Kat Von D's Lock It Foundation and Concealer

Well hello there!

I've been meaning to share this review for a little while now but life has been so busy! After my trip to Croatia I've been travelling with work and will be away for the next few weeks, hopefully I will be able to keep up with everything.

I picked up the Kat Von D Lock It Foundation and Concealer at their opening event of the Cardiff stand in Debenhams a few weeks back (post here of the counter and the make up looks!)

Collection Conceal and Light Like a Pro Palette

Hey all!

As everyone else seems to be, I'm totally obsessed with concealing, contouring and highlighting my face. Sometimes you have the time to spend to do the job properly, other times (like Monday mornings....) you don't, and that's where the Collection Conceal and Light Like a Pro Palette comes in.

I picked this up on a random shopping trip when it was on offer, it was £3.99 then and is £5.99 now.

I was attracted to it firstly because of the price but also because of the range of colours that would suit my skin tone. The concealer was really light and the contour not orange, so this was hopeful!



There are 8 shades in the palette in total, all of which are cream concealers. I would say that 2 of these are typical concealers, 2 shades for contour and cream bronzer, 3 for colour correcting and then 1 for under eyes.

Obviously this is taking into account that I am super pale, anyone with a tan or darker skin would be able to use the shades differently to me.



So these are the first four, the top 2 I use as concealers and the bottom 2 I use as the contour/bronzer as appropriate - sometimes if I'm tired I'm totally washed out and the darker shade can look too orange but is a great shade for bronzer and bringing some much needed colour to my cheeks!

Helpfully I have swatched them in rows so the images don't match up - I will have to remember this next time!

Below are the other four shades, top are the reflective pink (undereyes) and yellow contour (good for covering up purple areas - under eyes, veins etc).
Bottom shows the green (good for redness) and blue/lilac (good for yellowing skin tones that may look a bit pasty and dull)





I've been using this the last few weeks with both a Real Techniques Expert Face brush and also a Beauty Blender sponge and have been getting on quite well (for my first cream product palette at least!)

They are swatched below for you to see, it should be pretty obvious which is which but they are arranged 1-4 is the top row, 5-8 is the bottom:





These are swatched quite heavily but blend easily into the skin to correct any issues. Primarily I use the lightest concealer and the pink reflective ones for undereyes and blemishes, the darker concealers I use for contour and bronzing. The others I use as and when depending on how i look in the mirror on that day!

I find they blend well with my make up and do the jobs they were intended for, however they may not last a full day. I've used them for work but by the time I've been to the gym after work there isn't much left, I'd probably get something longer lasting if I was intending to use similar shades for a wedding or full day event but for every day usage they have been great, especially for the price.

I've heard great things about concealer palettes like this and I'm glad I finally picked one up and had a go.

Have you tried concealer palettes like this? What are your favourites? Do you use all shades or just a few?

This is well worth the £5.99 price tag and I'd recommend anyone give this a try!

L xxx

NYX Cosmetics Dark Circle Concealer Corrector

Hello all!

We went to an event at the new NYX Cosmetics stand in Boots in Cardiff and picked up a few new things to try. I'd heard a lot about NYX but hadn't ever tried anything, so when the invite came through I knew I would be spending a small fortune picking up all the things I had heard about.

One of the items I picked up was the Dark Circle Concealer Corrector - I always seem to have some eye bags and having an extra product to help mask these and prime my under eyes for concealer seems to be a good option for me.

The corrector is available in four colours and I chose 'Fair', there is also Light, Medium and Deep.

It contains coconut oil and china clay, these both help to keep the corrector hydrating for the delicate under eye skin and also helps with reflection of light. The orange pigmentation helps to combat the blue tones of the dark circles.

The product comes in a small pot with a screw top lid. Part of me would like this to be in a tube to make it easier to get all of the product out, but I've been using my beauty blender sponge to dip into the pot so I don't get bacteria in it all the time. This means I can use the pointed end to scoop up some product and then apply to my under-eye area with an even layer.

After this I then apply my concealer (currently Collection's Lasting Perfection concealer) and blend this on the top. I find it really covers the under eye bags and the blue tone is significantly less with the corrector.

I find that it needs to be blended very well and sometimes it does crease after 10/15mins of wear, but once it is blended back in again it seems to stay in place for the day.

You can see swatches below, Fair was a very good colour choice for me as it blends in seamlessly almost straight away. I had to lighten the photos so that you could see it! The photos show with and without flash, you can see the peachy tones and the light reflecting particles:

I've been using this a lot over the last few weeks (especially in the run up to my week off!) and it has worked wonders. I'd like to say I'm the kind of person who gets up early and has enough time in the morning to wear a full face, but I don't always manage to apply this as well as everything else.

However I know what product to turn to when I have the time or have an event to go to like a wedding etc and need the extra coverage. For £6.50 I think it is worth every penny and will last me a while.

Here's a picture below with the concealer corrector on:

What do you think of the product on? Have you tried it?

What's your favourite NYX product? I've found so many amazing products so far!

L xxx

Benefit Stay Don't Stray

Hey All

L and I have realised we've got a lot of products we both love to share with you so expect some double posts coming up! Today's post is about Benefit's Stay Don't Stray, a concealer type primer to help eyeshadow stay on your eyelid for longer.

Stay don't stray is Benefit's eyeshadow primer. It comes in two shades light/medium and medium/deep as we are both really pale we went for light/medium. It can be used on the eyelid and under the eyes to help eyeshadows last longer, be more vibrant and not crease. Under the eyes it helps concealer to stay put and is brightening enough it can be worn just under the eyes for day's you don't want to wear make up, it'll neutralise discolouration and even skin tone without looking life you are wearing make up.  It also contains vitamins to help with aging and sodium hyaluronate to hydrate.





As for packaging it comes in a screw top lid with a doe foot applicator which makes applying it too the eyes easy. The packaging does feel a bit bulky so it makes me think it's one of those that is fat to make you think you are getting loads of product, though saying that I have used it a lot and it shows no signs of running out.

The idea is that you add 3 dots on your undereye and blend, and 3 dots on your eyelid and blend. Give it a minute or so to dry completely and then apply your concealer and eyeshadow as normal.





You can see how it easily blends into the skin and barely leaves a covering at all, your skin isn't left with a layer of visible make up like with foundation and concealer. You can see where M has used eyeshadows on her hand with and without the primer:

Here you can really see how it improves eyeshadow intensity. It's still easy to blend eyeshadows out when this on on the lid.

Stray don't stray has a soft, light texture so easily blends onto the eyes without them feeling heavy with product. I find it does intensify colour but not as much as Urban Decay primer potion in Eden, I do think Stay Don't Stray blends out easier though.

I've been leaning towards using this for everyday wear and so far I really love it. It lasts all day, eyeshadows don't crease and it's easy to apply to the eyes. For £20.50 you do get a great product.

Love L and M

xxx

Nars Radiant Creamy Concealer

Happy Saturday lovelies!

Hope you've got some exciting things planned. Currently I will be having a quiet day and then settling in to watch the Wales v New Zealand rugby match at 5.30pm as it's a big one for me family seeing as some of them now live over in NZ! That and it's always a tense game regardless!

M has frequently told me how flipping amazing the Nars Radiant Creamy Concealer is, but my bank balance just wouldn't stretch to it knowing I had a few Collection ones in the make up bag that needed using first. Needless to say when they were on their last dregs I caved and snapped this up without a second thought. Welcome to my make up bag NARS!

I chose the colour Vanilla as M uses the same. Most people seem to think i have much darker skin than I do on account of my near black hair colour but I really am quite pale (my mum gets annoyed when I wear dark lipsticks as it 'makes me look ill' - thanks mum, your genes remember!)

This colour was absolutely perfect for me and i haven't looked back. The rubber packaging looks really good though alas gets ridiculously dirty 5 seconds after opening.

I've been using this mostly under my eyes as it's wonderful at covering those pesky bags that never seem to go away. I think my skin is so pale that it will always be an issue for me!

The concealer is thick and creamy and blends in really easily so I've definitely been won over by the consistency and pigmentation.

The wand is also really easy to use and holds a decent amount of product without caking it on.

I have also used it to cover up spots on the odd occasion but I tend to use other products for that and save this one for the big job of concealing my undereye area. I use the wand to apply it to my face and then blend it in using an expert face brush from Real Techniques.

Here's a few snaps:

These two were without flash and show how the colour blends right in and covers up my bags really well. I've got foundation on as well as this is how I wear my make up every day so just need to set with powder to keep it set for the day.

The photo below shows with flash and you can see where my bags are but they are still pretty well camouflaged in my opinion!

I think I could have added an additional layer if I had wanted too and maybe it would be blanked out completely but for every day use this is perfect for me.

I've had no issues whatsoever and can only rave about the results from using this; it's a 10/10 from me and a 100% recommendation. Totally worthy of the hype and other rave reviews that I've seen!

Have you tried this concealer from Nars? What's your favourite Nars product? Do you have of their Christmas gift sets on your wishlist?

L xxx

FOTD: Neutrals and Coral

Morning lovelies!

I've got a Face of the Day post today as I've had a bit of time to fuss around and take pictures in the morning recently. i always think it's nice to know what people REALLY use on their face despite reviews they've produced.

Here's my FOTD before I had my hair dyed back to its natural colour:

It's quite a simple every day look, there was minimal fuss and I kept with my neutral eye colours and used a few summery coral colours to keep in the with sun that had actually arrived in the sky!

The Benefit Groovy Kind of Love set was bought last Christmas in their seasonal collection. It had a bit of everything that I couldn't resist and contained a few neutral eyeshadows that I needed to test out! Plus it's a great travel kit as it has almost everything you need.

Everything else used is shown below; Beauty blender, Vichy Dermablend in Opal, Lasting Perfection concealer in 1, Bourjois Chocolate bronzer, Inika Mineral Blush in 04 Peachy Keen, MAC Studio Fix powder, UD 24/7 Liner in Smoke, They're Real mascara and Gimme Brow styling gel.

I've been using my beauty blender a lot recently, it's a new addition to my stash and it took some getting used to but now I'm hooked!
It gives such a perfect finish (after a bit of work) and I love how natural and even the coverage is from it. You can see below in the super close picture of my forehead how even and flawless this is.

After using the blender to apply Dermablend and the concealer i dusted on the Studio Fix. It's quite a heavy powder but I've been using it recently to use it up; it's looking a bit tired and I want to get my next Back to Mac lipstick asap!

Next I applied the bronzer and blush to my cheeks to attempt some mild sculpting of my face and then ran Gimme Brow through my unruly brows. I've found mine have got a lot more temperamental recently!

Then I used all 4 of the colours in the Benefit palette building up from the lightest all over the lid, the middle two colours blended into the crease with the gold shimmer in the centre of the lid. Then I used the darkest colour to line underneath the eye and the outer corner of the upper lid.

I love using the 24/7 liner in Smoke on my lower waterline as it is a perfect alternative to black for every day wear; I find it can be too heavy sometimes and I like to change it up. I bought Smoke as part of a set but I can honestly say I use it a lot more than I thought I would and I really love it.

Here I also applied two coats of They're Real mascara, I think it's one of the best out there but i do begrudge paying the £19.50 for it as I'm a mascara germ phobe and throw them out after 6-10 weeks. However you can often get them in deals or minis in magazines which I always pick up!

One thing that i seem to have completely forgotten to take a photo of is Cha Cha tint from Benefit. I used this on my lips for a natural looking stain which lasts a few hours. I never use these as much as I should and need to get into using the minis i have of them as the colours are lovely and can be built up from a wash to a strong coloured stain.

What do you think of my FOTD? 

It's a general every day look for me and I love switching between neutral palettes to mix things up. Which is your favourite palette of the moment? Do you use the stains from Benefit?

L xxx

FOTD

Hey there!

I'm not big on FOTD, mainly as my photos never turn out quite right or generally something goes wrong. But I enjoy reading/seeing other peoples FOTD's so I've persevered to show one of my favourite looks for the upcoming spring and summer months.......if they arrive!

I've started off with my new fave face base....Urban Decay's Naked skin. It's a gorgeous, light foundation which feels weightless on my skin allowing you to still see my actual skin underneath. I'm a big fan of it especially for the warmer months.

The concealer I've applied in this FOTD is the UD 24/7 concealer pencil. I find this creamy and blends really well, though my colour, although its perfect for me, is very light and lightens my undereyes like a charm!

Next up is the brows. My latest venture has been using Gimme Brow from Benefit. After having an awful eyebrow wax from them they kindly sent us out a few products as an apology so I've been testing this out. There will be a full review but for now I'm quite impressed with how easy it is to use and the effects of it.

I think it looks really natural and i like having my brows brushed through.

One of my favourite eyeshadow palettes is the Theodora one from UD. I'm a bit of a UD fan really aren't I?? What a saddo haha.
I wear this palette most days and am a bit gutted that it was limited edition, I'd be distraught if it ran out which it inevitably will. I will be searching high and low for alternatives in the future!

After this I used the infamous UD 24/7 pencil in Perversion which is just unbelievable. I've tried many black liners before but this pencil is out of this world!
I've also applied Benefit's They're Real mascara to complete my eye look, lashes always look better with a few coats!

On my cheeks I've used a MAC beauty powder from the Emanuel Ungaro collection a few years ago and I've also applied MAC's MSF in Soft and Gentle to my cheek bones.

The lipstick I've used is MAC's Viva Glam Nicki Minaj which I absolutely LOVE. It can be drying but as long as you've moisturised your lips enough beforehand you will be fine. It's such a gorgeous colour it's hard to resist it!


What do you think of my FOTD? Do you prefer the eyes or the lips?

I think I need to wear pinks more often, I've been obsessed with coral for ages but I should get back into pinks too, don't you think?

L xxx