Chanel Perfection Lumière Foundation

I already have a few Chanel products in my make up collection so I was really excited about trying out the Chanel Perfection Lumière foundation. I have a very oily t-zone and then dry patches on my chin and the rest of my face is pretty dehydrated. So seriously combination skin! Because of this I'm always cautious of purchasing a new foundation without testing it. I was colour matched in store and took a little sashet home to test. 

Whenever I'm about to try a new foundation I always ask to be given the foundation with the most amount of coverage. Even at 25 I still get break outs and have some scaring from past years where I've picked at my skin so I try to stick to a foundation that will attempt to hind my red patches (not because there is anything wrong with spots, but because I feel that when I can see them, other people are starring at them!)

First thoughts :

I could tell straight away that the coverage wasn't going to be enough for me which was fustrating given that I had asked for a full coverage foundation. None the less, I continued with my application in the hope that I could built up to the coverage that I required. I really didn't like the way the foundation was settling on my skin and within just a few hours I started to look patchy, my worst nightmare!! 

I applied the foundation with both a brush and a beauty blended and the application on the day when I used the beauty blended was defiantly better, but not enough that I would want to use this foundation again. 

The colour had heavy pink undertones and I felt like my make up was much more obvious on my skin, which is not good especially if the foundation is going to go patchy. 

I felt like the foundation broke down quicker on the day that I applied it using my brush and stayed intact a little longer on the day that I used the beauty blender. All in all, I was so disappointed with this foundation. I have a few other beauty and make I products from Chanel and have been really impressed with them, but this foundation is defiantly not a keeper. 

DLJ

Xoxo

Urban Decay Electric Palette

This palette had been on my wish list for a good year or so before I finally took the plunge. I had been eyeing up these beautiful bold colours but always deciding not to order as I was worried I would end up never using the colours. Then, around a month ago, JustJodes advertised the palette as brand new on her depop with a lovely little discount vs the high street value. I um'ed and ah'ed as to if I should buy it or not, then with my phone in one hand and a glass of white wine in another, I decided to just go for it! And ohhhh myyyy am I glad I did!

I LOVE this palette so much, it may even be my favourite palette?! Can you believe I almost missed out on what may now be my favourite palette of a little fear of not using the colours?? Insanity. 

First things first, can we please take a moment to appreciate the packaging?! Isn't it so beautiful? And the thing I really like is that you don't loose the beautiful design once you take the palette out of the box. I really dislike it when companies design really beautiful packaging for the outside of the product then when you go inside the product it's is plain and boring. The theme packaging runs throughout with this product and this really pleases my OCD. 

Once your past the beautiful packaging you will find 10 insanely pigmented and creamy colours. Across the 10 shades are three different textures : matte, satin & shimmer , all of which are actually blendable. 

And the swatches live up to your expectations! 

                

                 (Two different lights) 

And how do they look on you ask? Oh my, they are even better! Hands down my favourite palette EVER! And surprisingly transferable to every day looks 

DLJ 

Xoxo

Makeup Revolution Ultra Base Corrector Palette : Colour Corrector

Last year was the year of the contour and this year appears to be the year of colour correction. So far, there aren't masses of colour correction palettes on the market, but as this trend gets bigger, I am sure that you will see palettes popping up left, right and centre.

One palette on the market in the UK is the Makeup Revolution Ultra Base Corrector Palette. (FYI Make Up Revolution ship internationally to all my non-UK readers). I really like the packaging of this palette too. It seems to be really well made sturdy, I actually have palettes that I've paid more for that don't feel this strong.

Home to 8 creamy colours, this palette seems to be a great first step into the colour correction market. But now you own the palette, what do you do with all of the colours? Although some of the colours are subtle and not too far from what you may already be using, there are a few colours which, like me, you may not have thought about using on your skin!

Pink : Brightens
Lavender : Neutralises yellow tones
Green : Neutralises redness
Orange : Neutralises blue tones
Peach : Helps to balance out slight discoloration
White : Adds natural highlight and brightens
Cream : Neutralises purple and covers dark areas
Brown : Balances ashiness in medium to dark skin tones

To get started,
1) Prep your skin as per usual e.g. cleanse, tone, moisturise and add your primer
2) Use your colour correction palette to reduce any marks or colours you don't to see
3) Apply your foundation and concealer over the top (I would recommend using a beauty blender to do this so you don't move any of the colours below)
4) Continue with your normal make up routine!

But does it really work? For a bargain price of £6 this palette is well worth a try. I mean for £6 you can't really go wrong can you? The colours area very creamy and do blend out really nicely. When you first blend everything out, your skin can look pretty 'white' so you couldn't use this without adding your foundation after. Also, I'm not sure this would work for people with dark skin tones. If you are fair or medium, then this palette will work for you. Sorry to my dark skinned beauties, fingers crossed Makeup Revolution will be bringing something to market just for you soon!

Overall, I've been so impressed with this palette. The colours have made a difference to the way my make up looks and has been great at hiding my patchy bits. I would be really keen to try out other brands, specifically the NYX palette so that I can have a palette to compare this one to. If your on a budget or not, this palette is a great start to the world of colour correction!

DLJ
Xoxo

Benefit Gimme Brows!

Brows can really make or break a look, so making sure they are on point is really important. My normal 'go to' product for brows is Anastasia Beverly Hills Dipbrow Pomade. As much as love this product, it is a long process and can take between 10-15 mins to do my brows alone. 

On those odd occasions where I don't want to spend so much time on my brows (normally a Sunday or a day when I'm doing audits at work) I still like to do my brows in a little to give them shape and also to fill in any patchy bits. 

Benefit Gimme Brow is the perfect solution for lazy days! It's quick and easy, making it perfect for lazy days! 

Gimme Brow also won Allure The Best Of Beauty Award in 2013. I can't believe it took me so long to find this product!? Has it really been out that long!

Below you can see a before and after using Gimme Brow. You can see the shape is more defined and my brow looks fuller. 

Brush 

The brush is tiny so is perfect for any brow size. When I first opened the product, I though it was going to be too small vs my normal brow brush, but in fact it was just the right size. Because you are building up the product over a few applications, the smaller brush makes it easier to fill in patchy bits. 

Colours 

This product comes in two different colours, Light/Medium and Medium/Deep. I went for Medium/Deep given that I have pretty dark hair. 

               (Source : benefit.co.uk)

Price : £18.50 per tube. Given how easy it makes my mornings, so worth every penny. 

Final words

If your looking for a quick and easy solution to doing your brows then this is the product for you. If your a woman (or man) who wants to look and feel great but are busy busy busy, then Gimme Brow will fit into your morning routine (and yor handbag) with ease. 

DLJ

Xoxo 

Eyeko Fat Liquid Liner : Black

The Eyeko Fat Liquid Eyeliner in Black was a full size feature in this months BirchBoxUK. Being a lover of gel liner I was intrigued to see if this eyeliner would convert me back to liquids over gels.

This liner claims to offer 'big and bold dramatic eyes' in an 'easy to hold chubby pen'. So lets get down to it…

The application of this product takes a little getting used to. If, like me, you have been using gel liners with a thin application brush, the 'chubby' style of this liner takes a few attempts to get right. Although, once you have tried 2 or 3 times, I managed to pick up the application style. As you can see below, the tip of the liner looks like a felt tip pen so this is why it takes some practise.

I do admit, that I still find it a little difficult to get a perfect cat eye unless its rather thick. But that is all down to person preference. As you can see, you can create quite a few different effects with the tip of the liner.

            

Once I managed to get my liner on and looking pretty much how I wanted to it, it was time to test the durability. Here is where I find this product falls down a little bit. My normal working day is around 8/9 hours and much of this I am coming in and out of buildings, which means I am faced with lots of different temperatures and seasons!

I found that this liner didn't hold up quite as well as my normal gel during the working day. However, when I wore it at the weekend, when I was doing less, I did get a longer lasting effect.

Saying that though, the colour is very pigmented. My issue was with smudging rather than the colour fading.

Price

On their website, it RRP is £12 (however I think you can find it a little cheaper on Amazon at the moment, link at the top of the page).

Do I think this is worth £12? I like the fact that you can easily create thicker lines without having to really build up the product. The colour is also good and does last well. My only down fall was that I found it smudged more than my normal gel liner. I think if you don't have time to faf around with gel liner and the brush or you want to have something to throw in your bag for a night out, this product is really good.

They chubby style means its easy to hold and not too fiddly. This means that you can get a very smooth finish to your liner.

So all in all, would I buy this product again? Yes I think I would! The pros far out way the one issue I had. I would be interested to see if they also do this product in any other colours...

DLJ
Xoxo

Travelling long haul? Here's my hand luggage essentials.

Travelling long haul? Here is my bag of essentials that I travel with when going anywhere over a few hours. 

      

First of all, the make up bag. As I'm sure you all know, you need to have your liquids in a see through bag to get through security. This Harvey Nichols make up bag is perfect for this. Not only does it looks super cute, it is still pretty see through when filled with your make up goodies. 

Face 

For me, when I'm travelling long haul, the two most important things are face wash and moisturiser. Still on a plane for a long period of time without 'fresh' air is not great for your skin. And when I go long haul I normally like to catch a few hours sleep. I wouldn't sleep at home with my make up on, so I wouldn't sleep anywhere else with it on, especially a plane. I use the Shu Uemura Cleansing Oil for make up removal at home, so I packed a mini sample size to make sure I could have nice clean skin before applying my moisturiser. Which leads me onto my next must have. Creme De La Mer. Hydration is so important when flying. The recycled air on the plane can really dry your skin out, do I used my Soft Cream to keep my skin looking healthy. You can pick up these minis when you are getting your normal size products. I always like to keep them for then I am travelling. 

Around an hour before landing, I like to top up on a bit of make up so that I look reasonably human when I land. My Boots Foundation is the perfect size for my travel bag, so in it goes along with my Sigma Kabuki brush. I also added my ABH dipbrow pomade and Morphe brush to fill in my brows before I land as they just don't look right otherwise. I don't do them as well as normal, just filling in the patchy bits ;) 

I also added some Benefit Benetint and a lip colour from .... to add a little bit of colour. 

I've also got a spare brush from RealTechniques and a little sample of They're Real Remover just encase! You never know.

Hair 

Although my hair will be a little greasy, I put it up out of the way as soon as I get on the plane to try and eliminate as much grease as possible from my face transferring to my hair. But I've added my little BirchBix hair brush which was new in this months box. Perfect timing for my holiday! It also matches my make up bag hehe. 

So that's my long haul essentials make up bag. I will admit I forgot to put some mascara in, but found it wasn't really an issue. 

DLJ 

Xoxo

P.S. I was travelling from the UK to Hong Kong if anyone wants to know! Around a 12 hour flight 

Laura Mercier Smooth Finish Flawless Fluide Product Review

Over the past week I have been trying the Laura Mercier Smooth Finish Flawless Fluide foundation in Vanille.

I wanted to try out this foundation as I already use their primer (below) and have been really impressed with how much current foundation sits and stays in place.

I wanted a foundation that appeared matte as I have quite oily sections of my skin so hate anything that makes your skin look 'dewy' as it makes me feel like I have greasy skin. The lady at John Lewis recommended the Smooth Finish Flawless Fluide. To my surprise, I actually wasn't the lightest shade they had in their range! Normally when I buy a new foundation, I just go straight to the lightest shade and go with that. Not being the lightest shade for once was actually quite nice. 

                     (Sample bottle) 

This foundation is so light weight that it needs to be shaken very well before application or the formula with separate (which isn't pretty!). The colour match to my skin is perfect. I find that sometimes being so pale can make it quite difficult to find  good colour match as products that have too much of a yellow or pink undertone look REALLY yellow or pink on me. 

On application,  I found that when it dried it had a powder finish, which I really liked. It was also really easy to blend and can offer good coverage with build up. Even though I had to build up coverage, on days where I didn't apply so much, my foundation still lasted just as long. 

Before:

After:

I'm really in two minds about the formula. I liked the fact that it was light weight, so it does look 'caked' on when you apply and also that you can build up the layers. This is especially nice now that summer is well and truly here (for the time being) as it means for hotter days I can apply a thinner layer. It also means that when I am having a bad skin day I can build up the coverage. 

However, because the formula was so thin, I found that I needed to apply quite a lot when I as building up. The lady in the shop recommended using a pea sized amount as 'it spreads really far' but I needed more like 2 or 3 pea sized amounts. But when I come to think of it, did I really use that much more than I use of my current foundation? I don't think so. It was just significantly more than was recommended in store, which leads me to think that maybe I need a slightly thicker foundation which offers more foundation from their range?

Back onto the pros…I found that the foundation smoothed into my skin really nicely and I didn't get any spots where the make up clumped or stuck to and it didn't settle into my fine lines. With the foundation I use at the moment, I do find that by the end of the day, the foundation has set into my frown line, but I found that this foundation was far less obvious. 

I did think that fact that I was using it with their own brand primer will have also made a difference, so for blogging science, I also used this with the Benefit poreFESSIONAL primer and the results were pretty much the same. 

As I mentioned above, I think the only downfall to this foundation is the amount I had to use to build up to the coverage that I wanted. 

Price wise, this foundation is £35 for a 30ml bottle. I think that's pretty reasonable given the fact that it really does last well during the day. I don't work in an office, I am out and about visiting clients so I am constantly changing environments from hot to cold, sun to rain, and this foundation lasted well. 

All in all? I love the colour match and the holding power, but I am worried about how much I have to use and if I will go through this bottle too quickly.

I think for me, I need to head back to John Lewis and see if they have something a little thicker.

DLJ

Xoxo

GOSH Cosmetics Velvet Touch lipstick

Another new GOSH product added to my collection comes on the form of their Velvet Touch Lipstick in Exotic ( number 82). After being pretty blown away with their cheap and cheerful lip liners, I thought it was only right to try one of their lipsticks too (especially as been as they were £2 off at Superdrug)  

I really love it when I see people wearing bold lip colours and rarely wear them myself. Not because I don't have the confidence to, but because they are high maintance. 

                         

      

But I loved this colour so much I just couldn't resist. I actually loved it so much I bought the lip liner to match (below). The lip liner I picked up is also from the GOSH Velvet Touch range and is in Flirty Orange. They are a match made in heaven! 

                                      

The lipstick is so smooth and glides on really easily and doesnt dry out or crack like some cheap lipsticks do. The colour also applies nice and evenly to give you a full, beautiful lip. I also found that they were not sticky. I absolutely hate sticky lipsticks and glosses, they drive me nuts as my hair gets stuck in them all the time etc. 

     

          

The colour lasted so well with these products. I was really impressed. Even with a few coffe breaks I found I needed minimal touch ups. 

One of the other things I liked about these products is their packaging. It's really simple but looks classic and understated. 

These really are a great little purchase. They are mega cheap and last as long as some of my more expensive lipsticks. 

Stock up while you can! These babies are here to stay in my make up collection!!

DLJ

Xoxo

The Power Of Make-up

Before I dive into this post, I want to first point out that I am one of those people that NEVER leaves the house without at least my foundation on. This blog isn't about suggesting that people are 'fake', I just wanted to pull together some interesting looks / beauty tips and see what YOUR thoughts are. 

Let's face it, make-up is something that has been around for a good old while. When I think of make-up and history, one name automatically springs to mind. The beautiful Cleopatra 

(http://www.giantbomb.com/cleopatra/3005-5296/)

I mean at least I think beautiful. I mean she's never been depicted as an unattractive woman, but how can we know for sure? There were no selfies back then! And in ever painting or drawing, she is stunningly beautiful with her striking eye liner and brows.

But how do we know when someone is actually beautiful vs they are talented when it comes to make up application?

Let's take Jynx Maze for example. Here she is without her make up

http://www.buzzfeed.com/awesomer/makeup-before-and-afters#.hkxWeg4BGe

And her she is all made up...WOW

Yeh, she's looking pretty hot in that second photo! Although I of course think the second photo is much prettier, let's go back to that first photo shall we? And for good measure, lets make it a little bit bigger..

If you saw Jynx walking down the street, would you take a second look? The chances are you wouldn't. However, I have to admit, I wish I looked that good without my make up on. Although with make up, Jynx is super sexy and glam, she's not exactly a bad looker without it, is she?

So, do you have to have natural beauty first and then ENHANCE that beauty with make up? I think in most cases this is the case. Although most people don't have perfect skin tone, spot free skin or perfect brows naturally, to be a bomb shell with the cake on, you have to have an element of beauty first, 

And that is also the case when it comes to beauty bloggers and Instgrammers. You can filter all you like, but if you don't have natural beauty on your side, you're not going to make up yourself into say.......Huda Kattan. Natural beauty is definitely and underlying factor here

(http://onstage.ae/onstage-international-books-huda-kattan-for-exclusive-lenovo-product-launch/)

So where does that leave the rest of us normal looking people? 

Let's not be unrealistic, make-up is always going to make us look smoother, more defined and evened out. So let's focus on this natural bits we like and expand on those rather than looking at all these slightly better looking MODELS who are, lets face it, expanding on their VERY good bits!

DLJ

Xoxo