Restocking Makeup Essentials – Mac and Smashbox

Let’s all just ignore the fact that not one baby purchase was made yet, instead loads of frivolous makeup buying and dinky useless bag purchases. Mother of the year award goes too…

It just happened that some of my daily essentials got all used up so i needed new replacements – like a new concealer, brightener and powder. The brushes on the hand were a temporary loss of judgement.

Instead of my usual Mineralize Skinfinish Powder (post here), i went for the Blot Powder in Medium Deep to try and keep my skin shine free as long as possible. This was a recommendation from my friend, who just swears by it and i can see why. Super fine, it doesn’t deposit color on the skin despite the medium tone and keeps my t-zone shine free for hours on end. I might just be converted.

Ah the brushes: Mac 168 Large Angled Contour Brush is ideal for sweeping on blush, highlighter or bronzer whilst the Mac 109 Small Contour Brush is achieving me killer cheekbones with minimum effort. I wanted something small and dense, that would pack on pigment and blend at the same time. My face is quite small so i needed a brush that would get into my contours. If you are on a budget, i have used a fan brush from Smashbox for years with great results (see here).

The concealer and brightener should be classified under ‘basic human right’. My dark circles actually improved since the pregnancy (maybe the 12h sleep marathons helped somehow) but i still need loads of help to look human.

I had the Smashbox Photo OP Brightener before and really liked it, apparently is one of their best seller products and Makeup Artist favorite too. Has a pearly finish, very flattering that gently highlights and of course, brightens.

The Mac Pro Longwear concealer in NW20 is a first time choice – read loads of positive reviews (Dee from VivaAdonis in particular got me all hyped on it) so i said no better time to give it a try. Surprisingly i went for a pink tone instead of my usual yellow base. Apparently even if you are golden skin tone, a concealer should be slightly on the pink side to help neutralize and conceal the darkness. If you would apply yellow on yellow, the result would be dull and the dark circles would still shine trough. Every day its a school day!