Face of the Day

I haven't really made much of an effort with my appearance recently because I've been quite poorly and I really missed experimenting with my make up! I had a bit of a rummage around in my make up drawers today to play with some make up I haven't used in a while!

Face 

Gosh Xceptional Wear Foundation in Porcelain - Review here

Rimmel Stay Matter Powder

Accessorize Highlighter 

17 Blusher in Nude - Review here

Eyes

Mua Heaven and Earth and Undressed Palettes - Review here

Blink + Go Mascara

MUA Brow Pencil in Brunette

Lips

MUA Lipstick Shade 9

I really like the combination of the Nude Blusher paired with the Accessorize Highlighter and it's a combination I will definitely be using more often in the future and I completely forgot I had this mascara until this morning so I will definitely be using this a lot more often too! 

What have you been wearing recently? X 

GOSH X-Ceptional Wear Foundation in Porcelain

I personally really struggle to find a good quality foundation to match my naturally pale skin tone. I often find many brands don't cater for pale tones, and the lightest shades many offer still leave  me looking darker or 'orange-er' than desired. 

When browsing the GOSH stand in my local Superdrug I am instantly drawn to the brightly coloured nail polishes and eye-shadows and I often overlook their other products, but on my quest to find a more appropriate foundation I decided to take another look and picked up 'GOSH X-ceptional Wear' in 'Porcelain.' The swatch on the packaging shows a very pale yellow toned shade which is the sort of colour I was after. 

The sleek matte packaging of the product is appealing but I was mildly irritated by the security tag being placed over the back of the product, which meant A) I couldn't clearly read the details, so I wasn't 100% sure on what benefits I'd be getting from the product and B) It made the packaging really sticky and messy once I had peeled it off, and it was generally all gooey and ick. 

Another thing I noticed on the packaging was the term 'long lasting' but it didn't specify, in comparison to many high-street brands which claim x amount of hours wear. This didn't particularly bother me but I felt it was smart as many other foundations don't live up to their claim of wear time. 

I found the actual product to be fairly runny, which took me some time to get used to, in comparison to other foundations I have used in the past. Unfortunately I didn't take a picture of the nozzle which really irritates me, it's a triangular shaped nozzle, which doesn't provide much control over how much you apply so again it took me a while to adjust to using it. 

I manage to get between 7-9 hours wear from X-Ceptional Wear depending on if I'm using a primer or powder, and since using this foundation my skin has improved greatly and I'm finding I'm having less breakouts so this formula definitely agrees with my skin type. However the tone of the foundation is still slightly too dark and it takes a lot of blending to work into my hairline and neck to avoid any embarrassing foundation lines! Despite this, this is still the most colour matched foundation I have tried so far.

Overall this is one of my favourite foundations I have used to date but I feel the packaging does slightly let it down, I feel a pump application would be much better suited in comparison to the nozzle as it is very easy to apply too much. However the actual product is very light, yet gives a medium coverage which is enough for me most of the time. I would re-purchase this again, but I would be interested in trying alternative brands to see if I can find another foundation which will match my tone better yet gives similar results. 

GOSH X-Ceptional Wear Foundation is available here and in Superdrug stores for £7.99

What's in my makeup bag?

Bird Print Makeup Bag - £5.99 - H&M 

For my everyday makeup look I rarely tend to mix things up at all, I much prefer to stick to carrying around a few essential items so I can quickly top up on the go without having to worry about having a million different products cluttering up my makeup bag. For the bag itself I fell in love with the design the second I saw it. It's quite a bit bigger than usual bag up makes, which makes it great for throwing in any extra products if I'm travelling, and the bird print instantly did it for me. 

'Everyday' make up 

Above is everything I usually carry in my makeup bag, as you can see I've got most of the essentials and as my bag is so spacious it comfortably fits my Real Techniques Core Collection brushes which is always ideal for touch ups throughout the day. 

 Face - Benefit The Porefessional Mini, Rimmel Stay Matte Powder in 001 Transparent, Accessorize Blusher in Scandal, Vivo Baked Bronze in Shade 2, GOSH X-ceptional Wear in Porcelain, Mememe Flawless Concealer in Porcelain, Accessorize Highligher 

First of all a huge sorry for not cleaning my makeup brushes! Although I can promise you they were cleaned on Monday so that's my excuse and I'm sticking to it! As you can see from the shades of both my foundation and concealer, I have extremely pale skin and I really struggle with finding a good quality foundation which isn't going to leave me with an unrealistic skin tone. By itself I don't rate my GOSH foundation too highly but since teaming it with The Porefessional I have noticed an improvement. I don't use the bronzer and highlighter everyday but use it on a 'need to' basis, using either when I feel like it. 

17 Falsifeye Mascara in Black, Natural Collection Liquid Eyeliner in Black, Soap and Glory Thick and Fast Mascara in Black 

My 17 Mascara is my ultimate go to mascara, I am obsessed with it and it gives me amazing lashes all the time, and I'm sure it's a mascara I will repurchase when I'm finished with this one. I also use my Soap and Glory Thick and Fast as I'm trying my hardest to fall in love with this too, at first I wasn't too keen on it but over time I'm beginning to warn to it, and it gives my lashes a more longer look in comparison to 17. I don't often use eyeliner so I never really feel the need to spend a vast amount on it (and when I do use eyeliner it's usually part of my Front Cover Rainbow Eyes) and admittedly I use this eyeliner more as a replacement nail art pen rather than for it's proper use but every now and then I decide to use this so it's nice to keep it on hand. 

Revlon Colourburst Lip Butter in Strawberry Shortcake, Vaseline Lip Therapy, MUA Lipstick in Shade 7 

Since the Revlon Lip Butters have been released in the UK I have been obsessed with them, I did have one in Peach Parfait as well but I seem to have lost it, which I am heartbroken about as I did prefer that colour to Strawberry Shortcake. I suffer from really dry lips so I tend to swing towards lip products which aim to keep my lips in top condition and Vaseline never disappoints me. Shade 7 is probably my favourite shade of the MUA lipsticks for the daytime as it's a gorgeous rosy pink shade which is really versatile and I feel I can wear it with most things. 

Are any of these products in your makeup bag? And is there any products that are your makeup must haves? Let me know!