September Beauty Favourites

I know it's already nine days in to October but I still wanted to write about my favourite products from September.  This month was a strange one as the weather definitely shot from warm to pretty chilly towards the end of it.  That kick started my cravings for more autumnal make-up shades but as those were towards the end of the month I think I'll link them to October instead.

These are the products I noticed I had been using more than usual.  One of them was the Lumene Pure Radiance Eye Cream.  My under eye area has been looking pretty dark lately so I thought I should probably start taking care of the skin better.  To be honest the only thing I really think makes a difference is getting lots of rest but just in case I've been using this eye cream.  It is labelled as containing Vitamin C which is something I tend to go for in skin care and is meant to help eliminate dark circles.

I've been using the Bourjois Rouge Edition Velvet Matte Finish Lipstick quite a lot on nights out.  I trust it to stay in place and love the bright pink colour.  I have shade 02 Frambourjoise.
On my cheeks I've been reaching for the blush in my Too Faced Glamour to Go palette as it's quite a subtle soft pink.  I go red naturally anyway so don't like to go too heavy on blush, particularly in the warmer months.

I've been using this Lumene Eyebrow Shaping Wax to keep my eyebrows in place.  I've been preferring more natural looking brows recently so this is all I wanted to use.  This keeps them in place and also adds a hit of colour as the wax is brown.
The Art Deco Perfect Teint Concealer is something that I hadn't been that keen on when I first bought it.  I have since found that  applying it, and then leaving it for a few seconds to dry a little before blending it in is the key to making it work for me.  I find the shade is quite light and brightening for under my eyes.

My current stage make-up essentials

Hello,

I hope you are having a good start to the week.  I went to the chiropractor yesterday for the first time ever.  I was a bit nervous as I was having my neck done.  It cracked LOADS, it was quite intense and I think I squealed a couple of times after some extremely loud cracks.  I think it did some good though because my neck tension seems to have dispersed quite a lot.  I have four more sessions so am looking forward to seeing how I get on with that.
I thought I'd do a post of some of the make-up products I've been wearing rather frequently for stage.  Some of these products I use for day to day activities too but less intensely.

 I also use different eye shadows and blushers depending on the role but the products here are current stage make-up staples.

The Garnier BB cream in Light would probably surprise a lot of people who perform on stage as traditionally very thick foundation is considered a necessity.  I find if I apply the BB cream with a brush I get enough coverage.  This is fine for me when my skin is quite good.  I use a concealer as well to hide any redness from blemishes and under my eyes but I prefer this to heavy thick foundation which I can't stand and makes my skin itch.
The Art Deco eyebrow powder is good for day or performance use.  I just apply it more heavily for a show than I would during the day.  It is quite a dark powder for me so it shows well on stage.  For normal day wear I just brush it lightly through my brows.  I also set it with a brown eyebrow gel.
The Lumene Rasberry Miracle lip sorbet in Full of Berries is a bright red very highly pigmented rich colour which is why I started using it for the stage.  I feel like the brightness of the colour lifts my face and my otherwise quite pale complexion.
For eye-liner I like to use the Maybelline Eye Studio Lasting Drama Gel Eyeliner in 01 Black.  I originally bought this for normal day use but found it more suited to stage make-up.  Unlike my mornings when I'm in a rush I can take my time to apply it for a performance using the little brush.  It's quite an intense black and is a thick formula which lasts well making it good for the stage.
We can get our make-up done by great make-up artists at the theatre but I really enjoy doing it myself and using my own products.  I'm pretty sure that wearing make-up for performances is at least partly responsible for my obsession with make-up!

Till next time :)

Twirlybirdie

Lumene Skin Care, Vitamin C night cream

Hello!

How are you?  I hope you have had a great day.  I've been grabbing some last minute bargains in the sale.  I've really wanted to try some Lumene skin care products for a while.  I'm attracted to the natural ingredients they are meant to contain.
Due to a recent re-branding of some of their skincare the old versions were being sold at a much cheaper price in the sale.  I had a brief look at the ingredients list and they seemed more or less the same as the newer versions apart from one or two ingredients but I'm not sure I would pay the higher price for the new versions of the products.  I bought the Vitamin C+ Pure Radiance Night Cream and Eye Cream.

The night cream is for normal/dry skin.  I have been using the Nivea pure and natural night cream which, although moisturising, doesn't really do anything else to the skin.  The Lumene night cream contains Vitamin C and cloudberry nectar which is meant to brighten the skin.  It also contains 'antioxidents to protect the skin against the signs of aging'.  That sounded good to me!

I haven't been using this cream long enough to test out those claims but I definitely felt a difference in my skin after using this.  The cream is rich but not as thick as the Nivea one and it really seems to sink in to my skin and make it softer.  My skin still feels nice and soft when I wake up too.  Luckily a little goes a long way so hopefully it will last me a little while.

I need to test out the eye cream a bit more before I post on it.  I think these products are basically what is now called the Bright Now Vitamin C range but I'd have to take a closer look at the ingredients to see what if anything has changed.

I'm feeling pretty sleepy now!  Time for bed I think, time to put on this night cream!

Good night :)

Twirlybirdie

Eyebrows with Art Deco powder and Lumene brow gel

Hello!

It's my weekend.  I've got a slightly more extended weekend than I was supposed to have because one of the guys in our company hurt his foot so the show we were meant to be performing on Sunday was cancelled.  It's a relief in a way as this is the only weekend we have to move out of our apartment.

Asides from that it is a very grey day today.  It was dark by about 4.30 pm which I found pretty depressing.  I managed to have a nap as I was super sleepy and now I feel a bit brighter.  I really fancy a bit of reading and chilling and just general snuggling.  Today I popped in to the shops and sprayed myself with the tester for the Prada Candy perfume which I'm in love with right now.  It's a very rich warm and sweet scent which I love for winter time.  I wouldn't wear it in the summer when I prefer a fresher scent like Lacoste Pour Femme but for winter time this sweet scent is warming and perfect.  I can't really afford to buy it right now though so I guess spraying the tester in the shops every now and then will have to do for now!

I thought that I would write about some more new make-up products I recently purchased.  I find it quite strange that I love make-up products so much when most of the time I actually hardly wear any.  I find that as my job involves me sweating and exercising there's not much point dolling myself up for that.  I'm so used to not wearing a lot that I feel self concious if I wear more than usual at work in the day.  I try to wear more at the weekends but even then more than a little feels strange.  One area I quite like to wear make-up on though is my eyebrows.  I find doing them really makes my face look more alive and I still feel quite natural.  I think it makes a real difference to my face more than doing any other one area.

Normally I use an eye pencil and just pencil them in a bit.  I decided to have a go with some eyebrow powder and found this Art Deco eyebrow powder on offer recently so I decided to give it a go.  It's quite a dark shade but my eyebrows are naturally quite dark and prefer to use a slightly darker colour on them.

This eyebrow powder comes with a little angled brush which is useful for applying the powder.  I found it quite strange to use at first though as the bristles on the brush are really stiff.  I ended up just having to dab the tip of the brush on the top of the powder to not take too much powder on the brush and then stroke it through my brows.

You can see in the pictures that the shadow is quite dark.  There were three shades in the shop and I went for the one that was in the middle in terms of darkness.  I quite like dark brows at the moment though,it suits my winter mood.

I then use the Lumene Brow Gel to keep my eyebrows in place.  I like this because it's a brown gel which adds a little bit of colour when I use it on it's own.  Also it doesn't start to look manky like a clear gel does when powder from the eyebrows gets on the mascara wand when you use it over the powder.

I like the dark brows with neutral make-up.  I think they make my eyes stand out more.
Do you have a particular area of your face you like to wear make-up on more than any other?

I think a warm snuggly bath is in order!

Until next time

Twirlybirdie :) xxx

Lumene Rasberry Miracle Lip Sorbet and Wild Rose Moist Lipstick

Hello!

It's been a few days since my last post.  I've been so busy with work, struggling to fit in doctor appointments to control my eczema and trying to find a new flat since being kicked out of the one I'm currently living in!

Luckily my skin is now under control thanks to a bit of steroid cream.  I hate having to resort to using these creams as I know it's bad for my health but if I've had a really bad flare up I find I have to use it to make it go away, especially if I have performances coming up.  Luckily it's been about 8 years since I had to use it last.

Other than that my bf and I were recently told that we had to be out of our flat in three weeks and we've been on the hunt for somewhere to live since then.  Somewhere has turned up so we are just waiting for the final details to be sorted out and then we should be on our way.  I'm looking forward to being settled again soon.

Amidst all of this I did manage to do a little make-up shopping.  I was on the look out for a new face powder as my No 7 one from Boots's life was almost up.  I came across the Lumene range as I was searching for a paraben free one and this was the first one I found.  I really like it and hope to write a blog post on it soon.  I also picked up one of their Miracle Lip Sorbet crayons whilst there.  I had a couple of Clinique ones which had run out and really wanted to try out one of the many cheaper alternatives that have come out recently.  I went for the brightest one I could see and couldn't wait to try it out straight away.

I love these crayon style lipsticks, they are so fun and easy to use.  The colour pigment is rich and bright and the texture is more lipstick than gloss.  One coat of this is enough and it has quite good staying power although I did need to re-apply it straight after eating or drinking.  It says 'Moisture rich sheer colour for glossy lips' on the packaging but I wouldn't say that the colour of this particular one was sheer.  It's also not very moisturising so you might want to add a dab of gloss on top or some balm underneath.  

I really like this, particularly this colour.  Perhaps it could be more moisturising but I expect the fact that it isn't is why the colour grabs on so well to the lips.  I can imagine taking it on a night out with me when I tend to wear brighter lipstick.  

This picture of me wearing it is a bit blurry but hopefully gives you some idea of the colour.  I will have to take another one in the future!

There was a deal on at the shops where when you bought two items from the Lumene range you got a free Wild Rose Moist Lipstick in the colour Beach Life.

The shade of this lipstick is quite nude which was lucky as I don't have any nude lipsticks at the moment.  I always tend to go for brighter pinks or reds although I have been really intrigued recently by the new L'oreal collection of nudes but had no idea which sort of nude lipstick would work for me (even though the idea of them is that you would chose the celebrity nude who is most similar to you, but I never trust it!).  So I was really interested to test this lipstick out.

I really like this colour even though I would never have chosen it myself.  I feel that my natural lip shade is a bit washed out and have been trying to find products that make them look fresher but still natural for when I don't want to look too dolled up.

The texture of this lipstick is glossier and more moisturising than the lip sorbet crayon.  I wore it out for dinner the other night and even after eating I still felt the colour was there on the lip.

All in all a useful free gift for me!  I don't really have many products from this range of make-up but will be willing to try more after testing these out.  I also like that they seem to have a lot of paraben free products to choose from.  The Lip Sorbet is stated as being paraben free on their website.

I have a few more new products to write about but this post is quite long and it is late.  Hopefully it wont take me as long until I write my next post this time!

Twirlybirdie :)