You may have read my recent post on the skincare I took with me and thought how streamlined and carefully edited it was. The exact opposite is the case here, I don’t know why I felt the need to take so much makeup on holiday with me, but I did. I think it’s just because I have so many lovely products that I thought would be especially well-suited to holiday makeup looks, but really, there is no excuse for such excess.
I took three palettes with me, which isn’t that bad really, is it? I had to take both the Nudestix palettes (the customised one I wrote about here, plus the Jetsetter Palette, because it’s all about that travel vibe) as the whole Nudestix approach to makeup – easy textures, blendable formulas, on-the-go application – is very much the way I like to do holiday make-up; I never go in for anything too tidy or polished and prefer gentle, smudgy looks. Another perfect palette for holidays is the Laura Geller Southampton Classic Face Palette, which contains four eyeshadows, alongside a bronzer and a blusher, so if you’re really looking to pare back what you takeaway, this palette is a bit of a do-it-all, offering some great shades for day and night looks. It’s £32 here – link.
I only took two foundations with me, but inexplicably I also packed three powder products…and I rarely wear powder! What was that about?! I didn’t really wear make-up during the day, but during the evening I would put some on for dinner and the foundation I wore every night was the Estee Lauder Double Wear Light (full review with before and after here) as it’s a foundation that I really, really love, offering light coverage that just takes the sting out of my red patches without looking heavy. If I was going for a bit more glow, I’d use the Charlotte Tilbury Flawless Filter (full review here) underneath, as it’s amazing and really ups your skin game, then if I needed any additional coverage I’d go in with my bareMinerals BarePro concealer (full review here). The other foundation I took was the IT Cosmetics Your Skin But Better CC Cream just in case I needed a fuller coverage, but thankfully I didn’t. The took the Beauty Pie One Powder Wonder as it’s one of the few powders I really like and I think I used it once or twice to take away a little bit of shine. I also took Mary Kay Blotting Tissues and the DHC Blotting Papers, although neither got used.
Of all the elements in the make-up bag, I think my blushers were the big excess of the bunch, as I took four blushers and two bronzers, which was a bit silly. The only powder blusher I took was the Charlotte Tilbury Cheek to Chic in Love Glow, as it’s one of those intensely flattering shades that can make you look healthy and awake even if you’re nowhere near either. I took three (!!) cream blushers, starting with the Shiro Shea Cheek and Lip Butter in shade 7D02 (catchy!) which is one of those extremely pretty pinks that I absolutely love for both lips and cheeks – such a great colour. I also took the Cosmetics a La Carte Cream Blush in Romance, although it’s really dried out which is a bit of a shame, as it’s another great shade that I love. Finally, the Daniel Sandler Watercolor Creme Rouge Blush in Soft Pink is the perfect product for adding quick colour to cheeks – it’s highly pigmented and buttery soft, so perfect for lazy make-up days. I think Vincent Longo have now left the UK, which is a real shame as their make-up was amazing (albeit rather expensive) and their Bronzer in Golden Glow was one of my all-time favourites for an incredibly natural tan. The make-up product that got used the very most on holiday was the Beauty Pie Moonlight Radiance Powder in Supernova, as it’s one of those do-it-all products that’s so effortless and noticeably brilliant. It adds glow, warmth, a touch of light and an overall radiance that’s particularly brilliant on holiday when you want to pick up on any bits of sun you’ve caught. I absolutely love it.
I took a couple of highlighters too, the first of which was the Pixi Glow-y Gossamer Duo in Delicate Dew, which has been a favourite for a while for adding a nice, light, natural highlight. The big surprise was the ELF Beautifully Bare Highlighting Stick in Champagne Glow, which was a superstar – easy to use, very natural finish that added that dewiness to skin that’s quite hard to achieve, and not a shard of glitter in sight. Available in three shades, these are a fiver each here – link.
I took just two mascaras with me, starting with the new YSL Mascara The Curler, which I treated myself to just before going away, alongside a couple of lip products that I’ve included below. The other mascara I took was the Charlotte Tilbury Full Fat Lashes, which was intended for daytime, but I actually really liked it so I tended to reach for it more than the YSL one. I have the Charlotte Tilbury Ingenue Look (£145 here – link) which includes the gorgeous Colour Chameleon pencil in Champagne Diamonds which is one of those brilliant eye shades that just lifts and brightens effortlessly. Then you can vamp it up with the Classic Eyeliner in Audrey which is the most amazing shade for giving a soft smoky eye, plus the formula is gorgeous too – particularly if you’re not great/can’t be bothered with careful eyeliner application, as this is soft and powdery, so it blends really well. Finally, ol’ faithful Anastasia Beverly Hills Brow Wiz in Medium Brown – I actually got my mum hooked on this too!
Finally (FINALLY…) lips: I picked up two of the YSL Volupte Tint-in-Oil glosses because they were in the sale (I think they might be being discontinued) and I’m so glad I did because they were perfect for holiday makeup, offering a slick of colour in a hydrating and glossy formula. I brought the Shiro Ginger Lip Butter in shade 7102, which is a really lovely shade, but the product is quite pigmented so I only wore it once as I prefer lighter formulas on holiday. Finally there were the three lip products from the Charlotte Tilbury Ingenue look, the Lip Cheat Lip Liner in Pink Venus, the KISSING Lipstick in Coachella Coral and the stunning Lip Lustre Lipgloss in Portobello Girl. I didn’t use the lipstick much because it’s very pigmented – although I did wear it once to dinner when I was going for a more made-up finish – but the lipgloss, oh my gosh, what a beautiful shade of muted nude pink that’s just gorgeous. I also really liked the lip liner, even though I’m not a lip liner girl usually, but this one worked fantastically with the lipgloss, giving a really impressive finish that was still natural. There we have it! Quite a lot of makeup, I know, but I know what to take next time, so at least I have learned a few lessons…
*PR Samples and purchases
