Full Face of Revolution Makeup

As a makeup enthusiast people often expect me to only purchase & own high end, luxury makeup. But this couldn’t be further from the truth. I would estimate that my collection is actually 50/50 between high end makeup & drug store makeup.

There are so many high quality affordable options out there. One of those affordable brands
which I love is Revolution Makeup. In the last year or two they have noticeably stepped up their game in both packaging & product range.

While some of there products are almost direct copies of higher end products (I prefer to try & stay away from these products as it’s a bit murky ethics wise) they release some great products taking only a hint of inspiration from their luxury counterparts.

When I decided to do a full face of  Revolution products I didn’t actually have to buy anything as I pretty already had a full face worth of products in my collection (just missing brows which I improvised for)

First up the the Fast Base Stick Foundation in F1 (€5.99) & the Conceal & Define Concealer in C1 (€4.99) While it’s so handy to have a Foundation in stick form, this one disappointed me despite the glowing reviews from influencers. It didn’t seem to blend into my skin, just sat on top & highlighted every single pore & line in my face. The Concealer is good, & I will probably repurchase when I run out.

One of the standout products for me is is the Luxury Baking Powder in “Lace” which I use for setting my under eyes. At only €5.99 this is a steal, it makes my under eyes look flawless. The Loquid Highlighter in “Unicorn Elixir” was not a standout product unfortunately, I found it too greasy & it lifts the Foundation when applied over it. For this look I applied it under my foundation & it seemed to work ok, but I wasn’t blown away. The Aqua Seal Liquid Eye Primer (€3.99) is another product I will be repurchasing, while the liquid formula takes a bit of getting used to, it’s a good primer.

The Ultra Sculpt & Contour Lit in “Ultra Fair” (€4.80) is the perfect multi-use product for travel, combining a contour, blush & highlight in one slim package. The Ultra Blush palette in “Hot Spice” is a product I would highly, highly recommend. Six blushes & two highlighters for
€6.99, yes please. The Triple Baked Bronzer in “Summer of Love” (€5.99) is very pigmented so a light hand is needed.

The Soph x Revolution collection is a collab with Youtuber Soph Does Nails. The Highlighter palette retails €9.99 & is a very high quality product, with a mixture of both warm & cool tone highlighters with a variety of finishes. The Eyeshadow palette is good, seems to be a different formula than the other Revolution Palettes. My only complaint would be the colours, it’s a warm, neutral colour scheme, so if you have a lot of palettes, chances are you already have these colours in other palettes. Great choice for someone who’s only just starting their collection though.

Jaclyn Hill X Morphe Palette

I thought I didn’t need this palette. I was wrong.

This palette is the result of a collaboration between Youtuber Jaclyn Hill & Makeup brand Morphe Cosmetics. All these shadows were formulated by Jaclyn herself, so they are different from the traditional Morphe shadows. I purchased mine from Beauty Bay for €46

Formula: Buttery & easily blendable. There is quite a bit of kick back in the pan with the matte shades, but this isn’t a deal breaker for me. The shimmers apply perfectly without having to wet your brush.

Highlights: The formula is great & the colour range has so far proved to versatile.

Lowlights: I would have preferred more cool tones. Also I would have preferred a brown dark enough to be an alternative to the black, as I find black can sometimes be a bit too harsh, as well as a matte brow bone shade (the lightest shades both have shimmer in them).

Benefit Minis

Why is mini makeup so much harder to resist?? I picked these Benefit Cosmetics minis at the weekend as Boots. You get your choice of three makeup minis for €30, plus the free cosmetics bag. Pretty much the price of one full sized product & minis tend to last for ages for me!

- Dandelion Twinkle Highlighter 

-They’re Real Push-up Liner

-They’re Real Lipstick in Revved Up Red 

I prefer to carry minis around with me instead of full size products as they take up less room & don’t add as much to my day-to-day bag.

Full Face: ELF Cosmetics

ELF cosmetics can be a bit of a pain to get a hold of in Ireland, but I managed to order mine through Iherb.com

Shipping is calculated by weight & mine ended up being around €5 so it didn't break the bank. 

It was a mixed bag of results- some great products that I will continue to use & some products that will go straight in the bin...

Moisturising Foundation Stick €5.43
I tried the colour "Natural". To try & gauge the correct shade for me I googled swatches of the shades & luckily "Natural" was a perfect match. I am delighted with this foundation & would definitely re-purchase. As it is in Stick form it is slightly more cakey than liquid formulas, but that is to be expected. I will use this mainly for travelling as it can be taken in carry on luggage without counting as a liquid.

The formula was perfect for my skin type, nice & creamy, without high-lighting any dry patches. To apply I swiped over my forehead, down my nose, across my cheeks & a dab on my chin (you can use more or less depending on the coverage you want) I then blended out with a buffing brush.

Bronzer Palette €5.43
I ordered the shade "Bronze Beauty" . Unfortunately one of the pans in my palette was smashed when it arrived, but I emailed Iherb & they gave me a full refund on the product. I emptied out the smashed pan & just used the other three (I wasn't going to go to the trouble of trying to re-press it as it was very similar to the other three shades anyway). I think the shade of this palette is slightly too dark & red-toned for my skin, but in terms of formula I really liked it. Will keep for when I have a darker tan.

Blending Brush €2.72
This Brush was actually smaller than I was expecting & I would describe it more as a contour brush due to the narrow shape of the bristles. Would'nt use it for setting powders etc, but seems to work ok with contour/bronzer etc.

Blush €2.72
I got the shade "Candid Coral" as I heard this was supposed to a dupe for Nars' "Orgasm"- my favourite all-time blush. It turned out that this wasn't really a dupe as the colour was much more peach toned than "Orgasm" but still really pretty. Will definitely keep using & think I will order more colours to try as well.

Eyeshadow Trio €2.72
I decided to try "Bronze Bonanza" as it seemed to be the most neutral choice. It's super cute & dinky. I used the lightest shade in the trio to highlight my cheekbones, browbone & inner corners of the eye. Then used the bronze shade in my crease & under my lash line. The let down in this little trio is the dark brown shade unfortunately. It was so hard to get any pigment on my brush- I really had to dig into it & then spend ages building the colour up on the outer corners of my eye.

Intense Ink Eyeliner €2.72
I thought I ordered the black colour, but it was the navy one that arrived. So not sure if it was their mistake or mine! Because this is a felt pen doing a winged liner is a bit tricky- the pen can tend to skip on the skin due to the nib being so rigid, also the nib is very long making more detailed work that bit harder. When I managed to get my wings as even as I could I was fairly happy with the result. Until I used a setting spray. This eyeliner is not one bit water resistant- I LIGHTLY sprayed my face after I had finished my makeup like I usually would, but the eyeliner smudged up the eyelid & even on to the brow bone. Even after I did a tidy up, 10 minutes later it had smudged again. Despite not being water resistant this eyeliner stained my lash line after I removed it. So I would give this pen a miss if there is any possibility you are going somewhere it might rain or you might sweat. Otherwise for the price it's ok, but it's not something I'll be using on a regular basis.

Lash Extending Mascara €2.72
I saved the worst for last... This mascara is terrible. There is no product in the tube! Even when swiping the wand on the back of my hand nothing came off, so this is going straight in the bin. Pretty happy with most of the other products & it was so cheap I'm not going to cry about it, but I won't be trying anymore mascaras from ELF. Had to use a mascara from a different brand to finish off this look.

All in all, this was a natural day time look for me. My favourite products which I tried from ELF was the foundation stick & the blusher. The worst was without a doubt the mascara! I will definitely be trying more products from the brand as the price point makes it easier to justify if a product doesn't perform very well.

Best of: Beauty Sponges

Real Techniques (€7.99 Boots.ie)

• My second favourite sponge & the one which I have purchased multiple times- this is the one I use on a daily basis
• Expands by a good amount when wet & is very soft
• Has both a flat side (for blending foundation) and a pointed side (for blending concealer)
• This is the sponge that I've found is nearest to the Beauty Blender in terms of quality

Blank Canvas (€6.99 Blank Canvas Cosmetics)

• Similar to The Real Techniques sponge in terms of quality, the Real Techniques is just slightly softer
• Comes in all different shapes
• Mine ripped on the second time washing it 

Lottie London (€5.50 Superdrug)

• The smallest of all the sponges I tested & the second cheapest
• Does expand when wet, but not as soft as some of the other sponges
• Harder to get your hands on in Ireland

Inglot (€12 inglot.ie)

• I love most Inglot products, but this is the worst sponge that I tried (also one of the most expensive)
• Expanded a small bit when wet, but never seemed to dry (would stay wet for days after use even when stored in the open)
• The surface seems to be almost completely smooth with no pores like most other beauty sponges
• Did not blend make-up well at all
• Was too firm on the skin with very little give

Beauty Blender (€18.80 Beauty Bay)

• The most expensive, but the best...
• When wet it gets so pillowy soft & blends foundation like a dream
• The black colour is the best in my opinion.
• The surface has little pores which soak up excess foundation ensuring even coverage

Primark (€1.50 Penneys/Primark)

• I wasn't expecting much for €1.50, but it was alright
• Didn't expand a whole lot when wet
• I found it very like the Inglot sponge in term of the firmness.
• Tended to smear the foundation, rather than blend

Milani Cosmetics

I recently discovered that US make-up range Milani Cosmetics was available in the UK from both their own UK website & also from Beauty Bay. So I ordered some of their "cult products" which featured prominently in a lot of US bloggers' "Best of 2016" Round-Ups to try out. I decided to order from Beauty Bay rather than their own website as Beauty Bay has free international shipping for orders over €18, also they seemed to have a better shade range in stock when I placed my orders (Beware though as Beauty Bay took aaaages to delivery, was waiting about three weeks for each order & tracking is not available with free delivery).

On my first order I purchased one bottle of the Conceal And Perfect 2 in 1 Foundation & Concealer in the shade 03 Light Beige (€13.10), two of the Baked Blushes in the shades Luminoso & Dolce Pink (€9.50 each) And one of the Powder Blushes in the shade Tea Rose (€10.70).

On My second order I purchased the Conceal And Perfect 2 in 1 Foundation & Concealer in the shade 01 Creamy Vanilla.

On my third order I purchased two Baked Blushes in the shades Rose D'oro & Berry Amore.

The foundation has quickly become my absolute favourite foundation, and is, in my opinion a close dupe for Estee Lauder Double Wear. It is a high coverage foundation when applied with a brush, but can be sheered out if applied with a Beauty Blender. This foundation does not settle into any of my fine lines & lasts throughout a full day's work, which would be about nine or ten hours. I don't set mine with a powder (except maybe my nose), I mist MAC's Fix+ over instead to keep it dewy looking, but those with oily complexions will probably need to powder. 

Be warned though, this foundation runs incredibly dark. From the description on the website I thought 03 Light Beige would be my perfect shade, but I could only wear this shade with a dark tan. The lightest shade 01 Creamy Vanilla is still very dark (and yellow toned) so I'd still need to have a bit of colour to match it. Milani Cosmetics has just announced that they have launched an even lighter shade 00, but this hasn't reached us yet.

Left: 01 Creamy Vanilla. Right: 03 Light Beige

The Powder Blush is beautiful to look at, almost too pretty to use! It offers a matte flush of colour. Very pigmented, so the brush definitely needs to be tapped off. Long lasting too. I probably won't order any more of these, as beautiful as they are, as I think they Baked Blushes give a much nicer & more luminous look, where as the matte finish can tend to look a bit flat on the skin

The Baked Blushes are fabulous! Although they swatch with chunks of glitter, this doesn't seem to translate when applied with a brush to the cheeks, instead you are left with this fabulous healthy sheen. Some of the brighter colours can be very pigmented, so a light hand is needed, but the glow you are left with is incredible. 

They come with a little portable brush in the little compact mirror underneath, but these are pretty useless, the wrong shape & they don't seem to pick up pigment. But you will not be disappointed with a proper blusher brush. 

Although most people's favourite shade seems to be Luminoso, mine is Berry Amore. It looks so good on the skin without leaning too pink or too orange.

Best of Skin Care 2016

Eye Make-Up Remover

This eye make-up remover is one of the few that removes my eye make-up without me having to rub vigorously at my lids. I just shake the bottle to mix & saturate two cotton pads, leave on my eyes for a few seconds & wipe away. At €3 from most pharmacies its easy to find, lasts for ages & doesn't break the bank.

Make-Up Remover

This make-up remover is micellar water mixed with oil & it removes every scrap of make-up off my face. I soak one of the large cotton pads & sweep across my face. This bottle has lasted me for months. It says that it is for dry/normal (my skin would be quite dry) but it doesn't leave any residue on the skin, so might work for all skin types. €6 from most pharmacies, but I actually picked mine up from Penneys/Primark.

Facial Cleanser

After I've removed my make-up with the micellar water I usually deep cleanse with Simple's Kind to Skin Moisturising Facial Wash. I don't have particularly sensitive skin, but I do find that alot of other foaming cleansers dry my skin out too much & leave it feeling uncomfortably tight. This removes any traces of make-up which I may have left behind without the uncomfortable feeling. I got mine from Tesco when the whole Simple range was half price.

Toner

Pixi's Glow Tonic is my absolute Holy Grail skincare product. My skin's texture has improved so much since using this product. The Glow Tonic is an exfoliating toner, so it removes dead skin cells to reveal the brighter skin underneath. As it contains 5% Glycolic Acid you will have to slowly build up to using this neat on the skin. I started using it on damp cotton rounds for the first week or so. I use this every evening now & it makes my dull, dry skin so much brighter & the next morning my make-up goes on smoother. £18 on Cult Beauty.

Facial Exfoliator

I received The Dr. Brandt Pore Dermabrasion in a Birchbox, so it was only a sample size, but it has been the best exfoliator I used in 2016. It has tiny granules which slough away the dead skin cells leaving incredibly smooth skin underneath. A tiny bit goes a long way, so as I only use it around once a week a small tube lasts for ages. £43 from Birchbox.

Lip Scrub

The smell of this lip scrub is delicious (safe to eat as well!) The granules are course enough to make a difference & it leaves behind a slightly oily residue which moisturises the lips. £5.50 from Lush.

Serum

This has more of a lotion consistency than a typical serum. It doesn't give me enough hydration by itself, but this gives my skin an extra boost of moisture underneath my normal moisturiser. Great also as a primer before foundation. I've gone through multiple tubes of this & I will keep repurchasing.€3.50 from Penneys/Primark.

Eye Cream

I use two different eye creams, one for the morning & a different one for the evening. My morning one is Caudalie's "Premier Cru- The Eye Cream", this has a nice light consistency but still moisturises & smooths under the eyes. It also doesn't have any adverse effects with any make-up applied over it. Benefits "It's Potent" eye cream is a bit richer so I apply it in the evening after I've removed my make-up. Since using this cream I've noticed a huge difference in the texture of my under eyes & also the appearance of some of the fine lines. Caudalie Premier Cru as part of a kit from Cult Beauty. Benefits It's Potent €26 from Sam McAuleys.

Facial Moisturiser

I have yet to find my perfect moisturiser, but this one from Simple has been the best so far. Its easy to layer with other products & doesn't leave a residue on the skin or clog the pores. I mainly use this as a night cream, but works well under make-up too (if you have dry skin). €5 from pharmacies.

Facial Spray

This is without a doubt the best facial spray I've tried. It contains Argan Oil & is great underneath my moisturiser for an extra boost or for spraying over make-up when my foundation looks dry or cakey. I love it so much... but it breaks me out... I get small little red bumps on my forehead when I use this, easy to cover up with make-up & usually disappear after using a detoxing face mask. But it does mean that I don't use it every day. Its such a good product that I'm going to persevere using it & hopefully my skin will adjust to it as I'm not usually prone to breakouts. £18 Cult Beauty.