What's In My Makeup Bag? Winter 2025

It’s the quarterly What’s In My Makeup Bag video; a good old root about in my current beauty product stash and then a relaxing quarter an hour or so where I put it all onto my face so that you can see how it applies and assure yourselves that it’s not the sort of makeup that will leave you looking like a circus clown.

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I start the video by wanging on, at length, about the new Dermalogica Multivitamin Power Recovery Cream. The reason this new face cream caught my eye, in a sea of new face cream launches, is that the Power Recovery Masque from the same Dermalogica range was the very first beauty product I ever wrote about online.

I had been using it for years already (it came in a little metal oil-paint style tube, in those days) and so when I started my blog and had to decide which of my favourite products I’d write about first, this was my natural choice.

At this time (2010) acid peels and resurfacing pastes and micro-needling rollers weren’t really the sort of thing you could buy to use at home (which wasn’t altogether a bad thing) and so the Dermalogica Power Recovery Masque, with its potent blast of antioxidants and brightening ingredients, felt like absolute rocket fuel.

But here’s the thing about the Multivitamin Power Recovery Masque - and it’s the reason I still use it today, despite the fact we’ve moved on by around twenty years in terms of skincare science and formulation: it is strong and mighty, but also somehow incredibly soothing and comforting. I know not how they managed this, at Dermalogica, but they sort of turned out a miracle. It covers all bases. Brightens, smooths, soothes and deeply, deeply hydrates.

You can read my original review of it here - date of writing, 27th February, 2010! - but be warned that the author is barely recognisable. I must have started my blog right at the end of my partying days (I think I’ve blanked that particular era out) because there are references to lost knickers and heavy drinking that I simply do not align with now.

Half a thimbleful of wine these days and my liver has to take a month-long recovery hiatus.

Anyway, you can find the Dermalogica Power Recovery Masque here* and boy is it still a good one. Possibly my most-used, even now. Never mind all of these “instant glow” resurfacers that wreak havoc on your skin barrier, this still delivers a punch, but does it wearing kid gloves. (Pretty sure I’ve used that line before. I’m proud of it, alright?)

The cream version? It feels exactly like a leave-on version of the masque. Far more convenient, I suppose, and it’s more cushiony and creamy-rich. Also about twice the price, so I would recommend trying out the masque first and then, if you find that you require the supreme effects of the Multivitamin Power Recovery on a daily or twice-daily basis, plump for the big ticket item. It’s here* online.

Read about my full skincare routine here…

Right, that skincare digression was wholly unplanned and you came here for the makeup, so let us get on with the makeup. Although I will risk just pipping my head back around the closing door to mention that what you do with your skin before you start the makeup is crucially important. A good serum and moisturiser, massaged in vigorously, will leave a better canvas for makeup than just a feeble dribble of moisturising lotion smoothed across your visage. Think of it like taking all the cushions off your sofa and giving them a good old whack to plump them back up again.

Makeup bag. Let’s go.

Shiseido Revitalessence Glow Foundation

I am still mourning the discontinuation of my all-time favourite face-base, Kevyn Aucoin’s Stripped Nude, but life must go on and so I have been bravely venturing forth to find a replacement. Vieve’s Skin Nova Complexion Balm is close (I wear shade 200 or 210, online here*), but it doesn’t quite have the same finish. Glowy, yes; youthful and dewy with just the right amount of coverage? Also yes. But the Aucoin Stripped Nude skin tint had this very unique way of sort of “locking in” the finish so that it stayed in place perfectly but looked just like a dewy second-skin.

Shiseido’s Revitalessence Glow Foundation is another contender, though I do find that I get slippage around the nose and t-zone if I’ve had it on for a full day and need it to last into the evening. It’s rare that I need it to last that long, though, so not so much of a problem for me. For that fresh, beautiful daytime skin it’s utterly perfect.

I wear shade 260 or 310 depending on the season (so, 260 at the moment) and apply with fingertips because it’s firmly in the realms of “luxury buy”. Though I’m always prepared to spend well on a good foundation or tinted moisturiser. Get the first steps right with a face and the rest will usually follow…

Buy Shiseido Revitalessence Glow Foundation here*

Armani Power Fabric Concealer

I’m going to go out on a bit of a limb here and say that if I could only have one concealer, for the rest of my life, I’d probably choose this. It’s lightweight and silky, never creases on me and doesn’t look too opaque and heavy against the sheeny bases I favour. There’s nothing I dislike about it.

Obviously - as with foundation - it’s hugely down to personal taste and skin type and so on, but I’m starting to find many concealers too claggy whereas this one just slips on like a dream. I wear shade 3.5 but also - strangely - have shade 5. Found it today underneath the radiator when I moved my desk out of the office! Both seem to work on my skintone, but 5 would be better in the summer. 3.5 is perfect for now.

Find Power Fabric Concealer online here*

Bare Minerals Warmth All-Over Face Powder

OK, you need to watch the video to see this in action. “Warmth” is a loose powder, one singular shade of deepish bronze, that you very lightly load into a large powder brush and swoosh over the high points of your face to give it a sunkissed look. If you ever put on foundation and it feels too pale but it’s too late to take it off and start again, this is your quick fix!

It takes a little bit of practice - you can’t dip in and brush on and expect it to go your way, it’s a “less is more” kind of deal when it comes to this all-over face powder. I dip the brush in then swirl my brush into the lid of the pot to work the powder deep into the bristles. I tap-tap-tap to get any excess out and then make sure that I do the first dabs onto the back of my hand to be safe.

Sounds faffy but I love the way this turns out. It’s quite a nice trick (and you’ll see it in the video) to use the big fat brush (I like this one from ILIA*) to do a final buff on foundation that’s been applied with fingertips, just to smooth things out and polish them up. Then if you have that teeny bit of Warmth on the bristles, it a) sets any areas that need it and b) adds a smidgen of bronze.

Perfect.

Buy Warmth at Boots here*

Rare Beauty Effortless Bronzer Stick

I’m sure this has gone up dramatically in price - it’s now £27 - but it’s such a staple in my makeup bag that I’m going to take it without flinching. For now. This bronzer stick has the exact degree of “deadness” to the tone that makes it perfect for contouring and bronzing. I know that professionals say you need almost a grey tone for contouring - the colour of shadows rather than sunkissed skin - but I cannot get on board with the whole “optical illusion” side of maquillage application and will stick to the shades I’m comfy with.

I use Happy Sol and you can see it sliding on like a dream in the video, before being buffed out with a blusher-sized brush. (I very much like this one* from Jones Road for buffing in any contour bits and blushes.) Instant cheekbones and flattering shape to the face. Although I do feel as though I’m getting to the stage where I might want to start adding volume back to my face, rather than trying to take it away! I’m getting decidedly more, how do I put it? Bony? Angular?

Buy Happy Sol online here*

ELF Camo Blush in Peach Perfect

I don’t know how much more I can spout on about this little liquid blusher: it’s highly pigmented, smooths on like a dream and leaves a faint gloss to the skin that’s really pleasing. And it costs seven quid. The pale pink one is my other favourite. Both will, I am sure, outlive the human race, because you need the tiniest dod each time and it’s almost impossible to get through it.

Buy ELF Camo Blush here*

Laura Mercier Caviar Stick

In the video I describe this as being more greige in tone than it really is; I think that in cool lights it has a sort of lavender undertone that I read as being grey, but it is definitely a warm shade rather than a cool one. Gorgeous either way. I don’t tend to go for much shimmer and shine on the lids these days, but this one is completely doable and doesn’t make me feel as though I’m trying to be too “disco”. It’s chic.

I use all over the lid (blend with fingertip or brush, both work - though I do think the slight heat from fingertips works marvels with these stick-type cream eyeshadows when it comes to blending) and then I run it underneath the lower lashline too. Just to join it all together. I find that something soft and unassuming smudged into the lower lashline can make eyes look beautifully defined. What I don’t want is a harsh line, anywhere near my eyes, because this makes my eyes look smaller and older, like shrivelled currants in an ancient bun.

Buy Caviar Stick in Soiree here*

Vieve Eye Wand in Mahogany

It wouldn’t be a “what’s in my makeup bag” without the Vieve Eye Wand in Mahogany. I use this at the outer corners and blend upwards and outwards (in the direction of the tip of my eyebrow) to cheat a bit of an eye lift. It’s all in the cheat!

If there’s one thing you watch the video for then make it the eye part; it takes me seconds to apply my cream eyeshadows from the sticks and then blend them in but they make a huge difference to the overall look. My eyes virtually disappear now if I don’t put at least something on them and this is the quickest way of getting it done.

Vieve’s “Mahogany” is a really good, deep, matte brown that is pretty universally flattering.

Buy Vieve Eye Wand here*

Anastasia Beverly Hills Brow Freeze Gel

I love this brow gel. It’s like glue. You can do that really good feathering thing where your eyebrow hairs all point upwards, which my husband thinks looks mad but I like and so will continue doing.

I have to say that after a few months my gel has gone a bit funny and leaves white bits in my brows, but they sort of disappear after a bit and so it’s not a massive deal. Or maybe I just can’t see them once they’ve glued themselves to the hairs.

Anyway, I’d recommend getting the teeny version of this, despite it being less economical in terms of cost-per-ml. I think that way you can blast through the tube without it going funny, rather than risking the bigger tube that’ll take an age to get through and (I imagine) dry out sooner because both the wand and opening are bigger.

I’d have made a childish joke at the end of that last sentence, in years gone by. I’ve finally matured!

Buy Anastasia Brow Freeze Gel here*

Jones Road Lipliner in Nude Pink

One of the greatest makeup tweaks post-forty (or whenever you start to see the pigment in your lipline fade) is to start sketching your lipline back in. Many people see lipliner as a product that only goes hand-in-hand with lipstick. And if you’re not a lipstick wearer then it doesn’t ever occur to them to use it.

But a lipliner, in a vaguely similar colour to your natural lip shade, is a thing that should be treasured and revered. You can completely alter the way your lips look in around thirty careful seconds and you don’t even need to finish it off with colour; just a smoosh of good, glossyish lip balm. Drawing your lipline back in instantly makes lips look fuller and plumper and if you’re clever with the sketching you can cheat the line a bit and give yourself the luscious lips you never even had in the first place!

Rimmel do very good, cheap lipliners if you just want to spend a few quid and give it a go, but I promise you that you will never regret giving it a go. It’s one of those wondrous “no makeup makeup” tips that actually makes a satisfying, instant difference.

I’ll do a standalone video on it soon - I need to do a foundation one too, must get myself organised.

The Jones Road lipliner I use in the video is here* - the Rimmel ones are here*. The lip balm I slather on top is Glossier’s Balm-dot-com in Coconut*.

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