OILY SKIN SAVIOURS | 3 Make Up Products You Need In Your Make Up Bag

I don't know what your skin likes to do for fun but mine likes to produce excess oil leaving me with enough shine on my T-Zone area to safely guide sailors back to shore. Since I'm a killjoy, I like to find products that will stop my skin's oil-slick impersonations and give me at very least of couple of hours with nice, matte skin. When I find products that work well for me, I hold on tight and use them religiously until my skin rebels and goes back to doing its oily thang. Right now, my skin stays matte throughout most of the day and it's thanks to these three products: 

THE PRIMER | The Body Shop Instablur™

I love, love, love this primer. I've already raved about it in this blog post, and will rave about it forever, and by forever I mean until it breaks me out or I find a better primer, but for now it is my go-to. If you have oily skin, you need this in your life because it not only primes your skin for make up and lengthens the its staying power, it also smooths out your skin, minimising the look of blemishes and large pores. On a lazy day I just smooth this on, fill in my brows and I'm good to go.

THE POWDER | L'Oréal Paris Nude Magic BB Powder

All the benefits of BB cream but with none of the oiliness that tends to accompany them in a nice compact powder that you can apply directly for a light-to-medium coverage or use to set your liquid foundations - in other words, perfect. I didn't realise this is what I had been looking for until I found this. I've written more about it in this post here, but all you really need to know is: mattifying, beautifying, gorgeous velvet finish. (Just make sure to build it up slowly or the only word you'll think when you look in the mirror is cakey, and not the good kind).

THE FIXING SPRAY | KIKO Milano Make Up Fixer 

If I had to describe this in one sentence it would be: a super-affordable make up fixing spray that sets all your hard work into place without irritating your skin. It has become a beauty essential in my make up bag as a finishing touch just to extend the life of the mattifying effect of my products (check out this post for a full review). On an average day at university, my make up is done by 5.30am and I don't get back in until 6pm, and with the make up fixer, I know I don't need to worry about my make up during that time.

Have you tried any of these? Do you have a make up product you cannot live without?

REVIEW: KIKO | Make Up Fixer

If your skin is on the oilier side, you will have no doubt experienced the phenomenon of make up either sliding off your face or simply disappearing so that by the end of the day, you look very little like the fresh-faced beauty you did in the morning. Primers help a tremendous amount, but sometimes you just need that little extra help to keep everything all in place: enter KIKO Milano Make Up Fixer, the fragrance-free fixing spray that's about to become your make up best friend. 

Before this, I had never tried a make up fixing spray. I'd seen countless Youtubers finishing off their make up looks with either the Urban Decay De-Slick or the Mac Prep + Prime Fix + but given the price tags of these products, I was hardly going to go out and get them without being sure it was a product I'd even get much use out of. So when I spotted the KIKO Make Up Fixer at just €7.90, I knew I had to give it a try - and it has not disappointed.

The first couple of times I used this were more practice runs to perfect my aim (spraying something on your face with your eyes closed whilst holding it roughly 20cm away isn't something that comes naturally to me), but even from the first patchy applications, I noticed a massive difference in the staying power of my make up. Everything just stays relatively put - and matte. One of my pet peeves is mattifying products only remaining mattifying for a couple of hours before my skin wins out - the KIKO Make Up fixer helps the make up last that much longer in the battle against the shine. 

I just love this little beauty: thanks to the Chamomile in this product it's gentle on the skin and feels quite cooling, it's hypoallergenic so it hasn't broken me out and I am really happy that it's fragrance-free. After the initial cosmetic alcohol smell which is quite sharp, it fades away and you forget you even sprayed this bad boy until you look at yourself in the mirror in the evening and are amazed that you still have make up on your face. (Well, I'm amazed anyway).

I highly recommend this if you've been meaning to try fixing sprays but don't want it to leave a gaping hole in your bank balance or if you have oily skin - you need this in your make up bag. 

Have you tried make up fixing sprays? Do you have a favourite?