Saturday 28 January 2012

Rimmel London Wake Me Up Foundation First Impressions/Review

 
So I saw this foundation on an advert on TV the other day and thought it looked interesting, then today I went into Tesco and it was there for £5.99 when the normal price will be £7.99 so I decided to get it.
I'm not a massive foundation fan, I don't like the feeling of stuff all over my face, my skin isn't too bad anyway so I don't really need it day-to-day and my face quite sensitive so if I use the wrong products my face is spot city. Nonetheless, I don't have many foundations and I wanted to experiment a bit.

Packaging
Firstly the packaging: I like it. I think it looks sleek, kind of like a perfume bottle, I like how the glass goes in and I think 30ml is a good amount. The bright orange lid with the signature Rimmel London crown has a slight glitter at certain angles (which you can kind of see in the first picture) and reminds me of citrus fruits, which wakes me up (and matches the name ha so cheesy.)
 It has a pump, which I like. I know a lot of foundations are ones you pour, and personally I'm very messy and I know that I would just waste loads and get it everywhere if I had a pour one. This way you can get a good size amount out neatly. My only concern with this would be when I reach near the end and I might be wasting product by not being able to get it out - but I may just twist the pump off completely if I get to that point and I'm desperate.

Application

To apply the foundation I used by Sigma F84 Angled Top Kabuki and went into the dents of my face (such as the sides of my nose) with my Sigma P82 Precision Round brush.
For the purpose of this review, I didn't use concealer so I could see how much coverage it has on its own - I think it's light to medium coverage, more medium. I'm using the colour 200 Soft Beige, which is slightly too dark for me but with summer coming up I think it's a good shade (and it was the lightest shade in the shop.) I also noticed, both when I put a bit on my arm in the shop and applied it on my face, the foundation almost changes colour to suit your skin tone. It's not a feature it says it has, but I feel like when I put it on I was a bit like "woah" but after a bit of blending it looked much better. I like how it applies and I like the consistency. It's not runny at all but it's not too thick. One of the first things I noticed when I put it on my skin was the smell, it has a light fragrance, which I like, but you also have to be careful when applying fragrance products to the skin, especially the face. One blended, the smell goes away. It claims to wake up your skin and give it a "radiant glow and a flawless natural-looking finish". Now, I applied this at 3 in the afternoon so I was already pretty awake, but I definitely think it looks natural and glowy. I'm not so sure about flawless however I think you could easily build it up to have a higher coverage, and it did a pretty good job given that I haven't applied concealer.
I personally have oily skin and avoid "dewy" finishes, but I do think this looks "glowy" and feels light and moisturising on my skin.
To set the foundation I used my Rimmel London Stay Matte Pressed Powder with my Sigma F30 Large Powder brush. I applied this lightly just to set it, rather than give more coverage.
In the picture above, the picture with flash is actually more accurate to the colour the foundation actually is, however this foundation is SPF 15, meaning you have to be careful around flash photography.
I do like that it has SPF in it, especially for everyday use because the face on your skin is delicate and sensitive however if you were to use this somewhere with flash photography it can make your face appear white. This isn't so much specific to the foundation itself, just general knowledge which should be considered.


Overall, from what I can tell so far, I like this foundation. It feels light and moisturising on my skin and gives a nice natural finish.
Once trying this out a few times I'll come back to this review and write an end verdict.

Clara xx

Tuesday 24 January 2012

H&M Vanity Fair Eyeshadows Review

So I've been eyeing H&M make-up for quite some time but never really found a reason to buy it, especially because a lot of it is bright colours and I mostly wear neutrals. However looking in the January sales I saw that this palette had gone down from £6 to £3 so I thought, go on then!
I'd firstly like to apologise for the fact the pictures of the palette are not from when it was completely untouched as I couldn't find my camera when I first bought it however I have hardly made a dent and it doesn't make much of a difference.

So this is what it looks like and the first thing I notice are the shell like patterns in the shadows. I think this is a really nice, simple effect which distract you from the kind of cheap looking packaging.
It comes with two double ended sponge brushes, which personally I won't be using, but I think are useful for people first coming into make-up, especially with the cheap price.
 I think the colour range itself is good, it has a couple of neutrals and a couple of colours, all quite subtle and with a hint of glitter/shimmer.
Without Flash
With Flash
Swatches!
Without flash
With flash

I think the colours themselves have good colour pay off overall, especially the dark navy (#9). 
The worst colour pay offs I would say are the white (#1) and the lilac (#10) although they are both light colours. I think I can live with the white being not overly pigmented though, as I would use this as a highlight in my inner corner of the eye and below my brow bone to bright a subtle amount of light to my eyes.
The formulation is good but I think the pinker shades (#5, #6 and #10) are a bit more powdery than the rest, nothing a bit of blending couldn't beat though.
My favourites are probably #4, which is a lovely orangey gold, #7, which is a beautiful sea green and #8 which is a bright ocean blue.
For everyday wear though, #1, #2 and #3 are all great.

Overall I think that this is a good palette for £3-£6.
I do think I will be trying other H&M make-up products.

Clara xx