Cream Eyeshadows

Cream eyeshadows are a product that initially confused me way back when I first became interested in makeup; to me cream eyeshadow just connoted creasing, hard to blend and jelly mixed with glitter eyeshadows - you know the ones? But after trying a Maybelline Colour Tattoo in Pink Gold I was a total convert, I wore that eyeshadow everyday until there was nothing but a few dried out crumbles left. I'd now say I wear cream eyeshadows 90% of the time I'm wearing makeup, they're so quick and easy to apply, have the ability to blend out and look awesome on their own or act as a base to any eye look, and pleasingly they have become so readily available on the high street - in my opinion again because of Maybelline's fantastic range.

Contouring On A Budget

I think it's fair to say, that since the Kardashians hit our screens nearly 10 years ago women all over the world have gone crazy for contouring, with the aim of getting the chiseled cheeks just like Kim. It used to be a Hollywood's secret to perfect cheekbones, but with the help of the budget brands, the everyday woman can now sculpt and highlight her face to her hearts content.

Current Beauty Favourites

I seem to have again been neglecting my blog, I feel like once I start posting regularly something comes along such as an assignment, or an exam or in this case an Easter holiday where I was working a lot whilst I was back home. I seem to have missed April favourites by a long shot, so I thought I'd share some of my favourites for the past couple of months.


For my base I've been loving two new additions to my collection, the Rimmel Lasting Finish Nude Foundation and Revlon Colorstay Concealer. I've loved the Revlon Colorstay foundation for around two years now so I don't know why it took me so long to pick up the concealer, but I'm so glad I did. It's medium coverage and blends to a really nice finish on the skin, it has a really creamy and moisturising formula that lasts all day - think Collection Lasting Perfection but not as drying. The foundation is also a medium coverage - my skin hasn't been the best it could be recently - that blends really easy in to the skin to give a flawless complexion and lasts all day. I've had some dryness recently and this hasn't worked too well on that, so this is defiantly one for normal to oily skin.

Another base product I've been loving is the Benefit Watt's Up highlighter. I've always preferred pinky highlighters so when I got this in the Benefit blush palette I originally had no care for it, but I have been loving the gorgeous natural glow it gives to the skin. It's a cream highlighter that's slightly golden and just blends out to a lovely sheen on the cheekbones. I'm a total cream highlighter convert now, and would go as far to say this is my favourite Benefit product ever! I've also been loving an oldie in the form of the Maybelline Lasting Drama Gel Eyeliner, an amazing eyeliner that once it's set does not budge. The formulation is super black and long lasting, and the actual pot itself lasts a really long time, I've had mine over a year and it's still creamy and going strong.

Finally are two Bourjois products, I spoke about these in my Everyday Makeup Routine back in February and I'm still loving them now. The Bourjois Colorband 2-in-1 Eyeshadow and Liner in Rose Fauviste is a really pretty shimmery pink for the lids, the perfect sweep of colour if you're in a rush, but also the perfect base. Finally the Bourjois Rouge Edition Velvet in Ole Flamingo, is still a lip product I'm having a bit of a love affair with. It's a bright pink matte lip that lasts well over 6 hours even through eating and drinking, and just looks simply stunning on the lips. The camera never seems to pick up the real colour, so you'll just have to trust me that this is a colour you need. Both of these Bourjois products are the two I would recommend the most, they're amazing!

What have been your current favourites?

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Why Primer Is An Everyday Essential

Primer is a stage I feel a lot of people seem to skip in their makeup, some people feel they don't see any benefits to primer or some people just simply can't be bothered. I personally couldn't wear my makeup without primer, I find it acts as the glue for my makeup and provides a much needed barrier between my moisturiser and foundation, without it my foundation would just slip and slide around. Finding the right primer to suit your skin or the foundation you're wearing can however be a lot harder than it seems.

In my opinion, the most obvious choice when buying a primer would be Benefit the POREfessional, it's the UK's number one selling primer and the beauty community regularly give it the thumbs up. This was the first high end product I ever bought, and although I don't use it everyday anymore I do still love it. It smoothes out your complexion, blurs any imperfections and slightly mattifies the skin ready for foundation. This is one I grab for when I'm going on a night out and I want a flawless complexion, I find if I use it everyday it can start to clog up my pores - slightly ironic considering it's supposed to blur them - so I reserve this for when my skin is in dire need or if I'm after a flawless look.

In terms of high street primers, they never seem to offer anything too much for your skin except helping to make your makeup last a bit longer on the skin. Some budget options would be the W7 Prime Magic Camera Ready Face Primer* which helps to smooth out the skin and blur any fine lines. It has a slightly strange smell, not offensive just not what I expected, and makes the fingers feel slightly dry after you've applied the primer, but it leaves the skin feeling silky smooth and ready for your base. I have normal skin but I can imagine this would be nice for people with oily skin as it helps to mattify the skin and soak up any oil in the skin. Another would be the Maybelline Baby Skin, a little really does go a long way with this primer, if you add too much your foundation will slide right off the skin, but if you can find the perfect middle ground it will help your foundation will last all day. I'm not quite sure it lives up to it's claims of being pore minimising, but if you're after a basic inexpensive primer this is a nice option.

If you're someone who doesn't struggle keeping foundation on the skin but just wants to have the added glow to the skin then you'll love MAC Prep + Prime Skin Base Visage. I bought it recently after trying a sample of it, and it's defiantly my personal favourite of the bunch. It starts as a pearly white with a creamy texture with slight reflective glitter throughout but blends in to the skin to add a hydrated and moisturised look, but without the shine of a moisturiser. The glitter adds a highlight and glow to the face without looking like a disco ball and I've found my makeup does last that little bit extra when I do wear this. It's cheaper than the POREfessional but is still on the slightly pricey side of things, but for me it's an all round winner.

Do you wear primer, and what is your favourite?

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Top 15 Discoveries of 2014

My initial intention for this was to do my top 14 of 2014, but when I was taking the pictures and writing down my choices I couldn't kick one out, because they're all amazing products, and whilst I feel I'm a bit late to the 2014 favourites I still want to do one. Exam revision is slightly taking over my life but I've been thinking and planning this post for a few weeks now. Instead of doing top products I've decided to do my top discoveries, because I don't think I could whittle down my top products in to a select number and I wouldn't have a favourite for every category. Some of these products are new to the market this year and some are just new to me, but hopefully you'll find something you'll want to try this year!

Beauty Gift Guide: £10 and under

What I've Bought #2

Firstly, sorry for the not so great picture. Getting natural light to take pictures seems impossible at the moment as the day goes dull around 2pm and I don't get in from university most days until gone 3:30pm. So I had to try and get a picture where there were no visible shadows, with enough light and still being able to see everything. Which didn't work that well.

But anyway, I thought I'd show some of the beauty items I've been buying recently because there's some great offers and some new products out in Boots I was keen to try.

I'll start with the two things I actually got for free, which is the Barry M Showgirl Extra Lengthening Mascara and the Umberto Giannini Glam Hair Backcomb In A Bottle. I recieved these from a goody bag in Boux Avenue, when you spent £45 you got a gift bag with a few beauty products, sweets and a magazine in. I've been keen to try the Umberto Giannini product for a while so I'm glad I got this for free!

Next I've picked up a few more products from Real Techniques. I already have most of their brushes but when Cohorted were doing the Duo Fibre Set for a really great price - it was something crazy like £13 - I couldn't say no, so snapped them up. I also picked up the Miracle Complexion Sponge from Boots, I've already started using this and I absolutely love it. It's great at getting your makeup on quickly and flawlessly!

Whilst I was at Boots I also restocked a few items that I had run out of. The first were my two favourite concealers which are both from Collection. The first being the extremely hyped up Lasting Perfection Concealer, I only ever repurchase this every few months and will sometimes go months without using it, but always go back to it because the coverage is great. The next is also one I always go back to and that's the Illuminating Touch Concealer which I love for under the eyes. It adds a nice glow under the eyes but still provides enough coverage. I also picked up another Maybelline The Falsies, but picked up the wrong one because there's about 4 different variants. Another repurchase was the La Roche Posay Effaclar Duo+, I've used up two of the original formulas and I can't see this one being that different to the original.

The last makeup item was a L'Oreal Paris Color Riche Mono Eyeshadow in Cafe St Germain 201, which was actually smashed when I got home. So I'm not very impressed by them, but hopefully I can still make it work.

Finally, the last two products I picked up were Embroylisse Lait Creme Concentre and Duo Striplash Adhesive, and they were both on a bit of a whim and because I was just surprised to see them both in Boots. I have been wanting to try a new moisturiser and have recently been getting in to false eyelashes, so I'm excited to try them both!

Have you bought anything exciting recently?

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