Winter Beauty Wishlist

I've put together my wish list of beauty items that I want so badly this winter. I will be leaving my list lying around the house just so my other half accidentally spots it and decides to buy me one or two (or all) for Christmas.

1. Illamasqua Skinbase Foundation. I've never used an Illamasqua foundation before, but after watching some Youtube videos with people using this I really want to try it. This is £27 and can be purchased from here.

2. Philosophy Hand and Cuticle Cream Ornament. I do like Philosophy product and this looks so cute and its only £9. I'm desperately trying to find a hand cream that I'm happy with so I would quite like to give this a try. It can be purchased from here and would make a great little stocking filler.

3. Bobbi Brown Caviar and Oyster Palette. I love Bobbi Brown Eyeshadows, I find them to be the nicest eyeshadows to use. They blend really nicely and have really good pigmentation and this palette is just too gorgeous. It costs £59 and can be purchased from here. I don't know if I will be able to wait until Christmas for this one and may just have to buy it myself.

4. Clinique Whole Lotta Colour Gift Set. This is just such a cute little set, it contains 5 chubby moisturising lip balms in Richer Raisin, Bulky Blossom, Chunky Cherry, Over sized Orange and Super Strawberry. Its only £30 and they are all colours that I would wear. You can purchase this from here. I think this one would be another great option for a stocking filler or gift.

5. Rodial Glamoxy Snake Serum. I am wanting this after using a couple of sachets from a Glossybox recently. I fell in love with it and I need the full size in my life. I did almost die when I saw the price but I still need this in my life. It cost £127 for 25ml and can be purchased here.

6. Mac Mineralize Skinfinish in Soft and Gentle. I have 4 MSF and I love them, I've been wanting this for a while but because I do have a lot of similar products I've been pretty good in resisting. However whilst Christmas is coming up I think me being sensible should go right out the window and I should buy it anyway just for the sheer beautifulness of it. It costs £21.50 and can be purchased here.

Nars Blush in Sin. I'm loving plummy coloured blushes at the moment and would like another brand to add to my collection. I've seen plenty of swatches of this and have decided that, yes this definitely deserves a place in my make up collection so I want it and I shall have it. It costs £21 and can be purchased from here.

Ok so here it is, my winter wish list. I'll be honest and say that there are alot more items that I do really want but these were the top ones that I want a little bit more!

Is there anything on here that's on your wish list?

FOTD and mini review

I thought I would do a face of the day today, I also used a couple of news products for the first time so I thought I would also give my first impressions of them.

I'm off work today and just wanted a quiet relaxing day so I went for a really simple and natural look.
I'm currently having some issues with spots, and lots of them. My skin has always been quite good but recently I have been breaking out alot and I end up with clusters in one area of my face. They are currently quite enjoying living on my cheek. So brace yourselves for a close up photo of my spots to come.
Because of the spots I wanted to try a new foundation. I read some good reviews on the Vichy Dermablend Foundation, its supposed to be good at camouflaging problem skin such as acne scarring and dark circles so I thought it may cover my spots.

 This was £15.50 from Boots and I went for the shade 15 Opal as it was the lightest shade that they stocked in my Boots, they do some lighter shades but unfortunately they didn't have them. It matches my skin quite well after blending it out.

This is a before and after picture of my face. This is just the foundation on my skin. I think I was expecting a little too much out of this foundation and I was thinking it was just going to cover everything and make my skin flawless. It doesn't do that but it does cover up quite well, it doesn't really take away any of the redness of the spots and I did still need to use concealer to cover them up a little more.

Onto the FOTD, here is the finished look

Here is what I used

Vichy Dermablend Foundation

Mac Mineralize Skin Finish in Medium Plus

Mac Peony Petal Blush

Mac Mineralize Skin Finish in Lightscapade

Mac Cross Cultural Eyeshadow (eyebrows)

Bobbi Brown Navajo Eyeshadow (brow bone highlighter)

Mac Painterly Paint Pot (eye primer)

Urban Decay Skimp (all over the eye)

Urban Decay Spotlight (centre of eye)

Urban Decay Wreckage (outer corner and crease)

L'oreal Volume Million Lashes in extra black

Mac Rebel Lipstick (applied lightly with a brush)

Now onto a little review of the mascara. I have heard so many good reviews on this mascara but never got round to trying it so I picked it up yesterday to try out. 

 I wanted to love this mascara so much especially with it costing over £10. I have tried some of the Natural Collection at Boots mascaras for £1.99 and been in love so for almost £10 more I was expecting a lot. Did it deliver? I'm still undecided. It definitely separated my lashes and it did so very well but it didn't give me any added length or volume which I was hoping for. I did also find that it clumped a little on the second coat. I'll continue to use the mascara and hopefully I will find some way to make it work for me.

I hope you enjoyed my little combined FOTD and mini review today.

Don't forget to enter my giveaway to win a Mac lipstick of your choice!

My top 5 products

So onto my top 5 products, this was a difficult one but these are the ones I decided came out above all the rest. They are in no particular order as I love them all equally.

 

I chose this palette because quite frankly I'm sick of wearing nude shadows on my eyes, since the day I purchased my Naked 2 palette the only eye looks I did was a nude and it was just boring. I bought this to change things up a bit and I'm so glad I did.

 

The palette includes 6 colours and retails for £31.50, you can find them here on the Boots website.

The colours in the palette are

Bliss - Matte beige

Putty - Taupe

Blacktop - Black with glitter

Mist -A shimmery very pale lilac

Royal - Dark matte purple

Nocturnal - Royal blue with glitter

I was a little disappointed at first as I felt that they weren't incredibly pigmented for the price. However the shadows are very blendable and easy to build up and the colours complement each other very well and make it really easy to achieve a smokey eye. On the back of the palette you can also peel back the label to find instructions on how to create a smokey eye which I think is a great idea if you are a beginner or just want a bit of help.

 

This is a fairly new addition to my collection but it has gone straight up there to my favourite foundation ever, this is the Max Factor Xperience Foundation. I usually wear Lancome on bad skin days and Yves Saint Laurent on good skin days but this is now my all round foundation. It offers excellent coverage without looking like I have piled on the make up and I don't find the need to powder at all with this. The colour match is also perfect for my skin. Max Factor say:

Love a full coverage but hate that heavy foundation feel? 

Well treat your skin to a new Xperience. 

Weightless to the touch and flawless to the finish it's what your skins been waiting for

The cost of this foundation is £9.99 and can be found at Boots here. Its almost a third of the cost of my usual foundation so I am really happy to have found this little gem.

 

I don't have a lot to say about this product other than it does what it claims to do. It really does make my pores to appear reduced. I have large pores on my nose and cheeks which I am quite conscious about but this product is a little miracle in a tube. You smooth a small amount over your make up and they disappear. I have no idea how this product works all I know is it does. I'll definitely be repurchasing this product over and over.

 This can be purchased at Boots here for £18.00. If you have enlarged pores I would definitely recommend giving this a try.

I've only recently purchased this at my local CCO for the bargainous price of £9.25. I am absolutely in LOVE with this lipstick. I usually go for the my lips but better shades of lipsticks and never really branch out into the brighter shades but this is amazing and really brightens up my face. 

This swatch does this lipstick no justice as its just a stunning shade and I think it would suit most skintones. 

Finally I have chosen Mac Breath  Of Plum blush, this is the perfect blush for me for autumn/winter. Its blends really well. I can be a little heavy handed with blusher sometimes and have to spend a while trying to tone it down but this can be built up from very sheer to more dramatic if required.

 

 

 This blush is £17.50 and can be purchased from Mac here.

So here is my top 5, as I said it was extremely difficult and I do have a lot of other products that come incredibly close to these but these just pip them to the post ever so slightly. Are any of your favourites featured in mine? I'd love to hear your comments.

Giveaway

I've been thinking hard about what I wanted to do for my first main post, so I decided on doing something a bit fun and what could be better than a giveaway.

The winner will receive a Mac lipstick of there choice, any colour (in the permanent line) all you have to do to enter is follow my blog and comment below with your favourite beauty product of all time. It can be a specific product such as Mac Rebel lipstick or a general item such as mascara. You can also add why its your favourite item. 

The winner will be chosen at random and will be announced on 1st November.

Good Luck!!