How I Store My Makeup

Hello lovelies! Today's post is gonna be a long one so I'll try and not ramble on too much in this intro but if you haven't already guessed by the title this is a post on how I store my makeup! I thought this would be a great post to do because when I first started getting into makeup and I had too much makeup for one makeup bag, I had no idea how I would store it! It was only through watching videos on other peoples storage and seeing photos on Instagram that made me get a clue about what to do! So anyway grab yourself some food and a brew and I'll start rambling on! 

I keep all my makeup and brushes on and in the Ikea Malm Dressing Table. This is probably no surprise because this desk is so popular in the beauty world. But it's convenient! And that's the T! The draw is shallow so it's perfect for storing makeup. I also have the Ikea Malm Chest of Two Drawers underneath my desk on the right hand side to store all my skincare and lashes. 

On the right side of desk I keep my large palettes in a stack. My smaller palettes slot down the left side of the drawer whereas these are too big so they live here. 

I also keep all my perfumes on my desk too next to some artificial roses from my boyfriend back on Valentine's Day. I love having artificial flowers because they never die because I am terrible at looking after plants and flowers I don't need that responsibility. 

Next I keep a rack of all my MAC lipsticks, I keep them in this acrylic organiser from Amazon. 

I then have a No7 illuminating mirror (this is the super old one!) in the centre of my desk. I only really use this when I'm plucking my brows, when I do my makeup I face the window and hold a mirror in my face I find that it's much better to do makeup in natural lighting. 

I then have both my brush pots with all my dirty (sorry) brushes in them. These are just plain acrylic 10cmx10cm pots from amazon. I like them because you can fit a lot of brushes in them!

I then keep another one of the lipstick racks from amazon on top of a mirrored drawer containing all my NYX lip products, liquid lipsticks, glosses etc. In the mirrored drawer (I'm sorry I don't know where this is from I've had it years but I'm sure there will be similar ones!) I keep things like eyelash curlers, tweezers and lash trimming scissors.

So in my Malm Desk drawer is where I keep all my makeup products. And to store them I keep them in these acrylic organisers from a brand called Interdesign on Amazon. These are amazing quality and they fit perfectly in the drawer. I have three types of these trays. 

The first is shown above, which can be found here. This one had three compartments, a large square, a long compartment and a smaller compartment. I have three of these types of containers. The square compartment is great for bulky products such as foundations, primers and powders.

I then have three of these smaller organisers which can be found here. I keep my bronzers, concealers and pigments in these. 

Last but not least I have just one of these organisers which can be found here. These are long containers so theyre perfect for long products such as mascaras and eyeliners. 

Let me know how you store your makeup products! And leave me a link to your posts below! I love to see how other people store their makeup! If you read all of this post I take my hat off to you as it's a long one, so thank you! See you soon!

Rebecca x

Lancôme Haul + Free Gift!

Before recently I had never tried any Lancôme makeup other than a lipstick. But when I heard about their amazing gift with purchase at work I knew this was the right time to pick up some products. 

When you buy two products you get a free gift containing a full sized cleanser, full sized makeup remover, mini moisturiser and mini Hypnôse mascara. And when you buy three products you got all the above and a full sized primer too! 

I purchased a Hypnôse mascara, the new Grandiôse eyeliner and the Lancôme   blending brush. And I got five things free including three full sized products - if you ask me that's pretty amazing! 

Obviously I was dead excited to try out all my new goodies and I've made my opinions on them for sure! So here's what I think!

Lancôme Hypnôse Mascara - £23.50

I've heard good things about this mascara and it is definitely one of Lancôme's most popular products which is why it was one of my three choices. I was blown away by this mascara when I used it the day after I purchased it, you can layer this so much and it doesn't clump! I love it on my lower lashes it makes them look super long and makes my eyes look more awake!

Lancôme Grandiôse Eyeliner - £23.00

This is a new product from Lancôme which I absolutely love! The handle bends so that you can really get into the nooks and crannies of your eyes without any smudging! It dried matte and I think it's super easy to use! It's not quite beat my Maybelline Gel Liner and MAC 210 brush combination but I love this product nonetheless. 

Lancôme 17 Blending Shadow Brush - £22.00

We all love a blending brush! Blending brushes are the backbone of good eyeshadow looks - fact. I really wanted to try this as I love new brushes and this one reminded me of my MAC 224 but I think it's slightly smaller. I love using this brush, it is super soft and I like using it just after my MAC 224 to add more dimension and depth to any eyeshadow look!

Lancôme Bi-Facil Non Oily Instant Cleanser Sensitive Eyes - £21.50

This is one of the full sized products I received free with my purchase and I'm so glad I did. I've been using this to remove my eye makeup in the evening and it is truly amazing! I pop a small amount on a cotton pad, hold it on my eye for about 15 seconds and then gently sweep away the makeup and this product makes this process effortless. Because my makeup has a lot of staying power I was surprised how quickly this removed it! I will definitely be repurchasing this when I run out. 

Lancôme Gel Éclat Clarifying Cleanser Pearly Foam - £23.00

This was another one of the full sized free gifts but sadly I don't like it. My only reason is that I personally don't like those cleansers which make your skin feel squeeky after washing. It gives my skin a sort of rubbery feel? And I personally don't like that. This is the only thing I don't like about the product!

Lancôme Énergie De Vie Smoothing & Glow Boosting Liquid Care 30ml - £28.00 50ml - £42.00

This was a free minature which came in the gift and HELLO?! Smoothing? Glow boosting?! Give it to me! I love products that make my skin look plump and radiant and this just does it for me! It's a liquid not a cream so it's not heavy on the skin but I've used this minature 3 nights in a row now (using my La Roche-Posay moisturiser in the morning, see my skincare post for details!) and I wake up and my skin is glowing I absolutely love this product this is another which I will be purchasing in the near future!

I also received a Hypnôse minature so you can see above for my thoughts on that!

Has anyone else took advantage of the Lancôme gift at Boots? What are your favourite Lancôme products? Let me know in the comments below! See you soon!

Rebecca x

Let's Talk Brushes

When it comes to good makeup, good brushes are just as imporant as the products you use. I've used many different brushes over the years and whilst I've discovered new brushes, I've got a few which are my favourites.

My top four face brushes are (from left to right) the MAC 129, MAC 168, MAC 188 and the Real Techniques Setting Brush.

MAC 129 is the brush I use to set my foundation with powder after I've used my loose powder to set my concealer (for more details here's my How To: Flawless Base post). I love this brush because it's the perfect size and it's pinched at the base so it's not perfectly round. The only problem I have is that sometimes the bristles on the brush shed, but this doesn't happen too often but it can be quite annoying trying to remove a bristle stuck to your foundation it's enough to drive a gal crazy on a Monday morning. Whenever I wash this brush I find that if I don't apply conditioner to it and let it soak it in for a while before rinsing, the bristles can be quite harsh. 

MAC 168 is the brush that I use to apply my contour, bronzer and blusher. The bristles are natural hairs which means that my powder products blend out seemlessly. I love that this brush is angled as it allows me to easily sculpt underneath my cheekbone. The angled brush also makes it easier to sweep blusher across the apples of my cheeks.

MAC 188 is a new recent favourite of mine. I have two of these brushes and I use one for foundation and one for highlight (this is a very versatile brush). Because this brush is a duofibre brush it blends out my foundation flawlessly and it's also great for applying highlight to the tops of the cheekbones too (not after it's had foundation on obviously). 

Real Techniques Setting Brush is a brush I've had for a very long time, just over two years I think and it's still going strong. I used this for a long time as a highlighter brush but when "baking" became more popular I now use it to apply loose powder underneath my eyes to set my concealer as it's small so it's the perfect shape to fit underneath my eyes.

I have 6 eye brushes which are my absolute favourites (from left to right) MAC 224, MAC 217, Real Techniques domed shadow brush, Morphe E17, Anastasia Beverly Hills 12 brow brush, MAC 210. 

MAC 224 is my little baby, I would be seriously lost without this brush. Because this brush has natural bristles it's perfect for blending eyeshadow. I use it to blend my transition colours and I also use it for nose contouring as well. The bristles on this brush are the same as the MAC 129 so again when I've washed the brush I condition it, this also makes the bristles softer on the skin around my eyes when I'm blending as this is thinest skin on the body. 

MAC 217 is the blending brush I use after blending my transition colour into my crease using the 224, the 217 is smaller so it really helps to sculpt out the crease and create the illusion of a really deep socket.

Real Techniques Domed Shadow Brush is the brush I use to apply and blend my eyeshadow primer, the brush has synthetic bristles so it's great for blending out cream products like eyeshadow primers. This brush is similar to the Real Techniques crease brush but this one is pinched at the bottom which makes it easier to pack on the primer. 

Morphe E17 is a brush which I use to apply eyeshadow to my lower lashline. Before this brush I used a pencil brush but it didn't blend the eyeshadow low enough underneath my eye and didnt blend seemlessly enough. Because this brush is fluffier it makes it so much easier to blend eyeshadow underneath my eyes.

Anastasia Beverly Hills 12 Brow Brush I don't know what on earth I was doing before this brow brush. I purchased it when I ordered my first Dipbrow and I've never looked back. The brow brush is so thin and stiff that it makes defined brows easy to do and because it's so thin it makes it super easy to make the brow have a thin taper at the end. 

MAC 210 is my favourite eyeliner brush because it's so thin. This brush makes eyeliner so easy because you don't have to worry about making the line too thick straight away. This brush also makes it very easy to do winged eyeliner because the brush is so fine. 

Those are my favourite all time brushes! Let me know what your favourite brushes are and why you love them in the comments! See you soon!

Rebecca x