Neutral Eyes and Bold Lips | LOTS of First Impressions

After the London Drugs event I went to, and with all the stuff I had to pack away without getting to play with before our move, I have had so many new products just sitting around waiting for me to try them. Cole and I went out for dinner after he’d been gone on a work trip for a few days, and so I thought I’d get all dolled up using some of my new products and do a sort of “first impressions” post on everything I used. I went for glowy skin, neutral eyes and bright, bold lips. Also, I swear I did not Photoshop my skin to look all smooth, haha. I thought I’d mention that because it literally looks like I have the world’s most perfect skin in these. It must’ve just been an amazing BB cream/lighting/camera combo that worked #allthewonders.

Face

La Roche Posay SPF60 Ultra Fluid Lotion

I had a little sample of this so I decided to use it as my SPF base. I ALWAYS start with a sunscreen on under all of my makeup (or just on my bare face if I’m not wearing makeup). This seemed to ball up a bit on my skin when I spread it around, however I need to try it again before I decide that was the actual product or if I had dry skin from being sunburnt around the edges of my face a few days before (make sure to bring it up to your hairline! haha). Other than that, I quite liked this. It was light on the skin, absorbed quickly and dried matte.

MAKE UP FOR EVER Step 1 Skin Equalizer Redness Correcting Primer

The MUFE Step 1 Skin Equalizer Smoothing Primer has been my go-to for the last few months, and so I had high hopes for this primer. Since trying it this first time, I’ve been using it daily. I tend to get a lot of redness around my nose, so the green tint in this primer is helpful for evening out the redness as well as acting as a primer for my makeup. I really like this primer!

L’Oréal True Match Lumi Liquid Glow Illuminator in Golden

I have read mixed reviews on the new L’Oréal highlighting products, but I personally love them. Some of the complaints I’ve heard are just that the shades are too intense for using as a highlight, which is true if all you’re doing is putting down a swatch on your arm to color test. What I think some people are missing is that these blend out beautifully. I like to apply these under or over a BB cream or light coverage foundation, depending on how much of a highlight I want. The golden illuminator gives a gorgeous bronzey glow when I apply it under a BB cream. I have been using these highlights a ton lately (I have all three and like them for different purposes) and loveeee them. Full review and swatches coming soon!

Anna Sui Protective BB Cream

I honestly haven’t used a BB Cream in forever. As it is, I don’t wear foundation that often because for the most part, my skin behaves. There are the occasional times that it isn’t looking it’s best though, and I like to use a lighter BB cream or foundation to even out my skin tone. This is absolutely going to be my new go-to for days like this! I was a bit skeptical that this BB cream would work out for me, because it only comes in two colors (light and medium), and usually light is too dark for me, but this ended up being a good match for me. It blended in well with a damp Beauty Blender (if you don’t already use a Beauty Blender for your foundation, you neeeeeeed to get one and try it. I swear by them for the most natural looking application) and had enough coverage to even out my skin tone, but not to hide any major blemishes. It has a semi-matte finish, which I really like because I don’t want to look totally dried out and I don’t want to be too dewy either. It also contains SPF 50, so this is definitely something I’ll be reaching for a lot this summer.

NYX Cosmetics Color Correcting Concealer

I used the pinky peach shade in this palette to try to counteract my dark circles, but the product slipped around too much to be able to layer it on and get much coverage. To be fair, I have quite bad dark circles and there are very few products that will cover them enough for my liking, so this may be better for someone who just needs a tiny bit of coverage.

Emani HD Corrective Concealer

I first discovered this brand when I was at the London Drugs event recently. It is vegan, cruelty-free, gluten-free, paraben-free, and more- pretty impressive! I used this corrective concealer under my eyes to try to cover up some of the darkness, and while it was very easy to blend, it was almost TOO easy. Like with the NYX concealer, it slipped around a bit and that made it difficult to get any coverage on my dark circles, but it did brighten up the area. It worked well for the redness on my nose, but it was hard to get the product to stay centralized on blemishes when I was trying to cover them up. I have a hard time with these types of concealers in general and prefer my concealer in a liquid form as I find them easier to keep in the area that I’m trying to blend them into. I would recommend this specific concealer for brightening up the under eyes, though not for coverage if you have pretty dark circles.

MAC Mineralize Loose Foundation in Extra Light

I used a tiny bit of this on a Sephora Pro Contour Brush (loooooove) to set my under eyes. I like this because it isn’t heavy enough to become cakey, but because it’s a mineral foundation, it provides a little extra coverage. If you couldn’t tell by my excessive dark circle ramblings by now, I can use all the coverage I can get.

Hard Candy So Baked Bronzer in Hula Hula

I’ve been using this a lot lately. It’s the perfect summer glow for fair skin! I don’t use it to contour because it has a bit of a… I want to say shimmer, but not like a glittery shimmer, just more of a glow, to it. But once I’m done contouring and before I apply blush, I’ll put a bit of this on my cheeks.

Annabelle Blush in Spring Petal

Love love love love love. All the love for this blush. It’s the only blush I’ve tried by Annabelle (I got it as a sample at the London Drugs event), and I officially want to buy a ton more. This specific shade is SO pretty with my fair skin and gives such a natural flush. I’ve been using it pretty much exclusively lately because I like it so much!

Eyes

NYX Cosmetics Prismatic Eye Shadow in Girl Talk

We were given the shade Girl Talk at the London Drugs event, and it’s so gorgeous. It’s a perfect everyday color to just brighten up the eyes. I’m obsessed with these Prismatic Eye Shadows, I honestly want to own all of them. I recently bought Mermaid after seeing the NYX rep layer it over the NYX Black Eye Shadow Base (which you NEED- it opens up a whole new world of shadows you already own) at the event, and oh my gosh was it ever beautiful! I’ve since done a look with it, and can’t wait to post it. SO pretty. I want all of these shadows!

Prestige Cosmetics Line & Style Ink Pen

This felt tip liner was pretty easy to get a really thin, precise line with. I mostly used it to thicken up the base of my lashes rather than to do anything crazy for this look, so I can’t speak on how well it preforms when trying to wing it out or do a thicker line.

L’oreal Voluminous Miss Manga Rock Mascara

I have already raved about this in a couple of previous posts since trying it for the first time, but hollllly heck. If you’re going to try a single new mascara this year, let this one be it. IT’S SO GOOD, and this is coming from someone who is insanely picky about mascara. I love the length, volume and separation that this gives, and at $7.99, there’s really no reason you shouldn’t go buy this right now.

Lips

Stila Stay All Day Liquid Lipstick in Como

I already did swatches and a review of this liquid lipstick in my recent Stila Summer 2015 post, but in a nutshell- obsessed. They are an amazing, incredibly long-lasting product and I want every single color.

If you’re not into (or not comfortable enough creating) more intense eye looks, a neutral eye with a bold pop of color via a fun lipstick is a great way to go.

What are some new products you’ve tried and loved lately?