Tuesday 9 February 2016

All About The Base

Hey lovelies, happy Tuesday! Hope the weekend treated you all well and Monday wasn't too bad?
Mine was great, my best friend got engaged recently, so we went out for dinner and caught up on all the gossip,and then went for a couple of drinks afterwards. So it was a nice weekend! I was then off Monday so happy days  :)
I'm back today with a post on my base routine and what products I use to give me the perfect base day to day. If your base isn't right, then obviously the rest of your make up won't be either!
So obviously I cleanse tone and moisturise first, I'm using a Garnier Cleanser and Toner at the minute which are great.Cheap as chips, but make my skin feel really clean and moisturised. For moisturiser I'm using a hydrating serum from Superdrug as I'm always rushing in the morning because I always leave it to the last minute to get up! I will go into more detail about my skincare in another post though.

My first step is always a primer. No matter how much of a rush I'm in I'll always use a primer. The one I'm currently using and Loving is the Rimmel Match Perfection Fix and Perfect Primer. This is a great little primer and it only costs 8.99! Rimmel maintain this is a 5 in 1 product, that has a number of functions including mattifying the skin, and  reducing the size of pores. I don't really notice either of these things, and I've a ridiculously red nose with huge pores. But for me it just makes my foundation last a lot longer than it would otherwise. It's more of cream consistency which I much prefer to the ones that are too silicone like.  I've been using this consistently since the end of December, and I'm almost out, which is a good sign.
For my foundation I've been loving the Rimmel Match Perfection. No other foundation has got a look in since I got this one. I fully intend on doing a blog post on this alone, so keep an eye out for that. It's a medium coverage, which I love because me and full coverage just don't get along. At the same time though it is buildable, so if you're someone who's into fuller coverage you could just build up a couple of layers. It's labelled as a radiance foundation and it is dewy, but a lot of the dewiness is gone once I powder it. For me though the winner for this is the length it lasts. Now seen as I use a primer I would assume that helps, but it lasts throughout the day with no top ups. I put it on in the morning at around 8 45, and when I come home at 6pm it looks more or less the exact same bar a slight shine on my forehead and chin. I find it even lasts relatively OK on my nose, which I find no matter what I use it always slips off my nose first. It's another bargain at 9.99, and comes in a decent amount of shades, so it's worth a try if you want to try a new foundation but don't have a huge budget. My next step then is to do my under eye concealer, and unless I have a whopper of a spot this is the only place I use concealer. I'm lucky enough to have relatively clear skin most of the time, but there is a fair bit of darkness under my eyes.


The concealer I've been using lately is the Catrice Liquid Camoflage Concealer. It's the perfect consistency, it's thick enough to cover my under eye bags  without being cakey and really brightens up the area, and applies nice and smoothly.  I'm yet to find a concealer that doesn't end up looking funny on me by the end of the day, but I think that may be more to do with my powder.  This was only a few euro as well, and it's well worth it.



My last step then is to set everything with a powder, and the one I'm currently using is the MUA Skin Define Hydro Setting Powder. Again this is another product that's cheap as chips but works well. It sets everything into place and makes my make up last a bit longer than it normally would. After a while my forehead does get a bit shiny, but I can deal with it. My only gripe is I find my under eyes get a bit creppy looking, but I'm going to keep trying and testing until I find something to eradicate that.
So that's my every day routine for my base. After this I go on to do my blush and bronzer etc, and I will show you what I use in another post.




What are your current go to base products?
Thanks for reading,
Alisha xxx




Tuesday 2 February 2016

PS Love Make Up Range.

Hey Lovelies,
Hope you're all well and happy! Another Monday done and dusted! Although I can't say much, I was in Liverpool/Birmingham for the weekend and only came back today so my Monday was alright! Anyway, I'm back today to show you a few bit's that I've picked up recently from the Penneys/Primark Beauty Range. Now I'm just going to say that I haven't given any of these a good go yet, I've tried some of the bit's once or twice, so we'll see how they fair out. I'm just letting ye know about them in case ye fancy going out and picking them up! :) I also bought these at different stages, between here and the UK.




Contour and Sculpt Contour Kit: I know, not another contour kit offering! The whole contouring thing seems to have just blown up in 2015, and when I saw this I couldn't not pick it up just to try it out. I haven't been one for the contour phase, as if it's done badly, it just looks like two stripes down the side of your face. This one comes with a contour shade, a bronzer (well at least I think it is), and a highlight.  It also comes with a tiny little brush, alongside a picture to show you where to place each powder.Now, I did try it once, and I have to say I didn't find it very pigmented. But for me that may be a good thing because at least then I can't go overboard. It was a steal at 4 euro, and I'm going to give it a good go before I make up my mind.





Blush Duo: I'm a blush fiend, I have loads and loads, but yet I still go back for more! To be fair, I didn't have anything like this in my collection. That's my excuse and I'm sticking to it. This is a blush and highlight all in one, and it reminded me very much of the No7 ones  that were released last Summer. This is yet to be tried out, but I'll report back as soon as I do.




CC Sticks: I came across these in Primark in Liverpool the other day and just had to try them. They had 4 different types to do with particular problem areas. I picked up the yellow for under eye circles, the green for redness, and the purple for dullness. I'm not sure if these are available in Ireland yet, but if not I'm sure they'll be along soon. I tried yellow one on Sunday night going for dinner, as we'd been doing a lot of travelling and walking and what not, and a lack of sleep at night between going out, and someone snoring, meant I had fairly bad circles under my eyes. I didn't use a primer as I was being lazy and only had a few minutes to liven up, so I found it a bit dry, but I think with a primer it'd be fine. It really did a good job of cancelling out the darkness under my eyes, I instantly looked more alert and awake! These were again only something like 1 or 2 pounds, sure I couldn't leave them there!




        

Velvet Matte Lip Pencils: These were the things I was most excited to pick up. I've seen plenty of people talking about them so I was mad to give them a go. I picked up two, a Red, and a Brown/Nude,
 which is that kind of colour the one and only Kylie Jenner seems to love! I've tried the brown colour so far, and I've to say, I'm not sure if the colour is for me, but the texture is nice. It's matte without being extremely drying, but I always use a bit of balm because no matter how hard I try my lips are chapped. These remind me a lot of the Maybelline Lip Pencils which I love, which are also comparable (apparently) to the Nars ones. So if they're something you'd be interested in, you may like to try these. 

So ladies. they're some of the bits you can pick up in our favourite shop at the minute. There's a lot more, like foundations, nail polish, eyeshadow, and also brushes, (some of which I've tried and I'll talk about in their very own post soon.) 

Like I said, I'll give everything a good go and if there's anything worthy of it's own blogpost, I'll be sure to do it. Have you lovelies tried any of the Penneys/Primark make up?
What did you think?

Thanks for reading, Alisha xxx