Category Archives: beauty news

I’m trying out a new post format today: the video below should also play on the homepage. With a spot of luck! If it doesn’t then, well, nothing lost. I’m interested to see how this comes out on the Daily Fix email – my most sincere apologies if it all goes wrong! If you are reading via email and no video shows up, I shall know for next time, but you can click here to watch on Youtube.

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I haven’t filmed a vid in ages as I’ve just felt so under the weather and kind of lost my mojo for a while, but I’m back and have loads of good ones planned including the annual Christmas Gift Guides. I’ll leave you to watch my latest beauty reviews; YSL’s Fusion Ink foundation, Givenchy’s Noir Couture mascara and a lovely little cream shadow from Illamasqua. There are very mixed reviews about Fusion Ink online, but I really like it and have used it loads since it launched. It is very weightless, but the downside of that is there’s quite a fair whack of alcohol in the formula so it’s really one that you’d probably want to get a little sample of and see if it’s for you. It’s definitely for me! Though my skin is starting to go through its “let’s completely dry up like a prune for winter!” phase, so I’ll probably switch up to something creamier soon…

Products shown in video:

YSL Fusion Ink Foundation (I used B30) ON SALE at the moment here: http://tinyurl.com/mkxwe8q

Illamasqua Cream Shadow in Embellish: http://tidd.ly/75308f42

Givenchy Noir Couture 4-in-1 Mascara: http://tidd.ly/a483e5f2

The post Beauty Reviews: Fusion Ink, Couture Noir and a lovely Cream Shadow… appeared first on A Model Recommends.

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Oh dear, I look rather threatening in the photograph above, don’t I? I’m brandishing my monthly favourites in one hand whilst wearing a somewhat hostile expression – not intentionally, I hasten to add. I just tend to get very fed up by the time I’ve filmed a video about thirty times (dog barking, doorbell ringing, camera running out of battery and then memory card, etc etc) and after it’s all done I suddenly remember that I’ve still got to take a photo for my thumbnail picture! So forgive me. It’s actually a very cheerful video and I make a little joke and do a pun and show before-and-after photos of my pores. How can you ever resist all of that?

There are lots of juicy bits and pieces to look at, this month; a summery nail polish, a brilliant light moisturiser (Toleriane Fluid from La Roche Posay, feature on its way), a very clever little skin perfecting base from The Body Shop… You can’t see very well from the photograph, because the light was hitting the tube at possibly the worst conceivable angle, but one of my faves was the tinted moisturiser from Estee Lauder – Daywear Tint Release or some such name. It has a really long name. Great product, though – I used to use it years ago and then my Mum nicked it, but I think they must have changed the formula because it’s a lot more glowy and sheer and gorgeous than I remember it being. I also really like the Revitalizing CC Cream that Lauder have launched (here) which – on the surface, at least – seems to be quite similar. Same “one size fits all” cream with bursting balls of colour to tint your skin slightly and make it look a bit healthier.

Quick note on my skin “before and afters” for The Body Shop’s Instablur: I covered half of my face in Instablur and left half bare to show how the skin is mattified and the pores are less noticeable when the product is applied. There’s no pigment to this product, it’s clear, so you do have to look quite closely at the photographs, and bear in mind that I have magnified the sections of my face so that you can see the pores more clearly. Oh, the perils of trying to do product tests; though I did think that I was a bit clever this time, taking the two sections from the same photo – no annoying lighting differences and whatnot, much easier to compare!

If you can’t see the video below then please click right here to watch it. All of the links and so on are below the video pane – enjoy.

This video is kindly sponsored by The Body Shop. Subscribe to their Youtube Channel at http://www.Youtube.com/TheBodyShopUK

Models Own Peach Melba Polish:http://www.modelsownit.com/products/n…

The Body Shop Instablur: http://bit.ly/1fU7BLD

Zelens SPF30: http://www.amodelrecommends.com/2014/…

La Roche Posay Toleriane Fluid: http://tidd.ly/21fb7ad7

Champney’s Cleansing Balm: http://tidd.ly/d4012c38

Dr Hauschka Lavender Bath: http://tidd.ly/f8b06c53

Neal’s Yard Remedies Argan Oil:http://www.amodelrecommends.com/2014/…

Estee Lauder Day Wear with Tint: http://tidd.ly/b6b9ed57

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Beauty brand This Works couldn’t improve on the knock-you-into-oblivion perfection that is the Deep Sleep Pillow Spray, and so they made a slightly longer-lasting version, Sleep Plus Pillow Spray, that sort of refreshed its scent powers throughout the night to keep restless sleepers in an uninterrupted essential-oil-induced coma.

Obviously, they couldn’t improve on this improvement (there are only so many times you can add “plus” to a product and get away with it – why would anyone bother with the original otherwise?) and so they created a double-barrelled super mega-spray combining the two formulas, especially for the indecisive and/or cautious. (I’ll start with the original, dear, and work my way up to the plus – we wouldn’t want to snooze through the alarm!)

One half of this new Super Sleep arsenal contains the original (and highly, highly effective) Deep Sleep Pillow Spray, the other contains the Plus. You can decide which level of unconsciousness you’d like to achieve and then spritz away to your heart’s content. Personally, I don’t find much difference between the two – the original knocks me out like I’ve been brained with a frying pan – but on speaking to the many friends and family who also use Deep Sleep, the Plus does appear to have extra potency.

Both sprays are natural and the original (£16 for a full bottle here) is marked as pregnancy safe. I can’t see why the other wouldn’t be, but use with caution if you get a fright about things like that. The Plus releases more scent during the night as you move on the pillow, so maybe it’s a concern about overdosing on sleep vibes…

You can find the new Super Sleep mega-duo at Lookfantastic here for £15.

If you’re a heavy user of the Deep Sleep spray then I’ve just seen that they do a massive 250ml bottle (rather than the standard size 75ml) and this costs £30. On a price-per-ml basis it should be over fifty pounds, so it’s very good value – find it online here.

After being seriously wowed by the Cover FX Total Cover Cream Foundation both in terms of formula and shade match, I was eager to try some of their other base products, and the next product I got was the Cover FX Cream Concealer £23. When it comes to concealer, I am not particularly loyal like I am with foundation and I chop and change my concealer quite frequently but I like my concealer that I use for covering blemishes and imperfections to have good coverage and for it to be relatively dewy so it doesn’t cling to any dry skin surrounding blemishes. The Cover FX Cream Concealer is suitable for all skin types and is described as being a full coverage liquid concealer designed to conceal imperfections for a flawless finish. I was impressed that this concealer can be used both under the eyes and for hiding discolouration, dark tones and imperfections as usually with concealer, they excel at one or the other and not both.

The Cover FX Cream Concealer is rich in emollients so that it blends into the skin effortlessly to instantly erase the appearance of under eye circles, redness, dark spots, sun damage, blemishes, moles, tattoos, birthmarks and visible signs of fatigue. The concealer is packaged within a 10ml grey plastic squeeze tube, with a fine nozzle which I really like as I can squeeze out as much or as little as I need, and it’s a lot more hygienic than a doe foot applicator especially when covering blemishes and breakouts. Just like the foundation, the Cream Concealer is divided into three shade ranges to suit pink, neutral and golden undertones. I opted for the shade P Light, as I have a strong pink undertone and it’s the palest shade within the P Category. There are twelve shades in total to choose from which is pretty impressive, so I’d imagine there’d be a shade for most skin tones including those with medium to deep skintones.

Shade wise, P Light is a pretty good match for my skintone. In the swatches above, it does look a little too dark for me but the skin on my face is a touch darker than the skin on my hands so it does match me a lot better. The coverage of the concealer is amazing.. it really is a very high coverage concealer, with these swatches being only a pin head sized amount of product, so you only need the tiniest amount as it goes such a long way. For a concealer with coverage as full as this, I was really surprised by how easy to blend it was and it wasn’t at all dry or chalky like some full coverage concealers can be. Once blended into the skin, it has a subtle dewy finish which I really like, and it manages to look natural on the skin.

I do prefer this concealer for covering blemishes and imperfections, than I do for concealing under my eyes but that’s only because I don’t need a full coverage concealer under my eyes just yet as I only have a little darkness which a light coverage concealer covers up absolutely fine. As an imperfection concealer, it’s just perfect. It covers up any blemishes or acne scarring amazingly well, and it even covers my freckles so I imagine it’d be excellent at covering up any pigmentation issues. I’ve never tried a concealer with coverage as full as this before, and somehow it doesn’t look at all cakey on my skin like I’d expect a super full coverage concealer to be – it really is an amazing concealer, and I love that it’s free from gluten, mineral oil, fragrance, parabens and talc too.

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