The Best Beauty Discoveries of 2016: Part 1

The final fortnight of 2016 is upon us! So what better way to end the year than to discuss all of my favourite new beauty discoveries from the year. As of course there is many products to discuss, I have split this post into two so a lip product favourites will also follow this blog post on Friday!

Firstly, starting with face products I’ve been loving this year. The Mac Prep + Prime Highlighter in Light Boost has been my go-to for under eye concealing for its brightening properties. The twist pen style pen highlighter is super easy and convenient. In terms of bronzing and highlighting, I’ve found two products that I know will be long term favourites of mine! The first is the Too Faced Sweethearts bronzer which is only a fairly new addition to my stash but I am already obsessed with its glowy effect and pigmentation. Of course I also had to mention a Becca highlighter as they truly are incredible products. I love all the shades I’ve tried but in particular I am obsessed with Champagne Pop, the ultimate pigmented gold-y peachy glow.

In terms of tools, I had to mention the beauty blender. By far one of the best discoveries for me this year! I have became such a convert to the beauty blender and it is now my go-to for applying my base products. It creates the most flawless fresh base and makes even some of my poorer foundations sit better.

Moving on to eyes, for the brows there have been two products that I’ve been loving. The Anastasia Beverly Hills Brow Pomade has been a long year favourite of mine, it is super easy to use whilst creating defined and long lasting brows. More recently, I’ve been enjoying the newer release of the Goof Proof Brow Pencil from Benefit. The twist up pencil is super easy to use and creates a minimal soft brow.

Other eye product shout-outs go to the Make Up For Ever Smoky Extravagant Mascara which has became a big favourite of mine this year. It has been my go-to mascara for creating voluminous and lengthened lashes. I’ve also got back into rocking eyeliner recently since I discovered the Kat Von D Tattoo Liner which is worth all the praise and hype it gets! It is incredibly pigmented and the fine nib makes it super easy to use. Lastly, the Too Faced Sweet Peach palette (which is back in stock!!) also deserves a lot of love. The Too Faced shadows are amazing quality but this palette also offers a dreamy and unique shade range!

What are your top products from 2016?

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Get That Glow With Becca

Whenever I think of highlighters my mind automatically turns to Becca, the queen brand for highlighting. They have the best collection of products to help get that highlight on fleek from liquid to cream to powder highlighters in a selection of shades perfect for every skin tone. Not only do they offer a great range of different products, they also have an amazing consistent formula with every product excelling in quality making it well worth the splurge! I’ve gathered quite a few highlighting products from the range so I thought it would share my thoughts on why you need at least one in your collection!

LIQUID 

Starting with the couple of products in a liquid formula that I own. The first is one of the newest additions to my stash in the form of the Backlight Priming Filter which as it suggests is a primer. I’ve been so obsessed with glowy skin yet I never owned a glowy primer despite my love for primers. So obviously having heard the raves about this, I had to pick it up! Used under makeup, the pearly toned liquid creates a beautiful radiant glow to the skin with the effects of the snapchat filter with the perfect skin, ya know the one! It also has a really nice scent to the product too and just works at creating the perfect glowy base!

Moving on to highlighters, I’ve also got a miniature of the Shimmering Skin Perfector in the shade Opal which acts as Becca’s liquid formulated highlighters. I’ve mentioned this one in my favourites before so you know the drill. As a liquid, it creates a gorgeous natural glow to the skin and blends in beautifully on the tops of the cheekbones with a beauty blender. The shade is a gorgeous light peachy gold shade that works lovely on my pale skin!

POWDER

On to my favourites from the range, the powder highlighters. I am always more of a powder girl rather than cream and liquid and these are without a doubt the best powder formulations I’ve ever came across! I have three shades in total; Pearl, Opal and Champagne Pop, all of which suit my pale skin incredibly well. Pearl, is the newest addition to my collection and also the lightest of the bunch. It looks incredibly scary in the pan as it pretty much is stark white, however it blends out beautifully on my skin to give a real oomph of a glow! Definitely not for the faint hearted but if you are love a strong highlight then I definitely recommend it!

Next up is Opal, the only one I own in more than one formulation. This is a beautiful golden-y pearl shade and also works beautifully as an eyeshadow! Lastly, is the one and only and my all time favourite, Champagne Pop. If you don’t own this already then just get it! It is such a beautiful highlighter and my go-to for a night out. The shade in collaboration with Jaclyn Hill is a beautiful warm peach-y golden shade that is just all kinds of wow!

The formulation of these pressed highlighters is quite simply unbeatable. The powders across the board are creamy and buttery smooth to apply and work with. The pigmentation is also outstanding for each of them! If you love highlighter then Becca is the range you need to seek!

(L to R) Backlight Priming Filter, Opal (Liquid), Champagne Pop, Opal, Pearl

Have you tried anything from the Becca range?

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High-end Products Worth The Splurge

I love a good splurge. I think we have all gathered that by now. As a lover of high-end and luxury beauty products I thought I would share some products that I believe to be worth the splurge. Spending your precious pennies on a beauty product can be risky business not knowing if it will perform to your expectations or not. So if you are somebody who doesn’t buy a lot of high end products or if you are hoping to make a little splurge soon then hopefully my picks can give you a little reassurance. Even if you are a luxury fiend then maybe my picks will also offer a little push to go splurge some more, sorry!

Urban Decay Naked Palette

I couldn’t not mention one of the most hyped up high end products! The Urban Decay Naked palettes are hugely popular and for good reason. Having built up my collection of them all, I can definitely say that they are truly worth the hype and the splurge. Whilst all of them may not be necessary, I think the original palette is a great all-rounder. Full of warm bronze-y neutral tones, its a palette for everyone. Whilst the shade range is great, the quality of the shadows is also incredible. Urban Decay have really nailed a great buttery long lasting eyeshadow formula that every beauty lover needs to try! My full review of this palette here.

Charlotte Tilbury Lipsticks

I love a good lipstick especially a luxurious one. It’s always nice to treat yo’ self to nice new lipstick and what better than the queen herself Charlotte Tilbury. Her makeup line is truly exquisite and her lipsticks are no exception. Both her matte and moisturising creamy lipstick range are incredibly impressive. The matte formula is one of the best matte formulas I’ve ever tried with a seriously comfortable application and finish. Perfect for people who aren’t particularly fond of the feeling of many matte lipsticks. Her K.I.S.S.I.N.G range is also really nice offering a moisturising formula that is pretty impressive in terms of longevity! They are pricey but so worth it in mu opinion! My favourites include Bitch Perfect and Lost Cherry.

Nars Sheer Glow Foundation

I always struggle with drugstore foundations and I truly believe that splurging on a base product is so worth it! High end foundations tend to offer a much better formula in terms of how it applies and also the lasting power which is very important in a foundation. My particular favourite is Nars Sheer Glow, a great all round base. It offers a satin buildable finish that doesn’t cling to dry patches or look cakey on the skin. It also has impressive longevity making it a great reliable foundation. Definitely one to try! My full review is here.

Becca Shimmering Skin Perfector Pressed Highlighters 

Highlighters are just everything, right? For me, nothing quite beats the Becca formulation. Their highlighters are like no other. I have two of the pressed highlighters in Opal and Champagne Pop and my goodness are they beautiful! The give off a serious killer glow to the skin with incredible pigmentation. Although the creamy buttery texture is what makes these even more amazing. They glide on so beautifully on the skin without looking powdery or with chunks of glitter, just like smooth gold!

Smashbox Photo Finish Primer

Oh how I love a good primer. From what I’ve tried, I’ve never actually found a good drugstore primer that works and none that can beat my love for the Smashbox one. I feel like this primer is a bit of a love or a hate thing but what it achieves is so impressive. The texture is probably the thing that bothers most people out of preference but for me I quite like it. It doesn’t feel greasy or slippy on the skin and leaves a smoothing effect perfecting for starting makeup. The longevity powers it has though is what makes this. Paired under foundation it takes my makeup lasting hours longer than it would have without. It is basically magic!

Nars Creamy Concealer

Another incredibly hyped product but for good reason. This concealer is well worth the extra pennies. The thick but creamy formula works wonders on blemishes and spots offering full coverage that isn’t cakey or clingy. It also wears well throughout the day unlike many other concealers that get a little drying as the day goes on. Despite the thickness, I don’t find this drying at all although I personally don’t like the texture for under the eyes however on blemishes it is a dream! Full review here.

What are your favourite high end products?

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My Current Spring Glowy Makeup Menu

I would always think of myself being more into Fall makeup preferring bold lips and a semi-matte complexion however as of lately I am all over the fresh glowy bronzed look perfect for Spring. I have to blame the sudden summery weather that has hit the UK recently making me go all heart-eyed emoji over all the highlighters and shimmery bronzers! I also picked up a swoon-worthy peach-y toned palette that has Summer written all over it and I thought I would share my current favourite picks for a glowy, bronzed, looks-like-I’ve-been-on-holiday look. P.S Happy 500 posts to me 🙂

BASE

To start, I’ve been loving mixing in my Nars Sheer Glow foundation with the Nars Copacabana Illuminator . The foundation offers a long lasting satin base which offers a great build-able coverage. Teamed with the liquid highlighter, it adds a glowy effect to the base. I then as normal go in with concealer on any blemishes, I am currently using the NYX Concealer. I then use the Mac Prep and Prime highlighter in Light Boost to highlight under my eyes.  To finish, I then set my base with the Chanel Les Beiges powder to slightly mattify but still allow a a bit of shine to come through.

CHEEKS

To amp up the bronze-y glowy look, it’s all about the cheek products. Instead of my usual matte bronzer, I’ve been all over shimmery bronzers lately. I have been obsessed with the Soap and Glory Wonderbronze Shimmer Brick that I couldn’t wait to dig out again! This bronzer just adds a gorgeous sun-kissed look to the face. On top, the Tarte blush in Exposed acts well to compliment the bronzed look by adding a little more warmth and definition to the face. To achieve that overall glowy look, the Becca highlighter in Champagne Pop is the perfect addition. The formula is super buttery and smooth and the shade is just perfect.

EYES AND LIPS 

A very exciting new addition to my makeup collection and that has sparked my love for all the spring makeup lately is the Too Faced Sweet Peach Palette. Unfortunately this is a limited edition product and I believe no longer available so apologies for mentioning it but damn is it beautiful! The shade range is perfect and great for creating a light shimmery peach-y bronzed eye. After adding some mascara, I then move on to lips and I am loving a peach-y combination. I’ve loved mixing a bit of Charlotte Tilbury Sexy Sienna with Bitch Perfect for the perfect mix of coral-y peach and a light glossy nude.

What have you been loving for Spring?

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December Favourites

It’s favourites time again and also the final favourites post of the year! How scary! Although keep your eyes peeled for a special favourites post coming next week! Back to the festive month of December though, I picked up quite a few new exciting bits and pieces over the month which I am truly loving and also fell for some products that I already had in my stash! So without further ado, here is my December favourites…

If you read Monday’s monthly roundup post, you would remember my mention of starting a Makeup Geek palette. Not too long ago Beauty Bay started stocking Makeup Geek eyeshadows much to my excitement. These single eyeshadows have been so raved about from the likes of Jaclyn Hill who even stated that they were her all time favourite eyeshadows (even better than Mac!). Obviously for that reason I had to pick up a few! The shadows are super affordable and there is such an incredible range to choose from. I have five shadows so far and I also picked up a large Z Palette to put them in. Jaclyn is so right, the quality of these are so amazing and they last so long on my oily eyelids! If anyone has any shade recommendations, fire away! A few of my favourites have to be Peach Smoothie, Prom Night and Homecoming! I now can’t wait to start filling up my palette!

Speaking of Jaclyn Hill and exciting UK launches, Becca Champagne Pop finally made its way over to the UK! Yay! I don’t think I’ve ever gotten so excited about a makeup product before and I even pre-ordered it as soon as I seen it on the Space NK website, sad I know! It is so easy to see why this is such a raved about highlighter. The peachy champagne-y shade looks gorgeous on so many skin-tones and the formula is a complete dream to work with, super buttery smooth. It is pretty intense but I just love it so much that I’ve basically been wearing it everyday,but I mean its Christmas so why not!

A more surprising favourite this month is the Real Techniques Miracle Complexion Sponge. I say surprising as I really didn’t get this product when I first tried it. Although I’ve found myself using this everyday over the month and it just seems so perfect for blending out concealer and ensuring my base is flawless. I do really want to try the Beauty Blender though now as I hear that one is far superior…

One thing I just have to have at Christmas time is a bottle of Lush Snow Fairy! I just can’t go without my precious amazingly scented Snow Fairy at this time of year. It just makes me feel so Christmassy and I couldn’t help but stock up during the Lush sales!

Another product that I’ve came back to is my holy grail primer! Nothing will ever beat the Smashbox Photo Finish primer. With nights out and parties during the month, this primer came to the rescue by helping my makeup last that bit longer and still look fresh by the end of the night! It creates such a smooth base to the skin which allows makeup to glide on beautifully and basically is the key to a flawless base!

I also finally discovered Anastasia Beverly Hills this month. After spotting a 20% off deal online I just had to get that contour palette! I picked up the original contour kit in the lighter shade and I have been using it constantly over the month. The powders are super blendable and last so well too. After I got my eyebrows done not too long ago and my beloved Benefit Gimme Brow is on its last legs I wanted to try out something new. I picked up the Dipbrow Pomade in Soft Brown and it’s became my new go-to. I don’t want to go into too much detail with these products as I will be having a separate review post coming soon but both are well loved new additions to my makeup routine.

What have you been loving this month?

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