Perfect Palettes

Perfect Palettes...
Back on to the beauty topic this week and I felt like I should talk about palettes.

There's nothing better than buying something for a new palette or getting a completely new one with gorgeous shades and pigments.

For my choice, I've chosen 2 face palettes and 3 eyeshadow palettes.

Disclaimer - Please realise that these are all my opinion and I do purchase them all or have been given them as a gift from family. I do spend quite a lot of money on make up, but that's what I enjoy spending my money on so why not?

Let's get started...
Urban Decay Naked Flushed - £22.50
Urban Decay are really doing well with their products recently. I love pretty much everything in their range and this is my favourite face palette out of it. It's not too pricy and the highlight has a slight pigment. The blush is gorgeous and the bronzer is great. I'm sure you can get other shades for different skin tones?

Benefit Peek-a-Bright Eyes - £25.50
Benefit is a bit hit and miss for me... I love their Porefessional and They're Real mascara but I'm not too keen on the Lolli Balm (total rip off for £14.50!) However, I love this eyeshadow palette. It comes with 2 small brushes, 3 eyeshadows and an eye brightener. The shades are very similar to the eyeshadows in my MAC quad...

My MAC Pro Palette - £45
The refillable compact is 4x4 and was £5; it's also available in different sizes. The 4 Pro Palette shades that I have put in are: White Frost, Girly, Woodwinked and Embarked. These are definitely my favourite shades and my Mum pretty much has the same shades as me in hers! Each Pro Palette Refill Pan eyeshadow is £10

NARS Virtual Domination Cheek Palette - £45 - £55
For £45 I think this palette is amazing. I think NARS was selling them for £45 originally but they sold out super quick! So Selfridges brought it out for £55. You get 3 blushers, a highlighter and a bronzer. Great for £55 right?! (some of the names of the blushers are rude so I'll leave you to see if you click on the link!) Amazingly, the palette contains the Laguna bronzer in it's full size! This is normally £27.50!

Urban Decay Naked 2 Palette - £38
You can't go wrong for 12 shades for £38. This is my favourite eyeshadow palette that I've ever use before; trust me, there's been a few. I'm thinking about purchasing the Naked 3 but I don't think I'd use all the shades. Whereas with the Naked 2 palette, I use them all!! Amazing value for money!

Top left - Naked Basics - Urban Decay
Top right - Peek-a-Bright eyes... - Benefit
Left middle - My 'build your own' Pro Palette - MAC
Right middle - Virtual Domination Cheek Palette - NARS
Bottom - Naked 2 - Urban Decay

Cleanse, Tone and Moisturise

Cleanse, Tone and Moisturise 
For my CTM routine, I use products from the Liz Earle Naturally Active Skincare range. Previously, I have used more affordable products from Simple and Olay but since Christmas, I've fallen in love with these.

If you seriously want to enhance your skin and make it feel replenished then using a cleanser, toner and moisturiser, twice a day, will improve your skin short term and long term. I've done some research and they say you should start as young as possible; this can apparently reduce the appearance of wrinkles.

These Liz Earle products are pricy but you're paying for good quality - not just the brand. I have found that in the past month, my skin has started to feel great. I use these twice a day and you only need a small amount of both. There are definitely more affordable drugstore products in Boots etc, but sometimes, you just have to treat your skin. I do think that they are reasonably priced for the quality and I've already repurchased the toner.

Products mentioned:
Liz Earle Cleanser
Liz Earle Toner
Liz Earle Moisturiser

All About That Base

In this post, I'm not going to be singing or participating in Meghan Trainor's 'All About That Base' video... but I am going to be telling you about my go-to base products. I've tried to pick one from each of these categories: BB Cream, CC Cream, Tinted Moisturiser and Foundation.

Okay, so for those who aren't too sure what each of the products do, keep reading!

BB Cream: BB creams are short for blemish base or beauty balm. They basically are like a lighter foundation with a few skin care benefits thrown in.
CC Cream: CC creams are short for colour correcting. The products are supposed to address issue like redness or sallowness (usually with light-diffusing particles).
Tinted Moisturiser: Tinted moisturisers are a moisturising cream or lotion that has a slight tint to it, allowing it to provide some skin coverage.
Foundation: Foundations are used to cover up un-even skin tones, blemishes and give a nice base to work on.

My go-to base products:
BB Cream - Garnier Pure Active BB Cream in Light.
CC Cream - Olay Total Effects CC Cream for Light - Medium Skin Tone. This is a great CC cream from Boots and is quite affordable; it's on offer now!
Tinted Moisturiser - Laura Mercier Tinter Moisturiser with SPF and Oil Free. I have it in the shade Sand. Next time I will be purchasing in a lighter shade as I ordered online (BIG mistake!)
Foundation - Prepare for a few goodies... From Boots again is the Bourjois Healthy Mix Serum Gel foundation in the shade Vanille. The next is from Selfridges and it is the Chanel Vitalumière Aqua Ultra - Light foundation. It contains SPF 15 and really is light! It's such a great product. Last, but not least, is the MAC Studio Sculpt Foundation in NW20. This also has SPF 15 and has great coverage.

Mascara this, Mascara that...

The 3 must-have mascaras:

These mascaras are by far amazing. Either just by themselves or all at once, they give an extended look to your lashes.

From left to right:
Clinique - High impact mascara With this, you could just apply by it's self and get nice thick lashes, but when you apply the MAC mascara beforehand, it finishes the look beautifully. As you can see by the picture, I am way overdue a repurchases. This product has lasted me around 6 weeks. 

MAC -Studio Fix Boldblack Lash
As I said, applying this before the Clinique mascara, you will get a great set of lashes. Even just using this product alone, your eyelashes will look even and long without clumps of mascaras here and there! This product is still on the go after 8 weeks!

Clinique - Bottom Lash Mascara
By far my most favourite bottom lash mascara. In previous experiences, I've been left with panda eyes due to a bad formula, wearing my makeup all day, or being out in wild conditions. However, with this mascara you don't need to worry about that! It is literally perfect in the sense that it doesn't do any of the above. Got to love a great mascara that won't budge right? Currently on my second week of using this; it's staying strong.