FIRST REACH FAVOURITES

Over these past few months, I've still loved playing about with my make up - blog or no blog. When Christmas was around and I moved back home there were a few items in my stash that I took with me everywhere I travelled.

My absolute obsession was the Burberry Quad in Gold No.2 that I think could have been Limited Edition, but check out your nearest counters. It was insanely easy to make any eye look out of this quad and I even found myself doing a quick five minute smoky eye on a friend minutes before having to leave on New Years Eve! Not the best quality eye shadow I've used - there's some fall out - but very pigmented and luxurious.

Another eye love is the Burberry Sheer Eyeshadow in Pearl Grey No.17. Yes, not Pale Barley! I'm not entirely sure on the Pale Barley obsession, but maybe you have to try it to love it? Pearl Grey is an easy shade to just sweep all over the lid for an easy but defined lid. Pair it with lashings of mascara and a nude lip for an pared down but classy look.

Everyone's favourite, Chanel Les Beige has been a staple handbag item, a quick dusting on the face leaves you matted down yet glowy - what more could you want? My boyfriend even said the smell reminded him of me. No complaints there!

Nars Sheer Glow fell off my radar for a bit. I never bothered buying a pump and hated the faff of getting the liquid out. It is absolutely worth the effort though and it is again a firm favourite of mine. It blends in so effortlessly and makes my skin look absolutely flawless. I used to always blend this with the Real Techniques buffing brush, but have recently been converted to getting hands on with it, creating a lighter finish.


What have been your latest loves? I'm definitely in the market for some good beauty knowledge...

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NARS SHEER GLOW FOUNDATION

I've always been quite happy with most foundations that I buy, I don't usually jump straight in there, I'll try them out first and make sure I'm 100%. Nars Sheer Glow however, I bought on a bit of a whim having not tried it before and guess what? I've never loved a foundation like I love this one.

It applies so, so seamlessly that even when I do the good ol' Lisa Eldridge trick - giving my skin a proper inspection in a magnified mirror - it looks so flawless and gives a satin, second-skin like finish. Like many people I was put off by the name, but don't fear! This foundation is neither sheer, nor too glowy. When applied with my buffing brush I get a decent medium coverage that very easily covers and conceals any redness and blemishes, although I do like to apply a litttttle bit of concealer just to be sure. The finish of it is just stunning - it's luminous, but not so much that you look sweaty or oily, more like you've had a decent nights sleep and been guzzling water!

I applied this around 9am, had a full day and evening out and didn't find myself needing to touch it up at all. In fact, I was extremely bad that night and was so exhausted I didn't remove my makeup. 10am the next morning I came to remove it and my skin still looked healthy and flawless.

Like everyone I do find it really annoying that there's no pump, especially for the price (£30.50) as there's always waste, but I do think I've got the hang of getting the right amount out now.
The shade I have is Mont Blanc which is a bit too light for me, but is easily warmed up with a bit of bronzer!
You hardly need any, so I can see this lasting me a while. Even then, I'd repurchase it without a second thought!

Let's see how it stands throughout winter... Have you tried this? Or is it on your wishlist?

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Revlon Nearly Naked and some pretty dodgy lipstick application..

Can I start off by saying, lord knows what happened with my lipstick, I obviously did it with my eyes closed because I've completely missed out half of my upper lip. Anyway, now I've got that out...

I've been using the Revlon Nearly Naked foundation for probably around a month now, as you can see from the wear and tear of the bottle, and I'm really falling in love with it! It creates a smooth base and covers up most redness I have, be it a blemish or red marks on my cheeks. I was SO surprised by this as all reviews I've read advertise it as a light foundation. I find the foundation really brightens my complexion as well, I just feel my skin has more of a glow.

The formula is gorgeous, it has a gel like consistency and really reminds me of the YSL Touche Eclait foundation by the way it feels and applies. I do find it very easy to use too much of this, not only because of the bottle, but I always seem to think I need more than I actually do, but when I use more it applies horribly and just doesn't blend. It is quite buildable though, if I feel I need a little more coverage, I'll dip the end of an eye brush into the lid and pick up a tiny bit of the product and just apply and blend where I need it.

It lasts well! After about 6 hours I feel the need to top up, but only slightly and in certain areas such as my nose and where any redness occurs. As everyone has pointed out, the pumpless bottle is a downside, but it's nothing I can't cope with! I use shade 120 Vanilla and I find this is a surprisingly good match for my skin, I think there's one shade lighter, but I think it's more the tone of that one that is different, but don't quote me on that! It was a long time ago I got this.

Have you used this foundation? How did you get on with it? :)

Please check out my giveaway! Lots of nice things for you to win :)

YSL le teint touche eclat & forever youth liberator serum

I definitely feel no need to preach about Yves Saint Laurent's most prestigious and loved foundation, Le Teint Touche Eclat, but hell I'm going to anyway. I. Am. In. LOVE.

The absolute sweetest lady at YSL matched me up and then actually applied it all over my face, used the Touche Eclat concealer and applied a little blush. She initially applied it just to one half of my face, over my other make up (done at Benefit, linked here) and I was absolutely amazed. I've never had such a flawless, light finish in my life.

Anyway, onto the foundation. Touche Ecat has just an incredible finish due to the formula. There are no powders at all in this product meaning it doesn't dry up, cling to any dry skin or stick to any hairs. It also includes light reflectors making your skin look radiant and blurs any imperfections. To me, this is the most perfect formula as I have an uneven skin tone and dry skin. The coverage is medium, but buildable. I prefer to use my Real Techniques Buffing brush to apply this giving a good coverage, but if I wanted something lighter I would use my fingers. Having quite fair skin, BR20 is the perfect shade for me, however she gave me BR40 as well just in case.

A not so well known product from YSL is their Forever Youth Liberator Serum. This serum claims to 'increase youthful activity in skin cells'. For me, I can't really comment on how it's helped my skin in an anti-wrinkle point of view, but this serum is incredibly hydrating and firming. I find the hydration lasts for quite a few days so I rarely need to apply it, but one of these sample sachets lasts two-three applications, so I tend to apply it in the evening until the sachet is empty so it doesn't dry up or anything. It's reeeally pricey at £45+ so I highly doubt I would buy it, I'm sure I could find another serum that does a decent job for much, much cheaper. But if I do ever win the lottery, I will be after this.

So what do you think about these products? YSL are great with samples, so don't hesitate to ask for a colour patch and sample! I will definitely be purchasing the foundation when I get the money, without a doubt.

benefits hello flawless oxygen wow foundation and boi-ing concealer

Top swatch is Hello Flawless foundation
Bottom swatches are Boi-ing concealer

As you can see in this post, I got these two items in the How To Look The Best At Everything flawless complexion kit, and I'm really disappointed by one of the products.


I received Hello Flawless Oxygen Wow in shade "Cheers to me!" Champagne. I am sooooo disappointed in this, it genuinely saddens me haha. I had such high expectation for this but it really isn't what I expected.

For starters, the kit I got was aimed at light skin. I don't have ridiculously pale skin but the is so, so dark for me, it looked ridiculous. Maybe if the shade was better I would have enjoyed it more? Obviously, they can't cater for EVERYONES skin colour, that would be impossible, but this is crazy dark.
Another downside is how greasy it made my skin look. Although this is apparently an oil free foundation, my face looked so shiny and disgusting I felt the need to apply a decent amount of powder to cover it up, but I didn't, I waited to see if the oilyness would die down or something. I left the house still feeling pretty disappointed by how I looked, but I wanted to test it and give it a chance, maybe it would be better in a lighter shade. It did NOT get better. I checked my face a couple of hours later and loooord it looked AWFUL. Next to my nose, under my eye it had dried and was flaking it was horrific. Foundation has never done this to me, I don't suffer from dry skin too much, but I especially don't there. I was ashamed it was just horrific.
I decided to give it another chance a couple of days later, but I wanted to try applying it with a brush. Alas, I was left with the same, awful results. Ridiculously disappointed.

Have any of you guys tried this? What did you think?


NOW, the Boi-ing concealer is just out of this woooorld. I've tried so many concealers and never been 100% happy with them. They always look cakey, even the highly praised Collection 2000 concealer. Luckily, I never really have to wear it too often, but I do like to put a bit under my eye to brighten it up.
With my disappointment of most other concealers, I wasn't expecting too much from this but as soon as I applied the lightest shade to my under eye I was incredibly surprised! It applied like a dream. I used my finger as I like to warm up concealer to help blend it and it just looked flawless. Of course, shade one was a little too light, but after I blended the two shades given it was perfect. I really couldn't praise this concealer more.


So, two VERY different reviews! I have a "beauty lesson" at Benefit in a couple of weeks, let's see what they choose when I ask them to help me create a flawless, dewy face!
What are your views on these products? I'd love to hear :)

Also! I'm looking for someone to illustrate a picture of me for my blog header, would anyone be so kind as to do it or even recommend someone?!

benefit 'how to look the best at everything' and POREfessional review

This holy bible like flawless complexion kit contains some of Benefit's most popular, cult products such as POREfessional and Hello Flawless foundation. The kit also contains the boi-ing concealer which comes in two shades, and the Hello Flawless powder. I picked up the 'light' shade, it also comes in medium and deep. I'm planning on doing a full review on the foundation and the concealer, so for now I'll tell you my views on POREfessional.

POREfessional is a balm which aims to reduce the look of your pores. It comes out a slightly beige colour. As soon as you apply this, it feels so velvety and smooth, it really does feel amazing. I was really disappointed about it though. For me, my pores looked exactly the same, no reduction, no cover up, no nothing. I do think this is really good as a primer though. It creates a smooth, even base for your foundation to go over. I don't use a moisturiser when I'm using this, I'll just use a toner and then apply this. I find it's already quite hydrating, if I had moisturiser, then this, then foundation I don't think it'd stick as well, if that makes sense! I feel it'd be difficult for the foundation to settle.

Back to the kit! The samples are quite small, but for £24.50, what can you expect? I love the size of the concealer though and the fact you can take them out and pop them in your bag is a plus. I do wish you could take the powder out though, or even that it had a lid on it. All you get is a plastic cover that isn't stuck to the box so it slides out all the time, but with the tips and tricks "book" on the top, sometimes the page opens and it gets the powder which is annoying. The tips and tricks book is great though, especially for people just starting out doing makeup seriously. You can open both sides to reveal a mirror and there's 5 pieces of advice. I absolutely love that, I think it's such a good addition to it.

Overall I'm completely impressed with this product. Find a link to it here and have a look for yourself!

maxfactor facefinity foundation review

Hellooo!
As you saw yesterday, I purchased MaxFactor's latest foundation, facefinity. Previously, I had never used any makeup from the MaxFactor range, but I decided to splash out a little and treat myself. It took me over an hour to get what I wanted, I really had no idea where to begin. A lady, obviously working for them, approached me asking me if I was okay, my reply was "Yeah.... Just look- I've no idea what I'm getting, I think I need full coverage but help!" hahaha, she just looked at me and pointed me to this, and then matched my shade as 'Beige'. Once she'd gone, I was a little scared about getting that shade, I usually go much lighter, so I picked a lighter shade just in case and went for 'Warm Almond'.
I'm so glad I went with my instinct! When I got home I put it straight on and was so pleasantly surprised. It applied like a dream. It's not overly thick in consistency but not watery. When I started blending it in, it got a little thicker, but you could instantly see the difference. It wasn't oily but it wasn't matte so obviously I topped it of with a powder.
Over the day I kept on checking it, wanting to see how it lasted and it did so well! My nose got oily, but I fully expected that. I think it could have done with a top up on the powder, but it wasn't desperate like I used to be with old foundations.

Here's a picture (awful picture, should I say) that gives a pretty good representation of the coverage, not so much the colour because the flash was ridiculous.
If you want any information about other makeup I'm wearing, just leave me a comment!

The foundation claims to include both primer and concealer. I was unsure whether I should still apply my primer? I don't generally use a concealer, but what do you think? Would you apply your primer and concealer also just to be sure?