September loves.

Oh, oh, hold me back, restrain me, it's not even the end of the month yet and I just can't hang onto this post anymore. Yeah, it's risky posting your favourites of the month when there's still FIVE whole days left, including a weekend that will invariably include a purchase, but I love all of these things SO much and have been busting to share. Because I care!

So if something delicious and amazing comes along in the next five days, I think it's pretty obvious what I need to do.

Keep it all to myself, natch.

Essie Mademoiselle nail polish, $15.95

I have put this at the top of the list, because as I type I keep admiring my pretty digits, and even though I'm on the last legs of this mani, I'm considering something I have never, ever done before, which is to re-paint my nails tonight in exactly the same colour I'm already wearing. Who does that? Seriously. There is a first time for everything. This is the most perfect sheer nudey pink on me and applies like a dream. It's not streaky or gloopy or too runny, the Essie formula is beautifully fluid and smooth. This is quite sheer, I can still kinda see my white tips underneath, but I like that it looks like my-nails-but-better. Now that I am properly infatuated with Essie, I simply must get my greasy mitts on more. Next up: Flawless, Fiji and Ballet Slippers. Watch this space!

Pantene 3 minute treatment, $7.99 for a pack of 3 (also known as 3 minute MIRACLE)

DO THIS NOW, THANK ME LATER. I am really, really finicky about my hair. I tend to pick on every hair product for something, no matter how seemingly trivial, but I honestly cannot fault this. This stuff is luscious. It's easy. It's quick. (3 minutes! Do a body scrub while it's in.) It's cheap. It makes my hair soft. Just comb it through after your 'poo and condition, leave it, wash it out. You don't even need to use the whole tube like they advise. Frugal.

OPI Avoplex nail & cuticle replenishing oil, $26.95 from adorebeauty.com.au

I hate my cuticles. I really do. Despite my very best efforts to nourish and care and nurture, they throw everything back in my face, like a petulant teenager. So I love any kind of cuticle product and THIS is a triumph. It makes my cuticles feel softer and the packaging is so convenient, you just paint it onto that raggedy cuticle mess and BAM, they will soften and look well-cared for and make you look like a lady of leisure who never does dishes and can wear white without spilling tomato sauce all down the front. This has a yummy watermelon scent and sinks in quite quickly. Win, dingin' win, OPI.

Q Silica silica tablets, about $30 for 50 capsules. I think. Roughly.

I generally don't have much of a problem with my nails, I use Nailtek nail hardener every once in awhile and I don't whittle them down with hard-core buffing every manicure or anything. But I go through phases, and sometimes (during winter mainly) my talons get a little bit weak and peeling and annoying. Last time it happened, I hotfooted it straight to the health food shop and got my paws on these silica tablets. HELLO, LOVER. They have made my nails hard and strong and tough and everything Madonna's arms are. Except for ugly. Apparently the liquid silica is even more effective, but it's a touch too messy to keep at work. I don't even remember to take them everyday and yet I'm still being rewarded! I also think it's made my hair grow a little quicker, even my hairdresser commented. Double win.

Rose Lanolips lip ointment with colour, $13.95 from adorebeauty.com.au

I bought a second rose Lanolips recently, which can only mean one thing. It's a girl! Oh sorry. Wrong post. It's a cracker! I rarely finish lip products, let alone re-purchase. This is just so pretty and so nourishing and pink and most importantly, it was a present, so it has that added sweetness of being a gift from the heart. Once the shine wears off, this doesn't have that nasty drying feel like most of its lipgloss peers. It doesn't feel gunky or sticky and doesn't give me that white cast that some glosses do. I had NO hesitation in repurchasing this, and I would have snapped up the Apples (red) and Sunshine (coral) Lanolips too, if it weren't for the fact there were none left. Booooo!

images thanks to smudgedlipstick.com, chemistdirect.co.uk, qsilica.com.au and goldenglow.com.au