The £20 Makeup Challenge

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So, I was tagged by the fabulous Justine to take part in the '£20 makeup challenge' and seeing as I've been slightly MIA with blog posts recently (sorry! uni sucks) I was definitely up for the challenge! and what a challenge it was... Now, i'm a high end beauty girl through and through so whilst looking through my makeup collection I came to the realisation that I don't actually own much hughstreet makeup so off I popped to Boots and Superdrug to devour the makeup aisles and spend my pennies. 

I took some inspiration from Justines post (read her post here) and decided to check out the Primark beauty range and seeing as I've already raved about their Lip Liner previously I thought i'd pick up their volumising mascara and brow gel which were both priced at just £1 each! Absolute bargain. I actually quite like the mascara, however it did take quite a few coats to get as voluminous as I'd usually like but I did find it to be very lengthening. It could do with being a bit more black, but thats nothing the few extra coats didn't fix! Next up was the brow gel, and at first when I pulled it out from the tube I instantly regretted buying it because what faced me looked like a reddish-gloopy mess. However, when I applied it and brushed it through with a spolie it looked fine and the colour dried dark brown luckily. The actual brush itself reminds me of the L'Oreal Brow Artist Plumper but its just a bit fatter. I don't think it will replaced my beloved Benefit Browzings, but it definitely gave my eyebrows a nice tint and helped them stay in place. The brow gel comes in three shades; clear, light brown and dark brown, so maybe next time I'm in Primark I might pick up the clear one.

I've had this Sleek Face Form Contouring and Blush Palette (light) in my collection for quite a while now and It was a godsend during this challenge! I chose this item because you get a lovely bronzer (one of my favourites!), highlighter and blusher all for £9.99. The bronzer shade is lovely and matte, whereas the blush shade looks rather glittery in the pan but the glitter doesn't actually transfer much onto the cheeks if your light handed and dab off any excess first! This is a great all round product so i'll definitely be using it more in future!

I actually really struggled to find a foundation for less than £10 on the highstreet (which actually looked half decent) so when I came across the Collection Illuminating Touch Foundation I squealed with delight. The packaging looks really luxe to start off with as Its kind of a frosted glass bottle, with a pump! YES! I chose the colour Ivory 2, which was the 2nd lightest shade out of a disappointing total of only 4 to choose from! I'm quite lucky that I have quite a pale face so I managed to find a perfect match! (For reference, I usually wear the shade Mont Blanc in Nars Sheer Glow) I applied the foundation using a Beauty Blender and I managed to get a medium-high finish after a second coat which was about 2 pumps of foundation. Best of all, this foundation only set me back £3.99! (usually £5.99... but that's not cheating right!?) I also used my holy grail concealer, Collection Lasting Perfection in light (currently £3.99 in Boots), to cover any blemishes that the foundation didn't quite cover and I also popped a bit under my eyes to brighten them.

So this is the finished look.. what do you think!? It's very similar to my usual everyday makeup which is just very natural and simple. The stand out product for me was the Collection foundation as it was so lightweight but also made my skin look dewy, so I'm definitely glad I picked that up! The total amount for this look came to £20.97... so i'm 97p over the budget (huff) but whats 97p in the grand scheme of things 'ey!? I think I did pretty darn good if I don't say so myself...

I challenge the lovely Emily to do this tag next! and also anyone else who fancies it.

What do you think of the products I've used?

xo