Beauty Product Reviews | Page 2

Fantastic lip colour, any help on a shade for me though :)

I absolutly can not agree more that these lip colours are fantastically pigmented and apply like a dream but with my experience there are a few deeper demons i've had with the product..BUT that is only from my personal perspective and not that of the quality of the product because thats just great.

I ordered the shade "Memento" after seeing online some swatches. Memento looked like a pale yet..bright..wearable pink colour which isnt far from what the usual concoption of lip colours gives me at the end of my routine..however I dont know whether it was just me or my lips..but even with foundation as a base, the colour appeared very orange and almost browning as it dried. Extremely disimilar to that of the swatches I had seen. This left me quite sad wondering what it was that i was doing wrong.

Another problem I had was with the drying of the product. BE AWARE that the slightest hint of dryness or cracking in your lips will be funnly enhanced after the drying stage of lip tars. However this is totally preventable with good lip conditioning and perhaps a small sweep of balm and blotting before application.

So ladies if you have any suggestions in perhaps what I was doing wrong for the colour to come out differently on my lips than on swatches then do let me know, im always glad of suggestions OR perhaps suggest me a colour! I have very full lips so I'm not looking for anything really full on, but a pink or neutral pink shade would be fantastic. I don't particularly suit nudes because i end up looking rather ill with nude full lips, but at the same time reds or strong fuschias tend to make me jump (and others) when in plain sight.

But great colour, definite recommendation.

Great pigments and dosn't scratch *phew!*

I have really quite full lips and growing up i generally hated them. They're always very red if not treated with a balm and good old comcealing foundation in the daily routine but thanks to a few tricks learned I can get on with my life and enjoy lip products just the way you beauties do too!

So because of my full lips scandal I was always horrified at outlining them as you can imagine..it might not be the best thing to do, however feathering of lip colours was also a problem for me and after research in the early days, the best way to avoid this was to apply a lip liner.

I bought 2. One by Rimmel, and one by Bobbi Brown. Rimmel provided a great nude colour but I found was a chore to put on smoothly and almost felt like it was "scuffing" my lip line...but i bared with and yes, lip liner stopped the feathering and wasn't as horrific as I first thought. But then I discovered Bobbi Brown's.

The liner glides on smooth as satin with hardly any pressure needed to apply. The colour was highly pigmented and only needed one "coat"; it literally took seconds to apply.

Beautiful texture that lasts all day.

Just lost half a star but for a personal reason, this reason could actually be a fantastic factor for you :) I found that quite the opposite of the rimmel liner, if i put just a little too much pressure on applying with the Bobbi Brown liner, the strength of the liner colour was immense! The pigment is incredible in shade but for my lips even this pale shade did the enhancing effect that it'd mainly be used for a little too much and so id need to blend it out and reapply some concealer and redo the area again. I really had to work with a very steady hand but with blending and a little practise I worked around this.

Curse me and my pucker pout. Insane though..if some have small lips, they want big, if they've got big, they want small :)

Thick medium gloss balm, great under or over coat!

I've often walked past the NYC counter simply because it really isnt big enough in my nearest shop...and its a shame (!) because these little lip sliders are just great; i'm literally down 2/3rds of the tin now... The balm lasts an eternity..I purchased "Sugar Coated" after seeing Holly Ann Aeree mention it in one of her video posts and for the cost I was pretty made up to see it sold her in the UK and locally!

That was around...8 months ago.

DON'T PANIC it's still well within date! For those 8 months I've used it as a base coat for my lipsticks, it **Really** helps them stick if you ever find that the staying power of some high street brand lip colours dont quite go the daily mile and blends beautifully with all colours to keep my naturally strong pigmented lips lighter and "red free" for the whole day resulting in any lipstick applied over the top lasting just as long never changing colour with my lips throughout the day.

(Naturally high pigmented lips are my absolute curse...it takes a lot of work to keep the colour blocked out so i can wear a colour how it should be...but as we all know, eventual hard work pays off)

More of this balm can be applied once lip colour has been added, however I don't reccomend reapplying it over the top of your finished lip later in the day (id recommend if you're going to, to apply it *as soon as* you've applied your final lip colour, simply because the mixture is exceptionally thick and can scuff/smudge a well painted lip leaving you a little distressed (if you were me...).

It's lost a star becauase i really dont feel any moisturising benefits from this balm..then again im usure of whether it actually is made to provide any..Its just when i hear the description of a product as "balm" i automatically assume it has moisturising properties.

But all in all a compact, purse friendly, lovely little product at a lovely little price for its staying power as a great lip base.

Caught a glimpse on Imogen foxy locks

And i can finally say i've found the concealer for me. I was terrified to buy such a light colour as "Light Cornsilk" but i bit the bullet and went along with it after seeing Imogen Foxy Locks apply it. She has very similar tones to me from what i can tell so I went for it as, to be quite honest, the brand is pretty affordable for the quality.

Not only does this concealer conceal my mismatched tone between cheeks and eyes (I'm a little paler under my eyes..no dark circles..but the opposite really) , or at least blend the general tone together, it adds a really fantastic highlighting property to it which has now meant that i can ditch the standard separate highlighter product because this has got it all; 2 in one convenience does it for me!

Foundation simply glides over naturally without any concealer residew but still with the highlighted look pulling through.

A favourite for sure.

Heavy cover..a little gloopy on my skin

First ever concealer back in the day of discovery and i was very happy! Usually was with first recommendations on sales exec products at that "first steps into beauty land" stage. Great, thick coverage...but loses points for me now (after discovering Michael Todd Under Eye Colcealer via Imogen "foxylocks") on its slightly..oily feel. I started out with fairly oily skin before finding the right skincare to suit me and applying this to my under eye area and a little at either side of my nose seemed to cause the concealer to rest on top of my skin a little..and eventually after blending out it generally disappeared because i was paranoid that it would set that way whilst i was in the office.

Personally i believe that maybe i was given a darker shade than i needed. As I say, at the time I wasn't clued up in the slightest when it came to recognising skin tones and good matches, so i just went with the flow. Perhaps a more highlighting shade would have blended better with my foundation.

HOWEVER that's not to say that this concealer didn't proved any kind of camo effect. It really did cover a little patch of broken blood vessels that i used to hide with my fringe before i discovered electrolysis *ting!* extremely well. (avoid sitting with your right cheek directly infront of hot air blowers in your car daily in winter, ladies!)

Can't seem to find the perfect shade

- Although out of the corner of my eye I see "Bella Bamba" on the suggestions list which would definitely be worth a try..

Im terrible at choosing the right blush... I think it's safe to say I really havn't quite found the right one yet! From Lancome to NARS to Benefit to even 17!

I tried out Coralista as my first ever Benefit Blush...gorgeous peachy colour upon opening and is it me of do Benefit blushers smell really pretty! If a smell can be described as pretty...but really nice! Washing it onto my cheeks I felt that i needed a little more colour than what first set on. I love the brush applicator, really nice firm bristles and easy to angle under the cheekbones shape (infact i've kept the one from the coralista i owned to use for defining at times.."waste not want not!") The deep box made it easy for any fallout to be caught within its walls and not all over my suit skirt which is always a bonus..but like i say, for my skintone (and it was recommended to me by the girl on the counter..I think maybe it was the launch and they were possibly on comission for how many were sold or something..so no harm done, its always good to try!) it didnt quite give me a defining colour to my cheeks.

I suit a more pinky tone *sharks over at Bella Bamba again*..

The hype sadly didnt suit me :(

I had heard great things about NARS Orgasm/Super Orgasm blushes and so thought I'd go ahead and give one a chance come payday. The colour was really natural in shade but (and i knew this whilst buying) full of sparkle. This isn't a bad thing at all, the only thing is I couldn't really tell it apart on my own cheeks from lesser costing brands...like 17. Don't cringe! I know i probably made a scandalous "brand-gap" comparison there! I just don't think it was the shade for me, however the pigment was wonderful and there was little to no fallout UNLIKE the lesser costing brands which naturally shows its worth (AND it lasted much longer than high street brands). Overall a lovely shade for some, very "robust", but showed a little less "wow-factor" for me. I just go for the good quality high street blushes where i can save a little extra in my purse for top brand foundations and skincare.

Great Substitute for the MAC 187

I won't lie...I'm on a budget these days but still want the luxuries us girls enjoy in beauty regemes. I'd heard big things about the MAC 187 and have seen some great tutorials from Bgurus far and wide to get that flawless airbrush look that well applied foundation+brush techniques achieve. However...I was hesitant on paying £30 to try this out. So after a little bit of online detective work I found out about the Sigma F50 with its very similar look and review but with its very dis-similar price tag of £11.99 (<a class='textlink' href='http://www.geniecosmetics.com' rel='nofollow noopener' target='_blank'>www.geniecosmetics.com</a>). Now..i guess after this first waffle load I've yarned out this isn't a fair comparison as I've never actually used the MAC 187 HOWEVER (..*head to table* doosh)...the effect you can achieve from the F50 is wide spread renound for being carbon copied of that of the 187 and i certainly have no question that applying my foundation using the stippling and blending method with the F50 achieves everything i would imagine the 187 does..Or should i say everything i'd expect the 187 would give me...(can i *say* these figures and numbers any more? Are you still with me?). I use Estee Lauder Double Wear Foundation in Fresco onto well primed skin using the method i mentioned above for photoshop on skin basically. So if you're on a budget like me then totally consider the F50, even if you just wanted to practise the method without splurging out on MAC and realising that it's not for you.

Like no other

Naturally, foundation is 100% personal preference and works in harmony with individual skin types, so it can be really hard at times to find foundations that really wear well. For me, after a long journey of many attempts at finding the "perfect" foundation, i stumbled across a BGuru recommendation (really sad that I can't remember the name of her) of Estee Lauder Doublewear. I can honestly say I will never go back and that this is in truth my second skin of choice. The coverage is heavy so that could be a downfall to the girls out there who prefer a more lighter feel on their skin, but for a a full felt, airbrushed, flawless look (I use the Sigma F50 to apply) then Doublewear has got the look. The lasting-factor is...all day, literally. Even forgetting to set with powder it still remains well and truely "there" as the moment it was put on. I had a tendency to get a little oily across my cheeks at times with other foundations, but again, Doublewear really seems to have covered this...if it's meant to...either that or my skincare regime is doing that for me. 10/10 and won't ever look back.