Before it turns to Christmas wish lists/ my letter to Santa (which will probably include refills of all of these products), I wanted to show you some of my favourite beauty items that I have used all Autumn and will keep my face company all winter.
So here are my top 12 Winter Face Essentials –
1) Lipstick – Chanel Rouge Allure – 104
First up is this BEAUTY. I am obsessed with this Chanel red lipstick (/anything Chanel). I’m unbelievably see-through pale at the moment and it just adds a nice bit of colour to my face. Plus it basically feels like you are applying satin to your lips – divine. (and its packaging is all the sass)
2) Nails – BarryM Gelly Hi Shine & Sunset Daylight Curing
I started using BarryM products when I was at University mainly because they were so affordable and great for experimenting with different colours and techniques on nights out. Since then, I have become a big fan of their products, especially their nail varnishes. Look how beautiful these colours are – I heart the Gelly range.
Can’t wait for their nail care range to hit the shops in the New Year.
3) Foundation – Boujous Healthy Mix Serum Gel Foundation.
Around this time of the year my skin just doesn’t really know what to do with itself. It is so dry and feeling sorry for itself. It also goes so red in the cold – cheers skin. It needs a loving caring foundation that will not make it look even worse and cracked.
So I tested out this guy from Boujous. It is their healthy serum foundation. I found this after watching Becca Rose & The Elle Next Door’s best beauty buy’s video – watch it here – and I trust her recommendation (obviously, because she is a mega babe) and ran to Boots to get one for myself. I am a true convert. I love it. I can’t recommend it enough. It smells AMAZING. I know that isn’t what people look for in foundation but I could happily slather myself in this stuff as it smells so delicious. It is a serum so it is light and feel beautiful on the skin. Perfect for winter.
Plus it is drug store. Hollllla AFFORDABLE.
4) Primer – BareMinerals Prime Time
I never used to use primer – I know – I had no idea what I was doing. But I bought this one when I bought the BareMinerals Complexion Rescue Foundation for summer (which is amazing also and has SPF 30) and I think its good – but I am not a primer expert.
5) Contouring -Smashbox Contour Palette
I am obsessed with this Smashbox contour kit. Now, let me tell you. I am still learning with contour and I was certainly not a natural when it came to contouring – the first time I tried to apply this very simply controuing kit it looked like I had given myself a very convincing beard. It was quite a destressing experience hilarious.
I am slowly getting the hang of it and I love the cheekbones that these 3 magic powders give me. Plus it comes with its own little contouring brush – (which I have lost – hence why I am using my Real Techniques brush (Bold Metals 300)) – which is 1) amazing and 2) so beautifully amazingly rose gold.)
6) Perfume. Jean Paul Gaultier Classique Eau de Toilette
I have been using this perfume as my winter scent for years and years. When I first get it out in November I have such a sudden hit of Christmas/winter nostaligia. I can’t describe scents so I won’t try but it has the most gorgeous deep musky tone to it which is why I don’t really wear it in summer, but it is perfect for winter. Literally all my scarfs smell of this perfume.
7) Eyeshadow. Urban Decay Naked Palette
Hardly a unique purchase as every blogger possesses one of these pretty palettes of prettiness but I love it. They are pretty expensive but I bought it in an airport saving myself a teeeny weeny bit of money. But it is well worth it. I got the original palette as I prefer the colours and its just so instagrammable..
However if you are looking for a cheaper alternative, then the BarryM eyeshadow palette is fab..
8) Eyeshadow take 2 – BarryM Super Natural Eyeshadow Palette
A smaller selection but equally beautiful colours and just so much more affordable. Plus its also packaged beautifully.
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| Just bought a brand new one as I have pretty much used all the brown & shimmery pink in the old one.. not very photogenic. |
9) Eyeliner – Rimmel Soft Kohl 011 Sable Brown
I always used to wonder who on earth would wear brown eyeliner rather than black.. surely the whole point is you want a dark liner… but I couldn’t have been more wrong. I was in Boots the other day (buying the Boujous foundation) and I saw this brown Rimmel Kohl and I thought – ok fine I will try it and see how this rustic brown eye would look.
..I haven’t used my black eyeliner since.. actually I don’t even know where it is..
It makes my make-up more subtle but also gives you the added oomph of using eyeliner. Plus, the paler I get through winter, the contrast between black eyeliner and my skin was getting a tad too goth.. so I am sticking to this shade for now.
10) Mascara – Benefit Roller Lash
The most important part of my make up is definitely my mascara (as I am basically bald without it) so I take my mascara very seriously. At the moment, I am still obsesing over the Roller Lash Benefit mascara. I brought this mascara in May, use it everyday and it still hasn’t run out. I brought a new one in preparation for it to run out in September but we are still going strong on number 1. I absolutely love what it does to my eyelashes. Totally separates them, no clumps and they look so long and full and pretty. Perfectly frames them.
I am a hardcore YSL mascara fan, but I haven’t used it since I purchased this Benefit beauty. And that is saying something.
11) Eyebrows – Rimmel Brow This Way – 002 Medium Brown
I recently bought the Rimmel Brow This Way eyebrow set and I mix it up between this and a Mac eyebrows pencil (depending on how late I am running I am feeling). I have been loving the Brow This Way kit because it is great being able to shape with the waxy bit (loving the technical terminology here) and setting it with the powder. Plus the little eyebrow comb is so helpful and cute.. I have almost dropped it down the sink about 9 times though.
Brows are then completed after a nice little swipe of the Benefit highbrow (the best investment ever).
I have had a bit of a Rimmel obsession this Autumn, with their eyebrown kit & Kohl (also loving the white liner for the inside eye) but also for their lipliners which leads me onto..
12) Lipliners – Rimmel Exaggerate Full Colour Lip Liner.
They go on so easily and make such a difference when applying lipstick. Currently using the red 014 Red Diva for big strong lips and the more subtle pink 063 Eastend Snob for day time shades.
I just find it so much easier applying lipstick when it is basically just colouring between the lipliner lines, rather than free styling it onto your face – with the most unremovable crayon ever..
So that is my face at the moment. Thanks so much for reading and hope I have inspired some drug store shopping!
What are your Winter make-up essentials?
xx