My Makeup Must Haves

Week 3 of the Best of Beauty Blog challenge, sees all bloggers blogging about their must have makeup items. My god did I find this one hard. The amount of makeup I have in my drawers in unreal. How was I to narrow it down? Samantha you have really thrown me a doozy here.

I have decided to focus on eyes and lips. You have heard me harp on about my absolute favourite foundation in the whole entire world, The Make Up For Ever Liquid lift foundation, the Hourglass Ambient lighting powders and my love for the Make Up For Ever smoky extravagant mascara, and while I still think you need these in your life, they are a little bit more suited to individual taste and you lot must be sick of me going on about them by now. Below I have listed my must have items for eyes and lips.

A Neutral Palette

No makeup collection is complete without a neutral palette. In fact no makeup collection has even begun without a neutral palette. I was a little late to the neutral game, as I always thought it was boring and instead opted for purples and blacks and silvers. My god was I wrong. Some of the most gorgeous eyes are create with browns and golds. Especially on blue eyes.
I would highly recommend going into Inglot and taking your time building a neutral palette to suit you. I love Inglot shadows, as they are so pigmented, have little fallout and are easy to work with. The beauty of the Inglot freedom system is you can build it over time or all at once. An empty 5 palette costs €6 and each individual eyeshadow costs €6. I would however suggest splashing out for the 10 slot palette and filling it over time, or at once if you can afford it.
While most of my palette looks very safe looking, the orange colour instantly stands out and looks scary Mary. Oh ladies, you need this colour. I use it to contour out the eye and add a pop of colour. It complements the browns and golds so well and makes the eyes really pop. When building your palette, make sure to have a colour to contour the eye, one to highlight the brow bone and inner corner, a base colour and a selection of crease colours.
You can also get good neutral palettes from Wet n Wild, MUA and other high street brands, not to mention the juggernaut that is the Urban Decay Naked palettes and my latest most lusted after palette, which happens to be limited edition, the Smashbox Full Exposure palette.

Mac pro longwear paint pot

I never apply eyeshadow without applying this first. It is basically an eyeshadow primer, that keeps the eyeshadows on longer and stops them from creasing. It also makes the pigment of your eyeshadows a little bit stronger. It can be worn as a base on its own or as I wear it as a primer.
While I have a number of colours, my favourite is painterly paint pot. It is a skin colour that glides onto the lid and makes creating a range of different eye looks a lot easier. You can buy these on all Mac counters, or here and they cost €19.50

Black eyeliner

It is very rare I am without a black liner on my eyes. I have been trying to find my holy grail eyeliner for years and have tried everything, gel liners, cake liners, liquid liners, eyeshadows as liners, pen liners. You name it I’ve tried it. For me one of the best liners around for creating a winged liner is the Essence superfine eyeliner pen. It is a strong black colour and the brush itself has just the right level of stiffness for creating a winged liner look, when you are not very good at doing a winged liner look. Best part is is costs around the €3 mark and can be bought on most essences stands. Is there anything more beautiful than a clean look created with black liner, mascara and red lipstick?

Red lipstick

Don’t fear the red lip. Embrace it and hot men will follow. Well maybe not the hot men, but you will look smokin with your red lip. Red lipstick screams confidence, even if you aren’t very confident at all. I love a blue toned red lipstick and 2 of my favourites are the Smashbox legdenry lipstick and the Inglot 126. Both are extremely long lasting and moisturising.
When wearing a red lip, make sure to have a good liner and a mirror in your handbag. I like to keep the mirror handy, to check it hasn’t smudged as it isn’t as forgiving as more neutral colours as the night goes on. especially if the hot men come for a mooch. Most people think a red lip can only be worn in the run up to Christmas, but when paired with a neutral eye, it can look good anytime of the year.

False Lashes

I don’t wear false lashes during the day as much since I got my Make Up For Ever Smoky Extravagant , but I wouldn’t be caught dead on a night out or at an big event with out my beloved false lashes. I used to be a big fan of the more expensive brands, but ladies you really can’t beat Penneys. I use the €1.50 lashes to create a more natural look and then the Kiss lashes for €3.50 when I am going out and want to look a little more vampy. To me these lashes are as good as, if not better than the Eylure lashes and a fraction of the price. The key to creating a good lash is cutting them to the size of you eyes and using a good glue. If you wear false lashes invest in Duo Glue. You can buy it here for €6.50, but it will last you years. There really is nothing like it. It is the business and you won’t find your lashes falling off and landing and a weird angle throughout the night.
Every time I go into Pennys I stock up on a few packets of lashes, even if I don’t need them. I like to have a supply to go to and it means I never get caught out.
Thanks again to Samantha from All The Buzz, for setting up the Best of Beauty Blog challenge. I really feel like I am back in college again, trying to get something finished before the deadline.

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