What’s In My Beauty Bag – Ciara Brickley of Food, Fashion and the Fight

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 Ciara Brickley of Food, Fashion and The Fight

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I was kidding myself for a long time thinking I could get away with a makeup bag. I am a dedicated follower of all cosmetics and have managed to build quite a collection. A few months ago I invested in a clutter box from the Her Clutter Box range and have finally managed to bring some semblance of organisation to my make up collection. Preparation, Preparation Even the best foundation will not perform until you have prepped your skin properly first. My cancer treatment has resulted in my skin becoming really dry and patchy. This has made me take a good long hard look at my skin care regime. My absolute skin care must haves are the GlamGlow Thirsty Mud hydrating mask and the Body Shop oil-in-serum. I use the mask once a week and the oil twice a week. I apply both products before I go to bed at night and let them do their magic overnight. I use numerous products for cleansing depending on whether it was a heavy or light make up day. I was at a spa a few months back and bought an Elemis kit on sale. I probably wouldn't fork out for higher end products like this normally but seeing as my body and skin are taking a battering lately I thought my skin deserved the treat. I have been using the cleanser and toner now for a few months and I must say the products are fantastic and really gentle on your skin. My best find over the last few months has been the Garnier Micellar Water. I use it every day to remove excess grime from my face but also as a brush cleaner for which it does a phenomenal job. I am a big fan of No.7 serum and always apply day and night under my moisturiser of choice which currently is the Body Shop Vitamin C moisturiser. It smells amazing and leaves my skin feeling really silky soft. Foundation Before applying my foundation I always smooth on a primer (Bourgeois Happy Light) and skin brightener. I simply mix my primer with the brightener and apply all over my face using my large duo fibre brush. For daytime, the brightener I use is No.7 Instant Illusions Balm and for night-time when you want to have more of a glow I use the No.7 skin illuminator. At the moment I am using 2 different foundations – Chanel Vitalumiere and Estée Lauder Double Wear. For a lighter daytime look, I would use the Chanel foundation on its own or else Smashbox BB Cream. For a night-time look I usually blend the Chanel and Estée Lauder foundations to achieve the colour that I want, always applied using my large duo fibre brush. A few months ago I discovered Fuchsia Mineral Foundation, a fantastic product which dries like a liquid foundation but gives you the sealing properties of a powder. I always apply a layer of this in the shade of Fawn to seal my foundation. My concealer of choice is Rimmel Wake Me Up – this concealer also has illuminating properties and so makes your eyes look lovely and bright. I currently do not have any hair on my eyebrows and also have no eyelashes. I have shared a lot of tips on my blog for other women going through similar ordeals on how to use make up to disguise this. My love of makeup has grown significantly in the last few months since it has come to my aid so much in helping to give me some semblance of normality back. Full disclosure, my eyebrows are actually tattoos. Before I started chemo I made the decision to go for semi-permanent make up. This was one of the best decisions I have ever made – my eyebrows look better now than they ever had before and that is courtesy of the lovely Lorna Farelly of The Brow Artist in Dublin. In terms of make up for my brows I swear by the Anastasia Beverly Hills perfect brow pencils. I am a big fan of the Naked eye shadow palettes so you will usually find me wearing shadow from either Naked 1, 2 or 3 and I already have my name down for the Naked Smoky Eye. I have tried numerous eyeliners throughout the years but I always come back to the Mac eye pencils in coffee and ebony. They are so easy to apply and the pigment delivery is the best I have seen. Highlighting, Contouring and Blusher I am a serious highlighter junkie and could not choose a favourite. I honestly use all these products at different times and would recommend all. I picked up the Sleek Cosmetics contour kit in light a few weeks ago and have been using it religiously ever since. It's a fantastic kit for such a reasonable price. I love the blusher in this kit too – a lovely, shimmery peachy pink that looks great on the Irish complexion. I like to have a lot of blushes on the go at one time which can become quite expensive but I found a solution to this with the fantastic palette from Crown Brush which has every colour you will need from light pink right through to your peachy, brown tones. Lips I am without doubt a Mac lip liner and lipstick girl. I love the texture of the Mac lipsticks and they never disappoint with pigment delivery. Mac have numerous shades that complement the Irish complexion but my favourites are Brave and Velvet Teddy both can be used with the liner Dervish and Twig paired with Spice liner. I also love NYX lip products, in particular their jumbo lip pencils and butter glosses. 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