Mermaid's Makeup

So today I thought I'd do a quick review of BeautyBlender's BlenderCleanser® Solid as it's something I've been using for a little while now and also something that a lot of people are hesitant to purchase because of the price.
If you've been debating whether to get this cleanser or not, I hope this post helps you make a decision and if you haven't then I hope you enjoy reading it anyway!

Whilst the BeautyBlender® company markets this cleanser as one specific for the beautyblender® itself, I've also found it's excellent at cleaning all of my brushes. They say that it "supports the integrity of the blender and removes excess residue and germs for a clean makeup application" and it does exactly what it says on the tin! As the beautyblender® is made from such a unique material it can be hard to find a brush cleanser that really cleans all the remnants of make up off, but this one leaves your sponge spotless after cleaning. I like the idea of the solid bar rather than the liquid blendercleanser® because firstly it's great for travel, secondly it's a lot less messy, and thirdly I find it's easier to use as you can just swirl your sponge or brushes around the bar and rinse the make up that may collect on the bar off once you're done.
It comes in a handy little case that is not too bulky, again making it travel friendly, and it also has a little grid in it to allow for better and hygienic drying of the cleanser. They also suggest on their website that you can even use this grid as a tool to scrub your brushes on for a deeper clean.

I find that it has a very subtle scent that reminds me of lavender (I could be wrong), which I quite like. However, if this scent isn't your cup of tea, have no fear because it doesn't linger on the brushes you've cleaned, it only really smells whist you're physically washing them and it's not very strong at all. It's made without parabens, sulfates or Phthalates which makes it even better!

As I said, I've been using this for a while now (probably about a year) after I received it in my Birchbox along with the beautyblender® itself. Considering the box is only £10 a month I was really happy to have received this as the set alone retails on their site for £26! In fact I was so pleased with it that I repurchased the same box so I could have a back up!

If, like me, you're from the UK, here's a few places you can find it (Link included, click on store name):

BeautyBlender® UK Blender and Full Size BlenderCleanser® Solid - £26

BeautyBlender® UK BlenderCleanser® - £14.00

Birchbox BeautyBlender® and Mini BlenderCleanser® Solid - £26

Selfridges BlenderCleanser® Solid - £13 (Full size)

Amazon UK - £12.84 with free P+P (Full size, sold by BeautyBlender via Amazon UK)

AllBeauty.com BeautyBlender® and Mini BlenderCleanser® Solid - £15.95 SALE!! (Usually £26 so hurry!)

Although it sounds like quite a lot of money for what seems like just a bar of soap, it's well worth it because I truly haven't found anything that cleans my beautyblender® and brushes as well as this does. It leaves them feeling soft and as good as new. The fact that it works so well on all brushes also means that you do not have to splash out on one cleanser for your beautyblender® and another for your brushes. It will last you for at least a few months (depending on how often you clean your brushes) meaning you won't need to repurchase it very often either.
If you're interested but not entirely convinced then I would definitely suggest purchasing the blender and cleanser together as it's a really good deal and means you can have a back up beauty blender as well as a generous sized "mini" cleanser (although it doesn't come in the little compact packaging with the grid).

Hope this has helped you make your mind up as whether to purchase this or not or introduced some of you to a product you hadn't heard of or had interest in before!

Talk soon,
Mercedes

Going to London is one of my favourite things to do even though I live so close and have been many times, I never seem to get tired of it. The atmosphere, the buzz of everyone rushing around and the variety of people from different countries and backgrounds just makes it such an amazing place to be at any time of day. On Friday night I went out for dinner to Madison's Rooftop Bar and Restaurant in St.Paul's to celebrate my best friend's birthday and the view over London from the terrace was so beautiful in what was left of the evening sunlight. I have never been to this restaurant before (or heard of it for that matter) but I would definitely go back! The food was delicious, the people were so friendly and the ambiance of the whole place was great with a live band performing and people just milling around chatting and having a good time.

Enough gushing about the restaurant and let's get into the actual post: a get ready with me for a dressier occasion.
As I've said in a previous post, I prefer to go for a more natural look even when I'm going out, mostly because I'm rubbish at makeup and it's easier to do! That said, there are more steps and products involved when I'm getting ready to go out somewhere a bit nicer compared to my everyday look.
It may look as though there are a lot of products involved but I promise it is very simple. If I can do it then anyone can!
Here's some of my favourite tried and tested products I use on a regular basis for a night out.
Disclaimer: I'm sorry about the state of my make up, as you will see they are all well loved items! I'm also having to take these photos on my phone as I've left my camera at my university house so as   soon as I'm back there the image quality will be a lot better!




*Insert lovely picture of me bare-faced and with unbrushed "just-rolled-out-of-bed" hair in my pajamas*
I like to start off with a clean and fresh face and so I begin by washing my face and then I'll apply a light moisturiser (I will be doing a post about my skincare routine some time in the near future).

For nights out or when I want to make sure my make up stays in place for a long time, I use the Benefit Porefessional Primer as a base. The travel size version is so handy and small but still holds a lot of product. I like this primer a lot because it is very lightweight but does a great job at filling in the larger pores I have around my nose, leaving my skin feeling extremely smooth.

I don't usually wear foundation for an every day look, but on special occasions when I want more coverage for a more flawless look in photos, I'll use the Maybelline Fit me foundation in the shade Ivory 115. I like to apply this with a damp Beauty Blender for a polished and well blended finish. This foundation is relatively cheap and can be found in most drugstores, and gives medium coverage that you can build up to full coverage if needed. It's not a matte finish but it doesn't have a sheen or glow to it either, it looks very natural.


Next I use the Benefit Confessions of a Concealaholic kit to touch up my eye area. I use the Erase Paste underneath my eyes to cancel out the dark circles I have and it works brilliantly like nothing else I've tried. I then put Lemonaid on my eyelids to brighten them up, it also provides a great base for eyeshadow to stick to and makes the colour really pop.

Sticking with the Maybelline Fit Me range for my base, I use the concealer in number 15 (I'm not sure if there is a name and mine has just rubbed off the packaging or not). Again, I would say this is a medium coverage concealer that you could build up if you wanted to by applying a couple of layers. I dab this onto any blemishes or red areas that I have and just use my fingers to blend it in.

To add a little bit of a highlight I go in with the Maybelline Instant Age Rewind Eraser in the Brightener shade just under my eyes and sometimes on my cupids bow for a subtle highlight. I haven't been able to find this shade in the UK, I got this one while I was in Canada, which is very annoying because I think it's better than the standard fair shade as it is more pink toned and brighter. I really wish they would introduce this shade in England!

To make sure my foundation and concealer stays in place I use the Rimmel Stay Matte Powder in 001 Transparent and use the Real Techniques Buffer Brush from the Core Collection to buff this into my skin, concentrating on the areas I applied concealer to. This powder does such a great job and mattifying my skin without it looking cakey and it really does help my foundation last longer.

Eyeshadow is defnintely not my thing, I look like I've been punched in the face if I try to use more than one colour! So I keep it very simple and just use one colour, as boring as that may be. I usually like to use a bright colour to make my eyes and eyeliner pop and I love to do this using the white shade in the Bobbi Brown Shimmer Brick Eye Palette that I got quite some time ago. It is very shimmery, as the palette name suggests, so I wouldn't recommend it if you're not into sparkly eyeshadow. I just put this all over my lid, only bringing it up as far as my crease for a very subtle, barely visible look but it just lifts the eyes a little bit.


I love applying eye liner above my top lashes, I think it just adds a sophisticated and more "done-up" appearance to any simple make up look. It took me a little while to transition from liquid liner to using the Benefit They're Real Push Up Liner because the applicator is like nothing I've ever used before and I had not previously tried gel liner. Once I got the hang of it and got over the fact that I would always end up with a little ball of the product at the end of the applicator (an issue many have experienced and do not like) I fell in love with it! I'm able to get really close to my lashes and create a smooth line fairly easily as the tip is flexible and bends to fit the shape of your eyelid. I really like the fact that it has a matte finish, it makes it stand out even more on my eyes. I don't go overboard with my eyeliner, I tend to keep the line fairly thin and draw a small wing at the end that doesn't extend too far past the corner of my eye.


Onto my favourite part of make up application, masacara! I always have to curl my eyelashes first, it just makes them hold the curl for longer and gives them a bit more length to play with. I usually chop and change my mascaras, when it's time to buy a new one I'll either see what's on offer at the drugstore or get one that I've seen people recommending on YouTube. This time though I did go back to an old favourite which is The Falsies Volume Express Mascara in Black Drama from Maybelline (I can see a bit of a theme going on here, I must really love this brand!). In the vast price range of mascaras it's relatively cheap at around £8 (if I can remember rightly), and it works wonders on my lashes to give them length and volume without clumping. The curved shape of the wand means I can get the product right to the base of my lashes, lifting them up and curling them even more. When I'm going out and want my eyes to stand out I'll apply a couple of coats, leaving a few minutes between them. I've found that doing this allows the mascara to dry a bit resulting in less clumps. For an every day look I'll skip putting mascara on my bottom lashes, but I'll occasionally do it when I'm going out to make my eyes look that bit bigger. This time I chose to use my sample of the Bobbi Brown Everything Mascara because the brush is perfect for getting at the smaller, shorter lashes at the bottom. I have quite long bottom lashes and so I only apply a small amount of mascara otherwise they look very spidery and weird!

My eyebrows aren't too bad, they're not too sparse or overly thick and so I don't usually need to do a lot to them. Like most people, I have a favourite brow (my left) as my right one always looks a different shape and is a bit more sparse. As they say though, eyebrows are sisters and not twins so I just embrace it and try and make them as even as possible! To do this, I like to use yet another Maybelline product, the Eye Studio Master Shape Brow pencil in Soft Brown. I like this product because it is only £2.99, is an almost perfect colour match for my eyebrows and because it has a spooly brush on the other end. I use the brush to comb through my brows to neaten them up a bit before I start lightly filling them in. First, I trace a line along the bottom of my eyebrows and extend the tail slightly (especially on my right side). Then I tidy up the inner part by subtly squaring it off and then fill in the main part of my eyebrows in small, light strokes to imitate hairs. I go over them again with the brush to blend the product into my actual hairs so it looks more natural and that's it!

To give my face a bit of depth I put a small amount of the NYC Smooth Skin Bronzing Face Powder in Sunny just below my cheek bones, the top of my forehead and temples. Not forgetting a little bit on my neck so it matches the colour of my face! It's quite pigmented and dark if you have fair skin so adding a little bit at a time ensures a more natural, bronzed look.

The Rimmel Lasting Finish Soft Colour Blush in Live Pink is the perfect colour for adding a subtle flushed look. Using a Real Techniques Contour Brush from the same Core Collection kit, I apply a small amount to the apples of my cheeks and blend it out towards my temples, just above the bronzer. It is fairly pigmented and a brighter colour for a blush so be careful not to pick up to much on your brush! Using the same brush I used for the face powder, I like to just lightly blend the bronzer and blush together so there isn't so much of a stark boundary where one ends and the other begins.


I'll touch up with some concealer any areas that may have been rubbed off through the application of the bronzer or blush to make sure none of my blemishes are visible and then use a highlighter from Bourjois. I have the Illuminating Touch highlighter in Rose Universe and use the little brush included to sweep a little bit above my cheek bones and on my cupid's bow. It gives a lovely glow to these areas when the light catches it without being too in-your-face glittery or sparkly.

All that's left is the lips, my other favourite part along with mascara. Lipstick can liven up any make up look with a brighter colour or tie everything together with a light/nude shade. As the rest of my make up was very simple, I decided to go with a red colour for a more sophisticated look. Choosing a lip colour is always quite hard for me because I have so many, this time I opted for Lipstick Queen's Aloha shade from the Endless Summer range. It is a lovely cherry red shade that is fairly sheer but you can build the colour up to get a more bold shade. It has a lovely glossy finish to it and is moisturising on the lips. I like to use this particular lipstick for when I want a subtle red that is low maintenance. It won't rub off in patches leaving you with blotchy lips and it doesn't bleed out past the lip line either which is great, so there's no real need for lip liner if you want to skip it.

There you have it, an extremely simple, basic yet fairly sophisticated make up look. You can find almost all of the products I used at the drugstore and they're quite affordable, even on a student budget like mine!


I hope you liked this post and found it somewhat useful/interesting! And if you're ever in London, go check out Madison's Rooftop Bar and Restaurant, if not for the yummy food then at least for the beautiful scenery.

Talk soon,
Mercedes