Top Five High End Blushes

Continuing with the Top Five series slowly but surely, today I thought I'd share with you my favourites from the pricier end of the blush spectrum. Blush is one section of my collection that isn't all that big, I know what I like and I stick with it, and generally I only wear these ones. You'll see that they are all fairly similar, nothing too wild!

 Sugarbomb has been my go to blush for about a year now, it's just so easy to wear and it goes with every makeup look. The colours swirl together to create a lightly shimmery deep coral, that leans towards the pink side of things. A little of this on the apples of the cheeks really brightens the complexion, and gives a super natural flush to the cheeks. The wear time is great as with all Benefit Blushes, and it smells amazing too. 

The most luxurious of my picks has to be the Chanel Creme Blush in Revelation. I've been banging on about this since I got it but I just love it that much. I'm not big on cream blushes, I generally find them fiddly to apply and the lasting power tends to lack, but this I just adore. The colour is my perfect blush colour, it gives me a true 'just been out in the cold' or 'awww don't make me blush' pop of colour. It's really easy to apply too, I just pat this onto the apples of my cheeks and blend with my Real Techniques Expert Face brush. With a good primer underneath, this lasts all day. 

I didn't want to include a limited edition blush in this but I couldn't help myself. This is MAC's Ripe for Love from the Temperature Rising Collection at the beginning of the year. It's similar to MAC Peaches, but a little darker, I tend to skip bronzer when I go for this. This is gorgeous with a bronzey smokey eye and a coral or nude lip. It's a dark peach with no shimmer, but it still adds a fair bit of dimension to the skin. Looks beautiful with Benefit Sunbeam over the top, or the Hourglass Ambient Lighting powder in Radiant Light.

 Another Benefit blush, because I just love them, Hervana is more of a pinky, almost lilac blush, a bit more wintery than all these corals I seem to have included. Like I said, I love the formulation of Benefit blushes, they're really pigmented and last so well on the skin. I also have Coralista which I love (obviously, it's another coral).

Well I couldn't not include a Nars blush could I? Infact, I could have included every Nars blush, but I was restrained (ha!). I'm so glad that Orgasm was in this palette, since I lost my beloved Orgasm Blush a while back. This has been one of my favourites for a few years now, it's the perfect coral, with a hint of golden shimmer. Love love love.

Have you tried any of these blushes? What are your favourite high end blushes? Are there anymore Top Fives you'd like to see?

 

How To Look Sort Of Average In Under Ten Minutes.

We all have those days where we wake up late, and have something important going on in the day where we need to look semi-decent. This happens to me far too often, so recently, I've had to perfect the art of looking average, in as little time as possible. 

When it comes to speed, I try to use as few products as possible, so immediately I eliminate primers, contours, highlighters and lipsticks, because it just takes too much time. So this means I start at foundation. My current foundation mix is Revlon's Nearly Naked mixed 50/50 with MAC Studio Sculpt. The Nearly Naked provides the dewy, fresh, natural looking skin, whilst Studio Sculpt bumps up the coverage. When I'm in a rush I just smear this across my face with my fingers, and then quickly buff it out with the Real Techniques buffing brush. If I need an extra coverage on any unwanted visitors then I look no further than the MAC Studio Finish concealer. It's my all time favourite concealer for blemishes, but if I'm in a hurry, I'll use this under my eyes too. I then dust Bourjois Healthy Balance Powder over my face with the RT Powder brush, to set my makeup and give a little extra coverage. 

Then on to brows, I'm currently loving this brow palette from the Along Came Betty range available from Tesco, it's a great dupe for the Benefit Brow-Zings, and it's only about six pounds. I use the little brush that comes with it to fill in the middle part with powder, and then set the whole thing with the pigmented wax that comes with it, before brushing them out with the little spoolie that comes with it to make them look more natural. I really think that doing your brows is one of the easiest ways to make it look like you have made an effort, even though it doesn't take too long.

Onto eyes, my fail-safe speedy look means smearing my MAC Paint Pot in Painterly over the lid, with a smudge of NARS Galapagos (top right in the palette) in the corners, to add a little definition. I finish off the eyes with a swipe of Rimmel Scandaleyes kohl in Nude in my waterline to make me look awake, and YSL Shocking Volume Mascara on the lashes, my favourite mascara ever.

Finally, a wash of Benefit Sugarbomb on the cheeks for a fresh, natural looking flush, and a slick of a tinted lip balm, my current favourite is the Korres Lip Butter in Pomegranate.

I've got this whole process down to about six minutes now, so it's perfect for on the go. Soon, I'll be able to do it without a mirror!

I normally finish this off with a spritz of dry shampoo in the hair, and a big scarf.

What are your most reliable products?

P.S. Thank you to my boyfriend's flatmate, Alex Penfold, for divulging from his usual car-based photography, and taking this picture and editing it for me, since I was camera and laptopless. You can go back to your cars now. If you like that sorta thing, you can check out his awesome photography here.