Favourites roundup!

WAY too late for August but time for some favourites nonetheless! I’ve changed jobs recently and have to be pretty conservative with my makeup. I love *all* makeup and polish colours so wearing neutrals doesn’t really bother me, but does mean I feel I have to make sure my skin is looking reeeeeeal pretty, hence a couple of items in this post.

 

Clockwise from top left:

Kiko Colour Explosion Multi Tone Blush in  03 Active Mauve

I got this beauty on sale from Kiko for around £6. The four swatches on the right below show the blush tones, with the far right one being all the colours mixed together. I just love how this looks lightly applied – a really soft, slightly cool-toned rose that just looks *so* pretty. I love how each part of the pan is large enough to wear alone, too.



Illamasqua Nail Varnish in Hemlock

I’ve raved long and hard about this, so just let me say that a strong duochrome that is work appropriate and long wearing is amazing.



Impulse Cosmetics Opaque Matte Lipstick in Smoking Gun

You can read my full review of this bad boy here, but I’m loving this beautiful bold, bargain priced blue!



Weleda Skin Food

This stuff really is wondrous! I’d seen a lot of makeup artists rave about this stuff, and when my boyfriend had a nastly flare-up of dry skin I bought it to see if it helped at all – and it did! Being a dry-skinned babe myself, I had to try it out and while I’ve been using it for less than a month I have to say I’ve seen a difference. I apply it at night as it take a while to sink in, but when I wake up my face feels wonderful and after a cleanse I just slap on some Illamasqua Hydraveil as opposed to a thicker day cream, so it saves me time in the morning too! It’s very thick and to me smells like Campari, which I don’t particularly like. If it’s good enough for Posh (apparently), it’s good enough for me and at arond £8 for 75ml it really is a bargain. I know I’ll repurchase!

Silk Naturals Eyeshadow in Fusion

I dug this baby out when rooting through my work-safe colours and it’s a pleasant rediscovery! Well known for MAC and Urban Decay dupes, there’s no arguing Silk Naturals makes a banging neutral and this is no exception. They describe it as a ‘dirty copper plum…with golden highlights’ and that it’s one of the colours that’s ‘too cool for the cubicle.’ It’s a pretty, interesting taupe and it’s made me rekindle my fondness for this brand, so expect to see more from them soon!

Silk Naturals eyeshadows in Heat, Glory, Fusion and Hairpin.

Maybelline Baby Lips

I’ve only shown the mint one here and that’s actually my least favourite, but it’s the only one that I had to hand, the pink and peach tints are living in my drawer at work! I wasn’t sure what all the hype was about I first heard of these, and yeah, they’re just lip balms. They’re not the most exciting of beauty products, but I really like the garish packaging and they do moisturise while providing a subtle, non-staining hint of colour that actually shows up. For three quid I can’t not love that!

What have you been loving at the moment? Tried anything here?

June 2013 Favourites

You know the drill, let’s get cracking!

 

Clockwise from top left:

Illamasqua Loose Pigment in Beguile

It’s basically just really sparkly, looks good over any colour and is super fine. How could I not love it?

Illamasqua Hydraveil

My undereyes are loving it. LOVING. Erryone’s been talking about this, you can read my full review here.

Illamasqua Concealer in CC105.

Last Illamasqua product this month, I promise! It’s a white concealer. I know. But it’s awesome a strong highlight, or as a white eyeshadow base. Love it.

L.A Colours Endless Semi-Permanent Auto Lipliner in Berries

Man, I love this thing. Actually, I love all of these lipliners and for £1.99 each I’m not sure why I don’t have more. The “all day wear” claims are of course bull, but these do last particularly well without being too drying. This berry-red shade is just too pretty.

EcoTools Tapered Blush Brush

At least, I *think* it’s that and not the large powder brush, based on the price I paid for it in Asda, which was about £5. Either way, I’ve been using this for a light sweep of bronzer and I’m in love with it. I had to buy this before a holiday having left everything else at home and I’m kind of glad I did, because it is so beautifully soft!

Darling Girl Kiss You Off Colour Rich Lip Balm in Sanctuary

Yep, it’s another berry colour! Could I be any less summery? I always love the formula on these and Sanctuary is one of my favourite colours DG has done for lips. Lip colours seem to be off the website at the moment so I’m not sure if this shade is still available or not.

Wet n Wild coloricon Nail Colour in Back Alley Deals

My friend Priscilla picked this up for me and it’s so pretty! From Wet N Wild’s Ice Baby collection last year, it’s fine purple glitter with larger magenta glitters. With no top coat it almost has that liquid sand look, with topcoat it’s unbelievably blingy. Also loving Believe Me, It’s Real from the same collection.

Sleek Blusher in Fenberry

A tiny touch of this blush gives even light skin a rosy, flushed “I’m such a pretty English Rose y’all!” kind of look. With a golden highlighter it’s drool worthy. Again, it’s a berry, again, it’s not a “summery” colour and yes, I know it’s been through the mill as a result of crappy depotting technique but damn I love it!

 

L-R: Beguile. CC 105, Berries, Sanctuary, Fenberry.

What have you been loving this month?

May Favourites and Not-So-Favourites

Favourites

MAC Girl Next Door

Anyone who knows me will probably be scratching their head at this entry on my list, but I've been reaching for this a lot! It's a (dupeable) blue based pink, but I've been layering it with just about everything! I've bought tons of pink and purple lip liners recently and I've been using this over them. Also, every man and his dog loves the cute Archie’s Girls packaging! Thanks to Priscilla for sending this to me :)

MAC Nightmoth

I love this. I just love it. It is fucking rad.

MAC Magenta

Last MAC item for this month, I’ve been wearing this pretty much non-stop since I’ve got it. It’s simply gorgeous and doesn’t budge. 

MUA Undress Me Too Palette

This is kind of an odd one to shout about for me as when I look at the palette, it doesn't make me excited, but I find myself reaching for it pretty much every day. For four quid, you can't beat the quality and useabilty and I won't go away without it now.

Boots Botanics Super Balm

I've basically really liked everything I've ever tried from Boots Botanics and I think they generally do fab skincare for bugger all money, which is something I can't argue with! This is a multi-purpose balm that claims to 'soften, soothe and calm skin in need'. I've not been using it on my skin but I have to say it's the best lip balm I've tried for a long, long time. For a few quid, you get tons as well.

Soap and Glory The Fab Pore

I love me a clay mask from time to time but often find they're really drying on my skin which outweighs any other benefits. This one doesn't dry my skin out at all, and I'm giving it full credit for cleaning up the most hideous spot on my chin ever.

A-Derma Sensifluid Lait Demaquillant

I picked this up in Boots - I can't lie here - because I really liked the bottle. If you like milky, lotion-y makeup removers, or you have sensitive skin, this one is a bloody good bet. I don't like using this type of consitency on my eyes, but it removes face makeup like a dream. Sadly it's not online at Boots, so I don't remember the price, but it was less than £10 for sure.

Hates

MUA Undress Your Skin Foundation in Ivory

Hate might be a bit of a strong term but this literally didn’t sit well with me. On inital application it looked nice – better coverage than I was expecting and a nice dewy finish. But it separated horribly on my and for my dry skin that’s kind of weird. I hate to wear skin primers and for the money this cost I really can’t be bothered to find a solution for it.

Benefit They're Real Mascara

I hate this. I hate it. It would be an okay mascara – it seperates pretty nicely actually – but it WON’T COME THE FUCK OFF. It’s not billed as a waterproof mascara and I don’t expect to have to reach for an oily remover to get it off. It has that kind of goopy, gummy texture when you go to remove it and it’s such a pain in the ass. It was a freebie and thank god for that.

 

What are you loving and leaving this month?

April Favourites

Clockwise from top left:

Bobbi Brown Eyeshadow in Heather Mauve – I’ve been wearing this product a ton this month. It’s not actually a mega stellar product in itself, more that it’s suited my rushed makeup routine, which is to say, it’s sheer, neutral and has a little shimmer, so it’s dead easy to apply on the tube! It’s a grey-taupe with slight purple undertone, so it goes with quite a lot of lip and cheek colours, and it’s great to just throw in my bag.

Collection Lasting Perfection Concealer – A favourite in the blogging community for quite some time now, and it’s easy to see why. It does stay put for ages, it’s not cakey, and it’s dead cheap at around a fiver. This month, for reasons unknown, I’ve had some god-awful acne on my chin and this has taken away any redness whatsoever. And I mean really, really awful spots, they were huge!

Soap and Glory Bright Here, Bright Now – Part illuminator, part primer, part moisturiser. I don’t buy the lifting and firming claims whatsoever, but it keeps my BB cream sticking around a bit longer and adds a really subtle glow. A bit of an odd products but I really like it.

Crown Brush C315-A Soft Taklon Foundation – I won’t like to you folks, I bought this because it looked cool, and I wanted it. As a foundation brush, its actually pretty great. It covers large areas quickly and it’s very thin, so great for contouring with cream or liquid products.

Crown C250-1 Taklon Liner – This is just a really basic, thin liner brush, but I love it. I also have the C250-2, which is the next size up. The bristles are well shaped, it’s synthetic and it’s just the right length to allow for nice fluidity of movement. What more for you want for £1.69?

Bourjois Delice de Poudre in 52 – I have a review of this here, so I won’t say too much about it. Subtle, pretty, smells nice, good price.

ProCharts – £12.99 for 35 charts. I’ve never used actual makeup for face charts before, I’ve just done rough sketches. Learning to use these is a bit of a pain, but I can tell already they’re going to help me so much when planning for shoots.

MAC Sheen Supreme in Korean Candy – I wanted this for ages and it just fell into my basket. Everyone knows I love the Sheen Supremes, I basically just want them all. This particular beauty is a punchy orange-red and I luffs it.

 

What have you been loving this month?

January Favourites!

I done did a video!

Boots Botanics Organic Face Nourishing Eye Makeup remover (£4.07)
L'Occitane Turkish Rose Hand Cream (was with Marie Claire a while ago, regularly £7.50.)
L'Oreal Studio Secrets Smoothing Resurfacing Primer (around £11)
MAC Sheertone blush in Peaches (£17.50)
Illamasqua Vapour matte eyeshadow (£15.50, but it was a gift)
MUA Professional Eye Primer (£2.50)
NYX Mega Shine lipgloss in Chandelier (no idea of the £, sorry!)
Color Club Holiday Splendor (gift!)
China Glaze Snowglobe (again a gift!)
MUA 3-in-1 (£1.50)
Boots are from Migato.

Hope you liked! The Makeup Heroes is a collab between me and a bunch of other bloggers, so please check out our channel and we will love you and give you kisses :D

May Favourites

I said I wouldn't do another favourites post, and apparently I'm a liar. Ah well. Let's see what I've been enjoying this month.

Chanel Chance Eau Fraiche
There's something about a Chanel fragrance that's so luxurious to me! This is an old favourite of mine that my boyfriend bought for me for my birthday - he says it smells of me, so I guess I have to wear it! Shame. It apparently has notes of 'Jasmine, Water Hyacinth, Citron, Teakwood, White Musk, Patchouli Amber, Vetiver,' but I don't know what any of those things smell like - to me it smells awesome. I should really write more perfume reviews.

Fyrinnae Damn Paladins
My favourite neutral and go-to shadow, I've been bunging this on quite a lot lately! Soft clay-taupe with green/blue shimmer - really unusual and beautiful, but still subtle enough for those gotta-get-outta-the-house mornings! I'm wearing it here, here, here... you get my drift. If my makeup was on fire, this is one of those shades I'd burn my hands to shit for to save.

Milani Orange-Gina
Ok, so I only got this right at the end of May as a gift from Wendy, but I love it already! You all know I love an orange lippy and I'd been lusting after this for ages! It's packed with a pretty intense gold shimmer - it's just uber flattering on me and I love it. You can see me wearing in our Inglot haul video here.

Special Makeup Effects for Stage and Screen by Todd Debreceni.
Yes, it's a book. Since I got my Kindle, pages confuse me, but I keep picking up this bad boy, opening a page at random and learning something new - this book is crammed with prosthetics stuff I had no idea about! My mum bought me this book for my birthday because she thought I'd find it interesting. If you always skip to the makeup on DVD extras, this book is well worth a look. It's got everything from facial anatomy to bald caps to wigs to making false ears.  Really cool book, fanks Mum!

Calvin Klein Eyeshadow Brush 2.
I bought a load of discount brushes from Fragrance Direct and this a really cute eye brush. It's a fluffy paddle shape, so nice if you blend with a windshield wiper motion, and dense enough for application if you want a wash of colour. Nice all-rounder, bargain at £2.99!

Well, that's all folks - not that much from me this month, I know, but it's been a very makeup-less month - I haz a lazy. I have a feeling I know what June's favourites are going to be already though! Feel free to point me in the direction of your May favourites posts.