5 Bases: I Always Go Back To

For me, foundation is the most important part of my makeup. Its the part that I feel like if I get it right, then the rest of my makeup follows. So I'm going to talk you through 5 foundation bases which are my absolute favourites! 

MAC Studio Fix Fluid 

Lets start with probably my most all time favourite. If I had to choose one foundation forever, it would be this one. This foundation just makes my skin look amazing, and flawless. I do have three bottles of this stuff, because I'm just too scared to run out. I did actually loose this foundation a couple of months back, and thats when I actually realised I couldn't live without it. So I purchased another one, then found the one I lost. The shade I use is NC15, however, I do have another shade which is more pink toned, so really not my shade, but I do sometimes use it, and mix it in with another foundation. But NC15 is just the best shade match for me. I could ramble on about this foundation forever, but its a full coverage and a matte finish. It's incredible. 

Estee Lauder Daywear BB cream

This is the lightest coverage foundation/BB cream in this post. But its amazing, I just it more in the summer months, however I do use it in the colder months too but just if I want more of a natural look, and I'm not really doing much, I reach for this one. Sometimes I do mix it with another foundation, which is coming soon... 

Chanel Vitalumiere Aqua 

This is the foundation that I mix in with the BB cream, together they just make the perfect shade and give a lovely dewy natural finish. Vitalumiere Aqua, just makes your skin look perfect but it doesn't have a lot of coverage, its a light to medium I would say. It's amazing packaging to travel with. Its expensive, but its Chanel at the end of the day, and it really is incredible. 

No7 Stay Perfect Superlight Foundation 

No7 is a brand that makes foundation easy, they  have a machine which matches your skin tone to the right shade. I am the shade calico, which is a perfect shade for me when I have no fake tan on. I use this foundation more in the summer months, because it is a lighter coverage. But its really light on the skin, and is a very natural finish. 

No7 Stay Perfect Superlight and Chanel Vitalumiere Aqua, are very simular in packaging and in formula. I would say for me, the Chanel is more pigmented, so you don't need as much of it. But I didn't really notice until I was taking these pictures, how similar they actually are! Obviously the No7 foundation is a fraction of the price, so I would say try that one first, see if you like it, then you could try the Chanel one. 

Rimmel Lasting Finish 25 Hours

Okay, so I think its fair to say I love my highend foundations, but I couldn't leave this one out. I would say this is just my go to drugstore foundation. Rimmel foundations on a whole are very good (apart from my recent review) *sad face*. This is a very full coverage, but its not matte, its more of a satin finish. Its really easy to blend, the colour match isn't too bad, however, it is extremely hard to match yourself in the drugstore. It's a very nice foundation, and excellent for the money.

 ♥

Drugstore Products Worth The Hype?!

I have been looking at my makeup collection recently, and I have discovered that half of the products I slap on my face daily are drugstore/highstreet products, eg; from boots, superdrug, feelunique.com... blah blah, basically they are affordable. So I am gunna talk you through products that are affordable that are great and are just as good as high end products! These products have actually been hyped up by my friends, people of the internet and magazines. So you probably will recognise most of them and I believe they are all completely worth all the hype and praise they get!

Maybelline Colour 24hr Tattoo Cream Eyeshadows
These are essentially cream eyeshadows in a pot, which are very creamy and blendable when you apply them on your eyelid, then after you have blended them, they set. Then they just don't budge for the whole day. The way I use them is by applying them to the lid with my finger then blending them out with a blending brush, such as; Mac 217. The colours I have are: probably the most raved about shade - 35 On and on Bronze and 65 Pink Gold. They are both shimmery, but gorgeous colours. The reason I love them the most is because they are so quick and you can use them on their own or under a shadow as a base.

Collection Eyes Uncovered Eyeshadow Palettes 
These palettes really compare to high end palettes for me, they are around £4 and they are worth every penny. They are creamy, blendable, easy to apply and the shades are lovely and wearable. I find in the drugstore you get palettes and then the colours are like blue, pink, yellow, green and theres about one neutral shade in there, that I would actually wear. I think theres about 4 variations of these palettes, I own two which are: the nude palette and the nude rose palette. I would say I use the nude palette more, and the first two shades I have actually hit pan on! The nude rose palette I love the orange shade in this, it's such a unique shade and I have never seen a shade like this in the drugstore!

Soap & Glory Solarpowder Bronzer
If you have been here a while, you will know I love this product. It's my favourite bronzer EVER, I love Benefits Hoola as well, but I would say this tops it. I have gone through 2 of these bronzers, and I actually broke this one the other day *cries* but I still dip my brush in and try to use it without getting powder everywhere! Its just the perfect shade, theres two shades in this bronzer, one has got shimmer in and is lighter (I think its supposed to be the highligher shade - but it's a gorgeous tone) and then theres a matte more bronzer shade. I normally just swirl my brush in both and apply it to the cheek bones.

Collection Lasting Perfection concealer
Again, if you have been reading for a while you will be skipping this one, probably. I rave about this all the time, and so does everyone else! I won't ramble for long, but this is a very high coverage concealer, I use it for blemishes, not under the eyes because it's too thick. But any blemishes or redness, use this and say goodbye.

Loreal True Match Foundation - shade 1N Ivory 
I have recently loved this foundation, purely because of the colour I have found the perfect shade, and I have very pale skin so it's hard to find the perfect shade that is light enough, especially in the drugstore. The consistency is very lightweight, watery and blendable. If you like Lancome foundations, you will probably like the L'Oreal ones, give them a try, they are much more affordable!

Maybelline Eye Eraser Concealer
This is a dream to apply, its got a sponge applicator, which is a bit ming but also, its a lovely way to apply the concealer. I use this one under the eyes, because it's very creamy and gets rid of any darkness straight away. It really lifts my under eyes and makes me feel a lot more awake. Fake sleep with this concealer.

L'Oreal Paris Superliner Perfect Slim Liquid liner 
I was very late to the band wagon with this one, everyone raves about this eyeliner. So I finally jumped on, and purchased it. I am pretty crap with liner, I can never make them even and the lines just get bigger and bigger, until it looks hideous and I get a makeup wipe and remove it all. This liner makes lining my eyes and creating a flick a lot easier, this is because the nib is very small and bendy so you can create a line that is small and close to the lashes. It really has made liner possible for me.

NYX Soft Matte Lip Creams
Since NYX has launched in Boots stores, I have been obsessed. NYX is a very fun brand, its got lots of products which are very 'in' at the moment, like liquid lipsticks, contouring palettes and so on. However, I find some liquid lipsticks very sticky, they don't set right on my lips and they just clump up, does anyone else get this?! But these, OH MY GOODNESS they are amazing, they are so creamy so they don't dry your lips out, but they stay in place for a very long time. The colour range is amazing, they do some gorgeous nudes. I have 4 of them, I'm obsessed. The shades I have are; Cannes (MY FAVE) Stockholm, Istanbul and Ibiza. All gorgeous shades and I reach for these A LOT.

Real Techniques Complexion Sponges
I was very sceptical when these sponges came out, because I have always either used my fingers or a brush for my complexion. I always thought a sponge would just soak up my product and wouldn't apply right on my face. However, I tried one and I was pleasantly surprised, I always spray some fixing spray on the sponge and then apply the foundation and concealer with it. They are basically amazing for blending out any cream products. With your fingers or a brush you sometimes get marks or lines where the foundation hasn't blended probably, well buy one of these and say goodbye to those. It just blends everything in amazingly and I would recommend these more than anything else in this post!! GO GO GO (just laughing about the picture, literally looks like two eggs)!!

Thank you so much for reading, don't forget to add your email on the right hand side on my blog. This will just notify you when I post a new blog post! xxxxx

♥

Splurge At The Drugstore

So let me picture this in your mind... it was a cold January evening, after a day of work and I don't know how it happened but I suddenly ended up on 'boots.com' and then it all started to fail, I was adding everything I wanted/liked/needed into my basket, and then I forgot about it for about 3 days. Then later on that week, I received a package which contained all my goodies...

A lot of the products I got were because I was running or had ran out of and I just needed to repurchase them. However, there are some products which I just really wanted to try, either because I had heard some good reviews on or I was just curious (like George).

Above are just all the boring purchases that I got for me and my boyfriend. There are some Una Brennan purchases there, I have never tried anything from her before, I will report back. As well as my trusty Garnier Micellar water I just love this stuff, its really good as a first cleanse or just for getting your eye makeup off, so gentle on the skin. I picked up some shower gel too, MARSHMALLOW flavour *big grin on my face*. 

Solar Powder from Soap and Glory is just my all time favourite bronzer, I've gone on about it enough really, I won't bore you anymore. But my old one there just wasn't any left, so a new one makes me very excited.

Now for something very exciting, Sleek palettes! I don't really try much from Sleek as they aren't available in my local Boots, so I can only order online. But I don't think I've ever tried anything bad, and these face palettes are no exception. I've picked up a highlighting palette and then a face contour palette, all the shades from both palettes are just so pigmented, it's amazing!

Something else new are these NYX cream lipsticks. I got the shades Cannes and Ibiza, I love how they are named after places. However, I'm not completely convinced by these liquid lipsticks, they don't seem to stay on too long, but I haven't really tested them out as my order only arrived yesterday!

I've wanted to try this concealer from Seventeen for a while, I've heard some good things about this concealer, it's supposed to be quite heavy duty and creamy. So I'm up for anything that can over up my dark under eye circles. 

This is the Rimmel clear brow gel, there are different colours of this product but I have had the blonde on before, so I just fancied a change and went for the clear one. I do really like this product, and it's really affordable!

Natural collection is a brand that I don't really venture out to at all really, but I do think the products are amazing for £1.99, everything is £1.99. I wouldn't really wear the foundations, but I do have to admit I did own some when I was in high school. This eyeshadow I got because I just wanted a whole lid colour that was very neutral, and it does the job nicely. 

Lastly something that isn't really affordable at all, but this whole set was on offer for £25, which I think is really good for Origins. I have never used anything from the brand either, so I thought a set like this would be perfect so I could try a few of the products without spending too much. 

Thank you so much for reading, theres a few products which I haven't gone into too much detail about, which you can see in the above pictures. 

♥

New Years Eve Makeup (drugstore)

Firstly I cannot believe that it's coming up to the end of the year, I really don't know where this year has gone. I have had a really good 2015, and I hope you have too!

I thought I would create a New Years Eve look, which is perfect for if you are going out to a party, chilling for a few drinks with your friends or even chilling on the sofa getting through all the chocolate from Christmas! I will probably be doing the later. All the products that I have used are drugstore, I know we are all short of money after the Christmas period, so I wanted to create a look which is affordable (all products at the end of the post)!

Also, hi if you  are reading in August, this look will be perfect for you too! I just love this look, I think it's just so wearable and versatile. However as much as I love this look I do love going for a really smoky eye and a red lip, but you will just have to wait and see if I do a cheeky post about that too...

Theres a subtle white shimmer across the eyelid, with plenty of mascara and a deep bold lip.

Obviously if you are like me and you are just eating, chilling on the sofa, you might not want a bold lip like this. But not to worry, I have a nude option as well. click here if you want to find out my perfect pinky/nude option! 

Yes, these pictures where taken with me in my onesie, which is exactly what I will be wearing on New years *chuckles to myself*

Products used: 

No7 Beautifully Matte Foundation - Calico

Maybelline The Eraser Eye Concealer - Light

Rimmel Stay Matte Powder 

Soap & Glory Solar Powder Bronzer

Maxfactor Creme Puff Blush - 15 Seductive pink 

No7 eyeshadow - don't know the name, but it's taken from the golden trio palette

Maybelline Lash Sensational mascara (waterproof) 

Soap & Glory Archery brow pen

L'Oreal Brow Artist Plumper

Maybelline Creamy Matte Lipstick - Divine Wine 975

Have an amazing New Year's whatever you may do to celebrate and best wishes for the New Year!

♥