Battle of the Highlighters!

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Happy Tuesday!

It hit me the other day that I am a highlighter addict. I love glowy radiance skin and am a sucker for a good illuinating product. There are so many great products on the market  I thought I would give a bit of an overview and comparison of my favourites. I managed to narrow it down to the top 6, it was hard but I did it!

 

So we have;  

♥ Mac Cream color base in Pearl - Love this. It's one of my favourite highlighters. It's an off white cream colour with no obvious glitter. It creates dimension and a lovely luminscent glow. This product is the definition of dewy and glowy!

♥ Prestige Sun Baked Mineral Bronzer in Pure Shimmer - This is the cheapest of the lot and I think it's great. It gives a great natural sheen to the skin and considering the price it gives great glow and not glitter. I like that it's not too bronzey, pink or white it is sort of a great mix between all three colours.  

♥ Nars Albatross - As you can see mine has had plenty of wear and tear, I think it's a reflection of how much I love it! Albatross looks a bit white in the pan but adds a gorgeous golden warm glow to the skin. The golden shimmers are finely milled so it appears really natural. I use it on my cheekbones but it is also an amazing inner corner and brow bone highlight! 

♥ Dior Amber Diamond - I love this highlighter! I have posted about it before here if you want to read me rave on about it more. Gives a beautiful ultra-sheen to my cheeks. Don't know what I did without this. I especially love using this on nights out for that extra glow. 

♥ The Body Shop Shimmer Waves in 02 Blush - This was one of the first makeup products I ever bought and I have since repurchased it. I use it just as a highlighter rather than a blush. It's a great pinky toned highlighter with a very fine, satin like shimmer.

♥ Nars Multiple in Copocobana - This highlighter looks very frosty in the tube but once on the skin it's actually really flattering. It blends right into the skin and gives a natural, subtle nude sheen. I like that it creates more of a sheen than a shimmer. This is is great for the fair skinned ladies! 

L-R - Mac Pearl, Prestige Pure Shimmer, Nars Albatross, Dior Amber Diamond, The Body Shop Shimmer waves, Nars Copocabana.

I honestly cannot choose one favourite. I love them all and wear them all at different times for different occasions.  I think they are all great products for providing a gorgeous, luminous radiance. If I had to choose only one it would be a toss up between Amber Diamond and Mac Pearl.

Although I love all of these I could always do with more glow so I have my eye on Becca's Shimmering Skin Perfector in Pearl. I need it in my life!


What is your favourite highlighter? Share it with me!

Battle of the Corals

While reorganising my makeup the other day I discovered I have a growing collection of coral blushes. Coral toned blushes are definitely my favourite (obviously!) I just love the flushed natural glow they give.  

So without further ado here are my favs; 

Here are descriptions they give on their websites; 

Mac Stereo Rose - Coral with golden/bronze shimmering nuances

Benefit Coralista - A warm coral cheek powder for a 'tropical flush'

Mac Dainty - Light yellow pink with gold pearl 

Nars Orgasm - Peachy pink with shimmer

 Without Flash: Left to right - Mac Stereo Rose, Benefit Coralista, Mac Dainty, Nars Orgasm

 With flash left to right - Mac Stereo Rose, Mac Dainty, Benefit Coralista, Nars Orgasm  

Ok onto my thoughts;  

♥ Stereo Rose is the bronziest of the 4, I only did a post recently raving about it. It has a bit of  rosey tone to it (hence the name!) and is probably the least corally out of the four. It makes me look really fresh and like lots of the good Mac mineralize skinfinishes gives a beautiful sheen to the skin. 

♥ Coralista is a beautiful peachy coral. It's quite sheer but can be built up to add a bright pop to the cheek. It's great for my NW20ish skin and it smells really good too! I think this will be my summer stable blush.

 ♥ Dainty is the pinkest of the 4 and has a noticeable shimmer in it which you can sort of see in the photo with the flash, but it's not an over the top shimmer. It is quite a pigmented blush too so I have to be careful not to overdo it on my NW20ish skin.

♥ And lucky last is the famous Nars orgasm. You all know about it. It's a great shimmery coral peach blush which looks great on most skin tones. It has a gold shimmer in it which some days I love and other days I'm no so keen on - depends on the day. I'm sure you've heard it all before but I have to agree that it is a great coral pinky blush.

Left to right - Mac Stereo Rose, Benefit Coralista, Mac Dainty, Nars Orgasm 

And the winner is... 

Ugh please don't make me choose between may choose, it's too hard!

They are all gorgeous good quality blushes and as you can see from the swatch above they are all super similar. If I could only have one of these I think I would go with Coralista. It's a tough choice though.

You might think I would have satisfied my coral blush love but I still do have my eye on a few other corally colours. You can never have enough right!?

What is your fav coral blush?

 

Current Five Favourite Blushes

These are my current five favourite blushes. They are likely to change soon as I have my eye on a few, but at the moment these are the ones I am loving!

Here they are; 

• MAC Pink Swoon: A favourite of many, the trusty Pink Swoon. A gorgeous light pink with no shimmer. It goes on smoothly, blends well & looks good with any makeup look. Pale or sunkissed (which is rare occurance for me!) this blush will suit my skin whichever.

• MAC Peaches: It took me so long to get my hands on this blush, it was sold out online in at four different MAC counters. I’m glad I finally tracked it down. I loved the idea of true peach, but wasn't sure if it would work on my complexion... I'm so glad it does! One coat gives my cheeks a soft glow, it is buildable so if I want it to show up more I can layer it. 

• MAC Tenderling: I originally bought this online for contouring but when it arrived I found it to be lighter than I thought. Luckily it has turned into one of my favourite blushes. In the pan it looks quite plain & boring (& the photo doesn’t help) but once applied it adds a nice colour to my face. It’s a great everyday blush & I find myself reaching for it when I’m in a hurry or can’t be bothered to find anything else. Being a sheertone formula it has no shimmer or glitter which I like for uni.

• NARS Orgasm: This is probably my most worn blush (along with ALOT of other people!) But it really is great. I’m sure you have all heard it before but it’s a beautiful pinky coral with shimmer that brightens my face. Often I don’t feel like wearing pinks & when that is the case corals are perfect. 

• Revlon Matte Powder Blush Perfectly Peach: This is a fairly new purchase. Being back at uni I am watching my pennies again & I managed to get this on special. The colour of the blush is really pretty. I love the peachy pink colour. It is quite a natural everyday blush that doesn’t have any shimmer (that probably went without saying considering the name!) which i like for uni. It is quite light so i don’t think it would be great for those who don't have lighter skin tones. 

Here is a swatch of all of them (in the same order) except Revlon perfectly peach, I ran out of fingers! If anyone would like a swatch of it just let me know.

What blushes are you currently loving?

x

NARS Albatross

This review was requested by cupcakes of silk, check her out here. I know there are heaps of reviews out there but here is my two cents worth!

Here is my Nars Albatross which as you can see has definitely seen better days. I have managed to drop this baby on the bathroom tiles not once but twice :( On the up side at least it didn't completely shatter.


Without flash


With flash

Albatross is a pale golden white. At first glance albatross looks quite white but when swatched it definitely appears more golden. The shimmer is superduper fine and not glittery or chunky. As it's so finely milled it goes on smoothly and doesn’t emphasise my pores, which is a winner!

I do really like albatross but think sometimes it appears a little too gold on my pale complexion. I vary between a NW15 to NW20 so I have to be sure to blend blend blend! Sometimes i wear albatross in the corner of my eyes but have to be careful as it has a tendency to settle in the fine lines under my eyes. Having said that I adore this product and the subtle effect it gives, it makes my skin look glowy and not greasy.



It is expensive but you get so much it will definitely last forever. If you've got the cash to spend I think it is worth the cost.

On the topic of highlighters I am currently on the hunt for a new liquid or cream highlighter. I'm tossing up between MAC cream colour base in Pearl, Becca Shimmering Skin Perfector in Pearl, The Body Shop Radiant highlighter or Benefits High Beam. Ahhhh so many to choose from! Does anyone use any of these products or use others they think I should check out?

What’s In My Makeup Bag:

I always really enjoy these posts, so here we go.

This is my makeup bag. It’s from K-mart and I really like it. It was cheap, is compact and holds heaps. Despite what it may look like I can actually zip it up!



Firstly lips. Like every girl I always have more then enough lip products with me. I suffer from chronic dry lips and do normally have more lip balms but today looks like a tame day. On a day to day basis I use Lucas’s Pawpaw ointment but recently my lips have been really dry bad so I have been using The Body Shop’s Hemp Lip Protector which is good so far. I also have a Mac tinted lip conditioner in fuchsia fix, MAC lipglass in Underage, MAC cremesheen in Crème Cup and my latest purchase Barry M lipgloss in Toffee, which living in Australia I am so happy to have finally got my hands on!



Next is MAC blot powder. I always have this with me to fight the dreaded shine, as well as have MAC Select Cover-up in NW20, Benefit posietint which is good for on the go and Rimmel sexy curves (my one has seen better days.)



And then there are just some random things. Blot tissues, tweezers, nail files, perfume, a mirror, super cute lip shaped band-aids which my mum got for me and dental floss. I used to work at a cinema and would always get popcorn stuck in my teeth so dental hence the dental floss!



And that’s everything :)