What's In My Makeup Bag? (Every-Day Makeup)

Today I thought I'd share the current contents of my makeup bag with you. When I say makeup bag, I mean the bits from it that I am finding myself reaching for the most - if I showed you the entire contents then a) it'd take an absolute age, as it's huge, and b) goodness knows what we'd find in there!

So, without further ado, here they are.

IT Cosmetics Concealer (shade Neutral Medium)

I had never heard of this concealer before, but whilst on the hunt for something industrial strength to cover my dark circles and replace my Benefit Erase Paste. I actually found this on Ebay, and while I would never usually buy makeup on there, this was from a trusted seller from whom I have bought other types of products in the past. Anyway, I thought I'd give it a try. This is a thick, pale concealer with a dewy finish, and it does leave my under-ee area looking quite refreshed and bright. But it's not a miracle worker. Nothing is.

Estee Lauder Invisible Fluid Makeup

I got this one back in the summer, and during the warmer months I found myself wanting to reach for tinted moisturisers more and more. This has actually continued on into the winter, bucking the usual trend, as I just haven't wanted to go back to the feeling of something heavy on my skin. It helps that my skin is in pretty good condition at the moment thanks to a good skincare routine, so I don't find that I need too much coverage. This Invisible Fluid Makeup literally blends straight in with my skin. It's so light, and matches my skin-tone perfectly, evening it out and giving me a healthy-looking complexion. I actually haven't done a full review of this one yet so watch this space as I'm planning on writing one soon.

Caudalie Teint Divin Tinted Moisturiser

This is another light skin product I've been reaching for, and whilst this looks scarily orange when you first squeeze it out, it does blend nicely into the skin and leave you with a nice glowy complexion. To be honest, I've only been using this one for a coupleof weeks, but so far I'm quite liking it.

Benefit The Porefessional

I got this little tube of goodness free with Glamour magazine about six months ago, and it's still going strong despite it's tiny size. I do only use this on my t-zone, but I really like it for mattifying the area and creating a silky-smooth base for my tinted moisturiser to glide onto. I really like the fact that it keeps oil at bay and have already got my hands on a stand-by tube for when this one runs out.

Benefit Hoola Blush

Please excuse the scruffy packaging. For a start, this is only a sample size, and secondly I did try and give it a good scrub so that it would look it's best for the cameras, but it just wasn't cooperating.

Actually, this is not my favourite bronzer ever, and whilst I do find it ok, I was a little bit disappointed with it considering how hyped up it's been. I much prefer the L'oreal Glam Bronze Blonde Harmony, which is the perfect shade for me despite being a brunetter, and leaves my skin looking really healthy. Like Hoola, it's a matte blush, so no disco-ball effect to worry about.

I'm using Hoola at the moment because I haven't got anything else.

Nars Blush in Deep Throat

This is a really pretty light peachy-pink shade, which I have been really enjoying using since I got it a couple of weeks ago. I had run out of my all-time favourite blush (Benefit Coralista, if you're interested), so I thought it was time I finally took the pricey plunge and tried out some Nars. This has fast become a favourite of mine, although it still hasn't knocked Coralista off the top spot.

Mac Mineralise Skinfinish in Light Year

I actually posted a full review of this beaut last week. Being a huge fan of the MSF in shade  Soft and Gentle I was keen to get my paws on another one, and this one was so beautiful it just jumped out of me. This is a peachy-pink with gold shimmer, and looks really pretty worn both as a highlighter and as a blush.

Mac Amplified Lipstick in Craving

This is a gorgeous dusky berry pink shade, and is actually darker than it appears in the photos. I am really loving this lipstick at the moment and find it the perfect colour for the winter months. The staying power is actually pretty good too, and that's saying something if you're me, as nothing lasts two seconds on my lips.

Revlon Colorburst Lip Butter in Raspberry Pie

I got his one back in the summer, but have resurrected it for A/W. It's a highly pigmented berry-pink shade which applies easily and moisturises the lips. Win.

Revlon Just Bitten Kissable Balm Stain in Honey

This has become my go-to on those days where I feel like going for more of a natural look, or I can't be doing with the maintenance of a bold lip. This really is a classic 'your lips but better' shade and so I always carry it with me in my handbag. Being a balm stain, this is also quite moisturising, which - let's be honest - we could all do with a bit of help with in the colder months.

L'oreal Volume Million Lashes Mascara

This is my all-time favourite mascara and I'll repurchase it again and again. It leaves my lashes looking really long and voluminous, but they also look nice and natural - none of this clumping or spider-leg effect. Love.

Topshop Eyes Kohl Liner

This is a deep, dark navy blue, the name of which I unfortunately have been unable to find out. To be honest, I haven't been using much eyeliner of late, but if I do fancy something to define the lower outer corners of my eyes then this is it.

You might have noticed that I haven't included and eyeshadows in here, and that's because I rarely wear them nowadays. However, in the last week or so I have found myself getting really into Tanya Burr's makeup tutorial videos over on Youtube, which has resulted in some experimentation of my own. So watch this space - we may make an eyeshadow wearer out of me yet.

Well, that's it for my current makeup-bag favourites, hope you enjoyed having a little rummage and a nose around!

What are your makeup staples this season?

xx

Beauty Haul: Caudalie, Mac, Nars and More.

So the plan was to get this post up much earlier on, but thanks to Blogger and Picassa being exceedingly uncooperative and refusing to let me upload any more images, it wasn't to be. Allegedly, I've used up all of my 1GB quota, although I fail to see how that can be the case. And then I find out that if you delete images from your Picassa web album then they also come off your blog. Nightmare! Anyway, Twitter saved the day once again, or should I say, some of you lovelies did - and I've been able to get my images up via Photobucket. If anyone else has this problem then just sign up to Photobucket or Flickr, upload your images and it'll give you a 'Direct link' for each one. All you have to do is choose 'upload from URL' next time you are trying to upload onto blogger (it's one of the options that appears down the side of the page when you have clicked on the little picture icon to choose your image). An alternative way is to go to Image Maps and you can map the images direct from your laptop to Blogger, but I haven't managed to do that yet - I will let you know more about that when I've had some success!

Anyway. Onto the matter at hand.

As promised, I do indeed have a little haul, consisting of a few bits and bobs I have purchased over the past few weeks.Unsurprisingly, perhaps, most of these goodies were purchased online, as that seems to be the place where my naughty little fingers sneak in a few extra keystrokes without my knowledge, and before you know it I have accidentally filled and paid for a virtual shopping basket of treats. I am usually a lady of some restraint these days, having learnt my lesson the hard way when I hit the age of eighteen and grown up a lot since then. However, of late, I have just been feeling the need, and this is what I've got to show for it.

Organix Brazilian Keratin Therapy Conditioner

My hair is in need. I am a terrible offender when it comes to forgetting to use heat-protective spray, and haven't had my hair cut in a while, and both of these things have started to take their toll. I've been feeling that my hair is lacking shine for a long time now, so fingers crossed that this stuff will work wonders. I've already used it a few times, and so far, me likey.

Garnier Body Intensive 7 Days

This is not normally the sort of moisturiser I'd go for, and in fact, I never would have picked it up if I hadn't seen one or two Youtubers raving about the stuff. I usually go for rich body butters with gorgeous, intense fruity/yummy smells, but I was intrigued enough to give this a go and so far, I'm quite impressed. I in't realise my skin was in need of some extra hydration until I tried it, but alas, it was - my skin is now loads softer and smoother. Full review to come.

Hits Glitter Polishes in Rio and Rome

These two have already featured in nail posts, one yesterday and the other last week, as I just couldn't wait to crack them open before taking these photos. Rome contains flecks of gold, white, pink and blue, while Rio is choc-full of blue, orange, pink and purple. I adore both of them and have been loving them over a simple black polish, as this really shows them off in all their glory.

Caudalie Teint Divin Tinted Moisturiser

Recently, having overhaule my skincare regime, I've found that I haven't really needed to use such full-coverage foundations, and despite it being winter, I've found myself favouringtinted moisturisers. I bought this in Fair to Medium, and while I haven't yet tried this out, I'm a bit worried, as it does look quite orange when I squeeze some onto the back of my hand!

And finally, onto my favourite purchases!

Mac Mineralise Skin Finish in Light Year

I have had my MSF in Soft and Gentle for about a year now, and have been using it every day. Though I adore it, I wanted to mix things up a bit, so I decided to go for this warm-toned MSF in Light Year. The gold swirl through the middle is quite glittery, which I didn't realise when choosing, so I tend to avoid that when swirling my brush around the pan. It comes out a gorgeous medium peachy colour, with hints of pink (and obviously some gold shimmer, if youpick that up on your brush) and you could easily use this as a blush as well as a highlighter. So far, I think this is really pretty, but I won't go into too much detail as I will be writing a full review on this very soon - keep your eyes open for that if you'd like to know more.

Nars Powder Blush in Deep Throat

My first purchase from Nars! The photo really does not do it justice, as it's nowhere near as orange as it comes across  - it's a much lighter, peachy-pink, not too dissimilar to Benefit Coralista, as far as I can see, albeit with a touch less pink, but the same amount of gold sheen. I haven't used this bad boy yet, but am really looking forward to test-driving it tomorrow.

Mac Lip Pencil in Cherry

I am one of those people on whom lip products just do not last two seconds. Ok, make that five minutes if we're being pedantic. But anyway, I have been meaning to pick this beauty up for ages. It's a blue-toned red, highly pigmented and slides on extremely easily - to the point that it's really quite difficult to apply neatly. 

Mac Amplified Creme Lipstick in Craving

Amplified Creme is by far my favourite finish from Mac, so when I saw this gorgeous plummy-pink shade, I just had to go for it. It's perfect for the Autumn/Winter seasons and is such a wearable shade - I'm already hooked after one day.

And that's the lot!

Hope you enjoyed having a little nose into the contents of my shopping bags. Have any of these products tickled your pickle?

Have a fantastic weekend lovelies.

xx