A-Z Of My Favourite Beauty Brands!

A is for: Avene - one of the first french skincare brands I tried and I find their gentle cleanser to be amazing when my eczema breaks out!

B is for: Benefit and Bourjois - great foundations, nice packaging, widely available.

C is for: Caudalie! I adore Caudalie as none of their skincare products irritate my skin. I also love the brand Clarisonic and I do love my Clarisonic Mia.

D is for: Dior! I have been hooked on Dior since I bought my first Dior Mascara (Diorshow waterproof) and I have since bought a couple of large Dior travel exclusive palettes. Also Dove has to be included here as it is one of my favourite body/bath brands.

E is for: Eucerin - I love their 10% urea lotion for when my skin gets flaky and very dry and of course I have to metion ELF here as they make some great, cheap makeup although there are some awful products too.

F is for:.....

G is for: GHD - I have a pair of GHD straighteners which I used to use a lot but I prefer to embrace the curls, although they are the best straighteners I have used and the GHD Opulence Hair Mask is fantastic.

H is for:.....

I is for: Illamasqua - a great brand that produces high quality (and slightly quirky) products; I love the Illamasqua Light Liquid Foundation in the shade LF120 which is the only match for my paler than paler skin right now!

J is for:.....

K is for: Kiko, since I spent 40 euros in one Kiko store (in about ten minutes) I have been addicted to the brand Kiko - it is an Italian brand but they do ship to the UK - I love their lip pencils, eye shadows, nail polish etc.

L is for: Lush, of course! I adore Lush - I have a Lush draw...

 (L'Occitane and Lancome have to be included here too)

M is for: MAC, I have quite a few things from MAC on my beauty wish list and I only have few things from MAC but I love my MAC Moisture Cover Concealer (shade NW15).

N is for: Nars; I love my Nars Velvet Lip Pencil in the shade Dolce Vita, my Nars Pro-Prime Eyelid Primer, my Nars Bellissima Eyeshadow Duo and my Nars Bronzer in the shade, you guessed it, Laguna!

O is for: Original Source - they make great (and great smelling) shower gels that are so cheap!

P is for: Prada, in particular their Prada Infusion D'Iris which is my joint favourite perfume of all time - along with L'Occitane Cherry Blossom.

Q is for:.....

R is for: Rimmel, the essential brand for secondary school girls - all of my friends had Rimmel makeup while at secondary school and I still use some of their products now such as the Stay Matte Powder.

S is for: Simple - I have been using Simple skincare products for at least three years now and I will continue to use them - some products are amazing but others can irritate my skin (Soap & Glory also have to be included in this one!)

T is for: Tweezerman; I have three items from Tweezerman that I adore. Firstly, the amazing Tweezerman Browmousse which is the only product that keeps my brows from being mistaken as a jungle. The other two product are the 10x magnification mirror which is great for tweezing and the Tweezerman Tweezers themselves (mine have ladybugs on!)

U is for:.....

V is for: Vichy - the Vichy 3 in 1 Calming Cleansing Micellar Solution - it is just as amazing as Bioderma, in my opinion.

W is for: Wella - in particular their Clear Scalp Mask which is the only product I have used that gets rid of dandruff completely!

X is for:.....

Y is for: Yves Rocher; they make gorgeous bath, body and fragrance products! Although I wish the products were more available in the UK. I also love my YSL Parisienne perfume.

Z is for:.....

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Illamasqua Sale Haul!

Illamasqua are currently having an up to 60% off summer sale, so naturally I had to get some Illamasqua amazingness! I used the code LIKE15 to get 15% off my total order which was great but you do have to create an a account to use this code and you can only use it once. Illasmasqua also ship worldwide! Firstly, I am impressed with the site in general and you can add free items/samples to your order (for example: I added a sample size of the Illamasqua 'Freak' perfume). I also like the way the items were packaged, like the Glossy box packaging and presentation. 

This is how all of the items were presented when I opened the box and I really like the presentation. The items were packaged and presented well and the free sample I added was included. I ordered the: Light Liquid Foundation in the shade: LF120, Medium Pencil in the shade: Rowdy, Fat Pencil in the shade: Fickle and a Cream Eyeshadow in the shade: Intrude.

Illamasqua Light Liquid Foundation: LF120

I chose this foundation as I do have the Illamasqua Rich Liquid Foundation but it is a bit too dark and orange for me and it is really rich and thick, so I have to mix it with a lot of moisturiser so I can actually use it. I wanted a thinner foundation that would be a bit easier to use and obviously a lighter shade as I am fairly pale. 

I picked the shade 'LF120' which is described as being suitable for individuals with 'light skin with pink undertones' which is my skin exactly. This foundation does match my skin really well, although it is slightly yellow toned. I have only used this foundation twice as I only received it a couple of days ago but so far I am really quite impressed with this foundation. It applies so nicely; I have used this foundation only with my Real Techniques Expert Face Brush (which is amazing by the way) and it glides onto the skin quickly and easily. As I have dry skin I find I very difficult to get foundations that are as moisturising as I need them to be and this foundation is unfortunately not as moisturising as I need it to be - so I do have to mix some of my Simple Rich Moisturiser with this foundation, as I have to with 95% of my foundations. Overall, the shade is great for me, it looks and feels light on the skin, it does not emphasise dryness and it has light to buildable coverage. This foundation does last all day on me although by the end of the day this foundation can look a little bit patchy on the more oily or drier areas and it does let the minimal amount of oil I have through fairly easily - so possibly not good for someone with oily/combination skin (but with a mattifying primer and or setting powder it may be suitable for people with oily/combination skin types). 

Illamasqua Fat Pencil: Fickle

One of the only reasons I bought this product was because it was only £5! How could I not add it to my basket? I have not tried any Illasmaqua pencils before this and after using this product for a couple of days I do want to buy more Illamasqua..Fat...Pencils. Not the best name, in my opinion, but I really like this product so far. I purchased this shade 'Fickle' which is described as a 'Bronze Shimmer' which is quite accurate although in some lights it can look a little brassy and the shimmer looks like a metallic sheen on the skin. This pencil applies really smoothly onto the skin and it feels really soft and creamy as it is being applied and blended. I have only really used this pencil along the lower lash line to define the lower lashes and it works fantastically - it defines the eyes subtly and the shade is gorgeous. It is also really nice all over the lid or along the upper lash line. Overall, a gorgeous shade, great application, easy to blend and a fantastic price!

Illamasqua Cream Eyeshadow: Intrude

I have one of the Illamasqua Cream Pigments in the shade: Hollow, which I purchased from Debehams a while ago and I love it because of the creamy texture and because it doesn't crease on the eyes at all (well after about nine hours it does). So a cream eyeshadow from Illamasqua...at £5 = I had to get it! I bought the shade 'Intrude' which is described as a 'rich brown, with a satin finish'. I love the shade, well I love all neutral/natural eyeshadow shades but this shade is gorgeous. The creamy texture of this product is really nice and the creamy texture makes applying and blending this product onto the skin so quick and easy. I used this product yesterday and it looks really nice all over the lid then blended and set slightly with a similar shade of brown eyeshadow (shade 'Mudhoney' from the Soap & Glory 'what's nude' quad). This cream eyeshadow did crease after about five hours on me even when it was set with a powder eyeshadow but 98% of eyeshadow products crease on me (I know, I'm very lucky...). Overall, I love the shade, it applies so smoothly, it has a great texture and it wears fairly well. 

Illamasqua Medium Pencil: Rowdy

The last item I purchased is a medium pencil in the shade: Rowdy which is described on the Illamasqua website as a 'Rich Terracotta'. The photograph above it making this shade look slightly more orange/brighter than it actually is but on the lips it does look a bit different anyway. This shade on my lips looks like a darker orange terracotta shade - it looks darker and not as bright on the lips. This pencil applies the product so smoothly and easily which makes it very nice to work with. This is the second pencil I have purchased from Illamsqua and if you have noticed the pencils are not labelled as a 'eye pencils' for example or as a 'lip pencil' as you can use them for both eyes or lips. I will just use this shade for lips, until Halloween maybe, but it is not an everyday colour for me. Although the shade is gorgeous and this product is so easy to use. This pencil is also really pigmented! Overall, a great shade, it is really pigmented, the texture is nice and smooth/creamy and it is a really precise pencil. 

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