My Makeup Essentials

I thought I would show you what makeup essentials I couldn't be without. I'm a bit of a creature of habit as in, when I find a product that I love I pretty much use it until it becomes extinct aka discontinued which is my biggest heartbreak. 

Most of the makeup tools are new because I've only just discovered my love for makeup brushes but I am on a strict spending ban now and some of the products are a new edition. I thought I would start with what I put on my face before I put my makeup on...

Olay Essentials double action cream is by far my favourite face moisturiser, honestly this stuff is a God send! In fact I did write a review out it and you can read it here. 

I also use the Garnier UltraLift anti wrinkle cream, yeah I know, I'm paranoid about wrinkles already. This product I actually only use on my forehead as I have quite deep frown lines between my eyebrows. I do think it has helped to lessen the appearance of these wrinkles in particular but lets face it, it isn't magic. I only use the smallest amount so it's lasted me ages.  

I got this Balance Me wonder eye cream in July's Birchbox and was quite pleased when I saw it. Does it get rid of fine lines? No. Do I still love the product? Yes. It's so refreshing to put on under the eye and reduces puffiness I shall definitely be purchasing this one. 

Once all my lotions and potions have absorbed into my skin I move onto my lovely skin primer.

This is a tiny sample of the Porefessional by Benefit. I bloody love this stuff! I only use a small amount and the sample size has lasted me ages and the best bit is I have another sample size one unopened for when this runs out so I won't have to buy the actual size for ages yet. 

Moving onto the face...

Foundation :- I'm currently using a combination of two, Rimmel Wake Me Up in Ivory, this was on a recommendation from another blog and I've fallen in love. I also use Max Factor Lasting Performance in Natural Beige, this one is actually a little dark for me but when I blend the Rimmel and the Max Factor together it makes for a really nice base. 

Powder :- Of course it has to be the Rimmel Stay Matte powder in Silky Beige. I think everyone uses this, it's a good all rounder, nothing fancy, it does the job - well. 

Contour and Blush :- The much talked about Sleek Makeup Face Form Palette in Light. I love having all three things in one little palette, you can actually read my review on this one here. 

Onto my favoruite thing, my eyes...

Eyeliner :- L'oreal Superliner I love this liquid eyeliner it's perfect and always shapes my eyes so nicely. I also use a pencil eyeliner along the lower waterline but it isn't in the picture as I don't actually use a huge amount it's all about the drama up top for me. 

Mascara :- It has to be L'oreal Volume Million Lashes right? I don't even need to say more just read my post where I gush about this product here.

Eyeshadow :- Lately I have been loving Rimmel Scandaleyes Eyeshadow Paint in Rich Russet, the stuff is just so easy to wear. I also have been wearing from the Barry M Natural Glow palette the last to shades on the right hand side (not the blush) this is a cheap and easy palette for beginners, colours are super blendable but aren't exactly ground breaking they do a good job you can read my review here. 

Not to forget...

Eyebrows :- I have incredibly fair eyebrows and get them threaded every month or so. To be honest, I'm not very good at doing my eyebrows and like to keep them fairly natural, I'm blonde it's highly unlikely that my eyebrows are going to be brown or black so I'm not going to draw them on like that. I use the Max Factor Eyebrow pencil in Hazel because it just defines them nicely and they don't look over done. 

And that's about it! Sorry that turned into a massively long post, just look at the pictures. 

What are your makeup essentials?

Boots Haul

So payday rolls around and you know that I must go into Boots every payday, I like to justify to myself that I need to go in because there are products that I cannot live without for everyday life... a disgusting amount of money later, I come out with things I definitely didn't need!

Shall we take  a look at what's inside the bag?

Firstly we have 

John Frieda's Go Blonder Shampoo and Conditioner. 

This is my absolute favourite Shampoo and Conditioner. My hair is naturally blonde, but this stuff does work to just lighten it a little because of the citrus tones in the shampoo and conditioner. It smells gorgeous and very citrusy, not really like lemons but perhaps a combination of limes/lemons/oranges just really fresh. I've been buying Go Blonder for a good 2/3 years now. I did go through a stage where I was obsessed with the whole Go Blonder range and bought the Lightening Spray. 

The shampoo and conditioner doesn't contain any peroxide so when I started using the Lightening Spray I didn't read the label and just assumed that it wouldn't have peroxide either (see a naturally blonde moment). I used the spray everyday for like a month and my hair went pretty much white blonde and I bloody loved it! However I started to realise that when my hair was wet I couldn't run my brush though it, I would literally start pulling clumps of hair out, so I read the back of the bottle and of course in tiny writing it said that it contained peroxide. My hair was in terrible condition, I mean it even states on the packaging that you shouldn't use it more than 8 times so I stopped and just had to wait for it to grow out. This was about 2 years ago now, so it's fully out. I've read the label of the Lightening spray recently and it actually states peroxide in much bigger, bolder writing so I can't have been the only person to make this mistake. 

That being said I still love the Go Blonder shampoo and conditioner, I can really notice when I don't use it for a while, my hair just kinda looks dull.

Moving onto another hair product

Lee Stafford Big Fat Hair Shampoo and Conditioner 

So I know what you're thinking, I've just bought my fabulous Go Blonder shampoo which I am clearly so in love with why buy more shampoo and conditioner? I'm fully aware that sometimes if you don't change your shampoo it's not good for your hair and the shampoo looses it's effect on you. So this month I decided to try Big Fat Hair out purely because of the name, who doesn't want Big Fat Hair? I'm going to have to report back to you on this one because I want to make sure I give it a good go before letting you know my thoughts. I've only used it once for far and I just want to say it smells bloody flippin' gorgeous. 

One teeny tiny pet peeve about this product is the paragraph of writing under the barcode it has capital letters halfway through words and all over the place, it kinda makes my eye twitch a little. It reads "BooSTs HAiR's BoDy and teXture, enhancing glOss and SHiNE..." I mean...that just stresses me out... but that's my little OCD side coming out. 

Moving on to yet another hair product (are you sensing a theme?)

Batiste Dry Shampoo

To be honest, there's not much more I need to say about this product kinda does what it says on the tin. It works well in my hair, it can spray out a little too white, however being blonde it doesn't look too bad once I rub it in a bit. I tend to always go for this brand as it actually works well and I love this scent because it is very floral it just freshens everything up. 

And finally...

Real Techniques Make Up Brushes

I MUST NOT BUY ANY MORE MAKE UP BRUSHES! 

I MUST NOT BUY ANY MORE MAKE UP BRUSHES! 

I MUST NOT BUY ANY MORE MAKE UP BRUSHES!

It's becoming ridiculous and the entire reason I bought this pack was because I wanted the one contouring brush...I didn't even need the others. I mean the countouring one is literally perfect and works much better than my last one because of it's size, however I'm also really loving the powder brush as well blends out the powder really well. What's not to love about the Real Techniques brushes they are just great. The other two brushes I'm probably never really going to use, especially the Flat Pointed brush, I wouldn't even know what I can apply with that as I find any flat foundation brushes are just awful because they paint the foundation on the skin. 

So there we have it, my Boots Haul. 

What have you bought from Boots recently? 

A little bit of me...

I thought that I would post a little personal snapshot of my room and things I love. 

My blog is fairly centered around beauty related posts so I guess it can be hard to work out what other things I like, or different aspects of my personality. 

I'm going to keep the words on this post very minimal and just have a few pics. 

Enjoy! 

Eco(power)tools...

So this is just going to be a very quick review on the ecotools brushes I bought earlier in the week. 

So after having used them all week what do I think about them? 

The powder brush is absolutely gorgeous, really great coverage, super soft, good size. I could go on but I really like this brush compared to many others I have used in the past. 

The flat foundation brush...to be honest, is nothing special or different to my previous brushes, it does the job but doesn't stand out like it's counterpart the powder brush. 

Overall, I am happy with my little pay day purchase! 

Pay day purchase...

For a while now I've kept meaning to buy new make-up brushes. However there is such a range and all at varying prices, I tend to just stick to the same ones I always do. But I was out on my lunch break today and was just draw to these beauties...

The bristles are incredibly soft but the main thing I like about these are that they both came with their own little pouches.

Usually I just keep the sleeves that the brushes come in anyway but these come with the cutest pouches. 

The only thing I would say is that they are a little pricey, now don't get me wrong they aren't the most expensive brushes but they certainly aren't the cheapest. I put this down to them being Eco-friendly and the pouches, so you're paying just that little bit extra to to get that little bit more. 

Super excited to use these tomorrow...