this month trying to balance work and constantly working evening, I try to spend what little spare time I have with my little family...my little one is so chatty and full of personality these days so I try not to miss anything! There are so many things I've been getting good use out of recently so here are my favourite beauty products for the month of March.

The Body Shop Strawberry Body Polish
£5.00(75ml) or £10.00(200ml) from The Body Shop here.
When I'm doing the whole full wack body exfoliating, shaving shebang, I tend to use a seperate body exfoliator and then follow up with a shaving foam or shower gel so I have a good lather to work with. This not only exfoliates but it lathers up as well which is brilliant and saves time using additional products. It smells beautiful of course, it isn't too harsh and leaves my skin feeling really soft.
La Roche-Posay Effaclar Purifying Foaming Gel
£9.75(200ml) from Escentual here.
I've been in urgent need of a cleanser suited to current skincare concerns and this always does the trick. It makes my skin feel so lovely and clean, it doesn't irritate my face at all and as it doesn't contain soap I never experience any dryness after using.
L'oreal Skin Perfection 15 Second Miracle Cleansing Oil 
£6.79(150ml) from Feel Unique Here or Boots.
Cleansing oils have slowly become my go to product to remove make-up as I tend to wear quite a thick foundation base and I have found that oil breaks up my make-up the easiest. I had previously just used my DHC Cleansing Oil sample but spotted this in Boots on offer and thought I would give it a whirl. I massage two pumps of this into my skin and it gets rid of everything.
No7. Total Renewal Micro-dermabrasion Exfoliator
£11.50(150ml) from Boots here.
Doing a bit of research on the best exfoliators out there, I came across this several times and decided to grab it whilst I had a voucher to use. I haven't really used a face exfoliator for ages now and generally just relied on flannel or my Clarisonic Mia to exfoliate. This product is well worth trying out, it leaves my skin feeling super smooth and I think it has reduced the redness of my acne scarring to some extent
ELF Studio Makeup Mist & Set
£3.95(60ml) from ELF here.
This little beaut had been gathering dust for some reason in my dressing table drawer when I had a lightbulb moment one day and ended up rediscovering just what an amazing little budget buy this is. I have been using quite a thick foundation recently in the form of the Rimmel Lasting Finish Foundation which can sometimes make me look a little cakey. A few spritz' of the ELF setting spray on my face and my make-up magically appears seamlessly blended in with not a trace of the dreaded cake face in sight.

Blink+Go Eyeshadow and Blush Pallette
I've found myself reaching for this soooo much recently, the shades are beautifully soft and the pigmentation is spot on. Unfortunately this palette has been discontinued now, which is such a shame as I particularly love the khaki and brown eyeshadow shades as they create a not too OTT smokey eye for the daytime.
Rimmel Moisture Renew Lipstick in Notting Hill Nude
£6.49(150ml) from Feel Unique here or Boots.
This is my fail safe lip colour - swatches and review here - for when I don't feel like being adventurous (that would be most of the time) and it lasts for a pretty decent amount of time. It doesn't hurt that I love the tacky purple packaging although I think the newest formula is in a slightly more modern looking tube. A great budget beauty buy nonetheless for ladies who love lipstick.
Nails Inc. Elizabeth Street  Nail Polish
£11.00(10ml) from Look Fantastic here.
I love a good pink nail manicure and this is one of my favourite baby pink polishes. The formula is awesome, the longevity is good with Seche Vite top coat applied over and it's just such a pretty colour.

French Pharmacy Haulin'

L-R: Avene Cleanance K Cream Gel, La Roche-Posay Effalcar Mat Moisturiser, Nuxe Rêve de Miel Lip Balm, La Roche-Posay Effaclar Purifying Foaming Gel and Avene Thermal Spring Water.

So I may have gone a bit skincare mad recently and with so many amazing deals floating about during the month of March, I was oh so tempted to spend a wad and fill my bathroom cabinet for the year. Luckily, Mother's Day was at the end of the month so it was the perfect excuse for me to convince the other half that I HAD to get all this stuff whilst it was on offer and he eventually gave in and let me fulfil my fancy, french skincare wishes. French pharmacy skincare is renowned for being pretty awesome, effective stuff and from my own point of view, I've been really impressed with the brands I've tried out so far. I decided to grab a few more bits from the La Roche-Posay Effaclar range as I'd already discovered the awesomeness that is Effaclar Duo. I would normally use Duo as my daily moisturiser/make-up base as I have quite oily skin and it does the trick of keeping oiliness to a minimum alongside the other benefits of fighting blemishes etc. This time around, I fancied trying something a bit thicker and more moisturising so opted for the Effaclar Mat which claims to tighten pores, slow sebum production down and in a nutshell, mattify the skin whilst thoroughly moisturising. I also picked up the accompanying cleanser, the Effaclar Purifying Foaming Gel as I have been in dire need of a face wash targeted towards my skin concerns. Having heard Lisa Eldridge rave about the Avene range, I obviously had to throw a couple of their beauts into my basket so I went with the Cleanance K Cream Gel which I have started using as a night treatment and the Thermal Spring Water, to refresh and set my make-up. Of course, I had to pick up the widely raved about Nuxe Rêve de Miel Honey Lip Balm, as this has been on my must-have radar for quite a while and I also mentioned this on my most recent beauty wishlist.

I will try and review all of the products mentioned here, once I have used them all consistently for a solid period of time. Everything mentioned here is available from Escentual and all of the products I bought were on promotion with up to a third off selected products, I would definitely advise trying to contain yourself and making the most of these kind's of promo's when they crop up.

What are your favourite French pharmacy goodies?