What's In My Tiny Makeup Bag

Around the same time I hosted my 1000 subs YouTube giveaway, I went and made a sneaky purchase for myself. If you remember or if you took part you will know I gave away the black and gold version of this amazing Art Deco style Ted Baker makeup bag. Despite it being extremely beautiful (I'm a little in love with anything Art Deco) it is a little on the tiny side. 

I like to keep this little bag on my shelves filled with the makeup that I use every day. It never ever gets completely zipped up and there are always various items poking out at all angles. Even though it is small it can actually fit a fair amount of stuff inside it, as you can see above. 

This month I've been switching between just using the MAC Studio Fix Powder in NC15 and the Revlon BB Cream in Light, depending on whether my skin is particularly oily that day. Both products give me a medium coverage and the BB cream fits perfectly inside the bag, the MAC not so much. 

Then we have the absolute staples, the products that never ever leave my makeup bag. The Maxfactor Liquid Effect Eyeliner, Collection Lasting Perfection Concealer, Urban Decay Primer Potion, L'Oreal Gel Liner and the Urban Decay Naked Basics Palette. No matter what other products I have in my collection, these will always be present in any makeup bag I use. I would say that these products make up my 'If I was stranded on a desert island' makeup bag, all extremely reliable and good quality. 

Some new additions are the L'Oreal Brow Artist Pencil, which I recently talked about in my Current Eyebrow Routine post. Its red tones and excellent pigmentation is perfect for matching my brows to my hair (I'm not a natural redhead, I'm actually blonde *gasp*). Another new-ish addition is the Bourjois Liner Feutre Pen Eyeliner, which I think I've spoken about too much now, but it is amazing and I'm happy to report that I'm still in love with it. 

As for the remaining items, I've had these guys for a while and I've allowed them to join the guys of the makeup bag big league for a limited period. The Barry M Liquid Eyeliner is one of the older products I'm currently using, I like to have options when it comes to doing my cat flicks. Then we have a few Benefit products making an appearance. I'm not going to lie, Benefit isn't my favourite makeup brand and I've been attempting to love their Porefessional Primer, but I just can't seem to find the feelings for it. The Hoola Bronzing Powder on the other hand, I do love, unconditionally. The tiny Benetint also sneaked in but yet again I can't seem to find the love for it. 

Finally, we have the last little bits, a sample of Chanel's Perfection Lumiere Foundation and two mascaras. Again, I like to have options when it comes to mascaras. Currently I'm switching between the Soap and Glory Thick & Fast mascara for super volumisation and the Rituals Volumising mascara, which gives amazing length. 

So as you can see, despite its small exterior, it can hold a pretty good number of products. It's a bit like the Tardis of the makeup bag world. Let me know in the comments what products never ever leave your makeup bag and if you can zip yours closed or like to leave it open and free like me!

A Perfect Pairing

I am prone to a fair few, evil blemishes so I tend to flit from light to medium coverage foundations a lot. Lately, as the weather is starting to heat up, I've found that I much prefer something a bit lighter. Then the dilemma starts, I want a light foundation but it needs to cover all those nasty imperfections, well one foundation can't do everything! That's where the superhero concealer comes flying in to save the day.

You are probably sick of hearing about the Collection Lasting Perfection concealer and I'll be honest, I'm getting a little sick of talking about it. No matter how much I'm tired of rambling on about its amazing coverage and perfect shade, I can't deny that it is definitely one of the best. I like to start off with a splash of the Revlon BB Cream in 010 Light to even out the skin tone and then in comes the concealer to hide all the red bits. They work perfectly together, each doing their own individual job to get amazing results. What ever would I do without my Batman and Robin of bases!

February Favourites

It is that time again, that time of the month (no not that one) where I shower you with all the lovely products that have been serving me well throughout February. In the past I've dabbled with beauty favourites, non-beauty favourites and also just one big giant video of favourites. This month I wanted to go back to the old days and do a beauty and non-beauty video, it's a lot easier to film and a lot quicker to edit. 

This month has been a month of rediscovery. The Lee Stafford Treatment Mask for example is an old and firm favourite, back where it belongs on my teeny tiny shower shelf. Then we have the Simple Rich Moisturiser, which came to my rescue when new ventures failed me. This little face moisturiser came in and made sure my face had all the moisture it needed throughout the day, despite it's travel size. Another product that crawled out of my cluttered collection was the Soap & Glory Glow All Out highlighter. It usually sits longingly on my acrylic desk storage waiting to be used, but this month it made the makeup bag cut and proved itself as a nice subtle highlighter, well done little guy. My final rediscovery was the Real Techniques Expert Face Brush. I have two of these, the twins of my makeup brush collection, but this month I discovered a new and effective way to use it. It may have taken me longer than it should have to realise that this brush is extremely versatile. I like to use it flat against my face for buffing in foundation, but the other way to use this is to blend out concealer using only the side of the brush, it blends everything together without moving the coverage!

Next we have the new guys, they may be newbies but they have certainly proven themselves. After running out of my beloved L'Oreal Micellar Water I decided to take a gamble and try the newly released Garnier Micellar Water, I was not disappointed. Not only do you get tons more product, but it does just a good a job of removing all of my makeup. Last but by no means least we have the Revlon Chroma Chameleon Nail Polish in Pink Quartz. This shade was so beautiful I couldn't let it stay in the shop, a beautiful gold with a pink shimmer. Not to mention it has amazing staying power, after over a week it is only just starting to chip and that's with no topcoat!

Overall it's been a pretty successful month for beauty; let's hope next month I have just as many products to praise. Remember to check back next week where I'll be telling you all about my non-beauty favourites of February.

Covering All My Bases

I remember a time when I had one foundation in my collection, I had more money then. Now the poorer future me likes to make sure I have a foundation for every eventuality. 

Laura Mericer Silk Creme

This is my oil free foundation for when my skin is particularly oily. I tend to use this during the summer months, but I do crack it out in the winter every now and again. The coverage of this is flawless; a little splodge of this will cover your entire face and pretty much cover anything. It is pretty thick so it does take a lot of working in to get it smooth and even. 

L'Oreal True Match 

This is the one foundation in my collection that closely matches my natural skin tone. If you are of the paler members of the world population, then give this a try. Not only does it have an amazing range of shades, the actual product gives a really nice finish. I wouldn't recommend this on very dry or flaky skin though. 

Rimmel Wake Me Up 

This is my least favourite of my foundations, but it does have its uses. As you may be able to tell from the above image, it is my darkest foundation. The shade range for this doesn't really go pale enough for me so sometimes I have to mix it with other foundations. I can use it during the summer though, when I've been out in the lovely summer sun for a bit and have a bit more colour. It is a very sheer foundation so I have to have a good skin day to use this, but it does give your complexion a brightness boost. 

Nars Sheer Glow

This is a bit of a love hate product for me, sometimes it looks flawless and I fall in love, other times it clings to every dry patch and I want to throw it out of the window. It is a little bit on the yellow side so I think I would have been better getting the shade down from Gobi. With a face primer though this looks amazing and really gives good coverage. 

Revlon Colorstay Combination/Oily Skin

This is my bad skin day foundation; the medium to full coverage of this makes sure all my blemishes are hidden from the world. It does dry super quick, so you have to work it in fairly quickly to get an even finish. I love the fact that this product comes in different formulas for different skin types but the shade range is a bit hit and miss. I'm very fair skinned and I have this in Ivory, which is a tiny bit too pale for me, but the next shade up is too dark. I usually just warm this up with a bronzer to make sure I don't look ill. 

What foundations do you have in your collection? Do you have one for every occasion? 

Revlon Photoready BB Cream Review

I've been having a few good skin days recently and I wanted something that would even out my skin tone without being too full on. I did a fair bit of swatching before I decided to purchase the Revlon Photoready BB cream. I find that a lot of BB creams can be too dark for my fair skin, and because they don't have a wide shade range (usually only having fair, medium and dark shades) it takes a lot of searching to be able to find one to match me. 

The Revlon Photoready BB cream comes in the usual Light, Medium and Dark shades. I found that the light shade is perfect for me and I have very fair skin. I was really surprised by how good the coverage was, I expected it to be really light and sheer and instead I would say it's light to medium coverage. It evens out the skin tone amazingly and helps to disguise all those annoying little blemishes. 

Before

After

It comes in a handy little squeeze style bottle which is really easy to use. The product itself isn't too runny or too thick so you don't end up squeezing out too much or too little when using it. The tube itself is a good size for chucking in your bag, it's light and thin so it fits nicely. 

I have oily/combination skin and this works really well. I don't find my face getting any oilier throughout the day when wearing this, and my dry cheeks stay hydrated and flake free.

I love this, it's super easy to apply when you just want a little bit of light coverage and lasts really well throughout the day. It's on the slightly higher end of the price scale where drugstore foundations are concerned, but in my opinion it is definitely worth it. 

RRP: £9.99

Have you tried the Revlon Photoready BB Cream? What's your favourite BB Cream?  

❤ September Favourites ❤

It's time for my monthly favourites! Just like last month, I've thrown in a few music and random favourites. Plus rthis time you can check out my Luvocracy page! I've made a collection especially for my September Favourites just for you guys! Well I hope you all enjoy and remember to tell me what you've been loving this month. 

Get Photoready | Revlon Photoready Primer

  I have been a busy busy bee these last couple of days due to moving back to University. But now that I'm settled in my snazzy new halls (pictures to come) I'm getting back into the swing of things. So let's get going with this review shall we?

I ran out of my beloved Seventeen Photo Flawless Primer and decided to branch out into something slightly higher in price. The Revlon Photoready primer has had pretty positive reviews so I thought I'd give it a little test run. 

It is an unusual texture, not creamy like the Rimmel primer but not a gel like the Seventeen primer. It has a mousse consistency which makes it pretty much suitable for oily to dry skin types. It doesn't feel greasy on the skin and also doesn't take forever to settle like the Rimmel primer, you can put your foundation on pretty much straight away. It also comes with a pump (maybe Revlon should think of putting pumps on more of their products *hint* *hint*) which makes it super easy to get the right amount of product. 

I've used this with a few different foundations and I have to say that it works wonders with the Nars Sheer Glow. The Sheer Glow foundation isn't one of my faves, but this really helps to give a smooth flawless look. It also works pretty well in making my foundation last all day, I worked in a pretty warm busy environment and my foundation didn't look patchy or cakey at the end of a long 8 hour shift.  
The only real problem I have with this is the smell. I like any product which is applied to the face to either be completely odorless or softly fragranced, this however smells like emulsion paint. It has a strong chemical smell when being applied, but it soon fades so your face wont smell like paint don't worry. 

This has to be one of my favourite primers to date, it does everything a primer should do and is pretty great for any skin type, even sensitive!

RRP: £11.99

Summer Essentials! ☼

Sunset Painting By Claire Crawford 

 

It is time for the Best In Beauty Competition round 3! And thanks to all of you lovely subscribers/followers, I have made it this far! This week both group 1 and 2 are coming together to create one giant super group. 2 people will be eliminated this week, so I will need your help yet again to get me through to round 4! 

This week we were asked to create a video reviewing a product/products we love! After much consideration I realised there was not a product I loved THAT much to create a whole video around it. Don't get me wrong I love doing little bite size reviews of products, but this video had to be super special. And so I have decided to share with you all my summer essentials! 

As a pale ghost lady, summer is a bit of a tricky time of year for me. I burn like a Lobster if I'm in the sun for more than 10 minutes, so I have collected certain products over the years to keep my English rose complexion (or improve it). So lets get started shall we!

Palmers Cocoa Butter Natural Bronze 

I always find fake tan too dark for me, it tends to be too much of a drastic change and I end up looking like I've been tangoed! Gradual tanners are much more fair skin friendly, they give you a nice glow and full control of how dark you look. This stuff doesn't smell too bad, although the biscuit smell is still there. Kind of makes me hungry when I'm lying in bed smelling like biscuits. It does have a cocoa butter smell though, which tries to mask it... but it doesn't. This is also super moisturising and dries pretty quickly, so no standing around naked for hours on end. The super handy pump also makes it really easy to apply, as you don't end up squirting too much out. I prefer to apply this with my hands rather than a mitt as I think it gives you a better colour, I find with a mitt you don't really get enough product on the skin. I wouldn't recommend this if your looking for a full on tan, if you have medium to dark skin I don't think this will be dark enough for you.

RRP: £2.67! BARGAIN!

Piz Buin 1 Day Long Lotion

Where do I start with this miracle sun cream? Oh yeh... It is the bestest sun cream on the planet! Since I was a kid I've had to put up with constantly being slathered in sticky, greasy factor 50. One wrong move and horrendous burning will occur. This allows me to apply my sun cream ONCE! Slap it on in the morning before going out in the sun and bish bash bosh, no more applications necessary. This smells divinely of holidays, it's a little greasy at first but soon soaks in. I always forget I'm wearing it and can therefore carry on with whatever fun in the sun I may be having! I have never ever burned whilst wearing this, even way down at SPF10 and that's saying something. Plus it's waterproof! What more could you possibly want! 

RRP: £12.99 100ml or £19.99 200ml

Vaseline Aloe Fresh Body Gel/Lotion 

I went to Boardmasters in Newquay a few years ago and burnt one foot really badly. However because everyone was burning, all of the after sun had completely sold out! My sister suggested I get something with Aloe Vera in and the rest is history. This is better than any after sun. I usually slather it all over the burn a couple of times a day and it moisturises amazingly. It takes all the sting out and even helps the red raw burn go a nice golden brown! I usually use the lotion but I've also used the gel, which is better if you want something that soaks into the skin quickly. 

RRP: £2.99 200ml or £4.69 400ml (This stuff also comes in spray form!)

Elizabeth Arden 8 Hour Skin Protectant

A must have for burned or even just flaky, dry lips. I love to put this on before I go to bed (as it is quite greasy) then the next morning, baby soft lips! If you burn your lips, this really helps to moisturise them and get them back to their normal lippy selves. 

RRP: £25.00 50ml

Maybelline Color Tattoos 

If I ever want some eye shadows to tough through the sweat and hot weather, these are my guys. These are long wearing cream shadows, easily buildable and don't crease! I have a few of theses but my favourite every day ones are Metallic Pomegranate, Pink Gold & On and On Bronze.

These can also be built to give a really vibrant opaque colour, or you can lightly blend them over the lid for a bit of a wash. Perfect for day to night looks! 

RRP: £4.99 each

Revlon Lip Butters

I love these in summer because of how moisturising they are! (Starting to see a pattern here?) They do have a habit of melting like a crazy mo-fo in heat so that is an issue. I find if I'm carrying them around in my handbag they stay cool enough to not melt into a pretty coloured puddle. I have only 3 of these! I don't know why though, I think I need a Lip Butter shopping trip. 

I only really wear Juicy Papaya and Cupcake during the hotter months, but I do love Raspberry Pie so I didn't want to leave it out. Juicy Papaya and Cupcake are really sheer, making them perfect for putting on without a mirror, sometimes a necessity when on the go.

RRP: £7.99 each 

Maybelline Dream Touch Blush

I love these cream blushes from Maybelline, purely because they are super pigmented and long wearing! I've had really dry skin lately so this blush in Berry has been my savior. It is really easy to blend and gives a lovely smooth rosey finish! 

RRP: £6.49 each

Finally make sure you vote for me in the Best In Beauty Competition hosted by YouTuber JenLuvsReviews! All you have to do to vote is click on this lovely link http://youtu.be/yj1bqLdolEU and type my name (Cheshire Cat) into the comments section! You can also vote for a whopping 3 other contestants! That's 4 votes in total! If you do want to use all 4 of your votes, make sure you put them all in one single comment. Thank you sooooo much guys! And my final question to you?

What are your summer must haves?

  

Getting Lippy For Summer

Well I don't know about where you guys are, but here in the good old UK it is scorchio! Summer seems to be finally kicking in and things are hotting up! How long it will last, no one really knows. But whilst the sun is shining I thought I share a few of my favourite lipsticks and lip glosses for these summer days.

YSL Rouge Volupte Shine in Coral Intuitive

Perfect everyday colour and perfect if you can't wear a bright lip in work or school. This is a very sheer peach shade which smells just like peaches! It's also lovely and moisturising, a pleasure to wear on those super hot days. 

Revlon Lip Butter in Juicy Papaya

This one is extremely sheer but gives you just a hint of colour. It's orangey coral is perfect for summer and again is super comfortable to wear. 

L'Oreal Caresse in Rose Mademoiselle

  Again another sheer lipstick only this one is more on the pinky side. This is a cool tone pink that will look good on all skin tones. I think it's important to have at least one everyday pink shade per season right? 

MAC Lipstick in Impassioned

Now were moving on up to the brights! When I'm not in work I do like a bright lip. This has to be one of my all time favourite MAC lipsticks, a very bright fuchsia pink in the Amplified finish. Super bright and super fun!

Rimmel Apocolips/Show Off Lip Lacquer in Stellar

I don't know if this shade has the same name over in the US, but this is bright reddy pink. I love these lip lacquers, there a cross between lip gloss and lipstick and give amazing colour payoff! Really comfortable to wear and great for a summer night out. 

Nars Lip Gloss in Belize

One of my all time favourite lip products. Nars lip glosses are my favourite glosses and this is a all year round staple for me. A neutral beige gloss that is super easy to wear and gives you lovely looking lips with ease. 

What are your must have lip products for summer?