When it comes to make up I'm someone that favours neutral shades to achieve a really fresh and awake look. I've never been one for smokey eyes so instead I like to focus on cheeks, lips and a flawless complexion. I don't think the boy and I are doing anything for Valentine's Day this year but if we were this is the make up look I would choose to wear! I thought this would make quite a nice YouTube video so I popped that up on my channel yesterday, I'll embed the video at the end of this post in case you'd like to watch it!
There are four products I know I can rely on to last all day long and keep my skin looking flawless! The Satin Primer from Illamasqua is a miracle product if you have dry skin, popping a little of this on before foundation ensures that your base will last all day and not look cakey at all. The Bourjois Healthy Mix Serum foundation is a brilliant product, it glides on and blends so perfectly into the skin that it's hard to see that you're even wearing foundation. The Collection 2000 Lasting Perfection concealer does an amazing job at covering redness and dark circles and Benefit Boi-ing really helps perfect my skin that little bit more.
For eyes, although I don't like to use a lot of products, there are some I reach for to give me a really bright eyed and awake look. For oily eyelids like mine the Benefit Creaseless Cream shadows are incredible and keeping shadows on all day! Benefit's Eyebright pencil looks lovely in the lower waterline to completely brighten up any eye look. Shadow wise the lightest shade in this trio from The Body Shop is beautifully shimmery and looks super pretty all over the eyelid but I mainly focus this colour on the inner corners of my eyes where I get the darkest. NARS Etrusque eyeshadow is a beautiful gold that I like to wear to really make my blue eyes stand out. Mascara wise Peep Show from 17 cosmetics is my current favourite! It's super affordable and really makes my lashes look a million times better!
For the cheeks I decided to use pink shades and MAC Subtle Breeze mineralize blush is just perfect. It is quite matte so for a little bit of added shimmer I used a little bit of Blonde Mineralize Skinfinish from MAC because I'm a total sucker for shimmer! To me, my make up seems brighter and my complexion lifted when I have a bit of shimmer or sparkle on my cheeks!
Lastly on my lips I opted for Lovelorn lipstick from MAC. It's a pretty and super wearable mid tone pink shade with a lustre finish so it's not drying and leaves a beautiful sheen on the lips without the need for an extra gloss over the top! I was torn between this and Creme Cup from MAC but in the end Lovelorn won because it's that little bit brighter and makes a bit more of a statement without looking too much!
This kind of make up makes me feel girly and pretty without making me feel overdone or like I've tried too hard. Most importantly it's super quick to do so you get to spend less time in front of the mirror and more time out with your loved ones having a wonderful day!
Which products will you be using this Valentine's Day to achieve your perfect make up look?
Whilst on the hunt for cute loungewear, because I've realised I own no cute comfortable clothes other than pyjamas, I have fallen completely in love with the Wildfox Baggy Beach Jumpers. Now at a whopping £95 each there is no way I can justify purchasing one, even at 50% off my eyes would still water a bit at the checkout so I'm on the hunt for a more affordable alternative. So far I haven't found anything quite as lovely as these, so if anyone knows of anywhere that sells something similar, please please please point me in that direction!
This little guy totally reminds me of Ralphie, even down to the big expressive eyes! Bunny prints on items of clothing are mostly white, so I was pretty excited to see this black bunny face peeking back at me when I was browsing ASOS. I think I may have to purchase this the next time I find a good ASOS discount code floating around!
Three. YouTube.
I am just loving YouTube right now, not only making videos but watching other people's! I think we're so lucky to have YouTube, anyone with a camera can upload something and get involved with a whole online community. Technology amazes me sometimes, it really does!
Four. Bunny herds Sheep!
I can totally imagine Ralphie doing this! He would have the time of his life chasing other animals around a field, he's constantly running around my feet trying to trip me over!
I may have gone a bit overboard with the amazing bunny things this week but bunnies are cute, so I'm hoping you forgive me! This bunny teapot is SO adorable, I would love to drink lots of cup of tea from this cutie, although I'd probably be too protective over it and never let anyone touch it in case it got broken. I totally have what I like to call 'only child syndrome' over my stuff, I've always been very conscious of who I let borrow or even touch anything that I own. Need to work on that one, still, at almost twenty three years old!
If you follow me on twitter then you'll know that I was constantly asking when the Naturally Collection from MAC would finally hurry up and make it to the UK, so it's pretty safe to say I was just a little bit excited! Now I'm not a huge MAC collection person, I like MAC but the amount of collections they release can be a bit overwhelming and if I got excited about each one, I would have no money left at all! I like make up, but I'm not into crazy colours and I'm certainly not a make up artist so when a collection packed full of natural and neutral shades comes around, it grabs my attention! Usually when I do let myself get excited about a collection I seem to talk myself out of purchasing anything, but this time I went a tad crazy! Oops...
(L) MAC Mineralize Skinfinish in Redhead. (R) MAC Mineralize Skinfinish in Blonde.
Blonde Mineralize Skinfinish.
The product that first got me excited about the Naturally Collection is one of the Mineralize Skinfinishes in the shade Blonde. Described as a soft pink to rose degrade, when swirled together this gives the most beautiful shimmery pink colour to the cheeks and on my skintone, this works as a gorgeous blush. If you don't like shimmery cheek products it's safe to say you won't like this, but if you do I think this is something you would just adore!
Redhead Mineralize Skinfinish.
The second Mineralize Skinfinish in the collection, which is called Redhead is one that I initially wasn't going to purchase at all but I'm so happy that I did because it's beautiful. I accidentally smashed mine yesterday which I'm so sad about, but I immediately went online to purchase another one so I guess that shows how much I love this shade!
The next items I fell in love with were two of the Mineralize Blushes. I had never tried this particular kind of blush from MAC but after reading reviews I was intrigued that a lot of people were saying that these are quite matte and with the amount of shimmer in the two Mineralize Skinfinishes, I thought some matte shades would make a nice contrast!
Fresh Honey.
The first shade I was drawn towards is called Fresh Honey and it's the most beautiful peach shade that I'm so happy to have in my collection. A perfect peach powder blusher is something I've found difficult to find and I think this would look lovely over MAC Something Special Cremeblend Blush, and you all know how much I love mixing and matching blush shades! I'm obsessed!
Subtle Breeze.
The other shade I just had to have is called Subtle Breeze and this is a fairly simple blue toned pink which I absolutely adore. This is one of those super easy to wear shades and although I have a fair amount of make up, I do have a lot that I just don't use for various reasons. I'm trying to streamline my collection and only purchase new products that I know I'm going to get a lot of use out of, because ultimately I do buy make up to use it, not just to have it sit there. A classic pink will always get a lot of love from me!
MAC Fresh Air Tinted Lipglass.
The last item I got from the Naturally Collection is one of the tinted lipglasses and it's called Fresh Air. I know that tinted lipglasses seem to be a love or hate item and I'm happy to say I'm on the love side of that fence. Sure it's a bit sticky but I actually don't mind that and this shade is a pretty light pink shade that looks really natural on the lips. I really like it, but do bear in mind I'm not a huge lipgloss person and don't have many others to compare this one too! I do think £13 is a bit pricey though!
(L) MAC Creme Cup. (R) MAC Lovelorn.
Somehow two of the lipsticks from the permanent line found their way into my order... whoops! I have no idea how that happened *innocent face*. No, I hear people talk about different MAC lipsticks all the time and how much they love them and I really wanted to try a couple out. The only other MAC lipsticks I have are the Viva Glam Gaga & Cyndi and I don't let myself use them a lot because they were limited edition!
Lips: MAC Creme Cup Lipstick.
The first shade I went for is Creme Cup which I know is amazingly popular with so many people, so I figured I'd really love it too! So far, I've not used it a lot so I can't really make a totally fair judgement, the cremesheen formula isn't my favourite but that may have something to do with the fact it's blimmin' freezing here right now and I know that cremesheen's tend to melt in the hot weather! Creme cup is a beautiful light pink shade, definitely one of those lipsticks you don't need to think about because it'll go with anything!
Lips: MAC Lovelorn Lipstick.
The second shade I got is called Lovelorn which is a lustre finish and oh my gosh, I'm in love with this shade! It's a slightly deeper pink shade than Creme Cup but again, is so easy to wear and will go with so many looks! I think the lustre finish is my favourite, it's glossy but you can still build up the colour quickly which I love!
So those were all of my MAC purchases, I can't lie, there are some others I would have liked to have got from the Naturally Collection but I find with MAC that the money quickly adds up so I had to be sensible. Now, I'm just hoping that I don't love anything from future MAC collections for a little while!
I also made a little video about the things I picked up, I'm still recovering from the flu so I'm a bit crazy but I hope you like it anyway! I can't believe I'm almost at 1000 subscribers already, thank you so so much!
Did you get anything from the Naturally Collection? What's your must have make up item from MAC?
