L'Oréal Infallible 24h Matte Foundation and Primer - First Impressions

Today on my blog I thought I would do another foundation first impressions! I'm trying out both the L'Oréal Infallible 24h Matte Foundation and the Primer. 

I picked up the shade Porcelain which matched me pretty much perfectly. I have normal to combination skin, which tends to vary. Sometimes my skin is just 'normal', but at the moment it can get oily around my nose, chin and forehead, and dry on my nose and around my mouth. 

9.15AM

I applied the primer first and it feels amazing! It is silky smooth and it noticeably blurred the texture of my skin, leaving it matte and very soft. First impression is very good! 

I applied the foundation with a damp Real Techniques sponge and it applies beautifully. I would say it's medium to high coverage, and is very build-able and blends lovely. The foundation hasn't caked like some higher coverage foundations do, and the finish is completely matte, which I love! So far so good.

10.15AM

An hour later my foundation still looks flawless, even after adding concealer, cream contour and powder. 

11.30AM

My face is still completely matte, and it hasn't creased or started to fade anywhere. 

3.00PM

I've noticed around my nose and chin there is a slight hint of shine/oil, but nothing that's overly noticeable. There is some creasing around the mouth area but again it's not too obvious. 

5.00PM

There hasn't been any change from 3pm. My face is not noticeably shiny like I would usually expect by now! I'm very impressed with this foundation. 

6.00PM 

I'm about to take my make up off and it is still not oily, apart from a bit around the nose area and on the chin. There honestly hasn't been much change from 3pm. Usually after wearing make up all day I feel like I want to claw it all off and my skin feels irritated, but with this foundation it doesn't feel like I have anything and I could definitely carry on wearing it! 

Overall I am very impressed with this foundation and I think I've found my new favourite!! The results may be slightly different without the primer, but if you have combination or oily skin I would definitely recommend this combo!!

Thank you for reading :) 

MAC Burgundy Times Nine Eye Shadow Review & Swatches

I was lucky enough to get this beautiful palette for my birthday a couple of months ago and I've used it quite a lot since then. Having only owned MAC lipsticks, I was really excited to try out some of their other stuff. 

This palette has a good combination of both matte shades and shimmery shades. I particular love the bottom middle shimmery pink shade and the bronze shade on the middle left. Now I will be honest and say that the lighter colours such as the top left shade does lack pigment and you really have to build it up. The darker shades however, as you can probably see from the pictures, are a lot more pigmented and apply beautifully. They are fairly easy to blend and are very smooth to touch. There is hardly any fall out, which you would expect from a brand like MAC. 

Overall I think this palette is great if you're new to MAC eyeshadows and want to try them out. This palette is fairly small so it's also great for travelling 

Thank you for reading :) 

Current Top 5 Favourite Make Up Products

For today's post I thought I would share with you my current 5 favourite make up products!

I've been absolutely loving these products recently, they are all so beautiful and amazing quality. Let me know which products you've been loving at the moment!

Lorac Unzipped Eyeshadow Palette

The Balm Mary-Lou Manizer Highlighter

MAC Eyeshadow in Amorous Alloy

MAC Lip Liners - Soar and Whirl 

Make Up Revolution Triple Baked Blusher - Bursting With Love and Blushing Heart

Rimmel Match Perfection Foundation - First Impressions

I thought I would try out the Rimmel Match Perfection Foundation after seeing Dani Mansutti recommend it in one of her videos. This foundation claims to have 'invisible coverage' and have a 'weightless, smooth texture'. It also has SPF 20 and says that it reduces 'imperfections, pores and dark circles'. 

At £7.99 it is affordable and about an average price for a drugstore foundation. I got it in the shade Ivory and it matches my skin tone pretty well, although it was darker than other Ivory foundations that I own.

8AM

I first applied it at 8.15 in the morning, using the Rimmel Fix and Perfect Primer underneath and my usual Collection Concealer and Rimmel Stay Matte Powder on top. I used a damp Real Techniques sponge and I found that it applied quite patchy at first, and it was quite difficult to blend it all in. It is quite a thick foundation yet gives a light to medium coverage. I found that I had to build up the foundation to cover my imperfections and to achieve a smooth finish. However once I had done this I found that it actually looked quite natural looking and it did make my skin look smooth and healthy. 

10AM

Two hours later, after walking to the Doctors, my foundation still looks the same. It hasn't creased or started to go oily, which is a good sign!

3PM 
My T zone is starting to look a bit oily and there are a few creases, along with it fading slightly around my nose. Apart from that my foundation still looks fine! It hasn't started to go patchy yet although I am starting to feel like I just want to take it off!

4.45PM
I am so ready to take my make up off!! My skin does look quite shiny around the T zone area and it's starting to fade more around my nose and mouth. However it still looks okay to say I've had it on all day! I haven't touched up my make up at all today and I'm actually really impressed with how it's lasted!

Overall my first impressions are that this is a good drugstore foundation, and there are better ones on the market, but this isn't bad for Rimmel!

Thank you for reading :) 

Maybelline Color Tattoo Collection

I have been loving the Maybelline Color Tattoo Eye shadows at the moment, so I thought I would share with you my collection and swatches of them!

I own seven of them, including the two new matte shades. A couple of these are quite old and are slightly drier than the newer ones, but they are definitely still usable. 

These shadows have a gel-cream formula and work perfectly as a base for your eyeshadow or just on their own. They are extremely pigmented as you can see from the swatches below and they really make your eye make up stand out. I've had a lot of people compliment my eyeshadow when I've used these! I tend to apply which ever colour I'm using and then set it with a similar coloured normal eyeshadow. This way it helps prevent any creasing and the colour will be even more vibrant! 

The shimmery shades in particular are so beautiful and are nothing like I've ever tried before! The new matte shades are perfect to use as a standard eye shadow primer or if you want a more natural look.

Top left to right: 24K Gold, Endless Purple, Creme De Nude and Metallic Pomegranate 

Bottom left to right: On and on Bronze, Creme De Rose and Pink Gold

Left to right: Metallic Pomegranate, Endless Purple, On and on Bronze, Pink Gold, 24K Gold, Creme De Rose and Creme De Nude. 

Thank you for reading! :) 

Everyday Make Up

Today's post is all about my everyday make up routine. I feel that it's fairly simple yet still looks put together and sophisticated. Sometimes if I'm in a rush then I won't bother with winged eye liner, but I have been practising recently and I feel more confident doing a winged look. 

Face

To start with I will prime my face using the ELF Poreless Face Primer to smooth out my skin and minimise the appearance of my pores.

Next I will go in with a damp Real Techniques sponge and apply the NYX Stay Matte But Not Flat Foundation in the shade Ivory. 

I will then use the Collection Lasting Perfection Concealer in the shade Fair underneath my eyes, down the centre of my nose and forehead, and on my chin. I usually apply this with the Real Techniques sponge as well.

I then use the Maybelline Fit Me Foundation stick in the shade 330 Toffee Caramel to contour my nose, cheeks and apply it to my forehead. 

Using the Rimmel Stay Matte Powder, I will then set my entire face, trying to avoid the areas I've just contoured.

I will then go in with Benefit's Hoola bronzer to go over the contour I have already done and to bring some warm to my face. 

Next I will apply NYX's Powder Blush in Peach on the apples of my cheeks, making sure I've blended it all in. 

Finally I will add High Beam by Benefit on the tops of my cheek bones and down the centre of my nose. 

Brows

First of all I will comb through my brows and then apply the Milani Stay Put Brow in the shade Natural Taupe. I will then go in with the NYX Micro Brow Pencil in Taupe to fill in and add any fine detail. Finally I set my brows with the Rimmel Clear Brow Gel.

Eyes 

To start with I will go in with the shade Whiskey from the Naked Smoky Palette and apply that in my crease, making sure it's blended out nicely.

 I will then add the Maybelline Color Tattoo in the shade Creme De Rose all over my lid, which will act as a base. I tend to do the crease colour first as I sometimes find it difficult to blend out the eyeshadow once the Color Tattoo has been applied. 

Using the Naked Smoky palette again, I will add the shade Combust all over my lid and blend it into the crease. I then add the shade High to the inner corner of my eye to brighten up that area and also use Whiskey again on my lower lash line.

Next I will line the lower

waterline of my eye with the Benefit Bad Gal eyeliner in the shade extra black and do my winged eyeliner with the Soap and Glory Supercat Pen. 

Finally I curl my lashes with these eyelash curlers from Superdrug and apply a couple of coats of mascara with ELF's 3-in-1 Mascara in the shade Very Black.

Lips

Finally, I will line my lips with MAC'S lip liner in Soar and apply MAC'S matte lipstick in Mehr. I love this lip combination so much and is perfect for every day use!

Thank you for reading :) 

MUA Matte Single Eyeshadow Review

You may have read my review last month on the MUA single eyeshadows. After falling in love with them I went out and got all of the matte shadows, which again I absolutely love!

These eyeshadows are honestly amazing for £1. Whilst I felt that the matte shades weren't quite as buttery and smooth as the shimmer shades, they are still incredibly pigmented and apply beautifully. 

I've been using Chestnut in my crease and Fudge on the lid to create a subtle natural eye look that is perfect for every day. There is hardly any fall out which is incredible for a £1 eyeshadow and I would definitely recommend them to anyone!

I had to order these on the MUA website as I looked in four different Superdrugs and couldn't find them. This really surprised me as I thought they'd be one of their best selling items! 

Left to Right: Slate, Chestnut, Midnight, Fudge and Smoke  

Left to Right: Slate, Chestnut, Midnight, Fudge and Smoke  

Thank you for reading :)

Sexy Mother Pucker Lip Plumping Gloss Review

On the blog today is the Lip Plumping Glosses by Soap and Glory. I got these from my local Boots in the Christmas gifts section. They were packaged very nicely in the shape of a Christmas cracker and were £14 for all five glosses. 

I am personally not a lip gloss fan, but I wanted to try these out as I love Soap and Glory, so I had high expectations. When I first put Bare Enough on, I straight away loved the natural nude colour and the fact that it wasn't sticky. However they smell quite strongly of chocolate oranges which to be honest, I am not keen on. It's bearable though and it wouldn't put me off using them. After a couple of minutes my lips started to tingle and my first thought was OMG I'm having an allergic reaction! It kept doing it so I then actually read the packaging properly and discovered that they're in fact lip plumping glosses (duh!). So, armed with this new information I had another look at my lips and they actually looked fuller and more plump, so although it was quite a surprise, these do actually work! 

My two favourite colours are Plumsup and Bare Enough, and I will definitely get a lot of use out of these, even if they do smell of Terry's Chocolate Orange and make my lips tingle!

Left to right: Candy Queen, Plumsup, Bare Enough, Nude Star and Spun Sugar

Left to right: Candy Queen, Plumsup, Bare Enough, Nude Star and Spun Sugar

Left to right: Candy Queen, Plumsup, Bare Enough, Nude Star and Spun Sugar

Left to right: Candy Queen, Plumsup, Bare Enough, Nude Star and Spun Sugar

Thank you for reading :) 

Product Empties - Would I Repurchase them?

I haven't got too many empties to show you compared to my last empties post, but I thought it was better than having loads build up! 

To start with, I did like the Boots Paradise Island Dry Shampoo and I would repurchase. It smells mainly of coconuts, which I really liked and it would make my hair look refreshed and clean. However I did find that sometimes it would leave white patches in my hair, which were actually quite difficult to comb out. This didn't happen every time I used, and maybe I didn't shake it enough so apart from that I liked it and would repurchase it!

Next is the Sure Cool Pink Antiperspirant. I purchased this way back in August to take on holiday and I only used it up recently, so it lasted quite a long time. It smells nice and it does the job so I can't really complain! I would repurchase it, although I tend to get whatever is on special offer rather than anything specific. 

I got The Organic Pharmacy Antioxidant Lip Balm free from a magazine in the summer. I did like this product and it did make my lips feel soft, although it wasn't anything amazing or revolutionary. I probably wouldn't purchase it yet as I have so many others to use and that are easier to buy from my local Boots or Tesco.

Next is the Simple Facial Toner. I absolutely love this toner and all of Simple's skin care to be honest, so I will definitely be repurchasing when I've used up all of my other toners! 

Moving on to make up now, I have the B.Beauty Sheer Finish Pressed Powder. I've actually already repurchased this as it's my favourite face powder! I'm quite pale and this is pretty much the only powder that matches my skin tone perfectly. It's also oil free which is perfect for my combination skin. I like a matte finish and can't stand look dewy or oily, so this product is great if you prefer that look! 

The last product is the Rimmel Clear Brow Gel. Again, I've already repurchased this and have nearly used up that one! It's a standard brow gel and does it's job. My eyebrows stay in place all day and it's also inexpensive, so I'm sure I'll keep repurchasing this product!

Thank you for reading :) 

October Favourites

Where has this year gone?! I can't believe it's November already. I know everyone is saying that but the month of October went by so quickly!

Anyway, I've never actually done a monthly favourites post before, but I thought I might as well start now. I haven't got too many products to talk about, and the ones I do mention are genuine favourites that I've been loving this month! 

Eyeshadow

On the left is the MUA single eyeshadow in Chamoisee, then the Maybelline Color 24hr Tattoo in On and On Bronze and the Make Up Revolution New-trals vs Neutrals palette on the right. 

These have been my go to eyeshadow products recently, and to be honest I haven't been using much else! 

Nearly every day I've been using one of the matte warm tones in my crease, and then the colour tattoo as a base, followed by the MUA eyeshadow on top. It's a very fall inspired look but still looks natural and is quick to do. Using the colour tattoo as a base makes any eyeshadow really stand out and it also lasts all day. 

These products all together come under £20, which also makes them my favourite. I would definitely recommend any of these items.

Lip Products

NYX are one of my favourite brands and these two matte lip creams have been my favourite products to use in October. London (right) has been my favourite as an every day lip colour. It's a beautiful classic nude that stays on the lips all day, even after eating. Transylvania has been perfect to wear during the evening and on Halloween! It's a very dark berry colour that is perfect for fall.

Foundation  

I've been wearing this Cover Girl foundation nearly every day. It leaves my skin looking matte and almost flawless! It has a medium coverage that is very build-able and hardly needs touching up through out the day. The only issue is that I can't get this in the UK but it doesn't stop it being my favourite foundation!

Perfume

It may look like I've hardly used this perfume but I've been wearing it on the weekends through out October, and I absolutely love it! I'm rubbish at describing scents so I would recommend you try it out when you next go shopping. The bottle is so classy and feminine, and it's definitely worth the price. 

Thank you for reading :)