YVES SAINT LAURENT LE TEINT TOUCHE ECLAT FOUNDATION

Anticipation is not the word for the way I felt towards waiting for the launch of this foundation! Needless to say the launch of YSL’s Touche Èclat Foundation was diarised, iCalendarised and sticky-noted until its arrival at Selfridges on June 28^th, on which date I promptly purchased my bottle of gold.

Like Chanel’s Perfection Lumière Foundation, this is YSL’s widest foundation shade range of 22 colours, across 3 colour groupings. Beige (B) shades, which are neutral, Beige Dore (BD), golden shades and Beige Rose (BR), pinky shades- which is always fabulous news for those longing to use the brand, but not able to find a shade.

I was matched with shade B60. I decided to actually use this foundation for a decent amount of time before reaching a verdict…

I was expecting this foundation to be a lot more transparent and oily, but was pleasantly surprised to find that it has almost a medium coverage without being heavy at all. I did however still need to conceal dark circles, though the foundation did brighten the eye area.

Another surprise- It is also quite long lasting, despite the finish; I was able to go 10 hours without retouching- which I think is quite amazing seeing that I chose not to powder set this foundation to preserve the ‘dewyness’.

I experimented applying the foundation with a beauty blender, stippling brush and flat foundation brush. Because the foundation is fairly liquid in consistency, I felt the beauty blender absorbed the foundation too much and deposited a bit much on my skin. For the same reason, using a flat foundation brush resulted in a streaky finish, but this can be blended out with a sponge. The stippling brush gave me the best finish. (I also used M.A.C. Prep + Prime SPF 50 and L’Orèal Anti-Shine Mattifying Primer).

 I did feel B60 was a little too light for me, so I mixed in a little BD60, which looked perfect. This foundation is very blendable (the blended in swatches above the thickly applied swatches; can barely be seen), and I could have easily used B60, BR60 or BD60 and gotten away with it, it just depends on the tone in your skin that you want to accentuate. It also photographs true to colour, despite the SPF19.

This is a great foundation if you’re after a softly glowing effect, that looks like your skin but better- definitely my Summer foundation of choice!

CHANEL PERFECTION LUMIÈRE FOUNDATION

I adore Chanel, to me it stands for everything that is eternally chic. However the only piece of this chic-ness I am able to get my mitts on; is in the form of their makeup. Though I am a fan of their makeup, I have not been able to use Chanel Foundation due to the limited shade range- until Perfection Lumière, which is available in 20 shades. (Although there are 20 shades, most UK stockists seem to have 16 shades, including BEIGE 050, which doesn’t appear on US websites, and happens to be the shade for me!)

I loved this foundation from the first use. It has an incredible texture, it’s not too liquid, neither is it too thick and so silky and lightweight on the skin. The coverage is medium, but you will get different results depending on the tool you use to apply it. Using primer, SPF or moisturizer can also alter the appearance of your foundation. I used Smashbox Photo Finish Foundation Primer to really smooth out my skin.

 It’s quite sheer when applied with your fingertips and gives more coverage with a stippling brush, but I think I get the best results using a combination of my fingers and a Beauty Blender; it really brings out the best in the foundation.

The finished look is matte, as it is a liquid to powder finish, but not in the way matte foundations have traditionally looked. Perfection Lumière really does create “Multi-faceted” radiance”, as described on the Chanel website. My skin has never looked so, for lack of a better word, radiant! I did need to still use concealer around my eyes for dark circles, but I think most of you will be able to forego this step because Perfection Lumière offers enough coverage.

Because of the liquid to powder finish, you don’t need to set this foundation with powder. I have been using it in fairly warm weather (which has now come to an end L) and have not needed to touch up with powder after 6 hours of wear. However, when I did try to blot with powder, it did make the foundation cake, so instead I blot with paper or a tissue.

I’ve heard quite a few people commenting on the scent, but there are far worse over-scented foundations- namely Lancôme’s Teint Idole Ultra 24H.

This is a great foundation to try if you’ve always wanted to try out Chanel makeup; I’m certainly enjoying my little piece of chic J

THE BIG TEASE | Umberto Giannini Glam Hair- Backcomb in a Bottle

Being a fan of all things with which I am not naturally blessed- I am a lover of big hair... so I was more than ecstatic at the concept of "Umberto Giannini Glam Hair- Backcomb In A Bottle" (launched 2010).

U M B E R T O   G I A N N I N I   G L A M   H A I R  |  B A C K C O M B   I N  A  B O T T L E

I purchased this product hoping to rescue my hair from the daily (yes daily!) torturous routine of teasing and backcombing my limp mop into some semblance of a full head of hair.

The bottle promises "The instant texture and volume of backcombed hair... unbelievable!".

As you could already tell from my tone, it did not deliver (for me, I know a lot of people really like this product and have achieved desirable looks with it).

I sprayed the product 6 inches from my roots, as directed, but ended up with a soggy, stringy mess on top of my head, leaving my hair looking horrifyingly sparse!

On the up side, I have found that it works well when sprayed sparingly through the lengths of my hair, especially when I've created waves, to achieve a tousled beachy look. It also does have a really nice scent.

I’ve decided to stick to my Spornette Little Wonder Teasing Brush. I know teasing has a bad wrap for causing major damage, but when done correctly it’s not that bad.

S P O R N E T T E  |  L I T T L E   W O N D E R   T E A S I N G   B R U S H 

I came across this brush when I was in my teasing-infancy, still using a fine-toothed comb and it has revolutionized my hairstyling possibilities…

To use-

1 | Separate a thin, but wide section of hair, about 10cm across the scalp and brush it straight up whilst holding it in one hand.

2 | With the teasing brush, starting about 4-5cm from the scalp, brush the hairs down with a firm motion, packing the hair down onto the scalp.

3 | Repeat this 2-3 times, until you can feel that it has created a firm base.

4 | Let go of the section of hair, letting it fall forward out of the way of your next section.

5 | If you need a fuller look, continue the above steps, moving backwards from the forehead.

6 | Once you have finished teasing, flip all of the sections back.

7 | Lightly brush over the top; to smooth out any frizzy hairs and hide signs teasing!

8 | Finish with your favourite hairspray to preserve all your hard work J

I BROW DOWN TO

Filling in your brows is the best way to achieve a truly finished look, it's also the one thing you can do to get an instantly polished and defined face and it will hide a little neglect or overzealousness in the plucking department!

These are 3 of my favourite products:

B E N E F I T   B R O W  Z I N G S | B R O W  S H A P I N G  K I T

I love Benefit's Brow-Zing (I use the dark brown colourway), its the first brow product I ever used.  It's great for creating the illusion of thicker brows or for creating brows where there are none- both without looking harshly artificial.

This product consists of a wax colour and powder colour, as well as miniature angled and straight brushes (and adorable mini tweezers).

I like to comb my brows first (you can use a clean mascara wand for more precision) , then apply the wax with the angled brush. This helps to fix the hairs in the direction you have combed them. I then apply the powder (sparingly) to the sparser areas and lightly to the fuller areas to create a unified colour.

Lastly, one more brush through with the clean mascara wand to get rid of excess product and even out any colour blotches.

This is a pricey product, but it did last me over a year; using it every day. 

There aren't many things I don't like about this product, but one downside for me was that I did end up using up the wax section a lot faster than I did the powder section. Using the powder alone doesn't really deliver the same result, as the wax really does add definition and staying power.

It's also a little time consuming, considering there are 2 products to apply, however it is worth the extra effort, as I used this on my wedding day and it looked great in the photos!

R I M M E L  |  P R O F E S S I O N A L   E Y E   B R O W  P E N C I L 

I was actually introduced to this pencil by my mum when I ran out of my regular brow filler. 

Firstly, I have to say that this is a real steal at £2.99, plus the added convenience of it being stocked in supermarkets.

To use this pencil, I usually brush my brows with a clean mascara brush, but this pencil comes with a nifty little brush attached to the lid (which I'll go into a bit more in a sec.) so one less tool for me to carry.

You have to be fairly light handed when applying, as the pencil is a bit soft and quite pigmented. I like to make tiny strokes to imitate hairs. When I'm done filling in, I use the brush attached to the lid to brush out excess and even out the colour. What's quite nice about this brush is that the bristles are arranged in "spaced bunches", resulting in a more natural looking slight colour variation when you brush over the pencil.

The downsides to this product; for me; is that over the course of the day the colour does tend to come off quite easily if you should accidentally brush against it- which I have done on occasion, only to find myself missing half an eyebrow when I caught a glimpse of myself in a mirror!

 It also seems to take on a "crayon" like look after 5-6 hours of wear, but this can be remedied by brushing through it and reapplying where needed.

M . A . C. | E Y E   B R O W S  P E N C I L

I only started using this pencil recently, but I read such rave reviews about it that I had the try it out.

And I think it does live up to its reputation.

I go about applying it as I would any other pencil, but this pencil really does allow you to draw in tiny hair strokes because of its "self-propelling" and "self-sharpening" mechanisms.

I also find this is be the best colour for me (I have it in Spiked), it is lighter than my natural brows, but the contrast delivers a very natural result, as opposed to the overly dark I usually end up with.

This pencil also has amazing staying power, I have gone to bed with this (a cardinal sin, I know!) on and woken up with it looking as if I had just applied it.

While this is not the most expensive of pencils, it's not the cheapest and it does seems to get used up quite quickly, needing to be twisted up 2-3 times per use, which I feel is a lot considering I'm only filling in, not creating a brow shape. But I'm definitely going to purchase this product again.

FROM ME TO YOU ...

I've long admired the musings, advice and stylings of blogs, I've envied the confidence and courage of bloggers when they shared their secrets and makeup-free faces with the world… I’m also embarrassed to admit that I did in fact have a blog, which I deleted after the first post because I was convinced it was the most awful thing I have ever produced… but if you can be brave so can I…

Makeup is practically my first love, I would rather have my makeup bag than a man- hence the blog title “Must Love MakeUp”.

If I were to place a classifieds ad for a man, he would have to love all my makeup and me, I have dumped a guy that didn’t comply in the past (luckily my husband is very sweet and encouraging)!

I hope you will enjoy my makeup tips, hairstyles and product reviews, as much as I love creating them…

Oh and another thing… I just can’t help myself when it comes to cheesy puns or double entendres, so please excuse me it’s these little things that bring joy to my life.