The Travelling Base/Face Products

I recently did a post on the five lipsticks I took with me while I was away in Lincoln, which you can read here, and today's post is going to be on the products I took with me for my base makeup including foundations, concealer, powders, blushers, contour and highlighters. I was originally going to include eye and eyebrow products as well but realised the post would quite possibly be longer than the River Nile (Geography Goddess in the building) and so the final post on these items will be up later in the week.

Having to pack lightly made me realise which products I truly love enough to take on a journey with and accompany me, think of them as my children but in cosmetic form. Or don't. Admittedly that would be kind of hard to imagine.

FOUNDATIONS AND CONCEALER

Rimmel Match Perfection Foundation, 100 Ivory- £6.99

For day time wear I prefer a light/medium coverage and this foundation is exactly that while giving a really healthy, dewy finish to the skin. I mentioned this foundation in more detail here (forgive me for my lack of detail, I WAS YOUNG AND UNAWARE).

Revlon Colorstay Foundation, 150 Buff- £12.49

For nights out I prefer a heavier coverage foundation as I find my base has to look more perfect if I'm wearing more makeup so it all comes together better. A dewy finish to the skin would just translate into 'greasy mess' on camera and so that's why I brought two foundations with me. I did a post on this foundation in more detail here.

Maybelline Better Skin Concealer, 02 Light- £5.99

This was the only concealer I took with me and it was a bit of a risk considering I'd only owned it for a few days beforehand but that is how much I felt I loved it. This was perfect and so good for covering my dark circles but I did wish I had taken along a Collection Lasting Perfection Concealer with me to cover up spots as my skin decided to be really nice and give me some hideous ones, thanks life. I did a post on this concealer in more detail here.

POWDERS

Collection Sheer Loose Powder, Translucent- £2.99

This is the only face powder I own as my other Rimmel ones broke (so traumatising) a few months ago and I decided to use this powder up completely before buying any other face powders so I didn't have any choice which to take. This does the job at setting my makeup and mattifies the skin but is so bulky and makes it such a pain to shove in your bag, also it makes such a mess, or maybe I'm just disastrous when it comes to loose powders.

Soap and Glory Kick Ass Concealer Setting Powder, Light- £10.00

Honestly you're probably thinking 'what on earth is that monstrosity on the right?' and I won't blame you; basically I bought the Kick Ass concealer quite some time ago but the screw fell out that held the little compartments together and for the longest time I left the product sitting there on my windowsill, not getting any use out of it, until I decided to have a go using the powder to see if it would stop my concealer creasing. After using it I was so impressed with the lack of creasing under my eyes and have been using it ever since, I'm aware I'm probably violating hygiene rules (I did consider wrapping cling film round it haha) but I'm not sure what else to use as an under eye setting powder?! Any suggestions are welcomed with open arms unless you're afraid of personal contact with a stranger.

BLUSHERS

Sleek Blush By 3, Lace- £9.99

It only made sense to me to bring along this palette, not only for the three completely different shades but also the massive mirror which, by the way, turned out to be so useful, yes I was one of  those annoying girls who was doing their makeup on the train half-asleep. I mentioned in a post previously how I don't seem to get much use out of this palette (here) but really wanted to make an effort to use it more and now I seem to wear the colours a lot which I'm really pleased about as the pigmentation is insane.

Seventeen Blush, First Flush- £3.49

As the Lace palette doesn't contain a matte pink shade I brought along this blusher as it's also highly pigmented and is such a lovely colour; I've owned this blusher for quite a while now and am planning on doing an individual review on it as I never hear much about Seventeen blushers.

CONTOUR AND HIGHLIGHT

Sleek Contour Kit, Light- £6.49

Does seeing the pan in the bronzer bring joy to your heart? No? Just me then. For a contour product this is the only powder that came to mind as other bronzers I have I feel lean too orange to work as a contour. The fact this palette comes with the loveliest highlighter as well made life so much easier, as a huge highlighter fan I really didn't know which to take with me so just brought this duo to save space.

George at Asda Under Eye Concealer, Light- £4.50

This product is a highlighter/concealer hybrid but I personally use it for highlighting as the pinkish tone doesn't work well with my skin tone to conceal but love blending it on my brow bone and into the inner corners of my eyes as it instantly brightens my face. I did a post on this concealer in more detail here.

So that's everything I took for my base and face products, to be honest I really don't think I brought that much with me considering my huge makeup collection haha! Also sorry for the seemingly endless linking back to other posts I've done, I thought it'd be easier to click the link if you wanted to read it rather than looking around on my blog, it's not a shameless plug.

Would you take any of these items away with you? What are your makeup travel essentials?

Supermarket Beauty: Lidl Mascara and George Blusher

When I was younger supermarkets were the ultimate place of misery. I remember when my mum would pick me up from school and then, out of nowhere, she'd turn into the Morrison's car park and my whole world would come crashing down. A slightly dramatised recount of my childhood but you get the gist. I still find supermarkets so boring when I'm accompanying my mum on a massive food shop but now I can strut (aka walk) down the makeup and beauty aisles and have a browse and all is well until I can't find my mum and panic sets in (yes, even at 18).

The first item comes from Lidl and is the Volume Mascara by Cien which is Lidl's own beauty range. The mascara is £1.99 and caught my eye as the packaging reminds me a lot of a L'Oreal mascara I own which sent me into oooh mode. My ooohing was heightened by the size and shape of the large brush, however, the formula lets this product down for me as it is very wet and seems to separate my eyelashes without adding any extra volume. It is one of those mascaras that takes a lot of work in positioning your eyelashes how you want them with the brush and I even had to get another mascara wand to make them look how I wanted. Regardless, I used this for about a week straight to get a better idea of it and it doesn't flake or smudge underneath my eyes which is a really big bonus and it is a true black shade. Each person has different preferences when it comes to makeup and so if you already have quite thick eyelashes this mascara might be ideal but if, like me, you want fuller lashes this probably isn't for you.

There is also a waterproof mascara available from Cien as well as lipsticks, foundation and a BB cream all of which are priced at £1.99 as well as a range of moisturisers and other beauty bits. It doesn't look like Lidl stock their makeup online but next time you're willingly, or unwillingly, going there it's worth having a look at their range because for such cheap prices you could find a really decent product that works for you.

Next is a blusher I picked up in Asda from their own makeup range, George. I did a blog post last month about George's under eye concealer, which I lurveee, and I also own a few nail varnishes that are pretty good so when I saw an offer where many items were £2 each or 3 for £5 I picked this up. I built up that 3 for £5 offer just to let everyone down and say I got one thing, I must have had my sensible head on for the day. Anyway, there are 4 compact powder blushes available of which I bought number 4, Sorbet, and are usually priced at £3. The blushes are available here online at Asda and also in store.

Sorbet is an extremely subtle peach shade that I'm personally not a fan of as it takes a lot of application to build it up and make it visible which I find can be quite frustrating. The swatch above was after 4 swipes of the blusher and the pigment shows up less when used with a brush however, a lot of people enjoy a subtle blush so this isn't a fault of the blush but is worth noting especially if you have a darker skin tone as I'm not sure how well this would show up on you. When testing it on my finger it does seem to be quite a shimmery shade however, once on my cheeks the shimmer doesn't translate which I like and the lasting power is really good and compares to other blushes I own from more well known makeup brands.

I think it's so fun buying makeup from different places and not just the usual places like Boots or Superdrug as you can find a real bargain however, this time, I find the Lidl mascara and George blush to be just ok. The mascara I feel could be marketed more as a lengthening mascara while the blush is good but is a personal preference of me wanting a bit more colour and pigment and not down to the fact the makeup comes from a supermarket rather than a company specifically based around makeup. If you've tried any makeup from a supermarket let me know as I will be willing to try it out.