My Top 5 Spring Beauty Essentials

For me, the definition of springtime beauty is products that make you feel fresh, pretty and awake. Around this time year I switch up the products I like to use to make them more suited to the season, and these are my top 5 beauties for spring 2016. 

1. Max Factor Creme Puff Blush - Lovely Pink

This little superstar baked blush has been raved about so much in the beauty blogging universe and very rightly so. A complete parallel to the much-loved Hourglass Ambient Lighting blushes but won't blow up the bank, the whole Creme Puff Blush range is soft and lightweight but at the same time very buildable and pigmented. The colour Lovely Pink is the ideal shade for spring: it's quite a subtle shade but adds a natural, flushed look to your cheeks. The base of the shade is a gorgeous blue-toned pink but intertwined with a shimmery gold so it does well at doubling up as a highlighter too. Lovely Pink is probably a shade best suited to fairer skin tones like my own, but others from the range such as Alluring Rose and Seductive Pink would probably have the same effect on more tanned skin. Each blush is priced at £8.99, so at the higher end of the drugstore price range but totally worth it. It just looks very fresh and cute - it screams springtime! 

2. MAC Pro Longwear Paint Pot - Bare Study

Tying in with the sparkle in the blush, I think the best time to wear a splash of shimmer is springtime. This MAC Paint Pot in Bare Study adds the perfect amount of shimmer, but is still in-keeping with the fresh and subtle looks I go for at this time of year . MAC's website describes the colour as a "soft beige with gold pearl", which is think describes it perfectly. For someone with fair skin, this colour makes for the ideal everyday eye shadow; it almost matches my skin tone but adds a golden/champagne sparkle that looks incredible when it catches the light. The formula is so deliciously creamy and, as the name would suggest, lasts pretty much all day.  For more darker skin tones, I would recommend the colours Camel Coat, Groundwork or Constructivist if you're looking for the same neutral but glittering effect. They can also be used as a base for other shadows to help them last that extra bit longer whilst adding that little bit of background colour. As expected, these gems are a bit more on the expensive side at £16, but recently I've certainly been getting my money's worth.

3. Revlon Colourburst Lip Butter - Juicy Papaya 

If you suffer from dry lips come rain or shine like me, these lipsticks are a true blessing. These superbly pigmented, uber mositurising lip butters come in a great number of shades, although my top pick for springtime is Juicy Papaya. This is where we move slightly further away from the subtle colours previously mentioned - Juicy Papaya is a mix of coral, melon, pale pink and orange but still somehow manages to look pretty natural. Two things I would say about these: make sure your lips are exfoliated before application since it sticks to the dry patches on your lips, and secondly it does melt and gets very messy so make sure you keep it in a cool, dry place. But these are small prices to pay for a long-wearing, extremely comfortable lip colour that can take you way into summer. At £7.99, you're essentially buying both a lip balm and a lipstick in one - one of my favourite formulas at an equally appealing price. 

4. Rimmel 60 Second Shine Nail Polishes - Lose Your Lingerie, Breakfast in Bed

 and Go Wild-er-ness

And this is where you can really go all out. What's spring without pretty pastel nails? My three favourites come from Rimmel's 60 Second Shine range. Lose Your Lingerie (left) is a shimmering pale pink, almost an off-white pink. Breakfast in Bed (middle) is a duck-egg blue, probably my favourite of the three. Finally, Go Wild-er-ness is a bright, solid purple. All three have a stunning sheen to them, and the wide brushes on each of them allow the shimmer to be spread equally over the nail. They do take about three coats, but it can be quite hard to get pastels completely opaque, and they do dry fairly quickly too. These lovely little polishes are £2.99 each and there are often offers on at Boots regarding Rimmel products - it's a no-brainer, really. 

5. The Library of Fragrance - Orange Blossom and Jack Wills - Hope Cove

Lastly, we move on to fragrance. For a more pungent perfume, I recommend The Library of Fragrance's Orange Blossom scent one million times over. I bought this about two weeks ago, and even though its a singular scent, it's very possibly my new favourite fragrance. It's an interesting blend of fruity and floral notes which combine to make a gorgeously fresh scent ideal for probably both spring and summertime. The Library of Fragrance's colognes can be layered to create individual scents, and judging by the other scents in the range it would also be scrummy with the Sunshine fragrance. For a lighter option, I like the Jack Wills Hope Cove body mist. A quick and easy spritz of this makes for instant rejuvenation. It's quite a difficult scent to describe but I would mostly explain it to people as a very fresh and easy-to-wear everyday spray. These are available in Jack Wills stores rather than online so I'm not entirely sure how much it is, but I doubt it'll break the bank. 

From, 

Eleanor