What’s In My Beauty Bag – Rachael of Rach’s Beautique

Pretty packaging, hero products, must-have purchases…make-up is a subject we could spend hours chatting about. Everyone has their tried and tested buys and in a bid to find out more about the best way to get bang for your buck, we decided it was time to call in a little expertise. In a new weekly feature, we’re going to quiz beauty bloggers on their make-up essentials and why these are the products they return to time and time again. This week, we're chatting to Rachel of Rachael's Beautique

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My make-up bag and I have a love hate relationship as I pack and unpack it every few days. So today I have gone and picked out my make-up essentials. These are the products I keep returning to buy when they run out. I need all of these! Here is a breakdown of my must haves. Preparation and Base First things first. I prep my skin using my beloved Nivea Post Shave Balm. This is my perfect primer, and in my opinion, it is a thousand times better than Smashbox (yes, I did just say that). This is like glue for holding my make up in place. I praise Gigi Hadid daily for finding this steal of a product, €6 for 100ml of primer gold. Once this is applied, I leave it to dry for 2-3 minutes and then apply my foundation. My foundation staples are Rimmel Lasting Finish 25 Hour in the medium coverage and full coverage, and Seventeen Stay Time Foundation. The Rimmel Medium Coverage is my weekday/daytime foundation and at the weekend I mix 1 part Rimmel Full coverage with 1 part Seventeen Stay Time. The Seventeen Stay Time is an amazing cheaper alternative to Estee Lauder Double Wear and I love it. Along with these I mix in a tiny amount of Botanics Radiance Balm to give me a healthy glow. I then apply a small amount of Anneco Mineral Foundation instead of powder as this gives me a lovely flawless complexion. Eyes I currently have 3 of the Sleek I Divine Palettes and I love these, the pigmentation is amazing and they're fantastic value for €9.99. I am loving Vintage Romance at the moment the shades are perfect for the ever changing weather outside. Au Naturel is very like the Naked 1 palette, you can range from a soft natural eye to a smoky eye. Bad Girl is a fun palette that features bright colours. My current favourite eyeliner is the Make Up Gallery Liquid Liner available in Dealz for €1.49. It is a deep black shade and stays put.  For brows, I adore the Sleek Brow Palette. It features a wax and a powder in the palette. I like to outline using the wax and then fill in using the powder. To highlight my brows, I use Catrice Eyebrow Lifter, which I sweep under the brow and around the top to make it stand out. I then blend it in using a sponge applicator. My favourite lashes of all time are Ardell Demi Wispies. They give the perfect amount of fullness but with added volume. I use duo glue to apply my lashes. A go-to mascara for me every day is Wet N Wild Mega Impact Black as it gives lots of definition with volume and precision. I love using this as it really defines my lashes and makes them stand out without wearing any false lashes. Let's Kardash that face! To highlight and contour I use my beloved Sleek Face Form palette. I love this. The colours are different in each shade of the palette, ranging from fair to dark. I use fair and it's the perfect colour for me. I sweep a thin line from the top of my ear down, along the sides of my jaw and nose, and then blend. Once well blended, I apply a pop of the rose gold blush which is a perfect pinky/red tone with hints of gold undertones. Finally I apply the highlighter on my cheek bone and down the middle of my nose and Cupid's Bow. I also tend to switch blush from the face form to the Lace Blush by 3 Sleek palette again. This features 3 shades of blush from a ravishing raspberry to a cool coral. Luscious Lips I’m all about the budget brands when it comes to lipstick, I have about 40 lipsticks but these are six of my favourites. Wet n Wild features strongly here. I love their lipsticks and at €2.99 who wouldn’t. I use Mauve Outta Here, Bare It All, Sugar Plum Fairy and Red Velvet the most. They cater for all colour ranges and never fail to impress. My Catrice is in the shade 270 and it is a perfect peach with a hint of gold shimmer. Also featured is my Penney’s Pink, there is no shade number on these but it is a lovely baby pink colour and it flatters pale Irish skin. I usually line my lips with an appropriate matching lip liner shade depending on which lipstick I choose. All of my lipstick cost under 5 euro and they are all worth so much more in my eyes. If you're a beauty blogger and want to tell us all about your beauty dos and dont's, drop a line to our girl Cathy at cathy.donohue@her.ie