October Favourites

I've had a little break the past few days, the Halloween festivities took over a little bit. October was a great month for the aul blog, I managed to write more frequently then most months and I hope that I'll keep it up in November too. October saw a massive increase in followers (hello there friends!) lots of sexy posts and doing mad amounts of Halloween make up friends and family. I was finally introduced to Walking Dead and Octobers issue of the Buffy comic was particularly brilliant. Pumpkin carving was upped a level and there was lots of time spent in Lush bubble baths. Over all, October was good to me.

Your going to notice a lot of conkers in the photos, but there not just for decoration! These are one of my monthly favourites because I've decked out the house with loads of little bowls of them. Not once have I seen a spider around since. The old wives tale about conkers warding off spiders seems to be true. Magic stuff. And if all the spiders suddenly appear back, I have ammo to fire at them! Its really a win, win situation. And also, appoligies for the dark, slightly out of focus photos, the light was fading fast and I really wanted to get this post up today!

As with every month, I've been picking up the odd bargain around the place. One of those was a dupe for the Bonrjois nail varnish remover pot. This Dealz €1.49 twist&out one has a fruit fragrance and works just as well as the €7 one. Totally blown away as I thought when it comes to nail varnish remover more expensive means better quality, but thats not the case here. Love it!

Next is a wonderful little offering from Lush, Grease Lightening spot treatment. You can put this on at any time of day and as often as you like. I slather a load of this clear gel on just before bed and in the morning my spots have done one of two things. The smaller ones have gone down considerably and the bigger ones have come to a head. This really seems to push out the impurities in the skin and its great if you have a covering of just a few small spots to send them packing. For the slightly bigger ones it will take a few days for them to be banished from your skin, but its a less harsh product to use then some of the spot treatments out there. I wouldn't recommend using this if you were going to put make up on over it, as it flakes slightly if you put on anything but the tiniest bit. 

I've blogged about the Hero Brush in October but I've honestly not used another foundation brush the entire month. This is a bit of a hassle for me as I'm forever applying make up and then running off to wash it and let it dry for the next day. Just goes to show how much I love it considering I'm normally awfully lazy about washing my brushes and only clean them after every single one has been used. You can read the full review over here. 

Never before have I made up so many faces as I have this Halloween. Friends and family all wanted some form of hallowed out, pasty and dead looking appearances so my gorgeous Sleek contour and highlighter palette got some serious loving and use. I'd forgotten just how great this is and know I'll be using it lots more again. Its under €10 and comes in several shades to choose from. It also has a handy big mirror and the packaging is really sturdy. I did a review of it way back, over here. 

Over the past few weeks I have been all about the bolder shades of lip stick. I have more reds in my collection then is healthy, so I'm starting to look to burgundy reds and even plums and purples. In comes the most gorgeous purple from Christian Breton. I was lucky enough to be given this from The Cosmetic Outlet to try out and my god, its just perfect. Available online for €17 from the Christian Breton site, I was shocked that The Cosmetic Outlet was selling it for the bargain €10. I'm going back in to pick up another as part of a Christmas present for a friend. Its moisturising, highly pigmented and lasts ages. Its all I've been wearing on my lips in October and without a doubt I'll be using it all Winter.

Lastly I'm a sucker for trying to find the perfect dry shampoo and Tesco has the new Herbal Essence range on offer, so I picked up most of them. By far I'm really liking the orange uplifting volume one. Theres no white powder like Batiste and it leaves a lovely smell in your hair. I wouldn't say its the most amazing dry shampoo if your hair is really greasy, but if your day 2 of not washing your hair, then its perfect. You can also get them all in Boots if you fancy picking up a few Boots points along the way.

Mini Lush (Halloween) Haul

You know me, when it comes to Christmas and Halloween I just can't help myself at Lush (not that I can help myself when I go in any other time either!) I was due a visit as I had counted down to the 3rd when they put all their exciting new stock out. While I was there I picked up a few other bits too. Everything smells extra lovely and is extra covered in glitter too. Mmm, perfection!

First off i pick up a a shampoo for my blonde/purple mop. I love Daddy-O and have used it lots of times in the past. This has a strong smell of violets so it can take some getting used to. This is meant to add volume and shine to your hair while also getting rid of the brassy tones in blonde and grey hair that can happen when dyed or just if your looking to brighten up your hair a little, This is packed with seaweed, lemon and lime juice, sea salt and coconut oil. I use this about 3 times a week just to keep my hair looking less dull and to even out the blonde tones. Its not one I would just daily as its €6.95 for 100g which is the smallest bottle. Something to look out for if you have your hair dyed and want a little boost. 

Next I had seen Grease Lightening popping up in lots of videos and favourites posts, so I decided to try it out. I have lots of face uglies to try it out on after all! This spot treatment is a see through gel that has antibacterial and antiseptic tea tree, rosemary and thyeme, grape juice, aloe vera and witch hazel. All help with inflammations, redness and reducing spots. You can really smell the antiseptic tea tree, which I like because it makes me feel like everything is extra clean. I'm not sure after appilying it for only a few days if I can see much of a difference, but I'll keep having a go and maybe do a review. This is €7.50 for 45g.

bath bomb and a bubble bar. Northern Lights is a lovely big bath bomb thats covered in stars, a little glitter and is my favourite colour, purple. When I bought this the girl replaced the first one for me as it had broken, and when I got home my second one had broken too. So if you want yours in one piece keep a special eye on it in the bag. Since picking this up I've used it in the bath and it makes the most lovely purple and pink bath water. Theres lots of colours in between when its dissolving in the bath, greens, blues and more. It has jasmine and ylang-ylang scents mixed into it to make a really relaxing soak. Its a nice bath bomb but for €4.50 I think I'll try something else next time. 

Lastly I picked up the really cute and over the top glittery Halloween Sparkly Pumpkin. This was €4.50 and I have yet to use it but I am expecting great things from it. It has a lovely slightly citrus  smell  and I'm sure I'll be covered in head to toe bubbles and glitter. I might do a little post on this too with some photos. Now all thats left is to start having a browse at all the lovely Christmas things!