MAC Cosmetics Prep and Prime Skin Base Visage: Review

Hello everyone,

Today I wanted to talk about a product I’ve been using ever since I really got into makeup. It’s something that’s never failed me, never made my highly sensitive skin break out and always kept my makeup looking flawless. As I’m sure you can guess by the title it is of course the Skin Base Visage primer by MAC Cosmetics.
                                                       

       

           

I can safely say I have never been without this since the very first time I got my makeup done at MAC in Brown Thomas in Co. Limerick by a woman named Gina (who was incredible might I add). I got my makeup done for my 13th birthday, and, being an adolescent my skin was an absolute nightmare. Gina did an amazing job and made me feel really gorgeous and confident. She started by prepping my skin with “Complete Comfort Creme”, another holy grail product of mine from MAC and then she proceeded to apply this “Skin Base Visage” primer. Now, being 13 and the majority of my exposure to makeup coming from pictures/sample products from “Girl Talk” magazines (DOES ANYONE REMEMBER GIRL TALK???) I had absolutely no idea what a primer was or how to use it. And so began my journey down a road from which I was never going to return from, and that was using primer.  

For those of you who aren’t familiar, a primer acts as a barrier between your skin and your makeup  and helps to make it last longer. It is applied after your moisturiser but before your foundation. It helps to even out the skin tone so that your makeup applies much smoother and makes your skin look more flawless. I like to think of it as creating a veil between your skin and your makeup.

This particular primer suits all skin types. At the time my skin was very irritated and sensitivite and to top it all off I suffered from both excema AND acne (I was a lucky, lucky teenager) and I still struggle with severe dryness and the odd patch of excema to this day. However, this primer never irritates my skin. In fact, it makes my skin feel incredibly soft.    

SCIENCEY BITS:   

MAC’s Prep and Prime Skin Base visage is a smooth, lightweight lotion that perfects the skin’s texture while simultaneously hydrating the skin. It contains silicone which evens out the skin tone and plumps up the skin and it also contains silica which is a natural anti-inflammatory and reduces the appearance of redness caused by excema/psoriasis etc, something I struggle with in particular.

So I was already obsessed with this as a product for myself, a dry-skinned being, but then when I actually started working for MAC I learned of the benefits it has for people of not only my skin type but also those with the complete opposite, oily, and everything in between. The primer contains oil controlling lotion which is perfect for those of you who find your skin gets shiny or starts to look slightly greasy throughout the day but it DOES NOT dry out your skin.

So if you are looking to try out a different primer or even if you’re interested in adding a primer to your makeup routine I would highly recommend this one. Even if you’re unsure about whether or not it will work for you or if it will work well with your skin, try out a sample first! Keep in mind, something you will notice when you apply the product to your hand is that there is a slight glitter off it but DO NOT WORRY, this is just because there are no pores on your hand and so when it is applied to your face, this glittery effect does not show as the product works to fill in your pores.

I don’t think there’ll ever be a day when this isn’t a staple in my makeup collection. I’ve consistently had a back up bottle for the last 10 years and if I’m ever going to an event or out for the entire day you can be sure I have this primer on underneath my makeup.  

MAC Cosmetics “Prep and Prime: Skin Base Visage” retails for €27 and can be found in Arnotts, in-store and online, the duty-free section of Shannon and Dublin Airports and any Brown Thomas or BT2 store and the Brown Thomas website here . 

Any questions, just comment or tweet me at @michelley_mc 

Happy shopping ☺️✨

Michelle 

Xoxo

Kiehl’s Midnight Recovery Concentrate Review

Hello lovelies!

As you can see from the title today I want to review the very popular “Midnight Recovery Concentrate Oil” from Kiehl’s. For those of you that don’t know, Kiehl’s is an immensely popular homemade skincare brand started in 1851 in New York City. In Ireland, it is available in the stand alone store in Dundrum Shopping Centre, department stores such as Debenhams, Arnotts and you can also buy it online from these stores. This is what the packaging looks like.

          

A 30ml bottle of this costs €44 on Debenhams.ie here now I knowwwwww this is pretty pricy but for my fellow dry skin beauties that are into their skincare then this is definitely a product I’d recommend investing in. A little bit goes a very long way and you only need to use it once a day overnight for a luxurious, hydrating treatment. 

I’ve been using this for a little over 2 weeks now and I definitely notice a difference in my skin. I’ve used its daytime counterpart “Daily Reviving Concentrate” oil (the bottle is very similar except it's yellow instead of navy) also by Kiehl’s, which I personally didn’t like as much. I found the consistency too watery and I didn’t feel like it absorbed into my skin properly, it just kind of sat on top of it. Now I know the daily oil is a holy grail product for alot of people but it just didn’t work as well as I would have liked it to on my dry AF skin, especially for the price of it.  

The midnight oil however, is much more luxurious and worked a dream on my skin. The oil is thicker which I prefer as I feel like it actually penetrates my skin and when I wake up the texture of my face is a lot smoother, plumper and doesn’t feel as tight. After cleansing my face right before I go to bed at night, I mix 2-3 drops of it in with my moisturiser and pat it into my skin. Normally I would just apply it by itself under my moisturiser but right now I’m using the Nivea Creme which is very thick cream so I like to mix the two together to liquify the consistency slightly so as to make it easier to press into my skin. The next morning you can continue with your regular skincare routine as the product has already been absorbed while you slept. 

All in all I’d give it a solid 8/10, only losing a few points because of the price. I know I’ll go through these bottles very quickly because of my insanely dry skin so it’s going to end up costing me quite a bit of money going forward. Especially since the weather is getting increasingly colder (apparently they’re expecting snow to hit Ireland soon 😭) our skin is going to need something a lot more powerful than just moisturiser alone to protect it from the elements. So, the price is definitely a sacrifice I’m willing to make for the sake of my skin.

As always, any questions just ask ☺️

Michelle xx

New Year, New Blog, Not so New Me.

Hello Lovelies!

Happy 2019 🎉🎉

I realize I’m a little late to the party on this one but I’ve been sick since New Years Eve and only getting around to writing again now. Some fun 2019 has been for me already!! However, one of my New Years resolutions is to focus a lot more of my time and attention to the blog and I have every intention of sticking to this, despite a rocky start LOL. 

I plan to continue my series on my time spent in NYC and my recommendations on places to go and things to see but I also would like to start a new series focusing more on the Makeup and Beauty side of things which is what I originally intended this blog to be. Since another one of my resolutions has been to stop buying new makeup and actually use up the stuff I already own I’d like to start #projectpan and document what I’m using and loving every couple of weeks. For those of you that do not know, project pan is a series started by bloggers and youtubers in which they pick a product from their makeup collection such as an eye shadow palette and only use that product for the month. We are definitely in a time in which countless new products are being released every single day that it’s impossible to actually use up everything we buy, so I’m interested to see how this goes.

I also want to start writing more about giving recommendations on my favourite Makeup and skincare brands and everything that I find works for me as I’ve gone through bouts of very problematic skin in the past and still do to this day so I want to start helping others with their skin issues and makeup concerns.  

A good start is half the work as they say so I’m going to try my absolute best to get these plans off the ground very soon. In the meantime, hope everyone had a wonderful New Years and is so far sticking to their resolutions like I’m trying to 😂 and I hope for a happy and healthy 2019 for everyone ❤️ 

PS. Please enjoy this picture of me and my dog on Christmas Day as it’s the only decent picture I have from over the holidays since I’ve fallen ill (yes, I am the biggest drama queen in the entire world 👸🏽) 

Lots of love,

Michelle xx