BEAUTY EDIT: Long Lasting Products

Long lasting beauty products are vital for any special occasion, you don't want to spend ages doing your make-up perfectly only to find it sliding down your face a couple of hours later! I've trialled so many products in readiness for my wedding, as of course all of the beauty products I use on the day will need to withstand tears (of happiness hopefully!), heat, stress and a whole load of other things. It needs to look as good as possible in photographs yet not over the top in real life. It's a fine balance, which I hope I get right! I thought I'd share with you a range of long lasting products I've found, ranging from high end to drugstore, so there's something for everyone.

NYX Loose Pearl Eye Shadow in White Pearl

NARS Sheer Glow Foundation in Deauville

Rimmel Natural Bronzer Powder

Daniel Sandler Watercolour Blush in Flush

tarte Amazonian Clay 12-Hour Blush in Adored

2true Lip & Cheek Tint in Shade 2

Chanel Irreelle Ombre in 28 Camelia

Laura Mercier Mineral Cheek Powder in Coral

theBalm Mary Lou Manizer Luminizer

Laura Mercier Bare Nudes Mini Lip Glace Collection

 Benefit World Famous Most Glamorous Nudes Ever

Eylure Shape and Shade Brow Pencil and Tamer

Eye of Horus Jewel Amethyst Pencil

Maybelline Falsies Mascara Waterproof Black

Rimmel Scandal Eyes Waterproof Kohl Liner in Black

Rimmel Wake Me Up Concealer

NYC Browser Brush-On Brow Kit

Maybelline Super Stay 24-Hour Powder

Urban Decay All-Nighter Make-Up Setting Spray

byTerry Ombre Blackstar in Frozen Quartz

Maybelline Matte Maker Mattifying Powder

Bobbi Brown Creamy Concealer in Sand

If you know of any other long lasting make-up products then I'd love to know about them :)

Helen x

SALE: House of Fraser High End Beauty Event

It's pay day and I'm at home all day with the online shopping world to try and avoid. It's going to be tough! I just spotted that House of Fraser have a beauty event sale on with some good discounts on high end beauty products. These discounts end TODAY (Friday 20th May 2014) so I thought I'd share my findings with you lovely people...

^Urban Decay Naked 3 Palette WAS £37 NOW £33.30^

^Clinique Moisture Surge CC Cream WAS £28 NOW £20^

^Benefit Rockateur WAS £23.50 NOW £18.50^

^Elizabeth Arden Flawless Finish Perfectly Nude Make Up SPF 15 WAS £28 NOW £20^

^Laura Mercier Pout Perfection Lip Trio WAS £31 NOW £27.90^

^Yves Saint Laurent Your Eye Must-Haves Gift Set WAS £25 NOW £22.50^

^Yves Saint Laurent Touché Éclat Radiant Touch WAS £25 NOW £19.99^

^Yves Saint Laurent Anti-Cernes Multi Action Concealer WAS £23.50 NOW £21.15^

^Nars Cosmetics Sheer Glow Foundation WAS £31 NOW £27.90^

^Urban Decay Eyeshadow Primer Potion - Original WAS £16 NOW £14.40^ 

^Guerlain Meteorites WAS £37.50 NOW £33.75^

^Nars Cosmetics Radiant Creamy Concealer WAS £22 NOW £19.80^

^Nars Cosmetics Contour Blush Olympia WAS £30 NOW £27^

^Bobbi Brown Shimmer Brick WAS £32 NOW £28.80^

^Nars Cosmetics Illuminator WAS £22.50 NOW £20.25^

^Benefit Watts Up Soft Focus Face Highlighter WAS £24.50 NOW £22.05^

^Urban Decay Electric Pressed Pigment Palette WAS £38 NOW £30^

^Baylis & Harding Ice Cream Collection Sweet Temptations Trio WAS £6.50 NOW £3.25^

^Dior Miss Dior Eau de Parfum 100ml WAS £96 NOW £77.50^

^Benefit CORALista Blusher WAS £23.50 NOW £18.50^

^Origins Drink Up Intensive Overnight Mask 100ml WAS £22 NOW £17^

Righty, I'm off to probably make a purchase I shouldn't....

Feel free to leave me a comment :)

Helen x

BEAUTY: Benefit World Famous Neutrals Eyeshadow Kit

 

My cousin gave me this Benefit Most glamorous Nudes Ever eyeshadow kit (£23.50) for Christmas, with the idea I could trial my wedding make up - how scary! I am planning on doing my own wedding make up because I have a feeling I would not be happy with how someone else did my make up. My eyeshadow application isn't the best ever, so I'm planning on practising loads over the next couple of months. Any advice would be gratefully received!

 

 

As usual with Benefit, the packaging is well thought out and beautiful to look at! You can remove the eyeshadow insert to this box once you've finished them and use it as a cute storage box too. A unique feature of Benefit sets is that you get a 'Tips and Tricks' leaflet, which has a number of ideas of how to apply the products in the kit. In this Tips and Tricks leaflet there are ideas for a day and night look - really helpful for broadening your application techniques.

 

 

I love the neutral shades of these eyeshadows, there are 4 powder eyeshadows and 2 cream eyeshadows. 

 

 

The four eyeshadow powders - going from left to right - are gilt-y pleasure, kiss me I'm tipsy, call my bluff and it's complicated. I think my favourite shade is 'it's complicated', which surprised me as in the palette I wouldn't have chosen that as my favourite. It's so shimmery and would be great for highlighting too. There is a nice balance between shimmery and matte shades, it's complicated and gilt-y pleasure are shimmery and the other two shades are matte. Sometimes I want a shimmery look (ok, most of the time) but other times I want something more subtle with a matte finish. This palette has it all! I haven't decided which look to go for on my wedding day yet - I've got plenty of time to trial ideas out (well that's what I keep saying to myself, the wedding countdown app doesn't agree!)

 

 

I have already got a Benefit cream eyeshadow, which is so pigmented and never creases! This kit contains 'birthday suit' (on the left), which is a dark brown, metallic colour - ideal for creating a smoky eye and putting in the crease of your eyelid. You also get 'my two cents' (on the right), a lighter more bronze cream eyeshadow. This is perfect for creating a day time smoky eye!

 

 

Are you a Benefit fan?

 

Feel free to leave me a comment :)

 

BEAUTY: Contouring and Highlighting

I am by no means an expert at contouring and highlighting, in fact I'm the complete opposite - a complete newbie to it all! After watching many YouTube videos and reading a lot of blog posts about contouring and highlighting I really wanted to have a go. So this post is by no means an expert or even the best way to highlight and contour, it's simply a novice (that's me!) showing anyone else that wants to start trying to highlight and contour one way to do it.

 

 

 

To contour and highlight I used 3 products - Benefit High Beam, technic Brilliant Touch Highlighter and Blemish Corrector and Natural Collection Suntint Bronzing Powder. I wanted a matte bronzing powder, as the High Beam has a lot of shimmer to it - I didn't want to end up being a walking sparkly disco ball! Firstly, I applied Estee Lauder Double Wear foundation and No7 concealer just under my eyes. I then applied the technic Brilliant Touch Highlighter and Blemish Corrector onto all the areas I wanted to be highlighted - middle of my forehead, down the middle of my nose, on the apples of my cheeks and my chin. On my cheeks I applied two 'strips' of the technic highlighter, in the gap I applied the Natural Collection Suntint Bronzing Powder. When I first apply it, it looks quite drastic (like below) but once blended the difference isn't anywhere near as extreme.

 

 

I blend it with either my fingers or a foundation brush, so nothing too fancy! Once it's all blended I apply Benefit High Beam to highlight - under my eyebrows, on the bridge of my nose, apples of my cheeks and on my cupids bow. Then blend with a foundation brush, moving in a circular motion.

 

 

I will then finish my usual make up routine - Seventeen Miracle Matte Foundation, No7 Blusher, 2true Lip and Cheek Tint, Avon Glimmering Eyeliner and Clinique Mascara.

 

Ta-Dah! The finished contouring and highlighted look. As you can see I'm no expert and I've certainly not perfected the look - I welcome any tips and tricks on how to highlight and contour better :) 

 

 

Have you tried to highlight and contour?

 

Feel free to comment :)

 

Eyelashes and Mascara's...

As I explained in the Clinique High Lengths Review post (see here) I always thought that mascara's couldn't ACTUALLY make your eyelashes longer, have more volume or thicker BUT it seems they can! Who would have thought?! So since finding this amazing fact out I have started trying out loads of different kinds of mascara's. Each new mascara that comes to market seems to claim a brand new attribute it can add to your eyelashes, but really how many different ways can our eyelashes be enhanced? So I decided to try all the mascara's I have and take a photo at the same angle to try and see what a difference each mascara made to my eyelashes.

As a reference these are my natural eyelashes with no mascara on...

The results are here to see plain and clear - no enhancements, no photo shop, no false eyelashes. I hope this helps you make an informed decision when buying mascara's and enable you to see the different looks a variety of mascara's can achieve...

Maybelline the Colossal Volum' Express Mascara

Maybelline

Maxfactor False Lash Effect Mascara

Collection 2000 Skyscraper Mascara

Benefit Bad Gal Lash

Bobbi Brown Extreme Party Mascara

Clinique High Lengths Mascara

Maybelline the Falsies Volum' Express Mascara

There is defiantly a difference between my natural eyelashes and with mascara on. There are also slight difference between these mascara's but not as much as you may think there would be. This selection of mascara's range from high street prices to more expensive prices, therefore showing the results within a range of budgets.

What do you think?

Can you see any big differences?

I'd love to hear what you think :)