If I Could Only Own 10 Products

When I think of how much makeup I own it is a little overwhelming, not to mention that it also makes me feel incredibly bad to make me see how much money I have spent on money over the years. I can quite easy use up to 40 different products a day when I am doing my makeup in a morning and that doesn’t even include skincare. I know that probably sounds really bad, but I tend to mix different products together in order to get something that is perfect for me, so I may only use a tiny amount of each of the products. But, recently I saw another blogger doing this kind of post and I thought that it would be perfect for somebody who owns and wears as much makeup as I do.

For me to narrow my makeup collection down to just 10 items was so difficult. Everything that I have in my collection are things that I like. If I have something that doesn’t really work for me, I won’t hold on to it just for the sake of it, I will throw it out or give it away, so everything I own is something that I like and wear. I just had to strip this all the way back and think of the things that I reach for the most out of everything else and what I would really miss if they weren’t in my collection anymore. Anyway, without any more rambling, here are the makeup products I would have, if I could only own 10 things…

Benefit Porefessional

I used to think that primers were a myth. I thought it was just a money-making scam for cosmetic companies. I didn’t use primers for the longest time and my makeup still looked nice and professional. Then, one Christmas I got this in a small Benefit gift set and I have to admit that I really fell in love with this Benefit Porefessional Primer. Even though in the past I have tried out different primers, I think I just hadn’t tried out the right one for my skin, which is why I never really wanted to use them or I didn’t notice a difference in how my makeup looked. But, this was just a game changer for me.

This stuff has been around for years and I am pretty sure that people will be pretty clued up on it. But this is a pore minimising primer. I tend to use this primer, just in the areas where I feel I need it, which is primarily around my nose. I tend to get quite oily here throughout the day and my pores can be pretty noticeable, so I use this just in them areas. As soon as I go in with this Benefit Porefessional primer, I notice a big difference, my skin looks much smoother and even. Makeup just glides on top of this primer so easily and looks ever so pretty. Then, throughout the day I find that the oils around my nose are much less, they are not gone all together, but it is certainly less noticeable when I use this primer. This is just a great day to day face primer and I do notice a difference in my makeup when I reach for this.

Nars Sheer Glow

When it came to whittle down my favourite foundations, I found it so hard. I buy foundations more than any other type of makeup. For me, if my skin looks really nice and perfected then I feel like I am ready to take on my day, which is why over the past couple of years, my foundation collection has run out of control. The only foundation that I have ever bought that has made me stop in my tracks is this Nars Sheer Glow Foundation. After buying, trying and falling in love with this foundation, I stopped my obsessive buying because I finally felt that I had found my holy grail foundation. I used to see so many people online raving about this stuff and never thought it could live up to it, so I didn’t buy it, now I wish that I did!

Usually foundations that contain the world ‘glow’ or ‘luminous’ in the title, don’t work for my oily skin type. But, I was sick of seeing other people using this foundation and looking bomb as fuck, so I wanted to try it out for myself and give it a go. The coverage that this foundation gives is just out of this world, it is a medium to full coverage, but it can be very easily built up to cover everything. The foundation is very nice and lightweight on the skin and it blends in like a dream. I have used a Beauty Blender and a buffing brush with this foundation and it is perfection every single time. Each time I reach for this foundation, I know that my makeup is going to look flawless and really healthy at the same time. I cannot get enough of this foundation and I adore reaching for it.

Tarte Shape Tape Concealer

This Shape Tape Concealer is another one of them products that doesn’t need an introduction here on my blog. As some of you may remember, when this product was first released and massively popular I didn’t want to try it out. This stuff is so awkward to get here in the UK and I didn’t want to spend my money on something that I couldn’t buy again. I think the only place you can get this here in the UK is still QVC and they charge an arm and a leg for it. In the end, I buy this on the odd weekend where Tarte have free shipping and it works out a somewhat reasonable price. Just as a heads up, they tend to do the free shipping weekends when they have their national holidays so around 4^th of July or Thanksgiving.

Anyway, I think the thing what most of the world love about this concealer is how pigmented the product is and how well and easily it blends out. Usually when you have a highly pigmented product, you have to sacrifice the texture of the product, but this just seems to have it all. I am obsessed with how this looks each and every time I reach for it. I have many concealers in my collection that I really like, such as the Urban Decay Naked Weightless Concealer, but there is just something about this one that sets it apart from the rest and makes me reach for it over anything else that I own. Plus, the good thing about this is that you only need the tiniest amount of product and it goes the longest way. I know that most of you will have already tried this out, but for those who haven’t, I could not recommend this enough!

Charlotte Tilbury Hollywood Contour Wand

I am a big lover of contouring, I have never made a secret about that. When this product was first released by Charlotte Tilbury in August of last year, I knew that I had to try it out. I am sure that anybody knows by now that anything that is Charlotte Tilbury, I will probably love already, but when it is contouring and Charlotte Tilbury mixed together, then it is going to be a match made in heaven. The morning that this was released, I hoped on the website and bought myself two of them and I am bloody glad that I did. This is an incredible creamy contouring product and I love how this looks on my skin. Whenever I reach for this I think that it looks so stunning on the skin and super flawless each and every time.

One of the things with this product that I have seen quite a few people have an issue with is the applicator. There is a sponge applicator on the end. I will admit that when I first bought this, I was a little sceptical whether this would work well because I imagined that it would just move the foundation that I already have on, but honestly, I think it is fine. I use this product pretty much every day and I think that it is the perfect packaging for this product. I bought the deeper shade of the two and I think that it is out of this world. It blends into the skin like a dream and just looks to die for on the skin. I am yet to find something that is even anywhere near the same league as this CharlotteTilbury Hollywood Contour Wand!

Laura Mercier Translucent Powder

This is one of them products that I seem to go through phases with. Everybody should know by now that I love this powder and the RCMA No Colour Powder, I think they are both wonderful powders and do their jobs very well. The only thing that puts me off from this powder is how quickly I go through it for the price of the product, which is why I tend to lean towards the RCMA for an everyday basis. But, I cannot even start to deny that I when I reach for this Laura Mercier Translucent Powder, my makeup looks so incredible and not to mention that it lasts all day long and looks just as good at 9pm at night as it did at 7am when I first applied it.

I am sure that everybody at this stage has heard of this Laura Mercier Powder. I have had this in my collection for so many years and I thought it was just a really good setting powder. Then this seemed to take off. The other year, everybody and their mothers suddenly seemed to fall in love with it overnight. As much as I was happy that this face powder was finally getting the recognition that it deserved, for such a long time it was like gold dust trying to get your hands on it here in the UK, which was pretty irritating for a diehard fan like I am. This powder keeps me matte and at the same time is nice and breathable on my skin and never makes me look cakey, which is why I constantly repurchase this over and over again.

Benefit Precisely My Brow Pencil

I don’t think that this brow pencil really needs any kind of introduction here on my blog. When I first saw that Benefit were releasing this Precisely My Brow Pencil, I knew that I wanted to try it out. The only thing that stopped me was that I had just bought the Anastasia Brow Wiz and the two seemed to be quite similar. Even though I persevered with the Brow Wiz, I have to admit that I didn’t really love it, I found that it made getting my brows on quite a long and drawn out process and that is never what I want in a morning, which is why I didn’t buy this Benefit Brow Pencil for such a long time. In the end, I was walking through Boots and the pretty packaging caught my eye and I just had to give it a go.

What I think sets this Benefit Precisely My Brow pencil, so far ahead of anything else that I have used previously is how creamy the product is to apply to the brows. I found the Brow Wiz to be quite a firm product and this is pretty much the exact opposite, it just glides onto the skin so nice and smoothly and you get such a good colour pay off. I use the shade 4, and I find that this is a great colour for my naturally dark hair. When I go in with really light, feather like motions I can get a really natural look that is full and soft, but at the same time defined and strong. I know, that they are two things that completely contradict each other, but this brow pencil is just out of this world. I can already tell that my love affair is going to be long running with this brow pencil.

Lancôme Grandiose Mascara

I am going to be upfront here and admit that the only reason why I bought this LancômeMascara to start with was because of the stunning packaging. I feel like Lancôme always have really pretty packaging, but this mascara I think just takes the biscuit. Over the past couple of years, I saw this mascara being mentioned all over the show, it was mentioned in so many blog posts and YouTube tutorials, so naturally, it went onto my wish list and I had to try it out. I cannot even remember what any of the bloggers said about this mascara, all I knew is that the packaging was to die for and I wanted to have it in my collection. I went for it, bought it and I have been obsessed with it ever since.

Besides from the stunning packaging, the product itself is just perfection. The first thing that you notice when you open up this mascara and pull the wand out is the shape of wand itself. It has a kink in it, which at first, I wasn’t too sure about, I thought it would be quite difficult to use. It actually is so much easier, it allows your hand to sit in a much more natural position when you are applying it, especially when you are doing your non-dominant side. The brush head with the bristles is quite short, but I find that it allows for you to get a more precise application and there is less chance of mistakes and smudges. It is a great long-lasting product and even though it isn’t marketed as being waterproof, I have laughed, cried and gotten drenched in the rain with this and it hasn’t budged!

Benefit Hoola Bronzer

I don’t know what kept me from buying this bronzer for such a long time. I really wanted to try this bronzer, but from looking at it online, I just didn’t think that it would work for me and my colouring. I am quite a tanned person, naturally my skin is pretty dark. It must be the Italian blood in me, but I just tan so easily and seem to hold it all year long, so when I saw this powder online, I thought that it would be more of a natural face colour, than a bronzing shade. It wasn’t until I saw it on special offer online that I thought I would finally go for it and try it out. Not to mention that I have hell of a lot of family and friends that are always more than happy for me to donate makeup to them, that hasn’t worked out very well for me.

Needless to say, that I didn’t need to pass it onto them because I was well and truly in love with it. Compared to other bronzers in my collection, this is on the lighter side, but that isn’t necessarily a bad thing. If I want a really natural bronze look I will reach for this. The shade is just out of this world and I think it makes my makeup look flawless, each and every time that I reach for it. Also, when I a little paler this makes a great contouring shade because it isn’t a red toned bronzer. My favourite way to apply this is either with my Real Techniques Contour Brush or with my Tom Ford Bronzer brush and I think that it always looks so pretty and soft on the skin. I am sure that most people have heard and tried of this bronzer, but if you haven’t, I could not recommend it enough.

Kevyn Aucoin Sculpting Powder

I have to contour my face every single day. If I don’t contour, I literally feel l like my face is as big as a pumpkin. I am pretty sure that everybody in the world has heard of this Kevyn Aucoin Sculpting Powder, so obviously, I had to try it out. I bought it, started using it and instantly fell in love with it. I used to use a deep-toned MAC Studio Fix Powder to contour my face with, but now I reach for this Kevyn Aucoin Sculpting Powder, pretty much every single day. I find that when I pair this contouring product with my trusty Nars Ita Brush, I think my contour looks so incredibly natural and really well diffused. Like I said, I am sure that everybody has heard of this, so I will just touch on it ever so slightly.

What I think everybody and their mother seems to really love about this product is the shade. I have the ‘Deep’ version of the powder, but I think the most popular choice is the medium, but obviously, I just bought which matched my skin tone better. The thing that makes these the perfect product to contour with is the grey undertone. Anything with a grey undertone gives the illusion of a shadow being cast, which is what a natural contour looks like. I have had this same product for such a long time and I am still obsessed with it. This is just one of them products that I feel every single makeup lover should try at least once. When I reach for this I feel like my whole makeup just seems to pull together and look much more professional as opposed to other contouring powders.  

Nivea Lip Balm

Anybody who knows me, knows that I have the driest lips in the whole and entire world. It can be the height of summer and my lips will get all chapped and crack. And obviously that gets even worse in the winter. Over the years I have tried so many different products to try and make them feel a little better, but everything in my opinion just seems to be a little bit of fad, or just an instant relief whereas I want something that is going to make my lips feel better in the long term. That is where this amazing Nivea Lip balm comes into play, this is the only thing that I feel makes a difference to my lips, and what is why I buy it time and time again and have them dotted all over the place.

This Nivea Lip Balm I feel really nourishes my lips and not just the top layer of skin that is visible. I feel like this hydrate many layers of my lips to make them look really nourished and healthy. I have tried many different things such as oils and creams, but I feel like in the short term they do moisturise and make my lips feel nice, but then afterwards my lips can be even drier than they were before. I literally have these in my vanity draw, my handbag, car and even on my desk at work, I really cannot be without this Nivea Lip Balm. Super cheap, but amazing quality!

There you have it, these in my opinion are the best of the best and I really don’t think that I could be without them. I am sure that you have heard me mention each of these products time after time, but that is just because I really believe in them. Each of these products really works for me and I feel look good on my skin. As normal with all of my posts I will leave a link to all of these items down below in case you want to check any of them out. Make sure to leave me a comment down below and let me know what some of your all-time favourite products are!