Brand Focus: L'Oréal

Ain't gonna lie, it took me by surprise to know how little acquainted I was with L'Oréal, I've always known what they had to offer but just never really gravitated towards it. That all changed in the past three months when I finally bought my first L'Oréal product, which lead to my second... and now I have accumulated quite a few products that I really think deserve a mention! I'll talk you through my favourites...

The L'Oréal Infallible Primer Matte Base (£7.99/35ml) was one of the first few products that I purchased, and this is a silicone feeling primer, that leaves your skin smooth and ready for make-up. For me and my massive pores, this is a must! If I had to compare it, I would describe it as a mix between The Body Shop's Instablur and the Make Up Forever Step 1 Mattifying primer, it's more smooth than the former and more thcker than the latter! On the other end of the spectrum the L'Oréal Infallible Fixing Mist (£7.99/120g) is a recent addition to my collection, and I have to say I've been loving it so far! This does actually set and hold your make-up, and I have noticed that my make-up is fresher for longer and my face is less oiler throughout the day. One tip I want to share is that you shake the product properly before using it so that the powder in the bottom gets distributed in the solution!

A new product that I have been testing out is the L'Oréal Brow Artiste Genius Kit (£9.99) in the shade 'Medium to Dark' and I have been blown away by this, it's a duo that contains a wax and powder, and the colour match is pretty great for my eyebrows, as my eyebrows are a cool-toned ash brown shade The wax controls my eyebrow shape pretty nicely, and then it's easy to just fill in the gaps with the powder! Also it comes with a tweezer and a brush and spooly so you are pretty much set! After filling in my brows I set them with the L'Oréal Brow Artist Plumper (£5.99/7ml), which helps tint the eyebrows slightly and set everything in place, I love using just this product on my lazy days as it just makes everything in the eyebrow department look a lot better.

Moving onto eye's, I've mentioned the L'Oréal Volume Million Lashes Waterproof (£9.99/2ml) in a previous blog, and I am still loving this! It's great at lengthening and fanning out the eyelashes and has a great hold! On day's where I want more Oomph however, I reach for my L'Oréal Superliner (£6.99), I love how black it is! It's got a flexible nib so it's great at getting close into the lash line. I need more practice with this though! I haven't used a liquid liner in months which makes me feel like a beginner again, on the plus side, if you do make mistakes this isn't such a hassle to wipe off!

I think you can see what kinds of products I go for in this post, I love long lasting make-up and I think L'Oréal has done really well with all of these products! I really want to try their new sculpt range, so if you have any recommendations let me know in the comments!

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Long Lasting Make-up tip? Yes Please

For some reason when I think of long-lasting make-up I envision a model with a ton of matte make-up on her face. This post is not going to be that. Instead this post is based on a more realistic and accessible way to get make-up to look as though it hasn't melted away during the day. 

I want to say, and this is from my personal experience, that less make-up is better if you want to look semi-decent at the end of the day as you did in the start. I find that if I wear less eyeshadow, less blush, less foundation, I look more like the woman who left the door at 8am. If I put more make-up on then when I come back 9 hours later, you can really see how much I tried in the early hours of the morning. 

I really have been encompassing this idea into my daily life, on Mondays I have a 9-6 day at uni, and so I am out the door at 8am and back home at 6.30pm, so I really try to use a minimal amount because God knows my head will be in my hands at the end of the day!

My Monday make-up routine consists of me firstly priming my face with the L'Oréal Infallible Primer (£7.99/45g), then I go in with my NARS All Day Luminous Weightless Foundation (£32.00/30g) - I add half a pump to my face, trying to just even out my complexion rather than masking my face. I then fill in the sparse areas of my eyebrows with the Mono Eyeshadow 'MMMM' from Makeup Revolution (£1.00/2.3g), (this is quite warm toned, and it does a good job but I've recently discovered a new favourite!). My next step is to add mascara, my currrent one is the Loreal Million Lashes Waterproof (£9.99/2ml) and it's awesome! I then proceed to set my make-up with the Chanel Natural Finish Loose Powder (£36.00/30g), and then add a bit of the bareMinerals Pop of Passion Lip-Oil Balms (£16.00/3.1g) - these are great because they reduce down into a stain and so actually do great for making your lips look naturally pigmented! 

For some reason, this sounded like a lot of steps, but I swear I can do it all in around 5 minutes! Also I try to make things as sheer as possible! 

I would love for you all to try to minimise the make-up that you have on on your crazy busy days, I can guarantee that you will notice that you don't look quite as worn down by the day, because you didn't look so done up at the start of the day! It's about reducing that gap. To me, when I look at the mirror when the day is almost over, I don't have to deal with creased eyeshadow, smudged liner, or blush that is half way down my face and although I love make-up, I don't enjoy looking like that!
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A Case Of Winter Skin

The weather has been so erratic lately but if there is one consistency then it has to be that it's freezing outside! Now as a person who has oily skin, I didn't think winter would mess up my skin too much, and in previous years it hasn't, this year however my face feels dry, flaky and just dehydrated. So I decided to take action! If you also have a case of winter skin, keep reading...

Exfoliate

So to keep those dry patches away, I've been using the Nip + Fab Glycolic Fix Exfoliating Facial Pads (12.95/60 rounds) and that actually has been doing the trick. These pads chemically exfoliate the face and so I wipe one cotton round on to my face at night and wait a few minutes before proceeding with the rest of my skin-care. This actually helped my skin be less dry, but also less congested, I've noticed that my pores are smoother and frankly, cleaner. I would recommend this to anyone who wants a product to refine the texture of their skin and also exfoliate on a deeper level!

Moisturise!

I went out purchased the Indeed Laboratories Hydraluron Moisture Jelly (£24.99/30ml), once I realised my current skin-care just wasn't cutting it. I absolutely love this product, it is a gel based moisturiser that just sinks into the skin like a serum, this was the shining product that got rid of my dry patches completely and so I would fully recommend this to everyone! I proceed with my normal serum and moisturiser on top since this product has hyaluronic acid and so it will retain the moisture of everything you put on top of it! I love the packing of this product, it's very hygienic as the product gets pushed out the container and it's easy to control how much you want to put on!

All-Nighter products

The Estée Lauder Advanced Night Repair Synchronized Recovery Complex II (£70.00/50ml) is a serum that I have been playing around with the last few months and I have to say, I love it. I wear this product in the morning and in the night, I find that it instantly plumps up the face, getting rid of that flat, dry skin that comes with winter! It's a nice product to use before makeup and it does work magic at smoothing and refining the skin. Again, anyone would benefit from using this! 

Kiehl's Midnight Recovery Concentrate (£37.00/30ml) is no stranger to this blog, I love this night oil, it works magic overnight. If you have problematic, sensitive skin I think this is a product to use as it really calms down the skin and it's just a joy to massage on. Since this is oil based, it's quite rich and moisterising and so is must have for these crazy climate! This doesn't exacerbate the oil I already have and so this is a product which will really help those with both dry and oily skin types!

I have to say, these products are helping my skin to adjust to the winter weather! I would love to know what skin-care items you love and would recommend, so leave me a comment below! 

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Anjna