Time for another round of favourites! Today's edition is special because it's the first one posted during Spring – woohoo! I seriously can barely contain my excitement over the fact Summer is just around the corner, can you tell? Anyways, onto my favourite products throughout the month of March.

I don't know about you but I'm absolutely smitten with Zara's SS17 collection! Zara is my fave shop in the whole wide world and I made the mistake of going in this weekend, resulting in quite a bit of damage. This time I couldn't resist and brought two beautiful pieces home with me, but I have SO many more on my wishlist for Spring & Summer...

Good skincare products at affordable prices? Yes, it's possible! Allow me to explain: when it comes to skincare, there are some things I feel you can splurge on (oils, serums, masks, et al) and others you can save on – and that is moisturisers.

These goodies are all 2.99€ and let me tell you, they are bloomin' brilliant. After hearing the Cien Aqua Moisturising Cream (the one with the turquoise lid) was named the best moisturiser on the market, above La Mer's 225€ offering – considered the worst of them all! –, I was definitely intrigued. It sells out almost every time it hits the shelves here, so I ran to my local Lidl and snapped up all 4 of these to test out. Three months later, here are my opinions on them!

KIKO Eyeshadow Palette • KIKO Matte Lipstick in Essential Rose • KIKO Cream Blush in Impalpable Rose • Jouer Long-Wear Lip Crème in Blush • Marc Jacobs Dew Drops Gel Highlighter • Benefit Hoola Lite Bronzer

I'm SO excited about the new beauty releases that have been popping up left, right and centre lately! Spring and Summer are definitely my favourite seasons of the year (duh) and all these fresh, glowy and lovely beauty news are only increasing my excitement! Today I thought I'd share what's new in the drugstore and luxury departments this month...

Right, so I did a very naughty thing, and that naughtiness was splurging on a darn Giorgio Armani foundation. I still don't think any foundation is worth more than 30€ (even that is a stretch), but the pull with Armani foundations was so strong that I just HAD to try one myself!

Instead of going for the traditional Luminous Silk, I decided that the new Power Fabric foundation, which offers a long lasting velvet matte finish, was more appropriate for my combo skin because of the dry heat we're going to get in Portugal this Summer. So, do I think it's worth the hype? Well...

It's no secret that I'm pretty much obsessed with high end makeup. Though I will find a pretty nice product at the drugstore every once in a while, I much prefer to save my pennies and invest in luxury products that not only look amazing, but perform amazingly as well. 

My investments allow me to single out some of the brands I wholeheartedly recommend if you're looking to purchase some luxury goodies, some of which I'm sharing with you today!

What you see here, my girlies, is the start of a very dangerous addiction. I put off investing in my very first Hourglass blush simply because one, it's expensive as hell and two, I knew I was going to fall in love with everything about them – which inevitably means I'm one step closer to declaring bankruptcy ;). 

Seriously, these had been on my radar for the longest time, but there was always the price thing holding me back. However, with Summer coming around, I knew I wanted a beautiful pink blush that mimics the natural flush of the cheeks, so I pretty much hit the jackpot with Luminous Flush!

It's March, the birds are singing, the weather is getting warmer (27 degrees last week, yaaas) and my spirits are definitely a lot higher. I've set some goals for myself – some superficial, some not so much – that I want to see accomplished this month...

I'm a total skincare junkie. If before I was very laid back (aka lazy) with my skin and used whatever was on offer or in my cabinet, now I go out of my way to research the best skincare to invest in. Because I'm totally obsessed with skincare, I thought it'd be cool to share my current staples with you – and hopefully you'll share yours with me too! For reference, my skin type is very sensitive combination.

Let's talk about foundation, shall we? My skin used to be quite on the oily side in my teens and foundations would literally slide off my face in about 2 hours flat. Now it's quite the opposite – my skin goes through phases of being REALLY dry and flaky (literally look like a lizard with all them scales) but also being quite oily in my t-zone. 

Despite all that I quite like the fact I have combination skin: it's bang in the middle of the spectrum and I actually enjoy having some of my oils (ew) slipping through halfway through the day as it makes me look dewy and glowy without looking like a frying pan. There are two foundations I would wholeheartedly recommend to my fellow combo skin beauties, one on the pricier side and another on the more purse friendly side (but still not drugstore).

Before I dive into this post, I'd just like to point out that this is in no way meant as a whine fest or a pity party, it's just me venting and hoping some of you relate to what I'm feeling at the moment.

I started my Instagram account (shameless plug alert – @franciscamayyy) last year because I needed a creative outlet after starting my first job. At the time I felt very trapped creatively, like I had so many ideas, thoughts and projects in my mind but no place to pour them into. One day I decided to create my little corner on the Instaweb and I haven't looked back since: I adore the whole process of thinking of new props, flatlay ideas and the often dreaded composition, shooting my photos and editing them (probably my favourite part of all). However, lately I've been feeling like utter sh*t about this whole thing and here's why...