Weekly Favourites #1

Every Sunday (hopefully) I will be showing you my weekly favourites these may consist of makeup, beauty, hair, fashion or miscellaneous favourites. This past week I have been suffering with oily skin and laziness therefore I've been trying to keep everything quick and easy. Therefore, here is what I have been loving this previous week...

L-R: MAC Studio Fix fluid foundation (NW10) | MAC Pro longwear concealer (NC15) | Urban Decay Naked Flushed Palette (Streak) | Real Techniques Powder Brush| Soap and Glory One heck of a blot mattifying powder | The Body Shop Camomile Sumptuous Cleansing Butter | Freederm Fast Track Spot gel | The Body Shop Vitamin E Overnight Serum-in-Oil

 L-R: MAC Studio Fix Fluid Foundation (NW10) | MAC Pro longwear concealer (NC15) | Urban Decay Naked Flushed Palette (Streak) | Soap and Glory One heck of a blot powder

MAC Studio Fix Fluid Foundation | NW10 (£21.50):  This foundation offers a buildable medium- full coverage while feeling lightweight on the skin and looking natural with a semi-matte finish. It also offers a wide variety of shades for different skin tones and is great for oily/ combination to oily skin types.

MAC Pro Longwear Concealer | NC15 (£17): This concealer offers a full coverage to easily disguise blemishes, dark circles, redness and any discolouration whilst giving a lightweight feel to the skin. As well as a long wear time and easily usable packaging. 

Urban Decay Naked Flushed Palette | Streak (£22): This palette offers 3 pigmented powder products in one small travel perfect palette. It has a subtle contour shade (great for paler skins), a smooth textured semi-matte coral blush and a natural illuminating rose gold highlighter.

Soap and Glory One Heck of a blot (£12): This powder instantly mattfies the skin and is long lasting on my oily skin. It leaves the skin feeling smooth and soft whilst adding little coverage to achieve a natural complexion.

 L-R: The Body Shop Camomile Sumptuous Cleansing butter | Freederm Fast Track Spot gel | The Body Shop Vitamin E Overnight Serum-in-Oil | Real Techniques Powder brush

The Body Shop Camomile Sumptuous Cleansing Butter (£12): This product quickly removes all types of makeup with a simple and natural scent, leaving you skin silky soft and feeling very nourished.

Freederm Fast Track Spot gel (£3.66): This gel reduces the size of blemishes quickly and prevents more blemishes from occurring. 

The Body Shop Vitamin E Overnight Serum-in-Oil (£13): This serum instantly hydrates the skin and fully absorbs through the night to leave you skin feeling soft in the morning.

Real Techniques Powder brush (£12.99): This brush has soft bristles which are a pleasure to use on the face. The brush is a little denser than some powder brushes to have perfect application of a variety of powder products.

Overall, I have been really loving medium- full coverage products that still look and feels natural. As well as loving the matte skin to help control my oils. I also have been keeping my skin hydrated the past week which I will continue to do now the colder months are upon us.

What have you been loving this past week? 

Bobbi Brown Skin foundation review

A recent addition to my on-going foundation collection is the Bobbi Brown Skin foundation. As the colder months drift in my skin becomes slightly drier and this is the foundation that is perfect for those cold, bitter days which we are all dreading. The Bobbi Brown Skin foundation is available here for £31.

Top and Bottom: Bobbi Brown Skin foundation (Porcelain) | Real techniques buffing brush

Described by Bobbi Brown as "a truly modern foundation that offers invisible, weightless coverage that looks like skin, not make-up. This long-wearing formula evens tone, minimizes the appearance of pores, conceals imperfections and offers Broad spectrum UV protection. Its hydrating technology leaves skin feeling cushioned, comfortable and clean."

Bobbi Brown Skin foundation is available for £31 here and I own the shade 0 Porcelain

This foundation is great for normal, normal to dry and combination skin- I have combination skin but my skin is drier in Autumn and Winter and oilier in Spring and Summer. This gives a satin finish as it isn't completely matte and has a slight glow but isn't overly dewy. The consistency is slightly runnier than some foundations this allows it to feel very lightweight on the skin. The coverage when applied is light- medium coverage however it is buildable to a medium- full coverage.

The packaging is a glass bottle which has a pump which distributes a good amount of product to give a light- medium coverage. It awakens the skin making you look more fresh and natural. The coverage is able to blur imperfection and is a flawless base. The foundation lasts for around 6 hours if not more on me. Finally, it hydrates the skin and makes the skin look freshened.

Overall, I really do like the Bobbi Brown Skin foundation and find the coverage is great and it looks natural on my skin. This is slowly becoming an everyday favourite. I find this best applied with my trusty Real Techniques buffing brush as this gives the most flawless finish.

Have you tried the Bobbi Brown Skin foundation; will you be trying it out?

Cargo Vintage Escape palette | Shadows & Swatches

After viewing the in-flight magazine on the way home I just knew that this palette had to be added to my collection. There are 12 richly pigmented shades ranging from matte shadows to shimmer shadows. The creamy texture made them beautiful to blend and easy to apply. The Cargo Vintage Escape palette is available here for £35 although I got it for £29 Oh Duty Free.

L-R: Chestnut | Black Crow | Rustic | Twigs | Withered Leaves | Cinnamon | Autumn | Frolic | Hot Cocoa | Cuddle | Crisp | Harvest Moon

Chestnut: a dark matte brown shadow which can be used as an intense dark brown liner or to give a more neutral smokey effect.

Black Crow: an intense matte black shadow which is great to use a eyeliner or to smoke out the eye.

Rustic: a richly pigmented golden bronze shimmer shadow which is the perfect intense lid shade.

Twigs: despite looking quite blue in the packaging when swatched it is a grey shimmer shadow with a blue undertone.

Withered Leaves: quite an unusual yet beautiful shade given it is an olive green shimmer shadow which will make for a pretty Autumn smokey eye.

Cinnamon: a beautifully pigmented gold shimmer shadow which is just lovely on the lid.

Autumn: in the palette this looked very pink however when swatched it is more of a matte orange with a hint of pink.

Frolic: a creamy satin bronze shadow.

Hot Cocoa: a light matte brown which is a great crease colour.

Cuddle: a light satin pink shadow with a subtle pigmentation which makes it a very neutral shade.

Crisp: a cream/ champagne shimmer shadow which is perfect for an inner corner highlight.

Harvest moon: a very subtle white/ cream frost shadow which doesn't show up very well in the swatches but would be great to highlight the brow bone.

The Cargo Vintage Escape palette is beautifully packaged in a leather feel case and comes with a brush which has an eyeshadow brush and an eyeliner brush of a nice quality. It comes with a large mirror and the shadows are well pigmented and have little fall- out. Overall, if you are willing to spend the extra money I totally recommend this as a lovely Autumn palette since there are so many different shades and different combinations you can do. Available here for £35

What do you think of the Cargo Vintage Escape palette? 

Transitional Summer- Autumn blushes

As summer sadly comes to a close and the cold, rainy weather drifts in for Autumn (typical England) the colours we wear are starting to change. However, if you want to keep that same hint of pink for Autumn go ahead and here are some blushes that can help you transition through the upcoming seasons...

 L-R: Benefit Dandelion box blush | Collection blush (02 Bashful) | Natural Collection Blushed cheeks (Peach Melba) | Benefit Rockateur box blush | Smashbox Satin blush and loose shimmer (Candlelit pink)

Benefit Dandelion blush £23.50: a subtle pink with a deep undertone. This blush is lightly pigmented to give a natural wash of colour on the cheeks. The blush is mostly matte with a hint of shimmer and has lovely creamy texture which feels velvety on the cheeks.

Collection blush (02 Bashful) £2.99: a light berry with a hint of pink. This blush is shimmery and well pigmented, not to forget totally affordable.

Natural Collection Blushed cheeks (Peach Melba) £1.99: a deep peach with a slight hint of berry. This blush gives a matte finish to look totally natural on the cheeks and give some warmth to the cheeks. Not to mention the creamy, velvety texture and the affordable price tag.

Benefit Rockateur £23.50: a shimmery rosy pink with a subtle berry undertone. This blush is lightly pigmented to give a glow to the cheeks and looks absolutely natural. 

Smashbox Satin blush and loose shimmer (Candlelit pink) £9.50: a deep pink/berry blush which has a soft texture to add some warmth to the face. The loose shimmer is a pretty glowy pink to be applied over the top to give a radiance to the face.

As you can see most of the transitional colours are deep pinks and light berries as these are the typical staple blushes for Autumn (for me at least). Weirdly, I am so excited for Autumn and Winter and can't wait to get some use out of my Autumn make-up items.

What will be your staple blush in Autumn/ Winter?

Hits and misses | Drugstore powders

Being the combination/ oily girl I am I have come across a lot of powders that I have caved in to buying and I have found some holy grail powders and some that I desperately regret opening up my purse for. Here are my hits and misses for drugstore powders...

L-R: L'Oreal Nude Magique BB powder | Rimmel Stay Matte long lasting pressed powder | Maybelline Fit me pressed powder | Rimmel Match perfection loose face powder | Soap and Glory one heck of blot mattifying powder | Covergirl Smoothers pressed powder

L'Oreal Nude Magique BB powder (£6.99): claims to be a "5 in 1 sheer coverage face powder for a velvety shine-free nude finish." In my opinion I found that the powder left the skin with a velvety finish as suggested by the product and it did reduce shine however, I didn't receive any added coverage.

Rimmel Stay Matte long lasting pressed powder (£3.99): "controls shine for up to 12 hours. It minimizes the appearance of pores with a natural, matte finish." I found that this automatically mattified my skin and this lasted for only a few hours as the oil tends to build up throughout the day  this therefore is a product that you must take with you for re-application (in my opinion). It was very lightweight and did make my skin look shine-less for a good few hours.

Maybelline Fit me pressed powder (£5.99): "lightweight powder gives natural looking, flawless coverage." This products gave a very natural coverage which applied over make-up beautifully and set the makeup in place as well. Some shine was reduced but this is not the full aim of this product.

Rimmel Match perfection loose face powder (£6.99): "Ultra creamy + lightweight powder. Super blendable for a natural looking finish." Despite being a loose powder I felt like this didn't give the coverage of a powder foundation yet liked it to set my makeup if it was light (ie a BB cream) as this does add a bit of coverage. It leaves a natural and smooth finish on the skin. 

Soap and Glory One heck of a blot mattifying powder (£12): "Amazing, addictive, invisible – an oil absorbing, shine controlling face powder for all skin types." Although one of the pricier options definitely worth the extra few pounds. It mattifies your skin with one swipe and reduces the oils all day. It is a translucent powder which doesn't add any coverage giving it a lightweight feel on the skin.

Covergirl Smoothers pressed powder (no price listed): "creates a perfectly finished look that lasts. Special, light-reflecting ingredients help minimize the appearance of imperfections for a beautiful, smooth complexion." Although this isn't available in England I bought this when in the states last year. I found that despite the name being "smoothers" the texture was very rough and uneven and didn't have any coverage. However it did last on the skin well but definitely a product I would not purchase again.

Overall, I would definitely recommend checking out the Rimmel Stay Matte powder and the Soap and Glory One heck of a blot as these are great at reducing shine which is what my oily skin needs. However, I would skip the Covergirl powder as it just didn't "float my boat."

Have you tried any of these powders, what do you think of them?