Urban Decay's Naked Skin Ultra Definition Loose Finishing Powder!!!

Urban Decay have been rapidly expanding their Naked range, I picked up the Naked Skin ultra definition Powder from Debenhams website a while ago, and I have been absolutely loving it!!! It comes in 5 shades and I have the second to darkest shade in the range, medium dark, it smoothes out the skin perfectly and never looks powdery and cost £22.

Urban decay say the powder is a silky, weightless, finishing powder that blurs imperfections, sets make-up and controls shine while leaving a luminous demi-matte finish.

I agree with most of that, but if you are super oily you will still need to touch up during the day. I have been absolutely loving this powder, it smooths and plumps my skin, which is contrary for a powder and never looks cakey. I'm tempted to pick up the pressed version for touch ups on the go.

Have you tried this powder or anything from the naked range? Any recommendations of other products from the naked range? Have you tried the pressed version and do you like it?

Thanks for visiting the blog today

Alex

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.

FlashDaylight

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 swatchedBlended 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

Chanel Les Beiges Healthy Glow Sheer Powder - No50!!!

I'm sure most of you have heard about the latest release from Chanel, the healthy glow sheer powder from the Les Beiges collection, inspired by freedom and light as air make-up. I had a £10 Debenhams voucher and decided to put it towards the purchase of this £38 powder, I'm getting a litle bored of my MAC mineralise skinfinish and with these new powders on the market claiming to prevent cakey over powdered application, while mattifying and giving the skin a glow all at the same time I had to see what it was all about. I have the hourglass ambient lighting powder (review here) and absolutely love it, but due to the universal shades it offers no extra coverage when setting make-up. My skin is a little crazy at the moment, I have some horrible blemishes on my cheeks that refuse to fade, so I need something that will work towards disguising them without having to wear a full coverage foundation. Saying that the powder is incredibly sheer, so coverage is minimal, which is great if your wear little make-up and/or have great skin. I use this powder to set my foundation and concealer, it also has SPF 15, which is personally a bit low for me in the summer months, but can help to top up your SPF throughout the day (better than nothing).

The packaging is gorgeous and chic, the powder feels soft and buttery to the the touch and it comes with a large mirror and brush for touch up's on the go. I have used the elf powder brush and real techniques buffing brush to apply this, but my favourite at the moment is the elf mineral powder brush. I love the feeling and finish of this powder, it never leaves me looking over powdered or cakey, it does have a strong scent, but I don't notice this once it's been applied to my skin. I got the shade No50, but think in the winter I would need No40, however the powders are incredibly sheer so I could probably get away with either shade. The powders can also be used as a bronzer if you purchase a shade or two darker than your skintone. The shade range goes upto No70, but I'm not sure how many of these shades are available in the UK, the darkest shade the counter I purchased mine from seemed to be the No60.

Heavily swatchedSlightly blended out

It looks light initially, but blends out beautifully to give a demi-matte, sort of satin smooth finish to the skin. I believe these powders will be realeased in the USA in August, I can't wait for the cream blushes that are already avalable as part of the fall collection in America to launch here in August.

The powder with Laura Mercier's secret camouflage concealer

Do you have any chanel make-up, have you tried this new powder? Share your thoughts and any questions below.

Thanks for visiting the blog today.

Alex