New CiD Cosmetics i-Glow Compact Shimmer Powder

Hello there!

A few weeks ago we were lucky enough to attend a wonderful evening at St David's Hotel and Spa and come home with a goodie bag of lovely products from Paul Mitchell and New CiD.

We've been using them over the last few weeks and couldn't wait to share the amazing i-Glow Compact Shimmer Powder.

The i-Glow Compact Shimmer Powder is another of New CiD Cosmetics hand baked powders which uses waxes to stick ingredients together. This helps to make the product glide over your skin smoothly creating a more radiant and youthful look - this all sounds pretty wonderful to me!

The other ingredients in the shimmer powder help to 'bounce' the light off your skin which is why the best way to use the product is by picking up a really large brush, swirling it over the powder and dusting it over your cheekbones, collar bones and just about anywhere you want with a bit of a glow!

i-Glow is available in three different colours; Icy Pink, Sirocco and Coral Crush.
We were given Sirocco which is a lovely gold colour, the shimmer is amazing but the particles are so small it gives an amazing glow.

I've been really impressed with the colour payoff but also how blendable the shimmer powder is, it's easy to blend with any base make up I put on and has been suitable to wear in both the day and night.

Here it is on:

I really like the glowy look it gives, I've had so many people compliment me on it and ask me what it is as they want to buy it too!

You can purchase all of the iGlow products for £26.00 for 9g of product in the compact. The compact itself is also super sturdy with a decent mirror size, I'm overall really impressed with this and I definitely want to try out the Coral Crush and Ice Pop to see how the glow changes.

What do you think of New CiD baked products? Have you tried iGlow?


L xxx

This was one of the products I couldn't wait to try out as I already own ice pop (well my mum did but she wasn't giving it the love it deserved so gave it to me!) which I love. The texture of these are amazing they are so smooth and give an amazing highlight to the skin. Ice pop just adds such a pretty pink flush to the cheeks.

Sirocco is more of a bronzey shade, these are so pigmented as you can see from the swatch below (apologies for the slightly dark photo, I was battling the bad weather spell when I took these!). They have a really soft blendable texture which makes them so easy to work with.

Now I've got these two I really want the i-bronze as the colours in that one look amazing. These are baked products so they're going to last for ages. My ice pop is older than I should admit and doesn't look used still. Another great thing is they sell these in minis for £16, you get a lot of product in the original and I find I rarely use a blush up so it's nice to have the option to grab a smaller size one.

Love M

xxx

Rimmel Stay Matte Powder

Morning All

I should be revising right now but blogging is a much better choice! I'm all about procrastination. Lately I've found my skin hates powder, no matter what foundation or powder combination I was using my skin was looking awful and cakey, so for the past few months I've given up using powder and taken to blotting my face. This pay day I couldn't resist shopping. (you can view my haul here) A trip to boots made me decide to try it. I've only heard good things about the Rimmel Stay Matte Powder and I know L loves it. She's reviewed it here.

I picked up the shade translucent. In powders I'd rather go for translucent as I find powders tend to make my skin look orange toned otherwise. The thing that put me off this powder for ages was the packaging. With a powder I'd rather it was more handbag friendly and come with a sponge for if I need to top up during the day. The packaging is basic and I do worry the lid will get broken with my clumsiness at some point.

Onto the product. Let's start with this is fully deserving of all the hype it gets! It perfectly sets my make up, leaves my face shine free without my foundation looking heavy, clumpy or cakey. My make up lasts longer and while keeping my face shine free it doesn't look powdery or too matte. I've only been using it for the past two weeks but so far it really is worth all the hype.

Best of all it is only £3.99 and usually on 3 for 2! I'm regretting not giving in to this hyped up product sooner. It really does everything you'd want a powder to do. My only downside to it is the packaging but for the price I can't really complain.

Have you tried Rimmel Stay Matte Powder?

Love M

xxx

Rimmel Match Perfection Silky Loose Face Powder

Hello lovelies!

I'm sure most of you use a powder every morning to set your base, and possibly even throughout the day when reapplying or touching up your make up.

I've always been a pressed powder fan, but M is a fan of loose powder. Seeing the Rimmel Match Perfection on one of the many offers in Boots I couldn't help but snap it up!

Rimmel are obviously a UK beauty fan favourite. Not only do they have a massive range of products to cater to everyone's needs, they're well priced, have a fun advertisement campaign and are almost always on offer so you can maximise your money. What more could you want?!

The Match Perfection range has many fans, myself included. About a year ago when both me and M were looking for products w could use to contour our super pale faces with we ended up picking up the lightest and darkest Match Perfection foundations to help us to do the job, and as you can imagine they were great and still get used today.

I knew I needed to pick up powder so in a 3 for 2 deal I picked up my usual Stay Matte Pressed Powder and then this one as my 'freebie' so I could try it out.

This loose powder comes with a little puff thing, which looks cute but isn't any use for me. I wouldn't be transporting this with me anywhere as I don't generally touch up my make up throughout the day so this has been donated to my younger cousins who have loved having some make up!

The inside of the pot is like any other loose powder product, it has a plastic covering with holes in to allow only a certain amount of product to be accessed at one time. I'm sure shaking it everywhere would defy this but generally that's not something you do...

Having tipped a little out and applied to my hand I was a little worried at first, it looks very light even on the back of my super pale hand!
The colour I picked up was Translucent, so I was hoping this would blend in nice and easy.

However I was glad to be wrong and it blended in beautifully and didn't leave any white residue marks as I thought it might when a flash was used:

To apply the loose powder in the mornings I used my Real Techniques Powder brush and Setting Brush.

The powder brush I swirl in the pan and then in the lid to ensure an even and uniform coverage on the brush which then hopefully translates to my face, I then use the setting brush for applying powder under my eyes on the delicate skin and around my nose to combat shine. Here are the results:



The powder applies really well and I don't find that I lose too much of it and find more on my top than my face. It sets my make up really well without being too cakey or powdery and doesn't make my skin too matte looking either.

It seems to withstand the hot/cold air con in my lab pretty well and hasn't been disappointing in keeping shine at bay as many other expensive powders I have tried before.

Here's a close up so you can see how natural and not powdery/cakey the effect is:

I've been quite impressed with this loose powder in comparison to its pressed powder counterpart, I'd definitely not be put off buying them in future like I previously have been.

Rimmel just seem to know what they're doing and for the price this will not disappoint whatsoever!


What's your favourite; pressed or loose powder? Are you a big Rimmel fan?


L xxx

How to: Fix Broken Powder Make Up

I'm sure we've all done it before and dropped a beloved power, eye shadow, bronzer etc and then gone to open it and find it's all cracked. I did it with my MSF before where water leaked in my handbag and it turned to a mouse. I was gutted.

I spent a little while on google trying to find ways to save it and came along this method. Luckily for me I work in a lab so borrowed some alcohol to fix mine but rubbing alcohol does the same job and can be picked up cheaply from Amazon.

My benefit powder recently cracked and I wasn't ready to let it go so decided to share with you how I fixed it to save wasting product.

The first step is to get all the product into the pan again. If it's a mouse like my MSF went let it dry out for a day or 2 first before doing this. Add a few drops of the rubbing alcohol and stir with a cocktail stick. Add it drop by drop until the powder starts to take a liquid from. I added way too much but it's not a problem as it evaporates off.

Keep stirring your powder into the alcohol as you go. For me the powder returned to a liquid form. Once you've added enough alcohol and the powder is a liquid push the liquid to one side of the pan ready to dry.

At this stage you can leave it for the alcohol to naturally evaporate off and just be left with your product re solidified. Or if you're impatient like me you can leave it for a couple of hours then put a hairdryer on it gently. This can cause some cracks. I left it to dry open up near a radiator in the end.

Then after a day you have your product back good as new. For me it worked perfectly again and hasn't caused any irritation to me skin.

Have you tried this before? Do you just check things away when they crack?

Love M

xxx

Rimmel Stay Matte Pressed Powder

Hey all!

I've got a review for you today on a staple product in my make up bag....pressed powder.

I can't go a day without it due my oily T-zone and have to apply it every morning to set my foundation and concealer.
I've been through tonnes of these powders, trying every brand you can imagine. I did like the MAC Pressed Powder but at £20 ish a pop it was not something I could justify. Others didn't last as long on my face causing my make up to slip by lunch and I was still looking for the perfect compromise, price and how long lasting it was.

Lots of people had suggested I try Rimmel's Stay Matte Pressed Powder, so snapped it up in an offer in Boots and put it to the test.

Rimmel state this is a long lasting pressed powder. I've been applying this onto my base in the morning using my Real Techniques powder brush.
It lifts really easily from the palette and applies onto the face easily too. It brushes onto the skin and leaves an even coverage, mattifying the shiny bits quickly and barely takes time at all.

I love the impression on the print too, how British!

After applying it in the morning this does last me the majority of the day without reapplication. Days differ and obviously when I go to the gym, all bets are off as normally the sweat runs down my face nowadays but normally when I get there I'm just starting to get a sheen over my T-zone.

Ideally I would reapply at lunch (normally 2pm) which would mean my make up would stay longer but I never have the time and to be honest I either go to the gym or go home and take my make up off anyway! 

The photo below shows how even the coverage is on top of my foundation:

And then with a full face of make up on:

If you like the make up look above then check back next week as I'll be telling you all about my new palette then!

I think the Stay Matte powder is worth every penny. It comes in at a bargainous £3.99, and if you spend £10 on Rimmel in Boots at the moment you'll get a free Scandalous Flex mascara. I always find their mascaras are great value so this is definitely worth picking up, I may even get it myself!

I'm so glad this was recommended to me, it has definitely saved me money from my MAC Pressed Powder without losing the quality and effects!

Have you tried the Stay Matte Pressed Powder? What will you be picking up from Rimmel to get your free mascara?

L xxx

Review: HD Brows Foundation Powder

Good sunny Sunday to you all!

I can't believe how nice the weather still is, fingers crossed it will last a bit longer!

We're back with a joint review for you today. We were very kindly sent HD Brows new Foundation Powder to trial a few weeks ago and we can't wait to tell you all about it. It's a pressed mineral powder compact that claims to create a flawless finish.

As you probably know by now, luckily we are the same colour in foundation so took a gamble looking at the colours online and chose Number 2. There are 6 shades in total, numbered 1, 2, 3, 5, 7 and 9, which as you can tell is a little confusing!
I would assume they plan to fill out the numbers by producing colours in between i.e. 4, 6, and 8 but who knows. It's quite easy to see online the colour changes between the shades and so we were quite confident when choosing our foundation shade.

(The website can be found here)

They say:
A foundation and a concealer in one can be used for light, natural or full coverage, the smooth formula blends seamlessly, absorbing excess oils to create a flawless finish.

So what did we think?!

I am a completely sucker for simple packaging, and this ticks all the boxes for me.
Plain black cardboard box for the outer packaging with clear logo and info stamped on the back, plus a super simple black plastic compact containing the products.

I love that when the compact comes out of the box, you have to not only peel a plastic layer off to get to the actual compact covering, but there is also a sheet of tissue paper to protect the HD Brows logo, which makes it feel that much more luxurious and special.
I felt like I was unwrapping a watch or very expensive electrical gadget that i should keep the plastic on for as long as possible!

I think I can speak for both of us when I say that we absolutely loved the design. I've never seen anything else like it and its so funky and easy to use.
The compact opens up to show a square shaped mirror in the lid and a clear plastic tray housing the make up sponge. You need to lift out the sponge and flip the plastic bit to the side to reach the powder itself, which is snazzy, compact and so simple.

The powder itself is very fine and a little goes a long way. The sponge is great for layering on the powder on areas that need more coverage and for touch ups throughout the day, i.e. the dreaded oil slick starting to appear on your T-zone from lunch time onwards.

I also use my Real Techniques powder brush to apply a thinner layer in the morning for setting purposes and it's worked great at creating a flawless base and lasted me until the afternoon before I need to apply any more.

My only bug bear about it at all is the name.....HD Brows Foundation? I think it's great they've branched out into other products from their super amazing brow kit that everyone raves about and can't get enough of (I haven't been lucky enough to try it myself yet!), but i can't help but think HD Foundation might have been better to stick with the whole HD theme. But that is of course my 2 cents on something that I have no idea about and maybe they couldn't rename it!

You can find the Foundation Powder on the link above, and it retails for £21.95.
Will you be giving the HD Brows Pressed Mineral Powder a go?

L xxx

As L said the packaging is amazing. The little plastic bit that hold the sponge is great. I find where the powder is so fine milled the lightest touch with a brush will pick the product up. If I'm too heavy handed the powder doesn't go anywhere as the plastic casing holds it. I like that there is something to keep the sponge off the powder too. It's a great handbag powder.

Due to the warm weather I'm loving either layering this over tinted moisturiser or even just on it's own. Where it's a powder foundation it can be used to set make up and give extra coverage. It works really well over tinted moisturiser and has been lasting impressively in this heat wave we've been enjoying.

For anyone who's a fan of powdered foundation this is definitely one to put on your list. It's got great lasting power, provides light coverage and helps to control oil.

The colours online do make it hard to pick but the swatches do look pretty accurate. I think it's always hard to pick colours online but our guess paid off well and the colour of shade 2 is great and would work on pink or yellow skin tones.

I will be trying more products from HD Brows and do want to try the ever popular brows powder as if it's similar texture to the face powder I can see it being great.

Hope you're all enjoying some time in the sun!

Love M

xxx

You can pick up the HD brows line from HDbrows.com

Review: Smashbox Powder

Happy Saturday!!

Hope you're all enjoying your weekend so far!

I'm a big fan of powder, I use it in the morning to set my make up and throughout the day to stop my face looking too shiny.
This normally means I use quite a lot of it and so it's good to have one to carry around in my hand bag as well as at home.

Cue this little beauty from Smashbox.

This is their Photo Set Pressed Powder compact, which I picked up in Light.

I got mine from Cosmetics Company Outlet (I swear it steals all my money) so it was a little discounted but I believe it retails for £19. It comes in 5 colours with Light being the 2nd lightest, there is actually a Fair which is lighter which is definitely good news.
Light is a great colour for me but I can imagine over winter I might possibly need Fair when my skin hasn't been in the sun.

I love the neat black packaging, it's perfect for throwing in my bag and its small enough but strong enough too. The only downside is the black colour meaning it would get lost in my bag but I'm used to that already!
I'd prefer it to look good, which this one does. 

Inside the palette is the powder on the left, a large mirror and a sponge.

The sponge might be my favourite part, it's actually leather backed and is beautiful!
After I've finished the compact I fully plan on keeping the sponge as it's great quality and will hopefully last a while.

The powder feels silky soft on your skin and although I apply it with a massive powder brush (Real Techniques) in the morning for speed and even coverage, the sponge applicator is great for on the go moments and applying to troublesome spots where more coverage is necessary.

This lasts pretty well on the face and if you have dry skin would definitely last you the day. I do need to repowder my tzone around lunch time but that's because I'm picky and don't like my face to keep progressing over the afternoon to look like an oil slick at tea time, but each to their own!

You can see in the photos below that my face (awkward photos, always find them complicated!) doesn't look shiny at all and in the close up below it doesn't look cakey at all but has been mattified by the powder.

Having never used a Smashbox powder before I can say I am a firm fan, I'd buy this again and will be looking after the sponge ;)

L xxx

Don't forget to check out our giveaway here

Review: Smashbox Fusion Soft Lights in Baked Starburst

This was a sneaky CCO purchase a few weeks ago when I was supposed to be on a spending ban and obviously that went straight out of the window.

I mean, I didn't own anything from Smashbox and ended up in a store with it discounted. It was fate!

Look at how shimmery and beautiful it is:

This is Smashbox's Fusion Soft Lights in Baked Starburst.

It's a highlighter with a touch of colour, not enough for it to be a shimmery bronzer but enough to give you a warm glow.

We're both massive fans of Mac's MSF in Soft and Gentle, and I imagined this would be a similar kind of product.

It's baked just like MSF and is a very fine powder that you can swirl on top of make up for a shimmer without being glittery. It sort of gives that 'been in the sun for an hour at lunch and managed to catch some rays' kind of look.

It is fragrance and paraben free which is always a good thing, as pointless chemicals are nassssssty.

Look at those colours! They're so pretty and easily swirled together on top of any make up look. Just relax and check out the make up porn for a little while...

So how does it actually look on the skin??

You can see my skin has a shimmer to it, particularly where I applied it heavier on the cheek bones where the light catches. It's a beautiful colour and perfect for day wear. It's very subtle and doesn't look too glittery on the skin that it's over the top.

When comparing this to MSF, this is the much more subtle day wear version and I believe I have used this most days since I bought it. 

I tend to save MSF for weekends now as to be perfectly honest that one is still my favourite. Though I think sometimes it's too much for day wear especially work as it's not the kind of place for lots of make up.

Ultimately I love them in equal amounts as they're different enough with Smashbox having warm tones and MSF having champagne gold colours and both show up beautifully in photos.

What do you think? What's your favourite highlighter?

L xxx