Every so often I like to sit down and switch up my makeup bag. To me my makeup bag houses my most reached for, every day products. Once I have a look I am happy with then it will usually stick around for sometime before new products are added to the mix. I try to edge towards the more natural look for everyday proceedings, stepping away from the flicked cat eye and focusing on the base, with a pop of color on the cheeks, a natural lip and super curled lashes. Let me introduce you to the current line up...
Base wise I have been slapping on the Dior BB Creme in shade 02. Not to be mistaken with your average BB cream. Aside from a few added skincare benefits, I would happily place this into the 'tinted moisturiser' category. A light, dewy consistency, which gives a light/medium coverage that can be layered to achieve a fuller coverage. For contouring, my beloved Nars Laguna has taken a backseat, and I finally picked up Kevin Aucoin's Sculpting Powder in a rather mad Space NK dash a few weeks back. The receipt is still safely hidden from the boyf's eyes to save my sanity. I like to dust this lightly under my non existent cheek bones, and blend in circular motions a la Lisa Eldridge style for a natural hint of cheek bones. It does come with a small brush applicator however on a side note I would disregard this and opt for another. Like most 'free applicators' in my opinion they rarely compliment the product and often get thrown to one side. I then sweep Mac Melba Blush across the apples of my cheeks - a subtle light peach shade which was sitting unloved at the back of a drawer (I really should sort out my stash more often). Rounding up the base is another new addition - Hourglass Ambient Light Powder. Probably my most sought after purchase which I had been eyeing up in Space NK for sometime since it landed in the UK earlier this year. Available in 6 shades, I opted for Dim Light - a neutral beige with a slight peach hue designed to blur imperfections and highlight a radiant complexion. Unlike conventional powders these use 'Photoluminescent Technology' to refract light and create a transparent coverage. No more cakiness? I'm sold! I like to dust this all over my face using a RT powder brush to set everything in place, and I can report that this is absolutely undetectable on the skin and really does leave a radiant glow about the complexion.
With complexion complete, lets talk eyes and for me its simple and natural all the way. A quick sweep of Naked 2 from the Urban Decay Naked Basics palette* - a straight up light tan brown does the job. It gives my eyes a little depth without looking like I am wearing any shadow - think contour for eyes. For top lashes, its a quick curl using my Shu Uemera curlers and couple of coats of L'Oreal Telescopic Waterproof mascara on my top lashes. I have heard on the grapevine that this has been or is to be discontinued so if you guys know of anything similar then please let me know. For my bottom lashes its a single coat of Clinique bottom lash mascara - a solely enabled purchsed by Ysis but one I now don't know how I lived without it. For brows I have been testing out the Esteé Lauder Brow Duo which actually featured on a wish list some time ago. I am still on the fence with this so watch this space for a full report. Finally, for lips I have been slicking on some Benefit Coralista Lipgloss*. Not to be confused with generic sticky glosses, this falls more into the 'sheen' category, think Clarins lip perfectors. Coralista is a sheer peachy shade which just adds a subtle hue of colour, with absolutely no stickyness whatsoever. Probably one of the few lipglosses which gets the thumbs up from me.
Sounds like a fair amount of products for a work week right? But trust me when I say I have perfected this down to at least 10 minutes tops, which leaves time for one extra press of the snooze button...is it really Sunday already...
