Holiday Beauty Essentials

Somehow we're already in July and every social network I go on, people are counting down the days till they go on holiday. I personally am not going away this year *sobs* but I thought I'd do a post showing you all my holiday beauty essentials anyway. I've not included the obvious products such as a good SPF and moisturiser, instead I've chosen to show beauty items that you'd reach for probably more in the evening time when going out for dinner or drinks. Of course there's nothing stopping you wearing these in the day if you wanted to! 


GOSH CC Cream Illuminating Foundation 

This is probably one of my favourite face products to date and I've not even not even had it a month yet. It's the perfect kind of foundation for everyday use - especially in a hot climate. It gives a light yet even coverage which looks very natural. As it is a colour correcting foundation it evens out and reduces any redness in the skin whilst creating a dewy finish. It feels very lightweight on the skin, not oily or cakey in the slightest plus it leaves your skin feeling extremely soft. It does contain SPF 10, however you may want to apply a little bit of SPF before putting this on just so you are protecting your face from any harsh sunlight. This product is ideal for travelling with due to it's squeezable tube design and nozzle applicator meaning no mess and no fuss! I'll have a full review about this CC cream coming up on my blog very soon.


MAC Coral Bliss Lipstick

Coral Bliss is a light shade of coral with a slightly pinky hue to it. It's a cremesheen finish meaning the colour transfers slightly more sheer than what it looks in the bullet and leaves a glossy finish on the lips. Due to the glossy finish this is a very light and comfortable lipstick to wear however the finish does also mean that it's not particularly long lasting and does require touch ups every 2-3 hours, especially if eating or drinking. Coral Bliss is a very nice, neutral coral shade which looks perfect on every skin tone. It really compliments a tan and helps to brighten up your complexion - creating a truly radiant look. The perfect Summer lipstick without a doubt!


Benefit The Porefessional Primer

A primer is a must when you find yourself in a hot environment, it keeps your make-up in place and also helps it to last longer. I really like the Porefessional primer as it feels silky and smooth, it blends really easily and it does even out my skin tone ever so slightly. After moisturising my face I apply a small pea sized amount of this product on my finger and then dab a little bit on my chin, forehead, cheeks and nose, then using my fingers I blend it in. You really don't need much of this at all as a little goes a long way and you will notice a difference in the staying power of your make-up!


Sleek Contour Kit 

Nothing accentuates a tan more than a little bit of bronzer and highlight and the Sleek Contour kit is the perfect handy little compact which allows you to do both. Both the highlight and the bronzer are really pigmented so you don't need to use a lot of product to get your desired look, plus they're really blendable and long lasting.The bronzer is a lovely matte brown shade, not muddy or too orange like some bronzers tend to be. The highlight is a gorgeous peachy champagne colour which suits all skin tones and really illuminates the face. The compact itself is very sturdy and looks to be of very high quality. The packaging is a really nice matte black, with a fairly large sized mirror inside - perfect for on the go touch ups. Due to it's small size this is ideal for travel which is another big reason I had to feature it in my Holiday Beauty Essentials. I highly recommend this product to anyone looking for a good quality contour kit which doesn't break the bank. 


Sleek Blush By 3 Palette - Lace

The Sleek Blush by 3 Palette is ideal for those who'd like to create a variety of different make-up looks but don't want the hassle of having to pack a million different products. This palette contains 3 beautiful coloured blushes, all of which are really intensely pigmented and so easy to blend. 

The three shades within the palette are;

Crochet

Guipure

Chantilly

Crochet is a matte peachy orange, Guipure is a peach toned pink with flecks of gold shimmer running throughout and Chantilly is a bright red toned pink which at first glance looks rather terrifying but really it's not. This particular selection of colours are perfect for the Summer months as they're so bright and fun - they're amazing on tanned skin however they do work for pale skin also, you just need to be a little light handed on the application. I personally love to mix a little of Crochet and Guipure together and apply that on to my cheeks and I find it just creates the most amazing flush of colour - it really makes my skin look so much more radiant and healthy. The palette itself contains a large mirror and is an ideal size for travelling. If you'd like to see a more detailed review of this product that you can by clicking here.

Urban Decay Naked Basics Palette

The Naked Basics Palette is the most ideal neutral eyeshadow palette to travel with. It contains 6 shades, 5 of which are matte whilst the other one has a slight shimmer to it. The shades inside the palette are as follows;

Venus, Foxy, Walk of Shame, Naked 2, Faint and Crave.

Venus is the shimmery white shade. Foxy is a creamy, yellow shade. Walk of Shame is a beige / pink colour. Naked 2 is a light beige brown colour. Faint is a chocolate shade and crave is a very dark black colour.

This fantastic range of shades can very easily carry you from a day to a night look simply by adding one of the darker colours in order to create a smokey eye. I believe this palette can very easily double as a brow kit due to the great selection of colours and if you really want, Venus makes a great highlight also! It's a handy multi purpose palette which also happens to be a very travel friendly size - which is a nice change from the difficultly large size of the original Naked Palettes. Again if you're interested in reading more about this product you can see my review here. 

That's all for my round up of my holiday beauty essentials! Let me know what you think of some of these products, or if there are any products you'd personally recommend me to try!

I hope you're all well. 

Mini Beauty Haul

Hello Readers,

I was running low on some of my beauty essentials recently so I decided to pop in to Superdrug and restock on some of my products. I didn't pick up many products so there's not a lot to show but I thought I'd do a little post on it anyway! 

First thing I picked up was a box of L'OREAL Casting Creme Gloss Hair Dye in the shade Iced Truffle. Now I don't think I've mentioned this on my blog before but unfortunately I'm on the side of the family that goes grey early meaning I have to dye my hair pretty regularly to stay on top of the problem. I've dyed my hair countless times throughout my teen years and don't usually stay loyal to one brand, however the last few times I have repurchased this exact dye and in this exact shade. It's a lovely product and I feel like the colour is the perfect shade of chocolate brown! 

Next up is the Gosh CC Illuminating foundation which retails for £8.99. I've never used this product before, in fact I was going to purchase my usual Gosh BB cream however when I saw this I just felt really overwhelmed to try it. GOSH is a make-up brand that so many people overlook, probably due to price - however their BB cream is probably one of the best face products I've ever used. So when I saw they had released a CC cream and in 2 lighter shades I just had to have it. I've used this twice already but hopefully once I've formed an opinion on it I shall be able to review it soon! 

I then picked up a pack of Superdrugs own brand cleansing facial wipes. A bit of a boring purchase but a completely necessary one! Again, I don't stay loyal to one brand of face wipes and these just happened to be the ones I picked up on this particular trip to Superdrug. These wipes seem to be quite heavily fragranced which may or may not irritate my skin so I'll use them for now and see how I get on. 

The final product I picked up was the VO5 Heat Protect Styling Spray. I was never usually one for hair products as I never knew what products I needed to use and felt like they didn't do anything for me. However recently I have sort of settled into a hair care routine and this is one of the products that features in it, I do use it for its intended purpose which is to protect my hair from heat but it also kind of doubles as a de-tangling spray for me as I have really knotty hair. It's cheap and it does the job! I'm pretty sure I will be doing a post on my hair care routine quite soon so look out for that if you're interested in seeing what other hair products I use! 

That's all for this post, I hope you're all well!

Best Products of 2013

Hello Readers!

Today I will be doing a round up of my favourite products that I've used throughout 2013. 2013 has been a year that has just simply flown by and during this year I've found some products that I really do swear by. I'll just say now as a little disclaimer that actually a lot of these products are ones that I seemed to have picked up towards the end of 2012, however they have been consistently used throughout 2013 which is why I included them in this post. The title may be slightly misleading but basically this post is just me showing you my favourite products that I used throughout last year.

 

 My first favourite product of 2013 is the Real Techniques buffing brush. I'm pretty sure I got this in the core collection towards the end of 2012, however it wasn't really until 2013 that I really realised just how good this brush is and I've not used another brush to apply my foundation since. I use this pretty much everyday and no other brush compares. It applies my foundation really evenly, quickly and just overall helps to create a flawless finish. I've never experienced any problems with it shedding, even after being washed multiple times. It's a fantastic brush and has truly revolutionized my make-up routine forever.

Next up is a product that really surprised me with just how much I grew to like it and it's this ELF Lipstick in the shade Gypsy. I ordered this lipstick on a whim back in November when ELF reached 20,000 followers on twitter and gave everyone a 50% off code with all orders over £10. I ordered a bunch of stuff and decided whilst I was at it, I would pick up my first ever ELF lipstick. It was only £1.50 so I thought I might as well pick up a colour I wouldn't typically go for and if I didn't like it then ultimately it wouldn't matter as it was so cheap. Gypsy is a slightly pinky / purple raspberry colour - although in the photos it doesn't look like that at all. I typically go for nudes, reds, orange shades or burgundy so this really isn't something I would go for, however it's actually become one of my favourite and most reached for lipsticks! The colour is really flattering on my skin tone and I just feel like it compliments a lot of the clothes I wear also. It just seems to go with everything I put on and is a lipstick that isn't too bright and in your face so it's appropriate for everyday use. It has a slight shine to it however I don't mind as this makes it feel more comfortable to wear on the lips, the only negative thing I could possibly say about this lipstick is that it's not as long lasting as some of my other lipsticks but other than that it's amazing, and for £1.50 you really can't complain!

 Next up is Sleeks face contour kit in Light. This is a fantastic little palette which I love to bits! I picked this up whilst I was in London in December 2012, and since then I've used it a multitude of times however I'm yet to even make a dent in it! This is the perfect bronzer for my skin tone, it's easy to work with, it's not orangey at all, it's really blendable and best of all can be easily layered. I love using this all year round as it helps to add a bit of colour to my otherwise very pale face. I also really love the highlight as it too is really buildable, blendable and suits my skin perfectly. I love using this to highlight my cupids bow in particular as it just looks so pretty! This compact can easily be used on the go due to the large mirror inside and it's small and sleek packaging. I love this duo and highly recommend it to everyone!

 Next up is a product that I rarely ever seem to shut up about but it's just so good so you'll have to forgive me! Surprise, surprise it's the GOSH BB Cream in the shade Sand. This is now my second tube of this product and I absolutely swear by it! I use it everyday and prefer it over any foundation I've ever used. Let me start off by saying that the colour is the perfect match for my skin tone, which I really didn't expect considering the name of the shade. I find it really difficult finding products that match my skin tone as I'm so incredibly pale so it was really did surprise me. This product has a really light, creamy texture which blends into the skin beautifully. It has a light to medium coverage, as you would expect from a BB cream. It sits lovely on my skin, not drying, cakey, or greasy at all. This product is also quite long lasting, I find that I can put it on in the morning, go work a 9 hour shift and come back with it still on, looking more or less the same as it did in the morning. This product just creates a your skin but better look, which I really like. GOSH is a brand that I so regularly overlook as I thought it was so overpriced however I really need to give more of the products a go if this is anything to go by!

Next up is a skincare product, now I'm not exactly the best person when it comes to skincare, I don't really know a lot about it and I don't really have a routine. Whenever I do have one I actually seem to find that my skin gets worse so I just use whatever and hope for the best. (Bad blogger alert) This is a product that I really love using when my skin isn't doing too well. I've been using it for about 2 years now and have gone through many tubes of it now. This is Simples Spotless Skin Spot Zapper. It's basically a roll on Spot Zapper which is really kind and gentle to the skin and helps to gradually get rid of any spots that you may have. It contains Zinc, Chamomile, Witch Hazel and Lavender. Zinc PCA absorbs excess oils and helps to heal wounds, Chamomile acts as an anti inflammatory, Witch Hazel helps to tone and tighten pores and Lavender calms and soothes redness. This doesn't dry your skin out like some other spot treatments do and it also doesn't have any off putting scent to it. Simple is a skincare brand that I really trust, I do really like the idea behind their products and haven't disliked a single product that I've tried from them. At first glance you wouldn't expect this product to last you a long time, however just one of these tubes lasts me for months! I honestly couldn't tell you the last time I picked one of these up as it was so long ago. This product has a roll on applicator which means application is simple (no pun intended) easy and clean.

 

That's it for this post, I hope you have enjoyed.
If you haven't tried any of these products then I highly recommend giving them a go!

I hope you're all well.

Photography | Twitter | Instagram

 

 



October Favourites

 

Hello Readers,

Today I'll be doing my monthly favourites post! October has been a month where I've not really used or tried any new products if I'm honest. I've switched up a few bits in my everyday make-up routine however it's not much so sorry for the disappointing lack of products. Enough rambling and on with the post!



First up in my October favourites is MAC's matt powder blush in the shade Melba. This blush is very peach / coral toned which perhaps is a bit better suited to the summer months however I prefer an orangey toned blush to a pink one as I feel like they suit me better. This blush is very pigmented so only a little amount of it is needed to add a bit of colour to your face. I have had this blush for about a year now and still haven't even made a dent in it! This product also featured in my June favourites post which you can see here.

 

Next up is a product that I've featured a few times on my blog now and it's GOSH BB Cream in the shade Sand. I've done a post raving about how underrated this product is which you can see here. I've also featured this in my July favourites post which you can see here. I always find myself coming back to this product as it's just so good. I feel like it's the perfect match for my skin, it's long lasting and it looks so natural. I couldn't praise it enough! I'm almost all out of this now so it looks like I'll be picking up another tube some time soon. 

Next up is Rimmels Retro Glam Scandal Eyes Mascara. I've had this mascara for just over a month now and I really like it. I much prefer this mascara now that it's beginning to dry up a little bit as I'm really not a fan of wet mascara. I feel like this helps to thicken my lashes and also fans them out quite nicely. To read more about what I think of this product you can check out the review I did it of it last month by clicking here.

Next up is something a bit dull however I'll show them anyway. These are Superdrugs own Camomile Facial Cleansing wipes, they retail for 99p so they're super cheap! I've used Superdrugs facial wipes before however I've never used the Camomile ones until recently. These wipes just smell so so good! I absolutely love using them, they're quite good at removing make-up and just smell so lovely that they're enjoyable to use. I found that the face wipes I was previously using seemed to be breaking me out however since switching to these wipes I've seen an improvement in my skin so I'll definitely continue to use these!

That's all for this months favourites post. Hopefully I'll have a few more products in my next one!
I hope you're all well.

 

July Favourites

 

 

Hello Readers!

 

Today I will be doing my July Favourites post. I will just say now that I haven't featured many products in this favourites post as It's been so hot and I just haven't been using that many products or wearing that much make-up for that matter. However when I have been wearing make-up, these are the products that I've been reaching for and have been enjoying using during this incredibly hot weather we're having. In my favourites this month, I have a lipstick, a blush, a face contour kit and a BB cream. So enough chatting and on with the post!

 

Okay so the first item I want to talk about in my July Favourites is this blush from the Dainty Doll range. This is a powder blush in the shade 001 Hippy Shake. I bought this blush many months back but never really used it because it's a odd dusky pinky, lilac colour with quite a bit of shimmer in it which I originally thought would look horrendous on my face. However after recently using it in a photoshoot on a model, I really liked the way it looked on her skin and I decided to start using it myself. This blush is a very light colour and therefore requires a little bit of building up however once it's on it's a lovely subtle flush of colour which looks very healthy on the skin. It's not a colour for everyone however, as Dainty Doll cosmetics are for pale skinned girls like myself. I picked this up from Fragrance Direct for £1.99.

 

The next product that I've been loving this month is Sleeks Face Contour Kit in Light. I picked this up back in April whilst I was in London and I have not regretted it in the slightest! This product is rather hyped up but it's definitely worth the hype. This handy little kit contains a matte bronzer on the left and a beautiful highlight on the right. The bronzer is buildable so you can control the intensity of the contouring and is also very easy to blend so if you've applied too much or have been a bit too heavy handed it can be fixed. The highlight is a lovely pearly iridescent shade which I actually prefer over Benefit's High Beam. Like the bronzer this is buildable, however it can be a little bit chalky but other than I adore it! The highlighter creates the perfect subtle healthy glow which is great for this time of year. I love this little kit and have been using it so much during the warmer weather for that perfect bronzed, glowy summer look.

Next product that I have been enjoying throughout July is this Gosh BB Cream in the shade Sand. I've done a blog review on this product before, so if any of you are interested in reading a more in depth description of this product then you can do so by clicking here.
This is the first BB cream I've ever used and it's honestly so good. I picked this up on a whim as I was really drawn to it for some reason. I picked up the lightest shade which is Sand and I doubted this would suit my skintone as sand is usually quite a dark beige shade in most foundations. However this suits my skintone perfectly! Not only that but it provides a really good coverage for a BB cream. It's light on the skin however it does do a good job covering any blemishes or discolouration. This is has been a lovely product to wear during the warmer weather as I feel comfortable with the coverage it gives and the way it feels on my skin.

The final product in my July Favourites round up is this lipstick by Maybelline. This is the Maybelline Colour Sensational Lipstick in the shade Citrus Slice. I picked this up a while back from Fragrance Direct when I first started my obsession with orange lipsticks. When this arrived I was extremely disappointed with it as it's extremely sheer and has almost no colour payoff whatsoever, it's pretty much just a lip balm. However I've recently come to really love this product as it is such a nice, moisturising lip product. It's comfortable to wear and creates the most beautiful glossy shine on your lips. It's been nice wearing something so moisturising on my lips during this really hot weather we're having.

I hope you enjoy this post!
Let me know what you're favourite products have been for the month of July.

Hope you're all well.

Paige.



FOTD #1

Hello Readers!

I've decided to start a new series of posts, entitled FOTD. I really want to do an everyday makeup routine but I keep switching things up so regularly all of a sudden that I don't even have a set everyday look anymore! So my FOTD posts will allow me to show you what makeup look I'm currently wearing on that day! I was toying around with this blog post idea for a while as I wasn't really too keen on posting images of just my face, it makes me slightly uncomfortable and also makes me cringe a little bit. However, I enjoy these types of posts from other people so I might as well give it a go myself!

I'm trying to sort out an everyday makeup routine so once I have one I'll do a post on that. As I mentioned in my previous posts I've been enjoying creating a nice bronzed, glowy summer look so that's what I'm wearing in this post. It's quite simple, and not as bronzed as what some other people's summer makeup looks are as I don't tan and I'm very pale. All products used will be listed below.

Please ignore my frizzy crazy hair, I was too lazy to do anything with it today. Such a great beauty blogger..

 

 

 

Products Used:

Simple Kind To Skin Moisturiser
Gosh BB Cream - Sand
Collection Lasting Perfection Concealer - Light

Collection Sheer Loose Powder - Translucent
Sleek Face Contour Kit - Light

Sleek Powder Blush - Suede
Urban Decay Naked Basics Palette - Naked 2 and Faint (Eyebrows)
MUA Undress Me 2 Palette - Shy (All over lid colour)
Maybelline 24 Hour Colour Tattoo - On and On Bronze (Crease Colour)
Max Factor 2000 Calorie Mascara - Black
Collection 2000 24 Hour Felt Tip Liner - Black

Let me just say now that I'm not claiming to be any good with makeup, I'm certainly no makeup artist but I have an interest in makeup and like playing around with it. I hope you find this post somewhat enjoyable or maybe even useful! Maybe It'll inspire you to try out some of these products I've used?

Let me know what you think!

Paige.




Underrated Products #1: GOSH BB Cream.

Hello Everyone! Sorry it's been so long since my last post. I've been so busy with college that I've had no time to be blogging! I'm coming to the end of my college course now so hopefully my posts will become a bit more regular.

Right anyway, enough of the excuses! I've decided to start doing a few posts on products which I think are underrated and overrated. This is my first underrated product post so I hope you enjoy, and find this somewhat helpful!

The product I'm going to feature in my first underrated product post is, GOSH BB Cream. Now GOSH is a brand of makeup that I don't often venture into. I think I own possibly one other product from GOSH and that would be a cream blush. I never really feel compelled to look at any of their products and when I do, I normally find myself being put off by the price as most products are around the £7 and upwards mark. Now, I know to some people that won't seem like a lot of money, but to me it just seems a bit much, especially when you can get a similar product from another brand, a few pounds cheaper!



 

It was back in January, whilst I was in Superdrug, I happened to have a look at the GOSH stand and came across their BB cream. At that moment in time, I was interested in BB creams but was yet to come across one that was pale enough for my skin tone, as most BB creams that I had previously swatched seemed too orange and their shade range just wasn't that great.

I picked up GOSH BB Cream in shade "Sand", which I was a bit sceptical about as usually sand is quite a dark shade in most other makeup brands. However sand is the lightest of the GOSH BB creams, from their shade range of 5 colours.

I've used this product many times since purchasing it a few months back and I've been so amazed with how great it is. Considering how good the product is, I was surprised to see the lack of interest of it online. I've seen barely any video reviews on the product, and very few blog posts whatsoever! So this is why I've decided to feature it in an underrated products post, so hopefully this product gets the attention I think it so rightfully deserves.

I'll start off by saying that the colour is the perfect match for my skin tone, which I really didn't expect considering the name of the shade. I find it really difficult finding products that match my skin tone as I'm quite pale so it was really did surprise me. This product has a really light, creamy texture which blends into the skin beautifully. It has a light to medium coverage, as you would expect from a BB cream. It sits lovely on my skin, not drying, cakey, or greasy at all. This product is also quite long lasting, I find that I can put it on in the morning, go off to college and come home 8 hours later, with it still on, looking more or less the same as it did in the morning. This product just creates a your skin but better look, which I really like.

GOSH BB Cream retails in Superdrug and costs £10, which isn't too bad for a product that lasts such a long time and sits so lovely on the skin!

 

 

I hope this post is somewhat helpful to those of you who are searching for a good, pale BB cream. Have you tried this product, or anything similar you could recommend me?
Let me know!



Paige.