My Holy Grails of 2014

I thought I would do a little round up of my personal Holy Grail products from 2014 today.  I had a look back at my Top 13 of 2013 that I posted in January last year and two of the products I featured in there have made this years cut as well!

First up and an absolute gem of a find this year the Trish McEvoy 24hr Eye Shadow and Liner sticks.  These creamy pigmented eye crayons are absolute perfection in a stick.  They're long lasting, non drying, non fading and work well as a base or standalone shadow.  I have done a full review here but I literally rave about these to everyone and know a few of my beauty blogger friends have bought them!  I've also really enjoyed the NARS Narsissist palette (and NARS in general), Charlotte Tilbury The Dolce Vita palette and MAC Sable eyeshadows this year.

Next is the Charlotte Tilbury Airbursh Flawless Finish Skin Perfecting Powder.  This beautifully packaged setting powder is incredibly finely milled and smooths, mattifies and blurs imperfections with one brush stroke.  A full review is here.  I am on my second compact and it's the best I have found.

In terms of loose powder, my favourite of 2014 was the By Terry Hyaluronic Powder. This is a white coloured powder and the best I have found for mattifying my skin for the longest without leaving it ashen or chalky.  You can read my full thoughts here.

Acqua Di Parma 'Fico Di Amalfi' has been my scent of the year.  It's milky, fruity and sweet without being cloying.  Citrus, bergamot and fig are the main notes with a touch of jasmine and cedar.  I don't really like musky fragrances and this is the perfect day time fragrance.  This year I have also loved See by Chloe, Jo Malone's Peony and Blush Suede and Wood Sage and Sea Salt and Armani Si.

I still class myself as a bit of an eyeliner noob (still haven't mastered a flick) but the Marc Jacobs Highliner in Blacquer is my current fave.  The formula is a gel in a pencil form and it applies perfectly along the lash line every time.  It's soft but not messy, it stays on the inner waterline and it lasts all day.  I've since bought several more shades.  I posted a little review here.  By complete accident I also recent bought the Lancome Art Liner liquid liner and it's superb too.

Alpha H Liquid Gold appears in my annual faves for the second year running.  This is an amazing skin treatment for hormonal acne and I have written a very comprehensive review of it here.  I'm on my third bottle now and will never be without it.

Foundation wise, the best I have used this year is Dolce and Gabbana Perfect Matte Liquid Foundation.  A close second was the YSL Fusion Ink foundation which I reviewed here  I've also liked NARS Sheer Glow and Make Up For Ever HD foundation as well but the Dolce and Gabbana stands out if you like high coverage, matte but not cakey coverage.  You can read my thoughts here.

The Dior Rouge Dior lipstick was also in last years Holy Grail post and still tops my lipstick tree in terms of formulation.  The shade range is fantastic, they're hydrating, pigmented and glossy.  I reviewed two here but expect more reviews coming soon.  I also really like their 'little sister' recently released Dior Rouge Dior Baume formula too.  I'm also a big fan of the Bobbi Brown Art Sticks, By Terry Terrybly Rouge lipsticks, MAC Cremesheen lipsticks, Charlotte Tilbury (both the matte and normal range), NARS Velvet Matte pencils and the Chantecaille glosses.  I could go on forever but a quick search of my blog using the search bar will give you reviews of most of the aforementioned lip products.

Sticking with lips, the Charlotte Tilbury Lip Cheat lip liner in Pillow Talk has made me a liner convert.  This MLBB shade just shapes and plumps lips like nothing else.  I've talked briefly about it here.  I have three.  Just in case you know.

Finally the Oskia Renaissance Cleansing Gel has been my favourite cleanser of 2014.  Other ones I have enjoyed using have been the Sunday Riley Ceramic Slip, Creme De La Mer The Oil and the Elemis Tri-Enzyme Resurfacing Cleanser.  But the Oskia is a great light balm cleanser that leaves your skin feeling terrific.  My thoughts are here.

So that's my must haves of 2014.  I love these kind of posts so please leave me a link to yours below if you have done one.  Are any of your favourites in here?

Guest Post | Expat MUA made me buy it

Hello to Stacey’s lovely readers, I’m Vanessa and blog at www.theothervw.com. I’ve been reading Stacey’s blog for a long time now, and since I began reading my purse has been feeling notably lighter. I’d actually joked to Stacey that I was going to do this post on my blog, but then when Gemma suggested guest posting I thought it would only be fitting to share with you all what I have purchased solely because of Stacey! Some of these have been based on blog posts and some on her fabulous Instagram photos. I was lucky enough to go shopping with the lady herself when she somewhat influenced the NARS dual intensity eye shadows and Trish McEvoy eye shadow stick purchases. 

So here it is…

 

 

And that’s not even all of it! I’ve thought of at least five more things since taking that picture, not to mention the HOARDS of products bought from Stacey’s EPIC blog sales. So I thought I’d go through a couple of my favourite "Expat MUA influenced" purchases. 

Jo Malone - everything really. I didn’t have any Jo Malone until about a year ago, and it was only reading this blog that really got me interested in the brand. Stacey has such a vast collection and speaks so highly of the fragrances and candles, I soon found myself in the Selfridges concession having a good sniff of all the fragrances. I now have a whopping 6 of the perfumes (2 from Stacey’s blog sale!) and 4 candles. My favourite scent is the London Rain Wisteria and Violet fragrance and the Sweet Almond and Macaroon Candle - so yummy. 

MAC Osbournes Cheeky Bugger blush. I had to really hunt this down. I had an absolute disaster ordering from this collection (thank you MAC), but managed to track it down at Selfridges and get them to reserve it for me. I’d had no desire whatsoever to get this based on swatches I’d seen online until I read Stacey’s post on this collection and it was then something I needed. I adore this blush. It’s such a pretty shade of peach, and I think we had a conversation on twitter that confirmed this needed to be mine. 

Marc Jacobs makeup - obviously we can’t get this in the UK, so this is something else I’ve gone to great lengths to get! I’ve had friends purchase pieces and ship it over or buy when on holiday in the States. All because of this missy! But it’s been worth it. The lip gel in Voila, ok just go and look at Stacey’s lips over here how could you not need this product? The Lolita palette is a stunning nude go to palette, there’s one dud shade, but Stacey had said that herself, so I was expecting it. The colours are easy to work with and blend beautifully, just love it. 

 

 

Daniel Sandler Micro Bubble Micro Femme lipstick. This lipstick started my love affair with Daniel Sandler’s line. Being honest, I don’t think I’d heard much of his range at the point of reading this post in November. Since then, I’ve practically bought the entire line (what can I say, I don’t do things by halves). I have even been lucky enough to meet the man himself, which I’m sure looking back I don’t think would have happened had I not been introduced to the brand, so big thanks Stacey! 

 

 

Essentially I think what I’m trying to say in this post…. there’s nothing I’ve bought and regretted thanks to Stacey and that’s why I love Expat MUA! I’m a big high end makeup lover and this is my one stop shop for the latest launches and I love to know what Stacey thinks. 

 

 

What have you picked up following Stacey’s reviews? I’d love to know if you’re all as easily influenced as me!! 

 

 

The new additions

I've been using a few new things in my everyday routine over the past week so I thought I'd do a mini 'first impressions' post of them.

Elemental Herbology Cool and Clear facial cleanser

I've been using this low foaming gel cleanser in the shower in the mornings and it's really nice.  I've been using an Elemental Herbology moisturiser in the mornings for a couple of months so this seems nice compliment. 

I don't think this would be heavy duty enough as an evening cleanser to remove all my make-up but as a light cleanse in the morning it's perfect. 

It contains lavender and tea tree oil to purify and bisamol to soothe.  It also contains green tea to protect against environmental damage.  Aimed more towards acne prone/combination skin this cleanser is easy to use, washes off easily with no residue and isn't drying.  I just follow up with spritz of my Elemis hydrating toner.

Trish McEvoy Thickening Mascara

When I first started using this I didn't rate it at all but it is growing on my slowly!!  This mascara was really pushed on me by the sales girl at Trish McEvoy in Bloomingdales in NYC and sounded right up my street-I like thick, black, dramatic lashes and she said this would do exactly that.

This mascara doesn't deliver that result to be honest.  It delivers nice fluttery separated lashes as you can see above.  It has an unusual 'goldfish' shaped brush (do you see what I mean??) that is really easy to apply and get to the smaller lashes in the corners.  It's a very very dry formula, especially compared to the last mascara I used which was Chanel Le Volume De Chanel which I reviewed here.  It doesn't flake or smudge AT ALL during the day-I haven't had to use my Anastasia Lash Genius waterproof top coat.  It doesn't clump and you can build it up but to get the effect above that is a good 3-4 coats so it's no YSL Faux Cils.  But it's ok for work everyday.  For evening I'll probably put something more dramatic on.  I probably wouldn't repurchase this though.

Mac Studio Sculpt foundation

I'll be honest I am really struggling with this foundation!  When I first apply it it looks great.  I love the finish (it's medium heavy coverage) and it feels so light on the skin.  I find I have to apply it with a foundation brush then blend any excess lightly with fingers to get the best finish.  It dries really quickly to a semi matte finish which I love.  I then set with a light dusting of powder.  When I first started using it I was using the Nars pore refining primer underneath which is oil free (as is I think the foundation) and within a couple of hours the foundation was settling into tiny tiny pores on my forehead and my nose.  It looks awful and nothing can be done to correct it without making it even worse.  I had the same problem with Laura Mercier Silk Creme.  My friend Jamie suggested I try the Smashbox Photofinish primer (which luckily I had a sample of) and it's better but still not perfect.  If I try to touch up during the day the powder just settles into pores and looks absolutely cakey.  What am I doing wrong?  Any suggestions?

Smashbox Photo Finish

As mentioned above I had a sample of the Smashbox Photo Finish primer and I tried it to see if the Studio Sculpt foundation would sit better on it.  I have used this before-I love the feel of this on the skin even though I know its full of silicon and that's why my skin feels so silky!  But it does a fab job at mattifying and blurring the skin before applying foundation.  I am really enjoying using it-your skin really does feel like velvet.  This is also an oil free primer but Smashbox do a whole range of primers to suit everyone.  It's definitely one of their best products.

Hydraluron

I have finally jumped on this bandwagon!!  The Mac foundation was making my skin look like it was dry and dehydrated so I decided to try this apparent miracle worker in my skincare routine to see if it would plump out the skin.  I apply it directly before my moisturisor-you only need a pea sized amount of this clear gel/serum, don't use too much or it goes tacky on the skin and can cause your foundation to pill or bobble.

Hydraluron is a moisture boosting product and it's the moisture levels in the skin that make it look smooth, plumped and youthful.  Over time our natural moisture levels decrease and dehydration leads to aging.

Hyaluronic acid is the super moisture booster-it can hold 1000 times it's own weight in water and is found in abundance in young skin.

I have to say I am really liking it!  Both this and the Smashbox primer has improved the finish of the foundation and I think I am a Hydraluron convert!!  In the US I bought a much more expensive version of this from Trish McEvoy so am expecting even better results from that one.  I can see this being a permanent addition to my routine and is perfect for anyone with dehydrated skin, who lives in a hot and humid climate or is in and out of air conditioning.  This would be great for men too-especially after shaving which dries out the skin.

Have you used any of my recent additions?  What do you think??

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