Highlighter 101

Now I'm sure most of you will have read this blog post title and thought what the jeff is she on about?! Those of you who know me, and know that I work in a stationery department must be thinking jesus Kez you need to get out more love...

I digress, this post is not about Stabilo Highlighters, although I feel like these were my only companions during the exam period *shudders* But in fact the makeup product aside from mascara that I couldn't live without, the beautiful creations in the makeup industry that allow me to resurrect as my alter-ego, the angel Gabriel, with my etherial glow.

As an 18 year old, I feel like most girls my age when it comes to the finish of their make-up, are more fond of a matte finish with pretty full coverage to cover up the joys that come with being both a teenager and a teenage girl for that matter (if you get my gist?) However, personally I much prefer a dewier complexion.
This all begins in the base of the makeup, underneath my foundation I use my trusty Mac Strobe Cream and Mac Fix+. 

 Both smell like watermelon (delicious) and remove the dullness from the skin and make it look like it really is glowing from within (I'm sorry I'm a sucker for a cliche, you'll have to get used to that.) I apply a dot of Strobe Cream on each cheek, on the chin, on the nose and a few on the forehead, rub it all in and then spray a few sprays of Fix+ all over my face, and then I'm good to start on the make up!

Without sounding like a condescending mother, obviously using a dewier-based foundation rather than matte formula foundation will give you a dewier look.. Most people make the mistake of thinking that a dewier foundation= light to medium coverage and that matte foundations equate to full coverage but I disagree!

I use Nars Sheer Glow in the shade Mont Blanc, this foundation can provide quite light coverage if you use a small amount and a gentle hand, but it's definitely buildable and can be applied in layers to provide a really full coverage foundation, (Kimmy K eat your heart out.)

I use a Real Techniques Miracle Complexion Sponge to apply my foundation, to add to the dewiness, I spray the sponge with some Fix+ beforehand just to make the application a lot smoother. This sponge is an amazing dupe for the highly-raved about Beauty Blender (also half the price!)

Now moving onto my babies (the highlighters themselves, I'm no mother). When it comes to highlighters, you can obviously get them in both powder and liquid form. In addition there are two types in my eyes, there are the ones with a pearlescent (silvery) undertone and ones with more of a golden undertone.
When I first delved into the glorious world of highlighters, I began with the pearlescent highlighters, my first liquid one was Benefit's Highbeam, with its nail polish-like applicator, it's very easy to apply, just dab a few dots along each cheekbone, a few dots down the bridge of the nose, under the arch of each eyebrow and on the cupids bow (or paint your whole face in my case) and you're good to glow (geddit?) (I'm so sorry). I then discovered the MUA- Undress Your Skin Highlighting Powder. Powder formulated, as the name suggests, this is another pearlescent highlighter, which I use every day to highlight the inner corner of my eye to brighten my lil' eyeballs up and make me look more awake! (And a bloomin' bargain at just 3 pounds!!) However, unlike Highbeam I found that this powder formulation didn't really have a lot of staying powder on the old cheekbones. So with that in mind, I tried a little something.. Putting Highbeam on first and then the MUA- Undress Your Skin Highlighting Powder over the top of it. KAPOW. Get your shades out, your cheekbones are blinding these highlighter-less peasants.

However, unsatisfied with my pathetic highlighter collection, I branched out a bit. Seeing as I had started with Benefit, I thought I would try another of their highlighters, this time Watts Up went straight in my basket (dare you to read that not in THE voice, you know the one don't lie). And this was when I discovered the delights of golden-toned highlighters. This highlighter comes in packaging shaped like a light bulb (witty) and is in a stick form, I simply rub my ring finger on the top of it to warm the product up and then dab it (who am I kidding.. SMOTHER IT) onto my cheekbones. Very easy to blend, this highlighter is rather fabulous if you're on the market for a golden-toned highlighter. But alas! I still wasn't satisfied.

Then I found Mac Soft & Gentle, this was the game changer.

I'm not gonna lie I did just open up a thesaurus tab, and typed in 'beautiful' to try and find more elaborate and fancy-sounding words to try and describe this highlighter. But I'm gonna go with how I would honestly describe it, and that is ABSOLUTELY F*CKING INCREDIBLE. Like seriously, this highlighter was frisbee-d down to me from the heavens by Angel Gabriel himself. Definitely my favourite highlighter, if you're only looking to wear one highlighter at a time, like a normal person.

But guess what I did next.. That's right. I put Watts Up on first and then Soft and Gentle over the top, and there you have my favourite highlighter combo ever.

Now I'm aware that there will be some make-up pro's out there thinking, jheeze Kez, these golden toned highlighters are a bit dark for your Casper the Ghost skin tone aren't they?? And to be honest you're probably right! But I do bronze up my face alot and sometimes wear a slightly darker foundation, so that helps to make the highlighter blend into my skin rather than looking like two rose golden stripes on my face..

 From left to right (if you make them out, don't worry your sight isn't deteriorating it's just my crappy camera)
MUA, Undress Your Skin,
Benefit, Highbeam
Mac- Soft and Gentle
Benefit, Watts Up

But don't be thinking that this highlighter addiction has come to an end, oh no.

Last Friday, my mum and I ventured into the make-up mothership that is Selfridges, and i just happened to stumble upon the Charlotte Tilbury counter??? What are the chances?? The lovely  makeup artist proceeded to apply some of the Filmstar Bronze & Glow Palette to my cheekbones...

Lets just say, as soon as I can justify spending 49 pounds (where is the pound sign on a mac keyboard?!!) on a bronzer and highlighter duo, then I will be right back at ya with a new highlighter review

Kez xxxx

Hello, is it me you're looking for?

Well hello there fellow keyboard tapper, what a pleasure it is that you stumbled upon my little corner of the worldwide web!
My name's Kerry (as the blog name suggests... not just a pretty face ya know), I currently reside in a little village just outside Cambridge and I've just left Sixth Form College where I studied English Literature (Satan's subject), Psychology and Dance.  Upon deciding that my weary post-exam bones needed some time relax, I made the executive decision to take a gap year!
Now for those of you who aren't familiar with a gap year (or gap yah should I say) this is where you take a year out between leaving sixth form and venturing onto university. In exactly 17 days (h o l y c r a p) I will find out whether I have secured a place at Bournemouth University to study Multimedia Journalism. Regardless of whether it all goes to plan or goes absolutely pete tong, I am still left with a whole year to do whatever the heck I like! (insert lady in red dress dancing emoji x3) I had planned on living the dream and scouring the journalism industry in the search for internships and placements to try and gain some experience in my desired field of future work, but then reality gave me a slap round the face and I realised that I would have to find myself one of those full time job things? Now I have a part time job in retail and have recently applied to work there full time (fingers crossed) so hopefully this money will enable me to fund some possible internships, alongside my makeup, clothes, jewellery, handbag, tech addiction..

In addition, to this, as much as I would love to glamourise my life as a jet-setting, adventurous 18 year old who has experienced all that this ol' globe of ours has to offer, I am not at all a seasoned traveller. There are many a 4 year old who have travelled WAY more than lil' Kezza M has. Having  said that, I was lucky enough two years ago, to travel all around America with my best friend Lauren (who I'm sure you will meet very soon) and her family, seeing the sights of New York, San Francisco, Los Angeles and my favourite place ever, Pismo Beach, to name but a few. I also visited the lovely city of Rethymno in Crete a couple of weeks back, also with Lauren (a.k.a. Loz, Laur, Rear of the Year, that last one is pretty self explanatory in person) which was very relaxing and wonderful, apart from our two Danish stalkers, and the fact that I thought I had turned into a bronzed goddess only to discover that this was as a result of the gradual tanner that was incorporated in the aftersun that I was using...
Now to the point of all this travel ramble, I have realised that I have yet to see and experience pretty much the whole world, so in light of this I plan to spend a few months of my gap year travelling! WOOHOO (hopefully with Lauren, once she has decided what she plans to do next!) We have gushed over our love for America, our dreams of visiting Venice Beach and soaking up the Californian sun and mostly and our constant yearning to go back to the Seacrest Hotel in Pismo Beach, (in all honesty, mainly so that we can keep stealing the freshly baked peanut butter cookies that they leave in reception at 12pm and 5pm.. yes I do still remember the time slots because they were THAT good) But also, we are dying to visit Australia, now to all you Aussies out there, seeing us milky skinned brits traipsing around you're beautiful country with backpacks bigger than our futures, my desperation to visit must be nothing new. But to me the thought of visiting Oz is like realising that Christmas is only 5 months away (eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeek).

I won't make this debut entry too long, as by now most of you will have read the title of the post, and the cliché Lionel Richie lyrics were enough to send you running for the hills and you definitely won't have even made this far. But the possibility that one poor human has made it this far (hi mum) is enough to motivate me to spend my time documenting the crazy adventures of my gap year! I'm not going to tell you what to expect to see on here, because it could be anything from makeup/clothes, to a drunken 3am post of my love for nugz (chicken nuggets for you normal people)

(with accompanying pictures ofc)

Kez xxxx