Review: Illamasqua Skin Base.

I’ve seen mixed reviews about this product, some love it, some hate it... I don’t think I’ve seen many, if any that are on the fence with it, which I kind of feel I kind of am as things stand; let me tell you why.

I love the coverage, it evens out my skin and gives great coverage (when I say great, I really do mean it) without feeling, or looking heavy... which is perfect for the days where I am a bit self conscious about the state of my skin or have a spot.

I also love how it applies with my fingers, not so much with a foundation brush if I am honest though – using my fingers was perfectly acceptable anyway, and is actually probably for the best as not everybody will have a foundation brush to hand, yet they will probably have fingers. I should add that I didn’t apply it heavily as I think that would have been too much and could have potentially gone cakey, or just generally crap on my skin. I found the coverage even from the light layer I applied to be completely fine for my skin that night.

What stopped me giving this a rave review was the fact that it just didn’t last as I hoped it would. I saw people saying they had worn it all day, on tubes in hot weather and it hadn’t budged so I was hoping for a product that lasted very well, like my Double Wear foundation does.

What I got was something that disappeared about half way into my ‘night’ out... I say ‘night’ because it was actually just a few drinks with my dad and his wife, nothing too stressful or full on, not in a hot club, no dancing... nothing that would make my make-up disappear, anyway. I actually ended up with a shiny forehead and nose too, which is again something I never really have a problem with.

In fact the foundation appeared to have disappeared completely on my nose by the time I was home... see the photo below, excuse the awful photo and the face I was 'pulling'; also, my eyebrows, they were due for a threading... and I didn’t take time to neaten and fill them in as my fringe mostly disguised them and I didn’t have time as it was decided at short notice to go out. Please also excuse the fact that my face looks huge, odd camera angle and unfortunate perspective from the computer screen lol.

Shade SB06, with added bronzer on top after my drinks - note the shiny patches.

I didn’t use primer with the Skin Base on this occasion. Partly because I believe it to have been marketed as some kind of BB Cream which apparently don't need primer, but also I wouldn’t usually for something like this as I don’t really need it, not unless I’m going somewhere for either a longer period of time, somewhere with more testing conditions (heat etc) or where I’ll be more active (dancing).

I also didn’t put any powder over the top, just a little bronzer – the reason for this being that my skin is slightly dry, and powder with this foundation would have highlighted all my dry spots and made my base look cakey. I only narrowly escaped the dry bits around the nose that Charlotte from Lipglossing experienced – it looked like it could go either way, but luckily it didn’t fail me greatly on that score.

I think I’ll have to give this a go with a primer, maybe that way it will last the way I hoped it would, I don’t want to rule it out completely as I really was impressed with the finish I got from it early on in the night.

To conclude, I’d still probably buy this to be honest but I’d just have to find a way to make it last, trying out various primers and powders to see which one works best for my skin. I think this foundation is one that you do need to try out before buying as I really think that it depends on your skin as to how well this will work... hence the mixed reviews you may have seen online.

Photo below courtesy of the gorgeous Lipglossing!

PR Sample Tube ( shown above. I believe these are available at some stands for you to take away and try also) - views are my own!

Aveda Scalp Benefits Shampoo & Conditioner!

I have psoriasis, I’ve had it since I was a child and it’s bothered me non-stop since then and I’ve tried all kinds of shampoos and treatments to try and ease, or preferably get rid of it. I’ve tried everything from those prescribed by the doctor, to shampoos like T-Gel and even head and shoulders (I thought it might work well for the scalp even though it’s for a different condition) and nothing has ever done it any good. I settled on using whatever shampoo I fancied that would benefit my hair at that time, since nothing was helping my scalp.

I noticed this on the Aveda website and was sent some to try out – I thought it couldn’t hurt and I do have a degree of trust in the brand from many years ago when I used to pinch my sisters Aveda shampoo when I was a teenager (I hope she’s not reading this now)! The website blurb says:

"Healthy hair begins with a healthy scalp. That's why our Scalp Benefits™ Shampoo is formulated to:
• cleans down to the root
• removes excess sebum and buildup
• creates the ideal foundation for healthy hair"

My first thought is one on the smell, and that that it is a million times better than anything the doctor has prescribed me and certainly better than T-Gel too. It’s quite herbal and whilst this isn’t the usual kind of scent I would go for, it’s actually quite nice – certainly not offensive.

The shampoo lathers well, and you don’t need to use gallons of the stuff in order to do so – so whilst it costs more than your average supermarket brand, you may find you go through less bottles for the same amount of uses.

I've used this in the same way that I use any other shampoo, always massaging into the scalp and giving it a good massage and I have to say, I noticed a difference after the first use; I can honestly say that my scalp feels much smoother with every use. It’s not completely cleared up, but I am impressed that with such relative ease and speed that it does feel much better.

My hair feels nice and clean when I’ve used it; it’s even dealt with my hair perfectly when I’ve been a lazy bum/running late and have used dry shampoo instead of washing it so that it’s had 2 or 3 days worth of product and dirt in it. This is without having to do any extra ‘washes’ or use any extra product – very impressive.

My hair also feels in great condition whilst I've been using this, so it isn’t suffering from the shampoo being aimed at helping the scalp – something that always bothered me about being prescribed shampoos from the doctor (that neither helped my hair, or my scalp and that stunk to high heaven – errgh) as my hair was always at its worst when using that stuff.

I always use some form of styling product when doing my hair after I’ve washed it, even if it’s just heat protection spray so I can’t say if it’s helped with being able to style my hair any better, but it has certainly not made it any worse to do so.

All in all, I would completely recommend this shampoo to anybody who has any kind of scalp problem or irritation, and even to those who just want to maintain a healthy scalp since this product also seems to work brilliantly for the hair, and not just the scalp.

I used this shampoo with the Scalp Benefits conditioner by Aveda, which is a lovely product in itself. It’s not too heavy and not too light (at least not for my hair), I was even able to massage that into my scalp without it making my hair limp or greasy; and once dry I found that it left my hair feeling lovely and soft, without any flyaway - bliss!

The website says about the conditioner:

"This daily formula nourishes and balances all hair and scalp types to:
• hydrate the hair
• soothe the scalp
• create the ideal foundation for healthy hair"

Urban Decay Liquid Eyeliner (Honey) - Swatched!

I’ve had this eyeliner for a while now and I think it’s really lovely. The colour I have is ‘Honey’ which is a fantastic metallic gold colour – perfect for party season, actually. I thought I'd show you some pictures of it on my skin (sorry about the bad camera/lighting - hopefully this is only temporary as I'm waiting on delivery of a day lamp, and my normal camera starting to work soon) so you can see for yourself.

I love the brush/handle on this as it's a bit shorter than most I encounter, which enables me to have greater control over where the product applies. You get 7.5ml of product for your money (usually between £12 and £13 but can be found even cheaper if  you look, at least for certain colours anyway) and it does seem to last very well – helped I expect by the highly pigmented colour, meaning you need to use less.

This is another multifunctional product as it can also be used as a metallic shadow just by painting over more of the lid- if you were going for more of a striking look.

On the skin the liner retains its metallic shine and gives a great colour payoff due to the great pigmentation of the product. There are 13 colours available in the range, according to the Urban Decay website and they all look equally as fabulous.

Having worn this several times I have to say that the product lasts very well, withstanding being rubbed (I always seem to forget that I am wearing eye makeup, which is strange as that’s the makeup I tend to like wearing, messing about with and experimenting with most) and lasting perfectly on a night out!

Recommended. :-)

Leighton Denny High Performance Nail Colour!?

I recently bought some Leighton Denny nail polishes for my mum as I knew how much she liked the look of them when she had watched his show on QVC. Naturally she was chuffed to bits with them, but unfortunately this was short lived.

The colour she wore first (and quite possibly last) was 'Up In The Air' a colour described on his website as:

"Air inspired, this neutral shade is a misty silver grey with the merest hint of pink. Pale, delicate and mysterious this is a cool colour tone that is fashionably 'cool' too."

The claims:

‘An advanced, premium formula. Easy to apply, long lasting and chip resistant’

The reality:

Having applied the polish on Wednesday evening, using her usual base and top coat my mum was disappointed to notice chips to the polish by the Thursday evening.

My mum wears a lot of nail polish and had applied the polish as she usually would; which incidentally is how the packaging says to apply it, so she was not expecting any problems with the polish, especially after only a maximum of one day of wearing it.

She told me also that she’s had cheap polishes that have lasted a lot better than this (W7 brand that only costs her £1.49ish per bottle, if you’re wondering), and after seeing her nails I can totally see why she was so disappointed.

At £11 for 12mls of polish, this isn't by any means a cheap nail polish so I'm only glad that it was my money that was wasted (as my mum's a pensioner), I'm just disappointed that it didn't live up the claims for her.

Below are some photos of her nails that I took on my phone whilst having a coffee with her on the Friday (so please excuse the quality) as I wanted to show you just how bad the polish looked. As a positive point about the polish, she did say it was easy to apply – although took longer than other polishes to dry!