Whenever I’m in the mood for an online beauty splurge, Cult Beauty is always my shopping destination of choice which is why this post is very exciting for me. I’ve collaborated with Cult Beauty for an amazing Pinterest giveaway and I couldn’t be happier. If you follow me on any of my social media channels, you’ll know that Pinterest is my absolute favourite social media platform so to combine both Pinterest and Cult Beauty is the dream collaboration and I really hope you choose to enter the giveaway as it’s such an epic prize.
Cult Beauty are the one stop beauty shop with brands and products you sometimes can’t find anywhere else. The Cult Beauty team scour the globe to discover the beauty realm’s latest and greatest so we can find all of our favourites (and future go-tos) in one (shoppable) place.
As a customer I favour Cult Beauty for many reasons; their fantastic customer service, their extensive range of beauty brands from the affordable to the super luxe, their frequent offers, and their social media campaigns. For example, every Sunday on Instagram Stories, Cult Beauty choose one of their staff members to share their skincare routine and I love discovering new brands and products, and seeing the products being used.
Whether you love going glam or prefer your brows beautifully brushed-up and ‘boyish’, their lovingly edited range makes it easy to satisfy all makeup cravings offering the very best make up brands from all around the world, all available to buy under one roof.
The theme of our giveaway is My Cult Beauty Edit which couldn’t be more apt and we’re wanting you to create a Pinterest board sharing images from the Cult Beauty website to show us which products would feature in your ultimate makeup bag. I’ve included all of the official rules below, so you know exactly what you need to do to enter and I have my ultimate makeup bag here to show you incase you need any inspiration on which products to include within your giveaway entry.
My Cult Beauty Edit #CultBeautyEdit
No ultimate makeup bag post would be complete without the obvious.. a makeup bag and I chose the Cult Beauty Vanity Bag and couldn’t be more happy with it. It’s so much bigger than I anticipated, and it has a lovely faux Saffiano leather effect which looks as if it would be really hard wearing. It’s 17cm in width and 24cm in height, and holds everything I need for a full face of makeup and room to spare too.
The bag has gold hardware, a mirror within the lid of the bag for makeup on the go and an handy elasticated pocket on the inside. The walls are lightly padded too so it protects your products inside, and it looks a lot more luxurious than its £20 price tag. If you want to know which items I’ve chosen for my ultimate makeup bag, keep on reading….
Skin Prep
After applying my morning skincare products, the very first step within my makeup routine is primer. I chose the Stila Cosmetics One Step Prime which is one of Stila Cosmetics most recent primer launches. I’ve heard so much about the Stila One Step Correct Primer which is a colour correcting primer, but I don’t need very much colour correction so the One Step Prime sounded ideal as it’s a serum primer which combines a crystal clear base with the optimal balance of skin smoothing silicones.
It has a crystal clear base containing 50% water for a lighter, more refreshing feel than most silicone-based primers. I like silicone based primers for their blurring abilities but they can feel heavy on the skin, that’s the opposite for One Step Prime which is why it made my Cult Beauty edit.
Once my primer has been applied I like to follow with a setting spray before applying my makeup to make it last even longer. The Too Faced Hangover 3-in-1 Setting Spray is perfect as it’s a replenishing primer and setting spray, so you can use it under your makeup as a primer spray and over the top of your finished makeup as a setting spray. I adore the Too Faced Hangover Primer so I was pretty confident the matching setting spray would be a hit.
It’s designed to brighten, hydrate, soothe and smooth the skin with a coconut water infused formula, and I like that by having this in my makeup bag, I can use it to prime my makeup, set my makeup and also refresh my makeup without needing multiple mists.
Base
It was really hard to decide which foundation would be worthy for the ultimate makeup bag, but a foundation I’ve been trying for the last couple of months is the Hourglass Vanish Seamless Finish Foundation Stick. It’s such an hyped foundation and stick foundations aren’t always the best for dry skin, but this foundation stick is the exception the the rule providing I’ve used a rich moisturiser and hydrating primer underneath.
The Vanish Stick can be used as a foundation or a concealer which is why it’s a great choice for a makeup bag as you can build up the coverage, and use it to perfect your base. You simply swipe the stick on each cheek, the forehead, nose and chin, then blend with your foundation brush or beauty sponge for a super quick application.
As I like to use the Vanish Stick as both a concealer and foundation, I’ve chosen the Charlotte Tilbury Magic Away Liquid Concealer for my under eye area. It’s amazing how much difference a good under eye concealer can make to the complexion, and this concealer was inspired by a pair of Spanx. Designed to hide away dark circles, blemishes, pigmentation and imperfections, this concealer can be used on the whole face as well as the under eye area, and multi-use products are always a good idea for your makeup bag.
Cheeks
Before applying my eye makeup, brows and lip products I like to set my makeup and apply my finishing products. Even though I have very dry skin, I can’t skip powder otherwise my makeup just doesn’t last. I’m having somewhat of a love affair with loose powders right now, but loose powders aren’t the most practical for a makeup bag so for me, it’s pressed powder all the way.
The Charlotte Tilbury Airbrush Flawless Finish has been on my wishlist for such a long time so I’m delighted to finally own it as it has such high praise. I typically prefer translucent powders and I hope Charlotte Tilbury launches a translucent shade of this powder, but in the meantime I have shade Fair 1 which is the lightest of the three shades on offer.
The third of my Charlotte Tilbury base trio alongside the concealer and powder is the Charlotte Tilbury Hollywood Contour Wand which I’ve been wanting to try ever since I started using cream contour products. This Contour Wand is ideal for a makeup bag as the applicator is included on the tube, so you simply swipe it across the skin and blend with your fingertips, sponge or brushes.
It takes a matter of seconds, and it blends seamlessly into the skin. I like that the applicator is quite small, allowing you to apply it to the sides of your nose, underneath your lip and other smaller areas without going overboard. You can get a really dramatic effect with the wand, but I prefer a more natural contour which this wand does very well.
For blush I have been loving the Morphe blushes ever since I got the Morphe 8W Warm Master Blush Palette. In addition to the blush palettes, Morphe also have some blush trios and the Morphe Blushing Babe in Pop of Coral is the perfect blush palette for my Cult Beauty Edit makeup bag. They’re compact with a mirror and contain three different powder blushes which you can use individually, or blend together for a custom shade. Pop of Coral contains two matte shades, and one shimmer shade, and as the compact is so small, it’s such a great travel palette.
My final step within my base makeup routine, is an highlighter. For everyday I prefer something like the RMS Living Luminizer as it’s very subtle, and very natural. However when curating my ultimate makeup bag, I knew I needed something special and that something is the ever so beautiful Laura Mercier Face Illuminator in the shade Devotion.
I don’t think I’ve ever seen such an aesthetically pleasing highlighter before, the design of the powder is stunning with almost a liquid silk effect. The powder is infused with prismatic pigments to deliver multi-dimensional light, and has a soft, creamy texture that applies like silk. I am so happy to finally own this highlighter, it’s everything I wanted it to be and more.
Eyes
The next category within my Cult Beauty Edit is eyes, and eye and brow makeup are my favourite steps within my makeup routine. For my eyeshadow, my dream eyeshadow palette is the Too Faced Natural Matte Eyeshadow Collection. I know it might look boring to some but natural, neutral eyes are my thing. It’s packed with twelve buttery soft matte eyeshadows which can be used in horizontal rows across the palette for a look.
Sometimes I like to be more adventurous with my makeup, but for a makeup bag I want a versatile, ultra wearable palette which I know isn’t going to let me down and for me that is the Natural Matte Palette. I can get away with using a blend of Less is More and Sexpert as a brow powder shade too, so it’s an even better makeup bag palette.
Matte shadows are so easy to wear, and I always like to carry something like the Iconic London Chrome Flash Eye Pot in my makeup bag alongside the palette, should I want to glam up my eye makeup with a touch of sparkle. In terms of eyeliner, I like to use any of the darker shades within the Too Faced Palette applied with a smudge brush along my lashline as I tend to apply my eyeliner in the morning and it rarely needs a touch-up.
A little dark shadow along the lashline adds drama and takes only a few seconds, and my mascara of choice for my Cult Beauty edit ultimate makeup bag would be the Benefit They’re Real Lengthening Mascara. It’s quite the marmite of the mascara world but for me it’s the best mascara for a makeup bag as it layers well even over dry mascara without getting too clumpy. It also happens to be one of most long-wearing mascaras so I know it’s going to stay in place without smudging or flaking.
Brows
There are three brow products I am absolutely loving right now. For a brow pencil, the Benefit Precisely, My Brow Pencil is perfect as it has an ultra fine nib for precise, yet quick application. It only takes me seconds to fill in my brows with the pencil, and on more minimal makeup days it’s all I need and then I finish with the Lime Crime Bushy Brow Gel to set my brows. I chose the Iconic London Sculpt & Boost Eyebrow Cushion as it really intrigued me.
I’ve tried an eyebrow cushion from a drugstore brand and I really liked it so I decided I need to try the original eyebrow cushion other brands are now copying. The little compact contains an eyebrow cushion with two complementary brow shades, an eyebrow brush and spoolie applicator so you can apply on the go. The liquid formula of the brow cushion is smudge-proof, sweat-resistant and allows you to create very defined arches.
Lips
When it comes to lip products, I always like to apply a lip balm before starting my makeup so it can work its magic whilst I apply everything else. The NUXE Reve de Miel Lip Stick is my favourite lip balm, and the stick format is so convenient. It has the perfect formula for wearing under lipsticks or glosses as it’s lightweight, non-greasy and deeply hydrating.
The balm is formulated with conditioning plant extracts, antibacterial honey and nutritive shea butter to rehydrated chapped lips, and it smells incredible too. I’ve tried a lot of more luxurious lip balms, but nothing ever replaces this balm for me so although it’s only £6 it’s what I had to include within my Cult Beauty edit ultimate makeup bag.
For my makeup bag I had to have a lip liner, a lip gloss and a lipstick so I’m covering all bases and surprise, surprise everything I chose is nude tone based. My lipliner of choice is the NYX Professional Makeup Slide On Lip Pencil in the shade Canteloupe which is a pretty peach that can be worn alone, or layered under lipstick.
The NYX liners are only £6 each but they honestly give higher end brands a run for their money, and I just love how creamy the formula is. For my lipstick and gloss, I chose Too Faced as they’re my favourite mid-range brand. The Too Faced Natural Nude Lipstick launched alongside the aforementioned Natural Matte Palette, so I thought a shade from the lipstick range would complement the palette really well.
I opted for Overexposed which is a mauve cool toned nude, but when applied over the NYX lipliner, it pulls a little pinker. Too Faced always have such beautiful packaging, and the lipstick and gloss are no different. For my gloss I chose the Too Faced Sweet Peach Lip Gloss in the shade Papa Don’t Peach which looks amazing when worn alone, or layered over the lipliner or lipstick. The gloss contains peach oil, coconut oil and protective vitamin E to soften and hydrate the lips, as well as offering antioxidant protection.
Tools
The last items I have for my ultimate makeup bag are must-have tools that I simply couldn’t be without. No makeup bag is complete without makeup brushes, and I like to have a selection of both face and eye brushes for applying my makeup on the go. I’m a massive Morphe fan so I knew I needed to get my hands on the highly coveted Morphe x Jaclyn Hill The Eye Master Collection as it contains eight must have eye brushes to create any eyeshadow look. The brushes come in a stunning glittery makeup bag which actually fits inside the Cult Beauty Vanity Bag too which is fab to keep the brushes protected.
For my face brushes, it was much harder to choose for my Cult Beauty edit but I decided upon the Iconic London Complete Face Set which for £60 contains a generous nine face makeup brushes. The set even comes with a cute clutch which you could totally use as makeup bag. I don’t carry all nine brushes around with me but I do have the essentials that I need for applying foundation, powder, blush, contour and highlighter. The Iconic London set is available in two colour ways, but I chose the Cream and Gold set which are seriously pretty.
The very last product within my Cult Beauty edit is the Tweezerman LED 15X Mini Mirror which is a must-have item for any makeup bag. It offers insane magnification as well as a light so you can see every single stray brow hair, and it’s tiny so it takes up very little room. There’s even some suction pads on the base so you can stick it to a surface but for me it’s perfect for tweezing my brows and applying my makeup.
My Cult Beauty Edit Pinterest Giveaway
Would you like to win a £250 Cult Beauty voucher to spend on your ultimate makeup bag?! Myself and Cult Beauty are giving away a £250 voucher to one lucky winner in our #CultBeautyEdit Pinterest giveaway which is so exciting so make sure you enter so you’re in with a chance of winning. The rules are very, very simple, and you can see my board should you want inspiration right here:
RULES
- You must create a public Pinterest board and name it “My Cult Beauty Edit | #CultBeautyEdit” so we can find all of your entries.
- You need to pin products directly from the Cult Beauty website onto your “My Cult Beauty Edit | #CultBeautyEdit” Pinterest board to create your ultimate makeup bag.
- Follow Gemma Etc. on Pinterest here.
- Entries must be made before 25/03/2019
- Full terms and conditions: https://www.cultbeauty.co.uk/terms-and-conditions
*written in collaboration with Cult Beauty. Not sponsored.