My Everyday Make-up!

Though I am in no way a qualified make-up artist or beauty blogger, I have been watching YouTube beauty videos for as long as I can remember, and love discovering new items and trying out different looks. So I felt it would be fun to share my favourite beauty items with the world through my blog!

This post includes all of the products which I wear on an everyday basis - think of it like a Top 10 Make-Up items/Favourites/Everyday look all in one! Hope you enjoy and might pick up some recommendations :)

1. Nuxe's Reve de Miel - Not technically a 'beauty' product but this is hands down the best lip balm ever!! And as my friends will tell you, I'm a bit of a lip balm addict.. this is super hydrating and smells awesome as well, I'd say it's citrusy. For a lip balm, pretty expensive, but you can pick it up at M&S and I guarantee it will last for weeks, if not months - so use it sparingly!!

2. Benefit's 'Big Easy' BB Cream - for me, this is the perfect balance between a foundation and a tinted moisturiser. This will give you a decent, if fairly light amount of coverage, but best of all it has SPF 35 (perfect to take on holiday and for summer!) and applies really smoothly. I actually tend to apply my base products with my fingers, to blend everything in nicely. The coverage is definitely buildable too! Worth investing in :)

3. Benefit's Boing concealer - believe me when I say I've tried pretty much every high street concealer on the market, and nothing compares to this little pot when it comes to coverage!! Benefit like to refer to this as "Industrial Strength" and though sometimes you need a few applications to cover blemishes, I'd agree. I also use this to cover pesky under eye circles! This isn't perfect for under eye concealing but it does the job (to be honest, anything that I can use to multi-task is a bonus, as I'm super lazy make-up wise!!)

4. Blusher by the Natural Collection in the shade "Peach Melba" - now for £1.99, I wasn't expecting awesomeness with this powder blush, but I can honestly say it does a really nice job, and took me ages to 'hit pan'! It's a lovely pinky peach shade which I feel would suit many different skin tones, and the pigmentation is decent too. The only qualm I'd have (love the word 'qualm') is that it wears off pretty easily, but if you're after long-wearing blusher, you could opt for Max Factor's Miracle Touch Creamy Blush which is fantastic too.

5. Benefit's Dallas Blush - so you may think I've gone a bit crazy, adding in two blushers to one make-up look, but hear me out!! This is a completely different type of blush, more of a bronzer, and it looks fantastic on Asian skin tones especially as it's more reddy/browny-toned (ooh look at me trying to use beauty vocabulary!). Also comes with a handy contour-shaped brush and mirror, so it's very handy for carrying in your handbag to top-up during the day! Sometimes I alternate between the two blushers, but on an all-out day I'll use both in one look (shocking, I know.)

6. Rimmel's Clear Complexion Powder in the shade "Transparent" - this translucent powder does a pretty good job at setting everything into place and mattifying, at a very good price. In all honesty, I'm not that big on powder, but I know many people swear by Rimmel powders and can definitely see why! Does the job, and OOH look the blue packaging matches my nails!! I got a bit excited when photographing that! (Essie: Turquoise and Caicos, if you're interested)

7. Benefit's Roller Lash Mascara - BEST MASCARA EVER. I have, again, been through a good few high street mascaras (the best of which was Max Factor 2000 Calorie) but this is something else. The wand is perfect for lash separation, and my eyelashes look so much longer after just one coat of this. Plus I love the retro look of the packaging! Then again, never judge a book by its cover and all that.. anyway, you decide! 

 8. Benefit's Gimme Brow - I'm going to look like a walking talking advert for Benefit by the end of this post (which I'm definitely not paid to do!! I just love their products!) but this basically strikes just the right mix when it comes to brow products. It has a cute tiny brush inside with some brown brow gel, and fills in your brows without looking at all drawn on or false. One of my good friends Iman shares my love for this little bottle of eyebrow perfection!

9. Soap and Glory's Sexy Mother Pucker (careful how you spell it!) Gloss Stick in Plum Jam -  bit of a disclaimer with this one, I love two different shades of this product for different reasons! I first fell in love with (literally, got through three sticks of it!) the shade Nudist, which is a gorgeous pinky brown, nude shade, perfect for an everyday gloss. But the one I'm holding in the picture is a much deeper plummy shade, and I think it's perfect for occasion wear! This picks up well on camera (for any of you who have seen mine and Paula's British Tag on YouTube, I have this on!) and stands out without being an all-out lipstick. 

10. H&M Powder Brush - now firstly can we just appreciate that I, a photographer newbie, took this artsy shot (thanks Darsh for appreciating my attempt at photo creativity). In the words of Despicable Me "IT'S SO FLUFFY!!" okay minor excitement over. This is a fantastic brush for blusher, bronzer and powder (I use it for all three, hence why it's slightly worse for wear..) as it's large and fluffy so doesn't concentrate the product too much on a particular area. I think I bought it for around a fiver in store, but sad times I can't find it on the website anymore :'( hopefully they still have this or a similar style in stock! 

 And voila.. here is the finished look!! #shamelessselfie #sibilance 

Hope you enjoyed this rather different post! And quick disclaimer: I purchased most of these products over a long period of time, as birthday presents, little treats or general additions to my collection. Also, I can only recommend the products which have worked for me, and so I can't guarantee they will all have the same effect for you all. But this was fun to write and I hope you got something out of it (if only discovering that I've made #sibilance a thing...) Let me know if you'd like more/less beauty posts in future :)

P.S. Update: today I bought the Revlon Lip Butter in Peach Parfait and it is beyond awesome. Watch this space for reviews!!