I Got you ☺

So in my short 3/4years been in love with this make up kinda life here’s a few things I’ve picked up along the way. 

1.     Face primer. Primer helps makeup stay put longer by smoothing on the skin and, sometimes, gripping onto your makeup so it stays put.

If your skin is dry you want to look for a primer with hydrators a great option is Benefit stay flawless primer however if you skin is more oily urban decay prep spray is a good option. For those with just normal *skin smashbox photo finish foundation primer or mac face primer. My personally primer which I use is the *milk of magnesia, now its not everyone’s favourite but it really works for me I find it reduces cracks on my face and keeps my makeup in place no matter what I might be doing.

2.     Good foundation. The use of foundation is it evens out your skintone and gives a better coverage. There are many company’s that have a wide range of shades to find a perfect match for your particular skintone. For people with oily skin opt for powder based, oil free foundation that will allow oily skin to breath, depending on how much you want to spend there’s something for everyone. Some great option are YSL funsion foundation, *No7 beautifully matte foundation, estee lauder, Makeup Forever HD Foundation , Mac Studio Powder Plus Foundation and Lacome Teint Idole Ultra 24H. For people with dry skin look for ingredients that will soothe and nourish your completion, while providing natural coverage. Some good products are *Kiko Unlimited Foundation, Bare Minerals Bareskin foundation, Bobbi Brown Foundation stick , MAC Mineralize Foundation Compact and YSL touché Éclate Foundation. If you have normal skin any of the foundation listed and my personally favourite *L’oreal Paris True Match Foundation N8 would be good. 

3.      Powder.  Both setting and face Powder is used to set the foundation and concealer for a lasting fresh look. Some good ones are *MAC Mineralize skinfinish, MAC powder pressed and *Sleek Translucent loose powder.  All MAC products can the bough in any Brown Thomas store or the main MAC store in Dublin city centre. 

4.     Eye primer. No matter what your eyeshadow palette maybe either its MAC, Sleek, Wet and Wild , Urban Decay, Anastasia or one that you may have ordered from ebay, without a good eye primer your eyeshadow will not be vibrant all day and stay long on. Its so necessary if you want to achieve a good eyeshadow look to have a your eyelids primed. I would recommend a duo of the *MAC studio Finish Concealer topped with the *NYC jumbo pencil in milk. This is my personal eyeshadow primer, I find the concealer helps to stop cracking of the lid and and the jumbo pencil allows the pigment of the eyeshadow to really pop. Elf also have an eyeshadow primer which I find quiet good as will but even with that I still top it with my NYC jumbo pencil, also Urban Decay Primer Portion and MAC paint pot in painterly.  

Also when it comes to a eyeshadow that is not as pigmented as you want I find spraying a bit of Mac Fix plus helps to bring the colour out.

Both NYC jumbo pencil and Elf primer can be purchased here https://www.facebook.com/poisedbysuliat?fref=ts

5.     Highlight and Contour. I’m sure everyone is familiar with this concept but for those who don’t know or are not sure of how or where to start I got you.  Highlight and contour is a two-step process. The first step is the cream and the second step is the powder that sets everything in. My favourite highlight base (cream) is the *La Girl in the shade cool tan or *MAC studio finish concealer in NW40  for my top highlight and cause I don’t want my bottom highlight to be as bright I use *MAC studio finish concealer in NW45 and for the powder *Ben Nye powder in the shade Banana and topaz. For contour I use Black Opel Beautiful Bronze as my base and sleek contour palette in medium or dark depending on if it a day or night look. I hardly these days use a base for my contour as I find the powder to do the job just as good. Another good highlight powder is *Buttercup by Sacha, if you find your not getting the results you want from your Ben Nye banana powder well meet its cousin, it gives you the same result if not better as it melts on the face versus setting on it. 

To watch a Highlight and Contour  tutorial click here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FoYfZ4kvoX0 (forward to 3:38)

 LA Girl, Ben Nye powder and Black Opel can be order from here https://www.facebook.com/poisedbysuliat?fref=ts

6.     And lastly Tools. Along with everything I've method above having the right makeup tools will improve you chances of  your achieving the look your going for by 40% the other 60% is you and alot of practices 

 

1.      Mac 217 brush - perfect for any task, from applying eyeshadow to applying concealer.

2.     Pencil brush- perfect for precision work and cutting the crease.

3.     Angled shadow brush- perfect for eyeliner and filling in eyebrows.

4.     Blending brush- perfect for blending out eyeshadows.

5.     Crease brush - perfect for deepening the crease.

6.     Eyeshadow fluff brush or smudge brush - perfect for packing on colour to the lid, and smudging out eyeliner.

When it comes to foundation I prefer to apply it with a foundation sponge or a stippling brush I find these method give me the best result and no strikes
 

 your basic tool kit should look like dis :

this can be easily bought off ebay.

Many products have a range of use and many things are just silly and a tad bit on the extreme side of life. I find different youtubers can help with different things for instant when it comes to foundation, skin and eyebrows I find @beautybyjj is the best, yes her methods sometimes are a bit OTT but again its about filtering out what you don’t need many steps in her foundation routine can be skipped and remixed to suit your personal preferences. Recently I stumbled upon a youtuber called @makeupbyleyla, I originally found her channel when I was looking up reviews for an online store that I wanted to order from. I have a little addiction to online shopping special if the site has good deals so I always check youtube for reviews, I digress lol anyway upon stumbling onto her channel I seen that she does loads of amazing eye shadow looks and after seeing two of three video I fell in her love. Her steps are so easy to follow in a matter of two days I learnt  loads of new looks, out of all the people I follow on youtube I’ve never found someone that taught me so much in such a short time frame.

I'll end with this, Expensive doesn’t mean perfect. Take your time and buy what you feel is right for you.

xox 

*= my personally favourites