Daily Makeup ‘Can’t Live Withouts’

So I thought today, that I would share with you my basic daily makeup products. Some I have been using for years and have never come across anything that I like better and some are newer products that have sneaked their way into my makeup bag!

As I said these products are my absolute basics, yes, most of the time I wear eye shadows and a wing of eyeliner but my looks change from day to day, whereas these are the products I use every time.

First I will start with the product that for me, has been around the longest, the one and only, ColourStay by Revlon. I want to say that it was back in 2008 that I first tried this product. Obviously, I did not use it on a daily basis back then as I was still a bit young to be wearing a lot of makeup, but at home, I loved being creative.

Currently I am using the colour 150 Buff from the dry/combination range, I also have it in some darker shades, so that when I use faketan I can mix the perfect colour! I find the coverage of this foundation to be medium, but it is easy enough to build it to full coverage without it looking cakey, which is great! Its also affordable but maybe a little more expensive than other drugstore foundations. Depending on where you go a bottle of this stuff will cost you around £12, which personally I think is great value as it tends to last me at least 4 months! It lasts alllllllllll day long and is just incredible.

The Expert Face Brush by Real Techniques has been one of my most exciting purchases of 2013. These brushes are just incredible and such great value for money, this brush is about £11 and can be used for almost anything. I use it to buff in my foundation, and after using this brush I only use about two pea sized amounts for my whole face! If you haven’t already jumped on the Real Techniques band wagon, I would highly recommend it, and I haven’t heard a single bad review on this brush!

Now for the product that I never thought would live up to the hype, Collection’s Lasting Perfection Concealer this was every where and is still being raved about till this day! If you haven’t got it get it. For only £4 this concealer is amazing, bags gone, spots gone, scars gone and redness, gone, all in the matter of seconds. This beats any MAC or Benefit concealer that I have tried and I will never use anything else!

Staying on the topic of concealers, I still love to use MAC’s Studio Finish SPF 35 concealer. I like to use it mainly on breakouts as it is very lightweight and contains the vitamins A and E which help reduce redness and overall help to clear up the spot. I would suggest this concealer to those who are more prone to oiliness as it contains the ingredient Silica which helps absorb the skins natural oils, this also can aid with breakouts as it helps dry them up!

A new addition to my make up bag this year has been the Mineralize Skinfinish in Natural by MAC, I have it in medium and it is perfect for my skin tone! It is a baked powder full of great minerals for your skin. I use it to set my foundation (before I religiously used Max Factor’s Facefinity compact powder foundation and still love it to this day and perhaps is a little more affordable!) and I love how it keeps my skin moisturized, which I didn’t think was possible for a powder to do.  From other reviews that I read before buying this product, everyone seemed to agree on the fact that this powder lasts for ages, so the £23 that i spent on it somewhat seems a little easier to part with!

Next up is a product that I seem to go on about all the time! Lancome Hypnose Doll Eyes Mascara, I absolutely love it! It’s incredible, it volumises and lengthens your lashes while still leaving them looking soo soo natural. The formula doesn’t allow it to clump no matter how many layers you apply. Usually I only use one layer for day time, and can build it up to three or four for a dramatic evening look!

Benefit’s BrowZings is the only eyebrow kit that I can ever see myself using. Before I used the one by e.l.f and coming in at only around £3 I thought it was amazing but after trying this a year ago, I will never go back! It matches the colour of my eyebrows perfectly and really keeps my eyebrows in place all day! It lasts me about 8 months, and I use it every single day, so the price of £23.50 is quite a good deal! (I use the shade medium)

Before I put on my makeup I like to apply a lipbalm to my lips to keep them nice and soft incase I decide to wear some lipstick. My favourite lipbalm has to be the one I received in my June GlossyBox, Figs & Rouge in the shade/scent of Cherry Blossom. (you can read my review and first impressions of it here.)

So just for fun and on my part all little bit of embarrassment, I thought it would be interesting for you all if I posted a ‘before/after’ picture of me using JUST these ‘can’t live without’ products, as I would like you to see what a difference they really make for me.

Thanks for reading.
LuLu
x

My Favourite Moisturisers

I have tried and tested an awful lot of moisturizers and have certain tubs and bottles to do different things, so I decided to make up some fun moisture(eee) related titles to award to my favourites.
So here goes..

Nivea In Shower Body Moisturiser for dry skin £5.10 400ml

 

I saw the advert for this moisturiser on the television and thought it to be the easy way out, this appealed to me as I can rarely be bothered smothering myself in lotion just to stand and wait for it to seep in before I can get dressed. I then passed it in SuperDrug where it was on offer, and bought it (the first one I bought was the normal one, not the one for dry skin) I tried it out, and loved it! I soon used the 250ml bottle up within 2 weeks. I went to buy another, and came across the one for dry skin and picked up the larger 400ml bottle for £3 (usually £5.10) and loved it even more, although i have to warn you that if you don’t rinse out the shower properly after use it can leave a dangerous super slippery residue in the bottom of the shower.

Garnier Intensive 7 Days Body Lotion Shea Butter 400ml £4.99

I love this stuff as a quick fix on dry patches that need to be sorted quickly without the dreaded sticky, walking around like a penguin aftermath. It smells fresh and as the formula is very light it absorbs almost instantly. It does the job but i definitely wouldn’t say that the results lasted 7 days like it says it should.

Superdrug Plum and Red Cherry Body Butter 200ml £3.69

All Superdrugs body butters smell gorgeous, but this one is my favourite, as you can tell by its winning title it smells great and for me, seems to last ages! I tend to use this more in the winter, as i find that my shins can get quite dry and flakey due to the weather. It also works great for your elbows and knees before tanning! This is a pamper night in product certainly not a quick on the go job, as with most body butters it can take quite a bit longer to absorb into the skin unlike normal moisturizers, but they tend to be more moisturizing due to this.

Boots Sanctuary Body Moisture Spray

I love using this after shaving and waxing! It really penetrates the deeper layers of skin that normal moisturizers don’t reach. I also find after tanning , if I apply this to my legs it gives them a really healthy sheen. I’m not sure the price of this product as I got it at Christmas.
FINALLY – The moisturizer that is everyone of these put together!

KEDEM Mango Body Butter & Mango and Kiwi Body Scrub

Kedem Cosmetics has been developed and manufactured by the esteemed Paloma Dead Sea Ltd., the world’s first cosmetic lab to commercially develop and market skin and therapeutic products based on dead sea minerals, salts and muds.

The Kedem range of products are manufactured and imported directly from Israel, where only the finest original dead sea minerals and other natural ingredients are used. Kedem cosmetics is a Paraben-free cosmetic range that offers safe and natural skin care products, that includes facial and body creams, masks, scrubs, salts, butters and soaps.

Our extensive range is a result of over 20 years of research and development of dead sea skin care products.

I have been wanted to speak about this brand for ages ITS INCREDIBLE. Although buying it can be a little confusing. I got this as a present and when I soon realised how amazing it was I thought I would look up where to buy it in the future, this is where the problems started. I found on another blog someone who was having the same problem as me and they said that the official way to buy it was from the ‘kedemcosmetics’ shop on ebay but they were selling one tub for around £60 which I thought was crazyyy, BUT understandable for the quality. I then decided to search around a little myself and find out if there was any other way. I found out that this brand has been sold at stalls in various shopping centers across the country which is where most people have heard about them. I also found what seems to be THE Kedem site, but its South African and everything is in ZAR’s (eg. 500R) The Body Butter was R175.00 which I worked out to be £11.36 which was a large jump in price from the £60, but then worked out the shipping and realised it would actually work out more expensive to have it delivered from South Africa. THEN i found their facebook page, where i found that they sell their products in St Enochs centre in Glasgow, and I am sure if you post a comment you could find out where the nearest seller to you is.

Now the actual product smells incredible, it was the first thing that i noticed. It comes in a glass tub which is very pretty and one you wouldn’t mind sitting in your bathroom for all to see. Its thick and creamy and unlike most body butters it is quick to absorb. If you team it with the Body Scrub pictured with it, then you’ll be in heaven. The scrub on its own it is moisturizing enough, it smells incredible, gets rid of all dead skin, and works great for smoothing everything down before applying fake tan. I’m finding it hard to explain just how it feels, but just believe me when I say its incredible. Honestly the best scrub I have ever used.