Favourite combo for a nude lip - affordable products too!

So I've never been a massive fan of the nude lip on myself. Especially not the 'concealed' lip look. It looks amazing on some people but me?! Nah! I just look ill!

When I've tried to find one that suits me I always end up going for a more of a light pinky shade than a nude. Well I decided a while back now, to try one from Gosh which was a brand exclusive to Superdrug I think. It has a wide range of make up and brushes too. I picked up the shade "darling" (currently on the Superdrug website at £6.49) and yet again found it to be too pale for me (although it has more of pinky peachy tone as opposed to a skin colour or concealer tone that a lot of pale nudes tend to have) I was trying out a few different lip products that I already owned to see if I could get anything to work with the Gosh lipstick. I eventually stumbled across my Revlon colour stay lip gloss in the shade "forever fig" I would probably describe it as a neutral brown shade with an almost purple undertone. It works perfectly on me with the Gosh darling! As it's a mild neutral brownish shade it just gives my lips that touch of shade I need to not look like someone from the 6th sense but the "nude lip" can still be achieved. Pictures of both products and swatches below.

I recently rediscovered my love for this combo as I decided to do a 1960s inspired make up look for new years eve (pic below!) and nude lips were popular in the 60's.

As this is only what I personally do I can't say it would work with every skin tone, however the moral of the blog post is persevere with your shades! Try and pair them with something else in your collection and you might end up loving it more than you think!

Hope this has been useful for someone out there and please let me know what you think! Everything stated is my own personal opinion and experience and I haven't been paid or asked by anyone to do this post 😊

Thanks for reading 😘

Em xxx

My skin problems and simple skin care routine!

After wondering for a while what the heck I should do as my first post I decided to make it about something a lot of people can relate to and something that I always have to contend with before I touch my make up drawers... My skin!

I think it's pretty safe to say that most people have at some point had some sort of issues with the skin on their face, whether it's too dry or too oily or problematic. My skin is very oily therefore I get quite a lot of break outs and sometimes these can be over a large surface area of my face and even on my back. I am also prone to eczema and have had it on my cheeks, forehead and eye lids. At the moment my breakouts seem to be under control so I have only a few blemishes on my face and I haven't had any eczema on my face for a while but I do have topical treatments from the doctor for both issues as and when I need them.

Ironically I don't have a very detailed skin care routine, despite my problems! It's basic but effective (for me) After a lot of trial and error and process of elimination I have figured that my problems are down to hormones (acne) and stress (eczema) so it's not really something skin care could take care of fully, however as I don't want to aggravate either of my problems I do make sure my skin care is appropriate for my skin type.

At the moment I use the Clarins Gentle Foaming Cleanser with Cottonseed for normal to combination skin in the morning and after taking my make up off at night. It is very mildly scented and you only need to use half a pea sized amount to get it to foam up loads. I just use my fingers to rub it in and rinse. I love it because... well my skin doesn't hate it I guess! It doesn't dry my skin out but after washing it off it honestly does feel like the excess oil my skin has accumulated over the day (and night!) has been completely stripped leaving a squeaky clean face! To remove my make up I use the Garnier Micellar cleansing water which is for sensitive skin. This honestly has no scent what so ever and feels just like using normal old H20 to remove your make up. It doesn't leave any residue just a very refreshed face. I have just recently converted to using the Micellar water from Simple make up wipes which worked okay too but I just thought the Micellar water would last me longer and in turn save me some pennies!

And that is pretty much it! I don't moisturise before I go to bed as my face gets so oily in the night anyway but I do moisturise before I put my make up on using (at the moment) Simple's Kind To Skin Hydrating light moisturiser. The good thing about this is you can whack loads on and it soaks in immediately and doesn't leave your face feeling like it's caked in moisture/grease (which for someone with oily skin is a good thing) I also use the Clinique Repair Laser Focus eye cream. I did use the Clinique moisture surge moisturiser but at the moment I can't afford to invest after returning from travelling in Australia! However it is an amazing moisturiser also. I like it because I feel like I'm adding the necessary moisture to my face but as it's more of a gel than a cream I don't feel like it's greasing my skin up. It's also very cooling.

Everything mentioned has been bought with my own money and is my honest opinion :) please let me know if you have any questions or comments! I'd love to hear from you!

Love Em xx