What's In My Makeup Bag?

I store all of my makeup collection in some acrylic drawers from Homebase but I keep the stuff I tend to wear on a daily basis inside my makeup bag. I bought this from MAC a few years ago & it's still going strong. It is the signature medium rectangle bag. It's a good size as it can hold a lot of stuff and has a separate pocket to keep my brushes in. I tend to keep far too many things in here as I like to have a little bit of choice when it comes to what I'm gonna use that day. I would clear some of the products out but I just like too many things! Anyway here's a little peak at some of my most used makeup products.

Dr Jart+ Water Fuse BB Cream / Laura Mercier Silk Creme Foundation / Laura Mercier Foundation Primer
By Terry Touche Veloutee / Collection 2000 Lasting Perfection Concealer / Bobbi Brown Creamy Corrector
Kevyn Aucoin Sensual Skin Enhancer

I keep a couple of different base products in my bag to use depending on how my skin is behaving & how much time I have to get ready. If I have time I prefer to use the Laura Mercier Silk Creme applied with a Beautyblender. If I'm running late a blob of the Dr Jart BB cream mixed with a tiny dot of the Kevyn Aucoin Sensual Skin Enhancer helps to even out my skin and hide some of my blemishes & scarring. The BB cream alone is far too dark & sheer for me so adding the Sensual Skin Enhancer lightens it up & adds a bit more coverage. I use a few different concealers but tend to just go for some of the Bobbi Brown Creamy Corrector under my eyes most days.

Clarins Instant Smooth Perfecting Touch Primer / Illamasqua Naked Rose Blusher / NARS Deep Throat Blusher / theBalm Mary-Lou Manizer / MAC Omega Eyeshadow / Urban Decay Naked Basics Palette

As well as the Laura Mercier Foundation Primer I also keep the Clarins Instant Smooth one in my bag. The Clarins primer is better if I want to hide my pores & smooth over my skin so I use this one more often. I love blushers & have tons in my collection but the ones I've been using most are NARS Deep Throat & Illamasqua Naked Rose. They're both nice peachy pinks that add a much needed burst of colour to my complexion. My go-to highlighter is theBalm's Mary-Lou Manizer, I recommend this product for anyone who wants a highly metallic sheen to their skin. It's one of the most pigmented I've tried & really makes my skin glow. I use the Urban Decay Naked Basics palette every day as it's a great selection of neutral colours that are ideal for day or night. If I fancy using a powder to fill in my eyebrows I opt between the shade Naked2 from this palette and MAC's Omega eyeshadow.

Givenchy Noir Couture Mascara* / MAC Clear Brow Set / NUXE Reve De Miel Lip Balm / Lancome Hypnose Doll Eyes Mascara / Benefit They're Real Mascara / MAC Fling Eye Brow Pencil / Anastasia Granite Tinted Brow Gel / Clinique Bottom Lash Mascara / Beaute Girlina Weightless Lip Creme / L'Oreal Carbon Gloss Superliner / Revlon Strawberry Shortcake Lip Butter / Urban Decay Eyeshadow Primer Potion / MAC NC15/NW20 Pencil
LORAC Front Of The Line Pro Eyeliner / SUQQU Eyebrow Liquid Pen

I have four mascaras in here which is probably overkill! At the minute I like to layer the last dregs of my Lancome Doll Eyes mascara with Benefit They're Real mascara and then use the Clinique mascara on my bottom lashes to stop them smudging. I didn't really like They're Real to begin with but it's starting to get better as it dries out a bit. Still clinging on to the Lancome one though! There's some more eye brow products here depending on how I want them to look. I love brushing on some of the Anastasia Tinted Brow Gel when I don't have time to fill them in properly. I have lip products galore but I tend to go for the Beaute Lip Creme or Revlon Lip Butter as I do love a nice pink lip. I use the L'Oreal Superliner to do my regular cat flick but the LORAC one is amazing for really thin lines. I use this to fill in any tiny gaps, neaten the end of the flick & sometimes I draw on bottom lashes with it a la Twiggy. And I can't go a day without using my MAC NC15/NW20 pencil on my lower lash line to brighten up my eyes.

Real Techniques Buffing Brush / Real Techniques Contour Brush x2 / Real Techniques Setting Brush / Sigma Tapered Highlighter Brush / Real Techniques Brow Brush / Laura Mercier Double Ended Eye Brow Brush / MAC 239 Brush / MAC 222 Brush / MAC 219 Brush / MAC 227 Brush / Tweezerman Tweezers / Shu Uemura Eyelash Curler

I keep a few essential brushes in here but often dip into my brush pots when I'm getting ready. I typically apply foundation with a Beautyblender (but I keep that in a separate jar) or the Real Techniques Buffing Brush. I always keep two of the Contour Brushes in here - one for blending concealer & one for applying blusher. I use the setting brush with some loose powder to set under my eyes and the Sigma brush to apply highlighter. There's two angled brushes in here but they're quite different, the Real Techniques one is better for lining my eyes with black eyeshadow & the Laura Mercier one is my favourite eye brow brush. The bristles are a lot stiffer so it works a lot better. I also keep several eyeshadow brushes in here but I probably use the MAC 219 the most as I like to apply some brown eyeshadow under my eyes with it. Finally I have my tweezers & eyelash curlers, total essentials for me & you can't get better than Tweezerman & Shu Uemura.

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New Hair & Doll Eyes

Makeup - MAC Strobe Cream, Estee Lauder Double Wear, MAC Pearl Cream Colour Base, NARS Deep Throat Blush, Dior Amber Diamond, MAC Mineralize Skin Finish Natural Light, MAC Brow Shader Browning/Porcelaine, MAC Clear Brow Set, Lancome Doll Eyes Mascara, L'Oreal Carbon Gloss Super Liner, MAC Hue Lipstick, Sleek Minx Pout Paint
Top - New Look
Last Tuesday I went to Leeds to get my hair done at Cutting Room Creative. Gotta give them props for speed, I was only in there for three & a half hours whereas normally it takes about five. As well as getting my roots done & hair toned silver I decided to get a full fringe cut again. I was longing for the days when my hair looked like this. I'm still undecided on it. Sometimes I think it looks amazing & sometimes I look at myself and all I can think is 'pig in a wig' as coined by someone on twitter. Seems the perils of having a short fringe & a round face are widespread. I think it looks better since I've washed & blowdryed it myself as fresh cut fringes often look a bit Wurzel Gummidge in my opinion. Backcomb In A Bottle is saving my life right now because if it gets flat it looks a bit lego-ish & Lee Stafford's Bleach Blonde shampoo has made the colour look a bit pinker than when it was first done but I like it. I'm just willing my hair to get growing now!

On my way home I popped into Harvey Nicks & Boots to get a few goodies. I finally bought some Shu Uemura eyelash curlers (how cool is the packaging?!) & Dior Amber Diamond which have been on my wishlist since pretty much forever. Maybe its sad (actually it is) but I feel like my life is a tiny bit more complete now I have Amber Diamond in my collection. I think this is the highlighter I've long been searching for. It gives me the most beautiful glow which is just inbetween natural & disco ball. Me gusta. I bought Lancome's Doll Eyes mascara mainly because I was suckered in by the name. I'd heard that the brush took like 7 years to perfect so I figured it must be fairly good if its been in production for that long. It wasn't what I was expecting in that I thought it would instantly give me thick luscious falsie style lashes but I do really like it. Its very lengthening & separates the lashes wonderfully. I had to really layer it on to get the kind of look I personally like as it pretty much refuses to clump. The brush kinda glides through your lashes and I think the best thing about it is how it makes your lashes look really long. The best way to describe it is as a push up bra for your lashes. Overall though I think its great and if you need lots of length this would be a great mascara to buy. If you like lots of volume this product layers beautifully without giving you horrible spider lashes. It might work better in conjunction with a more volumising mascara but I'm yet to try that out. Doll Eyes doesn't quite live up to my expectations from its name but its brilliant all the same.