Skincare 101

When choosing products for your skin, it’s important to determine your skin type. This allows the products for your skin to maximize their benefit and stops any unexpected dramas! We’ve all been there when we have tried something that wasn’t for our skin type, so to stop this from reoccurring it’s necessary to find out what type of skin we have.

Skin types can be split into 5 different categories: dry, oily, combination and normal. The way to determine your skin type is to wash your face with a cleanser and wait for an hour. After one hour, note which areas on your face feels tight. Then grab some tissue paper and pat a separate piece on the center/outer cheeks, outer forehead and around the nose. Examine the tissue, if the residue is oily on all the tissues it means you have an oily skin type. If the residue is dry/flaky it means you have dry skin. If both is present and your T-zone (forehead, nose, chin and center of cheeks), it means you have combination skin type. For normal skin, there would be no residue left on the tissues.

People with small pores tend to have dry skin and larger pores usually indicate oily skin. However, our skin can be influenced by other factors including stress, hormones, emotions and weather. For example, we tend to use a thicker moisturizer during winter because our skin seems drier.     

So hopefully this helps you when purchasing skincare products! If interested, please let me know if you would like some recommendations for different skin types! Taking good care of skin not only means you save money on the amount of make up you use but also makes application easier!

Sigma Brushes Essential Kit Review

Purchased this set of brushes around a month ago. There was free international shipping for 48 hours and I was super excited as I was contemplating whether or not to purchase this brush set for around a year. The free shipping gave me the final push needed!

Haven’t always used brushes as I usually use the eye shadow brushes supplied in kits or applied foundation with sponges/fingers. Was deciding which one of the brushes kit to get, whether the ‘Essential Kit’ ($98 USD) or to grab the ‘Essential Kit – Make Me Cool’ ($120 USD) was better. The only difference was whether I wanted the colourful brush set and the extra container storing the brushes. I eventually gave into the cute packaging and decided to pay the extra $28USD, considering it was free shipping.

 Brushes Included:

E05 - Eye Liner: Create smooth and even lines. Use with gel or liquid liners. 

Have not used this considering I don’t use gel eyeliner. Hopefully I will have a chance to try it out sometime.

E30 - Pencil: Soften and smoke out lines. Soften pencil liners along the top and bottom lash lines, add shadow to line the eyes, or use to highlight inner corner of eyes.

Handy to use for bottom lashes and for applying eye shadow on top of liner.

E40 - Tapered Blending: Soft blended crease. Using just the tips to apply colour, sweep back and forth through the crease for a diffused and blended finish. 

Love this brush, so much easier to blend eye shadow colours.

E55 - Eye Shading: Even application of color. Place color across the whole lid for an even and strong application of product. 

E60 - Large Shader: Uniformly cover the whole lid with product. Apply cream shadow base or cream shadow for quick and even coverage. 

E65 - Small Angle: Create precise lining. Moves fluidly and easily across the upper and lower lash lines. Use with gel, cream or powder liners. 

E70 - Medium Angled Shading: Soft application of color. Use for brow highlighting or to blend the crease.

F30 - Large Powder: Even powder application. Uniform blending of powder products onto the face and body. 

One of my favourites that I use on a daily basis, simply use this to powder on top!

F40 - Large Angled Contour: Subtle cheek application. Use the angle to softly contour the cheekbone. Can also be used to apply blush. 

I use this to apply blush; not really a big fan of this as I think the angle is quite strange.

F50 - Duo Fibre: Creates an airbrush effect onto the skin. Can be used with powder, liquid or cream products. 

If I had to pick one item out of this kit to keep forever it would definitely be this. I didn’t realise how easy it was to stipple on your foundation for a quick and nice airbrush effect!

F60 - Foundation: Smooth foundation application. Apply liquid or cream products such as foundation and primer. 

F70 - Concealer: Conceal small areas. Conceal the hardest to reach areas such as around the nose and eyes. 

One of the brushes I use everyday, more accurate to pinpoint the area needed for concealer.

If you’re not really concerned about what type of brushes you have and just want a complete set of quality brushes, I would definitely recommend this. I purchased my Benefit Foundation brush for around $30-$40AUD, whereas I paid less than $120AUD for a complete set of brushes. If you’re thinking about purchasing Benefit brushes, go for these instead as their quality feels exactly the same. I have read other reviews and most say that these brushes aren’t a dupe for MAC ones. If you’re a beginner or just want something to use everyday, definitely go for these ones!

Disclaimer: Product was purchased by us and not sponsored by Sigma or any other company, our review is entirely our personal view.

Summer Essentials

A scorching 42 degrees celsius in Sydney today, so I would like to share with you some of my essentials for this season.

Sportsgirl Protect Me Sunscreen SPF 30+

Not sure if they still stock this anymore, but if you have a chance do pick one up! With a refreshing sweet scent, this is not your typical sunscreen. I love how it reminds me of a tropical holiday.

Garnier Skin Naturals Miracle Skin Perfector (All in one BB Cream)

Love this because it doesn't have a grey undertone and not as thick as other BB creams. Although it is thicker than foundation. I like to use a stippling brush instead of my fingers, for a thinner and more even application. Good thing is it only takes a few minutes to apply and then you're good to go!

Face Mask

I think any brand of mask will do. The most important thing is to keep your face hydrated and placing a mask on also has a great cooling effect!

Maybelline Dream Nude Airfoam

Maybelline Dream Nude Airfoam

I'm not usually a fan of drugstore products but I decided to give this one a try. Usually around $22 in Australia, Chemist Warehouse had a 50% off beauty products, so while I was on the way to pick up my Garnier BB Cream I decided to grab this as well.

I must say, one of the greatest joy is being able to shake it and hear that click-clack noise. It's quite difficult to control the amount of product being dispense. The first pump a white foam appears, this is for practice. The next pump is the actual product. Light and airy, it feels a bit strange applying mousse foundation to my skin so I just follow the instructions and apply in a circular motion.

It feels quite oily and watery and the bubbles disappears with a touch.  The coverage is said to be light to medium, but is much better than I expected. It doesn't feel like I'm wearing any make up and matches my skin colour perfectly. 

Pros:

• Light weight on skin
• Easy to apply
• Matches skin tone

Cons:

• Difficult to dispense
• Oily 

Overall rating, probably a 3.5/5. I would recommend it for those that wish to find something with light-medium coverage and quick to apply. For reference, I was using 150 Classic Ivory and I am usually a MAC NC 25.