♥ Spring Makeup Essentials

Now that it's spring, I'm trying to wear less and less makeup. I don't like putting dark colours on my eyes because the sun starts to come out and I want to look bright, glory and radiant. I try to avoid dark colours in my crease and instead define my eyes with a simple wash of colour and wear loads of highlighting products. Spring and Summer, to me, are all about glowing bronzed skin.




To create a nice dewy base I've been using the Maybelline Dream Flawless Nude Foundation. I absolutely love how light this foundation is and it's not a thick, matte formula at all. This foundation covers all redness but still lets your natural skin show through so the finish is nice and natural even though it makes my skin look much more flawless than it would without make up. To add a bit more brightness under my eyes and on my nose, I've been picking up the Rimmel Match Perfection 2-in-1 Concealer and Highlighter. I hated this the first time I purchased it, but now I'm obsessed with it! It covers just enough, and makes the under eyes look super bright and hydrated. It's incredible and doesn't crease at all because it's a really thin, silky consistency. In the spring and summer, I tend not to set my base in place, as most powders I own are to mattify, and I don't want to look matte at all - these two products are nice dewy looking and glowy so I don't use any powder. Or course, I'm still using other powder products like blush and highlight, though. To keep my face looking as luminous as possible I use the Max Factor Creme Puff Blush in the shade Lavish Mauve. These are supposed to be dupes of the Hourglass Ambient Lighting blushes and the baked, marbled powder has a slight sheen and shimmer to it so it doesn't look like a flat, matte wash of colour when its on the cheeks. This shade pulls quite a metallic purple colour when built up and I love it. On top of that, I use my theBalm Mary Lou Manizer highlight along the top of my cheekbones, up to my brow bone and on the tip of my nose and a touch down the centre of my forehead. I don't think I've ever been so in love with a product. The highlight is so so striking and I recommend it to everyone. I use this multiple times a day and it still looks pretty much new. It's a total must for dewy, spring skin. On my eyes, I tend to use just eyeshadow. For a nice subtle wash of colour I'll mix the shades Skimp and Stark from the Urban Decay Naked Basics 2 palette, for something a little darker I'll warm it up with Creme Brûlée from Make Up Geek and then to look super bright and awake, I love using the Make Up Geek shadow Shimma Shimma. This is one of the best highlighting shadows I've ever used. It even beats UD's Bootycall, and that was all I used for a good year or so. I pop this right in the inner corners of my eyes, bring it along the lower lash line and place it right at the top of my brow bone and along the brows to really add a glow and shimmer to my face. It doesn't make you look glittery, which I love, it just pulls super shimmery and catches every drop of sunlight that catches it in the most beautiful way. In the spring, I always wear lashings of mascara, but I never really wear eyeliner and if  I do, it's a super thin flick on the very outer corners of my eyes. To bronze up, I'll sometimes use my trusty The Body Shop Honey Bronzer in Medium Matte on the perimeter of my face. If you're fair skinned - or just scared of bronzer, like me - I would definitely point you in the direction of this bronzer. The shades are nice and light and because they're matte and blend down nicely, they're really easy to wear.

I'm absolutely loving the sunshine now and these products help my skin look nice and glowy and fresh in the slightly warmer weather. I can't get over how much I love the Shimma Shimma eyeshadow from MUG and I can't wait to try more of their highlighting shades. Recommend me one below if you have any, and let me know of a powder I might like that isn't too matte and flat looking. Thanks for reading, girls!

Em x

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