Back to Beige - Ditching the Red Lip

January is a strange month; the magical feelings of Christmas are a world away, and springtime is still a distant hope, and I find that my mood at this time is reflected in my makeup choices. Having worn red or berry lips and nails for the whole of December, by this point I'm pretty much ready to toss my festive favourites out of the window (metaphorically of course), instead opting for neutral tones. These are some of the nude lipstick and nail polish shades that I've been loving this month. 

Lips

I'll admit that I picked up "My Nude" from Rimmel's Kate Moss collection mainly because of the packaging - it's rose gold, so instagrammable! I'm really glad I decided to buy it on a whim, because it has become one of my favourite neutral shades. On me this wears as a true nude, a "my lips but better" shade so it's perfect for these in between January days. The formula isn't the most long lasting so I do find myself re-applying through the day, but I don't mind too much as I tend to wear this to work, so can just top it up at my desk. 

Another lipstick that I picked up recently was the shade "Stockholm" from NYX. NYX was never a brand that was really on my radar until the end of last year when I picked up their Soft Matte Lip Cream in "Sao Paulo" and fell in love with the formula (they don't dry my lips out at all which is something that I always look for in a liquid lipstick), and of course the affordable price tag. Stockholm is a little lighter and more peachy than my natural lip colour but still very subtle, and I find that it doesn't wear off as quickly as the Rimmel offering. 

A product that I'm sure would be featuring in this section had it arrived on time for the post (and for me to actually try it out of course!) would be Charlotte Tilbury's Pillow Talk Lipstick. This week my Instagram feed has been filled with pictures of this gorgeous new shade, and so far everyone seems to love it. Of course if it's a disappointment I'll let you know, but let's be honest, I'm probably going to love it too. I'm so excited for it to arrive next week! 

Nails

I couldn't write about nude nail polishes without including one of my all time favourite shades, Essie's "Eternal Optimist", a gorgeous dusky pink which is incredibly flattering to my skin tone (super pale, if you were wondering). It's pretty without being too girly and I find myself reaching for it throughout the year. Another Essie pick is the shade "Sugar Daddy" which is a pale pastel pink, almost the same colour as my actual nails. I wear this when I want my nails to look neat and healthy but not too "done", as it's quite sheer so you can still see some of the nail underneath. 

As soon as I saw the shade "Cafe De Nuit" by L'oreal on Caroline's blog, I knew I had to try it! It's a salmon nude which is quite different to the other neutral polishes I own, which is one of the main reasons I wanted to try it. The brush is large which means you can pretty much cover your whole nail in one stroke, and the packaging itself is so aesthetically pleasing. At £4.99 it's a steal!

So there are my neutral shades right now, let me know if you have any more recommendations in the comments.

Fx