A Makeup & Beauty Blog – Lipglossiping

I had the opportunity to have a play with some of the new E.L.F Studio Products which should be available to buy on the website from next week – apparently the container arrives in Southampton at the end of this week.  Southampton you say?  Where’s my band of dandy highway makeup fanatics… huge makeup party at Dock Gate 4 then back to mine for a cup of tea?

No? Oh ok then.

After seeing some of the new products, I have to say… E.L.F are getting all innovative on us (but thankfully, not in a vibrating roll-on type way)

Amongst the new goodies, this one in particular stood out to me.

High Definition Powder… oooooooooooooooooh!  I’m going to look all pore-less and fuzzy round the edges.

Or am I?

Let’s have a look then…

So, we’re basically looking at a mix of dimethicones (silicones like you’d find in primers) and silica.  There’s been some controversy surrounding Silica and it’s use in cosmetics… but after a little google I found this article by The Beauty Brains (love them!).

So, it seems that cosmetic grade Silica is not something we should be too wary of using… although some people do have skin reactions to it, so as always… discontinue immediately if you get any kind of irritations.

I’ve been very impressed with the packaging in the Studio line, it’s solid… well made and does a good job at not showing you up in public.  This is no exception, the box is a chunky, solid screw top affair… nicely minimalistic – all in black with simple white text.

See? Still looking rather sleek isn’t it?  Not bad considering it’s retailing at £6 on the website.  It comes with a powder puff type applicator.  I usually throw these away in favour of using my fluffy powder brush, but the HD powder is *very* finely milled and this applicator manages to contain the flying silica dust really well.  I recommend you give it a go before deciding whether or not you’d rather use a brush.

There’s a nice deep reservoir to contain the powder and the sifter sits securely in the pot.  Overall, I’m pleased with the packaging design… I’m not sure how it would stand up to being dropped, I *think* you might be hoovering for a week… but really, that’s your fault for dropping it in the first place isn’t it.

A quick flip upside downside dispenses a nice, even amount of powder onto the puff.  I’m really liking this puff.. it’s soft, fluffy and bouncy.  The little ribbon/tab thing that you hook your fingers under isn’t annoying tight either so it’s easy to grip onto.

The powder itself is white and very fine…. when rubbed between my fingers I can feel the slippery smoothness of the silica.  If you open the pot to have a look… do be careful not to pick that exact moment in which to sneeze.  Luckily I turned my head just in time and only created a minor dust storm.

On to application…

I applied this powder over the top of my finished makeup… that’s after concealer, foundation and blush.  To apply, I placed the puff in the reservoir and inverted the pot which dispensed a thin even coat of powder onto the puff.  Bringing the puff up to my face I patted the powder over my t-zone.  I pat all loose finishing powders on, never swiping, stroking or buffing.  This stuff is *so* fine that it’s not going to leave big floury patches all over your face that need buffing in.

I noticed that it immediately absorbed any shininess without looking cakey.

To be honest, that was all I noticed…

I was disappointed, I’m not sure what I was expecting… but I wanted to see a little more than just a really good shine absorber.  To be fair to the powder, it was invisible… no ashiness on my very fair skin-tone and a lovely even, matte finish which felt silky to the touch.

It was only when I took some pictures for the review and uploaded them that I became a little more excited.

Please excuse the blotchy nose, I think I’m developing a little rosacea there 🙁  Hopefully it’s just the change in the seasons rather than something more permanent.

Anyway, I digress… as you can see, it’s left the nice, even and matte finish I described.  Nice, but no great shakes… until I zoomed in…

Wait, wait, wait… where have my pores gone?

Let me compare this to the image you thought you’d never have to look at again… sorry… but I have to…

LINK

Can you see the difference?  It’s so hard as a reviewer to explain exactly what I’m seeing… I mean, after 28 years… I *know* my face… I know where I picked a spot age 17 and left a slightly bigger crater, I can pinpoint exactly where that pesky enlarged pore on my cheek is or how deep that fine line is just below my 45th eyelash from the left 😉

What I’m trying to say (in my usual bumbling way) is this HD powder genuinely seems to be achieving something that is pleasing to my eye.  It’s not erasing my pores by any stretch of the imagination but it’s ‘softening’ them.  I think that’s the best way I can describe it.

Maybe all you want to know is… will I be buying this when it runs out?  Yes, yes and yes again.  For me, it works not only as a great finishing powder… but I’m seeing a marked “soft focus” difference in my images.  Basically, it’s doing for me what it’s supposed to do.  It’s living up to the hype of MUFE’s HD Powder at a considerably lower cost to my purse.

Do I notice a huge difference when I look in the mirror?  I’m not sure I do.  But I’ve looked at a few of my older images zoomed in, and I can see it when I compare.  I don’t know what that means… is it only visible in photographs?  That’s just weird and not hugely useful… Maybe it’s a subtle overall soft focus effect and I’m analysing it too closely when I’m looking in the mirror searching out the flaws.  Perhaps I’m able to detach myself a little when I look at a photograph instead.  I don’t know… I’m getting all psychoanalytical now, so I’m just gonna shut up.

Will it work for you? Who knows.. I’ve tried a few soft focus mineral finishing powders (from MMU companies) that have been raved about and I’ve struggled to notice any discernible differences and I really wasn’t expecting to be so pleasantly surprised by this one.

Apologies for my hugely wordy rambling review, but I guess you can tell.  I’m excited by this one.  If you buy it, please let me know how you get on with it.  I hope it works for you.

E.L.F’s HD Powder is available now from the E.L.F website.  If you can wait a couple of weeks, they usually release promo codes on their twitter or facebook page so you can often take advantage of free shipping.

This is Sleek’s latest addition to their highly popular palette family.

It’s basically an all-in-one smokey eye kit.  Two highlight shades and variations of blacks/greys with a purple (or 2) thrown in.

Texture wise, they’re the same creamy, slightly crumbly but highly pigmented shadows that we’ve come to know and love from Sleek.

I wish, wish, wish that the shades between the highlights and the first grey were more graduated.  There seems to be an awfully big jump from those first two shades into what (for me) is crease colour territory.

As I don’t generally wear dark shades on my lids, this palette ultimately consists of 10 crease colours.

If you count, left-right… top-bottom… 4 & 5 are too simillar as are 7 & 8 and even 11 & 12 which is such a shame, because this is a wonderful palette idea from a company that produce great shadows for a great price but honestly, I think it’s a “could have done better”.

I’ll get lots use out of it, and for less than £5 it’s definitely not something I’d ever regret buying, I’m just sad thinking about how good it could have been.

It’s Limited Edition, and from experience these palettes sell out quicker than a Bon Jovi concert, so get down Superdrug quick!

Further to my previous post, I’ve had a couple of requests for swatches… so here they are (in all their glory!)

Hope that’s useful!

As a total false lash virgin, I was excited but cautious when approached to test out some lashes from the Revlon Fantasy Lengths range.  What’s in a name huh?  When the parcel arrived, husband thought I’d been making one of *those* orders… and was relieved to discover nothing but false lashes as far as the eye could see.

I considered turning down the offer, wondering if perhaps I wasn’t really false lash material… I mean, I could rock the ooh la la lashes whilst walking down to the post office but it’s not like I go anywhere that calls for such lash fluttery.

But then I realised, as a total novice… I was infact perfect to test out how these babies perform (and apply).

I got sent 2 types… the self-adhesive variety and scary glue-on ones.

Let me start with the scary glue ons… well, my first attempt was an unmitigated train wreck.  I may aswell have just saved myself half an hour of tedious positioning and glued one to my forehead and the other to my chin.  Shu model I ain’t.

I’d also managed to coat the lashes in so much of the glue that was included, my only option was to bin them.  Girls, don’t be all cavalier and think that you can apply the glue directly from the tube.  You can’t.  Get over it and find a q-tip to snap in half.

2nd attempt was a little better.. still wonky, but at least I didn’t glue my own lashes to my lid this time.

To be honest, I was pissed, grumpy and slightly fearful that 3rd time lucky would mean 3rd time glue your eyes shut… so I gave up with those ones.

The lashes themselves are lovely, I thankfully didn’t need to trim them and the thing I noticed most was just how lightweight they were.  I thought I’d really notice them on, but they felt like a natural extension to my own eyelashes.

See? *flutter flutter*

I moved on to the self-adhesives…

E.A.S.Y

How can there be so much difference?  Was it practice?… or are self-adhesives that much kinder to adjusting little mistakes?  Either way, this application looked halfway decent and I even left the house in them.

I asked my husband if he liked my eyelashes.  He looked totally confused.

After a couple of misunderstandings later he elaborated on his puzzlement by saying that he didn’t realise I had falsies on.  Yes, ladies and gentl ladies… my natural eyelashes are that amazing.

Oh ok, ok, I’ll grudgingly admit that it might be because Revlon Fantasy Lengths are pretty darn natural looking…  or of course, it could be option 3… my husband is a bloke who just doesn’t notice anything.

Anyway you wanna see?

Please do bear in mind, that this is genuinely my third ever attempt at applying false eyelashes.  Regardless, just try to stifle your guffaws ’till you’ve moved on to someone else’s blog and I can’t hear you anymore.

Now, my left eye (your right) – I think I got pretty darn perfect?  Other one, not so much… I placed them a little too high.

The band was very easy to cover over with a slick of liquid liner and the lashes themselves stuck steadily for around 6 hours before I noticed a teeny amount of lift on an outer corner (but that could easily be my fault).

I would say that these self-adhesives are marketed more towards novices like me.  I’m not scared of them anymore and would deinitely purchase them for special occasions.

The glue-on ones?  Not unless I had someone else to apply them for me.  Or hands that don’t pretend to be bananas.

Do you wear false lashes?  Any application tips for me?

I know this is no lady-like way to start a post but… I think I might have done a little wee when this unexpected treat landed on my doormat.

I’d been waiting for a new-style UDPP tube from the PR agency to hack to pieces and over analyse for you all, but none of you would believe me if I said that I was disappointed to find this inside the parcel instead.  Mainly ‘cos I’d be lying.

If you haven’t bought yours yet… why not?  Let’s have a little group unveiling…

B-E-A-UTIFUL.

I am going to get so many different looks out of this one palette, the shadows are smooth like buttah (bar the ‘orrible MCRA) and heavily pigmented.

The wand in the mini UDPP is one of the new-fangled angled (I’m a poet) ones.  So it’ll be interesting to see how it gets into the nooks and crannies of the (still) rather daftly shaped bottle (stick it in a squeezy tube already!)

I love that they’ve included a brown liner pencil as some of the shades in the palette are crying out to be paired up with a softer line than black would give.  I know a lot of you are huge fans of these Urban Decay 24/7 pencils… but I’ll be honest and say that for the difference in price, I still prefer my GOSH Velvet Touch ones which seem to last equally as long on my eyes before admitting defeat and morphing into eye bogies.

The substantial mirror in the lid is very useful and ensures that these will be the only shadows I take along with me when I visit the in-laws over Christmas.  The “book of looks” is a slightly superfluous but glamourous addition that gives a nice focus for the shadows.  It’s more of a “look what we can do” rather than “look what we can help you do” affair, but it does link to a URL which claims to help you learn how to create the looks featured in the book.

I’ll be doing some individual swatches but I wanted to get my initial thoughts on this palette “out there” before it became impossible to find.  My local Boots only had 3 left in stock on Saturday.

I have another one coming (which my friend has already decided will now be her Xmas present from me) as I already had one on order from Debenhams when this showed up (it’s like waiting for a bus eh?)… I paid £24.30 inc. p&p, if you want to know how I got it for that price let me know and I’ll post the codes I used in the comment area, otherwise I’m a bit too lazy to re-find them.

You’ve already seen the lipsticks from my Cherry Culture NYX haul…

Now it’s time for the eye shadows!

I wasn’t sure what to expect.  I’d heard such good things that I didn’t think I’d be disappointed but I wasn’t prepared to be quite so delighted either!

I stuck to what I consider to be great Autumn/Winter shades for me… Purples, Plums, Golds and Greys.  I was tempted by some brighter more Spring-like shades… but I’ll save them for my next haul 😉

Here’s the swatches (applied dry over UDPP):

My favourites are Eggplant, Golden, Champage and Charcoal…

Rust is an amazingly pigmented shade… it’s a touch too red for my taste but I’ve got it coming up in my next FOTD so you’ll get a clearer idea of how it looks on the eye.

I read up on a few forums about Champagne, and it was often suggested as a nice highlight.  Damn my paleness ‘cos it’s too dark to use as a highlight for me… it will be a gorgeous shade for a quick wash of colour though – still pleased I bought it.

Red Bean Pie looked fantastic on the site and doesn’t disappoint in real life.  It’s basically Eggplant but with more plummy/red tones to it.

Eggplant is gorgeously metallic, it’s simillar to Red Bean Pie, but a little more purpley.

I never use black in the crease, it’s just too harsh for my skintone so I’m always on the lookout for nice greys and Charcoal is the loveliest crease colour for me.  I’m very happy I chose it.

Last but by no means least is Golden – stunning… proper metallic, highly pigmented.. just beautiful!

I’m not disappointed by a single shadow.

I also bought this little beauty…

The much talked about Jumbo Pencil in Milk which is the creamiest, brightest white ever!  I know that it’s most often used as a base… but with my creasey creasey eyelids I’m actually gonna attempt to put it to work as an under the brow highlighter!  I’ll let you know how it fares…

Can I get a little feedback on my swatches?  I’m not particularly confident with swatching… I think they’re pretty colour accurate…  Let me know if you ever want a particular shade of anything I swatch incorporated into a FOTD, sometimes things just look different in a swatch than when put into context on the face – or maybe that’s just me?

This is gonna be a long one, lots to review and talk about… so grab a cup of tea and come straight back (milk and 2 sweeteners for me please).

Elemental Beauty are a British brand of mineral makeup.  I’m already a big fan of their mineral foundation.  I generally struggle to find shades that are pale and cool toned enough to be a match for me, but I get great results using their shade “English Rose”.

I had been wanting to feature a British mineral makeup brand on Lipglossiping for a little while.  I do love US Brands for their teeny baggies of eyeshadows and blushes that they’re willing to send all over the world for not much more than the price of the stamp… butwhen I want something a little more subdued, a little more suitable for everyday wear… then I tend to look a little closer to home.

I was pleased to receive some samples from Elemental Beauty and wanted to share my thoughts… Nicola at EB had been pre-warned that if I didn’t like something… I was gonna tell it like I saw it and to her credit – she was still completely game.  Confidence in your own products is something that told me I probably wouldn’t be too disappointed – and I was right!

I was sent: 3 Mineral Eyeshadows, a Mineral Illuminator & a Mineral Healing Concealer

How pretty is the packaging?

Very shabby chic, but um without the shabby.

I’d first heard of Elemental Beauty on the forums of MoneySavingExpert, where many forum-ites hold the soft-focus and healing foundations in extremely high regard.

The packaging twists open to reveal a sifter.  I’m in two minds about this sifter…

The holes are quite large, so I have to be careful when opening the jar as a lot of product is usually sitting ontop of the sifter and if I travel, I’d definitely have to sellotape over the holes.  But… I also hate sifters where the holes are so small it takes half an hour to tap out any product (The She Space sifters drive me to extreme frustrations).  I think I do prefer the bigger holes but they don’t come without that caveat.

Anyway, onto the products…

Lasting Mineral Eyeshadows:

I received three of these eyeshadows in shades: Sunbeam, Taupe and Vamp.  Here’s a swatch of how they looked foiled (applied with a wet brush) on my skin.

Beautifuly pigmented no?

Taupe for me, is the problem child.  It’s described as “softly sparkling” which I’d agree with although compared to the other two it looks positively matte!

What I’m not keen on is the name.  If I ever created my own line of cosmetics I would completely eschew the word taupe from my colour descriptions!  It’s overused… and doesn’t have any set definition or benchmark.

Taupe is a vague, unscientific color term which may be used to refer to almost any grayish-brown, brownish-gray, or warm gray color. It often overlaps with tan and even people who use color professionally (such as designers and artists) frequently disagree as to what “taupe” means. There is no single, generally recognized authority for such terms.

Taken from Wikipedia

Now when taupe is done (in my subjective opinion) right… I adore it.  for me, taupe should be a mid-toned mix of grey and brown and if it has a little shimmer or metallic edge to lift it from drabness, then even better!

Elemental Beauty’s version of taupe to me is ‘orrible.  It’s too warm and orange.  It’s a decent colour in it’s own right, but it’s not the taupe I want! *and breathe*

I freakin’ love Sunbeam.  A perfect pale gold with a spectacular amount of micro sparkle which somehow manages to stop short of looking like a glitter bomb has exploded in my face.  So far, I’ve used this with great success as an all-over lid colour (foiled), a highlight  under the brow (dry) and a highlight near the tear ducts (foiled).  It’s beautiful and really lifts my complexion.

Vamp is a tricky one… it looks like an out and out purple from my swatch no?

But let me show you something….

This is Vamp foiled on the lid… the red-undertones in the shadow are far more apparent here than the metallic purple shown in the swatch.  It’s a colour shifting-shadow!  Great!  But I fell in love with the metallic purple in the swatch!  Gimme back that vibrant purple!

The above 2 images show Sunbeam on the lid with Vamp in the crease.  See how lovely Sunbeam is?  Again, Vamp looks more red-brown than purple.

I have no issues with pigmentation and the product is nicely milled which ensures a smooth, even application.

Mineral Illuminator:

This is the Illuminator in Rosy Apple.  I wanted to capture the micro-sparkles, so although the above photo isn’t the best.  I think it demonstrates them clearly!  They’re fine and not at all chunky.

A little goes a long way!  I apply this to my cheekbones (avoiding the apple of the cheek) and I have found that using a loose bristled brush or fan brush is perfect for a rosy glow.

Above: Illuminator in Rosy Apple, Vamp on lids, Taupe in crease.

Healing Mineral Concealer:

This is the Healing Mineral Concealer in shade “Bright Eyes”

They say:

A pale yellow concealer to conceal dark circles and give you a wide awake look! Bright eyes can also be used as a blemish concealer for very pale skin tones.

I’ve been mixing this with a tiny amount of my Body Shop Vitamin E Serum to create a fairly thick paste (you only need the tiniest amount of both products).  Then I’ve been patting it with my ring finger all over the eye area.  It really gives the whole area a lift and makes my eyes look brighter and fresher.  I also love the even base it creates on my eyelids for days when I just want to wear a slick of eyeliner and mascara.

I’ll be doing a further review with application pictures on this soon.

Are you still with me?

All EB products are Bismuth Free which is essential for me as Bismuth makes my face itch.

“Our healing foundation range – containing allantoin – has been very popular with people that have difficult or sensitive skin types and we have also created mica-free foundations for people that have found themselves to be allergic to mica.”

Nicola at EB has assured me that they create and custom blend all of their shades in-house.  I thought that was worth clarifying due to recent revelations of a certain mineral makeup company repackaging wholesale shades without declaring that they’re not custom blended.

Not only that, but check out what Nicola had to say when I asked her if people could email for shade advice:

“As we are a manufacturer, we are able to offer a bespoke service providing custom foundation shades for any of our customers that are struggling to find their perfect match in our standard shade range.

We can also make special eyeshadow and blusher shades for people who want something for a special occasion to match their outfit or lipstick etc so we can offer a very personal service.”

Shades to complement a special outfit? Awesome.

She also said…

“We often receive e-mails from customers that use specific shades of foundation in other non-mineral brands and are looking for us to make a mineral foundation equivalent for them so that they can switch to mineral makeup.”

Which I think is pretty decent service as shade selection from online mineral makeup selections often involves a leap of faith, I should know… I have binned many orange mineral foundations from bad choices!

Have you tried Elemental Beauty? What do you look for in a mineral makeup company? Like what you see here?  Need a lie down after that mammoth review? (I know I do!).

Apologies my lovelies, this post is about 2 weeks late.  I’ll explain why…

After exclaiming my new found love for these el-cheapo gel liners and promising a full review, I wore one of the colour ones and experienced a fair amount of transfer to my upper lid.  Enough to make me rethink whether I should be shouting about them from my virtual rooftop.

I umm’ed and ahh’ed about if for a few days, then promptly forgot they even existed until the weekend whilst playing with rearranging my stash.

I gave two of them another chance and they didn’t move an inch!  Now, the odd thing is this… I wasn’t wearing any primer at the weekend, but I was when they smudged to my upper lid.  However, it may be completely unrelated and I just had particularly oily lids that day or someting bizarro like that.

I’ve already talked about the black… let’s have a little look at the coloured ones I got…

L – R: Shimmer Sky Line, Shimmer Sexy Pink

L-R: Deep Purple, Indigo Blue

Stunning no?

I’ve included the black (from my initial order) in this swatch

Now, I don’t know why they transferred.  Once set on my skin I can run my finger over the top quite firmly and nothing smudges… not even a tiny bit.

Infact, when I tried to wipe them off with one of Leila’s wet wipes, they resisted quite heavily.

Look how hard I had to scrub to remove the pigmentation…

Yes, that is my skin gone all blotchy from the vigourous rubbing and no, they still hadn’t completely faded.  A little bit of makeup remover did the trick.  Infinity Liner indeed.

Swatched on the eye… Clockwise from top-left: Deep Purple, Shimmer Sky Line, Shimmer Sexy Pink, Indigo Blue.

These Infinity Liners are hugely pigmented, soft, creamy and easy to apply.  They take about 30 secs – 1 minute to set and once they do they’re not budging on me despite my best efforts to get them to transfer again.

Infact, as I write this… a thought has occured.  I wonder if *perhaps* there was a slight film of grease or something across the top layer and now that I’ve used them a couple of times and dispersed the grease they’re no longer transferring?  Pure speculation, but I can’t think of any other reasons.  Anddd that doesn’t explain the fact why the black one *does* transfer if I don’t powder it.

My favourite is the Shimmer Sky Line.  It’s positively electric.

Ok, enough of the review already… where did I get them from?

I purchased these from eBay seller CeliaMakeup currently priced at £4.00 each with free delivery.  Delivery is a *little* slow @ just over 2 weeks (my Deal Extreme parcels usually arrive in around 1 week) but they arrived really well-packaged which bodes well for my future orders of those 88 palettes 🙂

I’ve also experienced good customer service from them, I ordered a double-ended eyeliner brush at the same time as my initial order and one end was splayed… they were eager to replace it for me with no problems at all.

Will you be making a purchase?  If so, what colours do you have your eye on?

I bought the SK-II Air Touch Foundation back in May.  I was beyond excited to get my hands on it after it had been sat at the top of my wish-list for nearly 6 months, and that’s a long time for an item to remain on my wish-list.

I’d tried it a few times and had been disappointed with the result.  I’d found it simply too sheer to be of much use to me.

It’s a beautiful little thing isn’t it? And look! You can see me in it!

SK-II is a Japanese brand whose USP is a little ingredient called Pitera, you can read more about Pitera here – I’m far too lazy to go into all that now.

Anyway, bollocks to Pitera, all I was interested in were the words “air touch” – woo hooooo!

I was immediately picturing myself with perfect, pore-less radiant skin.  Woah, I was gonna need a 10ft ladder to get this little product down off that pedestal I’d placed it on.  Secretly, I envisaged it turning me into sodding Snow White.

Where’s the bluebirds? Oh! Here they are!

Back to reality for a moment…

The basic premise is simple.

You get a teeny tiny sachet of foundation (and I’m talking wincey).  To get hold of refills in the shade you want, you’re gonna have to do some kind of deal with the devil whilst remortgaging your house.  We’re talking £45 for 5ml.  I’d sell you my eggs for cheaper than that.

Anyway… before I digress into full-on human trafficking…

Still sexy isn’t it…

That droplet icon is the one you set it to if you haven’t used it for while… it pushes out a single droplet to clear the nozzle.

The “business” end…

I’ve read loads of “how to” tips and watched many guides for this and the general consensus is that you hold it about half an arm’s length from your face and make smooth zig-zag motions back and forth until you’re happy that you’ve got enough coverage.

Which is exactly what I did.  Or at least, I thought that’s what I was doing.

See, subconsciously I was really going…

“£45…. for 5ml? Feck, better not use too much of this then.”

Which probably goes a long way to explaining why I felt I wasn’t getting enough coverage from this little marvel.

Today, after GraceLondon gently urged me to try again, I may have been in a slightly different frame of mind…

“Bollocks to it… if it’s shit again, it can go in a blog sale.”

See the subtle tonal shift there?  Look closely, it’s easy to miss.

Ugh, another one of them no makeup faces and I didn’t even warn you it was coming this time! Bwahaha.

I put the SK-II Airbrush Foundation into action again.  This time with a little more gusto, a little more confidence and a great amount of careless-ness.

I love it! It’s smooth, even, non-cakey but sheer.  Sod “my lips but better” this is proper “my skin but better”.

The redness around my nose has been evened out and it’s given my skin some luminosity that it was previously lacking.

Unfortunately, these photos aren’t the best.  The sun was being an arse and the lighting was rather uneven so you’ve got some over-exposure on the before image which conceals some of the unevenness.

Can you see it though?  Tell me it’s not my imagination!

I’m sneakily borrowing the below image from a FOTD that I’ve got coming up at the end of the week… but I wanted to show you how my skin looked with the SK-II Airbrush Foundation after it had ‘set’ (it takes 5-10 mins to dry) and I’d added a little powder and some blush.

So pleased with the results…

Nevertheless, I’m gutted to admit that I won’t be anouncing “Holy Grail!”… despite my new found adoration for Pitera.

It’s with absolute hand-wringing regret that I have to face up to the fact that £45 a pop is a lot of money for me.  Granted, if 5ml lasts me 6 months of daily use then I may rethink my stance but even then there is another obstacle… availability.

I know the refills are sold in Harrods, but they don’t stock my shade online…  they occasionally crop up on eBay (but are they genuine?)

However, I can happily conclude that until the day that last nectar-like droplet has spritzed the last red blotchy bit, I shall continue using this with joy and reckless abandon.

Want one?

[starreview tpl=14]

I bought 4 more NYX Round Lipsticks to add to my collection…

Tea Rose: Medium/Dark Rosey Pink

Strawberry Milk: As the name suggests, very pale milky pink

Thalia: Medium/Dark Nude

Indian Pink: Medium Pink with Gold flashes

Wear on these aren’t fantastic, they don’t last much after a cup of tea, but they’re so easy to  reapply and very well pigmented for the price.

And finally… Nyx Round Lipgloss in Sorbet. Non-sticky, fairly sheer with a subtle hint of sparkle.

I’m really pleased with the lip products… my favourite is Thalia or Tea Rose.  I adore Indian Pink, it’s so unusual but it’s a little warm toned against my skin.  Strawberry Milk is gorgeous too, but I need to find a way to wear it that doesn’t remind me of Magda from There’s Something About Mary.

What are your favourite NYX Round Lipsticks?

So, after some suggestions from you lovely ladies (and before consigning the Supra Color to the ever-growing pile of “tried but don’t love” products) I thought I’d give the Kryolan Supra Color another go with some UDPP underneath.

tick tock tick tock…

So, that’s 4 hours… an hour longer than last time.  I don’t see any improvement in the creasing issue do you?

Even worse… it’s slid my eyeshadow *up* my lid so It looks like I’ve applied my eyeshadow with a freakin’ set square for precision. *That chick looks like she could do with a 217 for Christmas*

I’m admitting defeat on this one.  I wanted to love it for it’s reasonable price, the way it makes pigments even more vibrant, the way pigments stick to it like the proverbial to a blanket.  But creasing is never a good look *sniff*.

Onwards and upwards! Aqua Color next?

I was excited to finally get the chance to try out my new L’oreal Paris True Match Roll On / Roller Foundation.  £12.99 you know! Not cheap for high street, it better not piss me off too much…

Packaging is quite nice, fairly sturdy, sleek(ish) and nice and compact.

On the left is the pan of cream foundation and over on the right is the sponge roller we’re going to be using for application.

You can better judge the size of the roller now, it’s actually easy to hold despite it’s small size thanks to some well-designed dips and ridges on the plastic handle.

You (and I) have to admit… this is all pretty cute so far!  Little compacts, Dinky rollers…  Look! I’m gonna paint my face! *squeal*

Uh oh, I’m noticing a problem… the product is building up unevenly on the roller.  The far edge has a real good coating whilst the rest of the roller remains void of product.

After a bit of swiping, direction changing and weight shifting the roller is more evenly covered… but there is still a bias towards that far edge.  Will this affect application?

Primed and ready for action!

Introducing you to my makeup-less face, not even a smudge of brow powder!

Here we go…

Look! I have a go faster stripe!

Right, as suspected… not a colour match.  Far too warm and a couple of shades too dark aswell.  I’ve been tangoed.

That’s terrible.  This is the lightest shade that L’oreal are offering (in this country at least) for their True Match Roll On Foundation.

Ironic isn’t it… “True Match”… *mutters something unrepeatable*

With all the money and technology that’s gone into this product – why on earth did L’oreal make the shade range so limited?  I *know* I’m pale… but I’m not Nicola Roberts pale, I see many people walking about even more see-thru than I am.  That’s a big chunk of the population not being catered for, and I’m willing to bet the story is the same for those on the other end of the spectrum aswell.

Anyway, let’s roller on… *hah! geddit*

One half done (your right).

The actual coverage is pretty heavyweight.  Don’t be getting this if you’re looking for sheer -> medium coverage ‘cos this is full on.

You wanna know about the application with that little roller don’t you?

It wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be.  Sure, it’s not gonna get anywhere near the inside corners of your eyes… but I didn’t have a problem around my nose.  The actual “roller” is slim enough to offer even coverage down the edge of the nose.

I also found it a speedy (if a little uncomfortable) process.  I blended with my fingers closer to my eyes and I even attempted closing my eyes and rollering in an up/down motion over my eyelids.  No, it didn’t work very well and yes, I looked really silly.

The finish is matte and looks a little deathmask-like to me (perhaps I’m not used to the heavier coverage).  I didn’t have any problems with streakiness or patchiness but when I touched my face 5 minutes later, my skin still felt tacky to the touch… it took nearly 20 minutes to dry fully.

Your final half n’ half (again, your right has the coverage).

What do you think?  The formula isn’t *so* bad… I did actually prefer it later in the day after it had had time to “fit” to my skin.

I’m torn… it’s not completely terrible, but it’s definitely a case of style over content and that poor shade selection…

I guess the easiest way to sum it up is thus…

Would I buy this again?

…Not even with your money.

“Innovation! One cannot be forever innovating. I want to create classics.” – Coco Chanel