6 Beauty Products I Couldn't Live Without

I'm often asked about my favourite beauty products and brands, so I thought it was about time I did a round up of the 6 beauty products I couldn't live without. There's a whole lot more in my make up I couldn't go without (I wouldn't do that to the eyes of the public) but these 6 have got me through some particularly tough times.

CLARINS Instant Smooth Self-Tanning

My Mum bought me this badboy for my birthday after months of me sneakily - or so I thought - pilfering hers. For years and years (and years and years and years... shit I'm old) I've put a little bit of St Tropez lotion on along with my moisturiser before I go to bed. As much as I love it, it's quite hard to judge so sometimes I end up looking a bit tango'd the next day, plus Rob won't come near me when I've got it on because I 'smell like disgusting biscuits'. My life's been made 10x easier since discovering this little post of Clarin's gold; you can just apply it in the morning - I use it after moisturiser, before foundation - and it gives a really nice healthy glow. Plus, it glides on like silk. I'll never fully part with my old friend St Tropez, especially when it comes to tanning my body, but I think it's finally found it's match in the face department.

BENEFIT Gimme Brow

I've already dedicated a blog post/love note to this, so I won't talk about it again in too much depth for fear of it getting a restraining order on me, but it's yet to let me down. Most of the time I use it alongside my Benefit Instant brow pencil, but because of the mascara-like wand it's a great one to use on its own as well when you want a more natural look.

PRIMARK false nails

I managed to kick my chronic nail biting habit at the tail end of last year, only to fall right back into it this year.. SHAME. I've never really wanted to go for falsies as it feels like admitting defeat, but when the sight of your own nails makes you nauseous it's time to take some drastic action - it was either wear false nails or permanently hide my hands in a bag of crisps, and my waistline just can't handle the latter right now. I picked up a whole selection of the £1 Primark ones without much hope for them, but they've been amazing. The glue's obviously not as strong as the more expensive packs, but you get a good few days out a set before they start falling off - and I'm always secretly happy when they do because then I can give another print a go.

MAC To The Future! Pro Longwear lipstick

The search for a good nude lipstick is an ever-lasting one, but this one has been my go-to for about half a year now. It's slightly peachy which seems to work well with my complexion, and because it's matte finish it lasts much longer than my glossier lipsticks. Which is good because I down on average 80 cups of tea a day and it was getting expensive re-applying it after every single one.

CARMEX

Oooft, look at that. That's one well loved tub, isn't it? I'm a long term sufferer of dry-lippedness, and Carmex is one of the only two lipbalms I've ever found that delves in and cures it (Burt's bees is the other if you're wondering), rather than just sitting on the surface of my lips not really doing anything. I think I've got about 6 of these hidden all over in bags, coat pockets and bedside drawers so that I'm never far from one in an SOS lip emergency

Last but not least is good old dry shampoo, especially now that I've got my fringe cut back in. I always seem to go for Batiste, and again I have mini ones hidden in several of my handbags for when the going gets greasy.

Amy