Five Product Face

Isn't make-up great? I can just walk into Boots or wherever, get completely sucked in, and suddenly I come away with the whole shop in my basket. There are so many gorgeous products on offer these days it's easy to go crazy, but as brands work to develop a load of newfangled things, they often make products that are multi-use...so in reality, you won't end up needing most of the stuff that fills your collection. Though I obviously love spending a load of dolla on make-up, there are some core products in my make-up bag that eliminate the need for everything else, to create quick and glam looks and could keep any collection to a minimum. These are some of my favourites, and I have used them to quickly put together a classic red-lip look that I adore. 

Firstly, for base, to narrow down your collection, there's no need for several concealers or foundations that each tackle different things, so all have to be slapped on at once. Colour correctors instantly negate the need for anything else. If you go and buy anything I've used here, I strongly recommend it's the NYX 3C Palette - Conceal, Correct, Contour. One palette, all little troubles solved. I use the peach-toned corrector under my eyes to get rid of dark circles and fatigue, and I was a little red on my nose particularly after holiday, but smothering on the green-toned corrector covered it up amazingly. The lighter concealer shade is a little to dark for me, but blended in well enough, it covers spots nicely. If you wanna get even more creative with this palette, using the yellow-toned corrector on the eyelids both eliminates the appearance of veins and gives eyeshadow a solid base to stick to, and the darker concealer shade can be used lightly as a cream contour, depending on your skin tone. Each shade is beautifully brightening and easy to blend; I reach for this so much more than any other base product.

When it comes to eye shadow palettes, I (usually) have a two requirements: a nice eyebrow shade, and a matte black. The Too Faced Natural Eyes palette doesn't have a black, but it does have a darn good brow match for me in the shade Sexpresso. I use an angled brush to take the powder through my brows. And because I was going for quite a classically glam look, I tried to make my brows quite shapely and defined, so squared them off at the front, and built up the pigmentation gradually. Of course, this palette can also be used on the lids. For a nice and simple matte shadow look, I took the shade Heaven all over the lid and to the browbone for a lil bit of highlight, then took Nudie on a blending brush through the crease, before adding my fave shade in the palette - Honey Pot - to the inner corners to open up the eyes. 

When I was in the States, I was desperate to pick up the IT Cosmetics Tightline Mascara/Primer thingy because I'm big into both cruelty-free make-up, and a good skinny brush mascara. Unfortunately the Sephora I went into didn't stock the brand, so in a rush I quickly picked up the Make Up For Ever Excessive Lash mascara. When I got home I was gutted to find out Make Up For Ever is most definitely not a cruelty-free brand, so kind of annoyingly this is an amazing mascara. It separates lashes brilliantly, gives a lovely curl and incredible length. If you get right to the the root of your lashes and shimmy the brush upwards, you're guaranteed to get a stunning effect on your lashes, but also it blackens your lashline, so gives the appearance of using liner when you haven't touched the stuff. 

One of my favourite all-over cheek products has to be the MAC Trip the Light Fantastic Powder in Highly Illogical. This was part of their limited edition Star Trek collection last year so is actually no longer available in stores - you can get it for silly prices on eBay (though it is superb, so I wouldn't blame you if you splashed out) but something like the MAC Mineralize Blush in Warm Soul could potentially give a similar effect. With its red-toned swirls, gold shimmer and pink hues, this is a blush, bronzer and highlight all rolled into one, but gives a beautiful and natural effect. It can be built up to be really pigmented, but, especially with a bold lip, I like a soft sweep across the cheeks for something a bit more subtle. 

Lastly, we come to lips. Lip pencils aren't particularly new ideas, but great things nonetheless. The Maybelline Colour Drama Lipstick formulas are fantastic, especially at such an affordable price. The colour I've used here is Red Essential, but I also lurve Berry Much for Autumn/Winter. I go for bolder colours in this lip pencil formula because they are so easy to apply and keep neat - you can use them as a lip pencil to outline your lips, then fill them in with the wonderfully creamy but matte colour. The pigmentation lasts for a good amount of time, too. These are such a fab lipstick find, with this colour being both a little bit bold, but seriously gorgeous. 

I love love love all of these products; they make applying make-up so much fun and a whole lot quicker. Who knows - you might see a few more of these Five Product Face posts with different products and different looks. Let's see how much make-up I can buy on a student loan. 

From, 

Eleanor