Bourjois Bliss

 To start off I just want to apologise that there wasn't a post up yesterday, I hurt my shoulder at work that by the end of the day I was in a lot of pain and just wanted to sleep. Today it has been much better just get a slight niggling pain every now and then, think I pulled something. So lets get right into it.

I'm a little late to the Bourjois Healthy Mix Foundation loving group, but I am firmly a member of it now. I have been using it and the Cream Blush in shade Healthy Glow as my lovely little duo recently and I am so happy that I finally caved in and bought it.

I'm going to mention the packaging to start with as I just love it, I love that its a glass bottle which I always find makes a product look more expensive than it is, the cute little pictures of fruit on the label and I love that the pump is in an eye popping red colour. The foundation itself is just perfect to give you that lovely glow, I have mine in shade vanilla. The bottle is a 30ml bottle, as I mentioned it comes with a pump which I only need one pump of the product. Its light in consistency that I just dot it round my face, then using my Real Techniques Buffing Brush I blend and buff it into my skin. The coverage I would say this gives is a light to medium coverage, its great when I'm having a good skin day and don't have many spots or marks. Whenever I use this I get compliments on how good my skin is looking and how healthy I look. The 3 fruit pictures on the label is what really caught my eye about this product as you don't often see tiny fruit on your bottles of foundation do you?! Well they are what makes the foundation Healthy , you have the Apple which is to help our skin looking loverly and youthful, Melon to keep our skin all hydrated and Apricot to enhance your skins radiance. Sounds great right?! Well it really is, I am really impressed with this product.

Bourjois Healthy Mix Foundation £9.99

Bourjois Healthy Mix Foundation in shade Vanilla

Foundation all blended in giving the skin a lovely healthy glow

Now to go along with the foundation I thought I would try out the Cream Blushes that Bourjois also do, I went for the shade Healthy Glow. Got a bit of a healthy theme here. It comes in a lovely little coral coloured pot than when you flip it open you have the product on the base and on the lids side is a little mirror which is perfect for on the go. You only need a little of this product, just swirl your finger in the product and then blend it onto the apples of your cheeks. Healthy Glow is a lovely deep pink coral shade that gives you that lovely pop of colour on the cheeks without you looking that your wearing any blusher at all. I love that its a solid too so you can pop it in your bag without worrying about the product smashing and breaking into tiny pieces. 

Bourjois Cream Blush £7.99

Swatch of the Cream Blusher in shade Healthy Glow

I hope you guys have enjoyed this post, have you tried this founation? did you like it? or have you tried any other of the Bourjois foundations? Would love it if you left a comment, I will reply :)

There wont be a post tomorrow as I'm finally getting to go to the cinema and see Fault In Our Stars and have a meal with my best girl friends!!!

Thanks for reading

Lots of Lovies

SJ

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Real Techniques Expert Face Brush

The other week I was in Boots and I couldn't help myself but to add another brush to my Real Techniques collection. 

The brush I went for was the Expert Face Brush £9.99, I wanted to go for a brush that blends my foundation into my skin really well. I have been finding that some times my foundation has really needed to be worked into my skin for it to be all blended and not looking that it's just sitting on my face. So with this one I take one pump of foundation on the back of my hand and take the brush, just dab a little of foundation onto one side of the brush. Starting from my cheeks I start to blend the foundation outwards then a little on my forehead and chin again working outwards. So far so good, there's no streaky marks from the bristles which by the way are super soft on the skin, it blends in foundation really well and even better my foundation doesn't look like its sitting on my face. I love this brush!!!

Have you guys tried any of the Real Techniques brushes? is there any others that you would recommend.

Hope you guys have enjoyed this post.

Lots of Lovies
SparklySJ
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Avon Calming Effects Loose Powder Foundation

So I'm not sure about you guys but with it coming to the warmer days I don't really like caking my face in a lot of make up, mainly due to the fact it would probably be dripping off my face through out the day. As I work in a place that can be pretty hot I prefer something that's a nice coverage but light to wear. 

With all this in mind I stumbled across this little beauty coming out in the Avon booky. Avon Calming Effects Loose Powder Foundation £10.50, being a fan of their mineral powder foundation I figured I would give this stuff a go. It aims to be blendable and buildable giving you lovlely healthy looking skin with a built in SPF of 15. I figured why not give it a go and went for the shade nude.

When you lift the lid there's a little mirror built in and a little plastic thingy (cant think what to call it) that when you close the lid it presses down a little section so when you shake the pot some of the loose powder comes through on to the base, you then take a brush swirl it in the base bitty then give the brush a little tap to remove any of the excess powder. I then take the brush and use swirl movements round my face building up a good coverage. I really love this stuff it honestly feels that I'm wearing hardly any foundation. The packaging is lovely and simple, you get a good amount for your money and you wont be needing a lot either so it will last you a good long time.

Below I have taken photos on how I use it with Before and After photos I have even included bare face photo of myself (cringe) and a close up so you guys can see the difference this stuff does.

This is defiantly my new summer favourite product its just perfect with how light it is and the coverage is amazing.

Have you guys tried any loose powder foundation? What was your thoughts on it?

Hope you guys have enjoyed this post, it is good to be back.

Lots of Lovies
SparklySJ
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Whats in my MakeUp Bag!!

I used to store all my make up in a drawer and I would spend ages rummaging around looking for a certain product, so I decided to invest in a good sized organised make up bag and keep in it the products I use all the time. I will be changing it up every now and then but for now I thought I would show you wonderful lot what is in my bag at this current time.

The make up bag zips open all the way round and inside is a organiser clip that holds 2 other little make up bags one is mesh type material and the other is in the same material as the main bag. There is another section on the right which has pockets to hold make up brushes and another big pocket then on the left is one main pocket.

 The pocket on the right is where I am keeping my current favourite eye shadows, my little bottle of Benefit highbeam and a pot of soap and glory lip balm.

 

 

 In the clear mesh material bag I keep my 2 go to foundations which are my No7 Beautifully matte and the Rimmel Match Perfection which I really must do a review on as its so good. I also keep 4 concealers!!! 2 are from the collection lasting perfection range just one lighter shade than the other. I have my No7 one that has been colour matched along with my foundation and Seventeens Phwoarr Paint which is awesome for tired eyes!

 

 

The little material bag is where I keep my eye make up, I have my eye pencil sharpener, 2 mascaras my beloved Avon SuperShock and another one I love for my less make up days the L'Oreal False Lash Flutter. Eyeliner wise I have in pencil form the Benefit BadGAL waterproof pencil in black and the Rimmel Exaggerate eye liner in liquid form also in black. For the brows we have my Rimmel pencil and the Maybelline master shape pencil.

 

 

Finally in the left pocket I am keeping my Oriflame Studio Artist Loose Powder which is a white powder that you place on top of your make up to set your foundation. Avon Calming Effects powder foundation and the Avon Kabuki brush this stuff is my current fave at the moment which I am going to do a review on as its that good!!! For a good pink cheek I have my Maybelline dream mousse blush in dolly pink for a healthy flushed cheek.

 

 

I hope you guys have enjoyed this post, I would love to read your comments and I will reply to them.

 

That's all from me today hope your all well and happy :)

 

Lots of Lovies

SparklySJ

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L'oreal Paris True Match Foundation and Powder Review!!

Goooood morning/ afternoon/ evening you lovely lot, hope your week is going good. Mines going pretty quick, cant believe we are almost at the end of January already! Its crazy!

Anyway this post's title pretty much sums up what I'm going to be jabbering on about today and its the L'Oreal True Match Foundation and Powder. 

As I mentioned in my previous post I'm going to try out more make up items this year, see if i can come across any new holy grail products. So I thought I would start with base products like primers, foundations, concealers and powder. 

To start it off we are going with the L'oreal True Match duo. Lets start with the foundation now at £9.99 in such a lovely packaged bottle you be mad to not try this out right? With it claiming to give the best natural, close to skin tone coverage without caking it just sounds too good to be true. Its light texture means you can also build up coverage for a "made to measure finish". Reading all this and hearing such fab reviews it had to be bought to try out. As Im still rather pale I went for shade Golden Ivory.

L'Oreal True Match Foundation in Golden Ivory

Blended in :)

Applying the foundation I found it really light and a bit runny in texture, I tried applying it first with my real techniques foundation brush but it was leaving brush mark strokes so I swapped over to my buffing brush, buffing it into my skin making sure it was all blended in and looking pretty flawless. It did not do this for me at all. I had patches on my face where the foundation almost just sat and wouldn't blend in at all. I tried working it in and tried to build it up a bit. Later at work I noticed that my cheeks and forehead basically looked like I had dry skin that the foundation had just sort of clung too, It looked awful. Luckily work has cleanser where I could remove it. My friend Becky at work (Hiya Bexter if your reading) also mentioned how she had the exact same experience with this foundation. We both have different skin types so I don't think that it could be that, we have wondered if its maybe the fact we do work in a place that can get pretty hot so it might have been to do with the temperature. I am rather stumped on what caused the foundation to go like this. I tried using it for another 3 days trying different attempts from using a different primer to no primer at all and just using moisturiser for my base, tried applying it without a brush and just used my fingers, I even scrubbed the night before in case I had any dry skin patches (which I didn't) but with every attempt it still did the same thing. I am rather disappointed with the result of this foundation as it sounded amazing, I do think it is probably a really good foundation for those that have tried it and loved it however it was not for my skin :(.

Now we are on to the powder, this little gem is £8.19 and is in such a handy little compact style where you flip the lid open and the powder sits on a base and there's an underneath compartment that holds a little sponge so its perfect for you to pop in your bag. I also got this in the same shade as the foundation to be all matchy matchy, As I wasn't having such a time with the foundation I applied this on top one day and it made no difference what so ever. However I have used this on days where I have just used a bit of bb cream or another foundation I applied a light dusting of it with my real techniques powder brush and it gave me such a lovely finish and  it doesn't look at all caked on. 

Love the handiness of this product (excuse the chipped nail polish hehe)

The shade of the powder in Golden Ivory

Unfortunatly the foundation just wasn't for me which is a shame, however I am enjoying the powder. So with every negative there is a positive :) 

Hope you guys have enjoyed this post, I have just been honest in my experience with these products. I wouldn't try to tell anyone to not try out any of these products as I have heard such amazing reviews about it. We just weren't ment to be.

Lots of lovies

SparklySJ

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Make Up Make Up Everywhere!!

Hello you beautiful bunch!

So in my Favorites of 2013 post I mentioned how I plan on being a bit more adventurous and try out different things make up wise. As much as I do love skincare I do also love make up, however I tend to just stick to the same brand and stick to the same routine. Well that's us now into the month of January and so far I have bought I few new items to try out. I have stuck to high street shop items to start with.

Here they are ready and waiting to be tried out.

So to start I thought I would try out a few different foundations, I do still love my No7 Beautifully Matte foundation but I figured I am now a blogger why not have a few different ones in your make up drawer that you can pick from. So I picked up the L'oreal True Match Foundation £9.99 in shade Golden Ivory, this foundation is aiming to give the most natural looking skin that's true to your skin tone that you can achieve a fab coverage without caking. Sounds great I thought why not get the True Match powder £8.19 in the same shade as well, it will be great for setting the foundation or even if I fancy a day off from wearing lots of make up I can just sweep a bit of this powder on and get on with my day.

Now we are on to Concealer, I have seen a few bloggers mention that the Seventeen Range in Boots had a bit of a makeover and released some awesome new concealers so I thought I had better get down there and try one. Phwoarr Paint has been described as the dupe of Benefits Boi-ing and at £5.49 you would be mad to not give it a go. Its a cute little pot that's lid flips open that on the other side of the lid is a little compact mirror and the base holds the concealer. Its got a rich creamy texture to it, I got mine in the shade fair for me pale skin. This will be fab for late nights and early mornings to hide those pesky under the eye bags. Collection 2000 Lasting Perfection Concealer £4.19 was in Tanya Burrs favorite things in 2013 vlog, now if this is Tanya's favorite concealer than that's it already sold for me. Its supposed to give fab coverage to imperfections and blemishes, also with any redness and can last all day without needing to re touch it.

Another item mentioned in Miss Tanya Burrs Favorites from last year was the Rimmel Match Perfect Foundation £6.99 mentioning how it gives fab coverage, nice healthy glow, easy to blend I could not not give this bad boy ago. I have recently seen it on a few other blogs mentioning how amazing it is, it had to be bought. Also reading up on it mentions how it has advanced smart tone technology aiming to give you a flawless look in any light. Sounds perfect!!

For a new primer I heard someone in Boots mention how they found the new Maybelline Baby Skin Instant Pore Eraser £7.99 very similar to Benefits Porefessional I was rather intrigued to try it. Having tried the Benefit Porefessional comparing Baby skin to it is a big compliment. It has a clear gel texture to it where the Porefessional did have a slight tint to it all its aims are very similar to vanish pores giving a smooth soft surface to the skin, a perfect base for foundation perhaps?! 

Lastly we have the Maybelline Eye Studio Master Shape Brow £2.99. I had mentioned in my favorites post that I am starting to get the hang of filling in the brows. I have been using the HD Brows palette which I received in a beauty box for about £16 which was filled with treats the HD Brows palette being one of them. The palette retails at about £20 so I am going to try and let it last me a very long time. So for days when I feel a little lazy I thought this nifty pencil should do the job just fine.   

So that's the start of my new things to try out, as you can see I'm starting just with base make up first. I have linked all the items mentioned with a website (Boots) you can go on, to either buy or get a bit more information on, they are all linked at their prices. I plan on reviewing all of the items so keep your eyes peeled out for those.

Have you tried any of these or is there something you would recommend? I want to try out some new looks for eyes and lips.

Lovies
SparklySJ
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My Favorites of 2013 Part 2!

 Hello, and Welcome to My Favorites of 2013 Part 2!

This post is going to be all about the make up and nails. I am rather dull and boring when it comes to make up however I am going to try and be a bit more adventurous on that side of things next year and not be afraid to try out new things. So lets get started on the make up items I have been loving this year.

Face

So its always good to start off with a good base. I'm talking Primers. I tried quite a few this year and I do like to use my Body Shop Vitamin C Skin Reviver for this, another close favorite has to be the Rimmel Fix and Perfect £6.99 I just find this stuff perfect for a make up base, it holds my foundation perfectly. I did also do a little blog post on this beauty which goes a little more in depth to check it out click here. Now for foundation I have 3 to pick from which was rather difficult so I thought sod it I will put them all in as I love all 3 for different reasons. Revlon ColorStay £12.49 this stuff appealed to me from the start being for oily to combination skin, being oil free it helps to control shine and aims to give you that flawless look. This was the first foundation I bought this year and it is probably going to be one that I will continue to use. I loved the coverage of it, I love that it lasted pretty much all day, the match to my skin tone was perfect, I just loved it. When my Revlon foundation was coming to an unfortunate end I thought I would be adventurous and try out a new one, for that I tried out the No7 Beautifully Matte Foundation £12.95 another oily to combination foundation created to balance oil production and help improve skin, I cannot fault this lovely item at all. It gives a medium to full coverage, it lasts a long time throughout the day. I used the match made service so the shade is perfect for my skin tone again its one I will probably repurchase. I done a post on this foundation and the matching concealer, if you would like to review my ramblings more into detail on this product click here. Lastly of the foundations is the much raved about Rimmel Wake Me Up Foundation £8.99 I purchased this foundation on a whim in the summer time as I had a slight tan and my everyday Revlon one was a tad to pale for me. Being at such a reasonable price I thought this will do me fine for the summer. I wasn't wrong. Designed to awaken the skin and give you a healthy radiant glow, it does not fault. It gives you  a nice light coverage, not too heavy which is perfect for that suns heat and contains an SPF 15 so it also protects your skin as well as given you a lovely natural glow. Recently I blogged about my skin not having a good time that I had to cut back on wearing my foundations due to an allergic reaction. I turned to a BB Cream to help put my skin back on track but give a bit of colour along the way. I turned to my Dr Jart Regenerating Beauty Balm £14.00 designed to help cover any blemishes and redness while letting the skin regenerate. This was just what I was looking for at the time. I forgot how much I loved this product, it really did help me feel less self conscious of the redness from the reaction and improved my skin within a week or so. If you want to read the post I done on this BB Cream click here. Once I done my foundation I like to add a subtle hint of colour to the cheeks and I use my Revlon Powder Blush £7.99 in shade Smoky Rose which is a lovely light pink, I just sweep it on the apples of my cheeks to make me feel more alive.

Eyes

I noticed this year a heavy trend going round in beauty and make up was brows!! Now I have a full fringe. So to say I neglected my brows is an understatement, however over the past few months I started to give bit more attention to them. I'm still not 100% confident on them but I am getting there. A few months back Latest in Beauty got together with Glamour magazines Beauty Editor and they created a box of wonderful treats. One of these treats was the HD Brows Eye and Brow Palette in Foxy. The whole box only cost £14.95 and I believe that this palette costs alone £19.95 so that's a bargain already! As a newbie to the whole brows look I have been giving this item a go over the past month and I am surprisingly enjoying it. My fringe is growing right now and kinda sweeps to the side, so I kind of need to make sure they look a little decent as you can see just the one, which sounds odd but it doesn't look it....I hope. I use the medium shade and slowly outline my eyebrow then fill it in. I don't want them to look too obvious and I like that it gives a nice natural look. If anyone is interested in the Beauty Box the link is here. Or if you would rather just check out the palette I found it on amazon here. Mascara will always be my Avon SuperShock I have been using this stuff for years, I do try others but none impress me as much as this one. I get asked if I'm wearing false eyelashes or if I have lash extensions whenever I wear this mascara its that good. As its from Avon the price can tend to change in each campaign with any offers so heres the link to their official shop site. I done a blog post on this mascara also so if you want to see what I'm talking about click here. Eyeliners, I have cut back using these in the past month just for a bit of a break to the eyes. That and I am just hopeless at it haha it takes me ages to get liner just right. However I do like the L'Oreal Super Liner with its sponge tip to do the top lash line bitty, I have still not mastered cat eye but I am getting there. This stuff does last all day or night if I'm wearing it to go out, it is a pain to remove so I would recommend an eye make up remover. I cant seem to find the one I bought on the boots site but here's the link to a very similar one in colours blue or purple which I am tempted to try out. Nice change from black. My favorite pencil eye liner that I use for my waterline has to be Benefit BADgal Waterproof Eyeliner £15.00  it lasts all day and hardly smudges. There is a smudger at the other end if you want to use this liner for the top lashes and smudge it out for a bit of a smokey look. I did mention that only use mine for my waterline, being a bit on the pricey side it does last a long time.

 One thing I have particularly enjoyed this year when it has come to make up is applying it using the right tools. I cannot recommend Real Techniques Brushes enough, there are just the best brushes I have ever used. I started off with the Core collection then added the stippling brush, powder brush and the blush brush. I do intend on getting more as I love them that much. They just give such a lovely flawless cover and they are so soft to the skin. I wash mine about once a week with johnstons baby shampoo to get all the used make up off so I start each week with lovely clean brushes. To check out the range of Real Technique brushes here's the link, Samantha Chapman who created these lovely brushes also has a fab YouTube Channel with her sister where they do fantastic make up looks you can check them out here.

 

I fell in love with the brand Essie in February when I discovered the most gorgeous pink shade of nail polish that I had ever seen, in the name Lovie Dovie it had to be bought. Since then I bought 2 more shades, I recently bought the base coat and at Christmas I got the Winter Collection which I will review about soon. Essie has such beautiful shades of polish I want them all!! I do like to paint my nails I just get rather frustrated when they don't last and a day or 2 later they are all chipped but when I use my Essie polish it can be known to last me a week without chipping! Happy Days!! I am planning on adding plenty more to my collection, I have already spied a few new future buys. Keep your eyes posted on future posts with which ones I get. If you want to check Essie out here's a link to their official website. For removing nail polish it has to be Bourjois Magic Nail Polish Remover £4.99 you just pop your finger into the sponge twist it in for a couple of seconds, remove finger and bosh! nail varnish gone just like magic.

And there you have it! That is all of my favorite beauty things for 2013, I do wonder what will be my faves for next year. I am planning on broadening my make up ways so here's looking forward to the future!!

Hope you all had a fabulous Hogmanay!!! HAPPY NEW YEAR!!! Lets see what 2014 has to throw at us. :)

Lovies

SparklySJ

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No7 Match Made In Heaven

A few weeks ago I ran out of my favourite foundation Revlon Colour Stay, now normally I would go marching down to Boots and purchase another bottle asap but instead I was rather adventurous and went along to the No7 counter and thought I would give the the Match Made service a go. This is where they take a little machine and place it on an area of you're skin (on your face of course) and it scans the area resulting in a perfect shade of foundation for you. I thought this is far to good to be true so I went along spoke to the lady on the counter, she assured me that we can also try a few little testers as well to see which one I found that better suit my skin type and shade. 
 

 
 
I explained that I have oily skin and can also suffer from the odd break out here and there, to this she recommended the Beautifully Matte Foundation £12.95 in my shade Cool Vanilla. This foundation is aimed to balance oil and minimise the appearance of pores. I thought that sounded fantastic the matte appealed to me also as I do work in a place that can get pretty hot and I didn't want my foundation dripping off my face. An even better pro to this foundation is it also contains salicylic acid to help unblock those nasty pores and help improve the overall condition of our skin. It gives a medium to full coverage which is fantastic, its hypoallergenic which I also find to be a bit of a pro too as my skin can be super sensitive and it has an SPF 15 to help keep our skin protected and is supposedly ment to last up too 14 hours wear time. I haven't worn it for longer than 12 hours but I have noticed that when I remove my make up at night it is still there. The texture of this foundation is lovely its not to thick and not runny its just perfect and a little does really go along way. When I apply it I use the Real Techniques Buffing Brush which was the Core Collection Set you can get in Boots or can find them a bitty cheaper on sites like Amazon or I heard Asda do them cheaper as well. The coverage I get using the foundation and the brush is lovely flawless look. I could not recommend this stuff more. 

                               No7 Beautifully Matte Foundation £12.95

Once I had the foundation I thought well I may as well get the Match Made Concealer £7.50 in same shade Cool Vanilla too so I'm all matchy matchy :D. The concealer is in a stick form that just twists up like a lipstick and it gives a lovely flawless cover to any little breakouts I have. I also use it to hide any bags under my eyes on days they look rather darker than normal. The texture is lovely and creamy its very easy to apply and is said to last up to 16 hours!

                               No7 Match Made Concealer £7.50

                         Concealer on the left & Foundation on the right

Now in the little town I live in believe it or not we happen to have 3 Boots stores all different sizes however they all stock No7, I went to the one in our little retail park as the counter is right by the window. Whenever I try foundations I test it along my jawline and then go outside with a friend or my mum and see if it matches my skin tone as I don't want the line of where my make starts on my jawline up to where it ends by my hairline I like it all to blend in well. With this stores counter being by the window I had natural light coming through which was better for me to tell that it did suit my skin not just in the stores artificial lighting but also in natural lighting as well. So my tip would be have someone with you who can help you out and check indoors and outdoors.

So if anyone reading this is coming to the end of their foundation and is thinking on trying something different that hasn't tried the Match Made Service I thoroughly recommend it. I am in love with these 2 products they work so well together and really do give me such a flawless coverage, they quite possibly will be my new must haves!

Hope everyone's having a lovely Saturday. Feel free to comment maybe you have tried a new foundation did you love it or even if you hate it? You can also follow me if you would like to keep up to date on any new posts :)

Lots of Lovies
SparklySJ
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