Showing posts with label Review. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Review. Show all posts

Monday, 8 October 2012

Review: Real Techniques Stippling Brush


Samantha Chapman Real Techniques Stippling Brush
  
This review is long overdue however I am glad I waited as initially I did not like this brush so if I had of reviewed it when I said I was going to it would have received a thumbs down from me. However after vowing to try the brush for a long period of time before righting it off (mainly due to the money paid for it) I can now say that I use this brush daily and I actually like it.

This year I was introduced to new ways of applying foundation/tinted moisturiser. I had always used my hands however from reading blogs and watching YT tutorials I learned of a technique called ‘stippling’ and the different tools in which to do so. I done my research to discover that Cosmo’s Beauty Blender done the same job as the Real Techniques Stippling Brush at a fraction of the price and so being money savvy I decided to opt for the cheaper option and used the spare cash on other beauty bits.   Now don’t get me wrong I love my Cosmo’s Beauty Blender and can’t envision a life without it being a makeup bag staple (dramatic I know,lol) but me being me I just couldn’t resist the urge to see what all the hype was surrounding the Real Techniques Brush, so on my next visit to Boots I picked this brush up for £11.99. The Real Techniques Stippling Brush is a duo fibre brush, meaning it has a combination of longer and shorter bristles of different types. This is what affords the stippling effect resulting in an 'airbrushed' finish to ones makeup.

A close up of the bristles
 
My first reaction was ‘ooh its pink’ which is my reaction to all things pink; honestly I’m a sucker for pink, girly beauty items and thought this would look lovely on my dresser. I couldn’t wait to try it out when I got home. Now the reason I didn’t like this brush initially was down to two reasons 1) I felt like it was ALOT of effort and slightly more time consuming than my normal routine and 2) in the first weeks use it shed ALOT of hairs. I was extremely disappointed by the shedding of this brush and due to the shedding I stopped using it after a week’s use and went back to my trusty beauty blender. However one day I was invited out unexpectedly and needed to redo my makeup though my beauty blender had just been washed (I prefer using it dry) so I had no choice but to reach for the real techniques stippling brush, surprisingly there was no more shedding and I must have been used to using this brush as my makeup took no time at all. I also received lots of compliments on how flawless my makeup was that evening so I thought I would give the little brush a second chance and since then I haven’t looked back.

Now I incorporate both the beauty blender and stippling brush into my makeup routine every day. Firstly I use the brush to apply my tinted moisturiser all over. With this brush I feel like I don't waste my foundation/tinted moisturiser, I dot in it onto my skin and then buff this product into my skin using circular motions. The product goes on my skin and not into the brush. My brush hardly looks used/dirty after using it which is quite nice as no one likes the look of a grubby brush on their dresser. I then go over the makeup I have just applied with my beauty blender to ensure a skin-like look, I also use the pointed edge of the beauty blender to apply concealer around my nose and corners of my eyes. I can happily report that I have not experienced any more shedding from the brush. I have read lots of reviews on this brush and never heard anyone saying that they experienced any shedding from it so perhaps it was just my brush??? I have also used this brush to apply cram blush and it works a treat. I love how easy it is to clean this brush and that the bristles are still as soft as ever. I would however love if I could get this brush with a bigger head but I suppose the smaller head means you get a more precise finish. Lastly I love that the brush stands on its own which is very practical and helps to keep it clean. Overall I am very happy with this brush; I would urge those who have been thinking about purchasing it to go ahead and do so and see what all the fuss is about for yourself.

xKx

Monday, 6 August 2012

Product Rave: MUA Lipstick, Benefit’s Skinny Dip Dupe!!!


As stated before in this blog I’m a lipstick lover. I love how a lipstick can add a pop of colour to any outfit whilst leaving my lips feeling moisturised and kissable at the same time.

Lately I prefer to wear brighter lipstick shades in the evening and opt for a more natural shade during the day. A while back I received a Benefit lipstick from a family member in the shade ‘Skinny Dip’ which I instantly feel in love with and had been wearing every single day until it ran out. I went online to repurchase to discover that it retailed at £14-now I know I said I loved the lipstick but for a  girls who’s currently living on a budget due to being strapped for cash I just couldn’t justify spending £14 on a lipstick. So I decided I would just have to find a cheaper alternative-hello MUA lipstick in shade 11.
Lipstick
Shade 11
As usual I was browsing around Superdrug and decided to look at one of my favourite stalls-MUA. I’m a complete lover of this brand and have many of their lipsticks already. Whilst casually looking though the lipsticks I discovered shade 11, tried it on and thought ‘wow this looks just like my skinny dip lipstick.’ The best thing however is that this lipstick was a quid, yes one whole measly quid-hey I could buy 14 MUA lipsticks for the price of one Benefit lipstick [I proceeded to buy four MUA lipsticks that day and one lip-gloss, lol]. Now I know the colour isn’t the EXACT match but it’s pretty darn close. The only major difference between the two is that Benefits lipstick is slightly silkier looking, but this effect can easily be added to MUA’s dupe with some clear lip-gloss which I also purchased for a quid. Let’s just say I will defo be repurchasing MUA’s lipstick in shade 11 when I run out-unless there’s a dupe of that for less than a quid,lol

Have you found MUA’s lipstick to be a good dupe of other more expensive lipsticks?
Thanks for reading,
xKx











Sunday, 5 August 2012

Gradual Tan Review: Garnier Body, Summer-body Moisturising Lotion Sun-Kissed Look (Deep).



According to Garnier what this product claims to do:

Garnier Summer Body Sun Kissed look Moisturiser is a 2 in 1 gradual tanning moisturiser giving you that gorgeous sun-kissed glow day after day! Enriched with Camomile, this long lasting moisturiser lasts for an impressive 12 hours, and contains only a small amount of tanning agents so each day your tan develops darker, resulting in natural, streak-free results!

 In one step, Summer Body moisturising lotion moisturises your skin from morning until evening whilst gradually building a natural looking tan in harmony with your skin tone.



·         Non greasy, light moisturiser with a hint of self tan

·         Builds a sun-kissed glowing tan to suit your skin tone

·         Camomile and apricot extract to leave skin soft and supple

 

Personally I prefer how I look with a bit of a tan and seeing as my pale Irish skin is never going to tan naturally I turn to the bottle of the fake stuff for a bit of help. I will openly admit that I have always had a love/hate relationship with fake tan- I love the colour pay off, hate the effort of keeping my tan looking good. As I am maturing [24 this year...eek] I have noticed from looking at old pictures and talking with my mum that I look better with a more subtle tan as opposed to full on dark tan, hence my search for a product that would leave me looking lightly bronzed with minimal effort. I also wanted a fake tanning product that would leave my skin looking and feeling moisturised as I found that many fake tans were very drying on my skin [yes I’m looking at you st.moriz]. From discussing fake tans and my problems with them one day in work I was kindly introduced to Garnier’s Summer Body Gradual Tan by a work colleague and at £2.89 in Savers for 400ml of product I thought to myself ‘why not.’

Basically Garnier Summer-body Moisturising Lotion Sun-Kissed Look is a moisturiser with a hint of self than that can be built up gradually. I use the shade "Deep Sun-kissed Look" which is the darkest. There is also a fairer option which I haven’t tried but may purchase to use for those times where I want to maintain the tan I have achieved without going much darker.

Scent:

In my opinion it smells lovely. It has a strong fruity scent of apricots which actually reminds me of Much Bunch apricot yoghurts-yummy!!! The scent of apricots does linger on the skin whilst developing but once washed off in the shower/bath the scent disappears. I actually apply this at night so it doesn’t really matter to me and I actually like this scent but for those who don’t like the scent of apricots then this product may be a no-go for you. The great thing about this gradual tanner is that there is no hint of the biscuity fake tan smell at all, which is great. Prior to using this tan a work colleague used this tan religiously and I never once smelt the tell tale ‘fake tan’ smell off her. She even commented that her partner loved the smell as it was developing. So this is also great for those with partners who detest the smell of regular fake tanning products.

 

Application and Upkeep:

This tan comes out as a white moisturiser, so unlike regular fake tan with a colour guide it can be hard to see where you have applied product and you don't know which bits you've missed until the colour has developed. However I recommend using a tanning mitt until you get used to using this product, also a bonus to having no colour guide is that your sheets and PJ’s won’t get stained-hooray!!!

Overall I found this easy to use. You use it just as you would with a normal body moisturiser, just be sure to wash your hands afterwards if you’re not using a glove/mitt. I personally like to use disposable gloves to protect my hands and apply it all over like any other moisturiser, in circular motions starting from my feet upwards. I then quickly give a rub down to my body with a mitt which takes off any excess lotion and ensures an even finish [good way of avoiding streaks]. For my back I normally get a housemate to apply the lotion however I have recently purchased Velvotan’s self tan back applicator which allows me to apply the gradual tanner to my back evenly myself.

I always apply some regular moisturiser to my elbows, armpits, knees and feet to ensure that these areas don’t over absorb the product as no one likes extra tanned knees, elbows etc. For my hands and feet I dilute the gradual tanner with regular moisturiser with a 40/60 ratio. So 40% gradual tanner, 60% regular moisturiser. This makes my tan look more natural looking and ‘sun kissed.’

If using this product on your face I would suggest applying regular moisturiser to your hair line, eyebrows, sides of nose and your top lip to ensure that you don’t get product over-load on these areas as no-one wants a fake tan moustache!!! I have used this product on my face but prefer to use my He-shi face and body gel on my face and neck as I find my face is harder to tan than the rest of my body and doesn’t seem to take this gradual tanners as well as other parts of my body [may just be me and my skin type].

I found that this sunk into my skin fairly quickly [way more quickly than Dove or St.Tropez gradual tanners], leaving my skin feeling a little tacky for approx 5 mins. I found that I could get dressed fairly quickly which is great when you don’t want to be hanging around naked for ages especially when it’s cold and your tired.

I’m really bad at remembering to moisturise so this product is great for keeping my skin soft. I have never had the scaly skin effect with this tan and find that it comes off easy when using baby oil and exfoliating gloves in the bath/shower. I use this tan approx twice a week and would only exfoliate my skin once a week. If I can remember I try to moisturise my skin once a day, however sometimes I skip this stage due to laziness and it hasn’t appeared to have affected the look of this tan which is great.  

Results:

The next day there was a definite noticeable colour change, I was a nice light/medium tanned colour which looked very natural [others around me commented saying that it looked natural]. However for those wanting a fair tan you may be better suited to the lighter formula.

For me this tan was dark enough after one application, but for those who preferred the more tanned look you could apply it again the next day. I sometimes like my legs a little darker so would sometimes tan my legs two nights in a row which gives off a lovely natural colour. I personally top this tan up every 3-4 days and more regularly if I have a special occasion coming up. My work colleague used this tan every second night which gave a lovely bronzed look and didn’t look too fake or over applied. So I would say that this tan is buildable. However I feel if you’re using this product every day to achieve your desired tan you may be better suited to using a regular fake tan i.e weekly and topping it up in-between with this to achieve a more natural colour.

Overall:

Overall all rate this product. I love the colour it gives me, the ease of use, that its low maintance, the fact that I can tailor the amount of colour I want, I love that I can see how much product is left in the bottle, I love the smell of the product whilst developing and that I don’t smell of fake tan, I love that there is no trace of this product smell wise on my skin after showering, I love that my skin is left feeling super soft for ages after using the product and finally I love that this product is readily available to me and is supper affordable.

**I have also tried Dove, Palmers, He-Shi and St.Tropez gradual tanners’ prior to trying this product. I disliked the He-Shi and St.Tropez gradual tanners as I wasn’t very impressed with the colour payoff especially when you consider their price. I couldn’t stand the smell of Palmers gradual tanner and actually really liked Doves gradual tanner; it comes a close second to Garnier’s gradual tan, loosing points for its tackiness on the body.**



Where you can buy the product and current offers:

250ml bottle:

Tesco for £1.90 which normally retails at £3.80, [buy here].

Just for fragrances for £2.55 with free shipping, [buy here].

Boots for £5.10 which is their normal retail price, [buy here].

400ml bottle:

Tesco’s for £2.50 which normally retails at £5, [buy here].

Savers for £2.89.

Superdrug for £3.55, which normally retails at £7.10, [buy here].

Semichem for £3.99, [buy here].

Boots for £7.15, [buy here].



Thanks for reading!!!

xKx

Thursday, 28 June 2012

Yummy product of the month: June 2012

JELLYBEAN WATERMELON CANDLE
I love a good candle especially highly fragranced ones to help eliminate the often biscuity smell left behind in my room from fake tanning. I recently discovered that Jellybean do their own brand of candles in all their popular yummy flavours.
I have always loved green jellybeans and just love the smell of watermelon, so it was a no brainer that I just had to pick myself up one their candles in the scent watermelon.


I am in love with this candle and love that within a few minutes of being lit this candle eliminates any nasty odours [you would never have known that fake tan had been applied in my room.]

I purchased this candle from ebay at around £4.50 but this candle along with other scents can be purchased at Jellybeans official website [Buy Here].

xKx

Product Rave: MUA Lipstick


MUA LIPSTICK SHADE 3


Lately I have had a bit of a thing for lipsticks. I feel that a pop of colour on your lips can instantly make you look effortlessly polished.

I am always one for a bargain and I just love MUA’s makeup range, especially their multitude of lipsticks. MUA’s makeup range is so affordable, at £1 for a lipstick you really can’t go wrong!!!

The above lipstick is in the shade number 3 and can be purchased from Super drug [Buy Here] or MUA’s official website [Buy Here].  This lipstick is a beautiful raspberry pink lipstick. I find it very moisturising and easy to apply, and I believe that it will instantly brighten up ANY outfit. I always get lots of complements when wearing this lipstick.

Would I recommend this product? Absolutely!!!             

xKx

What I love this month: June 2012


COSMOPOLITAN BEAUTY BLENDER

Beauty Blender


I have seen this makeup tool many a times when in Superdrug but always passed it by and never gave it a second thought until I started noticing that a lot of YouTube gurus were using it in their makeup tutorials.

I had debated over whether to buy a stippling brush or the beauty blender and after some research I discovered that they both do a similar job only the beauty blender is way cheaper so I decided to save myself some money and invested in Cosmopolitan’s Beauty Blender which I purchased last month for £4.99 in my local Superdrug store [buy here] and have been using it daily every since. I use this product both damp and dry depending on what makeup look I want to achieve. I do plan to purchase a stippling brush in the near future and hope to compare the results of the two.

According to packaging this product allows for amazing flawless application of foundation, using a bouncing or stippling method to blend makeup which leaves an airbrushed looking finish. I found that this small product gave an airbrushed and seamless look to my everyday makeup.  My makeup looks more natural and skin-like as a result. It is also easy to clean and I love that it comes with a little holder for the sponge so it doesn’t touch any surfaces helping to prevent bacteria getting onto your sponge, it’s also useful for helping the sponge dry once washed. I found that the sponge does not take too long to dry which is another added bonus. This is one makeup tool that will be a key staple in my makeup bag.

Click here to see a YouTube video by LoveLaughAnd Makeup on how to use and clean your beauty blender.


Would I recommend this product? Definitely!!!

xKx

Monday, 25 June 2012

A Further fake tan update, He-Shi Face and Body Gel.

In my first blog post linked here [Click] I mentioned that I would review one of my recent purchases; He-Shi Face and Body Gel which I purchased from www.feelunique.com for £14.90. Below are some pictures of this product:



I have been a long time fan of He-Shi Express Liquid Tan [see picture below] and thought that I would give their gel formula a go as it would be more moisturising on my skin. I exfoliated prior to application and applied oil free moisturiser to my hands, elbows, hairline, knees and feet beforehand. I used my tanning mitt to apply the gel. The gel looks very dark when squeezed out of the bottle [don’t let this alarm you] it does however come out quite light on the skin when rubbed in given the darkness of the actual product. The guide colour is handy to show you any spots you have missed but isn’t too dark that it would drastically stain your sheets [or onsie in my case].

The next day I discovered that the gel had clung to all my extra moisturised areas as mentioned above and had clung to any dry patches on my skin making them appear more noticeable, as a result my hands, feet, elbows etc were darker than the rest of me and my legs were also streaky. I have been applying fake tan products for years and have not had streaky legs since my early teens. I was shocked to discover that I had big missing patches on my legs the next day. In hindsight I would say that my legs streaked because it takes this tan a long time to dry given that it is a gel and perhaps I had not waited long enough before hoping into bed. Re the darker patches of skin and hands, feet etc, I do not know what else I could have done to avoid this situation as I’m not sure how a lotion would mix with the gel in order to dilute the tan for these areas, perhaps I should try this next time? Or maybe use a moisturiser with oil in it for these parts?  

One plus to this tan was that it looked lovely on my face, and I have since used it in conjunction with other tans as a face gel, where I will apply a small layer to my face once or twice a week. I think this product used as a face tanner along with He-Shi’s Express Liquid Tan would give a lovely over all tan.

Have you used this tan? What do you think?

xKx

Fake tan update, Vita Liberata’s pHenomenal 2-3 week tan.


I like most other people have a love hate relationship with fake tan, I love having a tan [I feel more confident and feel that I personally look better with one, sadly I do not have a nice Kirsten Stewart/ Anne Hathaway skin tone] but I hate the upkeep of it [let’s face it, it’s a lot of work and I’m kind of on the lazy side when it comes to these things].



For a while I had been keeping a good tanning routine of exfoliating, moisturising and fake tanning. However I found that after 4/5 days my tan needed topping up and I have found this to be the case with whatever tan I used [He-shi, St.Moriz, Vita Liberata]. So in realistic terms I was fake tanning twice a week whilst ensuring I maintained my routine for trying to keep my tan. However due to wearing bras with underwire I found that after a day or two my tan would wear off where my bra had rubbed and my armpits would show the wear of tear of my tan which left me having to choose my outfits wisely which proved especially annoying when we would get random warm days[I wonder if the fact that I was using mousse fake tans would have anything to do with how the tan rubbed off in certain areas? ]. I found that the upkeep was just too much on top of a 9-5 job as well as my university work in the evenings. I found that in my little spare time that I did have I had a choice of weather I wanted to fake tan or do something else with my time.

When I discovered that one of my favourite tans were launching a 2-3 week fake tan I was thrilled to say the least. This tan claims to last up to three weeks. You can see my previous post where this tan was discussed [Here].


Application:

Using a tanning mitt apply as you would a tinted mousse, blending colour as you apply. Avoid the heel of the hand, and wipe knuckles, knees and ankles immediately. Any unwanted application should be removed immediately as the colour will take to the skin in only a few minutes. Do not moisturise prior to application, except for areas of exceptionally dry skin. Do not apply with bare hands as colour will take to the palms of the hands.

To extend the life of your colour apply multiple layers of pHenomenal, i.e.:

1 application = approx 7 days
2 applications = approx 10+ days
3 applications = approx 2 - 3 weeks

Allow at least one hour between showering and reapplying, for optimum results leave 3 hours between each shower for a longer lasting tan.

My thoughts:

I purchased the tan in the shade medium as I had previously tried their mousse In this shade and liked the colour it gave. I applied this tan twice; I applied the first application before bed and rinsed it off after 16 hours and reapplied my second application which I washed off as normal the second morning.

I had an even tan with pretty much the same colour results as their normal medium coloured mousse, I think a third application would have looked too dark and fake on me given my fair skin tone.

This tan has a colour guide which washes off the next day in the shower with minimal staining of PJ’s. I usually wear my onsie for tanning to contain the smell and save my sheets from staining. This tan doesn’t smell of anything when applying it but an hour later there is a normal but slightly subtler fake tan smell. This smell washes away in the shower the next day and doesn’t linger and I would say that the smell isn’t as offensive as the st.moriz smell.


I was disappointed to learn that this tan didn’t last long on me at all, it lasted around four days. Their normal tanning mousse that I had been using had stayed on longer and that was with only one application. I don’t understand why this product didn’t work on me and I was very disappointed that it didn’t but thankful that I had bought this tan whilst on offer for £25 and that I didn’t pay full price for it. One positive about this fake tan is that it came off very easy when I soaked in the bath and used my exfoliating mitts to take it off; I wasn’t left with any dry tanned patches.

Reviews of this product are very scarce. I have only been able to find a few and I now question the sincerity of some of these reviews, perhaps they had been sponsored.

I had however spoken with one blogger/YouTube guru via twitter [Melanie Twiner] about the tan. Melanie had better results than myself and gave an honest review of the tan on her YouTube channel which you may find useful [see below for her review].


I would suggest trying  this tan for yourself if you don’t mind splurging on a fake tan product however I would recommend looking about to see if this tan is on offer beforehand. Let me know if you have tried this tan?
xKx


Products I'm Raving About!!!


This month I've discovered (and rediscovered) some really great beauty products so I thought I'd share my findings with you all. The first product I will be sharing with you all is:

Bourjois Paris Magic Nail Polish Remover.


What it says:  

Nail polish is instantly removed with the touch of a magic wand! For each nail, simply Dip-Twist-Remove in 1 second without any cotton wool.  Your nails will be polish-free in just 1 second*! Plus, its red berry and vanilla fragrance leaves nails delicately scented.  And…it’s good for your nails!’

Inside the bottle:

This little gem is full of good stuff; it is an acetone-free formula which is gentle on nails and cuticles. It is also enriched with nourishing sweet almond oil and is paraben-free. Nails are left feeling soft and nourished afterwards, like a little treatment in a bottle.

An added bonus:

With other nail polish removers I have made the mistake of putting my hand near my mouth before washing them after using nail polish remover thus leaving a nasty taste in my mouth. With this however there is no nasty nail polish remover taste [or smell] left behind after using…and yes I did test it out [well I made my sister,lol]

My views on this product:

I picked this product up on a whim as Superdrug had a 3-2 deal on all their cosmetics, this was my ‘free’ product. For the majority of my nail polishes it takes just one twist to remove the polish from my nails and for the more stubborn nail polishes [e.g. glitter polishes] a couple of twists and it comes right off. This makes removing nail polish less of a chore and eliminates any of the mess and hassle that used to occur with removing my nail polish before [cotton pads, tipping my nail polish remover too far resulting in spillages etc]. After trying this product out my mum and sister have since bought bottles of their own.

This is a product that I will definitely be repurchasing; I love how nourished my nails feel afterwards, it feels like I have given them a treatment. This product does retail a few more pounds than most nail varnish removers. But for me this product is worth the money and the next time I see it on offer I will stock up. This product currently retails at £4.99 in boots [Buy Here], but can also be found in most chemists and in some supermarkets. For those that feel that this product is too pricey instead of repurchasing you could simply top up the bottle with your preferred nail polish and wha la hassle free nail varnish removal!!
To see this product being used, check out gemsiesblog youtube video [linked below].



xKx