I love Illamasqua!

Illamasqua is quickly becoming one of my favourite brands and when they recently hit 50,000 followers on Twitter they gave a one day only code which was a 50% discount. I was screaming with excitement on the inside... and a little on the outside. I had so much on my wish list and narrowed it down to these three products; Gleam Highlight in Aurora, Cream Pigment in Hollow and their Eye Brow Cake in Thunder. If I had more money at the time I also would have picked up the Neutral Palette and their Brow and Lash Gel :(

The highlight was definitely an impulse purchase. I saw it + it was pretty + it got added to basket = my way of shopping (Who's with me, eh?). But I would go as far to say that this is one of the nicest highlighters on the market. Also, being a cream product means it work well with my dry skin, giving the most beautiful sheen to the face without looking overdone.

I had the Cream Pigment in Hollow on my wishlist for sometime after hearing it was a great contour colour for us ghostly white gals instead of bronzer, which it definitely is. The colour has none of those bright orange undertones and just subtly defines cheekbones easily. I get a bit worried about cream contours as I always think it'll be too creamy and the brush will pick up too much product and I'll end up looking ridiculous but the consistency of this is just right.

Saving the best till last. I fell in love with the Eyebrow Cake in Thunder from first use. I tend to just run a eyeshadow colour through my brows but this gives a completely different look to my brows even though it is essentially a powder shadow as well. It makes them look so much more full and filled in and just awesome, but not slug like (top notch!). This is a dark brown shade and my hair is naturally dark brown and this matches perfectly with no orangey undertones. I'm a bit OCD with my brows, i'm definitely not an over plucker as I love my brows at my natural fullness but I like having them as neat as possible and this is just making them look a million times better than before.

If you've never delved into Illamasqua products then I cannot encourage you enough. They really are just insanely beautiful and some of the best out there.

Ophelia.

Highlighter used with Real Techniques Setting Brush, Cream Pigment used with Real Techniques Contour Brush and Eyebrow Caked used with Crown Deluxe Angled Liner Brush.

What's in my make-up bag?

I just thought I'd share the products that are in my current make-up bag rotation. I change up the products a lot but this is what is currently in use.

I start by priming my face with Nars Multi-Protect Primer before adding my foundation, which is currently MAC Face & Body in N1. I'm ridiculously pale and this is the only foundation that I currently own that comes close to matching my ghostly complexion. I leave my base and then go onto my eyes.

I find eyeshadow creases on me really bad so I always prime my eyes with Urban Decay Eye Primer Potion. I then apply MAC Shroom eyeshadow all over the lid and Woodwinked in the outer corners and underneath. I don't put anything in my crease as my eye shape would just eat it up, never to be seen again. I line my upper lash line in a cat eye shape and tightline with Maybeline's Gel Eyeliner before putting Une Skin Glow Pencil on my waterline. A slick of Urban Decay  Curling Mascara and that's the eyes done. For brows I fill them in with my Clinique pencil.
Back to skin, I conceal with MAC Studio Finish Concealer and then powder under my eyes and forehead with Bourjois Eclat Mineral Powder. I then bronze my face with Guerlain Terracotta Sheer Bronzing Powder and then apply a bit of MAC Melba blush to the apple of my cheeks.
A bit of lipgloss/lipstick and I'm ready to go.

Ophelia.

Guerlain Terracotta Bronzing Powder

Hello Ladies! Hope you're all well. Been dying to get this post up for a few days now but my uni assignments have been calling. I feel like i'm on top of my work now so have time to pop a post up.

I had been dying to get my hands on a Guerlain bronzer for such a long time, so when I was wandering around the counter in John Lewis and the lady told me that they currently had 25% off the Terracotta range I thought it would have been rude not to. I never could justify paying over £33.50 on a bronzer so this only came to £25 with the money off. All the bronzers from this range look absolutely gorgeous so I decided upon this one which you can currently pick up from Debenhams with 10% off. I choose the colour 01 Blonde after recently becoming a blondie again.

top:lightly swatched, bottom:heavily swatched

As you can see, the colour is gorgeous. The pink shades in the bronzer really compliments my skin colour and the slight shimmer gives my skin a healthy glow. It only has to be applied lightly to give a great sweep of colour. All in all, I love it! Definitely a great new staple on my makeup bag!
I promise I'll get a FOTD up as soon as I can while i'm wearing this.

Have any of you girls tried the Terracotta range?

Love
Phillie
xxx

I♥Orange! MAC Ravishing and Jemma Kidd Cream Blush

Hello again ladies. I've been starting to notice a little trend in my makeup lately, apparently i'm subconciously loving a bit of orange at the moment! I didn't notice tuntil I was going through my makeup box to get my July favourites ready!

(Top-Bottom: MAC Ravishing, JK Pose, JK Pose blent in)

The MAC lipstick in Ravishing is a nice little staple of summer for any makeup bag! If you like a bit of a bright shade then this is great, it's not too over powering so it doesn't leave you looking like a clown. It's a nice mid orange and the cremesheen formula is lovely and applies really nicely. This was my first experience with a bright coloured lipstick and I found it drew attention to my gums (wierd right?). So, all I do is put some vaseline on my lips and then I apply the lippie to just the middle and then blend out with my lip brush, this makes it look more like a sheer lipstick which is so much better for me!

The Jemma Kidd Cream Blush has been my favourite product this month! I absolutely love it and have only been using this blush since I received it. I got this in the shade Pose, it looks really orange in the swatch but when blended in it looks so gorgeous, a light peachy-orange colour. I love peach blushes and this is amazing, the formula isn't thick at all so it gives a really light finish and it's so easy to blend! I haven't tried this on the lips but I can imagine it looking amazing. You can pick this up for just £9 from ASOS http://www.asos.com/Jemma-Kidd/JK-Jemma-Kidd-Stain-Flush-Blush-Concentrate/Prod/pgeproduct.aspx?iid=703672&cid=8156&sh=0&pge=0&pgesize=20&sort=-1&clr=Masquerade+02  small price for a great product :)

Are there any colours which you're loving at the moment?

Phillie
xxx

YSL Perfect Touch Radiant Brush Foundation

Hello Dolls. So, after my MAC Select Foundation not being right for my skin type I chucked it on eBay and bought a new one with the money I made from it. This time I decided to do a bit of background research to find myself the perfect foundation. I wanted it dewy, lightweight but still with a decent coverage. And after a bit of a search on the Debenhams website, I found it! YSL Perfect Touch Foundation!

I love YSL packaging, it always look so shiny and expensive. But onto the foundation... a quick google search showed me that not only does Olivia Palermo use this but also KATE MOSS. So a 40ml bottle retails at £32, a little pricey but definitely worth it.

This to me is the only downfall, the brush. It feels amazingly soft but it just doesn't blend foundation into the skin. I just squeeze the foundation onto my hand and apply with my normal foundation brush rather than the one provided.

(top: blended in, bottom: straight from the tube)

I can't get over how much I like this foundation, it just has everything I was looking. I purchased this in Opal(3). I always find no matter how light in colour my foundation is it always makes me look a little on the orange side, so the fact this doesn't is a big deal to me! It feels so light on the skin and it provides about a medium coverage but buildable which is always handy. It smells a bit like melons, which is strange but quite nice.
This is definitely a new favourite of mine and I feel really impressed by my first YSL foundation!

Are there any foundations which you girls are loving at the moment?

Phillie
xxx