MAC Mineralize Skin Finish - Soft & Gentle

MAC Mineralize Skin Finish (Soft & Gentle) £24 - link

The season of highlighter is upon us and holy jesus are they everywhere! I'm a recent highlighter addict with, perhaps, one of the most cult products of it's kind being my most recent purchase. 

MAC soft and gentle is loved by many and for good reason. It is truly beautiful. On your face, in the pan and where ever else you want to put it, it's just beautiful. I apply this mainly to my cheek bones and occasionally down the bridge of my nose, my cupids bow etc and it leaves a beautiful sheen which just brings your face to life. It adds dimension that pulls all the rest of your make up together and I love it. The sheen it leaves isn't subtle but it isn't all up in your face either, it's the perfect balance and I think the champagne-esque shade would suit most skin tones which adds to the reason it's so popular. 

I'm definitely on the hunt to add more highlighters to my minuscule (although hopefully not for long) collection but I'm more than happy to have this to tide me over until I fall in love again.

If you have any recommendations for highlighters please please leave a comment!

Do you have this product? Do you love it as much as I do?

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Anastasia Beverly Hills Contour Kit

Anastasia Beverly Hills Contour Kit (Light) £39 - link

I really enjoy contouring, not to the professional and extreme levels of the likes of Kim K's make up artists, but much more natural and a lot less perfect. Often in contouring cream products are the go to to create a more flawless and complete look but because of how oily my skin is, I find it difficult to keep cream products on my face and in all honesty I'm not sure I could bare all the layers of make up, so powders are truly my greatest beauty companion.

These powders are all great shades and all so versatile. Despite being a huge fan of highlighters they (unfortunately) do not always compliment my oily complexion so because the light shades within this set are all matte they work wonderfully. Creating highlighted areas and defining shadows are made fool proof with the variations of shades and I'm completely smitten. At £39 I think it's absolutely worth every penny and I'd go as far to say that I think this should be a staple in everyone's collection.

What do you think of this kit? Have you bought it?

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Real Techniques Bold Metals Collection

Real Techniques Bold Metal Brushes - link

I don't know if it's with pride or shame that I tell you that I've bought all the brushes in this collection (not all are pictured). I don't even want to know how much that adds up to and the only excuse I have is just look at how pretty they are! Is that a good enough reason? Probably not.

The quality of these brushes, in my opinion, is no better than those that you could get from Sigma or Zoeva. Most of them are great brushes although there are a couple that I don't think are worth their price tag. The foundation brush especially isn't one of my favourites. It seems to absorb a lot of the product and the bristles separate during application which leave streaks all over my face. Of course this could all be my fault and my significant lack of skills when it comes to make up but I just thought I'd warn you anyway. All of the other brushes seems fine, they're super soft and apply make up wonderfully but again, no better than any brush from Zoeva would for example.

If I'm being honest, I don't really think they're worth the money. They are lovely to look at sat all neatly on your desk but that's all they have over any other brand of brushes. I don't, however, regret buying them and I'm happy to have them in my collection.


What do you think of these brushes? Do you own any of them?

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Red Cherry Lashes

Red Cherry Eyelashes Available here & here via eBay

I have completely fallen back in love with fake eyelashes because of these. I first discovered Red Cherry Lashes about 3 or 4 years ago when more dramatic looking lashes were my thing and loved them then, now I much prefer a natural look and I think I love them even more.

The biggest difference with these lashes than most others is that these are made from human hair which makes for a really natural look that blends with your own eyelashes as well as any false eyelashes could. They have hundreds of choices of styles with my personal fave being 'WSP', they're perfect for wearing everyday. As for how many uses you can get out of these, mine usually last around 7-10 times if I remove the glue from them after every use (I use duo eyelash glue if you were wondering), but to be honest, considering they retail for around £2.99 getting more than a couple of uses out them isn't the end of the world!

What do you think of these? Do you wear fake eyelashes?

P.S - Sorry I've been MIA, I've missed ya xoxoxo

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4 Outfits: Playsuits

This style of post seemed to go down pretty well the last time I did one (which you can read here if you're interested) so I thought I'd do another one!

I really love playsuits and think they're a great piece to have in your wardrobe, I'd even go so far as to say they're a staple. They're so versatile and easy to style and there's one to suit everyone. It's taken me a long time to feel comfortable enough to wear something like this but recently I just can't be bothered to care what people might think of me and I'm just gonna go for it! If you're like me and you don't feel confident in wearing things like this either, then I hope you get the courage to do it because I know you'll look wonderful.

Look #1: Playsuit, Sunglasses, Shoes

Look #2: Playsuit, Bag, Shoes

Look #3: Playsuit, Sunglasses, Clutch, Shoes

Look #4: Playsuit, Bag, Shoes


I hope you like this post and it gives you some inspiration on how to style playsuits this summer.


Are you a fan of playsuits? What have you been wearing a lot recently?

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Origins Plantscription Anti Aging Concealer

Origins Plantscription Anti Aging Concealer (Light) £17 - link

I'm always always on the hunt for a new and better concealer. I have ones that I do really like for example the Nars creamy concealer but even that still quite isn't the one. 

I didn't even know that Origins had a make up range so I was super excited to try this. So far I do like it but it just doesn't tick all the boxes for me. I got the shade 'light' (the lightest shade) which when applied looks way too warm toned and almost orange. It blends out nicely though so there aren't any obvious patchy colours but still slightly annoying nevertheless. Because it blends so nicely it's perfect for under your eyes and concealing those dark circles. It never appears cakey no matter how many layers I put on and even with a pretty considerable build up of this it didn't crease or settle into any fine lines at all. The anti aging aspect of this concealer comes into play there where it's meant to blur fine lines which I don't necessarily agree with, but it doesn't accentuate them so that's definitely a good thing!

As for concealing, it's a light/medium coverage. It conceals any redness or uneven pigmentation with ease but as with all products of this coverage it doesn't hide everything. If you prefer a natural look and you don't have any heavy blemishes or scars you need to conceal this would be great for you. It lasts a considerable amount of time and I haven't noticed it move or fade when I've had it on either.

Personally I don't think this is a £17 concealer. Just as an example The Rimmel Wake Me Up concealer I used religiously last year is much better in my opinion and over £10 cheaper. It is nice and there are aspects of it that I think are great but just not great enough. The hunt for my holy grail concealer continues.

If you have any recommendations of concealers please please let me know!


Are you interested in trying this or have you already?

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Oily Skin Saviours

Over the years my skin type has transformed from dry to oily so to accommodate it I've bought and tried a whole bunch of products to try and control it. These are 3 of my absolute favourites that I use everyday without fail to help keep the oil at bay.

Mattifying Setting Powders

MAC Mineralize Skin Finish Natural (Light Plus) £23 - link

This is the newest edition to this trio and on the road to being my favourite powder of all time. I did a whole in depth review of this here but it's basically just a mattifying setting powder which is essential for me if I want my make up to last more than a couple of hours. For a long time the Rimmel Stay Matte powder was my holy grail and if you're on a budget it's a wonderful alternative but the reason I love this so much is because it looks much more natural, as you probably could have guessed from the title. It doesn't look cakey no matter how many layers of this you pile on and it's just a beautiful finish. It's safe to say I'm in love. 

Exfoliators

Urban Veda Radiance Exfoliating Facial Polish £9.99 - link

I'm not sure if exfoliating really is beneficial for oily skin but for me personally it's a vital part of my skin care routine. I've tried a couple of mattifying exfoliators but I just found that they dried my skin out and left it patchy and dehydrated. I tried a sample of this one in a Birchbox early last year and I've been using it ever since. It makes my skin feel clean and refreshed and removes any oil I have on my face before I apply my make up which I don't always a feel cleansers do. I'm really interested in trying some chemical exfoliators in replacement of this so I'll let you know how that goes when I get round to it. If you do have oily skin I'd really recommend trying an exfoliator to help combat it and this one in particular, It's lovely and pretty budget friendly at £9.99.

Make up Setting Sprays
Urban Decay De Slick Setting Spray £21 - link

I love all of the Urban Decay setting sprays and find that all of them work great for me and help my make up stay on for pretty much double the amount of time that it usually would. This one in particular is obviously aimed at oily skin so is best when used on that skin type. I haven't tried any of these from other brands as after reading reviews and having a look around it just seems like none of them compare to the ones from Urban Decay, but if you do have any recommendation feel free to leave a comment. After my I've applied my make up, and sometimes before if I really don't want it to go anywhere, I spray this all over my face and I'm good to go. I still have to use a powder if I want a completely matte look but to get the dewy, natural look most of my foundations are meant to give I'll use this by itself. Having oily skin makes it difficult to get a dewy look without looking shiny so this is a great thing to have if that's the look you want and find it hard to achieve when using a powder.

And that's all of them! Any product that says it's oil free or oil control is going to be your best friend or at least something to try but if you don't always want to stick to those types of products the one's I've just talked about will allow you to use whatever you want and still control the oil and prevent that dreaded shiny look. 

Have you tried any of these products?
Do you have any recommendations of products for oily skin?

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