THE NEW L'OREAL FOUNDATION

Finding a good foundation from the isles of Boots can be pretty tricky and has lead in my case, to my makeup draws being filled to the brim with too dark or too heavy formulas that I can't use. But recently, whilst having a little browse through the L'Oreal stand, I came across their new Infallible Matte Foundation and I have to say, things are looking pretty good so far.

The formula of L'oreal's foundation feels really light on your skin and blends in pretty easily with the help of a buffing brush and a bit of blending. Although I'm not usually a big matte fan and I usually opt for a more glowy and natural finish, this foundation isn't too matte that it looks flat but if you're really not a fan of the non-shine finish, you may want to skip past this one. L'oreal have come up trumps with their colour matching as well and the shade 10, porcelain suits my pretty pale skin well considering many other brands just don't seem to do a colour light enough. So as well as having a g.ood colour selection, the foundation's coverage is also pretty high and covers all sorts of imperfections pretty well with only a little concealer on the bad areas and under eyes needed.

L'oreal, you've dont well with this foundation and any gals out there who love a good coverage foundation that doesn't feel too heavy, this one is definitely worth a bit of a swatch and purchase next time you're in Boots.

Thanks for reading!

Blog Lovin' / Twitter / Instagram

ALL THE LINERS

With my small and undefined eyes, I love eyeliner... Whether it's an attempt at winged liquid liner or a bit of under-eye smudging, I can't get enough of it! It can prove tricky though to find a good eyeliner that stays on all day, is easy to use and doesn't smudge so today, I thought I'd do a little round-up of all my favourite pencils and pen forms of the stuff..

Starting off with the liquid eyeliner, we have the Topshop Magic Liner which has a very long 'felt-tip' style nib masking it really easy to use for winged eyeliner. The formula also lasts all day without budging or fading and it's also pretty affordable from Topshop. But if felt-tip style liners aren't your thing, there's always the proper liquid formula eyeliners like the Collection Fast Stroke Eyeliner. Although I don't find this form of liner to be the easiest to use, this one still has a nicely shaped brush and like the Topshop one, this also stays around all day and doesn't seem to crumble as the day goes on!

Moving onto the pencil/kohl kind of liners, the Urban Decay 24/7 Glide On Pencils are an essential to have in your makeup bag if you, like me, love a bit of liner. Perversion is a extremely pigmented and long-lasting but creamy black shade that I use when I want to go a little darker on the eyes but UD also do other colours including some slightly softer brown and golden shades. For a softer kohl liner, MAC's Coffee liner is another staple in my makeup bag and I use this shade almost everyday. although MAC's liner offerings aren't quite as pigmented or creamy as the Urban Decay version, they are nevertheless still very long-lasting and not quite as dramatic as UD's perversion can be.

Thanks for reading!

Blog Lovin' / Twitter / Instagram

BLUSHING AND BRONZING

Blushers and bronzers haven't always been my kind of thing when it comes to makeup, they've always been one step that I've just not gone for. But the other day, I was having a binge makeup tutorial watching session and I really noticed how adding a little something to those cheeks can make a big difference so I thought I'd give the whole a thing a try for myself. Here's the details on the ones I've been trying..

Max Factor has just launched a new range of Crème Puff Blushers which look suspiciously like a dupe of the Hourglass ambient lighting blushers but minus the hefty price tag. I picked up the shade seductive pink which is a very pretty pink tone with a gold highlight running through it making this a very good colour to pop on your cheekbones and towards your cheekbones to use as a blusher and highlight all rolled into one. Max Factor have done well with the formula of these blushes as well which are nicely pigmented and also have a really impressive lasting power which keeps you blushin' all day!

On the bronzer side of things, Bourjouis's Chocolate Bronzer and Highlight is a really nice option which you can get easily from Boots. The bronzer isn't too orange toned so won't look too orange on the skin and although the highlight shade isn't the most pigmented, it still adds a more subtle sheen to your cheek bones.

Another blush option that is a bit of a cult blogger favourite is the Sleek Rose Gold Blush. This blush is a pretty intense rose gold shade which like the Max Factor blush, has a lovely golden highlight running through it although in a slightly stronger way. One thing to be careful with this particular blush is it's pretty easy to go a bit overboard with this and end up looking a little too blushing and embarrassed..

Back to the bronzers with another favourite of mine from Soap and Glory, their Solar Powder Glow Bronzer. Housed in some pretty fab classic S&G packaging, this bronzer has a lighter and darker shade with a little but not too much shimmer. This is a great product if you you're not on for the contouring and jus8 want to give you're face a bit more warmth so you can just sweep a bit all over on a big fluffy brush. No Kim K style contouring here thanks..

 

Thanks for reading!

Blog Lovin' / Twitter / Instagram

FRIZZY HAIR? TRY THIS

When it comes to frizzy hair, my locks seem to top the charts, I have the kind of hair that goes static at the sight of straighteners and feels rougher than a horse's tail. So whenever, I'm searching for a new deep treatment, taming the frizz is my main priority which is why I just had to give Umberto Gianni's Intensive Repair Mask a go..

I have to admit, when I tried this mask for the first time, I thought it would be just another one of those 'conditioner but in a tub and called a mask' kind of job but this one is different. The formula feels much thicker than a regular conditioner and contains argan oil which is meant to be really good for conditioning hair. After applying this to the ends of my hair and leaving for about ten or fifteen minutes, my hair felt so much softer and healthier than before even a few days after washing it. It felt so much easier to straighten and style and it didn't even get as static and frizzy as it usually does.

I think it's fair to say I'm pretty smitten with this hair mask, it really does do what it says it will unlike most of the other masks I've tried. It's also easily available from the aisles of Boots so there's no need for any scouring of the internet to track it down either, a definite winner in my eyes.

Thanks for reading!

Blog Lovin' / Twitter / Instagram

GETTING THE GLOW

 

There's two things that I worry about when it comes to April and May every year. Firstly, I can't really neglect the razor for much longer as shorts season looms and secondly, I really should attempt to add a little more colour to my skin just so no one is blinded when the winter layers do finally come off. With these thoughts in mind, here are a couple of products that I'll be whipping out in the next few weeks to get ready for the summer..

I tend to stray away from attempting to fake tan as regardless of how long I spend exfoliating, moisturising and buffing the stuff in, I just can't get it right. Instead, I opt for a more gradual tan with the help of the Garnier Summer Body Moisturising Lotion. This lotion is much more forgiving if you're like me and don't have the patience to spend hours buffing in a fake tan and it's harder to get the whole streaky orange finish with this as well. The apricot-scented moisturising lotion helps to build up a subtle colour to your skin after a few days of using it so it's a must-have for this time of year.

Apart from my nose and cheeks going bright red, the rest of my face seems to stay pretty pale all year round so I like to add a little bronzer all over just to warm things up. Bourjois's Bronzing Primer is a pretty new addition to my stash, it's basically like a mousse textured bronzer. Although this bronzer is labelled as a primer, this is way too dark for me to apply all over my face without resembling Neil from The Inbetweeners movie. Instead, I use this very sparingly under my cheeks and anywhere else that the sun would naturally and then blend like there's no tomorrow to avoid a streaky finish. With a thorough blend, this bronzer does work really nicely to add some tan to your face but if you're not up for a good bit of blending, then maybe one to avoid.

Watching Lilly and Anna's Beauty Chat videos has given me some pretty good product recommendations over the years, and Soap and Glory's Solar Powder would definitely be one of them. This glowy-bronzer hybrid has both a lighter and darker bronze shade each with a little (but not too much) shimmer so can be used for some contouring on your cheekbones or also, as a 'sweep all over the face on a big fluffy brush' kind of job as well. If you're just getting into the whole bronzing thing, this is a great one to pick-up as it's pretty hard to go over board with unlike the Bourjois primer alternative

Thanks for reading!

Blog Lovin' / Twitter / Instagram

PIT STOP

Waiting for nail polish to dry is up there with one of my least favourite tasks.. So when I caught a glimpse of this new quick dry nail polishes from Barry M in Boots, I just had to take one home with me! Pit-stop is the grey toned nude shade that I chose but there were lots of other pastel shades if nude nails aren't your thang.. As well as loving the colour, I also really like the formula of this quick dry range as they dry seriously quickly and although you do need two coats to get an opaque finish and they aren't the longest lasting, it still makes the dreaded task of painting your nails much quicker which is enough of an excuse for me to pick up some more shades from the range!

Thanks for reading!

Blog Lovin' / Twitter / Instagram

THE KYLIE JENNER LIPS

All the hype around the pout of the youngest member of the Jenner clan has given me a bit of a thing for those big 90's style brown toned nude lips. So after a thorough patrol through my blog reading list, I found MAC's Subculture lip liner was a pretty close dupe and was in stock on the Selfridges website (aka. my favourite stop for online beauty shopping/ where all my money goes) so two to three working days later, it was straight onto my lips for a bit of Kylie-esque pouting. Here's the low down...

Subculture is the ultimate brown toned nude shade without being too far away from my own natural lip shade making it perfect for an everyday lip colour. The matte formula is another reason to love this lip liner as it makes the pencil stay on for a lot longer as well as reducing the risk of any of those 'lipstick on teeth' incidents happening

Although I can't stay I go as far as Miss Jenner does with the over drawing, I still use Subculture to fill in all my lips right up to the lip line because I love the way it just gives your pout that natural but 1000x times better kind of look.

Thanks for reading!

Blog Lovin' / Twitter / Instagram