You Know You're A Beauty Blogger When...

You Know You're A BBlogger When....

Images courtesy of Google Images

There's plenty more, let me know your favourites that keep cropping up

This tongue-in-cheek post is based on my observations, I'm not by any means suggesting you must do/buy these things.

FOTD & How Much Is Your Face

Recently I've been wearing the same makeup on a daily basis so I thought it would be a good time to do my first FOTD/How Much is Your Face.

As usual the lighting in my house is horrendous, so after running round the house taking photos at every window I had to resort to using the flash. These were the best of a bad bunch!

Face:

Chanel Vitalumiere Aqua Foundation £32 here

Collection Lasting Perfection Concealer £4.19 here

Urban Decay Eyeshadow in Foxy to set Under Eyes and T-Zone (NAKED 2) £36 here

MAC Harmony Blush to Contour £17.50 here

MAC Desert Rose Blush on Cheeks £17.50 here

MAC Mineralize Skinfinish Soft & Gentle £21.50 here

Face Total: £128.69

Eyes:

Eyeshadows-

Crease-Naked

Lid-Buck

Liner & Outer V-Creep

NAKED Palette

£36 here
DJV Beautenizer Volume Lash Mascara £18 here
Rimmel Pro Brow Pencil Black/Brown £2.99 here

Elf Brow Kit £3.75 here

Eyes Total: £60.74


Lips:

Lasting Finish by Kate Moss £5.49 here
Bourjois Effect 3D Lipgloss Rose Charismatic £7.69 here


Lips Total: £13.18


How Much Is My Face Worth?
£202.61 

I don't think this is bad at all, admittedly I would usually apply primers which could hike the cost up.
I also forgot to include Fix+ £13.50, still there's a good mix of high end and high street compared to some I've seen I'm practically a superscrimper!

Have you done this tag? Please, Link it below!

Disclaimer: All Products were purchased by myself. Links included for your convenience, I am not affiliated with any companies listed.

Smokey Cat Eye Tutorial

It's been a while since I posted a tutorial on here, I don't know why as these are the posts I enjoy the most and it seems you do too. I will be posting them more regularly, let me know if there's any specific looks you would like to see.

I've broken down step by step the quickest, easiest cat eye tutorial. I was rapidly losing natural daylight so by the end I had to use flash, to be honest this shows the look a lot clearer and in hindsight I wish I'd used it from the beginning.  Anyway I'll stop rabbiting on, let's get to the photos.

1. Start out by priming your lid with your favourite eyeshadow primer 

(Bad lighting makes my brows look like fuzzy felts, as you can see in last two photos they do actually look like brows)

2. Apply a light, neutral shadow all over the lid and highlight the brow bone, this will set primer and make blending a lot easier

3. Taking a black kohl pencil trace along the outside V and crease as shown above. This does not need to be perfect as we will be blending it out, however ensure pencil does not come below the crease

4. Using a short, synthetic brush blend out the pencil, again this doesn't need to be perfect as we will be setting this with shadow. 

5 & 6. Repeat steps 3 & 4

7. Taking a black, matte shadow on a pencil brush trace along the outside V and crease as we did with the pencil then blend this out. Repeat these steps until you're happy with the colour density. 

8. Take kohl pencil under lower lashline, set with matte black shadow and blend.

9. Line the top lashline with a black gel/liquid liner and extend with a flick which follows the shape we've created

10. Using a black waterproof pencil line both tightline and waterline. You could end the look here, just curl lashes and apply mascara but who doesn't love a bit of glitter? 

11. Taking a mixing medium wet a flat shadow brush and use to pat glitter on to the lid upto where the black begins and also in tearduct area.

12. Clean up any glitter fallout, apply mascara and admire your handy work! I would usually apply false lashes with this look but I seem to have tidied my stash of lashes so well I can't find where I've put them!

Is this a look you would wear? 

Will you be trying this out?

Leave me a comment below!

As I said above, if you have any requests then leave me a comment and I will be happy to do it.

Products Used:

MAC Painterly Paint Pot

MAC Eyeshadows Brule & Shroom

Avon Black Kajal

Urban Decay Eyeshadow Blackout

Illamasqua Pure Pigment Beguile

Clinique Brush on Cream Liner

DJV Beautenizer Volume Lash Mascara

What's In My Overnight Makeup Bag

I stayed at my mums house overnight last night, I just started putting away what I took and as I enjoy these types of post I decided to blog it.

 It's 10:30pm so I apologise for the bad lighting, if you would like me to review any product I mention drop me a comment below.

The Bag

Just a bog standard, 3 for £3, clear plastic, makeup bag from Boots.

Base Makeup

MAC Fix+

Chanel Vitalumiere Aqua Foundation

Collection Lasting Perfection Concealer

MAC Studio Finish Concealer

Lancome Poudre Majeur Excellence Loose Powder

Cheeks

MAC Desert Rose Blush

MAC MSF Soft & Gentle

MAC Harmony Blush

Sleek Contour Kit

Eyes

NAKED 2 Palette

Rimmel Brow Pencil

MAC Painterly Paint Pot

HD Brows Brow Gel

Maybelline The Falsies Mascara

DJV Beautenizer Volume Lash

ELF Eyebrow Kit

Cosmopolitan Eyelash Curlers

Lips

Rimmel Lip Pencil

Lasting Finish by Kate Lipstick 101

Figs and Rouge Lip Balm

When I whipped out my makeup bag this morning my mum and sister had a good laugh at the size of the bag and amount of products. I don't think this is too much, do you? Everything serves a purpose right?

What do you take? 

Poshe Super-Fast Drying Top Coat

Poshe Super-Fast Drying Top Coat £8.50 here

What They Say:

Poshé Super-Fast Drying Topcoat is a five-time Allure Editor's Choice winner, which for an independent brand that doesn't advertise is a serious achievement and testament to its effectiveness. This protective top coat has an extremely diverse, loyal following of beauty addicts and celebs, from Kate Beckinsale and Elizabeth Taylor to Jessica Simpson. Poshé stops nails from turning yellow and is even safe for cancer sufferers and those in remission to use as it's free from Formaldehyde & Toluene.

My Opinion:

Five-Time Allure Editors Choice Winner! You've gotta be kidding me! 

I've been using this for a couple of weeks now and feel like it's had a good enough road testing to be able to review. 

Firstly let me tell you I have tried to make this work! I started by using it as intended as a top coat, it chipped almost instantly. 

I tried again paying more attention to the tips of my nails, it still chipped a lot very quickly. 

I then tried sandwiching my nail polish by using it as both a base and top coat, the whole nail colour popped off in one!

There are cheaper and better quality top coats on the market. 

What I will say is that it is indeed super-fast drying but what's the point of a top coat that needs a top coat? 

I've given up trying to make it work, mine has gone in the bin! Don't waste your money on this one.

Rating:

♥♡♡♡♡

Have You Tried This?

What's Your Favourite Top Coat?

Disclaimer: Link provided for convenience, I am not affiliated with this brand or product
Image: Cult Beauty (It was impossible for me to get a clear photo myself)

Favourite Foundations

My Favourite Foundations

L-R Chanel Vitalumiere Aqua, Bourjous Healthy Mix, Illamasqua Skinbase

1. Chanel Vitalumiere Aqua - B50 £32 here

Coverage: Light/Medium

Finish: Dewy

Buildability: Very Buildable

I used to have oily skin, I was a huge fan of Chanel Matte Lumiere (discontinued) however since I had my daughter my skin type has really changed a lot. I would class it as combination however the majority of the time my skin leans more towards the dry end of the scale. So when Matte Lumiere was discontinued rather than purchase Perfection Lumiere, which was the new foundation released a hybrid of the discontinued Matte and Pro Lumiere I decided to try a lighter, water based more dewy foundation and I purchased Vitalumiere Aqua. 

My first application I used my Real Techniques Expert Face Brush, it applied ok, I wasn't wowed and it still showed on my skin.The main reason for be buying this was how natural it was said to look, undetectable on the skin therefore I was pretty disappointed.

For my next application I used my beauty blender sponge and it applied patchy, maybe because of the damp sponge and a water based foundation combination. At this point I was really disappointed, it's not the cheapest of foundations and I've always really enjoyed Chanel foundations. 

Refusing to be defeated the next time I used Vitalumiere Aqua I went back to basics and applied it with my fingers, it was beautiful! I've continued to apply it this way since. The heat of your hands warms up the foundation and really allows it to work into your skin. This then gives the illusion of no makeup, just lovely, dewy skin.

I would recommend this to anybody with dry skin wanting a healthy glow.

2. Bourjois Healthy Mix - £9.99 here

Coverage: Medium

Finish: Natural

Buildability: Buildable

Firstly notice I haven't put my shade above, this is because I can't remember my shade as it's so long since I had it.

 I was under the impression that Bourjous had discontinued their darker shades as I have three Boots stores close to me, one being a megastore and every time I've been to repurchase Healthy Mix the darkest shade they have 54 is too light for me however as I love it I have been buying it anyway and adding a bit of my Illamasqua Skin Base in SB12 to match my skin. 

While looking for a link to add here I saw Superdrug offer an additional four darker shades online. 

Healthy Mix is my most repurchased foundation ever!

 I never wore foundation before I was pregnant,  I just never felt the need to. I still have pretty good skin, breakouts are very rare. I had a bad time when I was around 11/12yrs however once that cleared up and luckily left no scars I haven't had a problem since. Anyway, when I was pregnant I developed the 'pregnancy mask' (can't remember the actual medical term) and had crazy pigmentation on my face. I went straight out to buy a foundation to even out my skin and Healthy Mix was the one I chose. It was the delicious, fruity scent that swayed my decision as being pregnant and craving fruit I actually wanted to eat it! Luckily though I loved the foundation, smooth application, medium coverage which covered my pigmentation and a nice natural finish. 

Three years on I still reach for this most days over my high end foundations. 

Healthy Mix has been likened to the discontinued Chanel Pro Lumiere. Having never used Pro Lumiere I can't comment on that

I would recommend this foundation to anybody. 

3. Illamasqua Skin Base -SB12 £27 here

Coverage: Medium

Finish: Natural/Skin

Buildability: Buildable

The main reason for me buying this foundation was the tag line 'ultimate skin realism'. That's the look I prefer, I want my skin to look like skin. 

Does it live up to its claims? It certainly does! I like to buff this into my skin with my Real Techniques Expert Face brush and it is practically undetectable yet still covers any redness and imperfections. 

The shade range is fantastic too stretching from pure white to darkest ebony, a shade for everybody. 

The only problem I have is with the packaging, the tube becomes harder and harder to squeeze the right amount out the more you use it and I anticipate that near the end I will need to cut the packaging open or lose a lot of product. 

Again I would recommend this foundation to anybody. 

Have you tried these foundations? How did you get on with them?

What's your favourite foundation? 

Any recommendations you think I should try?

Please comment below.

Disclaimer: All links provided are for your convenience, I am not affiliated with any of these brands.

Jouer Highlighter - Champagne

Jouer Highlighter - Champagne

After receiving a sample of Jouer Luminizing Moisture Tint with a Cult Beauty order I tried it and was so impressed I purchased the full size that same evening. 

Whilst placing my order I decided I wanted to try more of their products and this highlighter took my eye.

It appears really pink in the pan but as you can see in the swatch below it shows up a lot more golden/beige on my skin.

It's a really lightweight formulation, it applies nicely with a stippling brush but I prefer to use my fingers as it just melts into the skin and leaves behind this beautiful sheen. Not to mention it contains vitamin e and shea butter which we all know are fantastic for our skin.

It lasted all day on my skin which is pretty dry at the moment however the way it melts into the skin I think will give it great longevity on oilier skins too.

Overall this is one of the best highlighters I've tried, I will be adding shade Tiare to my collection and trying out many more Jouer products, I can see them quickly becoming my favourite brand.

Jouer Highlighter £16 available here

(Link provided for your convenience, I am not affiliated with the company)