Admittedly we all have days where we can’t really be bothered and just slap on minimum make-up and hope for the best. They usually turn out to be the days where you bump into everyone you’ve ever met, even though you’ve only been out of the house for approximately ten seconds.

On the days where there is enough time to do your make-up properly however, it makes sense to make the products work a little bit harder and last extra longer. After all, you work damn hard so why shouldn’t your make up?

Part of me wanted to include a standard primer in this list, because yes they do make foundation go on better and last a longer but I’m yet to find one that makes me all ‘Oh my gosh, you have to try this!’ and force it on any human within a 1 mile radius. So, well just stick to this trio… because three is, after all, a magic number.

1. Urban Decay Eyeshadow Primer Potion.

When I first saw this featured on a vlog I was not convinced. Eyeshadow primer? Pfft come on. Who has the time or the need for this? It seemed a bit like one of them products that are pretty in your make-up bag but don’t really have a point. Oh how wrong I was. I doubted you, so apologies the beauty genies at Urban Decay. The bottle does look a lot like a potion bottle thanks to the lid, so it always raises a smile when it comes out of the make-up bag,  the wand is a bit rubbish though. I tend to just use the wands to haphazardly apply a few blobs then spread them about with my fingers. I use the original version, and boy oh boy does it make the colours of your eyeshadow pop. The colours of almost all brands of eyeshadow seem more pigmented and glide on easily. I was concerned about how different colours would blend with this base underneath, but blending is pretty much the same with or without. I put on my eye makeup at roughly 7.20am and as I write this at 9.50pm it’s still going strong and sparkly. Trust me on this one. If I wasn’t in a polar bear onesie, I’d show you.

2. Maybelline Matt Maker

As a dry skinned gal, shine has never really been a problem, so it was only last summer that I cottoned on to this little miracle. Truth be told I only bought this to try out ‘baking’ that was all the rage a while back. While not impressed with baking, this product has become a necessity for me. A few MUA’s recommend putting your blusher on under your foundation in order to make it look more natural, but adding a fine layer of this gives the same effect and still lets enough colour show through, it also helps set your makeup. Amazingly it makes your skin look like you’ve been Facetuned in real life. Pores, pack yer bags and get out.

3. Urban Decay Subversion Lash Primer.

Does anyone remember in the mid-noughties when brands started bringing out double ended mascara? There’d be semi-decent mascara on one end, while the other housed some sort of white sludge that was so thick and gooey no mascara on earth could possibly cover it well? Looking back, it was just PVA glue probably. Anyway you can forget about them, because this product is like their cool, sexier older brother. It probably plays in a band and has a car. Uh huh.

It is so creamy I’m convinced it contains like 30% cloud. It does look a bit clumpy when it goes on, and the wand is fairly substantial – so if like me, you tend to be sorta still asleep you may end up with it in your eye once or twice. I haven’t used it with an Urban Decay mascara but it works well with basically any brand. If I curl my lashes, then put this on before my normal mascara they look within touching distance of my brows. Yep. That’s my life goal nearly reached then. I don’t wear this every day because sometimes the supermarket and dog walking just don’t deserve such fluttery lashes, but for a day or two after my lashes feel so soft. I didn’t even realise soft eyelashes were a thing, but they are. And it makes your mascara feel so smooth and silky, and you feel a little bit like a princess.

So I guess there you go; 3 little products that make a whole lotta difference.

I thought it was high time I shared my favourite beauty buy ever. It’s a lipstick miracle by Maybelline (Colour Sensation) I wear it in Coral Tonic which is quite bright for a coral colour compared to most brands.

When I bought it and first applied it I was a bit like ‘uh-uh this was a bit brighter than I expected’ and tried to remove it. The lipstick, however had other ideas. It is amazingly long lasting, even when you don’t want it to be.

So after just blurring the edges and making it have slightly less ‘pow’ I thought sod it, applied it again and wore it to work.

Now my colleagues at the time often saw me in bright lipstick, but this one caught their attention. So much so, a girl I vaguely knew off another department (I worked in a department store at the time) came over to tell me that I was “brave” for wearing it.

I wasn’t altogether convinced this was a compliment, but I no longer cared. After catching sight of myself a few times, I’d grown to love it.

Unlike most long lasting lipsticks, it doesn’t dehydrate your lips. It does get that dreaded fading everywhere but at the edges look slightly (sob) but this is after seven hours and lots of drinks. And although you can see it, it is not glaringly obvious in a dodgy nineties lip liner way. So I think we can forgive that.

It does have an undeniable orange tone to it, as you can see in the photo.

Ok, this isn’t the most glamorous of photos, but it does show the colour. And I figured this was more important than being pinterest-worthy.

However as one colleague put it “It stops it looking tarty, with it being so bright.” It is also quite a warm orange (is there such a thing as a cool orange colour?) so even if you are as pale and pasty as me it looks good. I also think that this would look stunning on darker skin tones.

An added bonus is that this is the only lipstick I feel looks just as good applied with or without a brush, saving valuable minutes in the morning. Winner.