TOO FACED PERFECT EYES WATERPROOF LINER

If there is one makeup item I cannot live without, I'll most likely to say it is eye liners. It enlarges, awakens and frames my eyes. 

A bit of background about my eyelids, most makeup stays on amazingly well on my eyes after 8+ hours into wearing.  I never needed to wear an eye primer but until about half a year ago I found that some eyeliners would smudge on me even with the application of eye primer.  Liners that wouldn't budge on me in the past would suddenly give me panda eyes so apart from starting to wear eye primers religiously, I have also been testing more eyeliner products more extensively.

I came across with this Too Faced Perfect Eyes Waterproof Liner from my sister's (@forksandbrushes) makeup stash.  I have never owned anything by Too Faced as I often found their products a little too over priced.  As this eyeliners (kind of) landed on my makeup collection for free, I thought what a great opportunity to give it a proper try out!

It's an extremely creamy and soft pencil nip, and appears very black as drawn on the eyes.  You can create a thinner eyeliner but this is more suitable when you don't mind wearing a thicker eyeliner as this is what this eyeliner pencil would give the result of.  However, as the nip is so creamy, it glides onto the liners ever so smoothly and easily.  One stroke can give you a perfect liner and it's very very black.  It says waterproof and it means business.  I can easily wear makeup for more than 6 hours, and on other occasions I have worn this eyeliner for over 8 hours and it wouldn't move anywhere.  It sets like as if I have tattooed (not advisable to have tattooed eyeliners, girls!) my eyeliners.  It's survived through some very hot days in London!  It's truly impressive stuff.

Are you an eyeliner fan like me?  Have you tried the Too Faced Perfect Eyes Waterproof Liner?  You should give it a try!

THE SUSPECTED TWO: GLOWING PINKS

Pale/ Fair skin girls, I have a couple of skin complexion glowing products I wanted to share with you!  

On a lazy kind of day, when minimal makeup is the priority; I would opt for the Baby Skin Pink Transformer as an all over the face base to brighten up the complexion to give it a glowing preparation.  It has got a very subtle hint of pinkness in the product and you can't over do it ever.  On a good skin day, I can completely get away with just applying this as a base, it also has SPF35 so it's a fantastic product for summer days when less makeup means more.  It's not oily at all, I have dry skin and I found it equally moisturising and it doesn't feel heavy at all.  It's ideal as a base before any foundation is applied.

A recent high end investment into a product that reminded me of the Baby Skin Pink Transformer is Chantecaille Liquid Lumiere Anti-Aging Illuminator (in Luster).   It's a much more intensely pigmented multi-purpose brightening product that can be used as a liquid cheek highlighter, mixed with skincare or foundation applied all over the face.  I'd much prefer using it as a cheek highlighter as it does have that illuminator effect to highlight the apple of my cheeks.  You only need the tiniest drop and I tend to buff it in with a real technique's stippling brush.  I've tried mixing it with foundation or a primer and applied it all over the face but I found it a little too shimmery, and a little too pink and almost turned into a bronzy finish which I found myself looking a little weird.

Are you into pink-toned brightening products?  Are these you have tried?

THE GLOWY FACE PRODUCTS TRIO

I'm all for highlighting and contouring my face. My favourite makeup products ever are blushers, sculpting bronzers and highlighters.  I'm usually one for powder forms for all these products but gradually, I am turning my thoughts on the creamy forms of my favourite trio in the beauty world. 

On a fairly recent trip to my local SpaceNK, I revisited and examined in depth a couple of products I came across not so long ago.  

Kevin Aucoin Candlelight & Sculpting Creamy Glow Duo is essentially a (mini) creamy version of KA's famous Celestial Powder - Candlelight and Sculpting Powder.   The two products that I have been wanting to try forever but have found them (from trialling them from my sister @forksandbrushes collection) either too shimmer to highlight, or two ashy to sculpt.  However I didn't think there was anything wrong with the products, it's just probably the way I applied or my technique.... I kept making excuses.  So when I saw this creamy duo, I gave it a very good try by swatching them on the back of my hands, and actually applying them on the face.  For some reasons, probably because it's in a cream form, it's become the tone of colours for both have become so much softer and less intense, so much easier to blend and appears much more natural to the whole complexion.  It's only £19 so it's definitely worth a try if you had the same experience as I did with the powder form.

Chantecaille Liquid Lumiere Anti-ageing Cheek Illuminator (Luster) Wow what can I say about this purchase?  I'm a fan of Chantecaille through and through, although I had doubts about its insanely expensive Just Skin Tinted Moisturiser (I like the texture of it but I blame it on the slight mismatch of my shade), anything from the Chantecaille counter I'm willing to swatch, play around and invest it wherever possible.  When I squeezed a bit of this cheek illuminator onto the back of my hand I thought oh wow the colour is a little too strong.  I chose Luster which is a pinker shade with gold shimmer runs through it (another shade Brilliance is a gold shade, more of a bronzer product I think).  However as I blended it out, and started dabbing on the apples of my cheek, it looks so natural and gives my face an instant lift and glow.  You can intensify it by adding more but I would recommend less is more with this product.  You can also mix this highlighting fluid with skincare, i.e. moisturiser or your favourite foundation to give your face an overall brightening complexion, you'll be surprised by the result!  The result seems to be much more natural, and easier for application if you squeeze a tiny amount of this onto a stippling brush and work it onto the apples of your cheeks.  As I was using it more and more, it reminded me a lot of the Daniel Sandler Watercolour Fluid Blusher which I stole from my sister's makeup collection to try, but I found it a little too watery in texture hence the application became a little awkward for me.  Whereas this cheek illuminator, it's somewhere in between a water and a cream texture which makes application much easier.

Are you planning your next trip to Space NK already?  I hope you are nodding your heads!  Tell me if you've tried either of these products cos I want to know what you think of them!

FIRST IMPRESSION: RIMMEL JUST LET IT GO... GENTLE EYE MAKEUP REMOVER

I'm sure you will know by now I love trying out different makeup removers (cream, micellar water based, oil and water, oil form).  The quicker, effective and the cheaper they are able to remove makeup, the better; of course.

I wanted to recommend a product I absolutely loved, after just using it once.

Rimmel Just Let It Go Gentle Eye Makeup Remover is not your usual choice of makeup remover but I've heard Viviannadoesmakeup raved about it for a couple of times in the past so I was intrigued and decided to give it a try.

A few drops of this liquidy (micellar water form) makeup remover on each cotton pad, covered my eyes and gently wiggle and apply the mildest form of pressure onto the eyes for about 30 seconds, voila, I'd say at least 90% of my eye makeup (including smudge and waterproof mascara) had been removed.

I was really impressed - I've never really used a non-oil form of makeup remover that's able to remove so much eye makeup in such a short space of time.  The solution is so gentle, too.  It didn't cause any irritation to my eyeballs at all, and it feels like just water on my skin.

Oh Rimmel, how I love your products; you seldom let me down!  For £3.59, it is an absolutely fabulously purse friendly and effective makeup remover that you can ever wish for.

Have you tried this before?  Do you have other budget friendly makeup remover that you can recommend?

BOSCIA MAKEUP BREAKUP COOL CLEANSING OIL REVIEW

I'm constantly on the hunt for the most effective way to remove those lovely makeup that I wear almost on a daily basis.  My favourite and can't live without makeup products include: eyeliners (black or dark brown), mascara, a light smokey eye shadows combo.  So, a good makeup remover is absolutely my thing to remove them completely - I don't enjoy seeing pimples and spots creeping up as a result of dirt remained on my face!

Boscia Makeup Breakup Cool Cleansing Oil (£17/ USD$28) is the latest makeup remover I tried.  Although not readily available in shops in the UK, it can still be purchased easily from across the pond on the Sephora website.   Anyway, back to business...... As you can see I'm almost finishing the last bit of this cleansing oil, so what I thought about it?

I liked it and found it effective but it didn't blow me away completely.  For me, apart from my eye makeup, I almost always wear a foundation or bb cream, blusher, bronzer, fill in my brows, lip products; so a full face of makeup.  I needed a good 6 pumps of oil to remove my makeup to the fullest.  All you do is to dispense enough amount of oil (in my case at least 6 pumps) then massage it directly onto a dry face with circular motion.  I tend to spend more time on massaging my eyes, forehead, round my nose areas and chin.  After a face full of oil mixed with makeup melting away, just rinse face with warm tap water, continue massaging with circular motion to further breakdown any impurities and makeup.  The cleansing oil doesn't remove all the makeup completely.  I don't find it particularly strong at removing waterproof eyeliners and mascara like what I would expect.  However, even though this is a cleansing oil, I only found it hydrating but not greasy on my skin at all.  But a double-cleanse procedure is vital.  I always follow up using a cleansing balm for a deeper facial cleansing and usually that completes the whole cleansing procedure.

Would I repurchase again?  I don't think I would, purely based on the price, I have tried better products out there, such as Clarins Instant Eye Makeup Remover or Clinique Take The Day Off Makeup Remover which have both worked amazingly well in removing makeup without much effort needed.  Cheaper alternatives which I have tried and loved is The Body Shop Camomile Eye & Lip Makeup Remover, you can read a more in depth review here; or Bioderma Sensibio H20 which is loved by almost all makeup artists and bloggers but not necessary my cup of tea!

Is this something you have tried before?  What's your favourite makeup remover at all times?