Base routine/ favourite base products

Oh hi! Welcome to my morning face, and my amazing mug which I got literally ten years ago. Welcome.

It's been a while, sorry about that, life got in the way.

Anyway, hopefully as  you can see from the title, this post is all about base (buttery biscuit base)..if you don't know what that means I don't think we can be friends. Look it up.

So for this, I used all (very almost) highstreet, or drugstore products to achieve a natural looking base which just needed topping up with whatever eye and lip look I fancied.
I won't say this is an everyday look - I tend not to have time to do a few of these steps- but this probably only took 15-20 minutes tops.

For foundation, my favourite at the moment is Rimmel Match Perfection in a mix of Porcelain and Ivory to get my colour. I love this stuff, even though I have pretty oily skin, and I think it might be better suited to normal to dry skin as it has a really natural/dewy finish. I do get oily on my T Zone during the day, but I prefer that to the foundation breaking down into patches which looks awful with foundations like the L'Oreal True Match. Anyway, I digress.

For concealer, a mix of my Bobbi Brown Corrector, Collection Lasting Perfection Concealer and the L'Oreal True Match clicky highlight pen thing. Love all these, great cocktail of concealers. Speaking of the Collection concealer, I used a little of Shade 4 to warm up my face just around the edges and on my cheeks. This isn't a cream contour, it's a pretty warm shade, but it works really nicely as a cream bronzer.

For powder (which isn't in the photo, sorry, it was 7am) I use my Hourglass Ambient Lighting Powder in Difused Light, as well as my Fit Me Powder to set oilier areas.

I like to cancel out discolouration on my eyelids every day, it just makes your eyes look so much more awake. I was using the Maybelline Colour Tattoo in Creme de Rose, but I have this sample of Benefit's Stay Don't Stray so I've been using that for a while now - it's lasting forever!

For my brows, I am looving my Anastasia Dip Brow in Soft Brown at the moment, I think it's dried out a little and I'm finding it a lot easier to not over- load. I top this off with the L'Oreal Brow Plumper. 

Somehow, for the rest of my face, I accidentally used three Revolution Products. Firstly, this huge Bronze/Shimmer/Highlight pan and then the blush in Love. Really like both of these, especially the bronzer which I always go back to. For highlight, which I basically put all over my face, I used the Revolution Radiant Lights palette which is amazing if you're looking for a budget highlight, really long lasting, and a great selection of three shades for all skin tones. Ah-maze.

So yeah! Think that's it. As I said, not something I have time for every morning, but definitely nice when I have a little more time in the mornings and I want a little extra bronze 'n' glow.

Thanks for reading!

Side note, I have child hair. Yep. 

My current concealer cocktail

Who- ever said that one concealer could do it all was lying. Or they don't have the under-eye circles I have... OR they've found a magic make up product I have yet to stumble upon.

Anyway, I'm all about that layering life to make sure those bad boys stay hidden all day long. I can't say I'm 100% in love with all three of these, or that they're my holy grail concealers, or anything like that. But at the moment, it's working , and until I finish them, I'm not hugely bothered about hunting down some alternatives. If I ever need a hint more coverage, I pop a tiny dot of Collection Lasting Perfection right on the darkest part of my eye to really hit it where it hurts. (What?)

Feast your eyes on my eye. (Eye-eye Sir). My camera is fairly flattering, so the intensity of that eye bag just isn't showing up. Anyway, I've done a couple of photos to try to show you the concealer- layering process, and the finished result

So, first of all, I dab a little of the Bobbi Brown Corrector in Light Bisque into the purple-most bits of my undereye bags. Now, despite costing me almost 20£, I have found it hard to fall in love with this product. It's super SUPER creamy, making it hard to set, and not to crease the moment you apply it. But, it cancels out most of the purple-ness fairly well, which I suppose is it's number one purpose.

The next step is to layer a little of the Maybelline Anti - Age sponge concealer thing over top, just to cover the peachy-ness of the corrector. Side note: check out that blending job on my nose. Oh wow.

Lastly, I layer a healthy load of L'Oreal Lumi Concealer, which is basically a brightening pen. You can get loads of these, and I would recommend any that L'Oreal make as I've tried a good few. Loverly.

And that's it! Wack a little powder on just to set the concoction, and you're good to go. I would be happy to get this routine down to two steps, but the Maybelline concealer isn't a good colour match to my skin, and needs a bit of a pick me up.

Hope this was helpful!
Thanks for reading!
Lou x

Bobbi Brown Corrector | First Impressions

I've been wanting this one for a long long while, but somehow shelling out almost twenty pounds for a concealer makes me want to cry a little bit.
BUT, no matter how much I sleep, my under eyes are always purple. Always. A normal concealer just isn't doing it for me anymore so I wanted something heavy duty and correcting, so I could layer it with normal concealer.

Surprisingly, the lady matched me up with Light Bisque, rather than extra light (thank you Clarins Glow Booster), and applied it for me. It's now been on my eyes for around five hours, and I haven't touched it apart from adding a little setting powder over the top. That is one thing I've noticed already- this is a very VERY creamy, tacky product. I never usually set my under eyes because they are so dry, but this was creasing so badly when I came home it definitely needed some powder.
So far I'm impressed with the coverage and staying power.

I'll keep you updated, but I have a feeling this is going to change my world.

Thanks for reading!
Lou x

Top 5 ~ Spring Lust List

1. Benefit Roller Lash

The hype around this product has been on another level. However, since it's release, pretty much everyone has been praising it as a fantastic new mascara. I've watched my fair share of reviews, and I have to say I think it looks pretty good. Holding a curl is my number one problem with my lashes, so I am really excited about getting my hands on this (but maybe in a few paycheques time...)

2. Clinique Colour Pop Lipstick

I'm really really excited about these. Pigmented, moisturising, long wearing...isn't that the ultimate lipstick?! The colour range looks incredible, I've got my eye on Grape pop as a really fun, lilac colour for Spring.

3. Bobbi Brown Colour Corrector

This is in no way a new product, but my under-eye circles can quite often be quite a deep blue/purple colour, and I've been doing a lot of research, and this seems to be a lot of people's favourite for sorting that out. Definitely on my shopping list.

4.Too Faced Chocolate Bar Palette

Who doesn't want this? The colours are amazing, the reviews are glowing, and it smells like chocolate. I think this looks perfect for summer, with the lovely warm browns, but a splash of colour with pinks and peaches which will look amazing with a tan. 

5. Zoeva Rose Gold Brushes

Oh. My god. So beautiful. Zoeva are some of the best brushes around, it seems, and the rose gold ones are just to die for. Sadly, they are so pricey that these will have to wait until this year's Christmas List...

Thanks for reading, 

Lou x