Make up surprises

Sometimes make up can catch you off guard. There are many products that will and can look good no matter what. There are also plenty of make up products that can look intimidating at first. It may have to do with how something is applied, or a certain color that you’re not sure will look good on you. I certainly bought plenty of products that simply intrigued me that I had no clue how to use (eyeliner or pigments) and colors that I wasn’t sure would do anything for me. I have selected 5 make up products which worked surprisingly well for me in the end.

The products I feature here are all products I kind of bought on a whim. Thinking: ah let’s try that or: ah everyone is raving about this, so maybe I should give it a go. In any case, these products aren’t exactly your everyday type of thing. There is grey nail polish, metallic lipstick, red blush, bronzer and orange lipstick.

P2 Last Forever Nail Polish 011 City Love

Grey nail polish wasn’t something I was very keen to try until I discovered this grey nail polish by P2. It’s a German drugstore brand so the polish didn’t cost too much: perfect for trying something out. Grey never really caught my eye as I thought it boring and uninteresting. In any case, I just didn’t think it would look good on me. Against the pale skin of my hands I figured these shades would look muddy, rather like having dirty nails. But ever since I bought this I have been hooked. Case in point is this blog post, where I sing the praises of all things subtle grey nail polish.

NARS Laguna bronzer

NARS Laguna is a cult beauty product that so many people rave about. I bought it years ago and for the longest time I couldn’t make this work. It seemed to dark against my fair skin and a little bit too orange for a contour. But just recently I had a makeover at Sephora and lo and behold I have finally figured out how to use this product. Instead of using one bronzer all over, it is best for my skin tone to layer my bronzers for a more natural effect. You start with a light, glowing bronzer for that bit of sunkissed J-LO glow and then you deepen your contour ever so slightly with this. Eye opener right there.

Sleek Scandalous blush

This blush looks so scary in the pan, but if you use a light hand it is one of the prettiest shades to wear. This Sleek blush is a dupe for NARS Exhibit A apparently and it is perfect for giving your cheeks that sunkissed, healthy look. Since this blush is matte, adding a highlight is necessary else it might look like you have a bad case of sunburn. This is one of my favorite blushes for summer and it looks great now that I have a bit of a tan from my vacation. I devoted an entire blog post to red blush and how to wear it a few months ago.

Topshop Armour lipstick

The Topshop make up line holds quite a few hidden gems I find. There lipsticks are one of them. The formula is great and they are not afraid to throw in some crazy colors. When I was in London last year I picked up this mauve/ rose/ brown colored metallic lipstick. I saw it and was instantly intrigued. You can see it on in this blog post and on the lips it is a lot less metallic than it looks in the tube. It fits nicely into the whole 90s trend that is going on and since this has a hint of brown, even more so.

Revlon Colorstay Moisture Stain 035 Miami Fever

Catrice Ultimate Colour lipstick in 060 Oh Juicy!

Who’d have thought orange lipstick would look good on me. When I bought my first one, the Catrice lipstick you can see above, I certainly wasn’t too sure. I had mostly bought it because of orange being our national color and I thought it would be a laugh to sport it when Holland plays a soccer tournament. But then orange lips became a trend and I decided to experiment a little bit. I am wearing the Catrice number in this super blurry, super old blog post, but a review of the Revlon lipstick is coming up some time soon as well.

Some swatches to round off this blogpost. And of course I am now curious to know which make up items you like to experiment with?

Please, leave a comment down below and share your make up surprises.