Tag: brows

What’s in my handbag : the makeup edition

I don’t walk around with a ton of makeup in my bag, but I do have a few items that I’m always glad to find when I’m out and about ! My take on this is : I only need products that would help me touch up, that’s it. Therefore, being “radiant skin” obsessed, here’s what I carry around with me.

First of, I have to tell you… I don’t have a red lipstick, because I’m not one of those people who say they always need a red in their handbag because they just slap it on if they have to go out for a dinner or something that was not planned. What I do is blusher. Correction : what I need is blusher.

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BLUSH My blusher of choice is Chanel Joues Contrastes in the color 72, Rose Initial. The powder is baked and the color itself is simply the perfect rose shade. It’s not crazy pigmented, it simply has the right amount so it works well to touch up, and stays on really well. The brush in the blush case is actually good which does not happen often enough to be honest. It diffuses the product nicely thanks to its natural bristles, which makes it extremely easy to use.

CONCEALER Rimmel Wake me Up in the shade Ivory is simply my best friend in a on-the-go situation. Cheap, not drying, good coverage, good for dark circles and spots, which is just exactly what you need in your handbag, isn’t it ?

LIP STUFF I only ever wear nude lipsticks, so I carry around my favorite lipgloss by Clarins in the shade 07 because it hydrates the lips and almost, temporarily may I add, erases fine lines and simply makes them look juicy. I also have the amazing – and as you can see in the pictures almost finished – Chanel Rouge Coco Shine in the shade Boy. It’s a sheer nude shade with tiny shimmers which make the lips look fuller, plumped : the perfect color for me. Though it’s a lipstick, because of how sheer and smooth it is, it’s super easy to apply and wears off beautifully which, to me, is one of the most important thing in a lipstick. That way, you don’t have to bother. Just apply it straight from the bullet and you’re done !

BROWS I take this item in my bag because I believe it has the best spoolie I’ve ever tried. It is the Catrice Slim‘Matic Ultra Precise Brow Pencil Waterproof in the shade dark. Now, I never use it at home – I should really  – because the packaging is really handy for a handbag item and the spoolie is the best to brush the brows, either if you’ve applied too much product in the morning and need to rectify that, or if you simply want to brush the hair up to put them back in place ! The color’s good, I’ve seen better, but the tip is extremely precise and the consistency is lovely. Also, did I mention it costs around 3 euros ? Now, we need more shades of this !

There you have it ! Do you carry makeup around with you ?

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Brows 101

Brows. Where to start. Too much plucking, drawing them in a weird shape, using a brow product that actually looks red because the shade is not right at all… I’ve done it all ! Yesterday my mum told me, in her own words, how she really did not like the square brows thing you can see everywhere. Oh and she’s not on Instagram, bless her. So I thought, I agree, but I do know what it’s like to not know what to do with your brows.

I remember very distinctly going to Sephora one day and asking a saleswoman if she knew of any pencil that would be the right shade for me because I knew it was not looking great. First of all, she had an idea but they did not have the pencil in stock, but then, she said, “the shade you’re wearing is just so wrong, this brown pencil looks red, I can see it in your brows it does not look good“. So, thanks ! To be honest, I was a bit offended, but not too much because I F*****g knew it already. Ha. That’s why I love the beauty blogging industry, because it helped me to understand what suits me without feeling judged.

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This is my good brow by the way. And me collecting coffee mugs all over the place.

ANYWAYS. Here are my three hero brow products, hope it can save you some time !

  1. Glossier Boy Brow. I know, everyone loves it, but for a good reason, it’s simply extraordinary. The texture is like nothing else I’d tried before. It’s waxy but not slippy, the colors are great and it is the only brow gel that actually keeps my unruly brow hairs in place all day. I brush my brows with a clean spoolie brush, then apply bow brow from the end of the brow to the front, basically brush them the wrong way to build the texture and redefine the arch. Then I brush them down the right way, and let it set. A few minutes later, usually after finishing my makeup, I come back with the spoolie brush and brush upwards to diffuse the product in the brows. Why you may ask ? Just because there’s sometimes too much product on the Glossier brush, especially because mine is brand new, so using the clean spoolie allows me to diffuse the product thanks to its amazing flexible texture, and just set my brows exactly in the shape I like. I have the shade brown.
  2. Fleur de Force Eyelure brow define. When I do feel like I need some definition, and brows that are stronger, I find that this double ended brow pencil is perfect. The shade range is great, I personally use the medium one which has a lighter color perfect for the front of the brows or if you want a more natural result, and a darker shade if you really want to go for it. I sometimes use this and Boy Brow, or this alone, or Boy Brow alone, depending on my mood ! It’s quite remarquable.
  3. Tweezerman tweezzers. When the lovely Anna from The Anne Edit mentioned them, the tweezers I had were doing fine so I did not think much about it. And then I lost them. And freaked out like anyone would. Got a Sephora one in a panic, was not super happy with it, but could not justify the price of getting the tweezerman. But a few months later, wandering on the Feelunique website, with a 25% off code, I thought ok, let’s do this and give it a try. I love them. I guess I’d say you have to get use to it, they’re so precise and sharp that at first I just did not know how to make them work. Maybe because I’ve always had bad tweezers ? I’d rather not think about it… Also, once on a trip to London, realized I’d forgotten them, got the travel size ones : as good and cheaper, so consider it !
  4. Let them be. Nowadays, I tend to leave them alone a bit more. I do use my tweezers, but not too often, and I find that by doing this, it allows them to grow much more than when I was plucking or even checking and slightly plucking, almost every day. So for example, I often don’t touch them for a month, and see what’s been growing, and then decide if a few should stay because they add to the shape, or not. I did got them threaded at Blink Brow Bar in Liberty, but because I don’t live in London though I go there all the time, I’d say I go to Blink maybe twice a year. My skin reacts quite badly to threading, and the skin above my eyebrows ends up covered in red marks, and sometimes tiny little spots, so I’m not so keen anymore. And now I know the shape I want really well, thanks to the lovely ladies at Blink, therefore I don’t think I’ll need it !