Category Archives: beauty look

I reviewed four of the newest foundation launches for The Telegraph last week; I’ve popped a link to the full video below so that you can see the face bases in action. Foundation reviews are quite tricky to do, because so much depends on skin type, tone and personal preference. Some people need a very moisturising formula, some prefer a very matte finish, others might require a very yellow undertone to the foundation that simply doesn’t exist in some ranges, or a certain peachy-pink that’s difficult to find.. I think that we all have our little needs and preferences and the only failsafe way to find the perfect foundation is to try a lot of them. A lot. And not just in a department store beauty hall (though that is handy, because you get loads of brands crammed in together and you can do a kind of “speed-dating” affair from counter to counter!) but at home, with little samples, in your own time and at your own pace.

Anyway: four new launches. Dior’s Nude Air, Lancome’s Miracle Cushion, the “All Day Luminous Weightless Foundation” from NARS and the hugely-advertised “Beyond Perfecting” foundation and concealer from Clinique. You can see each one being applied in the Telegraph video, (open in a new page here), but a little run-down for quick reference – I’ll be doing full reviews on my favourites (the Clinique and Dior) in the very near future.

Dior Nude Air Ultra-Fluid Serum Foundation: really, light as air. Some of these completely weightless foundations can feel a little bit weird on dry skin or drier patches, but this actually feels quite nourishing and more substantial, perhaps due to its slightly oily texture. It gives the most gorgeous, undetectable finish though I do find that it oxidises very slightly, getting a little bit darker an hour or so after application. Nothing too noticeable, but worth testing out on your own skin prior to purchase! It’s £29.70 at Escentual.com here – I wear shade 20.

Lancome Miracle Cushion: something a little new, for us in the UK at least. A “cushion” soaked in foundation – you use the sponge provided to press the product onto your skin. Although the idea of this has grown on me, I still can’t get used to the very odd texture of flat-sponge-on-skin and I’m not sure that it gives me the same airbrushed finish as a brush. Or even fingers! But it does keep everything neat and in one place and the foundation itself gives a nice, natural-yet-buildable coverage. I used shade 01. £29.50 at Boots.com

Clinique Beyond Perfecting 2-in-1 Foundation + Concealer: in effect, this is no different to your usual medium-ish coverage foundation, but the applicator is quite unique. An oversized doe-foot concealer wand for precision application to dark circles and blemishes and so on. Nice idea. And I have no problem at all with the foundation itself; it leaves my skin looking perfected and velvety. It’s not the most glow-giving, but it’s not cakey or heavy either and you can either sheer it out or build it up, depending on where you need help. Watch the video to see the applicator! It’s £25 at FeelUnique here – I’m sorry, I don’t know the shade as I’ve packed it away somewhere – I’ll have to colour match myself in town tomorrow!

The All Day Luminous Weightless Foundation from NARS: I didn’t have this in quite the right shade – it was a little too yellow for me – but nevertheless I liked it a lot. Not as much as the Dior Nude Air, as I didn’t find the finish to be quite so glowing and the feel wasn’t so comfortable, but it’s another incredibly lightweight “two drops does it all” kind of face base. I must pop into Space NK and try the right shade, as that has skewed my opinion somewhat! I had 05. You can find this foundation at Space NK for £32.

Right – time to watch the little demos on The Telegraph if you haven’t already had it running in a separate window…

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Chanel Coco Noir

This little bottle of Chanel Coco Noir Parfum will fit in the palm of your hand – it looks quite big in the picture, but I can assure you it is pocket sized! The price is anything but at £165.

For personal preference, it’s a little too deep and dark for me and falls into the oriental camp of fragrances. However, I do like the quote from creator Jacques Polge, “A fragrance, as remarkable as it may be, only exists because of the others that came before.” So, Chanel Coco Noir Parfum is the next, stronger stage in the fragrance journey for Coco. If you like the original Coco, yes, it’s all there, with jasmine, rose, and geranium leaf, but it’s much darker and heavier with a base of patchouli and sandalwood. I think Coco Noir Parfum may well be the Marmite in the mix (or should I say at that price, the Theo Fennel solid silver Marmite lid!), but if you’re hooked on Coco, it’s definitely worth having a spritz of Chanel Coco Noir to see if you can wear it.

Chanel Coco Noir Parfum launches on 22nd August along with a Body Cream, £60.

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Kingdom of Colors

The Kingdom of Colors Palette is the stand-out item from the Dior Spring 2015 collection. It’s a very interesting palette – I’m not sure it works to achieve what it needs to but in terms of being a looker, it’s up there! As you can see, it’s got a bit of everything, but in reality it’s a little bit too jam packed – you need to be very precise with your brushes not to disturb the sections.

Kingdom of Colors

So, the swatches. First, it’s the cream eyeliner in a strong black – there’s a brush with angled bristles that applies very nicely indeed for a tiny palette brush. Next is the Touche Lumiere Regard Eye Shine – a wash of silver/green to illuminate the lid. You can use it over a colour or on its own. Then, it’s on to the purple shadow – a soft, greyish lavender that blends beautifully, and beside that is a silver, glimmering shade that I didn’t think had any natural partner in the palette. The nude wash is a Mattifying Skin Perfector – actually, I like it as an eyelid base – but you can’t really get your finger to it because it’s so tiny. My natural instinct was to want to use finger application rather than brush. Next to that is the Skin Highlighter – a silver shimmer wash; very pretty and smooth but I wouldn’t naturally think to put it anywhere near the blush shade which is a vivid pink/coral.

Kingdom of Colors

I love the lip colours – the first two shades are gloss and the final, coral-pink is lipstick, so more pigmented. I’d wear all of these in a flash. So, you can see that the Kingdom of Colors palette is jam packed with ten individual colours and four (good) applicators! The palette is £55. The rest of the Kingdom of Colors collection is so beautiful though, that if you’re looking at what to buy from the collection, I’d bypass the palette.

Kingdom of Colors Lip & Cheek Glow

Yes, the Kingdom of Colors Lip & Cheek Glow really is this vivid! It’s the strangest item in the collection, but I love its quirkiness.

Kingdom of Colors Lip & Cheek Glow

Luckily, it doesn’t go on quite as bright as it looks in the bottle! The texture is very watery – and it’s minty. That’s all very well for lips, but minty cheeks is a whole other thing! The product performs best on the cheeks – it is such a mild tint for the already pigmented skin on the lips that it barely shows. But on the cheeks, it gives a wash of freshness that’s really pretty. The stain stays a while, too.. it didn’t disappear immediately like some stains do. The Lip & Cheek Glow is £27.

Kindom of Colors Nails

There are four nail shades in the Kindom of Colors collection – including Majesty and Lady above. I’d wear both in a heartbeat (in fact, I’m going to do my nails in Majesty this afternoon). Majesty is a milky apricot colour, while Lady has grey and mauve nude tones. These shades are the perfect interim palette for the winter-spring blend. The other shades are an ultra bright pink called Glow and a topcoat called Eclosion with green, white and yellow micro-confetti.

Kingdom of Colors Fusion Mono

While there is a new deep purple Fusion Mono, and a new Iris Purple mascara, I love the Golden Beige shade above (I can’t tell if it’s new or not) for its instant brightening effect. I’d wear it with a grey shade, I think. It’s £24.

Dior Rouge Baume

It’s the new Rouge Baumes that I’ve really fallen for. They’re a soft, balm texture with enough colour that they look like lighter shade lipsticks with plenty of sheen. These have both gone straight into the keep drawer!

Rouge Dior Baume

The two shades I have here are Palaise (a warm nude shade that doesn’t drain the colour from my face) and Gala, a brightening pink-coral. There are three other shades in poppy red, rose and pink. They’re £26 each and it’s where I’d put my pennies from this collection.

I have the new Diorshow Khol which I’ll feature on its own in a separate post and hopefully will be able to get a couple of the five colour palettes to swatch.

The Dior Kingdom of Colors launches officially on 14th of January, but Selfridges has an early exclusive of the collection if you can’t wait! You can find it HERE.

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Concealers are all very well, but I’ve found very few that actually make things better, rather than worse. Once you develop any fine lines under the eyes, concealers have a habit of looking marvellous when you first put them on and once the liquid evaporates you are left with the dry components all sitting in every single line. Either that, or they’re just too dry in the first place and just exacerbate the lines. Sorry to say that the Aerin Eyelight Concealer, while more liquid than many, didn’t really seem to do anything much in the way of concealing and has one big problem – the nozzle! It’s a cooling tpye nozzle that delivers far too much product no matter how small a squeeze you give the tube. These cool tip applicators all have this issue although they are cooling on the skin, and in theory reduce puffiness if you massage them around. It’s a skill to get the minute amount of concealer that you need rather than the big splodge you get. In terms of texture, it’s okaaay, but nothing special although it does feel very light on the skin. I think it took away any concealing benefits by… Read More

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You know that an SPF has an acceptably pleasing texture when you mistakenly use it as a serum, at night, for more than two weeks in a row. I had no issues whatsoever with L’Oreal’s Revitalift Laser Renew Day Cream as a night serum, which is worrying on my part (my notes read, shamefully, “it’s not very serum-like – thicker, very moisturising and smells of holidays!”) but great if you’re looking for a daily face cream that doesn’t feel chalky, leave a residue or clog up your pores. No breakouts here, and that was with a night cream over the top as well.

Oh dear. You’ll have to excuse me – I’m usually very methodical when it comes to testing my skincare products, but I just got it into my head that this was a serum (maybe because it was a long, tall bottle next to the stout pots that house L’Oreal’s other Revitalift creams?) and didn’t think to check. The “Laser X3” on the bottle threw me, too, because it’s the sort of terminology I’d associate with a serum. As it turns out, the Laser Renew Day Cream is rather more than just an SPF; it contains 3% Pro-Xylane, which is L’Oreal’s anti-ageing powerhouse ingredient, stimulating collagen synthesis and regeneration of the epidermis as well as helping to correct hyperpigmentation. Add to that a form of salicylic acid (exfoliates dead skin cells, antiseptic, anti-inflammatory), retinyl palmitate (helps with wrinkles and dark spots) and niacinamide (my love for this ingredient has been well-documented, a quick summary here) and you have a very nice all-rounder that covers all bases and – most importantly – protects against sun damage without feeling claggy or gross.

When I say “gross”, I mean that grubby sort of feeling that often comes along with SPF, when you put it on and feel desperate to wash it off again ten seconds later. None of that here; it’s a bouncy, almost gel-like texture, moisturising without any greasiness, quick to sink in and leaving the skin nicely prepped for makeup. Not at all like a serum, now that I know it’s not one, but what a happy accident!

You can find Revitalift Laser Renew Day Cream SPF25 online at Amazon here – it’s £13.01 (free next day delivery with Prime) or Boots currently have it online for £13.33 here.