The Summer Base: Topshop BB Cream

The BB cream, CC cream and Tinted Moisturiser are all the rage now. I have a feeling there is now also a DD cream and a EE cream? Anyway while everyone was getting excited over the lightweight base, to be honest I wasn’t really. With blemished skin I was always a little feared of touching something very light coverage thinking it wouldn’t quite work for me. However after dabbling in my first use of BB cream I realised how wrong I was.

Enter the Topshop BB Cream, described as a lightweight and flawless finish. Instead of lugging about a glass bottle of foundation on holiday I wanted something a little lightweight both in texture and physically. After a little Feel Unique browse I came across a sweet deal for this BB cream at only £5. Topshop’s beauty line has been hugely popular and hold a few of my favourite makeup products so its safe to say I had high hopes for this cute metallic tube.

Now I am going to start with the more problematic side to this BB cream. Now I am not particularly sure how many shades this comes in but there isn’t the widest variety (it goes with the light-medium-dark range). I picked up the shade Light-medium which is a little too dark for me. Being Summer and sporting a little more colour I can probably get away with this a little more but I do feel like the shade is a little too much on the orange side.

Shade woes aside, this BB cream has a decent SPF 20 which makes it perfect for Summer. It also has a slight sun-cream like scent to it which I love and just reminds me of Summer. Now the coverage in this stuff is where it gets impressive. It really has a good buildable coverage and was very impressive for a BB cream. While the concealer had to come out to play, it still created a good base. It also didn’t feel heavy and it had a slight dewy finish.

You may be aware of my relationship with drugstore foundations/bases but if not then basically we don’t have the strongest bond. I always find that some days they look great and other days not so much, this is definitely the same with this BB cream. Some days it blends beautifully and really creates a flawless finish but other days it feels a little more cakey and as if its sitting on my face. So really with this its a hit or a miss although when it is a hit, it really is a hit!

Are you a fan of BB creams?

Twitter | Pinterest | Bloglovin

 

Nars Sheer Glow Foundation

It’s been a long time coming. For pretty much every wishlist I have created on this blog, most of them have contained the Nars Sheer Glow and it looks like I have finally checked it off! When it comes to foundation I’ve always had a bit of a struggle. A lot of drugstore foundations don’t sit right with my skin, they are either cakey, not long lasting or stick to dry patches. So being a lover of Nars and with a well hyped reputation I had to make the splurge and I had pretty high expectations to say the least. After trying this out, I can definitely say it lived up to the expectations!

I picked this up from Space NK after gaining a little £5 reward on my card making the scary price a little less scary. The shade matching was a pretty easy job, I spotted my shade a mile away and the shop assistant was definitely in agreement. I tend to have a thing with the second lightest shade of foundations and it was no surprise after picking up the shade Mont Blanc (Light 2) to which the shop assistant also told me was the most popular shade in the store.

Now back to the foundation itself. The name ‘Sheer glow’ is a bit of a weird one. This foundation is anything but sheer, it does give the impression that it is very light coverage however it has a very buildable coverage. The foundation blends really easily too and creates such a flawless base that hardly needs concealer (for me anyway). The foundation is more of a dewy base but isn’t overly glowy, it makes the skin look naturally radiant and brighter.

The longevity is a major plus point when it comes to buying foundation. I really don’t want to come home with half my foundation worn away, lets be honest its not pretty! Nars Sheer Glow definitely offers a long lasting base. It lasts really well on my skin and after a full day away I always come home to a base that still looks super flawless! The only issue I have with this foundation is the pump problem. You may be aware that the Nars Sheer Glow doesn’t come with a pump and you have to buy it separately. However thats a whole other problem itself as no where seems to stock a pump! So for the time being I have to dip my brush in the bottle and hope for the best really!

Overall though, an amazing foundation. For the time being I can sacrifice the pump-less bottle for the guarantee of a flawless base. Without a doubt, the best foundation I have ever used (so far).

Have you tried the Nars Sheer Glow?

Twitter | Pinterest | Bloglovin

 

Disappointing Products

I like to think I remain pretty positive particularly on my blog but sadly some products just don’t impress me much (apologies for the Shania Twain connection). Speaking of which, today I am going to talk a little on some of those products. Now when it comes to beauty, everyone has different preferences and some things suit others better so I am sorry if I am about to slag off your holy grail product! Anyway here are my picks of the not so impressing products (for me anyway).

Rimmel Match Perfection Foundation – Now I have mentioned this one before and I know a lot of people love it but sadly it just didn’t work well with my skin. Sometimes it would sit okay and others it just failed on me. It seemed to stick to my dry patches, it didn’t last long and I felt like it was slightly difficult to blend in to a good finish.

Bourjois Delice de Poudre Bronzing Powder & Highlighter – Again I know this bronzer is a favourite of many but again I just didn’t get on with it. I don’t know whether I got a bad product or its always like this but I found this pretty unusable. Both the bronzer and highlighter are really stiff in the pan. My finger doesn’t pick up the bronzer at all and while it does for the highlighter, my brush doesn’t pick up the product. Other than that it smells pretty damn amazing which is probably the reason why I haven’t chucked this one yet!

Collection Lasting Perfection Concealer – I’ve spoke briefly on this one too here and again its a pretty hyped up favourite by many. It just didn’t offer me the coverage I needed for my heavily blemished and red skin. It was really cakey as well in my opinion and just stuck to dry patches and the lasting claim never really happened for me either.

Maybelline Baby Skin Instant Pore Eraser – Sorry for the repetitiveness as I know I have mentioned my dislike for this one too. I love my primers but this one just didn’t quite cut it. It felt really greasy on my skin and never did anything for my pores. I didn’t really feel like it helped pro-long the wear of my makeup much either which is what I look for in a primer.

Eyeko Skinny Liquid Eyeliner – Being a lover of eyeliner pens like the style of this one from Eyeko, I was pretty excited to receive this in the Latest in Beauty box. However after first use attempt I was pretty disappointed. It’s not easy trying to master the cat flick with eyeliner so I always felt using pen style liners were much easier but this one left me in a struggle. It was so difficult to apply that I actually had to swap back to my trusty Soap and Glory Supercat to finish the look. It didn’t apply smoothly and felt like it was dragging my eyelid, I wanted to like it but it was just far too difficult to apply.

Benefit They’re Real Push Up Liner – Yep another eyeliner and pretty much the same reasoning. I absolutely love Benefit, they hardly ever let me down and being a huge fan of the mascara from this line I got quite excited to receive this in one of the Christmas gift sets. I have heard many reviews of this one saying its a bit like marmite, some love it and some hate it. Sadly, I’m in the latter category, I just couldn’t work this, it was too difficult to apply and it wouldn’t give me the smooth line I was after.

The Body Shop Tea Tree Pore Minimiser – Another disappointing primer. Again I couldn’t really see what this did for my pores at all and I don’t think it really did much to help improve the base of my makeup. The tea tree scent does feel fresh on the skin but it wasn’t quite what I was looking for.

Are you a fan of any of these products?

 

 

Empties #2

Since I’ve built up quite a few empty products over the month, it’s time for another Empties post. With these products in their last days I thought I would review what I thought about them and whether I will be making a repurchase.

One Direction Our Moment – First on the list is a shower gel. How exciting! I am going to try and refrain from mentioning my love for One Direction too much here and focus purely on their wonderfully scented shower gel. This came alongside their perfume ‘Our Moment’ and the scent is incredibly similar. The scent is very fruity and floral and isn’t too bad in terms of longevity on the skin. Would I repurchase? No not really, I don’t really go out my way to purchase shower gel and this one would probably be quite a hassle to find and continuously buy, it is lovely though 🙂

Lush Mask of Magnaminty – Next up is a peppermint mask from Lush. I heard quite a lot about this mask and thought it would be a good addition to help clear my skin. The peppermint scent is dreamy and feels so fresh on the skin. It does leave your skin feeling super soft and fresh. In terms of blemishes, I don’t think its a miracle worker but what is!? Would I repurchase? Probably, I do love a bit of peppermint and it does make my skin feel hydrated and clean.

The Body Shop Vitamin E Overnight Serum-in-oil – You may be familiar with me talking about this Body Shop oil before. I absolutely love face oils, they are such a great way to add a layer of hydration and help with any dry skin especially around Winter time. This one lasted me quite a while so it really is great value and really does help recharge my skin as well as making my skin more radiant. Would I repurchase? Hell yes!

Maybelline Baby Skin Instant Pore Eraser – I am without a doubt a true primer gal, I really can’t go a day without putting a layer of primer on before anything else. In a constant hunt for the perfect primer I thought I would try this one from Maybelline which many suggested as being a dupe for the much loved Benefit Porefessional. Sadly, I have to disagree on that one. The aim of ‘erasing’ pores sadly just doesn’t do it for me and the primer feels very heavy and greasy on my skin contradicting with the lightweight feel it says it is supposed to give. Would I repurchase? No.

Collection Lasting Perfection Concealer – It is the incredibly hyped up product from a brand I never ever made eye contact with (until the hype sucked me up!). For many this is holy grail status, for me it isn’t anywhere near that I’m afraid. I tried but I really couldn’t get on with this. With my skin suffering from blemishes and redness, i really need something to help camouflage this, sadly this concealer just didn’t offer me the coverage I needed. It also stuck to my dry patches and the lasting power wasn’t quite good enough for me either. Would I repurchase? No.

Rimmel Match Perfection Foundation – Again this is another popular beauty item that I’m sure many of you are a fan of. For me yet again sadly it never lived up to the hype. At first I liked this and then when I began to continuously use it, I got put off. Firstly, I think I must have picked the wrong shade as it was a little too light for my skin. The main problems for me however was that it didn’t last long at all which is something I look for in foundation and it clung to dry areas of my skin. Would I repurchase? No.

Are you a fan of any of these products?

 

 

 

 

Spring Wishlist

Forever making wish-lists… Yup its time for another! With Spring just around the corner and the nights getting lighter and the sun appearing *shocked face* its time to rock the fresh glowy faced look with touch of coral (ah dreamy <3). Anyway as usual when it comes to wishlists (well mine anyway) its full of expensive guilt-worthy high end products I don’t really need but hey they would be nice 🙂 Now on to the list…

Nars Sheer Glow – I apologize if I keep batting on about how much I want this one in my life. I think its probably been in every wishlist I’ve created and I’ve still not bought it *oops!*. Anyway this one will officially be ticked off this season as I have a SpaceNK voucher and I need this so it makes sense, right!?

Jo Malone Pomegranate Noir – Ahh beautiful! I am forever hearing about the beauty that is Jo Malone fragrances. I went to the Jo Malone counter not too long ago to have a little sniff around and spotted this popular but beautifully scented gem. Its not the most spring-y scent but I like it and I want it, nuff said.

Burberry Pale Barley Eyeshadow – Can you tell I am forever a suck up to blogger hype!? I keep seeing this beauty everywhere and it looks ever so beautiful. Its always described as the ‘one wash wonder’ eyeshadow which seems great for me on my morning rush. Its a pricey one but its Burberry and its damn beautiful!

Benefit Majorette Blush – Another one I’ve had on the wishlist for too long! This was released last year and I am still hearing good things about it. It really is the perfect spring blush; coral with a cream-to-powder finish, perfection it seems!

Hourglass Ambient Lighting Blush Diffused Heat – I have yet to take the plunge into anything Hourglass yet mostly because they are quite far out of my budget but c’mon! These blushes truly are gorgeous as well as pretty much every other Hourglass product! Again this glowy blush looks perfect for Spring and a great intro to the Hourglass brand!

So what is on your spring wishlist?

2015 wishlist

 

New year, new long list of expensive beauty items I don’t particularly need. Last year seen the start of my makeup obsession and lets just say my purse wasn’t too happy with my shopping decisions. Getting to experiment with different brands and products has allowed me to become more aware of my makeup needs and what products I really need to achieve the best results. Its no surprise I have really took to high end brands and it looks like this year is going to be filled with trips to Space NK and House of Fraser.

Anyway on to the list, I have picked 8 items but lets be real here if I picked every item I wanted to buy then I don’t think it would be quite possible to cover them all in the one post so I’ve stuck to the top 8 most wanted.

First on the list is the best primer I’ve ever tried. Its the highly raved about Smashbox Photo Finish Foundation primer. I have had no luck with primers and I recently got a sample of this and tried it out and lets just say the results amazed me. It is pricey but its hella good. Next is the dream duo from Nars, the Sheer glow foundation and creamy concealer. You may recall seeing this on previous wishlists of mine and as you can tell I have still not spent the cash on it but this year is the year! I also want to try the Urban Decay Naked Flushed palette in Streak, it just looks so heavenly and these shades seem perfect for my pale complexion. Now that my Naked palette collection is complete I need my hands on the Too Faced Chocolate Bar palette. The shades look so beautiful and the palette is always the talk of good reviews so why not! Being stuck with a cheap and terrible pair of eyelash curlers is doing me no good. After hearing constant rave reviews from pretty much every blogger particularly Anna from Vivianna Does Makeup these Shu Uemura curlers are meant to be the bee’s knees. No surprise that Nars made the list again with the Copacabana illuminator which looks like such a beautiful and effortless highlighter. And last but not least after converting my usual stippling brush in favour of a buffing brush for foundation I have noticed far superior results. It is so much easier to blend but I would love to get my hands on the Bobbi Brown Full coverage brush which I have seen so many bloggers using recently. Its pricey but it seems to get flawless results.

So what is on your 2015 wishlist?

Autumn/Winter Lust List

 

Hello everyone 🙂 Short but sweet post today displaying the items that have been on my wish list for quite a while now and that I am desperately wanting to add to my collection. All of the above products are high end.. thats what beauty blogging does to you eh!? Hopefully by the end of the year I will be the owner of these to-die-for products but please do let me know your opinions on them? Have you used them, are they worth the expensive price tag? Thanks guys, next post on Wednesday!

Topshop: The Face makeup

So you may or may not have heard about Topshop’s new face makeup range but anyway launching this month, Topshop are introducing new facial products to their already well raved about beauty line. If you have never tried any of their makeup then its definitely worth a try, I love their stick highlighter and I also have a couple of their lipsticks which I reviewed recently here. Anyway now they have taken things a bit further and are bringing out a new range of items for the face including foundation, concealer, primer and a concealer palette. The prices of the products range from a a decent £10 to £16. I am still on the hunt for the perfect foundation and being described as a ‘liquid velvet for the skin’ its one I have to try however £16 is a little more pricey than your average drugstore foundation. I also really want to get my hands on the concealer palette it just looks fab and the packaging of all the items looks exquisite and expensive, another plus! Will you be trying out the new Topshop face products?