So it’s that time of month again (no, not that!) where I sing praises to the products that I’ve been loving lately.
First up is the Nars Creamy Radiant Concealer (in the shade Ginger) . It’s one of those products that well and truly lives up to the hype and has surpassed all my expectations. I take my hat off to whoever created this dreamy, creamy liquid formulation as its ability to hide a multitude of sins is unrivalled. You wouldn’t have thought a concealer like this was enough to hide unsightly spots but it surprisingly does and because it’s so creamy, it sets beautifully and doesn’t cake, crease or dry out. I set it with a powder to ensure its staying power throughout the day. This is the best concealer I’ve come across so far and is light enough to go under the eyes too.
So many brands are coming out with the own version of the angled, waxy pencil for brows and I first heard of it on You Tube (of course) and it was the Hourglass Arch Brow Sculpting Pencil I believe. At £26, I was quite hesitant to spend so much for a brow product especially as I was content with using Mac Expresso through my brows with an angled brush and just setting it with some clear mascara. However, when I got a subscription email through from Sleek introducing their new brow grooming product called their Eyebrow Stylist I was very, very intrigued. At the one end, you have an angled tip designed in a way that you can shape and sculpt your brows, and then using the tip of the angled pencil, you can fill your brows in with fine hair-like strokes. On the other end, you have a spoolie to comb through your brows pre and post your brow application for a softer, more natural look. It’s available in 3 shades; light, medium and dark which is the shade I use. Now, I cannot compare it to the Hourglass offering as I haven’t used it, however, they do look rather similar. With the Sleek Eyebrow Stylist being around £20 cheaper, I’ll skip the Hourglass thanks and happily stick with the Sleek offering.
Now I’ve mention the next product in a recent blog post and it’ the Bourjois 123 Perfect CC cream (I wear the shade Rose Beige if you’re wondering). I think I mentioned that I hadn’t been sold on the whole BB/CC cream invasion onto the beauty scene and thought it was nothing more than a tinted moisturiser with maybe a bit more skin benefits added into the mix. With the UK experiencing unseasonably decent weather quite recently (and a pretty mild winter compared to the last few years), I started to look around for a lighter base with added SPF which I now consider to be an essential to my routine (I never really bothered before unless I was on holiday). When I spotted Lisa Eldridge using it in a recent video of hers, I made a beeline for my local Boots. So what’s my verdict? I rather like it. It just makes your skin look like skin but just better. It evens out your skin tone and hides most of the redness which I tend to get on my cheeks and around my nose (I go in with a concealer to hide any remaining redness). I’m not one for heavy, full coverage foundations so I have a preference for lighter foundations and tinted moisturisers, and I’ve been alternating between this and Chanel’s Vitalumiere Aqua. I would definately recommend this for people who don’t usually wear a lot of makeup but like me they just want something that’s “my skin but better” with a good dose of SPF for added sun protection.
I love, love, LOVE the Nuxe Reve De Miel. This product always crops up in blogs and on You Tube and as someone who suffers from seriously chapped lips in the colder months, I needed something to rescue my lips before they chapped their way into oblivion. I occasionally use Elizabeth Arden’s Eight Hour Cream when things get really bad but I have the scented one ,which I don’t mind the smell of so much but when it’s on the lips, I feel like I can almost taste it and believe me, it’s far from tasty. I know that they do an unscented version but it’s another product that just sits on the other side of the price range threshold so I needed something that wasn’t going to cost me an arm and a leg. This is also one of those products where I don’t know what took me so long to get around trying. Its a thick and smooth, matte texture so doesn’t feel slippy or greasy on the lips. I tend to apply a good layer of this over the lips before I go to bed and in the morning my lips feel soft and plump.
I bought the Alpha H Liquid Gold and Rejuevenation Cream at the beginning of the year and if you read my skin care routine back in January, you would have read that I was on the hunt for something to give my routine a bit of oomph and something that would help to prevent and reverse the signs of ageing (not asking for much am I?). The Liquid Gold is a bit of a revelation. It’s one of the rare few products finds where there is an immediate, noticeable difference to my skin. I use this more or less every other day right after I cleanse my skin clean and make that the final step of my routine (no toner or moisturiser on top, takes getting used to). It’s immediate tingling sensation is normal and would probably be the concentrated glycolic acid which is working to rid the skin of the dull,dead cells which tend to just sit on the surface. In the morning, my skin looks noticeably clearer, and my complexion much more brighter. I use the Alpha-H Rejuvenating Cream on the nights where I don’t use the Liquid Gold and this has less of a tingle upon application. I love the pump dispenser packaging (points for hygiene) but beware not to dispense too much (I find that I get enough product without pushing the pump the full way down). It’s described as a “rich evening moisturiser” which I would have expected to be quite thick and heavy but this isn’t at all. It’s very lightweight, and absorbs nicely into the skin. I wake up to baby soft skin (as cliche as that may sound) that looks well nourished and hydrated. These two make for a great skincare tag team.
Being a fan of the Mac 217 Blending Brush (who isn’t?), I’ve just discovered their Eye Shading Brush, the Mac 239. This brush makes packing on eyeshadow a breeze due to its flat and tapered, densely packed fibres. I find with this brush it actually picks up a lot more product compared to some of the other brushes I’ve used. This is now definitely a staple in my makeup brush collection and partners well with the 217; one to pack on the colour, the other to blend it all out.
Staying on the subject of brushes, I’ve also recently discovered the Real Techniques Buffing Brush. Prior to that, I was using the Real Techiques Stippling Brush to buff in my foundation but I think I now prefer the Buffing Brush. It’s densely packed unlike the Stippling brush but like all their other brushes, the fibres are incredibly soft and I find applying and blending out foundation such a breeze. It’s annoying that you can only get this brush in their Core Colletion, which contains 3 other brushes of which two I don’t use. Still, I guess it’s a decent price when you think it’s the cost of one Mac brush.
In my recent Mac haul (which I hope to post up soon), I purchased 12 eyeshadows and housed them in four Pro Palette Eye Shadow x4. Two of the colour combinations I have been reaching for most of the time are All That Glitters & Mulch. All That Glitters is a subtle, shimmery gold with a warm peach undertone and I like to apply that all over the lid whilst staying under the crease. Then I go in on the outer third of the lid ( and slightly into the crease) with Mulch, a warm, mid-toned brown, and again with a subtle shimmer running through it. Both are Veluxe Pearl finishes and blend like a dream.I can see this neutral toned duo being my go to eyeshadows for the foreseeable future.
I had only purchased one of the Rimmel Lasting Finish Matte Lipstick until recently when I was on the hunt for an orange toned red (with it being Spring or what not). The shade I picked up was 110. I do tend to find red a difficult colour to wear and I always feel a little self conscious wearing it (not really sure why). That’s why I always opt for red shades with an undertone of another shade. Shade 107 leans pink whilst the 110 leans more orange with the tiniest bit of coral thrown in. The matte finish wears really comfortably when applied over moisturised lips and not at all drying as some of its matte peers. The shade is quite vibrant and I think it’s definitely appropriate for Spring/Summer.
For those who prefer lip glosses to lipsticks or are into the lipstick/lipgloss hybrids (the Opaque-ness of a lipstick but the consistency and application of a gloss) that all the brands seem to be doing now, I am quite enjoying using Loreal’s L’extraordinaire Liquid Lipstick By Colour Riche in the shade Rose Symphony (which is a bright pink with a touch of coral to it). It’s sleek gold packaging is YSL-esque so looks more expensive then it really is. The formulation is quite thick but very glossy, and quite tacky but not annoyingly sticky. You can wear it sheer with one coat on their doe-foot applicator, or you can build it up for a more opaque finish and intense colour pay off. Be warned though to make sure your lips are in tip top condition (as in, not chapped and flaky) when using this because this will emphasise any dry skin you may have on your lips. Give them a good exfoliation and a good dose of Nuxe Reve De Miel and you are good to go.
That’s all the products for this month. I’d love to hear what your favourites of the month are and even your non favourites if you’ve stumbled across any that you now regret buying.
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