It feels like such a long time since I've written a post for my blog, I think time has just slipped away from me and I can't believe it's the end of May already!
So, as promised, I'vc been working on a Make Up Collection and Storage post, this has taken quite some time as you can imagine but here goes.
I'm actually quite proud of the fact that I seem to be sticking with drug store brands more and more and my high end collection is actually quite minimal at the moment. As you know if you read my last post, myself and my husband are expecting our first child at the beginning of August and it really has made me assess just how much money I am spending on cosmetics and I've really reined it in. There are some fantastic drug store products out there and the online beauty community has really helped me make some good drug store purchases!
Anyway, lets get on with it!
OK, so I keep my make-up in two places and this is the first, it is basically a hidden drawer within my chest of drawers. Here's the drawers, they're just Ikea ones but I really like them...
Here's what the top drawer looks like when it's open (the other two have just got my clothes in)...
The main part of the top drawer is where I keep underwear mainly, but its a pretty big drawer so I also keep scarves and sunglasses in here (the little white bag to the left is where my sunglasses are). Can you see the 'hidden' drawer?? Here it is open...
This is the bulk of my make-up collection. I just use the little drawers that were part of the old system I used to use which were just little plastic drawers stacked up on top of each other. So, I'll go into each compartment in more detail...
This contains the face products (excluding foundation) that I mainly use. So at the moment I'm using the Collection Lasting Perfection pressed powder along with a Stila bronzer and Mac's Band of Roses blusher. I'm not going to list each product individually cos it would take forever but other brands I'm using at the moment include Revlon, Almay, Vie and I think there's another cheeky Mac blusher under there somewhere as well!
Next are products that I don't use as much so there is an Accessorize highlighter, a lip and cheek stain by Jemma Kidd which I have had forever and I actually really like (and it tastes like roses!), I have a Body Shop blush, the Boujois 'Chocolate Box' bronzer,'s a blush by Accessorize and Benefit's Benetint as well. All good stuff!
On to eyeliners, I have both liquid and pencil eyeliners in this compartment. My favourites are Mac's Smoulder and the Avon Supershock gel eyeliners are amazing as well. Other brands I have are Smashbox, MUA (who do amazing eyeliners, I'm a big fan of the brand in general), Rimmel, Vie etc.
Single eyeshadows are next. In this compartment it's mainly MUA ones as I have nearly all of them, there's also a couple of Maybelline 24 Hr Colour Tattoo shadows (or whatever they're called). I have On and On Bronze and a metallicy pink colour - can't remember the name - and I really love them, I usually use them as a base and they are quite tacky and great for getting your powder eyeshadows to stick! I also have the MUA brow pallet which was a bargain at £4 and it's really really good. Finally, a Mac eyeshadow pallet that has a cute snow globe on the top which I think was limited edition at Christmas - that's when I got it anyway, from my lovely in-laws in my Christmas stocking!
This is my second single eyeshadow compartment and this one contains some Mac, Rimmel (which are so nice and pigmented), Collection, a random metallic trio that I don't know the name of and my trusty Urban Decay Primer Potion, this is just a mini version of the original one. I also have an Accessorize single eyeshadow and a few of the Vie liquid shadows, that come in pen form.
This is my 'can't live without' drawer - concealer! I suffer with under eye circles and just could not live without concealer. Now, I am usually pretty faithful to both Collection Lasting Perfection concealer and Mac Moisturecover concealer but as they have both recently run out, I thought I'd use up some of the other gems in my collection! At the moment I'm using up the Soap and Glory Kick Ass Concealer which I have been really impressed with. I won't be repurchasing though as I have a few others to get through first. In this drawer I also have Benefit's Erase Paste, Boi-ing and Lemon-Aid as well as the Garnier one and a few others. I keep my Eyeko cream here as well as it's the only place it fits.
Onto mascara, I'm currently using the Bobbi Brown mascara and I absolutely love it, it really makes my lashes look thicker and longer and the formula isn't too wet. It has quite a small brush as well so can get to all the smaller lashes. I was also really impressed with the Nivea Extreme Resist mascara, I always get comments when I use it and I love it - I just wish I'd got it in black instead of brown. Other brands I have in here include Mac's Zoom Lash, Daniel Sander, Collection, Stila, MUA, Clinique and I have a CK one in the bottom somewhere.
This is all my pigments. My favourite by far are the Collection Dazzle Me dusts and they are what my collection is mainly made up of. There are a couple of MUA ones and a few Body Shop ones thrown in for good measure though! If want to see my Dazzle Me collection in more detail, including swatches, read my post here.
OK, onto lipsticks. I have a bit of a lipstick fetish and I have quite a lot. My favourites are definitely the Revlon Just Bitten Kissable Balm Stains but I also have Rimmel, 17, Body Shop etc. I mainly have Rimmel and they are fantastic lipsticks, in fact - I have a whole post dedicated to them which you can read here.
And to go with lipsticks - lip gloss!! I'm not a massive fan of lip gloss which I think is why I have so many and why I don't use them up very often. I just don't like the stickiness of them and much prefer just to use a lipstick. However, I do like the prettiness of them and the smell of them and I keep buying them!! I have mainly Benefit ones but I do also have Stila, Clinique and Barry M. I have a couple of the Clinique Juicy Tubes which I have used since I was a teenager and I still absolutely love, they are definitely an old faithful that I will keep going back to. One of my favourites is the sparkly Barry M one I have which smells and tastes like cherry drops - yum!
OK, nearly there folks! Here is where I keep my foundation. There was a bit of space down the side of the drawer so I just shoved them in! I'm using Revlon Photo Ready at the moment but I also have Stila, No17, MUA, Maybelline and Vie.
I keep all my pallets separately but I use my Urban Decay Naked pallet nearly every day so I just lay it on top of the drawer so it's easy to reach for.
OK, I also have this cute little cabinet that I keep other bits and pieces in, so I'll briefly run through it...
The top left drawer just has bits and pieces in it that I wasn't sure where to put, such as tape measure, ear phones, face paints (from Halloween) etc so I won't bore you with that! On top I just have some of my costume jewellery and a wedding picture (nawww!).
The other small drawer has in some samples that I've not used yet, along with a few of the Sally Hansen Salon Effects nail sticker thingies. I also have a lip tattoo and some spot treatment bits, nothing too exciting!
This is my main eyeshadow pallet drawer, I have a lot of the MUA pallets which are amazing quality. I also have my tinted Eyeko cream and a couple of Kabuki brushes in here.
I also keep my 120 Pallet in this drawer which has some amazing colours in it. As they're all very bright, I tend to use this pallet for fancy dress more than for day to day use but I love it, the colours are fab!
Ok, we're nearly there now - only two more drawers to go - well done if you're still with me!!!!
This is my nail varnish collection. I have rather a lot of nail varnish and there are about three layers in this drawer! My favourite brands are Essie, Nails Inc and Barry M but the Rimmel range is amazing as well.
Ok, the final drawer....
This is all my false nail stuff, so nail tips, acrylic, nail files, gems, nail art etc. I have all different coloured tips as well as white and clear and although I haven't done my nails with any of this while I've been pregnant, once the baby has been born, I can't wait to get cracking again!
So that is is! Wow, that was a long long post! Thank you if you haven't got bored and stopped reading! It's taken quite a lot of work to get this post up!
If you'd like to see a review on any of the products I've mentioned or any product that you may have spotted in any of the pictures, just let me know and I'll be happy to do it for you.
I hope you enjoyed this post and that it wasn't too long and boring!
Also, if you'd like to see a post of my beauty products collection then I'm happy to do that - just let me know.
Lotsa love
Lullahblog xx
