2012 Favourites... Makeup

When I was thinking about the different makeup products that I wanted to include in my 2012 favourites that list was getting very long and I was getting a bit concerned this post would turn into a bit of an essay, so I cut the list down and decided to only include the products that I turn to all the time without thinking and that list was easy to make. So here are my 2012 favourites...

L'Oreal Million Lashes Mascara
This is my all time favourite mascara, I love it!! I talk about it in this post.

Garnier BB Cream
I love this BB cream it is perfect for my combination/skin, it's really easy to wear and BB cream has lasted ages I bought this back in May (i think) and I still have loads left and I wear it everyday! You can read my post here.

Estee Lauder Double Wear Light Foundation
I really like this foundation, it is medium coverage and really does last all day, I know a lot of people compare this foundation to Revlon's Colour Stay foundation, which I have, but I think that the double wear gives a much better finish compared to the colour stay, you can find the foundation here, I will do a post soon!

Rimmel Stay Matte Powder
This powder is brilliant, there is not much I can say about a powder but it keeps my skin nice and matte all day and for only £3.99 it's a bargain, although since I have been using the Garnier BB cream I haven't been using it as much. You can find it here.

Soap and Glory Kick Ass Concealer
I recently did a post on this, which you can see here, but I am obsessed with concealer and use it everyday!

Collection 2000 Extreme Liner
This range of eyeliners are really great felt tip liners which can rival other brands such as L'Oreal and Rimmel for only £2.99. It's mentioned in a post here and here.

Avon Super Shock Gel Liner
I use this liner on my waterline and it is such a great true black I love it, I bought it from Ebay but you can find it here.

Benefit Blushers
I've included the Hervana blusher in my favourites, but I could easily wear any of my Benefit blushers any time. (You can see my post here and here)

I love all 3 of these lipsticks, they are so easy to wear, I have a LOT of lipsticks but I reach for these the most.
Revlon Lip Butter in Tutti Frutti (You can see my post here)
Revlon Just Bitten Kissable Lip Stain Balm in Crush (You can see my post here)
L'Oreal Rouge Caress in Dating Coral (You can see my post here)

MUA Heaven and Earth Eye Shadow Palette
I know everyone raves about the undressed palette, which I also have, but the Heaven and Earth palette is always the range of eye shadows that I reach for most often for daytime and evening makeup looks. I just realised I haven't done a post on this so I will get some swatches done soon, in the mean time you can find it here. 

Real Techniques Brushes
This year I have become really interested in using makeup brushes, I never quite understood the need for them before I became a blogger but now I am obsessed, especially with Real Techniques brushes, I first bought the Stippling Brush which I love, I got the core collection for Christmas so I can't wait to try them.

What have been your favourite makeup products this year?

Elaine

November Magazine Freebies: Instyle, Red & Marie Claire

Another brilliant freebies month from great magazines, all November issues are available now, you might want to get them quickly to grab your favourite freebies!

Marie Claire - £3.70

This month you can get a free L'Occitane hand cream worth £8, the available creams are Shia Butter, Rose Petal and Mango Flower (Limited Edition), I bought the magazine with the Mango Flower and it is absolutely gorgeous, as it is limited edition I am tempted to buy another one...

Red - £3.90

The free travel size Liz Earle Cleanse & Polish is back, and like last time the freebies are only available on some magazines and NOT all of them, so you may have to go to a few shops to find copies with the Cleanse & Polish left. The travel size normally costs £8.25, a muslin cloth comes with the cleanser.

Instyle - £3.80 or £2.50 in Tesco's

Freebies Image from Makeup Savvy

Instyle are offering a free Benefit 4ml Benetint, Cha Cha Tint or Sun Beam with this month's, as Benetint has been a freebie before I would think the other two will go very quickly! I've got the Cha Cha Tint and Rachel got the Cha Cha Tint and Sun Beam.

What freebies are you hoping to get?

Don't forget to enter our Nuxe Travel Kit giveaway here, good luck!

Elaine & Rachel

A Slightly Late May Favourites

Benefit Moon Beam

I’ve had this and two bottles of High Beam lingering in my make up drawer for awhile. It used to be a staple of mine a few years ago when I wouldn’t go a day without mixing a tiny bit into my foundation but for some unknown reason I stopped using it. Now because of the nice weather I’ve fallen back in love with its subtle warm glow. I also just noticed that Benefit have released Sun Beam a new bronze highlighter which looks great. I must say tho if you are looking to buy this product I would never pay the full and quite extortionate price of £18.50, you can get it far cheaper on a number of websites including ebay and there are a number of dupes for both High Beam and Moon Beam.

BM Beauty Brushes

I was kindly sent the BM Beauty Eyeshadow brush to review and I was so impressed I went out and bought the foundation brush. Both these brushes are extremely soft and densely packed with cruelty free synthetic bristles. The eyeshadow brush is perfect for blending and picks up eyeshadow extremely well.  I’ve also washed both and so far not a single hair has fallen out. These are now some of my favorites and without doubt up there with my Real Technique brushes. I will definitely be buying more of these. (Ethicalsuperstore.com have these at 25% off at the minute)

Topshop Infared lipstick

This now famous lipstick has been my go to shade for the past few months. It’s a stunning bright orange which is perfect for nights out and on summer days (the few we have had anyway). You can see a full review here.

NARS Pure Radiant Tinted Moisturiser

I bought this a couple of weeks ago when ASOS had a 20% beauty event, I’d been umming and arring about buying this for quite some time as I wasn’t sure I wanted to spend that much on a tinted moisturiser. However I am so glad I did, I think it’s amazing and I’ve been using this every day since buying it without fail. I’ll do a full in depth review soon.

Clinique High Impact Mascara

I got my first sample of this awhile ago in a magazine and really liked it, so I was thrilled when the mascara swap came back to Debenhams and I snapped this up. I think it’s a lovely mascara for the daytime and doesn’t leave your lashes hard, flaky or clumpy in the slightest, just beautifully long and soft. (I’m not quite sure I would call this High Impact though! If your after a bit more vavavoom I would recommend YSL Shocking mascara)

Sorry its a wee bit late but I hope you enjoyed it!

Rachel

Magazine Freebies! Glamour, Instyle, Marie Claire & Red...

July must be the month for amazing freebies on magazines! All magazines are out NOW so hurry if you want your freebies... especially Glamour (that sells out quick!).

Glamour

Eva Longoria and Fearne Cotton are also on this month's Glamour covers.

Glamour are giving away sample/travel sizes of Benefit favourites Porefessional, That Gal and Bad Gal mascara, I have already been out and bought a few glamour magazines to get the Porefessional and That Gal (the shop assistant did look at me like I was crazy but I don't mind). Glamour is only £2 so it's well worth stocking up!

Instyle

 Instyle have free full sized mascara and black or navy eyeliner from the Body Shop, I was tempted to get the mascara but I have tried body shop mascara before and wasn't impressed, and I have enough eyeliner to last me a lifetime!

Marie Claire

Marie Claire are offering free Ciate nail polish in three shades, I have only seen two so far a lilac and nice beige shade, both colours I have loads of so decided to give this a miss too.

Red

Red are offering free full sized Jemma Kidd Makeup School volumising mascara or eyeliner, I was really looking forward to this offer, so I got the mascara, I tried it out last night and it was actually quite good but with too many coats it can get a bit clumpy but well worth it at only 

£3.90. Red have been brilliant with their giveaways the past couple of months!

This is a great month for freebies! I love this time of year!!

Elaine

March Favourites!

Here are a few things that I have been loving this month!  


Benefit 'They're Real' Mascara

I had been dying to try this since it's launch last year but could never bring myself to spend £18.50 on a mascara. 

But my lovely friend Sophie got me the travel size version of the mascara from Sephora when she was in New York, and it's soo cute, I really wish companies in the UK sold smaller versions of their products I would be more likely to try out a variety of their products.

I really like this mascara and have been using it all the time, it really adds length to your lashes and the plastic brush adds definition to each individual lash with the spikey end of the brush allowing you to reach your smaller lashes. I love mascara that adds volume and this manages to do this whilst adding definition. I will definitely be buying this when this one runs out!

Topshop Lipstick in Innocent

 I have mentioned this lipstick before so I won't go on about it, but I absolutley love it! It's the first Topshop lipstick I've had and I will definitely be getting more, the lipstick feels really nice on and the colour is really pigmented. For some reason my camera isn't picking up the lipstick colour very well, it's actually a really nice subtle barbie-ish pink!

Rimmel Kate Lasting Finish Lipstick in shade 12 

This is a really nice orange/red lipstick, I love it! The lipstick was only £5.49 so a bargain too! This was my first bright lipstick so I was a bit unsure about the colour, but it's really easy to wear. 

Rimmel Colour Show Off Lipstick in Kiss Me

This looks very much like the Kate Rimmel lipstick but it's not! I had just bought the the Kate lipstick then saw this on a blog sale and had to have it, this is one of Rachel's favourites too as she has had it for over a year. This is more of a neon red than orange/red. I got this for £1 but you can get it in Boots for £6.29.

17 Mirror Shine Lipstick in Bee Hive

I've mentioned this before and I still love it, it's only £4.59 from Boots. This lipstick is a perfect nude lipstick with a lovely pink tint (which the camera hasn't picked up again...!), it's more of a sheer lipstick which is perfect to wear during the day.

As you can see I've gone a bit lipstick mad this month, but I'm trying to be a bit more adventurous with my makeup, especially with my day makeup and I think lipstick is the easiest way to do it.

Hervana Benefit Blusher - BuyaPowa Offer

My lovely boyfriend bought Hervana Benefit blusher for Valentine's Day, I was soo pleased as I love Benefit blushers, they are quite expensive at £23.50 so I normally get them as presents or in Duty Free!

Benefit have redesigned the packaging of the blushers to include a mirror in the flip top lid, which I think is a really nice touch, but you need to be careful when closing the lid as I managed to get the side of the lid stuck in the blusher! Benefit have also changed the little brush to a slanted brush instead of square which means it's much easier to get a natural blusher look.

I was a bit concerned that with all the different colours that the blusher might end up being a bit too dark for me, but I was really pleasantly surprised as the colour is a really nice subtle berry shade. 

I have been using it everyday since I got it. The only thing is I feel like I have to be very careful when I'm putting the colour on the brush as I don't to mess up all the colours, but so far they are staying the colour they are supposed to be including the light pink.

I know that some people stay clear from Benefit blusher because of the price which is totally understandable, I only ever get Benefit for Birthday's and Christmas, but I think it is worth investing in Benefit blushers as the colour stays on your skin all day when you wear it over foundation or BB cream, it's the only make-up that I have ever had that is still on when I go to wash my face at night.

The product itself is really pigmented so you really don't need much on the brush so it lasts for ages, I've had Coralista  and Thrrrob for well over a year if not much longer and I haven't reached the base of the box yet, which is great as I have heard that Thrrrob has been discontinued :-(

 

Today I have just found out Harvana is on BuyaPowa as it is currently Blogger week (KHILA FROM MISS BUDGET Pick), If you haven't heard it's a great website where you can collectively buy products cheaper deepening on how many people want to buy the product, in the past they have had the Naked palettes, but you have to be quick they often sell out instantly or the time will run out. Currently Hervana is on at £19.50 and the lowest price it will go to is an amazing £17.50 but be quick it runs out in 46 hours!

Get a dewy look without buying another foundation

If you have oily skin like I do, you will be used to always gravitating towards matte foundations and pressed powder, I always wanted to get a more glowing or radiant look but whenever I buy a foundation that promises this I always get an even more oily T zone and it's just not worth the 'sweaty' look.

So instead of getting a new foundation I use the foundation that I already have and mix it with a liquid highlighter, I use Benefit's High Beam or Moon Beam, there are loads of cheaper alternatives on the high street, I think mememe has a copy of High Beam. Although you are buying another item this will be dual purpose instead of buying a foundation you might not use much.

I put the normal amount of foundation on the back of my hand and mix it with a smaller amount of highlighter as you don't need much because it goes a long way.

I love doing this on a night out, or if I think I look tired, and people have commented about how good my skin looks. You could also do this with BB creams or moisturisers if you don't like a heavy feel on you skin.