october favourites

Ooh, we're really getting into winter now, aren't we? I've started wearing scarves on an almost daily basis now, and foundation has made an appearance on my face more often than not. Over the whole summer I reached for BB cream and concealer and not once touched foundation (well, maybe a few times) but the colder weather has upset my skin and I found myself returning to my old favourite, the Covergirl NatureLuxe foundation (I'm the lightest shade, Alabaster). The coverage is light/medium and is such a good match for my skin type - doesn't accentuate dry patches, covers up blemishes and redness and stays all day. If you want to get hold of this in the UK, I'm fairly certain that the Max Factor Xperience Weightless foundation is identical.
The Estee Lauder Advanced Night Repair (old formula) has been my staple serum for almost a whole year, but I've always used it sparingly and only once or twice a week as it is so expensive and I can't afford to be replacing my bottle every four months. However, this past few weeks have been an exception and I've been using this almost every night since my skin has been playing up recently. I can't tell you exactly what this serum does as, well... it kind of does everything. Any redness and dullness on my skin seems to vanish the morning after I apply it, and dry patches and blemishes both quieten down. My moisturiser absorbs better, makeup applies better and my skin looks like it's glowing. I cannot speak enough praise of it and I'm eager to try the new formula (not so keen to part with the cash though).
The weather hasn't been kind to my lips either, so I've busted out my NUXE Rêve de Miel despite promising myself to not start using it until I've worked my way through a few other lip balms in my stash (tell me I'm not the only one that does that). But my lips have been in such bad condition that I cracked it out of its packaging anyway, and my lips have thanked me. Rêve de Miel is heavy duty stuff. It's one of those one-in-a-million lip balm that don't leave your lips feeling dry as soon as it's worn off, and in fact I can put it on at night and wake up with softened lips. At £10 it's a pricey little thing, but it does the job and it does it well.
Moving on to eyes, I've been alternating my Collection Eyeshadow Pencil in Vanilla Sky that I mentioned in last month's favourites with the Bellapierre Shimmer Powder in Champagne for my inner corner highlight. The loose pigment is a shimmery, more golden version of Stila's Kitten and delivers a natural-looking brightening effect that make me look wide awake (when really all I want to do is curl up with a blanket and Sherlock on DVD) - it also works well as an all-over lid colour. 
The bright blue NYX eyeliner in Azure may look a little out of place for autumn, but it fitted right in while I was on holiday and I was wearing this almost daily. The formula on these NYX Slide-On Eye Pencils is incredible, they last all day and do not budge - even cleansing oil had a tough time getting the swatch off my arm. I honestly think that NYX have trumped Urban Decay and their famous 24/7 eyeliners with their formula, and the range is just beautiful too - Golden Olive is next on my hit list.