Long time no see! Hope you're all keeping well, I know - I've been a bad blogger! I don't have any excuses for my absence except that I've just been enjoying life and blogging has taken a backseat to all the things that are keeping me busy these days! Blogging is something I've always enjoyed though so here's hoping I can find some more time for it from now on! So, excuses out of the way, let's get down to business!
For some reason my nearest Boots does not have a Collection stand, which in my opinion is a crime, seeing as I have to travel to Dublin if I ever run out of my beloved Lasting Perfection Concealer. I had literally been scraping every last bit of my last tube of said concealer for months and was going out for drinks one night with the Mr, and I couldn't get any more out of the tube! I legged it to Boots in desperate need of concealer anything would have done so I ran to the Seventeen stand because I didn't fancy spending the guts of 15 euro on a concealer that I probably wouldn't like so I settled for Seventeen's Stay Time Concealer which only set me back €6.50 or so. I picked up the shade fair, and I have to say I have been pretty impressed with this concealer since the first use.
The shade matches my pasty complexion perfectly, the concealer claims to be full coverage and I have to say that it covers blemishes really well even the biggest and angriest ones! I also use this under my eyes and it doesn't crease and covers the discolouration there pretty well too. Staying power is great it doesn't budge at all throughout the day, as for if it stays for up 18 hours like it claims to I'm unsure as I don't think I've ever worn it that long but I'd imagine that it could last that long as it is still perfectly intact when I go to remove my make up at the end of the day. I often wear this concealer alone with no foundation and just powder over the top and it covers everything brilliantly on its own without foundation.
I absolutely love Collection's Lasting Perfection Concealer and it is still my absolute favourite but this offering from Seventeen comes seriously close to being just as good and is a great alternative if like me your nearest Boots doesn't have a Collection stand!
Do you have any recommendations for other great cheap high street/drugstore concealers?
Hola! Getting ready this morning I was digging through my make up bag and was thinking there's a lot of stuff in here I'm not using, this isn't practical - I need to sort this out! So I reorganised the contents of my make up bag and decided I'd show you what products I'm currently using the most because I haven't done it in a while! It's always interesting while I'm doing these posts to look back on my last one and see what products have made their way in - or out of my make up bag.
Base Products
This may be the only part of my make up bag that never changes! I've been finding that my beloved Bourjois healthy mix serum is a tad too yellow for me lately for some reason, so I have started to use my other favourite foundation Revlon Colourstay more, I'd be using this over the healthy mix serum at the moment anyway on account of my skin being awful. Then I have my 2 trusty concealers - Collection's Lasting Perfection and Maybelline's The Eraser.
Blushes, bronzers and powders
This hasn't changed too much either - Benefit's Rockateur is still my blush of choice, I usually pair this with MAC's MSF in Adored used with a light hand as a highlighter and I get a really lovely glowy effect that makes me look really fresh and awake. I contour everyday now, which is unusual for me! But I use Dainty Doll's Money Talks Blusher as a contour and it's just perfect for the job when you have Casper's complexion! My powder of choice these days is Maybelline's Super stay 24 hour powder. I just really like the coverage this gives without looking cakey and it doesn't cling to dry patches or break down when your skin is oily - my ideal powder!
Eyeshadow
The only eye shadows I have been using are from MUA's Undress Me Too palette that i received in a swap from Georgie, you can see the swap here if you'd like! I absolutely adore this palette and have actually mostly been using the darker shades which again, like contouring is somewhat of a big change for me make up wise!
Mascaras, Eyeliner, brows, etc
I have been using 2 mascaras. Seventeen's superlash and my favourite Lancome's Hypnose Doll Eyes. My Doll eyes has nearly run out and I'm trying to scrape every last bit out of the tube and I'm also trying to get to grips with the Super lash - I'm still not sure that i like it. My brow products haven't changed, I'm still using MAC's Fling brow pencil and a clear brow gel the one in the photo is Catrice's, which I really like as the brush has a traditional mascara wand like side to it and the other side has more of a comb type of thing going on. The eyeliners I've been sporting lately are Stila's Smudgestick in Damsel and Rimmel's Scandal eyes in nude. And lastly - I couldn't be without my Urban Decay Eyeshadow Primer Potion!
So that's everything I've been using. Not a ton of stuff compared to the amount that was in the bag before I re organised it! It's going to be much easier to not have to root through piles of stuff that I'm not even using!
On a recent trip to Boots to buy a new mascara I saw a deal on Seventeen's new Super Lash Mascara where you get the Super Lash Liner for free when you buy it! So I picked up both the mascara and the liner for €5!
I haven't used the mascara yet as i'm waiting for my current one to run out before I open it, but I have to say that i've been really enjoying the liner!
The Super Lash liner is a liquid liner in felt tip form - but with a difference! Instead of being a regular pointed felt tip, it's angled, which for me has made it easier to get closer to my lashes and also makes it easier to do flicks and cat eyes especially if like me you don't have the steadiest hand!
The shape may make application easier, but the liner itself is lovely. It's a nice deep black shade and the lasting power is impressive, it dosent budge but also removes easily enough when you want it to. It dosent fade or transfer throughout the day which is great if you have oily lids like I do!
Overall I think this is a great liner, but I think you can only buy it with the mascara at the moment and not on its own. If you dont need to pick up a new mascara and just want the liner I have noticed that Rinmel and Bourjois have the same kind of liners out with the angled felt tip so there is plenty of choice out there until you can buy this without the offer!
Have you tried this or a similar liner? I'd love to hear your thoughts on it!
I find Sundays are the best days for me to write posts, it's the one day of the week where I don't leave the house as a rule so its perfect for catching up on writing posts, reading my favourite blogs, eating lots of food and spending too much time on twitter!
I've never done a favourites post before. I know the usual thing to do is a monthly favourites post, but sometimes my favourite things don't change that often in terms of beauty products so instead of writing a post at the end of each month that would most likely have several repeats of things in the previous month's post, I've decided to do it my own way - like I do with everything else!
So this is my first Loves Of Late post! A sort of non-committal favourites post that I'm going to post whenever I feel like posting it. It'll have not only beauty related favourites, but also whatever else I'm liking at the time, be that food, clothes, a TV show or a blog I've been liking lately - it could have anything in it!
Beauty
Ive fallen in love with my Real Techniques Duo Fiber Collection (review here) over the past month. There just isn't a better set of duo fiber brushes out there than these at a reasonable price! They are just the softest, loveliest brushes ever and I can't say enough good things about them and it seems that Real Techniques can do no wrong!
I bought Sigma's Dry 'n' Shape last summer and I used it and really liked it, but in all the madness of the 3 moves I've done over the last year it got lost. I recently found it and realised how awesome it really is! It reshapes and dries your brushes so much faster and I'm making sure it never gets misplaced again!
I own 3 Inglot Shadows that have never gotten much love because I have other palettes that always took preference over them, but I've pulled them out a ton the last week and have to say I love them so much! They're buttery soft and blend like a dream, I'm planning on filling up my Z palette with more Inglot shadows so when I do expect a post on them!
I went into Boots recently to pick up a new mascara because my favourite L'ancome Hypnose Doll Eyes is close to running out - I will cry when it does! I wanted to try something new and not hugely expensive, so I was drawn to the Seventeen stand and picked up their new Superlash mascara which I haven't even opened yet, but I got a free Superlash liner with it and I have been loving the liner so much! I'll be doing a post this week hopefully, but to give you quick run down it's a felt tip pen liquid liner but the nib is angled instead of the regular tip and it makes doing flicks so much easier! Lasting time is pretty good too!
Food
I've been eating so badly lately! I have been trying so hard to stop drinking Coke, and drink more water and basically just anything but Coke, but I've been so bad and am now hooked on the stuff again all my hard work is ruined!
I've also been eating anything that has the slightest bit of garlic in it. I've made the Garlic Potato Bake Recipe I posted about earlier this week (see it here here) twice this week. Also I've been obsessed with making my Cheesy Garlic Bread too this week, its so nice for lunch or as a side to pretty much anything, so I might do a recipe post on that soon seeing as my other one was so well received!
TV
I have been catching up on the TV shows that I've missed due to moving and being busy. Mainly The Vampire Diaries and The Originals, I have to say that I think I'm starting to prefer The Originals over The Vampire Diaries. I think it's because there's more action in The Originals and there's no ridiculous Elena/Stefan/Damon love triangle. It's just getting annoying now! Apart from that I do still love The Vampire Diaries though!
I started watching Awkward this week, and I'm now nearly caught up with all of it. I love it so much and I'm well and truly hooked! I thought I was in favour of Jenna and Matty but then Collin came into it - he's amazing! I don't know who I like more! ha ha!
Music
I've recently only been able to really listen to music again because honestly it was just pissing me off, I don't know if that's normal - I'm guessing not! ha ha! But I've been back on my One Direction kick and can't stop listening to them again, I'm pretty sure I have my housemate driven mad at this stage. If I'm not playing them I'm going around singing the songs!
Apart from 1D, I'm so in love with Stay The Night by Zedd & Hayley Williams. I'm a MASSIVE Paramore and Hayley Williams fan, but it took a while for this song to grow on me, but now that it has I absolutely love it and can't get it out of my head or stop playing it! If you haven't heard it yet - you need to! But I'm sure you all have heard it and haven't been living under a rock like I have for months! ha ha!
And that's pretty much it! I think I prefer this way of posting favourites. For me, it's overwhelming when there's a ton of monthly favourites posts all at the one time and you can only read so many of them at once before you don't want to read them anymore! Plus I also like seeing more in favourites posts than just products!
Don't get me wrong I like seeing beauty favourites but seeing what other things a blogger is into at the moment gives you a sense of who they are, and I always like to know a bit more about the people who write the blogs I'm reading!
What are your Loves Of Late? Be it a favourite beauty product or anything else I'd love to know what it is, leave a comment and let me know! You can also find me on twitter here, I do love a chat on Twitter, so don't be afraid to come and say hi!
