A Makeup & Beauty Blog – Lipglossiping

I know it’s old hat and not terribly cool but I can’t help it, I’m still a big fan of mineral foundation.  Party like it’s 2006 and all that.  You see, the thing is… me and minerals, we shouldn’t get along.  On paper, we’re a match made in hell thanks to my permanently dehydrated complexion and amazing ability to develop flakies quicker than I can say B.B. Cream.  In theory, I should be reaching for the richer cream fondations,and avoiding powders as though my life depended on it.

Except, that with a little bit of care and some post-application hydration, my skin just adores minerals.  Especially in the warmer weather.

I’m going to tell you about the one I’m wearing at the moment.  It was on my lust-list for many years and I finally succumbed to the wantsies when I saw Sirvinya had it down in her blog sale list.

Meow Cosmetics are an indie mineral makeup company from the U.S. who have been operating online for many years now and were one of the first I discovered back when I was a regular user of indie brands.  Their catalogue of products is so vast, I don’t mind admitting that I find it bewildering.  Choosing the correct foundation shade for your skintone is quite a task in itself, admittedly made easier by some great, indepth instructions on the site.

If you think I’m exagerrating, I’m not.  Meow Cosmetics offer a staggering choice of 86 shades.  In three different formulations.  That’s 258 possible combinations of foundation.  Bejesus.

Here’s mine.  It’s the Purrfect Puss formulation which is described as a light-medium formulation with buildable coverage.  It features the brand’s original matte formula but with enough of a sheen to look fresh rather than dull.  The brand boast that their formulation doesn’t need “buffing” in the same way that traditional minerals do… and I find this to be true, a brush-on formula that can be layered nicely without the risk of micro-exfoliating my dry skin and causing further problems.

The shade that I have here is Frisky Chausie.  Two words.  The first “Frisky” relates to the depth of shade (ultra light to dark) and the second “Chausie” is the undertone.  In this case, Frisky = Light and Chausie = Cool Pink.  Making a great match for anyone who is a little pinker than a MAC NW15-20, like me.

Super pale girls will be delighted to hear that there are even two shades lighter than “Frisky” in each undertone!

The powder is finely milled, velvet-textured and easy to apply.  I tap a little into the lid and give it a swirl with a dome-topped synthetic brush.  Although a popular choice for many mineral makeup fans, I rarely use a flat-topped kabuki as I just don’t appreciate the fuller coverage, preferring instead to build it as I go… focusing multiple sweeps around the side of the nose and other places where my redness is more pronounced.

I always finish my mineral foundation application with a spritz of hydrating toner, something like the Balance Me Skin Bright Hydrating Mist.  If your skin is less dehydrated than mine, you’ll be fine with a light spritz from a can of Avene water or similar.  I just find that this finishing touch ensures that the product melts into the skin and ensures that it doesn’t look remotely “powdery”.

I’ve included a swatch shot and a before/after below so that you can see how great the colour match is for my complexion.  If you struggle to find a foundation that matches well with your skintone, you should give this range a try – sample baggie sizes are also available should you need to order a small selection to find your perfect match.

Meow Cosmetics Mineral Foundation in Frisky Chausie is available to buy online in three different sizes with prices ranging from $1 to $23.45

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You’d be forgiven for not having heard of Vitage and their range of Colour Mineral makeup… a small, British brand who only appeared on my radar when I received a set of samples through the post a little while ago myself.

At first glance, I’m not gonna sugar-coat it… this range looks uninspiring.  Housed in the kind of packaging that is incredibly easy to forget.  Not that this is an entirely fair conclusion to reach… because, you know, I don’t actually know how much thought has been put into the packaging but c’mon, look at it… hardly exciting stuff is it?

However, if my Mum taught me anything, it’s not to judge a book by its cover (much) and housed within this little selection of beauty goodies, lie a couple of lovely products.  Let me give you a quick rundown, and by “quick”, I mean “really rambly”, of course.

First things first, who are the brand behind the products?

Vitage are a British brand, better known for their premium skincare which has been packed with scientifically-proven ingredients and vitamins and is suitable for a wide spectrum of skin concerns.  The range includes cleansers, serums, moisturisers, sun protection, and lotions for both the body and the face.  This latest update to the brand introduces a line of colour mineral cosmetics which includes: foundations, eyeshadows, tools, primers, blushers and eyeliners.

The Vitage Natural Daily Perfector (£25)* is a primer product with a mousse-like texture that has been enriched with antioxidant-rich Brazilian Green Tea.  It delivers little in the way of pigment but much in the way of pore-filling, skin-smoothing wonderment.

Promising to be suitable for even the palest of skintones, it isn’t.  Frankly it annoys me that it dare even suggest that it is.  I’m pale but I’m not super-pale and this is too orange-toned and dark for my skintone.  It gives me a faint unnatural looking hue that no pale, English-rose complexion should suffer.  If this came in a transparent variety… I’d buy it in a heartbeat for its skin-resurfacing prowess but it doesn’t, and so I won’t.

The Vitage Natural Foundation (£24)* looks like your standard mineral powder foundation in clumsy pot packaging.  Again, the lightest shade is not quite right on my skintone, and seeing as the brand only offer four shades… there’s a fair chance you may not find a perfect fit either.  And it’s a shame, because the pigment on offer from this pot is pretty impressive… a single swatch with my finger below demonstrates the kind of coverage this product packs.

Although it’s officially described as “sheer”, I find it builds coverage quickly without looking powdery, a sure sign that you’re looking at a well-crafted product that has been milled to deliver the softest, creamiest texture that a powder could offer.

For its price, the Vitage High Definition Brush (£21)*, I’m simply not sold on… there is nothing about this brush that would make me urge you to go and spend your pennies on it.  It’s solidly built, well-cut, and soft on the face… but so are a million others, at a cheaper price than this one.  Stick to Real Techniques.

Now, I don’t know if the PR knew how to sucker-punch me with a beautiful taupe… but well, they got me good.  The Vitage Natural Eye Colour in Velvet Storm (£14)* is a beaut.  Easily worth £14 of anyone’s money for neutral-toned or fellow taupe-addicts like me.  Again, the quality shines through and this product delivers a creamy, well-pigmented and smooth application.  Staying power is perfectly acceptable once paired with an eyeshadow primer.

But who cares about all that when it comes to simply “oohing” over a pretty plum-taupe?  Not me, that’s for sure…. look at her, go on… look!  She has that ghostly sheen thing going on that reminds me of my Kjaer Weis eyeshadow in Wisdom.  Just luverly.  If it had been pressed, I’d have probably fainted from taupe-love.

The final product to show you is the Vitage Natural Lip Lustre in Fuchsia Glaze (£14)*, and although I’m impressed by a non-sticky texture and fair-to-good lasting power, I’m still kinda mehh-ing all over this one, again… particularly for the price.

I’d describe it as a gloss/liquid lipstick hybrid which leans more to the gloss side of things.  The pigment is buildable but the texture suffers as a result if you start applying multiple coats which is sacrilege because for me, the beauty of this product lies in its ability to deliver a realistic and super lightweight natural flush in a single coat.  I’m not one for natural flushes, but don’t mind applauding a nice “gloss” texture when I feel one.

Overall, my feelings on the Vitage range of colour minerals are mixed, a couple of the products made me raise an eyebrow upon reading their price tags (and I think the plain packaging does nothing to persuade me that they’re worth a premium mark-up) but it’s also quite easy to take it for granted that these are products are produced by a company that specialises in premium skincare, and as a result, has injected some high-tech ingredients into this cosmetic range…

I’ll leave you with a FOTD which uses the products discussed above.  It’s a natural display, not exactly ground-breaking but easy to wear and suitable for most modern women looking for a polished look.  Please excuse the grey hairs, my face is the only part of me showing any “polish” at the moment!

The entire range of Vitage Colour Minerals is available to buy online from beautybay.com with prices starting from £14.00

* press samples

If you’re a regular reader of lipglossiping.com, you’ll know that I’m quite fond of the bareMinerals mineral foundations… I generally use them over a tinted moisturiser-esque base to achieve extra coverage without a heavy finish.  I find that the formula melts into my skin like no other powder, despite my dry skintype.  The only real issue I’ve ever had with the bareMinerals foundation is the fact that working with loose powders can be pretty messy.  Of course, there are also benefits: the main one being that you can generally achieve a lighter application when using powders in loose form… however…

bareMinerals have obviously come to the conclusion that they’re missing out on a major portion of the beauty-loving public’s coffers with things as they stand.  Over the past year, the brand have introduced many of their beloved products in pressed form.  And you know what?  Most reports have been complimentary.  I’ll hold my hands up and say that I was concerned that by making this shift in what seems like the brand’s USP would result in them dumbing down.  I expected eyeshadow pigments to become less impressive, formulas less… melty.  It appears (and I haven’t tried their eyeshadows myself yet) that I might be wrong.  Christine (from Temptalia), whose opinion I hold in high esteem, regularly includes her bareMineral READY eyeshadow compacts in her “top” lists of products.  And I have to admit, the swatches I’ve seen look plenty pigmented.

But… foundation?

Foundation is where the brand have really garnered legions of fans.  It’s a bold move.  I’m a little bit excited to be honest, I’m praying for the same formula.

It launched yesterday in the UK, time will tell… it’s available to buy online on www.qvcuk.com, currently priced at £20.00

My fondness for mineral powder foundations seems so at odds with my complaints about the pesky flaky bits that my combo/dry skin enjoys tormenting me with but as-long as I don’t go overboard, I nearly always get good results from them.  Having said that, I’m quite particular about how I apply them…

I prefer to use them to “boost” coverage over a light liquid base.  I rarely apply mineral power foundation onto bare skin. I’m sure that’s probably quite unusual… but I find that I get really good lighter-looking, full-coverage results doing it this way.

Clarins have released a new mineral powder foundation, Skin Illusion Mineral Powder Foundation.  The packaging although as luxurious-looking as you’d expect from the brand, is a little bit of a pain to work with in reality.  After grappling with the brush a few times, I’ve now ditched it – not because of quality issues, but just because it’s easier to treat the pot as a generic container rather than an entire application system.

The shade shown is #105 Nude – the lightest shade available in the UK and two shades darker than the lightest available in the U.S.  The fact that this shade even works on my skintone should give some idea about the versatility of the product.  I’d say that it’s a touch too yellow for my very pale, cool skin-tone but as you’ll see at the end of the post, it doesn’t make an awful lot of difference.

The powder is finely milled, velvety in texture and once applied, I’d describe it as medium to full coverage.  The overall finish appears matte but not completely flat, I’m assuming that this is down to the pink opal powder which promises to deliver luminance to the skin.

In the before/after picture below you’ll see that my skin was pretty red and blotchy – definitely a full-coverage day.  As I’ve said already, if I want a full-coverage base, I’d usually start off with a tinted moisturiser rather than build up layer after layer of powder foundation but for the purposes of this review, I applied just a single layer of the new Clarins Skin Illusion Mineral Powder Foundation onto bare skin instead.  I’d also usually finish off the application with a light spritz of toner to ensure that the product fuses with my skin and removes any powdery residue – but again, I haven’t done that on this occasion.

I’m pretty impressed with the coverage (for a single layer) and it definitely doesn’t look too matte.  Longevity was fine and actually, it’s only now that I’m writing the review that I’m appreciating how well it manages to control oil as my nose rarely shows signs of losing coverage halfway through the day when I’m wearing this.

Clarins Skin Illusion Mineral Powder Foundation is priced at £28 and available to buy on counter and online at clarins.co.uk (but I’d recommend checking Escentual.com for a MUCH better price first!)

* press sample

Remember Rimmel’s Hide The Blemish? Surely a handbag staple for teenagers around the world if ever we saw one?  Well, I have to admit… this is what I was reminded of when I received this concealer sample through the post.  I would call the packaging ‘charming’ but honestly, it just looks a little bit dated/only-three-kids-allowed-in-the-shop-at-the-same-time (our local chemist and Rimmel counter was on the school route home!)

But that’s where the similarities end.  Completely.

Essential Care’s Mineral Concealer is really hydrating and offers a lot of slip during application.  Infact, I was positively convinced that it would slide straight off any blemishes that it initially concealed, but it didn’t – at least not for the couple of hours that I was able to test it.  The shade was sadly a little too dark for me so I couldn’t leave the house with it on and had to reapply my usual liquid concealer before picking Leila up from the nursery.

Application is precise and full, you can blend out the edges with your ring finger, as I normally do but because this formula is so soft, I used a brush in this instance and it worked beautifully.  I’m very tempted to pick one of these up in “fair” for the winter as my usual bugbear with blemish concealers is that they cling to all my dry bits… ultimately rendering themselves less useful than a solar-powered torch in a black hole.

Ingredients

COCOS NUCIFERA OIL*, RICINIS COMMUNIS OIL*, CERA ALBA*, OLEA EUROPAEA OIL*, ZINC OXIDE, TAPIOCA STARCH*, CANDELILLA CERA*, HELIANTHUS ANNUUS SEED CERA, HIPPOPHAE RHAMNOIDES FRUIT EXTRACT*, CALENDULA OFFICINALIS FLOWER EXTRACT*, ROSMARINUS OFFICINALIS EXTRACT*. May contain +/- CI 77491, CI 77492, CI 77499, CI 77891, CI 77007, mica, silica *Organically grown/produced (minimum 76%).

It’s pricy (in my opinion) at £17.50 but I may try mixing it on the back of my hand to create a customised tinted moisturiser.  I’m really quite enthusiastic about how utterly non-drying it is.

Essential Care Mineral Concealer is available to buy online from essential-care.co.uk

Do you have a favourite hydrating concealer?

What is it?

Solid mineral cheek colour from the cult U.S. mineral makeup brand in shade The French Kiss, a watermelon pink.

How much is it?

£22.00

How much of our money goes to supporting PINK projects?

£5 from each sale will go directly to cancer charity Look Good Feel Better

How do I get it?

www.bareminerals.co.uk and on-counter.

As I write this, the webshop for Fyrinnae is open.  It won’t be for long… that’s about as certain as death, taxes and all that other stuff.  From a convenience and CS point of view, they’re not my favourite company to deal with but it’s undeniable that they make some very, very pretty shadows indeed.

Here are some of my favourites:

Yep, it’s all about the neutrals and purples as far as I’m concerned!

If I had to narrow it down to my three most used Fyrinnae shades?  I’d say: Knickers in a Twist, Forbidden Lover and Beholder.

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Do you love Fyrinnae?  What is your most used Fyrinnae shade?

I do all my best online shopping late at night… when no-one else is around.  Those two facts may or may not be connected.

I made a long-overdue Shiro Cosmetics order a few weeks ago and frankly, couldn’t be happier with my choices!  I don’t know about you but when it comes to posts like these… I just wanna see the swatches, so without further ado – here’s what I bought with official descriptions included.  These have all been applied with a damp brush.

Team Rocket: Shimmery red-toned purple (I get more of a muted greyed purple with a red undertone)

There Will be Cake: Shimmery chocolate brown with cherry sparks

S.S. Anne: Universally flattering, shimmery, subtle-yet-rich champagne with a peachy-copper tinge

Rattata: Vivid opaque bright purple with shimmery blue undertones

Party Escort: Shimmery blackened silver with lots of red sparks

Master Sword: Super-glittery pale taupe – a blend of silver and gold, with bright silver sparks

Veran: Super-dark blue-black loaded with aqua and purple sparks

Because We Can: Super-bright shimmery hot pink with flashes of silver

Mewtwo: Sheer, shimmery, medium purple with blue tones

Unsatisfactory Mark: Pure bold crimson with light shimmer

Golem: Rich, opaque brown with strong silver-gray shimmer

Still Alive: Cool, bright shimmery green with a subtle green-to-pink duochrome shift and lime glitter

Everything Is Bears: Rich, dark brown packed with gold glitter and red sparks

Beta: Shimmery blackened emerald

Your Best Friend: Shimmery grey-pink with strong pink glitter

Ganondorf: Velvety black with strong dark red shimmer

Weepinbell: Shimmery chartreuse with subtle green duochrome

Midna: Shimmery medium gray packed with bold aqua sparks

Oshus: Dark ocean blue, with boatloads of gold glitter

Test Subject: Bold, shimmery burnt orange

Epona: Soft velvety brown with a misty cream overlay

Outright Fabrication: Soft shimmery white with bold flecks of red and brown

It’s nice to be back playing amongst my piggies… I haven’t made a big order like this since the She Space had their closing down sale!

Do you have any favourite Shiro Cosmetics shades?

I was recently introduced to a new salon-brand: Mii Cosmetics, who carry an astonishingly wide range of products.  The range is divided cleanly into two sections: Mineral and, well… non-mineral.  The mineral lineup is packaged in black boxes to clearly distinguish from the rest which you’ll find housed in white packaging.

From the bits that I’ve had the opportunity to play with, the bases in particular stand out as something special,  I can see one of them becoming a bit of a hero product for the brand, it’s not like anything I’ve come across before.

I’ll tell you more about that one a little later in the week… I know, I’m teasing… sorry.

I’ll begin with the straight-up, no-messing mineral foundation: Irresistible Face Base (£21), a loose mineral foundation powder with a sifter.  It comes in 7 shades and naturally, I’m showing you 01 Precious Porcelain.

Mii Cosmetics Perfect Mineral Brush (£28.95) also shown.

For an 01, it’s actually a little dark.  It matches me well enough but if you’re paler than a NW15 you might struggle with this.  I swatched it alongside my Bare Minerals foundation in fair and it was a good shade darker.  I find the Bare Minerals a little too light for me in the Summer months so, selfishly… this pleases me.

Swatched heavily on my hand, it looks a little warm but to my eye it’s pretty neutral once you take away the pink bias in my skin.  You should be able to make out the sheen in the swatch… less sparkly than my Bare Minerals but a little more glowy.  It also feels more finely milled than the Bare Minerals, which I have to admit, surprised me.

Having said that, it does offer less coverage.  A personal preference but I’m not skin-confident enough to wear this alone over bare skin.  However, combined with one of the other Mii Cosmetics bases (the one I’ll be showing you later in the week!), the pairing delivers flawless but dewy, natural looking skin.  My favourite kind.

A promising start!

Mii Cosmetics are sold exclusively in Spas/Salons, call 0845 217 1360 to find your nearest.

* pr sample

I’m subscribed to KGBDeal updates and this one landed in my email inbox yesterday…

these eyeshadow kits for £16.99 (p&p inc. in the price).  I have a couple of Bellapierre single eyeshadows already but have never tried the makeup base (which appears to be a cross between a pigment mattifier and primer) or any of the brushes.

So what do you get for £16.99?

Kit Includes:
• 3 Shimmer Powders (2.35g)
• 1 Make Up Base (8.5g)
• 1 Liner Brush
• 1 Oval Eye Shadow Brush

Bellapierre website, the kit ordinarily retails for £39.99 which is a saving of 63% over the original price.

The colour choices are as follows:

the deal, it’s available for the next 6 days only.

I thought it might be useful to include a swatch (dry, no primer) of the Bellapierre shadows that I own, so for your viewing pleasure: Jadoo and Celebration

.

Will you be taking advantage of the KGBDeals/Bellapierre offer?

Originally intended for my red lip series, Inika Mineral Lipstick in Electric Red is formulated with natural shea butter and jojoba oil and prides itself on being a completely natural and vegan lipstick.

I say ‘originally intended’ because once I applied it to my lips, I could see that it wasn’t really a fit for my red lip series what with it not really being red n’all.

Inika Cosmetics are an Australian brand boasting over 79 permanent products in their lineup.  All natural products are guaranteed to be completely free from petrochemicals, fillers, talc, bismuth oxychloride, GM ingredients, parabens, preservatives, mineral oils, phthalates and fragrances.  That’s quite a list… but usually consumers often find themselves making compromises in terms of pigmentation or wear when it comes to natural products….

Inika’s Electric Red* is indeed lacking in pigmentation.  While this will disappoint some, others will be delighted to find a more wearable version of a strong shade.  I can’t help but feel that with a name like “Electric Red”, I want something a little bolder to translate to my lips.

It has the prettiest metallic sheen… and in truth, I’m actually quite delighted to find such a wearable warm red that neither makes me look like a clown, nor a cheap tart.  It’s quite an unusual shade and perfect for summer.  Texture-wise, it’s quite hard but softens up as the warmth of your lips encourages the mix to spread.  Once on, it feels light and comfortable.  Despite the natural ingredients, I can’t say that I found it particularly moisturising but it definitely didn’t dry my lips out either.

If you’re looking for light, wearable shades to suit all skintones, take a closer look at the Inika Cosmetics range of highly wearable lipsticks.

Inika Mineral Lipstick in Electric Red is priced at £12.77 and available to buy online from the Inika Cosmetics website.

* press sample

Mineral makeup tends to attract followers of great dedication.  Some people are almost evangelical in their adoration for their swirl, tap, buff methods that they leave my head spinning.  I do count myself as a fan of most mineral foundations, I find them quick and easy whilst leaving behind pretty good skin!

My biggest issue with them would be lasting power (or lack of!)… especially in the Summer and particularly on my nose!

Enter Bare Minerals‘ new Prime Time Brightening Foundation Primer*.  They already have a ‘normal’ primer on the market, this is the new one that promises to deliver an “extraordinarily luminous, healthy-looking glow” to our skins.

It’s a very peachy-looking primer… I was expecting to see the usual, white or cloudy viscose liquid dispense from the pump.  Instead, it’s creamy, sparkly and a little on the orange side!  Eek!

So how does it fare?

Well, the colour blends away into my skintone and doesn’t leave a trace behind… it has a slight silicone slip though not as much as primers like the Smashbox one.

When I buff the foundation into my skin, I can definitely feel a difference in the application… it’s smoother and seems to give a little more glide to the buffing action.  I’d even go so far as to say that I get a better finish than without the primer.

But longevity?  Nuh Uh… I’m not noticing a discernible difference.  Not only that… but the “luminous, healthy-looking glow”?  Well… that’s just a bit of sparkle.  All over mah face.

Look.

See the gold flecks?  They sure are pretty!  But they make me wanna break into Saturday Night Fever.  They’re discoball… albeit subtle discoball once spread out over the face.

In any luminizer, I prefer subtle sheen over glittery particles.  It’s not that the effect isn’t pretty… it is.  It’s just too much for daywear, for me at least.

Little primer. we can’t stay together, I’m sorry.  It’s not you… it’s me.

Bare Minerals Prime Time Brightening Primer is available from this month at Bare Escentuals Boutiques, department stores and selected spas/salons nationwide priced at £19.00.

*Press Sample