getting ready for my dad’s cozy birthday dinner, I decided to do a look with all affordable makeup.
and I’m pretty proud of myself, if you couldn’t tell by the dumb smile on the thumbnail photo…
Primer: Nivea Man After Shave Balm for Sensitive Skins (alcohol-free). For those who are still out of the loop, there’s a primer wonder-dupe going around on YouTube, and it’s this… an aftershave balm. I first heard about it through Kathleen Lights and, of course, decided to try it out for myself. It really is a heck of a primer, in the basic sense of the word: it prolongs the wear of your makeup beautifully, without any weird blotchiness. It hasn’t broken me out, and the scent disappears after a few minutes.
If you still need to control oils, blur pores or add more moisture to your skin, you can definitely wear a dedicated primer underneath, but this thing is the unbeatable 7€ for 100ml primer that actually leaves your makeup looking sassy a heck of a long time — far longer than any of my pretty expensive primers I’ve used before.
Foundation: Bourjois Healthy Mix is one of my holy grail products and has been for a long time. It’s affordable but acts and feels like an expensive foundation. Medium coverage, satin finish. Bob’s your uncle.
A bit of blotting and powder throughout the day for those with more oily skins, and the Healthy Mix Serum Foundation for those with dryer skins.
Maybelline Fit Me foundation is pretty similar, but we can’t get testers here in Portugal.
Concealer: Lasting Perfection Concealer by Collection is amazing. One of the best — high and low end — long-lasting high-coverage concealers out there, it reminds me a lot of Estée Lauder Double Wear, but with a fraction of the price tag.
Well blended on freshly moisturised eyes — or even lightly diluted in moisturiser — it works perfectly to hide dark circles, too.
Powder: Rimmel Stay Matte is a super duper cheap and effective powder. Bourjois Healthy Balance Powder is my favourite because it’s finer, but this one, using a lighter hand, also gets the job pretty well done.
Blusher: Max Factor Cream Puff Blushes in 10 (Nude Mauve) and 30 (Gorgeous Berries) are amazing satiny finish blushers, with strong pigmentation, beautiful blend-ability, and great staying power. Gorgeous Berries is a pretty accurate dupe for Urban Decay Afterglow Blush in Rapture I showed you last week…
Highlighter: I’m a broken record and I ain’t ashamed of it. Soap&Glory Glow All Out is the thing.
Eyeshadows: Kiko Infinity Eyeshadows in 237, 200 e 216. These are unbeatable eyeshadows because of their amazing quality and unbelievable price (2,40€, really?). I’ve heard that this range is being discontinued, so grab’em while they’re still available!
Eyeliner: Fast Stroke Eyeliner from Collection was a big wah-wah for me. The rigid applicator made it very hard for me to create an even line and it grabbed on itself when layering more on top. And it faded throughout the day… Meh.
Brows: Maybelline Brow Drama Sculpting Brow Mascara is my go-to quick punch of neatness for brows when I’m not using Benefit Gimme Brow.
Lashes: a couple of coats of False Lash Wings Intenza by L’Oréal.
Lips: I’ve been on the hunt for Rimmel Exaggerate Lip Liner em 063 (Eastend Snob) for ages, and I finally got my hands on one. And, boy, was I happy! It’s definitely worth the hype. It is a nude-y pink, not too Barbie, not too brown, not too dead. On the spot.
I must confess I bought Beautifying Lip Smoother by Catrice because the packaging was Clarins Instant Light Natural Lip Perfector all over. And dang — it is pretty similar, both in colour and in finish. It just has a slightly thinner texture. There’s a dupe for ya!
the freevolous 