My Five Product Face

A face with only five products? Sounded easy until I actually sat down and thought about what I would use, and I have to admit a lot of thought went into this! This is something that I've seen a lot of people do, and so I thought it would be fun to try it myself, and so I've come up with the only five products I would use!

As someone who has an oily t-zone and areas with larger pores, the idea of not using a primer is something that worries me and I can't remember the last time I didn't use one. But I do have to admit that only being allowed five products would make me skip this step completely and just go straight for foundation! And the foundation that I've chosen is my everyday go to, the No 7 Beautifully Matte Light which is I've previously raved about on this blog, so I won't again!
I would then use concealer because even though the foundation has a lovely coverage, I still find that I need to conceal certain areas, and the concealer I would use is the Collection Lasting Perfection, as it's light enough for my skin, and works well both under the eyes and on any blemishes because it is a very full coverage concealer! I would recommend this product to everyone as it's high coverage, easy to blend into the skin and so affordable!
To keep all this in place, I would then have to use a powder, as this is something that my oily skin just couldn't skip! I would use the No 7 Perfect Light Loose Powder as I could use this to bake the under eye and to set the rest of my face and I love this powder because you can pack it on if you want to bake certain areas, and it doesn't dry the skin out and doesn't make the face look cakey at all! I also love this because a usual powder contains 10g whereas this contains 20g and as a product I use everyday, I feel like I'm hardly making a dent in it!

Brows are something that I like to wear even if I have no other makeup on and so I would definitely make sure that I use the Anastasia Beverly Hills Dipbrow Pomade for the brows. This is because I find that product is good for carving out the brows and its a product that doesn't need a brow gel on top if you needed to skip that step! I also find that the shade blonde is perfect for me and matches my hair so well!
The final product I would use the mascara, and if I had to pick one specific one, it would probably be the Maybelline Lash Sensational, as I find that this really curls the lashes and keeps them curled all day, it also adds a lot of volume to my lashes which is always a bonus! And this is a mascara that doesn't smudge or run, and so I would also be able to use it on my bottom lashes as well as the top!
I hope you all enjoyed reading what products I would use! What product would you use, if you could only pick five?

Makeup Haulin'

Some of you may have seen the little Superdug session I posted on Instagram and I also picked up a couple of things from Debenhams, Cult Beauty and MAC, so I thought is there anything better than to share with you all what I got? I did purchase these products all at different times but since then, I have had the chance to use quite a few of them, and so for some products I will give mini reviews for you all!
Starting with all the purchases I made from Superdrug as it's the largest part of the haul, I think it's safe to say I went a little crazy, and I think it's because I've mainly been buying higher products recently and I saw some new things in the drugstore that I decided I need to pick up! There were a couple of products that I knew I wanted to find in store and the first one of these is the Real Techniques Sculpting Kit which I already use every single time I do my makeup! Even if you don't want to buy this set, you need to buy the sculpting brush because it makes contouring so easy! I use this with either my Benefit Hoola bronzer or Sleek Contour palette and it just makes it quicker and easier than it's ever been! I honestly think this would be a good one for beginners in contouring!

I've yet to find someone who doesn't love the Mayeblline Colour Tattoos and I so what would a little haul be without a couple of new shades?! I already have a lot of the shades and so I decided to pick up Immortal Charcoal and Timeless Black, the black shade being more for a base when I'm using darker eyeshadows to make them pop that little bit more and the charcoal colour is so pretty and I think that it will be a good way for me to step out of my eyeshadow comfort zone! But honestly, I can't even fault these cream eyeshadows and if you're looking for alternatives to higher end cream shadows, I wouldn't look much further than these! And for a drugstore product the shade range isn't all that bad so these come highly recommended from a lot of different people!
One of my favourite purple lipsticks is the Collection Little Mix Perrie, and recently Collection have launched the colour Mulberry Burst into their ordinary lipstick line and when I heard this, I was so happy and decided that I needed to pick it up in this version (I don't even know why!) I have yet to try this lipstick out but I'm pretty sure it's the same formulation as the Little Mix ones and if it is, I know I will love it because they aren't too matte nor too glossy but they are very  creamy on the lips meaning that whenever I wear this, it doesn't dry out my lips which is always a bonus!    Something that I think goes unnoticed by most people is the MUA counter in Superdrug's, and in all honestly, I've only ever tried one of their products but after using it, I decided to pick one up in a different colour! And this product is the Luxe Velvet Lip Lacquer which I bought in the colour Tranquillity, which is a very neutral brown beige colour, and when swatched really reminds me of Velvet Teddy but just a little bit lighter! As well as this lip product, I also picked up another one of the Maybelline Colour Drama Lipsticks in the shade Red Essential and I probably do have enough red lipsticks but having one in a pencil form seemed so much easier, and everyone loves these so can you ever have too many?
I also picked up a few more things from Maybelline - they did have an offer on and so I took advantage! A product that I had been seeing pop up a lot, is the Lash Sensational Mascara and I picked mine up in the waterproof version, thank you oily eyelids! But so far, I have been loving this mascara and I use it pretty much everyday, the wand on this is small and so I find it's easier to use, and it actually holds my lashes in a curl and makes them look longer which I love! I was a fan of the Eye Studio Lasting Drama Gel Liner in Black and Black Chrome, but recently I have been liking the idea of using a brown liner as it's a lot softer and so I picked it up in Brown and so far I really like it! It's a gel liner that's very easy to use and I find that I like to create a liner close to the lashes and then smudge it in, to make it look more rough and undone! The final thing that I got from Maybelline is a newer product, the Master Sculpt and I'm a good fan of contour and highlights so I knew this would be something to pick up! I picked up the lighter shade and the contour shade is really good for my skin tone but I've found that I'm not overly keen on the highlight but if you are just starting out with contouring, this could be a good one to get!

A couple of new things from MAC is never a bad thing, and something that I had wanted for such a long time now is the Fix + and for some reason I just never picked it up, but now that I have it, I'm really questioning why it took me so long! As I'm someone who gets super oily especially now the weather is getting a lot hotter, I find that powder is my best friend but I never want to look cakey, who does? And so, I find that giving my makeup a spray of this after powdering just stops it from looking cakey and keeps it fresher and so I have fallen in love! I'm usually someone who goes for a matte lip but I purchased the lipstick Brave a while ago for one of my friends and since seeing them wear it, I knew I needed it, which led to the purchase of that for myself!
The Estee Lauder Double Wear Foundation is something that is highly coveted by a lot of beauty bloggers that I follow, and so I'm someone who can't stay away from a hype even if I don't give in right away and so, this saw me purchase this foundation! I love it already, I've had it for a few weeks now and it really does stay on the skin for a long time, which is a bonus for me! I also found the shade range was pretty good and although I am the lightest shade, there would something for a everyone I think! If you want a new foundation and feel like splurging, I would highly recommend this, but I do find it works best when my face is hydrated and primed properly!

So, it's safe to say that we all went a little crazy with the launch of Makeup Forever in the UK, and with the ever talked about HD Foundation and Full Cover Concealer I knew that I needed to try them out and so that's what I purchased from Debenhams! I did have high expectations for the foundation and I have to admit I'm not overly in love with it, but I think it's because I prefer a full cover foundation and this gives medium but I feel like it doesn't build up well on my skin, but I will keep trying to use this as it does look nice when first put on! However, the concealer is my new holy grail product over most things, don't get me wrong I still love my Collection concealer but I find that I can really target conceal certain areas of my face because there is no applicator with this and I use a brush for it instead of using a concealer on unnecessary places due to using one with a doe foot applicator!

I have to admit that this purchase was one that I'd wanted to make since the launch of this product and I'm pretty sure that I placed it at like 2am one morning, but I really don't regret the decision! The Anastasia Beverly Hills Contour Kit is all kinds of beautiful and I feel like my contour has never been as good as it is now! The Fawn shade I've found actually works pretty well for me even though I am super pale, and I know a lot of people also rave about the Banana shade but I find that for my skin tone, I just can't use it because the under eye area will just look yellow and so out of place instead of looking highlighting so I'm steering away from using that! But what I really love about this palette, is the highlight shade Sand, which I find is really beautiful on my skin and doesn't look like too much! I find that having oily skin can often be a problem when it comes to highlights, but this one doesn't look super sheeny or wet on the skin and actually stays in place for the duration of my makeup which is a bonus! 
Have any of you done some makeup shopping lately, or got some of the products that I've mentioned? Let me know what you think of them, and if you want any in depth reviews of products I've purchased!

Beauties That I Continue To Love

I thought I would share will all some of the beauty products that I continually love and some of them I've been using for quite some time and others are fairly new into my routine. But when you when you love a product, you just know, right?!

The Body Shop is somewhere I'd only really considered going for skincare until a a year or so ago, and boy was I wrong! I always knew they did make up, but I kind of assumed it wasn't the best, and I can say I'm truly thankful to whoever swayed the decision on me trying out some of their beauty products! Both of the products from here are pretty well known within the beauty blogging world, just because they were so highly talked about at one point, and the first is the Instablur which I guess can be considered a spin off for a product such as Benefit's Porefessional! I have a few reasons why I prefers Instablur, but the main is because it doesn't dry out my skin anywhere near as much as the Porefessional, and I honestly think the consistency is so much better for filling in things such as pores and so I love using this as a primer! 

And the second product that I use a lot, is the Honey Bronzer, and the reason I constantly go back to this bronzer is for the simple fact that it is so light, and for a pale girl like me, the muddy look isn't the way forwards and so the lighter the bronzer, the better! They do have this bronzer in darker colours and I honestly think it's an all round great bronzer and I'd highly recommend it if you haven't already tried it!

For anyone who reads my posts or follows me on my twitter or instagram it will come as no surprise that I cannot live without these next two products, I think I use these every single time I do my make up (and then wonder why I run out so quickly)... The first of these two is the Collection Lasting Perfection Concealer which has been used by pretty much everyone, and for the price of this concealer, you really can't go wrong! It's coverage is amazing without being the slightest bit cakey, and the although the shade range isn't great, the lightest shade works for me and so that's all I'm really asking for!

The other highly loved product in my collection is the Soap & Glory Archery Brow Pencil and the reason I know that I can't live without this from now on, is that I recently used the last of it up without having any back ups (rookie error)! But when I went to buy another one, it was sold out, and I was without my beloved beloved brow pencil for a good three weeks and until I managed to find it in stock, my brows did not look like they usually would! They do only have two shades in their range but I find that they are pretty universal as far as one for brown haired girls and one for fairer and blonde haired girls go!

I put off buying this next product for a long time, just for thinking that I didn't need to buy a lip balm that was almost £10 because is a lip balm really that good? But yes, yes it is and I was proven wrong! I am of course talking about the Nuxe Reve De Miel and even in the not so cold months, this is a lip saviour especially for those who like to wear lipstick a lot! I tend to stick this on once I'm at the end of my skin care routine both in the morning and at night, and it keeps my lips hydrated for a long time! And I've not had a lip balm that can deal with seriously chapped lips like this once can! 

Too Faced Chocolate Bar palette, the product that all beauty bloggers either own or consider owning (and will probably end up owning at some point) but who needs another eyeshadow palette, right? You do! This has the nicest variety of shades so you can make it work for day time and night time looks, and I also think  the shades would work for pretty much every skin tone because there's something in there to suit everyone's likings! And who doesn't want an eyeshadow palette that literally smells like chocolate?! I really want to try more from this brand and have so many things sat on a never ending wishlist! 

Powders are something that I really tend to struggle with because I have a t-zone that tends to get super oily and so as the weather gets warmer, I feel like I have to a billion powders on standby because I'll go through them super quick! And one that I have been loving for a while now is the MAC Mineralise Skin Finish Natural because it's one that seems to hold off letting the oil come through for quite some time before I feel like I need to touch up! And this powder, is one that is very light on the skin, doesn't transfer too much colour and doesn't look at all cakey on top of foundations and so I think this will probably be my go to during the warmer months to fight off that oil!

The last product that I use to death is the Nars Pro Prime Smudge Proof Eyesahdow Base and I'm going to need to get a back up soon, because I feel like this will run out, and I just won't know what to do with my eyelids! But this keeps eyeshadow in place so much longer than any other primer I have used, and when it says smudge proof, it really does mean it! Sometimes I can come home from work looking like a right mess (I regret nothing) and if there's one thing that I know will still be in place, it's my eyeshadow and I'm someone who was always pretty dubious about wearing eyeshadow and liquid liners for long periods of time for the fear of it all creasing, fading and just looking generally disgusting but I don't have to worry about any of that any more and I don't think 'll ever change from this primer - which is a pretty bold statement!

Let me know if you have tried any of these products and agree (or disagree) with me because I'd love to know! Also share what you love in your make up stash, I'm always on the hunt for new things!

Abigail

xo

Winter Lips

I love the cold months, it means that the darker lipsticks make a reappearance with all varieties of red and berry tones to indulge in, however with the weather as it is at the moment, the chap sticks are coming out ready for preparations.

Rimmel London Kate Moss in 107: now, I love a good berry lip as much as the next person and I remember a couple of years back, I would never have gone near dark lipsticks as they were waaaay out of my comfort zone! But alas, I fell in love with this lipstick and its ones that pretty much every female owns! But this is a lipstick that isn't too dark for daytime wear, I love the fact that it's matte and a good matte considering its a drugstore brand!

Rimmel London Kate Moss in 01 & 30: these are both glossy finish lipsticks one being a deep red and the other being a wine colour - both the colours you would associate with the upcoming season! My personal favourite the 30 which the wine colour but either of these can be worn as a stain or a full on colour which I think is great for those who want to start wearing more daring colours because it doesn't have to be worn as a solid colour! I found that for shade 30 the Maybelline Colour Sensational Lip Liner in Midnight Plum works extremely well to line the lips!

L'Oreal Collection Privee Pure Reds in Blake's Red: one of the newest reds to come out in the drugstore and has been dubbed as one very similar to MAC’s Ruby Woo and I can see the resemblance and for someone who wouldn't want to pay out for MAC, this is a very good alternative and again for a drugstore brand, a very good matte lipstick that I find isn't too drying on the lips!

Collection Little Mix Lipstick in Perrie: a very cheap lipstick for those who are on a tight budget but still one that is in my favourites because I find the colour to be so unique considering the brand! The purple is one that is a lot lighter than the rest and can easily be wrong for a day or night time look and I find that this has pretty good staying power and is quite nourishing on the lips! I'd pick it up if you're on the hunt for lighter purple shade!

Urban Decay Revolution Lipstick in Shame: this one is on the pricier end and one that won't be to everyone's likings, but last year I took the plunge and got the darkest lipstick I've ever bought! Now in the stick this looks incredibly scary and on the lips, it's still dark but it's one that I love to wear at night! You can bet that once this is on, it's going to be hard to get off but on the downside is that it's messy to apply and so a light and goes a long way!

MAC Lipstick in Ruby Woo: my favourite lipstick of the bunch, there is no doubt that if I could wear this everyday, I would! Daytime or night time this lipstick comes out to play and if you like a red lip, you should probably go and pick this up! I also pair this with the MAC Lip Liner in Cherry which a perfect combination! 

Revlon Just Bitten Kissable Colour Balm Stain in Crush: the perfect berry shade for the people who don't like a full on colour because this is a very balmy and glossy and does stain the lips so the colour can be built up to be opaque or just left very sheer on the lips! I also like this because the product comes in a chunky pen form and this makes it so easy to apply!

Do you have any lip favourites for the upcoming months? 

Recent Purchases

When Boots have a 3 for 2 offer on, how can a girl resist a few new items? Now, I have to admit some of these items I didn’t even need, but if they are on the shelf, I'm probably going to end up taking them to the counter! I will point out though that not everything was bought from Boots, nor was everything bought on the one shopping trip; it was spread out over the course of three or four different occasions.

A few things I've had my eye on for a while (probably due to beauty bloggers raving about the items) and that seems to be why I buy half the stuff I don’t really need, but I do end up using it so I can’t complain! To make things a little easier because the list is quite long, I will group together items from the same brand.

REVLON

From Revlon I've picked up a few things recently and this isn’t usually a brand I go to often and I'm not sure why, because some of their products are pretty unbeatable and so I decided to go and stock up on the Revlon cosmetics. Everyone has raved about the Nearly Naked collection and instead of buying the foundation, I decided to buy the Nearly Naked Pressed Powder in the shade 010 Fair and from the few times I've used this (on top of foundation) the outcome has been incredible! I'm obviously not getting the “nearly naked” effect because the layer of foundation but it really does set the foundation while still giving me that natural colour from the powder itself. I've mainly used this as a powder that I use to touch up during the day because the packaging comes with a mirror and a foamy applicator, so it saves me carrying more than I need to! I also picked up the Photoready Skinlights Face Illuminator in the shade 100 Bare Light, and this is also something that everyone is beginning to go and buy so I decided to jump on the bandwagon and after the couple of times using this, it’s safe to say I think this will become a staple in the routine! Following in with the highlighting products, I got the Highlighting Palette in the shade 002 Rose Glow and as you would expect there is a variety of pale of pinks and shimmery whites that can act as a highlighter and blush all in one (what more could you need?!)

MAYBELLINE

Now, this brand used to be my go to, if I was in a drugstore, you would probably find me browsing this stand but just recently nothing has jumped out at me from this brand and so I haven picked up too many things from them. However what I have purchased is the Master Smoky Shadow Pencil in the shade Smoky Black and thinking back I have no idea why I picked this up but I am so glad I did! I get lazy when it comes to eyeliner and so this shadow pencil acts as my eyeliner and because it comes with a smudge applicator at one end, the shadow can be smudged out to create desired smoky or non-smoky look! Along with this, I also got The Falsies Volum’ Express mascara in Black Drama, and so far I haven’t been too fussed over this product and would probably choose to use other Maybelline mascaras over this one, but I will continue to use it and see if my opinion changes!

BOURJOIS

The only product I have ever owned from Bourjois is the Delice de Poudre Bronzing Powder in 51 because it was always a brand I skipped when hunting for makeup. Alas I have loved this product so much that I am back for more from this brand! First off, I had to pick up another one of the bronzers, so I did that, and I think this product speaks for itself and I don't know of many beauty bloggers who haven't give this a try! Knowing that the bronzing powder was so good, I took it upon myself to look at a few reviews for the bronzing primer and I saw a lot of good things and so ultimately I went and picked one up. While having a browse at the Bourjois stand, I spied a foundation that intrigued me and it was the 123 Perfect Foundation in the shade 51 and this foundation supposedly has three correcting pigments to reduce dark circles, dull complexion and redness but we'll see if this really does match up to what it says and also what others have said in reviews about this product!

RIMMEL

I love this brand, there is no other way to say it, and so when I see a Boots 3 for 2, I'm obviously going to come home with something from Rimmel! The Stay Matte Primer was a must have for me because I prefer a matte finish to my face most of time and also I have been looking for a new primer, and the few times I've used this, I have to say, this is definitely a keeper! I also picked up too foundations and they are ones that I have previously used and so I knew that I would be getting my money's worth out of them! The first one is the Stay Matte Perfection Foundation in the shade Ivory and the second one is the Match Perfection Foundation in the shade Ivory, and I have to admit the only reason I had to repurchase these foundation was because I got one that was a shade too light in the Match Perfection and one that was a shade too dark in the Stay Matte... As you can see, I am no good at swatch testing in drugstores, I always seem to come home and realise I've bought the wrong colour!

SEVENTEEN

How did I only find out about this brand last year? No exaggeration. So, since finding out about this brand, I haven't actually bought anything from them, and then there was something that caught my eye and I'd been debating on getting it for a while! Guess what? I bit the bullet, and got it! Well actually, I got two, and they are the Blush Stamps and I got one in Made You Look and another in Blushin'. I am so excited to use these, they look so easy to use and the colours that I have chosen also look amazing (especially in time for spring!)

OTHER

Now, the rest of the products that I bought, I only purchased one thing from the brand, and so I will group these all together. First off, who doesn't like Soap and Glory? No one, that's what I thought and as I was innocently looking at the stand for Soap and Glory, I spotted the Sugar Crush Body Wash and can I just say if you haven't smelt this scent, you need to! It is like heaven in a bottle! But obviously I had to pick one of these up to go with the Scrub and Body Butter I already have that are in the same scent!

Something that everyone has raved about for a few years now is the Collection Lasting Perfection Concealer and it wasn't until now that I owned one of these because for so long I have used the Clinique Airbrush Concealer and I thought I would try out the Collection concealer because for the price even if I don't like it, I can't complain! I picked up the concealer in the shade Fair but I have yet to try this out!

Besides having lipsticks from Topshop, I've never thought to pick up any other make up items from them, but when I was in London a few weeks ago, I decided to try out of one of there blushers which I got in Afternoon Tea (which is one I had heard lots of good things about) and so far I love it, the colour is so pigmented and is a great pink shade ready for spring. The creamy texture is something I've never tried with a blush but I seem to be doing okay with it!

Okay, so one of the most talked about foundation for spring at the moment is the L'Oreal True Match which I got in the shade W1 Golden Ivory. I've never really tried out any L'Oreal foundations but if it's being talked about so much, I had to buy it, right? I've only used this a couple of times, and it is a little dark on my skin (but it'll be great for Summer) but it does what it says, it really does a give a finish look that matches your skin, and would look pretty flawless on people who don't have such problematic skin.

Another foundation that I'd been putting off buying for a long time now is the NARS Sheer Glow in Mont Blanc but I was browsing online and finally took the plunge and decided to order it because sadly I do not have a NARS Counter anywhere close to me. I was afraid the colour would suit me, but luckily I didn't waste my money, and I don't think it gets much better than this foundation especially for the brighter months! I can't pick out any fault in this, it gives that finish that is enough glow that is doesn't overpower, and you still use shimmers either on top or underneath! I honestly don't think I've stopped using this since it arrived in the post!

Something that got suggested to me a while back now are the egg shaped sponges you can get to apply many products and I went in the search of the Models Own ones knowing that you get two and if I didnt like them it wouldn't be too much of a waste however I came up empty handed and turned to the much loved Real Techniques and ended up buying the Miracle Sponge which I have yet to use but I'm sure I will love it because everything else from Real Techniques is brilliant!

The last thing I have to talk about is Effaclar Duo+ which I have seen a few beauty bloggers use in the past and I knew that I needed to get something to try and help out with my skin, because I have a lot of scars from previous acne problems and I also get redness and this cream is supposedly to help unclog blocked pores, correct the appearance of blemishes, refine skin texture, controls the appearance of shine and fight against the appearance of marks! I've been using this every night underneath my moistoriser since I bought this and I have noticed that the shininess that I had on my face has reduced cnsiderably as well as the appearance of some marks that I really wanted to be concealed! Hopefully with continues use, this cream will work wonders!