September Favourites | Makeup
FOTD | Go-to Night Out Makeup
I’m always one to focus most of my time on my base. When it comes to a night out, I rarely skip using the Hourglass Veil Mineral Primer as it keeps my makeup in place better than any other product I’ve tried. For foundation lately, my favourite has to be L’Oreal True Match – this is a great budget alternative for my beloved Giorgio Armani Luminous Silk (check out my full review here). I add the Nars Radiant Creamy Concealer anywhere I may need some extra coverage, and I also take a shade lighter under my eyes and on the high points of my face to highlight. I set everything in place with a powder, either the Mac Mineralize Skinfinish Natural or the Hourglass Ambient Lighting Powder in Dim Light. I also found it important to add colour and definition to the cheeks or your face can look pretty flat in pictures. I bronze up the skin with Nars Laguna Bronzing Powder, and have been loving the Anastasia Beverly Hills Contour Kit to add shadows under the cheekbones and on the temples, and I also like using the lighter shades to set my under eye concealer and any highlighting I have done. I’ll top the look off with a little powder highlighter – my favourite recently has been the Bobbi Brown Shimmer Brick in Beige. I add some to the tops of my cheeks, the tip of the nose, the cupids bow and the chin.
BEST OF | Pink Makeup
From the hardest feature to the easiest to incorporate pink is the cheeks. A pink blush is the nearest to a natural flush without using a full-on red shade. Finding the right shade of pink can add a gorgeous youthful glow to the skin. The first blush I bring you is from my favourite formula, and it is the Tarte Amazonian Clay Blush in Dollface. These are the most long-lasting and smooth blushes I have ever tried and (apologies to all my non-American readers) you need to try one out ASAP. Ordering from Sephora is achievable these days so it is a little easier to get hold off. This shade is a pop of light pink that isn’t too warm or too cool so it would suit a huge range of skintones. On the more budget-friendly side is the Gosh Blush in Flower Power. This is slightly easier to wear that the bubblegum hues and works great on those with more yellow undertones in the skin. Having said that, I also feel this is a universal shade, and the slight shimmer adds a really pretty, but subtle, sheen to the cheeks.
My favourite way to incorporate pink, and my favourite makeup category in general, is definitely lipstick. If you’re like me and love to experiment with your lip colour and wear bold, bright shades, then Mac Lipstick in Impassioned is one of my all-time favourite shades. This colour is probably the shade that suits me the most out of anything I’ve tried, but I can see this working on so many people, fair to dark skin. It is a yellow-toned pink that leans slightly towards red. Stunning. For a slightly more blue hued fuchsia shade, I can’t recommend the Maybelline Color Drama Lip Pencil in Fuschia Desire enough (check out my full review of these here). Moving on to the more parred-down options, for those who love nude-pink shades, Mac Lipstick in Creme Cup will definitely become an instant favourite. The formula is gorgeously creamy and the shade is very flattering. Finally, a favourite everyday shade of mine would have to be Revlon Super Lustrous Lipstick in Pink in the Afternoon. This is a stunning warm-toned mid pink. It adds colour to your lips but it isn’t so much of a statement. This is definitely the one I’d recommend for those who are new to or slightly wary of pink on the lips.
And finally, we finish on nails. For the bright, in-your-face option, this Nails Inc Gel Effect Polish in Covent Garden Place is a fun and intense fuchsia, which i think looks amazing on the toes especially. This Barry M Nail Paint in Strawberry Ice Cream is definitely more everyday appropriate, but still adds enough pink to make it fresh and fun.
So that rounds up my pink-themed makeup picks. It’s funny because I wouldn’t really associate myself as a pink gal, but there’s something about pink makeup that is just really incredible, and it is a universally flattering shade. What are your favourite pink picks?
–RachelElizabeth
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The L’Oreal Glam Bronze in Golden Bronze retails for £7.99. There are two shades in this line, and this is the darker of the two (if you’re very pale, the lighter shade may be worth checking out!). It is a somewhat neutral bronzer; it is not overly red, orange or grey based, and sits somewhere in the middle of all of those. I sit somewhere between an NC20 and an NC30 and I find this too be a perfect shade of bronzer for me, particularly when I’m tanned. It is completely matte, which I love, and therefore can be used for both bronzing up the skin and contouring.