L'Oréal Color Infallible Eyeshadow - Time Resist White

If you are looking for a drugstore eyeshadow that really performs in terms of longevity and pigmentation then look no further. The colour pay-off with these L'Oréal babies is outstanding, made even more impressive by the very reasonable price of £6.99.

As you may be able to see in the photo below the texture is neither powder nor cream but a hybrid of the two. This makes the application process a complete breeze as there is no fallout, with the soft texture lending itself to effortless blending even for complete novices. Consequently, these would be perfect for those who like to keep their makeup regime as faff-free as possible. Whereas I could happily wile away a good 45 mins using a stupid amount of products to create a smoky eye, I am aware that people with far more sanity and much less time on their hands would prefer a far less complicated approach. Each to their own right?

I use the lighest shade in 'Time Resist White' pretty much on a daily basis. This colour is especially good for dabbing onto the inner corners of the eyelids and blending towards the middle for a wide-eyed look. I can also 100% confirm that if you apply these with a damp brush the colour will.not.budge.whatsoever. I have awoken on several Saturday mornings with this being one of the few products still perfectly intact on my dishevelled and distinctly uncleansed face. That is quite an achievement.

Anyway, here is a quick example of the product in action. Here I applied it all over my eyelid in an attempt at a 60's-esque look. I will let you be the judge of how successful that endeavour was...

MAC Ruby Woo: Grown-up Lips

No self-respecting adult of the female variety should be without their perfect scarlet companion. That's a fact right there. Sure, getting a job and paying your bills on time ranks pretty high on the maturity scale, but finding your favourite red lipstick is a far more enjoyable pursuit. My choice in this particular area of cosmetics is, like many a make-up devotee, MAC's Ruby Woo. It is safe to say that this hugely popular shade has acquired classic status. As a blue-based red it is particularly suited to albino pale ladies like myself with cool undertones in their skin. More to the point, this is a "proper" lipstick in the sense that the pigment payoff is incredibly good and long-lasting. I am 100% an all or nothing girl when it comes to lip colours, and this definitely falls into the former category.

I didn't feel quite right posting without a picture of the product in question in all it's crimson glory. However, I am currently sat sans maquillage with my hair in a towel and cup of tea beside me so I have opted for one taken of me wearing it on a night out instead: 

FYI this is me with fake tan on, at the moment my skin is about 3 shades lighter.  Eurgh, winter.

MAC Ruby Woo is £13.50 from  www.maccosmetics.co.uk . Grow up and get yourself a tube.

Sleek Luminaire Highlighting Concealer

I never understand why cosmetics brands make concealers with built in brushes. They tend to hinder rather than help with the blending process, waste product and are unhygienic. Unfortunately this offering from Sleek is no exception in any of those areas, but on a brighter note I do quite like the product inside. Here is a very exciting pros and cons list for your reading pleasure (it’s Monday, lists are about as much as my brain can handle right now I’m afraid):

The Good

 It’s dirt cheap at £6.49.

 It is very pigmented and therefore excellent for covering the dreaded under eye circles that plague my every waking moment.

 This is great for contouring. In fact I would be inclined to use it primarily as a highlighter down the centre of my nose and on top of my cheekbones as opposed to a concealer.

Swatched above and blended out beneath

The Bad

Once applied on the skin it dries out really quickly making it difficult to blend. This makes me apprehensive about using it on blemishes.

The stupid goddamn brush.

The packaging is, dare I say it, a leeeetle bit cheap looking. I can’t help it, I like things to look nice and this doesn’t really cut the mustard for me in that respect. 

The Verdict

I like, but don’t love. This may not set my heart a flutter, but on the other hand I wouldn’t break down in a cold sweat if say, I went away on holiday and this was the only concealer I had taken with me. You may scoff at my attempt to put my feelings about this into perspective with a holiday related anecdote but have YOU ever tried shopping for cosmetics in Greece? I rest my case.

Get your hands on this at www.sleekmakeup.com with £2.95 standard UK delivery.

Ojon Revitalizing 2-min Hair Mask - Review

If you read my post about The Body Shop face mask you may have detected that I generally disregard beauty routines that eat into my precious (Gollum reference, heh) time. Unless of course it will transform my body into that of a Victoria's Secret model, or give me the cheekbones of someone with er, good cheekbones. Actually, what even constitutes good cheekbones? Is there a check-list? Where can I get one? 

Anyway the point is that I don't like wasting time. I want instant results. Demanding? Me? Where'd you get crazy idea from? So thank the sweet heavens for Ojon's Revitalizing 2-min hair mask. TWO MINUTES!!!! That's 120 seconds! I did that sum in my head, that's how little time that is! And holy moly this stuff is the bizzzzz nizzzzzz. Seriously. I cannot shout enough about Ojon products. I use their shampoos, conditioners, hair masks and styling products. I also abuse my hair with every torture device styling contraption and shade of blonde hair dye known to humanity on a regular basis. Theoretically I should be bald and cursing the day GHD's were born, but this stuff has saved me from such a state. Even the beauty god that is Sali Hughes is a fan, and quite frankly that would be enough for me anyway.

Unfortunately this particular mask is no longer available, but I'm pretty sure that the very similarly named dry recovery intensive hydrating 2-min hair mask  is a safe best for the same results. One more thing: this smells awesomely good, so much so that my one of my friends refused to stop hugging me recently because they caught a whiff of this on my hair. Freaky, yet strangely flattering. 

Why the heck did I buy that? #1: OPI Fiercely Fiona = FAIL

Being an OPI groupie I couldn't help but pick this up when I saw it for about four measly pounds in TK Maxx. There is just something so alluring about the big chunky bottles that makes me see in tunnel vision whenever I spot them in a shop. Unfortunately this "skill" has it's disadvantages i.e. I buy really ugly colours purely because they are OPI. I know I know I know, I hang my head in shame.

Fiercely Fiona (from the 2010 Shrek collection, the name gives it away no?) is a greeny yellow that instantly conjures up images of hospital walls, bodily fluids and disease. Oh, and it looks terrible on, almost as if your nails are ill with jaundice. I wish I could say something positive like "this might look great on tanned skin for summer" but well, it won't. Sorry.

The Body Shop Warming Mineral Mask - Review

I’m pretty indifferent when it comes to face masks.  This is mainly because I am far too fidgety to allow it to sit on my face for the recommended amount of time. Consequently, nine times out of ten it will have been unceremoniously washed off within approximately three minutes.  Wham, bam, no thank you ma’am.

So you can imagine my enthusiasm upon receiving The Body Shop’s Warming Mineral Mask in my Christmas stocking last month. 

However, it being the season of goodwill and all I decided not to banish it to the back of my wardrobe and I am pleased to announce that I actually quite like it!  For starters it really does warm up when you apply it. This means I can still wash it off after three minutes as per usual (belated NY resolution:  work on patience, or lack thereof) but that’s ok because I can actually feel it working. It’s a really comforting sensation…but the downside is that it only lasts for about 3-4 seconds before disappearing.

Nevertheless it still feels much more luxurious than many other masks I have had the displeasure of trying. Additionally this contains Kaolin clay which is naturally high in zinc and silica, both of which are beneficial for oily or blemish prone skin (It also contains, er, ‘essential oils’, the benefits of which remain a mystery). Overall a good mask for a quick midweek or post party pick me up which leaves my skin feeling soft and soothed.

 The Body Shop Warming Mineral Mask is £9 with £2.99 standard UK delivery at www.thebodyshop.co.uk.

Make Up For Ever Waterproof Eyebrow Corrector - Review

First things first for UK readers: Make Up For Ever is notoriously difficult to get hold of in Britain. No department stores or high street chemists stock it (I'm talking to you Boots/Debenhams/House of Fraser etc, seriously missing a trick with this brand). You can however order it online here, but without swatching first you do so at your own risk.

Luckily, my sister took visited the USA soon after I saw the lovely Lisa Eldridge use the product in this video, so I was able to get my mitts on it whilst *gulp* trusting her to choose the correct colour for me (which FYO is the lightest shade No. 0, light taupe brown, if you are a fellow blonde then this is the one for you). 

No biggie, but this is my Holy Grail eyebrow product. Uh huh, I said it. Okay, so the price point may be above average but y'see that tube pictured above? Well, I have had that for about 18 months and it is still going strong, and that is with application almost every day. So with cost per use the price actually isn't that shocking after all.

The texture of this is almost a hybrid between a cream and a gel, and you need the teeniest tiniest amount to cover both brows. Even better is the fact that this stuff can be adjusted to whatever kind of makeup look you are aiming for. In the Lisa Eldridge video she is fairly heavy handed with her application which is appropriate for the retro looking brow she is aiming for. For day to day wear however I prefer a more natural look, and tend to follow my natural arch to create a tidier and more defined version of what is there already.

I use a MAC 266 brush for application, but any small angled brush should do the job just fine. I’m not going to pretend that first application went without any glitches; being used to pencils and powder the initial results were more resonant of Charlie Chaplin than anything resembling brows of glory. However, it’s true when they say that practise makes perfect, and it was just a matter of adjusting to the foreign consistency.

Before

After

As for it being waterproof? To be honest I always  take any claims for cosmetics being impervious to H20 with a large pinch of salt. Products can be durable and long lasting indeed, but scientific wonders that totally repel water? Not so sure... Having said that, this is most definitely sweat proof and my eyebrows are still in their rightful place above my eyes rather than running down either side of them after a visit to the gym or in hot/humid conditions. All in all one of my favourite makeup staples that I will be buying over and over til the proverbial cows come home. Or until something better comes along and tempts me to stray. Me? Fickle? Never...

Current Favourites: Primer, Foundation & Concealer

Foundation, you are my one true friend in life. You are able to look upon my naked face every morning without any judgement or exclamations of horror. And you primer, can you ever forgive me for originally overlooking you as a fad? I’m sorry, truly I am. Not forgetting mister concealer, the stand-out hero in the fight against blemishes and evidence of sleep deprivation. Good sirs, I salute you.

So here it is, a very quick list of my current favourites in what beauty experts (and indeed myself) would call base products i.e. for the skin on your face. Here goes…

Primers

Smashbox Photo Finish Colour Correcting Foundation Primer in Adjust

Whenever I put this on, I could touch my face all day long. Yep, I’m fully aware of how weird and slightly fetish-like that sounds, but it’s true. It makes your skin feel super smooth, with a velvety soft texture once applied on le visage. I have combination skin so foundation tends to drag across my dryer cheeks and disappear into an oily mess on my t-zone. Not with this. It’s a game changer and made me kick myself for previously dismissing all primers as unnecessary. Loads on the market are a load of twaddle by the way, just not this little baby. Oh, and the green tint actually does help to combat redness. Really, I’m not lying. 

By the way the packaging for this has since changed from the pump as pictured above to a squeezy tube like this. I personally didn't have a problem with the pump but the fact that I can cut the new tube in half and scoop out the remnants when it begins to run out makes me ever so happy. Yeah yeah yeah I know this will oxidise the product and make it less effective, but being frugal is a tough habit to break.

Philosophy The Present Clear Makeup

Philosophy says this ‘can be used under makeup to help create a smoother finish’ and hey ho, that’s pretty much what it does. A little goes a long way, but I have to say that the texture does remind me just a little bit of PVA glue. It’s a bit sticky at first then you smooth it out and it dries matte.  This probably wouldn’t tempt you to touch your face all day long (and let’s be honest, that’s probably a good thing) but it definitely makes my foundation hold up longer and pores are less offensive looking after application. I think of this as a ‘t-shirt bra’ primer: really not that exciting, but gets the job done.

Foundations

Myface Mymix Foundation

This stuff is quite simply, to quote Tina Turner, the best.  I first bought a bottle almost three years ago in 2009 and loved it. Yet, being the makeup whore that I am, did not feel compelled to swear undying loyalty and never repurchased once the bottle emptied. Fool I was! I stumbled upon it again a few months ago and I feel like I have met my foundation soul-mate (well, one of them at least). It delivers a dewy finish that looks radiant rather than greasy and can be layered for a heavier result if preferred. Full review to come because I love it thiiiiiiisss *holds arms wide open* much!

Vichy Dermablend Corrective Foundation

This stuff is really very thick. As such, I don’t use it as a foundation per say in that I apply it all over my face. Instead this is what I refer to as my reinforcement foundation. If my face were a nightclub and the acne/blemishes that enjoy ruining my chin area every once in a while were some drunken revellers causing trouble, then this would be that nightclub’s security guard who escorts them off the premises. Did I really just compare my face to a nightclub? Oh dear lord... Anyway, I either mix this with whatever foundation I’m using to beef it up in terms of coverage when my skin is misbehaving, or apply a layer over problem areas and blend in with the rest of my foundation. Actually, this may also need a full review to claw back it’s dignity from being compared to a bouncer…

Concealers

Collection 2000 Lasting Perfection Ultimate Wear Concealer

I bought this on a whim when my MAC Select Moisturecover concealer ran out.  Oh look, I thought to myself in Boots one day, that concealer looks sort of the same as my MAC one. Ooooh, I then thought, it’s so cheap! I wonder if it will be as good? As if, my internal monologue continued. It costs less than half price. Going to buy it anyway though, just to see.

Well lo and behold, not only is this stuff good, it’s equal to if not better than the MAC one. Especially good for under eye circles, it also covers any blemishes or discolouration that foundation may have neglected. And the price! Amazingly good value. Go forth and try it yourselves, I dare you.

Smashbox Second Skin Long Wear Concealer

This stuff does not budge once it has set. It is excellent for covering spots when applied with a concealer brush in addition to masking the unsightly (oh, the irony) eye area during the painful early morning starts. The latter is a pretty slapdash job considering that there is often no natural light outside yet but it still manages to look pretty faultless. Idiot-proof.

So there we have it folks, the tricks I am using at this moment in time to fool people into thinking my skin is somewhat decent looking. 

Nice to meet you to meet you nice

Ah, the first blog-post dilemma. Do I swagger right in without any introductory babble or do the obligatory ‘this is who I am and this is what this blog is’ rigmarole? I guess the fact that I have even bothered to type out that question places me firmly in the latter camp…nonconformity is evidently not my middle name.  Right, on with the show shall we?

I have been meaning to start a beauty related blog since, oh, I don’t know, forever (hyperbole on the other hand is definitely my middle name). I am, quite frankly, obsessed with all things related to makeup, skin care, hair care, fitness and health. OBSESSED I tell you! Unfortunately the last two on that condensed list are at the bottom of my pile of priorities but hey, you can’t blame a girl for trying right? So, it is here in my own little virtual patch of blog-land that I intend to bore/inspire/thrill/tire (cross off as appropriate) anyone who drops by with my thoughts, reviews and general blathering about those topics.

Oh, and I am a 22 year old English Literature graduate living in London. That will suffice for the ‘this is who I am’ bit for now methinks. Also, I am by no means an expert on anything I write about. I just like playing around with words almost as much as I like playing around with lotions and potions so this seemed like a logical step to take.

PHEW. Glad that’s out of the way, it’s only onwards and upwards from here my friends. Until next time…