Friday 24 May 2013

Ben Nye Luxury Loose Powder In Cameo - Review

Hello Lovelies

You have probably heard of the Ben Nye Media Pro Luxury Loose Powder, as it is famously known for being the face powder Kim Kardashian uses, well has applied by a personal MUA no doubt, however the shade used on Kim Karsashian is Banana and 'Banana Powder' is fast becoming a sought after product amongst the beauty world.

I first heard about this powder after reading an article all about the famous Kim Kardashian and her also famous highlighting and contouring routine, in the article it said the powder didn't settle in fine lines or cake on the skin, I have used the MAC Blot Powder for a few months now and it is great but sometimes can settle into my fine lines and look a tad cakey depending on the foundation I use with it so I was interested to try this powder out and test it's claims. 

The Ben Nye powder is a very finely milled loose powder in two shade ranges with different shades in each shade range, the Bella shade range is for light to medium skin tones and Mojave shade range is for medium to dark skin tones. I chose Cameo as it seemed the closest to my skin tone, I ordered the powder from Guru Make Up Emporuim on line, it was £7.50 for 42 grammes or 1.5oz of product. 




Ben Nye Media Pro Luxury Loose Powder in Cameo rrp £7.50 (42g)

I have been using the loose powder to set my under eye concealer and also my foundation for the last two weeks and I have to say I am in love! It is without a doubt the best loose powder or even face powder of any kind I have ever used, it doesn't settle into any fine lines, it doesn't cake it is amazing. I have extremely dry skin and the powder doesn't cling to any dry patches I have. The powder is described as a silky translucent powder that provides a matte finish with a hint of colour, I would say this is a very accurate description. 

Cameo is the perfect shade for my fair skin, I am quite shiny probably because I have to use a rich moisturiser due to my skin being so dry and this powder matifies my skin perfectly. 



Cameo 


Cameo Blended out
You can't see it as it's such a good match

The only thing I don't like about this powder is the opening of it, it is basically holes in the top of the container so I have to be really careful when I use it so I don't use too much, I usually tap a bit out into the lid and use it that way, dipping my brush into the lid to pick up product. But that is the only bad thing about this powder it is amazing and I would highly recommend trying it to anyone, you won't be disappointed at all. 


The holes in the top of the container


I will definitely be repurchasing this powder, but think it will take me a while to use up this one as a little goes a very long way, the powder is available from Love Make up here but they were out of stock in Cameo when I ordered mine. The powder is also available in larger sizes but again the size I ordered was the only size available to order. 

Have you tried the Ben Nye powder? What are your thoughts? What are your favourite powders?

Thank you for reading, much love as always,

Zoe x





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Thursday 23 May 2013

Lancome Teint Visionnaire - Review

Hello Lovelies

Yesterday I uploaded a video which has been highly requested, the video is all about foundation, my favourite ones, ones I have recently got samples of purposely for the video and how to know your skin tone, are you warm or cool toned? 

One of the samples I got for the video was the Lancome Teint Visionnaire in the colour 007 Beige Rose, when asking for samples of foundation for the video I was matched by the sales assistants on the various counters, usually my daughter Cole who is a qualified make up artist would match me but so the video would be fair I was matched by the sales assistants, I wanted to show on the video that we need to be careful when being matched, I was actually matched wrong by every single sales assistant so all the sample shades I got were the wrong colour. Anyway I digress.

The packaging that the Lancome sample came in was a piece of cardboard with a plastic bit at the front containing the product with silver foil over the back to peel off, it wasn't in the usual pot. This meant that unlike all the other samples I could not keep it to show on my video so I wanted to do a separate blog post about it. 

The Teint Visionnaire is a foundation and corrector in one, the foundation is housed in the bottle as normal with the corrector housed in the lid of the foundation, there is also a mirror in the lid for on the go use although I thought the bottle looked a little bulky to carry around in your bag.





Lancome Teint Visionnaire rrp £36 
Image taken from Google 


The design of the foundation is brilliant, when you remove the silver lid containing the corrector and the little mirror which is a nice touch, there is a pump underneath for the foundation, a good design but like I said a little bulky for my liking.

My sample came with the foundation and corrector separate on the sample card as shown below which was good but I found the packaging of the sample hard to get into and hard to use the corrector but to be fair there isn't many other ways it could have been packaged I suppose. 


My sample and the Real Techniques Expert Face brush


Teint Visionnaire claims to "flawlessly even out the complexion and visibly improve the appearance of pores and wrinkles"

As I said previously the shade I was matched to was too dark but I could still get an idea of how the foundation wore throughout the day and the coverage. I applied the foundation with my Real Techniques Expert Face Brush, my favourite foundation brush. The coverage is a medium coverage, I have dry skin and this did cling to my dry patches and settled into my pesky fine lines but not as much as other foundations I have tried. It wore well and didn't go patchy at all throughout the day, I had it on for around 8 hours and it still looked ok when I took it off, the foundation is quite thin and did blend well, like I said I only wore it for around 8 hours so couldn't say if it would last all day. The corrector I was disappointed with, it is very thick and I knew instantly it would cake and settle in my fine lines and it did, it was hard to blend and immediately settled into any fine lines and looked terrible. 

This foundation and corrector would probably be better suited to someone with normal or combination skin, my skin is dry and I found the corrector very hard to blend it doesn't have any slip to it and even with my finger it was hard to blend, a brush was out of the question entirely. 


The Corrector and Foundation swatched


If you like a medium coverage foundation and don't have dry skin this would probably be great for you, this is targeted at more mature skin so I couldn't believe how thick the corrector was, it was obvious it would cake and settle before I'd used it. But if you don't have any pesky fine lines or horrendous dark circles this could work for you, and at £36 for a high end foundation and corrector it is cheaper than buying them separately.  

You can buy Teint Visionnaire here on the Lancome website.

Have you tried Teint Visonnaire? What did you think of it? Have you ever been matched correctly at a make up counter? 

Thanks for reading, much love as always,

Zoe x


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Monday 20 May 2013

Essie UK Spring Collection 2013 - Go Ginza and Madison Ave - Hue

Hello Lovelies

As you all know I love nail polish and especially Essie nail polishes, Orly are my other favourite brand and their top and base coats are second to none but I do own more Essie colours than Orly. I recently saw the Essie Spring Collection online and a couple of the colours caught my eye. There are six colours in the spring collection for 2013 and they are all lovely.




The six colours in the UK collection 
Top L-R Madison Ave-Hue, Avenue Maintain and Go Ginza
Bottom L-R Hip-Anema, Maximillian Strasse Her and Bond With Whomever
*Image Taken From Google Images


There are some lovely colours but I chose Go Ginza and Madison Ave-Hue, Go Ginza is a lovely pink toned lilac and Madison Ave-Hue is a blue toned hot pink with tiny silver particles in it. 





Go Ginza and Madison Ave-Hue

Go Ginza is a lovely pale pink toned lilac that looks really nice on the nail, I applied my usual Orly Bonder base coat and then three coats of Go Ginza and finished off with Orly Polished top coat and I was pleasantly surprised, I always admire lilac colours on other people when I see them but have worried about wearing them as I have a lot of blue in my nails because of my medication, I still had a couple of hmmm I'm not sure moments but then my girls both said they liked it and I received a lot of compliments too so I decided that yes it actually did look quite nice after all.

Madison Ave-Hue is a blue toned hot pink with tiny silver particles in it and again the blue toned worried me at first, I had looked at swatches of both polishes before I ordered them from ASOS (I had a 25% discount code so would have been rude not to) but neither looked particularly blue toned so I was surprised by how blue toned Madison Ave-Hue was when I received it, but I did still like it anyway and couldn't wait to try it. I applied it in exactly the same way as Go Ginza using my Orly base and top coat and three coats of the polish. 




L- Go Ginza and R- Madison Ave-Hue 
Both after 3 coats and before the top coat was applied


Over all I am impressed with both colours and think they will both be perfect for spring and summer, and I think they would both make lovely toe colours too if we ever have any sandal wearing weather that is, they lasted well, I always get at least seven days wear out of an Essie polish when using my Orly base and top coat too. The only thing I was disappointed in was that the silver particles don't show up as much as I'd have liked but that's nothing I can't cope with, it is still a lovely colour and I have nothing else like it in my collection. 

Have you tried any of the Essie Spring 2013 collection? What colour is your favourite? 

Thank you for reading, much love as always

Zoe x

You can buy the Essie Spring Collection at ASOS Here 

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Friday 10 May 2013

Rose Otto Body Cream by Balance Me

Hello Lovelies, 

Now that summer is upon us, (well hopefully) it's that time when most of us show more of our bodies than normal, I don't mean I run round naked, now that would not be a pleasant sight! But I have been known to get my legs out on occasion during the warmer weather and my wardrobe changes from long sleeved tops and jumpers to short sleeved items, t-shirts and vest type tops and because of all this showing of flesh that hardly sees the light of day I like my skin to look its best. 

As you know I have dry skin and very sensitive eczema prone skin too, it is the bane of my life and if I didn't look after it it would look absolutely terrible. I use lots of products to try and keep the dry skin on my face at bay but have never really settled on a body care routine, usually using what ever is on offer at the supermarket or what's lurking in the bottom of the bathroom drawers. I was kindly sent the Balance Me Rose Otto Body Cream to try a couple of weeks ago and have been using since so I could let you all know my thoughts. 



Balance Me Rose Otto Body Cream* 200ml - £18.00 





This award winning body cream has a lovely texture, it isn't greasy, or too thin or too thick it has a lovely consistency, and rubs easily and nicely into the skin, you only need a small amount as a little goes a long way, and it has a lovely rose scent that isn't overpowering at all like I have found with some other body creams I have tried. Another great thing I found with this body cream is that I didn't have to sit on the edge of my bed for ages waiting for it to dry so I could get dressed, don't you just hate that? It sinks into the skin very nicely.

The Rose Otto body cream is excellent for sensitive skins, it didn't irritate my skin at all, it feels amazing and my skin felt so smooth and hydrated after I'd used it and there is a definite difference to my skin since using it. Balance Me is a fantastic company and their products have amazing ingredients and don't contain parabens, mineral oil, sulphates, petroleum or any other nasties and they also have no artificial colours or fragrance in them, this is something that is especially important to me when choosing beauty products. The Rose Otto body cream has some lovely ingredients including lotus flower extract, camellia oils, rosehip oil, aloe vera, rose otto, palma rosa and rose geranium all lovely ingredients and no wonder the cream smells so amazing either. 

I would definitely recommend the Rose Otto body cream, it leaves my skin feeling fantastic, it's just a shame the sunshine has disappeared again and it's cold, but at least I know that when the sun makes an appearance once again I will be able to show my arms and legs with the confidence that they look nice, thank you Balance Me! 

If you would like to try the Rose Otto body cream or check out the other Rose Otto products available or you want to find out what other amazing products are available from Balance Me, their website is www.balanceme.co.uk I'm sure you won't be disappointed. 

Have you tried the Rose Otto Range or any other Balance Me products? What are your favourites? Do you use a body cream? 

Thanks for reading, much love as always 

Zoe x


*pr sample 
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