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?

 

 

 

 

Latest in Beauty Get The Gloss Beauty Insiders Kit

 

Apologies for the longest blog post name ever. I am not going to lie, I am not the biggest fan of beauty boxes. I just don’t like the idea of spending money on a box of products that I never wanted in the first place and from brands I had never heard of but I guess I slightly caved when I seen this one from Latest in Beauty. Packed full of well known branded goodies, some of which I had been lusting over for ages I just couldn’t say no. The best bit of course being the price at only £19 (excl. p&p) with the whole box being worth a jawdropping £116.

There is a good mix of products in the box from skincare to beauty. Starting with the Therapie Roques Oneil Cherish Skin Repair Serum (30ml). This is my first encounter with this brand and I’ve been loving giving this a try. The body serum firstly smells amazing and is for helping to heal the skin especially during the harsh winter. The Shiseido Ultimune Power Infusing Concentrate (10ml) comes next and is the serum in need of tackling signs of aging. It is a pricey one though if you were to get the full size! The James Read Sleep Mask Tan (25ml) is also included which is a brand I’ve never heard of. I am really not a fan of any tanning products but I will give this a little go despite being a little worried about the whole overnight thing, waking up looking like an oompa loompa is a terrifying thought! I do love a good oil product so I was quite happy to see an appearance of the Balance Me Radiance Face Oil (10ml). It comes in a handy rollerball and creates such a radiance on the skin. Finally, probably the most exciting skincare product is the GlamGlow Supermud Clearing Treatment (10g). I’ve heard a lot about this brand and was super excited to see it included. I have tried this out, it does smell horrible but that aside I do really like it. It made my skin feel so incredibly soft, shame there isn’t a lot of product.

On to beauty products. The Daniel Sandler Concealer Brush was included in the box and is quite a thin and dainty brush. I have tried this and I am not the biggest fan, it is too small for my liking as I prefer a slightly larger brush for concealer. Two Essie Nail polishes (5ml) made their way in too in the shades Shearling Darling and Parka Perfect , a dark maroon and a grey shade. They are so up my street! Moving on to the product that made me purchase the box altogether; the Laura Mercier Foundation Primer (30ml). This primer alone retails for £19, the price of the box and after lusting over it for so long this was the prime reason for picking up this box. I haven’t fully tried this yet but I like it so far and it is quite different from any other primer I have used. It is a very lightweight gel texture and glides smoothly on the skin. Last but not least the Eyeko Skinny Liquid Eyeliner (2g, full-size). Being a huge eyeliner fan I had been dying to try this for ages and couldn’t believe my luck at seeing a full sized product in this box. Sadly though it didn’t quite live up to expectation. It has such a fine nib but unfortunately I found it hard to work with and it felt like it was dragging my skin rather than gliding on like my Soap and Glory one does. A no-no from me on that one.

While there was a couple of no-go’s I did find some gems and I can’t wait to start using them properly.

Unfortunately this box is now sold out.

Are you a fan of beauty boxes? Are you a fan of any of these products?

 

 

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?

Empties

Hello everyone 🙂 I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas and were cherished with lots of lovely gifts! Anyway I had some used up products lying around recently and I thought why not do an empties post. So thats exactly what I am doing, here are some of the products I have used up in the last while.

Clean & Clear Dual Moisturiser – I bought this a while back and I was most drawn in by the dual action idea. It states that this product not only moisturises but also helps to prevent blemishes and spots and being prone to spotty skin this is exactly why I bought it. In terms of moisturising its nothing special its just a basic moisturiser but in terms of preventing blemishes I felt like this product did nothing to help my blemished and spotty skin. Would I repurchase? No

Lush Cupcake Face Mask – In another attempt to heal my red and blemished skin I picked up the highly raved about Cupcake face mask from Lush. This product is stored in the fridge so its very cooling and hydrating on the skin, it also has a dreamy chocolate and minty scent sadly its inedible though! While I never noticed an incredible difference, this face mask did leave my skin feeling nourished and more hydrated. Would I repurchase? Yes, I would like to test this out again.

Rimmel Scandal-eyes Retro Glam Mascara – I remember getting quite excited about this mascara when it first came out and I quickly went to purchase it (yes, I have had this for that long!) Before I had been a great fan of the Scandal eyes mascara range by Rimmel, they do fantastic mascaras on a budget. This mascara is probably one of their best, it is very volumising and lifts my lashes for great impact.  Would I repurchase? Well for the time being I like to try different products so no but never say never.

Rimmel Stay Matte Primer – I have made up quite the collection of primers in the last while and this has to be my least favourite. This just did nothing for me. It never helped my makeup last any longer and it never minimised the look of pores. This primer might work on others but for me it wasn’t any good. Would I repurchase? No

So are you a fan of any of these products?

 

 

 

Benefit Stocking Fillers

Hey everyone, *warning* I am going to go all ‘Christmassy’ on y’all. Sorry but that’s what happens at this time of the year. Anyway I was in Boots not too long ago and spotted a cute little stand of pink jars (think the sweet shop kind) full of Benefit goodies. These products were all miniatures of the full sized products and were advertised as being a good stocking filler, and lets all agree we would love to see these products in our stockings at Christmas! Anyway the deal was that you could get any 4 for £15 which in my opinion was pretty good as they are Benefit products and are good quality and it also lets you try out some products that you may have never tried before. So anyway here is what I got:

‘The Porefessional’ – A good favourite of mine! I already have this product in full size version so I am already familiar with its amazingness. It aims to minimise the appearance of pores and boy does it! This is by far the best ‘pore-minimising’ product I’ve ever used. I picked up this so I could just have that little bit extra of amazingness 🙂

‘That Gal’ – This is another primer to add to my collection. Its quite different from any primer I’ve used, its got brightening qualities in it so brightens up your appearance which is always a plus! It is a soft pink liquid which blends in really well, I’ve only used this once but from this I could be looking at something good here!

‘Triple Performing Facial Emulsion’ – or in other words – a moisturiser. This is my first time in trying Benefit’s skincare products and so far, not too bad. I love the smell of this, its very fresh and cucumber-y. I am just not sure if it makes any difference to my skin compared to my usual skincare products.. still unsure on this one.

‘Bad Gal Lash’ – I’ve always been lusting over They’re real mascara but its always good to try them all I guess, right? Anyway I picked this up and it has a nice thick brush and is pretty good in volumising and lengthening lashes. Only issue is that because of the thick brush it can be a little messy on the lower lashes but other than that its pretty decent.

What’s your fave Benefit product?

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?