A Perfect Pair

Sometimes two products are just made for each other; this is one of those times! As soon as I wore the Bourjois Cream Blush in Healthy Glow and the Revlon Lip Butter in Tutti Frutti, I knew they were the most perfect of combinations. They're both orangey toned products and just bring out the best in one another, it's fast becoming my favourite summer look!

Xxxx

Travelling Makeup!

In two weeks, I'll be living out of a backpack for a month. I've done this once before, and I had the absolute worst skin of my life. I took barely any makeup because I assumed I wouldn't need it, but we were in India, and I hadn't counted on all the sweat, dirt and baking heat. Spots everywhere. Massive juicers visible from space... Never again.

So now I'm a careful packer, and although I have to travel very light, I don't cut corners any more - it's just not worth it. So here is what I am taking makeup-wise:

 Now I'll admit; this isn't quite everything. I'm still umming and ahhing over what concealer to take with me. I think I'm probably just going to buy a new one in a darker shade (any excuse).

Bourjois 123 Perfect CC Cream
Fairly standard. It doesn't give me all the coverage I need, but it's lovely and light with SPF - winner, winner.

Benefit Hoola Bronzer
Again, standard, but it's just the best bronzer I've used. I don't like to take shimmery face products as I feel they are for days when you're feeling particularly... 'Sparkly'. And that's definitely max once a week.

Topshop Lipstick in Infrared
It's orange, and honestly, I rarely leave the house without wearing it these days. It's my absolute favourite and I couldn't leave it behind - it makes me so sad to think of it alone in my drawer for so long.

Bobbi Brown Pot Rouge in Hibiscus

Such a lovely product, especially when you have a tan. I love it on my lips and cheeks, although it does need lip balm too since it can be quite drying.

 The Body Shop Shimmer Cubes
This is one of those lovely little eyeshadows from the shimmer cubes boxes. Its a golden/peach kind of colour and I use it all over the place; inner-corner highlight, eyeshadow wash, cheekbone highlight and sometimes on my cupid's bow too. Such a convenient little thing!

 Maybelline Expresson Kajal Eyeliner - Silver Grey
This is a slightly softer alternative to straight black. I feel like black takes effort, because if I don't get it right it makes my eyes look small and piggy. I was so satisfied with this, until I saw the new Bobbi Brown Surf and Sand bronze eyeliner... I want it so badly!

Maybelline Brow Drama - Medium Brown
Now, admittedly, this is nowhere near as good as Benefit's Gimme Brow, but it's £4.99, and so simple to use. I'd normally use pencil and then this over the top, but it does fine on it's own and pencil is such a faff when you only have a little compact mirror. Also, because it has a bigger, wider brush, it makes quite a good mascara!

So there we have it. Other than perhaps two new additions, this is what I'll be using! I hope I made good choices!

Xxxx

...May Favourites!

I have been going very fuss-free this month - exam season and all that! Here are a couple of things that have been on my head almost daily...

La Roche Posay Effaclar Duo - £15.50
When I'm stressed I get spots - humongous, juicy ones - blehh. And because I'm just so damned white they always leave red marks. I'm not going to say this is a wonder product, but I have definitely noticed a big difference in the size and quantity of blemishes and also how quickly they disappear.

Bumble and Bumble Pret-A-Powder - £21.50
Once again, exam season has meant all day library shifts, late nights and a serious reduction in giving a crap about my appearance. This lasts a million times longer than dry shampoo in a spray can and also gives a nice little bit of volume/texture, allowing me to look a little less homeless.

Benefit Gimme Brow - £17.50
I'm sure you're noticing a trend emerging here... Speed and laziness. This isn't that great by way of adding shape, but it defines brows well and makes them a bit more groomed.

E45 Cream - £2.39
A bit of a standard here, but I have been using it all over the place recently; especially to soothe the horrible flaky skin that some blemishes leave behind. I've been using it after shaving my legs and sometimes even in the place of my normal moisturiser. It soaks in quickly, is fragrance free and is such a hard worker that I think it deserves a little recognition.

Benefit Hoola Bronzer - £23.50
Every woman and her mother knows about this so I'll spare you. I've just been using it around the edges of my face to make it look as though I've been outside recently (N.B. I haven't.)

Bobbi Brown Pot Rouge in Hibiscus - £19
I can honestly say, I think I'll still have this exact pot usable when I'm 80 years old. You need only to touch your finger to the cream to have enough for halloween makeup. I'm also a recent embarker on the cream blusher bandwagon too, and I'm very, very happy to be so! This is a lovely colour, albeit tough to blend sometimes. It's hard to tell if the red on your cheeks is from the blusher or the increase in blood flow from the fierce dabbing. Still a big fan.

Bourjois Cream Blush in Healthy Glow - £7.99
I love this since it's far more powdery and less of a task than Bobbi's. It's a really pretty colour and is very aptly named.

Topshop Lipstick in Infrared - £8
Despite my best efforts with the pictures (in natural light, I promise) this lipstick has ended up looking far more coral than orange. However, it IS orange, and that's what I adore about it. It's very bright if you layer it on thick, but becomes quite natural if you just dab a bit on and spread it with your finger.

And that's that.

Xxxx

...Bourjois Happy Light Luminous Serum Primer Review

I have a secret love for primers that I just can't explain... They always used to seem pointless to me, but having fallen in love with Smashbox Photofinish Primer, I've been on the look out for more to try. I feel like, having had bad skin in the past and still getting spots here and there, that a good primer helps to shield your pores from all the gunk that gets smeared over them day to day.

So the new edition to the primer collection... The Bourjois Happy Light Luminous Serum Primer!

Firstly, it comes out of the bottle a baby pink colour and has a pearlescent look to it. There is a matte version of this product but I wasn't as interested in that. It has a pump on the bottle and is very pretty looking in general.

Price - £10.99 for 15ml.
As far as primers go I'd say this is in the middle to lower area of the price range, and 15ml can last a month or two if used every day.

Effect 
Bourjois say:

• Non-pore blocking
• Gives a radiant and hydrated effect
• Leaves skin soft and supple

Well it hasn't given me any spots/blemishes of any kind, so that's good.
My skin definitely looks radiant after application, especially on my cheekbones, and this does look lovely under foundation and other makeup. It's not a look that I would wear on it's own as the product has such an obvious pink undertone that can look a bit weird. It actually stains the skin a bit pink if you dot it on your face and leave it there.
Leaves skin soft and supple? Mehh. The jury is still out on that one. I can't say that it really does.

In natural light. To the right I have blended it into my skin.

A few observations I have to make though; it absorbs into skin very quickly and is hard to spread over your face. The pump doesn't give enough product to cover the whole face so I have to use two. It has a very light scent, somewhat like baby powder. I don't think it makes any difference to foundation application, I haven't noticed any difference in the staying power or better blending results, but I don't think that's what it's designed to do.

On The Whole
I like it! It's great for giving you a healthy glow and I really enjoy applying it before my makeup.
4/5

Xxxx

Maybelline, Bourjois and Olay.

Superdrug emailed me a couple of days ago telling me that if I didn't spend the points on my card, they would expire on the 1rst of December! I was a little bit gutted because I hate spending points. I hoard them. Hoard them like a hoarder hoards crap.
I love sitting on that little balance thinking: "One day. One day I'll have a MILLION points! Mwahahahaha..."

But anyway; here is what I bought...

Bourjois Lipstick in Rose Innocence - I've been wearing this since I applied it in the shopping centre. Its a very pretty pink, a tiny bit shimmery but nothing to balk at. It's staying power is very impressive and the packaging is just gorgeous! It looks so much more expensive than it is!

Olay Complete Care Normal/Dry Day Cream - Olay are my absolute favourite; I've used their mosturisers nearly every day since I was about 13! I normally use the beauty fluid but since I'm running a bit low I thought I'd try this. Its much thicker and creamier than the beauty fluids so I'm hoping this will be a better winter moisturiser. No matter how much I love the beauty fluids, they're very runny and although great moisturisers, I'm feeling something a bit more heavy-duty is in order at the moment- it's freezing outside!

And of course, it smells just as divine as all the other Olay products in existence! Mmm...

And Finally...
Maybelline Fit Me Anti-Shine Stick (115 - Ivory) - I've been dying to try these! I've walked into a shop so many times with the premise of buying it, and then I've always chickened out because I didn't want to spend my minute amount of cash. But here we are... I suppose it was just meant to be.

As you can see, it's got two little circles of colour... How strange! I'll upload a full review of this tomorrow probably, I don't want to scrub my makeup off to reapply it all now. And sorry for the awful photo quality, my phone hates me at the moment.

And that's that! Superdrug points well spent me-thinks!

Xxxx