Budget Friendly Everyday Minimalist Look

It's been a long time since I have done a look post -  so I thought I'd share with you my typical makeup style these days - the minimalist look. There's not a plethora of products to layer over, just a slick of foundation to even out my skintone, blush and lipstick for some colour, defined brows, mascara on curled lashes over lined and lightly shaded eyes to widen it up and away I go.

For an everyday look, I don't think you need to spend a small fortune (and some of us don't have the disposal income to do so) so I've decided to showcase how to achieve with basic products that are budget friendly and costs less than $20 per item.

Everyday Minimalist Look
First up, the products I used are below:

Face
Rimmel London Match Perfection in shade #102 Light Nude A$17.95*
Face of Australia loose translucent powder A$11.95
BYS Blush Trio in On the Bright Side A$6.95* (reviewed here)

Eyes 
Canmake four shiny eyes eyeshadow palette in #3 Milk Chocolate (bought online for approx A$13 when our currency was above parity)
Face of Australia Impact Curl mascara A$11.95*
Maybelline Master Precise liquid liner in black A$13.95
Daiso Eyebrow pencil in Dark Brown A$2.80

Lips
Rimmel London Kate Moss lipstick in shade #103 A$11.95

All up, the cosmetics will set you back just over A$90 at full price or cheaper if you can pick up some of the items during sale periods (eg. Priceline currently have 50% off Maybelline products).

Minimalist look

As you can see, that's almost a complete essentials set of  makeup products. The only thing that is missing from this essentials kit is a good concealer which is handy if needing to cover blemishes or dark circles (I've yet to find a good one at a budget price so have not featured it here).

How to achieve the look:

1. Dot foundation of moisturised skin and use brush or fingers to blend product into skin (I always use a synthetic flat top brush to do the job). 
2. Apply one, two or all three shades in the blush duo in a "C" shape from the temples down to cheeks and blend with a makeup brush to achieve a natural flushed look. 
3. Set face makeup with loose powder using a fluffy powder brush (I set  my makeup after blush to lock in the colour for longer as well as helping to blend out any harsh lines)
4. Define the brow with this brow pencil by drawing light quick strokes to fill in sparse brows. Use a brow comb on the other end of the Daiso pencil to soften any harsh edges (a cotton tip is also handy to lighten overly draw brows). 
5. 2. layer on the mid colour from eyeshadow palette onto lids with a flat eyeshadow brush or sponge applicator. 
6. Use a crease brush to apply the deepest shade shadow in the palette 1/4 from the outer corner of eyes and then blend the edges to soften the look (sponge applicators won't work here to give that smooth look).  
7. Line eye with this precision eye liner with sharp tips that give fine defined lines that only liquid liners can provide. 
8. Curl lashes and then apply a coat or two of Impact Curl Macara. 
9. Apply lipstick onto lips directly from tube (or if you want well defined lips, use a lip brush), blot with tissue and reapply to make the colour more lasting. 

So you can see, the eye are only slightly enhanced as I've blended away aot of the colour, the cheeks are lightly flushed and lips are just natural pink shade. I usually carry this look to work as it's easy to put on in the mornings and easy to co-ordinate with any outfit without too much thought involved.

These items are products that I actually use regularly, if not everyday basis and just to create this look either as they are good value, and provide great quality. If you don't mind the non-fancy packing, the smaller selection of colours/shades, then you don't need to spend a fortune to look good.

All the products (except Canmake eyeshadow which is an Japanese cosmetic brand and only available online) can be picked up at accessible stores such as Priceline, Big-W, K-Mart or your local pharmacy.

What look do you wear everyday and how much does the products you use to create the look cost?

Products marked * were provided for editorial consideration. The rest were purchased by yours truly. 

BYS Blush Trios - Budget-friendly and Packing Punch

These days, you don't have to spend a fortune to find good cosmetics - whether they be in terms of quality, colour selection or staying power, the competition at the lower end of the market is heating up and you definitely can find value for money if you know where to look (and thankfully they are not too hard to find either!).

One such product comes from BYS. Their latest release is a collection of blush trios and being a sucker for palettes, I thought I'd give them a try.

My previous foray with BYS until this week have only been their nail polishes. I've now discovered that they has reformulated and revamped many of their makeup offering and have a full line of cosmetics ranging from foundation to blushes, lipsticks, eye shadows and liners.

BYS Blush Trios

There are four trios in this collection. From top to bottom L-R: Coral Me in for a coral pink/red based trio, Endless Summer a peachy pink collection, On the brightside, a collection of vibrant pinks and Heart Skipped a Beat for some dusty pale pink and lilac shades.

The one that landed on my desk to swatch for you today is is the bright and vibrant palette aptly called "On the Brightside".

First up, I have to say I adore the shades of this palette, they are beautiful bright colours that are perfect for making cheeks pop. On the left of the palette is a berry pink with micro shimmer that looks beautiful on its own and gives skin a glowy sheen. The middle shade is a matte hot pink and the right shade a cooler matte pink. Blended, the three shades come together nicely to create a pretty warm pink shade that gives skin a healthy sheen (left swatch below).

BYS Blush Trio- On the Bright Side: blended, shades from palette L-R on NC30 skin in natural light

The packaging is a sturdy albeit thin black plastic case with a clear top window to show the colours underneath. Inside sits three large (and I mean LARGE) colour rectangles in your chosen colour palette (you won't be running out on these for a very long time let me tell you!). These trios don't come with a travel brush but isn't missed as most included brushes are pretty useless and thrown out by me anyway.

Texture wise, the shimmery berry pink was very creamy whilst the matte shades were more powdery but are not too crumbly and easily picked up by a soft and dense long hair makeup brush (I use white goat hair brushes for my blushes and my favourite is the MAC 168 contour blush brush). Blending and layering of the colours was a cinch and helped to correct any accidental mistakes of over colouring cheeks.

 The pigmentation is amazing - all three shades deposit good colour with a single sweep over cheeks and you definitely need to be light-handed to avoid looking too like a tart rather than a naturally flushed goddess.

These blushes are also very lasting - I had them on my cheeks in the morning and at the end of the day in the office, the colours are still going strong!  I'm definitely impressed by these BYS blush trios. They are easily truly stand up well against pricier products on the market.

The colour offerings are all very versatile and will take you from morning to night without the need to touch up (unless you want to strengthen the colours at night). At the price of $6.95 per trio palette, you can afford to collect them all!

Stay tuned for the next post where I do a look using entirely budget-friendly products.

BYS Blush Trio 8gm - RRP $6.95 each from K-Mart, selected pharmacies, Ice Accesories, Cosmetics Plus or online at FashionAddict

Disco Nails with BYS Glitter Dust

I've seen many fun and innovative nail products come into the market in recent times (cue those press-on patterned nail strips, caviar nails, nail art pens etc), but nothing has gotten me as excited as the recent BYS glitter dust nail polish sets.

Not only is it give impressive results, it is very easy to apply as well – I watched this video below and knew I had to give it a go myself.

Now with your typical glitter nail polish, the glitter is already mixed into the nail enamel formula and can be hard to build a consistently glittery finish.

BYS Glitter Dust for Nails 

Shades: Star Crossed Lovers (pink) and Feeling the Sparkles (purple)

With BYS Glitter Dust, it’s actually two separate products: a normal opaque nail polish and a matching tub of micro glitter and gives you perfect results every time – I guarantee it.

How to get glamorous glittery nails in 4 easy steps

Disco nails in 4 easy steps with BYS

1. Apply the nail polish as you would normally. 
2. While nail is still wet, dip the nail into the tub of glitter so it sticks onto the finger nail. Don’t worry about the glitter going over the edge, as you have no product for it to stick on, it won’t stay. 
3. Use the included a brush tool to brush off excess glitter around the edge of nails. 
4. Slick on a top coat to seal the glitter onto nail and prevent fall outs.
5. Viola! You are done. 

How easy was that?

Just be careful of the glitter fallout during application/dusting off so make sure you spread a newspaper under your working area to keep your table/floor clean afterwards.

The results are stunning and sparkles are like a disco ball on your digits. Available in 11 shades, there’s one to wear for every glamorous occasion when you need to bring some bling to your nails.

What do you think of these glitter nails? Are you into nail art? Share with me your thoughts.

RRP A$.795 per glitter pack at K-mart, Gloss Accessories, Cosmetics Plus, selected pharmacies and Online at Fashion Addict.

This featured product was provided for consideration.