Beauty Brand Favourites: NYX

It's time to resurrect an oldie but a goodie in terms of series' round these parts - it's Beauty Brand Favourites time. If you've been reading round here for some time now, you'll probably remember how I used to do this sort of thing every now and again (I will link them up here if you fancy a peruse) and I feel like there's a brand that I've become obsessed with lately and I need to bring it back for. NYX has fast become one of my top drugstore brands and over the past year or so, I have fo' sho' collated a hell of a lot of favourites. So many that for this edition, I have had to extend my usual format of a 'Top 5' up to something that's more of a 'Top 10'. #SorryNotSorry...

Wonder Pencil in 'Light' - I haven't really sampled too much of NYX's base offerings, but one which has stood out to me of all the ones I have tried is this handy little pencil. And what I love so much about it is that aswell as being great for your base makeup, this thing works wonders around the eye and lip areas too. I do love a good multitasker. A nude, flesh-toned creamy kohl that applies like a dream and sets down for an all-day-long finish; this is not only is awesome at spot concealing, but also brightening up the inner waterlines of the eyes and tidying up the outer edge of your lip line too - along with a whole multitude of other tasks too. Wanna know some of my other favourites? Check out this post here.

Blush in 'Taupe' - Now, this is a major, major favourite right here. It's one of the more recent discoveries, but let me tell you - it has quickly become a staple in my makeup routine ever since. Don't let the name fool you on this one as while it is deemed a 'blush', this pale, ashy-but-not-too-ashy taupe is perfect as a contour colour for my pale skintone. I saw this pop up as a recommendation on social media when other lovely people where asking for just that and I instantly went out and made a purchase to see what all the fuss was about. And oh my, I love it. As I said, the colour and overall tone of this is just ideal for sculpting out the face, while the formula of the powder itself is nicely-pigmented, easy to apply and even more easy to blend out for a consistently awesome effect every single time.

Duo Chromatic Powders - I can't believe it is only in the past few weeks that I have finally gotten round to sampling a highlighter (or should I said - highlighters) from NYX. Perhaps it's something down to the fact that they have recently added two new ones to the line-up and having tried both, I am equally obsessed with the two of them. First up, the powder variation - a glowy pan of goodness that looks straight-up white, but when applied actually has this gorgeous duo-chrome effect to it. The one I've been loving is 'Snow Rose' - the one with a duo-chrome pink running through it (hence the name) - and I am in love with it. Not only is the colour actually rather flattering and relatively easy to pull off, the formula is so finely-milled and so still makes you glow to the heavens, but in a way that still manages to mesh with your skin and just look like a 'natural' part of your complexion.


Away We Glow Liquid Highlighters - Sometimes, cream and liquid highlighters aren't always my favourites, but this one has well and truly won me over ever since picking it up last month. I love everything about it - the convenience of the doe foot applicator (meaning you can quite literally swipe it on and blend it out with your finger), the creamy consistency that allows for a tonne of playtime and a seamless blend and the colour of this shade in particular too. This shade, 'Crystal Glare' is basically like the liquid version of my beloved Mary-Lou Manizer from theBalm and is just all kinds of light champagne gold-y goodness and I just adore it. Just make sure you stick to the usual 'Creams Before Powders' rule and you're set.

Micro Brow Pencil - Brow-wise, there's just one product that I reach for nowadays in terms of filling things in and that is this brow pencil. Granted, I use two shades together to create my perfect colour - 'Ash Brown' and 'Espresso' - but the product itself is identical and I love it for getting my brows #OnFleek. The tiny nib makes adding colour, depth and structure to my pretty sparse natural brows easy-peasy and while I always tend to go for a pretty strong brow, I can still create hairlike strokes to give the illusion of a more 'natural' effect - which is something I really like. It also stays on all day long too!

Eyeshadow Palette in 'Warm Neutrals' - Eyes-wise, I just had to give this ah-mazing shadow compilation a mention. This received major hype a while back, so I kinda had to give it a try myself and it has been a firm fave ever since. In terms of neutral shadows, I am definitely a fan of the warm-toned end of the spectrum and this palette delivers a whole shade range of exactly that. There's enough of a selection for you to be able to create a whole host of looks - varying from super-neutral to a proper full-on affair (ngl, my personal fave) and every single shadow is well-pigmented, easy to blend and with little to no fallout to be seen. 

Lid Lingerie Eye Tints - After the major success I had with their Lip Lingeries (more on that later), I knew I wanted to try the 'matching' version for the eyes too. I say 'matching' as really, thee don't really correlate in much apart from the name but hey, that alone meant they were gonna be just as good, right? You know what, they really are. These are a liquid eyeshadow - a formula I'd never dabbled in beforehand - and while I was initially a little nervous as to how I'd get on with them, actually the whole thing is pretty straightforward. Just dab some on using the doe foot applicator, blend it out with your fingers or a brush and you're good to go. The wet consistency allows for some playtime and movement before it dries down to a finish that does. not. budge, flake or smudge all day long and the colours are just lovely. Great alone or as a base for other shadows to layer on top of - it's completely up to you. Right now, I've only got one in my stash - 'Sweet Cloud', a stunning light rose gold - but believe me, I have my eyes on a fair few others at the moment too.

Epic Ink Liner - I never thought I'd find a new liquid liner that I loved as much my beloved Soap and Glory Supercat, but recently I have discovered this new addition from NYX that while may not necessarily beat it, sure comes pretty darn close. The nib on this is super fine (like S&G's - just as I like my liquid liner pens to be) and it's super wet and so goes on like a dream (or as dream-like as winged liner can be) with no dragging or pulling and is uber-intense, rich and pigmented with it. There's flexibility, but you still remain in full control when applying and I am just pretty darn pleased with this stuff. A good liquid liner is always a good find.

Soft Matte Lip Creams - Finally - lips - and I think these last two have to be be some of my favourite, favourites from NYX as a whole. I just think in general, NYX do lip products awesomely - namely liquid lipsticks - and so i have two to share today. This first one is a proper classic that people have been mentioning and raving about for yonks and now I have got on the bandwagon myself, I'm deffo not getting off anytime soon. Technically, these are a liquid lipstick but realistically, they're certainly more on the 'beginners' end of the spectrum as opposed to the super-drying, super-matte ones which you commonly think of. They're still pretty long-lasting and do have a matte finish, but they're not completely matte, matte and so are a tad bit more comfortable and forgiving on the ol' pout.

Lip Lingerie Liquid Lipsticks - ...And then we have something that definitely sits more on that other end of the scale that I was talking about. These are certainly more of your 'classic' liquid lipstick with that fully matte effect and slightly moisture-zapping finish but I have to admit that of all of the 'proper' liquid lippies I've tried, these aren't the worst offenders in terms of comfort or look. They still dry down and last super long (like I said, even longer than the above) but they still somehow manage to look and feel fairly good at the same time. Who says you can't have the best of both worlds, eh? As the name suggests, this range in particular is centered round a whole host of varying nude, neutral tones - the big trend right now - and as you'll know if you read this post, they've recently come out with another load of them which I am quite literally itching to buy. Whoops.

And that just about concludes yet another Beauty Brand Favourites! As always, if there are any other beauty-based brands you fancy me covering at some point in the future under this title (as long as I do have enough faves within it to warrant a post), please do give me a shout!