So far this month I've been wearing fairly minimal makeup. Not minimal in the number of products that I'm slapping on but minimal in the sense that I don't want to look too different to how I naturally do. Normally during the summer, and when the sun is shinning, I go for bright makeup - coral blushers and bold lips but as I live in England, summer seems to have been and gone already and August has been a rather cloudy affair. This means I've been favouring more neutral blushers and "my lips but better" lippies.

I've fallen back in love with the *Benefit The Porefessional (£24.50) and I need to get myself a full size tube. This is just the sample size from a set I got for Christmas. *The Porefessional just seems to be able to solve all of my problems. It minimizes the appearance of pores and smooths out my skin, leaving me with the perfect base to apply the rest of my makeup. I also notice that my makeup lasts a lot longer when I start off by using *The Porefessional.

My base of choice this month has been the Bourjois 123 Perfect CC Cream in 31 Ivory (£9.99). When I first bought this I hated it. I just couldn't seem to make it work for me. The colour was fine, but it just seemed to make my skin look dry (although it claims to be hydrating) and chalky. However, pairing it with the Benefit The Porefessional is a whole different story. The CC Cream glides onto my skin, giving me a little bit of coverage. I don't think the 123 Perfect CC Cream does everything it claims to, but it's really nice for in the heat when you want to wear something light. I then conceal everything else that I want covering using the Collection Lasting Perfection Concealer in 01 fair (£4.19) which is amazing at covering blemishes and redness and all sorts (I've spoken about this beauty loads so I wont go into too much detail). Another product that I've rediscovered this month is the Seventeen Phwoarr Paint Concealer in Fair (£5.49). This is such a good concealer, I think it's even a possible dupe for the Benefit Boi-ing Concealer?? This month I've loved using this under my eyes to tone down my bluey bits. I find that it's a bit heavy when I use my finger but it works really nicely with the Zoeva 142 Concealer Buffer Brush. (I did a full review of Seventeen Phwoarr Paint ages ago which you can read here).

Then before I powder my face I use the last of my cream products - *Benefit High Beam (£19.50). This is the most gorgeous highlighter ever. It's a beautiful pearly pink which looks gorgeous blended along the cheek and brow bones. I'm not keen on contour but I love a good highlight and *High Beam makes it so easy to achieve that radiant glow and looks incredibly natural. I then set my makeup using the Soap & Glory One Heck Of A Blot Translucent Mattifying Powder (£12). I just dust this all over my face (apart from where I've applied High Beam) using my Ecotools Mattifying Finish Brush. This is a really good powder if you like a matte base and the compact has a huge mirror so it's great for on the go. Then to add some warmth back into my face I use the Tarte Tartlette Amazonian Clay 12-hour Blush in Celebrated (£18.99). This is GORGEOUS. I cannot get over how gorgeous this blush is. Everything about Celebrated is perfect, from the packaging, to the colour, to the formula. This is my first Tarte product and I got my boyfriend to pick it up for me when he went to Florida (huge thank you to him!) but it means that I've caught the Tarte bug and now want to try out everything that they have ever made. Celebrated creates a really pretty natural peachy pink flush that lasts all day. I think this is one for the fairer girls out there like myself. If you can get your hands on it then do because I think it's a limited edition.

Now on to eyes. I haven't really had a set look for my eyes recently. I tend to go with the weather. If it's very sunny then I like golds and coppers but if it's a bit duller I like using matte shades and more neutral browny grey colours. I don't know if that's weird or if I'm the only one that does this so please let me know in the comments! But I have been reaching for my Maybelline The Nudes Palette (£9.99) a hell of a lot. There's a really lovely range of colours to suit whatever kind of look you're going for. There's also a nice range of finishes from matte, to satin, to shimmer. For a high-street palette the quality and colours are fab.

As always my weapons of choice for mascara have been Benefit's Roller Lash (£19.50) for my top lashes and The Natural Collection Water Guard Mascara in brown/black (£1.99) for my bottom lashes. You can read why here.

It's been hard to say what my go to lip product has been for this month because there have been sunny days when I've worn a bright lip (such as Revlon Colourburst Matte Balm in Mischievous) but I think on a day to day basis I've favoured the Seventeen Mirror Shine Lipstick in Beehive (£4.79). I picked this up after seeing one of my favourite internet people - Lily Melrose - rave about it and I'm really glad I did. This is the perfect "my lips but better" shade for me. It's a nice peachy pink that looks really natural. Because it's a 'mirror shine' lipstick it's moisturising and super comfortable to wear.

Whoop we're done! That felt like such a long post to write. Who new a natural makeup look required so many products. If you've made it to the end of this post let me know in the comments along with what your holy grail makeup item is!

Ciara x

* This post contains items which were gifted to me. Full disclaimer.