Liquid vs Gel Eyeliner

Hello and welcome to my Realm of Beauty. 

Today's post is going to be about eyeliners; one of the most loved and at the same time hated makeup items in everyone's makeup collection. We've all been intimidated by them at some point in our lives. We've also all been jealous of those beautiful and even winged eyeliners you see on Instagram. If you get passed that initial stage of fear by practising your technique and familiarising yourself with the shape of your eyes, you'll get to the point of exploring all the different options out there: liquid, pencil and gel eyeliners.

Soap and Glory Supercat liquid pen and Maybelline Lasting Drama Gel Liner. Both available at http://www.boots.com.

I personally started with pencil liners. But I only used it in my waterline or sometimes under my bottom lashes. I never got to successfully apply the pencil above my eyes, so I moved on to liquid eyeliner. I remember my first purchase was mac's classic liquid eyeliner. I initially had to practise with it but I instantly picked up the method and wore it a lot. It still took me a while to apply it though, because as a perfectionist I had to make sure that everything was on point.

After that I came across eyeliner pens. The results were very similar to the classic eyeliner, but a little less intense. The pens were a lot easier to apply, so I tried them in different brands, some of which I was really not happy with. Since I have oily eyelids, most of the eyeliners I've tried would smudge or leave awkward marks on my crease. It really is frustrating when you've got the most perfect winged eyeliner, but 2 hours later you find that half of it has gone on your crease.

I wasn't really satisfied with any liquid pens until I came across Soap and Glory's Supercat Eyeliner. I, like many other beauty bloggers, absolutely love this product. It doesn't smudge, it's super easy to apply and it looks beautiful. If you're just getting into eyeliners and would like to experiment with cat eyes and wings, then I'd totally recommend this especially since it's only £6 and widely available.

The story doesn't stop there. One day I was watching one of Lisa Eldridge's videos (can't remember which one) and in this video she used the Maybelline Lasting Drama Gel Liner. I just loved the results and the fact that she recommended it was enough to send me to Boots to get myself one. Now, I have to be honest, I was always very intimidated by gel liners because I thought they were difficult to apply. But I thought I was confident enough with my skills to finally give it a try. And I'm so glad I did. Gel liner has become by far my favourite type of eyeliner. The intensity of the blackness is just amazing, and you can see the comparison with liquid in the pictures below. Also, if the product is high quality, such as the Maybelline gel liner, it will last all day without smudging.

Note: I didn't apply mascara in any of the pictures, because this way you can see the eyeliner more clearly.

Another advantage is that you can apply gels in your waterline, which you can't really do with liquids. Before I started using gels, I used to apply pencil in my waterline and liquid above my lashes. But now, I can just use the gel for both purposes.
You can see the comparison in the picture. I know it doesn't look like I've applied any product in waterline of the left eye, but trust me I have. It just doesn't show because that's the nature of liquid pens.

The down side is that drawing wings with gel liner is more challenging than with liquid, at least in my experience. You also need a fine liner brush, which is an added expense. The good news is if you buy the Maybelline gel liner, it will come with a brush of its own which has two sides: smudging side for smokey eyes; and fine liner brush for precise application. I personally use the Real Techniques Fine Liner Brush. It's much easier to use and it's of higher quality.

Final thought:
if I'm in a hurry, or not in the mood to spend 10 minutes applying eyeliner, then I'll reach for Soap and Glory's Supercat. But since I don't really use eyeliners for everyday makeup, this rarely happens. I also sometimes use it to outline the lines and go in with the gel.
I much prefer gel liners to liquid liner. And since I only tend to use eyeliner when I'm going out in the evening, I can afford to spend time applying it. Trust me, it's really worth it. Also, since there's such an amazing product like Maybelline's Lasting Drama Gel Liner available for only £7.99 at any drugstore, you don't really have any excuses not to try it out. I personally don't think I'll ever seek a high end gel liner, that's how amazing this product is.

There you have it lovelies. I hope you enjoyed this comparison post. Make sure to follow me on social media for updates and tips. All my social media links can be found in the right hand column.

See you soon x

Why I think Clinique Lipsticks Are The Best

Hello lovelies and welcome to my Realm of Beauty. 

Today's post is all about lipsticks, Clinique lipsticks to be exact.
Lipsticks are the most important makeup item for me. I could leave the house with no makeup on and it wouldn't phase me. But if I didn't have lipstick on I'd somehow feel incomplete, like I would be missing an item of clothing.

I am quite picky when it comes to choosing shades and types. I'm not a fan of nude lips, because they don't really suit my skin tone. And, I don't like matte lipsticks because I prefer moisturised lips to dry lips. So already, I have eliminated the very popular and arguably most loved lipstick in the market: mac's matte lipsticks. You also tend to get more shades with matte lipsticks, so that's another thing I'm missing out on.

Clinique Lipsticks available at http://www.clinique.co.uk

For a long time I've been searching for the perfect moisturising lipstick. One that's not too greasy and not too shiny, but is still moisturising and long lasting and pigmented. I thought I had found my true match in Lancôme's Rouge in Love range, which ticked all the boxes for me. Until Clinique launched their Pop Lip Colour and Primer range. I was very intrigued by the description of this product, which goes like "Luxurious yet weightless formula merges bold, saturated colour with a smoothing primer. Glides on effortlessly to give a modern-velvet finish. Colour stays true and keeps lips comfortably moisturised for 8 hours". So I went to my nearest Clinique counter and the lady tried on 3 shades for me. I instantly fell in love with the intensity of the colours, and how moisturising they were without adding too much shine. This was the perfect match I was looking for. It really does what it says in the description. Thanks to the primer, it glides on perfectly and gives a gorgeous finish to your lips. The moisture doesn't really get absorbed either, so I barely feel the need to reapply it, unless it's after a meal. 

Don't get me wrong, I still love the Rouge in Love lipsticks and would purchase again as soon as I've ran out. But they are more expensive (£22) than Clinique lipsticks (£16), so I can't really use them everyday. 

By now I have almost made my case and have argued why Clinique lipsticks are the best. But there's one more product that I haven't mentioned: The Chubby Stick Intense Moisturising Lip Colour Balm. This is yet another wonderful product by Clinique and the reason why I love it is in the name. It's more shiny and much sheerer compared to the Pop Lip, but that can be an advantage when you want just enough colour and mostly moisture for a daytime look. I also love the shape of it, which makes it super easy to apply. It's £1 more expensive than the Pop Lip, but you get more out of it because it's taller. 

The shades that I have are limited, but as I said I'm quite picky when it comes to shades I like. I do aim to collect more though, so I'll keep you updated. The Berry Pop (15) shade is a gorgeous plum/berry colour, perfect for evenings and autumnal looks. While the Love Pop (13) shade is a gorgeous light violet, perfect for daytime and summery looks. This is the lightest shade I can pull off without looking like a ghost. 
My Chubby Stick shade is Roomiest Rose (06), which is a beautiful pink colour, perfect for everyday makeup.

Clinique Pop Lip Colour + Primer and Chubby Stick swatches.

Clinique Pop Lip Colour + Primer and Chubby Stick lip swatches.

So there you have it, my case for why Clinique make the best lipsticks. If you're like me and don't really like matte lipsticks, then they're the brand for you. 

I hope you enjoyed this post. Make sure you follow me on social media for updates and future posts. Links can be found on the right hand column. 

See you soon x

My Skin Care Routine | For Oily Skin

Hello and welcome to my Realm of Beauty. 

Today's post is gonna be about skin care. More specifically, how I look after my oily skin.

Those of us with oily skin are both blessed and damned at the same time. Blessed because our skin never looses its moisture and as a result, we are less prone to ageing and developing wrinkles than those with normal/dry skin. However, we are more prone to breakouts and acnes. In addition, searching for a matt foundation that keeps away the shine throughout the day is an impossible task.

Since 7 years ago, when I started caring for my skin, I have tried numerous skin care products. My current routine is the results of years of experimenting and finally coming to a combination of products that actually work together to look after my skin.

Before I introduce you to these products, one thing needs to be said. It is very important to be realistic and to not expect too much from your makeup and skin care. As I have mentioned in my previous post when talking about foundations for oily skin, it is unrealistic to look for a product that keeps the shine away for the entire day. If a products claims to do this, be it a foundation or a moisturiser or a cleanser, you should not trust it. Moreover, if a product actually delivers the "no shine all day" promise, you should stop using it because it is very bad for your skin. These products work by blocking your pores so that the oil is trapped underneath whatever you have on, which can cause all sorts of troubles for your skin.  So just be diligent out there, and know that keeping your face matt all day requires touching ups during the day. You can for example always carry a power with you to use mid-day over your foundation.

Now with the important "warning" out of the way, we can get started.

Storage is from Stackers available at amazon.co.uk

Morning routine: 

In the morning, right after I wake up, I use the Clear Skin Oil Balancing Exfoliating Face Wash by Simple. This product is a life saver for those of us with oily skin. It has no artificial perfume or colour and no harsh chemicals. It's just full of goodness and vital vitamins. The 'zinc' element helps absorb excess oil while the 'witch hazel' reduces blemishes and 'B5' helps to keep the skin smooth and soft. And at the price of £3.99 and wide availability, it's really worth adding to your routine. 

Simple Clear Skin Oil Balancing Exfoliating Face Wash available at Boots.com.

After I've dried my face with a clean face towel, I apply the Clinique Clarifying Lotion in No. 4 with a cotton pad all over my face. This is such an amazing cleanser and comes in 4 ranges. 1 is for dry skin and 4 is for oily/greasy skin, 2 and 3 are for those with normal/combination skin. I just love it when I can see the dirt and oil on the cotton pad after I've used this.
The No. 4 lotion contains alcohol which can be a skin irritant for some, so if you are one of those people it's best to go for a different number. I personally love it because it helps keep the oil to minimum for longer. It's also deeply penetrating and gets rid of all the dirt that's accumulated under your skin.
It is on the pricey side, but I'm not one to hesitate spending money when it comes to skin care. The 200ml bottle is £16.50 and the 400ml bottle is £26.50.

Clinique Clarifying Lotion in No. 4 available at  Boots.com.

The next step is moisturiser. I have wrestled with this for so long. It is very tricky to add extra moisture to a face that's already oily. But I can't forgo it either because the benefits of using moisturiser are well known, plus they really are important when it comes to applying foundation.
So, as you can understand I had a hard time finding a moisturiser that didn't make me even more oily. Until I came across this gem: Clinique Dramatically Different Moisturising Gel. This is a holy grail of skin care for me. At this point, it is one of the very few products that I know I will not ever replace. The texture is gorgeous, it is not drying and it glides smoothly and perfectly on the skin. And once it's on, you don't even realise you have moisturiser on and yet you feel all the benefits that come with it. It controls the shine without giving you dry patches and is full of natural goodness. I just cannot recommend it enough.
Again, this is a pricey product (£30), but it's really worth it.

Clinique Dramatically Different Moisturising Gel available at Boots.com.

Now, I know at this point some of you are wondering why I don't use the 3-step skin care routine offered by Clinique, since I already have 2 of the products in this range. The reason is because I have spent a long time looking for a good face wash and now that I've found 2 of them, one which you have met and one that's coming up in my night routine, I am just scared to let them go and try the Clinique face wash. If I could get my hands on a sample it would be great. But until then, I'm gonna continue using my 2 beloved face washes.

Night routine:

Before I go to bed, I usually look like a disco ball because of the amount of oil on my skin. No matter what I do/use, I end up with a shiny face at the end of the day. So it is important to make sure I treat it before any breakouts occur. For this reason I use Boots Tea Tree & Witch Hazel Exfoliating Face Scrub. This is an absolute gold and I have already been through 4 bottles of since I discovered it. It is so gentle on the skin thanks to the 'witch hazel' and yet tough on the dirt and oil that's trapped inside the pores. It unclogs your pores and leaves you feeling refreshed and clean. It also helps prevent breakouts and dries any existing spots thanks to its 'tea tree' element. 

And at the price of £3.79 you just cannot resist to add it to your routine. 

Boots Tea Tree & Witch Hazel Exfoliating Face Scrub available at Boots.com.

Next I use the same Clinique clarifying lotion to cleanse my skin before applying moisturiser. 

Night time is when I can stop worrying about looking shiny and apply a more conventional moisturiser to maintain moisture throughout the night. This is when I use Palmer's Cocoa Butter Night Renewal Cream, which is a fantastic anti-ageing and firming cream with Shea Butter and vitamin E. I really take my time with this to massage it onto my skin. And when I wake up in the morning my skin is visibly firmer and well rested. 

It might be a bit unusual for a 26 year old to use an anti ageing and firming cream already. But since I lived 19 years of my life in Iran and barely used sun screen (I know, very bad!), I'm afraid that I've done some (reversible) damage to my skin. Which is why I thought it would be good idea to start using this cream to counter act those years of negligence. 

Palmer's Cocoa Butter Night Renewal Cream available at FeelUnique.com.

So there you have it lovelies. I hope you enjoyed this post and found it helpful. 

Let me know if you have any techniques to tackle oily skin. And don't forget to follow me on social media for updates, all the links are on the right hand side. 

See you soon x

Colourful Eye Makeup, Wearable and Easy

Hello lovelies and welcome to my Realm of Beauty.

Today's post is gonna be a makeup tutorial for an easy and wearable colourful look, perfect for summer days.
With autumn just around the corner, you can make the most of what's left of this summer by adding a little bit of colour to your everyday look and maybe use those colourful eyeshadows and eyeliners you have lying around.

The secret to a colourful daytime look is to lower the intensity of the colours you want to use, make it look balanced and effortless. If you have a coloured eyeliner that you don't often use, you can always smudge it and blend it with a neutral eyeshadow. Or you can use two eyeshadows of completely different colours to create a fun colour-block eyeshadow (the look for this tutorial). There are many ways you can play with colours, but the point is: don't be afraid to experiment.

Tip: you can choose the colours of your eyeshadow and eyeliner based on a pair of colourful earnings that you own. As you'll see in my pictures below, it will help bring the whole look together and it looks super fun.

 So let's begin. As per usual, the post will be divided into two sections: eyes and face.

 For eyes:

I've had the gorgeous Lancôme Ombre Hypnôse-Lagon Secret eyeshadow for a very long time. But there aren't many occasions that I can use it on, which is a shame because I love the colour of it. So I thought I'd create a colourful summery look with it, only I didn't have a colour that's the complete opposite of it. However, I remembered that I had a beautifully pigmented pink blusher by Lancôme (Blush Subtil-Rose Paradis) in my makeup collection, so I used it as my base eyeshadow for this look and also as a blusher. This added a beautiful harmony to the look and made it even prettier. So I advise you to use this method if you have a similar blusher in your makeup collection. 

Once the base is on, you can do either of these two things: use a bright eyeliner in a similar colour to my turquoise eyeshadow along and above your lash line; OR wet an 'accent brush' or eyeliner brush and dip it in your colourful eyeshadow and apply it as you would with the eyeliner. The second method is what I used to achieve the look. Real Techniques brushes are my holy grail, so every eye makeup that I do is with their Starter Kit.

Since this is a daytime look, you don't want to make the line winged, just leave it up to the outer corner of you eyes. You can also go in just under your waterline and lashes with the brush or the eyeliner to add a bit of colour under your eyes. 

To finish it off, I used a neutral eyeshadow in my crease to give the eyes more definition. But this is totally optional and up to your preferences. 

For face:

After hours of researching for a good foundation for oily skin, I finally made a decision to purchase Clarins Ever Matte Foundation. I've used it a few times since I purchased it and I absolutely love it (it also smells divine). If you're like me and have been "suffering" from oily skin, you know how hard it is to find a good foundation that can last for a good few hours. Why am I not saying all day? Well because it would be unrealistic to look for a foundation that keeps away the oil and shine all day. If a product does that you should not trust it because it is blocking your pores and trapping the oil and that can cause all sorts of troubles for your skin. An excellent foundation for oily skin should keep the shine away for about 4-5 hours. This is why those with oily skin and long working hours should always carry a powder and touch up during the day. 

My favourite method of applying foundation and concealer is with the Real Techniques Miracle Complexion Sponge. To me, this is an absolute necessity in my makeup bag. Of course you can pay extra and purchase the original Beauty Blender. But I personally haven't found the need to do that. If you're interested to know how to use the sponge, check out the tutorial by the amazing Sam Chapman, which I'll link at the end of this post. 

For lips I used one of my favourite lip liners, No7 Precision Lip Pencil-Rose plus one of my favourite lip colours Clinique's Chubby Stick-Roomiest Rose. The combination of these two is absolutely brilliant. 

To finish off use a translucent powder, I used Clinique's Blended Face Powder, which I have review here Review: Clinique's Blended Face Powder & Brush. This step is only for those with oily skin, so skip it if you have other skin types. 

There you have it beauties. Hope you enjoyed this post. My social network sites can be found on the right hand corner. Don't forget to follow for updates and beauty tips. 

See you soon x

Flawless Foundation by Real Techniques | Miracle Complexion Sponge Tutorial

Review and Comparison: Tinted Lip Balms

Hello beauties and welcome to my Realm of Beauty. 

Today's post is gonna be about tinted lip balms. Some days I don't feel up to putting lipstick on, but I hate the natural colour of my lips because they always look really pale and make me look like a ghost. So tinted lip balms are my saviour on these days. Not to mention that they're incredibly hydrating and good for cold winter days.

So let's get started. The lip balms I'm gonna review are: the famous Maybelline Baby Lips - Cherry Me; the much loved but underrated Burt's Bees - Red Dahlia; and even more underrated Korres Madarin Lip Butter Stick - Rose.

Swatches

Moisturising aspect: 

This for me is the most important aspect of a lip balm. The best one out of the three is Burt's Bees. It's made of 100% natural ingredients including Shea butter, and it slides on the lips beautifully and with ease. The moisture stays on the lips longer than the other two products. Though Baby Lips seems more moisturising when you apply it, it gets absorbed by your lips quickly and you find yourself in need of applying it again. However, this could just be due to the specific shade, since the other shades offer a range of other benefits such as SPF20. I'll strive to collect them all and write a separate post on them.
The Mandarin Lip Butter also has a gorgeous texture thanks again to Shea butter. It's quite thick thanks to the SPF15, which for me is a fantastic benefit that the other two products don't have. That being said, the moisture doesn't last as long as Burt's Bees, but don't let than stop you from adding this to your handbag.

Colour aspect:

If you purchase a tinted lip balm, you obviously expect it to give your lips a hint of colour.  I wanted to have a range of different colours, from pink to red to dark red. As you can see in the picture of the swatches, that goal was achieved with these three products. However, as you see in the pictures below, the clear winner is the Mandarin Lip Butter, with Baby Lips following closely. I don't really see much colour when I apply Burt's Bees, but I understand for some this can be a good thing. I adore the pink colour of Baby Lips and I always have it on when I'm at home.

Price aspect:

Maybelline Baby Lips is the cheapest out of all three and can be purchased at almost every drugstore for only £2.99. It comes in 6 different shades and is totally worth having in your handbag or just to use at home.

Next on the price list is Burt's Bees which can be purchased for £5.99 at http://www.feelunique.com. It comes in an amazing 9 shades! And take my word for it, it's totally worth every penny.

Lastly comes Korres Madarin Lip Butter Stick which costs £8.00 and can be purchased in 5 shades on http://www.feelunique.com. I understand some people might not want to pay this much for a lip balm, but the colour range is gorgeous and the SPF15 makes it much more desirable. The texture is also very unique, you'll love the feeling on your lips.

So there you have it. I hope you enjoyed this post and found it helpful.
Make sure to follow me on Twitter and Instagram for updates.
See you soon x

Vintage Inspired Makeup with Berry lips - Makeup Tutorial

Hello lovelies and welcome to my Realm of Beauty.
This post is gonna be a makeup tutorial and review of products used to achieve this look. First have a look at the photo and if you like the look, carry on reading.

Before I get started, I should declare my love for vintage fashion and beauty. I love the eyeliner, the lips, the eyebrows, the neckline, the tiny waist accentuated by the big skirt and tight waist, polka dots and so on. My makeup and fashion goals are always drawn from the likes of Dita Von Teese and her burlesque style. So if you like my blog and want to follow my blogging journey, expect a lot of vintage inspired looks.

For the purpose of this tutorial, I will divide the look into 2 sections: eyes and face.
Here is a picture of the products I used to achieve this look.

Eyes: 

As I have mentioned in my preview makeup tutorial, I like to always do my eyes first then move on to my face. The reason being that if I get any products on my face while doing my eyeshadow I can safely remove them without messing up my makeup, and I can rest my hand on my face if I have to, without worrying that I'm sliding my foundation.

First start with putting NARS pro primer all over your eyelids (or any other eye primer that you have). This amazing product helps prevent your eyeshadow from smudging and provides a gorgeous and smooth base for the eyeshadow to go on. It is on the pricy side (£19.50), but it's totally worth the money (don't be put off by the word "pro" in the title) and it's gonna last you a very long time, unless you're planning on wearing proper eyeshadow on a daily basis.

For the eyeshadow I used the Maybelline Nude Palette. I absolutely adore this palette, it's cheap (£9.99) and high quality, it blends beautifully and the colours are just fantastic. Once the primer is on, start with a neutral tone with a slight shimmer, which is the number 1 shade in the photo above. Use a flat brush to put this on. Then proceed with the crease colour. Any darker shade would do, so you can get creative with it. I used the number 2 shade shown in the picture. Blend that with a crease brush and make sure you take all the edges off. The purpose is to make it look darker in the outer corners and blend it completely with your base shadow about half way on your eyelids. Once that's blended, go above your crease and under your eyebrows with a light, highlighting shade like the number 3 shadow in the palette. This will give you a lovely shimmer under your eyebrows. Proceed with blending this in with the crease shadow, but make sure you blend downwards since you don't want the dark shadow to get under your eyebrows and mess it up.

When you're happy with the result move on to the eyeliner. Map the shape out with a liquid first. For this you need to be looking down into a mirror until you get to the outer corner of your eyes. Then you need to look straight ahead and draw your line right below the crease. This will make sure that you eyeliner doesn't go into the crease and get cut off, because that will look a bit odd. Go aw far as you like with the flick, but be aware of your eyeshape. Once you've got the outline, go in with a gel liner. I love Maybelline Eyes Studio Lasting Drama Gel Liner. It's long lasting, smudge proof, has intense colour and is easy to apply with a fine eyeliner brush. It also comes with a brush of its own, which is fantastic especially considering the price (£7.99).
Now you just need a little highlighting shadow in the inner corner of your eyes.

For mascara I used Maybelline Lash Sensational. This mascara is truly a holy grail of drugstore makeup and I'm sure you've heard a lot about it so I won't bore you with the details.
You also need a light brown eye pencil for your water line. I used L'Oréal Paris Infallible Eye Liner-Chocolate Addiction, just to give my eyes more depth and definition. Avoid this step if you have small eyes.
Lastly, you need a little bit of the crease shadow for under your eyes in the outer corner. This should be next to invisible so don't draw it too much.

If you have short eyebrows, your eyeliner flick will most likely go past your eyebrows. To remedy this, you need to draw in you brows. I'm not really an expert in this because I've never had the need to draw my eyebrows in. But I did have to draw them to the level of my flick, which is simple enough. For this I used the brilliant Rimmel London Professional Eyebrow Pencil. It's such a simple product and super easy to use.
I'll leave you with a picture that shows my eyebrows more clearly.

Face:

For foundation I used Lancôme Miracle Cushion Foundation. I absolutely adore this foundation. It sits beautifully on your face and I love the idea behind it. Do I think it's worth £29.50? Probably not. I use it occasionally because the pot is very small and I'm afraid that it's gonna run out quickly.

For under eye concealer and concealing little imperfections, I used Rimmel Wake Me Up concealer, which I talked about in my previous post. I blended that with the sharper edge of Real Techniques Miracle Complexion Sponge. I LOVE this product. It's good for blending concealers, cream blushers and foundations. Just one of the best products you can add to your makeup routine.

To highlight my cheek bones, nose, cupid's bow and around lips I used Lancome Teint Miracle Concealer Pen, which again I've talked about in my previous post. I'm not a fan of contouring mostly because I love vintage beauty, but also because I love my round face and don't really see the appeal in the whole contouring practice. That being said, you can achieve wonderful results by just highlighting certain areas of your face. These areas include: under the eyes, on your cheek bones, down the centre of your nose and around the lips. It's minimal effort with maximum effortless effect.

For cheeks I used my lipstick. I'm such a fan of using lipsticks as blushers because you get a perfect match between your lips and cheeks and it just looks so effortless and divine. The lipstick I used was Burberry-Oxblood, and to use as blusher I put some on my cheeks then blended it with the sponge. It takes effort to blend it in perfectly but I think it's worth it. The lipstick itself is wonderfully creamy and moisturising, but I don't think it's pigmented enough. Sometimes that's a good thing though, so no complaints.
To finish the look I used Mac Lipliner-Burgendy. I don't think Mac lipliners need any introduction. They are truly worthy of any praise that's given to them.
If you have oily skin like me, you can add loose powder as well. I use Clinique's Blended Face Powder, which I dedicated an entire post to. So you can check it out if you're interested http://parizbeauty.blogspot.co.uk/2015/07/review-cliniques-blended-face-powder.html

So that's the complete look. I hope you enjoyed this makeup tutorial.
Make sure you follow me on Instagram and Twitter for updates.
See you next time x

Review: Clinique's Blended Face Powder & Brush

Hello and welcome to my Realm of Beauty. 
For today's post I'm going to review Clinique's Blended Face Powder. Before I start the review, I should start by mentioning that I have a very oily skin. I use all the right products and still come home everyday with an oily skin. At least that used to be the case before I met this wonderful product.

So what is the Blended Face Powder and where does it fit into your makeup routine?
Powders come in 2 different forms: loose and compact. Compact powders are more modern whereas loose powders have more of a vintage feel to them. If you're after a product that can potentially replace your foundation, or be used in your handbag for touchups, then compact powders are the way to go. However, if you just want something that sets your foundation in place, absorbs the oil on your skin throughout the day and gives the face a matt finish, then loose powders should be an essential in your makeup bag.
As you can probably guess from the picture, 'The Blended Powder' fits into the second category. To review it I'm going to consider some important characteristics that I think a loose power should have.

Texture: this product is wonderfully light weight. It does not create another layer on top of your foundation, nor does it add any colour. The reason for why I purchased it was because I was struggling to keep my skin free of shine throughout the day. I wanted a product that could absorb the oil and keep my skin flawless and I would say I hit the jackpot. It keeps your foundation in place, especially on warm days, and it reduces the appearance of your pores and gives a photo-ready feel to your skin.

Application: the powder is very simple to use. You just tip it over a little bit so that enough product is dispensed through the holes. It needs to be applied after you've done the rest of your makeup, i.e. on top of your foundation/BBcream. For brush you should use the largest brush in your collection. And this is one of the things I love about applying it. It just gives it a vintage feel (and I'm all for anything vintage), sort of like a flash back to old hollywood glamour.

I use the largest brush in the Estée Lauder collection that I've had for almost 10 years! It was the first thing related to makeup that my mom gave me. I don't know if they've been discontinued or still sold, but if you can get your hands on them I'd recommend you do so.

Colour: now I don't know much about the different colours that are offered with this product. There are 5 shades, starting from Invisible Blend, Transparency 2, Transparency Neutral, Transparency 3 and 4. From what I understand, there should not be a massive difference between these shades. However, if you have a fair skin it is best to go with the Invisible Blend or Transparency 2 if you have pink undertones to your skin. If you're unsure, I'd recommend going for Transparency Neutral. I personally use number 3, but that's because I wanted it to match my slightly tanned foundation over the summer. You can always go to a Clinique counter and ask them to match you with one if you want to be more safe.

Price: this is a bit of a tricky one. The product costs £23.50, which can be considered a bit expensive. But I'd argue that it's worth it because it's gonna last you a very long time. From the pictures you can see that the container is quite big, and I'm not lying when I say it's full to its limit. So you definitely do get your money's worth. Plus, you get a cute little retractable brush with it that you can fit in your handbag and use for all sorts of different purposes.

In the end, It comes down to your preference. If you think your foundation is doing its job perfectly, then there's probably no need to invest in a loose powder. But for those who struggle with oily skin such as myself, it is a wonderful addition to your makeup routine.

I hope you enjoy this post. I'm planning on dedicating a post to routines and products for oily skin, so if your'e interested make sure you come back.
Follow me on Instagram and Twitter for updates.
See you soon x