2014 Make-up Highlights

Putting together my list of favourite make-up products of 2014 was surprisingly an easy task. I am a bit of a creature of habit, so as much as I love to try something new I do often return to products I've really liked using.

The face:

Primer: Rimmel match perfection fix and perfect provides an excellent base for foundation or tinted moisturiser. It's really smooth and lets make up glide over the top. 

Base: Foundation is something that I mix up a lot. In the summer time I love Bourjois Healthy mix serum as it's so light, but in the UK you only really get summer for 3 months of the year, so I often turn to something with a bit more converage. Clinique repairwear laser focus but in the old formula is my go to. You can do a full face with a small pump, so a bottle goes a long way.

Concealer: I'm not a huge concealer fan, I mainly use a radiant concealer so instead of forking out for the YSL touch eclat I've found that the L'oreal Lumi Magique concealer is a pretty good dupe. It isn't too cakey under my eyes, which is often an issue I find with many concealers and under eye highlighters. 

Bronzer: Bourjois chocolate bronzer is not too orangey of a bronzer, so suits my fair to medium skin tone nicely. Bronzer isn't a huge step in my make-up routine, but if I do use it this what I go for.

Blush: I kept hearing about this product from other bloggers a long while ago and never got round to using it. It's Rimmel's mono blush in Santa Rose, a perfect everyday colour. It goes with pretty much any lip combination and just emphasises the pink of my cheeks without looking OTT.

Contour: I've pretty much used MAC's blush in harmony as a contour colour for a few years, especially for heavier night-time looks. It's cool toned and doesn't look orange on my face, and you only need the littlest of bits in order to have those model like cheekbones, wahooo! 

Highlight: I only really use highlighter in the winter months, but this year I seem to have gone for MAC's highlighter in soft and gentle. It's a classic product but works so well. It's a warm golden toned highlighter, but just a warning, a little goes a long long way!

Setting spray: There's pretty much only one contender for this category, and it's Urban Decay all-nighter setting spray in the original formula. It keeps may make-up in place even in a nightclub or in bad weather. I was always sceptical on whether or not this would work, but i'm so glad I took the gamble 18 months ago, bye bye reapplication!

The eyes:

Mascara: Many people say that highstreet mascaras are a whole lot better than high end, but my favourite is Clinique's High Impact mascara. The classic straight brush with thick bristles grips the lashes, so a few wiggles of the wand at the base of my lashes and voila, big voluminous lashes which last the working day. 

Liquid eyeliner: There is no competition in this category at all. It's the L'oreal superliner in carbon gloss. It's pretty much fool proof, simple to use sponge tipped applicator that isn't in a pen formula.

Pencil eyeliner: There's some excellent pencil liners on the highstreet, but this year i've always turned to Rimmel's Soft kohl kajal eyeliner in sable brown. Once it's on it doesn't really move and you can pretty much forget about it throughout the day. 

Eyeshadow: Urban Decay Naked 2 is my go to eyeshadow palette for day or night. There's a broad range of colours, the quality is excellent and with a primer on literally last all day long.

The lips:

Lip balm: My friends and family pretty much call me the Queen of lipbalm. If there's any lip issues going on them I'm the person they ask what they should get! I've pretty much tried everything on the market, but my hands down favourite in 2014 is an old favourite, and that is The Body Shop's Hemp Lip Conditioner. It's in a simple stick formula, which means you don't need to use your finger, easy to take around with me and is seriously conditioning. At £4 too, I absolutely love it, my holy grail of lip products! 

Lipstick: I'm pretty much a neutral lips kind of girl. The bold colours don't make that much of an appearance on a day to day basis, they just don't seem too practical. MAC's cremecup is an easy go to colour, it's simple but adds a splash of colour to my face and doesn't get all over my teeth, which is a big thing for me. 

Lipgloss: I was a massive fan of the Urban Decay Lip Junkie lip gloss in Naked for a long long time, but sadly as it is now discontinued (Sob...), I have had to venture to pastures new. My favourite go to product now is Rimmel's Stay Glossy Lipgloss in stay my rose. It's pretty similar to my natural lip colour and is really smooth in texture, compared to others which are really gloopy and sticky. 



Lets hope 2015 finds some new favourites!