If I Could Only Use Five Products


I've been relying on makeup to perk up my face since I was about fourteen, but up until I started blogging my everyday look was just foundation, black kohl eyeliner and mascara (bit of a shocker compared with the ten or so products I use daily now!) I must have owned loads of eyeshadows, cheek and lip products over the years, but for the most part I tended to keep it quite minimal now that I think about it. Blogging has turned me into a self confessed product junkie, and while I do still favour a fairly natural look in the daytime- this post got me thinking about just how many products I actually use when I do a full face of makeup. I decided if I had to go back to basics and only use five products, or was held at gunpoint by some evil makeup fiend and told I could only use five things (yeah I have a wild imagination) what exactly would I go for? The most important things for me are an even base and defined eyes, and so this is what I made my decisions based on. It was a lot harder than expected- here's what made the cut!

Face
I'm yet to find my holy grail foundation, but if I had to pick I'd go with Revlon Colourstay. Once it's set with Rimmel's Stay Matte powder the coverage is good and it lasts all day, I just hate the fact there's no pump on the bottle. I very rarely use concealer anyway and so skipping it was an easy choice, I do have redness to cover but the Colourstay/ Stay Matte combo generally takes care of that. As much as I love blushes I've gone with a bronzer as one of my five products instead, a matte bronzer like Hoola can be used to contour as well as add some warmth and colour to the skin so essentially you're getting two products in one. I look horribly pale without a bronzer, I must have looked like death a few years ago when I rarely used one. 

Eyes
For eyes, at the absolute minimum a black liner and a mascara is a must for me. My eyes are quite big and because they're so light I feel like they need definition; although I'd usually I'd use a liquid liner for the top lash line, I'd line the top with the same pencil at a push (which is what I used to do for years). My weapon of choice is Urban Decay's Perversion, the blackest baddest most long wearing liner you'll ever meet. Mascara is an obvious one, I don't actually like this particular mascara that much it just happens to be the one that I'm using at the moment. My regular makeup routine includes a neutral smokey eye on top of a cream eyeshadow base- again things I could maybe reluctantly skip if I absolutely had to.

The next products I would have added into the mix (in order) would be my Naked 2 palette followed by a cream shadow base; I think at a push I could use the eyeshadows without a primer, especially for just a light daytime look. Next would be my Mac blush in Peaches, a black liquid eyeliner for my top lash line and then some kind of jumbo lip crayon (balm, stain and glossy finish in one, so the most savvy choice!) I'd then go for my HD brows palette; I know brows would probably be a lot higher up most people's list, but despite mine being fairly thin they're still quite dark and defined so are the lesser of my worries when it comes to making myself look vaguely respectable. Finally it would be highlighter and concealer (most likely Mac's Lightscapade and Rimmel Stay Matte Concealer)- two things that are handy to own but that I don't use daily. I have a feeling brows, concealer and lip products will be ranked high on a lot of people's lists and my preferences are completely backwards!

Which five products would you choose? Would you pick similarly to me, or go with a completely different set of items?