My Makeup Collection

It feels like forever ago that I promised to do a blog post of the makeup I own, but I have been procrastinating, busy and distracted.

I have finally decided that today is the day that I will take photos of the stuff (bad photos - I really need to figure out how to take better pictures) and post.

So here goes...

Until my recent transformation, makeup, skincare, fashion and girliness in general would make my eyes glaze over. That being said, I do own makeup, even though I'm not really sure I know how to use it properly.

The beginning of this blog was inspired by my absolute terror at having discovered wrinkles around my eyes along with the horrible condition of the skin on my face; a condition that has been, for the most part, rectified to my satisfaction. My skin is now neither overly dry nor oily. I do try to stick to my skincare regime, although I am by no means perfectly committed to the process. I always take off my makeup before bed. I don't always cleanse enough (when lazy, I will run some cream cleanser and toner over my skin and moisturise), but I do try to keep it up more often than not.

In terms of growing my little collection, I have set myself a maximum budget of £20 per month, which I have been quite good at not exceeding. (when my working life allows, this budget will increase marginally so that I can "invest" in a few higher end products, maybe.)

I feel that in order to get the help I need from the wide world of bloggers and readers, it is a good idea to tell you what I've got (including what I've bought this year), and I hope that kind comments and suggestions will follow.

Anyway, enough fluff... here's my stuff:

Foundation

Two foundations (Clinique and Mac),
a BB cream (Garnier) and a concealer (Collection)

Powders and Blushes

A Clinique powder compact and two blushes
(Clinique and Revlon). One of the blushes smashed :(

Eye Shadows

Revlon, No7 and Clinique shadows

Kryolan shadow pallet - Two empties broke 

Glittery loose powder by Kryolan

Eyeliners and Mascaras

Kryolan, Clinique, Rimmel, Jade and Revlon liners

No7 and Clinique mascaras, Revlon liquid liner

Lipsticks and Glosses

Not much colour variety. No7, Revlon, Clinique

Some Kryolan and Clinique glosses

Nails

My nail polish collection. It's a work in progress

Some clear bases and a cuticle oil

This nail file rocks, unless you file at a particular angle,
at which point your head wants to explode because
it feels  horrible (nails on chalk board type of horrible)

Brushes

Some Kryolan and no-name brushes

Real Techniques. Another work in progress

Makeup bag

It's too cute; also too small

So now it's all out in the open. I don't have much, but I have emigrated three times in two years, and as I wasn't really into makeup until this year, I didn't really spend much time or effort in accumulating any real semblance of a collection. 

There are a few new items, but most of the above has been mine for a good few years. If you want any specific colour names, let me know.

Be kind to yourself and love your skin.

Update  

For my June beauty shop, I invested in these two items, which I have tried and love! 

The Maybelline Colour Tattoo is 100% worth its hype!

Maybelline Gel Liner in black

Maybelline Colour Tattoo - On & on Bronze

In Defence of Life and Laziness

I know I haven't posted for a while. It just seems to be so easy to put it off for another day, especially if you're tired and struggling to adjust to a new job. I have also been dealing with some back pain, which is rather scary for me.

In July last year, I had back surgery for a herniated disc and am now the proud owner of some bionic parts in the form of four titanium screws in my spine, so you can imagine how disturbing the sudden appearance of sciatic pain can be.

On the skincare front, things are going along smoothly, and the only adjustment I am still struggling to incorporate is to drink more water. When I do succeed, I see the effect rather quickly; the same is true for the opposite. If I fail to drink enough my face looks instantly dry, dehydrated and wrinkly.

When it comes to makeup, I still have not identified the cause of my eye watering, not that I've been wearing much makeup of late. I am still trying to bed down my method of applying foundation. I think that the last time I tried, I put too much on and it looked horrid, so I had to take it off. It's all part of the learning curve, I guess. I have been tempted to buy a foundation with more coverage just to see how it looks, but I think that may be a waste of money.

What I have been enjoying, despite much frustration, is painting my nails. I fail as much as I succeed, but I do enjoy seeing my nails painted in the pretty colours of polish I now own. It has, however, created a bit of a weakness for nail polish, which I am trying to control. I only own 10 nail polishes, and there are a few more I would like to get, but I have plenty to keep me going for the moment.

This new shopping weakness has the potential to turn into a rather extensive addiction so I have created a self-imposed embargo on cosmetic shopping; not forever, just for a little while. It would be unwise to go headlong into buying things that may not work for me.

It is always easy to aspire to high ideals of restraint and moderation, and quite a different matter to abide by them. My diet can certainly attest to that! It is a sad state of affairs, but my weight has just gone up and up and I am struggling to make good choices. Too often I allow my mood to control my eating, rather than my stomach.

I do have a desire to lose weight, believe me, but I can't figure out what it is that is stopping me from exercising self-control, eating the right things, and moving more. It seems so easy and straight forward in my head, but when it comes to the actual doing, it's like there is a block. I don't understand it.

Anyway, that's my update for now. I did warn you about the laziness, so I don't think I'm going to apologise more than once for the delay, besides, I think the excuses were at least mildly passable, so there is that.

Just one last little thing...

I recently discovered a lovely little app for my Samsung phone. It's called Audiobooks. This app, which works through Librivox.org, lets you listen to recordings of books in the public domain. All books are out of copyright and free, and recording are made by volunteers from all over the world.

It's awesome and I love it.