Summer Beauty Haul | Real Techniques, Hourglass, John Frieda & more

All of a sudden we find ourselves in the middle of May (!) and bloody hell, summers right on the doorstep now. I went shopping yesterday intending to buy only one thing and ended up coming home with a few more bits than I expected to, but lets just call it getting ready for summer...

On My Face #3

What's On My Face: Winter Party Edition

 

I haven't done a FOTD type post in ages now and I thought what better time to talk about a load of makeup products than when the party season is in full swing. These above are some of the products I used to create a winter party appropriate look last night and will probably continue to repeat throughout the month for the remainder of celebrations left to come.

I started with a little sample of MAC's Prep + Prime for my base, I really like this and will no doubt end up buying the full size when it runs out. The Prep + Prime is unlike the primers I have tried before in the way that this feels quite soothing almost like a second moisturiser rather than that odd texture of my Porefessional from Benefit. For my foundation I stuck with my favourite Nars Sheer Glow which is what I will usually reach for on a evening out or when I'm making a bit more of an effort with my makeup. I've written a review of the foundation here if you're interested to hear more of my thoughts about it. Normally I would have popped a bit of powder ontop but my skins pretty dry at the moment so I set it with spray at the end instead.

To brighten my under-eye area of course the Touche Eclat from YSL came to my rescue, I like to apply this with a beauty blender type sponge I think the one I've got was just a cheap one from Superdrug as I don't own a proper beauty blender. To warm my face up I always rely on my Nars Laguna Bronzer, I take this on a big Real Techniques powder brush and dust it to all the areas of my face that would naturally get more colour. For a touch more colour and a tad of shimmer I used MAC Warm Soul which is a gorgeous rose gold blush, full post here. And to highlight I used Nars Copacabana Illuminator which I will also link a full review to here.

After priming my lids I went in with MAC Sumptous Olive eyeshadow which is a stunning hybrid of gold and khaki green. This is a lovely shade for those who are perhaps a bit like myself fearful of 'colourful' eyeshadows because it isn't an out there kind of green due to the golden tones. This is quite shimmery which added to the festive green colour makes it an ideal option for a winter party makeup look. I did last minute decide to go in with a bit of liquid eyeliner which I didn't photohrapgh. For mascara I used YSL Babydoll Mascara which is gorgeous for nights out as it makes your lashes so black and dramatic. Brows are always left to Anastasia Dip Brow Pomade which I've confessed my love for here.

Finally the star of the show for me was my latest Nars Audacious Lipstick Audrey. Audrey is the perfect red wine coloured lipstick, its definitely unlike the other red lipsicks I own as its quite deep and almost leans berry toned. Quite a lot of deep reds have that brown undertone to them which I'm not really too keen on but I think Audrey is still more of a red but sits more on the red berry toned scale of things. Its quite a vampy red which I love and it definitely makes a statement. Again the formula of this lipstick is incredible - so opaque in like one swipe. And just becuase I'm a bit of a perfume junkie I thought I'd include my choice of scent for a typical winter party and that is Jo Malone Velvet Rose & Oud - a delicious evening fragrance that I've also reviewed before on the blog here.

QOTD: What products will be on your face for the winter party season?

Real Techniques Nic's Picks Brush Set Review

I've said it before and I'll say it again, Real Techniques seriously know how to do makeup brushes. Most of my collection consists of RT brushes as the quality is amazing and they are just so affordable. Now it goes without saying that the beauty world was going to swoon over the latest, silver limited edition release of makeup brushes Nic's Picks, but I swooned pretty hard and couldn't even wait for these to make their way to Boots so made a cheeky Escentual order a couple of weeks ago. These arrived super quickly and I even got them in time for my holiday which made me very happy indeed. The set includes five brushes and three of which are exclusive to the set and the brush which excited me most had to be the cheek brush, however after using these solidly for a few weeks now I can honestly say that I'm massively impressed by every single one.

The duo-fibre face brush designed for the application of lighter products just didn't really work for me with powder - I didn't get on with it for some reason but when used with my Nars Tinted Moisturiser it was an absolute dream, the soft bristles effortlessly sweep the product across my face so evenly and flawlessly. I know the brush is meant for powder but honestly try it with a BB cream or tinted moisturiser and you will see exactly what I mean! The first set exclusive is the cheek brush, which as I mentioned above was the brush I was most looking forward to using and it didn't disappoint - its honestly the perfect sized brush for blush and I can see it replacing my RT blush brush already.

Another exclusive to the set is the angled shadow brush, which is another brush I've been loving as its the most perfect size to fit into the crease of your eye and because its so soft it blends product beautifully. I know that I'm going to get so much use out of this brush as I don't have anything remotely similar. I've been enjoying the base shadow brush used with concealer and then the last set exclusive the eyeliner brush I've actually been using to soften the look of my eyebrows as I'm not really a big eyeliner wearer but still want to get use out of it.

The set is easily one of my favourites from RT so far, I absolutely love the silver handles although my one and only grumble has to be that I've noticed that the wording is already starting to rub off on a couple of brushes which is a bit annoying. I can see past the wording rubbing off the brush handles purely because the brushes are so lovely to use and as always make applying products so much easier and give you that flawless finish.

QOTD: Will you be purchasing Nic's Picks?