Beauty must-haves

[summersonitsway]

So thanks to the wisdom of Mumsnetters I am now wearing Bourjois Healthy Mix foundation (love it) & Max factor masterpiece mascara(love it more) - both for under a tenner! Any more beauty must-haves that won't break my very limited budget?

Sleek rose gold blusher. Fab.

Lanacane anti chafing cream as primer. Works brilliantly & is apparently exactly the same as Smashbox primer.

I got this w7 corrective concealer in yellow for dark circles under my eyes. Used it this morning and really does the business. The green is apparently great as well for red spots but my skin's been fairly decent of late (probably jinxing self here), so plumped for the yellow when I saw them in a random shop.

The Makeup Revolution eye shadow palettes get rave reviews on pretty much every beauty blog I read which is too many. For a little bit of budget luxury I'd get a Nuxe Reve de Miel lip balm. It's great, leaves lips in great condition for matte lipsticks etc. Escentual have 25% off French pharmacy brands in March so you can pick it up for £6-odd. Also, Zoeva brushes. As good as MAC at a quarter of the price.

Natural collection clear mascara used as brow gel

Maybellines new dream nude foundation

Does Lanacane not have a strong smell? Thanks for these suggestions - away to do a bit of online shopping.......

I would be wary of trying the lanacane unless you have very dry skin. It's like having a slick of grease over your face from which any foundation just slides straight off. That was my experience anyway.

Sleek blushers and eye shadows. They are generally very pigmented, so be careful when applying, but they are very nice quality and very affordable.

Essence is a great brand - they are sold at Wilko (online and in-store) and have a shop in Westfield (just outside Timberland). I absolutely love their nail polishes, the nail polish remover, tweezers, nail things like dotting tools, stamping kits and some of their brushes. Their powder products aren't bad either. I've not really used their lip products and I've not been massively happy with their mascaras, but I've only tried one or two.
They are very affordable. I used to buy them when living in Europe and they really are very very good - the nail polishes compare well with high end products and they do have good dupes for high end polishes too.

Shameless place mark!

Great thread idea!

W7 chunky cheeks blusher stick. Really good and cheap!

The single eye shadows from Kiko which can be decanted into their own palette systems. A dupe for MAC imo and much much cheaper. Similarly their pen eyeliner which seems to last for ages and doesn't budge (on me) all day.

Oh, and the Bourjois unifying powder which is just as good as the Hourglass Ambient lighting powder in "Dim" in terms of "pulling everything together" and blurring imperfections. It also has the benefit of mattifying which the Hourglass doesn't.

On the subject of blotting, have stocked up on these blotting sheets They are bloody genius, and when you consider MAC are charging £11 for one pack of 30 it would be rude not to....

I don't think Lanacane has a smell.

My skin is not dry and it seems to work fine. But it is indeed like Smashbox in texture and, seemingly, ingredients. So if you like Smashbox I think it's fine.

Seventeen eyeliner called high drama is amazing. I have swapped my £25.00 high end one and never looked back.

Bio oil

Any lipstick/lip gloss ideas?

rimmel lispticks are very good as are, surprisingly, some of the boots natural collection ones, especially the cherry red one. for £1-£3 you can't do much better than the MUA lipsticks and glosses. the only problem is them being in stock in superdrug stores so ordering online is often advisable.

MUA eye palettes are great for the whole £4 they cost, plenty of pigment and a large range of shades, including some specifically matte palettes and others that have a mix of matte and shimmer

Barry M Metallics eyeliner pencils are the best I've found.

The mascaras in the No7 Advent Calender are nice (IIRC one is the red sparkly tube but smaller)

Sleek eye palettes and the lip palettes are gorgeous, nice packaging.

My favourite lipstick is an M&S Autograph matte

Bodyshop Beech lipliner

Coconut oil - raw from health food shop. I was using it in my hair as a hair mask after bleaching ruined it and it's been good but then I read it was good to use instead of shaving foam on legs. As I had some I had nothing to lose and tried it. I don't think my legs jab be ever been so smooth. It's really amazing.