A SNEAK PEEK INTO MY FREELANCE KIT.

I love looking into what people carry in their freelance make up kit, I'm always looking to learn, build and branch out with the products I use. I like to carry a large variety of products, brands and consistencies as you never always get to have a trial with clients, obviously if you get to have a trial it's a lot easier to condense and only carry the products that you need. I actually only carry products that I've tried on myself beforehand - they aren't always products I like on myself but they are always products I know work amazingly.

First of all, it's important to carry a large amount of hygiene products - I always carry some surgical spirit to sanitise brushes and products, I also always carry hand sanitiser to ensure that my hands are as clean and hygienic as possible. Disposable mascara wands and doe foot applicators are a must for lipglosses and concealer application - great for getting into little tubes! And lastly boring bits, such as wipes, cotton buds and cotton pads.

For skincare, I always carry a cleanser. toner and moisturiser. I use a Clarins One Step Cleanser as it's much easier to carry a water style cleanser than an actual wash off one, I carry Pixi Glow Tonic and a Liz Earle Skin Tonic in order to cover both bases for dry or oily skin, as well as a few moisturisers - at the moment this is Clinique Dramatically Different Moisturiser and Benefit Triple Performing Moisturiser. I carry one of my all time favourite products which is Elizabeth Arden Eight Hour Cream which works as a great lip balm for those with especially dry lips, but I always use a small amount to prep the lips regardless of how dry they are. I carry a couple of prep sprays as well - Urban Decay Quick Fix which is a hydrating spray, and B6 which is great for oily skin.

Primer wise I carry three - two mattifying, and one illuminating. I carry Benefit Porefessional which I use on everyone as it blurs the skin and I like to mix it with an illuminating primer sometimes, I also carry Benefit Porefessional Matte Rescue. One of my illuminating primers of choice is the Estee Lauder Illuminating Primer, and the Illamasqua Satin Primer. Another primer that I absolutely adore is Stila One Step Correct which is a colour correcting primer.

Foundation wise I have quite a few and it would take a while to go through them all but a few I carry are Illamasqua Skin Base, Urban Decay All Nighter and Mehron HD Celebre Foundation which is a cream. I actually have the Mehron Foundation Palette which is great for me to be able to mix the perfect colour of foundation for my client. For concealers I carry Benefit Boi-ing Industrial Strength Concealer, Benefit Boi-ing Brightening Concealer and Benefit Boi-ing Airbrush Concealer. Working for Benefit, I absolutely love their concealers and in the job photographed above I was actually able to use Boi-ing Airbrush on my clients before the official launch! I carry mainly translucent powders as it saves time - I have a MAC Prep + Prime translucent, RCMA No Colour Powder and Bare Minerals Translucent Ready powder.

For cheek colour I carry two Benefit blusher palettes - Cheekathon and Cheek Parade. These include everything that I would reach for including Rockateur and Hoola Bronzer - in fact there are a few duplicates which is great! I also have The Balm Manizer Sister trio so I have a highlighters for different skin tones. I also have Naked Illuminated by Urban Decay which is great for the tops of collarbones and shoulders.

Onto eyes and I carry Urban Decay Primer Potions in a variety of styles - my favourite is Eden, I also carry all three Urban Decay Naked Palettes and Urban Decay Naked Ultimate Basics as they seem to cover all bases in terms of colour. I carry Urban Decay Polyester Bride as it's quite a pigmented white colour which is great for the inner corner and the browbone, and Illamasqua Pigment in Furore which is a lovely champagne glitter. Another small favourite of mine is Benefit Big Beautiful Eyes palette which is a soft pink and brown trio of shadows which is great for bridal makeup.

I have a couple of eyeliner pencils from Soap and Glory that I got in a set over Christmas, a couple from Urban Decay and from Rimmel. In terms of mascara I carry four and four only - Benefit They're Real and Roller Lash in black and brown - I actually couldn't think of any other mascaras to use as they've been my favourite for so long now. I also carry Benefit They're Real Tinted Lash Primer to amp up the volume slightly.

Brows again are entirely Benefit - Ka-Brow is great as it's waterproof and long wearing, Gimme Brow is great for a natural brow look too. I then carry Ready Set Brow to set and then High Brow pencil to highlight and define. These are my go to in my kit, but I do have other options in my collection if necessary.

Finally onto lips, I carry an OCC Lip Primer, a Freedom Makeup Lip Palette in Nude, I also have the Red. Urban Decay Vice Lip Palette is great but the pans aren't huge. Some Urban Decay, NYX and Revlon Lip Liners and Estee Lauder, Kylie Jenner and L'Oreal Glosses. Lip options can always be quite personal so I always give my client the option to bring their own if they would like.

So that's about everything I carry, although I always like to swap things out for different jobs. I love expanding my kit and usually have a list as long as my arm of things to add to it!

BENEFIT BOI-ING AIRBRUSH CONCEALER.

Benefit have recently relaunched their concealer range as a big 'Boi-ing' family. Lots of people familiar with the brand will know Boi-ing as a high coverage, heavy duty, 'industrial strength' concealer which is great for heavy duty dark circles, redness and blemishes. Concealer is the second biggest growing category in makeup for Benefit Cosmetics, and is usually the first product someone just starting out in makeup will purchase which is one of the main reasons Benefit decided to rebrand.

The Boi-ing franchise now consists of FOUR different concealers, that all have a different purpose.
- Boi-ing Industrial Strength Concealer, which is the Boi-ing we all know and love. Great for blemishes, redness and heavy duty dark circles.
- Boi-ing Hydrating Concealer, formerly known as Fake Up. This one is a stick form, with a hydrating ring made up of Vitamin E and Apple Seed Extract, this one is a sheer coverage, and great for dryness around the eye area.
- Boi-ing Brightening Concealer, formerly known as Eraste Paste. This one is full coverage with a melon pigment to erase those blue and purple tones in your dark circles.
- Boi-ing Airbrush Concealer, which is new to the collection and gives a gorgeous blurred airbrush finish to the face. This is great for uneven skin tone, pigmentation and dark spots.

I've been a fan of the range for a while, however after trying Boi-ing Airbrush Concealer I think I'm beginning to find a new favourite. It's a gorgeous sheer-medium coverage which is buildable. It's a mousse like consistency, so is great for the flawless airbrush finish.

You can use Boi-ing Airbrush Concealer in a variety of ways..
1. Alone, for sheer-medium coverage.
2. Under the eye, or on blemishes like a regular concealer.
3. It's great as a lip primer because of the lightweight, hydrating feel.
4. You can use it to carve out the brow, to create beautiful definition.

I've been applying a sheer foundation and then using a sponge to apply Boi-ing Airbrush over the top to increase the coverage in the areas that I need it.

Have you tried any Benefit concealers? Let me know! 

REVISITING VICHY 3D CORRECTION.

Last year I was gifted some products from Vichy - one of my favourite skincare brands. I've recently rekindled my love for their Dermablend 3D Correction Foundation. I dug this out of my dressing table after trying the Clarins Pore Perfecting Foundation and I thought that this one was so similar I had to use it again to compare the two.

I'm a huge lover of a full coverage foundation that hides my imperfections but still looks natural - I always heard about Vichy Dermablend which is why I was so excited to receive this from them! It's a matte foundation that is hydrating (not drying as you would usually find) and it corrects the appearance of the skin including any scarring or blemishes. It's enriched with salicylic acid and eperulin which soothes the skin and reduces any imperfections so it's great for acne prone, oily skin.

I like to apply this with a beauty blender or buffing brush - I find it's quite thick without feeling thick on the skin which is fab as nobody likes a heavy feeling foundation. Due to the thickness you don't need a lot of product and a little really goes a long long way.

I'm super happy with this foundation - it's amazing coverage and an amazing dupe for the new Clarins Pore Perfecting Foundation! I've loved reusing it since the first time I tried it - I recommend it to everyone who likes a full coverage foundation that doesn't look or feel heavy!

THE ORDINARY HYALURONIC SERUM.

I've recently discovered The Ordinary which is a branch of iconic skincare brand Deciem. The Ordinary seem to stock amazing quality skincare products at purse friendly prices and one of my recent finds is the Hyaluronic Acid. For those who don't know, Hyaluronic Acid is great if you need intense hydration. HA can attract up to 1,000 times its weight in water so is great for providing the hydration your skin can so desperately seek.

I was drawn to this product as I know that Hyaluronic Acid is a staple in almost every skincare routine and is also one of the key ingredients in one of my favourite products, Advanced Night Repair by Estee Lauder, so at £6, I thought I'd give this a go. After only a few days of use I'd absolutely fallen in love with it.

It comes in a sleek, matte glass bottle which I absolutely love, and again, like ANR has the dropper packaging, although it seems to work for this product as it's not as thick. I apply morning and night time and it seems to be doing wonders for my skin. I feel 100% hydrated, my skin never feels tight or oily (which is a bonus).

I'm looking forward to trying some other bits from The Ordinary, the range is extensive and budget friendly which is great for everyone!

URBAN DECAY: THE FULL SPECTRUM PALETTE.

Urban Decay's Full Spectrum Palette is a beautiful brightly coloured, highly pigmented set of 21 eyeshadows - from bold brights to matte white colours, it's a gorgeous rainbow spectrum of colours that gives you endless amount of options of colours and even different finishes as there are matte colours and shimmer colours too. There really is something for everyone. 

When I saw this palette I was so eager to try it - although I don't usually wear colours I knew that Urban Decay eyeshadows have some serious pigment and staying powder and teamed with their Primer Potion create the perfect pairing.

You could add any of these colours to a neutral eye for a pop of colour or use solid colour to create a gorgeous colourful eye look - I actually sometimes dress as Elsa for children's parties and the pinks and purples in this are perfect for the make up I do for those. I was sceptical at first, but I've found the colours are wearable, I've found myself wearing the greens and purples throughout the day which is something I never thought I'd do. I even found myself trying a sunset eye using pinks, oranges, purples and yellows.

Have you tried this palette - what are your favourite combinations?

MY VICHY FAVOURITES.

I've been loving Vichy products for quite a while now. I've been using the Normablend BB Cream for a while and has in fact become a staple for both myself and my freelance kit as it's a great lightweight product that contains Salicylic Acid meaning it's ideal for problematic skin. It gives a gorgeous skin like finish and it definitely doesn't ever look like you are wearing a lot - perfect for every day wear.

A second and an old favourite of mine is the Purete Thermale Eye Makeup Remover. This is a biphase remover so you have to shake to activate otherwise it can leave an oily residue on the skin. This is one of my all time favourite make up removers and is really affordable too. A little goes a really long way so you can make the bottle last ages. It removes the most stubborn of makeup including waterproof products and eyebrow makeup too.

I was sent the Pore Purifying Mineral Mask last year and I basically fell in love with it instantly. I prefer a clay or a gel wash of mask as opposed to a peel off mask as I can really feel the difference in my skin. This mask is infused with Kaolin and Bentonite Clay so dries quickly and draws out andy imperfections in the skin. It really reminds me of the GlamGlow Supermud Clearing Mask but with a much kinder price!

A final favourite is the Dermablend Setting Powder. It's loose and translucent so perfect for my freelance kit and perfect for everyone as it doesn't have a colour. It's perfect for setting your foundation and undereye and also for baking - it's lightweight and gives no coverage due to the colouring. I rarely use a powder so this has made its way into my kit so I'm glad I get to show everyone how great this powder is.

MY BROW ROUTINE FEATURING BENEFIT COSMETICS.

Brows are such a huge part of make up lately - over the past couple of years or so they really have blown up and completely taken over. Benefit Cosmetics have a huge nine piece brow collection, and I have to admit, there really is something for everyone no matter how you like to wear your brows.

I have a couple way I like to do mine, but my favourite is using three Benefit products - Ka-Brow, Gimme Brow and High Brow. First of all I use a spoolie to comb through my brows, The front of one of my eyebrows grows upwards, so I brush them both upwards to achieve some form of symmetry - remember, they don't have to be identical - eyebrows are sisters, not twins!

I then use an angled brush to draw a line underneath the brow using Ka-Brow which is a cream gel dipbrow formula which has 24 hour waterproof wear, smudgeproof too which is great! I use shade 3 which is a medium brown and can be built to be dark, or used softly so it really is a universal colour. I've been using a Benefit Angled Brush to apply, but I like those from Urban Decay and from both Real Techniques collections. I start the line from the arch and draw toward the tail end so that I'm distributing the majority of the product, then use the remainder of the product thats left on the brush to line under the front section of the brow - this creates that 'ombre' effect, meaning that the front portion of the brow is a lot softer.

After lining underneath, I line the top from the arch to the tail to create a better and more defined end of my brow. The ends of mine are soft and sparse, so I use this method to extend and define them. I then use the brush to fill in the shape that I've created, focusing the majority of the product at the end of the brow and using a soft amount at the front.

After I've filled with Ka-Brow, I use Gimme Brow (I use shade 3 which is a medium brown) against the brow hair to give texture, and then comb back through to set the hair in place. Due to the way my brow hair grows I use the Gimme Brow to comb upwards at the front of the brow to give my brow a bit more shape and definition.

To complete the look, I draw a line of High Brow underneath the brow from start to end and then blend. The High Brow is a linen pink pencil which helps to create a freshly waxed appearance to the brow, but it also highlights the brow and helps to open the entire eye area. I often use this the entire way around my brow to create a 'halo brow' look which can really help to create a strong defined brow look.

I absolutely love the new Benefit Brow Collection! Have you tried it? Which products are your favourites?