Illamasqua Skin Base

Hey all

Today I'm feeling sorry for myself. I'm so hungover after an impromptu pint last night turned into a bit of drinking. Work today wasn't fun!

For me flawless skin is something I always want and being oily skinned, pale and freckly and having quite spotty skin lately it's not been easy to achieve. A fair few months back I picked up skin base on a whim. I'd heard good things and wanted to try a new foundation.

At first I didn't get on with it. I'm used to applying foundation with my expert face brush or buffing brush but couldn't get on with it. It was just looking streaky and not blending in. I asked on Twitter for advice and was recommended to try a beauty blender. That change it all for me. It gave such a flawless finish!

I picked up the shade 3.5. I did originally buy 4 and have been using it but I find it is a bit to yellow toned on my skin. 3.5 works better on my skin tone. I like that they just shrink wrap them now so you know it's not been used. It did come in a box and while I do like box make up I do think it's just a waste.

I like that the applicator is a squeezy tube so that you can control how much comes out, the tube is quite stiff so it's not easy to over squeeze and waste it.

Here my skin is quite red tones and spotty.

With just foundation all the redness has gone and the spots are well covered. I love the natural finish of skin base. It really does look like skin and flawless. I apply it with a beauty blender type sponge or a traditional foundation brush. It surprises me I like a traditional foundation brush but it really works with this. 

With full make up. I love the way it feels on the skin. It's not cakey, looks and feels natural and comfortable to wear. It's also buildable for nights out and photographs really well. Whenever I want flawless skin now I straight away reach for it and have already repurchased it which says a lot for me.

It's not the cheapest coming in at £27 for 30ml but it does last reasonably well. It's a firm favourite of mine now. I love the natural finish on it and the way it makes my skin look.

What's your go to foundation?

Love M

xxx

Laura Mercier Silk Creme Foundation

A few months back we both made a trip to Bristol to have our make up done in Harvey Nichols at the Laura Mercier counter. We do have a counter in Cardiff, but at the time of booking an international make up artist was to be visiting Bristol when we booked and it was a great opportunity to learn some new tricks.

Unfortunately the week or so before our appointment the international MUA decided to leave to go to New York a few days earlier than planned and so we couldn't have our make up done. But having booked our trains etc to go we decided to have a wander around Bristol on the way to staying at M's parent's home for the weekend.

Having put a £10 deposit down I was already quite sure what I wanted to spend my money on and stuck with my decision, for once! And also, quite proud, I didn't buy anything extra either!



The MUA from the store itself was lovely and chatty and as we'd both booked for the same time we had different girls and sat opposite each other with a glass of champagne (at 11am too! why not eh)

My MUA went through the options with me and talked about my skin and what look I wanted etc as you would expect. I chose my colours and then she got stuck into it.

I was massively surprised at how well the colours of Silk Creme foundation matched that of my own skin. I had fake tanned for that night out and the colour down from this (think it was Rose something?) blended into my skin leaving absolutely no trace whatsoever but gave a flawless base.
I took a gamble and went for the colour up from that for my purchase knowing that tanning is a fortnightly occurrence in my life and not regular enough to buy that shade.



Luckily for me it was perfect! Medium Ivory blends into my skin colour so perfectly it is quite unbelievable, I still am shocked to find such a good natural colour that doesn't white me out or make me look orange, it doesn't leave my skin looking patchy or even like it's got make up on at all.

With regards to the packaging I think it's really simple, Laura Mercier is a n understated brand and the packaging of everything is quite minimalistic and natural.



The foundation itself is definitely thicker than most I've used before, it lives up to it's 'creme' name but means that you need a minimal amount to cover your face.

You can see it on my hands below. The first shows a small blob of foundation which you can see is really thick and not likely to run on my hand. The second is as I initially started to blend the foundation and it sort of starts to 'melt' for want of a better word.

The last picture you can see is after it's all been blended in. My hand looks flawless and glowing and you can't really see the make up on the skin as you can with others.

But enough of my hand, here it is on the face!

First off here's a close up, my skin looks pretty blemish free, no scars yet the foundation has blended in without leaving much of a residue or coating as others do.





There are no visible lines of colour change around my hair line in the photo above and it hasn't settled into any of my 'laughter lines' around my eyes. (I'm 25 so can't possibly have wrinkles yet....)



Overall I am a big fan of this foundation. It blends quite easily after working it for a while, as I mentioned before it seems to warm up on the face and 'melt' which gets it to that flawless finish.
Retailing at £33 this foundation isn't cheap. I do begrudge paying that amount on a foundation knowing that I still need to apply a load of other products to my face which cost as well.

I'm hoping that cost per wear will bring this higher up in my list of foundations, to be honest its pretty high up there the more I use it as I know it will give me a great base that lasts and also photographs beautifully.
But if it was a little cheaper I'd be more inclined to purchase it again. Maybe in the future when i don't have 15 foundations it will seem a better investment!

What do you think of Silk Creme foundation? What other Laura Mercier products have you tried? Would you spend £33 on a foundation?


I was actually really disappointed with the make over that I was given. Being quite pale with dark hair I was surprised when I looked in the mirror at the end and found ginger coloured eye shadows, no eyebrow products at all and really awful eye shadow blending looking back at me.
I have no doubt that the base was perfect, and the lipstick she used on me was outstanding and it's firmly on my wishlist due to the colour and consistency. But the general look was awful and I ended up wiping off the eyeshadow as soon as I could get to a bathroom and as the make over was supposed to be for a night out later that day it was really disappointing to have to remove it all and start again.

Have you had a makeover by them before? What did you think?

I'd go back again as some of their products were great but I'd probably make sure I didn't get the same make up artist again.

L xxx

Review: Benefit Hello Flawless Powder

We recently posted about our visit to Swansea for the Benefit #bbloggers event for the launch of Fake Up which you can see here.

At the same time we also received a Hello Flawless powder to try, both of which were 'Gee I'm Swell' Ivory.

We were really intrigued as we both love compact's you can just throw into a bag to use anywhere and because of the wide variety of colours available, including different tones which I hadn't noticed that Benefit did before.

Benefit are currently celebrating the first birthday of Hello Flawless which has been a top seller for them since day one. 

Firstly even from the packaging we loved it, as it contained SPF and also it's a custom powder so it means you can build it up and use as little or as less as you like.....perfect!

Also looking on the back of the box you can see that in this compact, not only is there your expected product and mirror, there is also a compartment underneath for both a brush and a sponge.
That's right, both a sponge and a brush!

This is where the custom coverage comes in as the brush can lightly cover any areas you want, and the sponge can apply a heavier layer to cover up any areas that might need a heavier touch.

We both loved the instruction and tips leaflet that came with it, as they do with every Benefit product and it's always a fun and light hearted read.

I love the feeling of this product on the skin. I've applied it every day to set my foundation and to cover up some problem areas I have had.
It's been great for throwing in my bag and taking around with me and so far it's made it to Harry Potter Studios, on a hen weekend, my birthday night out and all manner of others!

I do have one slight negative to it though....it is so light and silky that it picks up a little too easily for some brushes and I've found myself wasting some product and my constant use of it over the past 4/5 weeks has meant that I have already hit pan!
I was really disappointed as although it's an amazing powder I just wouldn't be able to buy one of these almost every month at £25.50.

I think if I used a smaller brush to apply it I wouldn't have picked up so much extra product and so I will be trying this until I actually finish the whole compact.

L xxx

I was so pleased to receive this at the Benefit event. I've not used a high end powder before. I tend to just pick up cheap powders and spend more on foundations.

When reading the information that came with the powder (I love that all benefit products come with tips and tricks for best application, it's so helpful) I was intrigued by seeing using the sponge and brush gives different finishes. 

I decided to try using it as more full coverage instead of a foundation. I was impressed with the coverage it gave and the finish wasn't powdery as I had expected it to look. It gave a really natural finish on the skin and lasted really well. This will be great for Summer.

It's handy that it comes with the brush and sponge and space for both of them to be stored. The brush doesn't feel quite as good as I expected from having the blushes and loving those brushes, but it doesn't shed and is great for touch ups.



I tend to use my RT powder brush and then the brush that comes with it if it needs any touch ups. It is great for setting foundation and adds a bit of extra coverage on bad skin days. It's been thrown in my bag and the magnet closure is secure enough for it not to have opened whilst in there.

It's a very fine powder so sits beautifully on the skin, a light hand is needed with a brush though or you'll waste a lot of product. I've used it almost everyday since getting it and not hit pan yet. I really like it and think I may be converted to try more expensive powders. Especially during the summer as an alternative to foundation.

Love M

xxx