Laura Elizabeth xo: Mac

Friday, 6 May 2016

Make Up Wishlist

Once again I am lusting after more make up, and not particularly affordable make up either, which means my bank balance is in trouble.

Mac - Mineralize Skinfinish - These contain four shades in one pan designed to give a healthy glow. The design is so pretty and reminds me of a batten-berg cake!

Hourglass - Ambient Lighting Blush - I have heard lovely things about this product. There are loads of shades to choose from.

Burberry - Complete Eye Palette - This contains four shades of brown which is my favourite shade to wear on my eyes. I love the Burberry fabric design and this pan looks so versatile.

Charlotte Tilbury - Magic Foundation - Another product I am desperate to try. I always like trying out new foundations and any that claim to be long lasting, high coverage but feel lightweight on the skin are ones that I get really excited about trying.

Urban Decay - Afterglow 8 Hour Powder Highlighter - This one is leaning more at the top of this make up wish list, I have read raving reviews about all three shades and a little goes a long way. These are meant to give a strong highlight and is described as being a very luxurious product.

Nyx - Angel Veil Primer - I am always interested in finding and trying out new primers. Again, I have read great things about this product, it has a matte finish with a moisturising texture.

Nars - Illuminator - I am getting more into using liquid highlighters, either on their own or mixed in with my foundation, and the Nars ones are a huge favourite in the beauty world. It is designed to give a radiance to your complexion.

Nars - Audacious Lipstick - This looks like a gorgeous shade for spring and summer. Applies like satin with a strong pigment to it.

Laura Mercier - Invisible Loose Setting Powder - I rarely stray from my trusty Rimmel Stay Matte powder, however this loose powder is at the top of my list of loose powders to try out. Again, only great reviews found of this product.

What products are you loving right now?

High End Favourites

The majority of my make up collection is made up of drugstore beauty products, but now and again I like to splash out on some more expensive higher end products and these are my favourites!

Nars Creamy Concealer

Charlotte Tilbury Colour Coded Eye Shadow Palette - Dolce Vita

Mac Lipsticks - Whirl, Stone & Velvet Teddy

Nars Sheer Glow Foundation

Urban Decay Naked Skin Concealer

Becca x Jaclyn Hill Shimmering Skin Perfecter - Champagne Pop

Estee Lauder Double Wear Light Foundation

I am so impressed with these products and they never let me down so the higher price tag makes sense considering how luxurious these products are.

What are you favourite high end make up products?

Winter Essentials

Essence 'Come Naturally', Mac 'Whirl', Revlon 'Black Cherry'

Soap and Glory Sugar Crush Body Scrub

Cocoa Brown Tan - Mousse

Tangle Teezer

Simple Kind To Skin Hydrating Light Moisturiser

Primark socks

I have a love/hate relationship with winter. I like wrapping up to stay warm, but I don't like being cold, and as I have dry skin anyway, the cold weather does not help. I have put together some products that I love to use in winter, and some that keep my skin glowing and healthy, to make me look less pale and ill!

A mauve, burgundy or brown shade lipstick are my absolute favourites to wear during the winter season. I have picked out my current top three and I love pairing these shades with a smoky eye or simply with just some eye-liner. The essence lipstick is more sheer than the other two, and has a glossier finish but still gives a subtle purple shade to the lips. Mac Whirl is the ever popular lipstick shade, and one of my top five from Mac. It is a rosy brown with a matte finish but is not drying at all but I ensure to moisturise my lips during the cold months to keep them hydrated and to make sure any matte lipstick sits nicely. Revlon 'Black Cherry' is a little more daring and definitely one that needs to be applied on moisturised lips and with a lip liner. It is a deep, vampy, burgundy wine shade that is pigmented and really makes a statement.

This stuff smells incredible; lime, brown sugar and almond oil are just a few named ingredients within this product. I am a huge fan of Soap and Glory like many people are, and this was the first product of theirs I ever tried, and it is still one of my favourites. It removes dead and dry skin, and followed with a moisturiser, this leaves my skin silky smooth, great all year long, but perfect for winter!

I have always been pale, and tried many fake tans but this one is one of the best ones I have ever tried. This gets to work quickly and depending on how long you leave it on before you wash off, you can take control of how dark you want your tan to be. Applied correctly it is not streaky and on moisturised skin it doesn't stick to any dry patches. I use this weekly during winter to give me a subtle, warm glow.

I have long hair and always have, and during the winter months my hair needs all the care it can get. To be honest, it is fairly moisturised and it not really all that dry, but in winter I can feel and notice a difference in it and after being out in the rain, wind and cold my hair is harder to brush in a gentle manner. The tangle teezer hairbrush brushes out any tangles and knots gently and smoothly without doing any damage and so is definitely a winter essential of mine. I honestly don't know how I coped without it!

As previously stated, I have dry skin and winter time is torture for my skin but I also like a light moisturiser that works well under my skin and last year I discovered that this worked perfectly for me. Simple is great for sensitive skin and has a wide range of products.

Lastly, I really love wearing fluffly or thick socks in winter under a pair of boots to keep my feet warm and to create a cute look. Jeans, boots and long socks are usually my go to outfit, particularly for days when I am at University. Primark have a great collection.

What are your winter essentials?

Laura Elizabeth xo

Red Lip Winners

Red Lipstick is a shade I take very seriously in my make up collection. It has to be non-drying and long lasting. A bold red lip is such a classic look and sometimes it is difficult to find a shade that flatters your complexion well. This can usually be solved, I find, by finding a specific eye look that compliments that particular shade. These five are the red lipsticks I cannot live without.

1) Rouge Edition Velvet in '08 Grand Cru' - Bourjois Paris

2) Lasting Finish by Kate Moss in '01' - Rimmel London

3) Colorburst Lip Butter in '035 Candy Apple' - Revlon

4) Shade '13' -Make Up Academy

5) Ruby Woo - Mac

Left to right - Revlon Lip Butter, Kate Moss Rimmel, Ruby Woo Mac, MUA, Bourjois Rouge Edition.

Each shade varies in texture, finish and pigmentation. The Revlon lip butter is a lot sheerer than the other shades and is glossier in finish, but it is still a pigmented shade. The Rimmel Kate Moss lipstick is long lasting and non drying with a matte finish, just like Ruby Woo from Mac. The MUA lipstick is also similar in texture to the Mac and Rimmel lipsticks, but I find it is a slightly lighter shade. The Bourjois lipstick is a matte finish but it is different from other matte lipsticks I own. This feels like a mix between a cream and a mousse and although the product dries very quickly it is really soft to apply. It is a deep red/burgundy shade but is also quite sheer and so a few coats are needed, and once applied this product does not move.

What are your holy grail red lipsticks?

Laura Elizabeth xo

Current Favourite Lip Colour

I have always liked this colour lip, but recently I have been obsessed with wearing it, and I now own so many different products of a similar shade to fuel said obsession. It is not really a bright, vibrant colour for summer, but it is still one I find myself wearing year round and this is the main reason for justifying myself when I end up buying another product of the same shade!

Lime Crime Velvetine - Cashmere

Mac Lip Liner - Whirl

Sleek Matte Me - Birthday Suit

Maybelline Coloursensational Lipstick - Rosewood Pearl

What are your current favourite lip products?

Laura Elizabeth xo

My March Favourites

Jimmy Choo - Eau De Parfum

I loveeeeee this perfume. The first thing I noticed about this perfume was that it smelt like no other perfume I currently, or had previously owned and that it really didn't remind me of any other perfume I have smelt or sampled before on a shopping trip; it's distinctive. It is by no means a new perfume, but it is already one that I know I would re-purchase in the future and it has definitely earned its place in my favourite perfumes after only owning it for a little over a month. The one thing that baffled me however was that a number of reviews I had read about this product criticised the staying power of it - stating that the original 'strong smell fades after an hour.' In my own experience I can definitely say that I strongly disagree with these reviews, and I can certainly vouch for this product as it is one of only five perfumes in my collection that lasts all day! After wearing it for many hours the smell is still strong on my skin at the end of the day, and sometimes if I don't put my shirt immediately in the wash I can still smell it the next day! Now you might say, 'well that's all good and well, but how much of the product do you actually spray?' and my reply would be very little - a little does go a long way with this product! It's a sweet perfume, with fruity, musky, warm spice scents.The bottle and packaging is cute and it really looks beautiful on my vanity table.

L'Oreal Paris - Skin Perfecting Advanced Correcting Serum

I bought this product at the beginning of March and I can already see a clear difference in my skin. It claims to hep correct and improve the appearance of skin quality and although my skin could still use some help, this product has definitely made a difference. It is aimed at people in their 20's and 30's and really does give my skin the boost it needs. It makes my skin feel satiny and smooth and you only need to use a few drops morning and evening either alone or before your moisturiser. It has a nice smell to it, the cream isn't too oily and the bottle is cute.

Sleek Blush - Rose Gold

Blusher never used to be a part of my daily make-up routine, I would usually opt for a contour and highlight or a good bronzer and rarely bother with blusher at all. However the past few months I have been really enjoying using a blusher to dust some light colour on my cheeks to give a healthy look to my skin. This product I have owned for a while now after reading many reviews that said it was a great dupe for the Nars 'Orgasm' blush but I just rediscovered it and have been using it nearly everyday during March. The gold pigments in this blush are very pigmented but overly glittery, and the colour transfers onto the skin nicely. It is considerably cheaper than the Nars blush so if you want a cheaper alternative I definitely recommend this.

MUA - Power Brow Shape and Highlight

I have recently written a review of this product on my blog a few posts ago, so I won't go into too much detail - link: MUA Power Brow Review This product has a small nib for the brown colour and the end is a shimmery highlight - both are highly pigmented for such a cheap product and make it easy to define my eyebrows.

Maybelline Color Drama Intense Velvet Lip Pencil - Nude Perfection

This is the first of four lip products in my favourites this month. The product is pretty much a dupe for Mac's 'Velvet Teddy' which is also in my March favourites however I find it has a different texture and finish on my lips than the Mac lipstick has. It dries my lips out slightly and doesn't give as nice a finish or smoothness to my lips, despite this the colour is lovely as well as the pigment lasting around two hours before it even slightly disappeared. There are nine colours in the range and for £4.99 they are good buy.

Mac Matt Lipstick - Velvet Teddy

Even though this is a matte finish lipstick in comparison to the Maybelline Lip Pencil this product does not leave my lips dry at all. I didn't really own a perfect nude colour until I bought this, and have found that this product looks different on different skin tones. It is a brown nude colour but not at all orangey and has great staying power.

MUA Velvet Lip Lacquers

I love the packaging of these, I think they look really high end despite them only being £3. I was slightly disappointed as they didn't completely transfer onto my lips the same colour as they looked in the packaging or when swatched on my hand. However the colour's I picked out were still nice - 'Halycon' and 'Tranquility' and are highly pigmented. I have fairly thin lips and so applying these are quite difficult, but once they dry they sit nicely and have good staying power for the price of the product.

Top - 'Halycon'

Bottom - 'Tranquility'

So these are the products I have been loving this month and will probably continue loving throughout April! What products have you been enjoying this month? Have you tried any of the products I have mentioned?

-Laura Elizabeth xo

My Current Favourite Highlighters

MUA Undress Your Skin Highlighting Powder - Pink Shimmer

Seventeen Skin Wow 3 Way Highlighter

the Balm Mary-Lou Manizer Luminizer

MAC Pearlmatte Face Powder - Pink Buttercream

These are just a few of the highlighters in my collection and it's fair to say that a good highlighter product is my favourite step in my make-up routine. These four are my current favourites and I have an internal battle every morning on which one to use!

In my opinion all four give a totally different effect on my skin but similarly give a spectacular finish, providing my skin with a lovely glow. They range in prices, but I have to say I am so impressed with Make Up Academy's highlighter product, at just £3 you can't go wrong! It gives a radiant glow to my skin and works just as well the more expensive products from the Balm and Mac.

The Seventeen highlighter has three amazing uses to it, to prime, to add to your foundation (giving an effect similar to Rimmel's Wake Me Up foundation) and to add to the tops of your cheekbones for that perfect highlight. After using the product in all three ways, I have found that it gives a lovely luminous glow however you choose to use it.

Mac's Pink Buttercream unfortunately was a limited edition product, and can also be used as a subtle pink blush or a glowing highlight. I find it gives the best results when I swirl all colours of the product together on one brush.

The Balm's Mary-Lou Manizer is probably my top top favourite highlighter product. I find that this gives so much colour to the face and it is super pigmented so a little goes a long way! I'd class this as a champagne shade however I think it would look lovely on any skin tone.

What are your thoughts on these products? What are your favourite highlighter products? I'd love to know!

-Laura Elizabeth xo