The Beauty Base-ics

Again with the pun ridden titles, terribly sorry! Following on from my eye essentials post, I thought I'd put together a post on my favourite, and most used base and cheek products. Of course there are other things that I use and rotate in and out of my makeup bag depending on my mood, the weather and what I'm doing but these are the things I go for when I can't think of what I want to use!

Max Factor Facefinity All Day Primer 

After trying this just after it was released I kind of fell in love with it. I'm used to using silicone primers more so than anything, so this one was something a little different for me. It does help prolong my makeup wear time, and also keep my skin matte for a little longer (not all day by any means, but I've yet to find anything that does). At £11.99, this isn't the cheapest primer going, and I have been trying to find a cheaper substitute for it for when it runs out, but as yet, I've not found anything that matches up.

Max Factor Facefinity 3in1 Foundation - Light Ivory

This is the foundation I gravitate towards on days where I'm going to be out for a long time, or I need my makeup to look slightly better than it does with less coverage. The colour is a spot on match for my skin, which is kind of difficult to find in the likes of Boots and Superdrug. Again, it's not the cheapest at £10.99, but it is worth the price tag and it's a foundation I'll be repurchasing when it runs out.

Bourjois CC Cream - Ivory

I don't know what it is about this stuff, but it is amazing! Yes, it's slightly too dark for me, and doesn't do much for oil control, but the colour correction is no lie, and it's a beautiful lightweight base. I think I'll enjoy it even more as the colder months roll in, and it'll perhaps suit my skin type a bit more. This is another base that I'll repurchase when it runs out, and again something I'd recommend to absolutely anyone.

LA Girl Pro Conceal - Classic Ivory

Another American product - darn it! This is the concealer I use under my eyes every day. I don't use this on blemishes, as I rarely use concealer on my face anyway, but I really enjoy the coverage this gives under my eyes where I need it. The applicator is a brush, which I'm not overly fond of, but considering this costs a grand total of £1.49 when converted to pounds, I'll forgive it anything. The colour range in this line is absolutely fantastic too, so I'd really recommend checking them out if you find it hard to get a concealer to match you, particularly if you're darker skinned.

Essence All About Matte Powder

This is a relatively new discovery for me, if I'm honest. I've always been a fan of the truly translucent powders, as I dislike adding any more coverage to my face than I get from my foundation and concealer, but I've usually found them to come in loose powder forms, and I'm far too messy for that on an everyday basis. This powder is £3, and definitely goes some way to keeping me a little more matte than I would be otherwise.

NYX Blush - Taupe.

My product of choice for contouring. I won't go on about this one too much, as I've recently written an entire post on it, but suffice it to say that EVERYONE should own one. Seriously, get it.

No7 Highlighter 

I bought this on a bit of a whim, if I'm honest. But knowing that I prefer cream highlighters, and this being my favourite colour of highlight, I had faith that I'd love it! I really do, it gives a pretty glow on the cheeks and it's quite hard to overdo it. My one bugbear with it is that you don't get much product for the price that you pay, however I'm not really seeing much wear on the stick as yet, and as long as it lasts a few months, that's good enough for me.

Sleek Blush - Pixie Pink

A garishly bright pink blush isn't the obvious choice for every day sort of makeup, is it? This blush looks infinitely scarier in the pan than it does when blended on to the skin. My blush brush of choice is the Real Techniques Blush Brush, which applies and blends powder products on to the skin with nothing short of perfection, and it turns the blush from scary bright pink, to pretty, face perking flush. If you've got fair-medium skin, I'd recommend giving this a go and seeing how you feel about it.

So, those are my picks for my general "everyday" kind of makeup base. What are some products that you use on the daily?

Brushes from Wilko!

A new budget brush line to grace the UK high street are these from Wilko. They seem to have two separate lines, a cheaper one with patterned packing (perhaps aimed at younger people?) and those with black handles and gold ferrules, which are slightly more expensive - however the dearest brush came in at just £4, which is pretty bargainous as far as I'm concerned.

The three of these are the only ones I've tried from their new line, and I have to say I'm pretty impressed with the three of them. The first is a retractable kabuki brush, originally priced at £3, but since reduced to just £2. It also comes in slightly different packaging, with pink bristles. This brush is insanely soft - I've only tried applying powder with it, but it works perfectly well for that. It's my in-bag touch up brush, but I'd happily use it as my sole powder brush if I had nothing else to use.

The big Powder Brush (£4) could well be classified as a wonder of the makeup world. It's so, so soft and dense, and the packaging is really quite sturdy. I've yet to experience any shedding with the brush, and I've used it almost daily since I got it, around 3 and a half weeks ago. The brush itself is quite large, so perhaps isn't one that everyone would need, but I love this for powder and a large dispersion of bronzer over my skin. It's also good for blending out cheek products that you might have gone a little overboard with.

Finally, the eye smudger brush is only £3, and is my favourite one that I own from the line. Again, the bristles are soft and dense, and the handle is perfectly stable. I've found this brush to be good to both apply and blend out eyeshadow on the eyes and beneath them, and the bristles haven't irritated my eyes at all to date. There's no shedding from this brush either, and I've not noticed any colour bleeding from the bristles. 

Overall, I'd like to try a few more brushes from the Wilko brush line, and will be looking into grabbing a few more next time I'm in store! They're priced from £1 for the cheaper ones to £4 for the slightly more expensive ones. Have you tried any of these brushes? What are your recommendations from the line?

An Ode To NYX Taupe Blush

If there's one thing that looks entirely unremarkable in its packaging, it's NYX blush in Taupe. It's a colour that, quite frankly, I wouldn't wear as a blush. I think it'd look quite unflattering on the cheeks, though it might be nice for darker skin tones than mine! The waffle like powder is pleasing to someone like me who likes to watch their products wear down (there's little more exciting than using something up! haha), but the colour itself is a bit nothing.

... but it isn't!

Being really rather fair of face, I struggle to find something suitable to contour with. Most bronzers are far too dark, or far too orange, and although there are dedicated "contour powders" on the market, it's not something I do often enough to warrant spending what most of them are priced at. I'd read in a million places that the Taupe blush is where its at for contouring for fair skin - a light ashy hued brown in a soft powder format that'll make faking those cheekbones a breeze. Were they lying? No, no they were not.
It took quite some time for me to get this blush into my possession. Everywhere I looked it was out of stock, until by chance I found some rolling around the depths of Amazon. Around £7 I paid, which I know is a mark up from the price in the NYX store, and waaay above what they pay in America, but it is worth it.

Although I use the blush to contour, I've also used it for my eyebrows - they're a medium ashy blonde colour, it works pretty much perfectly - and I frequently use it alongside a matte, cream coloured eyeshadow with a slick of liner for the simplest of makeup looks. 3 uses from one product, for a measly £7 is quite alright in my book. I've even started contouring a little more just so I get to use the blush! haha.

I'd recommend picking it up if you were thinking about it at all, even if the only use you get from it is contouring, you're still more than getting your money's worth from it.

NYX blushes are available from some Next stores, Next online, the NYX online store and beautyjoint.com, who ship to the UK with very reasonable prices. However, I found mine on Amazon, and I think I've seen a few on eBay, too. They have 4g of product, and are around £6-£7.

Everyday Eyessentials

Excuse my terribly "punny" title (there's more to come, I'm sorry) and say hello to the things that grace my eyes on a near daily basis. Why no mascara? You ask. No mascara because I'm about as faithful to those things as absolutely nothing. The things you see before you now are things that I just can't say no to. Obviously I don't use both primers at the same time, but you get the idea.

Urban Decay Primer Potion - Original.
This thing is a god send. Honestly, I was using a £2.50 primer from MUA for a while, which seemed to work fine, then stopped working all of a sudden one day. I decided to bite the bullet and try the one that everyone sings the praises of and I'm here to tell you, it's the truth. I love this stuff.

Milani Eyeshadow Primer - Nude 001
I bought this not long after my Urban Decay one, wanting to see if I could find a cheaper alternative that works for me because I despise spending money and yet do it so often, I have to say, this stuff is good. It works out at around £4.20 for 10 ml, and it works just as well as UDPP. The only problem is I have to buy it online from Beauty Joint, so will have to stock up some time.

MAC Paint Pot - Painterly.
There's little to say about the Paint Pots that hasn't been said already. Painterly is the only one I've tried, and is likely to be the only one for a good long while. It provides a nice clean base for eyeshadow, and assists with lasting power. I'd recommend this to people who have trouble getting their eyeshadow to stay on, or show up as vibrant as they'd like (though if vibrancy is your only issue, go for NYX Jumbo Pencil in Milk, or their White Eye Base).

Rimmel Scandaleyes Liner - Nude
It seems the world and its mother has this liner. I have to say, it's a staple for me almost every day, because I often get quite a lot of redness on my waterline and I look tired enough on the regular as it is! This is another one that I'd recommend to everyone - for only £3.99 you can't really go wrong!

Rimmel Glam Eyes Liquid Liner - Glamour Black
For quite a while, I was an advocate of the pen style of liquid eyeliners, I found them easier to achieve a wing with and stocked up on a fair few of them trying to find the best one. After a while, I was looking for a bit more precision with my liners and thought I'd give this one a go. The nib of it is a tiny brush, it can be a bit awkward to get the hang of to begin with, but as soon as you've cracked it your eyeliner will be looking wonderful in no time.

Coastal Scents Palette - Build your own palette from their Hot Pots range.
Coastal Scents are definitely the way to go for building your own eyeshadow palettes. I got stung a little with customs charges after paying for postage, but I still think it's worth it, because these eyeshadows are some damn good quality. They also have around 300 colours to choose from, I think, at $1.95 a shadow, you can't really go wrong. I stuck with neutral colours because I wanted something I could use most days. This is probably my favourite palette, and if I had to choose one palette out of all of the ones I own, it'd be this one.

Soap and Glory Quad - What's Nude?
This is quite possibly my favourite high street purchase in quite some time. At £10 it's a little more expensive than I would usually pay for eyeshadow palettes, but the quality of this is outstanding. They're literally the best matte shadows I've ever used, and the shimmery taupey-browny kind of colour is beautiful. I use this quad on days when I just want a really simple eye look, and its quite literally foolproof. I'd really recommend these if you're looking for some basic shadows for every day sort of looks.

There we have it, my everyday "eyessentials". It goes without saying that these are all things I'd recommend to people wholeheartedly, and if you're in the market for a decent mascara without breaking the bank, definitely check out the mascaras from Essence. They have a ridiculously large range and there's something for everyone!

The Blog Your Heart Out Tag!

Who/What encouraged you to start blogging?

Mostly reading the blogs of other people to be honest! If I hadn't fallen into reading blogs, I never would have though to start my own. No one in particular encouraged me to start, but my mum in particular has encouraged me to continue doing it, because she knows I love it, I guess :)

How did you choose what topics to blog about?

Hmm, beauty was a given really. It's one of my main interests, and something that impacts a big part of my life because of said interests. It's more the creative side I like, and I'm constantly thinking of different things I can do with makeup. More interesting things are my favourite :) I also like reading and writing, so they'll be featuring a bit on this blog once I have particular things that I want to include. 

What is something most people don't know about you?

Most people don't actually know I have this blog! Some of my friends and a few members of my family do, but no one I work with and the majority of people I know aren't aware I spend a good portion of my time writing about beauty, haha.

What three words describe your style?

What style? Haha. If it's makeup style, simple but classic. If it's clothing style... well, that's non existent. I just wear whatever's to hand if it looks like it goes together okay. So, I'll pretend the question is referring to makeup - I usually wear a bit of winged liner with a fairly neutral eye, usually a neutral face and if I'm feeling like being a bit brighter, a red lip. I'll wear that eye with any lip though.

What do you love to do when you're not blogging?

As I mentioned earlier, I like reading and writing. Spending time with friends and family, etc. I have a full time job at the moment so that takes up a fair bit of time, too! I'm pretty much obsessed with certain TV shows, and I'm known to stick music on and just sing and dance around for hours on end at any given moment. The usual! ha.

I wasn't actually tagged to do this tag (how rebellious of me to do it anyway!) so if anyone reading this feels like jumping on the wagon, consider yourself tagged and answer til the cows come home :D

Some New Things: FOTD

This isn't the slightly more refined collection post I had planned to go up next, but as it turns out my collection is somewhat less refined than I thought, and needs a little more work. Ironically, I have some "New Things" to show instead. Some of it is "the last week" kind of new, and some of it is a few months old, but it's things I haven't featured yet.

Excuse the dodgy eyeliner and washed out quality of this photo - I'm working on both! Haha. This was just before I popped out with some friends and to be honest, I ended up changing most of it as I didn't like what I'd done. I thought I'd show it anyway, though, as it is using most of the new things I wanted to talk about.

Two brands that I've really been enjoying of late are Essence and Sleek. I had a Sleek palette or two before (I now have eight, don't tell anyone!) and Essence is a brand that I've been wanting to try since hearing endless American youtubers and bloggers talking about how affordable and good quality they are. It seems curious to me that America had the brand available first, given that it's a European brand but what can you do! Something else I've been experimenting more with of late is colour - be that coloured eyeshadow or lipsticks, more of it has been finding its way on to my face.

Products Used

Base & Cheeks

Essence All About Matte Primer - Rimmel Matte BB Cream (Extra Light) - LA Girl Pro Conceal (Classic Ivory) - NYX Blush (Taupe) - Sleek Blush (Flamingo) - The Balm Mary Lou-Manizer.

Eyes & Brows

Milani Eye Primer - MAC Paint Pot (Painterly) - Sleek iDivine iCandy Palette - Rimmel Glam Eyes Liner (Black) - Essence Lash Mania Mascara - Rimmel Brow Gel (Medium Blonde)

Lips.

Lime Crime Opaque Lipstick (Geradium).

Most of these products I really really like! I have to admit I bought the Lime Crime lipstick predominantly for the packaging (who can say no to purple packaging with holographic unicorns frolicking around?) and wasn't expecting much from the actual product itself, call me frivolous! Haha, but as it happens I was pleasantly surprised. The wear time was much longer than I anticipated and the colour at full opacity is beautiful! Given that these are slightly cheaper than MAC lipsticks, I think I'll be trying a couple more of them before I foray further into the MAC lipstick ranks. The Rimmel brow gel was a total whim purchase. My Maybelline Brow Drama gel is on its last legs and I wanted to grab a new tinted one for lazy brow days (most days), not only is this the perfect colour for my brows, it's a whopping, wait for it... £2.99 and the brush is teeny tiny and not a faff at all! Favourite in the making right there.

Although all jumbled together these products aren't exactly the making of the perfect every-day makeup, they're all lovely in their own right, and I expect more than one of them will be making an appearance in a favourites post some time.

Time toooo say helloooo

I was aiming for something a little sing-song-esque for my title. I started this blog a few months ago, with a view to actually posting on a regular basis. Truth be told I've had neither the time nor the motivation to do so of late, and I've missed blogging. Following what can only be called the most massive clear out known to mankind earlier today (offer free makeup on a Facebook selling page and it'll disappear faster than you can say Abracadabra) I'm feeling freshly motivated to get back to two of my biggest passions and interests - being makeup and writing, if you weren't aware of that!

We'll not be counting this as a proper post. More a "Hello, I still exist and I will be returning with content fairly shortly" - so shortly, in fact, that I'll be throwing a post up right after this about the things that have made the cut post-makeup culling.