Left to right –
Bourjois Healthy Mix foundation
I’ll admit it: I know I don’t wear the right shade foundation. This isn’t news to me. The foundation I wear is slightly too orange to be natural on me, and yet I’ve been buying this since at least 2010. I would even get my mum to bring it to me when I was living in Montreal because you couldn’t get it there. What can I say: I know what I like, and what I like is Bourjois Healthy Mix foundation in Light Beige. I love how heavy the coverage is while still being glowy.
MUA Undress Your Skin Illuminating Liquid Glow in Oyster
My current makeup goal is one word: glowy. I want to glow like a lightbulb. Like a glow worm. Like a setting sun. It’s what has motivated most of my makeup purchases this summer, and I think I’ve finally got it pretty much down. I mix the cheap-as-hell MUA Illuminating Liquid Glow in Oyster with my foundation and apply it all over my face. It just gives me a dewy all-over shimmer and I love it. Also the price means I don’t feel too bad about using a good squeeze every time I apply my makeup.
Benefit Fake Up under-eye concealer
I’m not totally sold on Benefit as a brand, especially the way it seems they pay bloggers to give their new products good reviews that, when they hit the market, inspire ‘WTF?’ and ‘ugh, no!’ from anyone who buys them. But! This is my all-time favourite under-eye concealer. I’ve tried other when I couldn’t afford to replace mine, but I’ve decided it’s a cost worth undertaking. It’s honestly the best: moisturising, never cakey, makes my eye-area look brighter and fresher.
Nars Illuminator in 413 Bleecker
The next step in my glow obsession: applying Nars Illuminator to my cheekbones, browbone and a tiiiiny little bit on my cupid’s bow. The colour of 413 Bleecker (an instore exclusive, you can’t get it at counters so I gotta make it last!) is ideal for me as it’s not too gold, not to silver, just non-specifically shimmery and glowy. I love the sheeny effect without being too disco-ready.
Real Techniques buffing brush from Core Collection
Real Techniques brushes are The One. I can’t fault them. This one picks up the perfect amount of blusher and applies it evenly.
Max Factor Creme Puff blusher in Alluring Rose
I told myself when I finished my last blusher, which was one that came in the Lancome palette in Nectar Lace, I would buy Nars Orgasm blusher. When the moment arrived, though, I was hearing such good things about the Max Factor Creme Puff blusher that I figured I might as well give that a go before committing to a much more expensive product, even though I know Orgasm is absolutely wonderful. I’m really glad I gave the Max Factor blusher a chance. It’s a different shade to what I would usually wear- more browny than peachy- but I really love it, and it lasts so well.
Bourjois Maxi Delight bronzer + brush
This summer, I’m using the big bronzer brush and lightly sweeping this Bourjois bronzer over my forehead, nose and chin. I wouldn’t normally do this, but I feel it fits well with my Glow Goals and I like the way it looks with my natural hair colour.
Too Faced Better Than Sex mascara
In a reversal of my blusher decision-making process, I had been happily using a high street-priced mascara (Bourjois Volume 1 Seconde) but when I had lunch with my fave fat femme dreamboat Stella in NYC, one of the main topics of conversation was what I was going to buy in Sephora the next day. She was evangelical about the Too Faced Better Than Sex mascara, so I thought I would give it a go. I am sold. I’m not sure if I’ll repurchase or if I’ll alternate with my old Bourjois one for economy, but it’s really, really great. It’s no secret that I was blessed with dark, thick, tenacious hair alllllll over, and nowhere is that more welcome than my eyelashes. I have naturally good eyelashes so maybe I don’t need as much help as a lot of people, but this is outstanding. A great brush, a great formula, and really exceptional in its ability to look A++ with two coats.
Anastasia Beverly Hills DipBrow pomade + brush
This is very important. This is hands-down the best eyebrow product I’ve ever used, and I have used many. Turning my eyebrows from a curse in my teenage years to a blessing in my twenties has been delicious, and I like to be able to keep them looking strong and defined. Anastasia DipBrow is absolutely wonderful: highly pigmented and long-wearing, it’s a really fuss-free way to get your eyebrows looking perfect with one product (plus a hard-angle brush). I’ve used this constantly for over a year and I’ve still got, I would say, half of the pot left. This is mostly because I have so much eyebrow, and I know friends who use it a lot more sparingly than me because it’s so heavy and it shows up so easily on their face, and theirs is lasting even longer. But one pot lasting two years? Great beauty economics.
And all in one place
There’s one product I’m absolutely desperate for, which I feel will be the holy grail in my pursuit of a warm, beautiful glow. The Hourglass Ambient Lighting palette. I know it’s hyped to death, and I would be skeptical, but I’ve really not heard a bad word about it. When a friend was getting her eyebrows done at Bobbi Brown in Liberty, I used that as an excuse to let the Hourglass lady put the contents of this palette on my face. I don’t know exactly what she did, and I will be watching 1000 YouTube tutorials to recreate it, but I came away looking like an unbearably radiant angel. My skin has never looked better. I’m thoroughly anti-powder because I love the glow, and because powder sticks to the little peach fuzz on my cheeks, but this was completely seamless and didn’t feel at all like A Face Powder. I am obsessed.
