My Makeup Favourites for a Classic Chic Look ♥

Hello everyone !

Today, I'm showing you my favourite products to use when I want to create a classic but chic look, for example for birthdays or nights out. On these occasions I tend to go with a simple look, and put my efforts in my outfit intead ! 

So here are some of the products I usually use :

When you want to go for a chic look, you have to pay attention to skin and make it look flawless. The best thing for that is to wear a good foundation. Mine is the Mat Velvet + by Makeup Forever, which I reviewed here. It's quite thick and has a good coverage, so maybe some people wouldn't like to use it on a daily basis because of this coverage. But for a special occasion, it's perfect to make your skin look perfect and matte for a long time !

My eye makeup for this type of look is winged eyeliner and long lashes. There is nothing as lovely and easy as that ! Well, it can be difficult sometimes to match both eyes for the eyeliner but the more you practice, the better you get at it ! My eyeliner is the Super Liner by L'Oréal. The brush is not the thinnest you could find, but I don't really like thin eyeliner, so I don't mind. It's still quite precise and handy ! My mascara at the moment is the Millions de Cils So Couture by Maybelline. It is great ! It makes the lashes look longer and it gives it a nice curl. For a night look you could add fake lashes of course, to make the eye makeup look more dramatic.

To go with eyeliner, red lips are the way to go ! There are so many red lipsticks and mine is a Kiko. It's a simple satin red lipstick, with orange undertones. 

Finally, to give more definition to the face, you could use a bronzer (but I don't haha) and add a bit of red on the cheeks. The Benetint by Benefit is great for that, because I feel like when you have red lips, you want to have something more subtle on the cheeks to make your complexion look more natural. The Benetint gives you a slight red shade on the apples of the cheeks, and as it's a liquid formula it stays on the skin for a long time, no need for touch-ups ! (except for the lips of course ;) )

That's it for my classic chic look ! This combo works fine on everybody I think, and it's timeless :)

Julia xx

Review : Full Cover concealer, by Make Up For Ever

I've had the Full Cover concealer by Make Up For Ever for a while now, and it's about time I speak about it on here because it is definitely worth a try !

The product looks like this :

Mine is in the shade 8. It is a bit too dark for me unfortunately - I hate the lights in these beauty shops, they always make the colour of the products appear different than what they actually are in daylight. But luckily for me you can't really tell the difference once it's applied on my skin, so that's okay.

The texture is quite thick (well same as any other concealer I guess). The lady in the store told me it could cover scars and tatoos, so I thought it was really good and it would be enough to cover my blemishes ! To give you an idea of the coverage, here is a sort of swatch on my hand :

The coverage is actually very good. You can cover the little scars you have once your blemishes and spots are gone (y'all know these little scars which seem to never disappear ? argh !), your rednesses, your dark circles even (I use the Full Cover as a concealer too), and in the end your face looks really good already !

In my daily routine I don't even put liquid foundation on anymore, I just put the Full Cover, then a bit of mineral powder, then transluscent power to set everything on, and that's enough ! If your skin isn't too damaged or if you don't have severe acne, you could definitely just put this concealer to hide what's to be hidden, instead of going for full foundation every day.

For the lasting effects, I haven't been disappointed either : it stays on all day long, but of course you have to use a long lasting foundation/powder on top, otherwise it'll probably mess everything up.

The only negative aspect of the Full Cover is its price - 26,50€ is a lot, but all Make Up Forever products are more on the expensive side... I guess if you want the best quality you have to pay more (or get it for birthdays or Christmases, hehe !).

If you can afford it and are in need of a good concealer then you should spend your pennies on the Full Cover, that's the only advice I can give you ! ;)

Julia xx

My Sales Haul | Winter 2014

Hi everyone !

First of all, my apologies for the lack of posts these days (or rather these weeks, huh). I've been so busy with university and work that I couldn't find the time to sit down and write a proper thing. But I'm back today with a haul !

I know it's a bit late but I've decided to do a sales haul. I don't post hauls every time I go shopping, but I'm so happy with what I got this year (in terms of clothing) that I cannot keep that to myself !

I've picked up a few nice pieces for very good prices, which always makes you happy, right ? I'll start with the clothes because that's the main thing I bought, then I'll show you the two tiny makeup items I bought also.

First from New Look, I got two cute dresses, which look like this :

As you can see, it is a black dress with pink and purple flowers all over. Isn't it cute ? I've taken a better picture for you to see the print :

 

The shape is also very flattering, and this is the main reason why I finally bought the dress. It really fits me and makes a pretty silhouette :)

It was 12.00€ reduced from 29.99€, so quite a bargain !

The second dress from New Look is this one :

And the detailing on the top part looks like this :

It is a simple black dress, with a floaty skirt (I love it !), and the only touch of colour is the detailing on the top, embroidered with light pink flowers (you can't really see the colours on the pics though). I thought it was very feminine, and it looks waaay prettier in real life ! I know it's going to become one of my favourite dresses.

Again, it was 12.00€ reduced from 29.99€ !

I bought another dress, from Pull and Bear this time. It is a light beige dress with lace on the sides and on the top part. It will be perfect for spring and summer !

 

I looove the detailing around the edges at the top, it is so pretty and makes it looks more "finished" and delicate. It was 25.99€ reduced from 39.99€, which is a good price compared to what I would have paid for it if I had bought it a few weeks earlier !

Next I went to H&M, where I bought two amazing shirts/blouses.

The first one is this beige blousy top with lace at the front :

 

It is very sheer so you have to wear something underneath it. The sleeves are in a different material than the rest, very flowy and nice. You can't really see it but the collar goes up on the neck, which gives the blouse a very vintage style. I looove it ! It was 15.00€ instead of 29.95€.

The second one is a pale pink shirt :

The colour doesn't really show in the pictureS but it is pink. The thing that got me to buy it was the collar, I think it is the cutest thing ever. It is a very simple shirt, but then it can be worn with anything so it's a staple to have in your wardrobe. This one was also 15.00€, instead of 24.95€.

I'm done with the clothes ! Here are the few beauty things that I got :

 I got two lip products from Sephora :

 - An ultra vinyl lip pencil, in this pretty pink shade, perfect for spring. The pencil reminds me of the Chubby sticks, although the quality is not as good obviously.

 - A long-lasting vinyl lip lacquer. I bought it because of the colour, which is dark, almost burgundy, but with fushia pink sparkles on it. When you put it on the lips, it is darker than what it is in the packaging. The texture is very sticky, which bugs me a little. It is quite difficult to apply also, you struggle to have an even colour everywhere on your lips and you have to take your time to apply it properly. I'm very disappointed in it, if I knew that I wouldn't have bought it even if it was really cheap !

They were both 2.00€, so I got them for 4.00€ instead of 16.80€.

Lastly, I went to a Make Up Forever shop, because I heard they were making sales on a selection of products (unfortunately it wasn't in the whole shop) and some were very interesting. And indeed, you have some little palettes which were reduced by 70%. Amazing ! There were also liners, and the other things I don't remember.

The only thing I bought was this small-sized HD Powder, which was also with 70% off. It contains 5g of powder, so I think it will last for a while ! And for 4.26€, it was totally worth it !

***

So that's it for my sales haul ! I thought I would get more beauty products than clothes, but I'm actually happy that I came across such bargains to add to my wardrobe !

Julia xx

Review : Mat Velvet + foundation, by Make Up Forever

Hi !

After a month of using it, I'm finally making a review of my new foundation ! It's the well-known Mat Velvet + foundation, by Make Up Forever.

I have a combination to oily skin, and finding a good foundation is a real struggle for me. My last one was a Maybelline, for no particular skin type. It did a good job, but even with some powder on top my skin always became shiny in the afternoon. It annoyed me a lot.

So when I almost ran out of my foundation I started looking around on the Internet to find a new more more suitable to my skin... And I quickly found out about the Mat Velvet + one.

After watching and reading some very good reviews, I decided to get it, to give it a try.

The foundation looks like this :

I was so surprised when I bought it, the bottle is tiny. You have 30ml of foundation.

You take the amount of foundation you need with this tip :

You have to take care because before using the product you need to shake it, but when you do so the foundation goes out even if you don't press the bottle : you may end with too much product on your hand. But I guess this happens only in the beginning when the bottle is still full.

I read that the texture was very thick, but I think it's not, it's not difficult to apply on your skin or anything.

Here is a swatch on my hand :

 

So now, let's go for the face review !

As I said, it's quite easy to apply, I didn't struggle to put the foundation on as some people did according to some reviews I saw/read. I apply my foundation with my fingers and it blended really well.

The effect is indeed mat, your skin goes instantly mat and unified when you wear the foundation. I was very happy of the result, except for the coverage maybe ; it's not as high as I thought it would be. Everybody said that the coverage was amazing (and even a little bit too much maybe), but that's not what I feel when I wear it... so I would say it has a medium to high coverage instead.

Time for pictures, so here is one picture of (one side of) my face without foundation, and another picture when I have the Mat Velvet + (and no concealer or anything) :

No foundation obviously, yerk !

Foundation on !

Sorry for the lighting on the second picture, it turned out quite orange but that's not what it looks like in real life, I promise !

You can definitely tell the difference between my skin with the foundation and without it. It covers my scars (well I don't know if they are scars actually, but I mean the reddish parts on my cheeks) quite well, my blemishes, etc. But if sometimes you have spots, the foundation will not be enough and you'll have to wear concealer for a perfect result. Anyway, when I apply the foundation in the morning, I'm very happy and I love it and all that jazz...

Then we come to the not-so-good part of the review... the matifying effect !

As I said when you apply the foundation your skin looks amazing, mat, perfect... but unfortunately, it doesn't last so long (well it didn't for me, maybe other people are luckier) !

When I come home, maybe 8 hours after I've done my makeup, my skin isn't matified anymore... you can tell it's oily and not pretty at all. Maybe if you add a little powder during the day you can make the effect last a little more, but the foundation was supposed to do the job alone and I'm afraid it doesn't... I was quite disappointed of that. I read a few times that you didn't even need powder on top of the foundation, because it lasted so well... 

Maybe my skin's just weird, but the result wasn't what I expected. 

***

To sum up, here are my thoughts about the Mat Velvet + :

 + it's easy to apply on your skin

 + the shape of the bottle, the tip of it

 + the coverage (even though it's not as high as I thought it would be)

 + the effect right after you've applied it

 - the price (I know it's Make Up Forever, but still)

 - the quite short-lasting matifying effect

I think that's all for this foundation !

This is a looong post I know, but at least I'm sure I said everything I needed to say about the product.

I hope this post will somehow be helpful, if you're interested in buying the foundation !

Julia xx