Over the last couple of days I have accumulated a mini-haul I haven't yet talked about on this blog, so I thought I'd show you what I've been treating myself to!

The lovely Lauren of Lauren's Dressing Room is doing a MAC giveaway to celebrate her blog's first birthday! Her blog really is lovely and she wears such pretty clothes, so I'd advise you to go check it out :) Link for the giveaway is

Hello, this is the next installment of the...Foundation Files! I kind of feel like they need to have some kind of theme tune...oh well...

Foundation #2 L'Oreal True Match foundation. 

The bottle says it's a "super-blendable, perfecting foundation; matches the colour and texture of your skin". I bought this in the depths of winter, when I was rather pale and bored at the airport, too skint to afford anything high-end, so this is what I picked up. 

*The coverage is pretty good, and because it's so light, it does help hide my dark circles (bane of my existence!)

*The price is reasonably good considering how much L'Oreal products usually are (their mascaras are more expensive!) It's also cheaper than other brands, say, for example, Max Factor.

*In the photo of the swatches you can see what my problem with this foundation is. I realise my hands are darker than my face anyway, but it's very pale, and very pink. I bought the shade Rose Vanilla as it seemed to match my skin under the bright lights in the shop, but once out in daylight it is just too pale for my face, meaning it is in no way a "True Match". Admittedly this is my own fault, but the fact it's so light means it's strictly a winter-only foundation! I'd probably be better off with a different shade but I don't know if I like the foundation enough to buy it again.
*Also since trying to wear it again I've accumulated more spots than normal (yes, difficult as it may seem) and I'm not sure if it's down to this foundation. My skin does have a tendency to react to the smallest of things so it might be this, it might not, but I'd rather not take any chances!  However, I would probably not repurchase this.

5/10

Belle from bellevintage (a blog I highly, HIGHLY recommend) has tagged me in this lovely post! I've never been tagged before so I'm pretty chuffed, haha. Anyway, if you fancy knowing a little more about me, read on!

Hello! 

This is the first of a series of posts on foundation. I own so many different foundations and have barely hit the halfway mark on any of them as I find I fall in and out of love with them (I am far too indecisive at the best of times) so I thought I would share with you my quest to find the perfect foundation.

My skin is what I term 'problem skin', my skintone is uneven, I have massive bags under my eyes even after the best of sleeps, rarely does a day pass by without some kind of volcano erupting spot appearing on my face and to top it all off, I'm OILY. Lovely, isn't it? To cut a long story short (and to avoid a longwinded rant about my own insecurities) I basically cannot leave the house without some kind of facial mask to hide the impurities underneath. Hence, the foundation quest.

I bought this a few months ago, applied it and decided I didn't like it, so into the make-up box it went. After a summer of powder, though, my skin was crying out for some kind of moisture, so I dug this out from its premature grave and over the last few days, I've been giving it another chance.

Swatch:

Normal blob on the left, blended out on the right.

* The colour: it's one of the only foundations that matches my skin tone EXACTLY. I have shade no 53, in beige clair (light beige).

* The coverage: it's medium coverage, but buildable if you need to hide blemishes. It can also cover under-eye circles, although not as efficiently as a concealer.

* The smell: may put some people off but I quite like the fruitiness of it, it smells lovely in my opinion, like most Bourjois foundations.

* The consistency: it's not too watery, not too thick, and dries with a light sheen, giving you a nice dewy look.

* It has a tendency to go shiny after a while or if you've exerted yourself, say walking to town... so a powder is needed on any shiny bits. Unless you're into the oily look, of course.

* I find it transfers quite easily so be careful when trying clothes on or hugging a significant other as it may transfer onto their clothing!

I have changed my mind about this foundation and am actually quite enjoying it as an everyday foundation. At the moment I'm trying to go for a pared-down look and I don't really want to wear too much product, and wearing this makes me feel like I'm doing something good for my skin. I wouldn't wear it on a night out, however, or for a special occasion, as it's not quite flawless enough and I would worry about its staying power. As a daily foundation, though, it does quite well, and the price is pretty average for a drugstore foundation.

Bourjois Healthy Mix Foundation retails for £9.99 in Superdrug, although you can get it for less if you search online.

Apologies for my absence! I've spent the last week moving back into my uni house and it's a little hectic! Anyway, on Friday, I went shopping, and, among other things, came back with this:

Yep, I spent all my holiday tutoring money on an iPhone! But it's worth it :)

I have slowly been compiling a list of products I would like to get my grubby little mitts on as long as my budget allows it!

- Mac Fix+ Spray. I read about this soooo often on beauty blogs and it's something I'd really like to try out. At £11 it's not totally out of my budget and I may be going to Westfields next week which will be my first time in a proper MAC store as opposed to dinky little counters! I can't begin to describe my excitement, haha!

- A good concealer. I have had it with sub-par concealers and my under-eye circles are getting to me. I'm going to spend a considerable amount of time swatching random concealers, starting with Gosh and Bourjois and slowly moving my way up to MAC and Clinique - let's hope I eventually get lucky!

- SLS-free shampoo. I shamelessly abuse my hair with straighteners and the like so it's about time I started taking care of it, and I shall begin with shampoo. I found helpful lists of SLS-free shampoos here and here!

- A new liquid liner! I posted about my eyeliner woes here and sadly they're still continuing. I tested my mum's L'Oreal Super Liner and was not terribly impressed so now I'm back to the drawing board. I foresee many hours of swatching...

- I also decided I shall buy the MeMeMe lip and cheek tint after being introduced to tints this summer and loving them. Rumour has it the MeMeMe one is a cheaper alternative to Benetint so I shall be testing this out!

- Lush Vanishing Cream. I've read lovely reviews of this product so I may work up the cheek to head into Lush and ask them for a sample!

That's it for now, my wishlist is ever-growing, you may have noticed I have a habit of going "I want to buy..." all the time...if only my purse supported this habit! What items are on your wishlists?

xoxo

Golden Glow is running a really good giveaway in which you can win the MAC lipstick of your choice! To enter, just go

This week I shall recommend a blog I only very recently started following but have quickly become a big fan of :

Apologies for the slowness in posting, I've spent the last few days trying to kick myself into 'organised pre-uni mode' which is never fun! I have to squeeze packing, sorting out my student loan, spending time with my family, friends and dog over here before I leave for the UK on Wednesday, so I'm a bit stressed!  Never mind that now, though, as I have a few things I'd like to talk about:

- I am very, very impressed with Garnier Nutrisse hair dye. Why, you may ask? Because I chose a colour named, in a literal translation, Conker Brown. I picked this partly because my roots were dark and the rest of my hair was orange thanks to my previous dye exploits, and partly because I've always loved the colour of conkers, the way they change colour from brown to red depending on the light. So I slapped this on my head yesterday with the help of my mother and guess what? My hair is the exact colour of a conker! So like I said, very impressed. These hair dyes are also good value for money, retailing at £4.99 in Boots or Superdrug, and they smell considerably nicer than other dyes I've tried. Of course you still have that inevitable dye smell, but there's also a lovely fruity scent, and the conditioner in the box is lovely too! Excuse the awful lighting in the photo, but I think it shows off the colour quite nicely!

- My lovely Bourjois liquid liner died a painful death the other week...well, okay, the felt tip part decided to separate and now when I mean to draw a single line I get lots of little ones...very interesting, but not the effect I'm going for, really! So over the last few days I've been trying to define my eyes without liquid liner and trust me, for someone who is pitifully dependent on liquid liner and has been for the last few years, this is no easy task! It didn't help that I lacked a blending brush (I own one now, thanks to the gracious Naty) and often ended up with eyeshadow all over my face, but I've kind of got to grips with it now, I think (I hope).

For the look above I swiped a bit of Sleek Kajal liner on my upper lash line, then put some pale gold eyeshadow over the top and blended it so it didn't look too harsh (and messy, given that I am no good with crayon liners), then defined the crease with MUA brown eyeshadow. I also rubbed the blending brush along my lower lash line to see what would happen (I got some shadow in my eye, but most of it ended up on the lash line...) and then finished it off with mascara on upper and lower lashes. I also dabbed some Body Shop lip stain on my lips, but it doesn't really show up so well on camera!

Given that I am now once again on the hunt for a liquid eyeliner, I was thinking of trying out a brand other than Bourjois. So today my question is, what is your favourite liquid eyeliner?

- Getting engaged! At first glance this has nothing to do with beauty, but my fiancé and I look so glowing and joyful in the photos taken afterwards that I think happiness is really the best beauty product in the world! I still can't quite get my head round the fact that I'm engaged, I keep staring at my ring finger and looking all soppy (according to my mum!). I'm so very very happy, and everyday I think how lucky I am to have met my soulmate!

- Chanel Inimitable Intense. I have extolled the virtues of this on many occasions and I think I shall continue to do so for a while!


(image from Google)

- Marc Jacobs Daisy. I discovered this whilst on the Great Perfume Search and loved it so much, it just really suits me and I usually find it so difficult to find perfumes that are really "me"! My boyfriend fiancé found the limited edition Pop Art bottle in Duty Free for me and I've been wearing it ever since. This has definitely become one of my all-time favourites!

-Autumn fashion! Is it sad that one of the reasons I'm looking forward to getting back to the UK is shopping for my new autumn/winter wardrobe?


Out:

- Mosquito bites! I've had so many on this holiday, and nothing stops them from itching except standing in the sea...bit of a problem then!

- Long-distance relationships. Because Skype and emails can only do so much. Most of our missives consist of the phrases "I miss you so MUCH" or "I hate distance/being apart!". Says it all, really. Thankfully once I'm back at uni we will be able to see each other every weekend as opposed to spending months apart...


-Frizzy hair. I will spare you the horror of a photo but it is the bane of my existence and never more so than during summer months (heat = sweat = a continually curly fringe!). At least in winter I can stick a hat on top of it and claim it's stylish.

This week I would like to recommend

So I thought I could update you all on how my holiday is going. I have undergone a massive change in the last few days...in the above picture, taken last week on a day out in Monaco, I was simply a girlfriend...

Mere hours later, I had become a fiancée!

I can't tell you anything about the make-up I wore as by this point in time it had slid halfway down my face due to the heat in the South of France, my clothes were rumpled, my shoes kicked off somewhere in the villa after getting in...but I honestly couldn't care less.  Friday, 3rd September 2010 was one of the happiest days of my life, and I am glad I can share it with you :)

xoxo

I applied my eyeliner with a different brush than I'm used to the other day, which is what sparked off this idea for making a list of my pet peeves when applying my make-up! 

- Accidentally smudging liquid liner or mascara all over my eyelid. Tip: own cotton buds and eye-make-up remover in abundance.

- When the cat-flicks aren't EQUAL. I walk around asking everyone in sight "Does it look really bad? Can you see how uneven my liner is?". They always say no, but if I'm unfortunate enough to catch my reflection somewhere and see how uneven the flicks are it drives me crazy! If it's really bad I have been known to wipe all my make-up off in a tantrum and start again.

- When a normally perfectly good mascara decides to clump. I'm looking at you, Max Factor False Lash Effect.  (Tip: never, EVER apply mascara over L'Oréal Lash Serum. The manufacturers might say this is a good idea. They are wrong.)

 - When my skin is being weird and my blusher decides to show up in patches rather than a nice, even sweep of colour.