Good afternoon, it's Monday again (already) and today I thought I'd go through what is pretty much my everyday makeup in the summer. I wore this yesterday to go out and I wear pretty much the same for work most days when I need to look neat but have my makeup done in less than 20 minutes!

In summer I don't want to wear a tonne of foundation, so I prefer to go for a light foundation, like my Gosh CC Cream (CV) that you knows I love, or the No 7 Superlight Foundation (CV). Yesterday I went for a BB Cream, this one is from superdrug in shade light (V) and the BB Concealer that goes along with it, also in light (V).

Although these are the lightest shades, they're really a bit too dark for me right now, because I'm pretty pale. So I probably won't wear them again until after I've been on holiday and got a bit of a tan (fingers crossed!).

The concealer doesn't really give much coverage, certainly not enough to cover my under-eye bags! So I generally just use it to highlight a bit, like this...

 

So for under the eyes and to cover the redness on my cheeks I used ELF's Maximum Coverage Concealer in the shade Sand. (V)  I wouldn't say this is full coverage - light to medium more like.

For the rest of the skin I used ELF's HD liquid blush in Superstar (V), SEVENTEEN Skin Wow! Highlighter (CV) and Barry M's Natural Dazzle Bronzer (V).

 Brows I just used a little bit of the GOSH brow pencil in Grey/Brown (CV) to fill in the gaps and then GOSH's clear brow gel to keep them in place (CV).

 I also kept the eyes really simple, I used the lightest matte shade from the MUA Undress Me Too palette (AV) all over the lid and up to the brow. I added a bit of dimension in the crease with the same bronzer I used on my cheeks. I added a quick sick of black liquid liner (Limecrime's Uniliner in Quill- V) and then my favourit Barry M Lash Vegas Fibres mascara (V).

 At the last minute I decided to add some gold on the waterline and used GOSH's Velvet Touch Eyeliner in Antinque Gold (CV).

Lips were a quick dab of Barry M's Loudmouth Gloss in Chatterbox.

 

And that's that!

I quite often change it up a wee bit by using a colour pencil instead of black liquid liner, but aside from that, my makeup is like this most days.

What's your go to products?

Love & Stuff
Sal xXx

13:18

I thought I'd do something a bit different today and do an empties / mini review post as I seem to have run out of a lot of stuff this month.  Sorry for the quality, or lack thereof, of the pics, I took them on my bed and the lighting's not so great in there!  

Firstly is the GOSH CC Cream Illuminating Foundation (CV).  I absolutely LOVE this stuff. It's my everyday foundation, I literally wear this every single day to work.  It's got a lovely texture, I love the finish of it and it just evens out my skin tone without making my face look cakey or like I'm wearing any makeup. LOVE!  My shade is Ivory and I like applying it with a Real Techniques Stippling Brush.

Would I repurchase? 

Pretty obvious that the answer is yes. In fact I already am on to my next one.

Secondly, my absolute favourite drugstore concealer, Collection Lasting Perfection, in Shade 2 - Light (CV). I think this is a fabulous concealer. Better than some high end ones I've tried. I still don't love it as much as my old MAC Pro Longwear, but I continue the search to find something cruelty free that is as good as that one.But anyway, this is a great concealer. I use it pretty much every day.

Would I repurchase?

Yes - I already have

ELF HD Undereye Setting Powder (V).  I love this stuff, I hated it at first because of the glitter but now I adore it. I think the key was just changing the brush I was using to something a little less fluffy, which kind of sweeps off some of the sparkles.

Would I repurchase? 

Yes, definitely. 

I just don't want to place an ELF order for 1 item, so I'm open to suggestions of other ELF items to buy...?

Soap & Glory Sugar Crush Body Wash (CV). My favourite shower gel. I've tried others and I still don't love any as much as this one.  It has even taken over as favourite from my beloved Lush Snow Fairy and unlike SF, it's available all year round.

Would I repurchase?

Yes, actually the picture is of the new one I bought yesterday!

Barry M Lash Vegas with Fibres (V). Not technically empty but it's time to replace it. This is my favourite drugstore mascara. I think it's brilliant. I also like the waterproof mascara (I use it on brides and their mothers :o) !) but I wasn't a huge fan of the original non-waterproof formula of this mascara. However, I got this free with a purchase one day and I absolutely love it.

Would I repurchase? 

Yes, I'll be buying one this week probably.

Superdrug Baby Shampoo (V). I use this to clean my makeup brushes so I'm not overly bothered about which one I buy, as long as it's vegan. I've used other brands in the past but I like the fact that this one's labelled vegan.

Would I repurchase?

Probably, this is the new bottle as you probably gathered. But to be honest I'd buy another brand if it was vegan and I liked the smell or something better. I'm not too fussed about it, it's just for makeup brush cleaning.

Lee Stafford Detangling Spray (CV). I have mentioned this before in my Lee Stafford Post because I love it. This + my tangle teaser = much less trauma combing out my knotty wet hair.

Would I repurchase?

Yes.

Batiste Dry Conditioner (AV).
Since posting this I've found out that Batiste are owned by a company that test on animals, so I won't be buying them anymore. :(

I am a massive fan of Batiste's dry shampoo so when I saw this I thought I'd give it a go.  Eh. That's pretty much all I have to say about it, it smells nice.

Would I repurchase?

No. I didn't think it did much really. It added a bit of shine but to be honest I prefer my Lee Stafford Shine Spray and that lasts a lot longer than this tin did anyway!

B. Radiant Rejuvinating Serum (V). This is the second one of these I've used up and although I'm not sure if it really does anything for the condition of my skin, I like the way it feels and it's nice to add some extra moisture before my moisturiser goes on.

Would I repurchase?

Yes, I will do this week.

Lush Silky Underwear Dusting Powder (V). I bought this because I wanted something better for you than talc, because I love talc but everyone's always bangin on about how bad it is for you.

This smells gorgeous and I like that it's a small enough bottle to travel with / put in handbag for hot days! I much prefer the smell of the to regular baby powder too.

Would I repurchase?

Yes. Although to be honest I'm not sure if Lush still make it. But if they do I will definitely be repurchasing!

So that's it for my July empties.

Happy humpday all.

Love & Stuff
Sal xXx

13:33

Lip balm; I'm obsessed with it. I can't go more than an hour without reapplying it. I love it! I use tonnes of it. In fact before I was vegan, I used to make my own because I used so much. But over the last 6 years I've tried to reformulate it without the beeswax and I still don't have it as I want it. But one day I'll get it right and maybe I'll start selling it. But for now, here's a round up of some of the vegan lip balm options available to us in the shops and online.

Superdrug Little Blue (or Pink) Tin - £0.99 from Superdrug (V)

I can't actually find these on the website at the moment, although they are showing the little green tin (which has aloe in).  I put these first as they are the most basic of all the lip balms I'm showing. They are basically a pot of petroleum jelly. And if you're vegan, you probably don't support animal testing companies, which means vaseline is out, so here's a good alternative.  Cheap as chips, super basic. The blue is plain, the pink I think has strawberry flavour. I'm not a fan of petroleum based lip balms because I think they feel really greasy. But for 99p, can't complain.

Balmi Lip Balm - £4.99 from Boots (I actually found mine in a large Tesco) (CV)

The packaging is what made me buy this lip balm and the fact that there's quite a few flavours; but it's the packaging that actually has made me not want to buy any more.  I have two, strawberry (pictured) and mint. And I like the balm although it is petroleum based, so as above it's a bit greasy.  But the packaging is pretty crap; at £4.99 for an average lipbalm, it's not really good enough. After a few days, it just kind of breaks and doesn't close properly - no good for a handbag!

Palmers Cocoa Butter Formula Lip Balm - £1.89 from Boots (AV)

Feb 2017: Removed as i found out they use bovine fat in all their products - BARF! Also, I'm no longer sure of their cruelty free status. So have removed from my cf list too!

Alice Eliza Lip Balm - £3 from Marks & Spencer (AV)

I bought this when I was buying makeup in M&S (their Autograph range really is quite vegan friendly!!) and when I saw there was no beeswax etc, thought I'd give it a try. There's a few different flavours, I went for Cherry Blossom.  It smells nice, I don't love it though.  It's petroleum based and it's quite thin so really doesn't last long or really do much for dry lips.  Pretty tin though!

Yao Hemp Lip Balm - £2.75 from Yaoh (V)

My favourite of these is the spearmint but I couldn't find it. I normally stock up on these at vegfest! I love them. The texture is great, I like the smell and the coconut one below has SPF in. They are very moisturizing and last well.

Hurraw Lip Balm - £3.99 from CutECOsmetics (V)

If you read my food blog, this won as my favourite lipbalm in my beauty faves post last month, but I'm going back on that, as you'll read in a minute. But not to take anything away from this balm, because I really really LOVE it. Great texture, no petroleum and tonnes and tonnes of flavours (my favourite is the licorice flavour). Doesn't last as long as my favourite below but still a great lip balm for stopping the chapped lip situation. Only con is that they're not that easy to get hold off, they have to be ordered online.

Crazy Rumours Lip Balm - £3.50 from Holland & Barrett (V)

This one wins as my favourite! The texture is perfect, they last a long time, they are moisturising, they're affordable, they come in tonnes of awesome flavours AND you can now buy them in Holland & Barrett. As most towns now have an H&B this is great news as they're much easier to find than they used to be. I was pretty restrained in the buy one get one half price sale last week and only bought 2. Raspberry Sorbet is my favourite but they have a tonne of great flavours if the smell of skittles is not your bag!  

Have I missed your favourite vegan lip balm off? Let me know so I can try it out!

Love & Stuff
Sal xXx

19:20