Beautifinous.

We all know that removing makeup can become a chore and we are all on the hunt to find the best makeup remover. You may have seen them, but the MakeUp Eraser makeup remover cloth brings with it the promise to remove your makeup with just water. Magic! However, they come in at around £15 and one cloth isn't going to last forever, so from the money perspective, where is the benefit?

Remove makeup with just glorious, magical water!

That's where today's beauty tip comes in: micorofibre cloths.

Yep, those things that you use to clean your kitchen can also be used to remove your makeup. Obviously I'm talking about new and unused cloths, not ones that have already been used to clean surfaces (ew!), but after I found out about this tip they have become my best friend.

As we’re getting ready to say goodbye to 2014, I thought that I would take a look back at some of my favourite beauty finds from throughout the year.

Whilst not every product is a 2014 release, they are all products that I have personally tried out for the first time this year. You may have seen a bit about each product on the blog already if you are a regular reader and you may have tried some of them yourself. If you haven’t tried them out though then this list can also be seen as my top recommendations from this year.

I must say though, this list has been pretty difficult to compile. There have been so many great products that I have come by this year that trying to narrow it down to a select few was one heck of a challenge! Some products only narrowly missed being included, but I have given some of them an honourable mention at the end of the post.

Speaking of the end of the post, I have also saved the best product until last. The end of the post details my top overall product from 2014, so make sure you get down to the end to see what is my most highly recommended product! 

As well as including primarily adult-beauty products, I have also included my top baby toiletry product of the year for other parents out there.

Feel free to leave a comment at the end of the post discussing your top products, too! 

So here we have it: The Beautifinous Top Beauty Products of 2014.

Oily & blemish-prone skin can be a total nightmare to have to live with. You constantly try out different skincare products such as face washes, toners and moisturiers to find your holy grail product, but you may find that time after time you aren’t getting anywhere. Also, when you have less time to spend on things such as makeup to disguise particular skin conditions, clearing up your skin can turn into a real timesaver. 

Over the years, I have reached my own conclusion regarding skincare for blemish prone skin: what works brilliantly for one may only work out as ‘so-so' for another, and vice versa. I've also learnt that that's okay, but it can take time to discover your personal holy grail product. 

I have tried out more face washes and treatments than I dare to count. Whilst I found some of them to do virtually nothing for my skin, there were a few that showed some results. These are the products that I have compiled into a list just for you, hoping that you may find your perfect face wash to finally help you get clearer skin! 

You might have tried some of them, loved them or despised them, but I do think that they are worth a try if you haven't already given them a go. You may find a new favourite, or maybe even your new miracle wash!

So here we have it: the Top 6 Facial Washes for Oily, Blemish-Prone Skin.

We’re already half way through the year. I know, already! Therefore, I decided to take a mid-year look back at what Birchbox UK has had to offer so far in 2014. I could easily be writing this at the end of the year, but due to the difficulty that I have had trying to narrow down this list, I have decided to split it into half year sections!



If you don't know what Birchbox is, then please check out my 'Beauty Boxes' page for a quick explanation!

Due to the fact that Birchbox select what samples each person will be receiving, there are certain products that I never had the chance to test out. This means that those products weren’t really able to be taken into consideration. However, if you received different products that you would classify as being one of the best that you have received this year so far, definitely leave a comment at the end!

In regards to planning out my list, there was only one way that I could really structure it. I have selected my favourite products in the format of a Birchbox: 5 samples and an additional lifestyle extra!

So without further ado, here is my list of ‘The Best of Birchbox 2014 part 1,’ with part 2 coming at the end of the year:

Have you ever considered making your own skincare products? Just think about it; skincare that you can be sure only includes the things that you want. 100% natural, organic or as synthetic as you like. And you get to feel like you have accomplished something. Sound good? Then read on!*





A while back, I wrote a post about essential oils that included advice and uses for them from Paul at Freshskin. I also posted a couple of pieces discussing One Love Organics Skin Savior (with a quick mention of Lush’s Ultrabland), Liz Earle’s Cleanse & Polish and Burt’s Bees Cuticle Cream. Taking most of my inspiration from OLO’s Skin Savior (in regards to the multi-purpose aspect) as well as inspiration from Cleanse & Polish, Ultrabland and the Lemon Butter Cuticle Cream, I placed an order at Freshskin to attempt creating my own multi-purpose balm.

Along with this I was inspired by Liz Earle’s Super Skin Concentrate - which I have used in the past - to create a nice facial oil.

Over the next couple of posts I am going to discuss my methods for making both of these products. I’m going to start off by discussing the balm, how I made it, how it worked and how it stands up in comparison to the aforementioned inspirational products. In my next post, I will be discussing the same things but with the facial oil.


*Before starting, I would like to clarify that I am not an expert in aromatherapy or producing skincare products but I do enjoy experimenting with my own blends.  Any recipe that has been posted on my blog has been tested out by myself before even being considered as a post. However, if you do have any bad reactions to any DIY recipe posted here, please stop using the product straight away. Also, please do keep essential oil safety in mind when applying them anywhere!

One Love Organics Skin Savior Waterless Balm is a multi-use balm made up of a range of oils, extracts and wax. Every single oil and extract is plant based, cold-pressed and blended into this beautiful balm. The extracts and oils are able to clear out all of the dirt in your pores without stripping the protective layer of skin.





I have mentioned this cream a couple of times previously in my Top 10 Mulitasking Beauty Products post as well as my Birchbox April 2014 review. It arrived as part of my April Birchbox and I have become obsessed with it!

As I explained in my top 10 post, multitasking products are fantastic for busy mums because they're just so darn convenient! Plus, think of the money you save when you have one product that you can use for everything!

From this, I decided to set myself a challenge to find as many uses for this balm as I possibly could and write about how each method worked out.

Birchbox is a monthly beauty box that includes 5-6 deluxe samples of beauty and lifestyle products that are tailored to you.

You get to discover new products and test them out in the comfort of your own home with no pressure to buy the full product if you don’t like it! However, if you do enjoy it, you can purchase the full sizes from the Birchbox store with the most recent month’s brands being available with free delivery (min. £10 spend)! 



Also, you are able to earn yourself Birchbox points that you can use to spend in the store. Each month you can provide feedback on your samples in the form of survey’s and each one filled out earns you 5 Birchbox points. Every box and product purchased even earns you points, so when you have collected enough you can buy a full size product for nothing (you have to buy in blocks of £10)! How amazing!


So if you are interested to see what I received in my April 2014 Birchbox and what I think of the products, then here we are:

Multitasking products are fantastic to have around. Why? They save you money, space and time. What isn't fantastic about that?!

As a mum I especially find multitasking products a godsend. Every penny saved is another penny that I can spend on my son and every second saved is another I can spend with him rather than doing things like moisturising or makeup (which I wait to do later on or not at all if my son needs me, obviously!). Seeing him smile means far more to me than anything else! Alongside that though, some multitaskers that I have used have been better than products with singular usage.

From this, I have decided to write up a list of some of my favourite multitaskers. From skincare to makeup, I've tried to cover everything.

So without further ado, here they are! In no particular order...