My Makeup Musts When I'm Sick...

These past few days I've been sick.

I was not feeling well, my temperature was fluctuating from 34ºC to 38ºC (93F to 100F). I tried to stay at home, rest, getting better and go out only when highly required. 

And it was when I had to leave home that I needed to look presentable and better than I was. I had to cheat that I was feeling good when I was not!! So I had to play with some makeup to achieve that.

My must have products to look better when I am (I was) sick:

1- A light texture BB cream. I've been using my  L'Oreal Nude Magique BB Cream. It's lightweight and it evens out my complexion. It moisturizes your skin and has some SPF in it. 

2- Concealer: My go to concealer these days has been the Bourjois Healthy Mix Concealer for under circles, skin imperfections and to slightly highlight my cheekbones. Also used on my eyelids to even out that area.

3- Blush and Bronzer: This is a must for me if I don't want to look washed out. I find that some color on my faces really makes me look healthier.

The blush I've been using these days has been my MAC Alluring Aquatic Extra Dimension Blush in Sea Me, Hear Me.This looks like my natural blush and really makes me look healthy.

The bronzer I've been using is my Too Faced Milk Chocolate Soleil Bronzer. This bronzer is a tad bit light for me right now, but it has been my go to bronzer during the winter months. I cannot use it right now because I've gained some color (even though I've been indoors and wearing SPF when outside) but those days when I was sick, this shade was enough for me. 

 

4- Mascara: This step really made me look more awake! Somedays I used an eyelash curler + mascara and other days I just put some mascara on and nothing else. Since before that I applied some concealer to my eyelids, those looked slightly healthy. The mascara was just to define my eyes some more. 

The mascara that I used was my Maybelline Colossal Volum Express Waterproof mascara. You can find my review here.

 

5- Lip balm. A must if your lips feel swallen. I have two options here:

Option 1- When I don't feel good I really don't want to wear any makeup at all, but if I need to look presentable, I have to. So, for those days when i really don't want much on my face, I just use any chapstick I happend to have handy. Any Nivea or Liposan lipbalm will do. I've applied also Rose Hip balm (the one that I have is also bood for your nostrils when they feel raw) from Repavar. 

Option 2- I find that some color on my lips really helps making me look healty. The colors that look nice on my lips must not be nude, other wise I look even sicker. I've been using my Maybelline Baby Lips in Cherry Me! to give me some nice color, Clinique Chubby Stick Intense in Heftiest Hibiscus and my Bourjois Lipstick Color Boost in 01 Red Sunrise. All those shades make me look better, and on days when my eyes looked specially small and didn't want to draw any atencion to them, those shades were my best option.

What are your best friends to make you look better when you're sick??

Thanks for reading!

Fine One One Blush by Benefit Review

I bought this blush without thinking. I liked the idea behind it. I found it to be a cool new product by benefit and I was curious about it.

I was at a Benefit counter in Barcelona and I was just looking at their products. My idea that day was not to buy anything unless I really needed it. But I paid no attention to my mind. Of course I needed a new blush... we all do, right?? ;)

I have a love-hate feeling with this product. Let me explain...

Benefit Cosmetics came out with a new idea of highlight+blush+contour. You can find a link to their website here. This is a stick blush. Comes in a nice rosegold packaging and since it's a stic, it's easy to carry around and apply. And you can blend it with your fingers and you're good to go.

The product has 3 different shades: a pale light pink to highlight, a hot coral pink to give color to your cheeks and an orange shade that gives color and helps you contour your face. You only have to blend them a little bit and you're done.

The colors look quite nice when you swatch them. In the next picture you can see how they look when they are not blended. 

The pale pink highlight is nice and once blended looks great on my NC30 skin tone. You can dab a little bit of it with your fingers and then apply it on its own. So beautiful.

The middle coral hot pink is nice. I tend to gravitate toward these pinks when I look for blushes, so no surprice there. Of course i like this blush.

The last shade is a nice orange shade. Pretty on its own too, and pretty when blended in with the pink. 

Actually, when you blend the orange and the pink you end up with a gorgeous coral shade that I love!

But here ends what I like.

There are a few thinks that I dislike about this blush. Starting with the price and ending with the staying power.

• Price: It's about 30€ at Sephora. 
• When blended, it really looses its pigmentations.
• I have oily skin, and when I apply it without a powder product on top, my cheeks end up looking oily in a couple of hours, wich leads me to the next point,
• Staying power: As soon as it starts getting oily, the color fades away, and in less than 4 hours there's no blush on my face. 
• If I apply a powder product on top the original color of this blush disappears. If I apply a powder blush, the color you will see in my face is the one from the powder blush. This Benefit Fine One One does not show and does not leave any trace that it's been there. And if I apply a mattifying powder, the color of the Fine One One looses even more picmentation, but if you apply too much of it to keep the pigmentation you want, then it even gets more oily.

I think there are more things I don't like about this blush than the ones I do like... It's not a bad product, I will not repurchase it when I finish it (if I ever finish it). Maybe I'll give it to someone with dryer skin than mine, and see if that blush works better on other skin types.

Thanks for reading,