The Going Out Makeup Look

Despite still being in my teen years I have a rather poor social life. I rarely venture out for nights out on the town instead favoring staying in to watch a load of crap weekend TV. Since it’s such a rare occasion I do step out I do like to up my makeup game and put in the effort. All my favourite and top makeup picks come out to play in being those trustworthy products that I know will stick around for a long night. There is no surprise really that it’s all high end products that made the cut as I do like to make good use of my investment pieces that I know work well for me. I did surprisingly head out last weekend although for a very special occasion as I headed to see One Direction in concert so obviously I wanted to look my best. There is a mix of newbies and old favourites that I have put together to form a killer night out look.

Starting with base, this is really were I put a lot of trust in my products to be long lasting and work for my skin. As always I start with primer and of course my holy grail Smashbox Photo Finish Primer excels in helping makeup last longer and still looks fresh throughout the night. I’ve never found as good a foundation as Nars Sheer Glow. It provides a buildable satin finish and blends beautifully into the skin. Another favourite from Nars is their Creamy Radiant Concealer which does the best job at concealing blemishes and redness. Mine is currently running low which does make me panic cause pricey repurchase may be necessary! In terms of concealing eyes, I start with my Bobbi Brown corrector to cancel out any discoloration under the eyes then use my Clarins Instant Concealer over the top.

On to the more exciting products to give my complexion a little bit of life. I am so excited to say that I finally own the Charlotte Tilbury Filmstar Bronze and Glow Palette. This palette is what dreams are made of. It is so gorgeous. I firstly use the sculpt shade to warm up my complexion and give my cheekbones a little definition. Then I like to go a little crazy with highlighter by patting it on to the tops of my cheekbones for that intense glow. To perk up the cheeks you can never go wrong with the Hourglass Ambient Lighting Blushes in particular the shade Diffused Heat. With highlighting properties these blushes really light up the skin and don’t appear flat.

Onto the eyes. As usual my Benefit Gimme Brow for a little sweep through the brows to make them a little fuller. In terms of eyeshadow, I have been going a little palette crazy recently. I finally picked up the Urban Decay Smoky palette cause obviously I had to, right? With deep intense shades it works perfectly at creating more full on night out looks. The shimmer shades in particular in this palette are truly stunning and the shade Radar is one I am forever reaching for. For the full on dramatic eye look I like to finish by curling my eyelashes with the Shu Uemera eyelash curlers and many coats of the Benefit They’re Real mascara.

To finish off, I like to add something a little bold to the lips. I find going out gives me the perfect opportunity to crack out the bold dark shades. One shade I have been reaching for recently has been Mac D For Danger, a bold berry red shade in a matte finish that sticks around from dinner to drinks to home time.

What products do you reach for on a night out?

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May Favourites

It’s monthly favourites time again! As my Summer holidays begin I haven’t been wearing makeup on a daily basis but I did find some new gems this month that I have just fell in love with! Without further ado here are some of my much loved beauty bits from the month of May.

Nars Sheer Glow Foundation – Nars has finally answered my foundation prayers. When it came to foundation I always struggled to find ‘the one’ but since this beauty came along my hunt may be over. I lusted over this for so long since its well and truly hyped and worth the hype it is! It blends like a dream, gives flawless coverage and has pretty good staying power too. The perfect foundation, more of my raves later though!

Essie Maximillian Strasse Her – This nail polish may come at no surprise after seeing my blog post in which I shared my love for it.  This minty-blue-grey hued shade is what I have had on my nails constantly over the month and I am obsessed. Like other Essie shades, its a great formula with pretty decent lasting power too. Love it!

Bobbi Brown Full Coverage Face Brush – Again this may have been another predictable option after I raved about it here. This brush also had a lot of hype surrounding it and I really wanted to pick it up for so long. It is just the perfect size for applying foundation and helps create such a flawless finish. As much as I loved my Real Techniques Buffing brush for foundation there is no going back now!

MAC Creme Cup – I’m so predictable. This month I really got drawn into the look of nude pink lips and this lipstick made a great addition to my collection. The cremesheen formula is smooth and creamy on the lips while the shade is the perfect soft pink great for everyday wear. Keep an eye on my blog next week, another nude lip is coming you way… surprising, not really! (Check my Creme Cup review here)

Liz Earle Cleanse and Polish – This month I have really started to have a proper skincare routine after fumbling around with different products ever so often. One product I really wanted to try and pretty much needed was the ever so popular Liz Earle Cleanse and Polish. As you will hear more about my love on this later this month I won’t go into too much detail but I do really like this. It makes my skin feel super soft and my skin hasn’t been this clear in ages!

What have you been loving this month?

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Three New Makeup Tools

Splurging on expensive makeup is pretty pointless if you don’t have good makeup brushes and tools to apply them. I am slowly but surely building my makeup brush collection by trying to find the perfect brush/tool for each area of makeup and I recently added a few more to my collection.

Bobbi Brown Full Coverage Face Brush – If you seen my 2015 wishlist you may recall seeing this included. I heard so many great reviews on this brush for foundation use with many YouTubers and fellow bloggers raving about it. Prior to using this one I relied on my Real Techniques Buffing Brush which is a great option for foundation and a much cheaper alternative. When I first got this I was a bit unsure since I was pretty happy with my RT brush but now I am a total convert. Paired with my Nars Sheer Glow this is the perfect brush for such a flawless finish. It is much more dense than the RT brush and is smaller too making it perfect to really get into every area of the face. Only negative is that I am now lusting over a couple more Bobbi Brown brushes!

Real Techniques Miracle Complexion Sponge – Now I may have traded my RT buffing brush for an alternative but I don’t think I would ever turn my back on Real Techniques altogether. They really are a fab brand, making quality brushes at an affordable price. One thing I never thought I would be buying though is a sponge. When I first started getting into makeup the one thing I used to apply my foundation was those cheap sponge wedges which were pretty disastrous. Although it is safe to say this sponge isn’t any were near that level. I bought this sponge after seeing the Beauty Blender being raved about a lot as well as this being mentioned as a dupe so I thought why not jump on the bandwagon. I have been using this mostly for concealer as the shape is great for covering the under eye area and also the tip is also good for dabbing in other areas. I’ve really been liking using this although I am yet to try it for foundation so I will definitely need to try that out too!

MAC 217 Brush – The iconic 217. I must admit I am a bit of an eyeshadow noob. A smokey eye for me is more like a got into a fight black eye situation. Not pretty. Now everyone basically raves on end about how great this brush is and for the longest time I really wanted it and pretty much needed it. Its meant to make eyeshadow a breeze and my god it does. I don’t even know how I survived this world without a MAC 217. It works as a good all-rounder, packing colour onto the lid and blending out in the crease. If your eyeshadow isn’t quite up to scratch then I suggest this mighty brush! I could quite do with a second 217 if I’m honest…

Are you a fan of any of these tools? What tools do you rely on? 

 

2015 wishlist

 

New year, new long list of expensive beauty items I don’t particularly need. Last year seen the start of my makeup obsession and lets just say my purse wasn’t too happy with my shopping decisions. Getting to experiment with different brands and products has allowed me to become more aware of my makeup needs and what products I really need to achieve the best results. Its no surprise I have really took to high end brands and it looks like this year is going to be filled with trips to Space NK and House of Fraser.

Anyway on to the list, I have picked 8 items but lets be real here if I picked every item I wanted to buy then I don’t think it would be quite possible to cover them all in the one post so I’ve stuck to the top 8 most wanted.

First on the list is the best primer I’ve ever tried. Its the highly raved about Smashbox Photo Finish Foundation primer. I have had no luck with primers and I recently got a sample of this and tried it out and lets just say the results amazed me. It is pricey but its hella good. Next is the dream duo from Nars, the Sheer glow foundation and creamy concealer. You may recall seeing this on previous wishlists of mine and as you can tell I have still not spent the cash on it but this year is the year! I also want to try the Urban Decay Naked Flushed palette in Streak, it just looks so heavenly and these shades seem perfect for my pale complexion. Now that my Naked palette collection is complete I need my hands on the Too Faced Chocolate Bar palette. The shades look so beautiful and the palette is always the talk of good reviews so why not! Being stuck with a cheap and terrible pair of eyelash curlers is doing me no good. After hearing constant rave reviews from pretty much every blogger particularly Anna from Vivianna Does Makeup these Shu Uemura curlers are meant to be the bee’s knees. No surprise that Nars made the list again with the Copacabana illuminator which looks like such a beautiful and effortless highlighter. And last but not least after converting my usual stippling brush in favour of a buffing brush for foundation I have noticed far superior results. It is so much easier to blend but I would love to get my hands on the Bobbi Brown Full coverage brush which I have seen so many bloggers using recently. Its pricey but it seems to get flawless results.

So what is on your 2015 wishlist?