How To... Get Glowing/Healthy Looking Skin

I've been loving glowing, healthy looking skin at the moment and I've come across the perfect products to create this so I thought I'd share it with you. 

Sleek Face Contour Kit in Light - £6.50

I only use the highlighter out of this kit as at the moment I prefer the Liz Earle bronzer. The highlighter is a beautiful light rose gold colour that really highlights the cheekbones. You only need a tiny amount of this though because it's very strong.

Liz Earle Natural Glow Bronzer* - £19.50

I reviewed this product in full here and I've been using it not only as a contour colour but also as a blush sometimes as it's really versatile. It adds a gorgeous glow to the skin and makes skin look glowing, healthy and naturally bronzed.

17 Hide & Chic Concealer - £4.99

I use this underneath my eyes and it does a fabulous job at concealing under eye bags and just generally brightening the eye area up and making you look more awake. It's also great on blemishes and it really blurs imperfections.

Rimmel Wake Me Up Make Up Foundation - £6.99

 My favourite foundation at the moment. I did a full review of this here and I've worn it every day since buying it. As the name suggests it makes you look awake, lasts all day with a primer and covers very well.

Benefit That Gal Brightening Face Primer - £21.50

This primer is amazing. It helps make up lasts all day long whilst adding a natural and beautiful glow to the skin. If I haven't had much sleep then I can rely on this primer to really perk my skin up.

17 Pressed Powder - £3.99

And finally, I've switched my mattifying powder for a 'normal' powder to let my skin shine through. This one is great because it keeps oil at bay but it doesn't leave your skin looking dead matte.

And of course I've included a few swatches for you.
L-R Liz Earle Natural Glow Bronzer, Sleek Contour Kit Highlight in Light

And this is my skin with all of these products mentioned above. I wore this make up for work last Sunday and it lasted on my skin all day and really made me look glowing and healthy. I also had a bad breakout last week on the right hand side of my face but as you can see, the Wake Me Up foundation really covered the breakout pretty well.
What products do you use to get glowing skin?
xxx
*PR Sample

What's In My... 'Travel' Make Up Bag

First thing's first, I must apologise about the shocking picture. This was the best of a bad bunch and for some reason, these products (minus the HD Brow Palette) didn't want to photograph at all. But I really wanted to write this post so I thought a bad picture is better than no post! Recently I'm in between Mansfield and Lincoln because university is finished but I still have my job out there. I don't want to take all my make up back to Mansfield yet as I love blogging at Lincoln so I've just taken a small bag full of my current favourite products at the moment and here they are...

On my skin I've currently been loving both the No7 Shine Free Primer - £11.00 and the Benefit Porefessional Primer - £23.50. I use the No7 primer on my t-zone to keep my skin matte and the Benefit primer on my cheeks to cover up my pores. The combination of both works really well and I've been using these two together every day. When it comes to foundation I've rediscovered MAC Studio Sculpt Foundation - £23.00. It provides great coverage that's natural looking and isn't too heavy when applied to the skin. I do sometimes get red skin so I use Natural Collection Corrector Stick - £1.99 which I bought just so I could get 50 Boots points. But I do love it. It's a bit chalky so it needs warming up but it does a great job at concealing redness for such a cheap price. I've been combining two concealers together; the Max Factor Pan Stix - £6.99 which essentially is a foundation but my skin hasn't been that bad recently so I don't use it as a foundation as it is full coverage. And the No7 Quick Cover Blemish Stick - £8.00 which provides good coverage that lasts throughout the day. I haven't been using any powder on my skin as my primers are that good but I have been using both the Liz Earle Natural Glow Bronzer* - £19.50 and MAC Powder Blush in Pink Swoon - £17.50 to perk my skin up and provide me with a lovely colour. Both are very natural, matte and do a great job at warming and brightening the skin. Of course on my eyes I've been using the Urban Decay Naked 2 Palette - £36.00 which is the best nude, natural palette out there. I've then been using the 17 Liquid Liner - £3.99 to define my eyes and finishing off with my new favourite mascara, No7 Exceptional Definition Mascara - £12.50 which is great for volumising and defining the lashes. On my bottom lashes I've been using a mascara by Flutter which I received at Christmas. It's a small mascara which is great for using on the bottom lashes. As always on my eye brows I've been using the HD Brow Palette* - £19.95 to fill my brows in and setting them with the Collection 2000 Colour Lash Mascara in Clear - £2.99. And finally I've been completing the look with 17 Mirror Shine On Lipstick in Belle - £4.59 which is a lovely nude lip colour that hydrates the lips.
xxx

COLLECTION: Primers

No7 Shine Free Primer - £11.00

I bought this with my £5 voucher as I was in need of a primer and minus the £5 of staff discount it was a very good price. This doesn't have the nicest consistency and it's pretty hard to 'spread' around the skin but it does the job. It keeps skin matte free all day and helps make up last a lot longer. I wouldn't pay £11 for it but with the voucher it's definitely worth it.

Urban Decay Eyeshadow Primer Potion - £14.50

Sorry about the little Clinique pot but the Primer Potion's old packaging was awful and I managed to decant so much product from it that this little tub has lasted me a further 6 months (and I've barely used it) so make sure you decant the product. This is the ultimate eye primer. Not only does it ensure that your eye make up stays in place all day long it also makes the colours look more vibrant and 'alive.' I've had this for over 2 years now and I can see it lasting me another year at least so definitely worth it.

Rimmel Fix & Perfect Pro Primer - £6.99

I was in need of a primer and Rimmel had just brought theirs out so I thought 'why not?' It's an okay primer. It ensures that make up lasts a lot longer than it normally would but I don't believe it does anything else for the skin. Especially not the 5 results that it claims it does. It is though however a lovely consistency and applies like a dream.

Sheer Cover Base Perfector* - prices start from £29.99

The only bad thing about this primer is that you have to buy it as a set with some other Sheer Cover product.(Don't get me wrong, the set is lovely and works very well). But it's not good if you just want the primer. The primer is lovely. It's of cream consistency and glides on the skin covering up imperfections and pores whilst ensuring skin is matte and make up lasts throughout the day.

17 Photo Flawless Primer - £4.99

Once again I bought this because it was cheap and from what I remember it was the first drug store primer. Maybe I'm dreaming that one... But yes, it's a decent primer. It reminds me of GOSH's primer with it's consistency as it's gel and glides over the skin beautifully. It fills in pores but I don't believe it prolongs the life of make up that much. If I don't have a busy day then I'll use this but if I need my make up to last very well then I'd go for something stronger.

Murine Bright & Moist Eyes Eye Drops* - £4.49

I guess this isn't a primer but I use these every day before applying my make up as they make my eyes look a lot brighter. I wouldn't be without them and I now see them as a valuable part of my make up routine.

Benefit Porefessional Primer - £23.50

I received this with Glamour magazine and I really love it. It glides over the skin, makes make up last all day and covers pores perfectly. I really cannot rave about this enough. It is as perfect as a primer get. Oh and you only need a tiny amount as well so it will last a long time if you cannot justify the price.

I have a primer addiction at the moment; what are your favourite primers?

xxx

*PR Sample

Outfit & Face of the Night: No Longer Freshers

Last night was pretty much the end of my first university year. Yesterday, me and my friends went out for a meal and then went out to a nightclub to celebrate the end of our first year. We also ended up having a sleepover at one of my friends flat and finally when we woke up this morning (or should I say afternoon) we took a trip to Morrison's cafe. Some of us are still here and we'll definitely be coming back to university for a few days at a time but last night was what I'd say was our last night as freshers. It's going to be strange not being around my friends at university any more as we've pretty much spent every hour of every day with each other. It's been a wonderful year.. definitely the best of my life and I can't wait until September!

This is the outfit that I wore. Both the play-suit and the shoes were both from New Look. And surprisingly, the shoes are very comfortable and I rarely ever took them off. If you know me, then you'll know that when it comes to heels, I walk to the club in them and take them off pretty much instantly so this is a big achievement for me! I really love the play-suit but it is pretty revealing and I had a few people on 'boob watch' all night. We even used body tape but that was useless and lasted for around an hour.

Unfortunately I didn't take any pictures of my make up before I went out but these are the pictures that probably show it off best. I went for a more natural look with my eyes and I used Urban Decay's Sidecar and Darkhorse from the Naked Palette on my eyes as well as my favourite eyeliner from 17 and my favourite mascara from 17 also. On my eyebrows I used my trusty HD Brow Palette* and my Collection 2000 clear mascara to keep them in place all night. You can find out how I did my base make up here - the only difference is that I used the wonderful Benefit Porefessional Primer before all of my foundations/concealers/bb creams/powders etc. To contour my face I used the Liz Earle Natural Glow Bronzer* and to brighten my face up I used my favourite blush which is Nars Deepthroat. My fake tan is also Xen-Tan* and my nails (which you can't see but I will be doing a blog post on) are from imPress nails.*

A few of us who went out.

Overall it's been a wonderful year and I wouldn't change any of it. I've met the greatest people and I know we're all going to be good/best friends for the rest of our lives. If I could say one thing to anyone; if you have the chance to go to university, go. You won't regret it. And the debt? Doesn't matter one bit. It's all worth it.

xxx

*PR Sample