Shopping my Makeup Stash

Do you ever just stick to a few items for a few days, and then realise that it's been two weeks and you're still putting the same thing on your face? That's me, all of the time. The only thing that I change, almost daily is my lipstick... probably because I have about a dozen of them in my handbag, and they're just so easy to slick on, depending on my mood. Red one day, a pinky nude the next; the options are endless. So, with the idea of switching things up, I had a good rummage through my makeup collection, and uncovered some gems that I'd almost forgotten about. Remember those Maxfactor Excess Shimmer cream eyeshadows? I do, and they were wonderful, so you can bet that rediscovering this was a fabulous day. I just love that feeling when I find some products that I'd pretty much forgotten about in my current makeup bag haze... so it's kinda like going shopping all over again, except you're not spending any money. Woo! Guilt free shopping! 

I'll start with base products, and a foundation that I've been reusing quite a lot is Urban Decay's Naked Skin Foundation, which is a light/medium coverage that builds up really well in areas that you need more coverage, but just blends really lightly into the skin when you just need a hint of concealment. I can see this being a really go-to summer foundation with some glowy highlighter and a glowy setting powder... yes, I can see it now. I'd add some bronzer to it, especially one of my favourites, my Estée Lauder Bronze Goddess Bronzer and just look so healthy and cheery, as if I've been on holiday... but sadly without the compulsory Duty Free purchases. Then we have Seventeen's Stay Matte 18 hour concealer, which does pretty much stay all day, and some days it can be a little pale for me, depending on how the redness in my skin is behaving, but it's such a fabulous thick concealer, perfect for concealing things that need to be concealed, such as my redness, which really does get me down if it shows through my makeup. Why can't my skin just all be one shade? First world problems, right? Continuing with Seventeen, next up is their Skin Wow Highlighter, which is a glorious cream formula, perfectly blendable, and wonderful when mixed with a bit of foundation, as you know, bases can get so dull during Winter time.

Next up, we have Clinque's Cheeek Pop blusher and Sleek's Contour kit, which comes with a highlighter and a contour shade, perfect for quick application - it's pretty much the first contour that I ever bought, and has paved the way for brands such as Charlotte Tilbury to bring out their own contour and highlight palettes, such as her Filmstar Bronze and Glow Palette. The packaging on the Clinique and Sleek are two of my favourite things ever - I'm a sucker for good packaging, and there's something so sleek about them (haha). Plus I love the embossed and printed flower blush from Clinque, it's totally inspiring me to expand my range of their 'Pop' line, which now includes eyeshadows and more blush shades. Whilst speaking of their 'pop' range, it wouldn't be fitting at all, not to mention their game changing lipsticks, which I have in three shades, and they are just beautiful. The texture is smooth, moisturising and packed with pigment - with a built in primer for extra last time - what more could you want?

Benefit's Gimme Brow is another game changer, in my opinion. For me, it was my first brow mascara, and the perfect product for shaping my brows after drawing them in. It gives texture and makes them look like brows, not just drawn on caterpillars... which they can sometimes look like. Plus I love the way that I can comb the bushiness at the front of my brows, and almost seem to tame them. Almost. Such an amazing product! Continuing on with eye area items, and next up it's Maxfactor's Excess Shimmer cream eyeshadow, a soft, creamy formula that lasts so so so long on the eyelid with very minimal creasing, think Maybelline Eye Tattoo eyeshadows, but creamier. These are just a fabulous product, as I'm very happy to welcome them back into my makeup bag. What did I do without them? One thing that I really did forget about was Soap & Glory's One heck of a blot powder and I can't remember why I ever put it away. It mattifies and sets makeup, plus I think I even hit the pan on the last one that I owned, so it seems very odd that I would just leave it in my makeup drawer. But no need to be upset, it's found it's way back into my makeup bag, and even my handbag on occasion, as not only is the product amazing, but the mirror is so handy, plus the design on the front is super cute. I don't feel smug at all when I whip this out of my bag to touch up my lipstick... nope, not at all. 

I've got some amazing products in my stash, and uncovering them again was kinda like Christmas. I can't wait to do it again once I get into another makeup funk. What have you uncovered in your makeup stash that you'd forgotten about? Any gems?