Origins Vitazing for the poor?

I didn't realise until a foundation match consultation last week how pale I was. I don't consider myself as super pale (I am nc25 in Mac Studio Sculpt) but many people find me quite pale. Things are not helped by the fact that I never step out the door with minimum SPF15 on my face, whether it rains or shines, summer or winter. So when I see day moisturisers designed to help your complexion and add a little bit of a life to your skin, I am very interested.



So this is why I bought the new L'Oreal Triple Active Glow Complexion Enhancing Moisturiser SPF15 (£7.99) They say it's a radiance boosting moisturiser enriched with complexion enhancing pigments to give you a natural glow and a unified looking skin tone. The recommended retail price for this is £7.99 but I found it at Superdrug, waiting for me to buy it at just under £5, about 2 weeks ago.







The packaging is lovely. Inside a flashy box, complete with a holographic label, comes a white elegant and minimalistic little 50ml handy size moisturiser, with SPF 15 and a golden peach cap. Inside, a very light peachy moisturiser which sinks into my skin quickly and leaves my skin very moisturised without feeling greasy. So that's one big tick already for me.









Did it leave my skin with an enhanced glow, like it promised on the bottle?
I didn't notice any difference although I was quite glad I didn't end up orange with the peachy tone of the moisturiser. To be honest with you, what was most noticeable for me was the smell: a quite overpowering chemical smell which seems to linger all day long. But I wanted to stick with it, try my best to forget about the smell and let my skin make the most of its active moisturising ingredients.


Today, I have been wearing it for the third day in a row and I think that I just can't take it anymore. Quite frankly, I can't wait to take it off and have a good scrub tonight. This moisturiser might be a little gem for some (although who, other than Robinson Crusoe needs 48hrs face moisturisation?) but I just cannot go past beyond the smell and sadly I can't wear it.







My tube was freshly sealed in the shop but if they have a tester in the shop, you might want to have a sniff of it before purchasing, as the smell is definitely... interesting. Dupe for Origins Vitazing, it certainly ain't. Triple Active Glow, meet my bin.


what: L’Oreal Triple Active Glow Complexion Enhancing Moisturiser SPF 15
how much: RRP £7.99 in Boots and Superdrug. Cheaper at cheapsmells.
  

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Mascara Monday. The Battle of Mascaras. L'Oréal Volume Million Lashes versus BeautyUK Lash-Fx

Today, I am very excited to introduce you to Jade, blogging at Beauty Butterfly Blog, who has kindly volunteered to review not one but 2 mascaras for me. I love Jade’s blog, I love her honesty and her clear in depth reviews.
Take it away, Jade!






I’m a bit of a mascara junkie if I’m honest, I’ve been searching for the perfect lengthening mascara for absolutely ages and so far I’ve found a few that I like but I’m just not sure they’re perfect; in the meantime I’ve been testing two mascaras which Liloo very kindly sent to me. I’ve given them a good few weeks so hopefully my views are as balanced and honest as possible!

I’ll start with the L’oréal Volume Million mascara in the shade Amethyst (a purple/plum shade), what I’ll start by saying is that this is meant for hazel eyes and as you can see mine are more blue/green but I don’t think it affects my review in terms of the aspects I’m going to address; colour is irrelevant to me, in my mind the product should be exactly the same no matter what colour.







As you can see the tube is quite fat but squared at the top which I have to admit doesn’t make for the most comfortable application; I like something I can get a good grip of and I found it a bit difficult with this! Nevertheless to look at the wand itself it’s made up of lots of tiny little plastic knobbles; presumably to catch every lash humanly possible upon application. I have to admit I do prefer brushes rather than the little knobbles but I’m willing to work with whatever if it works!








The above photos are a before and after of what my lashes look like with this product; L'Oreal claim that Volume Million Lashes should make your lashes up to 3 times thicker, what do you think?
I’m not convinced; although it is obvious that I have used some form of mascara the product hasn’t separated my lashes as much as I hoped it would and it was really quite difficult to apply enough to get a good coverage over each lash. Admittedly it’s not a clumpy mascara and it didn’t smudge all over the place through the day but still the wand is just a bit too bulky for me and didn’t create the desired effect, yes it did separate the lashes at the ends but I just feel like it clumped them up nearer the waterline and it was a little too difficult to remove for my liking considering it isn’t a waterproof mascara!

Bottom Line: Would I buy?
No I wouldn’t, but for those of you who have quite sparse lashes this could be the one for you; I look for length rather than volume you see. This is £10.99 and can be purchased from Boots and Superdrug.


The second mascara I’m going to review is from the lower end of high street makeup; Beauty UK. This is an absolute bargain at £2.49 and I was excited to see if such a cheap mascara could offer me anything. The packaging isn’t anything sparkling just very simple; black with white writing. The one I’ve tried is called ‘Lash FX’ which supposedly helps achieve volume, length and lift; quite a bold statement for £2.49 I’d say!






I have to say I was very pleasantly surprised by this product; the wand is the traditional wand which I’ve come to know and love using because I think it coats my lashes with ease and doesn’t get everywhere unlike some plastic wands. The thickness of the handle is also ideal for me; it fits really nice in my hand making this a pleasure to apply.

I’ll admit, I wasn’t expecting great things from this because I’ve used a Beauty UK eyeshadow palette before and I really wasn’t impressed; I’m very much of the opinion that you ‘get what you pay for’ and there are very few products which go against that.

 



Although I wasn’t completely wowed by this mascara, I have found a very handy use for this product. You may know of Clinique’s Bottom Lash mascara, priced at around £20, well this has become my perfect bottom lash mascara. Because this doesn’t volumise the lashes that much it means that the product doesn’t clump your bottom lashes like some; I know when I use my usual mascaras I stay away from my bottom lashes because they end up looking spidery. Because the wand is so soft it really is a dream for my bottom lashes; I’d probably go as far as to wear this mascara on the top and bottom for a ‘no makeup’ makeup look. However, I stand by the fact that this for me is perfect for bottom lashes.

Bottom Line: Would I buy?

Yes I would, and so should you! At £2.49 it doesn’t break the bank and you never know you may also find that this is perfect for you and your bottom lashes. You can buy this from Superdrug or from the Beauty UK Website.

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by Jade, from Beauty Butterfly Blog.

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More my kind of BB cream

After Garnier paved the way for the arrival of BB creams, the UK has seen a massive growth in the market of bb creams and is showing no sign of slowing down. This makes me happy. While I am still looking for my holy grail foundation, I just love  the simplicity and convenience of bb creams: slap dash application, good coverage of my imperfections and I never look cakey. It really is a case for me of 'my skin but better'. I just can't get enough of bb creams.


So far, the bb creams I have seen (in the UK at least) seems to put the coverage and general skin care first and, then sometimes some anti ageing benefits as a second thought or a bonus. What if they did a anti wrinkle cream to start off and then add a bit of coverage? They did and it's called 'L'Oreal Revitalift, Repair 10 BB cream' and exists in 2 shades.




They say:
The light weight formula of this multi-perfecting anti-ageing moisturiser targets 10 signs of ageing leaving your skin feeling silky and smooth with an advanced pigment complex that gives your skin an exceptionally even, radiant and natural-looking finish. SPF 20 and UV protection in light and medium shades .



I say:
I have never fancied L'Oreal Nude Magique BB cream: The spf offering is odd and the texture even odder. Revitalift is much more my cup of tea. I don't know what age range is best targeted for it but I need to try it and at £5 off at Superdrug at the moment (£9.99 instead of £14.99) it seems a crime not to.


Disclaimer: advertorial as it may seem, no one contacted me to talk about this bb cream, and I am, therefore obviously not receiving any incentive of any way to write about it.

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L’Oréal Color Riche – Mini polishes: My entire Collection

The folks at L'Oreal have been working very hard lately. To name but a few products, they have released a bb cream, a concealer set to rival the iconic Touche Eclat, a primer, a mascara with no hint of lashes insert in sight, a lumi magique foundation and and and about 40 mini polishes. I am quite happy with my current primer from Loreal (I have the resurfacing smoothing primer in a pot) but I can see myself weakening at the knees and try the foundation at some point. Today, I want to share with you my impressions on 4 shades of mini polishes, part of this huge line from Loreal called 'Color Riche'.





Each polish contains 5ml of product and you will not be able to help yourself but wondering, from the onset is £4.99 is not a little bit steep for this amount of product, being a high street product and all. However, as soon as you open the bottle, you begin to notice that this is no ordinary mini polish. The brush is delightfully flat and wide which allows for a super speedy coverage. In fact, if you enjoy the actual process of applying nail polish like me, you'll be a little bit disappointed as it goes so quick! I need to warn you: the nail on my index broke, so the pictures are a bit gloomy.


Luxembourg Garden first caught my eye. It's a gorgeous teal polish which I was looking forward to try as I don't own similar shades in my collection. The coverage was really impressive and needed 2 coats for an opacity I was happy with it. However I was a not fan of the finish: you can definitely read the tell tale signs of my sloppy application and see where the brush strokes have been.








Next, this is Parisian Rooftops. In my head, this was going to be a dupe of Mavala Elle, a gorgeous purple grey. In reality, the polish rendered more grey than I would have liked, and the hint of purple is too faint. The name suits the shade I guess and I can definetely picture some roofs, in Paris or elsewhere sporting that colour. Application was super easy and I achieved the opacity that you see in one coat. Two coats would have given me a more even finish but the bottle is so tiny that I wanted to see if I could get away with one coat. I am disappointed, despite the lovely finish and the decent colour, I am sulking as I wanted a grurple.









Next, comes my favourite shade of them all. Mysterious Icon is an absolutely gorgeous blend of purple, grey and gold shimmer and is to die for. The polish reminds me a little bit from a polish from OPI (it's my year maybe?) but a little dirtier. The best is that only one coat was needed and I really felt it made the £4.99 I had to part to own this polish go a little further. I predict this shade to be a sell out, and I feel I need to restock at the week end before the whole world knows about this fabulous shade.












Last but not least is Beige Countess which disappointed me the most. Nothing wrong with the formula, nor the finish as beige countess applied very easily on my nail. Nothing wrong with the coverage either, it certainly needed two coats but the brush is so handy, it made the application seem like the breeze.





It's the colour I am not a fan of. I love my nude polishes but I am very particular about them also. I feel Beige Countess doesn't go with my skin tone, there's not enough contrast with my skin tone and I can't wear it. This will explain why I only applied the polish on 2 nails only. No point wasting a nail polish when I know straight away it's not going to work. I was hoping Beige Countess was going to be a mini Nails Inc London. What a shame. Never mind.

Overall, this is a lovely collection. Even though the polishes cost more than I would have liked to pay for them (£4.99 each), I feel they are very good quality and they really excel themselves with the brush. Now would be a perfect time to get your hands on them as there is a 3 for 2 offer on all the polishes (and other make up items from the L'Oreal Color Riche) at Boots and Superdrug. If you're only going to purchase one shade, make the mysterious icon be yours.      






Please, please please, if you have yourself tried any of the polishes from the Loreal Riche collection, let me know in the comments below: I would love to hear about it and see your pics.  xx

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