5 Makeup Hero Products

This week, Sali Hughes wrote an article for The Guardian about her 50 greatest beauty products of all time, which is a definite must-read for any beauty obsessives, I highly recommend it. Articles like this are right up my street, I love finding out about new products from across the beauty industry and there is nothing more reassuring than a tried-and-tested personal recommendation. Here is my own mini collection of my five favourite makeup products which I couldn’t live without – the contents of my makeup bag are almost constantly changing, but here are 5 staples which always stay the same:

1  1)   Touche Éclat – Yves Saint Laurent

This really is such a handy product to have and a worthwhile investment. This is a product that lives up to the hype.  I have tried other brand’s versions, both cheaper and of a similar price and honestly nothing compares. (Apart from the By Terry products by the same creator) it’s lovely on a no makeup day to wake your skin up a bit or equally as nice on top of makeup for extra highlighting. Go have some fun with it, you won’t be disappointed.

2)      Lipsticks in ‘Cherish’ (nude) and ‘Chilli’ (red) – MAC

Cherish (left) Chilli (right)

Wearing Cherish

Wearing Chilli

Every girl needs a perfect red and an everyday staple lipstick, and MAC’s matte shades are my absolute favourite. The cocoa butter formula is nourishing and keeps lips moisturised but it’s the colour payoff which really impresses me, it’s absolutely fantastic, rich, long-lasting colour. ‘Cherish’ is a browny-neutral which is nude without being chalky and so easy to wear.  ‘Chilli’ is a deep red which looks beautiful on most skin tones – it’s my go-to red for using on photoshoots, as well as on myself. 

3)      2000 Calorie Mascara – Maxfactor

Before

After

I’ve done a blog post raving about this mascara before, read it here, so I won’t go into too much depth, but it really is the best mascara that I have ever used. It does everything you’d want; lengthening, thickening, volumising etc. Its waterproof enough for all but swimming and it never seems to dry out or go clumpy. Plus its cheap, £8 well spent!

4)      Duo Adhesive

This may seem like a weird choice, but I am a huge fan of false eyelashes and the glue that they come with is usually rubbish and/or irritating to the eyes. Although the eyelashes are always different, the glue will always be the same. I find that it is better than Eyelure or Shu Uemura’s glue. Duo dries quickly, lasts AGES (you can wear your lashes all night, I never have to touch them up) and it’s gentle. I wear contacts and I still get on great with this. You can buy this online, from MAC or Inglot for around £10. The tubes pretty big, it usually lasts me 6-9 months.

5)       24/7 Eyeliner in ‘Perversion’ – Urban Decay

Urban Decay is not a brand that know very well but I can say that their eyeliners are incredible. ‘Perversion’ is the darkest black, though they have a huge range of colours; it has a great colour payoff and will last all day and the next, if you’re feeling lazy with your cleanser. It is really soft and smudgeable but it sets after a few minutes so you can play with it and use it however suits you best. Again, I have tried many other brands of all different price ranges and nothing compares to this, in my opinion. 

I hope you enjoyed my recommendations, I’d love to know if you’ve tried any of them yourself or if you have any makeup essentials you’d like to share!

Paris Fashion Week Autumn/Winter 2013/14

This post may be a little shorter than my other fashion week round-ups, only because I’ve had a busy week, not because of lack of inspiration! As the saying goes, ‘leave the best ‘til last’; though each fashion week is great for its own reasons, Paris Fashion Week is certainly home to some of the most prolific and influential fashion houses in history. Beauty trends that we have seen in the last few weeks were still prevalent here (dark red lips, semi-matte skin, goths, ponytails) but there were lots of surprises too!

For a lesson in clean glowing skin, have a look at Celine, Chloe, and Stella McCartney. Makeup was minimal to compliment each collection, but perfectly groomed nonetheless. Sometimes perfecting the no-makeup look is one of the hardest things to achieve! Keep skin looking youthful and fresh with a nude pink on the lips and cheeks and lashings of mascara on curled lashes.

Celine

Chloe

Stella McCartney

Dark red lips and dark eyes were a focal point at Louis Vuitton, inspired by classic Hollywood starlets and the idea of being ‘all dressed up with nowhere to go’; glamming up to stay in. I like that the makeup and hair looks lived in and smudgy, it modernises a classic look (and is so easy to create at home!)

Louis Vuitton

Dark lips were more multi-dimensional at Miu Miu and applied with the highest precision, in contrast Vuitton. The dark lip line bleeds into the lips, and the centre of the lips highlighted with a lighter shade. Try pressing a bronze pigment into the middle of wine red lips to try this at home, such as Melon by Mac.

Miu Miu

Melon

Melon

A dark lip was also a feature at Zuhair Murad.

Zuhair Murad

Givenchy had beautiful pink and taupe contouring around the eyes, matching a soft pink on the lips. I love how the hair looks like those frilly old swimming caps and is such a stark contrast! 

Givenchy

Givenchy

Two more creative makeup looks which I loved were Chanel and Dior. Chanel created a perfect base, a little natural pink on the lips, defined the brows, and then used large silver glitter all over the upper eyelash line.  Plus I LOVE the royal blue furry hat from the collection! I’ll be keeping my eyes out for a high street version come the autumn.

Chanel

Chanel

I want that hat!

Dior lined the eyes graphically with a liquid silver liner and then used the most gorgeous smudged in raspberry shade on the lips.

Dior

Dior

I loved these two cute crops, shaggy at Isabel Marant and razor cut straight at Yohji Yamamoto. Which do you prefer?

Isabel Marant

Yohji Yamamoto

More hairstyles I loved were the long side plait at Valentino, which perfectly complimented the fairytale inspired collection. 

Valentino

Valentino

Also, the messy beehive at Loewe, which finished in a low ponytail.

Loewe

Love/Hate List - February

This month I was pleasantly surprised by most of the products I tried, in fact, it was hard to pick just a few favourites to review in this post! However, after some careful consideration, here is what I have come up with for February’s Love/Hate List.

The first product that I loved, and I mean LOVED, is the Facial Detox Purifying Mask from Elemental Herbology. It has a mineral-rich clay base which is great for drawing impurities and blockages out of blocked pores, and includes manuka honey which is highly nutritious, soothing and moisturising. I had a massive stress-related breakout last month due to uni deadlines, and this lovely mask helped clear and soothe my troubled skin. I would highly recommend this to anybody with combination or blemish prone skin.

 

The second product that I want to sing the praises of is the Mojito Lip Balm from Malin and Goetz. As soon as you apply it, you get a hit of lime and an instant minty tingling; I was worried that the mojito flavour would be gimmicky and artificial but it was gorgeous. Its a clear sticky gel, petroleum and paraffin free (yay!) and keeps my lips hydrated for hours. It was a little more than I would want to spend on a lip balm (£10) but you only need to use a tiny bit so I think it will last long enough to make it value for money.

Next, there was my new favourite lipstick, Laura Mercier Lip Colour in Tangerine. I am obsessed with this colour; it’s a pinky coral perfect for perking up grey days and dull skin. One sweep of colour is fairly sheer, but it’s extremely buildable and also extremely moisturising. It hasn’t left my handbag since I bought it.

A surprise find for me was Bourjois 123 Perfect foundation. My skin is getting paler and paler, and after spending a fortune on foundations last month trying to find the right shade, I abandoned my beloved Diorskin and had to find something cheaper. This colour correcting foundation claims to combat dark circles, dullness and redness, which are all problems that I have with my skin. I am so pleased with it; it actually does everything it says on the tin, and you get a good medium coverage. I would definitely buy it again once it runs out, and the fact that it’s a third of the price I would usually spend is a HUGE bonus. Well done, Bourjois, full marks.

Before

After

Another lovely addition to my cosmetics collection was Jurlique’s Rosewater Balancing Mist. I have been using this product as a toner, and also as a beauty water over my makeup, to freshen up throughout the day. It’s gentle, soothing, refreshing and it smells beautiful.

Although there wasn’t any products that I tried this month which I hated, this IS the Love/Hate List, so I will include a throwback hate of mine instead. The product that I want to name and shame this month is not a single product, but actually a product range: Simple, I’m looking at you. I have tried the face wipes, toner, cleanser, moisturiser and eye makeup remover in this range, which I think is a fair trial, and I found all of them to be stripping and surprisingly harsh, and left my skin feeling irritated and sore.  I would not recommend this range to anyone, as I believe that there are far better ranges available in this price range for sensitive skin; such as Superdrug’s Vitamin E range. 

No thanks.

The Hangover Facial

Before

Does this look familiar? Well my friend, we have all been there. You try and open your eyes the morning after the night before, but your false eyelashes are seriously preventing you from doing so. Your skin feels like sandpaper, your makeup has melted so that it kind of resembles Heath Ledger’s Joker and you look in the mirror and think to yourself: ‘what the HELL happened last night?!’

Welcome to The Hangover Facial, a little post-night out treatment I’ve designed to get you from grotty to gorgeous. The best part is, everything I’m going to include is probably already lying around your house, so you don’t have to go and buy anything special. Playing the ‘how much did I actually spend last night’ game is torturous enough, so this facial keeps it cheap and easy, perfect of a student budget.

PHASE 1: DEEP CLEANSE

If you don’t remove your makeup, it’s unlikely that anything else will have much of an effect. Try and avoid using face wipes as these will spread old makeup and bacteria around your face as you try and remove it (yuck). E45 cream makes a great makeup remover even for lipstick, eyeliner and mascara, it’s good for sensitive skin, and it will replace some of the moisture that alcohol sucked out of your skin. Grab a big dollop and massage it into your skin, before removing with cotton pads and warm water.

PHASE 2: TONING AND BRIGHTENING

As alcohol dries your skin, it also leaves it dull and lacklustre. Run a basin of very hot water, squeeze in some fresh lemons or limes into the basin (or use Jif if its easier), cover your head with a towel and steam your pores for 10 mins. This will create a little steam room for your face, to sweat out excess bacteria and deep set makeup, and tone your pores. Also, the vitamin C will brighten your skin and leave it less dull.

PHASE 3: MASK

A face mask is a great way to feed your skin with nutrients to liven it up again.

Teeny budget: I recommend looking up fresh face masks that you can make yourself  on the internet, using ingredients like yoghurt and fruit. There’s lots of good recipies out there, so it should be easy to find one for your skin type.  I’d avoid the rubbish packet ones that they sell in Primark and H&M, they are full of chemicals and not effective in my opinion

Medium budget: Go to Lush! I know I’m always banging on about Lush but their fresh face masks really are divine and full of lovely natural ingredients. I love The Sacred Truth, its full of repairing antioxidants and exfoliating papaya. Have a look at it here.

Big budget: My current obsession is Elemental Herbology’s Purifying Facial Mask with manuka honey, aloe and calendula. My skin feels baby soft whenever I use it, it's gentle yet effective and I can see my skin is instantly purified. Plus, it smells like a spa. Have a look at it here.

PHASE 4: EYES
While your mask is on, leave two used green teabags on your eyes. Sounds a bit weird, but green tea is a great anti-oxidant that helps to protect and repair the skin. If you leave wet tea bags in the fridge for a bit, they will be nice and cool and will also reduce puffiness.

PHASE 5: MOISTURISE

After washing of your mask, you need to add a moisturiser to avoid your skin drying out. One lovely and very cheap moisturiser is Sweet Almond Oil, which you can buy in any pharmacy, supermarket or health food shop for £1-£2. Its moisturising, and naturally brightening for dull dehydrated skin. As it’s oil, you can spend 5 mins giving yourself a little facial massage (or better yet, ask someone else to give you one!) until it absorbs. Oily skin types should use only a tiny bit and pat on lightly with your finger tips. If you can get your hands on some Argan Oil, this is great too.

And the transformation is complete! I hope this helps to bring you back to life again a little bit. Let me know if you try it, I’d love to hear some comments!