Estee Lauder double wear review with before and afters!

The other day I realised I had a CCO store near me, where they sell discounted high end make up products. I therefore decided that my next foundation would be a high end one! I went in with a medium coverage coverage in mind, however, the only foundation which they had in stock that matched my skin was the very heavy sounding Estee Lauder Double wear, however I took it home with me (probably due to the £19 price tag when it retails for £28.50, can't resist a discount!)

First impressions; this is a seriously thick foundation, like double concentrate squash, you really do

only need just half as much as usual. I place it on the centre of my face and use my hands to really blend it in, though I still need a bit of practice! Once it is on it sets to quite a matte finish and then it really does not budge, it is also covers everything, as you will see at the end of this post. Due to the tiny amount I need I'm sure this bottle will last me a long time and I am very pleased I picked it up. The only downside for me is that it does not have a pump! It is definitely heavier than I am used too, so I still have a BB cream in my arsenal for when double wear is just a bit too much. 

And now for what I am sure we have all been waiting for...The before and afters! you really can see the difference the foundation makes on my skin, which has been misbehaving a lot lately! and then you can also see what my finished make up looks like. For the first time I felt like I didn't need concealer, I just tapped in a bit of extra foundation around my nose and under my eyes.

Topshop lip paint Yeah Right - my HG red lip?

If you read my red lip rundown here then you will know that I already have a lot of products for when I want a scarlet pout. However, none of them were really ticking all my boxes, they were too drying, sticky or just didn't last long enough. That was until the fateful day when I ventured into the world of topshop make up, and snapped up a lip paint in Yeah Right for £3 in the sale, yes £3!

put it on quickly just for this snap so sorry if it looks rushed!

ermagerhd I am seriously in love with this. If I was to liken it to anything I would say Rimmel apocalips as in it is a liquid lipstick kind of formula. However, this stuff is seriously long lasting, it will not come off until you really want it to, and I mean seriously. I found it really easy to apply and a lovely glossy colour that after a few hours was a un-budgeable stain. To put it simply, I went on a very heavy night out with this painted on and it lasted the whole night, I literally only topped it up once or twice and that was for gloss rather than colour, definitely HG status.  I can't find this on the website but I strongly suggest you rush down to your topshop and pick one up, because lets not forget that this tube of awesomeness is just £3!

makeup-pixi3's + faithsummerloves awesome giveaways

I just have to tell everyone (and get some extra entries, it's that good) that Georgina, over at makeup-pixi3 is having a awesome summer giveaway, super generous with 2 prizes, both contain MAC lipsticks and the much coveted Bioderma as well as plenty of other goodies up for grabs, I strongly suggest you go here and check it out - Good luck!!

And that's not all, there is also another opportunity to win a MAC lipstick of your choice! and some fab Soap and Glory goodies (never met anyone who did not like soap and glory) and a lovely MUA eye shadow palette, as well as lots of other little goodies for you to get your hands on and try, here at faith's lovely blog. What are you waiting for?? - Good luck!!

I now have GFC!

Just a quick post to point out that if you look to left you will see a lonely looking GFC widget (finally!) I would love it if you followed! :)

Don't ignore the clearance shelf...

Normally the clearance section in Superdrug is filled with sorry looking products that have either smashed, lost their tops, are half empty, or all of the above! So I wasn't expecting much when I glanced at it whilst queuing up, until I spotted these beauts at 50p each!

This trio make for the perfect sultry smokey blue eye. They are so pigmented and aside from the black which has a bit more of a gritty feeling they are super soft. I definitely won't ignore the clearance bin from now on!

Petrol nails

So I just thought I would show you my gorgeous 'petrol' nails! these are shellac and done with foil wraps, I just love it when they catch the light and think they are awesome in a grunge-glamour looking way. What do you think?

What caught my eye...

All images sourced from Tumblr

Mixing lipsticks.

So the main idea of this post is to tell you all about mixing lipsticks. I have always heard make up artists and seasoned make up wearers talk about this, and thought it a little out of my depth. Until a late ebay spree and my obsession with MAC landed me with 2 lipsticks that were just not for me, at all. The shades in question? Viva Glam 2 (does anyone know what symbol the lines are?) and Happy hibiscus. On my wonky lips you can see the viva glam shade at the top which is just too dark and brown toned for my liking, and happy hibiscus on the bottom which is far to white for me. However, when they are mixed they make a lovely pale pinkish nude! whaddya think? and whats more I think that happy hibiscus will be a perfect mixing shade if I ever want to tone down or make any lipstick shade a bit pastel-y. Am I late to the band wagon with lipstick mixing? do you have any favourite shades you like to combine?

Illamasqua Beg - review and swatches

A while ago I won a give away over at Charlotte's lovely blog, the prize was an Illamasqua blush of my choice! I had never owned any Illamasqua product before so was ecstatic and spent a decent amount of time umm-ing and ahh-ing over which colour. I eventually settled on Beg as it seemed like quite a safe but still lovely colour to go for. 

This blusher is so so soft and pigmented that I really only need to lightly dab my brush in it to pick up enough product. It blends flawlessly and I think it works so well as a slightly contour-y blush. My only gripe is that the packaging is a magnet for sticky fingerprint marks!  I cannot thank Charlotte enough for introducing me to Illamasqua blushes and I cannot wait for my collection to grow.