TheFoundationDirectory: darker skintones

Showing posts with label darker skintones. Show all posts

Friday, 9 October 2015

NYX Cosmetics; Conceal, Correct and Contour Palette!!!

Foundation Files; This is where I test out different base products, from concealer to powder, tinted moisturiser and foundation etc, over a period of 7-14 days and post my findings. (Follow me on Instagram, Twitter and Bloglovin so you don't miss a post) So let’s get started!!!

First off some information about me; Skintype: Combination (leaning dry in winter and Oily in Summer). Shade Reference: in between MAC NC45-50/NW43. Undertones: Yellow/Neutral.

Brand: NYX Cosmetics

Name: Conceal, Correct and Contour Palette

Coverage: Medium

Shade: Deep

Swatch:

NYX Cosmetics Conceal, Correct and Contour Palette swatch

What The brand says: Colour-match your skin with this perfecting and correcting palette to conceal correct or contour. With six shades to choose from in each set you can cover up problem spots, even-out imperfections and accentuate your best features in a flash. Use these buildable colours on their own or combine them to create the ideal tone.

Wear time (with/without primer): This has really good weartime, especially when worn on skin rather than over the top of foundation, it does require a touch-up or two thorughout the day to keep it looking it's best.

Price (ml): £10 for 1.5g

Pros: Affordable
Great for travel
3 palettes for different skintones

Cons: May not use all the shades in the palette

2 shade in the palette are very similar
Could use an extra palette for even darker skintones
Hard to get hold of in the UK

Suitable Skin Types: All

Ingredients: Will update soon

Oxidation: None

Any Other Information: Nyx have a pop up stand in Selfridges in London for about 6 weeks (Ending around mid November), some of the items are also available on selfridges.com, so if you've been meaning to get your hands on some Nyx products I wouldn't wait around.

Conclusion: I really like this palette, it has all I need for colour correcting, concealing, highlighting and contouring in a palmsized travel friendly palette. I'm a little unsure of how to use the yellow shade, but I've been mixing it in with one of the lighter shades (which I use interchageably) to highlight with and that's worked well.

*Rating: Love

*Ratings; Hate, dislike, Like, Lust, Love

Sunday, 4 October 2015

Studio Waterweight SPF30 Foundation; Is this the best foundation from MAC yet?!

Mac Studio Waterweight SPF30 Foundation

Brand: Mac

Name: Studio Waterweight SPF30 Foundation**

Coverage: Sheer - Medium

Shade: NW50

Swatch:

Mac Studio Waterweight SPF30 Foundation Swatch

What The brand says: Introducing an innovative foundation that delivers colour in an ultra-fluid, elastic gel- serum formula. With a virtually weightless feel, this hydrating formula is extraordinarily comfortable, lasting for hours. With stay-true colour and sheer medium buildable coverage, it softly blurs imperfections such as pores and fine lines. The unique dropper provides you with a drop of perfection.

Wear time (with/without primer): This foundation has great wear time on my combination skin, I don't even need primer, it lasts all day without touch ups, if I'm going out after work then I'll touch up to keep my makeup going through the evening.

Price (ml): £25.50 for 30ml

Pros: Good shade range
Lightweight
Long lasting
Buildable coverage
SPF 30 with no flashback

Cons:

Suitable Skin Types: All

Ingredients: Will update soon

Oxidation: None

Any Other Information: Pipette style dropper applicator. It's not my shade and very red on me, but once I highlight it balances it out somewhat. Once I was done testing, I started mixing in a little Face & Body foundation in C7, which is a little light for me and it was a better match. This is a foundation I would definitely purchase in my actual shade as I like it that much.

Conclusion: I absolutely love this foundation and that says a lot coming from an anti-macaholic (is there a hashtag for that?! lol), it's so lightweight, the type of coverage I like and lasts really well on the skin, with a demi-matte finish. It can be applied with a brush or fingers, I apply 4 drops onto my buffing brush and buff into the skin, applying a couple extra drops to build coverage where needed.

*Rating: Love

*Ratings; Hate, dislike, Like, Lust, Love
**Pr Sample

Sunday, 20 September 2015

Foundation Files; Becca Blotting Powder Perfector - Tinted

Becca Blotting Powder Perfector - Tinted

Brand: Becca

Name: Blotting Powder Perfector

Coverage: None

Shade: Tinted

Swatch:

Becca Blotting Powder Perfector - Tinted - Swatch

What The brand says: An oil-absorbing powder that mattifies skin and sets makeup for a long-lasting perfected soft focus look. This non-drying micro-fine powder controls shine without adding noticeable color or texture. Imperfections are softened while the appearance of pores are minimized for a velvet smooth finish. Use after foundation application to set makeup or alone for touch ups throughout the day.

Wear time (with/without primer): This has great wear time, once applied I don't need to reapply for a few hours, however I did find towards the end of the day more frequent reapplication was required to keep shine at bay.

Price (ml): £29 (10.8g)

Pros: Controls oil
Comes in a handy pouch

Cons: Would benefit from one extra shade being added to the line

Suitable Skin Types: Combination, Normal, Oily

Ingredients: MICA, SILICA, DIMETHICONE, OCTYLDODECYL STEAROYL STEARATE, PENTAERYTHRITYL TETRAISOSTEARATE, 1,2-HEXANEDIOL, CAPRYLYL GLYCOL, TOCOPHERYL ACETATE. MAY CONTAIN: CI 77492 (IRON OXIDE), CI 75470 (CARMINE), CI 77491 (IRON OXIDE)

Oxidation: None

Any Other Information: It comes with a powder puff, which I never used, it's housed in a mirrored compact, and the little zip up pouch and is a great addition.

Conclusion: Every summer the hunt for the perfect products to keep shine at bay is on, this year I found one such product, the Becca Blotting Powder Perfector. This comes in 2 shades, tinted and translucent, I picked this up from SpaceNK. I use this mainly to touch up throughout the day, I found that when used to set my base if I was a little too heavy handed it would initially make me appear a little ashy, but this doesn't happen during touch ups. it can also be used as a finishing powder, once setting powder has been applied to also prevent this.

This powder is great for absorbing oil, without getting cakey and heavy, as it has little to no coverage it hardly alters the colour of your original make up. However repeated application is required the longer you've had your makeup on, as the mattifying effects don't last as long, . I can see this product becoming a stable feature in my summer makeup, for keeping shine at bay.

*Rating: Lust

*Ratings; Hate, dislike, Like, Lust, Love

Tuesday, 15 September 2015

Charlotte Tilbury's Magic Foundation

Brand: Charlotte Tilbury

Name: Magic Foundation

Coverage: Medium - Full

Shade: 11 described as a deep bronze for Deep to Dark Skin Tones with Warm Golden Undertones

Swatch:

Charlotte Tilbury Magic Foundation Swatches

What The brand says: Magic Foundation is a miracle in a bottle that transforms skin for all ages, skin tones and skin types. I have worked with laboratories for five years to create a “hyper-intelligent” formula that gives full-coverage yet feels completely weightless, with all the anti-ageing and protective benefits of a luxury skin cream. It conceals imperfections, glides on like a dream, and literally feels like a second skin. Whether your skin needs just a bit of perfecting, or you struggle with a frustrating issue like acne, melasma or rosacea, Magic Foundation will give you a perfect looking skin day, every day! Chose from 15 beautiful demi-matte shades to match every skin tone from Lily Cole to Lupita Nyongo.

Magical Laricyl: A concentrated mushroom extract that firms skin. It instantly tightens pores whilst flooding the skin with moisture, for a comfortable, nourished yet flawless finish.
Genius Hyaluronic Filling Spheres: What makes Hyaluronic Acid so beneficial is its ability to hold up to 1,000 times its weight in water. These “genius” spheres absorb into the skin and plump up wrinkles from within. In 1 hour skin looks smoother and firmer, plus more supple and youthful.
Super-Charged Vitamin C (VC-IP): Vitamin C is a well-known antioxidant that fights the damaging and ageing effects of free radicals. Magic Foundation is the first time this new super-charged Vitamin C has been used in a foundation. With consistent use, it helps skin build new collagen (essential for youthful elasticity), reduces the appearance of age spots by 75% in four months, and reduces the appearance of acne after 9 weeks.
Broad Spectrum SPF 15: Protects from damaging rays so skin can retain a healthy, youthful look.

Wear time (with/without primer): This has good wear time, but I do require a couple of touch-up on my combination skin without primer, a good mattifying primer will extend the wear and keep shine at bay for much longer. I can imagine on my skintype a mattifying primer would not be needed during the colder months.

Price (ml): £29.50 for 30ml

Pros: SPF15
Skincare benefits
Extended shade range
Comes with a pump
Gorgeous packaging
Lightweight
Non cakey

Cons: Needs more darker shades
Big jump between shades 11 and 12

Suitable Skin Types: All (extremely oily skins prep accordingly).

Ingredients: AQUA/WATER/EAU, CYCLOPENTASILOXANE, CYCLOHEXASILOXANE, TALC, CETYL PEG/PPG-10/1 DIMETHICONE, TITANIUM DIOXIDE (NANO), GLYCERIN, NYLON-12, HDI/TRIMETHYLOL HEXYLLACTONE CROSSPOLYMER, ZINC OXIDE, ACRYLATES/DIMETHICONE COPOLYMER, PHENOXYETHANOL, BENZYL ALCOHOL, SODIUM CHLORIDE,MAGNESIUM SULFATE, HYDROGEN DIMETHICONE, SODIUM DEHYDROACETATE, ALUMINA, DISTEARDIMONIUM HECTORITE, DEHYDROACETIC ACID, POTASSIUM SORBATE, BENZOIC ACID, DIMETHICONE, TETRASODIUM EDTA, TOCOPHERYL ACETATE, ALUMINUM HYDROXIDE, TRIETHOXYCAPRYLYLSILANE, ASCORBYL TETRAISOPALMITATE, PROPYLENE CARBONATE, SODIUM HYALURONATE, BUTYLENE GLYCOL, SILICA, ETHYLHEXYLGLYCERIN, FOMES OFFICINALIS (MUSHROOM) EXTRACT, PEG-40 HYDROGENATED CASTOR OIL, [MAY CONTAIN/PEUT CONTENIR (+/-): TITANIUM DIOXIDE (CI 77891), IRON OXIDES (CI 77491, CI 77492, CI 77499)].

Oxidation: Yes, it oxidises slightly after being on the skin for a minute or 2, if you produce a lot of oil it will also oxidise slightly as the day goes on.

Any Other Information: A new brush has been released, touted to work alongside this foundation, the Magic complexion Brush, which retails at £45. This brush was used on me at the counter, and while it was very soft, it did shed a bit and the MUA had to keep picking bits of bursh hair off my face. I just use a buffing brush.

Conclusion: As you can see from the swatches, shade 10 appears darker than shade 11 due to the very orange undertone, this is even too orange for me and I a little orange in my foundation. The MUA agreed that I probably needed a 10.5 for an exact match, but the undertones in 11 matched my neck and chest, while 10 made my face look darker than these areas. I don't agree with the shade description of 'deep bronze', but it definitely has a warm golden undertone.

This foundation is great for something that offers good coverage, it feels so lightweight on the skin and does not look heavy or cakey. Lets not get it twisted, it isn't magic (no foundation is), that's just marketing, but I admire Charlotte Tilbury's passion. You can pick up Magic Foundation here and here.

*Rating: Lust

*Ratings; Hate, dislike, Like, Lust, Love

Friday, 17 July 2015

Aallexxy's Foundation Files; House of Glamdolls Glambase Wheel

House of Glamdolls Glambase Wheel 2

Brand: House of Glamdolls

Name: Glambase Wheel

Coverage: Light - Full

Shade: 2

Swatch:

House of Glamdolls Glambase Wheel 2 Swatches

What The brand says: Created by David Horne, The GlamBase Wheel is a mixing revolution for complexion enhancement. The wheel contains 6 shades that have been blended for easy complexion perfection every time. The GlamBase Wheel 2 is presented in a windowed compact. 35g;

1. Radiate: The centre shade Radiate is a copper iridescent cream highlighter.
2. Caramel: A cream pigment designed to illuminate and lift features.
3. Toffee: A cream pigment designed to use as a lid neutral base and to highlight and sharpen features.
4. Chestnut: A cream pigment designed to use as a mixing beauty base shade and to shape and sculpt features.
5. Truffle: A deep neutral pigmentation concealer designed to conceal pigmentation and enhance the complexion.
6. Shadow: A deep olivine brown concealer and contour.

Wear time (with/without primer): The wear time on this is good on my combination skin, you will need to touch up through the day, to keep it looking at it's best even with a mattifying primer. Although when my oils do push through it gives more of a glow than an oil slick look.

Price (ml): £25 for 35g

Pros: Great for travel
6 Shades in one compact
Multi-purpose i.e. concealer, contour, highlight, base etc.
Reasonably priced
Will last a long time
Compact and lightweight
Great for Makeup Artists

Cons: No ingredients lists on the website

Suitable Skin Types: All, extremely oily skins prep accordingly.

Scent: A lightly subtle floral scent that I can only smell when i stick my nose in the palette and not on my face.

Ingredients: Not stated on the website, on the back of the product, but each shade has a slightly different ingredient list.

Oxidation: None

Any Other Information: I was initially scared of the Shadow (olive Green Brown) shade in this palm sized wonder, but I got a tip on Instagram from David Horne himself, who suggested I mix it with the more red based shades (Truffle or Chestnut depending on your skintone) to make the perfect neutral contour shade. Which made perfect sense, once he said it.

This palm sized compact is lightweight with it's plastic packaging, but secure due to the screw top lid, with a clear pane you can see the product through. The radiate shade is also perfect for the current craze 'Strobing', aka highlighting, on darker skintones for that lit from within, hit by the light in the right places glow.

Conclusion: This is a great product if you love highlighting or contouring or if you struggle to find your base shade, it has everything in it for a flawless complexion, all you need in addition to this is powder. I think this is a great buy for it's multi-purpose function and practicality, there isn't a single shade in this that I cannot find a purpose for, which is unusual for a palette you haven't personally picked the shades yourself.

*Rating: Love

*Ratings; Hate, dislike, Like, Lust, Love

Wednesday, 1 July 2015

Aallexxy's Foundation Files; bareMinerals Blemish Remedy Foundation and Seamless Buffing Brush!!!

Bareminerals Blemish Remedy Foundation and Seamless Buffing Brush

Brand: bareMinerals

**Name: Blemish Remedy

Coverage: Medium - Full

Shade: Clearly Almond 11 - Dark skin with neutral undertones (darkest shade available in the UK)

Swatch:

Bareminerals Blemish Remedy Foundation Swatch

What The brand says: A gentle yet effective, creamy, weightless, non-drying, mineral powered foundation that conceals imperfections and helps reduce the appearance of blemishes and pores for clearer-looking skin. Formulated with Aspen Bark and Tea Tree Oil to help promote clearer, healthy looking skin and Aloe to help soothe and hydrate the skin. It will help to reduce the appearance of redness, while controlling oil and shine; 100% of the 102 women included in a clinical study noticed a reduction in skin oil after 6 weeks of use and 92% experienced a significant reduction in pore size appearance.

Application is recommended with the newly launched accompanying Seamless Buffing brush for best results, and apply using the Swirl, Tap and Buff method.

Wear time (with/without primer): This foundation has very good wear time, by the end of the day if I do not touch up at all my oils do push through, but gives me a glow rather than an oil slicked look. Being a powder foundation also, touch ups are super easy, if you are willing to carry the foundation around with you. Otherwise your usual touch up powder will work just as well

Price (ml/g): Foundation; £26 for 6g
Seamless Buffing Brush £24

Pros: Extra shades available in the USA
Formulated for blemish prone skin
Contains skincare ingredients

Cons: 10 shades; Not enough shades for darker skintones

Brush is sold separately, meaning initial outlay could be expensive

Suitable Skin Types: Acne prone, Oily, Combination, Normal

Ingredients: Lauroyl Lysine, Silica, Salicylic Acid, Populus Tremuloides Bark Extract, Soil Minerals, Aloe Barbadensis Leaf Juice, Melaleuca Alternifolia (Tea Tree) Leaf Oil, Litchi Chinensis Fruit Extract, Oryza Sativa (Rice) Extract, Disodium EDTA, Limonene, Phenoxyethanol, Sodium Dehydroacetate, Sorbic Acid. May Contain (+/-); Mica, Titanuim Dioxide (CI 77891), Iron Oxides (CI 77491, CI77492, CI 77499).

Scent: Light, sweet smelling, but inoffensive. Dissipates quickly on the skin.

Oxidation: None

Any Other Information: The newly launched accompanying Seamless Buffing Brush is a densely packed kabuki style brush with a chrome silver handle, it's a synthetic brush that's very soft on the skin. I wouldn't say it's essential, as long as you have a kabuki/buffing style brush that fits nicely into the circular opening of the foundation. Even though this contains skincare ingredients, some which are quite high up the ingredients list, if you have severe blemish prone skin I would still consult a professional (which I am not) and continue your usual skincare routine. (Although you can use this foundation even if you do not suffer from blemish prone skin).

Conclusion: Being an avid liquid and cream foundation lover I've surprised myself that I like this, but I think it would be great for the summer months, and it can be used to set liquid foundations/tinted moisturisers when used with a powder brush. I have the odd blemish here and there, so it's nice to know a daily foundation can benefit my skin even if only in a small way, and compliment my skincare routine rather than hinder it. I'm hoping bareMinerals will extend the shade range, as there previous foundations come in 20 shades, even though some of these still lack WOC friendly shades. This launches in September and will be available from bareminerals.co.uk, among the other usual department stores that stock the brand.

*Rating: Like

*Ratings; Hate, Dislike, Like, Lust, Love

**Pr Sample

Tuesday, 6 August 2013

EX1 Cosmetics; Invisiwear foundation and compact powder!!!

So EX1 is the new cosmetics kid on the block, born out of Farah Naz's frustration to match her Asian skin tone, with a biochemist background she designed her own foundation. It's a capsule collection targeted towards Asian, Middle/Far Eastern and Mediterranean gals, with yellow, golden to deep olive undertones.

Now you're probably thinking how the hell do I fit into any of these categories, my intrigued was piqued as I regularly fall in between shades and find it notoriously difficult to be matched at beauty counters. I'm usually somewhere between an NC45-50 in mac, I'm between B70-80 in YSL le teint touché éclat, I'm inbetween bobbi browns extra tinted moisturiser in medium deep and dark...I could go on. I was even color matched by the Boots no7 machine and had a foundation applied on my face, I later glanced in the mirror and I looked grey, the beauty consultant also thought she'd give me a sample of the next shade up to take home commenting that it would look good when I tanned, bearing in mind this was the end of last summer how much darker did she think I was gonna get in autumn/winter. Plus isn't that the purpose of the machine, to remove the beauty consultants subjectivity?! I think you're starting to get the picture. If I use a foundation that's too red my face doesn't look like it belongs to my neck and chest, too light and I look ashy or just wrong, so I'm regularly mixing in Face Ateliers white foundation or mixing too shades together. I was hoping this would be my solution, is there finally a foundation that honours my golden yellow undertones, while respecting the depth of my skins tone, I decided to take the risk.

There are 5 shades in the invisiwear liquid foundation, F100, 200, 300, 400 & 500, I'm the darkest shade. It's housed in a plastic bottle, with a pump and gorgeous rose gold detailing, it's priced at an amazingly affordable £10.50, but I bought from beautyexpert for £7.72 and got a free blusher with 2 purchases. The foundation is thicker than the average liquid, but blends well into the skin, evening out your skintone without being cakey or heavy.

Flash

Daylight

It initially looked like it would be too light, bear in mind my arms are currently extrememly tanned with the great weather we've been having, but it blends in beautifully on my face. It gives a semi-matte finish, which on my combination skin and with the current heatwave is great.

Heavily swatched

Blended out

The invisiwear compact powder comes in three shades, P100, 200 & 300, I have the darkest again. It cost £8.99, but I bought for £7.23, not sure how long beautyexpert will sell it at this price, so be quick if you're interested. It states that it mattifies, while hydrating the skin without caking and is oil-free. The first ingredient is talc, so for some this maybe a no go, it comes in the same rose gold packaging with a large mirror. I found it felt light on the skin, and it did help to mattify my oily t-zone on my combination skin, and didn't look cakey at all. I expected that this would not be a good match for me at all, I assumed it would be too light and make me look ashy, I was wrong. I really like this powder, I can use it to set other foundations I have and it brings back some yellow into a foundation that maybe to red for my skin tone.

The free blusher is in the shade Natural Flush, it's a gorgeous pink hue, that doesn't read chalky or ashy on my deep complexion. I tend to use more coral/peach blushers in the summer, but I've been mixing this in to get a gorgeous pinky peach shade and it will definately get more use in the winter months, plus I love the screw top packaging.

Foundation and powder used in a complete face of make-up!!!

So my risk paid off, I really like this brand, it's affordable, good quality and matches my undertones beautifully. There's also a concealer and mineral powder foundation in the range, which can also be purchased from lookfantastic.com, I'm contemplating ordering the concealer.

Have you tried this range? Any further questions, please put them in the comments below, thank you for visiting the blog today.

Alex

Tuesday, 9 April 2013

Maqpro Mandy Gold Palette!!!

I have heard Wayne Goss (gossmakeupartist on youtube) talk about maqpro products for quite a while, so I finally decided to take the plunge and buy the mandy gold palette from preciousaboutmakeup.com (PAM), especially as I've been in need of a corrector. The palette consists of 6 shades totalling 55 grams of product, for £27.50, which is great value for money. These foundation are wax based and suppose to be suitable for all skin types, my combination skin is currently a little dry and this foundation feels great on my skin, I look forward to using it in the summer when my skin is a little more normal-oily as it's meant to be great for oil control.

Maqpro is a french based company, not to be confused with Mac cosmetics, I think there products were more tailored to make-up artists but are becoming more accessible to us mere mortals. As you can see the packaging is nothing fancy, but it's very sleek and flat so I can imagine great for make-up artists to travel with, I'm not sure how sturdy the plastic is I've had it for about 2 weeks and it's fine, but I don't tend to carry my foundation around with me.

With flash and without

The orange shade is the corrector, if you are of a deeper skintone and have areas of pigmentation, any the orange shade can brighten these areas prior to applying your foundation. It also great for dark under eye circles, I always have my foundation go ashy around my mouth area and this prevents that. This palette contains all I need for concealing, highlighting, correcting, contouring, bronzing, blusher and foundation, you can also tailor it to the amount of coverage you want/need, great and compact for travel. I have found a use for all the shades except one, 3rd on along on the top row, but this will probably depend on your skintone. I can also use the orange and bronzing shade (2nd on the top row) as a blusher, the 3rd shade on the bottm is a great contouring shade due to it's grey undertone, but the shades can also be mixed to create the perfect colour for what ever you want.

Foundation a few hours after application.

The foundation goes on beautifully and blends like a dream, you don't need much, but initially you might think you are not picking up very much product due to it's consistency until you start to notice all your flaws disappearing. I have used both the beauty blender and the real techniques expert face brush and they both work great to blend and buff the foundation into the skin, you can set it if you need too, but I've worn it both ways and it looked great.

This palette is catered to darker skintones, but there are others on the website for other skintones, lighter and darker. If you're in the market for a new base, and also in need of a corrector, I highly recommend this product.

Have you tried any Maqpro products before? Let me know what you thought.

Thanks for visiting my blog.

Alex

Friday, 8 March 2013

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%.

Box

Ingredients

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

Sunday, 14 October 2012

Sleeks Be Beautiful Blemish Balm!!!

Hello all,

hope this meets you well?

I finally got my hands on sleeks be beautiful blemish balm in medium, seriously it was hard work, 7 different stores 8 visits. It comes in 4 shades fair, light, medium (yellow in undertone) and dark (has more red in it), medium is obviously a very popular shade, anyway I finally got my hands on it and it was worth it, here's what they claim:

Its a full coverage BB cream containing red algae extract to assist in the prevention of wrinkles, normalises skin's moisture content, and promotes suppleness. It also contains vitamin C to aid in the reduction of skin discoloration, gradually repair damaged skin with the presence of peptides and prevent further damage with SPF 15 protection provided.

The 50ml black tube is housed in a black box and costs £8.99, which is fantastic value for the size, if you do not fall into the current shades at this price you can always buy two and customise to suit your needs.

As you can see from the ingredients it does contain mineral oil, which for some I know is a problem.

I love this BB cream, it is full coverage, but can be sheered out either by reducing the amount of product used or mixing it with some moisturiser. If you have oily skin you may need a good mattifying primer and powder to set, but as the weather gets colder my skin gets drier so I think this will be great for the winter months, in my limited time of use I cannot yet comment on whether it aids the reduction of discoloration etc.

Without make up on the left, with BB cream on the right.

I you are looking for a full coverage BB cream, especially for the darker skin girls (there are not as many options), then I would definately give this a try.

Have you tried this already, did you have the same struggles getting hold of the medium shade, have you tried any other BB creams. I would love to hear from you, thanks for reading, chat soon.

Alex