Effortless Everyday Makeup.

Rimmel Scandaleyes Waterproof Kohl in Nude *

MAC Prep + Prime Skin Base - £19.50

Dr Jart Water Fuse BB Cream - £18 *

Stila Convertible Colour Blush in Lilium - £16
HD Brows Brow Beater - £14.95 *

Laura Mercier Brow Pencil in Soft Brunette - £15.50

Clinique High Impact Extreme Volume Mascara - £17 *

Collection Lasting Perfection Concealer - £4.19 *

As the months get colder, Kate gets lazier. And sometimes, more inventive with the makeup routine. On days where I've sacrificed a well made up look for an extra ten minutes in bed, these are the products I reach for to keep my makeup looking fresh and effortless.

I always start these hurried mornings with the MAC Prep + Prime Skin Base, it's one of those "do all" products that I adore. It's the only primer I have that gives a glow to the skin whilst also smoothing it over. It also helps with blotting away excess oil - perfect for post run to catch the train! My base looks flawless after using this little wonder, and I follow it with the Dr Jart Water Fuse BB Cream - another product that I rate highly. This is good coverage, easy and quick to apply and leaves my skin looking healthy without heavy coverage. It does help to really coverage imperfections, but for any other blemishes showing through, I use my trusty Collection Lasting Perfection concealer. An absolute favourite of mine, I will never be without it!

I continue the slap dash makeup routine with yet another Holy Grail product of mine, the Stila Convertible Colour blush in Lilium. This is the perfect pop of colour to make your skin look alive and ready for the day. I pop this on to my cheeks with warm fingers and quickly work in with a Stippling brush. As this is a lip and cheek product, I also dab a little bit on my lips for an effortless but gorgeous lip colour.

After the base is done, I spend a bit of time making sure my eyes are looking awake and bright! I swear by nude eyeliners to give my tired eyes a boost, I have issues with my eyes and they often look red so a nude eyeliner is one of my essential products. I don't wear any other eyeliner but nude, it conceals redness and makes eyes look so bright and open. I use this new Rimmel number to line along my waterline and also the inner corner of my eyes. You'll be surprised at how much this does for you!
My brows frame my whole face so they're never missed off my routine. I quickly brush through my brows to tame with the HD Brows Brow Beater, it keeps them in place all day and gives them the perfect shape. I then fill in and define with my favourite pencil, the Laura Mercier Brow Pencil. This makes my brows look so strong but natural.

Lastly, a quick slick of my favourite mascara, the Clinique High Impact Extreme Volume, and I'm finished!
This whole look takes no time at all but my makeup looks flawless and fresh, without the pale complexion and tired eyes!

What are your tips for an effortless makeup routine?

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Looking for a review? You might find it in my product directory!

Review: Esteé Lauder Violet Underground Collection.

Esteé Lauder Violet Underground Palette - £40 *
Esteé Lauder Violet Underground Lipstick in Black Cassis - £19.50 *

When I saw the latest Esteé Lauder collection, Violet Underground, I knew I had to have it, although it's completely out of my comfort zone. 

Both the palette and the lipstick shown are not shades I'd usually go for, I don't even own anything like this! But with Autumn and Winter at our doorsteps, I thought I'd opt for some fitting shades for once and so, the vampy look was born!

I actually really like the dark lips, I thought my boyfriend would be horrified but he commented on them saying they were "different" which is a good thing. 

I absolutely adore the eye makeup, which was done using the more "me" colours of the palette - a gorgeous neutral, satin beige (bottom left) and a rich, chocolate brown (top right) and I think this will become an evening look for me. As I don't wear eyeliner, I rely on eyeshadow and mascara to open my eyes and these shades together really do make eyes stand out. 

Although this look isn't something I'd usually go for, I love how Autumnal and different it is! I reckon I'll be whipping out the Black Cassis lipstick once again... what do you think? 

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Daily Makeup #6: Bobbi Brown Desert Twilight Collection.

Bobbi Brown Desert Twilight Palette - £48 *

Bobbi Brown Blusher/Bronzer Duo - £27 *
Creamy Colour Lip/Cheek in Honeyed Tea - £12.50 *
High Shimmer Lipgloss in Firefly - £17 *

When I recently blogged about this Bobbi Brown Desert Twilight palette, you all went a bit mad for it, so I thought I would show you the rest of the collection. Until recently, I didn't have much from Bobbi Brown as it was a brand I never really felt drawn to. In the last month or two, I've really been loving their products and my collection has really built up. 

I was sent some lovely bits from the Desert Twilight collection, the palette alone does it for me! It's the great range of beautiful shades, suitable for day and night. I haven't put this palette down since I got it, it's quickly become one of my favourites and I'm sure you can see why. It has every shade you will ever need. 

Also within the collection is this lovely blusher bronzer duo, I love how shimmer and bright the shades are, they're not your usual duo shades and I love the blusher especially. You can see in the picture above, it's a lovely pop of shimmery, bright colour to the cheeks. I think it's so nice on my skin tone and it also works well with the bronzer (which I use to create some cheekbones!). 

Lastly, I'm wearing Firefly, a new high shimmer gloss which has grabbed my heart. I'm not one for overly shimmery products (or lipglosses for that matter) but this looks lovely on and it's great to apply a lip product and not have to worry about it drying my lips or smearing. 

Overall, I'm really impressed with this collection! It has some incredible products and has got me loving Bobbi Brown even more. 

What do you think of the look? 

Daily Makeup #5.

Rock n Rose Nora Cown - £36 *

Clarins Instant Smooth Primer; Laura Mercier Silk Creme foundation; Collection Lasting Perfection Concealer;  MAC MSF in Soft and Gentle; Jemma Kidd Blushwear Creme in Paw Paw*; MAC Paint Pot in Groundwork*; UD Naked 2 Palette eyeshadow in YDK; Clinique High Impact Extreme Volume Mascara*; Clarins Instant Light Natural Lip Perfector in 01*.

I've been shaking up my makeup recently, I used to always wear MAC Groundwork Paint Pot on its own, but I've discovered it works so well under eyeshadow too (late to the party!), and it means i'm discovering shadows I never use (ahem, Naked 2 palette!).
Of course I'm wearing my much loved Silk Creme foundation (review here), this has replaced all other foundations and I can definitely see myself repurchasing this again and again. It's the perfect shade (Cream Ivory) and its good coverage and long wearing whilst also having a lovely dewy finish. It goes so well with my all time favourite primer, Clarins Instant Smooth (review here).
Of course, I'm still going for that natural look! I can't live without MACs Soft and Gentle and Jemma Kidd Paw Paw blush (review here), they're a dream combination!

I feel so lucky that the lovely girls at Rock n Rose sent me one of their gorgeous, gorgeous crowns as a gift. I've loved Rock n Rose for as long as I can remember and have always wanted one of these gorgeous headpieces.
I wish I could wear this every day,  it's beautiful! I'm not sure what I will wear it to, but hopefully something will come along soon. I know Pixie Lott wore the Nora Crown at one of her gigs and looked lovely.

Rock n Rose have some amazing pieces, I know this Crown will be next on my list - I love mint! What do you think of my floral Crown?

Daily Makeup #4.

YSL Le Teint Touche Éclat Foundation *, NARS Sheer Glow (mixed in), Clarins Bronzing Duo in 02, MAC Springsheen blush, MAC Era & Honesty Eyeshadows, Collection Lasting Perfection Concealer, Collection Brown Gel Eyeliner, Eyeko Fat Brush Mascara, MAC Reel Sexy Lipstick

My go to look at the moment is quite simple, I'm mixing foundations at the moment as YSL is a little bit fair... or it could be my imagination as I'm pretty fair too! I will be doing a full review on this soon, but I wanted to review it near the release date. 

I've stopped wearing eyeliner apart from a little under my eyes, but even this is a little too heavy! Usually I wear none, as I just seem to look better without it. I tweeted about this recently and the response I got was huge, hundreds of tweets but a completely divided opinion on whether girls thought they looked better with or without eyeliner!

As you can see, I'm still loving MAC Reel Sexy lipstick and the Clarins bronzer! What are your thoughts? 

Daily Makeup #1.

I've not done a post like this in so long! Although I have millions of cosmetics, my makeup doesn't change that often. I go through phases of things, and I rotate foundations and wear a different blusher each day (I get a use out of all my blushers) but things like powder and eye makeup doesn't usually require changing.

This is just a simple post on the products that I've been using recently. At the moment I'm mixing foundations (apparently thats a massive no no but I find mixing a £20 foundation with a £10 foundation works just as well and is more economical) at the moment it's usually Cliniques Even Better foundation which the Bourjois Healthy Mix (which is a bit dark for me so I mix it with a Clinque one which is too light). For applying foundation, I use the Sigma Flat Top Kabuki brush which is absolutely perfect! 

I usually use MACs Pro Longwear concealer under my foundation as a sort of primer (I don't usually wear primer as my skin can become oily) and it always hides any redness. 

I've been wearing the Me Me Me! blush in Coral which is lovely and so worth the price. On my cheek bones I use my Topshop Highlighter in Sunbeam, I often get people asking what I'm wearing and I do think this is my number one product. I think it might be sold out now, but hopefully they'll restock. 

For my blusher and highlighter I use a Topshop blush brush which is very good. 

I use a powder every day to set my makeup and get rid of any shine. This is usually a MAC MSF Natural in Light/Medium but I think I might need to invest in the Medium. I love this powder, it's the only compact powder that works for me. I usually use loose powder but it can get a bit messy. I use an ELF complexion brush for powder, it's lovely and soft and the bristles rarely fall out.

Moving on to my eyebrows, my Youtube tutorial will go into more depth but I use the Benefit Brow Zings powder with an ELF small angled brush. I don't think I'll every change this, except maybe switch to just plain brown matte eyeshadow as I don't use the wax in the Brow Zings so it becomes a bit of a waste. 

I usually use Rimmels liquid eye liner, but recently bought the maybelline gel eyeliner. I have a Smashbox and a MAC gel eyeliner and never really could get the hang of it. Its the same with the Maybelline version although I am getting better. I find that the gel does smudge off on my brow bone though. 

I've been using the Smashbox Full Exposure mascara for a while now and it's almost empty, I think I will repurchase though as its one of my all time favourites. It doesn't smudge often either, which I find is rare in mascaras. 

I don't usually wear eyeshadow but today I'm wearing Half Baked and Dark Horse from the Urban Decay Naked palette. I find eyeshadow hard to do as I always get a lot of fall out when I'm doing it and it's just quite messy. I wear enough makeup as it is! 

Finally, I always use my Jurlique Rose Love Balm before applying a matte lipstick like this Barry M in 147. It means it applies on a lot easier and doesn't make my lips look caked and dry yet the colour is still very pigmented. 

I think I've covered everything! That's my updated daily makeup routine. 

A Smashbox Makeover.

I've blogged before about my love for Smashbox makeup, so I thought I would do another post about a few things I was sent recently.
I received the Smashbox Full Exposure Mascara, Lip Stain and Colour Seal Balm and Soft Effects Powder Eye Liner.
I'm wearing all three in the picture, to give you an idea on how they look on. The Lip Stain is amazing for giving a natural "just bitten" look. My favourite thing about this product is that it's easy to create a lovely shape around your cupids bow with the pen-type nib. I've used other lip stains in the past which come with a brush, and are useless. I had a bad experience with one where I put so much on, I swear I was still wearing it a week later. I was wary of doing the same thing with this one, but luckily it's almost impossible. The colour I'm wearing is "Petal" which I think looks natural, and lasts well with the balm on top.

The mascara has replaced all other mascaras in my collection, you can see in the photo of me how amazing it is. I can't believe how well it lengthens and separates my lashes. With this product I found that (especially at first) there was too much product on the brush, which clogged my eyelashes a bit so for the first few uses I scraped any excess off on the side and then blew on it slightly (I read somewhere that this helps, and it worked).
If you're looking for a new mascara you need this!

Lastly is the Eye Liner which is a powder. It's a dark purple shade, which is a nice change from my usual black. I think I actually prefer this as it isn't so harsh on my eyes. Going back to my black liquid eyeliner after this felt strange, I think it makes my eyes look smaller somehow.
This Smashbox Eye Liner blends well for a smudged smokey look, and lasts all day. It has a tendency to rub on my eyelids through the day (i'm not sure if this is just me as all my eyeliners do this) so I have to use a primer.

Overall, some seriously lovely products. Has anyone tried any other products from Smashbox which they would recommend?

Sidenote: I'm wearing Topshop cream blusher in Flush as I know I will be asked this!
Sidenote #2: I've changed my layout ever so slightly, it's still a work in progress but i hope you like!