What's in my makeup bag?

Hello my sweet hearts,

Now I thought I'd show you all inside my everyday makeup bag. Now I must stress, as I'm a makeup artist, I have a thousand times more stuff than this, but this is what, if I was on a desert island, I'd take! :) I use the products shown here everday - and therefore love and would highly recommend them all! :)

Here's my makeup bag when it's empty. I chop and change between loads of different ones, but this is the bag of the moment. It's just a clear plastic one from Superdrug, and was nice and cheap and cheerful. :)

Here it is packed full, and it still couldn't fit all my everyday makeup stuff in!

Here you can see my stuff all laid out.. :)

The big bottle of Cetaphil is moisture cream, I love it! It's sorted my eczema out :) I also have eye drops which my Mom recommended to me and I pop a drop in each eye before doing my makeup.

Here's a mini size version of Urban Decays Eye Shadow Primer Potion - you can get them with all Urban Decay palettes, or just go the whole hog and buy a full size one! I have a full size one, and a mini purple one, and another mini one in shade 'Sin' . The mini ones are perfect to pop in your makeup bag :)

Here you can see my makeup sponges, I get a big pack of these for super cheap from Superdrug after my friend Hayley recommended them to me, and boy do I love them! I use them to apply my MAC Mineralise Skin Finish Powder, as this gives a smoother finish than using a brush as you can really sweep it on! The top ones you can see have been used and look pretty gross, I wouldn't use them so lord knows why I've kept them haha! I'm just a hoarder I guess! I read somewhere that brushes to apply face powder are bad for people with super dry / eczema skin as they buff / gently exfoliate the surface skin layer - meaning it's getting slightly irritated by the brush and therefore can worsen the dryness and cause irritation - which it always did with me, no matter how soft the brush. Therefore I'm so happy I've found these sponges! They do not cause any sort of problems like that :) plus they apply any powder or the mineralise powders loads better!

Here are some of the brushes I've just thrown in my bag, they're not particularly my favourite brushes or ones I use most, they're just the ones that were closest at hand when I was packing my little makeup bag up.. there is notably one missing which I usually always have on hand, MAC's 210 eyeliner brush - and that has been sorely missed while I've been travelling around!

The brushes I have here are (from left to right);

1. A pink handled Crown brush I got in my goodie bag at Kandee Johnsons Glaminar in London - I love it, one cos it's an amazing brush, and two cos it reminds me of such a wonderful day, and three cos it's got a pink handle! :) I use this to load on a base colour such as MACs Brule or Vanilla and it really packs on the colour well. MAC does a similar brush to this in the same shape, and I use it just as much too :)

2. MAC 217 brush - looking less than clean! I've been working the lilac eyeshadow look so that's why the bristles are pink. I love this brush to bits, it's so useful, you can do whole eye makeup with it, apply concealer with it, ever apply super defined contouring! However, I use it almost always on the eye to blend stuff and pack colour on. I love it! If you're going to start buying MAC brushes, buy this one, you'll fall in love!

3. MAC 266 brush - this is the limited edition one which has slightly more hard bristles than the 266 that MAC always sells (I have both and use them both loads). I use this brush for my eyebrows. It's so perfectly shaped for such a job and defines my brows lovelily! If I was a bit more adventurous I could use this brush for eyeliner, and for lip colour, but it serves me perfectly to do my brows.

4. Crowns large flat paint brush - this is one of the brushes that is not neccessarily there because I use it religiously, but more cos it was close by. However, I do use it and really love it. The bristles are sooo soft, and I use is with the same use as brush no.1 - to apply a base colour. It works great as this, and I also sometimes use it to apply other eyeshadow colours if I'm going for a big swash of colour.

5. Unknown brand of angle brush. This brush is one of those ones I got forever ago and before I was really bothered about makeup. It's part of a super bad kit, and was probably like 50p from Homebargains or somewhere... but.... it's a little gem! I love love love this brush! It's an angle brush but not super defined, so has more of a soft edge to it. It's perfect to apply defined eyeshadow along the crease, or when using black eyeshadow to create eyeliner with soft edges. I really love this brush, and it's one of the reasons I never dismiss brushes or makeup, no matter how cheap or unknown it is! :)

6. Crown long crease brush - this brush is very similar to the 217 but slightly longer so gives less precision. However, the hairs are loads softer and always feels nice and relaxing on the eye! I again use this for blending and/or applying shadow.

7. Crown angle brush - This brush is so similar to the MAC 266, but is made of synthetic hair rather than animal hair so is a little more stiff - which means it's a bit too scratchy for doing my eyebrows, but perfect for gel liner - especially since my MAC 210 is lost in my suitcase somewhere. This one's doing brilliantly to replace it for the time being :)

8. elf angle brush - I love this brush, again another one there more because it was close by - but I do love it. It was my first ever brush for gel liner, and it serves its purpose brilliantly. I also use it to load black eyeshadow on and go over the gel liner, to ensure it lasts loads longer, doesn't smudge and is waterproof :)

This is my Z Palette, it's the small version in the leopard style, and I love it to bits! The actual palette is so much more sturdy and the base more magnetic than MAC palettes, I would only buy Z palettes in future! This is my lilac/purple palette, as I've really been loving this look recently. I go for a lilac lid with a pale silvery lilac pop on the inner corner of my eye, then a deep cranberry crease which wings out slightly :) I love how girly it looks with my pink hair and super pink lips! The bottom left colour is a MAC eyeshadow which I use over Barry M lip liner on my brows :) Let me know if you'd like me to list the shades of the eyeshadows here! :) I love them all :)

These are my two favourite lip liners, the deep pink, and the more fun baby pink from Barry M. I use the deep pink (top) on my brows, it stays on FOREVER, is fairly waterproof, and provides such bright pigmentation - I love it! I then use the below candy pink lip liner for my lips to provide a base for my lipstick. Love them!

Here's my DUO eyelash glue. I've had it since last summer and I'd say use it atleast two or three times a week - but it's not even showing yet in the tube! It still feels packed full! This is the most amazing eyelash glue EVER! I would never ever ever even consider using the lash glue that comes with false lashes - it's so shit, kills if you get it in your eye, dries so hard, pulls all your lashes off no matter how gentle you are removing the lashes... it's awful! Treat your eyes to this glue when you're going to wear false lashes, it dries tackily, so means it never ever hurts when removing false lashes, but sticks lashes on SO WELL you wouldn't believe! Plus, if you get any in your eye, which, lets face it, we all do :), it doesn't hurt at all - you hardly even notice! Which is testament to how safe it must be to use - SO GET SOME! :) It's also useful to attach stuff like gems on the face and little things like that :)

Here's my Shu Uemura eyelash curlers - I was devastated as I thought I'd lost them but lo and behold Dan had popped them in a handbag I hardly use to 'keep them safe' after my last Sheffield adventure! Bless him! These guys are very expensive in comparison with the rest of the curlers on the market, they're £19, but believe me, they actually are worth it! Every person I've used these on has commented on how amazing they are - and I just love them! They just do something insanely incredible! Your lashes will be so long and curly and hold their curl so brilliantly and your eyes will appear so open and pretty - aaaaah I love them! :)

Here's my Yaby Palette, another super expensive item in my makeup kit but one that is more than worth it :) The palette was actually £80, but with 40 shadows in, that's £2 an eyeshadow, which is actually pretty cheap when you look at it in that context! These shadows are beyond incredibly good. I love and worship MAC eyeshadows, but these ones have managed to top MAC ones by a mile. They're soooo pigmented, you use hardly anything so they last forever, and they have this wonderful creamy yet powder texture that adheres to the skin perfectly. I can't recommend them enough :) Plus you get a big mirror in too, which is great for on the go touch ups! :)

In my makeup bag I also have three MAC lipsticks. I am in love with looooooooooooads of lipsticks... GOSH ones, Lime Crime ones, NYX ones, and lots of MAC ones too.. however the ones that are in my makeup bag are in shades 'Snob', 'Angel' and 'Viva Glam Gaga'. LOVE THEM! :) They're all super fun candy pinks, with Angel being slightly more muted, but I love them sooo much! :) They keep lips super moisturised but also full of lovely colour :)

Here's my Z Palette when it's closed - it's great that you can see through the lid as it means as a makeup artist when you're on the job and need to be quick it's really easy to find what you're after! :)

Now lovelies, that's the end of the insight into my everyday makeup bag, do let me know if there's any other blog posts you're after,

Emily xoxo