black|Up Paris CC Cream; Multi-Action Complexion Correcting Foundation!!!

I have heard of the brand black|Up Paris for a while, but this is the first product I've actually tried and I love it. I don't have many CC or BB creams, as there are not many that cater to darker skintones, as some can have quite a grey cast to them or just not run dark enough. I was actually in the market for a tinted moisturiser, a light weight base I could use daily, so popped into Debenhams on my lunch break and came across this.

The black|Up Paris CC cream claims to hydrate, mattify, reduce excess sebum, rebalance skin, minimise pores, boost radiance, unify skin tone and have a lightweight finish. My initial thought was how can something hydrate and mattify, but as you apply this CC cream it feels like a drink of water to the skin, without leaving skin shiny or greasy. It lasts well during the day with or withour primer, even on my combination skin in these warm sunny days we've been having I can go all day without touching up, with only minimal shine coming through. Usually around my nose, which is typical for me.

This gives light to light medium coverage, you won't be able to build it up much more than that, so perfect for what I was looking for. It's a great colour match for me, it has a great amount of orange in the undertone that is very flaterring on darker skin tones. CC04 runs more red in the undertone, so this maybe more suitable if that describes your skin tone.

The black|Up Paris CC cream comes in 5 shades, I have CC03 and it cost £27. It's paraben, oil and fragrance free.

Have you tried anything from this brand before?

Thanks for visiting the blog today.

Alex

YSL Youth Liberator Serum Foundation!!!

So by now you have probably already heard of YSL's latest addition to their base family, it's their first serum foundation, it's infused with a unique complex called Glycanactif complex. It's touted to revive skin's youthful brightness and enhance the complexion's natural colour tone, said to work even better in conjunction with the Forever Youth Liberator Serum, to reduce the appearance of wrinkles and leave the skin looking firmer. Now as is the way with these things, I have not used the foundation long enough to comment on these claims and I do not own the serum, but it's a nice thought to think the foundation has extra added benefits during wear, as appears to be the trend recently.

Anyway back to the Foundation, I have shade B70, the darkest I've seen. It's a good match to my skintone, albeit a little beige, it blends out really well. It's contained in the most glorious glass bottle I've seen for a while and comes with a handy pump.

No Flash                                                        Flash


(I'll add a picture of me wearing it once I get a good shot)
It's gives a good medium coverage, with a lovely satin finish, it's on the pricey side of £34, but I bought it with 15% off from Feelunique. I like this foundation, one critic is I would like it to have more yellow in it, but it gives my skin a lovely glow and lasts well with minimal touch up's during the day, I apply it with fingers and/or my real techniques buffing brush.

Have you tried this foundation yet?

Thanks for visiting the blog today.

Alex

Hourglass Liquid Powder Foundation in Sable!!!

In a quest to expand my Hourglass collection (aka obsession), I finally purchased the Hourglass Immaculate Liquid Powder Foundation, touted as 'the' foundation for oily skin and with rave reviews I had to see for myself. The closest spacenk store to me closed down recently, (I almost cried...literally), so I had to purchase blind based on swatches and shade descriptions from Beautyprofessor.net, at £50 it was a pricey risk to take. I bought it as part of my purchase with the spacenk beauty event, I figured it was the best time to stock up on my most lusted after items and get a great GWP, also a great way to test new products.

I chose the colour sable, which is the second to darkest shade available, for a mac reference I'm inbetween NC45-50. This foundation is formulated to absorb oil without absorbing moisture, due to an ingredient called cashmere kaolin clay, it's a liquid to powder formulation with a velvet matte finish. It's oil free and water resistant, it's also been reported to have skincare benefits for those with acne and blemish prone skin. It does not require powder to set, in fact it sets quite quickly, so you have to be quick during application and blending.

FlashNo flash

As with most Hourglass products it's oil, paraben, phthalate, fragance, nanoparticle, synthetic dye and gluten free. It's vegan and water resistant, it provide medium to full coverage, although I've never built it up to more than medium coverage.

The shade comes off a tad beige/ashy on initial application (I wish it had more yellow in it), but once it sets, and in a complete make-up look it blends well and is a great match. I was surprised to find that my skin did require a touch up after a few hours, nothing major, but I guess with a hyped up product you can tend to have higher expectations. However it performs best with the Hourglass mineral veil primer, it also comes with a sachet in the box, no touch up's required at all!!!

Have you tried any hourglass products? What's your favourite?

Thanks for visiting the blog today

Alex

Clinique's Superprimer!!!

So Clinique have released a line of primers, 6 in total, one universal shade and 5 tinted variants to cater to differing needs. I purchased the peach tinted shade aimed at correcting discoloration, it's a 30ml tube, and cost £20.

 

I normally use an orange corrector around my mouth area as this area can go grey and ashy under foundation due to hyperpigmentation, but sometimes in the morning when I'm rushing out the door to work it's just an extra step I don't always have time for, so to find a primer and corrector in one was next on my list of beauty purchases. As you've probably heard, peach tones correct pigmented areas of the face including dark under eye circles, based on the colour wheel theory. The lighter your skintone the more pinky/peach the shade should be, and the darker your skintone the more orange it needs to be.

Ingredients

This primer is obviously more along the peach shade spectrum, rather than the bright orange shade I normally use, so I was pleasantly surprised to see that it did make it easier to conceal dark blemish marks and helped brighten the pigmented areas around my mouth, though not as much as my orange corrector. This primer made my skin feel silky smooth and foundation definitely glided on more smoothly, and it increased the longevity of my foundation.

All in all it's a great primer, and a great way for me to cut my morning routine down by a step, while offering extra longevity. Have you tried any of the clinique superprimers? What did you think?

Thanks for visiting the blog today

Alex

Hourglass Mineral Veil SPF15 Primer!!!

Hourglass is a luxury beauty brand that's been gaining a massive following in the UK in recent months, I absolutely love the ambient lighting powder in dim light, review here. I'm eager to try more from the brand, but there products aren't the cheapest and my closest spacenk store that stocks there products recently closed down, meaning colour matching and swatching in person is difficult. However for my next dip into the hourglass pool I ordered the travel size mineral veil primer from the spacenk website, at 10ml this will set you back £20, a full size 30ml bottle costs £52. It's probably one of the most expensive primers I've used, but with the warmer months unusually warm for the UK and my combination oily skin setting in, I thought it was worth seeing what all the hype was about.

What Hourglass say about the product;
A mineral-based, water-resistant primer with SPF 15 that creates an impossibly smooth canvas and seamless look. Veil eliminates redness, minimizes pore size, softens fine lines and creates a uniform canvas for a flawless makeup application and minimises shine. This clean, satin-finish formula helps keep makeup looking fresh and prevents fading, while SPF 15 shields the skin from the sun.

 As you can see, it's a white, thinkish liquid, that looks like it would give my darker skintone a white cast, but doesn't. This definitely prolongs make-up wear and helps towards mattifying the skin, it got daily use during the heatwave, but now I try to reserve it for long make-up wearing days or events. The SPF is a nice bonus, although a little low for me during summer, so I still use sunscreen prior to this. The product keeps going, everytime I use it I think this is going to be the last pump, so this small size will still last a decent amount of time.

So far Hourglass is a brand I'm becoming increasingly impressed/obssessed with, I will definitely be trying a few more of there products, currently on the list is the No28 primer serum, for the colder months and the immaculate liquid powder foundation. I'm also toying with the idea of getting one of the new nude lip stylo's and possible the No28 lip treatment oil, among a myriad of other things, the list just keeps growing!!! 

Have you tried any hourglass products? What were your thoughts? Recommendations welcome.  Let me know what you would like to see on the blog.

Thanks for visiting today

Alex.

 

Clinique Moisture Surge SPF 30 CC Cream!!!

We had BB creams and now CC creams, next it'll be DD creams lol, but seriously I actually read somewhere that this is next on the market. I've only ever tried one BB cream, the sleek be beautiful blemish balm, review here. Let me predicate this post by saying, I think some of these creams are labelling and hype, so I just think of them as tinted moisturisers or bases with added extras. So for my first ever CC cream, I went with clinique, the shade range of CC and BB creams are usually quite limited compared to foundations. Clinique have 9 shades for their moisture surge CC cream, but most beauty counters only stock the most common 6, the darkest shade Deep was the closest match for me. So if you're darker than an NC55 you may not find a shade to match, saying that the coverage is light-light medium and can be used under foundation, so if used like this colour match isn't as important.

 

The cream is very thick and almost feel like it would be difficult to blend, but it does blend, I use fingers and/or a brush. This will not cover blemishes completely and if applied over a heavy moisturiser or sunscreen with leave you looking very shiny, oily skinned gals beware. I find it applies best on my combination skin without moisturiser or sunscreen, the product offers good hydration and has good lasting power like this, it evens out my complexion nicely.













I like this cc cream and how clinique don't claim that the product will do a million and one things for your skin, just hydration, SPF protection and colour correcting. My skin always feels soft when I take this off, for a little extra coverage I set it with MAC's MSF, otherwise I just use my Hourglass ambient lighting powder (review here). But it doesn't really need to be set, depending on your skin type. I do think the shade range is limiting for a darker skin girl, but clinique offer more shades on the whole than some other brands with similar products.

I love how it evens out my skin, with a supper natural, my skin but better look!!!

Have you tried this CC cream or any similar product, let me know your experiences?

Thanks for visiting the blog today

Alex

Hourglass Ambient Lighting Powder - Dark Skin

To date this is one of the most confusing things I've had to test out for review, when I heard about the hourglass lighting powders I was super excited (sad right?) and couldn't wait for them to come to the UK. I wanted to see them in person, being a darker skin girl when you hear 'universal shade', you're always sceptical. I called my local Spacenk and was informed the powders were not in store until May and I could join the waiting list (WHAT???), the beauty consultant however reassured me that she had seen them on all skin tones and they were fine. With this information and armed with £5 Ndulge reward I ordered Dim light online, the one that seemed to be the most suited to darker skin tones with minimal shimmer. This powder costs £38 for 10 grams, which for hourglass is not too bad, it's paraben, talc, fragrance, gluten and nanoparticle (whatever that is) free.

Box

Hourglass' claims:
A wardrobe of six universal finishing powders that recreate the most exquisitely flattering light, powders capture, diffuse and soften the way light is reflected on skin, brighten the appearance, and conceal skin imperfections infused with technologically advanced soft-focus particles that help make skin appear younger, even-toned and radiant. Unlike traditional powders that use opaque pigments, Ambient utilizes “photoluminescent technology” – micron-size spherical particles that refract light and create transparent coverage, while each can be worn for day and night.

ETHEREAL LIGHT is an opalescent sheer, cool white powder that mimics a moonlit glow – even in broad daylight
DIFFUSED LIGHT is a soft, warm, pale yellow powder that conceals redness and gives skin clarity – like a soft ray of morning light
DIM LIGHT is a neutral peach beige powder that blurs imperfections and highlights a radiant complexion with the perfect balance of warm and cool tones
MOOD LIGHT is a soft, sheer lavender pink powder that mimics the softest most forgiving light and reveals your brightest complexion
LUMINOUS LIGHT is a champagne pearl powder that creates a soft, incandescent candlelit glow – day or night
RADIANT LIGHT is a sun-kissed golden beige powder that enhances the overall complexion with believable, subtle warmth, and also extends a summer glow.

Compact

The packaging is nice, but not as heavy as I was expecting from the luxury brand, and it's very susceptible to finger print marks. Each time I used the powder I felt differently, sometimes I felt I could really see the blurring and soft focused effect and other times I wasn't so sure. I used it to set my make-up, but also as a finishing powder after make-up had been set with another powder (worst result), it seemed to work best for me as a setting powder. My combination skin is currently normal to dry at the moment and this powder gave a nice satin finish to the skin, not as glowing as I was expecting, but great for all over the face and something I'll appreciate once my skin gets oilier with the changing season. I tried this over different bases, Sleeks BB cream, lancome's teint visionnaire and my maqpro palette (click the links to see reviews), but I really noticed exactly what it was doing to my skin when I tried it on alone.

 

PowderNo Powder

Above is the powder on my skin with no other make-up on whatsoever (Scary!!!), I noticed how it really blurred the imperfections and gave a lovely satin finish to the skin, it doesn't flashback or leave a white cast on my deeper skintone.



 

This is a picture of the powder over my maqpro palette foundation. I am really loving this powder, my first hourglass product and now want radiant light, hourglass also have a brush they are selling with the powders for £30, but I have been using Elizabeth's Arden mineral powder brush (had it a while) and its been fine. The idea is you lay the powder across the skin, rather than buffing it in, so it can reflect light.  

 

Have you tried any of the ambient powders, what do you think, which one did you try.

 

Thanks for visiting the blog today.

 

Alex.

Kevyn Aucoin Sensual Skin Enhancer!!!

The Kevyn Aucoin SSE is not new to the beauty world, but it's one of those products that can take a while to get the hang of how to use it, it's so versatile that it can actually be rather confusing and if used incorrectly can make you look very cakey. It's a small pot of richly pigmented product that can create a very light tinted moisturiser type coverage or full no skin on show coverage, it can also be used as a concealer.

    

 

This small 18g tub costs £36, but you need such a small amount that it will last quite a while, I have two out of the fantastic 18 shades (SX12 and 15). As you can see from the ingredient list it does contain mineral oil and its the first ingredient on the list, so this maybe a problem for some, its available in SpaceNK stores and on there website.

With flash and without.

I've had shade SX12 (lighter shade) for a while and its still going strong, although I don't use it daily, I use it as an under eye concealer or all over my face, it blends well when used as a light coverage. It has strong yellow undertones, I either dot it lightly and blend with a brush or damp beauty blender sponge or mix it with a clear primer, like the one from elf and set it with Mac's mineralise skin finish powder in dark (this warms the product up slightly and tones down the overly yellow undertones. SX15 is a more recent purchase (January '13), I use it to contour my face, it blends well into the skin and the colour can be controlled by how much product is used and how well blended it is. I scoop out a small amount of product and place it in a small tub, to maintain the hygiene of the product, and since I've taken the first scoop I have not had too go back for more. Again these are not used on a daily basis, just because I'm a beauty junkie and have a few options of other products to choose from, but they are great products and I love them for there versatility.

Heavily swatched, with flash, without flash below.

Blended into the skin, with and without flash.

If you have a medium black or asian skintone, with strong yellow undertones this will work well for you, buying more than one shade also means you can mix to get your desired colour making it work all year round. You can also mix these with other bases, tinted moisturisers, foundations etc to adjust the colour and/or coverage.

Have you tried the sensual skin enhancer yet? How do you use yours? Any further tips on how to use this product?

Thanks for visiting the blog today, if you have any further questions put them in the comments section below and I'll do my best to answer.

Alex

Ben Nye Translucent Face Powder in Topaz

Now the Ben nye banana powder is infamous across youtube and blogging communities, but the one you don't hear as much about is the translucent face powder in Topaz. This is a orange tinged powder than can be used to set the entire face or your under eye highlight depending on your skintone, also the hint of orange is great at reducing ashy areas that can happen due to hyper-pigmentation on asian and deeper skintones or using white based translucent powders, also great at reducing flash back in photography.

                                                             

I bought this powder from makeupeffects.co.uk for £8.10, which is amazing value for 2.85oz/80grams of product, it comes in a sifter type bottle which can cause some waste, but I tap a little into the lid section of my mac mineralise skin finish powder. I also have the banana powder, but I definately reach and use this more often to set my entire face, you can also tap a little onto your current face powders to brighten the complexion, warm up the complexion etc depending on your needs and skintone.

   Heavily swatched                                  Blended out slightly.

I absolutely love this powder and happy that I got my hands on it, I thought I would use the banana powder a lot more, but this one is definately slipped in my day-to-day routine as I don't like over highlighted looks for daytime. It helps with oil control, but won't cling to dry patches, as long as you don't apply too much, if you do just spritz your face with a bit of water, Mac fix plus or the like. Have you tried this powder or any other in the ben nye range, what are your thoughts?

Thanks for visiting the blog today.

Alex

Lancome's Teint Visionnaire Foundation Review!!!

I'm sure you've heard by now that Lancome have brought out a new foundation called Teint visionnaire, it contains 2% of the active ingredient in there visionnaire serum, which contains 4%.



BoxIngredients


It's a concealer/foundation duo that comes in a sturdy glass bottle, not great for travel, but then I don't tend to carry my foundation around with me on a day-to-day basis. Plus at £36 you want to feel like you are getting a luxury product, Lancome claim this foundation will reduce the appearance of pores, dark spots and wrinkles over time, all while giving you flawless coverage and SPF 20. 

 
 This foundation gives a medium coverage with a slight dewy finish, it lasts all day, although by the end of the day my combination skin is a little shiny in the t-zone area if I don't touch up at all. If your skin is more on the oily side you may need a good primer and setting power, probably touch up's during the day or opt for lancomes teint idole.


The high coverage corrector contains vitamin CG, which is meant to aid reduction of dark spots, dark circles and imperfections. It's a very thick concealer that is best applied with fingers, if you own Benefit's boing concealer its a very similar consistency. Lancome recommend applying the corrector first and foundation over the top, I would recommend using stippling motions with your brush to avoid moving the concealer applied underneath, I have used real techniques expert face brush and buffing brush and both work really well.

  
Concealer, foundation, Teint miracle in 10 and Teint visionnaire in 006 beige cannelle (No flash/flash).

Above I have swatched this foundation and concealer in shade 10 praline, I'm a shade 10 in teint miracle (this is more yellow) and this new foundation comes up slightly warmer in the same shade, I also swatched the shade below 10, 006 beige cannelle (there are no shades in between). The 006 was too light and too beige, so I had to get 10, once applied it blends well and matches great as it is slightly warmer I'll probably get away with wearing this shade all year round.



I really love the finish this foundation gives to the skin, it covers well without looking heavy or cakey, I don't have much to cover, but I do have pigmentation around my mouth that bothers me and can make foundation go ashy as the day goes on, by applying correcting concealer first this is less of an issue. Lancome recommend using the foundation daily for 4 weeks to see results, I haven't used it long enough so can't comment on whether the pigmentation has or will reduce, wrinkles and pores are not an issue for me at present, so I also can't comment on this.

Have you tried this foundation, what do you think, will you be trying it?

Alex

Sleek have done it again!!!

The search for the perfect foundation voyages on, but I think I may have come across a serious contender, and guess what?! It's a drug store brand!!! Sleek have brought out the Base Duo Kit, they describe as a 'moisturising creme liquid foundation and ultra sheer transforming setting powder', two products in one practical clutch size compact!!!



Foundation

Swatches; heavy ans slightly blended out

Ingredients on the back of the box

Front of compact

Side view of compact

Box compact is contained in

Setting Powder

My shade is terracotta 343, which I think is a great match, the setting powder is not made to match the colour of the actual foundation as it's very sheer. Sleek explain that 'each foundation has been expertly coupled with an ultra fine transforming setting powder, that is not matched to your skin tone, but intelligently transforms the shade of the foundation ever so slightly in order to give the most natural finish'.

 

The foundation is light to medium coverage and looks quite natural even when layered, if you have oily skin I would recommned a good mattifying primer underneath, in winter my skin gets dry and this foundation gives me a nice glowly finish although initially goes on matte, which may look more shiny on oilier skin types. The foundation also have an SPF15 and doesn't flash back in photography, although if you apply the setting powder too heavily it can initially leave a very sllight white cast on the skin, but once your natural oils blend with the foundation this is not noticable.

 

The compact is great for on the go due to it's small size and has two mirrors in it, I initially used a powder brush to dust the setting powder over my face, however the oils from my skin very quickly transferred onto it, making it difficult to get any powder onto the brush. If this happens you can gently scratch the top of the powder to release it and then dust onto face with a brush or revert to using a powder puff, which is what I've done and pat onto face to set the foundation.

 

I bought this foundation from Superdrug (currently offering 3 for 2 on cosmetics) for 12.49, you can also purchase this from sleeks website for £13, with a vast 18 shades to choose from.

 

Have you tried this foundation yourself yet, if so what do you think?

 

Thanks for visiting my blog, if you have a further questions please leave them in the comments below and I will do my best to answer them.

 

Alex