Project 20 Pan: items 18 - 20

Hi everyone!

Today I'll be sharing my thoughts on items 18 - 20 of my project 20 pan.  Although I have finished 20 items, I'm not considering myself officially done yet, as I did say that I wanted to finish ten makeup items as part of the 20 and so far I've only finished nine.

L-R: YSL Young Sexy Lovely perfume; Red Earth Mattifying Makeup Base; Bourjois Healthy Mix foundation

Number 18 was a perfume, YSL's Young Sexy Lovely.  This has been discontinued so it was a bit sad to finish it, although I'm certain you can still get it at Priceline and maybe MyChemist or similar (plus I'm sure I could find it online as well).  I had this in my handbag as my everyday fragrance.  It's a nice light floral fragrance, and I get quite a strong citrus-y note from this as well.

The next product I finished was a primer, Red Earth's Mattifying Makeup Base.  I swatched this in my daily face routine post.  It's a silicon based primer so great for absorbing any oiliness which I sometimes get throughout the day.  I found this helped me achieve a matte finish which stayed in place for a reasonable amount of time (say 6-8 hours, if I wasn't doing anything too sweaty).  I think this has been discontinued though as Red Earth is not stocked in Priceline anymore (to my knowledge) and I haven't seen it elsewhere since it was discontinued from Priceline.

My 20th item was a Bourjois Healthy Mix foundation.  This was the lightest shade it comes in (light vanilla) and still way too dark for me, so I mixed this with my NYX foundation which is super light.  Apart from the limited colour range for pale skinned people like myself, I quite like this.  It has a fresh, fruity fragrance (but not too overpowering), blends quite nicely and doesn't feel heavy or cakey.  It apparently contains "Radiance Boosting Fruit Therapy" whatever that means....sounds like a bit of a gimmick to me, haha!  But overall, I quite liked this (apart from it being too dark).

For my final item(s), I am currently chippping away at a Revlon eyeliner and a Revlon lipgloss.  Hopefully I'll be finished by the end of February (which will mean a total of around six months without any new purchases).

Revlon lipgloss; Revlon eyeliner

Thanks for reading!

My Daily Face Routine

Hi everyone,
I love reading these types of things on other people's blogs, so I thought I should have a go myself.  This really doesn't change much on a day-to-day basis, although I might add in a highlighter or a more shimmery blush if I'm going out, especially at night.

I always start my routine by moisturising.  I'm very pale so I like to use something with SPF to protect myself from the sun.  At the moment I'm using Natio's Daily Protection moisturiser which is SPF 15.  On days when I know I'll be spending a long time out in the sun, I use a 30+ sunscreen as well: Neutrogena Ultra Sheer Sunscreen Lotion.  This gives a nice, matte, non-greasy finish but the formula is quite thick, so I usually mix in some moisturiser to make it blend more easily.

Back: Neutrogena Sunscreen, Natio Moisturiser; Front: Red Earth Primer

Top: Neutrogena Suncreen; Bottom: Natio Moisturiser, Red Earth Primer

Next step is primer, although if I wear sunscreen I don't wear primer as it can get a bit cakey if I layer too many products on.  I usually go for a silicon based primer to help absorb any oiliness throughout the day.  At the moment, I'm using the Red Earth Mattifying Makeup Base (although I think Red Earth has been discontinued from Priceline, so I'll have to try something else once this is finished).  I cut the tube open to get the remaining dregs out of it (this is a great tip for saving on beauty and skincare products and I do this for anything that comes in a tube, including hair conditioner; I can usually get an extra weeks worth of use out of them).  I usually leave around two - three minutes after applying both moisturiser and primer to allow them to soak in.

The next thing I do is colour corrector.  I tend to have very dark under eye circles, so I use yellow and/or orange corrector to correct them.  At the moment, I'm using this corrector palette, also from Red Earth.  I use the pink as a general concealer, mixed with a bit of orange to give a normal skin tone shade and the green if I have any redness from breakouts or around my nose.

Red Earth Colour Corrector Palette

Red Earth Colour Corrector - swatches

For foundation, I use a mixture of Bourjois Healthy Mix in shade 51 and NYX Liquid Foundation in shade 01.  The Bourjois foundation is a bit too sheer in terms of coverage and the shade is a bit dark and yellow toned for me.  The NYX foundation is a bit heavy, too light and too pink, so mixed together, they give quite a good match for my skin, with the amount of coverage I want.  I'm bad and normally just use my (clean) fingers to blend.

Bourjois Healthy Mix Foundation, NYX Liquid Foundation

NYX Liquid Foundation and Bourjois Healthy Mix Foundation - swatches

Then I do a light dusting of loose powder to set (at the moment, I'm using Face of Australia in Outback Translucent) and a bit of blush (I'm working my way through a Maybelline Mineral Power Blush in Soft Maueve currently), concentrated on the apples of my cheeks and blended up just a little towards my temples.

Maybelline Mineral Power Blush, Face of Australia Loose Powder, The Body Shop Cream Blush

Maybelline Mineral Power Blush in Soft Mauve, Face of Australia Loose Powder in Outback Translucent

And that's it!  If I'm going out, I sometimes like to use a Body Shop cream blush in Golden Pink for a bit of a shimmery glow and maybe a bit of a highlight on my cheek bones.

The Body Shop Cream Blush in Golden Pink, unblended on the left, blended on the right

 Hope this was interesting for some of you!