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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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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L’Oréal Professionnel Individual Eyeshadows

Once upon a time, my lovely friend from Bristol, joannadelilah gave me this set of 4 L'Oréal Professionnel Individual Eyeshadows. I have been wanting to share them with you for a while as they have has become part of my 'immediate' box of makeup to use and enjoy.





The colours are soft and nicely pigmented but it's their texture that I like the most: they feel very velvety to the touch and despite their softness have very minimal fall out. All the colours have a delicate shimmer to them, apart from the dark brown colour which has become my favourite: it's matte but yet not chalky and I like to use it as an eyeshadow but also to fill in my brows.






I usually carry around the bulky Trio Gosh Eyeshadow Palette (TR2 Smoky) for my eyebrows but I find this little individual brown shadow much more handy and it takes less room in my makeup bag on my travels. Not that I travel a lot but every little helps as they say. I've used the brown in my 'golden rush' eyemakeup if you want to have a looksie here.

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Makeup Swapping Fun from across the pond

They say the grass is always greener on the other side. I don't know if it is true but I will always be attracted to get makeup I can't get in England.

Conveniently, my lovely twitter friend ashleigh from across the pond in the United States was dying to sample some makeup products from England, to see if they live up to the glorious tales. So a make up swap had to happen.

My 'brown box of amazing' landed today and this is what I had been dying to get my hands on for a while.

1. L'oréal Colour Truth H.I.P Liner in 'Eggplant'. This is a gorgeous cream liner in purpley aubergine colour.
2. L'oréal HIP Bright EyeShadow duo, in flamboyant (538)
3. L'oréal HIP Bright EyeShadow duo, in riotous (328
4. 'Browser' from NYC, eyebrow kit in Brunette
5. 4 Pairs of divine & dramatic Red Cherry Lashes in 102.
and 2 copies of a secret item which I also super excited but that I can't reveal for now. It's complicated :)

Excited does not quite describe it, I am bouncing with joy, like a flea in a shaggy dog and can't wait play with my American goodies. Everything arrived safe, how could they not, all wrapped up in a sea of bubble wrap :P Thank you so so so so much Ashleigh for the swap. Your 'folie blanche' made me chuckle but also go all fuzzy. Will you swap again with me? I hope so, cos this has been so much fun!

My photography skills are very basic. I hope you don’t mind the close up ones below, which I harvested from the web.

So, what other makeup products from America should I get from America next? What products am I seriously missing out on?
Please let me know :) I’m having my eyes on this exclusive limited edition ‘Chowder’ item :P What do you think?

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