Battle of the Foundations

Hey :)

So this post is going to be a little different, I am actually going to take you through the journey of how I found my 'perfect' foundation, because it took quite a while to test all the foundations which I thought would be good for my skin type. I have always had problems with finding the right shade for my skin colour too and I know that the shades the high-street provides are not going to be the best match and that's actually what made me venture out and sample more expensive foundations to find the right one for me :)

Estée Lauder Double Wear Stay-in-Place Make-up SPF 10 (30ml /£28.50),   (10/10)

This is my holy grail. I was completely mesmerised for the entire day when I was sampling this product, and even now I still think it is amazing. What I like about this foundation is that it is light weight, yet it has such a high coverage! I mean it's perfect. The entire line of  'double wear' products are long-lasting and so is a dream for any oily skinned person (like mee). Honestly you could splash your face with water and the foundation would still be on, much like the Lancôme one which I will write about below. However what really won this product for me was the shade range, Estée Lauder has a chart (which they hold up to your face) that tells you exactly what shade you are and what your undertone colour is (since they have 31 shades!). I really like that they have a tool like this as it is not just one persons perception of what they think your colour is. This really did tick all the boxes for me and that's why I went out and purchased it. 

Lancôme Teint Idole Ultra 24H  (£28.50/ 30ml), (9/10)
When I first tried this in Boots I was sold, I have never tried Lancôme before but I know I will definitely be purchasing their stuff in the future. This foundation was great for my oily skin, it left my skin with a matte finish and also provided a medium to full coverage - it literally is another version of Estée Lauder Double Wear foundation, the longevity is the exact same. The only factor that made this one come second in my opinion was the range of shades. Estée Lauder has an impressive 31 whilst Lancôme  has only 18 shades, I think the range of shades in both collections are amazing, but the colour match from Estée Lauder just gave it an extra edge. I still think this one is an awesome foundation, especially for those who really need a foundation which will stay in place for longer. I would have definitely bought this if I didn't discover the Estée Lauder one.

bareMinerals Matte SPF 15 foundation (£25.00/6g),   (7/10) 

Is it just me or does the idea of just wearing powder on your face seem amazing? I have always been drawn to bareMinerals (side note: Maybelline's mineral foundation was the first foundation I ever tried) and after sampling the original version I went out and bought the matte version (since we all know my skin is oily). While I love the original, I actually don't like the matte as much, I feel like it takes a long time to actually settle into my skin so it's a bit too 'powdery'. However I do love the coverage bareMinerals provides and whilst I won't be buying the matte version again, I will be getting the original one in the future. It is just what every girl needs, something that is so lightweight that it feels as though you are wearing nothing, however provides enough coverage to give her confidence. I would recommend this to anyone who is trying out make-up for the first time or even if they wanted to move to something more natural this summer.

Clinique Superbalanced Make-up (£22.00/30ml), (7/10)
So, this was actually the first foundation that I sampled when I went on this crazy foundation spree. I am torn halfway with this foundation. I do like it because I like the idea that it controls the oil on your face, I really liked the consistency of the foundation too, seemed a bit gel-like, which is new for me. However I had a major issue with the finish it gave off; this foundation was really tacky on my skin (meaning kinda sticky), which I really didn't like because it just felt like it never fully dried in, however I did notice that my oiliness was less apparent throughout the day which was kinda awesome. In my mind though, I feel like you have to be comfortable with how it feels on your skin to fully like it and that was the issue for me with this foundation. Also the colour was another problem for me, this comes in 19 shades but they still couldn't find the right skin colour for me, I was 14/19 which shows that Clinique needs to improve their darker shades.

Benefit Hello Flawless Oxygen Wow! brightening makeup oil-free SPF 25 (£26.50/30ml), (3/10)
This is probably going to be really biased because my experience at Benefit wasn't a good one, the lady just slapped on some skincare without waiting for any of it to dry in and then put this foundation on and so the base wasn't even right for me to compare it like all the rest. I don't think this foundation is worth your money, when I just researched the price right now I was shocked that they would even charge so much for something that is comparable to a drug-store foundation. Firstly they have only 9 shades, Revlon has around 8/9 shades in their foundations but Benefit sells this foundation for more than double Revlon's price. I didn't like the feel of it anyway due to what the woman did, but I did find that the make-up looked cakey, I feel like she was more concerned with putting loads on rather than for it to look natural, it didn't help at all with the oiliness of my skin, it actually broke me out a bit and so it was a relief to take it off at the end of the day. I wouldn't recommend this foundation to anyone, because for this price you could get either a better quality foundation for £2 extra or you could buy an awesome drug-store foundation for more than half the price. I do like other Benefit products but this one was just terrible.

I hope you enjoyed this rather long description (and rant) of my journey testing out high-end foundations, and I hope that it will encourage you to sample some too, because that is the best part about buying a product - knowing that it works :) Leave a comment on what your favourite foundation is and why you like it :)
Thank you so much for reading,
Anjna x

Review: The Body Shop Vitamin E Moisture Serum

Heeeyy,

Today I am going to be doing a review on something I think is going to be awesome for people this summer and that is The Body Shop Vitamin E Moisture Serum which retails for £11 for a 30ml bottle.

                                               

So I originally bought this product because I really wanted to try out a serum to see how it benefits my skin since you see so many people rave about it. I can honestly say that I understand where these people are coming from. I love serums now and I am itching to try out more and more. 

I'm going to start by saying that a serum is something you put on before your moisturiser and they can work in a variety of different ways, this one claims to 'enhance moisturisation and protection'.

Good Points

• Lightweight: once you put it on and it's dried in you literally cannot feel that you put something on your skin, which is awesome because the formula seems thick. I use it in the day and in the night because of how lightweight it is.

• Quick-drying: I kid you not, this serum dries in like less than 30 seconds, by the time I have finished putting some on the other side of my face, the first part is practically already sunk in. I love this, because again I like to use this in the morning and who really wants to wait for something to dry in completely before they have even put their make-up on. 

• Moisturising: I realised that I actually never spoke about what it does to my skin :P Although I said that you can't notice it because it is so lightweight you can tell how moisturising it is, which is an weird balance. Although I have oily skin and I feel like I don't need more moister, I still don't skip out on using it because I feel like my skin needs to have this shoot of hydration. And this is why I agree with what the packaging says that it is for 'every skin type' because if I'm saying I need it for my oily skin then I feel like everyone else would benefit from having a product like this to really hydrate their skin, especially since summer is on it's way.
• Protection: Although some people may think putting something on your face before moisturiser is worthless, it actually isn't because it add's another layer on your skin to protect it from pollution and other things. So if you do go out with no make-up on and just moisturiser, you only have one layer to protect your skin, and so there is a use for having a serum besides the other benefits.

• Packaging: I love that is has a pump, so it's hassle free and you don't end up wasting product. I also like how there is a slit in the label which enables you to see how much is left. I would seriously like all products to have something like this because it's just super helpful! I know when it will end so I won't be surprised on the day when it does.

• Smell: So this is on my good points because I do like that it has a smell, I feel like it smells like baby powder, or just something like that. It's a light fragrance and so doesn't linger and that's why it's no problem for me. I find it weird when products have no smell because it just seems like they've added more things to make it stop smelling.

• Price: So this is £11, which I think is a good price (for a serum) especially because The Body Shop always has some sort of promotion so really you won't even pay £11. I got this product on their 'if you spend £25 or more, then you get £10 off' which, in my opinion, is the best deal ever, so I advise everyone to wait for an offer because it'll come sooner rather than later for sure.

Bad Points

• Shiny: So this product can leave your face shiny if you wear nothing else on top. Which is fine for me because I either will be wearing something on top or I wear it to bed and so I avoid it both ways.
• Packaging: This isn't a major issue with me, but I feel like the packaging could be improved - you can tell it's plastic bottle and a label on top. But perhaps that's because they would rather spend more money on the actual formula of the product, which is more than okay with me!

I hope you enjoyed this review, as you can see I think this product is amazing and quick and easy to implement into your skincare routine. Leave me a comment if you want me to review anything in particular :) or just say whatever you want to say :)

Thanks for reading, 

Anjna xx

Review: Coloured Eyeliner

Hey :)

So today I am going to talk about a recent favourite of mine which is coloured eyeliner! I love coloured eyeliner, it's such an awesome way to add something different to your look without being too extravagant and I think it is perfect for summer :) 

Shade Three on Eyelid

The first one I ever bought was the 2True Twist 'n' Line Eye Definer (In shade 3, £1.99). I spoke about this in my April favourites and it can be purchased from Superdrug. I bought it because I really liked the colour (a totally nice light navy colour) and that it was a twist up pencil (because sometimes sharpening is a chore). Honestly for the price, I think it's a good buy if you were like me and just wanted to try something new without committing. 

50 Loving Green on Waterline

So since my first purchase into coloured eyeliner went really well I went out and purchased the Bourjois Contour Clubbing Waterproof Eyeliner (£4.99) in 50 Loving Green and 47 Purple Night. There was a specific reason why I went to Bourjois, I seriously do inspect practically all stands to see which one had the best colour and formula because that is what really matters (still couldn't find a blue like the 2True one). I narrowed it down to either Bourjois or Maybelline and it was a tough call, the only thing that swayed me off Maybelline was that the formula of their coloured eyeliner was too soft, like soft enough that I thought things could mess up really easily. The Bourjois eyeliner I have no issues with, they do last all day, literally they will not budge and so that's why it's perfect for summer. It applies really smoothly so it really is best of both worlds, as you can apply this to both the waterline and your eyelid too, so it's multi-purpose product :). If you are looking to buy some coloured eye-liner at an affordable price, I think Bourjois is the way to go :) 

47 Purple Night on waterline

I hope you enjoyed this mini review :) Remember to comment or subscribe if you want to see more of what I have been loving.
Thanks for reading,
Anjna

Review: No7 Stay Perfect nail colour

Hey guys, 

So I really had to review this for you because ugh - I don't want you to waste your money. So the No7 nail line has always piqued my interest - it's just so colourful and the packaging is so sleek and cool. So I went ahead and bought two colours. I really like the two shades I got - one was a teal colour called 'Totally Teal' and the other was a hybrid of the perfect peachy pink shade and that's called 'Highland Mist'. So...that's basically all I can say about the good aspects of this product. 

One Coat of 'Totally Teal'

Man! I was just so disappointed and I'm going to list (and show you) why:

1) Colour pay-off -  you can't get away with one coat, it's just too sheer and looks horrible, on the back of the product they say that it's 'pigment rich colour', yeah it is - after like 2/3 coats. Yup I said 3 coats because I think these look really nice with the third coat.

Two Coat's of 'Totally Teal'

2) Splotchy - I don't think you can tell by the photo's but this product does not come on nicely on the nail, when you do a second swipe it sorta gets rid of what you've already done. This is another reason why multiple amounts of coating is necessary - to even the colour out.

3) Chipping - Not even a day...These chipped on the day I put it on. If not the first day then the next day it's guaranteed man. I don't know why this formula is so...crap but dayum I have never witnessed a nail polish that has chipped as bad as these. 

4) Price - This is £6 without a coupon or any offer etc. £6!! You'll be better investing another two pounds to buy an Essie or Sally Hansen one if you want a seriously awesome polish. Heck even BarryM that retails for £3.99 is a better choice than this product. 

Difference between one and three
coats of 'Highland Mist'

I hope you guys have had better luck with these if you've tried them, if not then I hope this review has sorta warned you of what you might face :P It's a shame because I do like No7 in general but now I know I have to steer clear of the Stay Perfect line (it's so ironic too). Comment below telling me what your best or worst nail polish is :) 

Thanks for reading,
Anjna xx