My highlighter collection!

If you know me or follow my Instagram you will know i'm a glow addict! I love highlighters I have so many. So I thought I'd do a post on them. Highlighters are probably my favourite makeup product!
Some of these highlighters will be limited edition (sorry). I will put in little brackets LE or P for limited edition or permanent.

I have highlighters from MAC, Chanel, Dior, Becca, Bobbi Brown, Charlotte Tilbury, Laura Mercier, The Balm and i'm constantly on the hunt for more! 
So let's get into it! Let's start with MAC!

On the top row I have the Mineralize Skinfinishes in Soft & Gentle(P), Perfect Topping(LE) and Global Glow(P). The next Row I have my Extra Dimension Skinfinish, these are all Limited. First is Definitely Defined, Fairly Precious and Superb. Then lastly I have my Cream Colour Bases these are all permanent. First is Hush, Shell and then Pearl. Soft & Gentle is a classic mac product! It's really beautiful. Fairly Precious & Superb I use as a blush topper, they give the blush a little extra and give you a glow from within look. Pearl is probably my favourite cream highlighter ever. It's beautiful. If your in the market for one from mac I'd go for Pearl!

Next up are my Laura Mercier Highlighters and Bobbi Brown highlighters! I have the Laura Mercier Shimmer Bloc in Peach Mosaic and the Sheer Creme Colour in Golden Pink. I use Peach Mosaic every day! I love this product, it is permanent so we can all have it! I don't really use the sheer Creme colour much, it is really pretty though, I think it's limited but I think they bring it out every year! Then I have my Bobbi Brown Shimmer Bricks in Beige (P) and Sandstone (LE). I think these are so pretty, I can't use Sandstone as a cheekbone highlight because I find it to gold so it's nice brushed on the cheeks. You could use the top shade as a highlight though! 

Then I have my high end highlighters. The first is by Chanel, it's really old, I just can't chuck it away! It was my first high end product and I love it! Then I have my Dior Skin Nude Tan Transat Edition, this was limited I think some places still have it if I can find it I will put a link down below at the end of the post, I really love this highlighter it's my go to highlighter right now, it is quite gold though but it's beautiful! Then I have my Charlotte Tilbury Film Star Bronze and Glow, this is permanent, it gives you a beautiful candlelit glow! Very beautiful. The Dior highlighter is probably my favourite highlighter out of all the ones I have!

Lastly are my Becca Shimmering Skin Perfectors in Moonstone & RoseGold. I had Opal but it was faulty so if got an exchange for moonstone because Opal was out of stock, I will re purchase it when it becomes back in stock because it is beautiful. Moonstone isn't as creamy or as shimmery as Opal but it's a pretty glow/sheen. Rose Gold is so beautiful, it's super creamy and gives a beautiful glow. I use this as a blush topper, as it is a pinky colour, it would look to pink on me. But it looks amazing over any blush, I always get compliments when I wear this! I buy my Becca products from Space NK , it's the only place that stocks it in the UK. Becca highlighters are seriously amazing you don't need much, they are so pigmented! 
I also have the Mary-Loumanizer by the Balm which is another amazing highlighter, it's quite similar to Moonstone by Becca!

So that's all my highlighters! Im always on the look out for different highlighters so if you have any that you love let me know! 


Dior highlighter - http://www.feelunique.com/p/Diorskin-Nude-Tan-Natte-Transat-Edition-Summer-Look


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MAC Christmas Collection- My Picks

This years Christmas collection by mac is probably the nicest we've had for awhile. This is my second Christmas working for mac but before I worked for them I was literally in the shop everyday. This year it's called the Heirloom Collection. Everything is packaged so beautifully! All the packaging for the main collection and all the gift sets is all covered in glitter! 

Objects of affection/pink + rose pigments + glitter set

Objects of affection/bronze pigments + glitter set

This year I picked up 3 of the gift sets. I got 2 of the pigment sets, although i could of bought them all because they are so beautiful. I also go the Nude Lip Bag. The pigment sets are called 'Objects of Affection'. I got the Pink/Rose pigments & Glitter and the Bronze pigments & glitter sets. They come in a beautiful glittery black box (in the picture) with a cameo medallion. The pigments/glitter in the Pink/Rose set includes (L-R) Whisper Pink, a soft beigy pink with pearlized pigments. Tan, muted pinky brown bronze. Rose, Rose with copper sparkle. Reigning Riches, soft copper. Heritage Rouge, dirty brown plum. (I got the descriptions of the colours off the mac cosmetics website). All of these pigments are beautiful. There are only two limited shades in this set, which are Whisper Pink and Reigning Riches (glitter). All the colours in this set work beautifully together. I personally prefer the pigments/glitters in the smaller pots.
The other pigment set I got was the
Bronze pigments & glitter. Again it came packaged in the same beautiful box. This set was an online exclusive. I am so happy I found this set. The pigments/glitter in this set include (L-R) Melon, soft bright golden peach. Naked Deep Dark, darkened brown (I think this is a soft brown shade it's not dark). Copper, smooth high-shine copper. 3D Copper, high glitter copper. Chocolate Brown, chocolate copper/bronze. Again there are only two limited shades in this set, 3D copper (glitter) and Chocolate Brown. I love all the shades in both these sets and i'm so happy I have them! 

Swatches of both sets. Left Pink/rose set. Right Bronze set. 

The last thing I bought was the Keepsake Nude Lip Bag. I had convinced myself before it came out that I did not need this lip bag. Then I tried it on.. I loved it. So obviously being me I bought it. I really do love it.

Keepsakes Nude lip bag

This set include the lipstick in Kiss The King, this is has a Luster finish and is described as peachy coral. It also includes the lipglass in Chic Supremacy, a soft creamy yellow nude. Lastly it comes with the lipliner in Boldly Bare, dirty red brown (I think it has a hint of pink). It also comes with this pretty white glittery makeup bag with a 'Pearl' trim. When the lipstick and the lipglass are layered on top of one another it mixes the colours together. I can't really explain it. But if your like me and love your lipstick go into the store and try these on, it really is beautiful. I think I liked it because i'm used to wearing pale nudes like Myth and this is more of a pinky nude.

Overall i'm very happy with everything I have bought from this collection! I can't wait to wear some of the colours and play with the glitters!
Don't forget to follow my Instagram for daily posts! @ellietaylorrxx 
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My Must Have Makeup Brushes- Face

In my last post I wrote about eye brushes this post is about face brushes/tools. Again most of these brushes are mac, but i am mentioning them because thse are my favourite brushes. At the bottom of the page will be a list of the brush fibres. Let's get to it!

First is the MAC 127 Split Fibre Face Brush. Mine has a blue handle because this brush first came out with the Alluring Aquatic collection. This is my favourite bronzer brush, more so to apply the bronzer to my cheeks/cheekbones because it's quite a flat brush so it keeps the bronzer where I want it to be. This brush is now permanent with the classic mac handle colour.

Next up is the MAC 129 Powder/Blush Brush. Again this is another one of my favourite brushes for bronzer more for my forehead though. I really love this brush. I also have the short handles version (129SH) and that is my favourite blusher brush. Something about the short handle makes it better for blusher! 

This next brush is the MAC 132 Duo Fibre Foundation Brush. First, I don't use this for foundation. It's quite a small dense brush, I find that it is perfect for cream highlighters! I use mine with my mac Creme colour Base in Pearl. It just blends it's perfectly doesn't leave it looking stripy, it's just a really nice brush for cream products. Of course you could use it for foundation and it gives a nice finish to th foundation but I personally love it and use it for the cream highlighters.

A similar looking brush is the MAC 159 Duo Fibre Brush. This is a great brush for foundation! It works beautifully with the Studio Fix Fluid foundation. But since I changed my foundations I find that with the runnier liquids that this brush doesn't blend it in enough for me. I am on the look out for a really good buffer foundation brush, so if you have any ideas of brushes comment down below!

Next is another popular MAC brush, it's the 168 Large Angled Contour Brush. I have 3 of these! I don't know why I have that many but I love this brush. It's good for blusher, contouring, highlighter and it's amazing for foundation. It's so soft and fluffy! It's a deffo must have.

The MAC 190 Foundation Brush is what a classic foundation brush looks like. I don't use this for foundation or anything creamy at all! I use this brush with my Anastasia Banana powder and mac emphasise shaping powder to highlight and set under my eyes! This was just a random pick up with these products and now I love it! 

This last brush is a Zoeva 105 Luxe Highlight Brush. I use this for my highlighter, clues in the name! I didn't have a specific brush for my highlighters and highlighting is my favourite thing! I love to make my skin glow! So I welcomed this into my collection and I use it everyday to apply my highlighters to the tops of my cheekbones! 

I can't do a post about my must have face tools without mentioning the amazing Beauty Blenders! I have the Original (pink) and the Pro (black). This is my favourite way to blend out my undereye concealer/highlight! Such an amazing way to apply cream products! It's also a really nice way to apply foundation! If you read my blog you know how much of a big fan I am of the Beauty Blenders!

I clean all my brushes with the MAC Brush Cleanser, I have always used this even before I worked for mac. It cleans your brushes and you don't have to leave them drying for days. It's a quick and effective way to clean your brushes! I find that the best way to clean my Beauty Blenders is with the Beauty Blender Cleasner Solid! Again very quick and it works! 

Mac brush fibres

127- natural & synthetic

129- goat hair

132- natural & synthetic 

159- natural & synthetic 

168- goat hair

190- synthetic 

Zoeva 105- natural & synthetic

www.maccosmetics.co.uk

www.zoeva-shop.de

www.beautybay.co.uk

Don't forget to follow me on Instagram for daily posts! @ellietaylorrxx

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My Must Have Makeup Brushes- Eyes

This post is all about eye brushes! The brushes i'm going to talk about are my must have brushes! At the bottom of the post I will put a list of the brushes and what fibres they are made from. Most of these brushes will be from mac as I work for them but these are brushes I use every single day on myself and clients so I know they work. All the brushes mentioned are my favourites, I do have some from other brands but I find these work the best. So let's get into it! 

First is probably the most famous MAC brush of all time, the 217 Blending Brush. I have 3 of these! This is a must have for every makeup artist/lover. It's so soft and fluffy! I like to use the one for deepening up the colour in my crease, I even sometimes use this brush to directly apply the colour to the 'outer V' of my eye. I use a different brush for the main 'transition' colour in my crease! There are lots of other companies that sell brushes that look exactly the same as this like Sigma and Zoeva, I personally haven't used them so I cannot compare them to one another. 
Another brush I love is the MAC 219 Pencil Brush. Like the 217 there are again lots of brush companies that sell brushes like these but I have not tried them. I really like this brush. I use this to deepen up the 'outer V'. It's a very precise application, this puts the colour exactly where I want it to be. This tends to be the last step I do on the eyes before I move on to the rest of my face. 
The 224 Tapered Blending Brush is a must have! I have 2 of these brushes! This is the brush I use in my crease. It's big and fluffy and it blends the product beautifully. I use this for my transition colour. I really really love this brush.
This next brush is my favourite brush out of all of these brushes. It seems like a really basic brush but I love it. It's the MAC 239 Eye Shader Brush. This brush is so dense you could have two colours of each side of the brush and they would not mix together. I have tried the Zoeva 234 Luxe Smokey Shader Brush and it's a good brush but it's not as dense as the mac one, but if you are building up your brush kit for the price this one is great, but I do think the mac 239 would be an investment.
Next is the MAC 242 Shader Brush. I have 2 of these brushes but I use them for completely different things. One I use with concealer for carving out my brow after I've filled in my eyebrows to sharpen and tidy the brow up. Then the other one I use for loose pigments and pressed pigments. It's great dry or wet. I like to spray this brush with some Fix + and use it with the 'pop' shade in the Charlotte Tilbury eyeshadow palettes. 
This next brush looks very similar to the 242. It's the MAC 252 Large Shader brush. I use this brush for buffing out my eyeshadow under my lower lash line! It's my favourite brush to do this with! I learnt this tip from a friend from work and since she showed my it's the only brush I've used! deffinate must have!
That's it for mac brushes. Next is the brush I use to fill in my eyebrows, so obviously it is a brush from the brow genius Anastasia Beverly Hills. It's #12 the Large Synthetic Duo Brow Brush. One end is an angled brush and the other end is a spooley (like a mascara wand). I really love this brush, it works perfectly with the DipBrow.
Lastly is the Zoeva 221 Luxe Soft Crease Brush. This is really similar to the mac 224 brush, except this one is a little shorter and more dense, but it's so soft and fluffy it does a quite similar job to the mac one but I just love them both!

That's it for all of my favourite eye brushes, I will be doing my favourite face brushes/tools soon. I will leave links down below where you can purchase or look at the brushes mentioned.

mac brush fibers
217- goat hair
219- goat hair
224- goat hair
239- goat hair
242- pony hair & synthetic mix
252- goat hair
Anastasia brush #12- synthetic
Zoeva 221- natural & synthetic mix

www.maccosmetics.co.uk
www.cultbeauty.co.uk/Anastasia-Beverly-hills
www.zoeva-shop.de
www.love-makeup.co.uk (sells sigma and zoeva brushes)

Don't forget to follow me on Instagram @ellietaylorrxx
Comment down below if you have any questions!
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October Favourites

This month I don't have many new favourites. I've just been using the same things and I've not really got any new makeup to play with and test.


First is something I cannot do my makeup without. It's nothing special but I love it and it's MACs Fix +. I spray my face with it when I've finished all my makeup. I spray it on my Beauty Blenders and my brushes it's a must have. Sticking to face poducts, next is one of my newest products. I bought this in London, this has been on my wish list for quite some time, it's the Charlotte Tilbury Film Star Bronze & Glow. I've been using this since I've got it. I originally bought it for the highlighter, I thought the bronzer side would be to light for me but I love it! There both really nice! And the packaging is sooo beautiful it's rose gold and vintage like. It's a really nice product and I think I would repurchase it when it ran out! Next is the Laura Mercier Shimmer Bloc in Peach Mosaic. I LOVE this. I dust it over the top of my blusher and it gives an amazing glow! I mix all the shades together, it's really beautiful! This next one I don't know why I didn't put in my September Favourites as I use this every single day. It's a Texture Eyeshadow by MAC. If you don't have this you need to own it, it's amazing in the crease or all over the lid it's a warm orangey brown shadow it was one of my first ever eyeshadows I bought at mac, it's so pigmented. I've had this one for a few months now and it still looks new! Lastly is two lipsticks by MAC, they've been in my makeup bag all month! Pander Me is a new limited shade, it's like Mocha, also from mac, but this on is a matte lipstick. I love it! Amazing for Fall! Lastly is VIVA GLAM III. It's my favourite dark lip for fall/winter! Viva glam lipsticks are very special as every penny from the sale of one of these lipsticks go to the MAC Aids Fund! So when you buy one of the viva glam lipsticks all the money is going to a good cause! Another viva glam which is my beautiful is viva glam II, when your next go to mac go and look at the viva glam lipsticks! 

Follow me on Instagram for daily uploads @ellietaylorrxx
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Makeup routine- Skin

I get a lot of questions asked about what I use on my skin, I have very oily skin but I don't like to look completely matte. I do my makeup in a strange way, my foundation then concealer, then my eyebrows, eyes and back to the rest of my skin! (The order of the products is not nessiserelly the order I use them in).

My everyday products

First I prime my skin, I must wear a primer! I cannot do my makeup without priming. I use Mac Natural Radience, I really love this one, it's not heavy or greasy it just sinks into my skin. The foundation I use is, Mac Studio Fix Fluid mixed with Gorgio Armarni Luminous Silk. I do this because Luminous Silk isn't enough coverage for my skin and it's not particularly made for oily to very oily skin, so I mix it with Studio Fix because it's a full coverage long wearing foundation. I've tried lots of foundations and Studio Fix has the best for staying power. Where I work is extremely hot and the more people that come the hotter it gets so I need good staying power! For my undereye concealer I use Mac Pro Longwear Concealer, full coverage and it's creaseless. I've not found a better concealer yet. I don't use a powder all over my face to set it (I probably should). I don't know why I don't. If I do, I use something lightweight I like the Mac Studio Sculpt Defining Powder. At some point most of my face will be covered with some sort of powder, like bronzer. I keep changing my bronzers but my favourite is Mac Sharon Osbourne Mineralize Skinfinish in Refresh. I love how warm it is, it can pull a little orange but I like it, but with it becoming winter I don't want to look too orange so i'm playing with some others. I do really like the Charlotte Tilbury Filmstar Bronze and Glow, it's nice for contouring aswell! For contouring/highlighting my favourite product is Mac Prep + Prime Highligher Pen in Light Boost. This is a must have for me! I have to have this when i'm highlighting and contouring (I spoke about this pen in my September Favourites Post). I love it! To set my under eye highlight I like to use Banana from the Anastasia Beverly Hills Contour Kit mixed with Emphasize Shaping Powder by Mac. Again this just brightens the under eye. To contour I use a mix of the shades from the Anastasia Beverly Hills Contour Kit. Blusher is again something that's always changing but I will name some of my favourites, Becca Mineral Blush in Sweetpea, Mac Margin, Nars Madly. (I am on the hunt for a good blusher if you have any ideas comment below). Then sometimes I like to add a highlight over the blush, not just any highlight, a coloured one. My favourites are Laura Mercier Shimmer Bloc in Peach Mosaic & Becca Shimmering Skin Perfecter Pressed in Rose Gold. They give an amazing glow to the checks! Lastly is highlighter. I love highlighter! I use so many different ones I could probably do a whole blog post on how many I have! What i'm using now is the highlight side in the Charlotte Tilbury Filmstar Bronze and Glow, it gives you a very candlelit glow, it's so beautiful. The balm Mary-Lou Manizer, very shimmery, Dior Skin Transat Edition (this was limited). There's so many I have I could just go on and on so that's just to name a few! If you know any amazing highlighters let me know about them! To finish everything off I spray my face with Fix + by Mac. It makes the makeup more like skin, it takes the powdery look away and gives your skin a lift. I spray my face with it throughout the day also to refresh my makeup.
Don't forget to follow my Instagram for daily uploads @ellietaylorrxx
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Mini Haul

Beauty blender Dry & Wet

On Sunday I received an email from BeautyBay.com saying it was the last day of there 'beauty sale'. 10% off when you spend £20 etc, so I knew I had to do some shopping! The first thing I knew I had to get was another Beauty Blender! I ended up buying the Beauty Blender Pro Sponge Duo! I LOVE beauty blenders. I sound like a broken record going on about how much I love them. I already have the original beauty blender (the pink one) I use it everyday so I decided to get more and the duo pack is better value for money!
As you can see in the picture the beauty blender on the left is smaller and the one on the right is bigger, because when you wet a beauty blender they get bigger and softer. I use mine to blend out my under eye concealer/highlight. I use mac prep + prime highlighter pen in Light Boost, I think that the two of these is a match made in heaven! I could ramble on all day about how good these are! If your not sure, I would go and buy one and see for yourself how amazing these are! They are amazing for foundation aswel!

    

Zoeva lipstick & brushes

After I placed my order I saw that BeautyBay sold Zoeva Brushes, I'd been wanting to buy some so I thought I may aswell get them with the discount off. I got the 105 Luxe Highlight brush, the 234 Luxe Smokey Shader brush (one of my favourite brushes is mac 239 and this looks similar so hopefully it will be as good). I also got the Luxe Cream Lipstick in Faith & Love. I'm quite surprised with the pigmentation of these lipsticks. They are SO pigmented! You only need one swipe to get the true colour! Very impressed. I already know Zoeva brushes are amazing I've already used them, they are so soft and they look expensive. They are comparable to mac brushes. The Luxe Highlight brush (£11.50) is like no brush I own, and i'm a huge highlighter fan, I love to glow, so this brush will be getting used lots. The Luxe Smokey Shader brush (£6.95) looks similar to one of my favourite mac brushes, i'm hoping it will do the exact same job as I can never have enough flat shader brushes to pack colour onto the lid. The Luxe Cream Lipstick was £7.50 and as I said before they are really pigmented. 
I'm excited to put these to use. To see any extra pictures follow me on Instagram @ellietaylorrxx
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