What Made The Shortlist (AKA another travel beauty bag)

This week (since Monday) I've been in Shropshire visiting one of my best friends. Usually when I visit him we tend to do a lot of outdoorsy stuff so I'm don't spend a lot of time worrying about what I look like or what make-up I'm wearing. That being said, we did also make plans to visit some of the local towns on more gentile excursions so at least some make-up was going to be needed and today I'm going to share with you what I decided to take with me. In case you're interested in trying any of these products for yourself, and want to know more about them, I've included links to any reviews I've done on the products I'm mentioning.

I always seem to have a mini Benefit the PoreFessional Primer in my collection and it is my travel primer of choice. Nowadays, when I'm not travelling I very rarely use it - I much prefer mixing The Body Shop's Instablur All in One Primer with Revlon's PhotoReady Skin Illuminator in in Bare Light. I find that it's a more affordable option that not only adds radiance to my skin but really helps with the longevity of my make-up. However, when it comes to travelling I do prefer the dinky Benefit primer because it takes up so little space.

For my base I've generally been mixing my foundations because I am in between shades. When I was in Amsterdam I got a bit of a tan and now all of my foundations are too light for me, including Rimmel Wake Me Up in Ivory but being the darkest foundation I own it is the best of the bunch. For concealing, I've been reaching for Lavera's Natural Concealer in Ivory which offers very light coverage but is dreamily blendable. It doesn't cover as much as I'd like but it is very good for everyday wear and I'm going to be doing a full blog post on it in the near future.

For my cheeks I thought I'd take my Stila Convertible Colour Trio in Cool which gives me three shades to play with and I absolutely love these blushes. They last incredibly well on my skin and the colours are really flattering, I'd highly recommend them! For highlighting my cheekbones I'm taking my Catrice Made to Stay Highlighting Pen because I'm sort of between highlighters at the moment. Although I don't mind this highlighter from Catrice I am looking for something new, preferably a natural and cruelty free product, that I could swap into my routine. If you know of something I could try recommendations would be welcomed!

I've only planned on taking one lipstick (which is very unlike me) because I don't think I'll want to wear anything else. I've really been loving Living Nature's Lipstick in Summer Rain* and if you want to see what it looks like you can see me wearing it in yesterday's post. It's the most easy to wear raspberry shade and the formula is really moisturising. It's all I've worn on my lips this week, which is quite something because I love trying out new lipsticks. For eye makeup, I've opted for a couple of my old favourites. For mascara, I chose to take MaxFactor's Masterpiece Mascara in Black/Brown, I like this because it adds loads of length, doesn't flake or smudge but is still easy enough to remove (which is good because I'm not taking my full skincare routine away with me). I also decided to take Essence's Stays No Matter What Waterproof Eyeliner because it has become a bit of a daily staple. I find it lasts very well for such an incredibly affordable product and I primarily use it on my upper lash line to enhance the look of my eyelashes. 

Lastly, for my eyebrows I've been opting for a heavier brow look using Cosmetics A La Carte's Brow Ink in Taupe and Catrice's Eyebrow Filler. I use the brow ink to fill in my brows and then go over them with the tinted eyebrow gel (if you want to know what this looks like I was using this combo in the FOTD in yesterday's lipstick post). I really like using these two products together and I think the brow ink is particularly good, it lasts incredibly well and is very easy to build up the exact look that you want.

That's all I'm taking with me, apart from a couple of Real Techniques' brushes - the Buffing Brush, Stipling Brush and Expert Face Brush. I hope that you've enjoyed having a peep into this week's make-up bag - if you like this sort of make-up overview post (I don't know if it is interesting or a bit too rambly) I could write them more often as regular weekly beauty feature. 

What make-up have you been wearing a lot this week? Would you recommend any of it?

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