First Impressions: bareMinerals bareSkin Pure Brightening Serum Foundation

Hi Everyone,

Today I wanted to do a quick 'first impressions' post for the new (and first!) liquid foundation from bareMinerals. They say that it helps you to achieve 'full coverage with a natural finish', and of course being bareMinerals its full of lovely natural ingredients.

My first thought was that I was impressed with how full the coverage was with this foundation- with a name like 'bareSkin' I was expecting little more than a tinted moisturiser. However, the bareSkin Pure Brightening Serum Foundation (try saying THAT three times fast!) is actually a nice, medium-to-full coverage foundation.

I did find the formula to be quite oily which is probably down to the serum element and I also found it really tough to blend. I was using my Real Techniques Expert Face Brush but found that it left visible brush strokes even after quite a lot of blending. bareMinerals have released a new brush to go with this foundation which maybe does the job better, but as I only have a sample I haven't tried it. 

Overall I have my doubts about how this foundation would fare over several hours due to the oily feel, but I really liked the fresh, almost-dewy finish and I will definitely be trialing it in more detail over the next few days!

Pros:

- Good Coverage

- Natural Ingredients

- Feels Light on the Skin

- Nice Finish

Cons:

- Not Very Blendable

- Oily Consistency

- May Not Be Very Long-Lasting

I hope you found my first impressions helpful! Have you tried this foundation yet?

Rosie x

Revlon Nearly Naked Foundation... First Impressions

Hi Everyone,

I know I'm a bit late to the party with this one but today I purchased Revlon's Nearly Naked Foundation for the first time after reading about it on Lily Pebbles' blog. Normally I am a Medium-to-Full coverage kind of girl, but recently I've found myself favouring a lighter coverage more and more. Honestly, I've never had particularly bad skin but I do worry about redness, and I am a bit of a concealer obsessive.

I bought Revlon's Nearly Naked foundation in the shade 'Shell' which I think should be a good colour for me as we head into Autumn/Winter. It is quite yellowy at first swatch but does have pinker tones in natural sunlight. Personally I prefer a yellow-tone foundation to counteract the redness I mentioned earlier so this shade suits me fine.

The bottle, as many before me have already noted, is a bit annoying. There is no pump which I don't normally mind or expect from a drugstore brand, but with the Nearly Naked foundation it is particularly annoying as the foundation itself is very liquidy and the mouth of the bottle is quite wide, basically making it impossible to pour out a sensible amount!

Once applied though, this foundation seems to come into its own. I like the coverage and the way that it feels on my skin, and think this could be a great everyday foundation for me. As this is a First Impressions post and I only bought this today it's a bit early for me to make a firm decision on it just yet, but I'm looking forward to putting it to the test and seeing how it looks after an 8-hour day at the office!

Have you tried Nearly Naked? I'd love to hear your thoughts!

Rosie x

Hangover Make-up Lifesaver: Vichy Dermablend Foundation

Hi Everyone,

Today I am SO delighted as my blog has now reached 200 followers!! This really has made my day and I want to say thanks to everyone that takes the time to read any of my posts. When I first started blogging I had no idea what it would be like and felt like no-one would ever read my ramblings, but I've really enjoyed the experience so far and am so happy to have reached this little milestone.

Today I wanted to blog about my beauty secret weapon- the Vichy Dermablend Fluid Corrective Foundation. I went to a housewarming party last night and ended up having a little too much to drink; waking up this morning with a monster of a hangover. My skin was dehydrated, puffy and red, and I was all round a pretty unattractive sight. On days like this, especially when I actually have things to do and can't just crawl back under my duvet, I always reach for this gem of a foundation from Vichy.

Dermablend is a foundation designed to give full coverage without creating a 'caked-on' makeup look. It is principally targeted towards those with acne scarring, birthmarks etc which they want to cover, but I just find it AMAZING for hungover days. First I slap on a load of moisturiser, usually something with a bit of lift to it like Soap and Glory's Bright Here, Bright Now, and then apply this foundation using my Real Techniques Stippling brush. The product is quite a thick cream and a little goes a long way. It instantly covers blemishes, evens skintone and eliminates that dull, grey, hungover look- plus I find it holds pretty well throughout the day. Once I've applied this I find I don't really need much else- I just fill in my brows, maybe a slick of mascara and a touch of highlighter and bronzer to make me look a bit more human.

I wouldn't choose the use this foundation for everyday as I would usually prefer a lighter coverage, however it really does cover a multitude of sins after a heavy night! For that reason, I would 100% recommend it as a good product to have in your beauty arsenal. It sells for £16 for 30ml which is not bad for a foundation, and it is on Escentual at the moment at the discounted price of £13.60 if you're interested!

Have you tried the Vichy Dermablend foundation? What's your hangover makeup trick?

Rosie x

Product Review- Revlon Colorstay Whipped Foundation

In natural daylight

Close-Up

With indoor lighting

Hi Everyone,

Today I have been trialing my new Revlon Colorstay Whipped Creme Foundation which I received courtesy of my lovely friend Sarah at Revlon (thank you Sarah if you're reading this!). This foundation is not available in the UK but is a big seller across the pond, and having read some rave reviews online I was dying to try it.

Revlon claim that this foundation offers 'All day flexible wear without flaking, caking or feeling heavy'. The texture is described as 'mousse-like' although I have to say it was quite different from what I was expecting. Having tried Maybelline's Dream Matte Mousse I was expecting something similar in terms of feel, but this is a much thicker, liquid formula that I would liken to thick, whipped cream.

I was given the shade 'Buff' which honestly is a little bit lighter than I would normally choose for myself, although having tried it I was soon won over. Usually I opt for yellow-based or neutral foundations to offset the red in my skin tone, and in the pot this foundation looked very dull, almost grey in colour which did put me off a bit initially. Once I'd warmed it up with a bit of blush and bronzer though I really liked the finished look, and it certainly doesn't feel heavy or caked on despite the thick texture.

Overall I am really impressed with this foundation. It has great staying power and is very light and comfortable on the skin. I can also imagine it would work with most skin types as it is very matte without being drying. The coverage is light to medium and this will probably become a make-up bag staple for me during Winter when I'm a bit paler. Sadly Revlon will not be releasing this lovely foundation in the UK so us Brits will have to either stock up the next time we're Stateside (which for me is not very often!) or else turn to Ebay where you can pick up a pot for about £10. If you are a fan of lighter coverage and want a long-lasting, everyday foundation then I would definitely recommend giving this one a try- let me know if it works for you as well!

Rosie x

P.S. There is still time to enter my giveaway to win a haul of Revlon goodies- just click on the link here!

Avon Ideal Flawless Invisible Coverage Foundation Review

Hi Everyone,

I hope you all are looking forward to the weekend- I know I am!

I was really excited yesterday when my Avon delivery arrived containing the Ideal Flawless Invisible Coverage Foundation. I had read rave reviews about this foundation on loads of different blogs with people comparing it to the likes of Estee Lauder Doublewear in terms of quality, and I couldn't wait to try it. This was the first time that I'd ordered cosmetics from Avon, and I spent sooo long researching this foundation to try and work out what shade I should order. A lot of the reviews that I read stated that the foundation is quite orange in colour and that even the ivory shades are too dark for light skin tones, so I was particularly cautious with my decision and eventually went for the shade 'Nude'.

This foundation feels quite high end and I love the fact that it comes with both a pump and a cap to avoid spillages. The texture is very similar to Doublewear or MAC Studio Fix and is neither creamy nor watery in my opinion. One thing I did notice was that in the bottle it seemed to be almost shimmery which I worried would be too 'dewy' for my oily skin to take, but in reality I was pleased to find the finish was very matte.

I have to say that when it arrived it struck me as being a little lighter than I'd expected, and not the orange-colour that others had suggested. I usually use shade NW20 from MAC and this foundation, when held against my MAC Studio Fix, looks a fair bit lighter. However, the Ideal Flawless foundation does blend beautifully and as shown in the swatches below it actually matched my tone really well once applied.

I applied this foundation using the Real Techniques Expert Face Brush. As you can see, it was a fair bit paler than the rest of my body upon application (I have been using my Cocoa Brown fake tan, review of that here), but this was barely noticeable once I'd done the finished look. I personally do think that this foundation oxidises slightly over the course of the day, but I found that I didn't really mind this as thankfully I bought a lighter shade than I normally would. If you are thinking of buying this foundation for yourself I would definitely suggest doing the same!

Overall I was really pleased with the Ideal Flawless foundation's performance over the course of the day- it was very matte upon application and pretty much stayed put, I only needed to apply powder once in the late afternoon (due to travelling on the sweaty London underground!). I would say that this is every bit as good as others in its price range like the Revlon Colourstay foundation, and I am really pleased to have found a good, reasonably priced, everyday foundation (it retails on the Avon website for £12). The coverage is medium to full but feels quite light on the skin, and I think my face did take on an almost flawless look- YAY! I think this might be the start of my love affair with Avon...

Can you recommend any Avon products that you think I should try?? Feel free to leave me a comment, as always!

Rosie x

PS. I have not forgotten about my promise to run a giveaway to celebrate reaching 50 followers- it is coming soon!

Foundation alone (and eyebrows- I need the eyebrows!)

The same foundation but this time with a full face of slap on!