Top Five Concealers

Concealer is my best friend. Insomniac and frequent pizza-muncher, I often have dark circles and blemishes to hide from the rest of the world, and I have a fully equipped arsenal to deal with that.

For the most part I do think you get what you pay for with concealers, I have tried a whole lotta high street concealers and for the most part, they really haven't done what I need them too. I should also address something that I'm sure a lot of people are going to hate me for. I do not like the Collection Lasting Perfection Concealer. There, I said it. I think it's super cakey, and fake looking, plus the stuff oxidises like mad, and makes my skin look dark over blemishes. Not what I had in mind.

Anyway, onto the products I do like. First up, the Nars Radiant Creamy Concealer, the priciest of the bunch at £21, but my favourite. This is a thick, creamy formula that is high coverage but also slightly brightening. I use this on my undereyes mostly, but if I'm going somewhere special or I know I'm going to be photographed lots, I'll use this to cover blemishes and redness too, since it gives the most coverage whilst still looking really natural, since this blends into your skin seamlessly, whether you are wearing foundation or not. It's got a doe foot applicator which means it's super precise. I like to dot this under the eyes and blend with the Real Techniques Duo-Fibre Eye brush, or put a little on the end of my finger and pat it directly onto a blemish, and keep patting til it's all blended. 

Next up, Bourjois Healthy Mix Concealer, which I would say is pretty similar to the Nars offering, but a little thicker and not brightening. This is my daily go to for blemishes, and adding extra coverage to areas I know are prone to redness throughout the day. It's really high coverage and it lasts really well throughout the day. It's pretty pricey for drugstore, coming in at £7.99, but you only need the tiniest bit, so it lasts for ages.

Boi-ing is one I've had for a while now, I like to think of this as a concealer primer, if that makes sense? Don't get me wrong, it's an amazing concealer, but I actually like to pat this onto blemishes or redness before my foundation, so it gets rid of any redness prior too, since it can look a little heavy on top of foundation, mostly because I like quite a glowy base and this is pretty matte.When my under eye circles are really bad, I like to take this on my fingertips, warm it up, and pat it under my eyes, not too close to the lashline, before going in with a brightening concealer.

MAC Studio Finish is a very heavy duty concealer, with masses of coverage. A little of this on a detailer brush is your blemished skin's best friend. It is heavy, and it is thick, which is why I never use it under my eyes, but for spots it's great. Seriously good staying power and great coverage. Same price as a lipstick too, only £15 and you need the smallest amount.

Last but certainly not least is Rimmel Wake Me Up, the only concealer of the bunch I have repurchased so far. This is the cheapest of these five offerings, at a mere £5.49. This is the concealer I reach for to really brighten up my under eyes. It's coverage offering is not as good as the Nars concealer, but it really does brighten the area, and you can build it up quite a lot without it creasing. I rushed out to repurchase this before I even ran out, because I really didn't fancy being without it! 

Have you tried any of these concealers? What is your favourite concealer?

October Favourites 2013

I honestly can't believe how quickly October has gone, I think because I was quite ill at the beginning of the month, and was pretty much tucked up in bed for ten days, the month feels super short. As a result, it was pretty difficult to pick my favourites for this month. In the end, I went about doing my makeup and my getting ready process, and just put aside each product I knew I had reached for more days than not, and came up with this bunch for you.

First up skincare. For the body I have been loving the Soap and Glory Sugar Crush Body Scrub. The scent is slightly unseasonal for this time of year, but I had wanted to try this for ages, but I needed to get through all my backups of The Breakfast Scrub first. It's a gorgeous brown sugar and lime scent which is super sickly sweet but I love it. It's not as gritty as The Breakfast Scrub, so that combined with the scent means that once I've used this up, I probably won't repurchase this til next summer. My skin needs something a little harsher in the winter, but I like this a lot.

Back in September I purchased a full size of the Origins Clear Improvement mask, after I had a tiny sample of it and was impressed with how far it went. It's a clay based mask which really drags out any nasty stuff in your skin and clears it up massively. It's an expensive product, (£23) but based on how many masks I got out of my previous sample size, I'm paying less than 30p for each use, which to me is a bargain.

Two products from Lush, although to be honest Lush in general is definitely a favourite. I'm really happy with my current skincare routine at the moment (not to mention my bathtime routine) and a large portion of the products I use are from Lush. I did pick out two to share with you though, Santa's Lip Scrub and Let The Good Times Roll. I won't say any more about these because I just did a massive post on Lush, but if you want to hear more about this product click here.

Onto makeup and the base I have been consistently reaching for this month is the L'Oreal Nude Magique Eau De Teint. I absolutely love this foundation, it might just be one of my favourite drugstore releases this year. It's super super lightweight on your skin, it honestly feels like you've just dusted a little powder on your skin. It evens out any redness, whilst looking so natural, nobody will ever believe you're wearing foundation. 

To go with that base, I've been reaching for the NARS Radiant Creamy Concealer, which definitely lives up to the hype around it the last few months. This is a super creamy concealer (as the name would suggest) which is high enough coverage to disguise no sleep, and the pizza induced breakout on your chin, whilst again looking really natural. This has become a staple in my makeup routine, and I can't see myself without it. 

For eyes, I have been going for a darker, more autumnal look, and the star of the show for me has been this MAC Quad. I have two MAC quads and I'm going to be doing a post on them both soon, but this one holds the darker, more wintery colours of the two. In here is Cranberry, Sketch, Blackberry and Satin Taupe, and pretty much every day my eyes have been sporting two of these colours.

Lastly for eyes, I've been trying to get back into liner again. When I was in college, I don't think I ever left the house without cat flicks and kohl rimmed waterlines, but it's been a while since I've sported that look recently. I repurchased the Soap and Glory Supercat Liner again last month and have been making an effort to use it again, I think black liquid liner really finishes off a dark smokey eye look, and I like this pen since it takes all the difficulty out of winged liner! 

The last thing I want to mention is not a beauty product, but my new Yankee Candle Tart Burner. There's a new Yankee Candle store in Westfield, which is conveniently located about thirty seconds from my uni campus, so needless to say, I headed in there pretty excitedly with paycheck in hand at the end of last month. My plan had been to buy a large jar of Christmas Cookie to get in the Christmas Spirit, but this Tart Burner was reduced and the tarts were on offer, so I ended up getting this instead. I like that this means I can change up scents more often (large jars have a burn time of 150 hours, whereas the tarts are 8) and because of the deal on, this worked out cheaper in terms of burn time. Anyway, I've been loving having this burning whilst I'm working in the house, particularly with Christmas Cookie and the Vanilla Lime scent (which my boyfriend likes too!).

So that's it, October is over! Are you getting excited for Christmas yet? What products have you been loving this month?