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. 

August Favourites

Hello Readers.

As you may know already, I am about to go on holiday to Zante very soon. I leave on Friday the 30th and won't be back until the 6th of September. I am currently working on trying to get as many posts written up as I can beforehand so that hopefully if I have internet access, I'll be able to post them whilst I'm away. I am going to try and do holiday OOTD posts also, however I'm not too sure if that'll be done whilst I'm away or just when I'm back. It depends on the internet situation and whatever is easiest for me. So as it's coming up to the end of the month, I thought it would be a good idea to do my August Favourites post. Now this month I haven't really been using a great deal of different products, I'm still thoroughly enjoying using the products I featured in my last monthly favourites post, especially my GOSH BB Cream which I am just in love with! However a few (and I mean a few) new favourite products have made their way into my everyday makeup bag so I thought I'd do a post anyway.

So my first favourite product of this month is a blush, and this is Benefit's Dandelion blush. As you can see from the images above I don't actually own the full size version of this product, just a small sample size which comes in the "Feelin' Dandy" Cheek and Lip Kit. My mum very kindly bought me this kit almost a year ago whilst we were at the airport about to go to Spain.

I've recently been enjoying wearing quite a minimal make-up look and this blush is perfect for just that. Dandelion is a very light, subtle pink colour which does have a very, very fine shimmer in the pan however I don't notice any of this transferring onto my face. The colour is such a natural and healthy looking shade of pink that it just compliments the skin quite nicely. I personally am not a massive fan of pinky blushes as I don't often like how they look on me, however I make an exception for this one as it's so subtle and pretty. It adds a nice natural looking flush of colour without looking like you even have makeup on. It also blends in very easily! This little kit retails for about £23 which is incredibly expensive but I do think it's worth it as you get to try 4 Benefit products for what is usually the price for about 1.

The next product in my August Favourites is this Coconut scented body spray which I picked up from The Body Shop almost 2 weeks ago now. I featured it in a mini haul so if you're interested in reading that then just click here. Since picking it up, it has fast become a favourite scent of mine despite the fact that I wasn't actually meant to start using it until I was on holiday. There's not really a great deal I can say about this product as to put it simply, it's just a coconut scented spray. I love the smell of coconut and think it just smells so lovely and summery! The scent lasts quite long on my skin which is great as there's nothing more annoying then when you spray some perfume and it's gone within half the day. You get 30ml of product in this bottle which isn't too bad but for £8, I do think it's kind of expensive. However I'd gladly pay for it as it just smells so lovely.

 

Next up in this months favourites is this Simple Kind To Skin, Hydrating Light Moisturiser. I bought this a while back instead of picking up my usual Simple Rich Replenishing one, as I wanted something a bit lighter during the summer months. This has worked wonders on my skin and I really do swear by any Simple Kind To Skin Moisturiser. They hydrate my skin wonderfully and absorb really quickly. They also never leave my skin feeling greasy or oily after I've used them! This retails for around £3 - £4 however you can often find Simple skin care products on offer at Superdrug so keep an eye out!


My last and final favourite product from the month of August has been this Collection "Work The Colour" Eyeshadow Pencil in the shade Vanilla Sky 1. I featured this in a Haul post from July which you can see by clicking here. As you can see from the description on the product, this is a velvety, blendable eyeshadow pencil. I picked this up on a whim and I'm glad I did as this has became my favourite product to use as a inner corner highlight. It's the perfect colour and consistency for this purpose. It blends very easily and is also waterproof which is a god send as my eyes are so watery and I am forever rubbing the inner corner of my eyes and taking off whatever make-up happens to be there. However this product stays put, no matter how much I ended up rubbing my eyes during the day. I really do like this and wish to pick up some more shades in the future, and at the retail price of £3.19 I don't see why not!

That's all for my August Favourites post. I hope you've enjoyed it!

Let me know what you think of any of these products below?

Hope you're all well!

Paige. 

My Top 5 Blushes.

Hello Everyone!
 

For today's post, I was a bit stuck on what to do so after giving it some thought I randomly decided to do a post about my 5 favourite blushes. I am a makeup fanatic and blushes are my weakness. I never stay faithful to the one blush and I'm always switching up which one I use. I just love the healthy glow of colour they add to your face.

I do have a few more blushes in my makeup collection however I decided to only show 5 as these are the ones that I find myself switching between the most.

 

These are in no particular order. (I couldn't pick which one I prefer more!)
Oh and the blushes featured below are all powder blushes as that is my preference.

 

 

Natural Collection Blush in Peach Melba    

(Swatch of Peach Melba)

 

If there is one blush I would recommend to everyone it would be this one. Natural Collection in Peach Melba. Not only is it a stunning colour BUT it's really good value for money as well, for those who are on a budget. Peach melba is exactly as the name would suggest, it's a beautiful pinky, peach shade which is incredibly pigmented so you only need to use a little bit of it. The blush is available in Boots and nowhere else (as far as I'm aware) and is only £1.99. Incredible value!

 

 

Mac Blush in Melba

 

 

Mac Melba is a lovely matte blush which is similar to Natural Collection's Peach Melba, however this blush is more peach / coral toned whereas Peach Melba is more pinky toned. This blush is also very pigmented so only a little amount of it is needed to add a bit of colour to your face.

This blush is available from any Mac Store and is £17.50 which is definitely a bit of a splurge for a blush but it's so worth it!

 

 

 

Sleek Blush In Suede

 

 

 

Sleek is one of my favourite makeup brands, it's great quality and good value too. What more could you ask for? Suede is a lovely deep coral/peach colour which looks good on all skin tones as it adds a nice healthy colour to the face. This blush is not quite matte, as if you look really closely you can see very subtle shimmers. This blush is available on the Sleek website and in some Superdrug stores and costs £4.49

 

 

Nars Blush In Deep throat

 

Nars Deep Throat is the sheerest of all the blushes and is not very pigmented so it does require a bit of layering up before you see the colour HOWEVER once you have built up the colour, it looks so lovely and adds a subtle but healthy glow to your complexion. Deep throat looks like a very deep pink colour in the pan with lots of gold shimmers, however it transfers very sheer and light.

Deep throat is one of the most expensive blushes in the selection and can be purchased on ASOS for £21.50.

 

 

Benefit Blush in Dandelion.  

 

As you can see from the images above, I do not own the full size version of this product. Instead I own a small sample of it from a cute little set I purchased from Benefit called Feelin' Dandy. This blush is a very subtle pink colour with slight shimmers which looks very natural on the skin and blends in very easily. It adds the perfect glow to your face without looking like you have too much makeup on. The full size product is available from all Benefit counters and can be purchased online. This blush is the most expensive of the lot at £23.

 

 

 

I hope this post is somewhat interesting for you all to read. It's taken me so long to write up so I hope I haven't gone on too much!

Paige.