My Everyday Makeup Routine

I really enjoying reading other people's blog posts on their everyday makeup routines, and since it's been a while since I posted something other than my weekly weight updates I thought I'd use my spare time to share my routine. I'll admit now I'm not the greatest at applying my makeup, and a lot of the stuff I do I've taught myself along the way. I'm an only child so I haven't had sisters to learn from and my Mum doesn't wear a lot of makeup, so it has just been trial and error over the years. So here goes, my before to after routine. Apologies in advance for the poor quality of some of the photos.

Before

Stage 1: Moisturise

I have two major problems with my skin, an oily T zone and the tendency to go very red very easily. To combat this I apply No7 Redness Relief Balm (you'll see from this post I'm a massive No7 fan) before I start to straighten my hair and leave it to soak in. Then whilst I go and brush my teeth and get dressed I apply No7 Beautiful Skin day cream for Normal/Oily skin. This is one of my more recent No7 purchases and I love how smooth my skin feels after wearing it, and how much better it makes my makeup last. Once this has sunk in I move onto my foundation.

Stage 2: Face

I've gone through a lot of foundations over the years but really found it hard to get a great colour match because my skin is so pale. The best match I found was from the Benefit Hello Flawless range and when I first switched to this I absolutely loved it (see my Benefit Product Review) and was convinced this was going to be the best for me. But after another week or two of wearing it I began to notice that the foundation just wouldn't stay on my skin and I'd regularly left with patches around my nose where it had rubbed off, even if I hadn't touched my face at all. It didn't matter what I did it just wouldn't stay, so I switched back to my good old faithful No7 and their Stay Perfect foundation. I apply with my foundation brush (which I think is a No7 one also) all over my face so I get an even coverage.

My concealer again is a No7 one (beginning to see the trend here?) I bought it as it was supposed colour match to my foundation, however I do think it's slightly lighter. I only use a little of this under my eyes to try and hide my bags and to cover up any spots I have. Finally, I seal it all with some translucent powder (again No7) and apply a little bit of pink blusher on my cheeks to give me a little colour.

Stage 3: Eyes

You'll finally see some variation in products here. I start with my eyebrows, using Benefit Browzings to give some definition and shape to my face. I was a bit skeptical at first about this product because its seems a lot of money for such a little box, but despite using it every day it is lasting me a very long time. I use this with a Boots own make eyebrow brush to get my brows all going the right direction and the shape I want.

Next I apply eye shadow. I very rarely go for bright eye shadow because I never think it suits me. So out of the pallet in the picture, which is a Victoria Jackson pallet, I tend to go for the pink/white/gold colour on the left. I've had a few different Victoria Jackson products, particularly eyeshadows, and do like the colour variations but sometimes they don't show up very brightly unless you apply a lot. Majority of the time however, I don't find this an issue because I don't like my eyes to stand out loads.

After finishing my eyeshadow, I move onto eyeliner. The eyeliner I'm currently using is a Natural Collection one I bought for £1.99 from Boots. I'm not very good at applying eyeliner so I don't do anything fancy like wings, I just apply a line to my top and bottom lids to give my eyes a little bit of definition, and there's often some days where I don't apply any at all. Depends on how I'm feeling and if I'm running late.

Finally, I apply mascara. The one I'm currently using is my newest makeup purchase, No7 Lovely Lashes. I was, until this week, using Benefit They're Real mascara but I've now ran out and none of the Boots I can easily get to sell Benefit products. I have to make the effort to go into Town or the the Metro Centre to buy Benefit so I opted for something else. The No7 product is great, it doesn't make my lashes clumpy at all, but I do feel it looks better when I don't have eyeliner on. It seems to loose it's effect when I do. But it does make my lashes look rather natural, which I like.

Until I wrote this I didn't actually think I wore that much makeup, but maybe I do. Anyway, here it is my everyday makeup routine. And here is the final result. Hope you've all enjoyed and again sorry for the poor quality photos! Let me know any recommendations you have.

After