January Favourites

Hello there! Welcome to my first blog post (minus the ones I posted and deleted when I realised they were incredibly cringy- 'about me' tags really aren't my thing!). I thought I'd ease my way into the whole blogging malarkey with a simple post about what products I've enjoyed this past month.
The last few weeks have been pretty exhausting; going back to work after having time off during Christmas and saying goodbye to my boyfriend who went back to uni again was not fun, so the products mentioned in this post provided a well needed pick-me-up this month!

Karrimor Running Tights:
After making the New Years resolution this month to exercise more often (as everyone does), I thought I'd treat myself to some relatively expensive running leggings/tights rather than getting some for a fiver at Primark. However, when I went into Sports Direct and found some in the sale and in my size for £17.99 I was chuffed, as the RRP for these are about £50. Job done. I'm pretty pleased with my progress so far, as I've been able to slowly increase the amount of time I'm on the treadmill for as well as how fast I'm running, so I'm keen to keep this up for the rest of the year!

Zara Woman Oriental perfume:
I hadn't really cared about buying expensive perfume. There are so many options and it always seemed such a hassle because I didn't know what sort of scent I liked. This was until June of last year, when I was given 'See' by Chloe for my birthday and absolutely loved it. I then bought the summer version of 'Daisy' by Marc Jacobs as a treat to myself when I started my job and decided that buying perfume was actually quite fun. When I was visiting my friend in London we stopped by a Zara near Covent Garden before I got the train home and she absent-mindedly sprayed one of the perfumes. And it smelt incredible. It reminded me of one of the Victor and Rolf perfumes that I had on my wishlist but was way out of my price range, so next time I went to Zara I had a sniff of all the perfumes available and was shocked to see that they were all only £10. A great alternative to the expensive bottles if you can find one you like, which really does show you are paying for the brand rather than the scent in most cases. Thanks Zara!

Sally Hansen Cuticle Massage Cream:
I've always disliked my nails, mostly because I was self-conscious that I used to bite my nails until a few years ago and my hands always seemed to be dry. I'd never thought about getting cream specifically for my cuticles but when I noticed that my favourite blogger Estée had talked about a cuticle oil by Essie in her January Favourites I decided to look into it. From Estée's review I was even fully prepared to spend the £8.99 to get a bottle myself (that's what beauty blogger pressure does to you!) until I went into TK Maxx and found the Sally Hansen Cuticle Massage Cream in the clearance section for £2.40. I have to admit, this one's a bit of a cheat because I bought it on the 30th January so I haven't loved it for the whole of January, but loving it a lot on the last day of the month means it's allowed, right?

Soap & Glory Powder Trip:
The story behind this one is a confusing one (for me, at least). After work one day I decided to have a last look at the gift section in Boots to see if there were any other half-price sets that took my fancy. I didn't get anything by Soap and Glory for Christmas and had never owned any of their make-up range, so when I saw this blusher/bronzer/highlighter trio I was sold. If you've never seen this product, I think you should quickly Google it so that you can appreciate how pretty the set is.
The set contains 'Glow All Out' luminizing face powder, 'Love at First Blush' multi shimmer blushing powder and 'Solar Powder' multi shade bronzer, as well as a so-called 'handy' half moon powder brush (really you're a lot better off using a targeted blusher brush like one by Real Techniques).
Going back to the story, I found this set at the back of the store, but couldn't see a price on any of the products. I'm not sure if my ears were lying to me, but when I asked a shop assistant, I truly believe she said they were £5- which I was completely on-board with. I then went to the self-checkout to buy this item, but when I scanned it, it said that it was £10. I asked a different shop assistant (a younger male) to check and I said I didn't think I wanted it if it wasn't £5. The next few minutes are a bit of a blur, I'm not sure if it was because the boy didn't know how to scan products properly or because he wanted me to have it for a cheaper price, because it ended up that I got the set for £2.50. I know. I still feel like security guards are going to jump on me when I walk into Boots because getting £7.50 off a product that was half price anyway seems a bit ridiculous, but then again, if it meant that I was financially able to purchase such a product, it seems fine to me!

Snow Fairy Shower Gel:
I'm sure this is a product that everyone has tried, because it's rated 4.5/5 on the Lush website so I'm sure it's not much of a secret that I loved Snow Fairy too. January is a good month for Lush and I because it means that I can buy all of their yummy Christmas products for half price (the reason why my blog is called 'Britishandbroke' should be blatantly obvious by now). I usually just get the Snow Fairy Magic Wand bubble bar to swish around in my bath but I thought I should get the shower gel to match because I always think the smell is stronger when you use coordinating bath products! As you can see in the picture, it doesn't look like I've used it much- this is my attempt to savor it until December/January next year so I'll never be without it!

Bourjois Little Round Pot Blusher in 'Healthy Mix':
I'm a fan of Bourjois make up, but the products never seem to be worth the prices and I always think I could find a better quality product online. As always, Amazon came to the rescue when they started selling some of Bourjois' blushers for half their RRP which meant that I could fully justify a purchase. I bought the shade 'Healthy Mix' as I thought it looked the most natural blush as well as being a pretty colour. The first thing I noticed about the blush was how it smelt, which is quite a strange quality in a blusher! It smells as if you've sprayed your favourite perfume in your Grandma's house, so its two different but still nice smells blending into one. I think that's the weirdest way I've described a smell!

The Body Shop Passionfruit Body Butter:
I never used to buy products from The Body Shop, which now thinking back I'm questioning why that is! The first time in a while that I had a good look round the shop was when my work was given 50% for all its staff in December (which I hope happens more often!) and I completely regret not buying more as I just got two body butters for my Mum as part of her Christmas present. Thankfully in January I got another fantastic offer when The Body Shop had 40% off all stock, including products which were already in the sale. This meant that I ended up getting 6 items for £13.80! (Just in case you wanted to know, I got Passion Fruit Body Butter, Passionberry Lip Balm, Vitamin E Gentle Facial Wash, Aloe Calming Facial Cleanser, Vanilla Bliss Hand Cream and Passion Fruit Shower Gel).
To start with, the smell of their Passionfruit range is heavenly. As I mentioned with the Lush Shower Gel, I always prefer to use bath products with the same scent as it seems to last longer, which is why I also got the Shower Gel of this range- perfect combo!

What Maisie Knew (2014):

When I decided to include a film in my January Favourites, the first thing I thought of is 'What Maisie Knew'. It's an modernized version of Henry James' classic novel about a young girl caught between her parents in a bitter divorce and the main role is played brilliantly by Onata Aprile, alongside Julianne Moore, Steve Coogan and Alexander Skarsgård. My favourite genre of film as a rule seems to be those where nothing that exciting or monumental happens but instead you follow the characters through a short part of their lives that changes them in different ways; another example being Like Crazy which is one of my favourite films. All in all, What Maisie Knew is an look into some of the truths of modern life through innocent eyes and the overall tone of the film is sweet and light despite the main premise.

Images by Google- edited by me

So there's my January Favourites, I hope you enjoyed reading this post- let me know what products were your favourite this month and I'll check them out!