Not For Me

I must say that I have bought my fair share of raved about products and non raved about products that I have used and not enjoyed but kept using them anyway! Sound familiar? Probably. Well I thought it was about time to share the products that I continue to use for the sake of having them but wouldn't rush back out to buy!

Probably the most expensive of the bunch and something that I hardly ever use is the Benefit They're Real Push Up Liner, and in a way I feel like this is a love it or loathe it product due to the many mixed reviews! And I have myself done a full review on this (read here) and my opinions haven't really changed too much, I just don't think this works well on my oliy lids as it tends to either spread and smudge or disappear completely! And I really can't get down with the technique of getting the 'perfect feline flick' with this either!

A truly raved about product from L'Oreal is there True Match foundation, and I honestly feel like the only person who doesn't like this and there were multiple reasons for this. The colours - despite their being a lot in the range - were all too dark for me and so whenever I wore it, the bronzer would come out to make my neck match my face! And not only does the colour not work for me but this foundation formula just doesn't work with my skin - it highlights dry patches that I didn't even know I had and just doesn't blend into the skin well so I was rather disappointed and have since given this product away to a friend who will get a lot more use than I ever I would from it!

A product that I have had since the launch of is the Maybelline Colour Tattoos and I remember going to pick almost every colour that they had at the time and one that I have barely ever used is the shape Eternal Gold. Now I'm not a massive fan of glitter and shimmer, so matte looks work for me but saying this some shades in the range such as On and On Bronze which is possibly my favourite, do contain some glitter but there is just something a bit too glitzy about Eternal Gold and I feel like I will only ever use it as some kind of fancy dress make up!

Miss Manga Mascara by L'Oreal? Possibly one of the most hyped up mascaras this year as far as the drugstore goes, and honestly it took me a while to purchase this but I did end up doing it! Now I have to say here is always something kind of disappointing about hyped products, as I seem to find flaws but in terms of this mascara, it just really does not work for me. The brush, in my opinion is far too big for my eyes and so I ended up smudging it around my eye but I also found that the more I tried to layer or separate my lashes with the wand, the clumpier it became and that's not enjoyable for anyone! However there is no fault with the formula, I just wish the wand was different but some you win, some you lose! 

In a previous post about blusher, I did mention that myself and cream blusher are not a good duo however I went against my better judgment and purchased the Topshop Cream Blush in Afternoon Tea a while back! Now the colour and pigmentation of the blush is something to be admired for a blusher that is so reasonably priced but cream formulas seem to just hate my skin! I honestly found no way of putting this on and making it look at least reasonable and so it has been thrown to the back of the drawer in hopes that one day, I will be brave and try it again, but for now, it's a no from me!  

Keeping in the line with the blisters, another one that I (stupidly) purchased online was from Sleek and I got the shade Pomegranate which in the pan is a beautiful deep autumnal shade that would perfect for the time of year (in the UK at least!) The only major problem I have with this blusher is that it is way to dark for my skin tone considering I may as well be a vampire and with the pigmentation being incredible there is no way of putting this on 'lightly' so with a heavy heart, I have to admit I probably won't be using this anytime soon! 

One thing that I really suffer from is redness - mainly on my nose - and for anyone who has this problem, you will know how annoying it is and on a whim I decided to pick up the L'Oreal Nude Magique CC Cream! Now the concept of this product is great, when applied the product is green therefore helping to neutralise the redness but when rubbed into the skin, it turns into the colour of foundation or at least someone's foundation colour! I wish this product came in a variety of shades because this is way too dark and honestly makes me look orange and so the only way I can wear this is by only applying it on the nose and then putting my normal foundation on top! 

Revlon Colorburst Matte Balm in Complex formally known as the lipstick you all need, didn't work for me as well as it did for everyone else! I love the Colorburst Balms because they are seriously pigmented and they stay on for as long as you need them too but there was something about the shade Complex that just didn't work with my skin tone and I think this is because I am far too pale for this 'nude' but for anyone who is slightly tanned or just more tanned than myself, this would work and not look foundation on lips!

Have any if you tired any of these products? Are there any products that you regret buying or just don't use anymore?

What's In My (Makeup) Bag?

Lately I’ve been feeling a little uninspired as far as blog posts go, but I have been brainstorming and hopefully blog posts should be happening at a quicker pace. After reading through various blogs and waiting a fair few YouTube videos from other bloggers (beauty bloggers for the most part) and something that cropped up every so often was “what’s in my bag?” And so I’ve decided to do a similar post but instead of using a handbag which seems to be the way to take this, I'm going to use my makeup bag, just because it’s something I use more regularly.

I’ll just start off by saying that I do need to purchase myself a new makeup bag because although mine does the job it’s supposed to, it is rather small for the amount I try to carry in there but it’s also getting a bit grubby (as makeup bags tend to do.) But until then, I am using a makeup bag which was purchased from Next, quite some time ago although I wouldn’t hesitate in buying a makeup bag from them again. The products I'm going to talk about, I will try and do in some sort of order but I can’t guarantee that it will be the order that everyone else would want to use them in.

The first product is Dermalogica Ultra Calming Barrier Repair and this is something I use every day without fail, after I’ve cleansed and moisturised my face, this goes on my nose and cheeks which is where I tend to get a lot of redness and this just seems to calm it down considerably. I find that this is a product I reach for even on the days that I don’t wear makeup because having red cheeks and a red nose isn’t something I enjoy, but on the days I do wear makeup, this also works well as a primer for those areas. As for primer else where I am currently carrying the Revlon PhotoReady Perfecting Primer around with me, but I wouldn’t recommend this people who suffer from oily skin because this seems to do barely anything for my foundation. I could say that it makes my foundation look worse and this does depend on what foundation I have chosen to use but it does tend to make me look a little cakey.

There are a few different powder products that I keep in my makeup bag and the first one is the holy grail of every girls make up routine, the Rimmel Stay Matte Powder in 001 Transparent. Now I don’t feel like I need to rave about this product too much, because a lot of other beauty bloggers have done that for, but let me just say that for the price of this product, everyone should own it. Everyone. No ones like a shiny face, and this just takes it away, effortless. There are currently two Sleek products that I own, and they both hold a place in my makeup bag, the first of these products is the Face Contour Kit in Light and this is something that I don’t tend to pull out too often because I've been going through a lazy stage where I just use bronzer to contour and I completely skip the highlighting stage. But I will say that this is a must have (if you are not lazy like me) because the pigmentation is amazing and I find that both the highlight and contour to this kit are brilliant, and I wouldn’t hesitate to buy the product again because the price can’t be knocked. The other Sleek product in my makeup bag is one of the blushers in Pomegranate and I haven’t used this too many times because it’s one of those blushers that could look overpowering depending on the other makeup you are planning to put on, but the pigmentation is incredible for a high street blush, and the colour is beautiful in the pan (which is what originally drew me to this) and I hope to get a lot more use out of this. Staying with blushers, there is also one more that I keep in my makeup bag and this is the MAC blush in Fleur Power and I'm not exaggerating when I say that I use this blush pretty much every day because the colour is just that nice. What can I say about a MAC blush that hasn’t been said before? Pigmentation is one of the best (as you would expect) and the colour is just so easy to wear, because it looks very natural and I think it would be one of the go to colours of any season – well done MAC. The last powder product that I have in my makeup bag is the Bourjois Bronzing Powder in 51, and I'm being completely honest when I ask who hasn’t tried this bronzer because it is ah-ma-zing and this is no overstatement. For a high street product, there is nothing I can say that is bad about this product and I will continue to use it and I will most probably repurchase it (even though I have been eyeing up the Nars bronzers…)

As far as eye and eyebrow make up goes, I only carry two products with me all the time and that is my mascara which is the Maybelline Colossal Volume Express in Smokey Black and I have been using this mascara for as long as I remember and I do go through phases of buying new ones and I always seem to go back to this. It just seems to do something to my lashes that other mascaras can’t achieve and I also find that this is just the right shade of black, as weird as that may sound! The eyebrow product I carry round is the Benefit Brow Zings in Light, and I think I must use this at least 5 days of the week so I get my use out of this product and it doesn’t make my eyebrows look too dark (I have blonde hair) but it also gives them enough boldness so they define my face which is always a plus. However, I do have to admit on my lazy days, I do just bring out the MAC palette and pop some of Omega onto my brows. Finally the last thing I carry around in my makeup bag is a mirror – a must have!

Eye Spy

Something I've been spending (too much) money on lately is eyeshadow and for some reason it was always a product that I never really paid too much attention to before. After trying a range of products, I'm now questioning this!

Having possibly one of the worst skin combinations ever, I wasn't too sure whether these types of products would sit on my eyelids without creasing throughout the day or just disappearing altogether. But I bit the bullet and decided that I'd try it out and see what worked and what didn't! I started out by buying a Sleek palette in Au Naturel Nude and I have to admit I was impressed with the quality of the product considering it's a drug store product. The palette contains twelve different shadows that are highly pigmented, and I have found that these eyeshadows do last throughout the day even without the use of a primer. Before indulging in more eyeshadows/palettes, this was my go to palette every day because the colours work with everything, I would highly recommend this to people who don't want to spend too much on their eyeshadows or make up in general but want a variety of colour that still holds quality.

After trying a powder eyeshadow, I thought I would try out a more creamy based eyeshadow that I could use as a base colour to build up on, or just on it's on (if I'm feeling lazy). So I found the Maybelline Colour Tattoo when I was in Boots and bought two different colours, and rather quickly, I have built up a collection of these little pots. I went for colours that I could easily blend and were more natural and so I have Eternal Gold, On and On Bronze, Permanent Taupe, Pink Gold, and Metallic Pomegranate. I have yet to try these without using a primer first because I feel the creamy texture would crease easily on my lids, but I use Pink Gold a lot and build it up with other eyeshadows.

So, leaving the drug stores behind, I went out in the search of a decent eye primer and ended up in the Urban Decay section of House of Fraser... Ooops! Not only did I come out with a primer, but I also left with the Naked palette which I love dearly and I would recommend this product to everyone! I can use these eyeshadows with or without the primer, but I find that they stay on for a lot longer if I'm using the primer and I also find that the colour is a lot bolder if I have used the primer beforehand. This palette has colours that can be used for everyday wear or for night time wear and I must admit, I use this palette almost every day even if it's only for one colour. The pigmentation in the shadows is amazing and they shadows are so easy to blend, I can honestly say this palette is worth the money and I wouldn't hesitate in repurchasing it. 

The biggest splurge as far as eyeshadows go is MAC. Now, I decided that I would start my own palette, and so far I have six eyeshadows that I have kept in the neutrals zone and I will slowly build this up. But with the colours that I bought, I have to say that with the use of a primer, they will stay on all day and the pigmentation of these eyeshadows is unbelievable no matter what finish the eyeshadow is. I also found that with these eyeshadows they are so easy to build up and blend with each other to create a daytime or evening look and you can create what looks like a complex look with only a few of the eyeshadows. My go to look with the colours I have at the moment is Naked Lunch, Satin Taupe and Sable which make a really nice autumnal look. I also bought one of the pigment pots in Vanilla and I use this to highlight the inner corners of my eyes and also on the brow bone, and I love this product because it can just be put on with any eyeshadow colour and it accentuates the eyes that little bit more. 

As well as all these eyeshadows, I have recenetly purchased the Benefit they're real! mascara which I have decided I will use for evenings rather than a daytime look, because it does what it says and really lengthens the lashes and makes them seem thicker depending on the number of coats you apply. I recently stopped wearing eyeliner on my lash line as well so I thought why not start again and bought the Maybelline gel liner in Black Chrome and I haven't used this product in this colour but is a normal black with a slight shimmer to it which caught my eye, and I also bought a Rimmel Exaggerate eye liner which is liquid based and I now use this on a daily basis.