Music: What I'm loving

My YSL lipstick collection!

Hi Dolls! I thought I'd share my current YSL collection. There will definitely be more to come but let me know if you'd like to see some swatches! Much love!

Review: YSL Babydoll Mascara

Price:  £24.50

Shade: Black

Let me just say that I thought I'd found my HG mascara. Benefit's They're Real was my favorite. Up until I noticed that it would flake sometimes and occasionally smudge. As a contact lens wearer, it's so difficult having to clean up because you also have to remove your contact lenses when mascara smudges which is a pain! 

Packaging: Very nice, very sophisticated! For a mascara that it over £20 then I would expect nothing short of this kind of quality. Then again, when has YSL ever let me down?!

The brush is very nice, plastic bristle, it does a good job of coating each eyelash.

On application: It has a very faint floral smell. Very faint. I love the smell actually! I always seem to sniff it because it smells so good. The bristles coat each lash and seperate them. The formula is quite wet but it may be from the fact that it is a fresh tube. All mascaras do tend to dry out after a couple of weeks. Personally I prefer it a bit drier! 

Above photos are bare lashes without mascara

Both photos are with one coat of mascara

Both photos are of two coats of mascara

Final Thoughts

I love this mascara. I'm so happy I decided to try it out because it's easily become my new favorite! The fact that it's opthamically tested and specifically tested for contact lens users is such a bonus. There's not much more to say here, I love it, I love it, I love it!

Review: Laura Mercier Secret Brightening Powder

Price: £18.50

Shade: No. 2

Size: 4g

Hi Dolls! Speaking again on my hatred of  dark circles, I feel like this will be so informative for you ladies (or guys!) who are an NC25-30 shade. Everyone raves about Ben Nye's banana powder which IS amazing, and I do use it for clients with deeper skin tones but it doesn't seem to do anything for me except create  weird yellow-toned patches under my eyes. Ben Nye also carry the same powder but in the shade Cameo, but I've seen it go for around £30 which is crazy! (Although a makeup fanatic like myself, don't be surprised if I do a review on that too!) I've also used Benefit's powderflage and BareMinerals well rested concealer but this is my fave. Enough rambling however, let's get on with the review!

On application: I use this powder after my concealer to set it. I use the Real Techniques blush brush as the rounded and fluffy edge is perfect to get in the corners of your eyes and it also blends the product beautifully. I did use the RT setting brush as well but I found that it gave me a bit too much product to work with. The powder itself is very, very light and it does have tiny shimmer particles in it (nothing chunky, don't worry) it just gives the eyes a beautiful lift and compliments the concealer perfectly.

No makeup, moisturised face

Add caption

Both photos are after using LM brightening powder

After using powder; with flash

Final Thoughts

This product is amazing! If your skin is too light for banana powder but too dark to use the No. 1 in this powder, this is perfect! I used No.1 but in flash photography it would reflect and I ended up looking like a ghost. I will say that in the above pictures, it's not like my circles have disappeared, but it is a combination of the lighting and me not putting as much concealer as I normally do. If you don't want to purchase Ben Nye's cameo powder but aren't too keen on the pricetag, then I do recommend this powder. It's amazing!

Review: Estee Lauder Double Wear Concealer

I am a concealer JUNKIE. I think I splurge the most on "base" products. Foundations and concealers are my bread and butter. Finding a good concealer is imperative (in my opinion) because it hides the nasty dark circles 90% of us have and a good one can cover basically any imperfection.

I was using the NARS radiant creamy concealer (should I do a review on that one too?!) before I tried this and I loved it. It's definitely up there as one of my HG products so I decided to try this out on a whim.

Price: £21

Shade: 02 Light Medium

On application: The packaging is pretty much standard, it comes with a simple doe foot applicator. The consistency is not too thick but not too watery either. Pretty much a perfect balance. My qualm with the NARS concealer was that when my undereyes weren't moisturised properly it would cake up and blending would be difficult. This isn't so watery like the MAC moisture cover and it's not as thick as MAC pro longwear. Perfect.

**DISCLAIMER** Please be aware that I always, ALWAYS use a corrector such as the Bobbi Brown one. I used this over the Giorgio Armani corrector (which was under my foundation) so it DID already do some of the work for me.

Without concealer

Both pictures above are with concealer

Final Thoughts

I am in LOVE with this concealer!!!! Probably more than the NARS creamy concealer. Not by a lot, but I love it just because it covers the same without being too cakey. I know in the pictures it doesn't look THAT good, but if you want more coverage then it is definitely buildable. Would recommend! Awesome product. It is a bit pricey for the amount you're getting, there are cheaper concealers around but if you have money to spare or you are looking for a full coverage concealer that is easy to blend and you can build up, give this a try!

Review: Estee Lauder Double Wear Foundation

I thought I'd do my own review on this foundation that has probably been one of the most reviewed beauty products EVER. As you may know (or not know) my skin is very oily. Oilier than what "normal" people would call oily. I also have some acne scars on my right cheek. The photo I took before was just too poor quality for me to post but if you check out my Estee Lauder Matte Primer review, I have a decent picture there.

Price: £28.50 but I got it for about £20 because of partner discount. (Like pretty much every makeup purchase I have, haha! Thanks John Lewis!)

Shade: For my NC25 complexion, the shade Desert Beige is a very good match for my skin tone.

On application: This bottle doesn't come with a pump which honestly makes it somewhat tricky to control but if you've used enough of these you just get used to it I suppose. There is no recognizable scent, it smells very lightly of paint (VERY light) - it doesn't really bother me. I found it a bit difficult to blend on the nose area as it caked up a bit but after using my trusty beautyblender it wasn't such a problem.

After one layer; applied with sigma F80

After one layer, I thought it was decent coverage, I use this level of coverage to go out during the day and it covered my scars fairly well, you couldn't really see it unless you were looking for it.

Both photos- after two layers 

After two layers it definitely gave a flawless full coverage finish, my scars are gone and any redness or hyperpigmentation is not visible. 

Final Thoughts

I know it seems like I was late on the bandwagon but I bought this foundation a year ago and it was too dark for me, the previous shade oxidised so I gave it to my Mum. I now see why everyone loves it. It's a foolproof foundation. Wouldn't recommend if you have normal/dry skin but I think that the light formula of this foundation is tailored to that. If you have heavy scarring then the maximum coverage formula would probably be better. I've been using this every day for the past week or so and I am LOVING it. Even in this cold season it manages to bode well with my oily skin. I've used it with the Estee Lauder Matte primer (check out my review on that!) and it goes on pretty easily and it lasts a fairly decent amount of time before I have to touch up. I have to say though, it has more staying power with MoM or Porefessional. Overall, very pleased with this purchase.

Review: Estee Lauder Matte Primer

Hello Dolls! Hope life is treating everyone well. Just a quick review on my thoughts of this primer I picked up during Pricematch at work ;) 

I have extremely oily skin, I have used milk of magnesia for the past 2 years but I feel that I don't enjoy it anymore. As it does mattify the skin like nothing I've ever used before, I grew tired of the chalky feeling after it dries (and yes, I know you have to rub it in too!) So here I am, on the hunt for a new primer to satisfy my oily, acne prone skin.

Price: £22.50 but I got it for around £14 because of pricematch and partner discount.

The packaging is very fuss free, nothing special to comment on it really, it is a normal squeeze tube. 

Before

This is my freshly moisturized face. Not the most flattering picture, I'm aware, and yes I'll get down to sorting out the bad pic quality - can't find my camera atm! 

As you can see my nose is VERY oily, it's the area that I always get the oiliest and I always have to powder down halfway through my day. 

After

On application: Whilst dispensing the primer, I noticed that it was very lightweight and I suspected that it wouldn't keep my face very matte. As you can see in the second picture, my skin is reasonably more matte than it was in the first picture.

Final Thoughts

I think this primer is great if you have normal/combo skin, but if you have oily to severely oily skin then I don't think this would do much. I would even say it's slightly more lightweight than Benefit's Porefessional. It is an average primer for my type of skin but I would definitely recommend it to someone who doesn't have specific skin concerns as far as controlling oil goes.