I am a creature of habit when it comes to make-up (and food for that matter). Yes, I love trying out new products, but once I've found a favourite, it tends to stay with me and I've used many of the products in this post for years. So starting with the base - I go straight in with the Chanel Vitalumiere Aqua foundation - I must be on my third bottle of this. I only started wearing foundation towards the end of my uni days, so I was really worried about getting it wrong and having the dreaded 'orange face/white neck' situation. After doing A LOT of research, I found the Chanel foundation and I absolutely love it. It is water based (as the name would suggest) and is very thin in texture. It gives a 'my skin but better' effect, it just evens everything out. It's very sheer but still feels like it covers any redness and gives a good glow!
The most important step in my make up routine is concealer. I have inherited the world's worst dark circles, and no matter how much sleep or how many eye creams I try, nothing gets rid of these bad boys. To conceal the dark purple tones, I use the Bobbi Brown corrector, which is designed to counteract the darkness, in the inner corners where the darkness is worst, as well as a bit on the outer corners to lift the eye. I find this step really helps to conceal my dark circles, and I'm careful to be light-handed with the application, or things can get cakey! Then I go in with the Nars Creamy Concealer in Vanilla. (Or Custard if it's summertime). I love this concealer - it doesn't crease, has good coverage and is really easy to apply.
Next, I fill in my brows with the Anastasia Brow Wiz in Soft Brown - it's foolproof! Moving onto eyes, I tend to apply a primer to my lids just to ensure that eyeshadow will last all day - for this I use the Urban Decay Primer Potion. Following this, I'll either go in with the Burberry Sheer Eye Shadow in Pale Barley, or if I'm going for a more smoky eye look, I'll use my MAC quad which consists of Phloof! to highlight, Naked Lunch (best shade ever!), Satin Taupe and Smut. The purple-y tones compliment blue eyes and I think all four shades work so well together. Day to day I just go for eye shadow and mascara, but if I'm using liner, I use my old favourite - the Collection 2000 Fast Stroke Liquid Liner - I've never found one so black that lasts all day long - and it's £2.99! For mascara, I'm currently using Tarte Camera, Lights, Lashes - it's pretty good at holding a curl and lengthening.
For bronzer, I use my Clarins Colours of Brazil bronzer, this was limited edition last summer, but they have a new one out this year. I love it because it's HUGE = huge mirror. It's the perfect travel mirror! For blusher, I usually go for one of my Nars blushes - right now I'm loving Doucer, which is a natural rose/browny shade. Apparently it's been discontinued though, which is a crime! If I want something a bit brighter, I go for Nars Orgasm, a gorgeous pink with gold shimmer.
Finally, lips. My nude go-to is Peach Blossom by MAC. It's so comfortable to wear, it really lifts the face and gives a nice 'sheen'. I'm not a lip gloss fan at all, so this is a good in-between! If I'm going for more of a statement lip, I'm currently loving the Sephora lip cream stain in 001. It's such a lovely red, doesn't dry out the lips and has amazing staying power.
Amy xxx
