Re-Review L'oReal Infallible Matte;-

I watch a lot of Youtube videos where people go back to old Favourites and talk about what they think of the products down the line, and I've recently started using an old favourite foundation of mine and have found that my opinion on it had changed. I thought it would be interesting to revisit my old review on this and see what things still ring true and what I've changed my mind about.

The foundation in question is the L'oReal Infallible Matte, you can read my review from back in 2015 here. I remember this foundation being talked about a lot when it first came out, but I rarely hear anybody talk about this anymore. The formula of this is thin, making the foundation easy to blend, and gives a medium-high coverage.

The foundation was marketed with a matte, but not flat finish, which is something I would agree with. This is what initially drew me to the foundation because my skin used to be oily, but it could just be winter but my skin is a lot drier recently. My opinion on this may have changed because this isn't really suited to my skin type at the moment. I said in my first review that the product clings to dry patches, but that it doesn't look worse than bare dry skin. This is the thing I've my mind on most... Before going back to using this foundation I was using a very dewy and moisturising base (which I also didn't really like) and in comparison the L'oReal foundation really emphasises any dry parts of my skin. I also commented on the fact that I could use this without the need for a primer. I've now used this with a few different primers, but purely to try to stop this clinging to dry patches. I've found that primers can help with this a little... But not much. I will say that this foundation does last a really long time on the skin, in fact I think this looks better thoughout the day when my skin naturally creates oil. I have found using a liquid highlighter under my foundation makes this look the best when my skin is dry.
I said in my original review that this may be the first foundation I'd repurchase which was true at the time as I'm bottle two of this. However, I don't think this is the perfect foundation for me. I've also been thinking a lot about animal testing and L'oReal still tests on animals when there are now a lot of companies who don't, so I won't be repurchasing this for ethical reasons. I'll definitely use up what is left of this so as not to be wasteful, but for me its back to the drawing board to find a foundation that ticks all of the boxes.

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March Favourites;-

I haven't written a favourites post in the longest time, so I thought I'd show you a few things I've been loving lately!

Cream blushes are one of those products I keep tip-toeing between loving or never using. I'll go months raving about them and then they go back in the drawer until next time. At the moment I'm back on the bandwagon and I've pulled my Revlon cream blush in the shade Flushed (this is pretty old and I can't even find it on the Boots website). I find this really easy to blend and gives you that natural flushed look, so I guess the shade name is pretty accurate! I've been suffering from dry skin and I've found this is one of the few products that doesn't cling to dry patches and I'm really enjoying using this.
I really loved the L'oReal liquid eyeliner, but I've decided I only want to purchase cruelty free makeup so I've been looking for an alternative. I think I've found the perfect alternative in this Barry M On Point Eyeliner. Just like the L'oReal liner this is a felt tip pen eyeliner with a really fine tip. This is really black that I think is really easy to use and I'm glad I've managed to find a cruelty free version of one of my favourite products.
Another Barry M product that I picked up completely on a whim and really like is this Showgirl Mascara. I generally only have one mascara at a time and the mascara I had just before this one game me a reaction which it lead to an eye infection (it was literally disgusting!). After it cleared up I was in desperate need of  a mascara, so I picked up this one because it was easily accessible and again, cruelty free. This has a really large bristle brush, which I usually don't like, but this works for both lengthening and volumising as well as being super black. It's not the most volumising mascara I've ever used, but it also doesn't make your lashes too solid making it easy to layer if you want to up the amp! I've literally never heard anything about Barry M mascaras, but this is really good especially for the price!
I mentioned in my 5 Best Things from Makeup Revolution post that I really like the Makeup Revolution Matte Lip Kits. I wear the shade Reign all of the time to work, which is a really nice, subtle nude shade. I don't really like the pencil because it really tugs on my lips so I don't use it, however the liquid lipstick is really nice on its own. It applies really nicely and doesn't feather when worn alone, it lasts a really long time too! I find this doesn't dry out my lips and wears well, I also like wearing this under a more glossy nude shade to make it last longer.
I recently sorted through my nail polish collection and discovered that for someone who paints their nails a couple times a year I own quite a lot of nail polish, so I've been trying to paint my nails a little more and use some of my polishes. The nail polish I've used a couple of times since is this one I got from Urban Outfitters. I can't find a shade name but its basically clear with a subtle purple glitter running through it. I find that because this is quite subtle, it takes a few days before you can see any chips. I think its a really great low maintenance nail polish.

I don't really talk a lot about hair care on my blog, but I'm quite fussy when it comes to shampoo and conditioner, my scalp can be quite dry but I get greasy roots and dry ends of my hair so I really struggle to find something that works well with all of that. I've literally sworn by using only LUSH shampoos for a really long time, but I ran out of shampoo when I didn't have to get to my nearest LUSH so I picked up the Herbal Essences bio-renew Clean shampoo and conditioner at the supermarket. I've found the combination of this shampoo and conditioner makes my hair soft, but it doesn't make my hair greasy and it hasn't upset my scalp at all. I think I bought this back in August and I'm only just getting near the end of the bottle, so it's lasted a really long time!

What have you been loving lately?

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5 Best Things from Makeup Revolution;-

Makeup Revolution is by far my favourite brand. The majority of my collection is Makeup Revolution products. I've eargerly awaited all of their new product Instagram posts pretty much from the beginning. The price is always purse friendly and the quality of the products usually match makeup at a much higher price point. I thought it would be really nice today to give MUR a little bit of love and share my 5 favourite things from them.

Before delving into the makeup, my first favourite product is the Pro Hygiene Anti Bacterial Brush Cleaner. I've never been a major germaphobe when it comes to most things, except my makeup brushes. I simply have to spray this brush cleaner straight onto my brushes, then wipe away any product onto a clean flannel. This is a really quick way of cleaning excess product from your brushes and sanitising them. I will say it doesn't make your brushes as squeaky clean as using a brush shampoo, but its really good for a spot clean. I use a lot of different eyeshadow colours, so I like using this to stop any colour transfer.

My next favourite is the Pro Fix Oil Control Makeup Fixing Spray. I literally swear by fixing sprays if you want your makeup to stay put, and I wear this every single time I put makeup on. As this is also designed for oil control I sometimes use this in place of a powder because I know it will keep my makeup in place without any risk of making my foundation look cakey. This only costs £5.00, which is a fraction of the price of higher end setting sprays. This does such a good job, I've never tried any high end setting sprays.

Something I think Makeup Revolution are famous for is their eyeshadows. The reason I first ordered from Makeup Revolution was because of the Iconic 3 palette, a complete dupe of the Naked 3. Makeup Revolution have a really extensive line of different eyeshadow palettes, so there's definitely something to satisfy everybody's preference and at a great price. All of their palettes contain pigmented and blendable shadows, definitely comparable to a lot of high end brands. The majority of my eyeshadow palette collection is Makeup Revolution, my favourite palette at the moment, is my Flawless 4 palette. This contains a lot of really on-trend warm shades, and this is definitely a palette that provides me with a lot of inspiration for different eye looks.

Something I really love is baked blushes, I just think they suit my face the most, and Makeup Revolution know how to do baked blushes right. Another one of the first products I picked up from Makeup Revolution was their Vivid Baked Blush in 'All I Think About Is You', which only costs £2.25. I still have this in my collection, and its one of my favourite blushers ever. Since then I picked up this blush palette, with 5 baked blushes and a really bold highlight. So I now have a baked blush for every occassion. The blushes aren't overly pigmented, I'd say they're more buildable, which I personally prefer for a blush so I don't go overboard! All of the blushes provide a sheen to the cheeks, without being full of chunky glitter. They provide a healthy looking glow, without needing highlight.

Just like Kylie Jenner, Makeup Revolution have come out with entire range of lip kits in every finish, but at a fraction of the price. I have a couple of each finish, I probably wear the matte liquid lipsticks most, but I've found the liners to be a bit of a dud as they're quite sticky and uncomfortable. The metallic lip kits are the ones that have stolen my heart. Each kit comes with a lip liner and a liquid lipstick. The lip liners are comfortable and provide an opaque base for the liquid lipstick. The liquid lipstick is comfortable and long-wearing. My favourite shade is 'Worth It', which is a deep berry colour, with a metallic sheen. It makes for amazing, eye-catching lips. 

What are your favourite Makeup Revolution Products?

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18 Eyeshadows in 2018;-

I've dipped my toe into the panning pool, but someone I really need to get under control is my eyeshadow collection. The thing I love about makeup is being creative, playing around with different looks and colours is most of the reason that I have a rather unruly amount of eyeshadow. But lets be honest, most of the colours in my collection I probably have dupes of across multiple palettes, and I only have one face and one lifetime to use makeup. I couldn't pick just one palette to pan this year, instead of doing a 'Pan That Palette' I've picked 18 shadows across multiple palettes that I'm going to try my best to use up by the end of this year. I'm a little bit (two months) late to this train, but hopefully I can still get in a decent amount of progress before the end of 2018.
As I've never tried to pan any eyeshadows before I'm not sure if I'll actually be able to finish all of these shadows in this year, but I'd be pretty happy if I managed to hit pan on the shadows which I haven't yet and the finish the ones I have. Something that I'm doing a little different, is that every time I hit pan on a shadow I'm popping 50p into a jar, and every time I finish one I'm popping £1 in. So every shadow used is a step closer to a new palette - as if I need one!

The first two shades I've decided to include are from this mini palette from Smashbox, I want to finish them up because I definitely have multiple dupes for both of them. There was once a third shade, but I finished that up a long while ago. I've managed to hit pan on both of these shades already, but I do use them all the time. The lighter shade works well as a transition shade for a lot of looks, and I use the darker shade to fill in my brows. So I'm hoping to completely finish both of these shades by the end of the year, and be one palette down in my collection.

Next up is this quad of shadows from Mac, I've decided not to include the dark brown shade as I don't think I'll get through two dark shades in this year, especially as this one is too cool-toned to use on my eyebrows. As you can see the cream shade is very well-loved as I use this everyday to set my primer, I'm hoping to finish this shade as soon as possible as I have another similar shade that I'm hoping to dig into. I am hoping to just hit pan on the light pink and taupe shade in the palette, which I'm sure I should be able to do. I'm trying to get some more use out of this palette as although I love the formula of the shadows I don't find it very inspiring, so I'm going to give it one last run and then I'll probably throw away what is left at the end of this project.

The next set of shadows are my single shadows from Freedom housed in this palette from NYX. I actually love all of the shades, I picked most of them to fill a gap I had in my collection, but since I bought them I've bought an entire purple palette and a couple of palettes with warm toned reds and pinks. I want to try and hit pan in every shade, and just show them some love so they don't get lost in my collection. I also picked these as there's some different shades that I think will give me a lot of inspiration for different looks. I think I will hit pan in the sparkly brown first as I like wearing it all over the lid to work.

My last palette is my Sleek Au Natural palette. I want to finish the shade 1, 3, 5 & 6 from the top line.  As you can see  I've already got quite a bit of use out of the shimmery shade already, I find this really easy to use and I also like wearing it as a highlight too. I'm hoping to completely finish the shimmery shade, but I'd be happy to just hit pan on the others. This is the oldest palette in my collection, but I don't really reach for it that much anymore. I used to really like this palette, but its not something I would pick up again. I will either try to finish the other shades next year, or I may declutter the palette after this project.

I'm hoping to post updates every month, so watch this space to see how I do.
Are you panning any eyeshadows, because I love reading project pans of every variety.

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Project 10 Pan 2017 - Finale!

Ok, ok... So I forgot about my blog again... But I didn't forget about my Project 10 Pan items! Its been a long old time since I posted my last update, so I thought I'd come back and round off on all of the items that were left after my last update, so I can start a fresh on a new project.

First up is my 'Be Kissable' perfume, which is entirely empty! I think I finished this up about a month after my first update, once I got past the half way line, I was excited to finish this so I wore every single day without fail. I still really like the scent, its nice and wearable and I didn't get bored of using it every day. Now I'm in the habit of remembering to put on perfume in the morning its definitely something I'd think about putting into another project.

Shortly after writing my first update I used up my Smashbox Photo Finish Primer. I'm really glad to have this out of my collection as although I liked it in the colder months it really isn't the best primer I've used and I'm enjoying using another one now.

Onto my other face product, I used up the last of my L'oReal Infallible 24H-Matte foundation within the month of May. For the longest time I couldn't tell how much of this was left, and then suddenly it was gone. I really love this foundation down to the last drop, I already have another full bottle in my collection that I love using.

Next up is my is my little Rimmel white eyeliner. About a month ago I finally gave up on this thing, I found the pencil had become dry which made it a lot more effort to apply and not all that comfortable to wear. I didn't think it was worth the risk to try and finish this up, but I got so much use out of it I don't see it as a waste.

My Body Shop lip balm should also be pictured, but I used this up a couple of weeks after my first update, and have since lost/thrown away the packaging. Considering how long it has been since my update I'm quite surprised that I haven't lost more. This lip balm was ok, but I have a tonne of lip balms and I'm glad I am whittling down my collection.
The last thing is my Revlon Lip Butter in Macaroon, I finished this up probably a month or two after my last update. Its not a shade I will purchase again as I think its one I can live without in my collection, but I'm glad I used this as I feel like I went through everything with this lipstick and found a lot of different ways to use it.

I set myself on a no buy while I was doing this project and I managed to keep to it pretty well. Even after I used all of these products I didn't really buy a lot of makeup that I didn't need until the end of last year/ the beginning of this year when I decided to treat myself a bit. I don't know if no buys are for me and I might switch things up when I do another project, but I feel like I've learned a lot about makeup and consumerism by trying to limit the amount of makeup I buy.

I'm really looking forward to setting myself on a new project soon!

<< Click here to read my project 10 pan introduction

<< Click here to read my last update

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