Weekly Make Up Bag #11

There's a lot of new buys in this week's make up bag!

Shopping in Seville wasn't as exciting as I hoped with me walking away from Sephora having bought nothing! I was disappointed to see that the European Sephora offerings were actually very limited, with nothing that you couldn't buy here in the UK (or online easily) and all of them at higher prices than the UK!

There were none of the U.S brands that I was hoping to see (like Milk Makeup or Bite Beauty) and they didn't stock any of those tempting Sephora sets that you see on the U.S website.

 

However, I did manage to bag some goodies.

Seville is absolutely teeming with Farmacias, including a couple of Superdrug-style discount shops. I was happy to find some U.S budget beauty brands like Milani, Physicians Formula and Wet n Wild - although choices were limited.

I also shopped in the Nyx store and Kiko Milano and my favourite shop was a Korean Beauty store called 'Planet Skin' where I stocked up on some sheet masks (at great sale prices).

 

So, here's what I've chosen this week:

 

 

* Primer - NEW - Emma Hardie Amazing Face Protect & Prime with added SPF - I received a deluxe sample of this in a Emma Hardie trial kit I bought. I really wanted this to be fantastic - it has the added bonus of added SPF and has that gorgeous Emma Hardie scent. However, I'm not entirely sure that this is making my skin a lot oilier through the day. I've been wearing it under the Nars foundation and after a couple of hours, the foundation is sliding around a bit and I'm feeling quite greasy. So it's either he primer or the foundation which is causing this as all my other skincare and make up has stayed the same.

 

* Nars - Natural Radiant Longwear Foundation in Shade 'L2 - Mont Blanc' - I recently tested a sample of this foundation in my search for the perfect higher end foundation and I actually discounted it from my short list! So why did I end up buying a full size?!

Whilst in Seville, I was browsing the Nars counter at El Corte Ingles and the salesman asked if I wanted to try. I thought he meant a sample, so I said yes, but then he proceeded to invite me for a full make-up look!

Considering my broken Spanish and his broken English, I just knew as soon as I sat down that I wasn't going to be able to extricate myself from this sales pitch very easily! And through embarrassment, I ended up buying the foundation! Worse still, it was about £10 more expensive than it would be in the UK!!

The make up guy showed me that the best application was to rub three drops into the palms of your hands and then pat over your face like a toner. I had to admit, after using a full face of Nars products, I really liked the end result. It was a little thick for my liking - but it always is when someone else puts your foundation on.

Back home in England, I did try applying the foundation i this way, but I found that it stuck to any dry patches and sunk into my pores, making them more obvious. I reverted back to using my trusty Iconic London brush - but nothing has really changed since my first impression of this foundation. It's just not the best for me sadly! It's been a long time since I've been this oily throughout the day and felt the need for blotting or powder touch-ups.

 

* Colour Corrector - Nip + Fab - I've been keeping this in my weekly make up bag but actually haven't felt the need to use it this week.

 

* Under Eye Concealer - Inglot - Again, I've had this as a choice in my weekly make-up bag for several weeks now but this week, the Nars foundation has sufficed as an under eye concealer too - and I don't want to risk any more make up build up!

 

* Setting Powder - Nyx Finishing Powder in Mint Green - Another item I bought in Seville. The Nars guy used a translucent setting powder, which I liked, but rather than spending another great lump of my holiday money on Nars, I bought this powder, with it's green hue, for more redness-combatting. It certainly makes me paler, but I don't see much improvement in concealing any redness.

 

* Contour - Makeup Revolution Contour palette - I use this most weeks and have finally hit pan on my favourite shade.

 

 

* Bronzer - Physician's Formula PH Matchmaker Light Bronzer - I found a great discount pharmacy in Seville which stocked a lot of budget American brands like Milani, Wet n Wild etc. They had a few bits of Physicians Formula on a sale shelf. I was really, really hoping that they might have the Butter Bronzer (they didn't) but couldn't resist picking up a couple more bits. One of them was this bronzer, which has a really nice and natural tone.

* Highlighter - Wet n Wild Megaglo Highlighting Bar - I think this was about 5 Euros. I wasn't initially sure about the colour, but I couldn't resist the mermaid tail stamped design. It's a golden highlighter with a light blue flip. You don't need much of this at all and I prefer to use a tiny bit for a subtle glow as it would be all too easy to go overboard on this!

 

* Mascara - Ciate London - Wonderwand Mascara - I really, really liked this mascara when I first used it but this week it feels like it's a bit flaky and smudgy.

 

 

* Lipsticks - Nyx

The Nyx shop in Seville had the pushiest shop assistant I have ever encountered! She just would not let me browse in peace and wanted to suggest alternatives and extras as soon as I looked at anything. I went back in the next day and she wasn't around luckily and I managed to browse in peace and pick up a couple of new lipsticks.

They're both pretty similar (I seem to go through phases of buying very similar lip colours!). I bought the Nyx Liquid Suede Metallic Matte in 'Modern Maven' and a matte lipstick in 'Crazed' plus a lip liner in 'Alabama'.