The "Evening Out" Haul

I thought I'd do a bit of a haul for what I might wear for a night out. It's relatively simple, but semi-fancy because some of the products used are really quite nice and luxurious. It all comes down to only a handful of items, because as much as I sometimes like to fuss and play around with my makeup, I like to know that I can do a quick job when I'm pressed for time and can still end up with a pretty good result. Without further ramblings, here we go!

The Haul...

Concealer...

Estée Lauder's Smoothing Cream Concealer in shade Ivory. It's a good concealer with a lovely texture, but I'm always undecided as to how much I like it and whether it's worth the price tag. What I like about it is that it is a nice shade, leaning more into the violet tones and no where near the orange hues, which is great, and hard to find. However, the coverage is not the best, as it is not opaque enough to be any match for my naturally dark under-eye area. When I use this, it makes my under-eyes a little bit brighter, but the circles are still there. It's nice for a more natural me look, so I still use it sometimes when I want a more toned-down makeup job. I can't really recommend this as a purchase though, cause you get less of it than you would in a five dollar drugstore brand concealer, which is stingy of the people at Estée Lauder, and it looks better when applied with the fingertips, but is hard to spread out that way, and I always feel like half the product ends up on my fingers and gets wasted, because it sets on the skin so quickly that I can't get it all off on the eyes. It's a loosing battle. Not to mention I have a five-dollar Rimmel that I like better. I'll review that some time.

Eye Shadow and Primer...

These two sort of go together, really. I can't wear my Dior pallets without primer, because they don't last at all, which is really disappointing (Dior, would you please get your act together). Using a primer gives the makeup the value it ought to have had on its own. I know, the value goes down anyway because I have to use an expensive primer to get the value I should have already had out of the eye shadow, but I feel like the size of the primer I have doesn't make the overall value plummet at much as it would if it were just a tiny, regular eye shadow primer. The one I use, Clarins Beauty Flash Balm, is a nice big 50ml, which goes ridiculously far when you're using it only for the eyes. Beauty Flash Balm doubles as a foundation primer and an intensive face mask. I don't use foundation much these days, pretty well never actually. But I do use eye shadow. I find that this makes such a nice primer, making my shadows last for ages and go on better, and because of its benefits as a skincare product, it does a great job moisturising the area too. I like that benefit, because makeup tends to dry up my skin, and my eyes need a lot of gentle care and extra hydration. It works out really well. Here is a picture of the fabulous Dior case by the way, I cannot show the makeup without the packaging. It's pretty fantastic. Which it better be.

Lips...

The lip gloss I chose for this haul is Chanel's Aqualumière gloss in shade 66 Freeze. One thing I've found I can't stinge on is gloss. I hate cheap glosses, don't like the feel or look of them, don't like the packaging, nothing. One thing I ask myself when it comes to stinge or splurge is "does the price redeem a cheaper version of it", and in this instance, it's a resounding NO. I like get as much value as I can out of a pricey gloss though, so if I'm going to wear one, I like to put on a thin coat of lip balm underneath. It has to be something with petroleum in it so that it acts as an impermeable barrier, because the one thing that kills the shine of a good lip gloss is lip absorption. You'd think it was air contact, but no. If I have the balm underneath, it retains its lustre.

The Perfume...

More and more I am reaching for Allure. It's perfection is undeniable. I can sniff others, trying to choose something to wear, having something else in mind, but the second I smell this I can't wear anything else. Allure EDT is dignified but chill. It's enveloping, intoxicating, sweet, floral, seductive, dense, light, airy, aloof, soft, comforting, daring, something to be craved. It's springtime and summertime tangled into one uplifting and sensual fragrance. Happiness is... 

So there we are! A quick and simple yet still sophisticated going out haul! It doesn't have to be complicated to be stunning.

Have a great day, and thanks for reading!

A.