MAC Studio fix fluid V NARS Sheer glow

 As you can probably tell I am a huge foundation junkie, and even though I like drugstore ones I decided I wanted to branch out and try more expensive/ hyped about foundations as well.
This is going to be a review and a foundation 'war' per say as I am going to tell you which product I prefer and why after I have explained the pro's and con's of each ...





PRICES:
MAC SFF- £18 - 19.50
I think this is a pretty decent price considering that it is a higher end foundation and also one of the cheapest that MAC sells. 7/10
NARS SG- £28 - 30
I know it's a big price and honestly I don't know if I could ever convince myself that any foundation is worth £30. 4/10



                                                                                                       



STAYING POWER AND FINISH:
MAC SFF lasted on my face for 12 hours, although it does not stay matte, this foundation, although is claimed to be matte actually has a pretty dewy finish although FULL coverage which was a nice surprise as I do not like very matte foundations. 10/10
NARS SG only lasted on my face a mere 6 hours and that was only after blotting many times. It did have a nice satin finish to the skin and gave medium coverage, although throughout the day it did oxidize a bit leaving any dry patches lighter then other areas. 5/10

SHADES:
MAC SFF- It is my perfect shade and thankfully does not oxidize on me, as I am the lightest shade in MAC I was worried it would be too pale but it turned out to be a great colour match as I love yellow toned foundations on my skin.
NARS SG- Is the slightest bit too orange but if I work with it, it can look fine, although I don't trust it for school so I usually end up only using it on the weekend or events. (Waste of £30...)

OVERALL:            

MAC SFF- 9/10 my go to foundation, and I will definitely re purchase it, although if you have VERY sensitive skin or are acne prone this foundation does contain some ingredients which can cause your skin irritation. Just something to keep in mind. 

DUPE ALERT:

For a drugstore dupe try out the revlon colorstay it is very similar although I prefer the MAC shades as they are warmer and less pink toned, although the lasting power and finish are very similar.

NARS SG- 6/10 I feel like I wasted money just because this was really raved about and it really wasn't all that good, it was okay, but not great I feel like it didn't live up to my expectations. LETDOWN.

DUPE ALERT:

      I can't say for certain as I haven't yet had the chance to try it, but the L'Oreal lumi magique foundation is supposed to be very similar to the NARS SG although have not as good shade selection, so it's worth a look.

 Thanks for reading! Please comment and request future blog posts.                                                                            

Rimmel Wake Me Up Foundation Review

Recently I have been purchasing a lot of foundations trying to find the 'perfect' foundation for me. As I suffer from eczema but also have oily skin as well as the odd dry patch it's tricky for me to find a foundation that can cope with maintaining both areas of my skin. As I have been such a foundation junkie I decided to do a review on one I tried recently called Rimmel Wake Me Up Foundation £8.99 Which you can purchase HERE

I purchased mine in 100 ivory and was excited to try it out as I had heard a lot of good reviews on youtube and on the boots website. Below is a swatch of the foundation, it looks too light for my skin in the swatch but actually if anything it is the tiniest bit too orange as I have very pale skin, although I knew this would be the case as Rimmel don't often cater for very dark or light skin tones. Rimmel designed this foundation for a wake me up effect (glowy/ dewy look but also giving a natural anti- fatigue effect) and I 100% agree with this statement, I suffer with very dull looking skin and after applying this I got many compliments and had a very even, glowing complexion which looked very natural, although if you are any paler then me you may not be able to get away with wearing it without looking orange.

 This foundation does have a scent (a very nice orange scent) so if you have very sensitive skin it may not be great for you, this foundation lasted 12 hours on my skin but I did have to powder it as it does get oily throughout the day as it contains illuminating particles within the foundation. The packaging is really good the bottle is very unique looking and they pull it all together with a very unique slanted lid which I think looks really quirky and fun also it comes with a pump which is possibly the best pump I have ever used as you can get out as much or little product as needed without wasting any (take note revlon). 

My skin before applying the foundation

 The foundation applied very easily and didn't dry too quickly leaving me time to blend it in, I use my fingers with this foundation but it is adaptable to most techniques in which you may want to apply it although I feel that fingers give the most natural, lightest coverage. The formula is relatively thick but not hugely thick as in my opinion it doesn't feel heavy on my face at all and leaves my skin looking glowy and healthy but dries 100% not leaving my skin feeling sticky or uncomfortable.

My skin after applying the foundation

 I highly recommend this foundation it is great as an everyday, medium/ full coverage foundation which will give you a lovely glow to your skin.

Long Time No Blog...

 I am so sorry for my lack of effort on my blog recently, it has been over a month since my last blog post and I feel as if I have abandoned it... Sorry!

I took a break as I did't have much inspiration but recently for my GCSE's I have been studying an artist of my choice. I chose Amedeo Modigliani, I love his work and decided to do a post on it.
On the left picture and below you can see that I tried to copy some of his work and am really inspired.
 I haven't really talked about my passion for art before but I thought this would be something different and fun for some of you to look at. If you have any requests for blog posts please comment!

For most of my art I really like to use pencil and shading but because of this artist I have been using watercolours as well as acrylic paints, which I am not crazy about but I thought I would give them a try for the sake of the project. The project my class have been given is to use contrast in our work incorporating 2 chosen artists, I have not yet chosen my second artist but if any of you have any ideas I would be grateful for you to give me some ideas.

Below is a picture I drew using chalk, this was for another project incorporating Georgia O'Keeffe, honestly I am not a fan of drawing flowers or of O'Keeffe work as flowers are possibly the most boring and unoriginal  drawings/ paintings ever. 

Sorry for this long, possibly uninteresting blog post but I thought it would be something different, I am going to be doing more blog posts from now on so please bare with me! 

Thanks for reading and have a great day.

E.L.F. haul & first impressions

 I realised recently that I had not ordered off E.L.F. for quite a while and I was really in need of some new products (when I say in need, I basically mean WANT).
what really caught my attention was an offer they were having which was if I spent over £10 I would get free delivery and a 'mystery gift bag'. So I decided to place my long awaited order and after 5 days of waiting to receive it I finally got it on Friday 3rd Feb.

First product I ordered was the famous Powder brush, I have heard so much about this and have been wanting to purchase it for a while. A while ago I purchased the E.L.F. stipple brush for foundation and I found it too flimsy so now use it for blush, so I hoped this would work for foundation and so far so good, It is very dense and is super soft! Great quality for the price of £3.50.

I then decided to buy the complexion brush for powder and bronzer as this is quite a flat brush which I love as it is easy to pat the powder onto the face and also is able to contour without trouble of the brush being too big. Once again this brush to is super soft and is sold at £3.50.

 Purchasing this blush was a pretty quick decision for me, it is the studio blush in tickled pink and honestly I am really disappointed in this product, as you can tell by the swatch it is VERY sheer, I heard people say it was sheer but good for pale people and as I am pale I decided to give it a go, but this is far from sheer... There is literally NO colour pay off. A total disappointment.




                                                                               I received this tool kit (purple gem) set in the mystery bag, this is sold for £6.50 and honestly if I had purchased this with my own money I would have been hugely disappointed, although I didn't I still feel a bit of a let down as the travel mirror is very cheap feeling and the gems are wonky, the eyelash curlers didn't come with a protector (thing between the curler) and is very cheap feeling, the only good thing is the super cute gem tweezers.

 I also received a shimmer eyeliner in plum passion which is sold at £1, after using this once I loved the colour but the pigmentation was awful, I had to scrape at my waterline to get any colour at all, which wasn't worth it, I would usually say that I wouldn't mind as it is only £1 but MUA do MUCH better quality eyeliners then this, I don't feel there is an excuse...

Overall I have to admit I love the brushes and will definitely be buying more of them in the future, but as for the makeup items I purchased, I don't feel they are worth the effort, I would have much rather bought a few things from MUA then waste my money on products that don't even show up.... 

Project pan: 2012 resolution...

 

Recently whilst going through my collection of makeup I noticed many products which I hadn't used in a while, so I decided to do the project pan which  is quite popular with the youtube beauty community. These are the products I chose:
FACE:
-Revlon photoready foundation (I like it but I have SO many other foundations too).
-MAC blush Dollymix (I stopped using it for a while and it is quite expensive so I need to start using it more often, even though it is a very bright blush)
- L'Oreal primer (I don't like it but it needs to be used up)
-MAC fix + (I like this product but have forgotten about it for a while, I need to start using it up again).
MAC studio sculpt concealer (LOVE this concealer but I know that I will end up buying another one when I don't need it so I am going to try & use it all up before buying another).
- Rimmel stay matte powder (purchased this before being given the MAC MSF natural and now have forgotten about it, I am going to try and use it up even though I have already hit pan).

EYES:
-Rimmel day to night mascara (Love this mascara, but I usually end up buying another before I need one so I am going to try and get my moneys worth of this product).
-GOSH pencil eyeliner (I don't usually like pencil eyeliner so I need to use this up as otherwise it will be a waste).
-Benefit cream shadow RSVP (I like this product but I have forgotten about it and it was quite expensive so I need to start using it up). 


LIPS:
-L'Oreal HIP jelly balm (I recently got a new one of these and love them, but I haven't used this shade for a while now and want to start using it again).
- Palmers lipbalm ( Got this recently but I buy lipbalms on a regular basis and end up not using them, but I want this one to be used daily).
-MUA lipstick shade 12 (I like the formula of these but I haven't used it in a while and it is a really pretty colour so it shouldn't be too hard to use up).
-17 lipstick Beehive (Love this lipstick and formula but once again have started to forget about it, I will definitley carry on using this product as it is so moisturizing and pretty).
So these are the products I have chosen I will be doing regular updates on products that I have hit pan on and am loving/ hating, so please comment telling me if you have done this project yet and how it went!

TAG : 40 Beauty Questions...

SKINCARE]
-How many times do you wash your face daily? Usually once at night to take my makeup off but sometimes twice!
 -What skin type do you have? (dry,oily,combo)  Combo
-What is your current facial wash? Clean and clear
-Do you exfoliate? yes usually once a week


-What brand do you use? lots of different ones mainly clean & clear or simple

-What moisturizer do you use? simple anti-blemish moisturizer
-Do you have freckles?No
-Do you use eye cream? No
-Do you or did you have acne prone skin?yes but it isn't too bad.

-Did you ever have to use Pro-activ? no but I would like to if it got a bit worse
-What foundation do you use? I use so many different ones but my favorite has to be Bourjouis 10 hour sleep            effect.
-How about concealer?Collection 2000 lasting perfection or MAC studio sculpt
-Do you know your undertone color? yes, I'm pretty sure I have a warm undertone

-What do you think of fake eyelashes? They are nice but I don't wear them, too expensive and I already have long enough eyelashes.

-Did you know that you are suppose to change your mascara every 3 months? Yes, and I do when I have the money haha!
-What brand of mascara do you use?I buy a different one each time usually maybelline.
-Sephora or MAC? MAC
-Do you have a MAC Pro-card? No
-What makeup tools do you use in make up application? Brushes
-Do you use make-up base/primer for the eyes? yes, urban decay primer potion.
-For the face? Sometimes, if I do it's usually GOSH.
-What is your favorite eyeshadow (color or shade)?I like the benefit eyeshadows from the primpcess kit.
-Do you use pencil or liquid eyeliner? i tend to wear liquid or gel...

-How often do you poke your eyes with an eyeliner pencil? Not very often.

-What do you think of pigment eyeshadows?I don't like using them as they usually have to much fall out.
-Do you use mineral makeup? No

-What is your favorite lipstick? 17 Lipstick in Beehive
-How about lipgloss? I don't like wearing lipgloss so I don't have one.
-What is your favorite blush to use? My loreal one in Rosewood.
-Do you buy your makeup on ebay? No.

-Do you like drugstore makeup? Yes, A majority of my makeup is drugstore and I like alot of drugstore products.

-Do you go to CCO's? (cosmetic company outlets) I have never been to one.
-Did you ever consider taking make-up classes? Not really to be honest I wouldn't really want it as a career but just something to do in my spare time.

-Are you clumsy in putting on makeup? sometimes haha.

-Name a makeup crime that you hate? Too much eyeliner or the orange line!
-Do you like colorful shades of makeup (lipstick,eyeshadow) or neutral ones? I like both it depends in what mood I am in.
-Which celebrity always has great make up? Taylor Swift

-If you could leave the house using just ONE make up item,what would you use? Blush
-Could you ever leave the house without any makeup on? I guess
-Do you think you look good even without any makeup on? sometimes when my skin is being nice to me!
-In your opinion, what is the BEST makeup line? I like Bourjouis, 17 and MAC/
-What do you think of Makeup?? It's great to inhanse your natural beauty!

My December favorites

 Face:
Bourjois healthy mix foundation - At first I didn't get on with this foundation and hated the look of it on my face but after working with it I find the less you use the better the outcome. I have come to love this foundation and for £9.99 its a bargain!
Collection 2000 lasting perfection concealer- I have loved this concealer since the first time using this, it's my second one of this concealer and I am definitley going to repurchase it again!

 Eyes:
Benefit primpcess eye primping set- I purchased this on a flight for a low price of £15 but it is usually sold for £29, I love this product the packaging is so cute and is so easy to travel with.
It includes: 
- sample of eyebright
- sample of boi-ing concealer in 2 (too dark for me)
- 3 eyeshadows which are really nice eyeshadows I have been using them all month!
- small version of bad gal mascara (which I found way too clumpy)
- sample of RSVP cream shadow base (love it and purchased the full version)

Overall I like this product mainly for the  eyebright, RSVP cream shadow and the eyeshadows!
I highly recommend this palette just for the eyeshadows and I have decided I will purchase the too faced natural eye palette as they have very similar colours in it and is selling for a bargain price at £23.

 Blush:
Loreal blush in Rosewood-
I love this blush even though it is made for medium skin tones I tried my mums and loved it so purchased my own for £7  I only recently started using it after having a major clear out in my makeup collection and have fallen in love with the colour, on the skin it looks like a very natural red/ coral dewy blush.

 Lip product:
Palmers lip butter lip balm- 
I heard another youtuber talk about this: Sunbeamsjess (who is one of my favorite youtubers)  and decided to buy one myself for a cheap price of £1.93 at boots, it smells just like cocoa butter/ chocolate and isn't waxy like some other lip balms, it's really moisturizing and has gotten rid of those winter chapped lips! Would definitely recommend it...

Skincare product:
Simple spotless skin moisturizer-
I have used 2 bottles of this and it is a product I can definitely rely on, I have acne prone skin, and although my acne isn't too bad it is only because this moisturizer helps it stop from getting bad, It helps moisturize my skin but doesn't leave it looking greasy and shiny. I wouldn't recommend it for people with dry skin as it isn't hugely moisturizing but it does help oil skin by reducing oil around the T-zone and stops from it clogging your pores (haha nasty...)